A Nice Visit & Some Random Thoughts

Image by Vitodens via FlickrIt has been a few weeks since I posted anything specifically about my son and his adjustment to the school.  I guess the old adage is true, "no news is good news."  That would be the case here.  He has been doing very well the past three or four weeks.

One of the more difficult aspects of his going away to school has been not being able to see him.  During the transition period we were told that we would not be able to visit him for five weeks.  Due to the some of the early struggles and the holidays, he never spent more than a couple weeks at the school until recently.

With the progress he has made the last few weeks, we were finally able to drive out to have a visit with him.  When we got to his dorm, he was taking a nap on one of the couches in the recreation room.  We woke him up gently by talking to him.  It took him awhile to fully wake from his slumber, but once he did we had a great visit.

Speaking of driving out to his school, that brings me to random thought #1.  When you are driving and see a speed limit sign, does the speed limit start at the point of the sign or when you are able to see it?  The reason I ask is that there is a road we drive on that is 50 mph.  It drops from 50 mph to 40 mph and then drops to 30 mph within a quarter mile of the 40 mph sign. 

My son really enjoys watching NASCAR races, so one of the things we took out to him was a DVD of the Nationwide Series race at Daytona.  He was extremely excited to get it, and he ran to his room to get his DVD player so he could watch parts of the race.  He likes when Danica Patrick races so that they say "drivers start your engines," instead of "gentlemen."

After we had been there for a while, it was time to go to lunch.  He put his coat on and we headed down to the cafeteria for lunch.  He ate a lot of food while we were there.  That had been one of our major concerns when he started because he wouldn't eat much at all.  Lately, though, he has been eating three times a day.  He still isn't eating a lot of variety, but we will take eating regularly.  Hopefully the variety will come too.

After lunch, he and his dorm mates went to the gym for a little exercise.  We walked around the gym for a couple laps until somebody broke out the basketballs.  My son and I grabbed one of the basketballs and shot a few baskets.  His one handed dribbling looks a lot better than it had been.  We were able to work up a little bit of a sweat (which reminds me that I need to do a post soon about how my new eating habits are doing.)

Now a brief aside for my second random thought.  When we drive out to his school, we always pass some signs for Tuckahoe State Park.  I guess it says something about me when every time I pass by a sign that says "Tuckahoe" I have the same thought.  If you change one letter it could be the lyric of a rap song.  Think about it.

After about a three hour visit, we decided to head home for the day.  Saying goodbye was not traumatic at all.  At first, especially when he saw me, he thought he was going home, but we explained that he had to stay and we would pick him up in 10 days for his next long weekend home.  He seemed fine with it.  All in all, a very pleasant day.

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Daytona 500

Image via Wikipedia

I had been looking forward to this day for weeks.  No, not Valentine's Day, but the Daytona 500.  Not that Valentine's Day isn't important, but this year it just so happened to fall on the same day as the Great American Race.  It also happens to be my father in law's birthday.

Mrs. Dickster happens to be a huge race fan.  Truth be told, I probably became interested in NASCAR thanks to her and my son and their interest in the sport.  So our plans for today were to meet the in laws at the restaurant for dinner at 6pm.  No worries, the race was to start at 1pm, so most likely we would get to see the race before heading to the restaurant.

With the blizzards of the past week, I have been able to watch a lot of the Speed Week activities in Daytona that lead up to the actual Daytona 500.  I was able to watch the Bud Shootout last Saturday night and the Gatorade Duels on Thursday afternoon.  Those events led me to think we were going to get to see some exciting racing this afternoon.  Since the forecast was for sunny skies during the race, so it looked like we would not have to worry about any rain delays.

Unfortunately, the racing gods were not smiling on me today.  A little more than half way through the race, they had to stop to repair a freaking pot hole on the track.  That delay lasted about an hour and forty minutes.  So much for getting to see the race in its entirety before dinner.  At dinner, I checked my Blackberry and discovered they had a second delay to repair the pot hole a second time.  This delay lasted 40 minutes.

To be fair, the race did have an exciting finish.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch it from where we were.  Congratulations to Jamie McMurray, who managed to hold off Dale Earnhardt, Jr to win his first Daytona 500.  Had it not been for the two delays, I could have seen it.  Oh, well, there is always Fontana next weekend.

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Gentleman, Start Your Engines

I know sports fans are getting all geared up for the Super Bowl, and rightfully so.  It should be a good one.  I don't really care too much about who wins, though I am kind of pulling for the Saints to win.  There is just something about Peyton Manning that bugs me.  Maybe because you can't watch a game without seeing him in every other commercial.

Yes, the Super Bowl is a big deal, but I am also looking forward to the start of the NASCAR racing season which kicks off Saturday night with the Bud Shootout. Sure it isn't the official start of the racing season, which starts next week with the Daytona 500, but it is fun to watch.


Over the last couple of years, a lot of NASCAR fans have complained that the sport has become too corporate and too boring.  Officials have announced that they are going to relax some of the rules regarding aggressive driving and bump drafting.  They are also encouraging drivers to show a little more emotion and less corporate plugging.

Hopefully it will make for a more exciting brand of racing.  A lot of the races I watched last year were pretty BORING.  Today was the first day of practice for the Shootout on Saturday night.  If the first practice is any indication, it could be an interesting year.  Denny Hamlin and Mark Martin set off a 6-car accident about halfway through the first practice.  In the second practice, Juan Pablo Montoya wrecked Kurt Busch.  As Darryl Waltrip will say when the green flag drops, "Boogity, boogity, boogity.  Let's go racing boys!"

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BAM Racing VIP Fan Experience

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of BAM Racing. All opinions are 100% mine.

Two of my favorite things in my relaxation time are music and sports. You may have noticed in a lot of my Music Monday posts, that I am partial to Country Music. Over the last four years or so, I have really gotten into NASCAR racing. So much so, that at least for television viewing, it has become a close second to football for my favorite sports. I have yet to see a live NASCAR race, but I hope to soon.

BAM Racing has come up with a way to combine NASCAR racing with Country music, a winning combination in my opinion. They are teaming up with Warner Nashville Music to create a unique VIP Fan Experience.  As a VIP, your name and photo will appear on the #49 BAM Racing Sprint Cup Car along with one of the WNM stars participating in the program.  Among the stars already signed up are Larry the Cable Guy, Blake Shelton (one of my favorites), James Otto (one of my son's favorites), and Jessica Harp.

(In my best infomercial announcer voice) "But Wait! There's More!"  VIP's also have the opportunity to get backstage access at concerts, music video shoots, and maybe the ultimate opporunity for a NASCAR fan, an all access NASCAR weekend including sitting on top of the pit box with the owner at a Sprint Cup Race.  How cool would that be?  There are a bunch of other perks for VIP that you can check out at VIP Fan Experience. 

BAM racing also announced this week that they have formed an alliance with Robby Gordon Motorsports.  This will give them more resources to field a competitive car each week.  Beginning February 6th, Speed Week kicks off the 2010 Sprint Cup Season with the Daytona Shootout.  Speed Week ends with the biggest race of the season, the Daytona 500.  I can hardly wait. 

Riding With The King

When I was a kid, my favorite race car driver was Richard Petty, mainly because we have the same first name.  Besides being my favorite NASCAR driver he is also the greatest and well earned the nickname "The King."  During his career, Petty won the NASCAR championship seven times, the Daytona 500 seven times, and 200 career races, all NASCAR records.   Last week, NASCAR announced their inaugural inductions into their newly formed hall of fame.  In pretty much a no brainer, Petty was among the inductees.

While these trade shows that I attend are a lot of work, and a lot of walking, they aren't all work.  Yesterday, I went by the Hunt Brothers Pizza booth who sponsor one of the cars that Petty owns.  The King was there signing autographs.  I was honored to have a few moments to talk with and shake hands with the greatest driver NASCAR has ever seen.  Not only is he a great driver, he is truly a gentleman as well.  Here I am below with Richard Petty.

 

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