Young Jezza Beatbox

I'm a big fan of the British TV show "Top Gear". It's simply the best TV show on the air in the world and I don't think that's exaggerating. The lead host is a guy by the name of Jeremy Clarkson, aka "Jezza". Below is an entertaining rap video created from pieces of Jeeza on Top Gear. I found the link in an Autoblog posting.

All I can say is "POWER SLIDE!, POWER SLIDE!, POWER SLIDE!, POWER SLIDE!, POWER SLIDE!,..."

So turn up the volume and enjoy...

My 1st Trip to a NASCAR Race

Saturday April 4th was my first trip to a NASCAR race. I was glad I prepared for the event that was louder than you could ever imagine. I wore my shooting earmuffs over a set of Walkman-style earplugs. I programmed some frequencies I found on the web into the police scanner and luckily some of them were the correct ones. I listened to Carl Edwards (#60) for most of the race although I did switch over to #29 and #18 later on. The camo hat was me blending in with the crowd. ;-)



We had awesome seats. They were located down near turn one. As the race started the sun went behind the stadium so the sun didn't beat down on us. At the beginning they lined up trucks on the track...



...and used them to take the drivers on a parade lap. The drivers rode in the bed of the pickups.



This is my attempt to use my Olympus 770SW point-and-shoot camera, set to it's maximum optical zoom setting, and aim it through a pair of binoculars. The pic didn't come out as bad as I thought it would. It's of some of the officials looking over the pace car, a new Chevy Camaro...



Another camera/binocular mashup. This one showing the where the drivers left the stage and hopped in the trucks for their parade lap...



Here's a video showing the track. The lady singing and the fiddle player made it a good time to try out the hearing protection! ;-)



But afterwards they had a lady who won a radio contest sing the National Anthem. She was much better. Please forgive the "Mr Shakey-cam" I had especially in the beginning of the video. Watch the video until at least 2 minutes into it for the fly-over.



There were no big wrecks during the race just a spinout and one guy sliding into a wall. Here's a video showing the cars as they restart after a caution...



The winner was Kyle Busch (#18). Here's the pic of him crossing the finish line...



And here's a picture of him passing by our seats seconds later...



I've gotta say I had fun. I may very well try attending another NASCAR race in the future. Imagine that!

Why Chrysler? WHY?!!

I have a saying, "Ya can't say the name Chrysler without the word cry."

The 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee we own is our beater vehicle. It hauls mulch back from Lowe's, carries a Christmas tree home, and does all the other dirty work we don't want the Honda Pilot to do. Several months ago I started getting a "rear lamp failure" message. I thought it was the license plate light but after replacing that bulb I still got the message. This week I noticed it was actually a small side marker light on the right rear that was the problem. I replaced it, all good now.

But the other day the left turn signal started blinking really fast and after I turned the signal off the indicator lamp on the dash glowed at half brightness. ANOTHER blown bulb! Yep, front turn signal. No problem I thought, I'll get a new one. The owner's manual says it's a type 1295NA. I went to Walmart, didn't have them. I went to PepBoys, their computer shows that it was indeed a 1295NA I needed but that they didn't stock it. It looks like that bulb might be a discontinued model.

So I surfed the web and found someone mentioned on a forum to use either a 3497 or 1196NA. The 1196NA will work and costs $3 but it would still have that fast flash. The 3497 would work also but costs $8. I couldn't see the difference in the wattage of the 2 bulbs so I bought the cheaper one. Yep, it flashes fast now but at least I have a turn signal.

Gotta love Chrysler!

The New Dodge Challenger in the wild

Spent the day at Cabela's Sporting Goods store with my father-in-law Ramon, brother-in-law Jorge, and his brother Efrain. When we pulled into the parking lot we spotted these 2 cars sitting there.



Just beautiful! The orange one was a R/T model with a Hemi. The black one was a SE model. I really have a love for the early 70's models. These newer ones reflect all the best qualities of the originals, IMHO.

Godzilla

Thursday night my father-in-law came over in my sister-in-law's SUV to the house to watch Abby while Cristina and I went to a Bedford City Planning and Zoning Commission meeting regarding the hospital to be built across the street. When he got to our house he realized the driver rear tire was leaking air big time.

So I drove him home later that night and early Friday morning Abby and I went to the Discount Tire on Harwood Road in Bedford, TX to get a tire fixed. As soon as I pulled into the parking space I realized what was sitting only 15 feet away...



A Nissan GT-R !! Yes, "Godzilla" itself!! The thing was REALLY NEW in that there wasn't a speck of dust or dirt on it... even the gold Brembo brake calipers were clean enough to eat off of. I snapped the pic from my 4-year old cell phone with the crap-tastic camera. We watched a bit later as a 25 YEAR OLD KID drove off in it with an older fellow (Dad?) riding shotgun. The world seemed a bit less fair at that moment.

"Obama" selling Kias in the DFW area

A local DFW Kia dealership is running an ad for new Kias using an Obama look-a-like. Having lived in the DFW area long enough, I know this particular car dealership likes to run ads like these. I remember a campaign of ads on the radio they had featuring Bill Clinton some years back. Well, John Stewart and The Daily Show picked up on the ads and here's his take on them.

BTW, this is my first attempt to embed a Hulu video. Crossing my fingers...

Here we go...

First, let me say sorry to the friends I haven't gotten back to via email in at least a week or so. Prepping the house for sale has been ALOT of work. I type this not from home but the "other place" I hang out at for 40 hours per week. If I were home I would probably be working even harder.

Since last Thursday (which I took off from work), I've...
- replaced the rear storm door
- repaired 4 lose tiles, grouted, and cleaned the master shower
- re-caulked the master shower and the bathtubs in both bathrooms
- power washed the driveway, rear patio, and all the solar screens and windows
- cleaned the oven
- mowed the lawn
- washed all the clothes (didn't get time to hang them yet)
- removed rotten wood sections from around 3 rear windows and replaced it. Then caulked the new pieces.
- and last night I finished at Midnight painting the rear of the house and the back door.

I still have to paint the front door and trim. I also need to power wash the solar screens and the back windows again. I went too fast and they have streaks.

By the time most of you read this the house will be on the market. Starting now is the process of finding a new place. I have to call around tomorrow to begin the pre-approval steps of getting our next mortgage.

I rode the motorcycle to work today since the temps were up there. Tomorrow is suppose to be even hotter but I'm thinking today will be my last ride-to-work day for quite awhile. The reason being is that the motorcycle can sit in the garage while potential buyers view the house but we need to clear the driveway of cars. So Cristina can leave with Abby in the Pilot, I'll take the Prelude to work, and we'll park the Jeep on the street. It may kinda suck since DaLude doesn't have running A/C. The Jeep has its own problems with A/C for that matter in that water leaks into the passenger side floor when you run it.

Oh well, I'll stop wining now and just hope the house sells for something near asking price.

BMW M1 Homage Concept Car

Now while I'm not in the market for another vehicle at this moment, I do think I may have found the best looking car I've seen in a long time.

The BMW M1 Homage

That view would strike fear into almost any person who looks into their rear-view mirror and sees this thing gaining on them.

The side profile is sleek and looks like it would cut thru the air like a knife.


And even the rear looks awesome...