And God is Soooo Good...

Not that I deserve any bonuses from Him, but I am thankful for a doting Father. This last week, I sat down and looked at finances and just hung my head. We moved into a bigger house last year and doubled the size of our living space, as well as doubling our mortgage payment. That wouldn't have been so hard but we also tripled the size of our electricity bill. Over the Summer that really hurt. Just about all of today's paycheck is spoken for with those two bills. Of course, we still need to eat, and there is a Holiday coming up that involves gift-giving. I was quite bummed about the prospect of what we would be able to offer the kids. Not that we're poor, I'm still paying bills, I'm just stretched out. There are lots of folks out there who would be quite envious of where we are today. If we had a little more room we'd just spend it on frivolous things like getting the car fixed, right?
But there just wasn't a lot of cash there until the next paycheck. And then Kim went shopping the other day (the cupboard was bare) and wrote a check that was for more than what I have left after mortgage and electricity. Then I bummed on her for it. I didn't raise my voice, I don't need to do that to crush her sometimes. And I just told her quietly that we didn't have that much money for groceries this month. Sux, eh? I guess I can pay a part of the electric bill now and a part later, but then that leaves less for later in the month. And then I started feeling bummed about Christmas. Our cards are maxed out and I'm not expecting much to show up between now and then.

Then God does his miracle thing...
So one of my credit cards decides that they haven't extended me enough credit and they raise my limit. Not that I asked or anything. It's not much, but it's a little bit for Christmas. (Don't tell Kim, I want it to be a surprise).

And then my boss puts in for me to get an award for going to Houston to help with Hurricane Ike recovery. Again, not a ton, but it's something out of nothing. I can take it as cash or gift cards. I'm going to go over it with Kim tonight.

I remember telling Him that I just don't have enough to do this on my own, but that I'll do the best with what He gives me. I don't deserve this but I'll take it. That's what the unworthy do with grace.

EDIT: Notes to mention, the week before, I was fretting about the bare refrigerator and I happened to the fridge in the garage to have a frosty, carbonated adult beverage. I peeked in the freezer to find a bunch of food that I forgot we had there. Garlic toast, cheese toast, fried fish filets, chicken tenders, frozen dinners. Exactly what we needed...
Last night (11/03), we went to our monthly bike club team meeting and, as they do each month, they have door prizes. Joseph had fallen last month and had cracked his helmet. Guess who's ticket they call when there's still a nice, new helmet on the prize list? Yup, Joseph.
Oh, and my folks sent us $200 out of the blue, "to help with school supplies."

229

I haven't weighed that since 1995. I expect to be on the light side after a long ride, but not that light the next morning. Today I rolled out of bed at 6:13 AM (can't wait for the end of Daylight Savings this weekend) and got on the scale and saw 229. Nice. I'm working for 225 by Christmas. If I could ride more I'd get there sooner, but I think I can only get away with one long ride a week. The night ride is pretty pedestrian (so I can keep up the whole time) so I think I'll stick with that one for a while as well as riding to and from work.

Comedy of Errors

The other night I came home to some sick kids.  Three of them were down with a stomach virus.  Mom was in high demand and short supply.  So she's up and down the stairs doctoring one kid, cleaning up another.  I'm in charge of dinner and we don't seem to have anything to eat.  Kim had already defrosted some chicken breast so that's what was to be cooked.  We didn't have much pasta, our normal default dinner, but we did have one can of red sauce.  I started looking up a recipe from the sauce maker and then I went over to the stove top.  Our stove has a microwave built into the vent hood.  Being as tall as I am, it kind of blocks my view.  Since I wanted to cut up something, I wanted to be sure that the burner wasn't on, or still hot.  Most of the kitchen space was cluttered up because of all the rush that three sick kids brings on so I had to use the stovetop.  Normally I check out the little light that says if it's hot, but I couldn't see it because I was too close and the microwave was in my way.  I'm just too tall.  So what did I do?  I felt the stovetop with my fingers.  The burners are under glass so you can't tell how hot they are.  I burned my three middle fingers on my left hand, burned them enough to blister them.  I'm surprised I still have fingerprints.  My oldest was trying to be a minimalist about helping for dinner as he had a really good book to read.  So in between cooking something new from a recipe at the last minute, helping out with three very ill kids, barking at my oldest to get off the couch again, and directing the older two girls to set the table, I tried to soak my fingers in ice water and then slathered them with burn cream.  We eventually did eat (those of us with stout enough stomachs) and it was pretty good.  I did have to ask for help cutting my meat though.

Joseph falls down

Not too bad.  He was going to practice, about 4 or 5 miles from the house, on a Sunday afternoon.  He says he was just looking down at his speedometer and his hand slipped off the bars and he went tumbling (note to self, adjust Joseph's bars).  Fortunately he wasn't near any traffic, he was on a trail.  A paved bike trail.  Some road rash, a cracked helmet, and lots of stickers that necessitated some benadryl.  I was also named "Not-Dad of the Year," because I was waiting for him at practice and left my phone in the car while talking to folks.  Then I never called until after the POLICEMAN gave Joseph a ride home.  Nope, I'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but some folks do refer to me as a "tool" often.

He's much better now, and the only damage to his bike is a scuffed up pedal.  I'll get him back on the bike next week.  And this time I'll be riding with him.

Working in H-town after Ike

I volunteered to go down to Houston to help my company with their clean-up after Ike. I work for VZ Wireless, and while I don't like to talk about work (that just spells trouble), I have to say that I'm pretty proud of how the folks down there did their jobs. Many of them still had no power a week after the storm, but were still coming in and working 12 to 15 hour days or nights. We got a ton of stuff done and we're now providing excellent cell phone service even to the few alligators and feral dogs that are left out in Crystal Beach. Seriously, we got our network up in a very short time, doing things that you know to do and then going back and thinking up new ways to get the job done. There were a lot of folks there from all over, Philly and Massachusetts and Raliegh, North Carolina. Most all of them were staying in RV's or maybe hotel rooms. My sister lives within five miles of the network offices and had power so I slept over there. My folks were there too, waiting for power to come back on at their place. I had night shifts most of the time so I didn't get to spend enough time with them, hopefully I wasn't a burden. Lots of trees down, traffic lights out all over the place. I did not see any lines at gas stations though. I got there Thursday after the storm on Saturday and I was staying on the NW side, so folks were adjusted to it by then and I'm sure I didn't see the worst of it. Some stores were open and some were closed. I saw a Walmart with no lights on in the parking lot or on the front of the store but the inside was up and they were open thanks to a portable generator.
In the end, I was there a week. I brought my bike but never even put on the wheels, too busy working or sleeping.

Still hurting, but not as bad

Lots of blogging to catch up on, probably lots of important stuff in my life won't make it here, because I'm too busy living life to blog about it.

Back on 8/30 I fell on my bike and hit my hip. It's still giving me issues, but at least I know that my doctor sucks. I went to my doc about five days after I fell and told him my concerns about the lack of swelling or bruising, the fact that it hurt significantly when I climbed stairs, and that it felt like something was slipping in and out. He assured me that my hip wasn't slipping in and out and that I should get an x-ray to make sure nothing's broken. I got the x-ray and the gal from his office (not him) said that while I am showing early signs of arthritis (or signs of early arthritis maybe?), I did not break anything. OK, I do qualify for an MRI though. So, since it still hurts from time to time, I get the MRI. Nothing from that, but I am allowed to come in and get a shot for the pain. That's not what I want. Now that the pain is subsiding, I'm still noticing something slipping. I have a feeling it's my Ilio-tibial band. It (or whatever it is) is riding forward when I pick my knee up. It feels like a knuckle that I need to pop. I can physically push it back into place with my fingers and I can feel it pop back. Yuck. I can ride on it, but not fast, and I certainly don't feel up to sprinting yet. Now the knee on my other leg is starting to ache. I've been favoring it too much and now it's squawking about it.

It could be worse. I've had time to spend on my bike. It now sports a new chain, a fantastically clean frame, and a rear fender to keep the muck off my backside on rainy mornings.

You can always trust the Devil or a politician...

to be the Devil or a politician.  From Derek Webb's "A Savior on Capitol Hill."

So true.   Such a poor choice this year.  Do you want Greater Evil or Slightly Less Great Evil?

Go support Derek at Noisetrade.com.  See the banner ad on the right.

Ouch!

This weekend I was scheduled to do 120+ miles on the bike. Not a ton for a regular rider, but a bunch for me. Saturday was the regular shop ride. They took the long way (80+) and I took the short way (50). Nice though. I got to ride with Andy a bit. He's an old salt of a rider. I think he pointed out (again) that he's been riding this one nasty hill for over 20 years. With him by my side, somehow the hill didn't register as all that bad.

The next morning, I got up at 5:45 to get me and Joseph to the start of another ride. Since it was Sunday and Kim wanted to take the kids to Sunday School, I had to leave by bike. Did I mention that the Suburban has a bad fuel pump? We're down to the blurple van. The only bad part about that is that it only seats seven and our family numbers eight. Oh well. The Suburban will be fixed by next weekend probably. So Joseph and I had to scrounge for some headlights and leave by 6:30 to get there at the start time of 7.

Then I fell. We took a shortcut through a concrete drainage ditch under the railroad tracks to a bike trail. It's the closest way. As I came down the ditch, I noticed that there was a tree branch blocking some of the first portal under the train bridge, so I took the second. Then I noticed the slick, black sheen of scum/mud that crossed the road. Actually I didn't notice it until my wheels had left the road and my right hip had joined it. Hard. Ouch.

So I get up and notice my chain fell off. Not a bad deal. I got on the bike and started spinning and turning the shift lever for the front derailleur. I got it back on and started out of the ditch. There's a sharp incline at the end, but it's really no problem, you just stand up on your pedals and you'll be fine. Of course, if you backside is barking from falling 15 seconds before, you might be tempted to get all the way up still in your seat. Bad idea. I tried that, got to the top, and fell over on my left hip. Ouch. Fortunately it was in grass, so not so much pain. Just shock. I don't fall. The last time I fell was over a year ago and it was because my cleat popped out of my pedal on a hill. So I take a deep breath. We haven't gone a half mile and I've fallen twice. There's still 40+ miles to go.

So I get back on and start across the grass for the sidewalk bike trail. As I get there, I notice that my wheels aren't perpendicular to the sidewalk, but fairly close to parallel. Actually, I didn't notice it until my rain and mud slick tires hit the sidewalk, bounced off, and dumped me over on my left hip. Fall #3. And this one really hurt. Truly an inauspicious beginning for a Sunday morning ride. Maybe Jesus doesn't want me skipping out on Sunday School any more.

The rest of the ride was fine. My hips both ached. My left palm is swollen a bit. I discovered that I can't quite climb stairs with my left leg, I have to push myself up with my right. In fact, I am a bit concerned. Near my right hip I'm getting a nice (or nasty) bruise. But on my left side, the side that hit the hardest, no bruise. The pain is actually coming out of the hip itself.

To top it all off, this morning I wake up with a stomach virus. Oh, the sheer, unadulterated joy.

I did get to see another step on my wife's path to sainthood though. Last night she juggled on nine year old with the stomach flu, today myself and the 18 month old joined her. Kim was able to get all of us settled, and make meals, and do grocery shopping. I've said it before, I won the lottery when I met her.

Leader Bikes

It looks like I've gotten a bunch of traffic for my posting earlier this year about my experience with Leader Bikes.  I kind of went off on them for what I consider to be bad customer service.  Looking back, I still feel that way, but their frames seem ok.  Yeah, I went with the cheapo low-end aluminum frame, but it serves it's purpose.  After riding about 12-13 hundred miles on it, I have no complaints.  It is a bit heavy, but I was told that it was before I got it.  It doesn't transmit as much road noise as my previous frame.  And the area that I had problems with on my previous frame, the rear drop outs, are really beefed up.  I don't expect the same issues.  I would recommend that you take it to your local bike shop to get it put together.  Both frames have had issues with paint in the bottom bracket shell and in the head tube.  Both had to be raced out a bit to accommodate the bottom bracket cups and headset, respectively.  I might get out the camera and take some pics to do a more thorough update on the frame, but it seems to be doing ok.  I can't say anything about their carbon stuff as I've never worked with any of their carbon stuff.  In fact, I don't think I've ever ridden an all-carbon bike, nor will I at my weight.  Of course, if Leader wants to fund something like that, I'm all ears.

What a Birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday and I think I had a blast. Well, maybe I should say I had a memorable birthday. It actually started on Sunday night. I knew that I had a big day at work on Monday so I wanted to go to bed early. Instead, we stayed up in bed watching hulu.com on my laptop. So around midnight, just as the last scene of Eureka is playing out, the dog downstairs starts barking. We keep her in a kennel at night. I walked downstairs to let her outside and decided to sit down in front of my computer downstairs and investigate the internet. Bad idea. Two and a half hours later, after I had delved into all sorts of news, sports, olympics, and theology, I let the dog in and went upstairs. But for some reason I couldn't sleep. Three am, no sleep. Three thirty, still no sleep. Four am, no sleep. I think I drifted off sometime after that and I got up at 7 ish.
So I get to work and start ingesting coffee. I missed breakfast. And I almost missed lunch with the stuff that had to be done RIGHT NOW! I didn't end up eating enough and by 4 pm, I had that "I've had too much sugar, too much caffeine, not enough real food, not enough sleep" feeling. It's a deep-down tummy ache coupled with a fuzzy head feeling. I haven't felt it since college. Yuck. I bumped off work a half-hour early b/c I knew that Monday night I had a Jr Bike team meeting and I didn't want to be woozy. I got home and went straight to bed. Kim wasn't there and when I asked where she was, Joseph responded with "She's gone to get... she's just gone to go do something." I recognize last second b-day shopping when I see it.
I got in a good hour or so of nap before I realized that the meeting would be starting in an hour and getting six kids there takes time and effort. I came out to see my wife taping HAPPY BIRTHDAY down the banister of the stairs. She'd only gotten as far as HAPPY BIRT. She shushed me back into my room for another 5 minutes before inviting me to come downstairs. The kids all hid (really poorly I might add) behind furniture and shouted "surprise!" On the wall, I finally notice, is a couple of clothes hangers with wrapping paper wrapped over my gift. Knowing that the only place in the world that we can afford gifts is on the Dillard's Card, I'm fairly certain that it's a couple of shirts. To my real surprise, it's a couple of Madden games for the GameCube, '06 and '07. Sweet. I've got '04, these sound cool.
Then off to the meeting. At the meeting, I discover that I am the only person that was nominated for Pres, so I'm in charge by default. Again. Then, after a lot of good discussion (too much, I only got one trip through the pizza buffet :-( ), Audrey trips over a chair leg and hits the floor with her skull. No bleeding, but then a friend and nursing student notices that one of her pupils is larger than the other. Aud also wasn't reacting in a typical fashion. She didn't even push away the ice pack. So I got to spend the remainder of my evening in the ER watching the Olympics with my other kids. Actually, for an ER visit, we might have had the best time ever. There was NOBODY else there when we arrived, so she got right in basically. The did an MRI and she's fine. There was a minimum of crying babies. Folks started to arrive as we were waiting and one person noted that she was the oldest of 12 and the her family looked like ours did when they would show up to the ER periodically. I take that as a high compliment.
All in all, we got home around 11 and I was asleep by 12. A long day, a memorable day. But I can't say if it was a good or bad day. Maybe it's best seen as something to survive, not to judge.

I'm now the parent of two, count 'em, two state champions

The last weekend of July was the Age-Based State Championship Crit. Joseph did ok, Emily got out there and worked hard. She finished last, but because she was the only 10-12 yr. old girl who pinned on a number, she's the State Champion. She's bashful about it, but that's her third race to win while coming in dead last. And those are the only races so far this year that have included a 10-14 girls competition, ok, until the TT this last weekend. She's done fine. It's hard for her to really feel like she's competing when there's no competition though. Next year, her younger sister will be turning 10, meaning that she will have that real competition. Allison is a skinny little thing (her 7 year old brother is only four lbs lighter) and has a power to weight ration out of this world. She could dominate if she has the determination. Emily really amazes me in that she can be very intense. A Sunday School teacher termed it "passionate." I don't think cycling is yet her passion (she doesn't practice much) because she has to do it on her own (nobody else there her age or gender). But if she gets going, zowie, I think she'll go whole hog. The competition thing from her younger sister might do the trick.
The race was on the north side of Denton. Nice organization. I sat down with the officials and went over the results for a good 20 to 30 minutes before we had something that I think all of the parents were OK with. Scoring a Jr. crit is probably one of the hardest things to do in cycling, something I think I've blogged about before. Very hot out there, over 100 for the later races. Joseph got 8th I think. About right for him, he felt OK out there. Special thanks to Christian Williams for following Emily on her first lap. At the last second, Joseph points out that he left his water in the car. I told Em to give him one of her two bottles, so she unclips both feet and pulls out a bottle for him. Meanwhile, another racer (hopefully a teammate) gives him a bottle and the official blows his whistle, starting the race. Emily has to put the bottle back in her cage and clip back in. Christian (the promoter) is there on his bike and rides next to her the whole first lap, giving her a little push to start and then watching over her to make sure she's ready. Props to you for being a thoroughly guy.
This past weekend was the State Time Trials down near Houston. We took seven kids from TBI plus one stowaway from another team. Got there late Friday night to my sister's house. They just had their fourth kid (their kids are 13, 3, 18 mo., and 5 weeks) and they let us crash on their floor. Thanks Leah and Chris. You guys rock. We got the kids late there on Sat AM. I parked at the old registration location instead of the new. I misjudged how long it would take us to get out of the car and get ready, and I also misjudged how many parking spaces would be available at the start/finish two miles away, so the kids all started their TT's late. Sorry guys, my bad. I think we might have had a medal in the 10-14 if we had been there earlier or if I had parked at the s/f. All the 10-14 guys were at least a minute or two behind. One of the Jr. Open guys had a nice TT, the other had a mechanical. All in all, we were hacked. We came back to my sisters, showered, and took off for pizza. Then we went to Ganter Mtn, a gigantic outdoorsy-type store. If you've ever been to Bass Pro or Cabela's, you know the kind of store I'm talking about. The guys decide to play tag there for about 45 minutes, hiding in amongst the camo gear or the fishing tackle. Amazing. We just let them have fun. We got up the next AM even earlier and parked before the registration table was set up. Those guys were ready to start on time. The older (Jr. open) team had a mixup though. Probably my mistake. The officials were determined to have four persons start the race, even though we only had three teammates there. We scrounged around and asked Avery Visser, a triathlete from Austin if she would join the team. All she had to do was roll across the start line, she didn't have to try to finish. She might have toasted some of those guys, from what I hear she's pretty good. I got her registered on the team and she was going to the start line when the Jr. 10-14 guys finished and one of them rolled across the line with the Jr. Open team. I still pitched it to the promoter to include her in the final results and I think they saved a State Championship medal for her.
In the end, both of our teams won their respective divisions and the all came home with State Championship medals. Some of them bought State Champ jerseys there (individual TT winners get them for free, and only winners can get them). I have a mind to make some phone calls to see if I can get both of them some jerseys.

Time Trial map to My sister's house

OK, the plan is that we're meeting at the Mueller's, in Arlington, at 3:30. We should have plenty of space (2 Suburban's worth) and we should have racks for all 7 bikes. Here's the map to my sister's house.

If you need to call me, give me a buzz. If you don't know my number, then I don't think I want you to call.

I'll include a map from Leah's to the TT registration soon.

Funny

I had to put this in, it's got Steven Colbert referencing torture and cycling. Definitely belongs on this blog.



Hat tip to Mark Shea who references Feddie at Southern Appeal.

I think he can hear him now...

I haven't seen this on TV, but I think it would make a funny spot. From all the TV angles, it looks like something VZW made in-house.

Oooohhh, the irony...

A plane carrying some TX congressmen makes an emergency landing b/c they are loosing cabin pressure. Why are so many TX Congressmen on the same flight? Well, they are all hurrying back to Washington to make a vote on a bill for, wait for it, wait for it...

Airline safety.

Nope, if I made this stuff up, nobody would believe it.

When the shop ride goes horribly, horribly wrong...

You see headlines like this.

Forgive me for putting this up. Language warning.

I wish I could have thought of this, H/T to Mark Shea, who had a H/T for Fr. Eric who got it from his Secretary.

This is hilarious

I check out Sitemeter often. It's a service that tells me how many hits I've had, as well as a general idea of where they are from, and how they got here. Today's hit? Ok, there was only one, but it was from someone in Germany inquiring about Leader Bikes. The link they used was from google.de, so it offered a chance to translate my page into German. To see my works translated into German is funny to me. I have to try it in French next.

Von Blogs und Bullen. It just rolls off the tongue.

When Priests just need to shut up

Tonight we went to Mass at St. George's.  It's the latest one here locally and it's a small congregation and a very small church.  Very cozy in my opinion.  I've never seen more than fifty people there and that doesn't look dwarfed by the size of the worship space.  I like that.  I like a small congregation.  I like the fact that I see the same faces there week after week.  Fr. Dan Kelley is great.  I met him when I first came to Fort Worth and he's not afraid to speak intelligently in a sermon.  He doesn't water things down and will bring in multiple scripture references to bring home a point.  Unfortunately he's away this month and they've had to rely on guest priests to preside on Sundays.  Today was a Vietnamese priest, I don't know his name (although I do know it wasn't Fr. Hoa Nguyen.  He's frickin' awesome.  And he has a sweet jump shot) and the Gospel reading was about the harvest and the Lord of the Harvest.  Fr. Whatshisname decides that his point needs to be about how Priests are needed, even if they are of different genders.  Yuck.  His logic was weak [1) Jesus was forced to choose men as his apostles, because, you know, the Lord of Creation, Time and Space was subject to that backwards, misogynist Jewish sexism and all, no way around it for him, poor guy and 2) women are the ones running all the religious ed and such and 3) if there's still people who need to hear the good news, then why aren't we getting everyone involved? OK, so women are already so involved that we need to open up stuff to get them involved ] and his personal "testimony" was even weaker (I got asked at an exit oral interview what I thought and I had to think about it and say "why not?").  But the point is not the fallacies that permeate this "logic" or the thread of clericalism that clouds his thinking (the only ones who can truly be harvesters are the ones with the white collars on) that's my real point.  He's welcome to have bad ideas.  He's even welcome to discuss them theologically to a point (although Pope JP the Great said that the matter was settled and further discussion would be pointless and, in fact, plain disobedience), but is it appropriate fodder for a homily in front of the faithful?  I'm not saying that all homilies need to be safe, or that they need to make me feel good.  In fact, I think priests should make me feel quite uncomfortable.  They should challenge me.  But when the door to discussion in formal theological settings has been closed, you don't open it up without appropriate safeguards.  You might actually consider things that I would consider quite heretical but you don't go about abusing your position as a priest by bringing them up in a homily.  There were many times I dealt with folks in churches (Directors of RE, RE teachers, Youth Ministers) who didn't agree with this or that aspect of Church teaching.  They always knew, however, that they represented Holy Mother Church and that they needed to say "the Church teaches that ..." and, if they were pressed, "well, I have to say that I believe ..., but I'm not the Church.  You have to make your own decision."  When I disagree with something my employer does, I will probably vent to my wife, depending on how it affects me.  I might discuss it at work, but you won't catch me going in front of a group as a designated representative and saying something contrary to the company line.  If they do something that I consider illegal or immoral, then yeah, I might alert the media, but I'm probably turning in my notice the same week.  When Fr. Whatshisname got up there, he was representing the Church and in fact, Christ.  If he disagrees with what the Church says, he should have free reign of conscience, but not of public action, or of plain disobedience.  Sometimes, priests just need to shut up.

Bringing home hardware

Today we went to downtown Dallas for the Matrix Challenge Crit.  Joseph and Emily both raced.  This is Emily's first weekend race ever.  She's done some Jr. races at the Wednesday night Crits in FW, but those are really short circuit races.  There isn't a corner on that course.  Today's course was all right angles in almost a figure eight.  They had only a few guys sign up for the Jr. Open so they threw that in with the young 'uns and they also had a 10-14 Girl's category.  Emily was the only entrant, so she has a foot-tall trophy to show for her efforts.  Joseph was up against 8 other guys, he got 4th, a real nice place.  He even won a prime for a set of really nice sunglasses.  Amazing place for him.  Especially considering he woke up this morning and couldn't fully extend his left knee.  I have no clue what's up with that, but I thought that he might be faking so I told him to tough it out.  He still can't put weight on it, but he can still spin so he rode fine.  Just no sprint, but he never needed it today.  Because I'm cheap, we took the train over to downtown big D and rode our bikes the last two miles and change to the race.  I thought that he would be able to work out whatever kinks he had in the knee in that slow ride.  The total fare was only eight bucks, which is less than what it would have cost in gas.  Plus we got to ride the train, which is an adventure in itself.  Even more, we were home by five.  I have been out of town off and on for the last few weekends for racing.  This is the first time in a while that we've raced and then been home the same day.  That in and of itself is a bonus beyond words.  I think I'm going upstairs to read a book.  A real book, with type on pages and everything.