NASCAR On A Rainy Day in the BToS

Everyone's excited that Mark Martin won Saturday nite's NASCAR CUP race at Phoenix as a 50 year-old. My personal opinion is that Mark was exceptional all thru his driving career. I also believe that many other 50 year-old NASCAR drivers could have won recently. The problem has been the NASCAR team owner and sponsor fascination with 'kid drivers' for NASCAR's younger fans. You could use up all your fingers and toes counting the 'kid drivers' from the last 10 years that haven't been successful and are lost in a racing netherworld.

Many older drivers were jettisoned from top quality teams over the past 10 years so teams could bring on a new younger driver that fits TV's main demographic, those young 18-49 aged folks. Evidently, TV thinks these folks can't relate to old farts winning races. Put some of those older drivers in a top notch team, even today, and I suspect they'll run up front every day just as Mark Martin does; and, yes, maybe even win a race as they won't make those dumb 'kid mistakes' that an 18-year old like Joey Logano does.

Mark Martin initially decided to retire for several reasons, most personal. But, he also figured NASCAR CUP Racing was turning into a 'kid driver' playground for teams and sponsors and that his career was probably short-lived, so why not roll out while it was good and his reputation was still intact; he could afford it.

Mark played around doing part time driving seasons until his personal situation changed. His performances indicated he still had 'what it takes' and that he still had the 'want to' to enjoy driving a NASCAR CUP Car more than be retired. Rick Hendrick did the rest when he convinced Mark to go full-time in the '5' car. My take on it is that Mark Martin is an excellent model for older drivers...keep yourself in shape, have some fun and win some races. Don't let the TV demographics scare you out of a top-class ride!!!

Ponder it,
JD

One Of Those Days in the BToS

I'm the first to admit that I've gotten pretty lazy in my retired state. There are days when I feel I've been busy all day, but look around and can see nothing that I've accomplished. Do this, do that and pretty soon the day is shot and I feel like the little critter in this cartoon looks, a bit frazzled.

Yesterday was a day like that, but I did manage to spend about 3 hours in the afternoon playing with receipts, 1099s and other income tax related items. I finally managed to collect all the tax info in one location and fired up my new copy of Turbo Tax.

It went smoother than I thot it would. I notice Turbo Tax isn't as obnoxious as it used to be. The running counter telling me how much $$ I owe is much smaller than it used to be a few years back when it would jump out at you like a vampire in the night to suck your blood. Today it just says things like, "Hey there little guy, the feds are gonna want a little more of your money." instead of "We gotcha by the gonads!!!" The $$ is the same, but the presentation is softer/friendlier.

It appears I owe the feds more money and the Great State of Maryland (GSoMD) owes me some money. On balance I'll get back a bit more than I have to pay. If I'm smart, I'll set it up so the GSoMD pays me before the ON (Obama Nation) collects to pay for the stimulus package. I can be smart at times even at my advanced age...or would it be smarter to owe both??? I'll let you decide that one!

I have to tell you that by 4:30, I was chilled clear thru with my fingers and toes so cold they were almost falling off. The house was warm and I was dressed warm, but I felt COLD. At first I figured it was 'cause old farts like me usually lose a bit of circulation in their extremities.

I gotta figure that my chilled state came from the ON sneaking in and causing Turbo Tax to take all that extra money from me. Even though the GSoMD was gonna give some back, the thought of the ON taking more money chilled me clear thru. My fingers and toes felt exposed to the cold just like the cartoon critter!

All I can say is; make sure you dress warmly when you crank up your Turbo Tax, cause no matter how warm and cheery it looks on the monitor, it can and likely will be a chilling experience!

JD

Christmas is over; is winter here?

Do you get a warm feeling from the above image? Come Friday all the revelry of the holiday season will be gone and winter will be upon us. Even tho the winter solstice is behind us and the daylight hours are increasing each day, the next eight weeks or so are typically the coldest of the year here in the BToS (Big Town of Savage).

When I was a kid, I was a winter person. Somewhere between sleigh riding as a child and becoming a retired 'old fart' I lost my interest in winter. I basically dislike extremes...and I almost forgot, it could have been from getting shot in the butt by Dickie when I was sledding down his driveway. He was watching from his porch with a BB gun in his hands. Anybody that tells ya getting shot in the ass with a BB gun doesn't hurt, is lying. I hurried home after that for some of my momma's 'feel-good' and a visit with Cookie.

The Big Town of Savage has moderate winters with snowfall varying year to year. The last few years have brought us practically no snowfall. Heck, my ol' snow blower was just crying for attention one really nice day back in early November. Those handles and controls just shouted "start me and let my veins breathe". Bowing to the need to verify that it would run at the first snowfall, I set all the controls and gave 'er some fresh gasoline with a bit of that stuff that keeps 'er gasoline veins from clogging up (Sta-Bil). She was happy and fired on the first pull. Even Crazy Ray was tickled when she kicked off.

Spring brings full-growth, plants just go crazy; grow, grow, grow, that's all they do. Most ladies seem to enjoy spring with the flowers blooming. They love buying new annuals and working in their gardens, some even planting some veggies for summer harvest. Personally, I don't like a lot of growth...spring wears me out; I no sooner mow and the yard yells at me to "mow again you lazy bastard!" I just can't take it too long!!! Good thing about spring is that NASCAR is in full swing!!!

Summer is hot and usually humid here in the BToS. I end up spending an inordinate amount of time inside with the AC humming away. Summer outdoors ain't my thing. Beaches ain't my thing either. The ol' Valkyrie beckons sometimes early Sunday mornings and I can't resist a quick run up thru some of the local central Maryland back roads, all the while dodging the go-fast church-goers in mini vans and SUVs.

No, when I evaluate all the seasons, I think I'm more of an autumn guy. Autumn is a fun time, especially with some beautiful day trips or a week-long road trip on The Valk. I definitely luv autumn. Mowing slows, and little grows, with plants at the end of their growing cycle. I think the main reason I relate best to autumn is that it's akin to the season I find myself in personally.

JD

PS - Here's the '01 Valkyrie during warmer times; better known to me as 'The Valk'!

Retirees Shopping at Costco

There are a few idiosyncrasies that I've noticed since retiring. One of the more interesting is that Costco doesn't open on weekdays until 10:00 AM. As a matter of fact, except for grocery stores and Wal-Mart, and maybe Target, most stores seem to be on the 10 AM shift. Why is that?

Most of the morning rush hour traffic around here has died down by 8:30, kids are already in school and hockey/soccer moms are back home from ferrying kids to school (nobody rides the school bus around here). Most of the home service and construction folks are already on the job and the only menace on the road is the local delivery trucks (many of those drivers around here don't even speak English, much less read road signs).

Around 11:30 traffic is becoming hurried and hectic again and tends to become disheveled when office workers decide to go out to lunch (and there are a whole lot of them in central Maryland). Most don't really eat lunch, they have urgent errands to run and clog the local roads with traffic since they often get lost without their GPS to find XYZ shop. At least rush hour traffic knows where it's going, lunch traffic is just plain scary!

I guess retirees in general aren't one of Costco's main demographics; you know, really big spenders! Why did I even noticed this phenomenon? I'll tellya why. The only real quiet time on the roads on Monday thru Friday during the school year is from about 8:30-11:30 AM. So by the time I make my quiet tour of Costco and start back home, it's already 11:30, the roads are going crazy and the whole morning is shot.

So basically, I'd like to be able to visit Costco to spend my 'modest' sum (does anyone shop modestly at Costco?) of money and maybe run some other errands and then get back home before the 11:30 office-worker, banzai runs. Is it too much to ask that Costco (and Sam's for that matter) open earlier, maybe 9 AM on weekdays??? I don't really care what they do on weekends...I don't shop on weekends. When kids are out of school and folks aren't working, traffic isn't safe.

Ponder it.

JD