sports

what has happened to pro sports? hearing all this brett favre/manny ramirez crap turns my stomach. i remember growing up, players stayed with the same team, contracts were negociated behind closed doors and it seems like the games meant more than a paycheck!
but, back then there were no x games, all sports weren't "funked" out, all basketball commecials seem like gang callings, all mcdonald's commercials involve hip hop. whatever, not my cup of tea!

i hear ryan newman will be #4 for stewart-haas in 2009, smoke's cars look pretty sharp, altho i'm kinda partial to orange these days but hell i pull for jj!!!!!

going running today in the 99 degree weather, should be a gooden!

stay cool; in everyway!
Rodney

summer heatwave

i worked in my warehouse yesterday, then went and played golf @ 5PM, man it was hot!
i noticed out on course a couple of water areas that look shallow, we really need a gullywasher around here!
today seems to be a good day to lay low, i think that will be the plan today, get work out of the way and go home & enjoy the fam, sounds like a good idea.
why are people so damn wacked out? a church shooting? the one place that should be a safe haven and this crap goes down, some people are really pieces of garbage...
its time for me to start my regular traing routine, i've been testing slowly, i did 10 miles last week, its all good, need to get my belly back in shape, my hips are expanding!
need to wake up earlier, sure is nice, dark & cold @ our crib, thus, i oversleep.
ok now you know my plans, you can sleep @ ease!

later,
Rodney

weekend ends

it sure was good to see the stands packed @ THR saturday nite, looked like the old romco days.
#7 had an ok night, second in the heat is good, 5th in the main before i took myself out, dad was ill so i was in charge of set up, thats all i have to say! anyway i got a lot of accolades regarding the 360 on the backstretch, i have to admit i bet that did look pretty bad ass, hey i'm an entertainer. hats off to my cuz Fred Tello, does a hell of a job on race day.. good shadow to have!
9th place is good all things considered, we'll take it and get better for the next time.
Brickyard 400? one word, disappointed, i expect better, that race is never very good but sunday's was pathetic. and it only gets better this week, pocono! i think i'll set up a tee time for sunday afternoon.
looks like its going to cool off later in the week to about 97-98, should be nice, looking forward to that........ also, my good buddy Tracy "REDD" Sommers is healing well, we're praying for you darlin', I have some cold Bud Light ready for you when you feel the time is right. Beer & prayers in the same sentence? sorry, i guess that's ok ain't it?

alright, tackle the world & kick ass,
Rodney

TGIF

well we're primed and ready for THR Saturday nite, looks like the weather will be hot, plenty of time to dry out. should be fun, hope to see many friends out there, come see us in the pits if you don't see me in the stands at some point.
Brickyard 400 Sunday on ESPN, good weekend for racing.

check in on Sunday for my thoughts on Saturday nite's action.....

Have a great weekend,
Rodney

DOLLYgee

what a mess on the Texas coast! Dolly was sure pissed off when she got here, my thoughts and prayers are with evryone down there. I tip my cap to Keri Bellacosa of Fox 7, here report last night was really good and it looks like she had a long stressful day...
Dad found a couple of issues on the #7, kinda explains some of the issues we had the last part of the feature on 7/12, I think we should be pretty good on Saturday, may be a fun show along with TSRS, action starts @ 7PM.
my kids and I sure love our trampoline, that thing is a good workout, already planning an adult party @ some point, I have to remember; I JUST HEALED MY FOOT I JUST HEALED MY FOOT!!!!!
it's raining in north austin, may i forgot what that stuff looked like!
gotta jet for now, gonna go get wet!!!! (OUCH!!!!!)

P&L,
Rodney

+++++++++ STEP ??????

as I have mentioned, my golf game sucks.... BUT I went out and played 18 @ Blackhawk yesterday and for the first time took some positives from the outing! I won't go into detail but I'm thinking there's hope, maybe?
Found out today that our race @ THR Saturday is the last one on the card, I hate that but oh well, when you run in the best class, that's part of the glory I reckon, hopefully the Sizzlin VII is hittin good this week.

meeting dsl guy today, maybe my home internet will be fixed!

Rodney

back 2 it again

what a good weekend, we had a trampoline that needed to be put up for over a year, got that done, eliminating my backyard! man that thing is fun, I love to bounce my kids!
too bad for Greg Norman yesterday huh? sunday sure is uneventful w/o sprint cup racing, even though the racing lacks substance, i sure like the noise, looks like on to espn for the brickyard, good better than tnt at least!!!!
thats about all i have, listened to good church service sunday, about the man upstairs having long range plans for each of us, we all need to remember that when times get tough!!!!!

Rodney

weekend

well it is upon us again and it feels nice to have no firm plan, maybe some selling in tomorrow?
BUT with active 8 & 6 year olds not likely.
that's ok, it's all good.... we are watching "College Road Trip" tonight, I'm actually looking forward to that.
I love being a dad, its the best job in the world, when I see other dad's that make themselves useless to their children & mother's of their children it sure strikes a nerve, I'd give all my limbs for my family, it sure seems to be odd, another, I don't babysit my kids!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!!!
ok, I am certainly not the perfect dad or most responsible person, but I sure do try to do right for my wife & kids, I love them all so much and feel so bad when I let them down in any way at all.
OK, enough grey, let's smile & love strong always!
P&L,
Rodney

THE GRIND

anyone remember back when there was time to do things? I don't, it always seems like there aren't enuff hours to accomplish the day's tasks, last night; run, run, run; it seems before we knew it the time had gotten to 9:20PM and we had 2 little girls with chlorine hair! rush to the tub!
this am, miss my morning run by oversleeping, get everything loaded up, get to work with a pile of shit waiting here already, and people lined up with issues, many of them not of my doing, then a co worker ready for me to a a ride along to pick up some tooling, we get stopped by Pflugerville PD on the way & ticketed! back here another line of problems, an e mail from a friend telling me how she has no time anymore, AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
now I see if I keep blogging I may miss my chance to eat lunch!!!

gotta go.....
Love long, love well....
Rodney

Beach

man I wish I was there, I was thinking this AM as I was driving that it would be so cool to be hangin' by the waves, but then I'm not sure I want to rob savings to afford the fuel.
I'm getting pretty excited, it's almost football season, my poor wife really needs a room to herself, if it's not motors revving then it will be "hut hut"! now I put her to sleep watcing golf, speaking of that; way to go Paula Creamer this past weekend, she shot a 60 one round!

Ok, back to the grind.... foots holding up pretty good, did 2.5 last night, hopefully 8/31/08 will be on track, the NIKE run for me, great cause.....

Live smart,
Rodney

PS- Sizzin 7 hero cards coming soon, got the draft from Deb Williams this morning, car's pretty, driver? well..... not so much, but hey, the CARS R the STARS!!!!

Saturday Night Fever

well, we pulled out a heat race @ THR Saturday night, Duane Toyne is the ultimate racer in my opinion; he sure raced us hard and too clean en route to that win, I really like that dude!
in the main we led, but lost the handle about 1/2 way through, still got 6th but need to work on set up & brakes, looking forward to the 28th, I think we will make that show.
Wanna hear some shit, after 4 weeks of rehab on my damaged left foot, I hit the pavement Sunday afternoon for a 2 mile training run, along the way, 2 cars with some punk kids threw water ballons @ me! I hate to admit but I stopped & picked up 2 nice size rocks HOPING they would come back and try to hit me, I cannot stand the lack of respect young people show these days. Growing up (and still) I was a hellraiser but I completly respect elders, young people today lack that, yesterday I really thought a couple of ass-whoopings would solve the issue. They lucked out and never came back. I'm not a tyrant, but this really irritates me, my Dad raised me way too well to understand why kids act that way.
OK, off my soapbox, hope everyone has a great week!

Live hard, be smooth:
Rodney

READY 4 A WEEKEND

I shot a 113 @ Star Ranch last night, not very impressive BUT I sure see some improvement in my game, I guess I'll keep on but not quite ready to buy a 400.00 set of stix! We sure are looking forward to getting back on the track tomorrow night @ THR in Kyle, We've been off over a month, the joy of a limited schedule! But I am eager to get out and play with the rest of the boys (and girl) of the ASA A Line Auto Super Stocks. I hope to get a few of the "sexy sizzlers" out to watch, it sure helps me to know there are some folks out there to cheer us on, My Dad Ben & Uncle Martin Tello sure do put a great car out there for us to compete with, hopefully our pretty good 08 continues, our Chevy Camaro sure has been good this year.
Tracy & I are free tonight, funny though when our girls are gone it sure is quiet, I miss them when they aren't there.
I hope everyone has a great weekend, check back in for what I really thought about THR on Sunday!
PS-if you want to be a "sexy sizzler" just show up, you can be a dude, find my hot wife & sit with her, like Mack Brown says; "come early, be loud, stay late, wear HUGGAR orange with pride!

Be safe & hug someone you love,
Rodney

Texas Heat

well, I'm in a pickle, I have a round of golf today, expected high temp, 97 degrees.
THR Saturday, expected high 100 degrees. BUT, these are my hobbies, I don't have to do them, if I weren't doing these deals, I'd be out on a 5 mile run, I guess I just thrive on this now, that's good otherwise I'd be home on my ass!!!
#14, Tony Stewart, #20, someone else; man I have to let that sink in, altho I've almost forgotten Dale Jr. used to be another #!!!!
Did anyone hear Jesse Jackson? man there have been times one of my kids says something in public and I want the floor to swallow me up but what was that dude thinking????? Geez louise, that's downright assenine...
But oh well, another day..

Lots to do P&L,
Rodney

RAIN/REFLECTING ON RACING

well we finally got some yesterday, which is good beacause my water bill is getting crazy trying to revive my lawn. it looks like the sizzlin 7 will reappear for sure this weekend @ THR, should be exciting, its tough to race these days but the sad deal is that the track needs as many people there as possible, in the pits and in the seats. this economy is so jacked up that racing suffers really bad, bad thing is many say this was a make or break year for our local track.
I grew up at austin speed o rama southeast of austin, that place always seemed to have full pits and stands as well, all buying plenty of beer & nachos, times have changed, its just not affordable anymore. my semi-comeback this year has been fun, we had a goal to win a heat race by the end of the year, we did that the second night the car was on the track, the super stock class is very competitive, in my opinion, the most exciting around here; I said that even when i was retired.
it's really cool to race with most of those guys and gals out there.
but looking back, the landscape of local racing around here has changed, its very odd for me to keep up with scene around here and not have san antonio speedway in the mix. my dad raced there and we made that haul many times in my early years, people laugh at me because i didn't see many movies in the 80's-90's, if there would have been portable dvd's back then i would have, that 95 mile trip one way to southeast bexar county would have kept me on track, no bitchin' here though, all those memories of sas/hwy 16 outweigh any movies in my mind. i miss that old place...
i have nascar thoughts, i'll save that for later....

peace & love to all,
Rodney

MONDAY

i'll keep it short, here we go again. we need a better way to go green, white, checkard.
My golf game still sucks.

Rodney

HAPPY 4TH!!!!!!!!

I slept in today, no kids @ home, AC cranked way down..... it felt great. After going to the Y yesterday and logging 4 miles and sitting in the sauna for 1/2 an hour, apparently I was pooped!
Then we came home and layed around all day, makes me glad that I will never be able to afford to retire, I'm not used to lounging so much.. unless it involves Young and the Restless
Today is such a cool day, this is one holiday I truly love, a real reason to celebrate, your country, doesn't get much better. Seems like most other holidays; halloween even XMAS are so commercialized! I like today & Thanksgiving, too bad there's not NFL on today. But I did see Busch (thats 1.00) and Cup qualifing. The Busch (2.00) guys is pretty new, young dude, can't remember his name, Paul Menard on the Cup side, the race tonight is going to be bad ass I have a feeling.
Mark Martin, with my boys @ Hendrick in 09, with Jr & Mark all the haters are going to HAVE to root the good guys on, like I have always said, can't hate a couple of racers for being able to speak well & not us the word "uh" all the time, he'll fit in perfect, even qualified 2nd for tomorrow. DEI working hard, apparently too hard, Martin Truex I guarantee you will leave now to partner with Smoke @ Haas CNC after that nonsense yesterday, pretty bad when they take your car away. He has too much talent to waste with Teresa, now he'll miss the Chase for sure..
I have to go, going to a fireworks show, during a drought, wait, I asked that the other day!!
Hittin' the links for 18 tomorrow w/ a couple of cool dudes, should be a blast!

Be safe & pray hard!
Rodney

LONG WEEKEND

well, its finally upon us, I have been waiting since the Tuesday after Memorial Day for this happy day! a celebration of the good ol' USA! a good time to grab some r&r, have a cool one, hit the links and watch some NASCAR.
let's hope we get some rain, that would be the cappa!
It would be nice to travel, but man I can't afford to pay for fuel, anyway, I won't go off on that soapbox, does no good to bitch about it..
I realized something last night, I apparently cannot put a sentence together without one of 2 words, "dude" or "man". I called AT&T to order a replacement modem for home, the dude (see that) on the other end of the line was completly entertained with my choice of words, at one point upon the conclusion of our conversation, it went like this:

ATT guy- "Have I taken care of your issue, and are you satisfied with our service"??
M.E.- "you got it DUDE, all good my MAN" (apparently these were used often, my lovely wife affirmed I use them often, even speaking to her)
you would think he was watching Anchor Man from his response! glad to entertain you dude!
maybe I'll get a credit on my next bill....
so, I guess I overuse those words, but oh well, what to do what to do...

alright, time to start the day, be safe and happy as always if you see a veteran, shake their hand, they put their ass on the line for us...

Rodney

slap in the face

I was really pissed off this morning with my work; I mean really pissed! One of these deals where you are so mad that you cannot see straight and all the colors look black and white.
Then I get a message from a good friend who is going through a rough time, some stuff just doesn't make sense.
But to me, thanks to him, I realized really quick that these small insignificant daily BS things matter not, especially when the things that do count, family, friends are all in tact.

I'm not so pissed anymore, the day seems brighter now, even though the professional stuff has not been corrected...... it's all good.

Rodney

GAS PRICES/NASCAR- BOTH BIG $

last night I sent to get fuel, I usually say fill up but lately I go buy fuel. for 65.00 I got my truck close to the "F" on the gas gauge. if anyone can tell me a way to get from round rock to north austin on a bike by avaiding 35 and arrivng safely please reply, this is murder!!!
looking to see about fireworx in for for the 4th, although if there is a burn ban, how in the hell are people having fireworx displays.
I can't wait for the Coke 400 @ Daytona Saturday night, I'm a racer but when these deep pocket people tear one of their 20cars up, I love it!!!!! Let me go on record, Jaime McMurray will not repeat this year......... I'm betting a long shot though, for some reason Casey Mears keeps popping into my mind, my man Bobby LaBonte too. Terry, you are my man, but please get out of that 45!
regardless, the coolies will be happenin' on my deck for this event, should be a blast, other than having to listen to the TNT crew, except for Lindsay Czarniak, she's the exception.
Enough of all of this, go forward and straight ahead!

P&L,
Rodney