Monday, February 19, 2007

'Essential Michael Schenker Group'



I was having dinner with Dianna at Chili’s on High Point Rd. last Saturday night. As we conversed and drank our own tubs of alcohol, I noticed a young couple sitting across from me. She was the typical college girl type who smokes. A girl I would quickly put my money on if she were to get into a fight. Her boyfriend (I’m assuming here), had the typical urbo-white-boy-hip-hopster look. The clothes were loose and baggy, earrings in each ear, sculpted and close cropped stubble, along with the dead giveaway… The baseball cap worn backwards. He too smoked. He didn’t exactly sit upright, he more or less slumped. He looked like a tough guy. But look and see what he was sipping on…



Not exactly a manly drink and to top it off, he used a straw to drink with.

I watched Kelly Clarkson sing a few tunes before the start of the Great American Race. She was in great form and she kicked a little ass. The winds were strong and Ms. Clarkson was wearing a loose halter top. I was praying and hoping for a “wardrobe malfunction”. Where in the hell is Justin Timberlake when you REALLY need him?

The Daytona 500 started off kind of boring, but business picked up with 50 laps to go. Race winner favorites Tony Stewart and “Jerk” Busch took each other out in a wreck not of their faults. It ended like NASCAR races should… With a photo finish and wrecked cars sliding across the finish line. Kevin Harvick beat Mark Martin by a yard or so to win the race.

There were added bonuses too! Fox Sports showed 90 countries a replay of a race car running over and crushing a pit crew member’s foot. It was incredible and painful to watch, but I’d watch it again. The finish of the race featured a car crossing the finish line on its roof and bursting into flames. The driver, Clint Boyer, escaped without injury and finished 18th.

Robby Gordon (Jim Beam Ford) finished 14th.

I haven’t bothered to look to see where my fantasy drivers ended up. This is the first time in about 4 years that I’ve bothered with a NASCAR fantasy league. I don’t have that many friends who are into NASCAR. The ones that are into it, well I don’t travel in that pack anymore. The history of the situation involves a woman that I was going to marry and a guy that I once considered a friend. It all ended up sort of like an episode of Cheaters.

And over the years, I have learned about the importance of forgiveness. There is no more hatred in my heart for either of them, but that doesn’t mean that I want to hang out with them.

So imagine my surprise when Kim asked me to join her NASCAR fantasy league where I knew HE would be. The first thing Kim typed up in her invitation was… You don’t have to talk to each other.

I’ve gotten to where I don’t care when it comes to those two. As I see it, he did me a huge favor. She was one of the most negative people that I have ever known and he took that negative element out of my life forever. I should be thanking him!

As for my truck Roxy… The Kernersville Ford dealership is replacing my engine, but there was still some miscommunication with the folks that work there. Again, I felt as if I was being insulted every time someone spoke to me. It even went as far as to where one of the owners, that I’ll call “Mr. Hoods”, showed his true professionalism and maturity by insulting me over the phone and then hanging up on me.

“Mr. Hoods” said that I should “move to Japan” and that I should “support the economy” and buy American. According to the paperwork that came with my truck, Roxy was made mostly in Mexico. “Mr. Hoods” knows this and if he doesn’t, then he doesn’t know squat about the products he’s selling. Not only was he trying to make me feel guilty about buying a better product with a Japanese stamp on it (that product is made in the U.S.A. by the way), he insulted my understanding of economic globalization. He was preying on the fact that I was an idiot and that I don’t understand all that complicated stuff. And that tells me one thing… “Mr. Hoods” must think that ALL his customers are morons.

Those guys are really cementing my idea of never buying a vehicle from them or from Ford for the rest of my life. I went there because the last Ford dealership treated me like excrement as well.

More to come…

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:55 PM

    First off, that dude's drink...maybe he figured the large size of the glass made up for it's extreme girlishness. Though, in reality, the largeness works against him by announcing to all within site "Look at what I'm drinking! Excuse me for a minute, while I move the tiny umbrella and pineapple chunks out of the way."

    As for the 500, It was smooth sailing for me, until that wreck that took out 3/4s of my Racing Pool picks. Plus, the fact that I had the 2 and 20 in both the Pool ($) and the League (no $)meant that I was double screwed on that one. It was not the best start to a season, at all. The driver I had on the bench (9) scored more points that 2 of the others combined! Even the 12, who I had in nothing, ended on a bad note. The only things that saved it from being a total bust were that Tony, Dale and Jimmie all crashed... that always makes me happy.

    Man, what is up with those service people? I mean, I'm no believer in "The customer's always right" but it seems they are taking it to the other extreme. I was going to make a joke about his head being "like a rock" then I Googled and saw that that was Chevy's slogan. The joke died, but I was so proud of what it would have been.

    And finally, did you hear about Mike Awesome? It seems like every few weeks another wrestler dies, but that was totally unexpected.

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  2. Kim,

    My drivers faired very well, didn't they? I ended up in second place with a healthy amount of points... 395. Next week is going to be the tough week for me. I don't care much for the California track, but I will do my homework.

    No, I didn't hear about Mike Awesome. But then again, he never did much for me. I never thought of him as "Awesome". I do hate to hear that he has died.

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  3. Anonymous6:14 PM

    Man, my fantasy squad sucked balls, except for that Harvick guy. As much as it pains me to see the 01 not win the 500, I will however take a "W" over my sibling. Take that Charlie Murphy!!!


    Any man who drinks with a straw is not a man. In fact, he may even be a girl.

    R.I.P. Mike Awesome. You were somewhat tolerable when hanging with Lance Storm.

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  4. Anonymous6:29 PM

    For the record, I was up against you in the league this week. You won because a lot of my people were in the big wreck before the end of the race. Sad times for me.

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  5. Anonymous6:43 PM

    Now even Tina is on here? It's craziness! And, for the record, I had the worst Fantasy League Team of all.. I had two drivers that, together, did not even get 100 points. How sad is that?

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  6. Anonymous11:56 PM

    it's a family affair...

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