I just sent an email out to my close friends. It's pasted below:
To my friends,
Please take the 2 minutes needed to finish my email. It’s not a forwarded ‘copy and pasted’ email. These are my own written words - some are gathered from media sources, but I put this email together myself.
I am not one to ask other people to get involved with things that I believe are important politically – because I know that I certainly don’t have the answers to much. This is not a political message. It's an American citizen message.
I have to tell you that I think that it’s important for us to let our opinions be known to the people who are about to make the decisions on bailing out these financial institutions by loaning OUR money to the tune of 700 billion dollars.
Once all of this financial ‘crisis’ info got intense in the national news, I decided it was time for me to find out for myself (not just get my info from the big news channels) what was going on.
I turned to my financial guru – Dave Ramsey. I got the quick simple rundown (as Dave is very good at) and got his opinion of what to do about it. Once I decided to contact (by email) my Senators and Congressman – it took me a total of 8 minutes to get my view to them. I streamlined it and made it even simple for you to do this – IF you agree with my opinion (the same as Dave Ramsey’s opinion). I don’t want to convince you of anything – rather – if you’re like me (and most Americans) you don’t know enough to form a complete opinion.
First of all – listen to Dave Ramsey’s simple breakdown of what’s going on by clicking below:
Here
After listening to that, if you think you can spare 8 minutes to try to keep your government from overspending your money, then follow my simple instructions below.
Find your Senators by clicking below and follow the links to send them an email form.
Here
copy and paste the message below: (as Dave said in the audio link above - this is already on the table in Washington and they'll know what it means- you're just not likely to hear it on the nightly news. It's not a new and 'unheard of' concept to your Congressmen)
Change the mark-to-market accounting law and extend insurance but extend no loans. If you extend loans - if you borrow the money on the national debt in order for us to all go into the mortgage business to the tune of a trillion dollars – I’m going to fire your butt and send you home.
Find your Representative by clicking below and doing the same thing:
Here
Contact the Senate Committee that’s dealing with this by clicking below and doing the same thing:
Here
A lot of crap that government does affects us in small ways. Of course all those small ways add up - but this is a BIG deal. Please form your own opinion - I'm not trying to convince you of anything - but if you've wondered what you can do about this mess - here's a easy chance for you to use your voice.
Feel free to use this in any way you want. If you want to send it to someone else, that's fine. If you have a blog and think it's important - chop it up and use it any way you want.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I promise that I won't make a habit of this.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Headed Home on Monday
After we finished breaking down the gear - post race - on Sunday, we drove to Philadelphia to stay in an "airport hotel". We often do this where the drive to the airport on monday morning would be tough. Dover is about 90 minutes from Philly, so it makes sense to stay near the airport instead of making the early morning drive.
We almost always stay in nice hotels: Hyatts, Sheratons, Marriotts etc, but occasionally we stay in really nice hotels. The airport hotel we stayed in Sunday night was the Renaissance. It had a really cool lobby as you can see above. I spent a total of 8 hours in the hotel - 6 of them asleep, so I didn't really get to take advantage of the luxury that it offered. Nice bed though.
The flight from Philly to Orlando sent me right over Winston-Salem - the town I grew up in. The weather was perfect so I was able to see the mountain I used to hang glide off of - to the north as well as my mom and dad's house to the south.
One of my favorite parts of living in Florida is the clouds that we get. This low cloudbase and benign cumulus clouds (that often give way to much less benign cumulus later in the day) is a routine sight.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Morning on Race Day
The morning of the race is my favorite time on this job. We've put in our 5 days of prep and have proven the day before that everything is working as well as we can plan on.
We head out to each camera location and do our final checks first thing in the morning and we're not in any hurry - unlike the other days of the week. After we get our camera resets done - we go back to the truck and wait the 5-6 hours until show time.
The work we do in motorsports is slightly this side of miraculous. There are so many parts integral to our show. The technology is amazing and the fact that we pull of a nearly flawless show each week is testament to the people who have had their hand in the final product - from the inception of the ideas - to the software and hardware design to the implementation of it in the field.
Just a single piece of the puzzle not cooperating at any given time can bring the whole thing down.
Our IAP (Internet Associate Producer) Jack, describes doing live television like this:
"Doing live TV is like that kitchen trashcan that you should have emptied 3 days ago and now it's completely overstuffed and stinking with some old food that's partially liquified in the bottom. You have to gently take the trashbag - full, misshapen and bulging with the sharp corners of rigid trash - out of the trashcan and then carry it all the way through your house - across your best carpet, out through the garage and to the dumpter. All the while, hoping the bag doesn't tear."
We almost always make it to the dumpster okay.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen
I'm taking advantage of some downtime at work to try to update the album artwork in my iTunes. If you don't know what that means - don't worry about it - I'm just explaining why I ran across the reason for my this blog post.
A few years back I downloaded a recording of Baz Luhrmann's address to a graduating class back in 1997. It's a great commencement speech and possibly you've heard it before. It's one worth dusting off every few years. I've put the words below. Worth reading.
Everybody's Free
(to wear sunscreen)
Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '97... wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be IT.
The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
You are NOT as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't, maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance. Even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
A few years back I downloaded a recording of Baz Luhrmann's address to a graduating class back in 1997. It's a great commencement speech and possibly you've heard it before. It's one worth dusting off every few years. I've put the words below. Worth reading.
Everybody's Free
(to wear sunscreen)
Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '97... wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be IT.
The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
You are NOT as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't, maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance. Even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
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