I just returned from my trip that my friend Jeff won. He basically won a trip that was sponsored by Alltel that included an all expenses paid trip to Charlotte for ten of his friends to compete in a pit-stop challenge that centered around the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race. The winners of the pit challenge won $200,000 and as you guessed it, we didn't even come close to winning. We had a blast. I flew out of Columbus on Thursday and arrived in Charlotte mid afternoon. Alltel booked us rooms at the Westin and we had dinner at the hotel in one of the ballrooms. After dinner my group, which consisted of several friends of mine from High School, Jeff's (the winner) girlfriend and a couple of other people he has met since moving to Columbus, we went to a giant street fair called Speed Street. The street fair was a great place to people watch and I'm sure that we were definitely watched once we had several beers. We then went to a couple of bars to end the evening.
On Friday morning, we had breakfast again in the ball room and were then taken to Pit Instruction and Training, LLC where they taught us all about NASCAR pit changes and we were able to practice. I'm not a huge race fan (not a fan at all) but the pit instruction was a blast. I ended up having the job of jack man which entailed jacking up the right side of the car, removing the rear right tire and removing it from the pit area. I then lowered the car on the right side after the tires were changed and then ran to the left side of the car with the 35 pound one pump jack and lifted the left side. Once all the tire were changed, I lowered the car and got the jack out of the way so the car could take off. Professional crews can change 4 tires and completely fuel the car in 13 seconds! You get a much better appreciation of what happens in the 13 seconds after you attend pit training. All I can say is 13 seconds is amazing. The fasted time that we could muster in practice was about 43 seconds. Once we were done with practice and lunch, we were taken on a tour of The Penske Racing Facility. The facility was impressive. The building is 400,000 square feet of nothing but racing. The facility houses office, fab shops, engine building machinery, engineering, visitor's center and basically everything you need to operate 2 NASCAR teams, two Indy teams and and an American Le Mans team. This place is really cool! We then headed back to the hotel and went out for the evening.
We headed back out to Speed Street Friday night and saw Loverboy. Loverboy is not as good as they used to be or as good as we thought they used to be! After the concert, we had a few more beers and headed back to the hotel.
On Saturday we were taken back to The Penske Facility and the contest winners participated in a Go-Kart race. The winners raced against Ryan Newman's time (he is the driver of the Alltel car) and if you beat his time you were rewarded a second off the pit stop time. Needless to say, no one beat his time. Jeff ended up at 20.8 seconds and Ryan's time was in the 18 second range.
After the go-kart race it was time for the pit-stop challenge. We first got to see a professional pit crew do a live change and it was smokin fast! We ended up doing out stop in something like 45 seconds which was no where near the 29 second time that won the contest. A family from Cedar Rapids Iowa won $200,000. We were then given about 10 minutes as a team to visit with Ryan Newman and to get autographs. NASCAR drivers are very approachable and personable to say the least. I don't think that you would get the attention that we received from a professional baseball player. Maybe it's the lack of gray matter that resides in their heads from all the wrecks that make them so approachable. Nonetheless, Ryan was very personable.
On Saturday night we went out and partied like rock stars. Had a number of Patron shots and beers and ended up at a few bars. We also saw Cheap Trick at Speed Street on Saturday night and then had more beers.....you get the idea of how Saturday night went.
Sunday we left the hotel at 11am for a 6pm race. When we got to the track, we immediately went on a garage tour. You have to be invited by a car sponsor to take a garage tour on race day so there were relatively few people in the area. In the garages, all the teams were busy making final race preparations to the cars and at times were idling the engines or stepping on the gas with the car up on blocks. The noise was incredible. You could just feel the 800 horsepower shaking your bones. We then took a walk down pit road and then returned to our seats. Speaking of our seats, they were in a private suite fully stocked with icy cold beer and food. Right before race time, Ryan Newman stopped by for a quick Q&A session. The race was interesting. There were quite a few cautions one or two pretty good wreaks and was a neat experience. The Alltel car was knocked out of the race fairly early with a blown engine and the other Penske owned car (Miller Lite Car) also was knocked out of the race about 2/3 of the way.
We ended up back at the hotel at 2am and had to catch a flight back to Columbus at 9:50am on Monday.
The experience was more than I expected. Everything was first class and best of all completely free!! Here are a bunch of pictures that I took. Some of the pictures are stupid and meaningless unless you were there but here they are anyway. Here are a few of the fine establishements that we visited at night in Charlotte if you are interested: Ri Ra (Irish Pub), Bar Charlotte, Fuel Pizza.
This week is a short but busy on for me. I have picked up a few additional responsibilities at work and have meetings relating to those new tasks. Katelyn's baptism is on Sunday and Lisa and I both have family for out of town in this weekend; we will be busy cleaning and preparing for the weekend.
Monday, May 21, 2007
This weekend had us running! Friday I left work a little early and got all my yard chores out of the way because I knew that the rest of the weekend was going to be a blur. Friday evening, Lisa and I took the kids to our church's annual festival and spent some time watching Shawn ride some of the most ridiculous yet so very overpriced carnival rides and then spent a little time in the beer tent consuming adult beverages and listening to loud unmemorable music.
Saturday Shawn had Tee ball practice at 10:30am and then it was off to Nana's house for the night. Katelyn had her 3 month pictures scheduled for later that morning and then she also spent the rest of the day and night at Nana's. Lisa had to work the festival for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon so after I dropped her off there, I went shopping for baseball cleats and pants for Shawn. After stopping at two Dick's Sporting Goods Stores, I finally found Shoes in Shawn's size. Then it was off to the festival to pick up Lisa so we could go to dinner.
We ended up going to Carson's Steakhouse for dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary which is next weekend. We used a gift certificate that we got as a gift from Lance and Traci...thanks! The food was great! I had the Horseradish encrusted Lake Superior Whitefish with Broccoli and a lettuce wedge, Lisa had the Delmonico. The popovers they serve with dinner were outstanding! I pretty much blew my diet on Saturday but considering that I didn't eat much the rest of the day I really didn't do too bad. We ended the evening with a walk with Dauber through the neighborhood.
Sunday we went to Cleveland to visit my Mom. We really didn't have anything planned other than to spend the day with Mom. We ended up getting lunch at El Rodeo which as just average and took a trip to Marcs. Lisa's trips to Cleveland are never complete without spending an hour or so and about $50 at Marcs. The place is always a mess but the prices are pretty good. We spent a little more time at Mom's place visiting with my brother and sister and headed home.
This week is a short one for me. I will be in Charlotte at the pit change challenge later in the week. Hopefully I come home with some prize money.
Have a great week!
Saturday Shawn had Tee ball practice at 10:30am and then it was off to Nana's house for the night. Katelyn had her 3 month pictures scheduled for later that morning and then she also spent the rest of the day and night at Nana's. Lisa had to work the festival for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon so after I dropped her off there, I went shopping for baseball cleats and pants for Shawn. After stopping at two Dick's Sporting Goods Stores, I finally found Shoes in Shawn's size. Then it was off to the festival to pick up Lisa so we could go to dinner.
We ended up going to Carson's Steakhouse for dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary which is next weekend. We used a gift certificate that we got as a gift from Lance and Traci...thanks! The food was great! I had the Horseradish encrusted Lake Superior Whitefish with Broccoli and a lettuce wedge, Lisa had the Delmonico. The popovers they serve with dinner were outstanding! I pretty much blew my diet on Saturday but considering that I didn't eat much the rest of the day I really didn't do too bad. We ended the evening with a walk with Dauber through the neighborhood.
Sunday we went to Cleveland to visit my Mom. We really didn't have anything planned other than to spend the day with Mom. We ended up getting lunch at El Rodeo which as just average and took a trip to Marcs. Lisa's trips to Cleveland are never complete without spending an hour or so and about $50 at Marcs. The place is always a mess but the prices are pretty good. We spent a little more time at Mom's place visiting with my brother and sister and headed home.
This week is a short one for me. I will be in Charlotte at the pit change challenge later in the week. Hopefully I come home with some prize money.
Have a great week!
Monday, May 14, 2007
This weekend was pretty much spent working on the yard. Friday, I finished planting the flowers and other plants that we bought on Thursday only to realize that we needed twice as many plants than what we bought. We also had 6 yards of mulch delivered and dumped in the driveway.
Saturday, I cut the grass finished spreading the last of the mulch and bought more flowers to plant. Lisa and I went to dinner at Mancy's with some friends. I have no idea what they do to the beef at Mancy's but I've never had a bad meal there. I had the Tornadoes Oscar and Lisa had the Ribeye.
On Sunday, Mother's Day, Lisa's parents came over and I cooked breakfast for them. We had eggs benedict, a fruit salad, potatoes, mimosas and bloody marys. The breakfast turned out very nice. We then ran some errands. Went to the Anderson's, Lowes, Joseph's Beverage Center and the pet store to pick up a gold fish that Shawn so desperately needed. When I went to Joseph's Beverage, I picked up a bottle of Delirium Tremens. I had this very strong (9%) beer in New York earlier this month and I can't get enough of it. The beer is from Belgium and has the best aftertaste of any beer I've ever had (and for those of you who know me, I've had quite a few)! If you ever stumble upon this beer, try it....you won't be disappointed.
Sunday evening was spent on the patio and finishing up the landscaping before dinner. Below are a few pictures of the finished landscape project. I can't wait until the flowers and grasses grow and fill in.
Mother's Day Breakfast (doesn't look too bad does it?)
Shawn & Lisa with the cake Shawn decorated at Anderson's
A Boy and his Fish
Saturday, I cut the grass finished spreading the last of the mulch and bought more flowers to plant. Lisa and I went to dinner at Mancy's with some friends. I have no idea what they do to the beef at Mancy's but I've never had a bad meal there. I had the Tornadoes Oscar and Lisa had the Ribeye.
On Sunday, Mother's Day, Lisa's parents came over and I cooked breakfast for them. We had eggs benedict, a fruit salad, potatoes, mimosas and bloody marys. The breakfast turned out very nice. We then ran some errands. Went to the Anderson's, Lowes, Joseph's Beverage Center and the pet store to pick up a gold fish that Shawn so desperately needed. When I went to Joseph's Beverage, I picked up a bottle of Delirium Tremens. I had this very strong (9%) beer in New York earlier this month and I can't get enough of it. The beer is from Belgium and has the best aftertaste of any beer I've ever had (and for those of you who know me, I've had quite a few)! If you ever stumble upon this beer, try it....you won't be disappointed.
Sunday evening was spent on the patio and finishing up the landscaping before dinner. Below are a few pictures of the finished landscape project. I can't wait until the flowers and grasses grow and fill in.
Mother's Day Breakfast (doesn't look too bad does it?)
Shawn & Lisa with the cake Shawn decorated at Anderson's
A Boy and his FishThursday, May 10, 2007
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Sorry about not posting very much lately. It has been a busy couple of months. I spent 4 days in New York city with some of my friends a few weeks back and then immediately had to go to Texas to make sales calls. Trips coupled with Shawn's tee ball practice, work and the additional yard work that seems to come with the warmer temperatures have pretty much consumed all of our time.
New York was fun. I went with the intention of going to the NFL draft but I opted not to stand in line at 4:30 am the morning of the draft to get my ticket. There were 10,000 people waiting in line for an event that didn't start until noon. I decided sleeping was far more important. In new York I didn't really do any of the traditional tourist type things. Spent a lot of time in local watering holes catching up with friends that I haven't seen in awhile. Nothing really too out of the ordinary to report from the NY trip. Did sample some Indian food one night and I was pleasantly surprised. Of course we had no idea what we were ordering so we had the waiter surprise us with anything but goat. We ended up with a beef and two chicken dishes to share with some really good onion and garlic bread. Other than that, pretty calm long weekend.
Texas was hectic. I ended up flying from NY to Columbus to Dallas. We had stops in Dallas for one day, Houston for one day and San Antonio for 2 days. By far my favorite town of the bunch was San Antonio. I really enjoyed San Antonio's River Walk. There are a ton of restaurants, hotels and bars along the river as well as shops. The area was packed. We spent a little time at Coyote Ugly, ate at The Lonestar Cafe (just average) and a Mexican joint (which was really good).
The best food was in Houston. I wish I know what the name of this joint was but I wouldn't be able to spell it if I remembered anyway. We ended up in Houston pretty late after making the nearly 4 hour drive from Dallas. We decided on Seafood and started down one of the many service roads that runs parallel to the highways and ended up at a restaurant that had the word prominently displayed on its sign. As we walked up to the door, I noticed that it was filled with Mexicans (not really out of the ordinary in Texas). After we were seated, we discovered that the waitress spoke very little English. I ended up having seafood fajitas. The fajitas included scallops, grouper, octopus, squid, shrimp, chicken and beef. They were outstanding!! When we finally left the restaurant, I realized that the only word on the giant sign outside was seafood all the rest of the words were in Spanish!!
When I got home, Lisa was in Grand Rapids Michigan with the kids and her Mom for the annual pilgrimage to the Bailey's Grove Garage Sales. Seems like they had a lot of fun in our old city up north. They visited some old neighbors and spent the weekend wandering the city.
I got a call on Saturday from my friend Jeff. He had won a trip for him and up to 10 friends to Charlotte for the NASCAR race over Memorial Day weekend to compete in a pit stop challenge. The short of it is that Altell pays for all of the transportation, hotels, meals, activities and race tickets and we have the chance to complete against 10 other teams for $200,000. I guess that we have to do a live pit change on a regulation size car and the team that completes the task the fastest wins $200K!!!! Unfortunately that weekend just so happens to be Lisa and my 12th anniversary. Lisa is such a wonderful and caring woman that she decided the opportunity was once in a lifetime so she has given me the green light. Thanks Lisa!!
I guess the trip also includes racing apparel and behind the scenes tour of Penske racing. Even though I'm not a huge race fan (not a race fan at all), it should be fun and somewhat interesting. Hopefully I come home with some cash.
Not much else to report....if that wasn't enough. This weekend we are finishing up a new flowing bed and mulching the yard so it will be ready for Katelyn's baptism the beginning of June.
I will try to post more frequently if I can. Have a great week!!
New York was fun. I went with the intention of going to the NFL draft but I opted not to stand in line at 4:30 am the morning of the draft to get my ticket. There were 10,000 people waiting in line for an event that didn't start until noon. I decided sleeping was far more important. In new York I didn't really do any of the traditional tourist type things. Spent a lot of time in local watering holes catching up with friends that I haven't seen in awhile. Nothing really too out of the ordinary to report from the NY trip. Did sample some Indian food one night and I was pleasantly surprised. Of course we had no idea what we were ordering so we had the waiter surprise us with anything but goat. We ended up with a beef and two chicken dishes to share with some really good onion and garlic bread. Other than that, pretty calm long weekend.
Texas was hectic. I ended up flying from NY to Columbus to Dallas. We had stops in Dallas for one day, Houston for one day and San Antonio for 2 days. By far my favorite town of the bunch was San Antonio. I really enjoyed San Antonio's River Walk. There are a ton of restaurants, hotels and bars along the river as well as shops. The area was packed. We spent a little time at Coyote Ugly, ate at The Lonestar Cafe (just average) and a Mexican joint (which was really good).
The best food was in Houston. I wish I know what the name of this joint was but I wouldn't be able to spell it if I remembered anyway. We ended up in Houston pretty late after making the nearly 4 hour drive from Dallas. We decided on Seafood and started down one of the many service roads that runs parallel to the highways and ended up at a restaurant that had the word prominently displayed on its sign. As we walked up to the door, I noticed that it was filled with Mexicans (not really out of the ordinary in Texas). After we were seated, we discovered that the waitress spoke very little English. I ended up having seafood fajitas. The fajitas included scallops, grouper, octopus, squid, shrimp, chicken and beef. They were outstanding!! When we finally left the restaurant, I realized that the only word on the giant sign outside was seafood all the rest of the words were in Spanish!!
When I got home, Lisa was in Grand Rapids Michigan with the kids and her Mom for the annual pilgrimage to the Bailey's Grove Garage Sales. Seems like they had a lot of fun in our old city up north. They visited some old neighbors and spent the weekend wandering the city.
I got a call on Saturday from my friend Jeff. He had won a trip for him and up to 10 friends to Charlotte for the NASCAR race over Memorial Day weekend to compete in a pit stop challenge. The short of it is that Altell pays for all of the transportation, hotels, meals, activities and race tickets and we have the chance to complete against 10 other teams for $200,000. I guess that we have to do a live pit change on a regulation size car and the team that completes the task the fastest wins $200K!!!! Unfortunately that weekend just so happens to be Lisa and my 12th anniversary. Lisa is such a wonderful and caring woman that she decided the opportunity was once in a lifetime so she has given me the green light. Thanks Lisa!!
I guess the trip also includes racing apparel and behind the scenes tour of Penske racing. Even though I'm not a huge race fan (not a race fan at all), it should be fun and somewhat interesting. Hopefully I come home with some cash.
Not much else to report....if that wasn't enough. This weekend we are finishing up a new flowing bed and mulching the yard so it will be ready for Katelyn's baptism the beginning of June.
I will try to post more frequently if I can. Have a great week!!
Here are a few new pictures:
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