Man, pris?

so the latest and greatest (i guess) of men's fashion is the manpris...capris pants for men. you be the judge.



exhibit a: my friend ryan.





















i would consider ryan to be a fairly trendy, well dressed man, of which i mostly credit to his fabulous wife. a couple weeks ago, ryan showed up to a public event looking as in the photo. he was razzed, horribly, by everyone. he claimed it was too hot, and he was going to be getting in the water, and he didn't have anything else to wear, and he didn't want to ruin a good pair of pants.


yeah, yeah, we hear you, whatever.


ryan, manpris are not cool. let your wife wear the capris pants, she looks hotter in them anyway.

Dear NASCAR:

and more important, Goodyear (some parts for Indianapolis Motor Speedway, too)

you don't know me, but for a few hours yesterday, i was northwest vista, section 1, row j, seat 10. yes, i, along with thousands of others, had the horrible pleasure of witnessing the greatest debacle in motorsports history. at the yard of bricks no less.

i am ashamed to call myself a nascar fan after what i witnessed yesterday, and you should be ashamed to allow such an event to happen while carrying your banners. double shame to you goodyear; this is not your first embarrassment this year!

at first i brushed this off, safety first, but this was ridiculous. and you knew this was going to happen, yet did nothing. you ruined one of the most high profile races on the circuit.

shame on you goodyear. you spent three days testing at this fabled track, and all you could say for yourselves was...huh, we don't know why this is happening, but maybe it will get better with more cars to lay down more rubber. congratulations, you have joined the lazy americans who would rather enjoy the status quo than work hard and provide a good product. and might i also add that the tire test at indy came after the atlanta event, where you took heat from all the teams for providing a poor quality tire. don't even try to pawn this off on driver safety. you blew it, again, and you feel safe because you have a long term multi-million dollar contract to keep providing crap products to race teams who have no choice but to use your product. i hope you are also proud of the example you have set forth for yourselves, for the sport of nascar, and for america at large...producing crap will still make you a headline name on monday morning.

maybe there was something to tony stewart's spout about your poor quality tires after the event in atlanta. the press and the governing body of the sport gave him a hard time about being so vocal about your products and poor company practices. i bet no one shuts him up this time.

shame on you nascar. you allowed this to happen. time and time again, you have sat back as a vendor has run wild through your sport, taking advantage all along the way. worst of all, this is not the first time this season, by the same vendor! you, the governing authority of this sport, sat in your infamous trailer and allowed a tire company to dictate what needed to happen. you saw the writing on the wall, yet did nothing. you allowed thousands of fans, including myself to spend insane amounts of money to watch a glorified practice! there was no racing! that event shamed nascar, the historic house of bricks, and the teams who actually have something on the line. your 2008 event at indianapolis was worse than an embarrassment, it was a fraud.

and let's be honest, it's not like tire issues at indy is a new thing. i've been there for 3 years, and each year there are mandatory caution flags throughout the race. you say it's for "driver safety," but it's not. your too chicken to stand up to a vendor and tell them to bring a quality product or go home! side note, i'm all for driver safety, and think it should be encouraged, but not to a point where is threatens competition.

and really, who would allow a brand new body style to run on a track that is historically a crap shoot with limited tire data and nothing to go one other than a hunch. shame on you nascar, shame on you.

shame on you indianapolis motor speedway. i understand that you had no control over the tires or the governing body of the sport; however, i sat in a section where repeatedly, fans threw beer cans onto the track, during green flag runs. remember that piece of debris on the front of the #11 car? yeah, from the fans in my section, and security turned a blind eye to the fact that debris was on the track. ironically, the stuff that normally causes cautions during a nascar events couldn't even get the attention of track security. and those fans, they got to stay and enjoy the race, and continue to throw beer cans.

i'm ashamed and disappointed in all of you, some more than others. i read numerous articles today from reputable sports organizations, some of which even carry the name of the governing body of the sport. over and over again the drivers apologized to the fans for such a horrible event. i appreciate that the drivers don't like to put on a show like that for fans. thank you. however, that doesn't change the fact that this was the worst race in history. i can safely say i will not attend another event at indianapolis motor speedway until the tire issue is cleared and guaranteed not to be an issue. i will not watch another live event if it is rumored before hand that there will be tire issues.

even more, i want my money back. i think you nascar, and you goodyear, should refund the fans the cost of the ticket and any travel costs associated with the weekend. i'm sure with the profits made from the weekend that shouldn't be a problem. of course, you're probably too busy working on a pr response to the mess that was, to acknowledge the fans, the life blood of your sport.

remember, we are what makes your sport so big. prepare your plan for when no one comes to watch glorified practices anymore.

regards,

one severely disappointed and pissed off fan

major update

i know, i know...it's been a long time since i've last blogged. as you all know, i can't blog at work, i don't have the internet at home, and quit frankly, i haven't really felt much like blogging lately. i've got some good material now though, so expect multiple posts this week. and now, on with the show.

i'm in the middle of introvert hell. first of all, i feel the need to define an introvert. according to the myers-briggs personality profile, an introvert is someone who looks inward, takes time to reflect, draws energy and strength from within ones self. introverts aren't the most comfortable in large groups of people, nor do they recharge by being around people. introverts enjoy spending time by themselves. now this doesn't mean that they aren't loud and obnoxious, or that they don't like to socialize, they just aren't energized by it.

thus introvert hell. my new job requires lots of travel, which means lots of airports and planes, and you know what you find in those places...people, lots of them, loud, annoying, overwhelming people. i can't get away from them. last week i spent 4 days in miami, fl. lots of people, who don't speak english. i then spent the next 2 days at a family reunion at cedar point, and you know what i found there...people, lots of hot, sweaty people. now, i must say that i rather did enjoy myself. i finally got to meet all of the myers family, and they are some really cool people (a special shout to S &M...hehe, and yes, i love hilton too).

i then had a big weekend at church. lots more people, still hot and sweaty, and some egr (extra grace required). today i once again went to the airport and got on a plane with more people. and why is it that when there are 200 open seats in an airport, everyone sits in the seat right next to me! hello, personal space! and the week continues as such. best of all, i forgot that this weekend i'm going to the nascar race in indianapolis...hot, sweaty, drunk, crazy nascar fans....aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!

oh yeah, and the ac went out at our house.

can you imagine getting a letter from God?

i'm traveling for business this week...my adventures have taken me to the charlotte-douglas airport. while waiting for my flight i stumbled into a bookstore, no intention of buying, just looking. i can across the book "The Shack" of which i hear is an excellent book. i flipped to the back cover to get the gist before i decide to read it.

while standing there the associate at the book store came up to put more books on the shelf, and informed me that it is the current most popular book in her store and she can't keep it on the shelf.

as i continue to read the back cover, i discover the book is about the murder of a young daughter where her remains are found in a nearby shack. at some point later, the father receives a letter, apparently from God, instructing him to go back to the shack. in true back cover fashion, the description doesn't reveal what was found there, only that it changes his life.

i looked at the young woman from the book store and told her that many friends have read the book and raved about it. she looked at me and asked "can you imagine getting a letter from God?" to which i replied, letters from God come in many forms. she walked away.

my initial gut reaction to that question was yes, i can imagine getting a letter from God, in fact, i have...ok, not so much a pen and paper letter, but i've gotten memos. do this, tell her this, read this, realize this. it's a bizarre feeling, but i always know when it's coming from God.

i hope to read this book soon, and i hope it continues to spark dialogs about getting letters from God.

looky there!

first of all...i know, i've been a bad blogger lately...sorry. that said, on with the post...

i would like to introduce you to my new friend snappy.

steve picked out his name...clever don't you think. steve also ran over him with the lawn mover last night. note the battle scars on the top of his shell.

steve roll in the house with this grass covered rock, which i quickly realized was a turtle. we cleaned him (or her, not sure) off, and waited for the emergence of a head and legs from the shell. after a while, snappy was crawling all over the kitchen counters, and of course i had to grab the camera...the last time a saw one of these things close enough to touch was when i was about 10. the dogs also found snappy amusing. brynn wanted nothing to do with the shell, but trey was ready for a snack...snappy wanted nothing to do with the dogs.

after about an hour, we put snappy back outside...steve was ready to keep him until he realized it was another mouth to feed...about an hour after that he was gone. i felt like a kid again, and it was fun. Enjoy the photos of snappy.

photography

i would call photography a hobby for me...i like it...i try to find really shots...sometimes it works, other times not as much. here are some of my favs from the weekend.

must read

i came across this blog a couple weeks ago. i can't stop reading it...amazing story...i would start reading here...