Friday

Q hit town last night and was mostly a "miss".  There might have been 3 inches in some spots on my front sidewalk, but 2 inches was the norm.  Hardly worth snow-blowing except that by doing so, the sidewalk cleared-up this afternoon with slightly warmer temps and some sunshine.

The Duels yesterday were not that much to cheer about.  Danica basically went to the rear of the field in the first one, and the 24 was assessed a speeding penalty on pit row when they came in with the lead for the one stop.  That required a "pass-through" penalty down pit row at pit row speed, rendering him to a back-of-the-pack finish as well.  But generally, the drivers played nice and there was only the one crash in the first race.  Saving the cars for Sunday is everyone's goal.

I took the BEATER in for some routine service this week.  Mechanics love to do their safety checks on this car and come out with a laundry list of necessary repairs.  This time it was breaks and tires.  Easily $800.  For a car that might yield $1000 for a "Push, Pull, Drag-It-In" trade-in, $800 is a big number to swallow.  Maybe at the next oil change, if she's still hummin' along.

I also did my approximately bi-annual wrist-band replacement for my Timex Ironman when the old band gave out recently.  Readers may remember that the last time this happened, I wrote off to a NYC supplier and received two bands for my trouble.  So I had one here at my desk for installation.  This time, I couldn't get the spring rods to "click-in" to secure the new bands to either side of the watch.  The "seat" for each band end is at a very close tolerance.  So I had to take it to a jeweler!  Fairly simple for him.  Tools, light and skills.  All in short supply on Maplecrest.

I think that one of my goals over the weekend will be to write a short story with a Sunday 1800 hours deadline.  Due to our trip to George Strait last week co-insiding with our local Writing Center's schedule, I missed the annual writing contest that I had entered each of the three previous years.  In that one, they give you a "prompt" at 5 PM Friday and require your submission by 5 PM Saturday.  I'm choosing to give myself a little longer leash.  It will be published here on Sunday night.  I'll figure out a topic tonight and put myself in the cross-hairs (apologies to the gun-control lobby).

Finally, hats off to George Washington on his birthday.  Did you know that he was the only President not to live in the White House?  Here are some other interesting facts on Good Ol' George:  http://www.mountvernon.org/content/facts-falsehoods-about-george-washington-0

Hope you have had a Good Friday.

BCOT