Decent Weekend

It was a decent sports weekend. Joe Gibbs Racing swept both races this weekend with Tony Stewart, I guess we still like him, and Kyle Busch wining on Friday and Saturday respectively. I really like what they've got going over there. Moving to Toyota worked out for them. They say a rising tide lifts all vessels. That must be true as even the CAT car finished in the top 10!! If you hadn't figured it out, that's an M&M dressed as Indiana Jones on the hood of the car. One of their neater paint schemes since M&M's did a Pirates of the Caribbean car.

The Cubs seem to be pulling out of their little slump with a sweep of the D-Backs. They trailed on Saturday and Sunday and came back to win both games. Sweet Lou pushed all the right buttons on Sunday bringing in Darryle Ward who hit a go-ahead double. I think it was the pink bat for Mother's Day that did it.

George finished his bike ride this morning. I'd stopped in there every night to see him ride, so I figured I'd show up for the record breaking portion as well. There was a good crowd on hand, and it was quite the festive atmosphere. I left right after the record was broken and headed to work. I was here by 6:45 and am so far ahead of where I am on a regular day it's pathetic. I should get here at a decent time more often. I'll check into that.

The weather is beautiful today; it's cool and sunny. I've got nothing going on tonight, the girls' play at school tomorrow, a hot date for lunch on Wednesday, and going to the Cubs game on Friday. Life feels pretty good right now.

George Update: He's Going to Have to Stretch

This is a picture from the first time George broke the record.....2007 I think. He does this for a few minutes before he takes a nap and gets back on the bike.

Yesterday, I was on my way to work at the Field House, and I got a call from Nora. She asked me where I was going, and I said the Field House. She asked me why I wasn't going to watch the man ride the bike. They're really into this thing.

I picked them up from school, and was already planning to go see George when they asked if we could go see him. We were headed in the front door when the director stopped me and said she had some news. I thought she was going to tell me something happened and he had to get off the bike. Instead, she told me that they had talked to the Guinness, the records, not the beer, folks and found out the record had just been broken. Someone had set the new record at 175 hours. Instead of breaking the record tomorrow morning, George will probably have to ride until around 1 AM on Monday morning. We went on in to see how things were going, and he was on the bike, pedaling like a champ. The whole thing is pretty amazing, and I think I might have a little man-crush.

In other happenings, I took the clan to Wal-Mart to buy our goodies for the weekend. I swear, for as sweet as they can be, sometimes I want to strangle that older one. The little one can't keep her mouth closed for more than 5 seconds at a time, and the one in the middle can join either one and be just as much trouble.

UPDATE: Nora is in front of the TV cheering on Tony Stewart in the Nationwide race. I'm hearing cheers of "You can do it" and "You're the best!"

WWN....and George

My Wednesday with Nora started out with George Hood. You can follow that link and see what he's all about. I manned the front desk at the Y from 10PM to 5AM on Tuesday night. It was really neat to see the people come in to say hi to George, or get on a bike and ride along for a few hours. In the photo above, the guy in the camo shorts is kinda like the coach; he monitors the stats and helps keep George on pace. The guy in the white polo shirt is some kind of medical professional. The green and red shirted guys are friends who are riding along. I've stopped in every night to see what's going on. I took this video last night. He's got to maintain 12 mph to qualify for the record, and I think he was behind at this point. He does not always ride this fast.

The lady in front is a chaplain from a police survivors organization, and she's there at 10 each night for prayer. The blonde with the short hair is his girlfriend, Marcia; she's the taskmaster. I was actually there for one of his breaks. He stops pedaling, 2 people unclip his feet, and some more help him get off the bike and onto a massage table. From there, 3 people stretched him out for a couple minutes before they covered him with blankets and let him sleep. I've never seen such peaceful sleep in all my life. The man was dead to the world. Marcia watched the clock and had him back on the bike in 15 minutes. A couple minutes later, he was riding the bike and doing an interview for the local TV station. The whole thing is quite amazing. He's scheduled to break the record Saturday morning, but plans to ride until Sunday morning.....just showing off I guess.

As for WWN, I was pretty zonked myself on Wednesday morning. I got up and picked her up from dance, did lunch, and came home. I was able to get my railroad work done while I was at the Y, so it was nice to have it out of the way. We laid around, watched American Idol, and I might've dozed once or twice :) I had been telling Nora about George, and she was excited to see him after we picked up the other 2. We went over, the girls got to go on stage, say hi, and they even got his autograph. They were so proud of their personalized notes from George. Then is was, supper, baths, and study time for Maggie. They went home, and I headed back to the Y for more of the festivities. I went to bed around 11:30 last night and was wiped out. I set the alarm, but don't think I heard it if/when it went off. All in all, it wasn't a bad birthday.