Halloween, Cow Pasture Reunion, and playing 42

I decided to go ahead and decorate my ass off for Halloween this year.....tell me what you think? Pic has been removed by request.....she did not believe it was me ;)

Got a big domino game tonight....what is appropriate to wear for a domino date? haha Going out to Sandra's house to attempt to learn to play the game of 42 again. Its been a long time since I played. I was under the impression everyone knew what 42 was. Sometimes called Texas 42 (maybe thats why some of you "yanks" did not know).If you wanna know how to play go here Should be a fun evening with her, her mom and daughter. Talked to my daughters mom earlier who coincidentally graduated with Ms Sandra and she was telling me how "stinking awesome" it was that we were dating. Now in the period of 15 minutes or so she used the word awesome or "stinking awesome" about 30 times......which is awesome .......stinking awesome haha

Going in the morning to the big Okie town of Ardmore aboutt wo hours away for ..............more drag racing of course haha. Some of our local street cars will be making the trek to the 34th annual Cow Pasture Reunion held at the oldest continuosly run drag strip in the world....or so their website and a few others claim. Should be some great weather for racing although a bit warmer than we had hoped for. I also might be back into racing myself in a few weeks as I have a guy wanting to trade a 94 Z28 for my 95 truck... will most likely be heading down to Waco in a few weeks to check his car out and show off the truck. Hopefully we can work something out.

Anyway things to do and people to see. Hope everyone has a great weekend!!! Gonna skip out on my "poetic friday" today. Seems this RLS is taking up a lot of time lately....which is more than alright with me. :)

Ciao

Brad the Centaur's love secrets revealed.........

I have sooo much RLS (real life stuff)going on now I decided not to participate in HNT this week. Instead I give a brief glimpse into the RLB (real life Brad). I am hoping not to jinx myself but things are going almost too good with Ms Sandra......what is she up to here? haha j/k. Glad to hear my good friend Sandi is back home and recovering.....stop by and visit her and ask her about sharing some morphine.....we gotta look out for our fellow bloggers right?:P Heres a few quizzes I recently took and the results....play along and tell me what yours said. And NO the first one does NOT mean I am half man/ half horses ass so stop saying that.........I still hear you saying that........STOP IT!!! haha

You Are a Centaur

In general, you are a very cautious and reserved person.However, you are also warm hearted, and you enjoy helping others in practical ways.You are a great teacher, and you are really good at helping people get their lives in order.You are very intuitive, and you go with your gut. You make good decisions easily.

What'>http://www.blogthings.com/whatmythologicalcreatureareyouquiz/">What Mythological Creature Are You?

Your Love Life Secrets Are

Looking back on your life, you will only have one true love. You've been deeply wounded in the past, and you're still recovering from that hurt. It's important to you that your lover is very attractive. You like to have someone to show off. In fights, you love to debate and defend yourself. You logic prevails - or at least you'd like to think so. Break-ups can be painful for you, but you never show it. You hold your head high.

Your'>http://www.blogthings.com/yourlovelifesecretsrevealedquiz/">Your Love Life Secrets, Revealed

More NHRA pics and volleyball

Ok as I promised here are a few more snapshots I took from the Texas Motorplex this past Saturday. First up we have two lovely ladies about to race. On the left is the Top Fuel dragster of the little lady I showed you in the previous blog, Hillary Will. Hillary is 26 years old and is alal of 5'4 and 110 lbs. She seems to do quite well handling the estimated 7000 horsepower these dragsters generate. Heres hoping she continues for a long succesful career in this sport. On the right is Melanie Troxel who was leading the points race earlier in the year but has slowed some as of late. Melanie is a 2nd generation racer as her dad is veteren drag racer Mike Troxel and she is married to Funny Car driver Tommy Johnson Jr.I like this pic cause of the way it captured the nitromethane, unburned pumping out into the air. The very first time I went to a national event many years ago, we watched the team of Doug Herbert rebuild the engine between rounds. This is an every round thing for most all teams just to check everything out. Anyway we were standing maybe 12-15 feet or less behind the dragster as they fired it up to test something and while it was quite loud the main thing I remember is how badly the nitromethane burned the eyes. I guess you could say my first experience ith nitro was not alltogether pleasant but I did learn to not stand directly behind the cars when they fire them up haha.

Here we have, in the Budweiser dragster, the eventual event winner who is also a 2nd generation racer. He is Brandon Bernstein, son of legendary racer Kenny Bernstein who is also owner of the race team. Brandon is 34 years of age. He is racing here against JR Todd who is 26 I think and the first black man or woman to race in top fuel.

Here are some Pro Stock racers. This is the most exciting class to some as the cars are so close in performance. Sometimes the field of 16 qualified cars is seperated by hundredths or thousandths of a second and anyone can come out on top. This is Tom Martino at the top racing against yet another 2nd generation racer in Kurt Johnson whose dad also races in the same classification. This is one of a few shots that turned out decently with the cars actually in motion racing down the track.

Here we have last years champion Funny Car driver Gary Scelzi. Gary is known for his wild paint schemes on his car and this was a one race only body and was sent to Las Vegas after this race to be a part of a big auto manufacturers show held there.

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There will be more pics tomorrow morning. Had another nice "date" with Ms Sandra yesterday. She came by and we went to her daughters volleyball game together. She was feeling a bit under the weather but still was a nice day. Their team won both games and everything seems to be going pretty great here soooooo......... haha. Time to go walk and get my butt in bed soon. Have to get up and finish the tuneup on the Yukon which seems to have been pushed to the back burner lately. Anyone wanna come help?

What a weekend!!!!!

Friday was an awesome day. I met Ms Sandra for the first time even though we grew up less than 3 miles from each other. She looked great and much better in person than her picture even. Such a nice easy going person. We had a great dinner at a local restaurant called Magels Grill and afterwards made our way to Paris lanes for some bowling. Now I love to bowl.....I am not good but I usually play to whatever my opponent is doing for the most part. I had to really step it up with Ms Sandra. She won the first game and we ended up bowling four games with her winning two and letting me win the other two. She did beat my high score of 125 which I bowled twice with her own 136. She is such a fun person to be around and I am hoping we get plenty more opportunities.........and I am quite sure we will. ;)
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Saturday morning comes and Brian pulls up in the Dmax at 8ish. We start the 2.5 hour drive south to Ennis. All along the way from Paris to almost Dallas there were DPS cars, sheriffs cars, police cars.......just sitting at all the entrances to and from the interstate. Along about Royse City I guess it was or just east of there we meet a motorcade complete with secret service vehicles and a huge escort. There were a couple of Army helicopters overhead also. We had no idea who it might be. Air Force One is sometimes kept nearby in Greenville TX I have heard and we thought maybe it could have been a Presidential motorcade.....turns out we were right. It was this man in this motorcade. He is Pakistani President Musharraf and of all places he was on his way to my hometown of Paris to have a physical from a Pakistani doctor here. He also visited the home of the same doctor and met his neighbors in the ritzy area of Paris known as The Hills. Here is the story in case anyone was interested.

Now on to the main event. We arrive at our destination of the world famous Texas Motorplex and set out on the walk of about a half mile across a cornfield (excellent parking as long as it doesnt rain much.) We have a while before the main event cars are running so we walk around, taking pics like Japanese tourists...oh you want to see a few?


This is Hillary Will an up and coming star in the world of drag racing. She is 25 or so I believe and looks like she will be a good one.
A very cool motorcycle with some awesome graphics.
If any of you have ever seen the show Driving Force which features drag racer John Force and his daughters....this is the youngest daughter Courtney who I believe is 17. This was actually taken as we were leaving and I got to chat with her for maybe 30 seconds before this onnoxious fan walked by and spotted her and started yelling to everyone that she was there and who she was haha. She signed my shirt and said she better move on. She is such a beautiful young lady as all the girls in that family are. I tried to get some pics of the rest of the family around their hauler but there is always such a crowd around this family. Very odd to get some actual one on one with any of them as I was lucky enough to do if even for such a brief moment. It was a nice end to the day.

I will be sharing some of the actual racing pics and possibly a video or two if I can figure out how to post a video. I need to go walking and slow down the pace some. Actually just talked to Ms Sandra and have been invited to a home cooked meal with her, her daughter , and her mother.......I think its a trap. haha Looks like a very nice ending to one helluva weekend. Please come back during the week for more pics.

Ciao

Poetic friday and yet another 1st date

I am a few hours away from meeting a very nice young lady for dinner and it looks like bowling again haha. I love bowling although I am not good at it. Ms Sandra and I lived less than 3 miles from each other all the years we were growing up but the matter of the creek at the west end of my families land being the boundry between school districts kept us from really knowing each other. That and the fact that as kids we were both very bashful.........stop laughing ....I am serious I used to be.......ok rolling on the floor while laughing is a bit much. Anyway I am hoping for a very nice evening and then get some sleep before leaving out at 8 am in the morning heading south for the Fall Nationals held at the famous Texas Motorplex......where records fall in the fall ;) Nothing like hanging out with good friends, drinking some good cold beer and afterwards meeting a few more friends from Dallas at a GREAT place called Bonedaddys. Life is good!!!!


This is Ms Sandra.....yes she is legally an adult.....for all her youthful looks she is actually 34 believe it or not. I only wish I still looked as youthful. haha She is very intelligent (high school salutatorian) and charming country girl. She best get ready to get beat at bowling though cause we all know how awesomely I bowled last time.....if I have to I MIGHT can muster a triple digit score lol. Wish her luck!!! :)



As far as poetic friday goes.....I have nothing. Its been a busy week. I have just not taken the time to express myself in a poetic manner. I will however share with you an old poem I wrote and is posted on my Myspace page. It has exactly NOTHING to do with my current mood......not even close. Why am I sharing it? Who knows....I am Brad.....don't try to figure me out haha


WHY
Why do I do this to myself
Why can I not see
What is so clear to the world
can be so cloudy to me.

Why do I love you so
To put my life on hold
Why can't I find another to love
Why can't I be bold.

Why do I hang on
To things I know are dreams
Why do I wait for someone
Who wants only friends it seems.

Some day I shall find
The one to hold so true
why oh why could this person
Not turn out to be you.

All I have learned in the past
Has made me who I am
I cannot make myself happy
But I will find the one who can

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I am trying to remember but I MIGHT have already shared this poem with you here before too and my apologies if this is so. At any rate it is time for me to take flight......gotta make this old "bear" presentable for the evening. Hope everyone has a grand weekend!!!!!

Ciao

HNT 15 and getting back to work(out)

I am just now getting back into my full workout after tearing some tendons back in May. The weights are considerably less than I was lifting before but that will take care of itself eventually. When I was in high school there were many saturdays spent at the school weight room during the summer. Coach Allen was kind enough to allow some of us to have keys to the school for working out if we wanted to although I am sure he was not supposed to. We could also go in the gym and play basketball or whatever but most of my time was spent in the weight room. I was hoping to get to compete in the state competition my junior year but someone mentioned that the "weightlifting team" tryouts were not open to everyone in school so noone got to go. My 3 lift total would have easily won state in my schools 3a classfication and I was a bit upset when I saw this. I was bench pressing 345 lbs, deadlifting 410 and although I hated doing them the squat was my best lift coming in at around 570 lbs. This was at the weight of around what I am now which is 210-215 (yes I am hung up on this weight but it will eventually drop some more one of these days haha)



Needless to say I am not quite as strong now as I was then. The last time I really lifted before starting back again this past January was towards the end of my junior year which would have been 1987. Along about 1993 or so a friend of mine had a gym and we had started working out again but by that time I had decided partying and beer drinking were much easier than lifting weights. Now 13 years later I am working out again. And it feels great......this pic is not the best but I was lazy this week and wednesday night snuck up on me (again)




Wondering why we post these half nekkid pics of ourselves each week? Click it and find out.

Indian territory revisited and getting ready for NITRO in the morning

As many of you (both) might have read I went to the Indian territory of Oklahoma monday evening to meet a charming young lady. Here (through the bug splattered windshield) is the sign showing I am indeed in Indian territory.....rumor has it this area might be a state one day.

After meeting my friend and a brief conversation at her apartment we head on down to the Bearcat for dinner. Now I have heard fairly good reviews of this place before from a few people but I guess they had an "off night" as the food was a bit cool but was good. Maybe the Microwave was on the way out or something haha. Anyway after we ate we decided to drive north a short ways to the big "town" of Moyers. This it the view out the same bug splattered windshield. I really need to wash the Yukon haha. I love this area of Oklahoma....low hills and lots of rocks.

At a small church in Moyers I saw this nice monument. I had let Christie take over the picture taking duties and I think she did a nice job.:D On the way back from Moyers I saw something I had never seen before in the wild.....a huge tarantula crossing the road. We dont have or I have never seen these anyway in my area. Then again I have never seen any rattlesnakes on this side of the Red River except out west and south in the hill country. I wish I would have gotten a pic of this huge spider crssing the road. He was visible from a good ways away and if I had to guess he was about the size of my hand.

Since Antlers, OK claims to be the Deer Capital of the World, they HAVE to have something related to deer in this fair community right? This is where the Deer Park comes in. These are Fallow deer not native to the area or even the US for that matter. Mainly whitetail deer and they were on the other side of this beautiful log cabin structure that was built but unfinished on the inside. We admired the deer for a bit while some pee wee football practices were being held across the street. I love small town USA.

We then headed north again on another road and this is the iron bridge we would have been on if we had continued......we didn't and instead decided to stop and enjoying what COULD have been a beautiful park area along the lazy (this day anyway) Kiamichi River. There was a nice old swinging bridge over a little creek feeding the river that I thought about trying but those planks looked a bit old and a few were already broken and I did not feel like riding in an ambulance this day. We then headed back to her apartment and decided to visit and watch a movie. The feature presentation for the evening was Man of the House featuring one of my favorites Tommy Lee Jones. Oh and the cute cheerleaders were not too bad either (Christina Milian=yummy). After the movie we chatted for a while and I decided I best get on the road. Now just at the edge of Antlers is the Indian Nation Turnpike which has a speed limit of 75........I have been passed on this road doing 90 before so I decided to let the Yukon make up some time on the way back....this is not the fastest I was going but it was close.....I did not make triple digits although on this super highway it would have seemed comfortable for long stretches. Made it back to Paris in time to change clothes and head to work. Thanks for the tour of your lovely little piece of small town USA Ms Christie and hopefully we can explore more sometime soon. Maybe head on up towards Talimena drive some weekend. :D

I am getting sooooo close to feeling the awesomeness of the 6000+ hp of nitro burning dragsters....just a few short days before we head down south to the Texas Motorplex for a day of racing. I am getting the camera emptied and might even go buy a new memory card and another set of batteries just to make sure I dont miss any of the action. Oh and of course need some pics from the locally famous BONEDADDYS .....

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Monday plans , new track, and some rain

We finally got some good soaking rain today......have not heard any amounts yet but any amount is a relief. It was so nice hearing the rain hitting the skylight when I awoke this afternoon. I wish I had my camera with me this morning when I left work. The sky was a brilliant orangish yellow....if you have ever looked through a pair of polarized sunglasses you double or triple that effect and thats about what it looked like.....the clouds were awesome as the leading edge of the rain moved to the west of us. I guess I should put the camera in the Yukon just in case huh?

The nice looking eye candy above will suffer tomorrow.....we are meeting for dinner in the deer capital of the world (they say) Antlers, OK. She has been bored out of her mind the last week or so reading every post I have made....she skipped through looking for the letters H, N, and T for some reason. :P

Funny how small a world we live in sometimes. Been exchanging emails with this nice young lady named Sandra for a few days and it turns out she lives a few miles from my land out south of town AND graduated with my daughters mom which means I went to her graduation haha. Truly funny how we meet "strangers" online we turn out to know already.

I am hoping to meet a certain blogger friend for lunch or a lunchtime stroll sometime this week also. I found this new little gem of a track that basically noone knows about yet. It is by the civic center and circles the softball fields and meanders back through some tall oak and cedar trees. I am estimating it to be about 3/4 mile long. Plus it has the nice restroom facilities complete with nice cold water fountains AND a small little lake at the end.....which as of now the trail does not go to but I walked down to it anyway this morning. Some nice size lily pads and a decent size dock. I cannot wait to see what else they have in store for this area. I have heard through the grapevine they are going to host a national archery tournament here in March and there will be even more trails branching off the one I mentioned above for the archers. If they develop it right this could be an amazing jewel in an already nice crown of a park. I of course have no pics yet but the next trip I will surely take the camera. Thats THREE nice tracks within a 1/2 mile of each other and each one has a different "personality".

A picture is worth 1000 words....

I took this pic out the window of the Yukon at about 60 mph....the last rays of light of the day can sometimes be the best ones.

Seems these fellows are on strike.....or waiting for some new roadkill.....I counted about 63 here and most of these things have a wingspan of 4 feet or so so you imagine the noise they make when taking off. This is about a mile from my land along a creek that runs at the west end of my parents land.

A view I will enjoy many many times once I get my home built. This is a slightly zoomed in view looking west from where my front porch will one day be. I have picked many thousands of pounds of pecans (Pa CONS not pa CANS ) from those trees the sun is setting behind.

A real life size view of the same vantage point..ok maybe 4 steps north haha

I figured I would share a few pics I took today. I am being lazy as far as poems lately so just deal with it. haha

Sunset

So many varied colors you can have

So many shades of red

How can something so far away

Lay such heat upon my head.

You burn me in the daytime

Make me swear and shake my fist

But come this time of evening

I am awed when in your midst

You make this time of day

Feel so melancholy

Yet so spiritual at times too

As you and the moon play out your volley.

HNT#14 in celebration of World naked gardening day

Our ordinary mind always tries to persuade us that we are nothing but acorns and that our greatest happiness will be to become bigger, fatter, shinier acorns; but that is of interest only to pigs. Our faith gives us knowledge of something better: that we can become oak trees.- E.F. Schumacher

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.- Abraham Lincoln

Last week Os asked us to do our HNT pics with some relation to the world naked gardening day which was last saturday. Well it just so happens last saturday I took the time to do a little gardening of sorts. I dug a few holes to plant some trees on my almost 5 acres. As I was digging I happened to think how nicely that would fit in with this weeks HNT.....(that and the fact that I had nothing else to offer up in regards to gardening). So here I am digging a hole in which a small oak tree will be planted very soon. True it will be years before I can sit under this beautiful tree and enjoy its shade. Just like so many things in life its not an instant gratification. So many things now days are and we appreciate those things less than things that it takes time to nurture.....anything worth anything in this world for the most part requires patients. And how we tend to it during its early years leads it to be what it is later in life. One day these tiny holes I dug will be covered in leaves and grass and be the most coveted part of my yard during the hot summer months. Until then I can only nurture them to provide the best hope for the young trees.



And of course no HNT would be Chelle correct without the pics I did not use but did use. Chelle will be famous for this one day and I am doing my part to help her haha.


Wondering what this HNT stuff is all about? Check out the link on my sidebar and it will all become crystal clear.

Proud to be 100 % AMERICAN

Twins

Once the most majestic

Of twins on this Earth

Then an act , terroristic

To a war gave birth

Thousands suffered losses

Like never known here before

Burns, suffocation among causes

The suffering we couldn't ignore

Now five years have passed

since that late summer day

Flags again at half mast

Their honor we cannot repay.

Will we ever forget this?

So many had long lives to live

Taken away by this act of cowardice

But God says we should forgive.

Forgiveness is so hard for some

Afraid it shows a weakness

Others know that THEIR time comes

They WILL face a fate of bleakness.

Remember how patriotic we all felt weeks and months after this cowardly attack on our neighbors..our comrades....our people. How many of us still feel as strongly patriotic today? And why have we gone back to the almost robotic movements we all took part in before this tragedy? Take the time today and every day to make friends and smile at someone you normally would not even make eye contact with ....say hello to them....make small talk. Just don't wait on another tragedy to prove to the world how great this country is. We are one people....we are AMERICANS....not African Americans......not Mexican Americans..........we AMERICANS. Be proud of it!!

28% pure and living life to the fullest..

My friend Cristie sent me this quiz on myspace to find out how pure I was. I felt quite safe doing this one cause I feel am quite a good person. Boy do these quizzes bring one crashing back down to Earth hard. She as 44% pure. I figured I would easily show her up with at least a 60% or so...

I was raised right......I promise......I never would curse around my mother.....I would never cheat. Now why would this quiz only find those two things basically that I HAD NOT done and the rest of the stuff that I had...ok there were a few more things on here. Anyway tell me what your score was?

You Are 28% Pure

You've either done it, thought about it, or at least heard about it. Luckily, there's a few things left for you to try!

How Pure Are You?

TWENTY-EIGHT? TWENTY FRIGGIN EIGHT? I really got slammed hard by this one. She still talks to me ....hmmm maybe it was that one night on the beach in Cancun.........or was she ms Puerto Rico.....who knows? ;)
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I slept the same amount of hours as I have been sleeping all week but I did it in the morning and not evening as I had all week. I actually feel like I have had a full 8 hour nap. Odd how timing works sometimes. I received this email and I would like to post a prt of it here. I am sure everyone has heard of Steve Irwin, croc hunter, and his death after the stingray attack. This i an excerpt from an article about him written by Mary Beth Crain. I can email anyone the entire story if you would like to read...very cool short story about a true adventurer
Yet the truth of the matter, I now believe, is that Irwin was a man of enormous intensity who sincerely believed that "God put me on this earth for a mission, and that mission is wildlife conservation." He was born to his calling; at the age of eight he was already catching crocs, and he took to animals, and danger, "like a fish to water," as he aptly put it. He knew that he was living on a constant precipice, but, as he said, "I have no fear of losing my life," and "Fear helps me from making mistakes—but I make a lot of mistakes." Yet Irwin never let fear stand in the way of his love of life. He was out there risking, every day, and learning and growing and, well, living. His death is being called, of course, a tragedy. He was only 44. He was a happy husband and father of two great kids. He was a great conservationist who, had he lived, could have done so much more for wildlife preservation. One of his dreams, for instance, was to use the money he was making from royalties and his famed Australia Zoo to buy large tracts of wilderness land and create wilderness reserves that could never be bought by developers. But is his death really all that tragic? I know a lot of people who are so afraid of dying that they end up afraid to live. So afraid of failure that they end up failing to try. It makes you ask the question, what's worse? Living an unlived life, or dying a lived one? We know what Irwin's answer would have been. I can't say I'll miss Steve Irwin, because the only time I ever watched him was when I was channel surfing. But I can say that even in death, I envy him. I'm 55, out of shape, diabetic, and afraid of dying. I could get in shape, change my diet and my attitude, and really kick ass and start living, but I haven't. When you think about it, I live in just as big a danger zone as Steve Irwin did. I could use a little more of his hyperactivity, or, if you prefer, boundless enthusiasm. I could use a shot or two of his brazen disregard for fear and disdain for inertia. I'm not saying I need to wrestle crocs or hunt pythons, but I wouldn't mind experiencing life to the fullest instead of waking up every morning afraid to test my blood sugar.
To me, Steve Irwin's death is a reminder that everybody's life is an enigma, and that we are not here to rate others, only to improve ourselves. I was quick to dismiss Irwin as a numbskull nutcase who got what he deserved—until I looked at myself and realized that I am certainly no paragon of wise living. Something tells me that the ebullient, passionate, adventurous-to-the-end Mr. Irwin was too busy living to pass judgment on how others spent their time. That—and not his risk-taking excesses—could be the real lesson of his death—a lesson we all could learn.

Very well put Mary Beth Crain!!!

Fridays here again and that means .....

Brad the Bard is in the building ....run...run for it...before he starts reading his own work......too late haha

This poem has been in my head for a while...now when I say a while I mean about 2 weeks. I have almost had it done a few times but I had never written any of it down until today. So this is an old poem that has new life in the form of typed words and not just jumbled phrases in my head. Don't read too much into it but also be sure to read enough.....it makes sense to me so deal with it haha.

Some say absence makes the heart grow fonder

I say it makes the heart go wander

Just a little thought to ponder

As you travel here and yonder.

My heart you won't rip and tear asunder

Nor my feelings should you ever plunder

Acting this way is a colossal blunder

And I shall not let you drag me under.

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I hope it doesn't offend anyone and its really not meant for any one person in particular at all.....its a poem with many targets both known to me and unknown as of yet. I do hope everyone has a great weekend. I am through with my 12 hours a day for this week but will be working all weekend once again. It will be nice to have the extra $$$ for the upcoming trip to Ennis for the O'reilly Fall Nationals to see the top fuel cars run.....Sept 23rd is not far away and I am looking forward to it......oh and the trip back through when we stop at BONEDADDYS wont be too bad either. :D

Ciao

Birthday suit HNT #13

Just kidding on the birthday suit topic haha. I have been busy working 12 hours a day all this week so far so forgive me for not putting a lot into this weeks effort. I HAVE though been putting a bit more effort into my workouts.....yes it might be a bit rushed but I am finally doing my full workout when time permits although at a far lighter weight than before. I have not had any pain with the left arm yet but as I said I am being cautious with it. Anyway heres a few pics.....in the style of my good friend Chelle I am also posting a pic I didn't use. Now while this makes no sense to most of us sane people , it makes sense to Chelle so we will keep playing along. J/K Chelle. ( I am trying to make your "pics I didnt use but did use" thing famous. haha



My good friend Sandi(Sandl) so kindly helped me decide which of the two pics I should "use" by pointing out that my nipple was visible in this one.....she never said which o ne she liked best but after 10 times her pointing out that my nipple was visible I kinda took it she liked this one best. Ok maybe not TEN times but you get the picture ......well you get the picture AND this other picture I am NOT using. Confusing eh?



I really should show you the left arm flexed compared to the right but its too pathetic in comparison....what? you dont mind? Ok you asked for it.



If you are wondering what this HNT thing is about go check out Osbasso's link on the sidebar and it will become so much more clear. Come back and play with us after you read.
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I would also like to welcome my newest "fan" Christie.....well she was still talking to me before she started reading this earlier today....we will see in the morning I suppose haha. Thanks for stopping by Christie. :D Now time to go walking for first time in a few days before I go back in for 12 more hours of pure bliss haha
Ciao

Drive to work with me......

As Osbasso requested (although I am late) here is my drive to work. Gotta look both ways before backing out of the driveway......

Ok headed on down the street ....oh look theres the "pretty place to be seen" East Paris Baptist Church.....(and the back of my door too)

Looking west on the loop heres my favorite place to dine in Paris....no not Cavenders Boot City...past it there is Tamollys mexican food restaurant. I stopped by today after work for a nice birthday meal (37 in case you were wondering) This pic should have been before the above pic but I am too lazy to move it. This is the locally famous Mckees restaurant. If you ever stop in here no matter what time you will think the guy behind the counter is awake 24 hours a day and always at the restaurant. Well it is owned by twin brothers and one of them is there pretty much anytime. Good food and very friendly waitresses......I might stop by there tomorrow after work.:D

This is taken going around the loop and the tower in the distance is actually where I work. Well its a part of where I work. It houses the tall cookers for the soup lines for Campbells. The dog in the truck......he asked me not to use his pic but the license plate on the truck said Kansas so maybe he won't find my blog. Poor dog riding in the truck all the way from Kansas haha.
This is just to the right of the above picture. This is Paris Regional Medical Center. Now before you comment ....yes I am headed back the other direction now.....I missed this pic while getting the above pic with the dog.
This is my work place. See the far left hand side of the parking lot sooooo far from the building. Thats the parking spot for the Yukon. I always park about the farthest away of anyone to avoid door dings. Sometimes this does not work. So there you go....not quite a dozen pics. I have more I was just tired of waiting on blogger to upload them.

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I worked until 11 am this morning (12 hour shift) and had just crawled into bed and gotten asleep good when the doorbell rang.......not once......not twice...well to make a long story even funnier...I mean shorter..........I finally throw the sheet back and put on some shorts. Getting downstairs I fling the door open and the carpet cleaner man is standing there ...he knows I work nights and his genius kicks in and asks.."Did I wake you?" ummmmm no midget it was the ringing doorbell that woke me up. I was not happy. He says Terri asked him to come clean the carpets.....ummm yeah she did.....a week ago or more now. I tell him...in as nice a manner as I can that I am sleeping and he will need to come back tomorrow evening. I should call Terri and thank her for the wake up too......and ask her for my screwdriver back.....what kind of property manager comes to fix something and does not have tools haha. Terri is a sweetheart and lives about a half mile from where I will be building my house. Speaking of which I need to get started back on that again. Where does the time go?

Thanks to all who wished me happy birthday!!! Especially thanks to Sandi for the "E cake" although the laptop screen has tongue marks on it where I was attempting to taste it...no bite marks visible. Now time to get ready for another 12 hour shift....have those all week this week...someone will have to remind when Wednesday night is so I can post some kinda pic. Oh and your welcome for the pics Robyn......didnt know you needed them but just let me know anytime haha.

Ciao

Brad

Post number 100....awww crap I've wasted THAT many days?

This is my 100th post since I started blogging back in April. Boy was it lame back then. I have tried to continue this lameness theme through the 1st 100 posts and as usual.....I have succeeded. I have made many good friends along the way. I have made many people upset or mad along the way too I suppose. I was wondering how to "celebrate" my 1ooth post.....thought about doing a video post.......possibly an audio post.....but it being number 100, I decided to do " another 100 things about Brad" post. I have done this once before and being me.....I did 105 things and not just 100 (overacheiver that I am). So I present to you another random list.

1. I have lost over 40 lbs since January
2. I have played football against two people who went on to play in the NFL
3. I went to school with a guy who pitched for the Cinncinnati Reds
4. I also played against him and one other major league pitcher in teen league
5. I have been told I look most like Wayne Knight
6. I tend to put things off sometimes.
7. I should have put off doing this list.
8. Crap, only number 8 so far......
9. I sometimes flirt too much.
10. Other times not enough.
11. One of these days I will get it right.
12. I have not watched tv in over 3 weeks.
13. I still pay the cable bill just for the internet service
14. I finally hooked up my scanner/copier/printer
15. I realized how few pictures I have of my family now
16. A few bloggers have seen too many pics already
17. Lets hope they didn't save them all
18. I have stolen a car once
19. Well technically it belonged to my girlfriend
20. She was actually the one "stealing it"
21. I just dropped her off and followed her to hide it
22. I try to remind her of that often
23. I once test drove a truck for a week and half before taking it back
24. I put over 1500 miles on it
25. The dealership was NOT happy
26. I used to test drive vehicles I had NO intention of buying at all
27. I scared a black saleslady to death in Dallas on a test drive
28. Turns out they don't like their test drives to involve burnouts or over 100 MPH
29. They don't tell you these things before hand
30. Test drove a convertible Stang once and the wind blew the salesladies dress up to her chin
31. I almost bought THAT car
32. I went back for more test drives but she never had a dress on after that
33. I wish this was over....I may not make 100 today
34. I have sat in a top alcohol funny car
35. I was thinking of driving for this local guy once who owned it
36. I was going to have to buy my own firesuit and pay for my comp license
37. He would pay for everything else
38. I didnt know firesuits were so expensive
39. I wish now I would have paid for the firesuit
40. Seems this list is mostly about cars today
41. I might go on vacation to the hill country of Texas this fall
42. I was hoping not to go alone
43. I want to spend a winter somewhere they have a real winter
44. Until it gets really cold.....then send me home to Texas
45. I want to go to the New England area in fall sometime
46. Maybe stay with the Loudons and see Larry, Darrell and Darrell
47. Yes I know they are not actually the owners of that Inn
48. Sometimes I daydream a lot
49. I sometimes feel like parts of my life have been a dream
50. I look back and wonder if I really did some of those things
51. Then I look at my arrest record and realize...Yep I sure did do those things
52. I sometimes joke too much
53. A lot of times I joke too much
54. I have wasted most of my holiday weekend sitting around
55. I hate waiting on things.....
56. Like lines at the drive thru
57. Phone calls to be returned
58. Shifts to end
59. I think I might make it to 100 now........
60. oops I thought that said 89
61. I have finally started doing my full workout again
62. With a lot less weight than before
63. Funny how fast the strength can go away
64. I am not addicted to Myspace yet
65. I DO have 22 friends there now wooohoooo
66. Wanna be my friend?
67. I need to blog over there again soon
68. Some people use blogs from this world over there too
69. I cannot make myself bore EVERYONE
70. So I just bore you people
71. Lucky you huh
72. I just realized I waste a few lines occasionaly on info NOT about me
73. This is SUPPOSED to be about ME
74. I will let it slide this time
75. Thanks
76. I sometimes talk to myself
77. And sometimes I answer
78. There has been a few fights
79. I always win
80. I finally found my 8th grade valdictory speech
81. I will share that on a future blog
82. I am sure I sounded so professional
83. I am surprised I was not elected President after that speech
84. I did not write it
85. I did however memorize it which is good cause I forgot to bring the paper with me
86. I was always pitcher,1st base or left field when I played baseball
87. I had a season pass to Six Flags and did not get to go cause of my arm
88. No sense going if I couldnt ride the coasters
89. Was afraid I would jerk the arm out of place again
90. They do have holiday in the park I can go to
91. I turn 37 years old tomorrow
92. I am almost to middle age if you go by the average life expectancy charts
93. I am NOT middle-age material
94. I refuse to act my age
95. I don't spend enough time with my friends sometimes
96. Its hard to do things when most of them are married
97. Funny how the wives wont let them come out to play like before
98. We are planning on playing in a few weeks
99. I am going to the Texas Motorplex to watch the top fuel cars run
100. I have not seen them live in about 8 years or so
101. They literally shake the ground as much power as they make
102. 0-100 in less than one second
103. Awesome feeling to be around such power...and half dressed women
104. So there you have it, another worthless list of Brad stuff
105. Shall I stop at 105 as before
106. Nahhh I have to one up myself
107. Ciao!!

Ms Tuity Fruity, bowling, and happy birthday wishes

Yes its me again. Did basically nothing all of Saturday and woke up at the wonderfully sunshiney hour of 2 am or so this morning. Went jogging/walking at about 4:30 am (yes I was the only one there ...imagine that....well there was this one truck that pulled up and parked for about 10 minutes and left....maybe they decided not to jog huh? haha)

Friday I had a wonderful date with the lovely Ms Tuity Fruity and such a cutie , Gina. We met at Two Senoritas mexican food restaurant and cantina and was promptly sent to the corner. I don't mind sitting in the corner. I am a people observer and the corners mean noone gets behind you haha. I was a bit distracted from the people observing this time though. Gina, as she had told me before without sounding conceited at all mind you, was indeed even prettier than the picture I had seen of her. We had plenty of time to chat and get to know each other between being seated and finally ordering. This place is usually packed in the evenings and was no doubt as to why. The food was great and after our dinner we had dessert courtesy of Adolph Coors. Yes only one beer tyvm. :D We then sat and talked some more and finally left to go bowling. Its been a while since either of us had bowled but you couldn't tell it. We were neck and neck all the way through the 10 frames and when the dust had settled I had miraculously come from behind with a one point victory. I know there were many PBA scouts watching us both as the final score of the first match was a blistering 79 to 80 final score......yes thats all 10 frames.....quit snickering.....stop it!!!! Ok on to round two...Gina led until the 6th frame....NO I was NOT letting her win....she just had me distracted with such beauty :D I think the 6th frame was when I broke out the secret weapon...yep I went ahead and bowled left handed. Amazingingly the ball stayed on the lane....even more amazingly it knocked down 6 or 7 pins. The most amazing thing was it was my left arm that I injured back in May and I wasn't using just the lightest ball they had. Felt fine, no pain so that was good. Second game ended with me pulling ahead and coasting to a 84 to 69 victory (I promise I am not gloating Gina :P) Ok she says we should play one more....who I am to complain. Through the 4th frame I have managed to only knock down 15 pins....she was 34 to my 15. This cannot be happening. 6th frame she feels sorry for me and releases two gutter balls to allow me to catch up. She gets to frame 10 and picks up the spare and should be getting one more throw....it doesnt allow her to so we will call that game a tie. I am sure she would have knocked down 8 pins on that throw to make it a tie game. Anyway we had a blast and I do hope we can do it again sometime. Gina you are such a doll and I do hope you enjoy the candle.....it was the closest thing to a "fruity" candle they had haha.
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Picture time....I DID manage to get my copier/printer/scanner hooked up Saturday. Needless to say I spent a good portion of the day scanning in pics from many years ago and thought I would share a few. Some are not the best quality pics and a bit spotty sometimes but thats the best I can do haha. Ok well imagine that...blogger is being a booger and I cannot upload the pics.....your lucky day haha. I will share plenty of pics soon enough I promise.
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Yesterday would have been my grand dads 106 (or 107th) birthday. It is unsure exactly how old he was cause at the time he was born there were no birth certificates and one family Bible showed 1900 and the other showed 1899. Anyway happy birthday grand dad. I have talked about him before on here. He was like my best friend when I was a kid since he was the one I stayed with when I got off the bus after school. My grand dad was a small man by most standards but a true giant in my eyes. He stood MAYBE 5'6 and MIGHT have weighed 120 lbs but like I said he was a giant of a man in my eyes in so many ways. I miss him ....I am sure sometime in the future I will see him again. I still feel his presence when I go out to the land sometimes. Happy 106 (or 107) papaw!!!!!!
Brad

I forgot ...... and Poetic Friday

I forgot to use the photos I didnt use (see Chelle about this phenomenon) so I decided instead of updating the old post I would just include it in todays short one. Ok so I only had one other pic I was gonna post.....just to show that there is SOME muscle in those calves haha. And yes I remember what mama said about feet on the furniture...shhhh she won't know ....maybe. And yes I have a tan line....the sandals need to be replaced and have not been worn but maybe twice all year haha.

I did a short poem last week I will share for my Friday poetic expression and also wanted to warn...ehhhh I mean let everyone know I am approaching my 100th blog which SHOULD coincide with my birthday (37 for those of you who keep up with those things) so if I can I just might have something special for Tuesday......did I mention the new Kodak does video? hmmmmmm.....anyway heres the poem before I forget to post it. Just a short aimed at noone but aimed at everyone type of poem....unlike most of mine which are usually quite personal.

Stars above

The same stars up over my head

Have awed so many before me

We oft look to the Heavens for answers

The stars,within reach, seem to be.

We look at the stars and wonder

Are we in this unverse alone?

We look up as we raise our prayers

For our sins we ask Him to atone

Though the stars do sometimes flicker

And we sometimes think they fall

No matter the changes we see in our lives

The stars will outlast us all.

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Take the time to just get out and look up sometime.....it is such a relaxing and humbling experience when you peer into the Heavens and realize that every human, no matter how big or small, will see the exact same thing you see. Whether its the crack addict we look down on or the famous people we look up to......the stars know no difference....they shine on us all. Luckily so does God.

Have a great weekend everyone.......I know I am planning on a great one here. !!!:D

Brad