Monday Meme - Expanded

Posting is becoming more and more challenging for me. Work is, well, work. Can’t bitch about it too much… although someone out there (still lurking) would get a kick out of it.

I get home about 7, we eat, then watch TV. Not much to blog about there. I tend to watch TV with my laptop on my lap and read all of your blogs. DVR/Tivo (sp?) is great. If I think I missed something, I can always re-wind live TV and see it again.

My hobbies are PGR and photography. I don’t get out to take many pictures to much any more. Maybe this weekend. I get tired of talking about funerals, I assume you get tired of hearing about my heart breaking again and again. Don't get me wrong, I will continue to attend these to honor our heroes. And I'll still be one of the big bikers crying when a mom thanks me for being there and all I can do is whisper while choking back tears "It's our honor ma'am". Because it is the right thing to do and needs to be done.
"For those that have fallen. I will stand. I will not forget."

So… since there was a few comments, here is the Monday meme – expanded.

If you had to choose one vice in exclusion of all others what would it be?
Driving like a mad man
I like driving, I love driving fast. The best defensive driving is to not let anyone be in front of you. That way no one can cut you off. I often do 75 in the 55 zones and nearly 90 on the open road. I try real hard to keep it in double digits, but if I get stuck in a pack and a hole opens… I’ll hit the triple digits just to get out in front. No, I don’t use a radar detector or a CB. My wife calls me ‘charmed’, cause I’ll just hit the brakes, top a hill and there will be a cop. It’s been over 10 years since I got a ticket of any kind. Now that I’ve said that, I’ll probably get one tonight.

But, I’m a stickler for neighborhood speed limits, especially if there is a school zone. I WILL NOT speed near a school. I have been honked at for going 20 in a 25 many times.

If you could change one specific thing about the world what would it be?
Prejudice - give everyone understanding.
Chauvinism and prejudice-ness of any kind really chaps my ass. If you are a judgmental person… we’re not gong to be friends. Don’t waist my time introducing yourself. ‘Nough said ‘bout that.

Name the cartoon character you identify with the most.
I laugh like Muttly (you know, Dirk Dastardly’s dog) A mix of Snoopy and Garfield. Snoopy's adventures and problem solving and Garfield’s attitude and appetite.
Heh, does that sound as weird as it reads…?

If you could live one day in your life over again which one would it be?
That day in Kindergarten...
OK. I’m only going to say this once.
This is my MOAS (Mother of all Secrets) (pronounced moe-ass).
I do not have a therapist, (I should have one) but If I did. I would not tell him/her this one. This is a part of me that I cannot change (I have tried Soooo hard) and it still scares the hell out of me.

If you could go back in history and spend a day with one person who would it be?
Adam

What is the one thing you lost, sold or threw away that you wish you could have back?
My first car - '69 Camaro - Oh baby, that car was a dream!!
I was a car geek in high school. Thanks to my uncle.
The Camaro had white Emron paint with wide blue stripes on the trunk and hood. Dark blue interior with lama fur seat covers/pads. Then souvenir t-shirts from the Summer Nationals in Bristol Tennessee (one of the biggest drag races in the country every summer) as covers over the bucket seats. I also had a $1,500 Alpine stereo system (top of the line back in the day). I burnt Crazy Train, War Pigs, Children of the Sun, Body Language, and the like into my brain with that stereo.
The engine was a 327 with a 3/4 street cam, 850 Holly Double Pumper 4-barrol on an Edelbrock aluminum cross over intake. Automatic trans with a 3500 RPM stall converter. Air shocks holding the body up over 50s in the rear and 60s in the front. Craiger 5 spoked chrome rims.
I have pictures someplace. If I can find them, I’ll scan them and show you.
MAN!!! I miss that car!!
We sold it about 9 months after getting married… had doctor/baby bills to pay. And no I don’t regret it.

What is your one most important contribution to this world?
Teaching others.
I am told I have a unique ability to explain complex things in very simple terms.

What is your one hidden talent that nearly no one knows about?
Good question... no clue

What is your most cherished possession?
Family and friends

What one person influenced your life the most when growing up?
My Uncle
Let’s see…
He is a National Guard vet. Air craft mechanic.
He has worked in an aircraft assembly/maintenance plant.
He has been a farmer, millwright, mechanic, father (my only 2 cousins), and mentor.
He has been a volunteer on the board of the county hospital.
He is a member of ‘Daughters of the Revolution’ (I think that is what it is called). Basically it is a re-enactment group that stages Civil War era battles. Except with this group, you have to prove you have blood lines that show your family was here (in the US) and that they participated in the war. He’s a Confederate General, I believe.
He ‘raced’ in tractor pulls. The big diesel tractors. Still does 2 cylinder garden tractor pulls for fun.

He taught me to drive. The farm is nearly 2,000 acres. There is about 500 acres around the house. I’d get in the car and drive, there was nothing to hit, just wide open fields. I learned how to counter steer in a slide and regain control. Stop fast in sand (which can translate loosely to snow) and keep the car straight. How to loose traction going around a bend and counter steer the car back straight without lifting your foot off the gas. He taught me how to weld and not to worry about taking something apart. Complex things, like a combine or an engine or all of the gears in a pull behind planter. Because, if you do it carefully and place the parts out on the floor you can usually get it back together and if not, you can weld it back together.
I spent a summer (I was 15) there working on the farm. One of my chores was to feed the cows in the morning before breakfast. I’d drive the truck (a big Chevy 4 door with dually rear wheels) to the barn and fill it with hay bales and buckets of corn. Head out into the pasture and with the truck still in gear, jump out, climb into the back and drop hay and corn out for the cows. Jump out of the back of the truck, get back in the cab and turn it around before hitting the fence and do it again. It took 4 passes to drop all of the feed out of the truck.
During that summer, we bought an old Cub Cadet lawn tractor. Tore the engine out and modified it (cam, carb, polished intake, new crank bearings and seals, etc). Put it all back together and re-worked it to run on straight methanol. When the engine was running at high revs it would spit out a blue flame about 12 inches past the exhaust end. We added a bracket to the front so we could add weights and we welded old weight lifting weights into the rear rims. We took it to a tractor pull in late August. I got to drive and I got second place. Heh, got beat by some 9 year old by about 5 feet. Not too bad for being my first real pull and the first competition the tractor was in.
I credit him with teaching me to accepting anyone and having patience when teaching others along with the obvious mechanical abilities and problem solving.

What one word describes you better than any other?
Smart-ass
To know me is to love me! But... my southeren up bringing (see uncle above) also taught me to be a gentleman. The smart-ass and sarcasim might not come out until you get to know me.

PS: Harry Potter does not live here, but thanks for stopping in. Leave a comment and come by again some time.