It comes in 3’s
This weekend was an unusual one as the race I was timing happened on Sunday instead of Saturday. That meant Saturday was get stuff done day. Cindy and I were up and working early in the day. Later in the morning we took the SSR out in the beautiful weather to complete a few errands. It was very enjoyable to just cruise about.
On Saturday night we decided to just stay in because of the race the next morning and the early alarm it demands. We watched Draft Day, the NFL version of Money Ball. I liked the movie but was surprised Cindy did as well since she isn’t a big football fan. I’d rate it a solid B+ flick which stood above most of my recent Netflix rentals. I didn’t nod off once.
Cindy and I managed to get down to Marco Island by 5:15 despite driving the farthest distance of anyone to get there. Cindy decided the night before she was going to not only volunteer but also run in the race as well. It would be her first “racing” since Memorial Day which is hard to believe. This is another one of those races that is laid out in a logistically poor manner. The registration/awards area is three blocks away from the start and finish line. However the race participant levels were low so it wasn’t a huge deal to manage.
Cindy did quite well considering her lack of running over the past 6 months. She finished in just over 26 minutes and actually won first place in her age group. I was happy for and proud of her. It’s a tough course that takes you over and back the Jolley Bridge which has quite the incline.
I had someone there that I am training on the timing system. I am hoping to get him to a level where he would be ok timing some of the smaller events, relieving some of my workload. Of course this is much easier said than done as there are many situations that come up during a race which require troubleshooting beyond the scope of what an instruction manual would cover. Regardless I am making the effort to make it happen.
On the way home from the race we stopped and picked up the girls for a one night sleep over. To make room in the already packed Tacoma we had to pile stuff up in the bed of the truck in a way that would not promote items blowing out while going 70mph on the highway. The girls had a very nice time out at the homestead enjoying the great weather.
As I mentioned on Friday, my mom’s birthday was yesterday. For the most part I kept my mind occupied throughout the day but the few times I allowed myself to think about it was rough. Not having mom around to celebrate her birthday for the first time in my life just felt very strange and foreign.
The Eagles game against the Packers did nothing but deepen my already poor mood, It was awful. The Eagles literally looked like they did not belong on the same field as the Packers. They were dominated in pretty much every possible way. Let me offer my amateur analysis.
Obviously Mark Sanchez had a bad day although I don’t place a lot of blame on his plate. He was constantly under pressure the entire game. The pick 6 interception he threw was ugly of course. We are 10 games into the season and I still am wondering what happened to LeSean McCoy. I get much more excited nowadays when the ball is handed to Darren Sproles. Sproles is explosive and fights for every single yard he can grind out. McCoy seems to do tons of lateral movement/tap dancing and does very little to resist going to the ground once someone touches him. I don’t understand why he is so much less effective than he was last year but it is dramatic. The Eagles defense was putrid. They got no pressure on Aaron Rodgers and repeatedly gave up 1st downs when the Packers were facing 3rd and forevers. It seemed incredible this was the same unit that stepped on the field against the Panthers six days prior. They just had no answers to anything.
Of course the Eagles are not alone with these wild swings in their level of play. If you look around the NFL there are countless examples of teams going from red hot to ice cold on a weekly basis. As a fan it’s very frustrating. The game got so bad that Fox flipped over to the Cardinals/Lions game midway in the 3rd quarter. I didn’t even care. Instead I jumped on WoW and watched web score updates that ended with the team going down in flames 53-20. If anyone had ideas that the Eagles were among the elite teams in the NFC those ideas should have been adjusted downward after yesterday’s performance.
My week got started this morning in a very dangerous way. I left early in the van to drop the dogs back off at Ali’s place before work. After doing so I was on one of the main arteries approaching an intersection where the light had just turned yellow. I was getting close to the go/no go point so I had to hit the brakes pretty hard. As I did all of a sudden my deceleration stopped as the brake pedal went straight to the floor. Thank goodness there were no vehicles in front of me at the time. I rolled straight through the intersection with my foot mashed to the floor.
I was able to get the party van stopped by downshifting and using the emergency brake. This was not the first time this has happened. Several years ago the brake lines to the rear ruptured due to the extreme rust the undercarriage has accumulated from it’s years on Michigan roads. Back then I again hit the brakes hard and again got very lucky that nobody was in front of me when the brakes failed.
I got out of the van and looked for a puddle of brake fluid similar to what I saw last time. I was surprised nothing was there. I called Cindy and told her what happened. She said she would come and meet me. She didn’t want me to drive with at least her in front of me to be a buffer. I was actually within a mile or so of Tires Plus, the place that replaced the rear brake lines. I put the van in first gear, turned on the 4 ways and putt putted my way back to them. I did not want to deal with the hassle of calling, waiting for, and paying for a tow truck.
Cindy pulled in after I dropped off the van. Luckily her work is on the way to my office so I could drop her off without much hassle. I got the call from the garage that now the right front metal brake line has ruptured and the bill to replace it is a stiff $500. Almost all of that cost is labor as the mechanic has to custom size and bend the new brake line to make it fit. The party van is nearing the end of it’s lifespan obviously at 19 years old. Twice I have been lucky to avoid potential disaster, I don’t know that I am willing to roll the dice a third time.
The only real reason I have the van is for dog transport although there are other rare situations where having a vehicle of this category has proven useful. Of course there are tons of memories and sentimental value wrapped up in the party van which is probably the primary reason it still has been residing in my driveway. The last couple years have been all about how life changes and your only option is to roll with these changes and come out the other end. The van may be next on the list of “Things that used to be”.