Pondering Things. Like Kittens, Soccer, and Horsepower

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April 6th, 2017

Hello blog faithful! My No. 1 priority this week was to make sure I got this installment written and posted on time, as in “on the right day” after my mishap last week. So, consider this a success. My No. 2 priority was to have all sorts of incredible news about my book to share with all of you. Consider that a failure. Basically, the status remains quo.

I’ve been diligent with my final edits on the “Bats, Balls, & Burnouts” proof, and still have about another two hours of work until I’m done and I get it fired back to Outskirts Press, but this blog takes precedence today so I’ll finish that later this afternoon. The bottom line is I’m consistently amazed at how I keep finding things, despite the fact I’ve been through the whole book at least 10 times. I think I’m seeing a lot of things now just because it’s in a finalized format and it looks different. That’s the way it goes with the blog and other things I’ve written in my career. Here, after I finish writing today’s blog, I’ll “preview” it in the format it takes on when it’s published, and things will jump right off the screen when I do that. In “draft” form, I miss those mistakes because my brain fills in the blanks. Once it looks “final” it’s like reading something that someone else wrote. I’m pretty much the Typo King, though.

With all that being said (written) there’s not much in the way of concrete news to share. Next step is to upload the changes and wait for the proof to come back as a final, then we’re off to production. I’m trying to not get too excited, because until we go final on the proof we don’t even have the cover done, so there’s that to finish and then it’s a matter of weeks until we have the first copies. We can’t finish the cover until we have the final page count.

Once I have books, it’ll be time to get back on the road for a while. I just got off the phone with Krista Wilkerson, talking about all of this exact same stuff, and we’re both really looking forward to being back together at some races. I miss all of those wacky Wilkersons.

And I miss the wacky Worshams, too. I got a text message from Del last night, and he was writing me from Madison Square Garden. As a birthday present to Kate and Maddy, he and Connie took them to New York and last night they attended a John Mayer concert. Del was reminiscing about how “a long time ago” Barbara got hooked on John Mayer’s music and we went to see him a few times back before he was a big star. The first time we saw him he played in a large bar in Austin, in front of maybe 500 paying customers.

Kate and Maddy are huge fans of the aforementioned Mr. Mayer, so I texted Del back and told him to share with the girls the memory I have of the singer/songwriter. I was on a long night flight, coming back from a race, and John Mayer and Jessica Simpson were seated directly behind me in First Class. He was a big star by then, and Barbara and I had tickets to see him the next night at the Xcel Energy Arena in St. Paul, so he’d come a long way from that bar in Austin. The coolest thing, though, was that he was gracious and kind to everyone who wanted to say hello or talk music. He was a real class act, throughout the entire flight, and when we all stood up to get off the plane I said hello, let him know we were going to the show, and I told him I was very impressed by how friendly and approachable he was. All he said was, “Gosh, thanks” in a sheepish sort of embarrassed way. He sure seemed like a really good guy.

So, due to a lack of any new “big news” in this installment, I’ll dig back through the “In Box” to find a few more questions from readers. After those questions are posted here, I shall provide the answers. That’s how it works. It’s a “give and take” sort of thing.

Terry from Massachusetts wrote: “We always need more photos of the boyz. How old are they getting to be now?”

Just kittens… (Click to enlarge)

They’re going to be 10 years old this fall. And this pic is from the first week or so they took up residence with us. They were little guys back then. They still seem like kittens to me, and at least a couple of times a day they’ll hit that spurt of playtime and act just like kittens, as well. When they stalk each other, hiding behind a corner and twitching their butts as they get ready to pounce, it’s a riot just to be a spectator. Buster surprised Boofus so much the other day Boofie sprung at least two feet in the air, straight up, and then it was on. They’ll race around the house at full speed for four or five minutes and then collapse into a heap and take a well-deserved nap.

These photos, however, shows me just how much they’ve “grown up” since they adopted us back in October of 2007. They were already a month or so old when they found us at the Woodbury shelter, and leaped out of the cage they were sharing to jump on me, so I never got to see them as really little kittens, but they were still small and very sweet. Now, they’re a bit bigger, still sweet, and still totally goofy.

Little Boofus on the left, little Buster on the right. Circa 2007.

And it’s not surprising that they’ve maintained the same personalities from Day One. Boofus is afraid of anything that moves, and a total Momma’s boy. What’s funny though, is that he always sleeps between my legs, not Barbara’s. He’s a creature of habit. Buster is the kindest and most gentle feline soul I’ve ever met. He’s just a wonderful guy, and he’s Daddy’s boy through and through. He literally follows me around the house, even to the point of shadowing me when I go upstairs to get an iced tea, and then coming right back down here to my office as soon as I do.

They’re also both really smart cats. Not much gets by them, and they have amazing problem-solving abilities. Barbara regularly ties shoe laces or other strings to drawer handles and Boofie rarely needs more than a minute to untie them. They’re good boyz…

Gordon, from Salt Lake City, asked: Do you still watch the NHRA races on TV and still follow how your former teams are doing?

Of course I do. I have NHRA All Access on my laptop, so I’m typically watching every qualifying session and every round of eliminations “live” as it happens. And I still get nervous when either Tim or Del gets ready to run. Some things will never change.  Can’t wait to get back out there and get a face full of Nitro!

This note, from Cathy in Minneapolis, came in just this morning. She asked: How about those Twins! 2-0 and two great games so far. Do you think they’re for real?

Well, I know for a fact they are “for real” if the other option would be “they’re fictional.” (Sorry. Couldn’t help it.) They really have played two solid games against a very good Royals team to start the season, and if they keep those fundamentals in order they’ll be much better than last year. They’ve pitched well, which is a major key, and they’ve made all the plays. They’ve also matured quite a bit as hitters. Both of those wins featured some very patient at-bats that turned into walks, and those then turned into runs. Last year, it seemed they were undisciplined and over-anxious at the plate, swinging at bad pitches all the time. So… I don’t know if they’ll finish over .500 or not, but they’re already showing they’re a better team than they were. But more importantly, its baseball season!!!  That’s awesome. They’re also playing the Royals again today, right now actually, so we’ll see who gets the W in game three.

(UPDATE: Twins are miraculously still “on pace” to go 162-0 for the season. They beat the Royals today 5-3 to improve their record to 3-0. Only 159 more consecutive wins to go!)

Also on a Twin Cities sports-related note, Cam from Milwaukee asked: Were you surprised that your Minnesota United finally won a game?

A little, yes. I’ll admit that. They were pretty bad, in an “epic bad” sort of way, starting out. To beat Real Salt Lake 4-2 last weekend was a huge step forward. It was also a really entertaining game, although I’m still bearing the scars from it. Buster was on my lap, down here in the home theater, and when United scored their first goal I yelled “GOAL” so loud he flew off my lap, but not before the claws on his back paws dug into my thigh for traction. It’s the price you pay for a great goal, I guess.

Go Loons!

And speaking of Minnesota United, I bought tickets for their home game on May 27. They’ll be playing Orlando City, and my nephew Todd (who lives in Orlando with his wife Angie and their adorable twin girls) is a huge fan. So we’ll have to place a friendly wager on that match, I’d say. Maybe something like if Orlando City wins I’ll buy him dinner and if United wins, he’ll buy me a private jet. That works.

Finally, Chris from Amarillo asked: How do they know how much horsepower a Funny Car or a Top Fuel Dragster makes? It seems like they said 6,000 hp just a few years ago, then it was 8,000 hp. Now it’s 10,000.

The answer is math. You can’t put a Nitro motor on a dyno to measure it like you would with a street car, so smart people who know how to do smart equations can look at things like acceleration, weight, torque and other factors and then come up with a pretty accurate guess. Plus, those people who make the truly big bucks (crew chiefs) are always finding ways to go faster and make more power. Right now, the consensus is that 10,000 hp is really the low-end guess. It might very well be more. And coming up at the end of the month we’ll have the 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte. That’s at least 40,000 hp all leaving the starting line at once.

I also just noticed that the Houston race comes before Charlotte this year. That’s interesting, because it had been right after the 4-Wides before, and it was noteworthy to sense the difference a week made when we’d go from zMAX to Royal Purple Raceway. Houston had always seemed like a standard-sized track throughout my career, but when we’d go there right after Charlotte it always seemed absolutely miniature. Just two lanes and just two cars at a time. And “normal” bleachers instead of giant stadium grandstands on both sides of the track. Atlanta Dragway now gets the post-Charlotte slot on the schedule, so I bet it will seem smaller than before after the 4-Wides.

Between you, me, and the fence post…

I’ll leave you with this photo of an old fence post. Why? Well, we live in a large sprawling suburban “master development” called Dancing Waters, here in Woodbury. We’re surrounded by winding streets and hundreds of homes. We also have a number of paved trails to walk or ride on, and during the months when the foliage is not green you can see some interesting things. There are still a few really old fences in some of the undeveloped wild areas, and I can only guess that they’re left over from the farms that were here before Dancing Waters was built. I’d seen many of the old rusty fences before, but it wasn’t until a few days ago that I spotted this old fence post. I thought it was pretty cool, but maybe I’m just easily amused.

I wonder if the former residents are still around to see what it all looks like now…

See you next week!

Oh, and remember this: If you read this, and liked it, feel free to hit the “Like” button at the top. The more “Likes” the merrier!

Bob Wilber, at your service looking for fences.

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