Currently Gaming Need for Speed Most Wanted By Electronic Arts see related

The End of an Era

This is a picture from the summer of this year. At Jason and Emily Hart's wedding in Clarks Summit, PA, I caught the bouquet. Yeah, they thought it was hilarious too.

I had a very good Christmas. My biggest gift was definitely from my brother and parents in the form of an Xbox 360. I was very surprised and very happy to be given it. I was also very pleased with a really nice KJV Study Bible I was given. It's leather bound and has my name engraved in it. But, on to my important announcement...

Today, December 31, 2006, I am officially announcing an end to all Xanga communication. In one week's time, this site will no longer be accessible and my account will no longer be active. I do not write as much as I would like, and I don't think enough people read it to make it worth it. I have been focusing on Facebook as of late, and with the "Notes" addition of a couple months ago, my blogging may end up continuing there. If anyone would like to leave any last comments for me through Xanga, they should be in by next Sunday night at midnight. So I would like to thank all of the faithful NASCARDale7 readers from over the past few years, and I hope that you all have a great and wonderful 2007! I'll see you on Facebook!

From the White House,

John

Currently Watching Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby see related

SHAKE AND BAKE!!

The day finally arrived. The day when someone made a movie made just for me. The combination of Will Ferrell (one of my favorite comedic actors) and the sport of NASCAR in one movie was awesome. Andy, Micah, Jon, Radar, Laura, Jacob, Mallory, Matt, three of Jacob's friends and I went to see "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" last Saturday night. It was hilarious. Afterwards, we went to Quaker Steak and Lube.

That's right. That caused some among us to need to try the hottests wings on the planet, Quaker Steak's own, Atomic Wings. Micah, Radar and Andy all took part in the Atomic Wings festivities, I bowed out because I had done it before and felt no real need to do it again. As always it was great entertainment to see the participants drinking water from everyone's glass at the table and in the meantime pouring sugar packets in their mouths (That was my job, opening sugar packets). In this case Andy picked a bad time to do it. Apparently the wing he ate did not settle on his stomach as well as last time. He told us that he felt like he was going to lose it. I told him to go to the bathroom. I didn't want to see someone puke on our table. Micah begged him to stay because he wanted to see someone puke at our table. Andy grabbed a nearby nearly-empty-pitcher and unloaded his wings into it. It was not that funny at the time, but now its hilarious.

I have been told that my posts are not funny. So, I found this Jeff Foxworthy commentary on Ohio. I think its hilarious and very accurate about life in Ohio. By all means, enjoy yourselves:

"You might be from Ohio if:

You think all Pro football teams are supposed to wear orange.

You know all the 4 seasons: winter, still winter, almost winter, and construction.

You live less than 30 miles from some college or university.

You know what a buckeye really is, and have a recipe for candied ones.

You know if other Ohioans are from southern or northern Ohio as soon as they open their mouths.

You measure distance in minutes.

Your school classes were cancelled because of cold.

You've had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.

You know what should be knee-high by the Fourth of July.

You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition. For example: "Where's my coat at?"

You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.

You carry jumper cables in your car.

You know what 'pop' is.

You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.

The local paper covers national and international headlines on one page but requires six pages for sports.

If you actually get these jokes!"

That's all for now. In the meantime...

Go see Ricky Bobby! Shake and Bake!

From the White House,

John

Currently Watching Superman Returns see related

I'M BACK!

I just got back today from our family's annual trip to my grandma's cottage on a lake in upstate New York. For those interested, it is on the Great Sacandaga Lake in the Adirondacks. It was a very relaxing week. The only complaint being that because the water was too high in the lake (darn you eastern rains!), we did not have a beach, and we did not put our boat in the water. I will likely put up pictures later from the trip.

I have been really busy this summer with summer classes at Cedarville (US History and Earth Science, finishing off some Gen Eds), and work at Young's. I have had a wild schedule with going to a couple weddings, and holidays and things like that. Oh, for the Fourth of July, my family, the Sampsons, Brittany, and the Harts went up to Buck Creek and spent the day on the lake. That was a fun day.

I've been to a bunch of movies lately, all of them I have really liked. They include Cars, Superman Returns (despite what Andy says), Click,  and the new Pirates of the Carribean movie. I enjoyed all of them.

That's all for now. Hopefully I will add pictures later. The picture above is Dale Jr. running a throwback paint scheme (see below) in the Father's Day race at Michigan International Speedway. It is designed after a paint scheme his grandfather, Ralph Earnhardt, used in the sport, with the same number 8:

Pretty Sweet. Anyway that's all for now. Have a great weekend!

From the White House,

John

Currently Watching X-Men - The Last Stand see related

TWO MONTHS?...

I cannot believe it has been two months since the last time I updated. That might be the longest hiatus so far. A lot has happened in the last two months. I finished my Junior year in college with my highest GPA for a semester, 3.77! That moved me back above 3.5 for my overall GPA. The semester ended on May 5th with the last of exams.

The next day was my 21st birthday. I got up and I opened the cards I had gotten and Andy's present presentation. I got a Jone's Soda Holiday Pack from Andy, you know, the one with Turkey and Gravy flavored soda, etc. We went out to breakfast at Bob Evans in Xenia, and I had Steak and Eggs. It was really good. We spent the afternoon playing Poker in the living room. Then we left to go to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. That was really good. My parents made the mistake of telling them it was my 21st birthday, so the waitress was asking me where I was going that night and about all the great bars in the area. We came home in time for the night race at Richmond.

Can you believe it? A Nextel Cup race on my birthday! Jon came over, and Jeff and Brittany came over too to watch the race. This was when I got the best birthday present of all. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the night race at Richmond, breaking a 28 race losing streak. Dale Jr. won on my birthday! It was pretty awesome. His burnout was pretty sweet:

He did his burnout so hard that the right rear tire exploded:

The next day Jon took Andy, Matt and I to Quaker Steak for my birthday. That was really good too.

That's all for now. I will write about more of the events that have happened over the last two months. Tonight is Andy's graduation. Hopefully I will write again tomorrow but we'll see.

Have a great weekend, and seriously, do not be afraid to write a comment.

From the White House,

John

Currently Watching American Outlaws see related

AWESOME RACE!!

So the weekend finally came. A weekend where it didn't rain, AND it wasn't supposed to rain. So, at 7AM on Saturday morning, Andy and I got up to help Dad work on tearing the roof off over the attic and my potential room. It wasn't long after that when we started getting A LOT of help. First, Mr. Hubler came. Then Mr. Laramore. Then JD Callan and Matt Callan. Then Mr. Sampson. Then Paul showed up. Before long Daniel Sampson came by, and not long after that Jon Miller even showed up. God really blessed us on Saturday by giving us perfect weather (55 degrees and cloudy; not too hot, not too cold, and no sun in our eyes). He also blessed us by having so many willing workers show up to help. Thanks to everyone who came and showed up to help, it means a lot to us. We had the roof off by 9:30 AM, and by the end of the day we had built the walls for my new room and most of the roof structure. On Sunday, seeing rain coming on the horizon, we hurried up after lunch to finish covering the walls, "drip-edged" the grooves, "Tyvek"ed it, installed the window (awesome window), and even shingled the roof. All except the siding is done on the outside. Over this week, at night, Dad has been doing a few things at a time like starting the electrical work, insulating the soon-to-be-ceiling, among other things. Right now I'm living out of Andy's room and the Living room. As the avid nascardale7 fan might remember, Grandma (my mom's mom) came to live with us last week and she is now in my old room (which I'm sure many of you knew and were fond of).

While on the roof on Sunday afternoon, the Spring race at Martinsville was on. I taped it and started watching after we had finished the roof for the night. On lap 2, Dale Jr. was caught up in a big crash and destroyed his right front fender (among other things). The crew kept him on the lead lap under caution and many many repairs to the battle-ravaged #8 machine. They got most of the fender cut away (see above) and they continued on hoping to scrape by with a top-30. I nearly stopped watching the race, but skipped ahead a few laps to see if he was improving. He was, and really quickly, so I ended up watching the whole thing from the tape. Junior rallied back and was running fourth when the lap-down machine of Ryan Newman cut Junior off who was underneath him in turn four and crushed his left-front fender into the wall. The maneuver got Junior sideways (see below), and he lost 12 or more positions:

He battled back at the end for a 4th place finish in what was one of the most beat-up cars that he has ever had to finish with.

At David's house last night we watched American Outlaws, which I had never seen before. It was really good. It was about Jesse James and his gang in the Old West. I don't know how accurate it was, but it was entertaining to watch. Everyone should see it, I liked it.

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

From the Blue Room in the White House,

John