NASCAR rocks!

Brandon and I are really getting excited to be living in Indianapolis - the center of such exciting events like formula one racing. I've geared up by watching racing on Saturday afternoon. It has nothing to do with not having cable. Anyway, I welcome all things race-related. I was pleased to see an informative news story about NASCAR that I thought I would share.
NASCAR Coach Reveals Winning Strategy: 'Drive Fast'

XDR-TV (drug resistant TV)

Over the past couple of days, Anna and I have slowly packed up of our belongings into an ABF trailer that has been parked in the driveway on top of our neighbor's sprinkler. Everything we own is now in the hands and calloused butt of some long haul trucker. We hope the "Bob and Tom Show" will be entertaining enough to keep him or her from falling asleep at the wheel. Due to my vast experience handling and shipping fireworks (something finally more useful than my large Spanish swear word vocabulary) the initial packing phase went smoothly and better than we planned. As soon as it came time to pack the television, my plans quickly unraveled. I knew the TV had to go, but I couldn't face the silence that comes without the drone of summer television programming: "So you think you can dance, Age of Love, and America's Got Talent" to name a few. Much like the widely publicised "xdr-tb" the drug resistant tuberculosis, summer television spread its airborne virus all about our living room without any care of who it infected. After realizing that I couldn't wean myself off the TV I finally pulled the plug this morning and quarantined it on the trailer underneath a ton of crap. I called ABF to come pick up the trailer and they told me they won't be here until late this evening. If I'd know that, I would not have taken the TV out so early this morning.

What a sunset!

As I sat on my deck tonight, I was in awe of the breathtaking view I had of the sunset. I just sat and watched it until it faded away. The colors were incredible, probably due to all the fires (caused from fireworks). I thought I'd share this with everybody, enjoy!

TNT (Terrible Negative Tyrants)

As some of you know, I'm back at TNT for the 4th summer and few things have changed since I was there back in 2003. I have, however, enjoyed some of my experiences throughout the last few weeks. Of course, the number one reason I went back was for the huge box of fireworks I received today, which I proceeded to turn Ashleigh's neighborhood into World War 3. My friend Shaun managed to do the same, telling me his neighborhood was like a war zone straight out of 'Platoon.' Some of the highlights this summer have included: 1- I managed to tip over 3 pallets with the forklift because I didn't stick my forks in straight, causing them to tip slightly which made the bottom pallet crush, causing the top two pallets to come careening down on two innocent Mexicans, just kidding no one was harmed during this disastrous display of reckless forklift management. 2- In another forklift incident, I was loading two pallets stacked on top of each other and was helping one of the drivers load their truck and had very little visibility because the pallets were stacked right in my line of sight. So I looked around them and noticed Brandon pushing a pallet and thought he was out of the way but he had abandonded the pallet to move another one and I crashed right into it, causing it to be crash into Brandon, who had left the pallet jacked up on a pallet jack. Of course, I blame Brandon for this egregious oversight. 3- Being a witness to Brandon go face to face with a worthless, lazy, non-compliant black guy who refused to help us clean the warehouse at the end of the day. Deion, as his 'associates' call him, told Brandon, "You told me we were done at 5:30. It's 5:30. I'm outta here." Brandon kept yelling at him, "Shut up Deion! Freaking shut up and clean." It was hilarious. A classic case of "The Man" trying to keep black people down. 4- Taking a quick nap in my truck after a delivery and waking up 45 minutes later, realizing I had not set my emergency brake and it was left in neutral. That would have been a colossal disaster. 5- Getting yelled at today by a tent operator who told me, "What do you mean you're out of Grand Finales and Big Timers, what kind of planning goes on here?" None, absolutely none, my white trash friend.

6- Having to swallow my pride and answer to my younger, yet wiser brother as he was commissioned to be in charge of pulling the orders. Actually, he's a great leader. I watched as he literally dragged himself through a 12 hour shift, running on fumes because of severe congestion and a cough that should have kept him out a few days. As I walked out after a break, I looked over and saw an exhausted Brandon lying on the pallets like a dead man, and in true admiration, I thought to myself, "That is one dedicated s.o.b."

7- I didn't get a chance to hear or see this, but a few of the warehouse guys thought it was a shopping spree when they received their fireworks boxes and were walking down the aisles randomly grabbing whatever firework caught their eye to add to their already overflowing boxes. Marco, our warehouse boss, came out and after dropping a few expletives, yelled to them, "You put one more thing in your box and I'm taking it away, and firing each of you."

8- I made a few deliveries on the 3rd of July, and most of the operators were extremely frustrated by their lack of sales and/or customers. I calmly reassured them that everything would be o.k., knowing full well that most of their tents and stands were in terrible locations and having run a tent myself, if you've only sold $5,000 by the 3rd of July, you're not going to be too happy when you realize that you basically made minimum wage to sit out in 100 degree temperatures, working 24 hours a day in miserable conditions. Ask dad about how he liked running a tent, but do so at your own risk. More to come later; Brandon, feel free to add any others.

THE IOWA HIGH LIFE

Well I made it over here to Davenport Iowa (actually Bettendorf to be exact and I have been having an adventure ever since!

THe food is incredible. My sunday dinner usually consists of a burrito with rice. Man it is just like at home!

THen I get the chance to mount dishes on trees like you see there>

and climb on some freakin steep roofs with a ladder actually on the second one

I also have the luxury of spending some of my finest hours, fishing through cobwebs to get to my lines. Oh I am so spoiled!

The cherry on top would most likely be the nap i take for three hours in church. The IOWA high life isn't for everyone though. It includes 12 hour days and dealing with some of the most white trash people you would ever meet. It also includes driving over 150 miles a day. Oh what else could be better! I am lovin it. I miss you all and I am excited to see you all this weekend!

Iowa salutes you!

Peace