Sleep Patterns
Normally I sleep pretty well. I can probably count the times that I have laid awake thinking about something or genuinely unable to fall asleep, but just not really having time to sleep is another thing. And even another thing yet, is the ‘screwiness’ of tour vs. home sleep patterns.
See, on the road, especially these country bar shows, the shows don’t start until nine or ten at night and get out around midnight or one. Then there is the typical ‘wind-down’ time on the bus and then we get on the road usually around two or three. The next morning consists of possibly making it inside for a late breakfast at about ten or eleven or skipping even that and just walking in at about lunch time. Either way, there’s not much activity before noon.
Now, at home things are a little different. See, typically the house is quiet at about ten at night and there are these three little people that like to jump on me precisely at seven in the morning. Now, I’m all for getting jumped on by my boys at seven, but when I’m used to sleeping until ten or so and then having a slow walk into a venue, the shock is almost too much to handle. And switching between the two on a weekly basis is pretty interesting.
It’s because of this, that at times like, oh say, three in the afternoon, I am almost completely useless. We have declared ‘afternoon coffee time’ in our house an absolute necessity and there may even be a little napping involved.
So that’s my question for the day. What’s your sleeping schedule look like? What time are you in bed? And what time do you have to be up?
My First Race
See that thing on the left? I learned tonight that’s it’s called the ‘Pit Box’. I learned that after we were invited to sit on it during the beginning of the race with the owner of the ‘Menards’ team, Paul Menard. Now I almost feel bad for making fun of his name for years. Turns out he’s a super nice, and far more super rich guy. Not only that but his son drives the car. So for the first ten or fifteen laps Billy and I sat up there watching the cars fly past us covering our ears.
We stuck around for one pit stop and watched them change all the tires, and whatever else they do, all in about 13 seconds and they were off again. All in all it was a great day. I don’t know if I’d consider myself a Nascar fan now, but I do have a little more respect for what goes on here. That and I’m blown away by the hospitality of the sport, if you can call it that.
Now we are leaving a little early to beat the post race traffic and get home to celebrate Mother’s Day tomorrow. We had a great time today but I’m ready to get home.
Darlington Raceway
I woke up this morning to the sound of really loud cars driving around in a circle right behind the bus. I got up, looked out the windows and saw that we were backed up against the track and cars were ‘warming up’. Turns out even when they ‘warm up’ they are pretty loud. So far today I have watched a little of the ‘warm ups’, rode a stage hooked to a semi truck around the track, and eaten two tacos and some pineapple.
Right now the bus is an air conditioned oasis, and “No Country For Old Men” is on, so I’m pretty happy. I think the show tonight is at 5:30 or something and then the race is after. There’s also a rumor that it’s going to be on TV tonight so I’m curious if anyone is watching.
So far it’s been a pretty cool experience. I think I’m still bout a one, but I am in the process of looking for some earplugs. Anyone watching the race tonight?
Sony Sucks
“If you know that PC’s are crap why did you buy one?”
If I hear that question one more time, I might freak out a little. Here’s the deal. Most of you know that I’ve been broadcasting live video for about a year now. There’s a couple different ways to do it but the ‘most effective’ is to use a program called a Flash Media Encoder that is conveniently only made for a PC. Not sure the logic on Adobe’s part in making a video product that doesn’t work with Mac’s but that’s not up to me. So, after hearing that the best way to broadcast is to spend money on something I passionately don’t even want, I did it anyway and left the store with a brand new Sony Vaio Notebook.
Now, I had this computer to be used for one thing and one thing only. To take out of the hard metal case, plug in and broadcast the shows. After the show was over it was packed back up in the hard metal case surrounded by foam and set in the back of the bus.
Twenty one shows this computer lasted. I hated using it every night because of it’s cheap, unreliable quality. Then it broke. Luckily I had a warranty and so all I needed to do was send it in and get whatever happened fixed and it would be all good. Well, today I got a call from Sony saying that there had been some ‘memory damage’ and also since the firewire port was broken the mother board would need to be replaced. All of those repairs would total $540 and they could have that back to me in ten days.
“What about the warranty?”
“I’m sorry sir, these are covered under the warranty.”
“But I just paid $900 for a computer of yours 6 months ago, and now you want me to pay $500 more to fix things that I didn’t break?”
“Yes.”
Seriously. I know I’m just annoyed right now, but if you are even remotely considering purchasing a Sony Vaio Notebook you are about to waste your money. The idea that something that costs $900, isn’t under warranty after six months and has that many problems, and costs $500 to fix completely blows my mind.
I told the lady that she might as well send the PC back to me and I’d use it as a paper weight or frizbee or something. She apologized and said she was ‘just a customer service person’ and I assured her I would do everything I could to discourage anyone from buying a Sony Vaio Notebook. So here I am. I’m telling you. If you can at all avoid getting a Sony, do it. You’ll thank me later.
Anyone else have any issues with Sony?
I’m About A One
So, if you follow my Twitter, you already know that Saturday I will be attending my first ever Nascar event. Now, from what I understand Billy is playing a ‘Pre-Race Concert’ and also singing the National Anthem before the race. It is also to my understanding that we will be parking the bus in the middle of the field or whatever and everyone else on this bus is super excited about it.
Now, the other day Aaron, Billy’s road manager, sent out an email saying there were different things that we would be able to do, but there were limited spaces for each ‘event’. He asked on a scale of one to ten how big of Nascar fans we were to make sure that the big fans were able to be involved as much as possible. It took me a while to figure out my response, because I was going between a zero and a one. It’s not that I hate it, just I’ve never been into it, but I have heard that once you go you love it. We’ll see I guess.
Any Nascar fans out there? Scale of one to ten?
Anything else I should know before going into an environment of 80,000 people and cars going over 200 miles an hour?
Cinco de Dominated The French
Well, here it is. The one day a year we can grab some tacos, pile on the guacamole and break out Mariachi Band for XBox. Nothing says ‘celebration’ like rocking the plastic giant nylon string guitar and the fake trumpets. If I can only remember where I put my tassel jacket.
Little known fact, by the way. The 5th of May is not actually Mexican Independence Day. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico. The real deal is that 4,000 Mexican soldiers dominated the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862. That’s what this party is all about. Maybe it’s not a little known fact… everyone could know that I suppose, but I don’t want to hear about anyone eating any French Toast, or French Fries today okay?
Tonight Kristin and I don’t have many plans for Cinco de Mayo, but there will be some Mexican food eaten… and I think Blue and I might watch the third X-Men. I found out yesterday that I have bronchitis, so that’s pretty fun. It seems like once a year I end up in this situation because I get a lame cold and then don’t take the time to get better. Oh well. At least the antibiotics were free at Publix.
So what’s your Cinco de Mayo look like?
*Disclaimer: I am not a historian, nor do I care to be, and I know there are two sides to every story. So if you are French and I have offended you, please allow me to buy you a Corona.
Swine Flu On Twitter
So, this may offend someone, but I think it’s really funny and needed to blog about it. I’ve Twittered about it already, but I think something this funny deserves a little more attention. Swine Flu is officially on Twitter and it couldn’t make me happier.
Now, this isn’t just info about Swine Flu like the actual Swine Flu Twitter account. No way. This is the actual Swine Flu Tweeting…. and it’s classic. Even down to it’s bio. Brilliant.
Hey…ummmm…I guess I’m here to meet people. Armageddon said this was the place…soooo.
Now, I’m sorry if this offends you and you or your loved ones have been affected by this weird thing floating around our country. I just spent the last week in Texas and used almost an entire bottle of anti-bacterial stuff. But some of these Tweets are amazing and if you aren’t following, you are truly missing something hilarious. Check it.
I’ve never felt better. My agent called and compared my exposure to 1918! I mean, come on man! 1918 is the majors. I’m soooo pumped man!
In honor of the place of my birth, I decided to eat Mexican food tonight! Me and Yellow Fever got a great table on the porch. Margaritas!!
Seriously one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time…. as far as the personification of a deadly virus goes. Spread the word about this account. Let’s make this thing massive. It’s too funny to not be.
Stats Suck Sunday – In Bullet Points
Welcome to Sunday. I’m currently sitting on a bus driving home. I think we are somewhere in Louisiana or Alabama headed toward Nashville, but I’m ready to be home. This wraps up my first week of the ‘country scene’ and it’s much like I expected, in a good way. Anyway, if you are new to Stats Suck Sunday, here’s the idea. All of our stats will suck because it’s Sunday, so here’s the opportunity to throw out randomness that you don’t really care if anyone reads. The point? There isn’t one. Here goes.
- I woke up this morning afternoon excited that it’s NBA Playoff time. Since our Kings aren’t anywhere to be found, and San Antonio is done, I’ve got to go with Dallas. Although Atlanta looked good today.
- I have had congestion and a cough since the middle of The Roadshow tour and I’m beginning to think it’s either allergies or something that needs antibiotics. Either way it’s pretty annoying.
- Louisiana roads suck. Especially in the back of a bus.
- Marines that spin the guns around like they are batons kind of weirds me out. It’s like the ultimate juxtaposition of manly and not. I don’t really know how to take it.
- I didn’t realize Denver was such a good basketball team. They have lots of tattoos.
- I watched about forty-five seconds of the Kentucky Derby yesterday and was pretty fascinated by the pink horse come all the way from the back to win. Then the TV turned off.
- Marines twirling guns is sort of like the singer that screams and looks really tough. I mean yeah, you look tough and all, but lets face it… you’re still a singer. That’s like one step up from being a dancer. How tough are you really?
- There are literally five bottles of squeezable grape jelly in the fridge of this bus. Five. Grape.
- So far it’s been a great week out here with these guys. I love how no matter what tour you are on, you are all in it together, and have each other’s backs. Sure it’s different than the Christian market, but there are some very similar things that make it nice.
- Denver is putting the hurt on Dallas right now and I keep getting caught up in the game and this post has taken me about an hour to write.
Yep. Thanks for stopping by. You all know the rules. Write up your SSS post on your blog and fill out the box below if you want to be involved. Sound good? Here goes.
