Hard work and the stars align...

ohh not for me... oh no but I will get to that in a bit.

First, rollout is still going OK - no one is freaking out, some compliments, etc.. and of course - for those of us who did the hard work - nothing... well not nothing - we got to leave early and get food and drink and games at Dave and Busters.. Now for the Merc.. this is a big deal so I'll take. We still had to buy our own alcohol but hey.... the most I ever got for this type of work. What I am hearing and is par for the course is those who are taking the applause etc.. Senior mgmt who were not here when it started or did not really work on it. Typical corporate crap I am sure - oh well - there are those of us who take personal pride and know we made it happen.

Put in over 60 miles on the bike this week. Feeling really good now.

Now about the title. I do not talk about my family that much - not the wife and kids but brother or sisters so this one is for and about my brother. I'll do my best to keep it short..hahhaha just like Wrider.

I love motocross - my bro loves it more. He has never stopped riding since he was 9. Well as the years pass and stuff he finally decided it was now or never to race a once a year race at Mammoth Mountain. He knew it would take time, effort and of course - MONEY!!! Now he has raced local races before and even won some desert races in the amateur class he runs but he never won a motocross race. So about 4 months ago he begins to train (mammoth is high altitude) working out, mountain biking, total change in diet (massively healthy) and lots of riding and racing the 40+ novice class locally (that is where the money comes in - a lot of gas) He really pushed himself for 4 months - won one local race to get ready.

Mammoth is open to the country so as long as you can register and pay - you can race so there are lots of good riders from all around in every class - even his - 40+ Vet Novice and Mammoth is a very rough track - no changes from the amateur to pros - they all ride the same track.

His best friend works for Suzuki racing so he gets to pit with him and a motocross legend - John Dowd - who is great friends with my bro's friend.

Friday - just a practice day
Saturday Qualifier - bad start in qualifier - goes from 22nd to 6th and makes it to the final race
Saturday Final - bad start again - goes from the 20's up to 3rd in about 5 laps - see first and second - a goggle tear off sticks during a jump and pulls his goggles half off - by the time he fixes it - he is in 6th and moves to 4th at the end.

He is bummed cause he knows he should have won but happy cause he did so well

Sunday Qualifier - bad start - in the 20's (notice a pattern here hahahaha) and moves up to 6th again and makes it to the final race

Sunday Final - before this, the legend John Dowd ask my bro how it went and he said fine but my starts suck. John had watched him and gave him "the tip" for starts at Mammoth
Gate drops - my bro takes john's advice and holeshots and leads out of the first turn. Now he thinks - cool if I can get one lap in - awesome. End of lap one he is still leading - hears the other guys but no real challenge so he says - well one more lap, and if they pass me, they pass me. End of lap two - still in the lead. Now he just says - I am just gonna race my race and puts his head down. Finally around lap 5 he sees some friends cheering him and giving him the arm movement indicating "big lead" so he decides to check. They have about a 1000 foot climb up and down section and he gets to the top turns and looks at the other side and sees NO ONE!!!! He cannot even see second place that guy is so far behind. He has about a minute lead after 5 of 7 laps. It really hits him at this point and he feels like his favorite rider Ricky Carmichael when you have huge lead and a couple laps to go. So now he can relax and enjoy the final laps.

He cross the finish line all alone to the checkered flag, gets high fived by all the fans along the fence and gets to go the top step of the podium for his trophy.. and all along the guy who announces Supercross was announcing the races so his daughter could hear the whole time how DAD was was kicking everyone's butt!!!! His friend Cole hugged him, John Dowd was stoked for him and my bro said it was the greatest week of his life!!!

So like my title says - he put in a lot of hard work and for 30 minutes that Sunday, all his stars aligned and gave him his dream.

I am totally happy for and proud of him.

Finally Song of the blog: I'm not over by Carolina Liar




and

The Wait by the Pretenders. Love old Pretenders!!

Back to normal

Finally, the two week early shift is done.. I am tired but it was kinda fun... had the right people coming in with me so we had a good time. The NY rollout has gone better than I expected - there will always be issues but not to bad (knock on wood) I just hope it keeps going...

Well what has happened in the last two weeks....

Sis in Law had her back surgery - it went really well and she is out of the hospital now and they even fixed some old scoliosis issues .... she should be better than new in a few month

DK and I have gone on three rides.. he is doing better than I thought which is real good for him but this old man can and has shown him who is boss on the trail...... hahahahhahaa GO OLD PEOPLE!!!!!

Maddie and Jilly finished school with Maddie graduating 6th and on to Jr. High next year

Me, Maddie and the wifey after graduation
"I was up at 4 that morning so I look tired but than again I dont think I ever look any better so moot point!! hahahahahha"

We got her an IPod Nano for graduation. She got nothing but A's and B's from Kindergarten to 6th Grade, made Honors Orchestra and was a student mentor for three years.. I think she TOTALLY deserved it. She about cried when she got it.....

Finally Song of the blog - Ocean by A Place to Bury Strangers. They have a lot of influences - they have a joy division/jesus and mary chain.. anyone sound - I really like - so check it people...



Later

The morning shift

Well week one of the morning shift is in the books. The pilot release is going fairly well. We do have some issues but we have been able to correct a lot of things.. config issues, tables missing data - not migrated to production environment and some code issues but overall a good pilot release and some really good agent feedback which is nice. We have more things we had to delay so the next few months of releases should only make it better.

Of course we have our jackass PM's who still don't know shit and are trying to now look good with their senior mgmt reporting - e-mails that we are not included on..... one in particular. - your old favorite audio - got put in her place this morning in a meeting - as she tried to explain herself she was told to "stop it - dont say anything else." she has given bad info to her boss - and only bad cause she does not understand anything technical - including this project. We even got an apology from said boss.... hate her!!!!!

For the few of us that get in early, log in - check what is going on , and watch one or two episodes of "The IT Crowd" as we work... If you have not seen this show (BBC) by all means... find it... one of the funniest shows I have ever seen. Go to You tube and search it - lots of clips!!!

Going for rides tomorrow and Sunday - yeah!!!

Song of the blog: Heard this on the way home - remake of Sunday Bloody Sunday with Trent Reznor's production help




LAter

The big week

Monday morning our software rolls out to our first set of agents in NY. I think it will go OK. We always wish for more time and resources.. but you know how it goes.

Today is yard/house day.. then tomorrow ride by bike into work for dry run activities - then ride around Brea with DK after (and I hope to kill him on his second ride ever!! hahahha) Then it is 5 am to 1 for the next two weeks. Damn 3 hour time difference...

Browsing around and found a great band name - Konichiwa Bitches - real band - they suck but great name.

Finally - Song of the blog:

This is way trippy but I must say I liked it



Have a great weekend

Party Weekend....

But not for me.. really.. we had Jillian's b-day party on saturday night and then she went to her best friend's today.

I do gotta say I love Pump It Up. You talk about a workout.. i was a literal sweatin to the oldies!

Awesome day today - had to go for a ride and it was a great ride. I felt so good and strong (for me) the whole ride. If I can keep up the riding it's gonna be a good riding summer.

Song of the blog: Grimly Fiendish by The Damned. How can you NOT like this song... Click HERE for the video