Today was the first day on the bike since the trip to Cape Point. I had climbed Table Mountain in the meantime, and this had given me majorly achey legs. This had been bugging me the last couple of days, and I knew that I had to get back on the bike and sort it out. The problem was though, that I knew that this was going to be far from fun.

We set off this morning, and my head was not in it at all. It was one of those rides where you know you need to ride, to pull yourself back into it. I was riding against myself, with no real want to do anything rather than complete what I had set out to do.

I was struggling.

Alex, on the other hand. Well today he flew. Good legs, and perhaps spurred by my (perhaps obvious) reluctance. He dropped me. Not once, but twice. On a day when I just wanted to get it over with, finding the will power to muster the energy to chase someone down didn’t come easy. In fact, by the time I had resolved to chase him, it was energy wasted, he was too far out.

Good on him I say. It will be remembered.

To the Freedom Crew -

Day 1 – June 13 – Albany, New York, from inside the short gray bus.

7:05 pm

I just bought this journal for 99 cents at the Handy’s we just stopped at cos Newton had to piss. Lucky he did, I might have missed the chance to write some of this shit down.

Maybe someday I’ll make this into a book. I don’t know. I’ve always kinda wanted to do something like that. Don’t know what else to do. Guess you’re wondering what this is, anyway. I’m kinda wondering, too.

There are five of us on this bus. Kali is driving. She’s this bleach blond skinny bitch. I don’t know why she’s here. Out of place, in my opinion. But she got us the bus. Don’t know how she even did it. She was the type of girl in High School who was always dating the football player and waving her hand around like a bobble head during homecoming.

Her daddy bought her a Mercedes for her sweet sixteen. I remember because I wasn’t invited, so Newt and I snuck in the back and hit on some girls. Got kicked out. But we got some numbers outta it.

“Why didn’t you drive that?” I asked her when we got on the bus for the first time as we fled Albany.

“Don’t worry about it,” she muttered.

I don’t get her. She coulda taken her expensive ass car to California. Came with us losers instead.

Jasey is sitting by herself in the back. I keep looking up at her because I know she’s a dude. In High School she was Jason; some quiet ass poetic nerd who never said more than three words when he needed to. Grew out his hair senior year and stuffed a bra. Don’t know if he’s got a dick. Don’t care. Oh and she’s black. Don’t know if that matters.

Hasn’t said a word since we got on this bus. Don’t know if Jasey is a dude or a chick. Whatever. Jasey is Jasey.

Natalia Nat is sitting by my side. She’s my girlfriend. Has been for some years. She’s really pretty with these big, beautiful green eyes. Got some dark circles round em though cos she’s a pothead. Doesn’t bother me, I guess I am, too. Her hair is auburn, long, usually tied up. I like it when she let’s it down though. Makes her look prettier.

She’s kinda an airhead. Staring out of the window with her head pressed against the window. She winces a lot cos Kali can’t drive. Bus keeps jumping like a — nah, don’t know anything clever to say. She has a bunch of dreams though. I tell her she needs to get her outta the clouds sometimes, but she’ll never listen to me.

“I’ve always wanted to go to California,” she said a week ‘fore we graduated.

That’s what started this shit.

Oh, ‘fore I get to that, there’s Newton. Newt. Whatever. Best friend. Long brown hair, goatee; smoker. Not much else to say. Barely graduated. He likes plaid shirts that he buttons up all the way. I tell him all the time how much cooler it’d look if he left some of the button at the top open.

He doesn’t care. I don’t know if he cares about anything.

Bet you’re wondering how the hell we even came together, the five of us. Don’t really know. Nat said she wanted to go to California, so I promised her I’d take her. Take her away to see those celebs. She wants her own star on the Hollywood walk of Fame, or whatever they call it.

Don’t know why I’m going. I said I’d take her. Don’t know what there is for me in California. I guess I’ll find out. I think Newt came cos he knows there’s nothing for him in Albany but drugs and drinking. He never wanted to be like his older brother who died from overdose. Guess that didn’t work out. I wish he’d tell me why the hell he came, cos he always hated traveling.

We all graduated a week ago. Kali got us the bus and we all left without saying goodbye. Kali has a credit card, that’s the only reason we let her come. Oh and a license. None of us got a license but Kali. Miss perfect. She brought more shit than anyone else. I dug through it when she and Nat went into Denny’s earlier to get some lunch. Nothing but clothes and books. Wish she were more profound. Wish she were more interesting. None of us really are.

Jacey hasn’t said a word. Found out we were heading out the day we were gonna leave. It was gonna be the four of us but he wanted to come. He said he had some money to throw in for gas. Whatever. Hasn’t said a word since we left but I can’t stop looking over at him. I keep thinking he might do something interesting. God, why are people so damn boring.

I don’t really know if anything about this journal will be profound. But I’m gonna make em all write in it. We only have three rules:

1. We take turns writing in the journal and everybody’s gotta write in it.

2. Nobody writes in the journal unless they’re sober.

3. We’re not gonna read it till we’re all in California.

Don’t know what we should call ourselves. Newt said we’re kinda like pioneers. Don’t know what the fuck he’s talking about. We’ll be the Freedom Crew. Don’t know if that’s cool or whatever. I guess it’ll be a record of all the crap we do on the way. Don’t know what the others will write. Maybe they’ll talk about me.

Can’t wait to get to California and find out what the hell this is all for though. Well, Nat is asleep. I put my jacket over her cos the bus is kinda drafty. Jacey is still watching outta the window with the same old vacant expression. Maybe he’s a mute. Dunno.

And Newts got a bottle in his hand and over-sized headphones over his ears; blasting Nirvana. Cig in hand, too. Fucker better open the window. That smell lasts forever. Don’t know if he’ll ever write in here. I hope so.

We just passed a road sign. Two hours till Rochester, NY. Guess I’ll sleep.

- Chase

A driver with amazing skills gets away from the police for 3 times. In the end he gets busted, but his performance was incredible.

Responsible credit card use is given its due in a Chase TV spot promoting its new Blueprint card. A man purchases a new diamond ring for the love of his life and presses the “Full Pay” button when completing the transaction. It’s a zeitgeist moment. Buy yes, put it on your credit card, yes, but don’t be foolish and get yourself in debt. That’s life in the credit card biz in 2009.

I don’t know how I feel about Cameron being gone. I kind of liked her character’s interaction with House in the earlier seasons, so for that reason alone, I liked her a little. And she loved him. HOWEVER, and that’s a big however, she was annoying. First of all, I got tired of her endless morality babble. She was always accusing House of this or that and yelling about the morality of an issue when he was trying to solve the case. Drove me up a wall. Second, her parting words to House were flat out ridiculous. He never murdered a patient (who didn’t want it – I’m thinking of Season 3’s “Son of a Coma Guy” here). And to say that he created an atmosphere that permitted Chase to commit murder was the…retarded. Because I can’t think of a better word through the haze of annoyance. Could someone please tell her to shut up and sit down? I love how everyone is still ragging on House even though he’s trying to change for the better. Yes, let’s accuse and badger the recently-released-from-a-mental-hospital guy. See if we can put him back there. I don’t know why the producers decided to write her out that way, but that was perhaps the epitome of her career of annoying the shit out of me.

Onto Huddy. I don’t think Cuddy and House should wind up together. There is something about that pairing that screams “bad juju.” And I firmly believe in the feeling of bad juju. The way they were at the beginning is the way they should be. Friends who care about each other, with a little sexual tension, and a lot of arguments, but a LOT less emotional baggage. This week’s episode pissed me off too, simply because of the Huddy situation. I don’t know why people want them to get together. They are better the way they were, and now stuff is going to be awkward. C’est la vie, I suppose. Please, let this plotline lie for a while, and maybe for the rest of the series. I hope she marries Lucas.

It’s thanksgiving on House and everyone is thankful for pretty much nothing. The whole team is almost back. Chase, Foreman, 13 and Taub are all working on the case this week.

photo from spoilertv.com

The medical story this week is about an exceptionally brilliant man who hates being brilliant. Such a hardship, right? The first diagnosis is TTP. The test comes up positive so they remove his spleen. Way too easy. So, of course, more issues pop up. Chase and Taub search his house and find a hidden bottle of vodka. They think he’s an alchy, but is really a different drug addict. He is addicted to cough syrup. Long term cough syrup abuse apparently lowers your IQ. See, he met his wife when he was in the hospital on narcotics after attempting to commit suicide by jumping into a dumpster. Because his wife’s IQ is closer to a gibbon’s than his, he doesn’t love her unless he’s dumb. Because of this, he decides he is going to keep robotripping to make himself nice and dumb because he thinks thinking is unpleasant and he’d rather be happy than smart. The doctor’s initial diagnosis of TTP was indeed correct, so why didn’t the initial spleenectomy work? Because when he jumped into the dumpster his spleen split into many pieces and the doctors only removed one. Remove them all and he’s free to go on living not up to his potential.

Cameron has moved to Chicago, so everyone is trying to get Chase some psychiatric help. Chase says there is no chance that he and Cameron will ever reconcile. Too sad to be true. Chase takes out his anger on House by using his face as a punching bag.

photo from spoilertv.com

House decides that he is going to break up Cuddy and Lucas. He is doing everything he can to prove to Cuddy that he has changed. It’s really very sweet. He is volunteering clinic hours, being nice to his patients – or paying them to act like he was nice to them. He goes to extreme measures to get invited to thanksgiving dinner at Cuddy’s sisters house. Eventually, Cuddy invites him, but gives him the wrong address. I don’t know whose house she led him to, but she told the house sitter to give him a turkey sandwich. I don’t think there is any possible way I could have been more mad at Cuddy. Seriously, she couldn’t be a meaner person and this was the saddest thing in the world.

After this debocale, House breaks into Lucas’ house and gets drunk. He confesses his love for Cuddy and says that Lucas and her aren’t right together. Cuddy shows up at House’s the next day to tell him that Lucas broke up with her because he didn’t realize how much there was between them and he didn’t want to be in the middle of it. Well, Cuddy is full of big fat lies this week and this was another big fat lie. They didn’t break up and House catches on to this, of course.

photo from spoilertv.com

Taub’s wife is pissed that he took back his job with House again. She’s mad because he’s back to doing “grunt work” and dips out on his wife every two seconds. Taub lies to her and pretends to be a badass and says that he punched House. That seems to make her magically happy.

Next week on House, Wilson treats a dying friend and Lucas and Cuddy move in together. How about, Lucas and Cuddy break up?

Chase has opened up the lines for ‘a new way forward in giving’ by utilizing Facebook and creating an application to allow ‘Fans’ of non-profits to vote their support. I want to encourage EVERYONE on Facebook to accept ProMusica’s “Fan” page and then vote for Pro Musica (there is a space in the Chase application) to receive their funding!

COLONIAL First State opens it $185 million expansion of Chatswood Chase regional shopping centre…. From The Australian. Full story

This site may contain information about: japanese shopping. The blog is also related to: japan shopping.

Doc:

I’m dating this wonderful girl, but we’ve been going through issues in regards to the “chase” factor. We’ve already professed love for each other, so it’s in a deeper stage than just the chasing phase, but she says of course that she wants to feel like she’s still “chasing” me, since she loses interests in guys that are, well, served on a silver platter.

How do you keep her feeling as if she’s chasing you, even though you’re in a deeper relationship already? Considering she says if I give her too much space she’ll stop caring about the relationship, it seems like just being unavailable in general may not work.

Help, please.

=========================

Hello!

Yes, I know exactly how you feel. Frankly, this is a dangerous, ridiculous game! If you get too scarce (and you can’t know what she considers “too scarce”) she’ll lose interest in you. If you get too close she loses interest in you.

I think the first thing you need to ask yourself is if you really want all this drama or not. I wouldn’t. I’d just go find a new girl that is smarter than this one and doesn’t need the games in order to feel attracted to the guy.

Here’s another issue that I’d have told her if she wrote to me: the problem she’s had in the past with this dumb game is that the guys that play it aren’t interested in the girl at all – they are interested only in the game! When they actually get the girl, they give up on her and move on. She winds up getting hurt only because they want the game – not her.

So, you see what a bad situation this is.

Here’s the answer to your question anyway: You have to be somewhat random with this – if it seems in any way planned (like ever week and a half) or organized, she’s not only going to see right through it; again, she’s going to lose interest in you.

Occasionally, when she calls you and wants to hang out, have other plans. Get a hobby or some buddies that you hang with at least once a week. That’s your day and is not available to her. She’s going to try to get you to put those aside for her, but you can’t do it! If you do, you’ll have lost all this work you’re doing.

Likewise, plan something – like a date – and flake on her. Don’t call her to cancel, simply don’t show up. Then, when she calls you, don’t pick up your phone. When she leaves a message, give her a day or two before you return the call and then act like nothing’s wrong. When she asks you why you’re mistreating her, just deny it and change the subject.

Go for at least 2-3 days before you contact her and only then invite her to do something with you or even just stop by for sex and then leave again.

Isn’t all that rude? You bet it is! That’s what this dumb girl actually thinks makes you more attractive! Like I said in the beginning: are you sure you really want all this drama?

Best regards…
——————————————————————

Have a love, dating, sex or relationship question? You can write to me or get more information about “Being a Man in a Woman’s World tm” by going to: http://BeingAMan.com. Be sure to check out the new BAM! TV at http://BeingAMan.tv. Follow me on Facebook (http://tinyurl.com/cas4w9) and Twitter (http://tinyurl.com/d3pecs).

Copyright (c) 2009, Dr. Dennis W. Neder

All rights reserved.

Chase Whitestead and Erick Stroll of “New Left Media” set out to determine just what was it about Sarah Palin that impelled her supporters to stand in massive lines for hours for the chance to meet her at book signings.

Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/23/palin-supporters-struggle_n_367800.html

1- El 29 de Febrero de 2010 se cumple el 50 aniversario del nacimiento del asesino en serie Richard Ramírez

Richard Ramírez nació el 29 de Febrero de 1960 en El Paso, Texas. Actualmente espera la ejecución en la corredor de la muerte en la prisión de San Quintín. El “merodeador nocturno” mató a 14 personas en Los Angeles entre 1984 y 1985.

Su modus operandi también oscilaba, ya que podía asesinar de una manera organizada sin dejar pista o matar sin ningun cuidado creyendose amparado por Satán, dibujando signos satánicos en las paredes, comiendo en casa de sus víctimas, robandoles el dinero que llevaban encima o dejando las armas homicidas en el lugar del crimen.

2 – El 30 de Abril de 2010 se cumple el 65 aniversario de la muerte del dictador alemán Adolf  Hitler.

Adolf Hitler nació el 20 de abril de 1889 en Berlín, Alemania y murió el 30 de abril de 1945) fue un militar y político alemán de origen austriaco, líder, ideólogo y fundador del Partido Nacionalsocialista Alemán de los Trabajadores que estableció un régimen nacionalsocialista en Alemania entre 1933 y 1945 conocido como Tercer Reich, periodo en el que recibió y ocupó sucesivamente los cargos de Canciller Imperial, Jefe de Estado  y Comandante Supremo de las fuerzas armadas alemanas durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

3 – El 19 de Mayo del 2010 se cumple el 140 aniversario del nacimiento de Albert Fish.

Albert Hamilton Fish (19 de mayo de 1870 – 16 de enero de 1936). Nació en Washington D.C. En un orfanato transcurrió una buena parte de su infancia. Hacia 1890, Fish llegó a la ciudad de Nueva York, afirmó que comenzó a violar a muchachos jóvenes, un crimen que siguió cometiendo aún después de que su madre le arregló un matrimonio.

Una vez detenido, se confiesa además autor de otros muchos crímenes y demás aberraciones que había estado llevando a cabo durante toda su vida: su deseo irresistible de comer carne cruda las noches de luna llena. Es condenado a la silla eléctrica y ejecutado en la prisión de Sing Sing el 16 de enero de 1936. Cuando se le preguntaba por la cifra exacta, respondía sonriendo: “Por lo menos cien”.

4 – El 21 de mayo de 2010 se cumple el 50 aniversario del nacimiento del asesino en serie Jeffrey Dahmer

Nació el 21 de Mayo de 1960 en Milwaukee Wisconsin y murió el 28 de noviembre de 1994 en la prisión de Portage Wisconsin a manos de otro interno. Apodado “El Carnicero de Milwaukee“, fue un asesino en serie responsable por la muerte de 17 hombres entre 1978 y 1991.

Su táctica era siempre similar, los invitaba a ver pornografía o a sacarse unas fotos, les ponía una droga en la bebida, los estrangulaba, tenía sexo y se masturbaba encima del cuerpo. Luego tomaba fotografías del cuerpo y de cada etapa del desmembramiento. Solía utilizar ácidos para deshacer la carne y los huesos, pero solía conservar la cabeza y los genitales como trofeo. Otra de sus características era comerse a parte de sus víctimas, le daba la sensación de que empezaban a formar parte de él.

5 – El 23 de mayo de 2010 se cumple el 60º aniversario del nacimiento del asesino en serie Richard Chase. Además, también el 26 de diciembre se cumple el 30º aniversario de su muerte

Richard Chase nació el 23 de mayo de 1950 y murió el 26 de diciembre de 1980. Un asesino diagnosticado esquizofrénico tras disparar, descuartizar, y beber la sangre de seis personas en 1977. A los 28 años, comienza una serie de crímenes disparando dos veces sin motivo alguno sobre un desconocido, que se convertiría en la primera de sus víctimas. Así hasta llegar a las 6 personas que asesinó mencionadas al principio.

En el juicio trata de justificar sus macabros crímenes diciendo que unas voces de seres extraterrestres y otras criaturas lo acosaban contínuamente obligándole a matar… Finalmente es condenado a pena de muerte aunque su ejecución en la cámara de gas nunca se llevó a cabo, pues se suicida pocos meses después en su celda con una sobredosis de antidepresivos en diciembre de 1980.

6 – El 10 de Noviembre del 2010 se cumple el 2º aniversario de la muerte del asesino Arthur Showcross.

Shawcross asesinó a dos niñas vietnamitas y se comió parte de sus cuerpos. En 1972 asesino a 2 niños, a finales de los 80’s recogia a prostitutas en las calles, las llevaba a lugares apartados donde las torturaba, las estrangulaba, abusaba de los cadaveres y en ocasiones consumia trozos de carne humana. Es condenado a 25 años de cárcel (llega a un trato luego de confesar dónde estaba el cuerpo de Jack). A los 15 años de condena es liberado bajo palabra. En Marzo de 1987 es liberado, y en Marzo de 1988 comienza una frenética carrera de muerte, abuso y canibalismo, que se cobra la vida de al menos doce prostitutas. Es atrapado, y alega demencia. El jurado no le cree, ni considera que el haber estado en Vietnam sea suficiente atenuante. Es condenado a 250 años de cárcel. Murió en la cárcel el 10 de noviembre de 2008.

7 – El 20 de Noviembre de 2010 se cumple el 35º aniversario de la muerte del dictador español Francisco Franco.

Francisco Franco nació en Ferrol, La Coruña, el 4 de diciembre de 1892 y murió el 20 de noviembre de 1975. Fue un militar y dictador español, y uno de los líderes del pronunciamiento militar de 1936 que desembocó en la Guerra Civil Española. Fue inspirador del movimiento ideológico totalitario en sus inicios, dictatorial después, conocido como franquismo. Juntó en torno a su persona, las diferentes tendencias del conservadurismo, del nacionalismo y del catolicismo que se oponían a la izquierda política y al desarrollo de formas democráticas de gobierno.

8 – El 23 de noviembre de 2010 se cumple el 65º aniversario del nacimiento del asesino en serie Dennis Nilsen.

El caso de Dennis Andrew Nilsen es increíble. Nació el 23 de noviembre de 1945 en Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Escocia). Pues fue un hombre tan atormentado por la soledad que asesinaba a sus diferentes amantes por temor al abandono. Los mayores problemas de Nilsen derivaron de las vivencias que tuvo que pasar y de las muertes a las que sobrevivió, como la de su abuelo o la de un hombre que se había ahogado en un río. Ver los cadáveres, arcarían de por vida a Nilsen.

En 1978, Nilsen conoce a un joven en un bar, luego lo invita a su departamento, donde mantienen relaciones sexuales. A la mañana siguiente, éste lo estrangula. Así, Nilsen asesinaría 14 hombres y mujeres más, estudiantes, indigentes o parejas suyas, a los que estrangularía, ahogaría, descuartizaría y tiraría sus restos por sus cañerías. Finalmente, el 4 de noviembre de 1983, Nilsen fue encontrado culpable de 6 asesinatos y de dos intentos de asesinato y fue sentenciado a Cadena perpetua con un mínimo de 25 años de reclusión.

got it here first

Complete info on the PBS Frontline segment called: The Card Game”

Click here to watch

“As credit card companies face rising public anger, new regulation from Washington and staggering new rates of default and bankruptcy, FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman investigates the future of the massive consumer loan industry and its impact on a fragile national economy.”

THE FIGHT OVER INTERCHANGE FEES: “Interchange fees are now the central issue in what is being called the largest private antitrust litigation in U.S. history.  Five years ago, Mitch Goldstone, an independent owner of scanmyphotos.com, an online photo service company, was struggling to keep his Southern California shop afloat. He began scrutinizing every expense and revenue stream of his small business. When he realized that an already costly expense — interchange fees – was increasing, he was livid.  “It got to the point where I had just a few employees and things were looking really bleak,” said Goldstone. “Interchange fees were the one expense that was going up, no matter what I did.”  In 2005, Goldstone (PDF) and more than 30 other merchants filed antitrust lawsuits in U.S District Court against Visa, MasterCard and several of their member banks, accusing them of breaching federal antitrust law by fixing the prices on interchange fees.”

[/source]

Misión cumplida.
El piloto del Chevrolet nº 48 del equipo Hendrick Motorsport, Jimmie Johnson, ha logrado el objetivo marcado allá por el lejano mes de Febrero en Daytona: lograr su cuarto titulo consecutivo. Nadie lo había hecho hasta ahora. Ni siquiera los más grandes. Tanto Richard Petty como Dale Earnhardt lograron 7 títulos cada uno, pero nunca 4 consecutivos. Ahora todos los aficionados a la NASCAR se preguntan cuanto tardará Johnson en batir a los 2 grandes, y también hasta donde podrá llegar el gran piloto californiano de 34 años.

A Johnson le valía terminar entre los 25 mejores en la Ford 400, última prueba del Chase for the Sprint Cup, que se disputaba en el Homestead-Miami Speedway. Al final, su sobrada quinta posición le permitía escribir su nombre con letras de oro en la historia de este deporte.

Consciente de la importancia de clasificar delante, para evitar posibles incidentes al rodar en tráfico, y para elegir un buen box, Johnson se hacía con la Pole Position en la sesión del viernes, tras pedir consejo a uno de los pilotos con más experiencia en la pista de Homestead: Tony Stewart.

La carrera se iniciaba liderada por el campeón, que tras mantener la posición en la primera vuelta se llevaba 5 puntos de bonificación. De esa manera se aseguraba el titulo terminando entre los 27 primeros, abriendo su margen 2 posiciones más.

Después de encabezar las 10 primeras vueltas, Marcos Ambrose, que había clasificado entre los primeros, se colocaba en primer lugar, aunque 3 vueltas más tarde sufría un pinchazo tras rozar el muro, y cedía su plaza de nuevo a Johnson.

El primer tramo de carrera transcurrió sin incidentes, alternándose en cabeza Tony Stewart y Kevin Harvick, pasando todos los participantes por el pit lane para hacer el primer repostaje bajo bandera verde.

Los problemas para Marcos Ambrose se iban a reproducir, sufriendo un trompo en la curva 4, y provocando la primera neutralización de la prueba en la vuelta 81.

La carrera se reanudaba 5 vueltas después con Tony Stewart aún en cabeza, aunque iba a ceder la plaza ante el empuje de Kevin Harvick, muy activo en las primeras posiciones.
El que no era capaz de rodar en posiciones adelantadas era Mark Martin, único piloto que podía arrebatar el título a Johnson, y en ningún momento daba la impresión de poder inquietar a “Superman”.

Tras 2 interrupciones provocadas por John Andretti primero, y Marcos Ambrose después, ambos por golpear el muro, llegaba el primer asalto de la pelea entre Tony Stewart y Juan Pablo Montoya.
En la vuelta 115, el Chevrolet nº 42 del colombiano golpeaba por detrás al nº 14 de Stewart, y en la siguiente, este le devolvía el favor, golpeándose ambos lateralmente.
El contacto provocaba que Montoya sufriera un pinchazo, y se fuera contra el muro pocos metros después. Los daños en el Chevy nº 42 obligaban al colombiano a retirarse a su garaje para hacer reparaciones, perdiendo 28 vueltas respecto a la cabeza.

En la entrada al pit lane durante la misma neutralización, un choque en cadena dejaba a Elliot Sadler fuera de carrera, al destrozar el frontal de su Dodge tras golpear la parte trasera del 43 de Reed Sorenson.

Kevin Harvick volvía a liderar la prueba al llegar a su ecuador, momento en el que Kurt Busch hacía su aparición y se colocaba primero.

Mientras, Juan Pablo Montoya había vuelto a pista. Poco después, en la vuelta 155, volvía a golpear a Tony Stewart por detrás, provocando que perdiese el control del coche, y enviándolo contra el muro interior. Segundos antes, la NASCAR había advertido a ambos pilotos que su incidente anterior debía estar solucionado, algo que Montoya no debió de oír. Los comisarios le enseñaban bandera negra, y era penalizado con 2 vueltas, con la advertencia de que si volvía a golpear a algún otro piloto, su temporada se habría terminado.

Por delante, Denny Hamlin se había encaramado a la primera posición, demostrando ser uno de los candidatos a la victoria. Tras ceder la plaza a Kurt Busch primero, y a su hermano Kyle después, Hamlin recuperaba el mando de la prueba después del último reinicio, en la vuelta 223, y aguantaba la posición hasta cruzar la meta en primer lugar, obteniendo su cuarta victoria de la temporada, y ganando 3 posiciones en la clasificación general final.

En segunda posición terminaba Jeff Burton, seguido por Kevin Harvick y Kurt Busch.

En quinta posición, Jimmie Johnson veía la última bandera a cuadros de la temporada, y se convertía en el primer piloto de la historia en ganar 4 títulos consecutivos.

Con fuegos artificiales y una gran ovación del público de fondo, Johnson levantaba la Copa Sprint, rodeado de todo su equipo. La única ausencia era la de Rick Hendrick, que no estaba presente Homestead.

- “La verdad es que hacer lo que no se había hecho hasta ahora en este deporte – amándolo como lo amo y respetándolo como lo respeto – hacer algo que no habían hecho Petty, Earnhardt, Gordon…es magnífico. Ganar 4 campeonatos en 8 años, lo que ha hecho este equipo. No se por donde empezar. Es increíble.”

La competición se despide hasta el comienzo de la temporada 2010, el segundo fin de semana de Febrero en el Daytona International Speedway.

Clasificación Final:
1º – (—) Jimmie Johnson: 6652
2º – (—) Mark Martin: 6511
3º – (—) Jeff Gordon: 6473
4º – (—) Kurt Busch: 6446
5º – (+3) Denny Hamlin: 6335
6º – (-1) Tony Stewart: 6309
7º – (—) Greg Biffle: 6292
8º – (-2) J.P. Montoya: 6252
9º – (—) Ryan Newman: 6175
10º – (—) Kasey Khane: 6128
11º – (—) Carl Edwards: 6118
12º – (—) Brian Vickers: 5929

This has got to be the fastest economic collapse and recovery in the history of the world.  Just a year ago we had economic meltdown.  Many people so much closer to the action thought that our entire banking system was going to collapse.  They felt there would be runs on the banks and that faith in our economic system would be so poor that people would ditch the dollar entirely and begin bartering. 

As it turned out there was a run on one bank, Washington Mutual.  In just a few days they lost billions of dollars.  Thankfully, most people weren’t paying much attention, so they didn’t lose faith.  JP Morgan Chase came to the rescue and took over Wamu just in time. 

Just a year ago, CBS had some serious liquidity problems.  What’s more, advertising sales were way WAY down, and people wondered whether they’d survive.  Here it is a year later and CBS stock has gone from a low of $4 a share to $12 somthing today.  That’s a tripling of price.  Not only that, but CBS is going to pay a DIVIDEND this time around.  I think it’ll be to holders of record at the beginning of December.  That’s usually how these things work.  Seeing that the stats look good for CBS I went out and bought some the other day. 

CBS is a good barometer of the economy because when businesses feel they can operate properly, they begin spending on advertising.  Advertising drives a lot of our economy, and it’s also among the most fragile commodities sold in our economy.  So, you just know that if companies are advertising, there must be some optimism out there for the future.

But what about jobs?  Jobs always lag.  A company is going to get on firm financial footing and then they’re going to get more sales and then they’re going to run their current employees ragged servicing the new customers before they’ll ever think about hiring more people.  So, jobs are a long way off.  I don’t see more jobs out there for at least a couple years. 

But the economy itself?  If you saved your money instead of spending it on an overpriced home, you’re now in a great position to take advantage of bargains.  With our current deflation, prices are coming down on a lot of commodities.  It’s a good time to buy lots of stuff.  Heck, even gasoline is down.  In SF last night it was $2.85 once again.  So much for the Bill Wattenburgs of the world who predicted that unless we go nuclear we’d be paying upwards of $5 a gallon for gasoline.  Ain’t gonna happen in a deflationary time.

And what about deflation?  Is that good for us?  Well, in the long run it means that wages are ultimately going to drop.  We’re already seeing this.  Today, clerk typists are making about $12 an hour.  Fifteen years ago, clerk typists were making about $15 an hour.  But, as our labor becomes cheaper we will begin seeing a lot of the jobs that had been offshored to Asia come back to us.  I think we’re about to hit a job boom within the next five years.

–david kaye

Chase is giving away $5 million to charities and they need YOUR help in deciding which once get these funds! Simply vote for your favorite charity (the Arthritis Foundation, Wisconsin Chapter), and then tell all your friends on Facebook to vote, too!

Just visit this link: Chase Community Giving

How to vote:

1. Click on the link above.

2. In the search box, you have two options: by name or zip code.
a. You can type in Arthritis Foundation and then choose the one that has (West Allis) behind it. OR
b. You can type in 53214 in the zip code and then click on our location on the map. (Hint: We’re south of I-94 on Hwy 100) You’ll need to click on “About This Charity” before you can vote on it.
3. Once our Foundation comes up, you can vote for us!

Thank you for helping! Don’t forget to vote and tell all your friends!

small video, waiting for more vids/pics from other cameras.

Jimmie Johnson has created a new standard among NASCAR drivers. (Photo: Peter Andrew Bosch / Miami Herald Staff)

With the conclusion of the Ford 400 today at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida, Jimmie Johnson created a page of his own in the NASCAR record books. Four consecutive Sprint Cup championships. With the advent of the Chase playoff system, Jimmie has played the system to perfection, capping off the decade by destroying and pulling away from the rest of the field in his two latest triumphs. The dominance the 48 team has shown in the last few years has been breathtaking. 47 career wins since his rookie season in 2002, four championships in eight years…this man has been rightly named “Superman”.

With a 108-point lead ahead of teammate Mark Martin coming into the day, all Jimmie had to do was finish 25th or better to clinch. Starting on pole, he led the first lap to gain five bonus points, meaning a 27th-place finish would suffice to clinch. The Lowes team played it cool all race long, with the exception of a few tense moments when Clint Bowyer wasn’t giving him much room to pass, irritating Johnson enough to complain about Bowyer.

Jimmie cruised to a fifth-place finish, ahead of Mark, who finished 12th, to land 141 points ahead and with the Cup in hand, celebrated into the night.

Denny Hamlin won his personal-best fourth race of the year at Homestead, which leap-frogged him to fifth in the final year-end standings. Him and the #11 FedEx team have shown in the last third of the year that they are the team looking to upset Jimmie’s championship winning streak, as they have consistently been able to run with the 48 team. If not for some bad racing luck in the Chase, Denny might have been the one celebrating a title tonight.

While the magnitude hasn’t quite yet set in, the historic implications of this event will be the standard all drivers will strive for. Jimmie has set the bar very high, and it ranks up there with some of the best marks:  a record seven titles only two men have achieved, an untouchable 200 career wins, seven Daytona 500 victories…the list goes on.

The most interesting story of the night aside from the historic achievement was Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya’s set of run-ins. Running side-by-side on lap 116, Stewart forced Montoya down the track on the backstretch, which cut Juan’s tire and sent him into the wall. After making repairs in the garage, Juan got a shot at Tony about 50 laps later, punting him out of the way on the frontstretch, relegating Stewart to a 22nd-place finish, and ultimately finishing sixth in points, while Juan finished 38th in the race and eighth in points.

- Jeff Gordon started 20th and made some progress early, and stayed rather constant throughout the race. He ended up sixth, one position behind Jimmie, and ended up 3rd in the points overall, 179 markers behind Johnson. The season has been a frustrating one, as Jeff recorded only one win (Texas in April), and one pole (Texas in November), but he was very consistent all year.

The problem with Jeff is that he isn’t the young superstar racer he used to be. Marriage and a baby girl have really stunted his growth in the win column. He’s become the cool, savvy veteran like the drivers he used to race against as a young adult. This lack of aggressiveness has cost him on the track, especially with the introduction of double-file restarts. He doesn’t take chances, and it is that quality that produced only one win in 2009, and zero wins last year.

I’ll share my story first.

I’m an independent contractor who makes about $22,000 a year. It’s not a lot but I live as cheaply as I can, so I survive. Often I used credit cards to get through the dry spells (because I’m self-employed, I don’t get any unemployment benefits). Sometimes I’d be out of work for a few months, and would use credit cards to pay my rent, utilities, groceries, and emergency expenses like car repair. Then a job would come through and I would pay off all or most of the credit card balance. I got by like this for 17 years, never having a late payment. I had a card with Chase and a card with Bank of America (though both of them had been called something else when I first opened the accounts — Chase and BofA took over the banks I had accounts with).

Then, about three years ago, while I was in one of my “dead” periods job-wise, and I had put about $2,400 balance on one of my Bank of America cards that had a $15,000 credit limit, and I also owed Chase about $1,500 on a card that had a $9,000 credit limit. I got an offer in the mail for a new Chase card with a zero percent interest rate if I transferred a balance. This seemed like a great idea because my BofA $2,400 balance had a 11.9% interest rate. I accepted the offer.

Apparently this seemingly-harmless action triggered a domino effect.

Chase decided to reduce my available credit on my old Chase card from $9,000 to $1,700 — just about the amount I owed them. When I inquired as to why, I got a letter in the mail explaining that I had “too many open accounts.” Sneaky bastards! They’d been bombarding me with offers for new 0% cards on an almost daily basis and when I finally accepted one of their offers they used it as an excuse to screw me. But, no problem — I still had the other two cards, so I would be okay. Right?

Except, here’s the thing. There are a number of factors that lower your credit score. One is having a recent “inquiry” on your report (such as, opening a new account). Another is your “utilization percentage.” This is the ratio between the amount of available credit you have, and the amount you owe. When Chase dropped my available balance from $9,000 to $1,700, my utilization percentage went way up, even though I hadn’t added any more debt.

My credit score dropped from 720 to about 680.

And then when I sent them a payment for $300, they dropped my available credit to $1,500. The industry term for this frustrating practice is “chasing the balance.”

Clearly that card was no longer going to be any use to me as an emergency tool. I cut it up and it became simply something I had to pay down each month. I turned to using the BofA card instead, the one that now had $0 on it.

But when I started using it, I got a letter in the mail that my interest rate was being increased from 11.9 percent to 21%. I called them up to ask why. No one would give me a clear answer as to what I was being “penalized” for, but it seemed my lowered FICO score was the culprit.

Again, I had never been late with a payment, not in 17 years! At 11.9% interest, plus a percentage of every purchase I made, this company had made a lot of money off of me over the years. But their greed has no bounds.

Next, I got letters from my old Chase account saying that they were raising my interest rate to 28%. Why? My plummeting FICO score.

To make a long story short, this “chasing the balance,” “increasing the interest rate” cycle continued with the cards until my once-manageable debt had ballooned to unmanageable levels. Even when my work dry spell ended and I was making decent money again, it wasn’t enough to make a significant dent in my debt. The debt just kept growing. Instead of carrying a balance only during dry spells, now I was carrying a balance all the time, and at 28% interest! This meant that my modest income was no longer enough to live off. I managed to keep up at this rate for about eight months, paying them an insane amount of money, before it became clear to me that I would end up homeless if I continued.

I tried explaining the situation to my credit card companies, but they were very rude about it and refused to budge. I even explained to them that if they didn’t reduce my interest rate to no more than 15%, I was going to go bankrupt. Still they wouldn’t budge! This is just insane to me. Surely it is a lose-lose scenario for all concerned if they force me into bankruptcy.

Well, after doing some research I decided that bankruptcy wasn’t a good option. For one thing, I couldn’t even afford the couple hundred dollars to file for bankruptcy. Also, I was worried that I’d never be able to find an apartment again — many ads say that they will consider tenants with bad credit, but won’t rent to someone with a bankruptcy on their record. Plus, the main point of bankruptcy is to protect your property (such as your house) from being seized. I don’t own much of anything except a 22-year-old car that barely runs.

So I called them back with an ultimatum. I said, “Look, you can see that I’ve been a good customer for almost 20 years, and I’ve never missed a payment or paid you late. I would really like it to stay that way but you’re forcing my hand. If you reset my interest rate to 12% like it was in the first place, I promise to keep paying you until this is all paid off. But if you won’t lower it, then you will never receive another dime from me.”

Do I even need to tell you, they refused to lower it?

So, I stopped paying. Yeah, call me a “deadbeat” if you want, but I sat down and did the math and figured out that despite the few thousand I “owed” the cards, they had made at least triple that much profit off me over the years. So my default is not actually costing them money, it’s only costing them the inflated speculative profits they had hoped to make. And as I went into default they continued to inflate the amount I owed them, with fees upon fees. Every month they add a missed payment fee and (lately) an over-the-limit fee, plus they upped the interest rate to 32%.

When I tried to tell a (rich, arrogant) acquaintance of mine how credit cards were screwing people over, he had the gall to accuse me of “stealing from the banks” by not paying what I “owed.”

Oh, really? Look, if I borrow $1000 from my neighbor at 10 percent interest and gradually pay him back a total of $2000, and halfway through he gets greedy and decides my interest should really be 30 percent, and that I now owe him $5000 because of “fees and penalties,” this does not mean that I “stole” $5000 from him. No matter what fancy math he wants to do, he still made $1000 profit off me. It’s the same with these cards. They came out ahead on me. They made a reasonable profit. And now I’m done. They can call and harass me daily (which they do), and they can harass my family and neighbors (which they do), but they’re not squeezing any more blood out of this stone.

So I don’t actually know any REAL famous people. I met Tony Hawk once in like 98 or 99 but he wasn’t cool yet. I also saw Luke Wilson once in a bar in Austin that’s about it. But my cousin (Chase Ryan Jeffery) is apparently going to be famous sooner or later. I think thats sweet because I want to eventually end up on an episode of TMZ because we leave some L.A. area bar and I punch some paparazzi in the face! How awesome would that be!!! Here is Chase’s most recent project American Virgin!

Chase plays Chuck!

He is the guy on the far right in the coat! I am stoked cause as soon as he has a giant mansion in the hollywood hills I can sleep on his couch and hit up the local skate parks!

“I only run when I’m being chased…”

-My Wife and many of my non-running friends

Why do I run? For one, I run because I am being chased. By whom? By the same entity that chases all of us. Time. I know that eventually I will lose this race. It is inevitable. But I run knowing that I can put years between me and that ultimate runner.

There are the obvious ways in which running puts off Father Time. As we improve our general health we tend to physically age more slowly.

What follows is one of my favorite quotes from Christopher McDougall’s Born To Run:

“You could literally halt epidemics in their tracks with this one remedy,” he said. He flashed two fingers up in a peace sign, then slowly rotated them downward till they were scissoring through space. The Running Man.

“So simple,” he said. “Just move your legs.”

For me that was an “aha!” moment. All of the common Western diseases can cut our “run” short. The simple act of running can prevent a countless number of these ailments from affecting our society so pervasively the way they do today.

But you know what else running can do? It can literally slow down time.

Yes, I said literally.

Based on Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity, the Twin Paradox states that if one twin were to fly off in a rocket at close to light speed, fly around space for a while and then return to Earth, he would return to find his twin brother had aged dramatically more than he.  This is based on the fact that the speed of light is the same for every observer, no matter how fast he or she is going.  It has been proven in experiments.  Years ago, scientists sent several planes with atomic clocks on board to fly around the world.  Before they took off, the clocks on the planes were synchronized with an atomic clock on the ground.  When the aircrafts returned from their jaunts around the world, it was shown that the clocks on the airplanes were slightly behind the clock on the ground.  The faster one goes, the slower time moves for him or her.  At the speed of light, time essentially stops.

The faster and longer you run, the more time slows down for you. You age at a slower rate.  Sadly, you can run your whole life and only slow down time by a imperceptible amount, but I find knowing what we can do as runners poetic…beautiful. As runners we can control Time. We cannot ultimately defeat him, but by the simple act of running, we can tweak him.

I am being chased. That is one reason why I run.