Cletus Update

Well, Cletus saw the doc again today. Came through with flying colors...the heartbeat was 141 beats per minute, and sounded strong. Cletus is growing too.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

First 1-zee

What should Cletus's first 1-zee be? I vote for the one on the right!

Top Ten Things Never Before Said By A NASCAR Driver

10. Kasey Kahne: "Anyone know how to drive a stick?"
9. Jeff Gordon: "Does this gas taste funny to you?"
8. Jeff Burton: "I don't care much for country music or beer"
7. Mark Martin: "Switch the 'r' and 'c' in 'racing' and you get 'caring'"
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "Wow, Letterman looks so young in person"
5. Denny Hamlin: "You're looking at a guy who can drive 500 miles without taking a leak"
4. Kyle Busch: "A truly great driver doesn't mind asking for directions, am I right, ladies?"
3. Kevin Harvick: "It would be nice if the guys in the pits occasionally surprised me with a piece of carrot cake or something"
2. Jimmie Johnson: "The Nextel Cup is great, but what I'm really excited for is Late Show Ventriloquist Week"
1. Matt Kenseth: "If you think I'm fast in my car, you should see me in the bedroom"

Hoya Paranoia in NASCAR

Brendan Gaughan will be racing this sweet truck at New Hampshire this weekend...

Proverbs 22:6

“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”

This resonated in me.

Agassi

Andre Agassi is one of my favorite athletes of all time. Definitely my favorite tennis player. He is currently playing in his last tournament, and is keeping the thrills coming, winning a 5-set match over the 8 seed last night. Whether or not he wins another match, he is the epitome of dignity, integrity, and professionalism.
An excerpt from a July 17 Sport Illustrated article about him...

Andre was showing Robin Williams and members of Earth, Wind & Fire the academy that he built in the middle of the most destitute neighborhood in Las Vegas. It's a charter school, mostly poor black kids. He was explaining why learning levels here had made leaps so striking that the academy's middle school was the only one among 328 public schools in its county that's received an "exemplary" rating.
He took us to the room where Cirque du Soleil performers taught the kids acrobatics. Past the art class where a French painter who trained with Picasso taught them the use of color and space. He led us into a kindergarten class where, like a five-year-old himself, he burst forward so eagerly to tell everyone about the academy's innovations that he knocked over half of an edifice of blocks that the class had built, then dropped to his knees in such haste and remorse to rebuild it that he knocked over the rest.
You followed him down the gleaming hallways, thinking, Man, he got it, he really got the big picture, and wondering what the world would be like if a couple of superstars in each city did this. But his annual fund-raising gala for the school was scheduled for that weekend, and he was too busy to sit and explain how he got here.

Congrats Andre, on a great career, and for setting a great example!