The Gentleman from Scotland!

Well what a weekend it was. Rain and strategy wins the Indianapolis 500 and a true gentleman wins the race. Dario Franchitti was victorious for Andretti/Green racing. After much back and forth and a three hour rain delay it was a real race to the finish.

I think what impressed me the most from the win is how truley happy Dario was to have won at Indy. I was also so impressed with the sportmanship and friendship of the entire Andretti/Green racing team. Growing up in Indiana I have always been an AJ Foyt fan and my all time favorite phrase was Andretti's car is beginning to slow....

But as I have watched Micheal Andretti become and owner and a driver and seen him build a true TEAM I have been impressed. While I will always have a spot in my heart for AJ Foyt and his team I think I am slowly becoming a fan or Marco, Tony, Danica and of course Dario.

Great job to the entire team, you make all Hoosiers proud....

Also great job to Casey Mears for winning the 600. I will always be a Stewart fan but it was nice to see if Smoke could not hold the lead to see a first timer and a Mears win on Memorial Day...

Great weekend for racing.....

PEACE DUDE!

How I come up with Names.

Ok B Strong called me out not long ago about my dogs name. You see when we knew our puppy was born and we needed to come up with a name we had many on the list. But alas we could not decide....but we had just received our tickets to the up coming Bob Seger concert (see my post about the concert below). Well we kicked it around for a few minutes and Seger it was.....and his nickname around the neighborhood is Seger Bobby.....what can I say..

OK, this is where I will probably get into trouble....

Before we had Seger and before we had Nash we got a new puppy that was a beautiful black lab...we got him as a puppy also and with out hesitation I named him Rudy after the movie Rudy of Notre Dame fame. Love the movie, respect the man and I have been a huge ND fan all my life....Ok here it comes...

If you talk to Mauzy she will give you all kinds of stories about Nash's name.....it came from the poet Ogden Nash.....we grew up like Crosby, Stills and Nash....oh ya Young was in there for a time also....But the truth is I was always a big Miami Vice fan so when Don Johnson starred in Nash Bridges I was hooked on that show also. I mean how could you not....Don Johnson, Cheech Marin and a yellow Cuda to boot. Well I decided during the name search that Nash sounded like a great name for a middle linebacker for the Irish. Mauzy was not sold for a long time....but as we progressed thru the pregnancy I kept calling him Nash and Nash man until one day it finally stuck and she started calling him Nash also......and for those the know the Nash Man....it really fits him......just the other day we were leaving school and he looked at one of the other girls and said....Hey baby....

Oh ya, and to top it off...we signed up for 1st grade flag football today...

Peace Dude.

Boyz will be Boyz

Well I did not laugh at the time but it is kinda funny now.

Yesterday Nash, Seger ( or 6 month old puppy) and I are at the office for our Saturday morning check on things. I decide we are gonna head out and decide to go hit the restroom before we go.

As usual I make Nash go also. So off we go into the men's room and Seger decides to join us.

So Nash and I are in the restroom taking care of what we need to and Seger looks around and thinks......hey I get it....


AND PEE'S all over the floor.........


I guess Boyz will be Boyz



PEACE DUDE

Prenatal Testing!

There once again has been much discussion about the latest prenatal testing guidelines spurred by an article in the New York Times. I am not going to link the articles or any of the posts in this post I am just going to share some thoughts as the very proud father of a son with Down syndrome and the husband (happy mothers day Mauzy) to a contributor to the gifts book....

1. Prenatal testing for Down syndrome to me is not a Pro-life or Pro-Choice debate so why does everyone try to lump it in there. It is also not a Right or Left debate. If 90% of positive tests are terminated do we believe those 90% are all Pro-Choice left wingers....I doubt it...Politics is always just a convienence....

2. Don't presume anything about meor my son because he has Down syndrome. DS is only one part of what makes up my son and his personality. And don't presume I am a raving cheerleader for Down syndrome....I am not....but what I am is one Big Mean Dawg Champion for people with Down syndrome. We often remind people that we call the group we Started Dads Appreciating Down syndrome because most of us agreed we hate it a little before we learned to appreciate it.

3. I always love the comment from people when they see Nash and I together.....ohh...he is so cute and they are always so happy....REALLY? Come on over and spend a dinner hour with me when he does not want what's on his plate. People with Down syndrome have the same range of emotions as all of us...

4. Don't ever call me a Saint or refer to how great I am because you could never handle having a child with ds. Give me a break....I am no Saint and no one knows what they can handle until it's put on your plate.......

5. If you don't know that individuals with Down syndrome learn very well just differently and can attend college and hold good paying jobs ( I know some that make more money a year then I do and I am not hurting) don't preach to me......ask some questions and learn.....


So with a few comments I am done.....the debate will roll on and it will be all about Pro-life and Pro-Choice, Religion and Atheist (geez, like that has not caused enough wars) and the Peter Singers of the world that think the world is only for the wonderful elite like themselves....

As for me.....Nash and I are gonna celebrate Mothers Day with his mommy and call his grandmothers.....then we are gonna mow the grass on the John Deere....and after that we are gonna do whatever we feel like and Down syndrome will not run thru my head again until I get back on line..............


PEACE DUDE

In Indy the Month of May is Special

The month of May in most places brings the thought of spring and flowers and the upcoming end of the school year. But here in Indiana it's something much more special.

When you say it's the month of May here Hoosiers know you mean the track is open. Yes it's Indy 500 time. While the "Grand Daddy" of them all may not be as spectacualar as it once was when all of open wheel participated in the race.Bump day was acutally a day where people were giving it everything they had to get into the show. And F1 Divers like Nigel Mansel came here to race at Indy.....but it is still oh so good....

As a kid growing up in Indiana the Indy 500 was a huge deal and to this Indiana kid it still is. I will always remember my first race at the track and my favorite number 14 AJ Foyt winning the Race. This year we celebrate 50 years of AJ being part of the 500 as a driver and an owner. And to throw even more nostalgia into this years race Little AL is racing for AJ....WOW.

I know today car racing is different then it was in the day.....NASCAR is the big event and I love that series and attend the Brickyard 400 every year to root for Tony Stewart in the number 20 car who is from Indiana and started his big career at the brickyard in open wheel. But the Indy 500 is where it all started for many the race fan.

I think the one time I was truley home sick in my entire life was in 1990. I was in my first year of a 4 year work stint in England and had not been home since Christmas. I got to watch the race live thanks to Sky TV and it was great. But during the opening ceremony when Jim Nabors sang "Back Home Again in Indiana" I really felt so far away from home.

So with all that said and as the big race draws closer on Memorial Day weekend I know that when Jim Sing's "Back Home Again" I will take a moment to remember that feeling I had when I was in England and know I was not near as homesick as our Hoosiers in uniform around the world are today. I will look to the sky and hope that each one of them can come home safely and once again hear those famous words " Gentlemen and Ladies, Start your engines".

I'm not a buyer, I'm a seller.......Not today!

Forget my current title of CEO at heart and soul I am a salesman. I started my work career working for my Dad in the restaurant business and then started my career as a professional in sales after college. And not to sound arrogant but I am pretty darn good at it.

Jan always gives me grief about the fact that I never ever get sucked in by the sales pitches the she would fall for if I was not there. As an example I am one of those people that would go to a hard sell time share promo for the freebie and actually enjoy watching them try to close me. I know I am weird.

Well that all flew out the window today when I picked Nash up from his afternoon Kindergarten class. We had been notified that they were taking pictures at school for the class graduation composite...how cute. Well we have already had class pictures taken twice this year and a family portrait. I told Jan lets just choose to let them take his picture for the class but we won't send any money for more. All is cool....right.

So I cruise in to pick up Nash today and on our way out the lady from Teddy Bear Portraits asked if I wanted to look at Nash's pictures. I said that we only had his picture taken for the class picture. She said I know but we went ahead and took some so we could give Nash this free gift (you see she heard me call him Nash). At this point she handed Nash a really cool art apron with his picture on it for him to use in class. Then she whipped out a whole group of sheets of pictures including the ones above.

Well bottom line when it was over I paid $95 for an art apron but got some really great pictures for free.

What a sucker.......


Peace Dude!

Daddy gets busted!

I remember back when we were first told that Nash had Down syndrome and one of my fears was that Nash might never be able to speak clearly enough so people could understand him.

Well as Nash has grown(he is 6) we have seen his speech become amazing by our definition and speaks very clearly (when he wants to) and his pronunciation seems to get clearer all the time. And what always amazes me is his correct usage of words and phrases.

Well tonight was one of those. I am not proud of the fact that I can use some pretty colorful language at times. No excuses here I am guilty of saying things I should not say but I do make a concentrated effort to not use that colorful language around Nash but let's face it at times I do.

So tonight as Jan is coming home we all (Nash, Seger and I) head to the garage to meet her. As Seger decides to boogie out the garage door Nash looks at him and says " God Damn it Seger".

Yes Daddy gets busted by his little imitator one more time.

Peace Dude!