It's Preakness Baby!

It was wet. It was wild. And it was all Preakness.

For the last four and a half years, I've lived within about 5 miles of the famed Pimlico track, but have never seen the Preakness in person. Part of that of course is that up until recently, I haven't had a Saturday off in the last 6 years. Today, I decided to take advantage of my new found free time and finally see the Preakness.

After getting to track and placing my bets, I looked for my spot to watch the race. I asked someone at one of the gates where the general admission section was and they said, "just find a place to watch". Everywhere I looked, I saw colored sections and people with colored tickets heading to those sections. Then I noticed that the ushers really weren't paying attention to those tickets. So about 15 minutes before post-time, I just decided to walk out into the seats on final stretch and see what happened. I'm still not sure if I was supposed to be there, but no one stopped me. Not wanting to push my luck, I just stood in the large aisleway between the box seats and the rows of temporary seats next to the track. And that is where I watched the race. It was awesome, but it was over way too quickly. Preakness truly is about the experience because the race itself is over in the blink of an eye. I was so close, I even managed to get some great photos.

Just seconds after the start of the race.

And down the stretch they come. Street Sense is still leading at this point, but Curlin is closing fast. My pick for show, Hard Spun is right behind.

No Prescription Necessary!

I'm sick right now. Actually, I'm finally starting to feel better, but Thursday, Friday and Saturday were pretty rough. While I'm with out a doubt ready to get back to work, I must say that as bad as I felt this weekend, I don't mind the time off to get better.

Back in my previous job, we didn't have sick days. With only one manager on duty at a time, if another manager called in sick, that meant that another manager would have to either work on their day off, or work a full day (about 14 hours). None of us, especially myself ever wanted to do that, so I developed "The Elixir". Simply put, this is designed to allow you to function, albeit in a slightly comatose state and make it through the day.

To make it, pour a full dose, or dose and a half if you're really feeling bad of NyQuil (or generic substitute) in a water bottle. Add a can of Red Bull, pouring it out over the dosage cup so that ALL the NyQuil is rinsed out. Finally, fill the remaining volume of the water bottle with Orange Juice. Because we live in the days of meth labs, NyQuil no longer has a decongestant in it. So, for the full effect, take a dose of Sudafed with your first sips.

Severe? Yes. Powerful? You bet! But when you have to work this is a great option. Actually, since this is designed to be consumed over 30 to 60 minutes, it creates a bit of a time release effect on the medication as well. I wouldn't recommend doing this often, but when you're sick as a dog and you have to work, it will help get you though the day.

A Little Project To Pass The Time

Problem: I really don't feel like my back-up lights are bright enough on my truck.

Solution: 1) Buy a set of driving lights. 2) Mount them under my rear bumper, create a custom wiring harness/switch to make it all work. 3)Enjoy a much brighter reverse experience!

Part of the custom harness included tieing the switch into the stock back-up lights so that the new lights can only be turned on when in reverse.

Here are some pictures. I'll post some daylight photos of the overall set up later on.

One of the lights under the bumper.

Part of the wiring harness with custom relay visible.

The light from the stock set-up

The light from the new system