Swimmin' pools 'n movie stars...

Well, not quite, but I did live for a short period of time in California. Although I never rubbed elbows with the rich or famous, that I know of, I did get to experience all of this...

Dream "1960's inspired Show Rod" of the week...

I have been a fan of Aaron Grote's work for sometime now. He has created some great vehicles in the last few years. A couple of my favorites have been the Seahag and the Lunar Lander. When I saw his latest awhile back though it blew me away. Here it is - the Atomic Punk...

Pimp My...

Walker?!? Hey why can't I have my own TV show about custom walkers? You can't tell me it would be the lamest one on right now. Have you checked your local listings? Imagine this:

(read this in your best TV announcer voice, if that makes sense) And now from the creative mind of Ryan, the producers of CMT's Mobile Home Disaster and Trick My Truck, and filmed by the same guy that shot the Paris Hilton Carl's Jr commercial.

(insert theme music and opening video here)

(announcer) One week, one unsuspecting senior citizen, and one not so stylish walker. Our team of custom builders will have just seven days and nights to turn one individual's walker from mild to wild. He will be the all the talk at bingo, the envy of 4:00 PM dinner, and chased by all super fly nursing home hunnys.

(now read in your best Ryan voice) The idea for this walker grew from a bad lunch I got from a taco cart, a sofa I once saw in one of those pay by the hour motels, and a very touching episode of Oprah...

(insert footage of a clock or calender, welding, and grinding. Maybe some door slamming and censored swearing too - hey it works for that motorcycle show - here)

(use your Ryan voice over here again) Candy apple red replaced the factory silver paint, custom rear "mag" wheels were traded out from the dirty old tennisballs you were rollin' out back, one off upholstery was stitched up by my buddy Shauna, and no need for a plasma screen in this ride we just packed it full of Fix-O-Dent, Geritol, M&Ms, and even an extra strength enima.

Can't you just see this going head to head with Extreme Makeover Home Edition?

You won't see this on Cops...

North Pole man clipped for DUI on riding mower

NORTH POLE, Alaska - Alaska State Troopers used lights and sirens to apprehend a North Pole man suspected of driving under the influence after he allegedly led them on a slow-speed chase that covered several lawns.

The 20-year-old man was on a riding mower. Sunday's pursuit lasted about 200 feet and reached speeds of up to 5 mph before a trooper got out of a cruiser and told the man to stop.

Troopers received a call early Sunday complaining of an intoxicated man driving a mower. They said Wyatt Lewis's blood-alcohol content was 0.18 percent, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Driving a lawnmower while drunk qualifies for a DUI charge. Lewis was also charged with failure to stop at the direction of a peace officer.

No phone number was listed for Lewis in North Pole and a message left with the Fairbanks Correctional Center on Tuesday was not immediately returned.

Plain Lorraine part 2...

So here is a follow up on my F100 project. Since my last post the paint is done, most of the exterior has been reassembled, DynaMat and insulation has been started on the interior. Interior upholstery still needs to be put in, as well as the rear window. I need to have the seat rebuilt and recovered too. Man, I hope this thing is on the road soon. Here's a pic from tonight...

20 years ago...

if you would have asked me how I was going to spend my summer I would have told you something like get a summer job and play video games. Little did I know it would be one of the most memorable summers of my life, even to this day. My family and I were living outside of the west gate to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. My parents and sister still live in the area to this day. But twenty years ago today our ordinary summer became this...














That summer about 1.2 million acres of our country's first National Park were burned. Miraculously no firefighters were killed fighting the fires. Amazingly it is also believed that only 345 dead elk, 36 deer, 12 moose, 6 black bears, and 9 bison died.

As memorable as that summer was I never wish to witness it again.

I can't wait for August...

I love Utah in August! Speedweek at the Bonneville Salt Flats, and this year is the 60th Anniversary. I have been looking forward to this year since last August. There are already 500+ cars registered for this years event. Hotels have been sold out for a year - if you do not have reservations then you are out of luck. Rod and Custom magazine has ditched Americruise this year just to drive to Bonneville. If you can swing it I highly suggest you go this year...

I pulled a couple of "high light" vidoes from youtube from the last couple of years.

Wanna see what 200 mph looks like pulling away from you? This is Jimmy Shine in 2006 recorded by Chopperdave:



And here is Jo Coddington, wife of the late Boyd Coddington, in 2007:

Scott Kalitta dies after wreck @ Englishtown...

Shannon and I were eating at Chili's when I heard the news. From Kalitta Motorsports:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KALITTA MOTORSPORTS
Media Contact: Todd Myers
tmyers@kalittaracing.com
901-301-4078


Scott Kalitta succumbs to injuries suffered in qualifying incident


ENGLISHTOWN, N.J., (June 21, 2008) - Scott Kalitta, a two-time former NHRA Top Fuel champion and one of just 14 drivers to have won in both of NHRA's nitro categories, died June 21, 2008, as the result of injuries suffered in a qualifying accident at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., during the running of the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals. He was 46.

Kalitta, the son of legendary Top Fuel and Funny Car racer Connie Kalitta, began his career in Alcohol Dragsters and reached his first final round at the 1982 Southern Nationals. He scored his first of what would be 18 career Professional victories six year later, in Funny Car, at the 1989 event in Houston. He later switched to Top Fuel, and joined the dual-fuel club with his first nitro dragster victory, in Topeka, in 1993. At that event, he also recorded the then-fastest speed in NHRA history (308.64 mph) at Topeka. Earlier that year, he had become the fourth member of the Slick 50 300-mph Club at Gainesville.

His great 1993 season set the stage for a championship run in 1994, during which he won five events, including four consecutive -- Columbus, Topeka, Denver and Sonoma – becoming the first Top Fuel driver to do so. Incredibly, he one-upped that season in 1995, where he won six events and a career-best 45 rounds of eliminations en route to his second straight championship.

He finished second in the standings in 1996, but had a fine season nonetheless, scoring a $100,000 victory in the Budweiser Shootout at the season finale in Pomona and set top speed at a category-best eight races.

After winning the Topeka event in 1997 – his fourth straight at the race – he announced his retirement from the sport and sat out until an abbreviated 10-race campaign in 1999. He returned after a three-year hiatus – joining his cousin, Doug, who was now driving for Connie and quickly showed he still had the skills to win, reaching two final rounds and clocking the fastest speed in history at 333.95 mph.

He finally returned to the winner's circle in 2004 with a breakthrough win in Denver and his fourth-place finished marked his sixth top-five points finish in the NHRA POWERade Series. He earned the final two wins of his career in 2005, when he scored in Top Fuel at the season-opening Winternationals in Pomona and in Chicago and finished the season eighth in points.

Kalitta returned to his Funny Car roots in 2006 and reached the semifinals in Denver that year. In 2007, he also reached one semifinal, but this year made his first final-round appearance in three years, and the 26th of his career, with a runner-up in Chicago two weeks ago.

Kalitta is survived by his wife, Kathy; sons Corey, 15, and Colin, 8; and his father, Connie.

Further details will be provided as they become available.

In lieu of today's tragic events, Kalitta Motorsports' race cars driven by Doug Kalitta, Dave Grubnic and Hillary Will will not compete in tomorrow's final eliminations of the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Kalitta's have been in dragracing as long as I can remember. I am sure this will impact anyone in dragracing - racers and fans.



Here is the coverage from ESPN of the crash that contributed to the death of Scott Kalitta.





Godspeed Scott. I am sure you are smokin' the hides down that 1320 in the sky...

The shower is safe again...

I previously stated how I loved my shower, but shortly after getting settled into our new home things started to change.

I began to feel like "someone was watching me" or that I "wasn't alone" even when I was the only one home. My showers became more hurried because of the eerie feelings I was having.

Today was no exception. There I was lathering up and a haunting feeling began to come over me. I quickly spun around - as fast as you safely can in a wet shower of course - and there it was looking right at me (this is not for the faint of heart, turn on the lights if you need to, tell the kids to look away)...



Yes that's right it is the image of one of those cows from the California Cheese commercials. For the non-believers let me help you out:



Now I know what everyone is thinking - this is not as dramatic as the belly button lint I found that looked like Gisele Bündchen or the crouton that looked like my second cousin Frank, but they weren't looking at me in my shower!

Now I all I want to know is if this will out sell that grilled cheese sandwich with the likeness of Virgin Mary on eBay.

The end of Boyd's Garage...

The Coddington Garage Closes their Doors

One Coddington company closes as another plans to move June 16th, 2008--- La Habra, Ca Boyd Coddington Hot Rods will be closing their doors, Friday June 20th, 2008. After the untimely death of their founder, Boyd Coddington in February, the Coddington Garage team and family tried to continue on with business as usual. The battle they faced was too much to handle. After Boyd’s passing, his wife Jo took over the business. She had rather large shoes to fill in the absence of her husband. With the team of machinists, fabricators, and paint and body guys behind her, she gave it a shot. Unfortunately, running both the hot rod shop and the wheel shop was too much for her handle on her own. The cars and builds that are not complete at the time of closing will be moved to two new shops. Both shops are being run by former Boyd Coddington employees. Dan Sobieski, a fabricator and long time Coddington employee, will be opening his own shop July 1st. Sobieski will be taking a few from the Boyd Coddington team to his new shop in Anaheim, Ca. Abraham Rodriguez, a newer employee, will also be working on some of the vehicles at his shop. His specialty is in paint and body, but his shop will be able to do anything the Coddington Garage did. Jo will continue on with the wheel shop. There are plans for the company to move from their location in La Habra in the near future. For further information please contact Jo Coddington at (email address removed by blog owner).

Dream truck of the week...

This week it has been a truck that was in my mind the most. I must admit I think I prefer trucks to most cars. This one is just simply cool. Have a great Friday everyone, and keep on truckin'...

'n chips...

I saw one of these on a car I was behind on the freeway today. I hope I don't go to "that other place" for thinking this was funny...

Father's Day...

I heard on the news that almost everyone calls their mom on Mother's Day and hardly anyone calls their father on Father's Day. Those that do call dad usually do it collect...

Well, the day is almost over and here is a list of my wishers. In order:

From the TV announcer this morning - didn't feel too personal though.
From my friend Shauna - via text.
From our neighbors April and Vicente - good people.
From Shannon - she made me breakfast burritos!

Yep nothing from my daughter. So I guess I fall into the "not called" group.

And for the record I called my dad - on my dime.

Ironman date night...

Shannon and I went to see a flick tonight. I really wanted to see the new Ironman movie. It took me a little over a month to finally get to see it, but it was worth the wait. Jon Favreau's new film is awesome! Where did this guy come from? He has come along way since "Swingers" and "Friends". I love the cast. Robrt Downey Jr, Jeff Bridges, and Gwyneth Paltrow are great. It had a good story and the visual effects are great. It has a well balanced amount of comedy and action. The first time Tony Stark "blasts" out of his home and takes flight as Ironman was insane.

As usual Stan Lee has a cameo in the film. Tony sees him @ a benefit dinner, dressed in a smoking jacket and surrounded by blondes, and refers to him as "Hef" which I personally thought was funny. Not much reaction to it in the theater though. Maybe it was just subtle enough not many caught it.

I have always been a fan of the super hero movie and this one did not disappoint. If you have not seen it I recommend you get down to your local theater ASAP.

If it was up to me "Best Supporting" would have to go to...



And I am not talking about Gwyneth.

"Dream" car of the week...

Yeah, sometimes I do day-dream about people's cars. Sometimes I see them on-line. Sometimes around town. Either way I tend to find myself thinking about them way too much. I decided I would start posting one car, out of the many, I have had on my mind for the week. It took a lot of thought, but this weeks top choice has to go to...

They say you never forget your first time...

I believe this is true. Mine was in January of 1991. You hear stories, but somehow you never thought it would happen to you…

A friend of mine told me about mine; she was older and in desperate need of some companionship. She had spent most of her life in the country and around the farm. She was eighteen years older than me, but when you are a teenager that doesn’t always matter. You only have one thing on your mind. It is your first "right of passage into manhood". I think I was too caught up in the moment to let the all the little things bother me. Not believing it is actually going to happen – I had been dreaming about this moment for years.

First time I saw her I fell in love – not a crush – not lust – I was in love. I didn’t really know exactly what to do, but I caught on quickly. And when it was done the first thing I wanted to do was call all my buddies and brag.

I had saved up $500 hundred bucks here and there and I am a little proud to say it only cost me $300 for my first time. I still have a picture of her from that day. I just wish I had a picture of the smile on my face after it was all done.

I was kind of shocked when my mom called the other day and was asking some odd questions. She said had a receipt for it in a box or something in my old room. I must admit my heart skipped a bit and all those feelings came right back.

Man, that was one of the best days of my life, and I will never forget it…

Incase ya missed the news...

I just thought you may not had heard the news since you did not call me last night. Maybe you were busy celebrating...

Thicker, fuller lashes...

Ah yes this can now be you. I heard about it this morning. The manufacturers of Botox are planning to market a chemical that will make you appear to have thicker, fuller lashes. My understanding is that it will be applied with a brush similar to the one already used for mascara.

The plus side I can see to this is that since a standard mascara brush will also fit up an average nostril people who have this product will be able to toss those "nose hair toupees"(see previous post: "Nose hair...")!

Dude, you're gettin' a...

MacBook!?! Yes the Mrs and I are finally getting a new computer. We have been using my old PC for a few years now and she has finally convenced me that we need a new computer. I have not used an Apple computer since they had an actual floppy start up disk. For all you "young ones" google it. Ok I take that back I did use one in college but even that was last century.

Her family has always had them and she is more than excited to get one in our home.

For me it is cool - hey it is a new toy - but the best way I can discribe my feelings is that it was like Shannon telling me to buy a car BUT only if it is an Austin Healy or Morris Minor...