Rossi's Suprising Reaction

Valentino Rossi - The King of Kings, the GOAT, has recently been quite outspoken on the decision by MotoGP to switch from 990cc of engine displacement to 800cc. One would think that Rossi would applaud the move since it has benefited his career and financial status in a positive way. Rossi remains the most popular motorcycle racer to ever swing a leg over a bike and commands the largest salary ever paid to a 2-wheel pilot.

He is also the only rider to successfully make the transition between the two bikes. Nicky Hayden, the 2006 champion, and the last 990cc champion has never had a whiff of the top rostrum spot since the transition. Casey Stoner, the 2007 champion, who is currently tied with Rossi for the lead in 800cc wins, never won a race on the 990s. This leaves Rossi as the only rider to continue his winning ways across the two classes. Naturally, Rossi would seem to be the first in line to praise the Yamaha 800cc bike, which Wayne Rainey recently praised as the greatest GP motorcycle ever rolled onto a track. He isn't. Rossi is well known for his distaste for changing the status quo. He was very outspoken when the 500cc 2-strokes were retired in favor of the big 990cc 4-stroke because he found the 4-strokes too easy to ride. Rossi likes a challenge because it enables him to separate from the pack. The easier a bike is to ride, the closer a lesser rider can get to him.

Rossi has won a title on 500s, the 990s, and is the current 800cc champion, but has chafed at every transition. His latest comments indicate that he considers the 800s to be the least favorable of all the bikes.

In his own words:

“The 990 motorcycle was 'rough' and wild, but with a great motor and a lot power. The 800 is worse, simply worse, it is the same motorcycle with less power. I was very sad at the beginning, now it has improved, yes... But the power from the 990 made it a lot more fun."

“With the 800... I believe that the 800 are the biggest mistake the world championship has made in the last 15 years. We have lost a great part of the spectacle and part of this is because electronics have advanced so much."

“For me the manufacturers committed a great error when they changed to 800cc. The 990s were better in every way.”

Here a couple of stats that reinforce what Rossi is trying to say:

1. No Satellite rider has ever won a 800cc race. Zero wins. If this keeps up, they won't bother to race.
2. There were 14 different 990cc winners vice 7 different winners on the 800s.

The plan was to lower the cost of entry and improve safety by switching to a smaller displacement bike. It has failed on both accounts. The decrease in horsepower lead to tremendous R&D costs for the electronic control systems so the bikes can be ridden with little concern for keeping the throttle WFO in the turns. The satellite teams are always a generation in electronics behind the factory boys and that explains why they simply cannot compete. The safety improvements never arrived because to compensate for the lack of low end grunt, the riders are forced to carry tremendously higher corner entry speeds and simply crash at higher speeds than ever before. The 250cc high corner entry riding style has slanted the winners towards former 250 riders and away from the back-it-in, tire smoking riders like Nicky Hayden.

To prove my last point, let's look at the list of 800cc winners:

Valentino Rossi: Former 250cc Champion
Jorge Lorenzo: Former 250cc Champion
Casey Stoner: Former 250cc Champion Runner-up
Loris Capirossi: Former 2500cc Champion
Dani Pedrosa: Former 2500cc Champion
Andrea Dovizioso: Former 250cc Champion Runner-up
Chris Vermeulen: World Superbike Champion

I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that there is a 2500cc bias to this list. In fact, Vermeulen's lone victory came in a field-leveling wet race that more or less puts an asterisk next to his name. All of the incoming new talent is from the 2500cc class (Bautista/Simoncelli) and the AMA and SBK guys are ignored. The lone exception is Ben Spies who appears poised to make the leap to MotoGP next season.

I think it's time to go back to the big bikes and let the best riders win rather than the best electronics package. The bad news is that Rossi would probably dominate ever more than he does now.

3rd Week in September

A lot of things going on this week in the Clark household. Austin ran in his first Cross Country meet on Wednesday. I am going to post his time so we have a history for him to compare himself to. He ran the 5K in 23:15 to set a baseline time for the year. The qualifying runs are only 2 miles so they don't compare to the actual race distance. He will be running in the Brentsville Relays this weekend in the wildcard race, so I will have another time for you next week.

Kellie just cheered her third football of the season and cheering seems to be one of many things this year's team needs. They are currently 0-3 after a heartbreaking loss to Skyline High School last night. Final score 34-20, but the game was broken wide open in the final minutes and was far closer than the final score would indicate.

Tracy continues to run the apparel sales for the Booster Club, so if you want the latest and greatest in Tiger Wear, give her a call.

Yesterday, young James Austin celebrated his 15th birthday. I kicked off the celebration by taking he and his buddies to a celebratory lunch at Hooters followed by a family/neighborhood cookie/ice cream party. I remain somewhat shocked that someone as youthful as myself can have a second child reach the ripe age of 15, but stranger things have happened.

9/11 Remembrance

I stumbled across this

http://revver.com/video/59686/september-11-2001-what-we-saw/

today. I had never seen this video before today and it offers a somewhat personal view of the events of that day.

Michael Jordan - Basketball Hall of Fame

In the coming days or weeks, Michael Jordan will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Those of you who know me may be wondering why I would care why an alumnus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is joining the illustrious brotherhood of roundball. Truth is, I don't care at all. What has captured my attention in this instance is MJ's choice to speak at his induction. The choice that MJ made is a curious one that belies the man's apparent mental deficiencies. In other words, I have never considered Mr. Jordan to be the sharpest knife in the drawer and his collegiate academic record stands in clear evidence of this claim.

Despite establishing his legacy and making his fortune in the National Basketball Association, Jordan did not select a former NBA teammate or coach to make his formal introduction to the Hall,but instead chose another player who was equally famous as an ACC alumnus.

Michael Jordan played his collegiate basketball at the major university in Orange County, North Carolina. There were several famous teammates and coaches who accompanied Jordan during his stay at the Orange County University. Let's take a quick look at some of the notable names to see if any of them made the cut:

Dean Smith: Mr. Smith was the head basketball coach during Jordan's entire collegiate career. Dean Smith is quite well known within the State of North Carolina for his long and somewhat distinguished career at UNC-CH. Was Dean chosen to represent MJ as the shaper of the NBA star's early career?

NO.

Sam "The Rubber Man" Perkins: A teammate of Jordan's for 3 years and known for his ability to tie his shoes without bending his waist might qualify as the Jordan presenter. Did he?

NO.

James Worthy: Worthy played with Jordan on the 1982 ACC Champion team, but only for that year. Did the glory of besting all comers on the 1982 ACC Tournament make James worthy of the honor? (Pun intended)

NO.

Matt Doherty: Better known as the White Doherty, Matt also played with MJ for three years. He also later became famous as the UNC-CH coach who threw Dean Smith out of his office in the athletic department. Was Michael able to overlook this discretion and choose Matt as his presenter?

NO.

Brad Daugherty: The current NASCAR broadcaster, aka the Black Doherty/Daugherty, played with MJ during his final 3 years as a member of the Powder Blue Boys. Did this long tenure elevate him for consideration for the HOF dais?

NO.

Steve "Vidal Sassoon" Hale: Hale, much more famous for his beautifully manicured locks than his basketball skills, also played with MJ for 3 years. Did Steve offer enough hair care tips to impress Jordan?

NO.

Kenny "LSU" Smith: Kenny Smith, famous for trying to take it to the house at LSU in 1984 and coming away a little worse for the wear, played in the NBA and went on to an undistinguished career as a broadcaster. This body of work may have been influential enough to sway Mike to select him. After all, Kenny did show MJ how not to go into the paint. Was this enough?

NO.

Scottie Pippen: The most famous #2 man to ever play for the Bulls. Scottie and Michael conquered the NBA world together. Surely, MJ's sidekick for so many years earned a spot on the podium with him, right?

NO.

Phil "Zen" Jackson: Jackson lead the Bulls to every one of their Championships. Phil's leadership and station in life as MJ's mentor surely makes him eligible for the induction ceremony.

NO.

Dennis Rodman: No mystery here, no one wants to put this crazy bastard in front of a microphone, so ...

NO.

If all of these notable players and coaches never captured the attention of Jordan as he down-selected for his HOF celebration, who did he pick?

A little background before we unveil the mystery man. Michael Jordan was a much better professional basketball player than he was a collegiate player. Conventional wisdom has always stated that he was held back by an über-conservative college coach that did not know what to do with him and simply forced players into his system rather than the other way around. I believe that Jordan simply had talents that were better suited to the more open pro game and he shined because of it. In contrast, the man that Jordan selected to speak on his behalf in the coming days was a world-beater in college and although he had very notable flashes of brilliance at the next level remained far more famous for his collegiate exploits.

Michael Jordan, the favorite son of Orange County denizens around the globe selected David Thompson as his presenter. David Thompson is simply the best player ever to step on a court in an ACC game. This is not subject to discussion. Despite the Jordan heroics trumpeted by the FOBB (Fans of the Baby Blue), Michael was simply never Thompson's equal at the collegiate level. You can cut the irony with a knife because we all know that Thompson never played with Jordan, and he certainly didn't play at UNC-CH. That's right campers, Thompson played at a rival school, North Carolina State University, and remains the pride of Wolfpack fans through the land.

Before today, I would have been absolutely, 100% convinced that these facts were lost on Jordan, but, as sometimes happens, I was wrong. It seems that MJ knows his basketball history and despite his education, knows basketball royalty when he sees it. One must wonder what the UNC-CH faithful think about this turn of events. Thompson paved the way for later stars such as Jordan and perhaps Jordan is displaying his loyalty to the great basketball players in North Carolina (The State, not the University) with this selection. I venture to suggest that the FOBB will see this as a slap in the face of their special little club, but not enough of one to turn their backs on the favorite son.

I applaud Jordan's decision and stand surprised at the decision, if for no other reason than he appears not to be as dumb as his choice of college would indicate.

Motorcycle Roadracing Nicknames

Like any sport, the world of motorcycle racing is full of nicknames for the most popular riders. Those of who follow the sport use the nicknames almost without thinking about it, so here is a handy guide to the most popular names, including riders of old.

The Doctor: Valentino Rossi
Kentucky Kid/Trick Daddy: Nicky Hayden
Tommy Gun: Tommy Hayden
Countryboy: Roger Lee Hayden
Eboz: Eric Bostrom
Texas Tornado: Colin Edwards
34: Kevin Schwantz
Roman Emperor/Mad Max: Max Biaggi
Elbowz: Ben Spies
King: Kenny Roberts
Steady Eddie: Eddie Lawson
Samarai of Slide/Nitro Nori/Haga-san: Noriyuki Haga
Fast Freddie: Freddie Spencer
Mike the Bike: Mike Hailwood
Hopper: John Hopkins
The Flying Finn: Mika Kallio
Foggy: Carl Fogarty
Ago: Giacomo Agostini
Foggy: Carl Fogarty
Mugger: Karl Muggeridge
Spiderman: Rubén Xaus
The Stalker: Chris Walker
The Chief: Scott Russell

That's all I can remember for now.

MotoGP - Silly Season is over

This year marked an unusually turbulent end of season guessing game concerning who goes where in the MotoGP paddock. Rumors flew around the possibility of Jorge Lorenzo going to Ducati, Dani Pedrosa going to Ducati, Nicky Hayden riding the Yamaha, the possibility of Mika Kallio taking Nicky's Ducati seat, the possibility of Ben Spies arriving in MotoGP, etc, etc.

In the end, none of the big names went anywhere and status quo was maintained. Lorenzo stayed at Yahama, Hayden was retained by Ducati, and Dani Pedrosa will again ride the Honda. Alex De Angelis was rewarded for his career high Indy finish (2nd) by getting fired, and it remains to be seen if the Texas Tornado (Colin Edwards) and James Toseland will remain on the Tech 3 Yamaha squad.

Big Ben coming to MotoGP remains the only real item of interest on the plate.

Indianapolis - 2009

Once again, the Clarks made the cross-country trip to the Temple of Speed to see the best motorcycle racers in the world, hear the ear-splitting roar of an unmuffled 800cc four stroke, see the impossible lean angles, watch the 2-wheel power slides, and soak in the glory that is MotoGP. To top it all off, it was even dry this year.

This year's highlights:

• We met Dad, Uncle Mike and Ché in Charleston, WV and rode in from there as a group.
• Telling Uncle Mike and Ché the story of Austin's new shoes. Austin was complaining about his size 6 shoes hurting his feet and Tracy told him to stop complaining. When he was sized for his cross-country shoes, he actually wears a size 8 1/2. They got a big kick out of this and called her several times to rub it in.
• Listening to the distinctive sound of the Ducati MotoGP bike. If this thing is that loud from the stands, how loud is it when you are 5 feet behind it?
• You can watch races on TV all you want, but there are things you cannot see on TV. For example, both of the Pramac Ducati team riders were trying to ride behind Rossi during warmups. Rossi repeatedly slowed up to let them by and they slowed as well to stay behind him. In fact, throughout the weekend, Rossi came out of the pits last in order to prevent this type of scenario.
  
• Austin seeing his first Flat Track race. Flat Track is the only truly American form of bike racing and several of the MotoGP stars showed up to watch the race. Valentino Rossi even took the time to address the crowd.
• Ron M. would have loved the flat track bikes, because the weapon of choice is a Harley Davidson XR750. The venerable XR750 was introduced in 1972 and ceased production in 1980. It remains the dominant bike in dirt track racing today. It was not, however, the only twin there. Ducati and KTM had riders in the race as well. Hondas seemed to dominate the singles events.
• I noticed that all the Harley's ran their chain on the right side of the bike, while the other manufactures ran the chain on the left. My bike's chain is on the left, so seeing it on the right simply looks weird. Sort of like seeing the gear shift lever on a Norton on the right.
  
• Watching a horrific accident in the Flat Track race where a rider was catapulted over the retaining fence and left the track. Broken disc in his back.
• Watching King Kenny Roberts throw caution to the wind and drop the hammer on his 1975 TZ750 for a few serious hot laps. The TZ50 was raced only once in the 1975 Indy Mile and is widely considered the most unmanageable and dangerous dirt tracker ever ridden in competition. Roberts did not practice before the event, he just jumped on the beast and roared around the track like he owned the place. Kenny got completely sideways on the track and showed everybody that the old man still has it. Note: If you know anything about motorcycles, consider that the TZ750 is a 2-stroke engine, on dirt no less, and you can begin to understand why even the King found the beast intimidating. Two strokes have no power band. The power hits all at once. The thing had so much power that it spun the wheels on the rim when Kenny roared down the straight to win the iconic 1975 race.
• Watching Dani Pedrosa take pole position in a runaway qualifying session that saw Dani as the only rider to drop into the 1:37s. Although he seemed to be the man to beat in the race, Dani would drop the bike right in front us while leading the race, negating any chance he had to win.
• Watching Nicky Hayden "making it wide" as he slid into the last few corners to keep Dovizioso at bay and take his first podium on the Ducati this year. Easily the best battle to watch during the race as Jorge Lorenzo disappeared for the easy win. Nicky is riding for his job, so this may help.
  
• Seeing Valentino inexplicable drop the bike in turn one while fighting Jorge Lorenzo for the lead. It was the Doctor's first DNF in 2 years.
• The two riders most represented by the fans were Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden. Rossi is the most well-known motorcycle racer in the world and Hayden is the favorite American.
• Ché and I saw one of Hayden's most fervent fans. She was wearing a T-Shirt that said "I would rather be riding Nicky".
• Ché and I also saw "Silicon Sally" in the merchandise tent.
  
• We saw a guy riding a Pink sportbike when we left the Track on Friday night. Very strange choice of colors. It also had several dangling parts to it and all the front fairing pieces were conspicuously absent.
  
• Rossi might be the most popular rider, but the prices at his merchandise tent were jaw dropping. $45 for a hat. Wow.
• The new VMax has to be seen in person. The best way to describe it is "an engine with wheels". It is 1700cc and looks bigger.
• The new BMW sportbike is definitely not the typical BMW. Very out of the box and very comparable to the Japanese sportbikes. Should be interesting to follow.
• I don't really care for the new R1. Yamaha need to put covers on the headlights. It looks like they are missing. Looks aside, the sound of the new R1 is head turning. Very twin-like with the new uneven firing order.
  
• The new Ducati 848/1098/1198 bikes look badass. The Italians can make a good looking machine.
• There were two old guys working a booth in the vendor area with a sign that read "Pictures with us are OK". I regret not getting a picture with them.
• I did take a picture of Austin with the Ducati girls on Ducati Island.
  
• 76,000 fans at Sunday's race. For a bike race in the US, this is nothing short of amazing.
• Another amazing thing. At Indy you can park right outside the gate for as little as $10. There are houses that sit less than a quarter mile from the gate and a mere 100 feet from the track. IMS is not in the middle of nowhere. It is essentially downtown.
  
• We booked our hotel for next year and found out before we left the city that is already completely booked for next year.
• Even after visiting the place last year, the sheer size of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway still impresses. I still can't get over how the city envelopes the track.
• Say what you want about about Ducati, but if you buy one, you enter a special club. Every race track has their own "Ducati Island" where Ducati owners enjoy their own tent city, separate vending area, special parking, and reserved seating for the race.
  

Cut and Paste

When the iPhone came out, seasoned smart phone users were a little shocked at the lack of any cut and paste options. The Apple faithful didn't seem to mind very much, but the hardcore techies had more than a little fun at Apple's expense. Keep in mind that the Treo and the Blackberries of the world had had this feature for a few years when the iPhone debuted.

When the Palm Pre was announced, they made a big deal that the Pre would include a Cut and Paste function from day one and a big sigh of of relief came from the Palm faithful.

Meanwhile, Apple released a new software update in June and Cut and Paste has finally made it to the iPhone. iPhone users were now on a par (with regard to text handling) with the rest of the world.

Now the tables have been turned. Apple took their time and did it right. The iPhone's Cut and Paste functionality is a 2x4 across the faces of the other phone vendors. Despite drawing first blood, the Pre's Cut and Paste option falls miserably short of the iPhone. Palm should take careful note and make an update of their own as soon as possible.

Kara & the Jonas Brothers

Kara just returned tonight from a weekend in Charlotte, NC. She went with her Aunt Jennifer to see the Jonas Brothers in concert. Jennifer scored seats in the 6th row, so Kara had probably the best concert seats she will ever have. She also had the opportunity to see Jordan Sparks (of American Idol fame).

Kara has yet to get her "travel legs" yet because the 9 hour trip each way was basically her limit for a day. When asked how the trip home was, all she said was "it took forever".

VIR Day Two

DMG really screwed the pooch on this one. All weekend the published schedule was an approximation at best, and the situation simply went into overdrive today. The superbike race started 2.5 hours later than than scheduled. Having seen all the sites the day before, Austin and I simply sat most of the day.

Superstock Race: A little bit of a crashfest and Austin certainly enjoyed the action here, but the highlight of the race was seeing Roger Lee Hayden backing in right at us on Turn 5. He was trying an overtaking maneuver that didn't quite work, but to see him save the bike after a slide like that was simply magical.

Superbike Race: Josh Hayes and the Yamaha R1 proved that Saturday was no fluke. Josh gapped the field and ran away with the win. Interestingly enough, when I was explaining the difference in sound produced by the different engine types and configuration, Austin pointed out the strange sound of the R1. I had missed it, but the R1 has a really unique sound for an inline four cylinder engine. It sounds very twin-like and was my first experience with the new Yamaha uneven firing order. It obviously works because Spies has taken that bike to a new level. Yamaha is really sitting in the cat bird's seat this year, especially in international competition.

VIR Day One

Austin and I arrived last night after the track closed,so we went straight to the hotel. Austin was itching to go to the opening of the District 9 movie,so we had a late dinner and saw the movie. I thought the trailer was much better than the actual movie, but Austin loved it.

This morning we headed to the track and caught the first Superbike race.

Today's highlights:

- The women who are dating, married to, or otherwise attached to motorcycle riders are crazy hot. Guys like us attract the hottest women. In fact, the only types of guys that do better than us as a group are rich guys, really good looking guys, funny guys, and guys in positions of power.

- Attendance looked down this year as well as the number of vendors.

- I went to the 'Arai Guy' who has been at every race I have ever attended, but they did not have the Hopper Monster helmet for me to look at. This turned out to be my good fortune as you will see later.

- Saw the new Nicky Hayden Ducati 848 replica. True fans will remember that Nicky ran this paint scheme at Laguna this year. Eye Candy doean't begin to describe this bike. I was very impressed that Ducati is selling this bike for only $500 more than the standard model. It looked to be worth it, because you got more than a paint job as this version comes with some Superbike spec internals, i.e. internal aluminum cam chain.

- Talked to Earl Hayden again and we had a discussion about the MotoGP Brno qualifying. Earl said that he had already seen the qualifying and didn't want to ruin it for me. I told him that I would prefer to tell everybody that I heard the results from him. So, according to Earl, Nicky qualified 8th. Mika Kallio is stepping into the other factory bike in Stoner's absence. This is important because Nicky and Mika are auditioning for the second factory bike next year. Mika has been ahead of Nicky on both practice session so far, but it seems that Nicky pipped him in the Q session after Mika crashed. A little race within the race to keep an eye on.

- Stopped at a small local cycle shop's booth and saw that they had the Arai Hopper Monster helmet in my size for a very nice price. I asked to see the helmet and they dropped a hundred off the helmet on the spot. I ended up getting last year's model for almost half the price of a 2010 model. Makes no difference to me as I will gladly take the older version with the savings.

- If we believe him, this is Mat Mladin's last race weekend, so it was good to see him on the track again. He was soundly beaten by Josh Hayes, but I am betting that he was points racing today and will let it all hang out tomorrow now that he has clinched the title.

- It's times like this that I wish I had a better camera.

- During the stunt show, I caught a T-Shirt from the air cannon. This marks the second item I have won from the Stunt Show. In 2007, I caught a hat thrown into the crowd.

Topsail Beach - Day 5

The goal today was to take some action shots at the beach with Kellie and Chelsea. I let them do what they wanted and followed them around.

Kellie in the middle of a back handspring.

Austin joins the party.

Kellie and Austin in a rare moment when they act like they know each other.

Here's the beach house. Notice the direct access to the beach. In this shot, we are stay

Chelsea performing an arabesque.

Kellie doing a toe touch. My trigger finger was just a little late on this one.

Tracy and the girls.

Kellie smiling on the beach.

Kara and Andie just before we went to dinner. All 5 girls had on matching dresses and drew their share of comments.

"Where are all the hot chicks?"

Kara and Andie modeling their new airbrushed shirts. These were drawn freehand in the local beach store.

The happy couple later that night

All the kids hanging out after dinner.

Kellie and Chelsea - Not camera shy.

Topsail Beach - Day 4

I did not venture to the beach during the day as I was suffering from a bad case of sunburn also known by its Latin term Assus Burntupus. I did get the opportunity to try out the new flash gun for some beach shots in the evening.

I'll touch this one up later, but straight off the camera, it managed to capture the sunset tones in the background.

Tracy with the girls down by the water.

Here's me with the girls (Andie & Kara) in the same place.

Here's the last shot taken in the dying light.

Topsail Beach - Day 3

Not much to report on today. I was pretty burned up from the first day, so I took it easy. The good news is that I did take a few pictures today. You will find Kellie noticeably absent as she was sleeping the whole time the camera was out. She should be out tomorrow.

Kara

Austin - Relaxing in the sun

Kara - Strutting down the beach

Kara - Action Shot

Kara & Andie running

Takeoff!

Topsail Beach - Day 2

Yesterday, Tracy and I loaded 5 kids (Kellie, Austin, Kara, Chelsea W., and Andie R.)and headed towards Topsail Beach . An uneventful trip, if you disregard the mountain of stuff that I had to pack in the car. We had suitcases between the front seats, suitcases between the kids and under their feet. That does not include the roof carrier that I borrowed from Ron M. Fortunately, most of the stuff crammed in the rear of the car was food. The trip back should be far easier.

We are renting a house with friends (The Gibsons) and we arrived in the area a little too close to the Rental cut-off time, so split up. Tom and I went to pick up the house keys while Tracy and Toni stopped at Wal-Mart for the final stockpile of food. That decision proved to be a mistake. Getting to the beach house proved to be more eventful for them than either of them imagined. Tom and I arrived at the house and waited for them to arrive. We waited and waited, and after that we waited some more. After more than an hour and several phone calls, we finally jumped back in the car and went to find them. About 45 minutes later, we found them and led them back to the house. Not bad, it only took 2 hours to make the 15 mile trip from Wal-Mart to the house. Lesson: Never let two directionally-challenged females alone in a car.

I have never been to Topsail Beach, so today marks my first impression. Good: There are only houses here, so the crowds are absent. Very secluded, very nice. Bad: the waves are huge and never stop coming. Of course, this is a never-ending source of amusement for the kids, so take that with a grain of salt. The weather was perfect today and if the forecast holds, the week will be more of the same.

No pictures yet, but I plan to break out the camera tomorrow.

Kellie - Dallas Texas

Kellie just returned today from a trip with Jennifer Banks (Aunt J) to Dallas, Texas. During the trip Kellie had the occasion to take a tour of the new Dallas Cowboy stadium. Kellie was unimpressed and based on what she told me, she found the place Ghetto-fabulous. At this point in time, she is the only Clark to visit Michael Vick's future home stadium.

Kara joins the wireless world

Kara now has a cell phone. This was a recent gift from her Uncle Chuck this past weeekend. I won't post the number here, but if you need, just call Tracy.

Biases are not always hidden

I like to think that my personal biases and strong opinions about some things remain a mystery and hidden from the world as well as my children. One of the things that I thought I had kept to myself was my personal distaste for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Two nights ago, I was proven wrong.

Tracy, Kellie, Kara, and I were out to eat somewhere and the subject of Kellie's choice of colleges was the topic of discussion. We had been talking for several minutes, and debating the choices, when Kara offered the following opinion: "If you go to the college that Uncle Chuck went to, Dad is going to kill you."

Out of the mouthes of babes.

Booster Club

Another one of the reasons for our presence at several recent High School events is that both Tracy and I are members of the Booster Club. Tracy is the co-chair of Apparel and I am the Treasurer. I am also in charge of the web page.

Tracy actually became a member last year, but I agreed to become the Treasurer only recently, and then only under unusual circumstances. The previous holder of the position stepped down when her only child passed away last month. She was ill-equipped to continue in her role, and they were desperate for someone to step in. Tracy volunteered my services and the rest is history.

UNC-Ch has an Ice Hockey Team?

The whole family (minus Kara) is at the Virginia Class AA State Wrestling Finals in Roanoke, VA. We made the trip to determine if wrestling is something that Austin might want to do next year. While that remains unlikely, there was an interesting event last night after the event. The kids were hungry so we went to a local McDonald's restaurant to grab some food. In the restaurant, there were several young men curiously outfitted in the distinctive colors of the Baby Blue Brigade (BBB). In fact, these were not fans of the dirty heels, but rather members of the Ice Hockey team that were in town for a game.

I ignored/pitied them, knowing that rational discourse was not likely, but Tracy chatted them up. One of the unfortunate souls, when told of my Alma Mater, declared this "unfortunate". It seems that I was right about the rational discourse.

NC State Away Game

Tonight, NC State played an away basketball game at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to pen yet another chapter in the fierce rivalry between the schools. Ultimately, UNC-Ch managed to upset the visiting Wolfpack 89-80, but I would like to bring your attention to a few interesting items related to the game.

First, when the brilliant capital S logo was displayed on the screen I was reminded of a recent YouTube surfing session on the collegiate exploits of one David Thompson. Fans of ACC basketball will quickly recognize David Thompson as the finest collegiate player that the ACC has ever produced. When I was watching a highlight reel of Thompson, I noticed the the NC State logo that I thought was fairly recently adopted, was in fact, a retro logo that has been spruced up a little. Thompson is seen in the video sporting essentially the same logo in the early 70's. I am embarrassed to discover this fact 35 years after the fact.

Speaking of David Thompson, one of the broadcast features of tonight's game was a fan voting game called TXT-of-War in which a question is voted upon by sending in a text message. Tonight's vote was to determine whether David Thompson (NC State) or Michael Jordan (UNC-Ch) had the better collegiate career. To a student of the game, the comparison is laughable because while Thompson is a first team 50th Anniversary all-ACC team member, Jordan, frankly, is not. He doesn't even make the second string. The announcers, showing their knowledge of the game, declared the decision to be a "no brainer" in favor of Thompson. They even declared that members of the Baby Blue Brigade (BBB) had to realize that this comparison was a farce. Later in the show, cooler heads seem to have prevailed when Thompson was leading the vote 55% to 45%. The vote percentage for Jordan was alarmingly high, but, then again, no one has ever confused a UNC-Ch fan with a Mensa member. Later in the show, and the last time it was shown, the vote was back to 50% to 50%., thus proving that UNC-Ch fans have the basketball knowledge of a drunken chimpanzee. Shameful!

Another highlight of the broadcast was a clip of a UNC-Ch player (Zeller, I believe), getting Kenny Smith'ed in a game earlier this year.

Lastly, the flames of the fire generated by the Thompson/Jordan split, were fanned by a quick shot of T-Shirt worn by a member of the BBB. The shirt read "NC State is not our rival". I can only presume that the shirt refers to the ongoing inferiority complex that UNC-Ch seems to have with the Cameron Crazies, but who knows?

Kara meets an author

Last Saturday, we got up early, foregoing our normal day to sleep in in order to get a spot in line at a local Borders bookshop. The reason for all of this was that Kara's favorite author, Jeff Kinney was making an appearance to sign his latest work. Kinney, or course, is the author of the extremely popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and Kara has read all three volumes. She is eagerly awaiting the release of the fourth.

We arrived in the line at 9:45AM for the 1:00PM signing and managed to strike up friendly conversations with the very well behaved crowd. We were moved to the final line at 11:00AM. To everyone's suprise, Mr. Kinney made an early appearance and began signing his books over an hour earlier than scheduled.

Not only did Kara walk out the bookstore with her first signed books, but she made the best of the opportunity and struck up a conversation with Mr. Kinney. Pictures were taken and I'll try to post them ASAP.

White House - West Wing

Having powerful friends is of little use unless you can exercise that power for your own benefit. Last month, I was able to accomplish this rare feat when Tracy and I were invited to a tour of the White House. Before you turn up your nose and declare, quite correctly, than any schoolkid can get in the White House for a tour, please bear in mind that this was not the proletarian East Wing tour. This, my friends, was the fabled West Wing. A place not open to the public, and where mere mortals such as myself dare not tread.

Obviously, the tour was arranged by Ron M., and I don't know if he had to expend any silver bullets to pull this off, and I didn't ask. I was happy enough just to get in to where all the action occurs. The no-camera policy precluded the capture of any truly interesting photographs, but a few were obtained before we began.

If you look closely in the picture above, you can make out Tracy, Kara, and Austin just before we entered the facility. Note that we are inside the perimeter at this point and located on a street that separates the White House from the Executive Office Building.

This was my favorite picture that I took that day. This image of the seal was taken inside the vestibule that you saw us entering in the previous picture.

Due to the quality and knowledge of our benefactor, we eschewed the standard guide and toured the facility ourselves. Once inside we took a look at the latest installment of official White House photographs that adorn the visitor's lobby. We were even lucky enough to find one that had Ron in it. Austin and I took the opportunity to visit the men's room just so we could say we did. We took a quick look at the West Wing dining room and headed upstairs.

One there we took a brief detour outside to the Rose Garden. The shot you see above was taken there. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the windows here are to the Cabinet Room and the Oval Office. We left here to visit the Cabinet Room, which is the nearest set of doors in the picture above. The Cabinet Room was interesting both in the fact that all of the cabinet members had their names engraved on brass plates mounted on each chair, but that we found out that the Wall Street bailout meetings were held in this very room. In a subtle recognition of his standing, the President's chair is slightly taller than all of the others and is in the middle of the oval table rather than at one end.

There is a small office for the Presidential Secretary beside it, but it was not open. Next we visited the star of the show; The Oval Office. As head-of-state residences go, the White House is actually rather small, and as a result, visitors are often surprised at how small the Oval Office actually is. I found it somewhat larger than expected. When we were told that President Bush was using the Kennedy Desk, Tracy commented on the famous picture that showed John John sitting under the desk at his father's feet.

There was no opening in this desk, but a helpful guard explained that the desk actually has a door that swings open in front of it. This door is visible in the picture to the left. This desk is known as the Resolute Desk. The HMS Resolute was abandoned in the Arctic in 1855, but was rescued by the Americans the following year. When it was decommissioned about 20 years later, Queen Victoria had twin desks manufactured from the timbers and gave one to President Hayes in 1880, as a show of gratitude for its rescue. With the exceptions of Johnson, Nixon, and Ford, every sitting President has used this desk in the Oval Office. I am not sure if the kids grasped what they were seeing, but as a student of history, this was a rare treat.

The last stop of our tour was the Press Room. This is a room that we have all seen during news conferences, and it was here that I had my first real surprise. This room is tiny. It is so small that all major news outlets are issued a single seat. The room itself is not much wider than the following picture of the lectern.


We left after that, but I can't thank Ron and Amanda enough for the tour and, although my children are not likely to grasp the significance of where they were until they are much older, it was a lifetime event for all of us.

Christmas Lights 2008

After overcoming a persistent fuse problem, this year's lighting is complete.

Kellie on TV

You hear about these sorts of things all the time, but they have always happened somewhere else to a host of unknown souls. A few days ago this all changed with the news that a BDHS Phys Ed teacher has been charged with sexual contact involving not one, but two 16-year female students.

Not good news by any measure and interested parties can read the sordid affair here or here.

The news has garnered a lot of undesired attention to our little school and one interesting fallout is that a local news station (WJLA - Channel 7) was at the school today for a live report. It is mentioned here because Kellie appears in the newscast video. Kellie appears very briefly in the school parking lot at 1:04.

A New Chapter

One the traits that Lumbee Indians share with our Native brethren is the respect and honor we bestow on our Elders. Because of this, I have had the unique opportunity in my life to spend considerable time talking to people far older than me. The impression I am left with is only correlated with various written interviews with other elder men and women. This impression, to put a name to it, is that we get older in a physical sense only. As we age, we feel the effects of our physical lives somewhat more, we realize that our bodies have aged and we are far more slowly to heal than we were on our younger days. This is normal. What I am talking about here is the glacial changes we discover in our minds. All the discussions I have had with Elders is that we can perceive little change in our minds. We don't "feel" any different at 80 than we did at 20, insofar as our self identity is concerned. We age physically, but our inner selves seem to stay effectively the same.

Why the long explanation here? My point is that I don't necessarily feel any older than I did at 20 than I do now, but occasionally things conspire to force the reality of my 43 years squarely to the forefront. Yesterday, two of these "things" just happened to occur on the same day when I was able to share in two seminal events in Kellie's life. On this unusual day, I was granted the opportunity to ride in a vehicle, operating on public roads mind you, that was driven by my 16- year daughter. Later that evening, I was on hand to witness her hard at work on her first job.

This brings me squarely back to my point. How did this happen? One day I am buying half a pizza in Metcalf Hall, a Wednesday night ritual during my college days, and the next I am sitting in a new Pizza restaurant in Gainesville, VA watching my oldest daughter run credit cards in a restaurant. I don't feel like a different person, but the circumstances are worlds apart.

Lest we think this post is about me, the real story here is that Kellie now has a Learner's Permit and a job, two life-changing events that are enabled with the passing of her 16th birthday.

Girls on the Run (w/Pics)

This past fall, Kara joined a running group in her school called Girls On The Run (GOTR) that introduces girls to running and the associated benefits it provides. Kara seemed to enjoy the bi-weekly events that really don't involve much more than running for an hour before school. The entire affair culminated in the 2008 GOTR Reindeer Romp, a 5K event held last weekend at the Reston Town Center. Here, all the participating Elementary Schools in Northern Virginia met for a fun-run to conclude the 2008 GOTR program. We were told to expect 5,000 runners and while I haven't seen an official count, there were thousands of participants.

Last month, Kara's group held their practice 5K at her school and I ran it with her. Just for comparative purposes, they clocked everyone and Kara posted a 46:37 (46 Min, 37 Sec) time for a 5K. For those Americans yet to embrace the Metric system, this is 3.1 miles. The practice run was simply laps around the school and her time reflected the boredom of familiar surroundings.

We arrived last Saturday on cold Reston morning after fighting the hordes pouring into the Town Center and Kara joined her classmates. They used staggered start, but did use an official timing system that read start/stop times for the 5K from a magnetic strip applied to each participant's shoes. After the even started, we joined yet another line of patrons at the local Panera's for a little breakfast. Knowing that we had about 45 min before she arrived, we took our time and reported to the finish line after about 35 minutes had elapsed.

The surprise of the day was that we found Kara had already finished the event and was quitely eating the post-race snack provided the sponsor. Maybe it was the challenge of running with the crowd, the encouragement from her peers, or the stamina and endurance that is wasted on the youth, but Kara posted an incredible improvement in here time. She ran the 5K in an official time of 30:11, shaving more than 16 minutes from her time of less than 2 weeks before. Better yet, she ran the fastest time of anyone on her team.

Kara was beside herself and I applaud her efforts at testing and exceeding her known limits. For once she pushed herself physically beyond the known parameters and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It's always a joy to see your children flush with a sense of accomplishment and personal pride. I extend my personal congratulations for a job well done.

Pre-Race

Post-Race

Antarctica Bound

As I write this, my parents are vacationing in Antarctica. A little odd, I know, but my parents, my father in particular, dance to a different drum. They left last Wednesday for Miami, then to Buenos Aires, Argentina for two days. They then flew to Tierra del Feugo to board a boat that took them to our southern-most continent. Obviously, they are arriving in the middle of the Antarctic summer because regardless of how insane it might be to visit this place, to go in Winter is suicidal. They have really gone off the grid on this one, but I hope to file another report complete with pictures when the come back. They are due back on December 16th.

Brentsville Cheer - District Champions

Last night, the Clark Clan, Aunt Jennifer and most of the substantial Robbins family made the trek out to Millbrook High School in Winchester, VA to watch the BDHS Tigers successfully defend their VHSL Northwestern District crown in competition cheer. Kellie's team had breezed through the regular season competition and before they took the floor, they had already earned the right to represent their district in the Regional Championships next week. Despite this guarantee, it was nice to add yet another District title to the wall of honor in the school gym.

The real news of the meet was the noticeable improvement by the second place team, the Warriors of Sherando. They had finished a distant second to the Tiger in both of the regular season events, but clearly showed up last with their game faces on. This was clearly noted in this article which appeared in today's The Winchester Star. Clearly Brentsville's road to the Regionals just got a little tougher, but that's how it is supposed to be.

Having said that, a clear round of applause is due Kellie and her teammates on another great year of competition.

Tracy has made several efforts to get some publicity for the reigning 2007 Class AA champions and due entirely to her efforts, the Prince William County News and Messenger sent a reporter to cover last night's events. I had submitted a short article to several of the local papers to make sure that Brentsville's defeat of the all of the larger PWC AAA schools did not go unnoticed, and they are planning a bigger article at the end of the month as they increase their coverage of BDHS's road to States in 2008. This morning, a condensed version of what I submitted along with one of my team pictures made the paper announcing the 2008 All-County champions. Today, Tracy sent a sample of team action shots from my portfolio for use in the article due later this month.

Tracy's New Dog

Today, Tracy and I completed our adoption of the little guy pictured above. Chesney comes to us from Dachshund Rescue of North America. Due to continued exposure to Ron and Amanda's Dachshund, Molly Ann, Tracy has wanted a Doxie for some time. Last weekend, we attended the DachsFest at the Price William County fairgrounds where the DRNA has a selection of dogs for adoption. This little guy was there and Tracy took to him immediately. She held him several times and during these sessions, she learned a little bit about him. He was rescued from an animal shelter in Johnson City, TN. The DRNA brought him to northern Virginia because the adoption rates are much higher in our area than in the south. Mission accomplished because a few days later, Tracy learned that he was still available and submitted an adoption application.

We passed our home inspection this morning and met the DRNA representatives about halfway outside Roanoke, VA this afternoon. For reasons unknown, Chesney is deaf, either from birth or from events leading up to his rescue by the DRNA. He seems to function quite well despite this and our experience with our older dog Skeeter, who is about 90% deaf has left us well-prepared for this. An added benefit is that because of this he is probably the quietest dog I have ever been around. He has been with us all day and hasn't barked yet.

His life should be in the upswing now that Tracy has been given the opportunity to spoil him. He is a little smaller than Pepper and certainly more low-slung.

Brentsville District High School Competition Cheer (Updated)

Tonight marks the third time that BDHS' competition cheer team has competed this year. I have hundreds of pictures that I will try and upload soon, but I have included a link to the shots taken from the first event. Update: New pictures from all events are now posted.

Park View High School - Invitational Tournament - BDHS kicked off their year by attending the Park View Invitational Tournament in Loudoun County, VA last Saturday. The event did not count against BDHS' district record, but was their first foray beyond High School AA competition. Tracy and I stayed at the event only long enough to see Kellie perform before we headed out to attend Major Brian Hoffmann's retirement party. Kellie has just recently been promoted to the first team and we did not want to miss her debut performance this year. We saw little of the tournament beyond the BDHS performance, but they started a little shaky this year and finished third in the event. Not a bad performance considering they were performing outside their comfort zone, but not one member of the team was satisfied with third. In fact, this was the first time that Kellie had not placed first in any competition she has entered as a BDHS cheerleader. I have processed the pictures from this event and have included a link to my online album below. Of special note was the attendance of Kellie's Godmother Jennifer. The restaurant pictures in the album were taken at the team kickoff breakfast at IHOP that morning.


Invitational Tournament - Park View High School


District Mini #1 - The real season kicked off last Tuesday night when Brentsville hosted the first District tournament of the year. We had the whole crew there that night as Jennifer, Ron & Amanda, and Bethany all attended the event. Vastly improved from their opening performance, BDHS returned to their winning ways and easily won their first points event of the year.

Northwest District Mini #1 - Brentsville District High School


All County Competition - Just tonight, Brentsvill entered the all-county competition cheer competition and competed against 10 other Prince William County High Schools. Brentsville does not normally attend county events for the simple reason that BDHS is a AA school and every other county school is AAA. Not resting on her state title laurels, the BDHS coach entered the event to expose the team to AAA competition. Kellie later reported that a judge asked the coach why she was entering the tournament. When she replied that she wanted her team to get some experience competing in the AAA bracket, the judge replied that the other county teams were in for a rude awakening. The judges were the same crew that had judged the Mini Tournament two nights ago.

The event was held at Stonewall Jackson High School in Manassas. Despite being mere miles away from BDHS, this school is a world away from the confines of our little country school. SJ is ghetto fabulous in the worst kind of way. Brentsville was the first school introduced and walked on the floor to hail of boos from the other schools. Since we don't really compete with these schools regularly in athletics, the hail of boos was somewhat surprising. I can't really say why they were treated so poorly, but sometimes the heat of the crucible forges a new resolve. In fact, the booing was so bad, I thought for a second that we were in Philadelphia. Brentsville was the first school to perform and the crowd laid into them from the start. The little bastards next to me from Hylton High School were particularly obnoxious and took great pleasure in ridiculing the Tigers. I took care to pay careful attention to the HHS performance and was somewhat surprised by how poorly they performed. The first rule of cockiness is that you have to have a good team in order to pull it off. When you don't, you look foolish.

The Tigers have improved with each performance this year. In the end, and much to the chagrin of the boo birds, BDHS took first place in the competition. Just to top the night off and to show how classy the event was, the room where all the girls put their belonging during the event was left unlocked and all their bags were rifled through. The team lost an untold amount of cash, 2 iPods, and an iPhone. Kellie doesn't really take anything to these events, so she didn't lose anything.

Rather than dwell in the actions of a few bad seeds, let's remember that BDHS is the 2008 All-County Champion in Cheerleading. Kellie got the rare opportunity to compete against a good number of her friends that she went to Middle School with and the rest of the county found out that the reigning 2007 State AA champions were no fluke.

Prince William County - All County Cheer Competition - Stonewall Jackson High School

Update: Prince William county posted videos of the event on their website the next day and the links below will take you to them. The first video is their actual performance and the second highlights the reserved reaction to the announcement of the winner.

Video #1 - BDHS Performance
Video #2 - Announcement of the Winner

Hurricane Hannah

Hannah's contribution to Bristow was about 12 hours of rainfall all day yesterday. After some lighter than expected winds, we made it through with no problems whatsoever. Today was a beautiful day with nearly perfect weather. It never ceases to amaze me how so much water can leave virtually no sign that it was ever here.

Football season begins

Kellie's High School football season kicked off on Friday night as the Brentsville District Tigers hosted their first home game. The whole family went to the game, but the expected rainfall from Hurricane Hannah came a little early and we left the game at halftime. In the end, only Kellie was hardy enough to wait out the eventual Tiger defeat.

First Day of School

Yesterday marked the end of the summer of 2008 as the Clark kids headed back to school. There were no major incidents and everybody made it on time. It also marked the beginning of Back-To-School night at Brentsville District High School. As you know, Kellie is entering her sophomore year at BDHS and having back to school night on the first day of the year is a little unusual, but that's the way the schedule fell out this year. At BDHS, this is a 2-hour long affair where you go to each of Kellie's classrooms, meet here teachers, get an idea of the year's coursework, walk around the school, generally getting a feel for the place.

Unlike last year, Kellie is very sure of herself and completely at home here. She is still a Cheerleader, but with a little prodding from old Mom and Dad, she has expanded her studies somewhat this year. The big addition to the curriculum is a Cambridge class. I am not sure how widespread it is in the State of Virginia (excuse me, The Commonwealth of Virginia), but Prince William County schools offer classes in a secondary education program designed by the University of Cambridge. Yes, this is the college in England and the home of the European scoundrels chased back to the British Isles in 1783. Nonetheless, it is a more stringent course akin to Advanced Placement (AP) classes held through the country. Most of the colleges in Virginia accept these courses as college credit. In Cambridge-speak they are referred to as IGCSE courses. IGCSE stands for International General Certificate for Secondary Education. Kellie is taking this as a requirement of her advanced diploma program. In a drastic departure from my High School days, the Commonwealth offers a basic or an advanced diploma. Kellie's goal, whether she knows it or not, is the advanced diploma. As such, her IGCSE class this year is English. She will be reading and writing more this year than at any point in her life, and we wish her the best of luck. The only other class of interest for Kellie this year is Driver's Education. (Yikes!!!!)

Austin is also beginning his second year at Middle School and has become the senior class at Gainesville Middle School (8th Grade). Austin made amazing improvements last year with his grades and promises to do the same again this year. He will begin High School next year. That is not a typo. In 12 months, Austin will enter his Freshman year in High School. Until then, he will be holding court at Middle School.

Kara began her last year in Elementary School (5th Grade) and shares senior class status as the highest grade in her school with her brother. Kara has the added advantage of being assigned to a teacher that taught Kellie in fifth grade. This is good news for everybody, because we have a very good comfort level with this teacher and Kara will definitely be prepared for Middle School next year. Also new this year is Kara's new role as bus stop safety patrol. She has been issued the appropriate uniform and is in charge of any and all matters that relate to bus safety.

Back to School nights for Austin and Kara are sometime in the next two weeks, and I am sure there will be more to report at that time.

YouTube

Today marks Austin and Kara's YouTube debut. With the help of their friends, they uploaded two videos today that feature their particular brand of humor. Kara acted as cameraman for both videos and appears in the first video as well.

Video #1: How to Annoy People

Video #2: Stupid People

SOL Scores

In the Commonwealth of Virginia, all Elementary and Middle School students are required to take a Standard of Learning (SOL) test in subjects that vary by grade. These scores are used by the school to measure their overall performance and are factored into individual school awards.

Spring 2008 scores:

Austin

Test	Score	Performance
Civics/Economics	548	Pass Advanced
Math	442	Pass Proficient
Reading	549	Pass Advanced

Kara

Test	Score	Performance
History/Social Science	600	Pass Advanced
Math	570	Pass Advanced
Reading	592	Pass Advanced

The scores reveal a few things about the kids. The overall performance is more than satisfactory as all but one of the scores is in the advanced range. Austin's turnaround in his grade performance can also be seen in his scores. Kudos to Austin for all of his hard work this past year. Kara's overall performance on the SOL was spectacular, anchored by a perfect score in History. Congratulations to the both of them.