The Price of Success

To be successful or to attempt to attain success is the American way. Sometimes this works out and sometimes it doesn't. Case in point: North Carolina State University has undoubtedly become the finest public university in the southeastern Unites States. This is a result of offering the finest curriculum and making sure that all accepted students are of the highest caliber; the crème de la crème.

The bad part about NCSU's success is that is has become a school of choice for the less than ethical among us. It seems that if you want to receive the best education then you choose the best schools. The problem is, we cannot control what students do with that education.

Why am I telling you all this? A recent article on FOXnews.com really explains it all. If you read the article you will see where the chemist decided to attend graduate school in chemical engineering.

Bottom Line: If you get too good even the bad guys come looking.

A Picture Share!

Kellie and Austin hanging out in the kitchen.

Weekend Update

I just spent the entire weekend with my Mexican friend Manuel. If you don't know what this means, just ask my Dad. I have logged 13 hours over the last 2 days staining our deck and I am about 80% complete. You'll have to see it at the house the next time you visit.

The weekend also saw the greatest motorcycle race I have ever seen, but then again, I am biased. Nonetheless, it was agreat race weekend for the Red, White, and Blue. Americans placed 1-2 in the MotoGP US Grand Prix, and I must say that I was very impressed with Colin Edwards. Colin, of course, placed second on the rostrum, but was very gracious in defeat. It is no secret that Colin has no great admiration for Hayden because he has always felt that Nicky's Repsol Honda seat should have been his. His post-race comments have made me see him in a far different light. He was openly congratulatory to Nicky and gave him big hug during the victory celebration. A class act all the way around.

On a previous post, I mentioned that a columnist had picked Nicky to win. His name is Dennis Noyes and he is clearly a genius. It remains to be seen how the Tornadiacs will take this. A quick explanation is required here. Colin Edwards is known as the 'Texas Tornado' and his avid followers refer to themselves as Tornadiacs. To put this in perspective, look at it this way; Edwards and Hayden fans treat each other with the same admiration and respect that Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr fans give each other.

Another development to be noted is that neither Hayden or Edwards has ever beaten Valentino Rossi in a race that Rossi has finished. That's how good this Italian is. Yesterday, both accomplished this feat.

The rednecks were out in force on Saturday when Toby Keith performed at the Nissan Pavilion in Gainesville. Of course Tracy was there sitting just 10 rows back from the stage enjoying every minute of it. If you ask her, I am sure she will give you a complete report.

Lumbee Homecoming

We decided at the last minute to drive to Pembroke and attend Lumbee Homecoming over the fourth. Kellie went to Ocean City with the Willis' as planned and had a ball. The rest of us climbed into the Passat and drove south for the Holiday Weekend.

We went to the parade in town on Saturday, July 2 and after the parade, the guys (Me, Dad and Austin) went to the Yamaha shop to get his stuff. Later that day we went to the Locklear family reunion and from there over to the College to see the fireworks display. For a town its size, Pembroke's fireworks are very impressive and the kids really seemed to enjoy it.

We cut the trip a little short because we had to be back here on Monday to go to a neighborhood block party.

New Gear

We went to Lumbee Homecoming last weekend and Austin Clark made out like a bandit. Grandpa Denny set him up with all new riding gear. He now has a Yamaha blue riding shirt and pants along with new motocross boots. He did not last one day at home before he was out trying the new threads out.

Myrtle Beach

We are booked at the Lowry/Goins condo for the week of Aug 7-14. I heard that both elevators are now working, which is a huge improvement over the wait times of last year. If its any consolation, Tracy can get ill at Myrtle Beach all she wants because the medical facilities are superb.

Outer Banks Redux

Quickly becoming a favorite of the Clark family, the Outer Banks is back on the summer activities schedule. Tracy has a girls weekend scheduled at the Corolla Light resort on Aug 5-6. This means that she will make it back to Bristow just in time to leave for Myrtle Beach. It's too bad that she doesn't have much leisure time.

Let's just hope that she doesn't get sick this time because we have found that this is one place that you want to remain healthy.

Pennington back on the schedule

I earlier reported that Kellie was leaving Pennington and enrolling in Marstellar Middle School. That announcement has proven to be immature. Tracy's last-minute school tour left a very negative impression and further discussions with Kellie revealed that the only incentive for her was the middle school cheerleading team. This proved to be a less than deciding factor for me, so back to Pennington she goes. Kellie's academic successes this year proved what she can do if she is pushed and at Marstellar, she might be just another face in the crowd.

Motorcycle Trips

I have two big trips planned this summer.

VIR (Virginia International Raceway)

The annual trek to Danville will take this year the weekend of August 26-28. As it stands right now, Ricky and I will definitely be going down for the AMA race weekend. Uncle Mike and Ché look good to attend as well. I hope to see them there.

Deals Gap

Uncle Mike, Ché, and myself have set a target date sometime in September to ride the Dragon. Deals Gap crosses between North Carolina and Tennessee and boasts 318 turns in 11 miles. These are twisties on steroids and make 211 look like a ride in a parking lot. Digression: Parking lot rides are only exciting if your name is Kellen Winslow, Jr. End Digression. This is the sportbike ride on the East Coast and I only hope that it's not too crowded.

Grandpa Pete

Grandpa Pete went back to the Hospital for another blood transfusion but I haven't heard how it turned out. Post status if you know anything.

I saw him last weekend and he looked better than I thought he would. I was told that he was having a good day. Obviously things deteriorated somewhat because of the required blood transfusion, but let's hope that he is doing better.

1:22.670

American race, American pole.

Nicky just dropped a hammer on the field with a new Laguna track record. Speed TV carried qualifying for the first time this year and I was able to make a few observations. Someone please tell Yamaha that they have to sell an R1 next year in Yamaha championship yellow. The new paint schemes that the Yamaha are running are gorgeous. I also noticed that Nicky Hayden is sporting a new Helmet design that looks like something Arai should sell as well.

Motorcycle Weekend

This weekend is the biggest motorocycle racing weekend of the year. The MotoGP series is arriving at Laguna Seca for the U.S. Grand Prix. There will be 4 Americans in the race and promises to be the best American showing this year. If you watch the race, the Americans are Colin Edwards (#5), Kenny Roberts, Jr. (#10), John Hopkins (#21), and Nicky Hayden (#69). Tune your television to Speed TV @5:00PM EST Sunday, July 10.

With the exception of Hayden, all the U.S. riders will be sporting new paint for the race. The Suzukis of Roberts and Hopkins will be sporting a one-off Red Bull scheme and the Yamaha of Edwards will display a radically different 50th Anniversary paint job reminiscent of the old Yamaha racing teams. Ché Clark was kind enough to provide the following preview of the Yamaha paint scheme with this picture of Valentino Rossi's bike. Rossi is the Italian teammate of Colin Edwards and the defending world champion. Rossi usually kicks ass and takes names in MotoGP, but this time he's in our back yard.

One MotoGP columnist has gone out on a limb and picked Nicky to win and all indications are that this is the one race where the Yanks are favorites.

This just in: Americans occupy 3 of the top 4 slots in Friday practice.

Genetics

Anyone who knows Charles Clark is well aware of his strong and generally strange attachment to the movie "Grease" starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. He has watched this movie an innumerable number of times and has even worn out a VHS tape of the film. For the sake of simplicity, let's just say that he likes the movie.

Recently young Kara Clark has become enamored with a film she has just discovered. If she is watching it in her room, and you can listen in the action without being seen, you can hear her singing along with the movie. This movie is 'Grease'.

To say the least, this is eerily like her Uncle years before as he watched the movie over and over again. I have a theory. This situation offers rare insight into genetic transfer. Clearly I am a carrier of the 'Grease" gene without knowing it until now. This also means that my mother or father are also carriers of this gene. Somewhere in the tall branches of my family tree there is the genesis of the 'Grease' gene, only no one knew about because the movie hadn't come out yet.

Basketball Camp

Austin started a week-long basketball camp yesterday in his first round of summer activities. The camp runs all day long this week. Even a day full of running around doesn't seem to faze him as he continues his normal outdoor activities when he gets home. I can actually remember a time when I could do things like this.

Kidney Stone

Tracy has an appointment tomorrow (Wednesday) to have her kidey stone broken up sonically. The hope is that the stone will break into much smaller pieces, known in medical terms as 'sand'. This should allow the stone to be passed as much smaller pieces although she has been warned that too much 'sand' will present its own unique set of problems.

From a laymen's perspective I wonder how a device that can generate sound waves strong enough to break a kidney stone will fail to affect your heart. Kidney stones are formed from crystals found in urine and as a result must be very hard. Let's assume they know what they are doing.

On a light note, Tracy also discovered that her Urologist is a physician of some note. His claim to faim is that he surgically reattached John Wayne Bobbit's penis after his insane wife, Lorena Bobbit, severed it. This was a big story in the Northern Virginia area when it happened in 1993. Here is a link to the sordid tale.

Health Issues

Last Monday night, Tracy and the kids went to the Outer Banks for an unplanned vacation. The beach house that we borrowed two weeks ago was available and school was out so off they went. She was accompanied by her friend Dawn Johnson and her kids. The next day, Tracy had extreme pain in her left side and collapsed at the house. Dawn called 911 and Tracy had an ambulance ride to a local urgent care center. The x-rays showed a kidney stone of some size (~9 mm).

When I found out, I took off for the beach and arrived later that night. On the way down I was able to talk to her and discovered that the urgent care center recommended that she go the The Outer Banks Hospital first thing in the morning. They also told her that she would most likely require laproscopic surgey to remove the stone.

We got to the hospital the next morning only to find out that hospital did not have a Urologist on staff and really couldn't handle her situation. Lesson: Don't get sick in the Outer Banks. They did do a CATscan and told us that she was in no immediate danger and recommended that she return home to her usual medical facilities. The CATscan showed that the kidney stone was actually 7mm in diameter which is probably too big to pass on its own. They also told us that surgery was very unlikely and that a sonic procedure was the likely solution. I only hope that when we get to our doctors in VA we don't get a third opinion.

After several prescriptions for painkillers were filled we went home for the day. Tracy was able to stay off the painkillers on Thursday for the ride back home and although it took much longer than planned we made it safely. As of this writing we are still tryin to get her in to see a doctor but plan to get all this done on Monday.

Back in North Carolina, Grandpa Pete has returned home but I don't know how he is doing at the moment.

Airtime

Tracy was on the "Workday Music Marathon" contest on WMZQ (98.7) today. This is our local country music station and she entered online to have 5 songs of her choice played during the lunch hour as well as a brief on-air conversation. She also had an on-air introduction of the marathon.

I was able to hear the entire thing in my car at noon. Jim Lamb @Lamus had surgery today, but still took the time to call me today at 2:00PM to tell me that he heard Tracy on the radio when he was on the way home after his outpatient surgery.

Academic Awards

As reported earlier, the school year has drawn to a close. The kids received the following academic recognition during awards ceremonies held this week:

Kellie Clark

There are 3 sixth grade math classes at Pennington and these classes are attended by ~80 students. Of all these student, Kellie Clark was the only student to be recognized for Excellence in Achievement in Math. Kellie has obviously inherited what we in the Clark family call the "Uncle Chuck" gene. Kellie also received recognition for making the Honor Roll every quarter this past school year.

Austin Clark

By missing one day in the entire 2004-2005 fourth grade school year, Austin Clark was awarded an "Excellent Attendance" award. This is evidence of what the Clark family calls the "Uncle Mike" gene.

Kara Clark

Kara was identified by her first grade teacher as the "Most Expressive Reader". Kara's continued enthusiam for both and work is easily recognizable to anyone around her.

Grandpa Pete's Status

I just heard from N.C. that Grandpa Pete is having a pacemaker installed within the next hour. His heartrate has not exceeded 42 bpm today and the doctors feel that an increased heartrate will make him more energetic. I found some useful information here.

Last Week of School

Tomorrow is the last day of school for the Clark kids. One more day to wake up and go to school.