What happens in Vegas...

Doesn't happen to me...I am in Vegas, it is 9pm and I am in bed.  Quite the night life I lead.  It was a long flight on Southwest Airlines to Vegas with the gargantuan man sitting next to me on the overbooked flight.  This being set day, we put together our melts, faxed the tape room and then played our PSP's.  I am partial to Tiger Woods Golf '08.  Our tape producer this week, someone who has never done the tape producing job before, got unexpectedly called away and now we are basically doing an extra job this week.  I'm sure it will reflect in our paychecks.  

I'm staying at a Hyatt Place...nice, big rooms...40" flat screen...and the kicker, free internet!   It is across the street from the Hard Rock Hotel, where we normally stay.  The Hard Rock is a fine establishment with a casino, but the wall sconces are used cymbals...thus, very little sleep actually occurs there.  Drunks and others feel it is there duty to bang the cymbals night and day.  There are some great display cases with "rock stars" outfits, instruments and other memorabilia.  

Tomorrow the day starts early with a 7am call...lots of qualifying tomorrow, but the day should be finished by 8pm.  

I am still trying to decide what show to go see...Blue Man Group, Penn and Teller, Bette Midler...so many to choose from...but guess what, the Bay City Rollers are in town!!!!  That may be the ticket!  I used to have a pair of white pants that my dear mother sewed a two inch hem of plaid to and I thought I was one of the boys.  S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!   Thanks, Mom!

Every time I think I'm out...

All right...who is so addicted to NASCAR that you stayed up until 2am Eastern to hear that the race would be postponed until today...Nobody?  If you did, maybe you need to reevaluate your priorities.  So, we had a call time this morning of 7am Pacific for a 10am Pacific finish of the Cup race.  If you happen to be home and read this before the race, enjoy the race. They will run the complete race today, then one hour after the finish, ESPN2 will have the Nationwide race.  By the way, Jeff Gordon will win the Cup race and Kyle Busch will win the Nationwide race...just in case you'd like to wager.

We will do our Victory Lane program and hopefully be out of here by 4pm.  My flight home tomorrow will be early, but I will have tonight off in exciting Fontana, CA.  I don't know why the suits are willing to pay us overtime and another day of work for a one hour program, but I don't mind.  

Zach, Andy, Alex and Sandy flew to Kansas City over the weekend to wrestle in "The Liberty Nationals".  Well, Sandy didn't wrestle, but I'll be willing to bet she could whip any young boy there.  The boys, on the other hand, were not able to accomplish said whipping.  Zach lost his first two matches and was out fairly quickly.  He lost to two seniors, and in his second match, he lost 1-0 with the guy scoring late in the third.  He's getting really good.  Andy pinned his first guy, then lost two and was out.  Alex won one, lost one, then lost again on Sunday.  They had a great time and want to do more national tournaments.  We'll see...those aren't cheap to attend.

Las Vegas is next on the NASCAR circuit.  I fly out Thursday...don't have any plans to see any shows yet, but we do have Saturday night off, so I may be enticed to go see Celine Dion...

What?!?!  She doesn't have a show there anymore?!?!  Darn.  Well, any other show suggestions would be greatly appreciated...and free tickets would be even more appreciated.  No, seriously. 

It never rains in California....

Man, it poured...what a nasty day...no cars or trucks even made it on the track today.  Therefore, we had hours of "rainfill".  Rainfill is programming used to kill time until the rain stops, or the suits give up and call it a day.  Sometimes we just did a couple of minutes of live programming, while other times we'd fill for a half hour at a time.  That was accomplished by roving reporters talking to anybody willing to stop for a moment.  One of the best ways to fill time is find Kenny Wallace and just turn him loose.  We did find him and he lived up to his billing as "Human Rainfill".  It was a long day...in at 5:30am and out at 8:30pm.  Tomorrow is a 5:30am call time, too.  

Rusty Wallace ate lunch with me today...well, he was two tables over, but we were consuming food at the same time under the same tent.  We're tight.

Big day tomorrow...truck race and a Nationwide race...busy track...if it stops raining.

Goin' back to Cali...

I have arrived in the Golden State.  The 6:00am flight out of Nashville was a bit early and the 2 hour layover in Houston was a bit long, but I am happy to be out of the chaos that is SpeedWeeks in Daytona.  Now the schedule becomes more routine, and I kinda like that.  We arrived at the track at 2pm PST and got to work.  We first put together all the highlights, interviews, funny clips and anything else we want saved to tape.  That is called a melt.  I have no earthly idea why, it just is.  The melt of all the clips from my hard drive comes to 2 hours in length.  Sanford's melt come in just slightly under that.  Once the melting is done, we do other pre-production, the nuts and bolts of shows, for the weekend...first off is making what is called billboards.  Those are the annoying symbols of companies that go over pretty shots at the beginning or ending of nearly every segment of every show....ie, "American Idol" is brought to you by...blah, blah, blah.  You gotta do it though, because it is the money.  Without them, I don't make my coin.  We'll also put together the lower third promos...the other annoying thing that pops up on the screen that is basically a commercial in between actual commercials.  Sometimes the hosts will read information about them, sometimes they just mysteriously pop up on screen, make some noise so you notice it and read it, then mysteriously fade away.  

After we finish with those, we will do a truckwide fax...that is just a checking of all equipment with the TD, the button pusher at the switcher, to make sure everything is where it is supposed to be, sounds the way it is supposed to sound and looks like it is supposed  to.  If all goes well, that is only a 10 minute process.  Why is it called a fax, you ask...again...I gots no answers.  

If all goes well with all of the above, we can be out of here by 7pm and back to our hotel by 7:15.  That's Thursday on the NASCAR circuit in our truck.

Oh, Dad, "Goin' Back to Cali" is an LL CoolJ song...it's probably somewhere on your Ipod.  

Daytona in the rearview mirror...

After 14 days, 84 hours of OT and 100 hours of broadcasting, SpeedWeeks is now over!  Did you like the Daytona 500?  Did you even watch it?  If you only caught the last 10 laps, you basically saw the whole race.  I was pulling for Tony Stewart...I still like him...he's got some personality and he's not a corporate geek.  I like his mullet!  It was fine with me that Ryan Newman won...he's a nice guy, and is always nice to our people.  I was walking along pit road as Chubby Checker, Kool and the Gang, Brooks and Dunn and Trisha Yearwood performed.  I didn't see a lot of celebrities this time.  I did see Ashley Judd in Dario Franchitti's pits, but she's my neighbor, so it wasn't that big a deal.  John Salley was on my plane this morning.  Helio Castroneves was on our show yesterday.  Kenny Wallace was doing the twist early in the show, then Helio was on and Wendy asked  him to do some dance moves.  He danced a little, so we put Kenny dancing and Helio dancing in a split screen.  It was pretty funny.  It was cool to see all the former Daytona 500 winners assembled.  

I am home for the next three days, then Thursday fly to Ontario, CA for the Fontana race on Sunday.  Now the season gets into it's normal flow.  We have a pretty set schedule and much more reasonable hours. East Coast to West Coast...Oh, I'm nationwide, baby.  

Headin' to the Finish Line

Well, the big day is here...the 50th running of the Daytona 500.  It's been a great, but very tiring, 12 days.  I am averaging 14-17 hour days.  The paychecks will be nice, but I don't know if I have ever been this tired.  

Today we have a 1 hour show at 9am...then a three hour show, "RaceDay", at 11am.  "RaceDay" is our big pre-race show...it has the most resources and hosts.  It's fun.  Then after the race which is on FOX, we do "Victory Lane".  It is the post-race wrap up show where we have a set literally in Victory Lane...the race winner comes on right after the race...I record interviews of the 2nd-10th place guys and play them back.  It is a frenetic paced show, but since it is the last show of the week, it feels good getting that live tv buzz for the last time.  

At the end of each week, which is Sunday night after a Sunday race or really late Saturday night after a Saturday night race, we clean up, pack up, and put everything away.  That is called a strike.  Not the kind of strike that the writers and others have gone on.  Everything that was taken out of any truck needs to be packed back up and put in its place.  On a normal week, this usually takes 2 to 3 hours after we finishing shooting "Victory Lane".  I anticipate this one to take at least 4 hours with so much stuff being out.  Hopefully, I am overestimating...I'd love to get some sleep tonight.  I have a 10am flight tomorrow out of Orlando which means I need to be up at 6am...I'd love to be home by midnight...we'll see.

Any predictions on a winner today?  The buzz around here is that Tony Stewart has the strongest car.  He did win the Nationwide race yesterday.  But it is such a crap shoot at Daytona.  You could have the best car, but if you get caught up in "The Big One", which is what they call the biggest wreck that always happens and always takes out multiple cars, your good day could be over quickly.  In one pool, I picked Jimmie Johnson to win....hard to pick against the champ.  I would love it if Kenny Wallace pulled off the miracle and won...he did race his way in on Thursday, despite my prediction that he wouldn't.  He is a fun guy who works his butt off on a "limited" budget.  Today is a day of survival...if you can survive the race and be there at the end, anything is possible.  Have a great Sunday!  

Hey, Mr. Postman!

Hey...I published a great post on Tuesday, but apparently it didn't make it to this page and is floating in cyberspace somewhere...it was literary genious...I think.  Only 4 more days in Daytona.  We are still working long hours, but putting out pretty good tv.  Sanford Robinson is the guy who does the same job as me and also lives in Nashville and goes to our church.  He and I keep each other sane and keep each other from killing the young kids running around here trying to do television.  It is crazy how may 22 year-olds run in here with their projects that are of the utmost importance and don't have clue one.  But I, being the consumate teacher, guru, educator and sensi, take the time to point out how moronic they are...not really.  It is kind of fun to help kids learn what we're doing and how they can take part.  The ones that want to learn and listen make a bonus part of this job.  

The truck racers have arrived and have been driving, testing and will soon qualify.  I like the trucks.  The races nearly always come down to the wire. 

Today are also the Gatorade Duel races...the winners get into the 500...now I don't even pretend to know how all the drivers get into the 500...I'm not sure anyone really knows.  I think it may be like the Masons...they are a very secretive bunch that may or may not be run by a Triumverant consisting of the Queen of England, the President of the United States and Col. Sanders...(he's not really dead).  Anyway, the results of the races today will determine who's in and who's out of the Daytona 500.  Personally, I am pulling for Kenny Wallace to make it...he probably won't.  

We got a new jacket from Speed...if you are watching any of the shows, it's just like the beige ones the hosts wear....I like it because it is 47 degrees in the truck.  SHRINKAGE!  

Still having fun...looking forward to the check!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wow...what a finish last night to a long, long day...when we finally left the tv compound, we had just completed our 17th hour.  Today is not so bad.  Only qualifying today, but a few extra hours of tv to support it.  The bosses have told us that we will do over 100 hours of tv before we leave...feels like it.  Dave Despain and Ken Squire were in here today looking at highlights with us this morning.  They both seem like good guys.  This is Ken's 43rd consecutive Speed Weeks he's broadcast.  That is pretty amazing.  

Our new tv truck is pretty amazing...we have a lot of space in our section, so it seems to turn into a lounge area quite frequently....that's ok, except that we are showing, editing, and listening to highlights while entertaining guests and I think there is some karaoke going on in one corner.  It gets pretty loud.  Things are going well.  :)

"How is he not getting shocked?", Dad wondered.

It is early Saturday morning.  Our call time was 6:30am and we hope to get out by 11pm tonight.  It is raceday for the Budweiser Shootout.  Did you see the practice yesterday?  Wrecks-o-plenty!  And the amazing thing was the banging and crashing that Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch did!  It was reminiscent of their clash in Dover last year where they wrecked and then Kurt rammed Tony in the pits nearly crushing one of Tony's pit crew members.  No word at the time of this posting on fines, suspensions, peepee slaps, or anything from NASCAR.  Brian France, the king of all NASCAR suits (not The King...that's Richard Petty), said recently that "we're going back to the basics"...some have speculated that that means the boys are going to be allowed to fight if they want...say some naughty words...haul moonshine in the trunk?...without the iron fist of NASCAR coming down hard on them.  Dale, Jr. said on Thursday that he wonders how far that "back to the basics" will go.  I guess we'll find out shortly.  

The race starts at 8pm...it should be exciting with all the money on the line...nearly $1.5 million for the winner!  

Sleep is rare...I did get to the gym early yesterday and late last night....I need to 'cause I sit on my backside most of the day.  Beats diggin' ditches or being an electric fence tester...you know what I mean.

Hard Day's Night

Long day today...we got to the track at 5:30am...it is nearly 9:30pm and we're still here.  We had media day today which is a day when all the drivers have to give time to the media to be interviewed.  We interviewed about 12 guys in a two hour program...but we had to stop down and wait for our guests to show up...therefore, the 2 hour program took 7 hours to make.  Tony Stewart was whining about how long his day is...9am until 6pm...that's funny.  Dale, Jr. said he hates media day, but said we must hate it more since it takes so long to make the show.  Tonight we did the "Bud Shootout Selection Show".  It is a pretty fun show to do.  The drivers are pretty easy going about it...the Shootout is the first race of the whole party.  It is a race just for money.  The only drivers are past Daytona 500 winners and anyone who won the pole position at any race in 2007.  It was pretty fun.  We are still getting the truck tweaked out to make sure all the parts work...but we are doing shows anyway.  Still haven't been to the beach, but it is hard to get there when the work day is more than 16 hours long...I'll try to hit the gym in the morning since we don't have to be in until 9am.  Only 4 1/2 hours of programs on Friday!

Kinda like a TiVo

Daytona, whoo-hoo!  I arrived late last night in Orlando and made the drive to Daytona.   We are in a new HD truck that is incredible.  There is so much space!  We have 4 EVS's this season, up from 2 last year, so we are locked and loaded.  We are spending the day today labeling all of our monitors, tape machines and routers so we know what we're looking at and if we're looking at what we think we're looking at.  I am once again working with my friend Sanford doing our EVS work.  EVS is a hard disk recording device...basically a TiVo on steroids.  We have 60 hours of recording space on each EVS.  And it never stops recording...so you can back up something even as it is still going on.  An example is in a football game, the QB takes the snap, fades back, makes the throw, the WR catches it for the touchdown.  Well, as soon as the snap takes place, I can pause my machine at that moment, but the recording is still going on.  That way, the replay is immediately ready to roll.  It is a lot of fun.  You then can make clips of what you have recorded and even stack them into a playlist, making a highlight package.  So that's what I do....and it's fun.  No shows today, just setting it all up.

It was nice last night leaving my balcony sliding door open and hearing the ocean crashing all night.  Only 12 more days in Daytona.  Anybody wanna come visit?

5 minutes to Wapner!

Wow!  What a game...who'da thought the Giants could win...well, actually, Zach did.  He predicted a Giants 3 point win...I may take him to Vegas...he's kinda like Rainman. 

I liked the game, but was very disappointed in the commercials.  Not any of them really did it for me this year.  Pretty lame.

Hannah is flying home tomorrow...we are gonna miss her tons! 

Sandy, Hannah, and the twins are home...they had a blast and came back pretty tan! 

I worked my last hockey game for many moons.  The Preds beat Phoenix 3-2 in Overtime!

Zach finished his Rocky Marathon today.  The twins joined him watching Rocky Balboa, which is the 6th movie in the saga.  Zach still likes Rocky IV the best, while Alex and Andy picked the latest one as their favorite.  I hope to watch Rocky Balboa soon and give my review.

Somebody told me today that there is a big football game tomorrow...not really that interested.  I think it might be interesting if New England goes totally undefeated...but, eh...who cares.  I am just looking forward to watching the commercials.  Our church is opening up our big cafe with its huge projection screen with two 47 inch screens, too.  I may just sit at home and watch it.  

3 days to Daytona...I am starting to get excited about setting up the new truck and getting going on the season.  

I watched "Dirty Dancing" this morning on tv...I kinda liked it....does that make me gay?  It's not like I watched "Cats" or "Dancing with the Stars", though...not that there's anything wrong with that.