I really am going to ramble on this blog (like I don’t anyway), as I have lots of random, probably unrelated stuff that is bouncing around in my head. I hope my anachronistic approach isn’t too confusing, but here goes:

I love my wife! Normally you wouldn’t see that in my blog unless it’s Valentine’s Day, I’ve done something husbands shouldn’t do (like leave early in the morning to go surfing and not leave a note), it’s Jenna’s birthday, or she’s just too special to not exclaim it to the world. In this case it’s the two latter choices (okay, and a bit of the second as well). Jenna will hit the big 3-0 on Dec. 31 and I know that’s always a milestone birthday (did you know that “milestone” originally meant just that: a stone marker on the side of a road with the distances to specific places engraved in it? I’m a big fan of etymology, not to be confused with entomology, etiology, or philately). Now you’ll have to break out the dictionary!

Back to Jenna. We really do get along great, considering we’re married. I think we have a great balance between similarities and differences. Obviously we both are diehard fans of drag racing and love most everything about the sport. While going through mother-in-law Cindy’s garage (more on that later) I came upon this photo I thought was worth passing on. It’s Whit Bazemore’s winner’s circle photo from Denver back in 1997, and Jenna was in attendance as an honorary crewperson on Mike Dunn’s Mopar Top Fuel team. See, we both dig Funny Cars!

We also both are night owls, staying up until 2 a.m. most of the time and not rising until 10-ish (unless there’s surf). I have been this way as long as I can remember, and I worked midnight to seven while in the Air Force, furthering my membership into the Vampire’s Club (my apologies to any actual members of any blood-sucking organizations. Don’t hurt me.) Jenna actually had to get up at 2:45 a.m. during her tenure as a supervisor with Starbuck’s (my apologies to any late-sleeping baristas. Don’t hurt me.) The only way she’s getting up that early anymore is when little man cries, which, unfortunately, is too often the case. While still on similarities, we both are perpetually late for everything, though I suspect she caught that “virus” from me. Again, guilty as charged, and it’s been that way since I can remember. You could always tell when the end of a Super Comp session was, as you’d see me in the Blackbird doing my burnout. We jokingly refer to ourselves as the “Laytigan” family. (My apologies to any Irish folk with that surname. Don’t hurt me.) Finally, we aren’t very spontaneous. In fact, with the notable exception of drag racing, we really aren’t all that exciting. We’re not artistically inclined. We can’t sing (really, I can. I just don’t want to hurt Jenna’s feelings), we can’t dance (she thinks she can), and we don’t have any musical talents. So …we’ve got all that in common.

Fortunately we also have enough differences and offsetting strengths to keep a happy marriage (is that an oxymoron?). Jenna has OCD (I’m exaggerating a bit), and I embrace my laziness and procrastination skills. I’ve damn near perfected the art. The years that I put Christmas lights up I’d be lucky to have them removed by July, yet Jenna had the Christmas tree stripped and out the door by Dec. 27! She converted all possible bills over to online pay and takes care of them the day they arrive. I preferred to let a pile accumulate on the coffee table until I no longer could see any more table, then spend four hours catching up. She got our Christmas shopping handled easily by the second week of December. Before, I never even started shopping until Dec. 20^. Strangely enough, though, as anal as she is about vacuuming (even though we have hardwood throughout the house), she’ll leave that damn thing standing in the hall until I slam my toes into it and shove it back in the closet. She could tell you everything about me: shoe size, shirt size, where I get my haircut (more on that later), favorite foods, etc. I barely can spell her middle name (it’s “May”) and couldn’t tell her shoe size from ring size (she just told me it’s a “6”). Finally, she likes to give me LOTS of personal recommendations: what to wear, how (and when) to have my hair cut, tucked or untucked, etc. I’m not allowed to offer any recommendations on style, hair, clothing, or behavior. I do love my wife dearly, though.

Next item on the blog would be what’s been going on since the last update. Rodger’s car still sits in the garage, awaiting the return of his engine from MADCAP. I went through the whole car and checked it thoroughly. I must admit I am very anal about racecars. I re-routed a lot of the wiring, even though it’s a new car, as I hate messy bundles and rattles. I checked over all of the nuts and bolts, polished up the chassis and rear, and took that crap duct tape off of the wheel weights and replaced it with the chrome plumber’s tape. DO NOT use duct tape on your wheel weights: it deteriorates and leaves a horrible mess! Whew ... I feel better now.

We’ve been selling lots of stuff on the internet, and I think at this rate we may eventually be wealthy (or at least have more room in the house and garage). We are getting hard-core with this whole deal. We had the USPS drop off shipping boxes, UPS left us shipping pouches, we print our labels online now, and we even bought a shipping scale to calculate everything here! Since we’re only putting five things at a time on the ads, it will be quite a while to sell all that we have, but I think we will utilize Craig’s List and eBay in the near future. Earlier I alluded to cleaning up Cindy’s garage, and that lead to more photos of racecar parts and MORE stuff to put online. Cindy wanted to get her garage uncluttered, but I really think she has a small goldmine in parts and pieces. Now her garage IS uncluttered, and mine has more stuff in it!

We did Christmas. Three or four of them, in fact. Isn’t this supposed to be the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus (did you know that the only reason that Christmas is celebrated in late December is that it was the time that one of the largest Pagan festivals of the year was held, and early Christians thought it would help with many of the recent converts to just have it around the same time). Recent research and studies in astronomy (not to be confused with astrophysics, astrology, or anal retentivity) have suggested that the Messiah almost certainly wasn’t born on December 25^th, but that’s where the agreements end. Nov. 17, 3 BCE is the day. Or maybe it’s Nov. 25, 5 BCE. Then again, some have suggested 3/1/-7, 6/17/-2, and many others. I guess we’ll just stick with 12/25 for now! On the 24^th we went over to my mother’s best friend, Irene’s. We then headed over to Bill and Joan Lucy’s (Jenna’s maiden name) to spend time. On the 25^th we went to my grandmother’s to celebrate with her, my uncle John, and cousin Jason and his fiancée Stephanie. Rest assured, our Jason left each and every location with gifts, lots of them. I’d have preferred frankincense, myrrh, or especially gold, but most of these had batteries, wheels, or snapped together. By the way, where can one buy myrrh nowadays? I haven’t seen it in years. Also, did you know that they really don’t know how many wise men there really were? The assumption that there were three is based simply because that was the number of gifts given. While on the subject, they really weren’t “wise men” (not to be confused with “wise-guys”. My apologies to anyone involved with the Sicilian clan that uses that reference. Don’t hurt me.) I’m not saying they weren’t smart, but the point of fact is that they were Magi, which at the time seemed to refer to one educated in Zoroastrianism (not to be confused with zoology, zymology, or Zamboni). Our word “magic” originated from their job description. Now you know. (And don’t get offended if you pull rabbits out of hats, and don’t wave that wand at me!) Anyway, back to our “festival of too many presents”. On the 26^th Cindy came over and we had more stuff to open. I swear that we could take every toy Jason had before Christmas, give them to Goodwill, and he still more than he could use before he hits puberty. I do dig the Hot Wheels, though. Jason enjoyed standing in his Lego box nearly as much as playing with the stuff. If you notice I am wearing a “Throttle Merchants” T-shirt in one of the photos, there’s a cool story that goes with that:

Earl Gerard and Charlie Vaughn were two of my students several years ago at the Hawley School. Not exactly youngsters, these two had been hot-rodding for 50 years and showed me some awesome photos of an EARLY dragster of theirs running at Saugus dragstrip. I even did some shakedown runs on their newest car at Tucson while I was out there racing with the CIFCA Funny Cars. Long story short, Earl was one of the original members of the Throttle Merchants from back in 1948, and he was trying to get me into the club. Many icons of the sport, including Jeep and Ronnie Hampshire, Larry Ofria, George Bolthoff, and chassis guru Kent Fuller are still members of the club, and I am honored to be with such a legendary group. Unfortunately, Earl passed away just before I got in, and I will really miss him. So, I am a proud member of the Throttle Merchants. I just hope Bob Muravez and the rest of the Road Kings don’t want to fight over cruising spots. We’re too old, and I’m too pretty to be scrapping! (You guessed it, “don’t hurt me”)

Are all boys into trains like Jason is? Last blog I talked a bit about these Thomas the Tank Engine train sets, and they’re really expensive. Jenna found a clone set online for $35 that looks just about the same, so I set up a train yard for Jason. Cindy, who is really gifted with arts and crafts, covered a board with green felt (I cut the board almost to the right size and sanded it all by myself). Jason received this on the 27^th. I swear he’s going to think he’s Jewish, as his Christmas lasted about eight days! I wanted to hold out until March and give it to him for his birthday, but Jenna overruled me (apparently she has veto AND override power in this house). He really loves it. So much so that he partially disassembled it today and there are trains and tracks all over the kitchen. Sure glad Jenna listened to me!

Jason got his first haircut on Saturday. The place that did it is down on Ventura Blvd. (the one that Tom Petty sings about) and caters to kids. Before I confuse you, Petty doesn’t get his hair cut there; at least I don’t think he does. He even got to sit in a car while the lady cut his hair (Jason, not Tom Petty). His curls are soooo cute, but he looks like Albert Einstein when he gets up in the morning (not the big nose and moustache part, the crazy hair thing). He was great during the beginning of the trimming, but that didn’t last long. Soon he was crying and we had to hold him until the deed was done. He looks so handsome now, just like a small boy. I just am so in love with that boy! It breaks Jenna and my hearts when he cries “Mommy/Daddy” after we have put him to bed. He just won’t sleep through the night yet, and poor Jenna is in there at least twice and usually spends the last few hours sleeping with him.

I am currently on a sabbatical from any sort of hair removal. Sure, if you offered to relieve me of this stuff on my back that started appearing over the past seven or eight years, I wouldn’t object. I’m referring to my facial and head hair. It’s the off-season, I have no appearances to make for sponsors, I’m already married, and what-the-hell, let’s just skip shaving and haircuts. Jenna isn’t happy, but I’m simply exercising my right as a man. I’ll let you know how that works out.

I’ve tried to hit the waves with Rich whenever possible. If I can get out 3-6 times a month, that’s cool. I really want to get as much in as I can before the season starts, but I can’t stand the cold water. We just went with Brian Bayer last Saturday (but that had nothing to do with me being late for Jason’s first haircut, honey) and I think the temperature was about 54 degrees. I hope to get a call from Rich in the morning saying that conditions are good so I can go sit in traffic for 75 minutes on the way to Redondo Beach.

I have also hit the weight room a couple of times. Although I am sorely (pun intended) out of shape, it feels unbelievably good to be able to work out. I have to be cautious not to overdo it, as I just am not the same after the chemo (and 42 birthdays). Still, I hope to be able to be in better shape when we roll into Pomona.

I typically scroll through my last blog before writing another just to refresh my memory, and I noticed a couple of things. First, it appears that Bob Gilbertson is selling lots of stuff, so those of you needing fuel parts need look no further. Bob also has some great nostalgia photos on his blog, which appears to be written by none other than “Berserko Bob”-- a real legend, especially to the East Coast fans. Secondly, it was sobering to note the amount of bloggers that appear to be without rides for next year, or at least without funding. Grubby, Hillary, TJ, Melanie, Herbert, Fuller, Angelle, and Alan Bradshaw face the very real possibility of sitting out part or all of 2009, and I truly feel for them.

On a terribly sad note, we lost Hollie Faulkner recently. Hollie helped run the Oakley merchandise trailer at the races with her husband Donnie, and they had endured personal tragedy in 2007 with the loss of their baby Eric, who was stillborn. She gave birth to a daughter, Emma, who is just a beautiful little girl. Since I don’t know all of the details of Hollie’s passing, I won’t speculate. I just would like to send our love and condolences to Donnie, Hollie’s family, and everyone who loved her like we did.

Give your loved ones a hug, and I hope you all have a safe and wonderful new year!

Jack

Here’s my “sale of the week” item: BRAND NEW, never opened Herculiner brush-on bedliner kit, black, with extra can for long bed trucks. Look like a hero with this awesome coating, in its limited-edition “Big Daddy” Don Garlits Swamp Rat (Copyright, all rights reserved) black. Be the envy of your friends, all for the smokin’-low price of $75. I’m practically giving it away, and I will GIVE IT TO YOU if you take the washer/dryer combo listed in the last blog! Act now.