Oops! I guess I did too good a job “selling” my April Fools story about the Cracker Barrel sponsorship. Truth be told, I’m putting the blame squarely on Phil Burgess’ shoulders. HE is the one who’s so good at PhotoShop that he made the logo on our car look real. Two very intelligent friends have already called and asked if they could place an order to go with me, so this is my official retraction. Heck, even Jenna’s grandparents, Bill and Inez, were going to invest their retirement in Cracker Barrel stock. It was a joke, you all, and I should have made it more obvious.

I got another session of surfing in at Redondo Beach, and this time friend Rich held his own with me. (I’m only saying this because apparently someone ratted me out to him about my last blog ...he still doesn’t have the internet).

I’m getting bored. I can’t just go surfing everyday or go out for a long motorcycle ride, because that wouldn’t be fair to Jenna. I can only read to Jason for about a half-hour at a time before I begin to bore myself, and it’s tough to try to get things done when the little man is being “high maintenance”, so I feel like the laziest man on earth.

We did take Jason to his third Gymboree class today, and he just squealed in delight with all of the equipment to play on. All of the adults thought he was being so cute, but I think he scared a couple of the toddlers.

I did use up some more Valvoline, as it was time for the oil and trans fluid service on the PT Cruiser. No problem. I’ve done the oil on it so many times it’s almost automatic, and even though this was the first time for me to service the transmission fluid, I was prepared. I’M A MECHANIC! I had already bought the pan gasket and filter, so I came home and did my thing. I cleaned everything up real nice and that’s when it dawned on me that the new pan gasket didn’t exactly match what I needed. Ditto for the filter. I distinctly remember telling the gentleman at the parts counter that I have a 2001 model, so he must have grabbed the wrong box. I’ll just head back and exchange this one for the correct unit. Wait a minute … can’t take the PT … my truck’s over at Cindy’s house with a fried clutch.........her dually is most definitely blocked in by the PT, and I ain’t walkin’. Kawasaki to the rescue! I hadn’t ridden my bike for quite some time, and I’m glad it fired up. Once at the parts store I was handed a second box with the correct filter. The only problem was that it was the SAME as box # 1. I even brought my owner’s manual, which clearly said “2001” on it. Turns out that, even though my car was purchased reasonably early in 2001 (negating the chance that it could be an early ’02 model), the trans takes 2002 parts. Go figure. At least all of that extra running around and wasted time cut down the boredom level. What’s next?

Stuff for Goodwill? I’m on it. That ate up another hour. Now what?

Bill Martin, a former student of mine and a good friend, is an extremely interesting man. It would take two paragraphs to list some of the things he has done, so I’ll just state that he served in the Marines as a sniper and you’ll get the drift. Bill’s father John was a Sgt. in the Army in Europe during WWII, and was portrayed in the miniseries Band of Brothers. If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching it, it’s on DVD. Anyway, Bill spent over a year with the group, and stays close with many of the cast and crew. Jenna and I were invited over to actor Michael Cudlitz and wife Rachel’s house for the annual barbeque. It was pretty cool seeing all of the different actors arrive. They look a bit different seven years later, and with clean faces, but you would recognize many of them from various film and TV projects. The producer currently is working on a similar project based on the South Pacific theatre, and the previews look unbelievable. Though both Jenna and I felt a bit awkward at first (we’re kind of “homebodies” and never like to intrude on anyone), I’m so glad that we went and I want to thank everyone. Heck, I even got to meet Jennifer Love Hewitt!

Hey, now the boredom’s going away … what next?

Last year I again participated in the charity poker tournament at the fall Las Vegas event, and I met a gentleman named Tom Denyko. I have no problem remembering Tom because he’s one of the few people I have ever beaten in poker. Tom and his girlfriend Sharon do lots of work for Relay For Life, a cancer fundraising program. They came down and filmed a segment in our backyard that will be shown during their town’s program. The NHRA schedule precludes my attendance, so this seemed a good solution. After our interview something hit me like a ton of bricks.........I am a first class procrastinator. Just take a look in the background of the photo of Tom and me during the interview and you’ll know what I mean: what happened to the fence, Jack?

Quick history: Two years ago … maybe more like five … okay, nine years ago I started on this fence project. Long story short, I apparently didn’t “stir thoroughly” like the label on the stain said, and I ended up with a multi-colored fence, a bad attitude, an unfinished project, and some left over lumber. Since my backyard looked like crap up until last month, it really wasn’t a big deal. However, after seeing what an eyesore it is now, my boredom quickly subsided and back to work I went. I went to Home Depot to buy more fence slats, but they all are very “green” and will need to dry for several weeks. Sounds like a great excuse to go watch History Channel, huh? Well, I still had enough in the garage to finish another 15 feet or so. Problem is they don’t even make the same stain any more, so I got the next closest product. I have to be very committed to act while my motivation is high, otherwise the procrastinator in me will take 9 more years and Jason might squeeze out through the gap in the corner of our yard and run away. Speaking of the little one, he put on his shades, kicked back on the patio in his chair, and got a big giggle out of watching his dad work. That’s my boy!

The front yard, fortunately, won’t take nine more years to complete. By the time we return from Vegas the sod should be in and we should have the best looking house on the block. I told Jenna I could do all of the sprinklers and sod, but for some reason she refused. Go figure. Maybe she didn’t appreciate the way I placed the garbage cans and dirt pile out in the street to better balance and add symmetry to the estate!

We leave tomorrow for the big race in LV, and my schedule overfloweth with “stuff”. At least I won’t be bored. Or procrastinate!

Stay tuned.