Hi, blog readers! I am sorry that it’s been so long since my last update. As you can imagine, I have been overloaded the past month, and honestly, the most important thing I have been doing is spending time with Jessie. But even so I am working hard to try and keep my head up at work and with the Snap-on racing team. We have all been working really hard to get our new foundation BRAKES together, and the Web site, www.putonthebrakes.com, is really starting to come together. It’s almost completely ready to go. Please check it out and make sure you get registered, and also log onto MySpace and sign up as a friend of BRAKES.

We have done a bunch of fun stuff over the past month so here goes. Everything from go-kart racing to wall climbing — and Jessie climbed right up! I think I might be a little too big for wall climbing! We also went roller skating, and she did a great job at that. I think that I looked like Herman Munster on skates. My niece and Jessie’s cousin Catherine flew in for a visit, and we all got to spend some time together. We went out to the Speedpark over in Concord and played some video games. We had a really good time, and Jessie enjoyed getting to hang out with her cousin. I promised that I would do everything I could to be a good dad and try to do the best that I can being a big brother at the same time, and that’s a promise I plan on keeping.

I still have to work, of course, and a couple weekends ago my buddies from here in North Carolina invited me to go with them to Las Vegas for the NASCAR race. Hans, Bob, Greg, and all of them are involved in NASCAR racing somehow, so they would be working but promised we would have a little bit of fun, too. I agreed to go out there with them, and we really did have a great time hanging out. When we weren’t working, that is!

We went out to a go-kart track, where I met Jason Kyle. He is a center for the Carolina Panthers, and, until we talked in Vegas, I had no idea that he lives right down the street from me! He is starting a new company called proplayerplayerconnect.com, and they hook up pro athletes with company for endorsements and product deals. It’s pretty cool, and I’m working on getting him out to a race. You never know who you are going to run into in Vegas!

Like I said, we really did do some work while we were there. We went out to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and I ran into some old Snap-on friends, including my buddy Paul Johnson, Kai Kazarian, and Jeff Howe; that was fun seeing these guys. The weekend went by really quick. We had fun and got some work done, but I was ready to get back home and do more fun stuff with Jessie.

On Sunday of this week, Jessie and I went over to my friend Bob’s house. He has a slot car track, and we had a blast playing with those little cars. Jessie did really good and had it figured out in no time.

I have also talked to several groups of kids around North Carolina in the past few weeks, and one of them took place at Michael Waltrip’s shop. I want to get the story out about Jon and James in hopes that we can make a difference in the way young people drive. They need to realize that driving is dangerous and that bad things happen. I never realized it would hit so close to home with me, but I know for sure that it does now, and I am hoping that our new foundation BRAKES will be able to make a difference. We want kids to sign up and learn more about driving safe and want them to earn some of the rewards that BRAKES will be giving away, so make sure you check out the Web site and MySpace on a regular basis.

I am doing that best that I can. Take care and please keep Jessie in your prayers.

Doug