Ready or not, the holiday season has officially begun. With the conclusion of Thanksgiving it is now time to fill ourselves with holiday cheer and get ready for decorating, shopping, family and fun. OK, I feel the spirit hitting me already! LOL

Well, as Toni explained in the last blog (you know, the one she wrote while FLYING home from Pomona while I was DRIVING home from Pomona – yeah, that one) I had several stops to make on my way back to the east coast. Luckily, all went well and 3,011 miles and five days later I was backing my tractor-trailer into the shop. Whew, was that a long ride. I have to admit I was glad to finally be home and was looking forward to a relaxing Thanksgiving holiday.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving -- I know I did! We, once again, had Thanksgiving dinner at our house and there was plenty of food, fun, and especially family to share our day. Even little Ryan had a great time at his second Thanksgiving, especially when it came to dessert. You will see what I mean when you look at my pictures.

Our 2009 racing season has come to a close but we have already started moving forward in our preparations for next season. Richard Maskin is working on some new engines, Jerry Haas and I have been talking about some chassis modifications to our GXP Sunglass Machine, Jon has been very busy in the shop engineering new ideas to increase performance, Ryan is keeping his excellent driving skills honed, and I am the one keeping all of the balls in the air. We are tentatively planning on a mid-December test session in Florida. I love being able to spend a week in Bradenton, Fla., just trying out new ideas and new parts on our GXP without the pressures of qualifying at a national event so I am keeping my fingers crossed that everything will work out.

Speaking of working things out, a few weeks ago I had to work out some problems with my very outdated cell phone so I worked out a deal with AT&T and purchased me a new iPhone. Since I have never had any type of Smartphone before, it took me a while to get used to all of the cool features that the iPhone offers. Jamie and Jon both have iPhones and they gave me a quick lesson on the best apps to download to my phone. OK, now I have to admit that I am totally hooked on this phone! One of the coolest things that I use every day is the new NHRA app. I can catch up on the current news, read all of my favorite blogs, check out the driver points, keep track of the race schedules and most importantly watch the race results as they are happening. All of this with just a touch of my finger! If you are an NHRA race fan with a Smartphone, believe me, you can’t live without this!

Since I will be home for a few weeks I plan on doing a better job keeping everyone updated on my blog so I am going to close this posting and get back to my phone calls. Thanks for checking in with me and remember that you can check out my newest blog using your new NHRA app. Add it soon; I know you’ll love it!