I just wanted to say Thank You to all the people that wished me a “Happy Birthday” last week.
Especially to those that did it on their own, without needing reminders of which day it was.
Also thanks to the few co-workers that brought me in something, to make the day feel like it was a little different than every other work day.
While the list of people was obviously much shorter than in previous years, it was still a nice gesture to hear it from the few of you who did.
I’ll start this off with the usual disclaimer – I am, and have been for a long time, a Tony Stewart fan, and none of that changed this weekend.
Another thing that didn’t, and won’t, change from this past weekend, is the Tony Stewart legacy:
What happened on Saturday night is a great tragedy. A young racer lost his life, and nothing will bring that back. Nothing. So let’s take a look at this for a second from an overall perspective.
When one plays any sport they take with it the risks that come with the sport (Baseball: Getting hit by a ball…Hockey: Getting sliced by a skate…Racing: Crashing (See: Dale Earnhardt)…et.al.). Yes, over time some of those risk become more severe, and people sue because of it (See: Long-Term Effects on NFLers).
In racing, at all levels (from Midget to Sprint to Stock), stepping into the car you take with you the risk of a car accident. Thankfully over time they have made the cars so safe, as was witnessed in yesterdays race at Watkins Glen <I’m talking about cars getting cut in half (see video here)>, that these drivers can walk away from intense crashes with no harm done to them.
But when you get in an accident, especially in the NASCAR levels, you get out of your car, and usually by that time the safety crews have arrived, if not, you wait for them to get there. The only time you walk away from your car before then is if the car is on fire.
But Saturday night, Kevin Ward Jr. got spun into the corner, and came out of his car, looking for revenge and a chance to scream obscenities at the driver who tied him up, Tony Stewart.
Now Tony is known for his hot temperament, and has gotten into fights on the track before…but he always does it face-to-face (or as close to it as he can get).
But after racing vehicles of all shapes and sizes for almost 40 years, why would he start now to use his vehicle as a weapon?
When I originally saw the rumors on Saturday night, it sounded to me like he hadn’t wanted to deal with a 20-year old coming up and challenging him, so instead he gunned it, fishtailing (as often happens in Sprint Cars) and clipping Ward.
And then I saw the video Sunday morning (link below), in which I saw a driver get out of his car, and walk into moving vehicles, trying to find the one he was looking for. You can even see cars swerve around Ward, such as #45, before Tony gets there, and catches him in his REAR tire (which if he had purposely been aiming for him, you’d need to assume he’d have hit him square on), and he gets dragged ~25 ft. before getting spit out by the tire, motionless.
VIDEO IS HERE – It is “Graphic” and shows the full story that we have seen so far
While this is a very tragic and horrific situation, what is one supposed to think when he sees someone walk out into moving traffic and get hit by a vehicle?
If you saw this while driving down I80 to work, would you blame the driver or the wanderer?
The police have so far said that “right now (it’s) being investigated as an on-track crash and (they) don’t want to infer that there are criminal charges pending.” Things may change as they review more evidence.
I don’t think this is a case of “Vehicular Manslaughter” any more then I think it is a “Death By Suicide”.
Thanks to all the companies and corporations that do their little gestures to make my birthday extra special! Here are some of them:
Chase Bank Online
Starbucks
StubHub
Councilman David Greenfield
Chase ATM
Do you get a lot of Spam emails?
I used to when I had Aol or Yahoo, but with Gmail it has mostly disappeared.
Recently I started receiving a lot more Spam emails, and I looked into ways to get rid of/prevent them.
For starters, Gmails filters are really good, and they all go straight to the “Spam” folder, but that little number next to the folder name still leads me to open it and see what is in there.
Unfortunately, they do not have “Unsubscribe” options in them, and even if they did, you wouldn’t want to click it, as that would let them know your account is active, leading them to send you even more Spam.
So I’ve come to discover that their is no way to absolutely stop getting them…but I have discovered a new thing to do with Spam, that will hopefully entice them to stop sending it to me…
I forward all my Spam emails to the government.
Yup, you read that correctly. Forward your Spam to spam@uce.gov and if they figure out/catch whoever is sending the emails, they charge them $500 per email.
It’s just a shame that I wouldn’t get kickback…
Here it is, the first promotional giveaway by #AvisTravels and @iAmAviG (ending August 19th).
New York Yankees vs. Houston Astros – Thursday, August 21st, 1PM- Two (2) Tickets
The entry rules are quite simple, simply promote this blog and follow submission info. <DETAILS BELOW ON WHAT TO POST &&& HOW TO SUBMIT>
Each post is worth a different amount of entries, and each one can be done daily (Max. of 1 submission, per site, per day…UNLIMITED TOTAL ENTRIES)
HOW TO POST
# of Entries – Site of Entry – What you need to post
HOW TO SUBMIT
GOOD LUCK!
<Giveaway becomes active after five (5) different entrants submit entries within first week>
GIVEAWAY HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO LACK OF ENTRANTS
Thanks to those that did enter! We will def. try this again.
Figured I’d give this a try, just in case someone missed a big story (and I still have a little “Avi News Network” (ANN) in my system)…So here are some of the top stories from the month of July <and in most cases a helpful MORE link with more info from a variety of sources/locations>:
July 1 – FTC accuses T-Mobile of knowingly billing customers for hundreds of millions of dollars in bogus charges MORE (WSJ)
July 1 – The United States Men’s National Team is knocked out of the World Cup MORE (Fox Sports)
July 1 – Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, announces he has ‘curable cancer’ MORE (Bloomberg)
July 3 – DOW closes above 17K for the first time MORE (USA Today)
July 3 – Hurricane Arthur hits land MORE (Travel Weekly)
July 8 – Cleveland named host of the 2016 Republican National Convention MORE (ABC News)
July 9 – Ray Nagin, former New Orleans mayor, sentenced to 10-years in prison (for money laundering/bribery) MORE (NBC News)
July 11 – 30 Ukranian troops killed MORE (Yahoo)
July 11 – Lebron chooses Cleveland MORE (Sports Illustrated)
July 12 – Tommy Ramone dies, age 65 MORE (Chicago Tribune)
July 13 – Germany wins the World Cup MORE (ESPN)
July 15 – Israel accepts Gaza ceasefire, which is rejected by Hamas MORE (Fox News)
July 15 – Moscow train derailment kills 20+ MORE (CNN)
July 17 – Microsoft announces the elimination of 18,000 jobs MORE (Fox Business)
July 17 – Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 is shot down over Ukraine, killing 298 on board MORE (CBS DC)
July 17 – Israel launches ground offensive in Gaza MORE (Jerusalem Post)
July 20 – James Garner dies, age 86 MORE (LA Times)
July 23 – TransAsia flight crashes killing 40+ MORE (BBC News Asia)
July 23 – 2 Ukrainian Military Jets shot down MORE (NY Times)
July 24 – Air Algerie flight crashes killing 116 MORE (Reuters)
July 26 – US evacuates its embassy in Libya MORE (RT)
July 31 – Dow closes down 317 points, evening out for the year MORE (MarketWatch)
July 31 – Hamas and Israel agree to 72-hour Humanitarian ceasefire MORE (Washington Post)
My Hebrew Birthdate is this Sunday, and as such, it is customary for one to give out extra charity on this day.
For that reason, I am asking all those around me to name charities that they feel an attachment to, and tell me what that charity means to them.
All legitimate charities that are named before Sunday, with a reason for your personal attachment, will be donated to.
I park my car every day in a lot, to which I pay a monthly fee.
Upon receiving my car every afternoon, I tip the guys, as it is a service given.
But last week I didn’t tip one day, as the service was below sub-par that day, and I heard them talking amongst themselves saying “Did he give you anything” and “He must’ve given to _____ <another guy there>”.
Let’s just clarify what happened to justify my non-tipping:
A ten-minute wait on a day when they have an overabundance of workers, and no customers…
Tips are assumed to always be given, but quite frankly, they need to be earned.
Over the weekend I watched the movie Very Good Girls.
The movie is about two girls, on their last summer before heading out to college, trying to find their first “hook-up” so they won’t be the only virgins at college. The problem is…they both fall for the same guy, and when one starts seeing him without the other one knowing, you just know it’s a recipe for a disaster.
With an all-star cast, I expected it to shine, as it starred Elizabeth Olsen, Dakota Fanning, Ellen Barkin, Clark Gregg, Demi Moore, Richard Dreyfuss, Peter Sarsgaard and Boyd Holbrook.
While Elizabeth Olsen shone at times (and being my first glimpse at the “younger Olsen”, I was very impressed) Dakota Fanning just brought this movie down. Seemingly lifeless throughout, even when the character should’ve been showing something, the light in her eyes was dead until almost at the very end.
Personally, I’d say don’t waste a dime on this movie, and wait til it shows up on TV.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10.
People aren’t perfect. They make mistakes. Sometimes it’s harder to forgive yourself, then to get someone else to do it. But, people will surprise you. -Edward (Clark Gregg)
This post is simply shameless self-promotion.
My birthday is exactly two weeks away, and whilst I generally buy myself all the gifts I need, I figured it couldn’t hurt to put a few things out there, just in case someone wants to be especially nice this year 🙂
Some of the items on my list are video games (NHL 15, Crackdown, CoD), books (Under The Dome, A Million Ways To Die In The West) and even toys (Lego Architects).
Thanks in advance!
Aviously 