Happy Birthday, Kathy

In 1970 something, I had a girl in my kindergarten class named Kathy. She remembers me being the first kid to know the alphabet (thanks Sesame Street!).

We spent the next 9 years in school together but in 1979 we got to be very good friends (and truth be told- a force to be reckoned with). I was the first one she reached out to when John Lennon was shot, crazy Beatle fan that she was. We sang on the swings in Silver Beach, spent time at the beach off Calhoun, I got my first tan at her granny’s house by the lake, and Billy Joel singing “Still Rock and Roll” is just one of the songs that brings me back to that time.

Kathy saved me from a bully in High School. We were not in the same school, and this nightmare got completely out of control before I finally told her what was going on. Word was sent to the girl to keep her hands off of me and the nightmare stopped. High School became bearable. I will always be grateful.

We had all kinds of adventures, dated boys, had children and years raced by. 

We saw each other, though not every day.

I moved to Ohio, she moved to Upstate New York. Facebook helped bridge the distance.

35 years later (OUCH!), I can still pick up the phone, call her and laugh over stuff that is still hilarious decades later.  Or drop in unexpected because I am in a neighboring state and we are just like children again. Slumber party, anyone?

Time and distance are no match for friendships like this- she is my family.

Wishing you the best today and every day.

Happy Birthday!

HGTV Survivor

Flipping the Block is on HGTV on Sunday nights and I LOVE IT! Imagine moving into a condemned apartment and living there while you rehab it. On a strict timeline. And a not huge budget...

HGTV Survivor is right, John Spinks!

There are four teams:

The Blue Team are twins Brian and Craig Welborn from Austin, TX.
The Black team are a married couple, John and Whitney Spinks from Jacksonville, FL.
The Red team are sisters Anicka  Marshall and Shauna Williams from New Orleans, LA
The Silver team are a dating couple, Curtis Goldin and Amanda Marks from Coronado, CA. (This is some HARD CORE dating, my friends!)

Josh Temple, from House Crashers, serves as a guide and mentor to all the teams throughout the competition and winning teams are sometimes rewarded with the assistance of designer David Bromstad. Or money. Or both.

The Red Team features New Orleans sisters Anicka Jones Marshall and Shauna Jones Williams; the Silver Team is comprised of Curtis Goldin and Amanda Marks from Coronado, Calif., a couple who have dated for one year; the Black Team showcases now-married childhood sweethearts John and Whitney Spinks from Jacksonville, Fla.; and the Blue Team includes twin brothers Craig Welborn and Brian Welborn from Austin, Texas. - See more at: http://smp.businesswire.com/pages/renovation-enthusiasts-compete-fix-grungy-condos-and-auction-them-highest-bid-hgtvs-flipping-b#sthash.pPBZyyZk.dpuf

Nicole Curtis (Rehab Addict) and Scott McGillivray (Income Properties) take turns judging each week's project and picking the winner of each challenge.

The best of all things HGTV rolled into one. And you need to watch it- no spoilers here. My favorite team are the Spinks- they are high class in my book for sharing a prize with the twins! You totally rock!

The final episode airs Sunday night. The winners will be decided by which condo sells for the most at auction. Can't wait to see who wins.

And how happy am I that they are already recruiting for the next season? Very Happy! Keep it coming, HGTV!

David Bromstad

David Bromstad

UPDATE: And the winners are.... Drum roll please...

Curtis and Amanda

Rehab Addict Nicole Curtis

Rehab Addict Nicole Curtis

Rehab Addict Nicole Curtis

Rehab Addict Nicole Curtis

Bristol Night Race

So first I want to say it is totally obnoxious that our race was preempted in many areas by a preseason NFL game- aka a game that does not count.

Really? Preempting the night race at Bristol?

So lets see- highlights include JJ finishing in the top five in spite of 2, count them, 2 pit road speeding penalties.

Joey Logano won the race, Bad Brad was second and Kenseth was third.

And I have to say, after wrecking Hamlin, I am really glad Harvick had a poor finish. Karma.

Ebola 2014: Update 8-22-14

When I originally wrote about Ebola here, these were the numbers:

"As of 17 July 2014, the cumulative number of cases attributed to the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea stands at 1,048, including 632 deaths"

Since that time, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol were both treated with ZMapp, an experimental drug to treat Ebola, that had never before been tried in humans. The FDA allowed them to be treated under a "Compassionate Use" exception. They both recovered and were released from the hospital.

WHO declared the outbreak an international public health emergency on 8 August 2014. Better late than never.

Miguel Pajares (75y), a Spanish brother of The Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God, a Catholic order, was infected in Liberia. He also received ZMapp but he died on August 12. The first European to die in this outbreak.

Dr. Sheik Umar Khan (39y) died on July 29, after treating over 100 patients- he is hailed as a national hero in Sierra Leone and will be greatly missed.

Nigeria has seen 15 cases with 4 deaths.  Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh, aged 58 (She led the medical team at First Consultants Medical Centre in Lagos) and the nurse who treated Patrick Sawyer both contracted Ebola from him, and died as a result. Dr. Adadehoh, however, with her early identification of Sawyer's infection, likely prevented a larger spread of Ebola in Africa's biggest city. Another national hero.

In Liberia, Minister Lewis Brown said the government only received a small number of ZMapp doses and gave them to one Nigerian and two Liberian doctors who had caught Ebola whilst helping save the lives of other victims of the virus.The three doctors in Liberia with Ebola who started taking an experimental drug last Thursday are showing remarkable signs of improvement, a minister says)

The Canadian Health Minister, Rona Ambrose, announced that her government will donate between 800 and 1,000 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine, VSV-EBOV. 

The  New England Journal of Medicine published Emergence of Zaire Ebola Virus Disease In Guinea- Preliminary Report on August 11th. The report indicates that Patient Zero may have been a 2y patient in the village Meliandou in Guéckédou, Guinea (This is an area in southern Guinea that is close to the borders of both Sierra Leone and Liberia). The child saw an onset of symptoms (fever, black stool and vomiting) on December 2 and died December 6th. The child's mother and 3y sister became ill, mom with bleeding, the 3y with the same symptoms as Patient Zero. Mom died on December 13 and  the  3y sister died on December 29. When Patient Zero's grandmother died on January 1, the illness spread beyond this village as people attended the funeral and brought the virus home with them. "A health care worker from Guéckédou with suspected disease, seems to have triggered the   spread   of the virus to Macenta, Nzérékoré, and Kissidougou in February 2014," according to the report. Then in early March, the Ministry of Health in Guinea and Doctors Without Borders in Guinea were notified about the disease clusters.

An epidemic was born...

The Butcher Bill as of 8-20-2014, according to WHO stands at 2473 cases of Ebola, including 1350 deaths.

Read more about Ebola:

Peter Piot helped discover the virus in 1976

Bioethicist on ZMapp use  Who should be getting the experimental drug that is in short supply.

Michigan makes it 3 for Gordon

Jeff Gordon survives multiple cautions and restarts to become a three time winner this season.

Kyle Larson caught fire and tanked his chances of being in the chase.

MartinTruex supported his girlfriend though surgery for ovarian cancer.

Tony Stewart continues to grieve.

NASCAR in a nutshell...

Dear Tony... I am so sorry...

Dear Tony,

I am so sorry Kevin Ward Jr. died and his family have to figure out how to live without him. I am so sorry you are living in the nightmare of having been a part of the accident that killed him.

I wish Kevin was alive an well and still pissed off that he ended up in the wall Saturday night. That his mom and dad and girlfriend were telling him he would have other opportunities to win races.

I wish he wasn't gone. A universal wish, I think.

I also wish people would stop blaming him for dying. It makes me a little sick to my stomach when I see it and I didn't even know him. His poor folks... His parents have enough grief without reading and listening to all the crap folks are saying- 20/20 hindsight is great, but he is not the first racer to get out of his car...

I also wish people would stop calling you a murderer... Not only from the "innocent till proven guilty" stance you are entitled to, at very least, but from the "I do not think it was on purpose" place where I am standing.

I believe it was a horrible tragic accident.

And no, I am no racing expert and no I have never even thought about driving a car with wings on it. I don't drive on dirt, ever, and have no expertise with cars and engines beyond putting in gas and changing my oil.

It looked like an accident. Was it unavoidable? Well now we are back to the 20/20 hindsight thing again. The "could have" and "should have" unknowns are haunting...

I am so sorry people are saying harsh, hateful things. About you. About Kevin.

I am praying for all of you.

Always,
Geri

Robin Williams, missing you...

Elite Daily recorded this tribute to Robin Williams:

There’s nothing wrong with being alone

I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone, it’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people that make you feel alone.

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Learn to forgive yourself, not just others

Good people end up in Hell because they can’t forgive themselves.

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It’s OK to be crazy

You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.

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The modern man has real struggles

See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time.

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Pick your battles wisely

Never fight with an ugly person, they’ve got nothing to lose.

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The gun debate is not a debate

The Second Amendment says we have the right to bear arms, not to bear artillery.

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Even God supports weed legalization

Do you think God gets stoned? I think so… look at the platypus.

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The hook-up culture is very real

Ah, yes, divorce… from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man’s genitals through his wallet.

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Never stop reaching for greatness

No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.

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 Surround yourself with the right people

When you have a great audience, you can just keep going and finding new things.

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All marriage, gay or straight, is the same

You could talk about same-sex marriage, but people who have been married say ‘It’s the same sex all the time.

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You can’t appreciate the good until you’ve felt the bad

You will have bad times, but they will always wake you up to the stuff you weren’t paying attention to.

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Women deserve to rule the world

A nuclear bomb is a man’s way of saying, ‘I’m gonna fuck up the earth.’ A woman would never make a nuclear bomb. They would never make a weapon that kills. They’d make a weapon that makes you feel bad for a while… That’s why there should be a woman president, there would never be any wars. You know this, it’s the truth. There would never be a war; just every twenty-eight days: some severe negotiations.

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When you think about death and the after-life

Death is nature’s way of saying, ‘your table is ready.’

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Music, like food, is necessary for survival

You know what music is? God’s little reminder that there’s something else besides us in this universe; harmonic connection between all living beings, every where, even the stars.

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There’s no such thing as a perfect person

She is not perfect. You are not perfect. The question is whether or not you are perfect for each other.

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Selfies are pretty narcissistic

Nobody takes a picture of something they want to forget.

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Everyone has a purpose, every action has a meaning

I believe in destiny. There must be a reason that I am as I am. There must be.

A dark cloud in Watkin's Glen

Kevin Ward Jr., 20 years old, was killed in a racing accident last night at Canandaigua Motorsports Park. He wrecked out of the race, got out of his car and walked down the track to shake his fist at Tony Stewart. Tony clipped him and Kevin was thrown. He was dead on arrival at the hospital.

Tony issued this statement:

“There aren’t words to describe the sadness I feel about the accident that took the life of Kevin Ward Jr. It’s a very emotional time for all involved, and it is the reason I’ve decided not to participate in today’s race at Watkins Glen. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and everyone affected by this tragedy.”

The Ward family said only:

"We appreciate the prayers and support we are receiving from the community, but we need time to grieve and wrap our heads around all of this."

My heart goes out to all of them...

Regan Smith drove the 14 in today''s road course race, and it was a beautiful day.

Memorable moments include:

Cole Whitt fired into the tire wall on lap10 and commented that it worked out well for the last guy, who went on to win 6 championships- JJ did the same in a Nationwide race at the Glen.

Kyle Busch struggled, left the pits with his gas can, tore up a tire, and ended up 20 laps down.

Bad Brad developed brake issues and ended up off... And I so thought he would win today

After going so well, it was not Jeff Gordon's day- his car completely lost power after leading or being in second for two thirds of the race. He had to be pushed to pit road from the back end.

Lap 56 saw Ryan Newman deep in traffic get nudged by Biffle and go hard around into the safer barrier wall and into Michael McDowell sending him hard into the guardrail. Thank God both were able to walk away. Michael thanked the good Lord for his safety- thankful and feeling blessed. The race was red flagged for a good long while... Over an hour in fact... So long  that the drivers got out of the cars and hung out...

AJ leading and Ambrose in second after passing EVERYONE... with 22 to go.... And I was rooting for both of them.... They were trading spots back and forth... and then, just as AJ retook the lead...

Hamlin brought out the second red flag of the day...

AJ was able to hold off Ambrose after a green-white-checker... making him the 12th winner this season and giving him a spot in the chase.

Congratulations AJ!!

Pocono sweep

So Dale Jr. sweeps Pocono and is leading the points heading into Watkin's Glen. I still don't believe this is his year. Junior Nation may disagree but I just don't see it.

I think Bad Brad is winning this weekend. Sorry Marcos... Brad is way due the win. @nd Place is getting old....

And 6-time is getting his 7th in Homestead...And yeah, I know how crappy his finishes have been lately.

As for the Glen, I am hoping for the same action filled ending we got in 2012- still one of the best I have ever seen.