The best thing to do when you are angry with someone is to take a step backward and take a really good look at the whole situation.
Trying to take that step is definitely not always an easy thing to accomplish. People get very caught up in the moment though when they don't take the time to evaluate the situation. The reactions and words passed are done from anger and not always what you wanted to say or do.
When people get really angry I think the first defense is to hurt the other person as much as you are hurting. The fights get so crazy and out of hand and by the end of them you are fighting over something that didn't even have to do with the problem that started it. Many times you don't even know what started the fight in the first place.
What you do know though is what you said or what the other person said that hurt. Many times people regret things that they say or do and think that an apology will clear it all up. The fact is words hurt, some times they hurt more than being punched, words are hard to forget.
Look at it this way, when somebody says something really nice to you, do you remember it? It is the same thing with someone saying something really bad, hard to forget.
How many times have you watched two people that you care about fight and cringe when they say something you know they didn't mean or shouldn't have said? If we learned to take that step back and take a good look before reacting, not every situation but some, we would have definitely have a different conclusion. Try taking that step back, encourage others to try taking it too.
If people said to each other, just give me fifteen minutes to think this out and then we'll talk, do you think it would work out better for everyone? I do. Make taking a step backward a new fighting rule in your home and let me know how it works for you.
Ways to evolve right here
Source: mentallynewme.blogspot.com
As NASCAR money gap widens, start and parkers soldier on
Imagine this dream scenario: for the first time ever, you're sitting right behind home plate at a major league baseball game. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and you've paid top dollar in this tough economy to see your favorite ballplayers up close. But as teams change sides in the bottom of the first, you notice a problem. As the visiting team scratches its heads, you peer into the opposing dugout as no one comes out to bat...because they're all packing up and heading for the locker room.
Five minutes later, the game is called, and the home team is on its way home, counting your hard-earned money.
It sounds impossible, but this is a very real, very scary phenomenon sweeping NASCAR's top three series: the "start and park." While the series' biggest owners have continued to get richer, their smaller counterparts have had trouble dislodging them from the top. So they came up with a new, more profitable way to survive: pack it in early.
These teams are easy to find each Sunday, as a quick look down the final running order shows them pulling into the garage within the first 50 or 60 laps. At the Cup Series race at Pocono, there were five, all of which retired by Lap 56 due to "vibration, " "fuel pump" or "ignition" issues -- problems that were really just words on paper per NASCAR policy to list a reason a car fails to finish. The Truck Series division was even worse, with a short field at Texas in which nine of the 33 cars packed it in before the conclusion of Lap 26. The stats sheet looks like a nightmare's worth of mechanical failures; but in reality, those teams had equipment they're deliberately choosing to pack up in pristine condition -- "parking" it to earn some purse money.
And when it comes to starting and parking, there's plenty of cash on the line. Those five cars -- a cool 12% of the starting field at Pocono -- picked up nearly $325, 000 combined. Prism Motorsports, which owns the No. 66 car driven by Dave Blaney, has earned over $1.1 million this season despite finishing just two of 12 races. Completing just 866 of 3, 975 laps (21%), they consistently pull in at or around the first pit stop, occasionally changing tires once to simply give the impression they're "trying" in front of NASCAR officials.
But starting and parking isn't a full-fledged effort at competing; it's an opportunity to pocket some serious cash to not just survive, but also profit. According to a source requesting anonymity, one of the lower-tier teams currently asks for about $100, 000 from a financial backer as the bare minimum the team would need to complete a full race competitively. However, some of that cost -- about 30 to 40 percent -- comes from leasing an engine from a multi-car program like Hendrick Motorsports or Roush Fenway Racing in order to post speeds competitive enough to make the field.
If teams want to start and park, it can take the engine cost out of the equation by making the race and only running just a few laps, reducing wear and tear and preserving the engine they have over the course of five, 10, even 15 races. In the meantime, the team buys just a handful of tires for the weekend, saving thousands of dollars from Goodyear, and employs just regular crewmen instead of those professionally trained for the 16-second pit stops you see each weekend.
When you cut corners like that, the $100, 000 becomes maybe half that amount, allowing teams like Prism to run a few laps and make a tidy profit with their $64, 875 won at Pocono. It's turning racing into a business, allowing them to keep castaway crewmen, drivers and others employed while teams like Hendrick continue to hold all the money and the cards. Case in point: Phoenix Racing won a miracle race at Talladega borrowing a Hendrick driver (Brad Keselowski) and using a former Hendrick chassis. Two weeks later, Phoenix's beat-up old Dodge Charger -- without Hendrick support -- was pulling it in early at Darlington to bank some cash.
Part of the problem here surrounds NASCAR's widening money gap. These teams are so far behind the curve of the bigger programs, the only way they can challenge is to gain the millions in sponsorship and engineering advances those teams have accrued yet refuse to share with others. That leaves a bid for the Chase all but impossible, meaning the best these teams can race for is a chance to qualify for a locked in starting spot with NASCAR's Top-35 rule.
But the monetary incentive to run 25th or even 30th just isn't there. Just check out the purse money from Sunday's race: Joe Nemechek, who parked his car and finished 41st, earned $64, 725 from the track. Fellow underdog driver Dexter Bean, who ran the whole distance, came home 36th and won $65, 450. That's just a $725 difference -- not enough for even half a tire bill to run the full weekend. The competitor in you wants them to run all day; but if you're not going to make extra money for going the extra mile, the financial bottom line tells owners, "What's the point?"
And as a struggling economy only causes the numbers of start and parkers to increase, there are consequences. These programs designed to run only a few laps are knocking out full-time drivers who had every intention of competing, robbing the fans of an extra competitor on race day when the "start and park" team pulls it in after just a few minutes of competition. Of course, the goal of these programs is to one day pull in sponsorship themselves, but that's difficult -- if not impossible -- to do without some significant on-track exposure. So, many of these teams find themselves in a Catch-22, doing just enough to stay above water while falling short of the results they need to attract companies interested in backing them.
Fixing the problem would seem to be twofold: increasing incentive for owners to run the full distance while curbing the costs needed to compete. But doing that is far easier said than done, with multi-car teams feasting upon the money from clients to rent engines in these tough economic times. And with the Chase as NASCAR's postseason marketing tool, the top 12 contenders make the rest of the 43-car field all but meaningless come September.
At the moment, one thing's for certain: the sport's not doing anything to stop this problem. They're in a bit of a bind themselves, with clamping down on start-and-park programs giving them less than a 43-car field each week -- raising the specter of negativity from casual observers in the face of declining ratings and fan attendance. So, for now everyone's playing that dangerous game of turning their heads and pretending the problem just isn't a problem.
"NASCAR doesn't perceive this to be an issue, " the organization said back in April. "It doesn't impact the quality of competition whatsoever. NASCAR has always been about teams having the opportunity to participate in our sport; some teams might not have the full complement of resources to compete at the same level as others, but it's all about having an opportunity."
The issue is, to keep that opportunity fans need to come and watch the races. And if half the starting field pulls out after just a few laps of competition ... would you still watch?
Let's hope we never have to find out; but as the money dries up for NASCAR's middle class, no changes mean this practice is only going to increase. source>>>
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These Are All Questions I Believe We Ask Ourselves Often.
Do you believe that your life is planned out for you before you are born? Do you believe when you die that it is because that was the plan all along? Do you believe that when an accident has occurred that alters your life that you were meant to be a role model for others?
These are all questions I believe we ask ourselves often. I, myself, have asked these questions many times in my life so I imagine that everyone does the same.
I don't know about the thought that your life is planned out for you before you are born but I think it is possible. Dying I have a hard time believing is planned only because I don't understand children dying so young or people being in so much pain. It is hard for me to understand the reasoning in that. Being a role model for others, though, because of an unfortunate accident I do believe.
I have had the unfortunate chance to witness this kind of experience first hand. My oldest sister was married to this absolutely fantastic man who use to play college football, he was very active, good job, and about to become a father for the first time. I was very close to my brother in law, he was always very good to me.
When I was around fifteen years old, I came home from school to find out that my brother in law had been in a bad car accident. He was driving for work and a car had crossed over the medium strip in the road and hit his car hard. He was in serious condition and there were doubts that he would be ok.
My brother in law thankfully did survive the accident but his face was severely damaged and he needed to have reconstructive surgery. After his surgery was completed my sister was told that he was blind and there was no surgery that could change that.
Imagine how hard it would be to learn that you would never see again. It was hard, hard seems to not define the effort it took to move ahead. My brother in law attended a school for the blind to learn how to read braille and function through the day as normally as he could. He eventually had a guide dog that helped him get around a lot better.
He didn't give up but I know it was not easy for him. He learned to golf, bowl, he even ran his own company. He had the chance to see his son at a very young age before his accident, and he had a daughter later on after his accident. How hard it must be to not be able to watch your children grow.
My brother in law is like a hero to me, he is someone I look up to and I believe many people that know him do too. When I got married he walked me down the aisle, he meant a lot to me.
Today my sister and brother in law have divorced and he has remarried and has two more children. Although I don't get to see him often, He is very special to me and he will always be someone I look up to.
My brother in law is an example of a person that is a role model for others. He is proof that life goes on and you can play an important in it. I'm sure that others that know him and know of him have learned through his experience and that he has helped many others in their times of need.
Discover Yourself, Creating New Techniques, To Become A Healthier Mentally New Me. Also Visit Me Here For More.
Source: mentallynewme.blogspot.com
NASCAR says it's open to more foreign automakers
NASCAR says it would be open to other foreign manufacturers joining Toyota in stock car racing.
Chief executive Brian France adds that nothing is imminent but talks with several companies have been ongoing for a long time.
France spoke at Michigan International Speedway for Sunday's Sprint Cup race. He was asked about the likelihood of companies like Japanese manufacturer Honda and some German automakers eventually competing in NASCAR.
He says foreign companies are interested in developing the North American market and that NASCAR is the "pre-eminent place to consider" if a company wants to do that. source>>>
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NASCAR Family Tree: The Lineage Of The No. 21
Peruse the entries for Sunday's LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway and you'll find a welcomed listing: Bill Elliott, in the No. 21 Ford, fielded by Wood Brothers Racing. That one line has it all: Legendary driver, legendary team - and a legendary number.
The number has visited Victory Lane 90 times in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition, a total shared among 17 drivers. No other car number has had so many different winners.
Arguably, no other car number has had so many great drivers behind the wheel. David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Buddy Baker, A.J. Foyt, Tim Flock, Marvin Panch and Curtis Turner all drove the 21. Pearson had the most victories in the ride, 43, that total coming in 157 starts, another high for the 21.
Elliott is the latest of the greatest to take over the No. 21, albeit in a limited role. Both Elliott and the Wood Brothers compete part-time these days.
Michigan is a good fit for the team's schedule, considering the car's history at the 2-mile track. In 1969, Yarborough was in the No. 21 and won the track's first NASCAR Sprint Cup event. Pearson had eight MIS wins in the 21 during the 1970s. Dale Jarrett drove the 21 in '91 at MIS, capturing his very first NASCAR Sprint Cup win. And then there's Elliott, with seven MIS wins in his storied career, although none came driving the 21.
The Wood Brothers first fielded the No. 21 in 1953, with team founder Glen Wood in the seat.
"Somehow along the way we ended up with 21, " said Glen's son Len, now a part-owner of the team. "The story goes that there was somebody from South Carolina who had 21 and it was really running fast, so we numbered our car 21 in hopes it would be fast as well.
"We always like to do well in front of Ford [people] at Michigan. When you go to Michigan you think of Detroit, and when you think of Detroit you think of the manufacturers and for us it's Ford. I won't say we try harder there, but we certainly give it as good a shot as we can."
source>>>
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Together For A Stressless Easter
Here it is April 6th and here in Pittsburgh we are waiting on snow. Do you believe this! With the holiday weekend coming up I am sure you all have plans as I do and would love some wonderful weather. Most of the clothes advertised for Easter are summery and if the weather remains this way we'll all be in sweaters!
Holidays are sometimes very stressful for people, especially the people that are the ones who always do everything. Easter is the one holiday I have changed in my life. You see, I too, am that person that always hosts the holiday meals and functions.
A few years ago, I decided that I deserved a change and now we meet at a restaurant for a big breakfast all together and then everyone has the rest of their day to do as they please. I love it! No spending too much money, no cooking, no cleaning up, it is wonderful. You get to be waited on and share quality time with the family and still have the day to do anything you please. We even meet our friends at the place we eat, very enjoyable.
I also found that I was not the only one that this arrangement helped. My oldest daughter is married and it gives her time to spend with both families and not be in such a rush. I understand and remember too well how hard it was when my husband and I had to eat two meals on holidays to please everyone. My sister in law has two children and it makes it easier on them to go between families and functions. All in all, everyone is very content.
Money being like it is right now for a lot of people I think you may find this to be a cheaper way to get together and enjoy you day. By the time that you buy your food, drink, and supplies you need the cost can be very high and you still have the shopping, preparing, and cleaning up to do.
No matter what your preference is for your holiday, enjoy and Happy Easter!
Source: mentallynewme.blogspot.com
Danica Patrick will be in NASCAR next season?
Danica Patrick will be in NASCAR next season.
If NASCAR executives can pull it off.
George Pyne -- the former NASCAR Chief Operating Officer, and thus one of the top officials in stock car racing, and now head of IMG sports and entertainment, the high-buck talent marketing agency - and key NASCAR executives are together working the entire Sprint Cup garage trying to put together a package for Patrick to run NASCAR next season.
Finding sponsorship is quite likely not the big issue, as hot a property as Danica Patrick is.
And Geoff Smith, who runs Roush Fenway Racing for Ford's Jack Roush, says he's pretty confident she could do the job in one of these awkward stockers...eventually.
But what would the game plan look like for her?
And how to package everything for her, that's the big stumbling block: How long a contract, two years, three years? How much money?
And then Patrick would have to prove she's serious about a NASCAR venture and willing to commit to the program...which would naturally include a heck of a lot of laps.
Would Patrick be willing to follow Juan Pablo Montoya's footsteps and run ARCA for a while? Montoya is so good a driver that he made the leap from ARCA to Cup very swiftly...but he did spend considerable time in the minors. Would Patrick accept that?
Would Patrick be willing to follow Tony Stewart's example and run a couple of years of Nationwide?
Would Patrick be willing to follow Ryan Newman's ABC game plan, a mixture of ARCA, Busch (Nationwide) and Cup?
Would Patrick be willing to endure the agony that IRL-transplant Sam Hornish Jr. has endured?
Smith and Roush have expressed an interest in signing Patrick at times the past two years.
But Smith indicates he senses that Patrick may be working this garage and these team owners perhaps a little too avariciously, and perhaps with not enough consideration for just how hard this part of the sports business really is.
"IMG is representing her and taking her around to all the teams in the NASCAR garage....in an opportunity search for her, " Smith says.
"But it's a little unclear to everybody whether this is a trial balloon, for evaluation....
"However she's a very exciting personality, because of her popularity, and a very competitive attitude, and she's very physically fit - probably more fit than half the guys in this garage and on par with the other part....
"But it's not about 'a test.'
"In our opinion she needs to be in a program that runs her a lot of laps. She has to be a full-time lap-gatherer....and then work on making the transition.
"It would be a very difficult scenario."
However this season the number of teams failing to qualify is shrinking dramatically. Only one driver here, for example, didn't make the Friday cut.
So Patrick shouldn't have any trouble qualifying for Cup races.
But Smith says there is more to the issue: "The thing that makes careers is being successful at every level you're in.
"Learning how to Cup race, by running in the back of the field and wrecking every week, is not the way to do it.
"Even the great ones here needed some grounding. Like Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya. So she would need a plan.
"And sponsors are still only going to pay to a certain level, no matter who you are.....so a team owner would have to be certain of her commitment. We don't want to get stuck being out of pocket for $5 million a year down the line.
"But Danica has a great resume, and more -- she's a great competitor, and has a great personality.
"However we don't know how it all might play out." source>>>
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Illness And Happy Endings
As I told you before my in laws moved in with us for a couple years and my sister in law was sixteen at the time. Sixteen is a hard age for anyone and my sister in law, Ann, had a really difficult situation ahead of her that would change her life forever.
When I first met Ann she was six years old and I use to spend a lot of time with her. She was the youngest of five children and being a lot younger than the other children, three being boys, she needed the attention. I would take her to the beach and to my house to let her play with all my makeup and hair stuff. We became really close, she was my flower girl in my wedding. Ann spent many weekends at my house when we still lived in Maine and she loved helping me with my first daughter after she was born. Ann and I had formed a bond that was very close.
After we moved to Pittsburgh Ann went through some rough times that every teenager does, going out with boys that she shouldn't, not getting such hot grades, and getting into a little bit of trouble with other things. When she moved to Pittsburgh with her parents she was not a very happy camper but we all hoped it would be for the best. It took awhile but she made friends and her and I began to once again form that close bond.
When Ann moved into our house things were pretty good, of course nothing is perfect, but for the most part good. You have to picture there were eight people living under one roof, two families with their different styles of living, thank god we loved each other.
Ann started to get very sick and she had a lot of pain so we took her to the doctors. I can't even begin to make you understand how many doctor and hospital visits we had before we found out what was wrong with her. The doctors had diagnoised her with everything in the book but what she had, they even actually accused her of making it up! Her mother did not drive so I was at every visit with her and after the fifth time of her endlessly being in the hospital I lost it.
Ann was in so much pain and it was like nobody cared or believed her, it had been six months since the initial visit. One of the most important things I have ever done in my life was what I did next, I called Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. We immediately signed her out of the hospital she was in and I brought her to Childrens. Within one day we found out that Ann had Lymphoma cancer in all of her lymphoids. She was immediately treated with chemotherapy and this treatment would go on for years.
After spending some time in Children's Hospital Ann came home and I brought her to all her appointments. Worry is putting lightly what everyone was feeling. It is very hard to be strong and confident when you are looking at a child being so sick but she needed that from us. My children were small and they grew up fast in that way, My oldest daughter wrote a essay for her school on Ann that she won a award for. She was in fifth or sixth grade at the time and I don't believe there was a dry eye in the room. Her mother and father were beside themselves but helped her through everything as did my husband and myself.
The sounds of Ann being sick after her treatments and the first time she screamed when she lost her hair haunt me. I can't tell you how many emergency trips we made to Children's, all I remember is driving like a bat out of hell while her mother cared for her in the back seat. Seventeen and dealing with all this, also being in another state where you don't have those lifetime friends to hold you together. Ann missed many, many days of school that year but the school was great. Ann had a super tutor that came over all the time, she became a close family friend, I remember a group from the school coming to our door and giving her a coat and gift certificate which I thought was very kind. People help, kindness helps, you never forget what people do for you in times like that.
Ann, after years of chemotherapy, was in remission and was told the cancer was gone. She was told that she would never be able to have children and for the first five years would have to be checked regularly.
Today, Ann is around thirty six, she is married with two beautiful children. Ann is proof that miracles can happen, she is proof that if you or someone in your family is going through this or something similar that there can be a happy ending.
Source: mentallynewme.blogspot.com
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Source: www.dietmad.com
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