I am kinda wore out for no apparent reason other than that it's Tuesday...

I was thinking about doing an interview tonight but I kinda' hit my wall and lost my ambition about an hour after dinner. I'll have to double up tomorrow night and see if I can do a couple of them. I'm still getting used to the more intense routine and have been brushing up on speech training, writing notes and gathering information. Been doing quite a bit of photo editing and working on the next MRC column so this has been an intense first few weeks of the season. I'm sure that when it warms up and I don't have to fight this lousy weather I'll have more energy because the cold takes some of the wind out of my sails. I should have asked Doug Wolfgang how he deals with the aches and pains after his injuries but I think I already know the answer to that. Anybody that followed his career knows that he was always into conditioning probably more than most of the other Outlaw drivers. I think he still gets out and does as much as he can to this day but I didn't get an opportunity to talk to him about it. My window of opportunity for keeping myself in that kind of condition have probably passed but I'm getting out and walking and trying to eat better so that helps. Some guys like Doug had enough insight to do that when they were younger and that sure has to help a lot. Anyways, I see where Saturday will be another 60/40 (around 60 for a high and a low of 40)so it's kind of hangin' in there just a little cooler than I'd like to see it.

I got a call tonight about my photos and that made me feel pretty good. I already knew that my work is good and that I'm doing some unique stuff but I don't try to compete for sales and I don't post an announcement on the message boards everytime I upload photos. You can pretty much count on me uploading anywhere from 1-3 galleries every week, usually the day after the race.



I don't think there's a need to announce that I posted to my gallery. People know where it is, they know my work and they'll let me know if they like something.

My typical race weekend goes something like this. Go to work all day Friday, stop home and pickup my camera bag, change shoes, grab a hat and sweatshirt and head to the track. I go around talking to people, maybe take a few portraits in the pit area and whatever other special assignment I've got. Take photos all night until the final Feature has been run and get out of the track and on the road as soon as possible. When I get home I'll upload the photos to my computer, go through them and pick out the victory lane shots. Send the victory lane and maybe a couple action shots to several publications and the tracks, burn two CD's, one for myself and one for the track. By the time this is done it's usually 2am and I'm ready for bed. I'll get up in the morning, finish up any photo work for the publications that I was too tired to do the upload to my gallery. Then I'll go out and try to do a few hours of yard work until around 2 or 3 on Saturday. take a shower, organize the camera bag, load up the batteries and head out to the track. The Friday routine is repeated again on Saturday night except if the Features are done early enough I'll stop at one of the convenience stores in Osceola and get a 12 pack. Go home, repeat the photo routine (if it's early enough I'll down a couple beers) and go to bed.

Sunday I get up, repeat that same routine of uploading the gallery and finishing up any photo work. Burn CD's and put one in the truck for the track, do laundry, clean out the litter box, grille for the wife or go out to dinner and DVR the NASCAR race if I remember. If I'm done early enough I'll buzz through the race on fast forward to see who won so I can give the wife the TV before her Sunday night shows start. Maybe I'll hang on the computer for a little while checking out results, load up my MP3 player with fresh podcasts and take a break. If the deadline for my column falls on that weekend then I'll put the photo work off and finish/send my column.

This season I'm doing the interviews so I'm getting into the routine of organizing my materials and writing an outline during lunch and breaks at work and doing the actual interviews Tuesday thought Thursdays. That piece is kind of flexible but I'm trying to do two per week to start and will add more as I get used to the routine and doing the actual interviewing. You wouldn't think that it would be very intense to sit and talk to somebody on the phone but there's a certain protocol to follow and in spite of reciting the introduction and conclusion whenever I'm driving anywhere I still can't rattle it off. I have been listening to some public speaking podcasts and practicing so that come around. I get the same panic feeling at the start of an interview that I used to get when I'd speak in front of a couple hundred people. That feeling eventually subsided before public speaking as I'm sure it will with a little more podcasting experience. I think that trying to direct the conversation with another person involved is what makes it more intense because you never know what they're going to say. You can't stay too close to your notes or you're going to panic when the subject of your interview goes in a different direction than you expect. It's structured to some degree but in another sense it's very much by the seat of my pants because I have to adjust. For example, if my notes so to ask a certain question and the interview subject volunteers that information before I get around to asking the question I have to strike that question on the fly. In some cases they may only partially cover the subject so then I might still revisit it later in the interview with a slightly different twist.

And, uh, ummm, I'm uh, ya know, I'm uh, still working on eliminating those bad patterns that we all fall into in our everyday conversation without even knowing that we did it. That is a big challenge for me, ya know? LOL

It has been busy lately and I'm still trying to figure out how to break it to the wife that she's going to have to take over the yard work. On second thought it would probably be better for my health and well being to continue to do that myself. ;-)