themeltons.net

Archive for the ‘Real World’ Category

I found a way to put video online, so maybe I’ll be adding more of these soon.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted some pics of the kids and grand-kid.  Here are a few of the recent ones.  There are a ton more, but I figured I’d get some up so I wouldn’t feel so bad about how lazy I’ve been.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll get some more pictures up later.  Hopefully I’ll have the online photo album up soon.  Too many things to do and not enough time to do them.

I’ve been completely absorbed in online sim racing for years now.  It began with Papyrus NASCAR Racing 4 and has blossomed over the years into other racing sims.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed other sims like NASCAR Racing 2003 Season, Grand Prix Legends, GTR, GTR2, rFactor, and more.

However, the Godfather of sim racing, Dave Kaemmer, teamed up with John Henry (principle owner of the Boston Red Sox) to create the most epic online racing service ever – iRacing.  After spending time behind the wheel of the many cars iRacing has to offer, none of the other sims I used to frequent feel the same.  The level of realism and attention to detail is amazing.  All the tracks are laser scanned, so all bumps, small and large, are there.

Anyway, here are the rides I’m running for this season.  The Riley is assuming I can get my Safety Rating up high enough to be able to run in that series (here’s hoping).

Formula Mazda – Star Mazda Series
	Chevy Impala SS – NASCAR Sprint Cup
Riley MkXX Daytona Prototype – Rolex Sports Car Series
	Radical SR8 – Various International Series

It’s official, with the latest addition to the family, Dawn and I are <gulp> Grandparents. Skyelar Elizabeth Melton-Pritchard was born at 12:46 AM on 17 June 2008. Pictures follow.  Click the title under the picture for a much larger image.

New mommy and little Skyelar

Skyelar’s first meal with Daddy

Dawn and Aunt Delainey (not the bug kind,the girl kind)

Grandpa (?!!!) and little Skyelar

We finished. It wasn’t always pretty, but we are both now in “the club”. You know, the club you get in when you finish a marathon? No? Neither did I until today.

The course itself was definitely hard — if any normal human being tells you running 26.2 miles is easy, have them committed. There were some pretty substantial hills on this course (I thought Indiana was a plains state?) and there a couple of places where we were literally trail running. A large portion of the course was also very narrow; we were pretty much bumping those runners on the return trip.

Dawn and I crossed the finish line at exactly the same time, but due to a technical issue (I had to go to the bathroom before I crossed the line), I ran a few seconds faster than her.

As far as the marathon itself — organizationally and otherwise — what a contrast from the Chicago Marathon! Starting with the weather, Chicago was a toasty 88 degrees while Indy was a much cooler — but still a bit warm — 73 degrees.

From an organizational point, in Indy we always just felt like we knew where and when we were supposed to be.  Chicago was just chaotic from the very beginning.  Granted, there were fewer than 5000 entries in Indy, but just because it’s harder to organize more runners, doesn’t excuse poor organization.

While we were standing at the start line, the organizers began making last minute announcements.  There was an announcement telling half marathoners to turn at 12.5 miles and full marathoners to run straight (apparently somebody goes the wrong way every year, despite a team of people telling them which way to go).  At one point an announcement was made that there were 21 aid stations along the course (there were only 15 in Chicago) and from all over the crowd, you could hear people cheering.  It wasn’t the whole crowd, just those of us who had been in Chi-town two weeks before.

In any case, I’m done with marathons…this year…maybe.