The Derek & Betsy Weekly News
August 22, 2001
Can you believe Betz has become web-savvy? I've been an internet user for several years, and I've overseen the creation of a few websites, but I've only recently gained the knowledge (albeit rudimentary) of how to make my own site. I thought this would be a cool way for me to use color to liven up the Newsletter a little bit, in a fashion that EVERYONE can enjoy via the WWW! Eventually I hope to include some pictures and better features, but this inaugural web edition will be pretty simple.
Well, it's been over two weeks since the last issue of the "D+BWN." Not many major changes, but work has gone from a cozy lull to a deep rumble. By the end of next week, it will be crazy, and the following week will be downright INSANE. The best we can shoot for is managed chaos. The novelty of 40-hour weeks will soon be a distant memory. It is this time of year that I am reminded why I am looking for another job. As I type, I am taking a rare lunch break to get the Weekly News "up."
My new boss, Alana, started on August 6. We get along great, but I got off to a crappy start by mispronouncing her name. I had only seen it on paper--never spoken--so I said, "Nice to meet you, A-lah-nah, I'm Betsy." Turns out it's pronounced A-lay-nah. She was very cool about it, but sheesh, what a dumb first impression! I didn't have any orientation obligations with her until Wednesday, when I gave her and another new department colleague a 2-hour session in Billiards. It was mostly to demonstrate the programs we offer and relationships I have with my 6 recreational clubs, rather than training them how to run the Billiards desk. The occasion that either of them would need to work in the Billiards Room is extremely rare, so we'll do that another day. We're also postponing her SORC training until the September rush. I've decided that the best way for her to see the inner workings of the SORC is to put her to work during lottery week! I won't go into the details of that, but let's just say it's our busiest week of the year, when the SORC makes about 50% of its quarterly revenue in the course of 4 days. Fortunately she is very comfortable with being a worker bee for a day, and agrees with my decision to have this be her orientation.
On the 10th, Derek and I left for Chicago to see my brother, Sean, and Mom's boyfriend, David, race their classic cars in Joliet. David has a '73 (?) El Camino, and Sean has a '68 Camaro. David has raced many times before, but this was Sean's first big race. We spent Friday night with my Uncle Marty, who lives in Niles. We got there around 7:30 local time and chatted briefly with Marty and his roommate before heading out for some grub. For weeks we'd had our hearts set on Polish food, which we'd had in that neighborhood several times before. There's a pool hall near Uncle Marty's house, where we've played in several tournaments throughout the years. It's a cool hustlers' joint called Chris's. In fact, it's legendary. Many scenes from The Color of Money were taped there. Anyway, we discovered these great little Polish restaurants when we were in town for tournaments.
Unfortunately, ALL the Polish restaurants we could find that night were already closed. Everything seemed to be closing really early. We finally settled on a new place that serves Ecuadorian food. The food was pretty good, likewise the atmosphere and live music, but the service was AWFUL. First they sat us at a tiny table right next to a 3-foot speaker. We asked to be moved, and that was no problem. Our waitress was very nice, but after taking our order, she disappeared for over 20 minutes. We soon realized that she was up on stage playing the flute, completing their 3-piece ensemble of Andean music. Guys from the kitchen were trying to come out every few minutes while she was performing, but there were just too many customers and not enough staff. It was a good hour and 45 minutes from the time we walked in until we finally got the bill. The staff were all very nice, but they just didn't have a clue about running a restaurant. It was the worst tip we've ever left.
After that, we headed to one of our favorite Chicago hotspots, Navy Pier. We both love the gigantic ferris wheel (I believe it's the tallest in the country). You couldn't drag me onto a roller coaster, so ferris wheels are about as thrilling a ride as I get. We strolled the pier, people-watched, and checked out some novelty shops for a couple hours, then paid the blood money to the parking attendant (my goodness! $14 for an hour!! We thought it was bad in Ann Arbor!) before heading back to Marty's house.
The next morning we headed to Joliet, following Uncle Marty because we didn't really know how to get to the track. We got there around noon, just in time to see Sean getting his car in line for the 1/4-mile drag strip. They had both arrived and made several runs the night before, but they had only gone once in the morning before we got there. Derek, Marty and I made our way toward the pits, browsing to look at the rows and rows of hot rods along the way. Within 20 minutes, the sun got the best of me, so I headed anxiously for Mom & David's tent. We thought we had plenty of time to get to the bleachers where we could see Sean run his heat, but it turns out the line moved a LOT quicker than it moved the night before, so we JUST missed him. David was having a problem with a switch for his car, so he and mom were scrambling to get that repaired when we arrived.
Soon came the "Show," where the REALLY fast cars make their appearance. It was a good break for David because it bought him some more time to fix his problem. There were jet-propelled rocket cars that covered the quarter-mile in barely 6 seconds, as well as some gimmick cars (the racetrack equivalent of clowns at the circus). My Aunt Barb, and cousins Lori, Steve, Jodi, and Brendan were also there. Brendan is about 3 and LOVES racing! He is SUCH and adorable kid (not adorable enough to start making me crave my own, but enough to make me realize how much I LOVE having babies in the family). They all live in Chicagoland, so they drove down for the day.
David had enough time to fix the switch and get his car out on the track. HE WON his first-ever heat in the Gambler's Run!!! It was AWESOME!!! It turned out to be an all-around great day, except I really didn't handle the heat well. The black asphalt really amplified the sun, and I got nauseous and light-headed a few times. I have very bad timing, too, because I missed Sean's 2nd and final heat of the day. I was in the bleachers and I panicked because I couldn't find my purse. We had been watching for almost an hour to see Sean and/or David race. Without thinking, I darted back to the tent to see that my purse was ok, and Derek followed me, thinking I was sick. We were gone for less than 3 minutes, but we managed to miss Sean's heat. Derek was pretty ticked at me, and I honestly can't blame him. (Sorry honey....)
We stayed at the track, hanging out and enjoying time with family, until about 8:00. Derek's high school friend, Pete, was in town, so we had to head back to Ann Arbor that night. They've only seen each other a few times since high school, so we didn't want to miss this opportunity. The next day, Derek golfed with Pete, his girlfriend Madeline, and our good friend Jay in the morning, and we later had them all over for BBQ. It was a VERY cool afternoon with some very cool people. We still have half a jar of Pete's famous homemade BBQ sauce in the fridge. Scrumptious!
That night, Mom called us with WONDERFUL news: on Sunday, both David and Sean won FIVE heats in a row!!! They tried to avoid having to race against each other, but eventually there were so few cars left, they had no choice. Sean narrowly edged David out of the tournament. As Mom put it, it was neck-in-neck as they crossed the finish line. (David's car is actually faster, but the race is structured so that any good driver can win. You have to "dial in" the time you think it will take you to run the 1/4-mile. If you go faster than that time, or if you jump the start line--aka "red light"--you're disqualified. But if you cross the finish line before your opponent, without violating your time, you win and proceed to the next round. It's a great system, because the faster the car, the more money it costs to maintain. So it makes it fair for the Average Joe Racer who can't necessarily put tens of thousands of dollars into his engine--and believe me, they DO). So anyway, David finished in the top 20% and my little bro finished in the top 10% of the field in his VERY first race. I'm SO proud of them!!!!
Derek continued work on the wretched condo job (55 buildings, 5200 sq. feet each, with at least a dozen separate roof sections and a bunch of extra time-consuming details). Rumor has it that the contractor gets a 6-figure bonus if they finish the job by a certain date, so despite the AWFUL heat, he was pressing all the crews to work 14-hour days. There is other b.s. and scuttlebut surrounding that job--stuff I definitely shouldn't publish in a semi-public forum--but let's just say he is extremely pleased that it is finally over. He and his foreman drove to the job today (8/22) for a final walk-through so they can submit their bill to the contractor. It rained last Thursday, giving Derek a much-needed day off. I wonder what that did for the contractor and his deadline for the bonus (subtitle: "....and other things I couldn't give a crap less about.")
On the 18th we did a lot of overdue yard work and made a trip to the grocery store. It was a perfect day to go get a load of topsoil, but Derek had just finished cleaning out his old truck to sell it, so he didn't want to get it dirty. And the new truck wouldn't arrive until Monday. So after many Grrrrrs and some mild expletives, plus mentioning that I've been asking for said top soil since May, he promised that we would go get it NEXT Saturday with the new truck. I am also hoping to get some flat rocks to make the little path around my north (shade) garden. The bed on the new truck is 14 feet long and 8 feet wide, so I'm hoping we can get both things in one trip. So here it is...in writing! If I don't have top soil and some flat rocks by the next edition of the D+BWN, you can expect to hear some complaining!
That night we rented 3 flicks: Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls (sometimes we get strange cravings), Chocolat, and Cactus Flower. I watched Chocolat by myself on Monday and LOVED it. We're supposed to watch Cactus Flower tonight. We're both looking forward to adding a new classic to our list: Ingrid Bergman (my fave), Walter Matthau, and Goldie Hawn (in her debut and Oscar-winning role).
As of Sunday the 19th, we have a new houseguest. Katie (former student employee & good friend--you've heard me mention her before) had to move out of her campus apartment, and hasn't been able to find a new one yet. So she's going to camp out in our guest bedroom while she searches. That bedroom will be pretty full all month, because Derek's Uncle Terry and Aunt Teresa are coming for a visit during the Labor Day holiday.
Derek got final delivery of his new roofing truck on Monday. It's got a lot of great features, and he's already grateful for the efficiency it has given his crew. It's his very first non-Ford product. It's got a GMC logo on the side, but under the hood is an Isuzo engine. Actually, there is no hood, because it's one of those ones where the cab sits on top of the engine. It's a BIG step up into the cab, and you ride really high. I like it because you can see everything! He's heard from several good sources that they run FOREVER. He made a modest attempt to sell his old truck through the paper, but ultimately traded it in at the dealership (for a good $3000 less than blue book value) just to get it out of the garage. He didn't want to park it on the driveway and cause us to be the neighbors that everybody hates. (Hey, if we're going to make our neighbors hate us, it will have to be for something FAR more interesting than having too many vehicles in the yard! J ).
Well, I think that's it for now. I would love to hear your feedback on how you think this newsletter works as a web thingee. It will get better as I learn more about web design. If y'all don't like it, I'll go back to the old-fashioned way.
Be talkin' to you soon....
Betsy & Derek