Well…one of damdest things happened this week…and something I’ve never seen before…after winning the F1 world championship, Nico Rosberg announced his retirement on Thursday…yep, he is walking away from F1 saying that he has accomplished what he wanted to…to win the championship and now there is nothing left for him to do…walking away from a 15 million dollars a year paycheck….when I heard of this, I was really shocked…he is only in his early thirties…but, I also understand it…next year, with all of the changes to the cars, there is no guarantee that the Mercedes will be the dominant car it was this year and the grind of developing a new car and another season could be wearing…and, after all, he has already made almost 100 million dollars since he started driving so he won’t end up poor. The big problem is going to be Mercedes finding another driver when everyone is under contract…going to be an interesting story to follow over the next couple of months…and I will have to pierce my news blackout to do that…
All posts by James DeVol
December 3rd
Well…woke up a little sore today and I’m pretty sure it’s from changing the tires on the car….had to put the snowies on and I can’t believe the difference they made even with being almost worn out…the car drives straight down the road again and feels right…so the drive out and back was a good one….and I won at pool…so it was an okay day….just getting to coffee right now and I do need a new routine…not sure what that would be but I need something….there is lots of soccer on today so that will be my day…not sure if I’m going to ride today and that would make 3 days in a row off and I know I don’t like that…and with the snow tomorrow, I probably won’t get out….not going to do much today…making turkey soup tomorrow so that will take up a lot of the day…I do need to clean the bathroom and I am going to try to get that done…more later….
December 2nd
Well…running early today since I got up early and I’m already bored….didn’t sleep well and feel it this morning so it looks like a take it easy morning…didn’t get on the bike yesterday and today looks the same…might have to put the snowies on the car today since it is supposed to snow Sunday….and then I won’t have to think about it anymore…..forgot to have coffee yesterday with my routine changing but I remembered this morning and it will be something I’ll have to think about…my mornings used to be automatic with reading the papers with my coffee but no news has screwed that up some….but I don’t care…just another adjustment that I’ll have to make….I am going to made a little cash today so that will be cool…and maybe pool this aft…so I will have something to do…more later…
Glove box latch….
Well….as I’ve said, I broke the handle off my glove box latch on the Miata a couple of weeks ago and have been waiting for the new one to come since then…well…it came today and it only took about 5 minutes to install…..that is, after I took a half hour to figure out how the lock tumbler could be switched over…pretty simple once I figured out that there is just a tiny little tab that had to be pushed back to release it…then, it just snapped into the new one and three screws to put it back in…works like a champ so that was cool…and with getting the headlight bulb replaced the other day, the car is almost back to 100%…still haven’t found the noise but I’m thinking it’s a motor mount bolt that has come loose…will check that when I change the tires out next week…hope it’s that simple….
December 1st
Well….woke up to a surprise that was not a good one…the car was covered in snow and I don’t have the snowies on yet…but, it was almost melted off by the time I got back here…and I ran it around yesterday with no problems…the noise is still there at startup but I am much less worried about it….felt pretty good when I got up this morning and slept pretty good last night and that is a relief…I think the last vestiges of the bug are gone and that helps…just coughed a little yesterday and the lungs feel okay today…not sure if I’ll get out on the bike today since it is still cold and raining now….but, I’ve got the whole day so maybe this aft….not sore at all today…at least right now but both elbows hurt when I got up…I know why so that’s okay….just have cleaning to do today…and a little cooking so it looks like an easy one….more later….
Red Wings….
Well….look at that…I AM going to make the goal for the month with just a little cheating here at the end…..not sure what to say about the Wings…I think they rate right up there on the frustration scale with Man U….after barely making the playoffs last year…or season…it was this year….they look even worse now than they did then…I know injuries have been part of it and the youth of the team is something we haven’t seen in a long time, there is no excuse for not trying the entire 60 minutes…something they have done many times this year. I’m not sure if we have the players to be competitive any more and the thought came to me on the bike today that even Scotty Bowman couldn’t win with this group. So, this looks like the last year for the current coach, Jeff Blashill, if something magical doesn’t happen soon….I need something to cheer about…
Formula 1
Well…it’s a sports day today and I may even be able to hit the goal if I do one on the Red Wings later….but first, I want to talk about the Formula 1 season that ended this past Sunday. It was a pretty good season with the championship still up for grabs in the last race….and Louis Hamilton doing everything he could to catch up to his teammate, Nico Rosberg, by winning the last four races but it wasn’t enough when Nico only had to finish third or better to win the whole thing. So, congratulations to Nico for the great season and his first championship…and for being part of only the second father and son pair of world champions…joining his father Keke and the Hills….I can’t wait for next year when the cars will all be new with more power, wider tires and more downforce that is supposed to make them 5 seconds a lap faster than this year….and more raceable…we’ll see….
Manchester United…
Well…I guess you can see what I’m doing…all of these sports posts would normally be included in one post but I need three more to get to the goal so I’m cheating some. Manchester United….what can I say about the most frustrating team that I follow? They are 10 points behind where they were last year that got the last manager Louie VanGaal fired…so, with basically the same team, the new manager, Jose Mourinho, (who I think is just an ass) is doing worse than the guy that got fired…and they are now in 8th place with the tie with West Ham over the weekend…and they play them again this afternoon….so, what’s the problem? First, Mourinho really dislikes Wayne Rooney and never starts him….a guy that makes almost $400,000 a week and he won’t start him…I just can’t figure that one out….the team just looks worse with Jose running it…and I am having trouble watching them since Mourinho is such an ass…oh, well…
U.S. Mens soccer….
Well….after the debacle a couple of weeks back where the US lost to Mexico and Costa Rica in world cup qualifying, a change was finally made at manager when Jurgen Klinsmann was fired…and I say not a moment too soon. But, who do they bring back to lead the team? The guy they fired to bring in Klinsmann, Bruce Arena. Now, I was never a fan of Klinsmann, who seemed to be a whiner and could turn good performances into losses with his changes to the setup of the team….but, how much will a management change do when you have the same players in place? I mean, there are only three players on the team who are good enough to play in the elite European leagues…so there is little talent to choose from and that makes the rating of 29th in the world sound just about right. I’m not sure what Arena can do, but I am sure he will be better than Klinsmann…
2925 and counting….
Well…yep, going to cheat a little to see if I can make it to the goal for the month so bear with me….have had a good year on the bike and I am close to reaching the goal of 3K miles for the year…and, this morning I noticed that I have only 75 more miles to go…that should be easy with a month to do it in if the weather cooperates…and that leaves my plan in place to ride this bike another thousand miles to get to 30K on this one before I retire it….not bad for an old guy…and an old bike….