I’ve got a secret about Saturdays… I’ve been keeping it to myself, but I think it’s time to let the cat out of the bag. Ready? OK. Here we go.

If you get your lazy backside out of bed early, you can actually have the best couple of hours you’ll have all week. Let me explain what I’m talking abut though.

My life is hectic. With my own business pulling me in every direction during the week, four kids and a wife at home yanking every other way, there’s not a lot of time for myself. But I have found some and it happened today. I woke up wide awake around 6:15 this morning. Which I always find amusing since during the week lately I can’t seem to get up much before 7:30 (which can be a real problem since I’m supposed to be at the office by 8:00… but enough on that for now). So I got up and rather than the typical weekday we seem to run the kids pretty ragged by Friday so they are still asleep too. Ahhh. Peace and quiet… I get my mp3 player loaded up and went for a walk to the corner store to grab some milk… Now this is good because everyone from my Doctor to my nutritionist (who I finally saw this week and I’ll give an update in our next show) to my wife, to even my kids are telling me to exercise… so a mile or so walk with 1/2 of it carrying two eight pound gallon containers of milk can’t be a bad idea.

So I went on my little excursion, got home… made coffee…. made breakfast, for myself…. read the paper… and managed a trip to the “library” too. All this in about an hour with no interruptions…

As the rest of the gang made their way in, I relented and took care of making them breakfast … pancakes… and while they’re all eating I have snuck outside to the patio with the laptop and am writing now, finishing my coffee. And I can already tell my time is up… I’m already “debating” the pros of picking up one’s bedroom vs. visiting the neighbor’s house with a six-year old… But alas all great things must come to an end… [sigh] … which is OK, after all the lawn needs to be mowed, I’ve got to finish removing that tree that fell down a few weeks ago… the kids have a party this afternoon… my wife needs to go to a shower tonight……..

So take my advice… find an hour to yourself every week… my batteries are charged and ready to go…

- Mike

I spent yesterday baking in the sun in Louden, NH at the NASCAR Lennox 300 Nextel Cup race at the New Hampshire International Speedway. It makes for a long but fun day. I’ve been going up there twice a year for about a decade now. If you’ve never been to a NASCAR event it’s quite the site to see and quite the event.

We leave from home very early in the morning, at about 6:30. Winding its way to the racetrack is the two lane Route 1 for 11 miles and it has been known to make a 2-hour ride last 4 – 5. I’ve been beating the jam for a few years now by taking a shuttle bus that the Concord, NH Chamber of Commerce runs. For $20 you get the privilege of riding a hot, big, yellow school bus again. But they take all the back roads and with police escort gets you there with a lot less hastle.

We end up getting to the track around 11:00am and then wait until the start of the race, which is at 2:00pm in July.

My tickets are in the front row coming out of turn four. And if you know anything about racing, front row is the worst seat in the house for watching the race. I can see about 1/3 of the track from our seats, but perhaps as much fun (if not more) than the actual race is the people watching that you can enjoy.

The race was fun. Kyle Busch won in the end but the moment of the race happened before the race was 1/3 over when Tony Stewart was spun out by Ryan Newman while leading the pack on lap 91. He was not a happy camper but was able to get back on the track and finish the race none-the-less.

After the race is over we march our way back to the buses and make our way back to the car. It’s a crazy ride on dirt roads up hill that have you migrating your way through what seem like uncharted territory. Then we hit the Uno’s near by and wait for traffic to make its way a bit before heading home. So the day that started so early had me resting my head on the pillow at 12:30 am.

Like I said it’s a fun day and one I look forward to, but thank God it’s only twice a year. To my 100,000 friends – I’ll see you all again in September.

- Mike