It is exactly 7 days until Dave and I begin our semi-annual trek to Dallas Ft. Worth for the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Our twice-annual mecca to mingle with fellow fans, friends, co-conspirators and likeminded loonies. It’s four whole days of race-nirvana! Between Thursday and Sunday, we’ll walk a hundred miles, sweat, freeze, stand in line, sit in shade, dodge crowds, dodge Dodges, hiss at the bad guys, cheer for the good guys and enjoy the company of dear friends we see only a handful of times per year.
Right now, it’s “prep time.” I have moved entire households cross country and it didn’t require the amount of planning and packing as this race trip does! NASCAR fans are the most wardrobe simplistic folk on earth. Give ‘em comfy shoes, a pair of jeans, and a drivers’ T-Shirt & and ice chest and they’re fully outfitted, right?
NOT a chance!!!
I’m packing enough wardrobe to outfit a Broadway production, enough electronic gadgetry to outfit a 3rd World Army, and enough racing/tailgating schwag to open a themed restaurant! I have 3 big Rubbermaid containers filled with hot weather gear, wet weather gear, cool weather gear and I’m now ready for flash floods, mosquitos, blisters, headaches, famine, sunburn, darkness, deafness, heartburn, dry mouth and vitamin deficiency! Communication will NOT be an issue as we will have cell phones, land lines, TV, Satellite, text messaging, wireless internet, hi-speed internet, scanners, LCDs, Direct Connect, Weather Radio, CD Players, Mp3 Players, and a car radio! You want pictures? I have FIVE digital cameras, a camcorder, Digital Video camera, a handful of disposable 35mm’s and a freaking sketchpad!
Speaking of scanners……..
Dave and I sunk megabucks into a scanner setup during the Fall race at TMS. Not satisfied with the NORMAL scanner, my digit-head hubby had to have the model equipped with ALL the doo-dads – 2-way microphones, hookups for 3 of our closest friends, extra antennae, etc. The sweet little white-haired saleslady at the hauler seemed to be a whiz at programming the contraption. 3 simple buttons – enter the frequency code and channel and PRESTO! Audio from your favorite driver! She kindly repeated the instructions and we had NASCAR race control! Looked easy enough – I managed to get a couple more drivers programmed in without too much headscratching and off to the races we went!
Now it’s time to reprogram the scanner for THIS race. I handed the bag to Dave last week and said –
“Here ya go, honey! Can you get this thing ready for TMS?”
“Whaddaya mean, ME?” he replied, “I thought YOU were paying attention to the instructions!”
Yeah, well - that was 5 months ago! I’ve slept since then! I have COMPLETELY forgotten which three buttons the evil old white-haired windbag pushed and it’s NOWHERE in the 1,500 pages of Users Guide written in Taiwanglish that came with the darned thing! Hey, I only use this dadblasted mess a couple of times a year! For gosh sakes, I can’t even program the danged DVR and I use it almost daily! You actually expect me to do things that require 15-digit frequencies after a long winter’s nap? Nonsense!
My usual plan of action when in techno-panic is to bribe our teenage whizkid into handing the issue. Not this time – “I don’t DO radio” was the smug reply. Well hey kid, how ‘bout “I DON’T DO SUPPER?!” Naw….he knows me better than that! Still no programmed scanner.
Sooooooo --- anyone out there a Scanner Programmin’ Guru? Taking a cue from Craigslist barter section:
I HAVE MOSQUITO REPELLANT! YOU HAVE SCANNABILITY?
We’ll see where it goes! More Prologue to TMS as they prep wears on – and my sanity depletes!
Right now, it’s “prep time.” I have moved entire households cross country and it didn’t require the amount of planning and packing as this race trip does! NASCAR fans are the most wardrobe simplistic folk on earth. Give ‘em comfy shoes, a pair of jeans, and a drivers’ T-Shirt & and ice chest and they’re fully outfitted, right?
NOT a chance!!!
I’m packing enough wardrobe to outfit a Broadway production, enough electronic gadgetry to outfit a 3rd World Army, and enough racing/tailgating schwag to open a themed restaurant! I have 3 big Rubbermaid containers filled with hot weather gear, wet weather gear, cool weather gear and I’m now ready for flash floods, mosquitos, blisters, headaches, famine, sunburn, darkness, deafness, heartburn, dry mouth and vitamin deficiency! Communication will NOT be an issue as we will have cell phones, land lines, TV, Satellite, text messaging, wireless internet, hi-speed internet, scanners, LCDs, Direct Connect, Weather Radio, CD Players, Mp3 Players, and a car radio! You want pictures? I have FIVE digital cameras, a camcorder, Digital Video camera, a handful of disposable 35mm’s and a freaking sketchpad!
Speaking of scanners……..
Dave and I sunk megabucks into a scanner setup during the Fall race at TMS. Not satisfied with the NORMAL scanner, my digit-head hubby had to have the model equipped with ALL the doo-dads – 2-way microphones, hookups for 3 of our closest friends, extra antennae, etc. The sweet little white-haired saleslady at the hauler seemed to be a whiz at programming the contraption. 3 simple buttons – enter the frequency code and channel and PRESTO! Audio from your favorite driver! She kindly repeated the instructions and we had NASCAR race control! Looked easy enough – I managed to get a couple more drivers programmed in without too much headscratching and off to the races we went!
Now it’s time to reprogram the scanner for THIS race. I handed the bag to Dave last week and said –
“Here ya go, honey! Can you get this thing ready for TMS?”
“Whaddaya mean, ME?” he replied, “I thought YOU were paying attention to the instructions!”
Yeah, well - that was 5 months ago! I’ve slept since then! I have COMPLETELY forgotten which three buttons the evil old white-haired windbag pushed and it’s NOWHERE in the 1,500 pages of Users Guide written in Taiwanglish that came with the darned thing! Hey, I only use this dadblasted mess a couple of times a year! For gosh sakes, I can’t even program the danged DVR and I use it almost daily! You actually expect me to do things that require 15-digit frequencies after a long winter’s nap? Nonsense!
My usual plan of action when in techno-panic is to bribe our teenage whizkid into handing the issue. Not this time – “I don’t DO radio” was the smug reply. Well hey kid, how ‘bout “I DON’T DO SUPPER?!” Naw….he knows me better than that! Still no programmed scanner.
Sooooooo --- anyone out there a Scanner Programmin’ Guru? Taking a cue from Craigslist barter section:
I HAVE MOSQUITO REPELLANT! YOU HAVE SCANNABILITY?
We’ll see where it goes! More Prologue to TMS as they prep wears on – and my sanity depletes!
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1 comment:
Pssstt! Go right back to the trailer with the White Haired Lady. I bet you can get her help again.
Or...GOOGLE!
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