Today is Free Friday for the 34th annual Long Beach Grand Prix! If your interested in going pick up the Press Telegram or Long Beach Gazette and look for the free pass. I found my free pass in my Southern California Edison bill. Present the ticket at the booth and your off to the races… no pun intended.

I get so excited b/c it brings back so many memories. Going to the races as a kid with my dad and also my first ever date with my wife was to the Long Beach Grand Prix back in 1994. I asked my wife who was a friend at the time to go with me. I took her to Norms for a Bigger Better Breakfast in the AM then down to Long Beach to watch the race. I remember giving her a Pick Your Part sticker and an STP patch… it was the 90’s that was cool back then… right? No wonder why she ended up marrying me I bought her a Norms Breakfast and took her to a car race. What a catch!
I work in downtown Long Beach and have been putting up with the preparations for about 3 weeks now. The grandstands and barricades are complete, the street is redirected and the giant Tecate inflatable can is shinning in all its glory. Last night when I left work Pine St was PACKED and I’m sure tomorrow will be worse. That is why I will be riding my bike to work.

This year there is a race where robots drive the cars… sounds kinda interesting. Inside the convention center there is always cool stuff last year I saw this weird trumpet playing robot, along with a bunch of car demos. Not as cool as Monster Jam but a close second. If you are heading down to the races look for me. I’ll be the guy in the Bobby Rahal t-shirt, cowboy hat cheering his ass off… Its Miller Time!

My worst fear coming true to Nicholas White. He was trapped in an NYC elevator in the McGraw-Hill Building for 41 hours! He was in an express elevator heading to the 43 floor. The elevator suddenly stop and that was it with the whole event captured on a security camera. The New Yorker just wrote a little article about elevator accidents, sounds like even in this day and age we still have problems with elevators.
I’m taking the stares from now on.