Where to begin...................

I thought about it long and hard as to whether or not I should tell another car story, because I doubt that anyone would believe it could get any worse. OK, I will tell another car story and guess what.............. it's worse.

Finally at long last The Roops Federal refund arrived in the mail. Hallelujah, now there is money to fix the car. Had it towed in on a Wednesday and after a Q & A with the Service Manager he determined that it could be almost anything. Tell The Roop about it............. The Roop already knew that. Thursday afternoons conversation revealed that the car would be ready Friday. Can't remember everything he said was wrong, as to why it wouldn't start that is (although I was only two cylinders off when I tried to align the distributer blind) but he did mention that it was terribly flooded. Terribly flooded is an understatement as it had sat not running for over 3 months. Cars generally un-flood themselves after a time, etc.

That's not the major issue it seems. Apparently the timing chain is about shot and I have low oil pressure. It's not worth fixing the timing chain because that won't help oil pressure anyway. I also have a problem with a valve in the fuel system. Luckily this is a convenience type of thing if I don't fix it. Might have to give it gas to start it and to keep it running at intersections. HELLO...................... it's a carburated engine, that's fairly common for older cars.

Back to the oil pressure. In a nut shell the car is up and running, however, the engine may last another 10,000 miles or die on the way home from the shop. Thank you, that is just what The Roop wanted to hear. Friday morning. On the very day that I am to pick up car #1 from the shop, I hit a rock backing out of my parking stall on my way to work and broke an axle on car #2. Car #2 has 276,000 miles on it so I am not surprised that things like that happen, but could the timing be any worse???? Of course not. That is the essence of being The Roop.

So now one car is officially down for the count and the other has one foot in the grave. Needless to say I didn't make it to work that day. Not that I couldn't have. Hell I can walk there in 11 minutes or ride my bike in 4. Enough was enough however and calling in was deemed an appropriate decision. Dr. Austin Nichols soothed my nerves for the better part of that day and I felt much better.

FYI Austin Nichols makes Wild Turkey.

Many apologies folks.

The Roop doesn't know what merging a server means but whatever it means Verizon did it. To The Roop it meant no internet for several days and in the aftermath it meant that The Roops ISP didn't function normally.

I know that everyone of the millions, and I mean millions, of The Roops fans have been anxiously awaiting the start of the LNCUTMV Womens Softball. The Roop has good news and The Roop has bad news...................... Bad news first. Hank Kimball Field has recently been declared a National Landmark as a school of snail darters were discovered nesting near the right field foul pole. This being said a dam will be constructed so that the snail darters will survive.

Good news................ The LNCUTMV Womens Softball season will go forward. However, it will be Indoor Softball held in Sam Drucker Arena. Appropriate netting is currently being installed and a 16" ball will be used. 16" Womens Arena Softball is the best that the LNCUTMV Conference can do at this point but the season will start this weekend. Friday, Saturday and Sunday games are planned.

The D4AA has announced that competition will be sanctioned under this format and the UCWI season will count as well. The request of Duane Churkey School of Engineering @South Beloit for a name change has also been approved. They will compete as the University of South Beloit and will be considered an Independent this year. The Roops former boss saw the website and asked nicely. The Roops point was proven.

USB creates many possible computer scenarios for this season and for the upcoming basketball season as well. Many teams from the USB system are expected to join D4. Just plug in and go is the feeling here. University of South Beloit-Roscoe is one of the many USB teams expected to join the UCWI, or perhaps they will form their own conference. The USBIAC maybe. D4 could be as many as 40 teams next year. How can anyone ignore that excitement.

When The Roop says it, it will be done. There are no questionable seedings in the D4 Tournament. What The Roop wants to see most is for teams to rise up and win when they should. A 14-16 National Champion is nice, but where were the real players in this years D4 Tournament?????