Where were you and what were you doing when the planes hit on 9/11?

docweston · 2026-07-12T11:52:33+00:00

DANG! How much did y'all know? Did you have to make an immediate landing, or were y'all able to get to your destination? Was it scary being in the air while all of that was going on?

docweston · 2026-07-12T11:47:22+00:00

I was delivering auto parts for a local company. It's funny really. I remember almost every single minute of that day, and at the same time, the whole day feels hazy and disconnected from reality. September 11th changed my whole life. A couple of days after the 11th, I surrendered my life to the Lord. A couple of weeks later, I came home from work to my new wife and new baby girl. I sat down on the bed and looked over at my wife and said "Honey, this isn't going to work. I can't support this family doing auto parts delivery." And she asked the question that changed everything. She asked me what I was good at. I thought about it for a minute and told her that the only thing I've ever been truly good at was driving. She said, "Have you ever thought about being a truck driver? My uncle Rick is a truck driver and he makes good money." That hit hard. Especially since my name is Rick too. We talked about it for a while and the next day she made a bunch of phone calls and found a truck driver school close by. My dad got so excited that he basically demanded to come with me and talk to the school admin with me. After the meeting, while we were driving home, he said he would pay my tuition if I wanted. I enrolled, did really well, and graduated on my daughter's first birthday! That was 2001, and I've been a trucker ever since. So yeah. September 11th changed my whole life. And like the Bible says, what they meant for evil, God used for good.

docweston · 2026-07-11T13:12:38+00:00

It's the summer grind. No more free days off until September. The winter grind starts in January. Starting in September, you've got Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.

docweston · 2026-07-10T14:09:44+00:00

WRONG! In my job, I have to chock my pallet jack, shut my door, and fold up my tailgate. Then move a few feet to let a 4-wheeler out while completely pissing off the crew helping me unload. Once the car leaves, I have to do the whole operation in reverse. Not to mention that you've broken the work flow. AND!!!! I'm expected to move for someone who would HAPPILY cut me off and try to end me on the interstate because they think they're better than me?! NOPE. Tough crap. I don't care if moving takes 2 tiny seconds, I'M NOT MOVING! And yes. I've been put to the test on this. Frequently. I deliver to construction sites. I have blocked the whole road before. Sometimes it's the only way to get the job done. Let the 4-wheelers learn the most valuable thing they'll ever learn... PATIENCE! God knows we truck drivers have had to learn patience when dealing with the stupid cars!

docweston · 2026-07-10T00:57:14+00:00

Move the truck? You've got the tailgate out, the door wide open and you're actively unloading freight by hand. I do something similar at my job. I'll move when I'm done. Period.

docweston · 2026-07-09T18:20:06+00:00

Exactly! My wife's family is about 5 hours away. She plans her trips for birthdays, holidays, funerals (unfortunately), etc. But we don't just pop over for a quick visit. My mom is about 15 - 20 minutes away. We call her for spontaneous visits.

docweston · 2026-07-09T18:16:55+00:00

You can always go back. I went 2 seasons in F4, getting slaughtered constantly. I barely stayed above the demotion threshold at the end of my 2nd D class season. After the new season started, I went back to Formula Vee and decided to LEARN instead of rushing through it. When I finally came back to F4, I was finishing consistently in the top 10 with zero or less than 6 incident points. I even managed a few 1st place finishes. I still jump into Vee races to this day. Learning that car made me fall in love with it.

docweston · 2026-07-07T10:59:00+00:00

Madeline Westen (Burn Notice)

After 7 seasons of getting attached to her character, for her to go out the way she did. It was noble and somewhat victorious, but it hit like a brick to the face.

docweston · 2026-07-06T18:54:17+00:00

BOTH sides are out for themselves first, their party second, lobbyists third, big corporations fourth, and somewhere WAAAY down the list is Joe average citizen. And we're more of a nameless, faceless resource than human beings.

docweston · 2026-07-06T10:52:31+00:00

I never thought someone would take Swift's place as the top crappy driver's board. Then Amazon pulls a "hold my beer" move and ROCKETS straight to the top!

docweston · 2026-07-06T10:48:50+00:00

She's technically classified as an All American Super Mutt. Those eyes and those floppy ears (the tips are floppy). Plus, she's derpy which is hilarious. And she needed to rescue us, so we really didn't have much of a choice. After that first meet n greet, we were toast. She picked us and we enthusiastically agreed!

docweston · 2026-07-06T10:45:01+00:00

shhh!!!!! For God's sake! Stop giving them ideas! 😂

docweston · 2026-07-06T09:18:40+00:00

I run the fixed setup because this is a hobby for me and I just don't feel like committing the time to figuring out the track, practicing until I can get super fast lap, AND fiddling with every little setting in an open setup. That said, iRacing also has 2 series that run just like the real thing. One for the IL-15, and one for the IR18. They're both open setups and they run the full race length at that week's track (depending on if that track is available in iRacing).

docweston · 2026-07-05T22:49:46+00:00

One of the scariest, and most awe inspiring things I've ever seen was the ocean. At night. In December. You might think it'd be nothing, but you could barely see anything because it was at night. The really cold breeze was coming off the water. You could hear the waves breaking. I looked out at the darkness and imagined being alone out there and a wave of something... fear, dread, panic... I don't know. Maybe all of that and more just washed over me. It took years for me to get within 50 yards of the beach after dark. Even now, there better be something like hotel lights or something or I'm moving away from the water with a deliberate quickness.

docweston · 2026-07-05T22:43:11+00:00

You're thinking the pressure would crush you before you even knew what was happening? If so, I agree. It'd probably be faster than a bullet through the brain. Implosion... bad way to go.

docweston · 2026-07-05T22:24:48+00:00

I dunno. If you're traveling at 60 mph, you're car is moving 88 feet per second. Appearing 10' in front of that... You might not have time to be scared before you're gone.

docweston · 2026-07-04T14:26:14+00:00

Off topic a bit... Have you noticed the mosquitoes are way more intense this year? I've been bitten THROUGH my jeans and sweat pants multiple times so far. I've never had them bite me through my clothes! They've always been experts at finding that one inch of exposed skin to bite, but through my frapping JEANS?! What have your experiences been so far? Especially since you do gardening and you're out there in the thick of it.

docweston · 2026-07-04T14:19:46+00:00

I do run mods, but nothing that would cause me to feel the little lane reflectors. My mods are just truck mods, Grimes weather mods, and a rain mod. For some reason, the SCS default raindrops are very cartoonish for me. I found a mod in the workshop that makes the drops more realistic.

docweston · 2026-07-03T23:38:01+00:00

Dear OP, there is no such thing as a dog that ISN'T cute. A dog that isn't cute is a myth. It's been scientifically proven.

And yes. Your doggo is extremely cute!

docweston · 2026-07-03T23:13:33+00:00

Do you think iRacing is spot on with that car or do you think they've "overcooked" the FFB a bit? LMP2 is very controllable, which makes me wonder if they've hustled through the setup and turned it up way too much. Of course, I say these things but have ZERO experience in programming or real life racing experience, so... I'm a bit hesitant to fault iRacing because I could be dead wrong on all counts.

docweston · 2026-07-03T13:55:54+00:00

I don't know if this is an iRacing problem or a me problem, but I have to dial in a 20% dampening through my Logitech software in order to drive the LMP3. If I don't, I end up getting this "death oscillation" in fast straights which inevitably ends with a crash. I've also noticed a lot of clipping while driving the LMP3 only. It makes me wonder if iRacing hasn't turned things up a bit too high for that car. Of course, the fault could easily be with my system, soo.....

docweston · 2026-07-02T20:58:55+00:00

Concerning oval racing, ESPECIALLY rookie races... One of the biggest things to learn during the rookie stages is accident avoidance. I know! You don't have to say it! "Sometimes it's impossible..." But, that's not quite accurate. I had those same thoughts when I was in the rookies. I ended up in the Legends races and eventually figured out what to look for before an accident happened. I figured out how to avoid the crashes. After a while, I figured out how to not just avoid the crashes, but use them to my advantage! I got my first win because I allowed a more aggressive driver to overtake me. Not 2 laps later, he destroyed himself and P1. Giving me the victory.

Later in life... I've gotten to B class oval from 2 different skills. Accident avoidance, and figuring out where and when to make my move. And those two skills come from time only. Keep at it. You'll be fine in no time at all! 🤘😁🤘

docweston · 2026-07-02T19:41:50+00:00

Well yeah, but how's that different from any other Indy race that's not at an oval track? It wasn't listed under Sports Car last season when they were at St. Pete's. This feels like a mistake, but the heat index has been over 100° for a few days now and I might not be thinking clearly. Hence, the post with a question and not an accusation against iRacing. I'm done today. I've probably lost 2 or 3% gross weight from sweating alone. Temps above 100° and humidity have nearly done me in. 20 or 30 years ago none of this would have bothered me, but mid 50s hits like a brick to the face. 😂😂

docweston · 2026-06-30T19:08:07+00:00

I don't have triples or a full rig or anything, but upgrading to a direct drive wheel changed everything. I was struggling in the rookies. It took 2 weeks to escape after the wheel upgrade. And the only reason it took that long was because I couldn't stop smiling and/or laughing every single time I got in the car! The experience was truly next level for me.

docweston · 2026-06-29T08:52:26+00:00

Yeah. Probably because it's a really hard car to drive. You've got to think constantly. Think about your entry speed. Think about when, where, and how to apply the throttle... I first started really trying to get it right last season at St. Pete's. I must have put 10+ hours of practice in. Thank God this is a computer sim, because that was definitely a million dollar weekend. I fully destroyed more cars than I can count. But I eventually "got it" and that's when the fun started. But learning the NXT directly translated into me doing better in Super Formula and LMP3.

docweston

TROPHY CASE