Kindle Free Pick of the Week: Fat, Forty, and Fired

It's the #1 non-fiction book in the Kindle Store.

Recounting the life he led during the nine months he was not working, Marsh opens with his operation for "anal fistula"; the six-week convalescence enables him to reflect on his next step after learning that the firm he runs in Sydney, Australia, is being closed. Breaking open the family nest egg, he decides to escape the pattern of "enforced inertia that kept men in a tie and at the office" and to take a year off. Marsh's epiphanies during his hiatus include the realization that he is fat, but more poignantly, that he is an alcoholic. While the light tone of the book sometimes undermines his struggle with alcohol, Marsh clearly takes it seriously. The strength of the memoir lies in the intimate and often humorous moments he shares as he reconnects with his wife and four children. Whether it is his preschool-aged daughter announcing to her gymnastics teacher, "We don't touch Daddy's willy because it's dirty," or the more somber account of his wife talking him out of having a glass of wine, Marsh is at his best in vignettes. The narrative slows in the middle, during a European trip with his wife, but when Marsh finally re-enters the workforce, he does so recognizing that instead of obsessing about the time he misses with his family, he should enjoy the moments he has.

Get it while it's free.

RickLimpert.info Picture of the Week: A Daytona 500 Winner

The world outside of NASCAR diehards had never heard the name Trevor Bayne before today.

They know it now, and will know it forever as a Daytona 500 champion. 

Ah, to be 20 years old, a NASCAR driver and a Daytona 500 winner.

Andy Roddick Wins Memphis ATP With a Diving Passing Shot

Andy Roddick won the ATP 500 event in Memphis tonight with a unbelievable down the line passing shot while in a full stretch dive.

Roddick defeated Milos Raonic of Canada 7-6, 6-7, 7-5.

Raonic said in the post match interview that this shot will be on YouTube for everyone to see.  He was right.

Amazing Race 18: Unfinished Business Debuts Tonight

Teams from past seasons return tonight for the 18th installment of The Amazing Race.

This show tests the teams smarts, brawn and ability to get along and is captured in stunning video that will be broadcast for the first time in HD.

This time the show enlists losers from season's past for a second chance at the show's $1 million prize money.

Many fan favorites are back including "cowboys" Jet and Cord McCoy (season 16), sisters LaKisha and Jennifer Hoffman (season 14), Gary Ervin and his daughter Mallory, Miss Kentucky and Miss America runner-up (season 17); erstwhile NFL cheerleaders Jaime Edmondson and Cara Rosenthal (season 14); "goth couple" Kent Kaliber and Vyxsin Fiala (season 12); Margie Adams and her son Luke, who is hearing impaired; and Harlem Globetrotters Nate "Big Easy" Lofton and Herb "Flight Time" Lang (season 12).

The race will last several weeks and take the teams once again around the world.

Daytona 500 to be Held a Week Later in 2012

As race fans settle in to watch the 2011 Daytona 500, fans will have to wait an extra week for the 2012 race.

NASCAR and track officials announced Sunday that the Great American Race will be a week later in 2012, allowing the sport to shorten its season and avoid any potential conflicts with the NFL's Super Bowl.

NASCAR's 2012 season opener will be Sunday, Feb. 26.

The new date allows NASCAR to eliminate a traditional off week following the first three races of the season. It also gets NASCAR ahead of any potential changes to the NFL schedule, including an 18-game schedule or NFL labor strife that might force the Super Bowl in Indianapolis to be delayed a week.

"We're not going to deny the fact that part of this also is in dealing with the NFL," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's vice president of racing operations. "Who knows where they'll go with an 18-game schedule. But we want to get ahead of that.

"Either way, we think it's the right thing to do for our season to kick off. The Super Bowl's certainly a big event, but so's the Daytona 500. To give fans an opportunity to go to both of those we think is the right move, it's a win-win for everybody."

Maybe NASCAR knows something we don't know about the NFL and possible schedule changes. 

NASCAR officials are anticipating changes to the NFL's schedule. Whether it's an 18-game schedule and/or an extra bye week thrown in, they certainly don't want Speedweeks trying to compete with America's biggest sporting event, the Super Bowl.

They even declined to say that the date for the next Daytona 500 — the fourth Sunday in February — would remain the same in future years.