JDRF Funny Car Design Contest

It would seem as if we made a rookie mistake with James' entry into the Funny Car Design Contest.  Yesterday, he was solidly in the third spot, but by the time the competition ended yesterday afternoon, he had been bumped entirely out of the top five by people who had saved their ammunition for the end of the fight.  Hence his design will not have a chance to be chosen for painting on Bob Tasca's funny car. A design to which, I might add, Bob Tasca himself donated.  I wasn't supposed to announce this yesterday, because Christi didn't want to violate his confidence, but screw it.  The driver liked James' design and donated to support it.  Take from that what you will.  

Sigh. This is such a bummer. 

Still, I am very happy we were able to raise over $2300 for JDRF, which is truly a great organization, devoted to finding a cure for Type I diabetes.  A significant chunk of that sum was due to the overwhelming generosity of devoted Cake Eater reader, Russ from Winterset, and his promotion of James' cause to the morons over at Ace of Spades, who generously gave of their spare cash to help out.  We thank all of thee.  You're a great group of people.  Seriously.  Now you can get back to burnishing your street cred by bashing some hobos and sucking down the Val-U-Rite Discount Vodka.  I won't tell anyone your deep dark secret of helping a ten-year-old find a cure for his disease.  It's safe with me.  I promise.  And a huge helping of thanks should go to the ewok in charge of the joint, Ace, for putting up with it.  You're a good egg, dude.  I know, I know.  You don't want anyone to know.  But it's out there.  Pfft.  Deal with it.  

But...

...it would have been so super-duper, freakin' fantastically cool to have played a small part in sending James on the trip of a lifetime, which, in some small way, might have been a decent consolation prize for all the shots, finger sticks, and denied Halloween candy he's had to cope with over his short life.  The kid has put up with a lot, simply because his pancreas crapped out on him.  And he's turned out to be such a great kid, too, because of, and in spite of, all he had placed on his tiny shoulders a week after his third birthday.  I'm very proud to have James as my nephew. 

I'm a fortunate auntie: I have a prodigious number of nieces and nephews.  Over twenty, in fact.  It's been interesting to watch them on their road to adulthood, to see the lessons they learn, and to see how they tackle the challenges life presents them.  Objectively speaking, they're a pretty extraordinary bunch, on the whole, who have taken the privileges they've been granted and have made the most of them.  Sometimes I'm even jealous at the opportunites they've been able to take part, because I sure as hell never had what they had.  The instances where certain nieces and nephews have pissed away what they've been given are far and few between, which, given your average teenager these days, is pretty extraordinary.  Given that observation, James, even though he's ten, has truly risen to the challenges with which he's been presented, and I find that amazing.  If I was him, I'd still probably be ranting and raving over the unfairness of it all.  But he doesn't.  This is not to say he hasn't had his moments, because he has---and who can blame him?---but he's pretty much over it. Nowadays he deals...and he deals well.  He's pretty much in charge of his care now, and he's the one who sticks his finger during testing now, and who makes sure his pump is doing what it should.  The kid has mad math skillz from having to manage his diabetes.  He's learned, partially through fundraising for JDRF, how to be an eloquent ten-year-old when he talks about his condition; he knows that people will be curious, and that they might ask questions, so he tries to put things in a positive light while never blowing off the severity of the situation.  He knows more about nutrition than most adults, and if he follows through with his current career plan, which is to be a chef, I'm sure he'll make tasty, healthy, pleasing food.

So given all this exceptionalism on James' part, you can understand why I'm bummed we couldn't get this done for him.  Alas, however, that's life. 

If James decides to enter the contest next year, you can bet your bottom dollar (which, of course, we WILL ask for at that point) we will not make the same mistake we made this year.  

Thanks to everyone for their extraordinary support.  You're a good group of people and I'm pleased to have you as devoted Cake Eater readers.   

Yep.  July has once again rolled around, and the time has come to PIMP the ever livin' heck out of the devoted Cake Eater readership for my nephew, James. 

You remember James, right?  He's ten, going into fourth grade, and for as long as I've been writing this blog, I've hit you, my devoted Cake Eater readers, up for cold hard cash to help fund research for a cure for his diabetes.  I'd post a picture, but, hell, he's reached that age where I'm not really sure he wants his auntie posting his picture to the web, so we'll avoid that for the time being. This July is no different--I need your cash, or rather James needs your cash so he doesn't have to deal with this stupid disease any longer.  

This year, however, we have a plot twist. 

Yes, I'm still hitting you up for cash, but instead of sending you to James' JDRF homepage, from whence you have all generously donated to JDRF in the past in sponsorship of James' Jaywalkers, his Walk to Cure Diabetes team, I'm sending you here.

{Insert me waiting patiently for you all to make the small gesture and click on the frigging link here.}

 {I'm still waiting.}

{Yep.  STILL waiting.} 

{Are you people completely insensitive to the plight of a ten-year-old boy who was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes at the age of three?  Someone who, literally, has no memory of not having this disease?  JUST CLICK ON THE DAMN LINK, ALREADY!  You're pissing me off and making me think your utter and undying devotion to me, the Goddess of Snark, is just completely false.}

That's better.

Thank you for clicking.  And clicking back, because we know I love those double hits in the stat section. 

Ahem. 

Anyway, here's the deal: That design you saw on that page...you know, this one:

Well, that's James' entry for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Funny Car competition, sponsored generously by Ford Motor Company (you know, that company who refused to take the bail-out).  Whichever kid gets the most donations in support of their design, will have it painted on Bob Tesca's Ford Funny Car (whatever the hell that might be) and will get to travel to North Carolina with their parents for the unveiling.  James would like fame and fortune. 

So, being a good auntie, it's time to send you all back to the page, which you can find here. (See what a nice person I am?  I didn't even make you scroll back up yonder to revisit said link.) I urge you to donate some money to James' cause, which has the potential benefit of making a ten-year-old kid's year, because, if he won, well, he'd get to go and live the lush life for a weekend, meeting and greeting with celebrity race car drivers, courtesy of Ford, to say nothing of having his design on a race car. But, you could, also, conceivably make his life by sponsoring research to cure a disease he has, which can be treated, but comes with many possible complications, like blindness, death and amputation, and, of course, the inability to eat any of the candy he receives in his pillowcase on Halloween night.

It's a win-win, right? 

Did I mention the donation was tax-deductible?  I didn't.  Well, it is.  So, I guess that would make it a triple win, or what they call a trifecta in the horse racing biz.  What's not to like?

And, no, worries, my devoted pro-life Cake Eater readers, none of the money will go to stem-cell research. 

So, go, give...give like the wind.  Thanks for you support.