Month: August 2006

Mark Martin’s Showcar

While in Eureka on Saturday I noticed that there was a Mark Martin trailer in the parking lot. After finishing what I needed to do in Eureka, I stopped by Harper’s and was able to check out the Mark Martin show car close up! This is the closest I’ve been to a NASCAR Stock Car. Here’s living proof:

Mark Martin's Showcar

It was very cool to hear that thing fire up!  It is so loud when they rev the engine up.  AAA also had a racing simulator with all the vibrations and force feedback.  Thank you AAA and Harper’s for the opportunity to see the show car!

Woot!

My prototyping area at work is finally getting organized. The new KVM is installed and the cables are more organized. Some of my handy work:

prototyping
I’m excited as it will make me a little more productive when prototyping systems. It definitely looks a lot cleaner.

Carl Edwards a “Bad Boy”?

Bottom line – this season has been tough for “Cousin” Carl. He’s winning races in the Busch series, but is having what some call a “Sophomore” slump in the Nextel Cup. Now poor Carl being classified as NASCAR’s new “Bad Boy” for his retaliation against Dale Jr. during Saturday’s Busch race? This has been a heated discussion in a few of the NASCAR groups I belong to. Most people say it’s “just racin” and that Jr. had the faster car. My question is: where was Edwards to go? He was had Robby Gordon on his driver side with Jr. behind him. When Jr. wrecked Carl on the last lap and ruined his chances of winning, I’d be mad too. As a Carl fan, I do not agree with the actions he took after the wreck by speeding down pit row, finding Dale Jr. during the caution lap and ramming into Jr. I also do not agree with the victory lane confrontation that Carl had with Dale Jr. after he had won.

Carl and Dale

“No really man.. it was just racin’. You got loose!”

Now the question remains: would NASCAR’s golden boy been penalized if Carl hadn’t retaliated? Carl deserved what he got in penalties. Hopefully Carl will learn from this experience. Go Team #99!

Still alive and Kickin’

I swear that life is moving at the speed of light right now.  My current life consists of: getting up in the morning, going to work, try to fit lunch in somewhere, work some more, come home and have dinner… and crash!  This has been pretty consistant since getting back from the SANS Conference in San Diego.  I’m hoping that after the first week of school things will setttle down.  There’s so much I need to do for me, my house, and my cats.  At least this morning I woke up at around 5 and started doing some much needed laundry.

Another Birthday Here and Almost gone…

Got back from my business trip from San Diego yesterday.  My brain is full from all the information I’ve absorbed on Windows Security.  Today is my birthday and I’m sick.  No, not from drinking but from something my body is fighting.  I had a brush with bad food poisoning while on my trip.  I’ve been so worn down lately I’m not really all that surprised.  I got a few awesome shirts for my birthday and got to go see Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby.  Will Ferrell is so funny!  I think I might have to get it on DVD when it comes out.  Can’t beat a winning combination of NASCAR and Will Ferrell

Today’s race at the Glen was interesting.  Carl came in 5th so that was a good day for the Office Depot team.  I just wish that Tony Stewart would have won.  I’ve adopted him as my secondary driver.  I have a Tony Stewart sticker for each of my vehicles… I’m just waiting for my Carl Edwards stickers to come in so I can do it all in one shot.

Anyway, I guess I should go for now.  Hopefully my birthday wish will come true soon!

The end of the free podcasts

Over the past few years podcasts have become a popular thing. Podcasts range on a variety of subjects from computing, to sports, to literary and everything in between.  The common joe can get up on their soap box and say what they feel about any subject and others can listen to it for free…  Until now.  My favorite podcast Rowdy Racing just went subscription fee based.  It’s not a lot at $4.99 a month, but it may start a trend for other podcast providers.

At first I wasn’t going to pay the subscription fee and just live without the daily podcast I became accustomed to, but I ended up subscribing after a 3 day withdrawl.  Rowdy is a very entertaining podcast and they do a great job of preparing for each daily show and have insightful guests and features.  For me it’s worth it.  Keep up the great work, Buck, Bass, The Prof, Linda B., Mark, and all the contributors that make Rowdy the best NASCAR podcast out there!

It will be interesting to see how subscription podcasts play out.