Ahh…the first evidence that the automotive driving public is coming to its senses. The Hummer H2 is starting its long, welcome sales slide into oblivion. The 11mpg behemoth, the symbol of American largess seems soon to join the Ford Excursion, whose porcine mass would seem to preclude any sort of excursion whatsoever, in the automotive junkyard. Perhaps, finally, America will wise-up and choose more efficient options for taking Timmy to soccer practice. Seventy-five dollars per bi-weekly fillup will do that to ya.

Scan of the Evolution School coursemap from last Friday. It’s a bit confusing, from the map above, but let me esplain: Start-out at the lower left, pointing towards the slalom. Enter the constant-distance slalom on the right and alternate until you get tothe 5th gate. Trip the timing light and that ends segment 1. Take the 360 going clockwise first time. Exit heading towards the top of the map. As you exit, trip the light again, and this ends segment 2. ...

As the world has passed me by in the intervening days, I’ve sought some sort of response to its events. For some reason, it’s been like another 9/11 for me, my eyes dimmed, my heart sad. May God grant me just a moment to get out what burdens my heart: I am no dove, understand. I believe war is a sad reality that will be with us until humanity’s life is snuffed out. As has been said, a person may be intelligent, empathic, and willing to compromise, but people on the whole are xenophobic, scared, and violent. People wish to acquire as many resources and as much power as they can, which is just peachy until encountering another such group. Thus, war is reality. ...

Well, an altogether disappointing last few hours. I got home and hand a hankering for some atmosphere, coffee, and internet connection, so I decided to head for the Lock and Key. Got an extremely disappointing cup of Kenyan coffee for $2. Okay, consider: a whole POUND of the stuff might cost $10. That’s a pound of whole beans. I don’t mind paying for exceptional coffee, but $1 to $1.50 sounds more reasonable to me. On top of that, the coffee tasted under-strength, like they’re trying to stretch their profits a bit. »sigh« ...

Finally got some pics from Derby Breakfast in Frankfort on May 1st.

For some reason, this picture is autocross for me; it’s the anticipation, the course, the car, the man, the weather.

Well, I’ve finally (re)joined the information age at full speed: Got my cable modem set-up last Tuesday and I waited a whole 6 hours after that to get my wireless router/firewall setup. Now, i’ve got both my powerbook and my dell running through it wirelessly on 1.5 Mbps connection to the internet. Nummy :D Also, in the package I get 10mb of web hosting, so guess what’s going there? PICTURES! For the past few weeks I’ve had a trial .Mac account, but that’s proven to be cumbersome, considering I have all the photo storage/editing/upload stuff I need right here in my powerbook. So, i’m going to drop that when the 60 days runs out and migrate my pics over to my new adelphia hosting. don’t think I’ll bother with an actual site w/them. My blog keeps me busy enough as is. ...

Some pics from the evolution school I took on Friday: Ahh..nothing like MINIs in the sunrise A little symmetry as Ron (left) and Mark (right) change their street tires for Khumho Ecsta V700’s. Rons would delaminate from the heat by the end of the day. This is Ron’s MINI about to head out on course. We had two parallel courses, both exactly the same, so both groups compared times against one another. I was the fastest MINI, but Mark was right behind me.

It’s good to be loved: _ I tested out the scenario with your modified version of code and it seems to work great! Tremendous effort! I am contemplating whether I should propose Oxford to include a new word ‘Harold’ in their latest version of English Dictionary which would mean ‘Rock Solid’! _ From my co-worker and friend in India, Subrata. I love that guy; I’d work with him anywhere, anytime. * * * ...

Life is what happens during the pauses: The pause when a suckling babe looks at his mother and smiles The split second your realize, yes, your dad’s let go of the bike and you’re riding on your own After making love when you gaze at your beloved The time when the sun’s setting and you gaze at your land, and your home That second after an exceptional performance, right before the audience explodes in applause ...

Well, long time and no blog. Tonight, I find myself blogging from Georgetown, Kentucky’s first cyber cafe, “Lock and Key Coffee House”, in the old JC Penny’s building, which then was a bank, which then was…er…something. Now it’s a coffee house. they’ve got a website, but I can’t seem to resolve the name. i’m sure i’ll be back, so I’ll post pics then. Honestly, it’s too cool for G’town. * * * ...

Well, after an hour-and-a-half at the dentist’s office and an hour nap, I’m conscious again. Man, is the dentist HORRIBLE! I mean, they do the best they can (tons of novacaine) but the combination of the close-quarters, the medieval looking instruments, and the sounds and smells. Gaa… Anyway, I just had one small filling that had to be redone w/a tooth-color filling, so it was relatively simple.

Random thought I had while doing laundry: Everything takes longer than you estmate. Personally, I’m late to most everything. It’s rather a personality trait (thanks, honey!), and it puzzles me. I used to be spot on time (or early) to everything, but then I realized: I wasn’t, my PARENTS were. My mom was my chauffer everywhere, and she’s always early. Anyway, I suck at estimating how long something’s going to take. From brushing my teeth to housecleaning, combine my proclivity for procrastination with my bad estimating skills, and i’m chronically late. ...

New MINI colors (or ‘colours’ ) for 2005. (Top: Hyper Blue. Bottom: Cool Blue) Meh. Give me Indigo Blue (“indy blue”) any day of the week.

don’t ask why…here are the lyrics to “Pop Goes the Weasel”

Well, if you want to buy that Mitsu Evo, better do it quick Mitsubishi is in deep trouble, though I’m not suprised. Aside from the Evolution 8, they have no interesting product: The Galant is an also-ran, as are the lancer, the Ascender, etc. No product == no sales == no profits == no company. Recently, an affiliate, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus, had announced a recall after a series of accidents caused by wheels flying off moving vehicles. In one widely reported case, a young woman was struck and killed by a runaway truck wheel. Mitsubishi Fuso was a division of Mitsubishi Motors in 2002, when the accidents occurred; it later sold much of its stake to DaimlerChrysler, which owns 65 percent of the truckmaker. ...

Incredibly incisive New York Times article on how America is losing to foreign nations because of our lack of focus on innovation. We’re doomed, folks. Enjoy it while it lasts: While America is the elephant, a million gnats in the form of India, China, and East Asia are nipping away at our effectiveness. Sure, our vast natural resources and productive economy have enabled us to be the big dogs for comming-up on a century, but times change. While we might churn-out 100k top-level engineers in this country per year, China can output a million. ...

Now, this is cool….profiles of your neighborhood’s demographics apparently G’town is not as bad as you’d think… Jackson’s a total hell-hole, but then ya knew that…

Long, cautionary tale about how Offshoring and bad software killed AT&T Wireless The company became sharkbait for acquisition by Cingular.

Article on the recovery of ancient greek fighting vessels, the triremes: Very Cool