We were talking about Nascar at work on Friday and we pretty much all agreed that we did not understand the lure of the racing. I mean, yeah, it is interesting to see the end of a race or a wreck but to watch a whole race is just unbearable. The interesting thing is that Nascar is the fastest growing sport in the country.

I was flipping channels tonight and came up on the Busch series Federated Auto Parts 300, this race was rain delayed and was restarted about an hour before this post. The race will probably run till 2am CST. What really amazed me was the fact that the stands were still filled with people. It did not look like anyone left. What is the draw in this sport?

Anyone who knows the history of Nascar knows that its origins lies in bootlegging. The bootleggers would put hot-rod parts into their cars to outrun police who were trying to stop them from selling illegal homeade alcohol. Wow, what an inspiration for a sport, drinking and running from the law…

It was one of those days when you actually get a lot done but you don’t feel like anything was actually accomplished. My main project at work has been drawn out even longer because of customer prompted changes. No, they were not mistakes on our part, the customer just changed his mind (and probably will continue to change his mind) so I get more work. I am just wanting the piece of software to be complete and move on and maybe come back to it later.

There comes a point when you are working on something and you just become burnt out on it and need to start on something fresh. Well, Monday I get to start my project planning on the programming side of First Bank & Trust. Don’t worry, the site is getting a complete overhaul from our design guys while I get to program the whole dynamic side of the site. It will be a refreshing change from what I am working on now which has to be kept under wraps because of the nature of its use.

So, basically I just need a change of pace. I think everyone needs one some time or ‘nother. Maybe a road trip or something… I may head to Amarillo or Roswell just to get out of town for a weekend. Don’t know exatly what I’ll do when I get there but something different would be nice.

So my middle brother put himself on Hot or Not which for some reason is just hilarious to me. Anyway, you can see the goober here….

Most of the South Plains area and parts of New Mexico have been issued a fire warning for the rest of this week and part of next week. The dewpoints around here are supposed to drop down into the teens and single digits, meaning there won’t be any moisture in the air whatsoever.

The temperature today was around 96 but there was a strong wind which made it even worse, it felt like an oven…

With so many kids back in Lubbock for summer school my internet has gone back down the tubes. The company that supports the network for the apartment complex is Wild-Packets and let me just reiterate how horrible they are at customer service and just service in general.

My internet goes down for about 5 minutes at a time and then it works for two, then back down. If I am lucky I can check my e-mail and respond in that short amount of time. If the managers at the apartment complex actually cared about their paying customers they would resolve this issue as fast as possible, but no, they could care less.

Next semester, no matter where I am living I am going with Cox. Cable TV and cable internet all rolled into one package sounds like the best idea. DSL is not really an option out here because of the distance limitations and cable seems to get pretty nice speeds out here. We’ll see how it all works out.

So I have discovered the need (it’s really a want) for an XBox. I just need something to do in those moments when there is nothing else to do. I would settle for an XBox with one controller because other people can bring their own…

Now for a small rant… Why is it when people see a “Road Closed Ahead” sign they just ignore it? Do they think that when they get to where the road is closed it is magically going to open for them? I saw people read multiple signs a mile from a road closure and they still speed up to get somewhere they can’t go. It boggles the mind. This makes me believe that Houston does not have the worst drivers because the city rounded them all up and dropped them off here!

So I have been informed (again) that I need to get the archiving feature up and working so that people can look at things that have been posted in the past. The only problem is, most of the entries that were made on the old server were damaged in the move on to this server. That is about 1/3 of the entries made and I am looking for a way to fix the problem.

An explanation as to why the blog archives are not up yet is because I have been so busy at work lately that I do not even feel like coming home and getting anywhere near the computer, let alone do any programming. Now, here in a few days things should start to slow down at work and I may be able to get the feature working, but no guarantees.

On the new design front I have still been trying to come up with a layout that I like and is easy to follow. I really like Patrick’s because of the simplicity of it. I also am a big fan of What Do I Know but it is almost too simplistic. Another two of my favorites are Simplebits and Andy Budd both of which will probably influence my design a little more than they should.

Heidi Klum popped up on the TV screen yesterday in a commercial for Overstock.com. Now, since Heidi said that this site always had low prices and that I should visit it, I did. Too bad the whole site broke in Firefox. So, I had to fire up Internet Explorer and have a look around.

To me, their prices aren’t all that great but then again, I don’t go furniture shopping every chance I get. I can get better prices on kitchenware from Amazon.com (kind of strange buying kitchen stuff from Amazon??) and Overstock.com does not have a whole wide selection of furniture (Lay-Z-Boy).

So what’s my verdict? I am not a big fan of the site but it is layed out well with easy navigation. Not 100% on the value of the prices, but check it out and see for yourself.

I was listening to the radio (something I very rarely do) and they were playing this song that sounded a lot like something straight out of the 80’s hair band scene, so no big deal right? Wrong. It was a new band called “The Darkness”. So I came home and looked these guys up and they are like a mutant form of Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Poison, KISS, and Guns & Roses all rolled into one. I mean, it seriously sounds like an 80’s hair band. So my question is, are the hair bands coming back?

80’s music isn’t really my cup of tea but I was pleasantly surprised as to the contents of the songs. Now, I am not saying I could take their music for long periods of time, but for cruising music, it isn’t too bad.

I am filling up my second harddrive fairly quickly and I am needing/wanting a new one. Right now it looks like the best option would be an external harddrive and I have looked into this one. The colors are not necessarily appealing but there are not too many other options available. Maxtor has some external harddrives that are pretty well priced but they have features I really don’t want (like one-touch backup).

My other want/need is a laptop. Next year I will have a lot of time spent on campus, idle time on campus. I think of a lot of little things when I am sitting around and it would be nice to keep track of them when I am not at home. I don’t need a desktop replacement machine, just something light and portable to allow me to get things done when I am away from my desk. I have been looking at these two. The only problem is that you cannot order them directly through ASUS, which I don’t like. I do not want to order them through some third party vendor…