Kreb vs. Calvin

Bonus points for the first to comment on where I am going with that title (those I have personally told are exempt from playing - sorry).

So, weekend before last, I started the wicked project of taking back my yard. For too long I had mowed the grass (infrequently) and ignored the ever growing, ever expand "extra" green that was around all my grass. True, the lot next to me (community area) hadn't been developed yet, so it was mainly weeds as well - though that is not a valid excuse.

Round one was simple enough, the little area near my front porch. Forrest was on hand to see the battle start



I even had 3+ foot "ninja" (hiding) dandelions. I was impressed, but I was not to be bested:



Haha! Round 1 - to ME!



Unfortunately, Round 2, nature kicked back with with persistent vengeance.



It even attempted to take my dog captive!



BUT NO.. I win again.. Silly plants.



..

..
Of course I'm convinced that the hot weather this last weekend was payback - to which I had no recourse but sweat in agony. Round 3... Nature. =(

Formality

This month for me the "Challenge 2008" was a tough one. Being my first month in "maintenance" mode, and not having to lose weight anymore, I promptly... put weight back on. My comfortable 2.5 lbs cushion went straight to my ass, where I weighed in this morning at 162.2 (162.5 is my "max" without losing a point).

And July I have a birthday and a cruise..... I fear my point lead just might be in jeopardy.

Time to have fun - Saturday Night!

Been a little while since I've been rocking out on a weekend - but this weekend is going to be such an occasion.

Studio 7 - 110 S. Horton St - Seattle - 8pm

For $10 its a 6 band show, with three of my favorites showing up at one place. The full lineup is (with myspace links provided):

Riverbend - These guys are new to me. Good sound though
Out From Underneath - New as well
Counterfist - Recommend Playing: Action Minus or FBC (amazing drummer)
London Get Down - the 3rd new one to me
Windowpane (CD RELEASE) - House of Cards
Late September Dogs - Sometimes


Seriously, this should be one heck of a good evening.

The cabin returns

I know it was just a couple weeks ago I had some pictures from the cabin up; but what can I say, that place is a great time, and yields some darn good pictures:

Young Jedi Jack -- It takes a lot of concentration to be a young jedi:



Scott and I got out and did some riding. It was fun enough I decided to buy his old bike (seriously)



Hopefully soon I'll be able to get some longer rides, with even better and more sweeping shots. The lure of being able to get up to places I normally wouldn't be able to go and get a unique shot or two was a huge part of the decision to buy the bike



Of course, I was being a bit stubborn over the weekend, from a photographer's standpoint. I had been feeling I was using HDR a bit too much, and decided not to talk any. Of course, getting back to my computer and looking at this shot - I realize it would have been absolutely perfect for HDR. Oh well.



I'll just have to blame my personal lens inspector:

WRC 2008 - Round 8, Rally Turkey

Another very dusty and hot rally, Turkey was again a made very exciting by the new rule that the fastest car from day 1, starts first. I know that might seem normal, but its not (wasn't) for rally. What this has created is people not wanting to be first after the 1st day of rally (out of 3 days) - specifically one rallies where there is a lot of loose gravel on the road. If you're in first, you have the unwelcome job of cleaning off the road for those behind you.




I won't give too much away, but a couple of the drivers literally STOPPED in the middle of the race to make sure they were not in first. Not something you see everyday in professional racing. Oh...and like always - Subaru sucked. Maybe its time for me to buy one of the other manufactures in WRC cars: Citroen, Peugeot, Ford or Suzuki ... oh that's right, none of them sell their cars in the USA.

And if you dare to comment about the Evo - I'll shoot you. It doesn't count since the last time Mitsubishi actually raced a rally car was 2005, even if their commercials still try to make you think they are in Rally.



As you'll noticed with the counter at the top - there's a nice long break between Round 8 and Round 9 - this is their summer break. So no rally news / etc until August.

Your quick-link bittorrent links for your downloading pleasure:

Turkey - Day 1
Turkey - Day 2
Turkey - Day 3

(I actually didn't watch those specific links, but they are from my tried and true source (he was slow this rally, and I couldn't wait). Someone let me know if they are not "good").

Instant Gratification - Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) - Turkey Shakedown:

Seasoned Foreign correspondant

Not going to say much, just that I thought this was worth a watch (a rare, fairly serious interview on the Daily Show):

Firefox 3.0

The official release of Firefox 3 is out. And its brilliant. Watch the demo below if you don't believe me, or just go download it now. (I'd still recommend watching the video as it gives you an idea of some of the new features).

This is one of the first times I've really downloaded a new browser and absolutely loved it. It is faster, with more features.




GO DOWNLOAD FIREFOX 3

Where?

So, after hearing the statistic of only 1 in 7 American's can actually find Iraq on a map (who knows if that's right, but it wouldn't surprise me), I wanted to track down a quick web-game that tests how well you know the world.

Sadly, there are 12 levels and I can't pass level 7. My best score is 220,639 points.

http://www.minijuegosgratis.com/juegos/hwdykyworld/hwdykyworld.html?9851=5863

Give it a go and let me know how you do.

Edit:

Well I've played 6 times now - up to level 10 - where it asked stuff like, "Where is Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso".

220,639 points - level 7
177,342 points - level 6
147,634 points - level 5
193,089 points - level 6
250,487 points - level 8
341,134 points - level 10

Have fun!

Top Gear - Season 11

Its not often commercials are nearly as good as the show itself - but both of these, for Season 11 of Top Gear, are absolutely simple - yet show exactly why this show and its hosts is such a hard mix to duplicate (they are trying for the USA - and I'm fairly sure they are going to fail).



Seriously, I need to find a job where you just get to act like a kid, all day long.

Driving mistake

Have you ever seen a stop sign, just a bit too late - and felt a little sheepish about it? Kind of a "wow, I can't believe I missed that - how bad of a driver must I be?"

Well, here's something to finally make you feel better. Formula 1 cars, in my opinion are the undisputed beasts of the paved world. They run similar horse power as Nascar, but 1/3 the weight.

Obviously, these drivers are some of the quickest, and brightest in the world.

They wouldn't ever be caught out by, say... a red light?

Finally, time to feel moderately better about your own driving mishaps:

Photo Friday!

After a long hiatus, Photo Friday is back.

Okay, saying "its back" makes it sound like there will be one next Friday as well. Hmm..

How about, "Making a special appearance, Photo Friday!".

Yeah, that'll work..

Forrest & Jack:



Mr. Jack



The Cabin:



HDR Fire



HDR Panorama (15 shots in this one shot):



Lastly - A sunset.

ON MARS: (seriously, how cool is that?)

WRC Update

I realized yesterday as I finished washing the Rally of Greece, that I completely missed doing the Rally of Italy post as well! Talk about my head going in a crazy number of directions.

Rally D'Italia-Sardegna

Road or creek? Sometimes, the Rally of Italy makes it a bit hard to tell.



Video Downloads (torrents - again, probably not 100% legal)
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

GREECE


Rally Greece is billed as one of the roughest rallies on the calendar and if you actually watch it, you'll understand. The size of the rocks in the road lead to a number of broken suspensions, punctured tires, and more. Even the usually near perfect Loeb was hampered for part of a stage by a punctured tire.

This rally was also the début of the new Subaru rally car. I'm still on the fence if I like the looks of it. I mean, I'm driving around her older sister, and still loving it. Don't want to make my car too jealous and admit the new one isn't horrible .

Not to mention it seems to perform better than the previous model. It'll take more rally to tell if it was just blind luck or not.



Rally Greece:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

Resolution Challenge 2008 - May Update

I'm not sure what happened this month, but it seems like people are starting to tire of the whole idea of the Resolution Challenge. Maybe they are just wimping out, but I heard a lot of excuses this month as to what happened. Doug and James both managed to meet all their goals, but the way a First Grader completes their hated math homework. They both managed one blog (and short at that); but they did make weight, and there wasn't anything in the challenge about the quality of the work. I'm hoping over the next month or two I see a couple more interesting trips from James, and some great kitchen posts from Doug.

Kristy on the other hand, went to the moon or something. She completely failed. No blog, no working out. Nadda. Something about "work being busier than ever."; excuses, excuses. I tell yah, I really didn't think this group was just going to give me easy cash, but you're not going to hear me complain.

The tally:

Me: 3 for 3 - I was supposed to come in under 160 - I came in at a 159.0 flat. For the rest of the year I have to maintain below 162.5, continue my blog'n, and still head out to some bar or something similar. I have to say, I'm mighty excited to not be losing weight anymore.

Kristy: 1 for 3 - No workouts, no blogs. The one random point is a mercy point based on a quarterly business plan objective. We'll see how that is coming together soon enough. For June: GET BACK ON THE BAND WAGON!

Doug: 3 for 3 - He was aiming for 237, and got 236. For June: Lose another pound as he continues his fall to hold at 225.

Tow: 3 for 3 - He redeemed himself, and losses the fatass title. Final weigh in of 169.6 (as he puts it, "2 days of yard work and skipping dinner, for the win"). He's also in maintain mode for the rest of the year - so no coming in above 170 He's 0 for 4 for the photo trips require from May through August - but I'm sure its not going to be hard to get those in.

Points:
Bryce 15
James 14
Kristy 13
Doug 13