NRB, WRC, HD

I'll work back to front on that title.

I was surfing along today and ran across a HD link to what it is like to stand on the 10m platform in the Water Cube in Beijing. I get nervous just looking at the picture, let alone thinking what it must be like to have thousands of people screaming for you. Click the link, click "full screen", tell it to stop rotating (its annoying) and just take it in (click and hold to "look around". Absolutely stunning:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/08/21/sports/olympics/20080821_10M_DIVING.html


Made slightly more impressive if you were watching last night as the 15 year old Chinese Chen Ruolin, down 7 points the round before, on her last dive and behind the leader (from Canada) that just nailed her dive -- then watching Chen Ruolin bend physics and skip the whole "entering the water" part. Was brilliant.

****

WRC - Quick & Dirty. It was the Rally of Germany last weekend, and for the previous 6 years it has been in the WRC, Loeb has won it 6 times. Its a tarmac rally, which usually aren't my favorite, but it entertaining to watch none the less.




Spoiler, this year isn't any different, but its still absolutely amazing to watch him drive these roads.





Day 1
Day 2
Day 3



***

Lastly - NRB = Nerve Root Block. Going to be an interesting weekend. This Saturday morning I'm off to attempt yet another step in the saga that has been my recovery of the drunk'n dominions delivery driver decimation. I've tried not thinking or reading too much about step as it involves shooting something (probably out of a sizable needle) into my back.

Oyi.

iPhone is brilliant

(Please do not call my old cell - it is work only now. If you do not have my new phone number, let me know... its my number I've had since I was 12).

For a very long time I have said Apple hardware is overpriced and overhyped. I'll give Steven Jobs his due, he's been really good at the hype machine. I, stand here today though, completely corrected. When the iPhone first came out, I was very much in the camp of "overpriced and overhyped".

Its still overhyped, but now at $199, I can't really say its overpriced. For the last year I have been using a VX6700 through Verizon, and anyone that has talked to me knows that I absolutely HATE that phone. Its looks like an bloated oreo, and very often than I care to admit to, it runs like you'd expect a Windows machine to run. Half the time when someone calls that phone, the ringer breaks up as the phone it so overloaded with crap that it doesn't have the processor power left to RING.

Okay, enough about how much I hate my old phone - its my old phone because I bought an iPhone (3g, 8gb). You've seen the commercials, and I had just about every high hope you could imagine. I expected pretty much everything to be flawless and intuitive.

Conclusion: I have never been so impressed with a single piece of technology in my life. It is half the thickness of my soggy oreo, yet somehow manages to do everything you ask of it. I keep thinking of new things I would like it to do, and it just does it. I've been consistently shocked the last week+.

So what have I asked my little "phone" to do?

• Manage all my email account with greater easy than I can do on my computer.
• Pull up a youtube video that my parents were going on about
• Record the horsepower, 0-60, and 1/4 mile times in my car
• Keep me entertained with reflex games, and old school labyrinth marble games
• Have a battery life that goes longer than expected (I'm on a 3rd day of usage)
• Access and play all my downloaded videos through TVersity

I could go on (and I will as I work and play through more applications for the phone), but its simply not a phone. For the first time I really feel like I have a full out mobile computer in my hand that doesn't really sacrifice what its supposed to be there for (phone).

If you have an iPhone - and have some favorite applications, leave a comment. I'm going to be doing some more detailed "why its awesome, why its not" application reviews for the iPhone (as I know a couple of my readers do have one, and a couple that are thinking about getting one).

180+ Floors

What does a 180+ floor Skyscraper look like? Go see Burj Dubai in Dubai

Rally Finland

They don't normally get long breaks in Rally - as the last one (just over a month) is considered their "Summer Break". It was long enough for me - that's for sure.

If you haven't been following the rally championship this year (and want to), now is the time to pick it back up. The Finland rally is one of the fastest ones of the season, and they do a nice recap of the season a the start of the coverage.

Oh, I don't make this stuff up about Rally being popular. I swear:



Rally Finland

Finland Torrents:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3


And just a note from China that I thought was interesting:

*Huge* picture update

Normally I would post a couple of the better ones, with a quick story, but from Saturday - Tuesday is been a non-stop photo-fest. Just click the picture below and advance through the photos as the Picasa Album has a running commentary of the pictures:

To Colin - From Travis

Touching

Very touching photo journal - the server is having issue this morning, hopefully it'll be fixed by the time you're reading this:

http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/#/0

(click at the bottom of the picture to move to the next picture)

I'm sure we'll be just fine..

psssshhhh Hello, this is your pilot speaking. I do understand that if you look out your window right now it would seem as if we are heading straight towards the ground. Don't be alarmed, this is just a part of our new normal landing sequence.