Tag Archives: DC

Where will June Bug Land?

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Dale Earnhardt Jr, son of the late, great, iconic “Big E”, is leaving the team and company his father founded, to seek his NASCAR fortunes with another team. I’ve read all kinds of punditry about what he could/would/should do, and offer a few unsolicited observations of my own, typed here into the internet:

  • It would be a mistake for him to attempt Nextel Cup with his own team, JR Motorsports. He wants to win races and championships now, not manage a race team. This would be a last-ditch option, and won’t happen right now. I’d trade my paycheck for the worst of the many offers he will get.
  • Hendrick Motorsports has been eliminated out-of-hand. Hendrick has four teams, the maximum NASCAR allows. But, this is Dale Jr, and contracts from existing drivers can be bought out. Hendrick’s #25 car, currently piloted by Casey Mears, ran the Budweiser livery back in the late 80′s-early 90′s. Still, Hendrick is a long-shot.
  • Richard Childress Racing has an opening, since RCR currently fields only three teams. RCR is a sentimental favorite to win the Dale Jr derby, since Big E won 6 of his 7 championships with RCR. And any race fan1 would get goosebumps at seeing the #3 car back on the racetrack. Still, I think the timing isn’t right for that to happen; Dale Jr said he’d have to mull that one over for a while.
  • Joe Gibbs Racing currently fields three teams, and good teams at that. There’s been trackside punditry that casts JGR as the outsider in this free agent landing game. I think the move to JGR makes a lot of sense. Here’s why:
    1. Dale wants to win now. JGR is a winning team.
    2. Joe Gibbs coaches for Redskins owner Dan Snyder. Dan is not opposed to celebs, marketing, and selling tickets. Junior is a huge ‘Skins fan. And Budweiser is not averse to any type of sports marketing.
    3. The Car of Tomorrow is here today. JGR is very close to having the COT figured out. Mastering that will be a key to winning.
    4. I think that Tony Stewart will retire in a couple of years. JGR will need a senior guy. Junior will be 34-35 in a couple of years.
    5. After a 3-5 year gig at JGR, we’ll see the return of the #3, as Dale returns to RCR to finish his behind-the-wheel racing career.

When this all comes true, I expect heartfelt congratulations on my prescience. When it doesn’t, I’ll be pondering, analyzing, and blogging anyhow. So there. And, in the last analysis, NASCAR isn’t about racing as much anymore. Kyle Petty said on a TV interview a week or two ago, “NASCAR is a sport on Sunday; the other six days, it’s business.” And I agree with that, and wish all the best for Dale Jr. His hardest decision is behind him now, and I’ll be looking for him in victory lane.

-k-

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1 myself included

News Bloggin’ Again

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Man, we have a real live police-car chase being broadcast live on the morning news. On the Capital Beltway. The guy has rammed at least one car, the hood is bent up, smoke is trailing profusely from the back. News helicopters are on the case.

I feel like I’m in El Lay.

-k-

Should I Laugh or Cry?

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From local ABC affiliate WJLA Channel 7 Weather:

What was thought might be a mostly freezing rain event for the DC area has turned into the most significant snow of the season. Winter storm warnings extend through early tomorrow as snowfall totals of 2 to 5 inches and in some area up to 10 inches are expected. A changeover to sleet, freezing rain, and eventually all rain should occur later today as milder air arrives from the south. Indeed, tomorrow is expected to see highs in the 40s under mostly cloudy skies.

Looks to be a scraping or shoveling event. In either case, I’ll need the liniment.

-k-

Update: I’ve had to take the broom to brush off the LNB on the satellite dish twice in the last two tours. From the pixelation I’m currently seeing, the third time can’t be far off.

Daytona 500 Pre-Race Hype

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NASCAR and the NFL are a lot alike. I wrote here about the pre-game hypage for SB XLI. Not to be outdone, here’s the pre-Daytona 500 coverage, all times EST:

  • 10:00 – 11:00 ESPN2 – NASCAR Now
  • 11:00 – 12:00 ESPN2 – Michael Waltrip Racing: A New Era
  • 11:00 – 2:00 SPEEDtv – NASCAR RaceDay
  • 2:00 – 7:30 FOX – The 49th Daytona 500

    • The FOX coverage also includes about an hour of pre-race hype; the green flag flies around 3:15. Also not included was ESPN2′s airing of the movie 3 at 8:00 this morning, as well as SPEEDtv’s marathon 70+ hours of broadcasting from Speed Weeks.

    I plan to ass up and watch all the action on the new big teevee, and tune to one of the NASCAR HotPass channels (794 – 799 on DirecTV), to see a race as never before.

    And, on this date in 2001, Dale Earnhardt was killed on the last lap of the 500. Another reason the racing’s not the same.

    -k-

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    A tbbs-land Quiz

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    If you can pick the bomb from these two, you’re not from Boston:


    Maybe Turner Broadcasting should have thought this through a little more, but I still can’t see how this marketing ploy gone awry caused everyone to get into such a lather.

    If I hear “post-911 world” one more time, I’m gonna scream. Or load up the iPod with podcasts and listen to them during drive-time. Yeah, there’s the ticket.
    -k-

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    Full Court Press Squeezes Me Yet Again

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    I had a schedule which erroneously listed the Kansas vs. Winston-Salem State mens basketball game as being scheduled for last night. OK, the schedule was free, downloaded from an iCal sharing place, and imported into iCal, synced to the Palm, and noted during yesterday’s pre-work GTD daily review. I’m not upset, this was doubtless an honest mistake on the calendar creator’s part.

    I couldn’t find the game last night, checked the KU Athletics website, and found the game is on tonight. No problem. A keyword search for “Kansas” on the TiVo reveals nothing. I’m still OK; pre-season games are sometimes not broadcast; I don’t like that, but such is life.

    So tonight, after Emeril Live, I’m trolling through the ESPN Pay Channels, only to find the game early in the start of the second half, the fact that the guide for that channel failed to show the game at all to the contrary notwithstanding.

    Now, I don’t mind the hundred bucks we pay for this, but I’d think for that, I wouldn’t have to scour every channel where it might be just to find what I paid for. And, I also don’t know whom to blame, ESPN for not providing schedule data, or DirecTV/TiVo for failing to get the schedule updated. I do know that it’s not worth my time to find out. I also know I’ll remember this incident when the ESPN’s Full Court Press comes up for renewal next year. It could then be time to vote … with the remote. And listen to the games on the internets.

    -k-

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    An Early Gift

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    I was trolling the DirecTV channels earlier this AM, when I happened upon an Early Bird Offer for DirecTV’s exclusive HotPass, which will broadcast all 36 of next season’s NASCAR Nextel Cup races from an in-car, driver perspective. I’d blogged about it briefly here.

    From DirecTV:

    NASCAR HotPass uses five channels to focus on five of NASCAR’s top drivers each week of the NEXTEL Cup Series. 25 dedicated cameras will cover only these five drivers for that race. Cameras will include an in-car camera, two overhead corner cameras in turns 1 and 3, a pit box overhead camera and a pit crew shoulder camera giving you unique access to the drivers during the race. Real time data tracks the speed, RPMs and other stats. HotPass will also change the way you listen to NASCAR: each HotPass channel has two NASCAR announcers describing the action of that particular driver, and youll also hear communications between the driver, his spotter and team

    The FAQ also says:

    HotPass also includes network coverage of the race in a smaller window on your screen so you will not miss out on their great coverage of the bigger race developments of that race.

    And, best of all worlds, the Early Bird offer consists of two payments of $39.50, or $79, as opposed to the regular price of $99. I’m in. As I wait out the 64 days until the Daytona 500, I can lobby SWMBO for a bigger screen teevee.

    -k-

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    GTD – GID1

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    Dave Slusher writes of his struggles with GTD. He provides pointage to a David Allen/Merlin Mann podcast that said:

    it takes two years to really get the GTD system internalized.

    After reading Dave’s post, I see that he and I are in approximately the same GTD status: we both have Hipster PAA cards out the wazoo, an we’ve both been dutifully adding more day by day. In both our cases, we’ve not progressed steadily on the processing of that information.

    I’m using the PAA as input into my Palm PDA, and to do information has been flowing smoothly. I look through the balance of my cards, and find that what needs to be handled is the reference type information (the command to initiate a Linux kickstart from an Open Firmware prompt, stuff like that). The plan is to transfer this info from cards, to properly categorized Palm memos. The Missing Synch for Palm OS does a wonderful job in synching everything from the Palm to a Mac-based desktop. Contact info goes to the Mac’s address book, calendar info to the calendar, etc. Plus, and this is a big plus, categories are created on the fly; for example, if you see a need for another to-do category, create it on the Palm, add the to-do, and Missing Sync will create the item and the category on the desktop at the next sync. Prior versions had a catchall category to lump items, and it was a real pain to have to edit items after a sync, just to get them properly categorized.

    So, I’ve got all the tools, I know what needs to be done, and like Dave, I just need to do it. Once caught up, I think the daily portion will be easily maintained. And Dave has it right; pick a time for daily review (with the AM java is a great time), and weekly review (weekends are a great time), and then just do it, dammit.

    If it takes two years to get this process internalized, there’s no time like the present to start.

    -k-

    1 – GID = Get It Done, not the gid in the Unix sense. And not GED, in the Larry the Cable Guy Sense.

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    To Whom Do I Complain?1

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    I sat down a couple of hours ago, all primed to watch Kansas Jayhawks basketball. They played the DePaul Blue Demons in Chicago this afternoon.

    SWMBO and I buy the ESPN Full Court package each year, at a cost of $100.00 or so for the season. That usually gets us our games of interest. Today, ESPN saw fit to broadcast the game on something called ESPN/U, also one of their channels. DirecTV wants another $12 per month to get ESPN/U, which is part of something they call their “Sports Package.” This package includes 24 or so Fox Sports Channels, any 8 of which are broadcasting the same game simultaneously at any given point in the day.

    Not willing to extend our DirecTV plan, we listened to the game on XM Radio, and cringed as the Jayhawks went down to defeat today.

    I don’t know if it’s ESPN’s or DirecTV’s policies that resulted in our not seeing the game on TV. It’s not even worth the effort to call either network. What I will say is that I’d be all for kicking TV out of my life entirely, if there were a way to view the following:

  • Prison Break
  • CSI Miami
  • Jericho
  • Friday Night Lights

    • In addition, I’d like to be able to see a few sporting events throughout the year. I’m even willing to buy a Mac Mini, or something comparable, and dedicate it to teevee watching. I’d lash up any kind of gear necessary to make that happen, and pull the plug on the whole bunch. For what we pay DirecTV in a year’s time, we have a good down payment on an alternative.

    -k-

    1 – That headline, proper English and all, is in memory of all the long-suffering English teachers in my life.

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    Happy Birthday, You Wonderful Old Waste of Pixels Blog!

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    One year ago today, this old blog got off to a modest start. A year later, it humbly rattles on. I’ve debated about “branding” and such-like twaddle, and today it occurred to me: I am a mutt.

    Yep, I like NASCAR, classical music, good single-malt scotch, a good cigar, Chevys, country music, escargot, pulled pork BBQ, pickup trucks, NPR, Coors or Bud, podcasts, and the occasional dip of Skoal.

    So, I like what I like, and during the next year, I’ll share some of all of the above with y’all. OK?

    I guess I’m supposed to render statistics, so here goes:

  • one year
  • 699 posts(not counting this one)
  • 325 comments
  • 1881 Akismet spam blocks

    • Modest numbers for a modest man. Keep showing up, comment when you’re moved, and life will be good.

    -k-