2 month update

Its been two months since I updated. This is mostly due to the undeniable fact that I became quite busy. I make no excuses for November. Its when all the best books, movies, and video games are released. And believe me, those can--and usually do--take up the majority of my free time. So let's see what have I been doing. Warning: This will be an exceptionally large update.

How about bowl season? Seems a good a place as any.
- Championship game - Texas vs. Alabama. I would have rather seen TCU in the championship game because I think they have the potential to beat both teams, but there's nothing I can do about it at this point. Alabama did beat Florida, so they made a believer out of me. I think they will beat Texas with their defense.
- Fiesta Bowl - Boise St vs. TCU. Why did it have to be two of my three favorite teams? Ugh. I still want Boise St to win, but I also want TCU to win. Either way it will be a bittersweet victory. I think TCU will be the victor.
- Rose Bowl - Oregon vs. Ohio St. Good luck, Buckeyes. You're gonna need it cause you don't stand a chance.
- Orange Bowl - Iowa vs Georgia Tech. Iowa squeaked by too many games for me to have faith in them. Georgia Tech will this one.
- Sugar Bowl - Florida vs. Cincinnati. Both are great teams, but Florida lost their momentum at the end of the year. Still, I will go with the flow and pick Florida, but I fully believe Cincy is capable of winning.

Okay, now onto the book I was looking forward to for three years. The Gathering Storm. Ever since the passing away of James Oliver Rigney on Sept. 16th, 2007, Wheel of Time fans have been in limbo about the beloved fantasy series. Even though Harriet, Rigney's widow, chose Brandon Sanderson to pen the final volumes of the series, many had doubts as to whether the series would remain true to the world Jordan had established.

On October 27th, 2009 I became a part of history and went to the the release party in Provo, Utah. I originally intended to provide photos of the event, but I inadvertently forgot to bring my phone. (I don't have a digital camera for reasons I shall explain at a later date.) So unfortunately, I cannot provide any pictures. Still, it was quite chilly outside the BYU Bookstore, but the ushers did provide some fun material to keep our minds occupied while we waited for the stroke of midnight.

But is the book any good? If you enjoy reading the Wheel of Time series, the book is nothing less than awesome. So many side plots are being resolved, and you can see how all the lines are slowly merging together. But that's not what makes it awesome. It how they are coming together. Its done in a personality-driven fashion that is so realistic, I feel like the characters are my friends I know them so well. The epic story is finally picking up speed and its amazing how its all coming together so well.

Thank you, Brandon Sanderson on a job well done. You have preserved the look and feel of the Wheel of Time without making it artificial. Its not often I go back and read a book a second or third time just because I want to relive the intensity.

Brandon Sanderson's Eulogy of Jordan.

Moving on, its time for some video game reviews.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Its probably one of the most anticipated games in recent memory. I had many complaints about the first one. Amongst other things, the maps were too small and too unrealistic, the martyrdom and multi-frag perks were annoying, sniping was absolutely broken, knifing was ridiculously overpowered, there wasn't enough ammo without the bandolier perk, there was too much sway on the ACOG scope, and the camera always jumped when you were being hit. I think the sniping complain warrants further explanation. First of all, the Barret .50 caliber M82 rifle was NOT A ONE-HIT KILL. Seriously, even if a .50 cal bullet hits a non-vital part of the body like an arm or leg, it would BLOW IT OFF THE BODY thus leading to swift death. The sway on sniper scopes, though realistic, was sadly busted by the fact that it takes about 2-3 seconds for the sway to stop once you took a breath. That doesn't seem like a lot of time, but in the game its forever. By the time your sway stops, your target is halfway across the map, no longer in a line of sight. Even if you were able to pull the trigger and hit the target, they would know exactly where you're sniping from because of the killcam. This alone negates any advantage the sniper had in the first place, and his position will be compromised after one shot. Its stupid. Often, the sniper will shoot at targets quite a distance away, and even though they are running, as long as the sniper puts the crosshairs on their head and pulls the trigger, its a hit regardless of distance. That's dumb. Bullets are fast, but they are never instantaneous.

Okay, so did they fix the issues in the new game?
- Maps too small - Same.
- Maps too restrictive - Same.
- Martyrdom - Not gone completely, but reduced enough for it to not be so annoying.
- Multi-frag - Blessedly fixed. Thank God.
- Knife overpowered - WORSE. They added Commando perk, essentially making the knife an instant kill gun.
- Limited ammo - Same. You'll run out fast.
- Sway on ACOG sight - Same. Its as hard as hell to use. In fact, the ACOG barely zooms at all and takes up too much of your vision to be useful.
- Camera jump while being hit - Sadly, not fixed. This is death for snipers. If you get hit first, its over.
- Unrealistic Barrett - Same crap. If you don't want an instant kill sniper rifle in the game, take this gun out. Seriously.
- Killcam for snipers - Same crap. They always know where you're sniping from.
- No leading shots - Not fixed.

Do I like the game? Nope. They fixed 2 of 11 issues I had.
Do I play the game? Yes. Because its challenging and I like the rewards, titles, and leveling system.

Overall, thumbs down. The game was already run&gun, but now its run&knife. Its not realistic or fun, its inane and tedious. I want my money back.

Left 4 Dead 2
It was also highly anticipated because of the success of the first game, which was great, I might add. So was the second one better? You better believe it. They tripled the amount of guns available to use, added 11 melee weapons, 3 new special infected, 2 new game modes, 5 new campaign levels (which coincidentally form one long storyline), and new items to carry such as adrenaline, boomer bile, and a defibrillator. That's enough new content to satisfy any fan of the series.

Did they break the story? Nope, its still good.
Did they break the difficulty? Nope, if anything its actually harder, which in my opinion was a good move.

Despite it being more difficult, the game is as fun as hell and never really gets old. Thumbs up here, great game, worth the wait, and well worth the money.

I think I'll leave off with a review of the movie I saw tonight, The Princess and the Frog. I have four words that sum it up. Thank you, John Lasseter. The quality of EVERYTHING in the movie has increased exponentially over previous Disney debacles, and you can tell its because Lasseter had a finger in it the whole way. Worth the price of a ticket? Definitely. And that's saying a lot coming from me.

BCS whining again.

Last Monday evening I went to The Gathering Storm release party in Provo, Utah. Well, I haven't posted about it because I've been too busy reading the book --which is awesome, by the way. I'll post a blog about it with pictures as soon as I get the pictures from the person who took them. (My phone conveniently ran out of battery as we approached Provo.)

So for now, I'm going to give my opinion of the BCS's top 10.

1- Florida: I think Florida is right where they belong. They're better than Alabama and Texas.
2- Alabama: They're probably too high. Texas is better.
3- Texas: Probably should be #2. Their balance of offense and defense is amazing.
4- Iowa: You're kidding me, right? Iowa is so overrated. Since when have they blown out opponents weaker than themselves? They have squeaked by so many games with barely a win. Sure, they're top 10, but not #4.
5- USC: Overrated. Barkley is good, but not that good. And their defense is atrocious.
6- TCU: Underrated. TCU is doing everything right. They could go against Texas or Alabama and it would be a great game.
7- Boise St: Also underrated. Boise St has proven time and time again that they can play as good as those overrated SEC and Pac-10 teams.
8- Cincinati: Okay, top 10 is where they belong. They're great this year.
9- LSU: Ugh overrated again. They struggled against Washington and barely survived Miss St. They're top 15 though.
10- Oregon: Underrated. Oregon is on fire. After a shaky start to the season, they've decimated every opponent in front of them, regardless of rank.

So my top 10 would be:
1- Florida
2- Texas
3- TCU
4- Boise St
5- Oregon
6- Alabama
7- Cincinati
8- Iowa
9- USC
10- Penn St.

Eulogy to a friend.

For several months I had been aware that a friend of mine had been quite ill. However, he lived in another city, and I've had very little contact with him over the past 5+ years. Last Tuesday I was informed that he had passed away. I attended the viewing on Friday evening and his funeral on Saturday morning.

Shawn Sorenson had to be one of the most unique people I have ever met. If you saw him next to me, you would have never thought of us as friends. Truth be told, in high school I didn't want to have anything to do with him.

But people change. And I've never met anyone who changed as much as he did.

Sometime after high school he quit drugs, alcohol, and smoking. He did all this without losing his personality; without losing who he was. He was still a coarse, fun-loving person. Coarse because his style of humor would be offensive to most people I know. He was just offensive enough to be funny without being annoying. It took a certain style of humor to appreciate his antics, and it was always more fun to play along with him than it was to ask him to stop.

Fun loving because there was never a dull moment. I know that phrase is used often, but with Shawn it was true. You never knew if you were going to wake up in the morning by being doused with barbecue sauce or being poked with the blunt end of his dull sword. Yes, the same sword he dueled with when my other friend challenged him to sword fights. He loved making you squirm, but only just enough. If he got bored, the gears would start turning and he would always come up with something to do. Like dousing a soccer ball in gasoline and wrapping it with a discarded bedsheet, then lighting it on fire and playing flaming soccer. Oh, the memories. Sometimes I wonder how he survived as long as he did.

Despite the coarseness, he was an irrevocable nerd. You'd never be able to tell this just by looking at him. He didn't have greasy hair, glasses, a pale complexion, or a thin build. (Wow, I totally just described myself. That's kinda scary.) Yet he sat around the table with us and played Star Wars RPG on many occasions. Usually he played a wookie and took advantage of the freedom of gameplay by injuring as many people as possible just for kicks to see how long it would take for authorities to detain him. It was hard to roll the dice when you're laughing so hard you can't see through the tears.

Another word that describes him is generous. If you had issues, he'd be the first one to offer you a ride, or an extra coat, or to join him in partaking of his amazing barbecue ribs. He never complained to me, even when his health had deteriorated to the point where he was in excruciating pain. He never talked about his ailments. He was more interested in inviting you to go fishing or something else fun.

It was because of his generosity and love that he won the hearts of all who knew him. It was a simple Christlike attribute, yet it stood out. It was hard to not like him. I can almost hear him whispering in my ear, "Hey sonofabitch, how the hell are you?"

Shawn lived 30 years. He was 3 months younger than myself. It was his time to go; his time to be released from his pain. There's a lot of work to do in the next life, and his experiences in this life more than qualifies him.

I won't see him for another 30 years or more. Its okay, though. Seeing Shawn again will be well worth the wait.

Why I love Steve Wynn

On the Fox News Sunday Economic Roundtable show, Steve Wynn, the billionaire Las Vegas mogul shared some simple truths about the economy and role of Government. (Partial video segments can be found here and here.)

WARNING: This post is very long. It may take 15-20 minutes to read the words. You have been warned.

Okay, on to Steve Wynn.

"I think that the priorities of the administration should have been more directly focused on job creation. From the day of the inauguration forward, the priority should have been job creation. And the most powerful weapon and the tool that the government has for that is its tax policy. If the government had used its power to restrain its tax collection they would have given everybody who runs small businesses, large businesses, a chance to hire more people and that could have been done an entirely different way. With eight or $900 billion we could have created four or five million jobs, which would have made a big difference."

It gets better, though. Chris Wallace later asked, "Where do you draw the line between the proper role of government in all this and the proper role of the private sector?"

Steve Awesome replied, oops, I mean Steve Wynn replied,

"Government has never increased the standard of living of one single human being in civilization's history. For some reason that simple truth has evaded everybody. The only thing that creates an increased standard of living is giving someone a job, the demand for their labor -- whether it's you and I, Chris, or anybody else. The people that are paying the price for this juggernaut of federal spending are the middle class and the working class of America. And soaring rhetoric and great speeches with or without a teleprompter aren't going to change the truth, and the truth is: The biggest enemy, the biggest obstacle that working middle-class America has is government spending."

YES!

But Governor Granholm, D-Michigan, had some words for Wynn.

"It's just so simplistic to say that! With all due respect, I mean, to say that government has never created a job or increased the standard of living. You know, I mean there -- there are a lot of people who are grateful that in this country we have a minimum wage. There are a lot of people who are grateful that they have access to Medicare and Medicaid. And I hope that we get access further to additional health care for those who are un- -- right now uninsured. I mean, there is a balance here. To say that government is all evil... This is a democracy. It's the greatest country in the world."

Steve Wynn then responds,

"I didn't say that at all. I'm saying that the source of government revenue, the source of well-being in this country is employment. That allows companies to pay taxes, employees to pay taxes. That's the source here and it's gotten out of focus. That's my point, Governor. I'm not making any other point. And, believe me, ma'am, I've got 20,000 employees. I've had as many as 150,000 families that I've been self-insuring. There's nothing "simplistic" about my approach to this problem."

BINGO.

"Health Care, something I know about, is a complicated, technical issue for which practically everybody in this administration has absolutely zero experience. It was not a priority. Job creation was the priority from the day this President was inaugurated. It has been eclipsed by a technical, confusing conversation in which hardly anybody has read the small print on a thing called Health Care. That's a proper subject, along with infrastructure, for a healthy economy. But health care and infrastructure are things that come later. Right now our concentration should be on job creation."

"I've never laid off anybody in 40 years. But if this president, and this administration, and Nancy Pelosi get their way, I, and all other employers like myself, will be hit, with my employees, with a barrage of taxes that will result in more layoffs, that will not be helpful, and will be counter-productive to the very goal we should have as a nation."

"The economists have had their moment, really everyone who has had absolutely no experience in insuring people, creating jobs, have had their moment. The housing market will improve when pepole have a job so the can buy a home that they can afford or a car that they can afford. The stimulus package which is antithetical and counter-intuitive to Washington is to restrain government power. The most powerful tool is tax policy. Had the president stood up the day after he was inaugurated and said we're going to pass a bill that say if you can prove to the IRS that you've increased your permanent employees with health insurance we will subsidize $30 thousand or $40 thousand dollars of that in the form of a tax credit, there would have been jobs created in this economy within 60 days in every corner of the economy, not just in civil construction, no not at all; there would have been jobs created everywhere because businesses, as you have pointed out, have cut back out of fear, they're suffering from a lack of consumer confidence. The day that the unemployment figure goes from 9.6 and climbing to 8.9 is the day that consumer confidence will return, and this country will be on its way out of the recession."

"I think these are complicated subjects. Job creation. The chance to build more cars comes from people having a job. Focus on that simple truth. Simple truths hold institutions together. We've lost our focus. And that's my opinion."

Hehe, he said "antithetical." My new word of the day.

an⋅ti⋅thet⋅ic

 –adjective

1.	of the nature of or involving antithesis.

2.	directly opposed or contrasted; opposite.

Okay, I think this post is far too large. If you read the whole thing, I think you deserve a cookie.

Lets ban railroad ties.

Watch the VIDEO.

There are no deadly weapons, only deadly people.

And while we're at it, lets ban dihydrogen monoxide. Its tasteless, odorless, and colorless. It kills between 3,000 and 4,000 people per year, mostly children, and its present in every home. Inhilation of dihydrogen monoxide can cause asphyxiation and severe neurological damage. Exposing dihydrogen monoxide to the skin can cause burning, and prolonged exposure can result in hypothermia. WE MUST BAN THIS DEADLY SUBSTANCE KNOWN AS WATER.

Stick that on your skillet and cook it.

/end randomness

Weekend recap . . . on Wednesday

I know its late, but I've been busy. So there.

Seattle lost to Chicago. What happened? Seattle had more first downs, more plays, more total yards, and less penalties. Did they lose because Mare missed two field goals? Nope. It comes down to one thing. Red zone offense. Mare did miss two field goals, but he also made 4 others. That's 12 of the 19 points Seattle scored. Not good. Seneca Wallace marched the team down the field time and time again, and only on the first drive did they manage to put the ball in the end zone. When you're 1/7, that's really bad. Hasselbeck, who was recovering from a rib fracture on Sunday, is one of the best at red zone offense, and now the difference between him and Wallace is night and day. Hasselbeck is aging, but still good. Seattle needs to find a better backup quarterback. Preferably one that is familiar with a west coast offense. Masoli would be a prime candidate. Those Oregon QB's are good.

Boise State now ranked 5th? The BCS gods are turning in their grave. This is hallowed ground Boise is treading on. The only real challenge they might have is Tulsa and maybe Nevada. Don't ever forget Wen's Rules of Sports #6: Every underdog is a threat. Boise St could run the table and win every game, but a lot of things can happen between now and then.

In Nascar, its the Jimmy Johnson show. /yawn

And finally, my best friend and I are going to Provo on October 26th for The Gathering Storm release. The prologue is available for sale for $3. Not bad. Tor also released the first chapter for people registered to their site. I've read it, and I can say I'm quite impressed at how well Sanderson emulates Jordan's style. This may be blasphemy to others, but I actually liked it better than Jordan. I've got it preordered and eveything. Can't wait!

I should have a Movie review of Surrogates coming up this weekend. Metacritic currently has it at a 49, so I'm not sure how good it'll be. We'll see. Been a while since I reviewed a movie.

I found it.

My whole life I have been a well-rounded person. Perhaps to a fault. This interest in many things, and being able to do a wide range of activities well has led to a major downfall in my life. My utter lack of focus. It has plagued me since childhood and been a yoke on my shoulders. I have known it there, but try as I might, I could never find any specific thing to focus my energies on. I was not just the Wondering Wen, I was the wandering Wen. I moved houses every year or so, sometimes less, never truly being completely focused on what I was doing. This isn't to say that I have attention deficit by any means. Its just that I never truly found my center. My future. My focus.

Its why I never graduated from college. I was interested in what I was doing, but never truly focused. Its also why I was able to finish my two years in England. I was focused on the work I was doing. I had a clear goal; finish the two years honorably. In college there was a goal, but I guess deep down, I didn't really care about what I was studying.

The thing is, I was fully aware of it as it was happening.

After my grades started dropping, I realized I was spending too much time playing FFXI, so I quit playing. Instead of using the extra time studying, I found other games to play. When I quit playing games, I ended up filling the time with writing. After quitting writing, I surfed the net all day. The core problem was that I wasted time cause I wasn't focused on my schooling. My parents were none too happy when I quit school, so I promised them that I would go back when I had found my focus.

When I lost my job it felt like I was facing an oncoming train. It forced me to play my cards, so to speak. Time to make an important decision. It was either take the job I had been doing for the past year and make a career out of it by going to school, or look around for someone who will hire an experienced worker with no qualifications. The second decision seemed to have a probability of 0.03% or so. Despite me being forced to play my cards, I seemed to have a good hand to begin with.

After doing IT work for my company, I realized that I hadn't once become bored with my job in the full 14 months I had been doing it. This is in stark contrast to every other job I've had; I had always become bored after 6 months of the same thing over and over. This job was different. I liked the work, the atmosphere. I looked forward to going to work. I liked learning new things every day. It was fun!

So I chose to enter the IT Systems program at the College of Technology at Idaho State University. If I hadn't become bored after 14 months of it, it was probably a good direction to go.

So here I am, 4 weeks into the program. So far so good? Nope. So far so amazing. I love getting up early to get to my 8:00 Networking class. I even read ahead in the texts. I've never done that in my life! Its not easy, but I adore learning about this stuff. I want to learn it at a faster pace than what we're doing. I even got a 97% on the last Networking test! I never get A's! I'm so stoked! The next chapter is about Routers. I woke up this morning and realized something. I've been waiting for this my entire life. My ten year search is over.

I found it.

My focus.

(So much for opinion/editorial posts. Bleh, I'll get back into that once I get settled into my new place.)

The mixed bag

I managed to secure a place to live in Pocatello. The deposit is paid and the papers signed. Lucky me, I get to live in the same place I lived three years ago. Same awesome landlord and same two roommates. I'll be moving during this week, likely Tuesday. Its going to be nice not having to drive 45 miles to go to school. Or driving 40 minutes to play games with my brothers. Or spending $60/week on fuel to continue said lifestyle. It will be nice to be able to walk to class in the mornings.

Then there's the flip side. I'm leaving my awesome apartment behind. Its so big, with huge rooms, an actual shower (not a tub/shower; icky), a large kitchen, and a fireplace. I'm leaving that all behind. But the worst part is, I'm leaving my awesome roommate behind. Its so hard to say goodbye. He's been like a brother to me. He gets my cheeky humor and tolerates my nerdy ways. He buys me lunch, and I buy him dinner. He takes me to TSR and I take him to EBR-1. I'll miss playing Left 4 Dead with him. I'll even miss his eccentric cat Molly. Its been a fun ride and I wish it could have lasted longer. Thank you, Sean Boswell. You will always be my friend.

Lemons

When life serves you lemons, you sell them to someone who likes lemons.

So I haven't written since March. I can't say I'm surprised at myself. My blog entries are about as frequent as my journal entries. Which is to say they are less frequent than hurricanes hitting the east coast. Not that much has happened since March. Only life changing events, but they happen every day anyway.

Where to begin? I'll be a rebel and start at the end. The story always makes sense that way.

Life was uneventful after March. That's probably why I forgot about writing. Then July came, and things were looking so promising. I walked into a meeting at work to be handed the news that the owner of the company just sold it three days prior. The purchasing company was much larger than ours and, as luck would have it, they already had people doing my job. What an opportunity to get laid off! I did odd jobs for the next few weeks while the company shut down, but after that, my steady source of income that I'd had for three years went completely dry.

Hmm, what to do. At this point I had two options:
A: Get a new job.
B: Go back to school.

At this stage in my life, and at all stages prior, looking for a job didn't sound very appealing. There are very few things I hate worse than looking for a job. Having my eyes sucked from their sockets and going through stages of shingles are probably the only two that trump it. Now that I think on it, looking for a job would produce enough stress to flare up my shingles, so those are likely mutually exhaustive.

So its either stress myself the hell out or go back to school. School it is. Wise choice. Sure, there are stresses that go along with school. Application, admission, financial aid, appeals for financial aid, filing for unemployment, books, tuition, fees, travel, and moving to Pocatello. I'm surprised I don't have shingles already.

So here I am in the second week of my Information Technology Systems program. Its a piece of cake so far. Chocolate cake with sprinkles. I'm still looking for a place to live in Pocatello, but everything else is sorted out. All I have to do is learn about network security, Virtual LANs, subnets, virtual networks, private networks, and so on. I can feel the shingles coming already.

Life served me lemons. I hate lemonade. Almost as much as looking for a job.

The Walking Dead

Okay, so perhaps I'm not actually dead. I have the walking pneumonia, which is kind of like the walking dead, right? The walking pneumonia is that wonderful balance between too ill to go to work, and to well to call in sick. I look, move, feel, and act fine. However, when I cough I sound like a backfiring 1974 Ford Pinto. I'll just neglect to mention the amount of phlegm that comes up when I sneeze. Definitely don't want to mention that.

The insomnia hasn't gone away, though. Its more annoying than anything else. Can't shut my mind down, and the tops of my legs are still cold even when the rest of my body is dying to throw the covers off.

There's no race this weekend, so I'll enjoy a nice day at church. The week after that is Bristol. /drool Brrrriiiiissssttoooollll.

I think this would be a great time to throw in a plug for my favorite Nationwide series driver, Brendan Gaughan. I saw him drive in the truck series for many years, and have always liked the guy. A lot of class, smart, and definitely funny. He's quietly sitting 4th in the Nationwide points. It'd be awesome to see him challenge for the title this year. Next time I'm in Vegas (probably this summer), I'm going to stop by the South Point casino (his sponsor).

Dad doesn't want to go to the Sonoma race this year. Boooooo. He says its money issues again. My parents are such weenies when it comes to traveling. The race isn't til June for heaven sake. There's plenty of time to save up.

And finally, Glenn Beck's "We Surround Them" special tonight was awesome. Here's some youtube links.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Oh no, not again.

(WARNING: The following post may contain explicit content.)

I guess the pendulum keeps swinging. Just when I thought it was safe to look the other way it smacks the snot out of me. Quite literally, I'm afraid.

Its the flu this time. My world is now filled with body aches, coughing, sinus congestion, sweating, waves of intense nausea, Puffs® tissues piled up around the rubbish bin, plates of half-eaten food, coughing, hacking, dementia, small cups of orange medicine, frequent trips to the toilet, and coughing. Wait, I think I mentioned that before.

I learned something interesting though. Throwing up orange juice is actually not that bad of an experience. After I got past the discomfort of retching, I realized orange juice and stomach acid together make a slightly sweet concoction. Not that I would consider drinking it, of course. Its just a stark contrast to my past experience with vomiting, which has been the result of excessive stomach acid. Needless to say, the burning sensation reached every orifice from my neck up. This time it was much more pleasant. Now that I think back to the experience, I think it was because of the noticeable lack of stomach acid. I don't think there was any down there, really. There was no smell either. And when it was over the awesome euphoria of having retched my guts out. I still don't know why it feels so good. All I knew was my head was laying on my shoulder on the toilet lid, and it felt great.

So, feeling like I was on top of the world, I got up and drank some milk and one bite of a corn dog. Thirty seconds later, the nausea had returned and there I was hovering over the toilet lid again like some cat waiting for fish to appear. It was some time before I was finally able to force myself to vomit.

It was only after the second dry heave I realized why I was so nauseous. Nothing in the stomach. I forced down some water, and it seemed to subside a little. I gagged down some more water, and the nausea slowly went away.

Since then I've been drinking plenty of water and the nausea has not returned. Thank heavens. Unfortunately, its been replaced with the coughs. The body aches have gone away too, so now it feels like I have a standard cold. It rates at about a 9.1 on my annoying-o-meter.

I did go to work today, though. I feel barely well enough to do that. When I got home from work I went right to bed, but I just somehow can't fall asleep. Add insomnia to the list. Change it to 9.3 on my annoying-o-meter. And I could have been in Pocatello playing games with Tyson and Brigham. What a damn waste of my time.

WHAT ABOUT NASCAR, MR. I'VEGOTTHEFLU?
Oh, right. Obligatory NASCAR paragraph. Lets see, Vegas was freaking wild and Kyle Busch won (/yawn). Still, it was a fun race to watch, since there were several racing grooves. Tire wear wasn't an issue, but it sure will be this Sunday in Atlanta. That place is now as abrasive as Darlington or Indianapolis. Speaking of Indy, Goodyear has had a good 8 months or so to engineer a hard tire for that race. Last year it was a joke of a race (McMurray still got 6th wohoo!). If its that way again this year, heads will roll.

Oh right, Atlanta. I'll randomly pick Edwards to win, and as a dark horse, how about David Reutiman? That dude is on a roll. He's 5th in the points.

A week of disappointments.

The week looked so promising. A whole host of things to look forward to, and a whole host of things that didn't go as expected. It had to happen eventually. Life is full of ups and downs, and this just happened to be a little more down than usual.

Leading off is the Daytona 500. It looked like a great race at first, but once again rain decided to come marching by. The good part is, it waited til the race was halfway over to begin coming down. The bad part is Dale Jr and Brian Vickers, two lapped cars, got into a melee and wrecked a third of the field. So much for the "trouble only happens in the front at Talladega" rule. The best cars of the field, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin were essentially eliminated within seconds. They were all in the top 10 at the time of the incident.

Who was at fault? Surprisingly, most pepole seem to think Dale Jr is mostly at fault. I've watched the video several times and its definitely a tough call. I have to put most of the blame on Vickers not because he blocked, but because he didn't come back up the track after he blocked. He was still straddling the out-of-bounds line when Jr came up and tagged him. If you're going to block, you gotta get back in position.

Then the rains came, and Matt Kenseth, who led one (1) lap was declared the winner. Right place right time for Kenseth. At least Roush finally has a Daytona 500 victory now. Its hard for me to like that victory though.

Today is Friday, and qualifying was today. Vickers on pole and McMurray qualified 3rd, which is awesome. However, he was slow in practice, so I hope he and Wingo found something good for a race setup.

On Thursday, Tyson, Colman, Brig, and I tried to fix an Xbox 360 that Ty bought online. We did the same fix we did to Tyson's first Xbox. Unfortunately, it didn't work quite as good. In fact, it didn't work at all. Its okay, I spent invaluable time with the brothers I love, and we enjoyed our failure. Still, I was looking forward to having a 360 to play. /whimper

Also, Rick Santelli's comments on CNBC were priceless. Tell it how it is, Rick! This is a microcosm of what's going on out there. Glenn Beck also has a great way of putting complex things like federal money flow into perspective.

And finally, something that I hope will cheer up those who are as melancholy as myself. A random picture, taken June 7th, 2007 in Newport Beach, California.

The Green Flag

With the Daytona 500 10 hours away, I felt it was time to make my predictions for the 2009 season. Finally, something to write about!

Biggest improver: How about Kasey Kahne (9). We know he's good, but last year was dismal for him. Also, look for Mark Martin (5) to be good, now that he's with Hendrick. Also Brian Vickers (83) looks strong. Don't forget about McMurray(26) carrying tons of momentum. He's led laps in the shootout, and in the gatorade duel.

Biggest disappointment: I dont' think Clint Bowyer (33) or David Ragan (6) will be good this year. And look for one Hendrick team to struggle, though I can't decide who its going to be. Maybe Jeff Gordon (24). Also, one Gibbs team will struggle as well. Possibly Logano (20).

Making the Chase: Its tough to narrow it down to 12, but here goes. In no particular order: Jimmy Johnson (48), Carl Edwards (99), Kevin Harvick (29), Greg Biffle (16), Denny Hamlin (11), Jeff Gordon (24), Jeff Burton (31), Kasey Kahne (9), Kyle Busch (18), Earnheardt Jr (88), Jamie McMurray (26), and Tony Stewart (14). Sorry, Kenseth fans.

The winner: Give it Roush. Probably Carl Edwards (99).

Plug: McMurray has won at Daytona before (Pepsi 400 in 2007), and even came from a lap down to do it. The Daytona 500 has been bad luck to him in the past, but usually when running mid-pack. He'll start 21st, but he'll be in the top 10 before lap 20. If he can stay up front, there should be nothing to worry about. (Its the Talladega races where the front of the pack isn't safe.) McMurray now has Donnie Wingo as a crew chief, and together they have a reputation for top 10 consistency. Here's hoping it translates into a successful season.

Catching up

So its been more than a month since I updated. At least I got over that cold/virus/sinus-infection/et al. It was mid January when I finally started feeling better. Meaning that I was sick for nearly 7 weeks. What made it worse is that I separated from my girlfriend. I'm now falling back into my single, philandering ways. ¬.¬

Courney and Brigham's wedding went off without a hitch, but I was still sick at the time. More details can be found here. I can't complain about traveling, though. I'd travel for a living if I got paid for it.

I'm getting pumped for the new Nascar season. The Daytona 500 is coming up. I'll have more things to write about then. Winter is just so depressing.