DAMMIT!

Track Event Registration

Summit Point Motorsports Park, Main Course

Monday, April 25, 2005

Choose an option.

	Level:	Introductory - Try out NESBA by riding in the first 2 sessions of the day at no cost to you.
	Price:	Free
	Availability:	This level is full. If you choose to register for this level, you will be placed on a waiting list. If space becomes available, NESBA will contact you in the order in which you were placed on the list.

	Level:	Beginner
	Price:	$160.00
	Availability:	This level is full. If you choose to register for this level, you will be placed on a waiting list. If space becomes available, NESBA will contact you in the order in which you were placed on the list.

	Level:	Intermediate

WARNING:

A school in Australia has recently banned iPods because they cause children to be antisocial.

So what wrong with this? Us geeks like to have a place to hide from time to time - and the iPod allows us a social construct whereby we can escape from the real world, but still be a part of it.

There is the downside though... consider two people on the Metro... They sit down beside each other, their eyes meet, they smile. She shyly says, 'hi.' He is blissfully unware because he's wearing an iPod.

Okay - so she just wants her students to get laid. Fair enough. Maybe if they introduce bluetooth so ipod wearers can go toothing while they groove.

Snow more boarding this year....

So this weekend, Andy, Dallas, and Chris (aka Cleon) and I went to celebrate Andy's Stag party. One year later.

Anyway, happily iIsurvived my novice attempts at riding my face down the mountain while strapped onto a snowboard. I think the only casualties over the weekend were livers.

More importantly, it was an awesome time. Andy talks about it in his blog and did a most excellent and humourous photo blog.

So someone else needs to get married so we can do this again... Dallas? you're closer than the rest of us...

oh yeah, i passed

btw, i forgot to mention that last saturday i passed EVOC II and III.

Seems i'm now legally allowed to drive class 2 (ambulances and such) and 3 (fire engines) emergency vehicles in the state of virginia with lights and sirens and such.

class one is included - so i can drive cop cars too. not legally though, cause i'd have to steal one first.

This time for sure... maybe.

While eating a good nutritious breakfast and checking email in my cube... I come across a long awaited email.

It would appear that Andy's Snowboard Bonanza Weekend is a go. This will be the 3rd attempt. The first one (April 2004?) was cancelled because it was 70 outside and raining. The last time we checked mudboarding isn't an official sport yet (though with bikinis it might work), so we rescheduled for sometime around the 1st weekend in December. It's always cold and snows in December right?

bollox.

3^rd time is a charm. Unfortunately the numbers dwindle with each attempt. I think that there will only be 4 or 5 of us now. I have to thank the other guys who prepaid as well for keeping my costs down.

So this weekend, 7 Springs will phear the wrath of bald boarders! iPods on standby!

this offer void where prohibited by shite weather

Ted...

When I was young (around 9) I was arrested for shoplifting at a store called Simpson's. Shame on me! Turned out that my brief and unsuccessful run of kleptomania had a good benefit.

I was paired up with a Big Brother. This is one of those stories where the Big Brothers / Big Sisters organizations truly made a huge difference in a kid.

My Big Brother's name is Ted. Ted is a professional Stained Glass Artist. He rocks.

I've known Ted now for over 25 years. He was probably the single most influencial adult male in my life. Through Ted I learned to appreciate the innate beauty (or "glory") that is found in what sometimes appears to be the most obvious yet overlooked places in life.

One of the things I respected Ted for was his willingness to put his own adulthood aside, and run around in the woods playing 'guns' or 'swords' with toy guns and swords he helped me make that morning in his woodshop (we did have a pretty fine sword design made out of quarter round). From him I learned to make stained glass windows, 'cheese dreams', wine from grapes we picked at his brothers (nasty stuff, but hey - it was good cause we made it).

Ted would also discuss life, the universe and everything with me as though I were an adult. Subsequently my little mind started to ask questions and think about life in a more profound way.

One of my favourite memories was taking Ted up to the Computer Science Deparment at the University where my Mum worked. We would spend hours arguing about the meaning of life on an old PDP 11 and the ultimate Dr. Phil predecessor - Eliza.

I guess I'm writing this because I'm not sure Ted knows just how much of an impact he had in my life.

Ted, in a word, thanks.

I owe you more than you'll ever truly know, and I am so very thankful.

WI hunter wants open season on feral cats

The original link for this story is here.

An enterprising hunter in Wisconsin, in his infinite wisdom, has come up with the bright idea to have the state legislature delcare cates an unprotected species which would allow them to be hunted down and shot by anyone with a small game license.

Firefighter and hunter Mark Smith says that free-roaming cats are an invasive species that attack wild birds.

As you can imagine, cat-lovers everywhere are horrified, to the point of putting together a website, DontShootTheCat.com.

"I would hate to think that tame, owned cats who happen to slip out would be at risk of being deemed a wild, unprotected species," said Sheri Carr, senior humane officer at the Dane County Humane Society. "It's a delicate (ecological) balance out there, but does that mean people should be able to shoot their neighbor's cat? Probably not."

Okay...

a) this law is ridiculous
b) the guy proposing is a firefighter? WTF?! I guess his real motive is based on his being too lazy to get the ladder trucks out to rescue the poor kitties, he'd rather just shoot them out of the trees instead.

RIP old friend

so it's official. My centre channel on my primary recevier is DOA. My lovely little Harman Kardon AVR 7000 that I've had since 1999. It's lived a good life - almost 6 years of endless DVDs, PS2 and Xbox gaming...



Farewell dear friend.

Now - just what do i replace it with? I need something with at least 4 fibre inputs, 4 component inputs, i'm all for a nice 7.1 sound and a 'night-time' option.

even better if the universal remote is actually universal.

*sigh* yet something else that gets in the way of the hardwood flooring projects....

mmMMmmMMmm Bacon.....

What guy doesn't love bacon? I know I do. I know my 688|< friends do. So much so that we even named our Defcon team bac0n. The other day, someone posted to pantsfactory (a site run by some bac0n guys) a link to here:



The link says it all.

more fun at the firehouse

so last night was drill night. most fun i've had in ages. We did some "RIT" (rapid intervention team) training. More commonly known as 'firefighter down' drills. Ironic since on Sunday at a structure fire 4 firefighters were injured (all have been discharged from hospital since).

So we moved all the apparatus out of the bays, rearranged the insides a bit (made a maze/obstacle course), filled it with smoke and then did a few drills.

it was pretty sweet. No visibility, lots of crap to get in your way - pretty realistic.

the first drill was the disorentation drill. basically we were brought in with our hoods over our masks so we couldn't see, then we were randomly placed in the room, spun around and told to find the door.

the next one was the firefighter down drill. the scenario was a firefighter was lost, injured and out of air. we had to find him quickly, give him a new airpack and drag his butt out. of course our team got on the heavier guys in the station. talk about heavy lifting - ouch. Though when you think about it, it is likely to be the heavier guys that have these types of incidents.

All i can say is this stuff is damned fun.

When boyhood dreams come true

So last night I saw a boyhood dream come true. I finally drove a fire engine.

I'm currently training for my "Emergency Vehicle Operator Course - Levels II and III" (EVOC) so I can legally drive ambulances and fire apparatus with the lights and sirens and such in response to the fire and rescue dispatches.

Our Fire Chief took a couple of us out last night so we could drive some courses and such before our test this week. On the way to the training area (a large school parking lot where it's hard to hit things) we had a call for a structure fire. Figures. Normally that's the sort of thing we live for (otherwise why be a firefighter?) but last night I was pissed (the american definition - not the british one) because the class is next week and I need some practice time behind the wheel. Fortunately we weren't on scene for too long and we were able to get the training done.

I'm all excited. I drove a fire engine. Scary thing is - I did a decent job of it.

The tricky bit was the Chief setup a small course. Basically 3 traffic cones in a straight line just over one fire engine length apart. The object was the navigate forward through it, and then back up through it.

I got it in one! *flex* Wtf!?

So let's see if I pass the state tests this week. Classes are tuesday, thurs, sat and sun at the Loundon County Fire and Rescue Training facility.

My old friends....

and when i mean old - egad - they are old now. A good friend of mine (we've been friends for approx 18 yrs) just turned 40. He's the second one to do that.

When i went up to Canada last summer to see some of these old friends i started to feel really old. granted i'm only 35, but some of the old gang had kids that were nearly the same age we were when we all me.

It's pretty interesting to see the cycle of life like that. A whole new generation. Wow.

Anyway, happy birthday My Mother's Other Son Chris...