Category: Uncategorized

Some of you may know that I’m trying to get back to Australia for Christmas. To those of you who didn’t know, now you do. There are some major complications that have arisen which may prevent me from doing so, but just to let you know I’m trying to work through those and I’m also trying to figure out a stack of alternative plans. I really, really want to catch up with y’all there.

Fingers crossed…

I’ve just confirmed occurs at 6:45am, or thereabouts. This has been a pretty good thanksgiving weekend, and although I didn’t originally plan on going out at many nights as I did it’s always good when things work out for the better.

I’d like to thank Starsailor for getting me home this morning with their cranking new album. Guys, I didn’t like the second album too much – couldn’t get into the choones – but it’s nice to see that you’ve fully redeemed yourself with this third album “On the outside”.

I’d also like to thank South Florida for putting on some pretty awesome weather for the past few days. Thanks.

I’d also like to thank the cop for not picking me up for speeding on Wednesday night. I didn’t know the police would really care that I was going 70 in a 65 zone, but apparently they do during thanksgiving. Actually, I should really thank the other driver who drove past me while I was being tailgated by a policeman, which of course resulted in them getting a speeding ticket and not me. Thankyou for helping me execute operation ticket evasion.

Javi and Glenda – thanks for putting on that awesome thanksgiving dinner. Scott and Matt (or whoever it was) thanks for starting the darts drinking game. I ended up drinking a heck of a lot of that rum (I’m pretty sure I had 1/2 bottle to myself) and I can confirm that thanksgiving dinner tastes better on the way down.

One thing that concerns me over here though is the number of people who drink (and I mean drink a LOT) and then drive. Don’t do it. It’s pretty dumb you know. They should really start random breath tests or something to act as a sort of deterrant at the very least.

Getting off my soap box now, going to bed.

You go and watch NASCAR! Which is exactly what I did on Sunday.

I came away from NASCAR not really getting drawn into the whole thing that much. In fact, I left half way through because I was bored couldn’t get into it. The tickets that we got were free, thank goodness, because at $90 a pop I really would have felt ripped off slightly disappointed had I actually payed for them.

I did enjoy the crashes though, they were fun to watch.

Of course we also had a flyover and the airplanes actually had weapons equipped!

I also enjoyed watching a redneck guy with bad teeth and a rat-tail calling out smart remarks to people as they walked past him. He was doing that for a while and then someone looking for their seat asked him if he was sitting in the correct seat. He was actually in the wrong section and had to move… nobody’s perfect, right?

What I found amazing was the patriotism shown before the race started. Three trucks drove around the track with an American flag in tow and the crowd went absolutely mental with a deafening noise.

What was even more amazing happened after we had to stand for the American national anthem and remove our hats, which I expected of course. But then we were asked to bow our heads in prayer as Miss Florida read a prayer praising God about various things and asking for the protection of various people in faraway places. At the end of the prayer there was a resounding “Amen!” and people here and there followed that up with “Praise the Lord!” It was at that point I really felt like a foreigner and very, very out of place. It hit me I was in the company of real southerners at that time and I was very glad I had not worn my t-shirt that said “BORING” in the style of the NASCAR logo.

Anyway, I didn’t really enjoy the whole NASCAR experience. I thought it paled in my comparison to the V8 Supercars in Australia or rally car driving. That’s my opinion of course. It would probably have been much more enjoyable had I been wearing the headsets and listening to the commentators and had I actually chosen someone to go for and/or worked out what the hell was going on with people getting ahead and then losing their lead again. It’s like that computer catchup thing on racing games they have for people behind the leader.

I did find this website which is a response to people who claim that NASCAR may not be that exciting. But, if you go read that site, you’ll find that what they claim is great about NASCAR is pretty much in every other sporting event in existence so I don’t see the ‘that’s special’ part of the whole thing. Plus, the part about them seeming to make up rules as they go along… I’d find that downright annoying.

Something I heard about later was a pilot of one of the helicopters at the event was killed. Damn. We were long gone by that time though.

Now that I have the attention of half the people reading this, I will write hot *nerd* chicks. There is something about an attractive girl and maths equations that I find particularly alluring. I’d write a maths equation to describe the relationship but I think these equations are better.