My Mazda RX-8 Goes Crash and then Smash

Argh!!!!

I know, it is enough to make you want to cry or make me cry at the very least. I was on my way to work Monday morning June 11th, 2007 and was not more than 2 miles from the entrance to my neighborhood on HWY 1431 going west when this idiot in a tan 2001 single cab F-150 Ford pickup truck plowed into the back right side of my car at what seemed like 60mph but was probably less while I was at a near stop, maybe still going 5 to 10mph.

Traffic had been forced to slow down as a Cedar Park police officer had a semi-truck pulled over on the right/north side of the highway. This little scene with the police and the semi was all playing out within less than a quarter mile ahead of my accident site. I do not remember having any advanced warning of what was to come. I heard no sound of screeching tires behind me or anything. The first indication I had that something was wrong came from a loud crunch, a head rattling jolt and the sight of my trusty red traveling coffee cup bursting from the grasp of my right hand. So, this idiot hit me in the back right bumper and the force of that impact seemed to accelerated me into the trailer hitch of a waiting SUV that was eager to greet and then eat the front end of my little red sports car. SIGH.... Let the sobbing begin!!

It's odd, I was in a car accident back in high school too, again this one was also not my fault. This accident reminded me of that weird sensation you get where everything seems to be happening in slow motion during the collision. I saw my coffee cup leave my right hand and my right hand grab the steering wheel almost instantly. At the same time my foot jammed down on the break immediately and I pulled the steering wheel right just to keep my car out of the left lane which according to the police report, I actually managed to accomplish. However the distance between my car and the SUV in front of me closed too quickly to prevent the second impact that resulted in the front end of my car being folded up like sardine can. While all this was happening I also remember seeing little rain droplets of coffee slowly flying into the air as the coffee cup must have hit the dash board or window causing the brown nectar of morning life to be ejected in randomly flying spurts from the open drinking slide set atop the travel cups lid. The only thing I don't remember is what happened to the piece of gum I had in my mouth at the time.

Both Lauren(6yr) and Michael(4yr), my two oldest of three children were also in the car with me as I was taking them to school at the time. The irreplaceables (my children) are fine they were just scared and shaken up a bit. Cars can be replaced, my kids cannot! After I got my kids out of the car my daughter later told my wife that I called the guy in the truck a "bitch" and cursed at him a few times. This is all very possible I don't remember that part. I just remember being worried about my kids and then so mad at this retard who had put my kids in danger that if he had come anywhere near me I am positive I would have literally dismembered him with my bare hands. He tried to apologize to me in the end when the officer was finishing up his report but I was still so mad it took every ounce of strength I had to not lay the guy out cold on the side of the road. So instead I simply refused to look or speak to him and ultimately I just walked off.

Oh well it's over now and like I said the car can be fix and or replaced. SIGH.... it's still annoying though.

I have held off on this post until I got a copy of the police report which I was finally able to access today and it seems that they cited the guy in the F-150 for "failure to control vehicle's speed." Yay! This should mean that he is not only an idiot but officially at fault for the accident. It should also mean I am not going to be out $500 for a repair deductible and his insurance will be reimbursing mine for the damage to the car. Again, YAY!!! :)

Bush should be tried as a war criminal says former Reagan official

"Paul Craig Roberts said that the US government is in the hands of dangerous psychopaths who are a disgrace to the human race and who should be arrested as war criminals and turned over the the Hague..."

I think the most telling part of this linked story is at the bottom where 5418 votes had been cast when I arrived at the site for a poll that read "Should BushCheney be..." and the stats at that time were as follows:
Impeached - 10% said yes with 565 votes
Stand trial on charges for War Crimes - 8% said yes with 422 votes
Stand trial on charges for Treason - 2% said yes with 86 votes
Impeached, Stand trial for War Crimes and Treason - 77% said yes with 4168 votes
None of the above - 3% with 138 votes
Not sure - 1% with 39 votes

Out of those 5418 votes cast only 4% of people that was 177 votes did not want the President to be held accountable for any potentially illegal actions while 96% of those polled basically want to deep fat fry the President and his gang of psychopaths. So this begs a serious question with this sort of polling and many like it starting to appear around the web these days. Are we standing on a precipice in this country of open revolt against our leaders?

Even the Democrats are not stopping these maniacs and in my opinion that is because they are either too scared to act for fear of reprisal or they have simply become complacent fools. This is the point in every novel throughout history with a similar political situation where a legislature burden by an up and coming dictator is forced to say, "We cannot push too hard or he will simply make us irrelevant." Remember Bush just recently passed an executive order that allows him the power to maintain the government in a time of crisis.

In my opinion there is a mad man at the helm of the ship and I see some serious rapids ahead.




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Which is more of a Cop Magnet; Red Sports Car or Doughnuts?

So I got my first written warning from a DPS officer while in my RX-8 today. And of all things it was for lack of a front license plate. Or that was the excuse the officer used after he pulled me over. I have a hard time believing this motivation since when I passed him 1 mile before he was just getting back into his car after having pulled over a young lady in a '06 RED Mustang GT. My current thoughts are that he just likes red sports cars. I have had my car for a little over four weeks now and I love it but it has also gotten me pulled over twice, the first time I received a “verbal warning” for what is known as “exhibition of acceleration” from the San Marcos police department. For those not as enlightened this is the legal description for tearing away from stop signs and/or traffic lights at a quick rate of acceleration although not technically speeding. :) Now this license plate issue was the second instance!

Now I have not had a ticket in 8 years and I am even going on 5 years since the last time I was pulled over by an officer. But this is twice in the first month of owning my new "red bulls-eye" that I have been pulled over. I am starting to think that the cops just want a closer look at my car. :)

The Great Pre-Easter Hike

Here are a few pics from our camping trip to Buescher State Park out near Smithville, TX with Kim's family over Easter weekend. These are the pics from our 3 to 4 mile family hike we went on. As you can see in one of them Michael was nice enough to let me carry him almost two miles back to camp while he took a nap. He's such a considerate boy to take his naps on time. :)

Along this hike I happened to see a nice sized gray bunny rabbit with it ears pointed straight up which Kim quickly dubbed "Bob the Bunny" which then in turn caused Lauren to insist that it actually must have been "Peter Cotton Tail." This then started a good spirited weekend long feud between Lauren and Michael on the legitimate name of the Easter bunny. (sigh) Michael still thinks the Easter bunny’s real name is Bob and he won’t be convinced otherwise. Thanks Honey!

Move over David Beckham, Soccer has a new Star!

Here's a couple of pics of Michael's Soccer game last week. I wish I could take some more pics but I am usually trying to coach, ref and snap pictures with my phone when I can remember. :)

Michael is second from the left, he and his team mates are lining up for kick off.


While everyone else is standing around that would be Michael in the red shirt streaking down the field to chase the ball.


Enjoy... I'll post some more from this weekends game if I get a chance.

Hello.... Mr. Wankel

Okay so Duce got me thinking that I really need to get more up here so that people know what's going on in my life. So my first pic and second blog entry for the day comes to you courtesy of my first ever sports car. It's a 2006 "Velocity Red" Mazda RX-8 that is pretty much fully loaded with exclusion of the GPS Navigation system which I thought looked super cheesy.

This car boasts a 232HP rotary engine or Wankel engine (named for it's inventor) which means this car has no pistons like a traditional engine. This thing is fast and will do 0 to 60 in 6 seconds flat I know because I've done it :) and I was only in second gear when I hit 60 in this six speed behemoth. Max speed supposedly tops out at about 154mph but I have only taken mine as high as 93mph.

Yeah, I like it!!!!!

This Duce's for You!!!!

No, I am not talking about poker although I realize the title makes it sound like I just laid down pocket 2's with two already turned up in a Texas Hold'em hand. But no!!!

Duce (AKA) Mother Duce (AKA) Brian Dusablon just called me a slacker via IM for not posting to the blog in a while and for not having a photo blog up to show off the family. So lets face it, yeah he's right I'm being a slacker! And although the photo blog takes more time to setup than the few free minutes I have right now I figured that at the very least I could make a post.

I promise, to try and make a post every week or couple of weeks going forward. (crosses fingers) I will also try and setup a photo blog to update you on how the family looks.

CYA's!

Is that a 100GB DVR in your Pocket or are you just Happy to see Me

Get ready to step aside Tivo you are about to become a clunky old Dinosaur! Will the pocket DVR device become a Tivo killer or a Tivo Companion.

Evidently a popular supplier of usb memory keys Archos, has come out with several new models of pocket sized DVR's ranging from a 499.99 30GB unit up to a $799.00 100GB unit. Each unit comes standard with a widescreen formatted LCD display for in unit playback as well as TV output capable. The whole concept of this appears to me as if it would be the future of DVR's. Record your shows while you are out and then watch them when you get home or pop it in your pocket and watch them anywhere and on any TV. In all honesty these maybe less of a Tivo killer and may become more of a Tivo companion.

Compared to today's standard Tivo these are a little pricey but if you are interested here is the full features list on the 100GB unit.

Has anyone out there actually purchased or used one of these pocket DVR devices? I am looking to get some good technical and user feedback from an owner or user.

He's back!!!! The Man of Steel Flies again in '06

He's faster than a speeding bullet and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Oh yeah and he is back in the summer of 2006. Oh yeah, the “man of steel” is back for the 2006 summer bash which is Superman Returns. If you click on my link it will take you to the teaser trailer which looks great. Evidently the director Bryan Singer has decided to forget that all of the other Superman movies but the first two Richard Donner films ever existed and this new one picks up right where "Superman 2" left off. Yay, no Richard Pryor or Search for peace!!!

The teaser trailer gave me goose bumps and made me feel like a kid again. Damn, it really made me remember how cool it was to watch Christopher Reeves sport the Blue and Red when I was a kid. It gives me serious shivers of excitement as this series has been on a seriously lousy 15 year hiatus and even longer if you only account for the first two films which were the only ones with any decent writing.

Cast:
Superman - Brandon Routh
Lex Luther - Kevin Spacey
Lois Lane - Kate Bosworth

Hook'n a Trojan and Spit in his Heisman Stealing Eye

So I am loving the idea of the USC vs. UT matchup in the Rose Bowl this year. Loving it, loving it, loving it!!! I really want the Longhorns to win this one and even more so after the disappointment of the Heisman Trophy. I am not going to candy coat it here, Vince Young got seriously screwed in my opinion.

Yeah So I am a little agitated and still not seeing the whole Reggie Bush win of the Heisman Trophy over Vince Young as legitimate. If you look at the stats vs. total amount of time played I think Vince excels far beyond Reggie Bush. The Longhorns have dominated in a lot of blow out games this year which has resulted in Vince Young not playing full four quarters. If you doubt the numbers though bounce over to ESPN.com and check on the stats for each player. Now I am not saying that Reggie Bush is not a great running back because he is. Anyone who racks up 1700+yds in a single season with an added 300+yds of receptions is definitely great. But lets look at Vince young with granted only 800+yds rushing but coupled with 2400+yds in passing. I mean we are talking one person (Reggie Bush) that has resulted in just over total 2000+yds for his team this season as opposed to another (Vince Young) who has earned over 3200+yds for his team. I mean look at the numbers. Granted that Bush has put on several Saturdays worth of four quarter rushing clinics this season that people will look on in amazement for a while. But if you look at the stats I think it shows Vince to be the better player especialy considering he almost never got to play 4 full quarters.

Maisis.NET: It’s Hee’errrr! AND IT’S ALL MINE! BACK, BACK I SAY!!

So I finally got it. The name was on reserve for almost three years but Maisis.NET finally became available and I snatched it up within 3hrs of it being deregistered from the original owner.

God I love it! I have already redirected http://maisis.net to my blog over at http://maisis00.blogspot.com and officially changed the name from “The Maisis Outlet” to the simple and elegant Maisis.NET. Ooh, it has been a long time coming and to be honest with you until I go the e-mail last night I had almost forgotten that I had even reserved it. I normally would not do something like that beacuse it almost seems futile in most cases but I really wanted this domain name. So when I got the e-mail last night I instantly bounce over to GoDaddy.com paid my $8.95 to register it and then I redirected it to my blog.

Hydrogen: Not Just For Exploding Zeppelins Anymore

I have been saying it for years. Out of all the new fuel alternatives popping up Hydrogen is the best choice. Why do you say, because Hydrogen can be produce from water the one substance on this planet of which we have an abundance. Also because we’re not in any fear of running out of water on this planet within next few million years. Oh yeah and did I mention the fact that Hydrogen powered vehicles create zero emissions.

I have been telling my wife for the last few years that I thought one of the biggest pushes in automobile technology in the next 10 years would come from the Hydrogen powered car. Well according to this article and this one an Israeli company called Engineuity has made my dream a reality with a car that can produce its own Hydrogen internally using coils of Magnesium and Aluminum. So now the biggest technical hurdle for adopting Hydrogen as an automobile fuel source has just been overcome. For those of you wondering the biggest strike against Hydrogen to date has been its public appearance as a highly volatile substance so there have been concerns with regards to transporting and storing this potential fuel source. Now this is not a problem considering the car uses water accompanied by Magnesium and Aluminum coils which create the required Hydrogen internal to the vehicle. My guess is that the oil companies are going to be up in arms in a few years if this technology hits the U.S. in full commercial production.

God I love Science! Thank you Mr. T-Rex but I think we have exploited your liquefied remains quite long enough. Woohoo we may even put a few oil executives out of business while simultaneously getting to retain our remaining ozone layer. Now that’s what I call killing two dinosaurs with one Hydrogen powered car!