Wow, Honda is coming out with a 240 HP super Blackbird next year!! 220 mph, here I come.

Currently I'm getting everything together for registration. Oh, how exciting. It's a lot more nebulous and mountainous at UNT. At UD, I just went down the hall to Brother Rich's office whenever I had something to do and he just did it right there on the computer, no fuss. At UNT, you have to go through miles of ugh.

They did this theoretical "roll over" thing on popular models of cars and SUVs. They calculated each vehicle's propensity for flipping over by factoring in the wheelbase, track (width between the wheels), contact patches (tires), center of gravity, etc. Of course, most of the SUVs and trucks were pretty bad. Duh. But I think they should have actually taken them out and done real world testing on each. Anyway, the Accord came up with the best result. Of course, they didn't even get close to any sports cars, not even the pretenders like the Celicas and Eclipses. I want to see somebody try to flip over a Corvette. Or better yet, my Stealth. That thing is IMPOSSIBLE to flip. I don't know that a computer could come up with any possible model for a situation where cars like these could flip.

When I was in Defensive Driving, I tried to make the point that a high speed emergency maneuver in a huge, bloated, 7000 pound full size van or SUV is much different than the same maneuver in a well-suspended sports car, or even a relatively competent midsize sedan. The lady would hear none of it, of course. Granted, 99.9% of the people have never experienced a car that is glued to the road like the Stealth. Americans don't know how to drive. A helluva crass generalization, maybe, but if you look at Germany, where people take driving seriously and handle 100 mph with fewer problems than we handle 70, you might see my point. The vehicles over there are better, the training is better, the roads are better, and, well, people apparently don't have their heads up their asses as much over there.

TechTV has been doing the CES all weekend. Broadcasting live and hourly updates and showing all the speeches and everything. Looks like a kickass party.

I quit my job. Yay! I was doing receiving for JA Majors in Lewisville. 4 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon... 6 days a week! So I had to quit in order to attend school anyway. I had a choice. I could quit last Friday, or try and make it through one more week and quit this Friday. You see, I still work for the temp agency, and the foreman only will sign cards on Fridays. I just decided my time this week would be better spent worrying about registration and finding an actual job in town I can keep during school. So I didn't go. I'm fired, of course, but now the temp agency is angry and calling and I don't really want to talk with them. The job wasn't right. I had no chemistry with it. The hours sucked, both the particular hours and the number per week (63). It was freezing cold (no heater).

And my co-workers. Oh my. Lisa is straight out of some movie. She's a charicature. She makes certain things make more sense. She's a revelation: okay, there really are people that dumb. She makes PJ's employees look like MIT grads. Every day working just feet away from her seemed like an eternity in Hell. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but let me say she is aggressively unpleasant. She hated me.

I got to hear all about her family. They used to get their 3 year old daughter drunk on tequila so she would stop being so hyper. Her kids were smoking by age 6. Lisa herself is an addict, although I was unable to tell what kind of addict she currently is. She's screwed up. Guess I'll leave her at that. She can keep that place.

Literacy at that place is very rare. There were simply no people there I had anything in common with. We're from different planets. The boss, who unfortunately shares my last name, was just as much an idiot as most everyone else there. He had a meeting where he tried to play the classic tough guy and throw his weight around and scare everyone and he announced the mandatory 63 hour weeks would continue until further notice. That's enough. The less said, the better. I just want to pick up my paycheck on Thursday and forget that mistake.

I saw a story about trial bikes. These things are ultra light 4 stroke dirt bikes with no seat and super soft tires. These guys go out and take on an obstacle course. One will just be standing on the pegs, not going anywhere, perfectly balanced, and than all of a sudden the bike leaps into the air and grabs an 8 foot high rock and up he goes on top of it. It was like watching someone break the comfortable laws of physics.

X-Mas, I got a scanner, a portable car/bike battery, Paint Shop Pro 7, gift certificates, clothes, jumper cables, AAA, riding socks, a CD labeler, a couple books, and more stuff I can't think of. duo got a portable MP3 player, a scanner (yes, another one), Baldur's Gate II, Paint Shop Pro 7, Photosuite, and more stuff I can't think of.

I found some used riding boots.

My friend John finally got a motorcycle. He got a new GS500, a great first bike. I'm going out to see it soon.

For the "Motorcycle Trio Concert", go here.

For some interesting bike videos, go here and go for the crashpt, flamingo, jump2, and knack3 videos. These guys are on stock late 90s 600 Gixxers, the only changes are tire inflation, stronger steering dampers, and throttle locks.

For a ride in one of the fastest street cars ever made, go here. It's kind of boring until the silly British guy takes it out on a track at 5 minutes, 32 seconds. Then, his enthusiasm is amazing, it had me laughing hysterically, and the car is just astounding.