Before you say another word (Javert!), go to my PREVIOUS POST if you haven't already seen it. Thanks.

Well, Esport is back!

It was down for around 65 hours. kman has been considering upgrading the servers, connection, and software. He was worried no one would bother to donate money. Wrong! Within like 20 minutes of opening the account, he already had $225 collected from us! I put in my $10 (yay, I now have a PayPal account!). I expect he'll be over $1000 by noon tomorrow.

You ought to check out this short video of my boy Michael Finley slamming against Denver the other day. It's a nice dunk, but what makes the video hilarious is the pacing and the commentary. I heard that game on the radio, and our local guys (Mark Followill and Brad Davis) nearly destroyed their microphones after that slam! One game out of first place in the league, by the way.

Also heard a portion of my first Rangers exhibition game of the season. I stopped after the first inning (had to go). It was 8 to nothing Rangers. It was great to hear the best radio play by play guy ever, the sublime Eric Nadel. Some things are guilty pleasures, right? Listening to Rangers games on KRLD is one of my innocent pleasures. I can't stand baseball on TV, but give me Eric hosting the Rangers game during the dog days of Summer, I'll be happy.

So my family went to the Dallas Auto Show this weekend (without me). I asked my father to take digital pics of the RX-8 and 350Z. Nope. They didn't bring the digital camera and those two cars were nowhere to be seen. Seems strange to me, they've been shown all over the world already, and will have been on sale for 5 months before the next show. Surely the 350Z is one of the most anticipated cars for next year? Come on, it's the return of the Z, which has the most storied history of any Japanese motor vehicle ever. I still remember my first ride in my father's blue and grey 280ZX Turbo (think BlueStreak from the Transformers). Anyways, it doesn't sound like I missed much. Okay, Porsches and Ferraris.

Bike pic isn't really a bike, but it's close; it's the T-Rex (I posted it there). It's a trike. But instead of two rear drive wheels it's got two front steering wheels with a racecar-like differential. I'm told it corners like a go-cart (that is to say, well) and with a Suzuki or Kawasaki 1100cc engine driving a wide, sticky DOT drag radial car tire and only 900 pounds of weight, it's not lacking in the power department (particularly since the risk of wheelspin or wheelies is virtually eliminated). It will hit 140 mph and goes 0-60 in 4.1 seconds. Even better, it's said to be able to manage 1.9gs of cornering force, which is absolutely stunning! I think I'm in love. This puppy could spank the Vette and the Gixxer at Willow Springs without even trying. What a great invention! Now imagine it with an NLR turbo system. Imagine doubling the power while keeping it totally controllable and friendly. Call me a materialistic ball-sack, but when I think about why I'm going to school, things like the T-Rex come to mind...

If you want to see a speedometer needle moving quickly (especially when the wheel comes down), click here. Note: no those aren't km/h, they're mph; he's not accelerating as quickly as that bike will go (notice the sustained wheelie and the short shifting in the first gears); and he buries the needle in top and then finds another 1100 RPMs. There's a trick to the video though; let's see if you get it. Haya-Freakin-Busa (Peregrin Falcon in Japan).

And for one of the stranger drag races I've seen, click here. F-18 Hornet vs. IRL racecar.

Under reflected skies
Have you seen the horizon lately?
Through your vacant eyes
Have you seen the horizon lately?
Stop to think about
All we've seen
Stop to think about
Where we've been
Try to get back from here
Try to get back to here
On a broken road of rhyme
Have you seen the horizon lately?