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The results from the Rod Ryan Morning Wood Derby are in! My “Nullified.Net” car finished 45th out of 81 racers with an average time of 2.646 seconds per race. I know, 45th isn’t great and my car wasn’t exactly the best thing to look at. I just didn’t start building it soon enough, and ran out of time in the end. Okay, enough with the excuses. At least it was still fun building and racing. Next year, I’ll know how to do it right!

Wow, 2006 is here already! I’ve been off from work for about 3 weeks now for my Christmas vacation so I’ve been dreading coming back to work today. What did I accomplish in my time off? Well, I learned that deer burgers taste pretty darn good! I learned that making your own Hard Apple Cider is alot harder to get right than I thought. I really enjoyed seeing Fun with Dick and Jane while I suffered through the overrated Napoleon Dynamite. I learned just how bad Houston’s NFL team actually is. Like most people, I did NOT buy an XBOX 360. I enjoyed time with friends & family, playing lots of trivia, but only playing poker once! I debated the point of blogging, thus inspiring this post. And most importantly, I avoided thinking about work until today. Have a great 2006 everybody!

Not only did the Astros make it to the World Series, but I was able to get 4 tickets in the ticket lottery so I’m spending next Tuesday at Game 3!! You wouldn’t believe how many people were trying to convince me to sell my tickets on eBay, but I really don’t care how much money I could make on them, I just want to go to see the game! I can only imagine how exciting the game will be. Even just watching the playoff games at Wolfie’s was crazy, being surrounded by all the fans. I can’t wait.

Well, due to Hurricane Rita, I’ve made a run for the hills. I can’t believe how much traffic there is trying to get out of town! The drive usually takes me 4 hours but last night it took 11 hours!! And I think I’m one of the lucky ones after watching the news.

The drive was brutal. At one point I reset my odometer and after an hour I had moved less than 5 miles!! People were running out of gas left and right and most of the stations were running out too… that is if you could even find a station along Highway 59. And the two screaming cats I had in the back seat didn’t help the drive either. Anyway, I’m safe now, and I guess it’s good I left Houston, but it’ll be nice to get back once it’s all over.

There’s one thing that’s always bothered me about my MAME Cabinet. I sealed the speakers up inside the cabinet, and consequently, I had no way to adjust the volume. (Other than software, but software can’t make it loud enough.) Anyway, just to prove that my MAME Cabinet is never really done, I added external volume control buttons that directly control the speakers.

I got back from Orlando today. I was there for Microsoft TechEd 2005. I took a few pictures while I was there, but I didn’t have my camera everywhere. Universal Studio was great, (The Mummy ride was the best!) but I think I may have had a few too many beers that night and the next! Good computer show, good food, good fun! But I’m glad to be home. Next year is Boston. Don’t know if I’ll get to go or not.

In an attempt to quench our insatiable thirst for home-brew beer, Josh & I are now on our fourth batch. Our first batch was quite tasty, even for a first time brew. I was just a bit disappointed that we never came up with a good name for it. It was always just, “Our First Batch.” The second time out, we brewed a wheat beer, which we affectionately came to call Butt-wheat beer, if that gives you any indication of its quality. Our third should be ready to taste by this weekend. It’s a Fat Tire clone (known as Flat Tire), and it smells quite good so far. Finally in another three weeks or so, we’ll have completed our fourth creation, a Belgian Honey Ale. We have high hopes for both of these last two beers. What’s next??? Probably a good mead, maybe cherry.

Last night was the last lunar eclipse until 2007. Since I just got a new digital camera I figured now was a good time to try out some lunar photography. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a tripod on hand, or these images may have been a little clearer. But I think some of them still look good.

Don’t you hate SPAM? I’ve been getting SPAM in the comments of this webpage, so I’ve been forced to turn on comment moderation. (Not that I’ve actually gotten any regular comments, but annoying still the same…)

I finally quit NetFlix after 2 months. (1 free, 1 paid) I was VERY impressed with the service, but I just couldn’t keep up the pace of going through so many movies. Anyway, here are the rest of the movies I rented from them:

• Tears of the Sun
• Radio
• Catch Me If You Can
• Phone Booth
• Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
• Signs
• Coupling Season 1, 2, & 3
• Scarface
• Reservoir Dogs
• Sling Blade
• Are You Being Served? Again
• Silence of the Lambs
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
• American History X
• Red Dragon
• The Whole Ten Yards