Hello from work

Guess I am not a very good blogger since I don’t post stuff on a regular basis anymore. Just to many other things to do.

I am currently spending a boring day at work. At least it is 8-5 so I still have time after work to do stuff.

I really don’t like working weekends anymore. I use to do it every weekend for 3 years and I got burned out. Only reason I was doing it was for the extra money.

The problem with the weekend work is the quality of the people calling. Most people that call on the weekend do not have a clue what they are doing or what they are talking about but they think they know more about the stuff they are calling on then the person, me, who sits here everyday and takes calls from morons like them. This of course happens on occasion during the week but it is the weekend when they come out in force. I guess the reason we get so many of the idiot calls on the weekend is because there is very few calls and it is just the morons that call. The people that might have a clue what is going on are smart enough not to have to work.

Boredom is another problem on the weekends. I have a few extra stuff I am suppose to be doing during the week but don’t get a lot of chance to do it during the week. Seems every time I go unavailable to take calls to do the extra duties that my team lead has given to me mostly because he is lazy to do it himself, and he likes the way I analyze the stuff, he is sending me a pop up message telling me to go available.

The reason we have what is called aux codes is to account for our time. But if he expects me to do the extra stuff and still remain avail to take calls he is crazy. I want to account for the extra time I have to take to do the extra stuff.

So I just wait till I have to work a weekend then do it. Of course I am still avail to take calls but we don’t get that many calls so I can usually get the stuff done. Provided I don’t spend my time surfing the Net or reading a book or something. Of course you can only look at the work safe web sites so much before they get boring.

3M to be primary sponsor for Biffle in 2008

“3M announced today a multi-year partnership with Roush Fenway Racing to become the primary sponsor of the #16 3M Ford Fusion. The contract calls for 3M to be the primary sponsor for driver Greg Biffle for 23 Sprint [Nextel this year] Cup races in 2008. Terms were not disclosed. “Greg is one of the most respected drivers in NASCAR and we’re looking forward to building on the great relationship that has grown over the years with Greg and with Roush Fenway Racing,” said Bob MacDonald, 3M Senior Vice President of Marketing. “He’s great on the track and just as good with our customers and employees and with all the fantastic NASCAR fans. The 3M Motorsports team is really working hard to drive brand awareness and sales growth with the great NASCAR fans through our association with NASCAR and Roush Fenway Racing,” MacDonald added. “Jack Roush has been instrumental in helping us take 3M’s NASCAR program to the next level, and I appreciate everything he and his team have done. I also thank Todd Kluever for his contributions to our program over the last two years. We wish him every success in the future. ” In 2007 3M sponsored Biffle (19 races) and Kluever (14 races) in the Busch Series, and seven races with Biffle in the Nextel Cup Series.”

So here is my question, it says it is a multi year partnership with the #16 team so does that mean that TheBiff is going to resign with Roush? Then it says that it is just for 23 races in 2008? So I am even more confused. They don’t call it silly season for a nothing.

That Horse Will Never Win A Race

The makers of Coors and Miller Lite plan to combine their U.S. brewing operations in an effort to compete better against industry leader Anheuser-Busch. The joint venture announced Tuesday will be known as MillerCoors and will have responsibility for selling brands including Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft, Coors, Coors Light and Molson Canadian in the U.S.

Rabbit Release

Anyone know why Dale Jr has his firesuit rolled down so you don’t see the Budweiser logo in the team tylenol rabbit release commercial?

I was thinking it was because they don’t want the alcohol sponsor to show but then why would they even have Dale Jr as part of Team Tylenol?

Strange.

Last Lap Excitement

Once again Talledega proved why it is such a fun race to watch. Nothing like seeing 43 racing around a 2.66 mile track at over 190 MPH all within a few seconds of each other 3 wide.

Of course other then waiting for the “big one” and the last few laps the racing has a tendency to get boring. I stepped away for a few minutes to burn a DVD and wouldnt you know it I missed the “big one”. Got back in time for the replays though.

If you want to know how to play the Dega game look no further then Jeff Gordon. He ran in the back of the pack all day and only led one lap, matter of fact he did not even really lead a full lap but he crossed the finish line first and that is all that matters. Wonder if he gets 5 bonus points for that?

Someone at work won some tickets to the qualifying at AMS at the end of the month. They gave them to me and I tried to get the day off but was not able to get it so I passed them off to another race fan. I probably could have still gone since the cup qualifying does not start till 7:30 but I have a bowling league on Friday nights so I have to partake in that. I am thinking of going to the truck race on Saturday though.

The Biff wins at Kansas or did he?

I guess it all depends on who you talk to. Clint Bowyer thinks he should have won because he crossed the finish line first.

According to the NASCAR spokemen the cars have to maintain a resonable speed, they did not say it was pace car speed, they said reasonable. I have seen the replay and it was a reasonable speed.

Of course I am a Greg Biffle fan so maybe I am not the best person to talk about it.

NASCAR related stuff

Been awhile since I posted anything NASCAR related so I have lots of catching up to do.

Some times even the best driver does not get to start first. That is what happened to Jeff Gordon. Because of NASCAR’s point system for The Chase Jeff Gordon got shuffled back to the second starting position and Jimmy Johnson got put in front. Not really fair in my book.

Sure JJ won 6 races but he was 430 markers out of first place going into Richmond and when he came out he was 20 points in the lead. A lot of people were not to happy about that and apparently NASCAR might make some changes to that.

Jimmy Johnson is by no means the best driver out there and in my book he should not have been put in the top starting spot. He did win 6 races but he only had 1 pole 14 top 5 and 16 top 10. Jeff Gordon although with just 4 wins had 6 poles 15 top 5 and 21 top 10. In my book that makes him the better driver.

NASCAR needs to just reset the points and leave the drivers in the same order. They could give more points for winning a race if they want to award those that win but it is not a good idea to take a guy sitting in 6th and move him to the front. Of course after the “big one” at Dover Jeff Gordon has regained the lead.

Clint Bowyer finally captured his first Nextel win on the first race in The Chase putting to rest those that might say he should not be in The Chase.

All the people with their #8 tattoos can now breath a sigh of relief thanks to Robert Yates. Now if they can just figure out a way to get their tattoo fixed.

That’s about all I got for now.

Still Around

Yes I am still around. Have not really had time or the effort to post anything lately. Call it the Fall blues.

I spent last week in training. Nothing like a week off from work. The training was on Vista and Windows 2003 Server. I was hoping for more training on the Server 2003 then what we got but anything is better then nothing.

We spent basically half of the first day on Vista. We installed it and messed around a little bit and that was it. Of course we still had to use the laptops we installed it on so we got lots of exposure to it through out the week. It is really not a big difference from XP just a different look and some easier search options when trying to find different menus. I like the 3d windows the best out of everything. Of course after the 10th time the “mother may I” window popped up I was ready to throw it out the window. I went into the security settings and turned that off straight away.

The Server 2003 was basically how to install it, promote it to Domain controller and setup DHCP and DNS. Then we had to add the laptops to the Domain. It was all pretty much a review to me since I use to do that stuff in Windows 2000 and NT in my last job.

I will never complain about getting a week away from work and the latest we ever got out of class was 1530 but overall the class really had nothing to do with what I do. There was really nothing that I learned that I did not already know or could have figured out myself, such as how to install Vista. And since I do hardware support I don’t think I will have to setup a windows 2003 server any time soon but again any time away from work is time well worth it.

Elvis Has Left The Building

I only watched bits and pieces of the Richmond race. I had to reconfigure my wireless router and then had heck of a time getting one of my wireless computers to connect. I made some security changes and did a good job so much so the PC could not even find the router.

Missed the finish of the race but I did get to see the Harvick slide thru the grass and the Kurt Busch spin. Lot of wishful fans I am sure when both of those incidents happened. I was sort of amazed, not really, at the amount of coverage they gave Kevin Harvick’s over flow valve and Kurt Busch’s damaged bumper.

It has been mentioned elsewhere so I will not get to involved in it but it is really a shame that you race good all year and lead the points by 300+ to suddenly have that lead taken away and be starting The Chase for the Championship in second spot. Jeff Gordon beats Jimmy in all categories, poles, top 5 and top 10 but Jimmy has 2 more wins so he gets to start first. Not really a fair deal for Gordon.

Next big question for the next 10 races will be can Dale Jr hold on to the 12th spot and the million dollar bonus. Can wait for that to start.

Movers and Losers

Day late so sue me Monday was a holiday.

Jimmy Johnson wins the California Dreaming Tour so unless Jeff Gordon wins at Richmond JJ will start first in The Chase because he has 5 wins. He currently sits 6th in points. Pretty nice how that works out for the current NCC Champion.

Kevin Harvick is this weeks biggest loser as he back slides 2 more spots and is now teetering on the edge of The Chase in the 12th and final marker. All he really has to do is finish the race 32nd or better and there is no way Dale Jr no matter if he leads the most laps and wins the race can get in The Chase. Kurt Busch can lock in his place just by finishing 36th or better regardless what Dale Jr does.

Not a lot else going on outside of The Chase. Kasey Kahne had another good day and moved up 2 spots along with David Regan and Bill Elliott.

The most notable driver points mover is Michael Waltip. Despite his crash and burn, literally, he moved up 2 spots in the drivers points. Of course the reason he moved up is because no one lower then him in drivers points raced last weekend. On to owners points.

Dave Blaney and the #22 Cat Toyota and Bill Elliott and the #21 Motorcraft Ford are still playing leap frog with the #21 currently winning by 4 points. That is going to be an interesting battle to watch the rest of the season. Not sure what is up with Blaney. He can normally qualify good it is his follow through that needs a lot of work.

Another interesting battle is going to be the #45 Wells Fargo Dodge piloted by Kyle Petty and the #70 HAAS Automation/Yellow Chevrolet piloted by Johnny Sauter as they try to keep out of the 35th slot. Currently they are tied and only 52 points out of 35th. Now that Kyle is back in the car hopefully he can start moving back up the points ladder again.

Get ready for Dale Jr TV at Richmond where it will be start to finish coverage of Dale Jr and where Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick are currently running and how many points out of The Chase is Jr. Would not be surprised if they ran a “live” points standing for the entire race. Rusty might even step in and tell us what Jr is thinking at any given time. (heavy on the sarcasm on that last part)