The Racing website

Due to an issue with our service provider the website for our racing team is a little messed up. They offered no explanation as to what happened and for some reason the older version I uploaded doesn't display properly. I've been working on a new site over the last few days and have a beta version up now. You can check it out at http://www.pozernickracing.com/test.php

If you have firefox or internet explorer 7 it should display properly. If you're using an older browser it may look a little messed. I believe I've found a way to fix that, but since I'm at work as I write this (yeah, busy day) I'll have to wait until later to try it out. For the final "version 2.0" of the site I may implement the same banners that are found on the old version (total of 4 images with the selection being a random one each time the page loads.

Since Grant's Daytona should be ready for the opening weekend in May I'll be working to get some newer pictures than what I currently have. I spent too much time before filming the car instead of taking pictures.

I have another movie to recommend: 300. It's an adaptation of Frank Miller's adaptation (nice, adaptation of an adaptation) of the Battle of Thermopylay in which 300 Spartan soliders led by Leonidas stood against the Persian Army controlled by Xerxes. Considering Xerxes army at the time is anywhere from one million to 2.6 million in strength... well, that shows you what kind of fight the Spartans had on their hands. Now mind you the fight took place in a pass that was around 50 feet wide, so only so many Persians could get through at any one time. The battle lasted ~3 days before the Spartans were betrayed by a man telling the Persians about a path that lead around the Spartans.

Anyway, the entire movie was shot against a green screen and all the scenery was added in after using computers. The cinematography is stunning, while the story is really a simple one. Lots of action, lots of violence (hey, they did fight in hand to hand combat back then), but not a lot of story. Then again, the story of what happened is told, so I guess that makes it ok. It's not Gladiator or Braveheart quality, but it still stands on it's own merits. I'd watch it again.

Spring has Sprung?

Sorry for ignoring the blog so much as of late but I haven't found the desire to write as much as I was in say January ;-)

Spring does seem to be on it's way here in Manitoba, although winter doesn't want to go without a fight. Two days ago it was -28 with the windchill when I went to work and when I went out for lunch is was +5. Yesterday was warm, then turned to snow, then to rain and this morning's commute was a slippery one as the said rain decided to turn to ice.

With all that said, the snow is still melting and there is lots of bare ground showing now. To top it off I saw some Canada geese yesterday on my drive home. That's a pretty good clue that Spring is here. The number of people out walking in the evenings has quadrupled at least. Cedar is very happy to see other dogs on her walk.

On the entertainment front I have some movies to recommend:

Children of Men: set in the UK in 2027 all humanity has for some unknown reason become infertile. I'll leave it at that as I don't want to ruin the story. Cinematography was good and the acting suited the feel of the film.

Layer Cake: Staring Daniel Craig (the new James Bond), Colm Meany and a host of actors who have done time in other british "gang" films. Daniel plays the part of a drug dealer attempting to retire from the business. If you like the gangster films, especially the british style (ie: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), then you'll have to see this one.

Trailer Park Boys: the Movie: Ricky, Julian, Bubbles and the rest of the Sunnyvale crew in their first feature length film. If you love the show, you'll love the movie.

Eragon: Don't bother. The best part of the movie is when the dragon hatches. Other than that the entire movie is set up for a second part (whenever that arrives). Boring.

Casino Royale: The newest James Bond movie is simply one of the best. Daniel Craig plays the best Bond since Sean Connery. Hands down, bar none. A "real world" story line, believable action and Craig has just the right amount of cockiness/arrogance to play an effective James Bond. I look forward to more from him.

And in closing, I'll show a recent picture I did from Gran Turismo 4 of a Mercedes SL300. This is one of the best and more realistic shots I've done in this game (the full size image can be found here: http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7822/01vw0.jpg):

Words from a Soldier

One of my best friends, Cap. Scott Lang is currently stationed at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. Scott is a very eloquent writer and I let his words do the talking here.

Fallen

A deployment to Afghanistan for myself has been one of many firsts. This past week saw one I had hoped to never experience. It was my first ramp ceremony. All available Canadians- soldiers, and civilian collected at the airfield. There was conversation and light banter, and an avoidance to discuss the reason we all gathered.

The sun had set a while ago but it was still warm, relatively so. There was a continuous breeze blowing, and if you believe in such things it could have easily been taken as prophetic. We gathered and formed with a bit more purpose than I’ve usually seen of large groups of soldiers gathering, there was little complaining, little noise.

Things progressed quickly and soon we found ourselves on the march to take our positions. We made the solemn, and quiet march through the hazy darkness. The only sound was the mild and continuous wind in my ears, and the muffled staccato of hundreds of combat boots on the tarmac. We marched from the weak light of the hanger through the darkness towards the looming brightly lit beacon that was the Hercules waiting.

As we Canadians formed, tightly packed, shoulder-to-shoulder-to-shoulder three deep in a long line, we formed a corridor that would act as the final Kandahar road for a fallen comrade. As we shuffled into position, quietly, reverently I heard something that surprised me; though it shouldn’t have. Row after row of soldiers from other countries, marines, Brits, Aussies, Dutch all formed row after row behind us.

I was positioned in the front rank about 30 feet from the yawning open end of the Herc. We waited for what seemed an eternity, lined at attention. The precision, formality, and ambiance reminded me of ancient Viking tributes, or final tributes to fighting Kings. It made me think in that moment, that it is only in death we soldiers, we average Canadian men and women are Kings and Queens, if only to our peers.

Then there was a whine from a microphone, as it itself caught the wind. The Padres spoke their lines, and they were no longer the trivial platitudes of Remembrance Day of yesteryear. The words reverberated, and stuck. They were quick, efficient, and articulate.

The emotion was thick and palpable. And then the command sang out. “Task Force Afghanistan to your Fallen Comrade salute.”

I have always been moved by the haunting skirl of the bagpipes, but hearing it here, under these circumstances was like an emotional punch in the gut. I think we all stood there steeling ourselves, but still the weight of it hits you like a tidal wave. It was a slow moving tsunami that started at the far end of the lines, and then progressed as the slow cadence brought another Nova Scotian son his last 500 meters across Kandahar Airfield.

The procession was slow, as if purposely driving the point home, building and building. I watched the Padres, then the coffin itself pass in front of me, so close that I could have reached out and touched it. Then world was then like a kaleidoscope, colour and light blurry and refracted. The wave passed me by then, and I hitched in a deep breath. A few minutes later there were the muffled footsteps inside the belly of the aircraft.

I watched the faces of those across from me. Many of which I knew were like me, and did not know Cpl Megeny. But he was Canadian, he was young, and he may only be the first of our rotation. So, there etched on many face were grim looks, made even more fierce in the weird shadows cast by the spotlights, and there were the telltale glistening sparkles of tears in eyes and cheeks.

You haven’t seen anything until you have seen soldiers cry. I hope I never see it again.

I should start taking advantage of the MTS Centre

Winnipeg has a very nice arena called the MTS Centre. It was opened in November 2004, seats up to 16, 345 people and is very high tech. I've been there four times. Three Manitoba Moose Hockey games and once for the Professional Bull Riding show that came through.

Lately however the MTS centre has been attracting big name musicians. One of the reasons is supposed to be the excellent acoustics (they designed the arena for good acoustics), and the other is that Winnipeggers love music. A few famous musicians and bands have come from Winnipeg. Here's a short list of some famous singer/bands:

Bachman Turner Overdrive
Crash Test Dummies
The Guess Who
The Watchmen
Bif Naked
Chantal Kreviazuk
Neil Young

Back to the MTS centre, Van Morrison (brown eyed girl) just recently played and Meatloaf was there last weekend. Some more notables in the upcoming three months:

Christina Aguilera (Saturday)
Heaven and Hell (which is really Black Sabbath minus Ozzy) with Megadethon Sunday
Eric Clapton on the 28th

Next month:

IlDivo
Rod Stewart
John Mayer
Jann Arden

May:
My Chemical Romance
Daniel O'Donnel

June:
Gwen Stefani
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd)

In between those concerts there is a number of Manitoba Moose hockey games, the IIHF World Women's Hockey Championship, Figure Skating and a Motocross show.

I really have to start jumping on this as these are some shows to take advantage of.

Congrats Mr. Gushue

Congrats to Team Newfoundland and Labrador tonight on the second place finish in the Tim Horton's Brier. No, he didn't win but Brad and company have shown that they aren't just a flash in the pan. Considering Brad's age (26) we'll see plenty more of him in the future. He's got some real talent and a maturity beyond his years.

Go Gushue!

Month end wrap up

Yeah I know, it's not officially the end of February yet but I couldn't come up with a snappy title to this post and I didn't want to leave it blank like I've been doing lately.

Anyway, February is almost over. It's taken the cold weather with it apparently and just dumping snow on us now. I would guess we've received about 25 cm in total over the last week or so. I don't mind though as I'll take some snow and a slower drive to work over the extreme cold... or would I? It's a bit of catch 22. Either it's cold and clear or warmer and snowing. Canadian weather at it's finest I do believe.

On the Automotive front there are credible rumors that GM is looking to purchase Chrysler (including Dodge and Jeep) from Daimler. Given the dollar amount needed to seperate the companies (rough estimate of $70 billion which includes legacy costs associated with UAW workers) I figured it was just that - a rumor. Now however the talk is that Daimler will get a share of GM in lieu of the exchange of cash. Great, another company Daimler can try to suck dry. I believe Dave at Allpar.com says it best:

"Any merger would be fraught with problems as Mercedes relies heavily on Chrysler for its revenue. There’s the consulting fees, the royalties, Chrysler Financial, and the engineering work done in Auburn Hills (presumably at no cost) for Mercedes. Daimler would collapse without Chrysler, regardless of what the Germans and analysts like to say, because it survives by sucking cash out of its American industries, and Freightliner is drying up fast. Mercedes’ thirst for ill-gotten dollars could be quenched pretty quickly, though, with another “merger,” and a deal could include some provision for a cash flow to Stuttgart via royalties for a certain number of years, as well as the use of DAIMLERchrysler Financial for a certain number of years, to allow the Daimler parasite time to find another host. "

On another topic I gave Live for Speed another go online yesterday and was pleased to finish 8th out of 23 racers in a 6 lap race. The first lap was spent avoiding other collisions and even getting spun out by an overzealous fellow racer. I could make a report to a race steward but I figured that it didn't actually cost me anything in the end and I only have 40 miles logged online. I'll take some of the rough stuff to start just so I can handle the learning curve of racing online. I almost squeaked out a 7th place but didn't have the right gearing on the car for the track I was on. The track had a very long banked turn and my car topped out at 150km/h. The guy who took 7th place from me on the last lap could get up to about 160km/h, which in racing - even over a short distance - is hard to make up. Even harder when he can take turns as fast as you as well.

I guess I should show the car I've been racing. Live for Speed has no real production cars (there is a BMW Sauber F1 car and a two other one off cars) but the cars are based on real world counterparts. I'll give you a guess at what the UF1000 is based on. Hint - Mini ;-)

It's quite fun to drive and handles very well. My online forays have been to the STCC servers (Sim Touring Car Cup) where you earn licenses for racing. Racing clean, fast and finishing on the podium helps you obtain advanced licenses a bit quicker. They start at copper and go up to titanium. I've raced on the "New and Bronze" server and have to work my way up to the Silver and Gold server through clean racing. Poor and/or aggressive driving is no tolerated and if you do not follow the rules you can get suspensions or even banned.

Here's my little graphic I can use on forums and whatnot:

Now that I've bored you all to tears I figure I'll sign off ;-)

So the first dance lesson was more fun than I thought it would be. Our instructor said we move very well together and that we are fun to teach (so far anyway ;-). We just have to work on me leading ALL the time and Marla being willing to follow. I believe it's going to be a good thing for us and I felt really connected with Marla once we got our steps down.

The cold snap has finally broken. It's been warmer for the past few days and it's nice. We did get a few centimetres of snow last night but it's quickly turning to slush and just making cars dirty. It's nice to be able to go out without having to bundle up and look like the Michelin Man. Another month or so and the snow should be gone... or most of it anyway.

I got around to playing Live for Speed online a few nights back. It's quite cool being able to race against people from all over the world. My only problem is I was SO SLOW compared to the other people on the server. Afterwards I realized that it was most likely because my car had a regular street suspension setup and wasn't tuned for racing. Given I was only 3 seconds or so slower per lap than those with a good setup, I don't believe I did too badly my first time out. I did have a spectacular single vehicle crash at one point though. Poor old car wouldn't move much after that. Managed to limp back to the pits for repairs;-)

The basement is still coming along. The fireplace is finished now (with the exception of stone of course) and we've built the bulkheads needed for the main part of the basment. I drywalled it last night and it looks ok. Just have to put on the round corners and then some finishing mud to finish it. Then we'll be putting up the primer and then paint.

The Job, The Dance, The Life

It's still frickin' cold here. There's no getting used to -30 and below. The weatherman is calling for -4 come Friday, but we were told a month ago that this cold would only last a few days as well. Can't trust 'em ;-)

At my job I've been placed back in "lease activation" to "clean things up." Apparently the process had slowed down our funding department and was causing issues. So far I've streamlined the checklist we have (from two pages down to one) and have been given leeway as to what we actually need to do when reviewing files. The whole point of lease activation was to protect against fraud, but for some reason it had turned into something much larger than that and was growing out of control. I'm fairly sure everything is ok now. I'll be here for a few more weeks and then will train a new employee in credit to take over. It's not a difficult job but you do need to be able to pick up on subtle hints to prevent fraud.

Marla and I signed up for dance lessons, which will start this coming Saturday. I'm not sure how I feel about that and honestly I do feel a little uncomfortable about it. More due to the fact that I don't feel I have enough coordination for it. We'll given it a go though and I'm sure I'll grow to like it. We'll be focusing on Latin dances and do some Ballroom stuff after. I'll keep you posted on our experiences ;-)

Bugatti veyron Top Speed test

One of the guys from the British Automotive show, Top Gear, takes the world's fastest production car for a top speed test at Volkswagen's test track in Germany.

407 km/h. Yes, 407. That's 253 mph in a road legal car.

Check out the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8cqgInEPcY

Not much to report as of late. The Colts won the Superbowl rather decisively... after the initial touchdown return by the Bears on the opening kickoff. The weather here is cold... very cold. Winnipeg came close to setting a record a few days ago. It was -42 without the windchill and with it was -54 or something absurd like that.

I've still been messing around with my video games. It's split now between Guitar Hero and a PC game called Live for Speed. Last nights guitar hero session was particularly intense with songs such as Institutionalized by Suicidal Tendancies, Hanger 18 by Megadeth and Free Bird by Lynard Skynard. Free Bird is rather crazy near the end and is very long compared to other songs on Guitar Hero.

Live for Speed is a highly realistic racing game. While it doesn't feature real life cars or tracks, the actual physics of the game more than make up for it (many of the cars do look like real life cars, but are different enough to not need licensing). Compared to other racing/driving games I've played, this one feels most like driving a real car. It was quite disappointing when I tried playing Gran Turismo 4 after a spell of Live For Speed.

Marla is back on Friday after her month long trip away to Florida and New York. It's going to be quite nice to have her back and I'm sure she'll be very happy to be back at home =)

Wanted to wish my friend, Scott, good luck while he's in Afghanistan. He left last Sunday for his 6 month tour. I'm looking forward to updates on his own blog (http://scottyswords.blogspot.com) and wish him all the best representing Canada.