Oil Rig

So I have been watching the news lately and have found that down in the gulf of Mexico- 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana an Oil Rig exploded and fell into the ocean. For the first few days I was stunned. Wow- how could an oil rig just explode like that. After that I was worried- wow 11 people cannot be found, I hope they are alright. After that I was sad- crap oil is leaking everywhere and 11 people are dead. Now I am pissed. The more I think about it the more I think that somehow this was a planned event. I have no clue who could have planned it at all. Maybe left wing environmentalists. I have heard the arguments against that theory- Gee they would not want to hurt the environment, how could they execute that, or the best- that is just crazy talk.
Is it? Some time back I read the book "State of Fear" and although it was fiction it was very well researched. It was about fear mongering and how you can control a population with different levels of fear. It also included lots of stories of environmentalist nut jobs who will do anything to further there cause.
These people are willing to do anything to move forward the agenda of saving (insert anything).
I think it is possible.
I also think it is much less likely that the government took an active role in such a thing- but they may have just let it happen.
What would be the purpose?
1) People feel the same way I did- wow that sucks bad- oil rigs = explosions and death
2) People where I live- in VA may start thinking- crap- I do not want this on my coast
3) People mobilize in a direction that they would not have otherwise chosen- such as resisting additional drilling based on recent events- such as an OIL RIG EXPLODING AND SINKING
4) The republican right wing gets upset that the administration puts a halt to drilling until we "find out" what happened. This vilifies the right wing in the perfect amount of time before an election.
5) People raise up arms to the sky and ask WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DRILL AFTER SUCH A DISASTER- so republicans have to let it drop
Results?
No more oil drilling, environmental measures pass without the concession the left made to allow drilling and we move on down the road yet again. 11 people sacrificed and for what? Bird brained ideas that oil drilling will hurt the environment. I tried to google search for previous oil rigs exploding and sinking but I could find none. I tried to remember any ever happening and could find nothing in my memory either.
You have to ask yourself- why all the sudden would an Oil Rig that is off the coast of the USA suddenly explode with no reason? If an airliner exploded above the US for no reason what would people think? Jet fuel is much more explosive than Oil- and the fumes are more explosive than the natural gas- so what would people think? They would think- TERRORISM! But the news I have been watching said nothing of the sort.
In fact maybe it was not left wings- maybe it was arab terrorists who decided they did not want the US to be independent from foreign oil- maybe they thought they would scare us.
Either way the results are not good for this country. More fear and more uncertainty.
I can tell you what will come out-
There was some sort of leak- faulty equipment maybe. Something sparked off the leak and the whole place went up. It was so sudden that 11 people died (did they die? The press is only talking about oil spills now and I am just assuming since that was the last I heard).
Probably some sort of report will come out saying that there were previous safety violations and that the platform was warned several times.
Then of course there will be character assassination of the people who ran the rig.
It will be explained away and people who think as I do that this was a purposeful action by a well organized group of some kind will just be addressed as nut jobs.
This is not a safe world we live in. We are surrounded by people who will do ANYTHING to further an agenda (if it is right or wrong) and we as the American people should not accept what is being spoon fed to us.
There is a saying in my business called FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt). Counter opposing sales people will use FUD as a means to manipulate customers. This method is common and underhanded. Sometimes it is the only way to move forward an otherwise weak agenda. Create FUD.
This oil rig disaster and the resulting media coverage is FUD- see it for what it is.

Top Gear

So last night I sat down to watch my favorite show Top Gear. This show is on BBCA and I have been watching it for several years now. It is a British show and unlike any car shows we have here in the US. It is aimed at entertainment rather than information. However you always happen to learn something along the way. The basis is essentially three British car guys. All with different ways of looking at cars. They clash frequently which is where the fun is. They seem to really like each other the way normal guys like each other. With ribbing and jokes as well as frequent adventures into the inane. So last night they had a special show. It was set in South America- Bolivia specifically. The three guys were tasked with buying used 4-wheel drive vehicles online from the UK to be delivered on a river shore in Bolivia (site unseen). They were then to drive all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The hilarity and amusement ensued and I was totally entertained for almost 2 hours. The crazy thing is that my wife came out of the shower and sat down and started watching with me. Granted- she thought it was a normal 1 hour show (so did I) but we both sat and watched together. She even occasionally laughed (like when one threatened to kill another with a machete). This was probably the best episode of Top Gear I have ever seen. And they are all good. So I have to say- if you are going to watch this show- watch last nights episode. If you are in the UK I am sure it was on last year or some time previous.
You do not have to love cars- just entertainment.

Imagine that- Health Care not for all

So with 100% left wing support, a bill written somewhere (but not in congress) fails to cover those who have real problems- but are TRYING to support themselves. Of course a group of the public that is trying to help themselves get SCREWED by a loophole in this new heath care bill. People who are already in high risk pools paying a fortune will be STUCK There- thanks congress.
WAKE UP PEOPLE. This left wing congress only THINKS it is helping people. In reality they are trying to give a hand up to people who do not want it and pushing down that actually need a hand.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100416/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_overhaul_high_risk

Review of Proof

So last week I went into DC on Monday to see Bon Jovi at the Verizon center. This was the first time I had seen Bon Jovi in concert and I have been a fan for many years. The goal was to go to a nice meal before the show. I was with Heather and my wife Amy. Heather and Amy agreed on Proof and I thought it sounded OK.
To put it bluntly this restaurant kicked ass.
Aside from the menu being a little confusing I was blown away by the quality of the food.
We ordered nothing from the first page of the menu- which was mostly cured meat. We ordered gnocchi from the 1st and shared. It was melt in your mouth, buttery, potato goodness. Also some fresh herbs thrown in really livened it up, I was entranced every time I took a bite. What a fantastic way to start. I should say we did order a selection of cheeses before the first course, however I was not overall impressed with those. Since I chose them it is my own fault.
For my primary course I ordered the scallops. They were perfectly seared and each bite brought on a flood of taste and texture. There was no grit at all. This sounds like a given, but I cannot count the amount of times I have ordered scallops in a high end restaurant and gotten grit. The portion size was also perfect and the side dish of warm bread pudding (savory not sweet) was a perfect addition. Everything tasted fresh, clean and wonderful.
For dessert I ordered chocolate bread pudding. It was good- but the other components of the meal stood out as perfect.
A nod to the bar as well. I ordered a Manhattan with Makers Mark- olive- not cherry. It was perfect. I also ordered a Grey goose martini- dry and well shaken. Also perfect.
The experience was not pretentious (something I am always concerned about eating downtown) but welcoming and relaxed. Inside a brief walking distance from the Verizon center it was well placed. I was confused as to why they had open reservations just a few days before the concert and other restaurants in the area were booked. This place will be on my list from now on.
If you have a chance- GO.
http://www.proofdc.com/
The meal was better than the concert. Bon Jovi sounded fine- but I have yet to listen to the new album and he played a lot of songs from it. Overall I would classify it as too mellow. I wanted higher energy stuff. At least he still has his voice and good stage presence.
I could have done without the giant pictures of Obama and Oprah in the opening song (on the LCD screens).

I wonder if my wife reads this.....

So I was happy living my life when I got an email this morning from Motor Trend. 2011 Mustang GT first test. Since I have already heard a lot about it I thought I would take a look.
The reason for the title is because I WANT A 2011 mustang GT. What a bad ass car. Having owned two mustang 5.0s in the past it is easy to see why my interest is peaked. My issue was that I outgrew the car. I had a 1987 5.0 LX hatch. It was hot, fast and got me in a lot of trouble. So much trouble I had to sell the car or risk never driving again (the only car I ever outran a cop in). No one was ever hurt- but I sure paid a lot of money to the state, county and State Farm.....
Second was years later- a 1995 GT. I loved it- but sadly as I got older and had to drive more the cramped interior was something I could not deal with . It was also a harsh ride and my wife tended to hate it (she was not my wife at the time). So I have watched the Mustang and I have waited. I have waited to see it grow up as I have.
It seems that day has finally come. Ford in general seems to understand what the American public wants. They are producing more and more cars, SUV, crossover, and pickups that seem to hit the mark dead on. So much so that when I was searching for a car for my wife I decided to give them a shot. I ended up not buying one directly- but a re-badge- re done ford. A Mazda.
So far we love it.
So back to the Mustang. I was waiting for it to grow up. I was waiting for more leg room. That came years ago and has been increasing. As I was writing this I sadly determined the next statement
My current car has 43.9 inches of front leg room (BTW I am 6'3" so legroom is important)
My 1995 mustang had 42.5.
The new 2011 Mustang has 42.4 How did that happen Ford???? I could swear that Legroom increased at least an inch with the re-design a few years ago. But the numbers do not lie.
Oh well. Just to make sure I was not crazy I went and checked- the 2005 has 42.7 inches. Not a massive difference but something strange is going on with Legroom.
In any case here are the things that caught my interest:
Performance- this thing blows the doors off the Camero with better gas mileage and better drive ability! Not to mention it still has a Solid Rear Axle. How Ford achieves the handling of a .92g through the course with a solid rear axle? I have no clue....
Next is the engine. They squeeze so much power out of a normally aspirated 5.0 (real- not 4.9 this time) engine. Bravo. That takes real engineering!
In addition- and this sounds lame but for any Married dude out there- he can attest. It now has dual climate control as an option. I am not sure this has existed before- but it does for sure now and I am amazed! In my 95 the heated seats helped- but ever since then having dual zone has been a must- it makes for less arguments and happiness!
The Synch system is now an option- and Nav has been but remains to be.
So lets do the math- the Mustang now has most of the features that I look for. I am sure other features are missing that my 2007 came with like
Memory seats
rain sensing wipers
Bi-Xenon headlights
Cooled seats (although Ford does offer this on Lincoln)
So of course- there is no way I could get rid of my Lexus for this car- especially since it is bought and paid for. BUT.... if I could save my money and have a second car, a toy. Maybe in a few years when my son is out of day care and costs decrease. Maybe by then I could save enough to have this new awesome Ford. By then there will be some used GT premiums out there that I could pick up for a steal....
I wonder if I would be cramped..... Oh well. No test drive for me- too dangerous.
For those that want to read the article

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/coupes/112_1003_2011_ford_mustang_gt_premium_test/index.html

Oil Drilling

So it seems our good president has agreed to Oil Drilling off the coast of VA. FANTASTIC. I am very happy that we will be drilling for Oil in areas that we have not before. It is long over due. Now the questions arise. WHY Mr. Obama would you suddenly change tac and move in the right direction? For a simple reason of course. His agenda needs to be fulfilled. He must get a climate/energy bill passed now. The only way to do that is to make concessions and allow us to actually have more energy.
So lets do the Math- WAR BAD- PULL TROOPS. On my last check we still have troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Not that I thought he would- but we can hope.
DRILLING BAD- so lets go ahead and drill.

I wonder if he says- that is a great idea- I am glad I thought of it......

And Health Care Already Suffers

Great job US Government. As predicted big business is taking out the pain on the American worker. The American people knew this would happen and now- just a week later we see it in action. You raise the costs to American big business, they pass it along by reducing benefits. All so the poor can get coverage. STOP TAKING FROM THE PRODUCTIVE TO HELP THE NON PRODUCTIVE!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100326/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_at_t_health_care

Update to Logitech Remote

After my annoyance was peaked with Logitech I resigned myself to go ahead and go through the install.
It took a lot of setup time. More due to fine tuning than anything else BUT..... Both rooms are now up and running without flaws (mostly anyway). I have to say- as annoying as it was to get up and running- at least it works. In my research I did find other high end remotes out there that probably would have been a good choice as well.
Here is something that I did NOT think would work but it did.
Old Harmony 890 remote in my Media Room. Media closet houses all components- including my Sat receiver and PS3. The media closet is behind the seating area so there is no line of site at all to the closet- and it is fully enclosed so it works well.
I hooked up the RF extender- this is a little device that converts RF signals out of the remote and converts to IR for the components. I used to have an RF extender that had a little stick on RF light for every component. It was a spider web of wires (and about as thin) and it was ugly. The Logitech blasts IR light out to the whole closet at once and it actually works! No more spider web. Second- the PS3 adapter requires direct line of sight! That's right- an adapter for BLUETOOTH WIRELESS requires IR to work. The good news is that it works fine with the RF extender. So commands from my 890 go to the RF extender-to the PS3 adapter-to the PS3 and they seem to work. Aside from some fast scrolling left to right when I did not want it- everything else seems fine.
The new Harmony one remote is nice for the family room. The fine tuning was again around the Mitsubishi TV- the HDMI port switching causes so many problems. But the remote had a function to work around this and with some minor testing it seems to work fine.

Now that I have a nice remote in my media room I think the next upgrade will be Z-wave lighting. The only thing that has ever bothered me about my media room has been the light switch location. The 890 remote has the ability to control Z-wave lights so I will add in 3 Z-wave switches (on the outside of the media room) and hopefully when I turn on everything and hit play the lights will instantly dim. Then when I press pause or stop the lights will come back up. At $50 a pop for the switches those will have to wait.....

Love Affair with Logitech is at an END

So many of you know I have an obsession with Home theater and technology. I have found in the past that Logitech makes a pretty awesome remote. I have used a Logitech in my family room for years now with good results. I decided I would upgrade my antiquated media room remote for a new logitech with Birthday money. So begins the saga.
Here are the problems I have encountered:
1) I had to choose a Logitech remote that could work with an RF extender- I thought this was taken care of because I had an unused RF extender that I got with my 890 remote. I was not using it because I had direct line of site to all my components in my family room. So I thought- great- I will check to see if it works. I checked the Logitech website and I guess I did not check deep enough. I THOUGHT it was supported. Turns out- it was not supported and would not be supported. They sell the same remote with the extender and they sell the extender seperate- but I am not sure why. This is the first annoyance.
Solution- use the new Harmony One remote I bought in the family room and move my 890 downstairs- as long as the PS3 adapter I bought will work with the 890- it is said to but I have not tried it yet due to OTHER problems.
2) So I go to upgrade my 890 remote in the family room and when I bring up the software it says- sure you can upgrade- just add the new remote- but there is NO WHERE TO ADD A NEW REMOTE- only remove the old one. So I call tech support.
Here I learn the following:
A) You have to have a NEW ACCOUNT FOR EVERY NEW REMOTE YOU BUY- the accounts will not touch and you cannot move settings from one to the other
B) There is no direct upgrade path from the 890 remote to anything else- which means I have to start from scratch!
C) There is no way to pass along my complaints to development or management- the Indian (dot not Dancing with Wolves) is all I get.
So I decide instead of going through a return process I will just deal with starting from scratch and make sure the world knows- LOGITECH IS FINE FOR 1 REMOTE- JUST DO NOT BUY ANOTHER AND DO NOT UPGRADE!
Man am I pissed at companies that treat customers this way. It all boils down to development costs- Logitech has left all customers out in the cold with an 890 remote (I asked- is there ANYTHING I can BUY to just have a smooth upgrade- response- NO).
Not to mention creating a brand new account in the SAME DAMN SOFTWARE just to control a different remote. This is poor development, poor planning and most of all- it just annoys me.
DO BETTER LOGITECH!

There goes the Nation....

So just as I predicted our Nation is on a crazy ride to socialist hell. I predicted before the Obanation was elected that our Country would choose him, move WAY far to the left, regret it and then hopefully over correct and move WAY back over to the right. So far I am 2/3 of the way there. In November and then the next Presidential election I will be 100% right.
How can it be that even the left wing liberal media is even reporting this new health care legislation accurately. They are saying flat out- massive tax increase, if you earn a lot of money you will pay for this and so on....
This country did not want THIS legislation. As usual the government does not hear the WHOLE story. We wanted reform. We want the $200 aspirin problem fixed. We did NOT want this bill passed. This was not the way to fix it. I am sick of the government attitude of doing something has to be better than doing nothing. That is not TRUE. LISTEN TO US. We have seen what you can do. We all think you have done enough work for the next 4 years. Just stop now and rest.