crowza.com - v3.0

I've Surpassed One Million Credits in BOINC! How? Built a AMD Phenom II PC.

I recently surpassed one million total workunits on BOINC. That quite an accomplishment when back in the 90s it would take a whole year to reach a thousand work units. How did I do it? I rebuilt one of my older media center computers named "Unicron".

This is his story.

Meet the new Unicron, "reborn". Built in speakers, HD DVD and Blu-Ray Support.

So, I had this old HP Media Center PC named "Unicron" for the past several years right? Well, over the course of the past few weeks the power supply blew out for the second time in two years. Why? Well, basically because the power supply was a cheap piece of crap. However, due to the form factor of the Media Center PC, it wouldn't fit a regular power supply and keep its stylish curves. So, you are stuck using the stock supply. Well, guess what? HP doesn't make these media center PCs anymore, so the power supply is next to impossible to find. When you can find them the prices on these guys are over $200 for a piece of faulty hardware that would just die in another year.

Fuck that.

AMD Phenom II 955 4x processor before I installed the heatsink & fan.

So, what to do? Take that $200 and invest it towards a complete rebuild of the PC in question. First, to decide how powerful this machine was going to be and what I could aim for. My target was the most extreme performance for the price, quiet, not power hungry (which marked out Intel's top of the line Core i7 cpus) and did I mention performance? I wanted this to scream while running frozen cool, all in a small form factor and sipping on the power. I definitely had my work cut out for me.

I originally opted for the Radeon 5850, but due to supplies constraints (and power consumption) I went with the Radeon HD 5770. It's a beast and it draws next to nothing power wise.

For the CPU I decided on the AMD Phenom II 955, it's a quad-core cpu running at 3.2 GHz per core. But, that's all coming from a 95 watt cpu. AMD has some great 6x CPUs heading to the market in 2010 and even some 12x later. This CPU would not only give me the best "bang for buck" performance but also allow for an easy upgrade path for tweaking the system in the future. Did I mention it's a snap to overclock? Yep, even at it's stock configuration I've been able to overclock it to 4Ghz per core. For the motherboard, I picked a ECS 785g AMD chipset with a AM3+ socket for the CPU.

Shot of the memory banks, with "tracers" which are led patterns on the top of the memory for stats.

Memory wise, I opted for 8 gigs of DDR3 memory. For the operating system, I decided on the 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate for my main OS (although I might install Ubuntu, eComStation and Mac Snow Leopard on different partitions before it's all over with). Why 7? It's the best operating system Microsoft has ever created, hands down. That's no joke. Although I do know that's not saying much given their track record...

Brand new 23" inch 1080p widescreen monitor.

I needed a new monitor for the system, as the old 4:3 LCD just wasn't going to cut it. Finally found a great deal on a new Samsung on eBay. Just remember, when building a new machine for yourself, NewEgg, eBay and Amazon are your best friends. Don't try to get everything from the same place. You can get better deals on different parts from different vendors. Also, like to throw a shoutout to frozencpu.com for their sound dampening material. Stuff is great!

Das Keyboard. The best keyboard in the world. Period.

I also wanted an small form factor that would be easy to move and transport into the living room and connect to the HDTV. But, I also wanted a quieter machine. What to do with the final build? Line the inside of the case with sound dampening material from frozencpu.com - worked well and lower the decibel level of the machine a number of notches. The final system runs cools and quiet even while overclocked, runs anything that I can throw at it (I'm not a huge PC Gamer, but it has run Shadowrun, COD4, Galactic Civ2, Sins of a Solar Empire all at max settings running in 1080p without a single frame dropped).

Hard drive wise, I opted for solid state disk for the main operating system and then a 1 Terrabyte drive for the storage. It doesn't need much space as it's connected to my CAT6 Gigabit wired home network with about 10 Terrabytes of storage on the main server. Besides that, thanks to the main SSD drive Windows 7 boots in less than 10 seconds. Seriously. SSD is the wave of the future, now. It's the single biggest performance upgrade you can make.

For the keyboard, I went with a mechanically switched keyboard that makes those old school "clicks" when you type. Nothing feels better. It's called "Das Keyboard", just google it if you are in the market for a new keyboard. You won't be disappointed.

Doing this past project reminded me that while I build and configure PCs for a living, but it is mostly just work. But, building something for yourself? Fun and a lot more rewarding.

"Unicron" has been reborn with one million BOINC workunits down.

09-09-09. Respect.

Today is the annual birthday for the Sega Dreamcast. However, today is special - just like the day when Sega launched the Dreamcast back on 09-09-99. That's right, folks! It's been ten years since the Dreamcast launched.

We are patiently (and I do mean patiently) awaiting for the forthcoming announcement of the Dreamcast 2. Until then, let's take a stroll down memory lane:

http://www.crowza.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=017332

2009-2010 Fantasy Football Kickoff!!!

The famous, crowza.com Fantasy Football league kicks off this year in style! Not only have we integrated the look and feel into our website, but we are now running on servers that will allow the public to follow along with us and they will be open 24/7 all year long! I'm sure Vegas probably won't be taking bets on our fantasy teams performance, but I'm sure @Mongo108 will. So, if you need some shady under-the-table betting action, give him shout.

As with each and every year, the number of people who wish to participate is larger than the number of spots we have open. We apologize if you haven't been able to participate with us in the past. The selection process is a very difficult procedure. We wish we could everyone into the league, but that wouldn't be much fun or fair.

The brand new fantasy football website is live and ready!

Click here to download the Windows "Live Scoring" Application The League ID is "52049"

Click here to access the mobile version of the fantasy football website.

Here is how it works. If you've played with us in the past and have won a Super Bowl championship you are first in line for a spot. Second, if you've played with us before in the past and you are continuing from the previous year - you are given higher priority. Third, (this is where you need to pay attention if you wanna get in and haven't played before) - if you do not satisfy the above criteria, you are usually competing for one or two of our open spots. (if that)..

That's right, only one or two open spots most years. You are competing against 15-20 other people. So, past this point who gets consideration?

1. Participate. First off, you must be an active and contributing participant in our message boards. You've gotta get to know people, otherwise no one will help rally for your cause. Post messages, enter discussions, get yourself known. to the other people of the board. This will help your cause greatly. If you do not participate in the message boards, you cannot join the league. End of story.

2. Clear your schedule. Second off, you must be able to make the draft in person. You will not even begin to get considered if you cannot draft in person. The only consideration for this is given to our long standing members who have schedule conflicts and they need to get help assisting them. If you are a n00b, you don't stand a chance. Attend our draft, even if you aren't playing. Go to the draft and show up ready to play, many times - people get in due to someone simply not showing up.

3. Make Your Intentions Known Make them known, early and often. Rally for a spot. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. You shout out early and often to everyone that you want a spot. Maybe not this year, but next year. Yep, so many people wait until open spot competition is announced before they speak up. Start planning for next year, now and let people know.

4. Play the Pick Contest One way to get with our football regulars is to participate in the Football Pick Contest. When I say that, participate all year long. Say you gave up by the third week in? We figure you'll do the same with our fantasy football league. We want good players who will stick it out, win or lose, rain or shine. Players who will set their lineup and participate in the trash talking and present us with a challenge. We hate n00bs who drop out or fail to participate.

Keep those things in mind and eventually you may join us!

So get started now and good luck to everyone!

Server Upgrade!

It's that time of the year again, the time where we upgrade our servers. Over the course of the next week, the website will be moved to its new server, which will house eight times more RAM and 4x times the processor performance. What does this mean to you?

Faster response time. Better bandwidth. Less creepy old man standing by our server.

This will no longer be our server. Creepy old man is out of a job, again.

Just like in the real world, the older, slower and weaker get replaced by the newer, faster and younger. So, basically we are goin to cut down that shitty forest where people get killed by snakes, lice and other hazards and we are going to put up a brand new shiny mall, which will help the local economy and piss off environmentalists! That's right, make way for the newness!

Of course, this upgrade won't be without rough patches. The IP of the server will be moved to a new spot (for the first time in over three years), so your local DNS servers will be updated with the new IP address and sometimes that can take 24-48 hours. We have safeguards in place that should allow your requests to be pushed to the new IP automatically, so hopefully you won't notice a thing (except for the faster, better part).

The websites that will be affected:

Betcha didn't realize we had so many websites running off one server, did ya? Of course, any problems with http requests or POP email fetches should automatically resolve themselves quickly after the upgrade is complete.

The revolution has begun. Introducing the Palm Pre....

Today the Palm Pre is finally available on Sprint. So, what are you waiting for? Grab a pitchfork and head down to your local Sprint Store, Best Buy or Radio Shack! You certainly don't want to be first against the wall, when this revolution comes.

Also, announcing WebOS-interActive. A new developer for a new era of Palm:

And finally, a look at the first TV ad featuring the Palm Pre:

Welcome, to the new world.

2008 Year End Awards

As nominated and voted by the members of the crowza.com online community, we are pleased to bring you the Best of 2008 Awards. As always, some people are already thinking "Year end awards? But, we are already two months into 2009!". Well, that's what we do. While every other website and television station rushes to get their year end awards out, before the year is even over - we wait. Think about it, what if the attacks of 9-11 originally occured on 12-25? Yep, those awards shows on television would be pretty embarassed about awarding the moment of the year to "Oprah's new crash diet". We do shit our own way. So, without further ado, here are the results...

As voted by the users of crowza.com

Our Culture. Our Experiences. Our Awards.

Poster of the Year: Christian
As voted by the users of crowza.com
Honorable Mention: Tom Condor, Megalomaniac, No Panties
The highest honor we bestow every year, the Poster of the Year award - is the best of the best. It's the most entertaining, most contributing member to our little slice of Internet heaven. So, it's amazing that for the second time ever - a single person has claimed the top award twice. Previously, The Creeper tied two years back-to-back for the crown. This year, Christian has repeated the award for top poster of the year and there wasn't anyone else even close! There is always something about the content Christian brings to the world - it usually will bring a smile to your face (that, or it'll make you throw up). Whether it's his own original material, or the stuff he finds hidden on the furtherst reaches of the Internet, you simply won't forget his posts. STARTS 1,279th SEASON OF ESPN NFL2k5. Do we smell a dynasty in the making?

2008-2009 NFL Pick Contest Winner: schas88
As won in the official NFL Pick Contest 2008-2009
Honorable Mention: jrider

We have a winner and -amazingly enough- he is not named Skinsrule or Crowza. For the first time in the five year history of our contest, a newcomer not only defied the odds - but won the contest with a last second come-from-behind jump in the rankings. On top of that, he did it on one of the hardest weeks to make picks for the entire year, the final week of the regular season. Schas88 not only clinched the top position with his amazing week, but he came within one pick shy of having a perfect week. An amazing feat and a well deserved win. Congratulations schas88!

Fantasy Football 2008 Champion: Spanish Announce Team
As won in the official crowza.com Fantasy Football League
Honorable Mention: Scott Brooks

We have a new curse that has plagued the ranks of the fantasy football realm. For two solid years straight, we've had the person that won the previous year's fantasy football grand finale, not only to go to the Super Bowl but also to lose it to the newcomer as well. This year, Spanish Annoucne Team defied the odds, by turning his dismal early season into a streak of wins that made him close to unstoppable. Even when he had little faith in his own team, he still kept on going. Taking owinners of fantasy Super Bowls past in the playoffs. Congratulations Spanish Announce Team on an amazing upset and a hard fought and well deserved championship.

Game of the Year: Fallout 3 (Xbox 360, PC, PS3)
As voted by the users of crowza.com
Honorable Mention: Rock Band 2
It's only Oblivion with guns. Right? Wrong. If you think that is all Fallout 3 has to offer, you'd be kidding yourself. In a post nuclear warzone, the tattered streets of our national capitol is mezmerizing. It's a barren wasteland filled landscape with Mel Gibson like-characters and creatures. Not only do you have the choice to do good or evil in this game, you have a rock solid framerate to go with it. Bethesda? RPG? Massive landscape and choice, we'd expect that. But, a solid framerate? You fucking bet. Nothing else even comes close to this game this past year. Plus, it's all uphill from here for PC and Xbox 360 owners and the exclusive downloadable content for 2009.

Movie of the Year: The Dark Knight
As voted by the users of crowza.com
Honorable Mention: Iron Man, Wall-E
Who would have ever thought that the users of crowza.com would pick a comic-book theme movie as the movie of the year? Oh, wait. We do that ever year. So, it comes as no surprise that The Dark Knight took this award without even breaking a sweat. Lead by an amazing performance of Heath Ledger portraying The Joker, this is easily considered one of the best comic book films ever made. The fact that would have won in almost any year tells you that it's that good.

Hottest Bitch of the Year: Megan Fox
As voted by the users of crowza.com
Honorable Mention: Olivia Munn
Star of last year's "Best Movie of the Year" - Transformers (the film everybody voted for, but fashionably bashes). If you were wondering the reason it won you need to look no further than Megan Fox. Because of her, I can give you two big reasons why people voted for it, and I'm not talking about her personality or educational degrees. She has that type of "southern" charm that makes you feel like you'd be able to hit it in the parking lot after meeting her for the first time at a local bowling alley. Yes, sexy, trashy or downright hot, Megan Fox is the cat's meow this year. And by cat's meow we mean the hottest bitch.

Moment of the Year: Obama wins the Presidential Election
As voted by the users of crowza.com
Honorable Mention: 2008 crowza.com Baby Explosion
Sometimes the Moment of the Year is the result of tragedy and other times it's due to a joy. This year, the moment of the year is a reflection of history. Barrack Obama defied all of the odds to become the first ethnic minority to become president of the United States of America. We say ethnic minority because the first real minority to become President was FDR. He may have been white, but he was a cripple and that does count. Regardless of who you voted for or what you think of the man, Obama has made history in an election that nobody will soon forget.

TV Show of the Year: LOST
As voted by the users of crowza.com
Honorable Mention: Dexter, Battlestar Galactica
After wondering publically last year whether Heroes would be able to pull off a three-peat, it wasn't even a runner up this year. It has had an amazingly downhill turn. While after some bad luck of its own, LOST finally caught a glimmer of what made it great to begin with. Not only that, they have captured the idea and now they seem to be running with it. How long it will last is anyone's guess, but the fact remains that LOST is top of the hill - once again.

DVD of the Year: The Dark Knight
As voted by the users of crowza.com
Honorable Mention: None.
You know, I remember a time when you had to wait like ten years, before a current movie would come out on VHS. Even then, it cost like $120 because the movie studios were selling them to video rental stores. Forget widescreen, forget special features. But, now - we have to deal with the fact that once a movie is released, you can usually look to get a DVD or Blu-Ray within three months of its original release. So, with that said - it's no surprise these days to find the best DVD of the year, to usually also be the best movie of the year. In fact, it's more unusual when the movie of the year is not the top ranked DVD. It's like we live in Bizzaro world.

Album of the Year: Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
As voted by the users of crowza.com
Honorable Mention: Metalica "Death Magnetic", AC/DC "Black Ice"
After years of deadlines passing by, 2008 was the year that the world finally got to hear Axel Rose's self-indulging opus. What was the opinion? Pretty damn fucking good. In fact, after having such high expectations after this many years, not only did Axl Rose meet many of them - he surpassed many of them. The rumors of an heavy metal-techno mix were false. So was the rock-opera ballet laced, big budget November Rain-like, track filled album. What we got instead? A Guns N' Roses album. We're sorry Slash, we do love you to death, but you are replacable. Chinese Democracy proved it.

Book of the Year: Sgt. Rock - The Lost Batallion
As voted by the users of crowza.com
Honorable Mention: None of the Above

Billy Tucci has created a lush book that is gorgeously drawn and is a complex character study of men at war during the Great War. Oh, did we mention that it stars the likeness of our very own Evil Prick? That's right! Longtime members know Evil Prick as our resident gun collector expert, but he is now immortalized forever in the hallowed halls of comic book legend. Billy Tucci has managed to capture his face in a strikingly distinct manner that no mere photograph could ever do justice to. It doesn't just look like Evil Prick, it is Evil Prick. The overwhelming amount of votes it garnished, goes to prove that everyone agrees - this is our book of the year, everything else be damned.

Sports Moment of the Year: Michael Phelps wins eight gold medals
As voted by the users of crowza.com
Honorable Mention: Ric Flair Retires,

There are moments in time, when you wake up at 3am in the morning and just get a feeling. A feeling that history is about to be made halfway around the world and you need to turn on the television to find out what the hell it all means. Anyone who saw it live, or in a broadcast delay the day afterwards will never forget the unprecedented finger-tip touch on his way to securing eight Olympic gold medals. Ric Flair, the single greatest professional wrestling performer to have ever lived announcing his retirement came in second.

The 2007 Year End Awards
http://www.crowza.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=645
The 2006 Year End Awards
http://www.crowza.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=627
The 2005 Year End Awards
http://www.crowza.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=602
The 2004 Year End Awards
http://www.crowza.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=460

I do, we do - we all do Ubuntu.

I love operating systems. Not a "love" in the sense of "restraining order" or the "show me on the doll where he touched you" type of love. But, it's always been a passion of mind when it comes to computers. OS/2, Palm OS, Unix, Linux, Mac OS X, BE OS, NeXT, DOS, CPM, you name it and I've have probably used it in some form or fashion over the years. Each OS has it's own strengths and weaknesses, yet overall - one single OS isn't great for every single situation. That's the plain and simple truth of the matter, but you'll hardly ever find any consultant that will tell you that, straight up. Everybody is a fanboy of something, it seems.

My main OS for servers has always been some flavor of Linux. It runs super fast on even the low end computer configurations and has thousands of apps, most of them free. Even with that, in the past I would never recommend a common or casual user attempt to use it as their primary desktop operating system. Why? It's just always been a bit on the geeky side of things. Sure, I can probably hack my microwave oven to run a distro of Damn Small Linux, or what not but most Joe Blows out there wouldn't be able to use it without some serious research and educational time. As we learn from an early age in this country, asking anyone to put some time or thought into something is a bit of overkill for the average American. So, while Linux has always been powerful, it simply hasn't been very user friendly.

Some of the nifty desktop effects possible if you are running Ubuntu.

Apple changed the game when they made the move to OS X and made Linux the basis of their new OS X operating system. While there are some killer apps for OS X, generally speaking - you'll only be running it on Apple hardware unless you already have a hacked Intel distribution of the OS that can install on any hardware. So, for the most part - unless you buy some overpriced Apple hardware (yet - incredibly sleek and some of the best designed machines in the world), you won't be running the Mac OS. Installing the Mac OS on non-Apple hardware is something for someone who doesn't need an easy to use OS to begin with. Catch-22.

So, what could ever make me recommend running the Linux operating system for a casual web surfer? Well, how about a distro that is geared for every day users? How about a version of Linux can that actually compete with the Mac OS and Windows Vista for snazzy displays and a sleek look with the power of Linux behind it? Something that I could honestly recommend for my own mother to run? Enter Ubuntu and Mark Shuttleworth.

Mark Shuttleworth made his billions developing the system of digital security certificates that many of you use on a daily basis. He promptly sold his company to VeriSign and then proceeded to do a Scrooge McDuck dive into his vault of gold coins (or at least, that's what like to think he did. I mean, hell - that's what I would have done). Then, basically started up the Ubunut project a few years ago with his stacks of cash. You might have also heard of him as the second space tourist. Yes, he is that rich and has that kind of cash flow. Again, my thoughts would tend more to run along the lines of hookers and cocaine and less along the lines of "humanitarian effort". Personally, I wouldn't have turned down that marriage proposal - first pimp in space, forget that "first African in space crap". But, whatever floats your boat, I guess.

3D Desktops are a reality. Not tommorrow, but today.

So, Ubuntu is yet-another Linux distribution (or distro for short). Linux has had dozens of different distros over the years. What is a distribution? Since the source code for Linux is widely available, many different organizations will create their own "flavor" of Linux and the differences can be staggering. Ubuntu is one project (built on the Debian Linux distribution) with the destination for open sourced, free software to power computers for the world, where the dirity fly-mouth-infested peoples cannot afford the basic essentials such as smartphones or tank tops for the women. I made a prediction, back in 1996-1997 asbout the future direction of operating systems, moving from a 2D workspace motif to a more 3D operating system. Windows Vista promised it, but Linux is the first to truly accomplish my own personal vision of a next generation 64-bit operating system. Check the Ubuntu video to see what I'm talking about.

What does this mean to you? I mean, you aren't hungry and you certainly don't have flys landing in or around your mouth. Ubuntu is that it does so many things right, more so than any version of Windows has ever been able to pull off before. Do you have any old junked Windows 98 PC lying around? How about a Windows 95 machine that you cannot use due to the ever evolving Internet standards like Adobe Flash, that simply doesn't make updates that work on Windows 95 any longer? Install Ubuntu and turn that piece of junk paperweight into something that you can actually use. Wanna take a leap of faith? Install Ubunutu on your main computer and feel the fear of taking a blind jump off the ledge. It's a frightening feeling, but exciting at the same time. Kinda like sex. Americans love to fuck, but we don't like to learn something new. So, prove them wrong.

Oh, and to maintain balance with the communist "everything is free" hippie mentality that sometimes perverts the goal of open sourced software, be sure to balance it all out by paying your local head shop to quit selling patchouli as part of my own personal "Legalize drugs and outlaw Patchouli" campaign.

Why? Because patchouli fucking stinks, that's why.

Save the world. Find ET. Contribute to Charity.

So, we all weren't sucked into a proverbial "black hole" from the startup of the LHC (Large Hydroden Collider) super computer. But, it really looked like we were doomed there for a second, didn't it? Now, I've just got to figure a way to explain the excessive spending to the credit card company. I can just hear them now, "Uhm sir, you already used your 'do-over' back on New Years Eve in 1999." Yeah, well - at least we could still get sucked in. I mean, it's not all up and running you know. If only we had a way to help those scientists destroy the earth quicker, so we didn't have to pay off our credit cards...

Oh wait! There is!

Ever heard of BOINC? No. Okay, how about distributed computing? No. Well, then - click the damn links. This isn't PBS.

Step 1. Download and install the BOINC client on your computer:
Click here to download the BOINC Client!

Step 2. Signup for projects, and join the 108 Dragons BOINC team!

Seti@Home
LHC@Home
Rosetta@Home
Einstein@Home
You can sit there and cry that the government isn't wasting everybody else's money to fund stem cell research or fighting AIDS... whatever. You could do that or you could actually do something about it. No, I don't mean wearing some stupid useless ribbon during an awards show to make yourself feel better and prove to people that you "care". I'm not talking about government mandated "donations" (taxes), either. But, honest to God: charity. You know, that wonderful by-product of captialism. I'm talking about donating your computer's time and energy consumption to a greater cause.

One distributed computing project in particular, LHC@Home has been helping the scientists get the LHC, up and running with more accuracy and quicker results. In fact, I'm just waiting for the eventual "42" that the LHC will spit out. Whoops... I guess I should have put a spoiler warning in there, huh? But, that's just one project. I currently participate in SETI@Home, LHC@Home, Einstein@Home, and Rosetta@Home. I'm planning on building a 6-PC Linux grid that will be dedicated to my BOINC projects, 24/7/365. I will be paying the energy costs, the materials, etc. Why? Because distributed computing isn't a charity that lines the pockets of politicians. It's not a charity that blows $0.80 of every dollar, before it even gets to the cause. It's a form of charity that is proven to get results.

Besides all that charity crap, it makes for a great screensaver.
The thing that has really blown me away over the years is Moore's Law. I started crunching SETI@Home numbers back in 1999 on a 486 machine running 24/7/365. As of today, I've accumulated more credit than 91% of the rest of the world's BOINC users. For SETI alone, I've easily processed over 54.56 Quadrillion floating point operations (since the project moved to BOINC). That doesn't include all of the processing I did before under a different username, either. Nowadays, I'm crunching work units on a AMD Phenom Quad-Core processor. It processes more work units in one day, than the 486 did in a year. The computation power curve is amazing and after 9 years of straight work and stats - I'm awestruck to see the difference first hand.
What a long and strange eight years it has been.
So... Download and join the number crunching today! Join the 108 Dragons team and make a real contribution to society without forcing everyone else to pay for it. Years from now, when your kid's children ask you what you did back in the day of ancient computing - you can tell them that you didn't just complain about the problems of the world. You were a contributing part of the solution.
Well that.. and I don't want to have to pay my credit cards off. We really need to get the LHC to create a black hole to consume the earth before my next billing cycle. Thanks!

Are you ready for some football?

Professional NFL football, Fantasy Football, NFL Pick Contest, organized videogame football.. It's all coming again this year in short order. If you aren't a current member of the website, sign up now and get ready for your chance to participate and win prizes, pride, self esteem and much more!

Even if you don't know anything about football, the pick contest can be extremely rewarding. Hurry if you want to get in on the action! You want to be in from the start, otherwise trying to play catch-up can be a bitch.

Sirius Satellite Radio provides radio coverage of every NFL game. So, if you can't see your favorite team in your area, at least you can listen to the radio broadcast. DirecTV provides the NFL package (usually around $350), which gives you access to every NFL game. Right now, they are having a special for signing up with their premier package, which will get your standard programming for free for four months. All you do is have to pay $75 per month for the NFL Sunday Ticket. Great deal if you love football!

Sirius Satellite Radio - www.sirius.com
DirecTV - www.directv.com
NFL Website - www.nfl.com

I've got a good feeling about this season. My popcorn is ready...

Miata to the Tribute

I don't buy new cars very often. I do have some relatives that buy a new car every year. But, I've always come from the type of mindset that you use your car for as long as you can because you're going to lose money anyway you cut it. My first car was a Subaru Justy, which was a tiny hatchback with paper thin like doors. It was a rolling death box, but I put hundreds of thousands of miles on it. The previous owner (my brother) had disconnected the mileage on it at one point, so I never knew how many miles it actually had. But, it was probably easily over 200,000. It got me where I was going, but I still really don't know how I never ended up dead in that thing.

The 2008 Mazda Tribute in Mystic Black

A few years down the road, I bought a brand a Suzuki Sidekick, which I owned for the shortest amount of time of any of my cars. Don't get me wrong, I loved my Sidekick. But, being so young I didn't do enough research over the going rates of insurance companies before I had signed for the loan. Once I realized that my monthly insurance cost was actually more than the cost of a loan (How does paying $275 a month in insurance sound to you, fifteen years ago?). Oh, and insurance companies don't think that 4 wheel drives vehicles make you safer, they charge you more because you are more than likely to do something stupid that you wouldn't do if you didn't have four wheel drive. So, for the Sidekick I was working and paying for the car loan, plus the insurance and nothing else. I was forced to trade it in on something that would be less monthly on the car insurance and a cheaper car payment, so I could have the luxuries in life - like eating. But, don't get me wrong - I loved that Sidekick. Even if I only used the four wheel drive mode twice and never saw much use for it after that. Yep, the salesman was wrong - I didn't need four wheel drive.

Inside it's a lighter offset. Excellent features, except for the foot emergency brake. I prefer handbrakes.

So, I ended up buying a 1995 Saturn SL1. Check this out - less insurance, less payment, etc. right? But the big news was that it got 40+ miles to the gallon. 40+ mpg! Try finding a sedan that does that nowadays. You can't unless it's some expensive shitty Hybrid with two engines, no pickup and no cargo room due to the dual electrical and gas engines. Technology hasn't come far enough yet for these vehicles to be anything but gimmicks yet; you still end up spending far more on them than you get in gas savings. Even with gas being close to $4 per gallon, the premium for most of these vehicles outweighs the benefits. Except maybe the Toyota Prius, but goddamn - it's fuck ugly. The Chevy Volt will change all of that though and probably lead the revolution. But, anyway - I ended up putting close to 170,000 miles on the Sidekick before it was all said and done though.

No, I didn't shave my head; my hair is slicked back in a ponytail. It just looks like I shaved my head.

After I paid off my Saturn, I bought a Mazda Miata. All my life, I have loved roadsters. Even though there was no cargo room, my Mazda Miata has been my favorite car I've ever owned. I ended up putting 170,000 miles on it and I loved every second of it. It was the best when I still had the Saturn. That way, I could take the Miata out only when I wanted to drive it. Eventually though, I was forced to drive the Miata full time as the Saturn was passed on. Recently, it's come to the end of its life as I spend thousands of dollars to keep it running. The last straw was when the ragtop's rear window got broken and I'd have to spend $3,000 to get it replaced. Plus another $3,000 to get some other paint damage and rust repaired. So, at this point, no matter how much I love my Miata, it was time to move on. It was too expensive to continue to keep alive. So, what to get next? Another Miata? That would be awesome, but it's very hard to live with a Miata as your only car.

I wanted a Tesla Roadster, but fuck - who doesn't? An all electric sports car with some serious speed. Of course, without the extra $100,000 laying around to spend on a Tesla Roadster, the only option I had was to sit down and figure out exactly what I needed. At $4 per gallon, I sure as hell wasn't going to get anything with less gas mileage than what I already had with the Miata. That averaged 26-28 miles per gallon overall. Considering almost all of my driving is interstate anyway, that's not bad for something that is ranked to get 26 mpg according to the government. But, I know I needed more room - especially after driving only the Miata for the past few years. Maybe someday in the future, I'll buy another MX-5 Miata. I just needed something like a SUV, but without the gas penalty that comes standard on them.

After six months of research and waiting, I finally found something that seemed to fit the bill. A 2008 Mazda Tribute, SUV. It had to be a 2008, because the previous year models sucked on gas mileage. However, in order to get better gas mileage on the 08, I needed to get the front wheel drive, manual transmission model (which isn't a problem since I never have owned an automatic and probably never will as long as I'm still physically capable of driving a stick). The problem is that it's really hard to actually find that model in stock most anywhere because Americans demand automatics, because they don't really know how to drive. That's why Kurt, over at Lester Raines Mazda-Honda in South Charleston is the man. He searched for days trying to find the perfect model for me, and he gave me a great deal. I've known Kurt most of my life and I can tell you, if you are in the market for a new Honda or Mazda, and live here locally - go and see him. His office is located in the "Honda" part of the dealership.

So, I finally bit the bullet on the Mazda Tribute. Now that I'm older, my insurance isn't as bad as it was when I was 17 years old. I have to fill up less, not only because of better gas mileage, but because of a bigger gas tank. It came with some many options standard, like fog lights, air bags popping out of the side doors and roof, etc. that are usually reserved for the higher trim levels. Hell, it's the first car I've ever owned to actually have automatic windows. Kind of crazy, huh? It reminds me of my Sidekick, only bigger and so much cheaper than paying more for gas and repairs on my Miata. I average about 30+ miles per gallon in the Tribute, and there is a ton of room. It's a mid-size SUV and so far I love it. Of course, it's not a V6. Gas mileage is important to me, remember? It's got plenty of pickup and the handling feels great. The slogan for the model is a "SUV with the soul of a sports car" and coming from a sports car, I can say that it is true. The suspension and handling (within the reasonable limits of a SUV) are much more sporty like than truck like handling of most other SUVs.

So, in this time of a gas crunch, it's great to see Ford and Mazda creating some real gas engine SUVs that get good mpg. Unless, of course, you get the V6, V8 or automatic anything. Fuck that. Gas is $4 a gallon!