Nintendo Wii

I bought a Wii yesterday. I played all night. If I had two Wii's (and played with them all night long) would that sound bad? They should have named it something else. Pretty amazing game play. Built in networking card, unlike XBox 360. They don't have an online community like "Live" but I bought it for the infared controllers. I think they're revolutionary.

Newest vehicle in the fleet

My father picked up a new ride. 2009 Cadillac CTS. Crazy interior. GPS, MP3, HID and a ton more abrieviations. I have yet to drive it. I probably won't, just let him keep all to himself.

Raincoat for the Beast

Just picked this up the other day. Couldn't have come any sooner due to today's rain. I'm a bit disappointed though. Wherever the cover contacts a corner of the body it become saturated with water and eventually leaks through. No worries though, it's really doing a good job. It's like a fitted sheet with elastic on both ends.

Tommy, My V-card and his 4-wheeler

So we were riding at the tressel again and Tommy popped up out of the woods on his 4 wheeler. I have never rode one of these so I was quick to ask and he was quick to respond with a "Hell Yeah!" So off I went for about 3 ft. until I stalled it. Then again and again and again. I have PLENTY of experience riding motorcycles and snow mobiles, so clutches and hand throttles are not a new thing to me, but this machine is so powerful I thought it was going to flip me on my back. But I was successful on my short ride and returned Tommy's 4 wheeler to him unscathed. Well... he may need a new starter!

Canadian Comedy

Canadian comedy is like putting on a t-shirt right out of the dryer, it's just feel good. From the goofy Tom Green to the always hilarious Trey Parker and Matt Stone from South Park. John Candy, Jim Carrey, Dan Aykroyd (SNL days), Dave Foley (Kids in the Hall), Norm MacDonald, old school Howie Mandel, anything from Mike Myers, Martin Short, Phil Hartman & Will Sasso to name a bunch. Kenny versus Spenny are no exception. This is a Comedy Central show that first aired in November 2007. Based on two friends engaging in simple competitions and ending in the loser suffering a humiliation. Here is wikipedia's premise for the show:

"Each episode is typically based on a statement which sets the goal of the competition in a "who is...?" or "who can...?" style; occasionally a "first one to... loses" statement is used instead. Competitions sometimes take the familiar form of performing a task the best, such as catching the largest fish; but they are more often unusual tasks, such as who can be tied to a goat the longest. The other typical style of competition is endurance to see who can do or abstain from something the longest."

Some of my favorites episodes are:

Who can wear a dead octopus on their head the longest.

Who can remain homeless the longest.

Who can go the longest without speaking or ...sleeping.

Who can stand the longest.

Who can dance or ...sing the longest.

Who can eat the most meat.

All of the episodes are available on You Tube. I highly suggest watching them.

NPR music reference...Echoes

I heard these guys the other day on NPR. I think it was the show Echoes. Anyway the name of the group is Ozric Tentacles. They're out of England and got an amazing sound that some would consider the modern day Grateful Dead. Real space music here. They have made 30 albums now. 30! Think of Rusted Root members joining Pink Floyd with Jerry Garcia as a front man. Add a ton of "pops" and "swirls" in the music, extend each song to 10 minutes, build an elaborate stage with colored banners blowing in front of psychedelic lights and well... your getting the idea.

http://www.echoes.org/ --Great music hear. Nothing you've heard of.

Cherokee went to Jenny Craig

We took the doors of the beast two days ago. I figure it lost about 300lbs. It rode so quietly over the trails. I can't wait to get my spare tire holder in the back and interior cage and dash. Its gonna look like a JeepSpeed entry when it's complete.

Axle Break

Josh came over and we took every door off my Jeep. All 4 passenger doors and the rear hatch. We took it out for to shake it down on the local powerline trails. We were moving. This thing doesn't make a noise. So we went over to the double ledges and hit them every possible way, in 3 wheel drive. (Not that I had to) We went left, we went right, we went right up the middle. No problems. So we turned around and came down them. Still no problems. Then I decided to try and go up the backwards. I thought we had it then I heard "Crack". My left front inner axle decided to break behind the ears. It twisted before snapping according to the carnage. So I checked it out and Keith at ORC told me that I didn't have Warn 4340 Chromoly inners. I had Yukon 1541. Hmm. It appears that Yukon has a 4340 D44 inner but I didn't get it. So now they are going to refund me money for the 1541's and I'm upgrading to Yukon's 4340 which should be 70% stronger than stock 30 spline.

Riding

We went riding at the tressel again. This time I brought my 35's. haha Here is a shot of me coming up Rock Garden 1. I love this picture. It's a beautiful line coming up a creek with a small ledge in the middle and at the end you have a root and large boulder that you have to split. Here is Josh and Tommy coming up the upper part of RG1. Josh probably was doing this in 2WD. Thus referring to him as 2WJ.

Good pic of me coming down to Rock Garden 1. The suspension allows me to crawl stuff so easily now.
The bottom of the Escalator. A rutted out hill with a couple of rocks at the top. We were watching others at a trail to the left, on what they call The Stairs.

The ledge in the middle of Rock Garden 1. Mess up here and you'll turn sideways and have to deal with the trees that surround you on every corner.

Al Rodeo

The Mexican rodeo was this past sunday. We arrived at Gray Rock ORV with this sign posted. The Bulls were getting ready to be lined up. Most of them were scared as hell and didn't want to move. But with the help of some electric shockers they were more than happy to cooperate. Before the actual riding of the bulls, many horses were dancing around the ring. Swinging side to side to the beat of the music. Which by the way sounded like the same song played over and over again. This horse decided to show off by getting to his knees and then eventually sitting down.For over 4 hours all we heard was spainsh. It's kind of weird to have to use body language and voice immodulation to follow the nights event. Here the female mc begins to annouce the 7 riders that were present. Many of the riders kneeled to the ground in prayer. They carried with them pictures of Jesus that were directly in front of them during their prayers. What else would you do before jumping on a bull?
How this guy is so calm I don't know.This guy is ready to jump on a bull and ride it with no hands. The majority of riders did. One guy won $5,000 for a successful ride. The guys pulling the gate open got a free beer. The Blue Polyester Band played between the riders. Here is a picture of people literally kicking up some dust to what seemed to be the same song over and over again.

Eventually the riding turned into a concert. The Red Suited Muchachos took the stage and open the arena for all to dance. They played the night away to what seemed to be the same song over and over again.
"Come dance in the piles of bullshit and horse shit. Bring your children and your cowboy hats too."

Xbox 360 2 Red Rings of Death

...or so they call them. My console shut down on me today. The internal fans are so loud when I try to turn the unit back on. I have the "two" red lights problem which Xbox online support suggests it is overheating. I watched so many you tube videos on how to fix this. Some suggest wrapping the console in towels so that it overheats. Huh? Isn't it already doing that? Other say disassemble the unit and swab the heat sinks with rubbing alcohol. Well that voids my warranty, so I think I'm going to return it to be fixed although they say it will take 2-3 weeks. Xbox now claims over 30% of the 360's are destined to malfunction. Possibly due to the lower fan speeds. I know when I get mine back I'm going to modify the fans, maybe add some more. Until then I'm off to buy the Playstation 3.

XBox 360 wireless networking adapter

XBox 360. A thing of beauty, simplicity and just great mechanical engineering. How soo much goes on in this electronic box that sits next to my tv, well it amazes me! Anyway, the new addition is the wireless network adapter. It allows me to connect to the Live network without the wire, hence the name wireless. Also I won't trip over "said" wire when I come in after dark. Not that what I do after dark should concern you. Everything is alright mom!

Keith Bailey's Poison Spider Bruiser Chasis

This is Keith's buggy. He is the owner of the infamous "Offroad Connection". Keith is constantly invited to the annual Ultimate Adventure Rides that showcase all over the United States. This year the ride was in North and South Dakota, Colorado, & Wyoming. I think only a couple dozen of people are chosen for these rides from the chief editor of Peterson's Offroad Magazine, Rick Peewee [Payway], who hosts the event. I'm not sure on all the specifics of this offroad powerhouse but here are some of the details:

• Hemi 5.7L


• 39" BFG Krawlers


• Spiderlock 17x10 wheels


• Custom dash peppered with Autometer gauges


• Dana 300 4:1 transfer case


• 4 link coil-over suspension


• Full hydraulic steer