Last Sunday I made my way to the glorious International Speedway of Daytona, FL to partake in an American (heh heh) tradition- NASCAR!
What I came to find is that this place is a marketer's dream! You can't go anywhere or see anything that is not "sponsored" by an organization. From the blimp overhead (which by the way is no longer the Goodyear Blimp - Directv took that over) to the only 10 x 10 patch of grass that was painted with the Gatoraide emblem.

However, the most impressive showing had to be the U.S. Border Patrol booth set up in the primo location at the entrance. I scratched my head in confusion. No aliens welcome at this event? Finally I looked over to find that not only were they sponsoring a car, but they were recruiting employees!

Now I don't know if they have an "agency", but dang, they couldn't have picked a better demographic to go after than this event. Great example, take a look at one of the most emaculate mullets walking around at the event. (Excuse the blur, as it was stealthly, yet quickly taken while his back was turned.)

PS- Look, even the sand was sponsored!

On recent business trip to San Francisco with Doug White, I learned to difficulties of eating a San Francisco crab sandwich and devised my own method.

BTW. These sandwiches were good and the fact that I was eating them at Fisherman's Wharf while drinking an Anchor Steam made them amazing!

As far as people go, I live a very busy life.

I do lots to keep myself busy because I hate being bored and I'm very bad at focusing, so the answer is always have something or two that need doing. I have a podcast about Magic the Gathering, a collectible card game with millions of players around the world. I also do improv comedy (like Whose Line is it Anyway) for SAK Comedy Lab. You might see me running around at Orlando Magic basketball games as part of the JetBlue Crew as we pump up the crowd or launch t-shirts into the crowd. But that's not even all of it - it just gives you a taste.

But I'm definitely not the only person here with major hobbies outside of work. As much as we all love MindComet and spend much of our week in the offices doing work and hanging out together, there's so much more we do.

Josh, one of our System Engineers, is a hardcore Ultimate Frisbee player. He plays every weekend, if not more often than that. He's also working on a good strong beard for an audition for Deadliest Catch. Or at least that's what we joke with him about.

Bryan, our Email guru, is a rockstar. He plays in a band called Gatorface. They recently went on tour in the Southeast hitting a number of cities in a blitz of a tour.

Andrew, the Assoc. Director of IS, basically the programmer boss, has a young son and is also an avid member of the Drupal community. He started DrupalEasy, a podcast about Drupal. And just a few weeks ago he ran Florida Drupal Camp.

We've got a healthy contingent of players of World of Warcraft, and so many other activities beyond those I list here! Chefs, cooks, bakers, mothers, fathers, painters, and of course sports fans who are die hard fans of their respective teams.

It's really pretty rad to talk to everyone about their hobbies and what they do when they're not here working.

After a day of giving love (tuning up) our old CRX (267k miles and kicking), I ventured down to Palm Bay to try and indulge a new obsession, the S2000. I found a nice, red rookie (year 2000), but time (or the sun) hadn't been gracious to it's paint and it was just all around too rough. As much as I wanted to snatch it up anyway, my posse held me back (thanks guys).

That night at a local Subway, I picked up the phone and called about a bright yellow one, 200 miles in the opposite direction. A 5 year old car, it had less miles on it than I'd put on one in a year. I set an appointment for a Sunday visit.

Knowing it very likely might be a horrible idea, I set out on my Ninja for the 120 mile trip to Jacksonville. All of Florida seemed to be covered by clouds, with the sun only coming out once. However, I got through with no more than a few sprinkles - what luck!

The car was fantastic. It's so nice to see someone who treats a car like it deserves! I brought my camera, but as everything was so perfect, I didn't need any "proof" to bring back home for permission.

No pictures were taken, so instead, I have an official cakeplow photoshop re-enactment.



Can't wait until I can get up there and bring it home! Half day, anyone?

Over the last few months, with the introduction of the Ninja, the little Ruckus has lost most of my mileage, but not my heart. The little guy has been handed down to my lady-friend who loves it to death.

Both of us being very purpose-driven, we find it hard to just cruise for the sake of cruising. The destinations on most of our little trips around the area have been geocaching sites. We let our GPS guide us to coordinates where we find boxes left by others filled with interesting little treasures and explore areas that we might otherwise not find. The able little machine is perfect for finding those out of the way caches.

As we find more and more, we have to travel a little further outward from home. Yesterday, we made it through my favorite stretch of road - covered by shady, century-old trees and perfectly windy - a beautiful path for any two wheeled vehicle and one of Florida's true treasures. We ended up at an area that I'd passed by hundreds of times, but had no idea it even existed.

Sandwiched between the old forest and acres of pasture, the GPS led us to a collection of paths maintained by the St John's River District. While my companion searched for the cache, I thought that I'd see what tricks the ol' Ruckus had up its sleeve.

For a tiny machine that has a hard time blowing dust in a pile of loose sand, it's capable for low-speed trail cruising. Sure, I'm easily amused, and if I'd ever rode a dirt bike in my life, I probably wouldn't be impressed... but it was fantastic!

I only completed one ride, as the day was fading and the temperature was dropping below a comfortable cruising limit. I didn't bring a camera, sadly, but I plan on going back and documenting another adventure soon. In the meantime, all I have to offer is this static-reenactment supported by Google Image Search and my novice-level Photoshop skills.



On a side note, I later found that a sign at the entrance prohibited motor vehicles, but I didn't see anyone there to enforce it! Viva la Ruckus!

While Florida may be the sunshine state, it does actually get cold some times. This picture is proof, icicles on the fence outside of Mindcomet HQ!

For you folks who don't get the title or just like the song here's a link to the Zooey Deschanel & Leon Redbone version from the awesome movie Elf.