Anyone that knows me is aware that I'm heavily into Formula One. What that really means is that I check the news and rumor sites every day to see the latest news about the teams and drivers. In an effort to explain this obsession, I will bore you with the details of why the sport appeals to me so.

Formula One (F1) is very different from other forms of motor racing, even if it doesn't appear that way to the average person. The cars look very similar to "Indy" cars; they are open wheeled (no fenders) and have "wings" on the front and back of the car. The main difference is that there are 10 distinct teams of two cars, and each team designs and builds its own car and engine. They all have their own wind tunnels and the larger teams have budgets of $300 million or more. What that means is that for the price of running one F1 team, you could run 15 or so Indycar teams. We're talking huge money here.

The reason the teams can afford to spend that much is because F1 is the most watched sport on Earth except for soccer. Advertisers will pay big bucks to be seen, and car manufacturers are willing to buy and operate teams at great expense for the prestige of competing. It's glamorous, it's exotic and it's truly international. There are races all around Europe as well as in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Japan, Turkey, China and many more countries.

The technology is very impressive. The cars are powered by normally-aspirated (non-turbo) 3.0 litre V-10 engines making over 900 horsepower and revving to 19,000 rpm. The cars are also being tested almost constantly to find even a hundredth of a second on the track. Every little bit of performance counts.

And that's not even the best part. The whole thing plays out like a incredibly dramatic soap opera. Which driver will drive for which team next year? Will Kimi stay at McLaren or bolt to Ferrari when Michael Schumacher quits? Will Jenson drive for Williams or BAR? Will Giancarlo challenge Fernando at Renault? Will Flavio date yet another model? There's gossip, accusations, politics and a lot more. There's news almost every day of the year, even in the winter when there's no racing.

The races, taking place in far off time zones, are on at weird times which can be fun too. Speed TV shows the races here in the US. And if you'd rather sleep, I suggest you buy a Tivo (I can't live now without a DVR).

F1 takes a while to really "get," but it's awfully cool when you do. I hope you'll check it out and maybe someday I'll see you in Monaco.

I'm back for my second post, which I guess means that this blog has a chance for some longevity. But don't hold me to that. ; )

Ever since I was a kid I've enjoyed reading. Back "in the day" I mostly read comic books, and fortunately the 80s was a golden age for the art form. Marvel comics were my fave, and I remember waiting for Tuesday morning so that I could ride my bike to Sunnyside Farms and drop down a quarter for the latest issue of Fantastic Four, Iron Man, X-Men, or Spiderman. I then watched as prices inflated faster than gas prices today... 30 cents, 35, 50, 75, a dollar. All the while the quality of the writing declined as the price went up, and the golden age ended. At least that's how I perceived it - maybe growing up made them less interesting... but that would imply an increasing maturity (nah, that couldn't have been it).

Every once in a while I'll pick up a comic (they're $2.50 now!) and the writing still seems a bit weak (though the art and printing quality is much better than it was back in my day). It seems they sell very few copies, and now Marvel makes all its money from selling the movie rights to Hollywood studios.

Anyway, these days I try to read 10-12 "real" books a year, though it tends to happen in fits and spurts. Recently I've had the pleasure of reading a couple of good ones. I bought Forever by Pete Hammill a while back and started reading it. It has an interesting premise... a man that can live forever as long as he never leaves Manhattan. The story starts in the 1600s and proceeds to modern times; I enjoyed learning about the formation of NYC from a small settlement to the most densely populated city in the USA.

I was about halfway through the book (reading 10 minutes at a time before going to sleep at night) when the major literary event of the year happened... the sixth Harry Potter book was released. Now, I've been on the Harry Potter bandwagon since before the first one was released (I read an article about it in USA Today) and have been impatiently waiting for JK Rowling to get back to finishing the series (funny how being a billionaire slows down your writing pace).

So I started reading Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince and zoomed through it in a about a week (which for me is a long time for one of these). If you haven't read any Harry Potter, JKR creates a delightful world that is both believable and fantastic. They really are for people of all ages - don't dismiss them just because of the annoying amount of hype. I promise you won't regret it.

I got back to Forever as soon as I finished, and completed it during my layover while awaiting my flight from Chicago to Providence. I had wondered whether the premise would allow a satisfying ending (I know I couldn't think of one), and I must say the finale fizzles somewhat. Still, it's an enjoyable book overall that I would recommend. The use of immortality as a theme allows the reader to see how the natural aging process most of us fear is really a gift.

Welcome to my first ever blog. I can't promise that it will be funny, informative, clever or even regular - but I hope you will enjoy it nonetheless.

Yesterday I returned from a business trip to Lincoln, NE. For the geography challenged, Nebraska is located almost exactly in the center of the US. So no beachwear was required for my trip, unfortunately. Lincoln is the capitol city, though not the largest (that would be Omaha -which the native tribe after which the city is named pronouce o-MAH-hah). Hey, I guess this blog may be informative (dont' worry, it won't be all that educational in general).

Oh, for those of you who do like maps and satellite images of the country, Google Maps is an amazing resource. It allows you to view an area as a nicely drawn map, a satellite image (cities have excellent detail), or a hybrid of the two. Google is on its way to world domination, so prepare to pay tribute.

Lincoln is a small college city - football fans are sure to know it as the home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. However, since the students weren't yet in town en mass, it was a bit on the quiet side. Not being a partying type, that was fine with me anyway. I managed to go to a couple of movies in my time away from the conference. Normally I see 8-10 movies over the summer, but this year I haven't quite found the time.

The first movie I went to see was War of the Worlds. Now, I must admit to being a sci-fi fan in general (yes, I'm a bit nerdy) and I have no hatred of Tom Cruise (he seems to be a good judge of scripts, Cocktail aside). I usually enjoy Spielberg as well, so I figured the movie would be good and it did meet my expectations. Nothing suprising really, just a well done movie that kept the focus on the people instead of the tech. I give it 3 stars (out of 5).

The next night I went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp. Being a huge fan of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, I was expecting to be disappointed by this one. I wasn't. Johnny Depp's Wonka is a very different character than Gene Wilder masterfully portrayed in 1971, but retains the wit and charm that makes the movie fun. My only complaint was the Oompa Loompas; in this movie they are all played by one man in a bit of digital trickerty that I think looks like trickery. Digital effects are well and good when pulled off - distracting when they're not. That aside, it's a fun movie that I can easily recommend. 3½ stars (out of 5).

The photos for this blog were taken with my new camera - a Canon PowerShow SD300 which I love so far. It takes nice sharp photos and even VGA (640x480) movies at 30 fps (frames per second). Best of all, it's about the size of a credit card and only half an inch thick.