There is a new ride on the Stratosphere tower in Las Vegas. It's called the X-Scream. It is insane. It's basically a big teeter-totter on the top of the tower, which teeters and totters 30 feet over the edge of the tower at 30 MPH. You're 880 feet in the air and you're teeter-tottering over the edge of the building.

Brilliant!

I think there must be a three step process for the designers of it.

1. Think of the most insanely idiotic ride possible.

2. ???

3. Profit

Apparently for them, step number 2 involves placing all of their rides on the Stratosphere Tower.... Big Shot... High Roller.... and now X-Scream.

I watched the Wladimir Klitschko fight tonight. I think the Russians should know that W does not equal V. Also, he beat the crap out of Lamon whatever his name is, but wore himself out. He threw more than 60 punches per round, but by the end of the 5th round he could barely stand. He looked like jellyfish legs. Russian Hammer.... sure. If he doesn't retire he should really change his nickname. I propose Glass Jaw Klitschko.

Word on the street has it that Nissan is going to expand the SE-R name outside of the Sentra and 200SX. Next year they are bringing out an Altima SE-R. I haven't decided if this is a good idea or not. It seems like this may water down the SE-R to the point where it is as ubiquitous as the boring GT name.

Matt Painter got hired as an assistant, and is supposed to replace Keady after next year. Whoopty do.

Say hello to a lot of NIT invitations.

I'm watching the Dodgers and Padres game last night on channel 779 because I get the MLB season package preview for a week. I saw a commercial for Carls Jr (a fast food place in California.) They are advertising Laker bobbleheads and how they have the most popular Lakers. The problem is that they actually don't. Here's their great selection of popular Lakers: Devean George, who I don't imagine is really that popular, Rick Fox, who I also can't see being that popular, Derek Fisher, who might be popular but certainly isn't the most popular, and Karl Malone... a Laker for 3 months. Woo! There you have it. The most popular Lakers.

Screw Shaq. Screw Kobe. We never did like them says Carls Jr. I'd take Devean George over either of them any day.

Here's something that is greatly irritating me. The media makes it sound like the end of the world that we're giving most of the tax cuts to the wealthy. Guess what? The wealthy pay most of the taxes already, and if you make a lot of money, you pay a lot of taxes, so when those taxes get cut, you get more money back. If you're making $10,000 a year you're not going to get a $100 million tax cut. Is that surprising? I guess it is to the media.

If I make $10 million a year then I will pay about $4.5 million in taxes. That means that when my taxes get cut by 10% I will get about $450,000 back. If I make $10000 / year then when my taxes get cut by 10% I only save about $10 because I wasn't paying more than $100 in taxes anyway.

SHOCKING! $450,000 > $10. I'm appalled. Won't someone please think of the children!

Bon voyage. So long. Siyanara. Bye-bye. Hasta la vista. Take car. Goodbye.

By this time on Monday, my Nissan will have a new owner. We've agreed on the price, and all that is left to do now is go to the bank and get the paperwork notorized. The final sale price was $600 less than I listed, but it was $2600 more than the dealer was going to give me.

Someone is coming to look at my car today. I suspect this will be the buyer, as I've talked to him already and he seems quite eager to buy it.

I'll know for sure later.

A brand new tasty treat for Japan.... Fish McDippers! You can read all about it here.

Letter From Employer Thankfully Omits Balls-Copying Incident

SAN FRANCISCO—Randall Konerko, a 39-year-old database administrator looking for a new job in the field, was relieved to learn Monday that a letter of recommendation from his former employer makes no reference to the Dec. 11 balls-copying incident that led to his dismissal. "Whew, that's a relief," said Konerko after an interview with Luminant Worldwide. "I was sure Mr. Alland would mention that whole thing, but, mercifully, he didn't." Konerko has made a promise to himself never to engage in testicular Xeroxing, even if it's 2 a.m. and the office seems to be completely empty.