Oh yeah...following up on my post from earlier today (yesterday according to blogger and the stupid clock), today's stage was amazing at the Tour. Lance started last on the time trial, so he knew what times he needed to beat, and it didn't really matter. Basically, he was trying to distance himself from 2nd place cyclist Iban Basso and when he passed him on the time trial, you pretty much knew it was over. Even the announcers have named Lance the winner barring some unforseen circumstance (crash, crazed fan, etc.).

I'm still amazed at how he can climb a hill like that in the time it took him. Lance was the only rider to finish with a sub-40 minute time and he simply destroyed the competition. I have trouble getting around my neighborhood. How he can sustain the pace, the strength, and the endurance necessary is simply mindboggling. Here comes #6!

URL: T D F - 2 0 0 4 : canal le Tour - OLN

Yes, that's right...me being the nerd I am - I am now the proud owner of a new Lite-On 832S. What is an 832S you ask? Well, I've finally upgraded to a DVD-RW drive. Not only a DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD+R9, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, CD-ROM drive, it also burns Dual Layer (DL) DVDs. Even though DL media is still quite expensive ($15/each), when prices come down, it will be quite nice to be able to back-up 8.5 gigs on each disc (the DVD-R discs I bought today burn 4.7 gigs per disc).

I just finished burning my first disc, which, ironically enough, is a back-up of all my various artist and soundtrack CDs I have ripped to my computer. Right now, I have about 9.23 gigs of ripped CDs on my computer (I own all the CDs, so don't hunt me down RIAA) and it took quite a while to back them all up at the high quality I insisted on, so I'm now backing them up from my backed up hard drive to DVD-R format. So, if (god forbid) my MP3/backup drive ever fails, I won't have to re-rip all my CDs again.

Tonight, I'm going to see how backing up a DVD works (don't hunt me down movie industry - I'm "backing up" a non-copyrighted disc without any CSS encryption), but it looks like it will probably take all night to rip the disc, then it will be burned in the morning, but it has to be compressed since true DVDs pressed by the studios can fit 9 gigs of information, and then it has to be burned...way too much trouble for my 700+ DVDs (not to mention the ~$1/disc cost of the DVD media).

But yeah, I'm in seventh heaven right now with my new burner. I figure with my next paycheck or two, I'll start assembling the necessary parts for my next machine (power supply first probably, then cooling system (Zalman external water cooling), then maybe an SATA hard drive or two and then finally the motherboard, chip (Athlon 64 939 pin) and RAM). My new computer will be sweet - especially with this nice new DVD-RW drive in it.

URL: ::: LiteOn Technology Corporation :::

Once again I ask - have you been watching the Tour? Yesterday in the first stage into the Alps, Jan Ullrich tried to make up some of the 7 minutes that he was behind Lance Armstrong, but the Postal Service team didn't panic, let him go a little and then reeled him back in on a later climb, which led to the finish where Armstrong took the stage, they yellow jersey, and the lead for what will probably be the rest of the race. But even if you haven't been watching, you can be forgiven, however...

You must watch today's stage if you have OLN. Today's stage is an individual time trial on the most famous Alpine mountain stage, L'Alpe D'Huez. This grueling climb is a royal pain in the butt under normal circumstances - when you have teammates and other cyclists to draft off of. But now, without any of that help, being an individual time trial - where racers start a set distance apart from each other one by one - this could be the defining point of the race. Even though Lance most likely has the race locked up, if anyone can throw together a great assault of the mountain, they could conceivably take over the yellow jersey and force Lance to win it back on the last individual time trial of the race.

It's great television and it's sports history in the making. If you don't get OLN, find someone who does and watch the primetime show from 8:30-11:30 tonight.

URL: T D F - 2 0 0 4 : canal le Tour - OLN

Looks like someone needs to learn how to take a joke:

Democrats said Schwarzenegger's remarks were insulting to women and gays and distracted from budget negotiations. State Sen. Sheila Kuehl said the governor had resorted to "blatant homophobia."

URL: Yahoo! News - Schwarzenegger Calls Dems 'Girlie Men'