Odd Ends

Have you ever noticed that you can't go to President Bush's campaign website on Mozilla Firefox without the whole browser crashing. Bloggers have previously talked about which candidate is open-source due to what servers they use, etc. Much has been made about the fact that Bush uses Microsoft servers and, surprise surprise, Bill Gates' company was one of the GOP's biggest donors in 2000 (I don't know about 2004, but I would suspect they would if they could). Not only that, but it was the Bush/Ashcroft Justice Department that decided to drop/settle the Fed's case against the software giant. All I can say is, I am annoyed at GeorgeWBush.com for crashing my browser.

A couple comments on the Opening Ceremonies last night. In general good, but some items were completely odd without explanation (I wonder what the audience in the stadium thought), like the "Cube Man." I guess it was artsy but to me it was a combination of a SoHo performance artist with that scary scene from Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory (you know, the one were they ride the trippy ferry boat).

Also, the worst ad of the Olympics (worst not only visually and audio wise, but the fact that we will be subjected to it over and over again) goes to Mazda, whose annoying "Zoom-zoom" campaign has been made worse with the addition of the even more annoying "zoom-zoom" cell phone rings in the commerical to alert Models/Mazda drivers to all drive to the Bonneville Salt Flats so that Mazda Corp. can show off their entire line of cars.

Why do car companies think this is a good idea? If I want a small sedan, why do I care that they make a 1/2 ton truck? Why do I need to see them all driving on the Salt Flats doing circles or making trails of smoke in a flying-V? What a waste of gas. Who is impressed by this? "Wow, look Mazda makes cars and trucks!" I can get bragging about your brand's general resale value, its durability, etc, but not your whole line-up. Chevy has this ad idea too, but they have an imaginary semi hauling the car company's line while each car and truck one by one speeds on to the carrier. At least the stunt driving is mildly entertaining. But I would still never buy a Chevy.

After spending the day shopping at the outlet mall in Park City, today we did some badly needed cleaning and will be going up to Deer Valley to watch HMS Pinafore as performed by the Utah Symphony and Opera (who merged to save money, and it somehow worked). I am trying to watch as many Olympic events at the same time as possible and get the most out of my temporary platinum digital cable. Tune in later for my first day of law school on Monday (gulp)! Wish me luck.