I hope you don't read like I do. That is, I hope you don't put like, say, 10 books on your Christmas list, get them and then find yourself reading furiously come October to finish up those books so you can justify putting more on your next Christmas list.

Stop your laughing. 10 Books?!? How can anyone not read 10 books in a year (please excuse any insensitivities to those not fortunate in the ways of a proper education)? Well, first of all reading is a relatively new thing for me. Not the ability to read, but finding enjoyment in it. I was never the first in line to sign up for "Battle of the Books" in school, and I think I can count on one hand the number of required books I read from cover to cover in high school. It wasn't all my fault. Once we read an excerpt of Moby Dick that was in our textbook, and we didn't even read all of it. It's a shame really, that I was so distracted because, gathering from the sample of pages in the books I did read, they were probably pretty good.

Somtime during my freshman year of college, I acquired quite a taste for reading. That's why there are 20-30 books a year that I want to read. It's too bad that list gets narrowed down to 10 because I know I'd never read even 20. The problem mostly lies in the fact that I get distracted by other things. I like reading, but I like doodling on the web and in Dreamweaver too. I like TV, I like watching TV with friends, and I like hanging out with friends. I love watching movies, though I've definitely become one of those people who exclaim, "the book was better!". Well, if I've managed to get through the book before the movie comes out.

To put it simply, it takes me like 4 weeks to get through a book. Not because I read 10 pages a day, but because I'll read 30-50 pages one day, then nothing for a week. Then, sometime about the third or fourth week after having first picked up the book, I tell myself, "This is ridiculous, just finish the stupid book." And that Harry Potter phenomenon is killing me. I think there's a 5 year old somewhere that's read more books than me in the past year because he just learned how to read and he has to stay current with the latest travails of Harry and the gang.

So while 5 year olds are outreading me and someone somewhere is quietly putting together the movie for The Corrections, I'm hoping I can get through the last 100 pages before it actually hits the big screen. It hasn't started filming yet, so there's still hope. It probably doesn't help that I spent the last 20 minutes writing this.

If it becomes what I've already imagined it is in my head, then Garden State will be the catastrophic turning point in my life where I drop everything to chase a dream I would never allow myself to believe existed. Or maybe I will realize that Zach Braff has already written the story that I imagined I'd write. The story that I imagined I was capable of writing. The story that would never have been written if it were left up to me.

Yes, I have watched the trailers obsessively over the last few days. Yes, I have had fleeting thoughts of flying to the nearest location that it's playing, because we all need to visit New York or L.A. at some point in our lives anyway, why not do it just to see a movie in limited release? Yes, I am expecting it to live up to the expectations that I never had for Love, Actually. Yes, I'm expecting it to live up to the expectations of a year long wait and weeks of daily trailer viewing and an impossibly perfect soundtrack that I've only heard bits and pieces of. No, I will not be disappointed.

Besides, is it possible to be disappointed by a movie co-starring Queen Amidala, Bilbo Baggins and Method Man?

It's getting pretty close to August now and it'd be an understatement to say that July hasn't brought quite the productivity that May and June did. Some of it has been slackness on my part, but honestly there's been a lot of stuff that was sort of out of my control. I lit a fire under my butt and took on more things this summer than I ever have, and I'm actually fairly pleased with the way I've handled it.

My thesis will not be finished by the time school starts back again, but then again that was probably an unrealistic expectation anyway. Well not unrealistic at the time, but since then, my advisor has brought in a couple of other pieces that I didn't think were going to be implemented. My new goal is to at least have all of the coding/programming done before the time comes when I don't have all day to sit there and think about it/hash it out.

Some of you may know there were rumblings of an exodus from 3234/Mo'ville. To be honest, I had mixed emotions about it. The opportunity that was presented was really nice and would have been a great place to live, but it would have meant actually living in Raleigh again. Not that Raleigh is so bad to me, but after 3 years here, I've really become attached to this part of the Triangle and I know when the time comes I'll definitely look into this area for a house. The point is, though, that we're staying so it's at least another year of 3234. Ya'll drop by now, ya hear?

And so it begins, the countdown to the end of summer. In all likelihood, it shall be my final summer as a non-professional, and thus my final summer of freedom. Here's to sending it off with a bang.

I heard a rumor from Bart via D-Ray that JELL-O Pudding Pops were back. I promise I didn't go to the grocery store for the sole purpose of confirming this rumor (to be honest, I kinda forgot about it), but while I was there I spotted them. They're co-branded with Popsicle brand popsicles now, but they are the real thing. I just finished my taste test of the chocolate pop and it was delicious. The only thing I'm a little upset about is they have the signature Popsicle shape to them rather than the old sorta oblong shape that the old JELL-O Pudding Pops had. But beggars can't be choosers. I guess now I don't need to start that write-in campaign/website. Good thing, cause after 3 years, it looks like it was never gonna happen. That's ok, there were others.

Oh, and here's a more dedicated consumer.

A little over a week ago my favorite NASCAR driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was involved in a crash while practicing for a Le Mans Series race he was participating in during his off weekend. I hadn't yet heard about the wreck when Eric called. Now, knowing my feelings about the Earnhardts, knowing that I probably had a hard time with Dale Sr.'s death, knowing that I'd probably freak if anything happened to Dale Jr., Eric decided it was best to start of the conversation like this ... "Did you hear what happened to Junior?" ... "He had a bad wreck" ... "They airlifted him to the hospital" ... "I'm not sure what the latest news is " ...

"But he got out of the car under his own strength. They think he may just be badly burned."

Good job, Eric. I think you almost made me cry. Umm, let's forget I just mentioned the crying thing because we djust don't have the time to open that can of worms. I bring this up a week later because I still find myself listening to the old newscast-infused music mixes that I pulled out of the vault when I started thinkin about Dale Sr. again. Couple Eric's dramatic reporting of the news with ESPN's recent airing of their Top 25 Sports Headlines countdown (Sr.'s death at 15) and it just seemed like the right time to sorta sit and think about "NASCAR's greatest driver ever" and the man responsible for drawing me to the sport.

I'll spare you the hero worship, but I think I would like to share some of the most memorable clips with the name of the song accompanying the clip in parentheses.

"This is undoubtedly one of the toughest announcements I've ever personally had to make, but after the accident in Turn 4 at the end of the Daytona 500 ... we've lost Dale Earnhardt."
- Mike Helton

"We're all deeply saddened by the loss. And I appreciate everybody's thoughts and prayers. We'll get through this. I'm sure he'd want us to keep going, so that's what we're gonna do."
-Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"Dale, can you win your second 500 today?"
-Interviewer before 2001 Daytona 500 (Please Remember Me by Tim McGraw)

"I think it's gonna be some exciting racing. You're gonna see something you probably haven't seen on Fox"
- Dale Sr. before the 2001 Daytona 500 (Please Remember Me by Tim McGraw)

"Great job, Dale. You done it, buddy, you got that monkey off your back, buddy."
- On the radio to Dale Sr. after winning his first and only Daytona 500 (One More Day by Diamond Rio)

"I think Bill France's quote sums it up, 'NASCAR has lost its greatest driver ever'"
-Mike Helton (If I Had Only Known by Reba McEntire)

"I can remember goin to the races with my dad when I was ten-twelve years old. That's what you was involved in. I really didn't play that much sports in school."
-Dale Earnhardt, Sr. (If I Had Only Known by Reba McEntire)

"Anything you can have or do to be competitive more than the other guy and beat em is a part of your plan to beat em or your system to beat em. Then if you can intimidate em and they call you the Intimidator then so be it."
-Dale Earnhardt, Sr. (If I Had Only Known by Reba McEntire)

"You do look around and try to not go so fast. You need to stop and say hi, or you know, stop and call your mama and tell her you love her before you leave town or when you get back in town, and I still don't do that enough."
-Dale Earnhardt, Sr. (If I Had Only Known by Reba McEntire)

"Just as Earvin Johnson was Magic, Walter Payton, Sweetness, and Muhammed Ali The Greatest, Dale Earnhardt was stock car racing's Intimidator. It wasn't just a name, it was a 200 mile an hour way of life."
(Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton)

"It was the way he lived, it was the way he died. At full throttle, on the final turn of the final lap of a race won by a driver in a car Earnhardt owned, with his namesake son right behind."
(Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton)

"Dale Jr., he's competitive too and this is something his dad would want him to continue because of his competitiveness, so we should not be surprised to see him drive, and I would not be surprised to see the number 3 retired from Winston Cup racing."
(Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton)

"I'm so at ease racing, drivin a race car racing, it's really ridiculous."
-Dale Earnhardt (The Dance by Garth Brooks)

"We lost the greatest driver this sport ever had"
(The Dance by Garth Brooks)

"There's just certain people that you don't feel this could ever happen to, and he's one of them."
(The Dance by Garth Brooks)

"I think anybody that follows the sport, that's involved with the sport in a little or big way is a little numb today."
- Ward Burton (The Dance by Garth Brooks)

"I just miss the excitement that Dale Sr. added to it. Especially when Bristol comes up. Who else is Rusty Wallace gonna complain about?"
(The Dance by Garth Brooks)

"I don't know, I just stir up controversy, don't I?"
- Dale Earnhardt (The Dance by Garth Brooks)

"I used to watch him every Sunday, and it's just really sad, it hurts my heart to see that I can't come home every Sunday and watch him."
(The Dance by Garth Brooks)

"North Carolina's always been about racing, and tobacco, and farming, and that pretty much sums up Dale Earnhardt."
(The Dance by Garth Brooks)

"When you think of NASCAR, you actually thought of Earnhardt before you thought of the word NASCAR."
(The Dance by Garth Brooks)

"I just grew up just wantin to be a racecar driver, not a great racecar driver or one that has won championships or anything"
- Dale Earnhardt (The Dance by Garth Brooks)

For those of you privy to my away message, I apologize for the repetition. What follows is a "you had to be there" exchange that left T-Rav and I rolling for about 10 minutes.

T-Rav: What happened?
thedustin: They gave the snitch some money and then shot him in the back as he was leaving.
T-Rav: The one-eyed man? That's messed up. He never saw it coming.

On the nights I'm the last one to leave the living room before bed, I like to play a game. The game involves strategy, a sharp mind, and uncanny senses. I call this game "Hit the Middle".

Here's the setup. Before bed, I usually get a glass of water, collect my things and head for my room. Being a person educated in the field of Industrial Engineering, I find it quite inefficient to cross the living room more than necessary to make sure the hall light is on before I turn off the living room lights. Of course, in order to save energy the living room lights must go off.

Herein lies the challenge. Before the lights go out I must take a mental snapshot of the room. If I do not have my things in my hand, and they are not on the way to the light switch, I must take note of where they are. Then, I head for the switch. When the lights go out, I bob and weave my way over to my things and pick them up, hopefully without running into anything. I can use my hands as a guide if I want, but it's best to just accustom myself to going "no-hands" because I'll probably end up carrying stuff anyway.

Once I've picked up my things, the next challenge is to make it to the hallway. This is where the "hit the middle" comes from. As you might imagine, gunning for the hallway in the dark is the most difficult part because of those tricky and dangerous "corners". Yes, corners are the most feared obstacles by the toes, just ahead of randomly placed coffee tables and snack trays. So the trick is to, in the dark, hit the middle of the hallway so that all toes remain safe and unharmed. The positives of a successful hit include great sense of accomplishment and healthy extremeties. I think we're all aware of the consequences of an unsuccessful hit.

So that's it. Hit the middle without killing your toes and you win. Stub a toe or two and you're out, and you owe T-Rav an apology for waking him.

"Son, I met your mother at the gym, where I taught her the intricicies of the lat pull-down"

Today I witnessed my first ever weight-room hook up. I know there are probably millions of happy couples out there that met at the gym, but this is the first I've ever witnessed, and it was very exciting for me. Just to be serious for a moment, I think the thing I liked the most is that rather than be a typical jock and be all cocky that he got her number, the guy actually seemed quietly pleased. Nice to see that. Anyway, I'm not sure if the feelings were mutual from her side, but I wish them well.

Dan's back.

In other news, I sorta wanted to unveil this with a little more fanfare and after some renovating. But it's probably best left in all of it's rawness. Yes, I'm opening the vault and releasing the original thedustin.com. Also, in pieces, I will release the oldest archives which I hope to eventually transfer to Scribnotes. Anyway, here's the first piece, August 2001 (with a bit of September as well).

In the wake of this breaking news (ok, breaking this morning) about Edwards being picked as Kerry's running mate, only one question remains ... what the heck is Dan doing that is keeping him from getting to a computer to write about this? Is he tongue-tied? Is he speechless (Dan - speechless? Ha!)? Dan, where are you?

I have to go whitewashing, so I won't be around for the official announcement. Word on the superhighway is that NC's boy is on the ticket.

If something changes between now and 9 a.m. and it turns out Edwards is not the pick for VP, please forgive me for not updating, as I will be away until this evening.

[Note to self: Brace yourself for an attack by at least one reader who will dispute the moniker "NC's boy"]

All morning, I've been staring at a computer screen full of code - of the research/thesis kind, not web devo - but I haven't been able to bring myself to actually do anything with it. T-Rav reminded me that technically it is a holiday, but given that the last couple of week days haven't been very fruitful ones, it's hard for me to use that as a valid excuse. Anyway, I'm a little hungry so I'm hoping a good lunch will get the juices of productivity flowing. If not, I'll just have to settle for spending my talents on a web devo project or two.