Hooray for the Carpool Lane!

It's 7:30 am, and we are running late. We are about to join rush hour traffic at its peak. The I-85 stretch between GA316 and I-285 is one of the busiest thoroughfares into Atlanta, and that's exactly where we are... I'm preparing myself for a long drive ahead.

But wait! I'm going at almost 60 mph, while on my right, the cars are almost at a standstill. How is that possible? I can't help but smile... I didn't expect my rush hour drive to be this pleasant!

How is this possible? The HOV lane.

This high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane is great! As long as there are 2 or more people in your vehicle, you are allowed to use it. It easily saved us at least 30 minutes on our commute to and from work. It just goes to show how many people drive alone. I never really felt the advantage until just a few days ago, when I started driving to work with Caroline. It's like using a warp zone in Super Mario Brothers... you skip all the 'hard' levels and get to your destination quickly.

It's a good thing too that (most) drivers here are disciplined enough not to go on the HOV lane when they are the only ones in their vehicle. No offense, but in the Philippines, a carpool lane would never work! When we disregard the line that differentiates opposing traffic and create our own 'counterflow', how can we obey an HOV lane?

Anyway, I'm just glad that the trip to and from work is not as stressful as it once was...

Life is Beautiful!

Wedding Pictures Finally Up

After almost 2 months of procrastination, Caroline and I took the time to sift through our wedding pictures and choose the ones that we want for our wedding album. We decided to also post them on the internet because we've had so many requests from our friends and family who want to see them as well.

So, follow this link http://vince217.multiply.com/photos/album/7 to view the album!

Once again, I would like to thank everyone who attended the wedding... looking back at the pictures, Caroline and I realized that we really could not thank everyone personally.

I also want to thank all the wedding suppliers... our wedding went smoothly and was beautiful because of them. Incidentally in a future entry, I do plan to list all the wedding suppliers we used, as I highly recommend them. I also want to create a little checklist of things that every couple should know when planning their wedding. I think everyone can learn from what we went through!

Life is Beautiful!

Australian Grand Prix Post Race Points

Marc (GoFlatOut) was right, it looks like Ferrari will decimate the field this year... unless McLaren steps up (I'm sure they will).

Lewis Hamilton is the new golden boy of Formula 1. Kovaleinen got the jitters, but I think he will shine in the coming races.

The Renaults and BMWs are on the same level, followed by the four (hehe) Toyotas.

Honda really sucks.

Super Aguri and the two Red Bulls might get disqualified in future races.

Spyker / Midland / Jordan is still last place.

Enter the Peachtree Road Race!

Attention all Georgians! The Peachtree Road Race applications have been published in last weekends AJC, so if you are planning to run the 10k race like me, better fill in and send in your entry form as soon as possible!

I plan to send my entry today, tomorrow at the latest. I hope my entry is not too late, as I heard the slots fill up very quickly!

Some notes on the Peachtree Road Race:
- It takes place on the 4th of July, 7:30 am
- The race is 10km (approx 6.25 miles) long
- You don't need to be a marathon runner to join. You can even walk through the whole race!

See you there!

La Vita e Bella!

The Fascination with Formula 1

The 2007 Formula 1 season is upon us! After months of reading off-season news, it's time to see This weekend marks the return of F1 to Melbourne, and this year, the championship is really up for grabs. Schumacher retired, Alonso to McLaren, Raikkonen to Ferrari. Promising rookies, seasoned veterans. Everyone with something to prove.

Caroline (and most women, for that matter) can't understand what is fascinating about watching cars go around the same track over and over again for 67 laps or so. I don't blame her. To the untrained eye, yes, it does seem monotonous and repetitive.

However, once you understand F1... you know what to watch, and you know what the fuss is all about.

You see it in the in-car cameras, as the sense of speed dawns on you, and you feel just how fast these machines are travelling, and how close they are to each other on the track.

You see it in that split second when a driver pulls out of the slipstream in order to perform a daring overtaking move.

You see it in the precision that a pit crew moves to change the tyres and refuel the car in less than 7 seconds in order to hang on or even take over the lead.

You even see it in those moments when a driver or mechanical error occurs, hopes of a win or even a podium finish go up in smoke or wreckage.

We watch F1 for those moments. The moments of brilliance, of glory, and yes, the heartbreaks. And since you never know when these moments will happen, it is always worth watching from the start of the race all the way to the chequered flag.

Life... is Beautiful.

Lipa Virus (Grrr)

Last week, our home computer was hit by a virus. We noticed it when our antivirus program (AVG Free) popped up with a virus warning. We cleaned it and thought nothing more of it... until we opened Internet Explorer. There it was, on our IE header.

It was the "TAGA LIPA ARE!" virus.

Of all the virii in the world, we had to be hit by a pinoy (I'll give you one guess from where in the Philippines) virus! Well, maybe its not that surprising considering we do visit alot of pinoy sites and receive alot of emails from our friends and family in the Philippines.

I immediately did numerous and more thorough virus & spyware scans, and I searched the internet on how to completely remove that annoying message from IE and the system registry. So, if you ever get infected by this annoying thing, I can help you remove it from your computer.
Fortunately as far as I know, this virus did nothing more than to change the IE header and possibly spread itself using my computer. It really could have been worse.

The most annoying thing about this virus (after all was said and done) is that I found out on the internet that the person who "created" this virus merely copied it from someone else. He just edited the code and placed his own personal "message" in it. Where did he get this, in Recto? If you're going to make something such as a virus (which, more often than not, showcases that creators programming / hacking ability), you have to make it original. If this dude wanted himself to be known, well, he just made himself known as nothing but a copycat.

Mabuhay!