Test Driving a 'Webb' of 'Madness'

First Test Drive
Its that time in life in which I need to upgrade the car. The current baby is starting to nickle and dime me every now and then and I should move to something a little more reliable before I am stranded with an expensive hunk of metal.

My tastes are for somethingthat has good gas mileage small, somewhat sporty, and has a nice look. Features are not all that important, but , sunroof, and a manual are a must. These criteria, I have found, limits me drastically in the types of car that appeal to me and are within my price range. All of the cars in my top 5 list are European, which is sad. Our "Big 3" just make ugly small cars that look and (probably) feel cheap, something I do not want. The one car that is "American" on my list is the Saturn Astra, and its even made in Europe. Oh well, its a global economy out there anyway.

I have been walking car lots on Sundays to try and get a feel for what is available, price ranges, and overall physical look. You can only learn so much by doing research online. I have not, however, had the guts to go and test drive a new car. This whole process is new, uncharted territory, but you just got to do it. So today, I drove the Mini pictured above (autotrader.com) and had a blast. I was afraid the Mini would feel small, but it was a lot better ride than I had hoped. I'm hooked. Now, all I need to do is find the one I really want. Wish me luck. If you have a Mini for sale, let me know, I might just be interested!

Webb Struggles In NYC
Last weekend was the United States 8k Championship that took place in New York City's Central Park. In the men's division, the race was stacked with the likes of Olympic hopefuls Alan Webb, Jorge Torres, and Andrew Carlson. It was supposed to be a battle between the distance guy (Torres) and the miler (Webb). Unfortunately Webb had to battle food poisoning and ended up finishing a dismal 15th.

This will come across as critical of someone with far superior talent than I have, but Webb always seems to come up short when the moment counts. Its hard to be the next mile/1500 superstar when you start at the age of 18, but when the moments of opportunity has arisen, Webb has run poorly. He is the American record holder in the mile (see pic), breaking Steve Scott's decades old record last year. He had the fastest time in the world going into the world championships in Oska, but ran a poor strategy in the finals and got blown out of the water, much like he did in Athens. I just hope that he will get some luck on his side and runs smart and helps end our drought of medals in the distance events this year in Beijing. That's my rant, stickin to it.

March Madness
The Madness continued today in the second round of 'The' Tournament. Kansas is in the Sweet 16, again, after a closer than expected (in my opinion) game against UNLV. In the end, it wasn't much of a game, but with so many stops in play because of fouls, the 'Hawks just could not get into a rhythm. But a win is a win and now its a game against either Villanova or Siena (12 and 13 seeds) I feel the road to Elite 8 is a little easier...hopefully.

The real madness of the day was over in the game with Stanford against Marquette. All you really need to know is that the game went into overtime. Just watch the clip below to get the recap.
Cheers!

Stanford vs Villanova