SPEED's Car Warriors: Shows major changes for season 2 is a hit at least in my eyes especially resulting in better cars.

Last season, I watched most of the episodes of Car Warriors on SPEED and it was okay at best. Of course after a few episodes, I really just wanted to see the challengers win and in a lot of cases, I simply didn't agree with some of the judges. But I also thought that the show lacked something, but I just couldn't put my figure on it.

Now fast forward to the first two episodes of  the new season, season 2 of car warriors and for the most part I like what I see. I like the one judge (Jimmy Shine) instead of three, two challenging teams instead of just one against the home team, a lead tech help for each team and after two episodes, the cars are coming out better especially the latest one with the Pontiac LeMans and the red team winning.

Of course, I agree with that completely because even with the one issue in the right front, the car was complete. Mean while, the blue teams car wasn't complete and it need another two hours to even have a shot at completion. So far so good SPEED.

A picture of the winning Chevrolet Camaro from the first episode of Car Warriors - season 2.

(Photo Credit: Car Warriors on Facebook)

Disclosure: Rewrote this post from the original of preview of SPEED's Car Warrior's because I didn't like the results and the post was unsuccessful.

I'll admit, after the 2012 Daytona 500, I thought Greg Biffle was blocking for his teammate Matt Kenseth to win the 500...

There has been a lot of discussion online including NASCAR fans blasting Greg Biffle for what they believe was blocking for his teammate and not going for the win himself. Now, I'm going to say this right up front, I didn't blast Greg Biffle period, its simply not my style. And I just published my first article on the Daytona 500 about three hours ago.

With that said, I’ll admit it, the first thing that came to mind after watching the final laps of the Daytona 500 was… what was Greg Biffle thinking, why is he blocking for his teammate Matt Kenseth to win the Daytona 500 and not going for it himself. I thought that for two reasons.

First, he didn’t make any moves on Kenseth in the final two laps despite the fact that Dale Jr. was on his back bumper. And second, he know that if he made a move, it would have turned out just like the same way the Budweiser Shootout turned out but instead of Kyle Busch drafting past Tony Stewart, it would have been Dale Jr. drafting by Greg Biffle to win the Daytona 500.

Now two days later and after watching his interview on NASCAR RaceHub, I understand what Biffle is saying and that he was full throttle for the final two laps, so I conclude he just couldn’t get their to win, but it would have been better if he had did something of a move a few times to try. And now I say goodbye to the Daytona 500, hello Phoenix and good racing.

BTW: This is the same comment I gave on a post entitled "If You Think Biffle Didn’t Want To Win The 500, You Are Crazy”" on The NASCAR Insiders blog, by the way, its a good blog and recommend it.

(Photo Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Goodbye to the Daytona 500, hello to the real start of the 2012 NASCAR season with some good old fashion racing at Phoenix.

I’m sorry NASCAR, but when it comes to the 2012 Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway including this past Monday night into Tuesday early morning the Daytona 500, for the most part, I would rather just forget I saw it. I mean has anyone really stopped and thought about what really happened during Speedweeks 2012.

Yeah, sure there was some good moments like Danica Patrick taking the pole for Nationwide race, John King capturing first Truck win, James Buescher capturing first Nationwide win, Matt Kenseth returning to victory lane in the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. starting the season off with a 2ND place finish in 500 and Brad Keselowski giving fans on track pix during red flag of Daytona 500.

But…the bad: wrecked, wrecked, wrecked racecars due to vicious racing, racecar meets jet dry that results in major blaze (thankfully both drivers walked away and are ok), Biffle plays blocker for teammate to win Daytona 500, and NASCAR is being NASCAR over penalizing the #48 Cup car over C-Posts that might have been raced several times last season with another six race suspension for Knaus – Hendrick pays and appeals.

Like I said, in most cases I would much rather forget about Speedweeks 2012 and instead I’m just looking forward to the real start of the 2012 NASCAR season with some good old fashion racing at Phoenix. I’m just glad there are four restrictor plate races per year.

(Photos Credit: Brad Keseloski's Twitter Account and Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

My Take: (Study) Facebook users are defriending more, but why?

A few days ago, I read an article over at ReadWriteWeb from a study at Pew Internet that shows that more Facebook users are defriending, the question is why?

Well I've been thinking about this and as a Facebook user myself for the last few years now, there are two reasons that come to mind:

1. Privacy: More and more people including myself are learning about online privacy and what we say online is public, NOT private. So in using the Facebook settings, you can publish posts, photos, links and more to public, friends only or custom and I believe that many users are posting to friends only and being very selective of who they friend on Facebook. A good example would be publishing family photos on Facebook. You don't want everyone to see pictures of your children, your niece, nephew or grandchildren. I have a nephew and I don't want to share photos with everyone.

2. Facebook games: When I joined Facebook a few years ago, I also joined the free Facebook game movement including Zynga's games including CityVille and FarmVille. In playing those games, you need to spend real money and/or get more neighbors and until late last year, the only way to add more neighbors was to friend people on Facebook and then add them the game like FarmVille.

But recently, many game users including myself have been leaving the games and moving on and now that leaves you with tons of friends on Facebook that you only interacted with them is through Farmville or another game. Now I would say that many on Facebook are doing the same thing including myself as they are forced to go through there entire friends list and decide whether or not to keep them or defriend them.

There was also another question, "Have you ever posted anything online including on Facebook that you regretted later?" Simple answer is yes. I have written a few posts or comments on Facebook that I regretted later as well as have gotten me into trouble. Of course I meant no harm in posting them, but that's not the way a few turned out. Other times, it was me just opening my mouth and saying too much. I would say more people around fall into that category as well.

Photography: One sweet Porsche Boxster at a Walmart in Massachusetts

Yeah, I just couldn't resist taking this photo of a Porsche Boxster a few months ago just after getting my new budget Android Smartphone while I was food shopping at the local Walmart. Yeah I like doing my foos shopping at Walmart so long as they actually have the stuff I want in stock. Let's put it this, I was a little surprised to see it considering the little town I was in and to date, this is the only Porsche I have seen at that Walmart.

2012 NASCAR: Nationwide race one ups Truck race at Daytona with crashfest and first time winner James Buescher, now I wonder about the Daytona 500?

I keep hearing words include incredible, amazing, great and so on to describe the racing so far at Daytona International Speedway for both the Truck Series race last night and earlier today’s Nationwide Series race. Why? Because none of those words describe those two races, however instead crashfest, nightmare, out of control, owners crying over more wrecked cars (and they should), heart stopping, just to name a few. But survival is the word I would use.

But at least after both of these crashfests were over, two first time winners emerged, so congrats to John King (with Red Horse Racing) in the Truck Series and James Buescher (with Turner Motorsports) in the Nationwide Series on picking up your first win at Daytona.

With that said, it doesn’t matter what NASCAR does to the superspeedway racing including the return of pack racing or a hybrid of pack racing and two-car tandem racing, the fact is I just don’t enjoy the racing period. And the only way to make it better at both Daytona and Talladega is to cut down the banking and get drivers to brake heading into the corners period. If these drivers are wide open all the way, then this is the result.

Sorry NASCAR, but your not going to win me over with this restrictor plate racing period.

Congratulations to John King on capturing his first win in the NASCAR Truck Series Race at Daytona!

I really don't know what to say about the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series NextEra Energy Resources 250 race at Daytona International Speedway other than what a vicious race filled with pack racing, bump drafting, big and hard wrecks that ends with rookie driver John King (with Red Horse Racing) winning his first Truck Series race. But a tip of the hat to Ty Dillion driving the #3 Bass Pro Shop Chevy and he narrowly missed at least three wrecks in the front of him. All I got to say is, I hope the Nationwide Series race tomorrow is better, otherwise damn!

Congrats to Danica Patrick on picking up her first career pole for the Nationwide Series race tomorrow.

Congrats to Danica Patrick (with JR Motorsports) on picking up her first pole in NASCAR for tomorrows Nationwide Series race at Daytona. Trevor Bayne, Elliott Sadler, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Austin Dillion round out the top 5. And Tony Stewart starts 7th and he's the favorite to win tomorrow.

NASCAR reporters and cameramen are getting out of control when it comes to invading teams garage stall, time for a change.

Earlier today while watching NASCAR Live at 12pm (12:07pm EST) on SPEED, a cameraman once again walked into one of the teams garage stall filming the crew working on the car. The garage stool was #16-Greg Biffle/Roush-Fenway Racing and in this case, one of his crewmen was working on the right front and he blocked the camera and the cameraman and the crew member exchanged words. I believe this action is wrong on the part of the cameraman, not the crew member. Keep in mind, the crew member is just doing his job and work on the car.

I watch a lot of practice sessions when I can over the course of a season and enjoy the coverage and this problem "invasion" has become all to common. Those garage stalls are small, they fit a one car and some crew members. But there is not only not enough room for the media, but this is the crews stall. And several cars have one or two on-board cameras.

I should mention that as a blogger, I have been in the New Hampshire Motor Speedway garage area twice in my life and I have seen first hand how small these stools really are. And I actually stool right outside #48 Jimmie Johnson and the #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s garage stall for a moment and watched them work. What an experience and very busy, that's why I just kept walking after a minute, I just didn't want to get in there way. I've also been in the pits too during the race with a hot pass and its tight too.

So I believe its time for NASCAR to take a closer look at this problem/invasion and create a layout of were media can be and were crew members can be without the invasion. They might even want to look at pit stall too during a race.

Solution: How about no media members or even better, no non-crew for that team can come into the garage stall without the teams permission. However this works both ways as the media should be allowed to film anything they want from right outside of any garage stool and not be blocked on purpose by crew members. If the crew members are working, they are working. As for interviews, the media can ask for a interview right outside the garage stall and if granted, that's great for everyone. Keep in mind, these cameras are giving fans a view that most fans can't see and putting the sponsors like 3M, National Guard and Lowe's Home Improvement on television.

Taken at NHMS back in 2009. (Photo Credit: Me "Brian Vermette")

Another suggestion would be for the track itself to install still cameras on several posts in the garage area for the television and fans online. Keep in mind, you can only see just what the camera picks up and they can't be blocked either.

Like I said, the NASCAR media reporters and cameramen need to stop invading the garage stall (unless they have permission from the team), while the crew members need to stop purposely blocking the camera from when cameras are filming outside of the garage stall.

NASCAR Predictions: Five drivers to watch in the 2012 Daytona 500 including Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and dark horse Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

With the Budweiser Shootout (won by Kyle Busch) and the two Duel races (won by Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth) in the record books, now the focus turns to the Sunday's Daytona 500. Damn its been a long off season especially after the 500 was moved back another week and so many changes during the off season.

Predictions for the Daytona 500:
1. After watching "The Shootout" last Saturday night and "The Duels" earlier today, I believe that fans will see a good mix of mostly pack racing and some two-car tandem drafting throughout the entire 500 miles. I would also say there will be a few caution flags for some big wrecks. These drivers have yet to learn to not bump in the corners and that's were most of the wrecks will be.

Of course if NASCAR would wake up and reinstate the "no bump drafting or bumping in the corner" rule, then we could see less wrecks. And a few blown engines to boot considering the new restrictor plate rules package. But at the end of the race, one or two, two-car tandem drafting partners will break away from the pack and settle it among themselves just like what happened in the shootout.

2. Five drivers to watch: Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin and my dark horse is Ricky Stenhouse Jr..

Related Articles:
- 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Preview: Off season movers and shakers and top 10 contenders. | RaceDriven.com

Would you pay extra for those services that use the most data on your smartphone?

Earlier today while reading The Consumerist.com, one writer asked the question "Would you pay extra for those services that use the most data on your smartphone?". Wireless companies are always looking for ways to balance making money and making their customers happy. Well one option for wireless companies could be to offer customers the choice of paying $x/month for those services that use the most data.

A good example of that is to pay $x/month for unlimited use Facebook or even unlimited stream of Netflix.

"My Take": I believe this could be a good option for some smartphone users, but not everyone. Now even though right now I use a AT&T GoPhone Prepaid plan for my Android Smartphone where I pay big for 3G data and no monthly payments.

When I finally do go to the pay per month service, I would actually consider buying this option if I was only using a few apps a lot like Facebook or Netflix. Although Facebook really doesn't cost that much to keep signed in and updating regularly via the app, Netflix on the other hand would a be a good option in this case considering it uses a lot of data to just stream one movie or TV show. I see many customers buying this option if available.

Example: Paying $30/month for 2-4GB of data could be better than paying an extra $5/month for just Facebook or $10-15/month (NOT official prices, only my guess) for just Netflix, but if you only use Netflix and surfing the internet a little, the cost could be worth it o pay extra for that one service and pay less for a smaller data package.

But I should mention when I commented on the Consumerist article, over 85% of the commenters said No, they wouldn't buy this option and I can see why. No customer wants to pay extra on anything, let along paying $x/month for just one service/app. Its all in each customers preference, what do they use and what do they use the most.

Good option in the future, but it wouldn't replace paying for just data on all apps and uses.

The term "bottom feeder" doesn't describe a bidder on Storage Wars, let along a NASCAR driver.

It's no secret that I've been a NASCAR fan for the last 20 years now, but I'm also a Storage Wars on A&E fan as well. And I never thought that I would be using both NASCAR and Storage Wars in the same article, that is until yesterday.

Yesterday I was reading one of my favorite sites, the Bleacher Report were unfortunately I came across an article that got me so fired up. It was actually the words in the title that was just terrible. The title of the article was "Daytona 500 2012: Which bottom feeders could surprise everyone". Personally I hate it when Dave on Storage Wars uses the words "bottom feeders" to describe other bidders at the auction including Jarrod, let along those same word to describe any NASCAR driver.

My response or comment back was:

Two points to make:
1. Hate the words "bottom feeders". It's terrible to hear Dave on Storage Wars use it when he describes some other bidders and its terrible to use the phrase to describe less successful drivers or unknown drivers. And for the most part, all of those drivers have funded runs and aren't start and park drivers.

2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. doesn't fit in this category at all. Stenhouse Jr. has found success in the Nationwide Series as the 2011 Nationwide Series Drivers' Champion and when he did make his start last year in the Cup Series, he did very well.

Simply put what I saying is, interesting concept behind the article, but wrong choice of words including "bottom feeders".

And let's be honest, even start and park drivers aren't bottom feeders either. However the response back wasn't what I would have expecting and in at least my eyes sparked a new debate with me:

"I agree with your points but that's the title I was given and you work with what you gotta when trying to rope in a broad audience."

My response back was:

I don't write or blog for other people, so I don't know how that all works with someone else giving you a title. However sorry but with all due respect, your name is on the article including the title and a bottom feeder is defined as "Someone who profits from things cast off or left over by others." I wouldn't describe any of those drivers as bottom feeders especially Stenhouse Jr.

Stenhouse Jr. has come along way in his driving and developing his talent. Is a Nationwide champion.

As for a broad audience, well goal achieved, but at a cost.

Sorry [writers name], but I don't see it the same way, I hope you understand, this is just my opinion.

And that's were I left it.

Bottom line is this: first as a writer, blogger, or journalist (no I'm not a journalist), your job is to write a killer article that sparks conversation, debate and discussion among your readers. But it is also your job to defend your article if need be. And in this case, the writer didn't defend his article and that is a huge disappointment. You wrote it, you have to defend it period. That loses a lot of credibility with me.

Second, the concept of the article was a good one, but the title was terrible and that title blow the content itself to say the least.

And that's were I will leave it as well.

2012 Budweiser Shootout: The return of pack racing, the big one and Kyle Busch in victory lane, damn.

Last Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout at Daytona, the unofficial kick off of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season saw the return of pack racing. Over the off season, NASCAR had been trying to elimanate the two car tandem drafting by making wholesale changes to the current COT car including moving the front grill opening to the bumper and extending the rear bumper closer to the ground. But with the return of packing racing for most of the 70 lap race, fans also saw the BIG return of "The Big One" wreck. Or should I say wrecks.

In watching this race, I couldn't believe how aggressive these drivers were racing and roughing each other up. As a result, there was 3 big wrecks that took out several cars in each wreck including the last big pile up that saw Jeff Gordon in the closing laps rough up Kyle Busch by working over Busch's back bumper to move him out of the way and ended up spinning out Busch and in the process sending himself (Gordon) hard into the outside wall, tumbling and collecting several cars. Gordon would climb from the car alright. But in my opinion, he is to blame for that entire wreck, this veteran should have known better.

But in the end, it was a two car tandem drafting break away move with Tony Stewart out front and Kyle Busch pushing that would decide this one with Busch making his move to the outside coming off turn 4 and side drafting Stewart to collect his first Budweiser Shootout.

Now I'm not a Kyle Busch fan to say the least, but hats off to Busch, three good saves on the night and he out drove everyone in this race including Stewart to earn this victory, yes Kyle Busch earned this victory, plain and simple.

But now NASCAR has to reinstate the "no bump drafting or bumping in the corners" rule for the Duel races and especially for The Daytona 500, otherwise these big wrecks will continue in the 500 and it will be all about survival.

Note: Removed video due to video no longer available.

Why isn't anyone talking about Rick Hendrick defending the #48 car penalty and that this is the 2011 Talladega win car that is being penalized.

Hendrick's comments defending the #48 Johnson car penalties leaves many questions for NASCAR to answer including how does this car pass all of 2011 and not now?

When I read on Friday that NASCAR announced that they had confiscated the two C-Posts from the #48 of Jimmie Johnson's car, I just figured that the crew chief Chad Knaus was just trying to get an advantage for Daytona like all crew chiefs are trying to do and that was it.

But when I read David Newton's article on ESPN that he talked to Rick Hendrick before last Saturday's Budweiser Shootout defending the #48 car and that he would be appealing any penalty that would be handed down the week after the Daytona 500. That lead me to wonder exactly what is going on and questioning NASCAR inspection process. Keep in mind, that according to Hendrick, that #48 car was raced in all four restrictor plate races in 2011 including its the car Jimmie Johnson won in last May at Talladega Superspeedway and that no one changed the C-Post.

I want to know what the real deal is with this car and as a fan it does make me question NASCAR and there inspection process.

(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Watched The Simpsons 500th episode on FOX, damn that's cool on so many levels.

Interesting that the 500th episode is entitled "The Simpsons get banished from Springfield", but its kind of funny when you think about it. But in the end, everything returned back to normal if you can really consider that normal. HaHaHa, damn I love watching The Simpsons and yes even The Simpsons Movie on dvd, hay its funny.

But this 500th episode of "The Simpsons" on FOX is not only an historical episode, but it just goes to show you that if a network actually gives a TV show in a real chance to succeed (unlike most that get cancelled after one or two episodes because it hasn't become popular instantly), a show can be a hit and have a long, successful run into television history.

(Photo Credit: FOX.com)

Roush-Fenway Racing grabs the front row with Edwards and Biffle for the 2012 Daytona 500.

After one hell of a boring single car qualifying that saw 49 cars lay down times, it was the two Roush-Fenway Racing Fords of Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle that will make up the front row of the 2012 Daytona 500. But the qualifying session also locked it Trevor Bayne, Tony Raines and David Stremme into the 500. Next comes the Duels at Daytona on Thursday and several drivers including Michael Waltrip and Kenny Wallace will have to race there way into the 500. Damn those are the races I'm looking forward too until Friday night and the Truck race.

Waiting patiently for my Acer Iconia Tab A100 tablet to be updated with Android 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich which Acer is saying April 2012...

Every since I was introduced to the Android operating system late last year and after purchasing and using my budget LG Thrive smartphone, I have wanted a new android tablet. So after originally purchasing a Acer Iconia Tab A200 and returning it the week after it was released (late January), I ended up getting lucky and buying a new Acer Iconia Tab A100 at my local Walmart for only $250 + $60 warranty and it has been a good little product ever since.

The Acer Iconia Tab A100 is perfect for me. I use it while laying in bed or traveling where ever I go to check email, surf the internet, listening to music, play music videos (had to reformat most of them to work right), play games like Angry Birds and Solitare, checking the news, taking and downloading photos, social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+), Google Maps with GPS, Netflix, and even blogging on my lifestream (short blurbs only, no long posts or photos, it tough to do).

Anyway, one big deal with these Android tablets is getting the latest update and right now for most Android 3.0, 3.1 or 3.2 tablet owners is receiving the update to Android 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich that features some battery saving items, a task killer that is easier to use and improvements all the around. Of course Android 5.0 aka Jelly Bean is already rumored to be in the works.

But as of today (2/18/2012), several manufacturers has announced that they are updating their tablets to ICS (Android 4.0 - Ice Cream Sandwich) soon or are already in process of doing so. But yesterday I received the news that I have been waiting for, Acer announced on Acer.com that they will be updating the Acer Iconia Tab A200 right now and the older tablets of the Acer Iconia Tab A100 and A500 in April.

Read Press Release on Acer.com and on Acer's Twitter Account (dates are 2/15 and 2/17).

Hopefully the ICS update not only works great for all of the Acer Iconia Tab A200 users, but by the time April rolls around, the ICS update is good to go for my A100 tablet as well. Of course once I get ICS, I will be putting it to the test, hopefully it will help my decent battery life and I will install Google Chrome browser which is only available on ICS.

Update: On Friday, April 27th, I received the Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich update and so far so good after installation. I like the changes as you can close apps with ease, better graphics and more. But I haven't been able to see if the battery life is any better, of course anything is better than 4-5 hours on a fully charged battery. However I just wish that receiving the update was a little but faster and not just depends upon the manufacturer.

Heartbreaking to see Brandon McReynolds run out of fuel coming to checkers; Bobby Gerhert wins ARCA 200 at Daytona.

Well NASCAR fans, if you wanted to see pack racing once again, you were in luck with watching the ARCA series race at Daytona and while most of the 80 laps of the race was ok at best. The final 5 minutes or 10 laps depending upon how you look at was action packed including a few wrecks. But after the final restart, it would be the run to the checkers and as the leaders came out of turn 4, the leader Brandon McReynolds would come up short as he would run out of fuel and get passed by the rest of the pack and collected in "The Big One" wreck as Bobby Gerhert would come around everyone to win again at Daytona.

Like I said, heartbreak for Brandon McReynolds and the Turner Motorsports team, but congrats to Bobby Gerhert and his team, that was veteran experience and luck that won him that race.

Why doesn't NASCAR reinstate the rule for all three series that says "no bump drafting in the corners", I would support it...

As I sit here watching the earlier stages of the ARCA Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 race from Daytona International Speedway, one of the announcers said that ARCA Series officials have warned there drivers not to bump draft in the corners.

So since a lot of the crashes and wrecks at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway are either in turns 1 & 2 or turns 3 & 4, why doesn't NASCAR just re-instate the "no bump drafting in the corners", it would help and it might make the two-car tandem drafting a lot harder to do especially after NASCAR has already limited in-car communications, grill opening placement, extending the length of back bump, cropping up the rear spoiler and more.

And does anyone remember this wreck from last night's 1st Budweiser Shootout practice session?

(Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

NASCAR Predictions: Five drivers to watch in the 2012 Budweiser Shootout including Harvick, Dale Jr., and dark horse Clint Bowyer.

With the Budweiser Shootout being tomorrow night, the Shootout will mark the unofficial kick off of the 2012 NASCAR season and serve as a preview for NASCAR fans, teams and media of NASCAR’s new restrictor plate rules package (for Daytona and Talladega) that hopefully will not only eliminate the two-car tandem draft racing, but return more towards the pack racing that we had a few years ago as well as what could happen in the Daytona 500.

As for Predictions, there are two:
1. 5 Drivers to watch: Kevin Harvick (he’s the one to watch), Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin and a dark horse, Clint Bowyer.

2. I expect to see a little bit more pack racing during both the Budweiser Shootout and the Daytona 500, but during the final laps of both races, I would say that the two-car tandem draft racing will play a huge role in the outcome.

Photo: American Chopper: The Build-Off - Paul Jr. Design's Plane inspired Chopper that won the Build-Off.

Just saw this photo of PJD's Plane inspired Chopper on Paul Jr. Designs Facebook Page and wanted to share it. What a creation and this chopper does remind me of the plane they had on the Build-Off show.

Related Article:
- American Chopper: The Build-Off - Paul Jr. Designs beats out Jesse James and OCC to win Build-Off | RaceDriven.com

Watching the season premeire of Survivor: One World with guys vs. girls and we already have one voted out.

In watching the season premiere of Survivor: One World, I have mixed thoughts for sure, but to be honest that is to be expected after the first episode, you want to see it play out. I really like the idea of two tribe on one beach. It adds an interesting element of surprise and eyes open at all time otherwise you may lose something... But no second chance will be interesting as well considering I liked that twist. Of course that also removes the action from redemption island. And of course guys vs girls have been done before on other shows like The Apprentice.

But I am really excited about this season and after watching the first episode that saw the challenge called because one player falling out and the guys taking the victory instead of finishing the challenge. One thing to remember, immunity is huge, otherwise you could go home and the guys chose to take it period. Good or bad, they got it and the girls had to send one home and that was Courtney due to the fact that she had to be pulled from the game because of a broken wrist and needs surgry. That sucks, I hope she gets better and a second chance at Survivor in the future.

This should be good.

Is the LG Thrive Android smartphone going to either get the gingerbread or ice cream sandwich update?

Last November (2011), I decided to not only change carriers from Verizon Wireless Prepaid to AT&T GoPhone Pay-as-you-go, but I also bought/upgraded from a cell phone to a Smartphone and got the LG Thrive at Best Buy during a pre-black Friday sale for $100. The LG Thrive is a low-end or a budget Android Smartphone that I have to admit has proven its weight in gold with me. I use it on a regular basis when I go out especially data. But the bill is under $100 a year the way I use it especially with Wi-Fi hocked up whenever available. This is my first Smartphone and I love it.

Beyond that, not too long after, I received an update to Android 2.2.2 which is Frojo. However I have heard and read a while back that AT&T and LG was supposed to upgrade the LG Thrive which is very similar to the LG Phoenix, to Android 2.3 aka gingerbread, but I haven't heard anything since.

Personally I don't even care if the LG Thrive gets Android 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich considering this Smartphone doesn't really have the room or hardware for the update anyway, but I really want the Android 2.3 aka gingerbread update, this Smartphone really needs it. Hopefully something will be announced soon.

Update on 2/17/12: I managed to download both the LG and AT&T software to update my LG Thrive Smartphone, but after installing 4 USB Drivers and finding a little bit of luck (and no clue of how I got their), the message was your cell phone is already up to date with the latest version. So while the LG Phoenix P505 update is available, the LG Thrive P506 isn't available and now I wait.

Update on 4/28/12: Simply put, I'm not holding my breath on any upgrade past Frojo considering AT&T recently made changes on 4/18 to remove data for all Smartphones on non-monthly GoPhone plan. (Read More here). AT&T just doesn't seem to care about GoPhone users and their Smartphones. Next time I will look for an unlocked smartphone.

Watching Top Gear USA, its big rigs, speeding, crushing cars and fireworks, this is funny.

Watching Top Gear USA on History Channel that is all about Big Rigs. What a good new big rig race which Tanner won. This episode reminds me of Top Gear season 10 were they bought used big rigs and competed in challenges. Rutledge got Jeremy's type of cargo and adventure, fire anyone...

I have to say while this US version would't be anything like the UK verson considering the US version depends upon advertisers unlike the UK, I am a fan of this show, it just works and its funny. My favorite episodes are "Flying coupe deville", "Beater boot camp" and "America's Toughest Trucks in Alaska".

Discovery Channel should change American Chopper Sr vs Jr to feature all PJD on one episode and all OCC on another episode.

"My Take": After watch last night's episode of American Chopper sr vs jr, I am tired of watching these types of episodes were all we do is jump from shop to shop a bunch of times during one episode. It makes the viewer get lost half the time. So what about changing the format and separating these two shop were one episode is all Paul Jr Design were it covers the build and reveal and then the next episode is all OCC were it covers everything OCC from the build to the reveal.

A good example of a show that did this was the old "Flip this house" series that still repeats on A&E were each episode featured one company, one from New Haven and another episode was one from Atlanta. The format would work better and viewer would be able to follow along better. Its just a thought that would help improve the show.