Faraway, So Close!: Next week, I cross another thing off The List – finally going to see U2 live! Vegas and Pasadena. They’re expecting 96K+ at the Rose Bowl, larger than the bowl game itself. Have plane tix, car and hotel reservations all set and am really looking forward to it. Surely will be the highlight of my year.

Damned-Near Perfect: There are only three things I would change about Miami: I’d have avoided a red eye flight if possible (it wasn’t) and not missed the first evening’s fun; I’d have made the weather 15 degrees cooler and half-again as humid as it was; and Shane Rogers would have heard his birthday wishes in person, right outside in the shade of the media center.

As it was, I was hot and tired and without @shagers for the extra laughs, but it was a funtastic time at Homestead for the IndyCar finale. My boy Dario won the race and the title, I at least had one good night out with my Tweeps, and I got to spend long, lovely mornings at the hotel with my pal J, who came down from central Florida and spent time with his music pals while I did race stuff.

I even got to see a few places besides the room and the track. Went to Coconut Grove for a bit, took in a meal and a sandy stroll in South Beach, and socialized in skanky Florida City, where race folks chased clandestine encounters or holed up in their seedy rooms for a little illicit online sex chat. Well, that’s the kind of town it seemed to be, anyway.

My room near the airport was quite nice – top floor, 10 stories up, facing a golf course with the Miami skyline in the distance. Lots of people moaned before the trip about how bad the traffic would be. I had no problems getting anywhere and only hit pockets of slower traffic at the Homestead exits on race day. Piece of cake.

The time at the track was spent hiding from the sun or crawling pit lane with fellow camera-toting Tweeps. Met some fantastic folks and really enjoyed Homestead. Had what looked to be a nice seat for the race, but spent the whole race in the pits, mostly pit-out, getting shots of cars and stars and being right there for the wife drama as the last laps unfolded: Emma Dixon gnawing on what looked like a plastic bag with ice in it; Ashley Judd taking a slow, measured walk down into turn one to shake off some nerves; both women, married to teammates, congratulating and consoling one another when the outcome was known. It was my first time to attend a championship-deciding race and the strategies and people drama lent some excitement to what was otherwise not a terribly notable race.

Already hating that the season is over…is it March yet?

Tweeps!: A group of us met near the media center at Homestead and recorded a little pass-the-mic-around podcast. Here’s how it looked:

And here’s how it sounded.

More to come…

Good to Go (at Last): Finally got plans set a couple days ago. I was waiting on someone to decide whether they would collaborate on accommodations only to discover I was being jerked around. What a shame – things were going fairly well with that one after a reeeeally bad start last year. Apologies to everyone who had to wait along with me – group ass kicking sound good?

The fun awaits – four members of Planet-IRL.com will be in the house and who knows what that will lead to! Got a decent seat for the race, and if I don’t get flaked-out-on, I should have pit access as well. The other three P-IRLers got our media credentials. Off track fun looks like it could be dangerous… If there’s time, I’ll post from the trip; otherwise, see ya once I recover.

My New Baby: This is Moxie. She’s about 8 weeks old and is the sweetest little monkey kitty!

Owie: So I finally start feeling better and end up with a throbbing toothache. Hard to concentrate on anything at the moment. Just doing mindless housework and taking little naps.

Illin’: The flu/cold from Hades relapsed last weekend, so I’m still coughing. Also spent the weekend with the worst tummy troubles – I threw everything in there to try to calm it down. Yesterday I felt pretty well, but today I feel like there’s a bowling ball in my gut. Fortunately, I still have some meds left over from surgery that might help, but they’re at home and I’m not.

Might Be Allergic: The more I read about gluten allergies, the more I think it could be my problem. I’ve bought a few gluten-free items at the store and will try to eliminate gluten for a week or two, once I get a few more items in the pantry and can make a real go of it.

But All in All, I’m Lucky: One of my best buds back east just had her thyroid out due to cancer. Things can always be worse, it seems.

Miami: All systems appear to be go for me to attend the last race of the season. Using more travel credits/discounts to make it possible.

Moxie: A sweet little kitty girl is being fostered by someone on my Friend Feed, and I may get to adopt her this weekend. Here is a picture of her cute little self.

Fixx Fix Flop: There went my weekend…was holding out a slim hope that I’d sneak away to Reno to see The Fixx in the middle of all the stuff I have going on, but I woke with the flu this morning. My bestest bud Janet sent my favorite nurse my way, armed with a virtual bottle of Jameson:

Nurse Jamie delivers hugs and chicken soup when not playing guitar

Catch Up: Been so busy the last few days – all my writing has been for work or other blogs. Time to blabber on my own for a bit!

Sonoma: What an about-face from last year’s experience, at least on a social level! Last year, I enjoyed roaming the pits taking photos, but my off-track time was highly disappointing. This year, I enjoyed the race and being at the track as a reporter for Planet-IRL.com, and the very same person who aggravated the daylights out of me last year was a very enjoyable companion off track. A great crowd and a more interesting race at Infineon Raceway this year made for a lovely weekend. Some photos at my Bashtography site.

Work, Work, Work: Been super busy, having been assigned to a special unit in addition to normal work. Fun!

Fleas: Yup, still battling them. This long weekend ahead will give me a chance to get the rest of the purge completed, dump all the clutter, and do an extra-intensive clean and flea spray. Still sleeping on the futon, which means I don’t always get a good night’s sleep. Meanwhile, last night Sebastian got his fourth bath in the last 2-3 weeks. He didn’t even try to get out of the tub this time. He yowled a little and didn’t squirm as much. He’s such a tolerant kitty boy…and goodness, he’s sooo soft today!

Radio Star: Well, podcast guest. Not sure if it’s up yet, but I participated in the weekly podcast at Planet-IRL.com with Kohl Kirkland and Paul Dalbey, two big IndyCar fans I know on Twitter. It won’t win any awards, but we had fun.

Testing: Sitting in a user testing lab right now, watching people interact with a prototype we’ve created. It’s usually interesting but not exciting, except that we had a real corker in here earlier today. Guy acted like he was hopped up on 5 Red Bulls – he gave us good feedback, but he was a source of constant laughter in the observation room. Spastic!

Busy Body: Lots going on, busy at work, lots to do around the house, and a flea infestation has derailed everything I had planned to accomplish here this week. I’m doing nothing but spraying, vacuuming, waiting and repeating. Halfway done – get to take a break for the IndyCar race at Sonoma, then start again Monday. Then I get to do it all over on Labor Day weekend to try to break the flea cycle. All because they now let dogs in my apartment building. Love ‘em, but we’ve never had fleas before…not in all my 12 years here.  *sigh*

Intrepid Reporter: Yours truly will be blogging and photogging at the IndyCar race at Sonoma this weekend. You’ll find a few things here, at my photo site, Bashtography, and also on Planet-IRL.com and pressdog.com.  Huge props to Kohl and Planet-IRL.com for supplying me with media creds for this race. Also, I’ll be tweeting as time allows: @SpeedFreakBash.

LoveScope for August: “Intimacy can be yours if you can stand the yammering of someone whose talking disturbs your love of silent mystery.”  Bwahahahahahahaa! I really wish I could tell you why this is so hilarious. (Better luck NEXT month, Bashie.)

From Zagreb: Bono on a Stick!

From http://twitpic.com/photos/partygirl181084

Solidarity: U2′s “New Year’s Day” was inspired by the Solidarity movement in Poland (think of jailed leader Lech Walesa singing to his wife when you hear “I will be with you again…”), and the song is always quite a moment when U2 plays it live in Poland. Tonight’s show featured the audience in a self-organized flash mob, displaying the colors of their flag to astounding effect.

And, of course, what’s a U2 post from me without a gratuitous shot of Adam? 

From Belga Pictures - click to view their site.

From the Guardian: “This much I know” is a regular feature presenting a few short thoughts from public figures. Today’s installment features the fine figure of Adam Clayton.

From the Awesome TSO: As best they can tell us, the Indy Racing League gives us this as it’s 2010 schedule:

Sun March 14 Sao Paulo, Brazil
Sun March 28 St. Pete
Sun April 11 Barber
Sun April 18 Long Beach
Sat May 1 Kansas
Sun May 30 Indy 500
Sat June 5 Texas
Sun June 20 Iowa
Sun July 4 Watkins Glen
Sun July 18 Toronto
Sun July 25 Edmonton
0066cc; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; cursor: pointer;">Sun August 8 Mid-Ohio
0066cc; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; cursor: pointer;">Sun August 22 Infineon
0066cc; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; cursor: pointer;">Sat August 28 Chicagoland
Sat September 4 Kentucky (might be Sunday, though)
0066cc; cursor: pointer;">Sat September 18 Motegi
0066cc; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; cursor: pointer;">Sat October 2 Homestead

Props to Joe at Trackside Online for sharing this over an hour before the press conference. If you aren’t a subscriber, it’s highly recommended and well worth the subscription fee. All the news and on-site reporting straight to your inbox, or you can choose to read it all on their site.

Sneak Leaks: We’re expecting the full schedule later this week, but some of the details are sneaking out now. Here are some guesses leading up to Indy:

• Mid-March – Preto Riberao, Brazil (and maybe another race as well)
• March 28 – St. Petersberg, FL (via St. Pete’s Twitter feed)
• April 11 – Barber Motorsports Car Park (via various media reports today)
• April 18 – Long Beach (Googled it and found it on the LBGP web site)
• April 25 – Kansas (? – a guess)
• May 12 – Opening day at Indy? If they stay with the shortened month, a May 12 start would mirror this year’s timeframe. Does this not feel reallllly late?

Kentucky has Labor Day, if previous reports hold true, and we know Watkins Glen wants to return to September.

Race-time Fun: I love open wheel racing, and I really don’t know many folks out here in CA who are into it. So lately, I’ve been immersed in social media while watching IndyCar races – lots of different types for different experiences.

Live Blogs: One person’s view of the race’s events – comments are possible, but it’s a soapbox for a blogger to react to what’s happening (or not) during a race.

Twitter: Quips, quotes, news, photos, and one-to-many comments. You can have conversations on Twitter, but it’s not as concentrated as other forms of contact. Twitter is where it’s at, and it’s not just what’s for dinner anymore.

Group Chat: A few of us gather in a single chat room to experience the races together. Loads of fun – like a virtual race party or tailgate that is very fast paced with lots of zingers flying.

One-on-One Chat: There’s always Yahoo Messenger, once and still the bastion of kids, stalkers and lonely married men getting off in their basements or hotel rooms during narty chats (usually not with their wives). I’m enjoying it as a way to have side conversations with one or two others during a race.

Email: Slower and less-centralized version of one-on-one chat.Good for long-form expression, but I know someone who uses it like text messaging. (Might as well just use chat…)

Texts: One-on-one chat, short version. Good for when one or both parties are actually at the race.

Facebook: Some folks have their Twitter comments populate their FB status; others use FB as a full-featured Twitter. I like it best when race teams and fans post photos and happenings from the race site – using the FB galleries for multiple photos is a lot more convenient than one-at-a-time shots from Twitter via Twitpic or Yfrog.

Forums: They roll a little slower than a group chat – a laid back version of a tailgate party.

At one point today, I had one of each of these rolling, along with the TV broadcast with the volume down and the radio network coverage streaming. It’s a lot of input to take in, and I couldn’t do it all day, but it’s definitely enhancing my enjoyment of the races.

Slammed with Racing: Still have racing and coverage from two weeks ago to watch, and then there’s F1, IndyCar and N ASCAR at Indy from THIS weekend to follow. I’ll be watching all day and still only get halfway through. Then there are some blogger podcasts, a whole week’s Talk of Gasoline Alley shows and Thursday’s Trackside to listen to. Gonna take all week… 

Love, Hope, Strength..and Dollars: Kilimanjaro Rocks is benefit climb featuring musicians Mike Peters of The Alarm, Cy Curnin of The Fixx, Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze, Slim Jim Phantom of The Stray Cats, Robin Wilson of The Gin Blossoms and Nick Harper. They’ll be joined by cancer survivors, trekkers and supporters to raise money and awareness to provide treatment and screening equipment to a cancer center in Nairobi, Kenya.

My friend Carrie is planning to participate in Kili Rocks. She has $7400 and needs $1600 more to reach the $9000 participation donation. She needs to raise the $1600 in the next month to secure her spot on the climb. I’m scheming up something I can do to help raise a little $, but if you can add anything – $5 is terrific – please visit Carrie’s Kili Rocks page and scroll down to the Paypal donation button and lend her a hand. Your donation will help save lives in Kenya.  Thanks!

Looks Are Deceiving: A cute little sunny frog face has me in a world of hurt!

This is my massage therapy ball. Nothing special about the ball – I bought it at a toy store. I’m using it to break up the adhesions in my abdomen by placing it under my tummy and slowly rolling over it. When I hit a sore spot, I stop and stay there and just breathe through the pain. I’m supposed to do this for 15 minutes a day until there’s no more pain, then five minutes a day after that for maintenance. I’m gonna have to work up to that 15 minutes, I’m afraid. Just spent my first few minutes on it this afternoon, and I have already learned to fear the frog…

Tony Talks: Well, sorta. It’s a press release, but Tony George has finally spoken about his removal as CEO of IMS and Hulman & Co. and his decision to chuck his CEO of the IRL role for the trifecta. Our universal translator, Jeff at MyNameIsIRL.com (pr: “My Name Is EARL”), reads between the lines. Don’t miss this one, kids!