Now that I've taken a break, I've turned everything back on, and gone all retro by switching back to generating everything statically with pyblosxom. I had been using python to statically generate the band website and it was working well. So my latest kick is to eliminate dynamic processing wherever I can. Now isn't that special?

Finally, I've been taking lots of pictures.

But this wasn't any given Saturday, this was two days before Labor Day. And as I alternated sides of the two or so acres with each throw of the frisbee, I didn't realize the danger that lurked at the back of the property.

You see, as I threw the frisbee this last time, it landed without the dog catching it as she does normally. It was only as she tried to pick it up a couple hundred feet in the distance, that we realized there was a problem. The bees swarmed up from the ground and started to attack, stinging the dog as she tried in vain to pickup the frisbee and escape from them. We could tell from the way she swung her head maniacally side to side as she ran.

I got in the car and headed off to the pharmacy to get some benadryl, but by the time I turned around to head home, my wife had called to say the dog's snout was swelling and that she had called the vet. He suggested we take the dog to the local emergency vet, so we jumped in the car and headed off on the 40 minute drive.

The emergency place took the dog right in and administered injections of benadryl and prednisone. They wanted to keep her so we visited briefly and saw that the swelling had gone down and that they had her on an EKG, which showed a slight arhythmia.

We went back later that night and picked her up, learning just how expensive emergency vetrinary care is on the way out. Nonetheless, we were happy to have her home as neither of us could fathom leaving her there overnight.

She seemed content and left us with a little hang ten action.

Made a few day trips - Cape Cod, Backbay, Portsmouth.

The week culminated with the DCI World Championships at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. I wanted to attend at least once in my lifetime, but now that I've done it I'd say it was underwhelming, particularly after considering the ticket price. DCI East in Allentown is a much better deal for the money.

The weather in Boston was hazy, hot, and humid. The lake was a nice contrast to the pace of the city. A few days of reading Csikszentmihalyi at the dock and I'm ready to return to work - NOT!

After 3 years of a love-hate relationship with this car, I was feeling like it was about to start breaking at an even greater rate than it had previously. I remember the first time I had to have it flat-bedded to the dealership with the infamous ignition coil problem and they gave me an econobox Saturn in the middle of the biggest snowstorm in years. Lovely.

Then there was the time that the rear brake caliper froze and we flatbedded it again and the dealership horked up the repair, only to have to flatbed it again a couple months later. Apparently, competence is hard to find in either Audi manufacturing or service.

On the positive side, I did enjoy driving the car when it worked and the quattro/ESP was faultless and pulled me through more than a few blizzards where the snows were up to the front bumper.

One of the things that I disliked about the Audi, was that it was in that pseudo-luxury segment - faux-leather and all that. I really don't desire luxury, let alone pseudo-luxury. I longed for something simpler - a car that had the basics that I desire without all the accoutrements.

Enter the Saab 9-2x

I had watched this car for a while in the automotive rags. It was one of the most talked about cases of "badge engineering" - where GM had arranged a working relationship between Saab and Subaru - enabling Saab to do the Swedish treatment on Subaru's Impreza platform and produce the 9-2x. Where Subaru customer's got the stock Impreza, Saab got the 9-2x Linear, and where Subaru had the WRX, Saab got the 9-2x Aero. Take a great rally car, remove most of the boy-racer styling elements, tune the suspension, and quiet the interior. Try to keep it simple, avoiding luxury for luxury's sake.

So GM runs into financial problems and decides to do the employee discount for everyone program. The public takes notice. Certain members of the public notice that Saab discounts, particularly on the 9-2x are seemingly much greater than other discounts. I see the TV ad, look at the website, note $8,000 off the sticker price, realize that's nearly a third the price of the car (stock Aero model) and decide to take it for a drive.

And that was all she wrote. The 9-2x is in my driveway now and with very few exceptions, I find it to be quite satisfying for someone that drives as much as I do. It accelerates like a rocket sled, gives me the AWD drivetrain that I prefer, and carries my drumkit with aplomb. The fact that it is small and easy to park is just icing. If I were a large man, it might concern me, but it fits my 5'11" frame just fine.

And the good news, while these cars have been flying off dealer lots, is that GM has extended the discount program, originally offered until July 5, through August 1. Dealer stock is low, but if you're interested, they can be found.

Here are a bunch of reviews that I found useful. Note: most, if not all, of the reviews on the web were written with the car's original pricing. While I tend to agree that the original pricing was high relative to what the car delivers, it's useful to consider that when comparing the car, it will often be the cheapest model to which other awd wagons are compared, after applying the GM discount.

Autoweek reviews Saab 9-2x

Motor Trend on GP Moto Stage 4 tuned Saab 9-2x

Motor Trend First Drive Saab 9-2x

European Car Saab 9-2x Project Car

Car and Driver Saab 9-2x review

Automobile Magazine takes Saab 9-2x up Teton hill climb

Road and Track reviews Saab 9-2x

saab92x.com

Cobb Tuning AccessPort for Saab 92x

That should be really interesting at the restaurant. I'm wondering whether an entire culture of mirrors and bills will grow up around it. Oh, and when will the first drug addict get an insulin dose by accident and wind up going all john nash.

And if that's not enough, the first successful living donor islet cell transplant has occurred in humans. Hope...

Give a man a fish or teach him to go fishing.

Simply Brilliant.

Uptown Rhythm and Brass played the Hard Rock last night as Donnie Iris waltzed in halfway through our second set. It was an amazing experience with quite a crowd. I hope we get to play there again soon.

"Flash lets us build a rich new application, the first in the business that duplicates the desktop e-mail client experience on the Web."

While I don't work on the product, I can take some pride in the fact that I'm surrounded by the MAYA Design people who do. The fact that they've done great work, if not obvious from the press so far, should become apparent in the near future.

Here's more from my colleagues Joe Hughes and Mike Higgins.

I'll make an honest attempt to blog it as it happens here.