You made it past the rather dramatic hero page or maybe you just ended up on this page to start with and are intrigued as to what this site is all about. EastBayRag is pretty much a playground where I go to undertake little projects. A distraction from the general grind of daily life, scripting in PHP and manipulating data in a Maria database (formerly a MySql db). It provides me something to focus on from time to time that takes all of my attention and becomes my escape. It also gives me a great sense of satisfaction when I create something and it works. In this world of self esteem, I have to say that I never cease to amaze myself!
The Webiste actually started as a small project to create something that I could control that would enable me to share photos with the family and allow them to easily view and download files (without having to order prints). After many late nights and beers it has blossomed into a whole lot more. The photos taken on routes are now geotagged and displayed on Google maps along with lots of other things to explore.
Initially I thought it would be a good idea to include some sort of blog section within the site. That then grew into the thought that I could host blogs for other people so I drafted my buddy “Mr O” from the UK to add content to the blogs, although he's been quiet for a long time (at least here anyway). Next came the idea of allowing other people to interact so the fun stuff section was born with things like a graffiti wall, quiz, caption competition and much more including breaking new ground to figure out how to use javascript to get stuff to move about the screen and do things. All of this serves no purpose what-so-ever, but sometimes you just gotta do things because ....
There's a site map that puts the contents of the site into some kind of order. You can find the site map on the bottom of any page, but you should be good with the navbar at the top to get you to the major areas. So where does it all end? What's the ultimate end game? Well, never let it be said that I'm anything but transparent - if you're interested, take a look at the EastBayRag (EBR) Business Plan.
The remainder of this page provides some highlights from across the site. Have fun! Enjoy! And feel free to contact me.
Showing random photos from the photos section of the site. There's some sense of order to them, but they have been taken from an array of different places .... from NASCAR to bird watching, they're all there.
Each week we host a different vote on this site. It's generally something around a completely meaningless topic and should definitely not be taken seriously. It is, however, a tradition I've kept for the past 18 and three quarter years.
This week's question: Will Zaphod slip his harness when I take him out for walks this week?
No is winning with 75% of the votes submitted to date.
Full vote details including results and analysis of previous votes.
For anyone new to this site, we've been running a countdown timer just here on the main page for over five years. The purpose of the timer was never fully explained, however, many folks knew it was a countdown to my retirement. Initially the timer was set to end on June 30, 2021 at 5:00pm. I'd figured that, at that point, I'd be able to not work again if I was careful. I'd pretty much come to the end of work as all the travel was taking its toll on me, then, low and behold, Covid hit and nobody was meeting in person anymore. This was a godsend and allowed me to extend my retirement date by four years which has left me comfortable. The revised countdown timer hit zero at 5:00pm on June 30, 2025 being the end of the fiscal year I turned 55. if you're interested, you can see a video of the coundown timer reaching zero.
I have to say that my interest in NASCAR has waned in recent years with me pretty much just watching the odd race and occasionally checking the results and standings. That said, I was shocked and upset to hear that Kyle Busch had passed earlier this week. Kyle was probably the most prominent figure in NASCAR during the time that I was watching every race. I honestly thought he was worth more than the two top flight championships, but that wasn't to be. Kyle, to me, was someone that just wanted to race. I think this was typified by him running in all three of the major NASCAR series at the same time. Then winning at Bristol Motor Speedway in all three series on the same weekend. A feat that no other driver has achieved .... well, except for Kyle Busch as he did it twice at the same track.
Kyle featured heavily in Mr O and my NASCAR visits, particularly given that the majority of races were in his home town of Las Vegas. He was also center to our bet that I seemed to lose every time. There are people that I've paid respects to here that I wasn't surprised had passed on, but it's crazy to lose someone as fit and strong has Kyle at the age of 41. What's even more crazy to me is that it appears that what killed him was what I ended up in hospital with a month or so ago, sepsis. The medical staff had told me I was lucky I went to ER when I did or I might have died and I honestly didn't give it much thought, but I'm not thinking there may have been something to that.
I digress. I will leave you with probably the best picture I took of Kyle Busch which was the first race I ever saw live being the second series (the then Busch series) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Jeff Burton won the race, but Kyle did everything to try and stop him. Here's the two of them crossing the finish line ... Kyle not exactly facing the right direction.
Here are the current standings in the latest fantasy race game competition.
| Team Name | Total |
|---|---|
| johns jokers | 968 |
| Roger | 957 |
| 2nd is the new 1st | 923 |
| Old Bangers | 916 |
| Clayton's Clangers | 887 |
| Where in the world in Christian Horny? | 881 |
| Gerdundula | 842 |
| Skynet | 833 |
Find out everything there is to know about the Race Games.