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 a quarter years.
This week's question: How will Paul kill himself in the Borderlands 4 game?
Granade himself is winning with 27% 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.
As many of you know, I had two cats: Zaphod and Trillion, named after characters from The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. The names are pretty apt as Zaphod is a brash, outgoing cat that doesn't care about anything whereas Trillion was the quintessential scaredy cat. Sadly Trillion has been missing for two weeks now and I have to assume that she's no longer alive. I'll be honest, I'm really surprised given her shy nature and I've not known her to go outside of my garden. I've honestly looked everywhere, but alas, she is nowhere to be found (along with posting on local sites and filling in a missing pet form, going to all the neighbors, driving round the area etc. etc.)
I will always remember how shy she was. It took 10 days before she let me touch her. I had to slide her food down the corridor so she would get it, otherwise Zaphod would have two helpings. Slowly, she allowed me to feed her and I would steal a quick stroke every now and then. Not enough to scare her, but to slowly get her used to me. Zaphod, on the other hand needed attention and lots of it. Everyone at work knew I had Zaphod as he frequented my webcam from an early age. He jumped on my bed and slept next to me from day 2 (something he doesn't do now). Trillion used to jump in my washing basket wanting to be near Zaphod, but not wanting to be close enough to me that I could grab her. I do wonder if she noticed that she was sleeping higher and higher towards the end of the week as my clothes started to pile up. I also would have thought sleeping on my underpants before I wore them would be preferable to after, but there's no accounting for taste.
I will never forget the first time she came to me to be stroked. She had been watching Zaphod for several days jump on my lap and start to purr. She seemed intrigued by how happy he seemed to be. She would sit there, just out of arms length watching and I would call to her gently. Eventually she gave in and came to me for fusses. After that, she couldn't get enough:
Here are the current standings in the latest fantasy race game competition.
| Team Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Jade | 2361 |
| Cynicoal | 2346 |
| Megabobbins | 2320 |
| Zaphod's Meow | 2310 |
| dad's duffers | 2197 |
| Roll Over Beethoven | 1982 |
| DeepSeek | 1541 |
Find out everything there is to know about the Race Games.