So does this mean that Ford will start carrying XM as well?  This is amazing news for all satellite radio fans.  The big question now is which one to install in my car.  I will modify this post later tonight and try and expand a little further.

What will this do to the auto industry that has been siding with one or the other?  Stay tuned for my case study.

For all you RSS feeders out there - come check out my new theme.

The time has come for me to focus on the niche that has been the major focus of this blog lately.  As we have taken a shift towards Mustangs and search engine optimization, I felt the need to design a look and feel that is more geared to the subject matter.  I had to go with red and black (obviously) and I wanted a clean template that would load fast and pass W3C validation.  This theme will go through some minor modifications over the next few weeks as I start getting my old code monkey habits back.

Anyway, I hope you like it.

Charlotte Radio
95.7 The Ride

So I had a realy bad day today and on top of all of life’s events I was forced to listen to local radio on during my commutes. Let me start by saying, I like listening to local radio about as much as driving a ford focus (had to toss that in there). Anyway, I was almost home when I got stuck behind this huge black Ford 250. I love pulling up behind these huge monsters because if the angle is just right, I can see my headlights and the Roush fog lamps smiling back at me. So after my long annoying day I start to smile. John Mellencamp busts out a live version of “Pink Houses” as I stare dead into the huge blue oval on the back of the 250. “AIN’T THAT AMERICA?” For some reason the song was right for the mood I was in. I cranked up the Shaker 1000 and lived every second of the song.

I love my car. My wife calls her my other woman and it makes more and more sense. She may not be perfect but I still enjoy laying into her full throttle and hearing her engine scream at me. She loves to keeping me smiling no matter what life brings my way. I get an hour and a half alone with her every day and we enjoy every second. This is the first time in years that I have listened to local radio. I still doubt I will return for a long time once I get my CD player fixed. However, for 3.5 minutes today 95.7 The Ride changed my tune.

I got home and tried to find out what CD the live version was on. I found the home page for 95.7 The Ride. It is not pretty by any stretch of the imagination. They definitely need to work on their web presence. They do however have a neat little search tool that allows you to see what was broadcast that day (see screen shot below). So as the day draws to anend I need to say thank you to 95.7 The Ride and sorry to Todd at DJF. I know it will all be better soon and I will be rolling around to the music of my choice.

New Blogroll Addition (aka Important People)
Krissy Miller

Designs by Krissy is a new site being built by Kristina Miller.  Currently she has joined the ranks of WordPress loyalists and like most smart people is beginning her web presence.  The main transactional side of her site is still being developed however her personal blog is up and running.  Krissy will be showcasing her custom jewelery designs on her site as well as maintaining her blog.

Krissy is a fellow search professional who manages paid search campaigns for a major retail brand.  Keep an eye on this site as it grows and make sure to stop by from time to time and see what she has in her inventory.

So my wife likes to surprise me with a video game once a year.  This Christmas she wows me with Rock Band for the PS3.  I have never played a musical instrument (successfully) in my life but I can play a mean air guitar and air drums when jamming to tunes.  I have hear about the whole Guitar Hero craze and couldn’t wait to tear into the box.  Rock Band for the PS3 cam with the game, a wireless PS3 Guitar, a PS3 Drum Kit (wired / USB) and a PS3 Microphone (wired / USB).  I tossed in the game and grabbed the sticks and slowly began to jam.  The only way I can describe this game is viral.  When people come over and try it out, they can’t play just one game.  Now my wife has never been a gamer.  She did play Crash Bandicoot Warped for the PS2 one very cold NY winter.  You should see her now when she grabs the PS3 Guitar a couple times a week.  For a couple brief moments each week, she transforms into a rock star (a hot one at that).  The best part of Rock Band is the fact that my wife and I have another outlet to laugh and have fun while the kids are sleeping.

I am still getting my butt kicked fairly hard online when trying to battle people.  I guess that is one aspect of the game I may never master.   I do know that when my nephew comes over we have to continue touring the globe with K-Rox and GrubbDawg.  He keeps asking me if I unlocked any Metallica.  I just found out that I can download a Metallica 3 song pack to add on to the game.  The extra songs are a bit steep (2 bucks a piece) but I can understand the amount of development time behind putting them together.  That being said, I will be only be buying a few add-ons (well only the ones necessary for me to rock it old school).

My friend Brady sent me an awesome link on how to modify the PS3 drum kit to quiet down the striking noise.  I will post a little write up here soon after I attempt this same upgrade.

In my endless search to find the proper CMS, I have decided to go with the infamous WordPress. This process was a major pain and included many trial configurations of Community Server and Dot Net Nuke. I have bounced between multiple hosting companies and domain servers. A huge thank you must go out to the support over at Code Moose Web Hosting who were patient with me as I got everything straightened out.