First, after six whole weeks, the World Rally Championship is running again, this time in New Zealand. The weather has been wetter than usual, negating any disadvantage early runners like Richard Burns (current driver’s points leader) might have. But the conditions haven’t stopped Marcus Gronholm, as he leads the rally after day one by almost 40 seconds. Markko Martin (in the latest evolution of the Focus WRC) is in second and Subaru’s Petter Solberg in third. While no one has certainly discounted Gronholm from winning the driver’s championship again this year, a win here could reassert his dominance, and give him some nice before points before the tougher summer rallies like Cyprus and Greece, where Peugeot doesn’t fare as well. Also….a non-factory team to watch: Antony Warmbold and co-driver Gemma Price. They’ve had a decent year so far, finishing just outside of the top ten in Monte Carlo.

Other news…I’m fairly convinced my consulting project will never end. I’ve become very good at sitting on my hands. I want to start my other job now, as I don’t want to start in two weeks, then have to take a week off when the anklebiter is born a week or two later. I’d like a solid three weeks or so before I take time off. Bleh.

Annoying linux note of the week…the inability of Mandrake 9 to read audio CD-ROMs. I’ve been trying to rip as many mp3s from my CD collection as possible for the new job, but most of the software I have just can’t see the drive. Thankfully, OS 10’s iTunes has a nice ripper built right in….the burn process is a little slower, since I have to go across the network to get the mp3s (since my CD-RW doesn’t work with the Mac).

Posted on 11 April 2003