Team Backslash tore up the track, until I got *stuck* on the final lap of the first heat. That’s right, another driver (sorry, didn’t catch her name) and I got stuck against a guard rail. Still, I was scored in third place which earned us a solid eight points. The uneventful sixth heat, my second, ended with Team Backslash in a solid third place.

Unfortunately sixteen points weren’t enough to make it into the final race. But wait! I’ve already given you the ending… Yep, I was the third-place money raiser!

The final race didn’t start well for Team Backslash. I drew Cart #7, the same tortoise that only managed a third place finish in my second heat. And it gets worse — good ol’ Number 7 (like the Grizzly Adams reference?) was parked in the outside of row three. That’s sixth place out of six carts for those racing-challenged.

Still, I gave it my all and ended up fighting off a certain Fort Madison hardware store owner, who shall remain nameless. Let’s just call him “Crash Kempker” for the sake of the story. So anyway, Crash and I stayed at the back of the back for pretty much the entire race. And I can thank Crash for my next chiropractor bill. I think the NO BUMPING sign fell off of the back of my cart on one of the first slams to the bumper. Ouch! We had a great race going for the back of the pack.

Seriously, thanks to EVERYONE that donated (there are too many to mention by name here… our bandwidth is billed by the word). Team Backslash raised over $300 for the Fort Madison United Way and overall, over $3000 was raised tonight. Great job to all the racers, even Crash, and congratulations to Kevin Adams from Lee County Bank on his 2010 Season Championship!

By the way, I think the only real doctor bill I’ll have is to wipe the smile off my face. Thanks, it was a blast!

Bring a lawn chair and enjoy the light snacks and refreshments as you cheer on your favorite driver (hopefully Kevin from Backslash!). I’ll be trying to race my way into the finals, and eventually the Championship, but I do have another chance in case gravity and physics win. The top four fundraising drivers automatically will advance into the finals. You can still donate here or on-site at the event, too, in case you wish to take pity on me after watching my undoubtedly dismal performance. So make sure to bring a few bucks with you!

Tell your friends, bring a neighbor, and cheer for Team Backslash!

Backslash Technologies owner, Kevin Harter, will take on 23 other area business leaders at the Fort Madison United Way Charity Go-Cart Race. The event is going to be held at the Hill Side Go-Cart Track, at the top of Burlington Hill in Fort Madison, on Thursday, April 29th. Bring your lawn chairs, racing begins at 5:30pm and should last about two hours.

Kevin Harter is no stranger to death-defying auto racing. His legendary number 95 has worn grooves around the Lee County Speedway, a 3/8-mile dirt oval in nearby Donnellson, Iowa. While he never won any races, it wasn’t for a lack of trying. “I never tried,” admits Harter during a rare off-camera interview. “Quite frankly, I sucked at it. I was too lazy to do anything to the racecar to make it go faster and too cheap to put anything into it. Plus, it was hot in that suit and helmet. Yuck.”

Other members of Team Backslash were asked what they felt about Harter’s chances in the upcoming Celebrity Go-Cart Race.

“He’s going to embarrass us all,” commented a worried John Newkirk, Service Manager for Backslash. “I can’t believe he’s doing it.”

Backslash Service Technician, Chris Davis, seemed confused. “Race? What race?”

Luckily, even if Kevin is as terrible in a go-cart as he was in the Wild Thing four-cylinder, there’s a slight chance he could make it to the Championship Race. The top four donation collectors automatically get into the final race.

This is your chance to help support Team Backslash! Don’t squander away your riches on things like iPods and food for your family. Donate your money to a worthwhile cause instead! And don’t get tight just because you don’t live in Fort Madison… You can use the Donate button to send your money magically over the Intertubes. The United Way is awesome no matter where you’re from and the handful of cash you can spare will be put to great use!

Seriously, all of the money donated goes directly to the Fort Madison United Way. So, drop a buck in the can at Backslash Technologies, or — better yet! — click on the Donate button and send a few bucks. Any and all donations, from a handful of change to $50 or more, will be greatly appreciated!

Please donate what you can. No amount is too small or too big.

A big “Thank You!” from all at Team Backslash and the Fort Madison United Way to every person that donates and participates!

Watch the video and be amazed at the state-of-the-art, circa 1984.

Posted via web from Kevin’s Mind Dump

Well, we’re going to the Lee County Speedway Car Show and Kick-Off Party, of course! Starting at 1pm, race car owners and drivers from all around are going strut their stuff as they show off new rides for the 2010 racing season (which starts NEXT WEEK, by the way!).

If you even have a mild, passing interest in racing of any kind, you need to make the short drive to Donnellson and check this out. Heck, they even have FREE hot dogs and Pepsi products (although *I* would much rather have a Diet Coke), so you could make a lunch stop out of it!

Last year was the most fun anyone’s ever had at a car show, and it was pouring down rain at times. Dozens had to squish together under a pop-up tent during the event for a while. This year, though, God has smiled on Lee County Speedway and blessed us all with sunshine and 80 degree weather! They’re going to cram a ton of cars into the parking lot next to the Pilot Grove Savings Bank, that’s for sure.

And I haven’t even told you about the “Kick-Off Party” part of this shindig! So, right across the street from the Car Show, there’s a quaint little place called the Stumble Inn (which, seriously, has to be one of the best names for a bar that I’ve ever heard). It’ll be a shorter-than-a-Frogger-level walk to the party place, after the Show ends around 5pm, where many will close the bar early the next morning.

What are you doing today? Stop out and say “hi” if you have a few minutes. You don’t have to stay long, even though you’re welcome to. Lots of people stop by, grab a hot dog and a Pepsi (or bring your own Coke), and take a half hour to walk around, enjoy the sunshine, look at the cars, and meet the drivers. It’s an awesome experience for the kids, too, so don’t forget yours and the neighbor’s (ask first).

We’ll see you all there!

Most of you that know me also know that I’ve been working on a complete redesign of KeokukRadio.com. You know because I’ve done little else with my free time, and a lot of time at work, other than work on this site. I’ve been working on a couple of other sites as well, but this one took quite a bit of time to figure out how to do all of the cool things that make it unique.

First off, I built it using WordPress as a platform. I’ve built a few blogs that way, but have just begun using it as a complete web site solution. I have to say, it works very well! The literally thousands of themes and plugins available make it quicker and more stable than using a traditional web design application like Dreamweaver or Expression Web. I know, I know… some of you long-time pros are yelling at your monitors right now, telling the virtues of using a “real tool” to do the work. I’ve used those, too, and believe me when I say “I’m done with them.”

I’ve learned a lot in the past several weeks. Taking a custom these, editing the PHP, shoe-horning plugins into the mix, and tweaking the output of everything is still challenging. But I really enjoyed digging into the WordPress community and finding an overwhelming amount of support and ideas.

Enough about the coding crap. Let’s get to the good stuff!

Keokuk Radio approached me because they really couldn’t stand the design that an ex-employee has left them with. The pages were dark and unreadable, the site structure was confusing at best, and the whole thing felt incomplete. Instead of attempting to fix it, I suggested that we scrap it altogether and put something fresh in its place.

The result is a brighter, logically-structured, dynamic site with many social media integrations. For example, when a photo is added to the radio group’s Facebook Fan page (also new), the pictures are automatically added to a special Photos page on the site. Comments to that Fan page are also pushed to Twitter along with every News, Sports, or Cancellations post. And one of my favorite little features is the Cancellations and Delays link and post that automatically appear on the home page when that post is set to Published. A very easy-to-use system that’s also pleasing to the eye.

Two other sections to get a massive redo are the Community Calendar and the Sports Calendars. A visitor sees the Community Calendar in a sidebar widget but can also see a larger view on a separate page. This calendar is populated via an API feed from a special Google Calendar. In addition, each of the 12 sports covered by the radio stations has its own embedded calendar. There’s an All Sports Calendar that combined all of these into one comprehensive page, too. And each of these calendars is available via subscription so that users can integrated them into Outlook, iCal, or their own Google Calendars. Pretty slick, if I do say so myself!

If you’re still reading, why not take a couple of minutes and check out the site. Let me know what you like — you can keep what you don’t like to yourself =) — and give me ideas if you see room for improvement.

One more thing: I really want to say thanks to the whole group at Keokuk Radio. They’ve been AWESOME to work with and gave up a lot of control to me so that I could experiment with ideas. Those of you that design web sites, do any creative work, or really just anyone that deals with customers, know how impressive it is to work with clients that appreciate you and actually help with the whole process. I can only hope that my future clients are half as accommodating!

I’ve been trying out quite a few themes lately, but none of them had the right mix for what I was looking for. But I dragged out an old folder of themes, blew the dust off, and found this gem.

Sure, there are a few things that I’m not too crazy about, but it’s a solid foundation and I’ll be able to clean it up. Got a better suggestion? Please email me or leave a comment.

Thanks again for stopping by!

What’s this?! A post? Wow, I must be really bored…

Not really. I’ve been busier than I ever remember being, actually. And I’m about to be even busier! I’m preparing for my very first class. Luckily, I get to start out with an “easy” class. That is, it’s not the six-week podcasting course but instead a one-session class about speeding up your PC.

Teaching is certainly a new and exciting adventure for me; one that I’ve considered for a long time. In fact, way back when I graduated from high school, I intended to become a business teacher. That changed shortly after I started college but I’ve always wondered “what if?” Guess I’ll find out now!

So, as part of my preparation, I’m working on this site. I want it to become the hub of my online life, but it will probably end up with more cat pictures… HA! I’ve struggled a bit with how I want information to flow in and out of the site. My idea right now is that Twitter and Facebook updates will be pushed onto the page while blog posts will be announced at both sites. Also, I will be adding a teaching section to better communicate with those that take my classes (I have a hard time calling them “students”… hopefully I’ll get over it!).

Pardon the dust and watch your step while visiting. And don’t be bashful about telling me how you like the site or even if you have an idea or two. I’m developing my WordPress skills in the process, so if you have a tip, please let me know.

Take care!

We’ll see how it shakes out. It’s just a collection of thoughts right now, but I’m finding some time here and there to get it done.

One of the steps to getting there was to change hosting companies. Instead of being just a middle man for ReadyHosting, I have purchased an account with HostMonster and started a new hosting strategy. You can find my new site at either backslashhosting.com or harterhosting.com, but both point to the actual account: icanhazwebhost.com. Too funny, I know.

Well, here’s to hoping the strategy comes together and I get to where I want to get. Thanks for reading, and I’ll try to find some more pics to share soon.

A while later, after leaving the Facebook tab open and browsing elsewhere, I noticed that someone had tried to start a chat with me. It was Randall Bennett, a tech journalist that I had never spoken with personally but had respected since his “The 404 podcast” days with CNET. He told me that he checked out a few things of mine online and noticed that I wanted to get into tech journalism.

We talked for a while and he asked me to start contributing some content to his new web site, TechVi.com.  I was thrilled and said “you bet!”

Not only will I get the chance to work with a well-known journalist that has been with such great sites as Engadget and CNET, but he will be helping me become a better writer through the editorial process.  It’s really a great opportunity.

Thanks, Randall, for taking the time to read my lame Facebook post and following it up.  I look forward to working with you at TechVi and expanding my skills.