Sites you can spend hours reading:

Drive Around the World - Many have thought about it, some have tried it, few have done it.  This team of eight people drove around the world in four Certified, Pre-Owned Land Rover Discoveries to raise money to help find a cure for Parkinson's disease.  They are the first team of people to successfully drive the dangerous crossing of Myanmar (Burma) since 1953.  There are several journals from every country they visited and they are truly fascinating!

Travelhead - The Journey - My brother Rick's journals from his trip around the world.   Ever been sitting in your cubicle, wondering "What if I just quit my job, sold everything I own and started traveling around the world?"  Well he did, so click here to see how it turned out.

"My moment of clarity didn't come while eating a muffin, it came while sitting in traffic."

Justin's Links from the Underground - A huge inspiration for this site, Justin has had an amazing life so far and has a great web site to document it.  It is one of the few web sites out there that doesn't conform to any style norms, and is a virtual web in itself. You can easily get lost in his site following his links and reading his stories. Also, Justin offers some web tutorials, and is considered to be one of the first persons to "blog" on the internet, having launched his web site in early 1995.  He is more candid on his site than I could ever hope to be...

On the Road, Again... -  An awesome site written by a guy who decided to drive for a long haul trucking company after his career as a corporate trainer took a downturn after Sept. 11th, 2001.   He chose Schneider as the company to work for and because they are one of the few companies out there that offer free training, he was obligated to drive for them for one year.   His stories are great and it really gives and insight into the industry - good and bad.    Paul also hosts a ton of other cool sites linked from paulcilwa.com. Definitely worth a look.

Andrea Mosaic - Very cool free download that you can use to create one picture made from hundreds of smaller pictures.


The Rasterbator - Another very cool free web-based application that is kind of the opposite of the Mosaic creator.  With this tool, you can upload an image and in a few seconds you'll get a PDF file containing pages which when printed out and put together create huge posters, up to 20 meters in size.


Link fader - The tool that makes the links on this page fade in and out.  Maybe a little cheesy, but it's easy to do and it looks cool when used on a page with a long list of links.
Dexpot - Gives you up to 20 virtual desktops on your Windows PC.  I couldn't do my job without this thing.
Scrapblog  - Makes the cool menu pages on my web site like this.  I export them as JPEGs and add maps to them to make clickable links on the image.

Music:

The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics - Explanations of a lot of the references in Grateful Dead songs

Dark Star Orchestra.  This is a band that recreates the shows that the Grateful Dead played.  To call them a cover band would be an insult.  Yea, they're that good.  If you liked the Dead, go check them out sometime.  You can see a list of their shows I've been to here.

brain damage - The best Pink Floyd fan web site out there.  Much respect to the editor, Matt, who manages to find news and things of interest for a band who hasnt put out an album in 15 years.

Annotated Beastie Boys Lyrics - Also a great site that explains all the countless references found in Beastie Boys songs

Hampton Grease Band - Very funny one page web site about the history of the Hampton Grease Band (1968-1973).  The band had a short run and you've probably never heard of them, but the stories are hilarious.  An example: Bruce observes, "We went through a lot of struggles just to get gigs, it was a pretty rough road. Eventually we did find a club that would have us, the Stables Bar & Lounge. It was there that a patron pulled a gun on Bruce in the middle of a set and told him to "play some James Brown or I'm gonna blow your f***in' head off." Bruce turned around to the rest of the band and yelled out "Popcorn, parts 1 and 2!"

"play some James Brown or I'm gonna blow your f***in' head off."

Jimmy Herring - One of the best guitarists in the country, bar none.  I have seen him play everywhere from the back of the lawn section at a Dead show to a tiny night club in Baltimore.  He's played with the Allman Brother's Band, Phil Lesh and Friends, Jazz is Dead, he took over Jerry Garcia's role in "The Dead" for the tours after his passing and now plays with Widespread Panic.   His official website doesn't have too much content, but there are some great pics and it's always up to date with any gigs that he's playing. Ther'ss a pretty good message board here where Jimmy answers questions every now and then, and a great article on him here.  I got to meet him twice in 2006 and he was one of the coolest musicians I've ever hung out with.

Panic Stream - Panic Stream offers mostly streams of Widespread Panic shows almost immediately after they are played, along with a whole bunch of non-WSP shows going back to the 70's

Random:

Blogs:

kleph - Ever needed a recipe for Lomo Saltado, wonder how coffee changed the modern world, or wanted to read a review of Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison album all on one site?  I can guarantee that Kleph's blog is the only site in the world that can accommodate you.  Kleph is an American writer currently living in Lima, Peru.  To call this site a blog does not really do it justice.  He has some really great stories and interviews and the recipes are awesome, too.

Streets of Lima - Ben is an American living in Lima, Peru and blogging about daily life there.  Heading to Peru?  Be sure to check out his "10 Days in Peru: A Suggested Itinerary from an Expert", which lays out a good plan for an average length trip to Peru.  He's also been to Machu Picchu at least 11 times, which is a record for anyone I know that goes to Peru regularly.  

Young House Love - Awesome blog from a young couple who bought a house "old enough to be their parents".  When they started to renovate it, they decided to detail everything they did and put it all out there on a blog.   They have tons and tons of great ideas for decorating and renovating on a budget and also offer their design services to the public.  The site has a ton of info, so try starting with the house tour and see where that takes you!

The Truth about the TSA and Aviation Security - Blog from a former TSA screener who "wasted seven years of his life" working for the incompetant people at the TSA.   He writes storys from an insiders perspective at the agency that is supposedly keeping us safe in the air.  From the author:  "I left the TSA because I could no longer take the corruption and mismanagement. This Blogs purpose is to expose the lack of security America now has."

Humor:

  - Maddox writes on a variety of topics and surprisingly gets it right each and every time.

SNL Transcripts - Transcripts for just about every sketch that has appeared on Saturday Night Live.
Marksfriggin.com - A shockingly detailed daily rundown of what went on on the Howard Stern Show.
Hey Now - Good collection of Howard Stern audio clips.
Howard Stern Bits - More clips from things played on Howard's show.
Something Awful - The one and only.  One of the funniest sites on the web.
Tucker Max.com - His name is Tucker Max, and he is an asshole.
File Cabinet - Funny videos.
WIMP - More funny videos.
FAIL Blog - Illustrated examples of FAIL.

"That is humor. I recognize that." - Sgt. Maj. Phillip 'Dick' Dickerson in "Good Morning, Vietnam"