A couple near and dear to my hear!

"We are at war, and they don't even know it" (was the other title of this blog post.)

Lets do a little compare and contrast exercise this morning.

First, I want you to visit the following website. BikeReg.com. Notice the simple easy to read layout. The tabs at the top allow you to select with type of cycling race for which you want to register. They aren't just tabs though. Scroll over them and you see that they break races down by region making easier for you to find races in your region. You can login right away (on the left) if you are so inclined. There are a few ads but nothing that I would say severely takes away from the readers ability to find exactly what he wants. All in all an excellent website for registering an athletic event. (Awesome, we all love you bikereg keep setting the standard!)

Now, when you are done enjoying the ease of use that is bikereg visit Lin-Mark.com I know it isn't obvious what the website is from the URL, but it is safe for work unless you consider possibly consider a man wearing a speedo dangerous. This website is not a bad website for say 1999. It has a rather quaint use of frames and the lovely scrolling in text at the top that has a great "i just learned java script" now what can I do with feel. (sorry that was the comp sci boy talking) There are no ads which is nice, and there are "tabs" at the top which are for navigation. To sign up for a race click on "events" and enjoy the way the next page fades in. Hmmm. Well, I hope you know exactly which month your race is taking place. After you select a month, you will have to scroll down further and see which races exist. This website is very functional but it gives the sense of a lack of organization and professionalism.

Ahhh, but now we are the point of this exercise. A lack of organization. You see I was attempting to register for the Chesapeake Bay Swim this week. I even got an email telling me that I won the lottery and to complete my registration. I click on a link in the email to register for the race, and I get a web page on Lin-Mark telling me online registration is closed?! Well there must be some mistake? How can I simultaneously win a lottery to get in something and not be allowed to register? This makes no sense in my mind.

I go to there web page and I see a big box telling me registration is closed. hmmmm. I send an email to lin-mark asking for clarification. As of yet, I have not heard anything. Granted it is currently 9am and maybe they are like me, busy updating their blog before work.

Well, I am looking forward to some terse email telling me how I was somehow too slow to register for this event. Which again doesn't make sense to me since the point of lottery was to eliminate the need for speed when signing up! I may do a triathlon this year, but I hope that it doesn't involve me having to go to Linmark to sign up.