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Originally uploaded by brianc.

This year we’re really on a roll. To start the Nascar season off right, we made it to the 50th running of the Daytona 500. Two weeks ago we followed that up by heading into the heart of Nascar in Alabama: Talladega Super Speedway.

The Discovery Channel has been running new commercials that preview upcoming new seasons for several of their shows. As in the past, the commercials are well-made and (for me at least) can get you really jazzed up for many of their shows.

They’ve obviously got a great advertising team and I wish they’d post these commercials on their own site (where you can now get full video of most of their shows). Instead, we need to hunt around to dig up copies like this one:

The montage commercials they showed last year were outstanding, but I can’t seem to find them anywhere online. I did find the promo for season 3 of Bear Grylls in Man vs Wild, one of the favorite shows at our house. (Update: I found a couple more cool promos from 2007 and 2008 on YouTube.)

Another new addition this year: custom merchandise through Cafepress.com. Now you can buy t-shirts or coffee mugs for your favorite show like Dirty Jobs!

I’m impressed with the continuing evolution of the Discovery Channel as they continue to combine entertainment with education. Now if I ever upgrade to HDTV at home, I could really get into it.

It might be the stress of several late nights sorting out the taxes, but this email tonight from the TurboTax filing center made me laugh:

I feel like a winner: “Congratulations!” it says. Now all I have to do is pay my taxes! I guess at some level I should feel good that the IRS has accepted my creation.

The cute icons are a nice touch but don’t go far enough. I’d use the Windows animated file copy dialog as a guide and show dollar signs floating from you to the IRS.

Somewhere along the way, Yahoo! launched a new series of sports blogs and I missed it. I’ve only recently subscribed, but these blogs have good writing, high-quality images (from the sports news services), and even full article content in the RSS feeds.

If you’re into NBA, MLB, NASCAR, NFL, or NCAA Basketball, click the appropriate logo below and go check them out.