How inconvenient

Wow at Al Gore for his utility bills!!! I'm with Boortz on this one, let everyone have what they want/can afford. But don't get all self-righteous and preach about how we're screwing up the environment.

Coursing last weekend

A little more reflection on coursing last weekend.

It's hard sometimes for me to find a happy medium in course design. For the big dogs I like to see a big, open course that let's them really stretch while showing their agility on corners that aren't asking them to do 90 degree turns. I think these course plans showcase good Whippets as well. I get a lot of grief about my choice of plans because some owners/breeders (especially of slower big dogs and most Whippets) want to see choppier courses with more acute turns.

Thanks to Woody and Jennifer for their help all weekend. We've gotten a really nice influx of new coursers in the past year and it's nice to have a couple step up to the plate and really work hard to help put on the trial.

Remember that we're all volunteers out on the field. In the Atlanta area, there are four very active coursing clubs. Basically, the same group puts trials on for all four clubs. If you can help in any way, set up, huntmaster, lure operate, clerk, whatever, please step up and help!

I lure course because (1) I love to watch my dogs run; (2) I love to watch other good dogs run; and (3) because I like the social aspect of getting together with others who can appreciate the good dogs.

Being able to turn while running slow does not equal agility.

One more time.... Being able to turn while running slow does not equal agility.

Forfeit your celebrity

Not that I give one whit about what she does with her life, but in my mind, once you become a celebrity you forfeit your privacy. Why do celebrities actually believe that the personality cult that they've created for themselves will actually turn off at will?

"Britney Spears has voluntarily checked herself into an undisclosed rehab facility today," (Larry) Rudolph (Spears' spokesman) says in a statement. "We ask that the media respect her privacy as well as those of her family and friends at this time."

The peaceful religion that is Islam

Ladies, watch what you wear.

It actually....

turned out to be colder than the forecast. But if you wear enough clothes you won't get cold. But if you wear that many layers, you get sore and tired... Oh well, it was a very nice weekend, even with the cold temps. We had 61 dogs on Saturday and 76 on Sunday. One of the biggest weekends we've had in a couple of years. We had a nice turnout of Ibizans and Ridgebacks. Not an overwhelming number of Whippets, but still quite a few. The Ridgeback Cameron won BIE over a couple of nice Ibizians and a Pharaoh.

Nellie ran in Singles on Sunday. She's beautiful to watch run and I hope that she gets her focus so that we can certify her. Lobo took 2nd on Saturday, but in the process took a pretty nasty spill in finals and cut under his shoulder pretty badly. He's sore, but he'll be ok. Everett took 3rd on Saturday, but came back strong on Sunday to take Breed. He's getting back in the groove after the collision in Tallahassee in December.

Looking forward to racing this weekend. Actually I'll be home taking a midterm, but R is going to take the dogs down to Jax for racing on the training track. Tallahassee is the next weekend. Looking forward to getting down there again.

Easy there Junior!

Someone needs a spanking!

Bratty little kid

h/t to Tam.

The chilly South

We have our first trial of the year this weekend and the forecast for Cartersville is:I know that's not bad for a lot of people, but here in GA we don't do twenties too well. I've been tired of cold weather since the first cold snap of the year. At least it's not going to rain!!! :)

Bogging down in blogging

I really do like to blog. I don't think that 99% of what I have to say has any kind of importance, but it's nice to put stuff in writing sometimes. I really should do this more often, but with work, kids, dogs, and the other minutiae in life, the blog tends to be neglected. I think I'll regret this as I get older, much as I regret not having any journals or logs from my younger years. I really don't have many memories of my childhood (good or bad) or even of my teen years for that matter. I don't know why, I just don't.

Anyway, all that to say that I'm going to try to do more writing in the future. Not for you (not sure if there's even a you), but for me.

My day...

Installing a pressure regulator in my house... Got started today at about 12. Cutting out the section of pipe for the regulator was no problem. Getting the regulator in, not really a problem. Once it was in, problem. A little leak, not around where I had soldered the pipes, but around where the teflon tape was sealing the fitting into the regulator. Ah well, trip to Home Depot. Get more fittings and that liquid seal stuff. Back home, put new fittings in, go to solder pipes again, forget to empty water out of pipe. Oh, that was the last fitting to solder. Dammit. Have to cut one side of the regulator out and sweat the other side. Back to HD for pipe that I forgot the first trip. Back home, put a f-ing patch in instead of the damn regulator. I'm sure I've melted something in there and I really needed a shower. Small drip where the patch is. I'm done for the day though. It'll just have to leak. Next weekend, I'm sweating that whole length of pipe out from elbow to elbow and replacing the shut off valve. Reminder to self, disassemble shut off valve before soldering so that I don't melt the rubber gasket...

Fun day.

You don't say

This article at /. talks about Google's dealings in North Carolina last year while the internet search giant was seeking tax breaks for possibly locating a server farm in the state. Does this surprise anyone? Major corporations do this all the time, with benefits for both the corporation and the state/locality. In recent years, Tennessee has gotten a GM plant, South Carolina has gotten a BMW plant, Alabama a Mercedes plant and Georgia a KIA plant, all because of corporate courting. I don't hear much gnashing of teeth about these deals, but over at /. the geeks are up in arms about "big business" and whatnot. I just don't see what the big deal is...