Saga of the house

Sitting here in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport waiting for my connecting flight to San Jose and I find myself with a little bit of time to finally put together a blog post. Yeah, I have been extremely busy this week helping my group finalize networking for our new dorms. Now it is time for a little R&R in California! My good friend Christie Beetz arranged for me to come out and judge for her clubs this weekend. Last year I was fortunate to come out and judge for the same two clubs, and what an experience that was!!

Anyway, I promised a post with pictures of the house. I'll get to that next time and regale you with another story of the continuing adventures of owning a repo house. This time, I want to tell you about what the idiot former owner did to the trees in the yard.

According to my neighbor (as well as all the IRS notices and industry mailings we still get to our address) the previous owner had a business grading and installing drainage for developments. Naturally he owned heavy equipment that he would use in his job. From what I gather, he also enjoyed himself by bringing a backhoe/loader to the house and driving around aimlessly moving dirt. The neighbor (who has been here for a few years longer than me) passed on the story of how he liked to hop on the equipment supplied with a stock of wine miniatures and red plastic cups. His delight was to push dirt around while drinking himself into a stupor, draining bottle after bottle of wine into the little red cups. This wouldn't be much of a problem if the yard didn't have a bunch of trees! Suffice it to say that in his stupors, he'd have problems avoiding the trees that darted here and there throughout the yard. Many still show the scars of his handiwork to this day. Some are beyond help and have died or are dying as we speak. One has developed a nice little rotten spot near the base and has rotted out almost all the way through. This specimen will have to come down later this year since it has developed a crack on the opposite side of the rot that expands and contracts when the wind blows. As our 11 year old said, it looks like the tree is breathing when the wind blows!

One of the other nice side effects of having a drunk as the previous owner is that the dogs periodically find little wine bottles under layers of leaves or half buried in the yard. They'll dig up the bottles and proudly bring them to us when we're out on the deck. Everett has a special love for these bottles and will run around the back yard with the neck in his mouth looking like quite the lush. Of course, you really need to know Everett to understand how absolutely hilarious this is!

Just another amusing chapter in the story of our home. In case you're not familiar, I bought the house back in 2001 out of foreclosure after the previous owner mortgaged the property to the hilt and built his "dream home". After his "dream home" was complete, he and his family picked up and just abandoned our fine home. It's a shame, really, since the house has such great "bones". It's a fine home in a beautiful style (even if it was built in 1979). We think we'll keep it.

Posts

I've got some rolling around in my head, but just haven't gotten the chance to get them in writing. Look for:

1) Still have to get pictures of the house repairs
2) Let me tell you a story about my trees
3) Health/Weight update
4) I have a trip to Hollister, CA this weekend, I know it'll be blog-fodder-ific!

Busy

Our University has built the first on campus housing in it's history and we're busy getting the networking all in place for students to start moving in on the 14th. It's going to be a crazy couple of weeks just like this week has. I'll get some content published soon!

Twitter

I posted the link to Twitter a couple of days ago. Twitter is pretty cool if you get into the whole social networking side of the inter-tubez. I'm probably not going to share my deepest, darkest secrets, but it still is neat to post little blurbs about what is going on. But if no one follows, then what's the fun? So, I have this little add-on for Firefox that signals that someone I'm following posts a Twitter update. I hadn't gotten an update all day and usually a couple come through from EricVon (one of the three Regular Guys). I checked out my Twitter page and all the people I was following and all my followers (what, a couple) were gone. I've had to go back in and add those that I was following.

In other words, if you're using Twitter, check out your settings and make sure your following and followers weren't cleared out.

Interesting - Happy Flu

From Tam

Lazy, hazy days of summer?

Actually, a lot has been going on! For one, the past few weeks, I've been working to finish a pretty major repair to the house that Andrew, Neil and I did. Due to a couple of factors, one of my exterior walls pretty much had rotted to nothing. July 4th I decided to do some excavation and see if the damage was more extensive than just siding. Um, yeah, just a little bit! We ended up having to demolish about a four foot wide by 10 foot high section of exterior wall down to the interior sheetrock. We had to replace structure from bottom to top. Luckily the sill plate was still intact on the foundation and the floor joists had not completely rotted away. We were able to sister 2x10's to the existing joists without having to jack up the structure. That was a pretty big "whew" moment there! Next we had to replace the actual sill and sub-floor construction along about a 5 foot section, allowing us to replace three wall studs to a height of about 10 feet. We actually got the insulation and sheathing on in one complete day! All that was left for me to do by myself was to install the siding and replace the trim, caulk and paint. I finished painting the wall and just have the trim to left to paint.

What caused this? You know how they say that water is your house's biggest enemy? Well, they're right. First, the flashing was installed incorrectly on the foyer addition. The flashing along the roof-wall join ended about 2 inches above the gutter. This caused water that flowed down this area to seep between the roof eaves on the front of the house and the foyer wall. Secondly, the idiot who lived in the house before me neglected the shit out of the house. According to my neighbor, he can't remember the previous owner ever cleaning the gutters! I guess you never know what you're going to get when you buy a foreclosure!

I have pictures of the process that I'll post as soon as I get them off the camera.

Also! Take a look at the link underneath my picture over there -> . Occasionally I'll update what I'm doing on Twitter. I think it's a pretty cool little application! Why don't you try it out?

slacker

I've been quite the blogging slacker for the past week. Work has been keeping me way busy and I've been playing with my iPhone on the little bit of downtime that I've had. I should have a bit more of a post together tomorrow.

iPhone 3G so far...

I am thrilled! Before I get into what I really like, let me get the bad out of the way really quickly. I only have a couple of gripes about the iPhone 3G, the keyboard and the battery life. Neither are deal breakers by any stretch of the imagination, more inconvenient if anything. The keys are a little close together for us with larger digits!! With more use, I'm getting more and more used to where I need to tap to get each letter. Like I said, not really a big deal. Battery life is inconvenient, but again not a deal breaker. I'll be getting a car charger though, just in case. With heavy data use, especially on the 3G network, the battery tends to drain pretty fast. I think I could pretty easily make it through the day without having to charge the phone, especially after some of the new has worn off it! *G*

Starting off, the iPhone is a phone. Yeah, it does a bunch of other really cool stuff, but if the phone doesn't work, what's the use? Well, the phone works and works well. Reception is as good as I ever got with my Nokia and better than I ever got with the Motorola V3xx.

I love the UI. The Apple UI runs circles around everything else. I find the OS works and works well. No crashes and hardly any slow-downs. The home screen is easy to understand and use, a qwerty keyboard is a breeze to use, and multi-touch rocks! I have used most of the applications and downloaded a few free apps from the App Store and am pleased with how well they work. Maps uses the GPS and WiFi to show a Google map with your location. Use Google to search for anything and pins will drop to show you where to find whatever you're looking for. Tap a pin and you can get directions. Drive and you see your progress on the map. So far, we don't have turn by turn spoken directions, but Tom-Tom is reportedly working on an App already. I have Email set up to work with my Exchange account at work and it's awesome! My favorite App so far has to be Remote. As long as my laptop and my iPhone 3G are on the same wifi network, I can control my iTunes on my laptop from the iPhone. Sounds trivial? I thought so at first as well, but if I combine this with an Airport Extreme, I can broadcast my iTunes to any stereo or other wifi device in the house, controling it all with my iPhone. The possibilities are awesome!

This is a really concise review, but I hope it conveys how truly happy I am with the purchase.

Happy happy joy joy

Got the iPhone today and have put it through a little bit of its paces. So far, I'm loving it! Unfortunately, Apple's going to take a bit of flack for their server problem during activation, deservedly so if you ask me. But, that aside, the iPhone looks like it'll live up to my expectations. I'll post more of a review after a bit more use.

Neat questionaire

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Your significant other? Everything
3. Your hair? Changing
4. Your mother? Denial
5. Your father? Brilliant
6. Your favorite time of day? Any
7. Your dream last night? None
8. Your favorite drink? Beer
9. Your dream goal? Security
10. The room you're in? Office
11. Your ex? Friend
12. Your fear? Loss
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Same
14. What you are not? Patient
15. Your Favorite meal? Steak
16. One of your wish list items? Land
17. The last thing you did? Yawned
18. Where you grew up? Atlanta
19. What are you wearing? Flip-Flops
20. Your TV is? Big
21. Your pets? Dogs
22. Your computer? Rocks
23. Your life? Crazy
24. Your mood? Mellow
25. Missing someone? Nah
26. Your car? Topless
27. Something you're not wearing? Jeans
28. Favorite store? Gadget
29. Your summer? Work
30. Your favorite color? Green
31. When is the last time you laughed? Today
32. When is the last time you cried? Unsure
33. Your health? Better
34. Your children? Good
35. Your future? Unwritten
36. Your beliefs? Steady
37. Young or old? Young
38. Your image? Easy-going
39. Your appearance? All-American
40. Would you live your life over again knowing what you know? Absolutely

Found here

Words that have no place coming out of a 17 year old's mouth

"Do you want to listen to some good music?"

Bwwaaaaaaahaaaaahaaa

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Across the pond

Here's the airline I plan on flying across the pond, if ever... Make mine business class, please!

Should the learn economics, or spelling first?

This story out of Salt Lake City amused me. Then I saw the spelling on the signs... At 7 and 9, you'd think one of them could spell cable or money!

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Slippery slope

PETA is well known as a ruthless organization with the express goal of removing any human-animal interaction. It scares me that the CEO of Churchill Downs fails to see PETA as they are and actually grant them an audience. To the CEO, remember you saw it here first - If you give in to their seemingly benign "requests", they'll be back next year with even more radical ideas.

Somthing is wrong with this picture

Don't get me wrong, I love me some scattered, smothered, covered and chunked just as much as the next guy, but for the Waffle House to be named the official restaurant of a road race, that's just silly!

1978 BMW R80/7

Gently blowing in the breeze...

Megan's friends retaliated last night.

Mmmmmmm....

Tasty!!! I've been waiting for the 3G iPhone since the iPhone first came out last year. I knew that the price was way too high and the performance way too low for me to jump to the first generation of iPhone. Jobs & Co. have done the iPhone up right, though, in it's 2.0 version. Sporting 3G speed (actually 3.5G if you check out the specs), GPS, MS Exchange support and 3rd party app support, Apple has raised the bar on smartphones to a level that won't be surpassed in a long, long time.

My only slight disappointment is that the camera on the phone is still 2 megapixels. Apple could have put a slightly higher quality camera in, but probably couldn't have kept the price down in doing so. Oh, the price? You say you won't spend $600 for any phone? How about $199? Yeah, the price will be $199 for the 8 GB model and $299 for the 16 GB. Extremely reasonable for the features the device sports.

I'll be in line on July 11th, count on it! :)

My (short) Mike rememberance

Today is the memorial service for my good friend Mike. I want to share with you what I wrote to be included in the scrapbook that Ruthanna put together.

Mike.

Mike Lorenzo was a good friend. His passing has helped me to realize to not take for granted the time I have with the people I love. I always figured I’d have forever to sit around and shoot the bull with Mike about dogs, beer, motorcycles, his business, politics and life in general. I’ll miss those conversations.

I got to know Mike and Karen about 10 years ago. I was new to the sport of lure coursing with my adopted Greyhounds and they were the Yankees with the awesome running dogs. I met Karen first at a field trial in south Georgia, she lived up to the reputation as the brassy, loud Yankee that I had heard about. It didn’t take long though for me to realize that she was one of the special people in the sport. I met Mike soon after and realized what a wonderful couple these two were. It turned out that even though they were quite competitive, they were humble when victorious and gracious in defeat. I remember quite vividly the II in Virginia in 1999 when Kookie won from Open but tore a muscle during his final run. We forfeited him to their dog (I think it was Red) who ended up winning the breed. Karen and Mike were ecstatic and were effusive in their praise of us for what we did.

I became friends with Mike over the years as they would make the trip from New York down to Cartersville to go up against the competition we had. I was a relatively new lure operator and learned much from not only Mike’s advice but also just watching how he handled the situations when he was running the lure. We were of a like mind in how to handle the dogs that we were responsible for on the field. I always enjoyed our time after the trials when we could sit around with a beer and remember the runs and what we did right and wrong. I probably took away from that more than I’ll ever realize.

There was an II in Colorado, I believe it was 2003, when Ruthanna and I drove out with Cindy Owens. It was an extremely grueling trip, driving straight through from Atlanta to Colorado Springs in a little more than 24 hours. Luckily I got to spend a lot of time with Mike that weekend. The two of us watched the Best in II runs from the top of the motorhome, critiquing the runs. Once again it was a great opportunity to share and learn.

The next year Ruthanna and I drove to Iowa for the II and stayed with Mike and Karen in the motorhome. That was a great time since we were able to spend a lot of time relaxing and socializing in the evenings.

2005 was the apex for us with Mike and Karen at the II. That’s the year that Sweeney, Mike and Karen’s wedding gift to Ruthanna and I won Best in II. I remember the run like it was yesterday and how amazed I was at the run he put in. Even knowing how Sweeney ran that day, I was floored when it was announced that Sweeney had won Best in International Invitational! We were so lucky to have been able to share that wonderful moment with our friends. Ruthanna and I will be forever indebted to Mike and Karen for that special gift! I don’t think that any of us, Mike, Karen, Ruthanna or I, have ever come down from that high!

Amazingly, though we had been close friends for so many years, we had never had the opportunity to visit each others homes. Finally in 2007, I was asked to judge a trial in Connecticut. On the way up, Ruthanna and I arranged to stop by their home and have dinner before continuing up to the hotel. We had an awesome time and a great dinner with them that evening.

The following weekend we were able to return the hospitality (at least I hope we did) and have Mike and Karen stay with us while she was judging the SEGC trial in Moreland, GA. We all had a great time even though we were quite exhausted! Mike was a godsend that weekend for SEGC as I was judging the IG Nationals close by and was not able to help with the SEGC trial. Mike was Johnny on the spot and did yeoman’s work to keep the trial moving.

That was just the kind of guy that Mike was. He always came to trials prepared to lend a hand or a machine, was always working to be innovative with equipment. He was always willing to take time to teach up and coming lure operators. He always took the time to just hang out and shoot the bull.

Zippy little critter!

We spent much of Sunday at John Parker's place over in Newnan, GA practicing the dogs on a 200 yd straight. We ran Lobo, Nellie and Carmela a couple of times each (We had forgotten our accouterments for taking care of Sweeney's and Everett's feet so they didn't get to run). Everyone had a great time and we got to see some pretty fast runs. I was really impressed with Carmela the most. She's a speedy thing, running completely like a grown up dog. Actually, she's really never run like a puppy, always running with her head down and reaching well with her front legs. She seems to always be in control of her body. I was also impressed with Nellie's runs. I slipped her so all I could see was her ass as it quickly faded into the distance, but what I could see was something I've recently learned from reading Gazehounds and Coursing by Dutch Salmon. Nellie tracks very well when she runs. It looks like she's running a rail and her feet occupy a width of about 4 inches on the ground beneath her. Very pretty to watch!

I don't think the dogs will be running much for the next few months since it's going to be so hot. I'm really looking forward to the fall racing season so we can get Carmela out and see how she does!!

Speaking of Carmela and racing, I'm going to need to get her box trained. I'd like to build a simple one hole contraption that I can use to get her accustomed to going in and out. I'm thinking of using corrugated plastic board and making something simple. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Wrong observation

Regarding the iPhone, in an article in the NY Times today:

"Both Mr. Jobs and Randall L. Stephenson, the chief executive of
Apple’s partner AT&T, have promised a new iPhone model this year
that would run on a high-speed wireless data network. AT&T is
building such a network, which uses technology known as 3G and is
intended to support a range of new applications, including mobile
digital video. The company said last week that the network would be
largely finished by the end of June.

But analysts say faster downloads may not be enough to touch off a new wave of consumer interest in the iPhone.

“Subscribers don’t care what the radio interface of their cellular phone is,” Mr. Snyder said."

Emphasis mine.

I know quite a few people, including me, who have been waiting for a 3G version of the iPhone before purchasing one. Duh.

Arrangements for Mike Lorenzo

Here are the arrangements for the service for Mike:

On June 7, 2008 from 12p to 5p there will be a luncheon and cash bar at the American Legion Post 488:
532 Lakes Rd
Monroe, NY 10950
845-783-3965

http://legionpost488.org/content.php?id=15

I won't be there, but Ruthanna will. We'll be putting together a memorial book of stories and pictures to present to the family. Anyone who might want to contribute can contact Ruthanna at bii2005*at*bellsouth.net.

Instead of flowers, please consider a donation to one of the following (I suggest the Take the Lead Foundation):

(1) A memorial contribution for the I.I. Greyhound Best of Breed
trophy that has been established in honor of Mike and his memory.
Contributions may be made via PayPal (the e-mail address to be used
is MikesTrophyFund@aol.com) or by way of check payable to the
Southeastern Greyhound Club and sent to 364 Country Club Rd., Newnan,
GA 30263.

(2) A contribution to help defray outstanding medical and other
expenses. Checks payable to the Mike Lorenzo Medical Expense Fund may
be sent to 49 Sunrise Ridge, Florida, NY 10921.

(3) A contribution to the Take the Lead Foundation, which helps dog
people with expenses related to life-threatening or terminal
illnesses, and helped Karen and Mike during their time of need.
Contributions may be made on the Foundation's Web site at
http://www.takethelead.org/contribute.htm

On Mike

I’ve been trying to put words together, but there is much more to Mike than I can ever put in to an email or blog post. Mike was a great friend first of all, an excellent lure operator and knowledgeable mentor. I’m lucky to have known and learned a great deal from Mike.

I miss my friend.

Edit: That's Mike and Nellie, one of the two wonderful Greyhounds that we're blessed to have from Mike and Karen.

Mike Lorenzo

I know many of you have been following what's been going on with our great friend Mike Lorenzo and his struggle with a brain tumor. About 9:30 this evening Mike passed away peacefully. Karen, Karen's mother, Noreen and Barbara were with him.

I don't have much to say right now. I will post an update when arrangements have been made. Please keep Karen and the family in your prayers.

A bachelor party

Of sorts, anyway... My friend Neil is getting married in October, so Andrew, Stephen and I decided to do something for him as a kind of bachelor party (really an excuse to get together, drink beer, eat and fish). So last Thursday evening, Andrew and I showed up at Neil's to pick him up (he thought he was going off for the weekend with his fiance). Surprise!!! We loaded up and about 7 hours later pulled in at Stephen's father-in-law's ranch near Bradenton, FL.

We spent Friday there, working on the fence line, fishing and running around the property. Saturday morning we got up and cleaned the place up and headed in to Bradenton. After securing fishing licenses, beer and food, we were off on the water. Stephen has a 23 foot center console that we took out to the bay and fished the flats and mangroves. We spent the rest of the day out on the boat, not catching much but having fun anyway! Sunday we got up pretty early and spent the morning out fishing again, not having much luck this time either. I think we brought home one trout, but again, it really wasn't about catching the fish...

We were able to relax a good bit of Sunday afternoon as the water was a bit choppy for us to get back out. So we hung out, played with Stephen's kids and napped. Instead of grilling out or cooking, we decided to head out to the coast for dinner. I had some really great Grouper at the Rod and Reel Pier out on Anna Maria Island. Everyone was happy with their meals and happy with the day.

Since we were leaving Monday, we got up and hit the water early. Actually, Andrew literally hit the water early. As I was throwing the anchor in so that we could net some bait, I threw the anchor with my right hand and held the rope w/ my left. Imagine my shock as I threw the anchor and the rope didn't go with it!!! Seems the captain (*cough* Stephen *cough*) had not checked the equipment and the clevis had come loose! So here we are, in the middle of Tampa Bay with a loose anchor on the bottom! Luckily, we were really in only about 3 feet of water or so and Neil was able to spot the anchor. In Andrew went, shirt pants and all! He did get the anchor, luckily, $150 saved for Stephen!

We had better luck on Monday morning, catching 6 trout a couple of snook and getting in to some jacks. The rain started moving in on us about 10 am so we decided to head in and get on the road.

I'm lucky with these friends of mine. I've known these guys for at least 27 years. Neil and Andrew live within a couple of miles of each other on the other side of town from me. We get together usually a couple of times a month. We try to see Stephen as often as possible, but with him in Bradenton it usually works out to once or twice a year.

Wilco

Family

First, four generations of Birchfields. Left to right: Jerry Linward Birchfield, Todd Linward Birchfield, Guy Linward Birchfield, John Brewster Birchfield. I'm not sure when that was taken, but it would have to be somewhere 1973-1975.





That's my mother and Father, 1964. Ellen Groover Birchfield (now Bledsoe) and Jerry Linward Birchfield.


Thanks to my Aunt, Jackie Houze, for getting me these.

Concealed Carry in Georgia

Governor Perdue signed HB 89 into law yesterday expanding where citizens can legally carry concealed weapons. According to the AJC (link), "With Perdue's signature, restaurant patrons will be permitted to carry a firearm, but would be barred from drinking while doing so. Violations would be a misdemeanor. Concealed weapons will now be allowed in state — and by extension — local parks. Firearms in purses or under jackets will also be permitted on public transportation."

Also according to the same article, "Union drivers had said they would demand bulletproof shields on MARTA buses if the governor signed the bill." Please. Who are bus drivers (and anyone in the general public, for that matter) more in danger of? Criminals carrying concealed without a permit, with no regard for life or property or properly licensed individuals who go to the trouble of being fingerprinted, submitting to a background investigation and paying a pretty good fee for the privilege to carry concealed?

I'm sure this matter will end up in courts. Hell, I'd bet some Brady type group has already filed suit somewhere in the state. If you're interested in efforts to secure your right to arm yourself, here a good site on the subject:

GeorgiaCarry.org

A few blogs that have good information on concealed carry:
View From the Porch
ColtCCO
The Munchkin Wrangler

Huh?

Makes no sense to me... I average 3-4 hits per day to this little blog, and that's ok w/ me. I know most of my readers, I'm not trying to persuade, I just like to share a little sometimes. So, imagine my surprise when I see my hits jump to 21 in one day!! What the heck? The only thing I can think of is that maybe I was a 'next site' link or something for the day...

Around the house

One of our planting islands that surrounds the house. The yard is a bit of a mess in this picture, thanks to the pine logs in the background.


White Rose


Can you identify this? I used to know...

Some more pictures

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. Life is...well, life is busy these days. We're working on a rather large VM proposal right now that will take up a lot of my time if we can pull it off. We're in the planning stage and I'm pushing to get a bunch of hardware ordered before the end of the month. Besides that, the kids and dogs keep us busy busy as always.

We were at Old Mill Farm last weekend for the SEGC Old Mill Stakes. Here are a few pictures.


Carmela practicing


You'd think that at almost 5, Sweeney would quit coming in on his head!!!


Carmela goes for the grab!!


MINE!!!!

Not so quick

The simplest answer might <b>not</b> be the right answer after all. I cut the grass today and the drive gave up the ghost after just a few minutes. I'm now thinking that the problem might lie in the belt being worn out. We'll see soon... Cross fingers, please! <G>

Over There ---------->

One blog added and a bunch removed. Check out Sandra's blog; she can tell quite a story!!!

The simplest solution...

Is usually the correct one. I'm pretty mechanically inclined, so fixing stuff comes pretty naturally. My problem sometimes is that I can over-think things. Take the lawnmower. We have a rear drive Honda walk behind mower that is awesome. Discovered last season that the drive wasn't working very well, but still pulled. This season, the drive hasn't worked at all. The first thing I decided to do was to try to take the cover off the drive box and check the gears and shafts to make sure something wasn't broken. I wanted to do this without removing the entire rear axle assembly, but this proved more difficult than expected thanks to the design of the box. While I was fiddling with the box, I tested the action of the levers to see if the wheels engaged at all. I noticed that if I let the engaging lever on the box slack just a little bit, the wheels would rotate freely and the drive would not pull. Hmmm, maybe if I pull this cable from the operators position a little tighter.... Whoooops! That's it!

Of course! The simplest answer!!!!

Sighthounds, Gazehounds

Just a little update about what I've been up to. In case you haven't seen it, I started a new email list focusing on the performance sighthound recently. The list is, in fact, called Sighthound Performance, you can follow the link to the group home. If you'd like to join, shoot me an email and I'll be glad to add you. So far there's been some really good discussion on type and function among other things.

This sort of leads me to what I'm reading. Gazehounds & Coursing by Dutch Salmon is an excellent read for anyone interested in performance sighthounds, purebred and otherwise. You can get the book here if you're interested. Thanks to Dan for talking this book up so much over the years.

Nicely said...

This entry, in a blog I've recently begun reading, says 'Leave me the hell alone' so well... Heh...

Just got back

From Seattle a few minutes ago. Spent a very enjoyable weekend with my good friend Phil, judging for WWWA on their field in Roy, WA. What a beautiful place! Super people and nice dogs made it a wonderful weekend. I'm pretty tired and jet lagged, but it was worth it. Saw a few really nice runs, one super Ibizan Hound that could have won BIF on Saturday and did win BIF on Sunday. All in all it was a really good time. It was nice to see (and talk to) Jenny, an ex-pat from Mississippi now living in WA. Nice to hear a bit of home in a voice in the PNW! Met a lot of really nice folks and got to renew quite a few good friendships. Thanks again for having me out!

A blog about blogs

Not mine, but others that I read.

I found myself making a big circle in the blogs that I read today. One of the first that I picked up a little over a year ago was Tam's. Not sure how I found it, but I think I was looking for information on concealed carry or some such. Anyway, I really enjoyed her writing since she occasionally wrote about my hometown, Atlanta and environs, I felt a bit of familiarization even though I've never met her. Not too long ago, Tam removed herself from Knoxville, TN and headed to somewhere in Indiana (why someone would move north, I have no idea!). She is now rooming with Roberta X whose blog I now read as well.

One of my good friends that I've made through coursing, Dan Gauss of Shot on Site Photography, is lucky enough to be able to chase his passion. He and Margaret travel the country in their motorhome with their hounds, photographing events and coursing and hunting when it's season. Dan meets many interesting people in his travels, including Stephen Bodio. The Querencia is a wonderful place with tales of hunting, archeology, falconry, and a million other subjects. One of the contributors to the Querencia is Matt Mullenix, a gentleman that I've had the pleasure of getting to know through email conversations. Matt has a Whippet out of a litter that I've coveted for a long time, from one of my favorite people in Whippets, Deb Baum. I've also been fortunate to have met Matt's parents on the coursing field after they acquired a Borzoi from another longtime friend of mine.

So, through Dan, I read the Querencia and other linked blogs. One that is linked today is to Southern Rockies Nature Blog. From this blog, there is a link to an entry at Roberta X's blog...

This isn't the first connection I've made, just the first time I've actually spent time connecting the dots. Is the blogosphere small enough that we keep running into the same people, or do our diverse interests all have some kind of common bond?

I call this LOL - Turner

Just can't help but laugh at ol' Ted.

Photos

Here are some photos from the last three months, since we've gotten the new camera.

That's Co, he's the oldest.

That's Meg, she's the middle child. She is a cheerleader and runs track. Oh, and she's really not the least bit shy.

Ruthanna and Em at the track meet. Cute, aren't they?

Me and Ruthanna.


Ruthanna and her kids. Handsome group!



My Mom. She's probably lecturing me or my sister about something...

Sweeney this past weekend.

Seriously??

Chelsea Clinton replied "Wow, you're the first person
actually that's ever asked me that question in the, I don't know maybe,
70 college campuses I've now been to, and I do not think that is any of
your business" when asked about criticism on how her mother handled the whole Monica Lewinsky scandal. Really? You mean, none of your friends, no media, no critics have ever asked you about your father and Monica Lewinsky? I call BS on that. Another example of how this family tries to weave and dodge, avoiding issues and avoiding history.

Barely a mention

Maybe one of the most important cases to come before the Supreme court *ever* was heard yesterday and here's the story in the local rag. This really indicates to me how the liberal press (and no, I'm not talking some huge conspiratorial entity, but an actual liberal newspaper) holds the second amendment in low regard.

Farewell to The Wire

One of the best shows ever to be on television, The Wire, concluded last Sunday. If you've lived under a rock for the past few years, The Wire was a show about Baltimore. There were human characters, but the show was about the city. The final season was a doozie, never failing to disappoint. I'll miss McNulty, Bubbs, Kima, and all the rest. Get 'em on DVD and enjoy!

Fuel price fall-out

This story from the AJC shows the tenuous state of airlines. Months after emerging from bankruptcy Delta is having to cut a huge amount of jobs. Looks like fuel prices are hitting the airlines hard and they just can't figure out a way to raise ticket prices to compensate. It also looks as if the merger with Northwest is off. Too bad.

I hate that Delta is in this situation. I'm a fan of the airline since my Grandfather and Uncle retired from there (my grandfather with 40 years) and I have very good friends who work for the airline. I'm rooting for Delta!

Chasing Rabbit

On (human) foot. Typically, the readers would recognize chasing rabbits as coursing with hounds. Here's a video from ESPN on an area in the Everglades where high school football players chase rabbits as part of their training. Good to see that they use the meat too! <G>

h/t to Matt Mullenix

Music

Dan, you can stop reading now...

Chris and Rich Robinson, brothers who have brought us the Black Crowes, set aside their differences and got together last year to record a few live tunes. Brothers of a Feather brings out the best in these two, and shows just why they should continue making music together. I've actually just gotten around to getting the album and giving it a listen, wish I had done so earlier.

I've been a Crowes fan for years, going back to the early Atlanta days when they were known as Mr. Crowes Garden and played little venues around town, especially L5P. Their 2001 album hit at a time in my life when I was once again exploring various sounds and artists. It's good, Blues based rock and roll, with a little Southern twang (hence, Dan, you're probably not interested... <G>). I'm happy to see that they're back and putting out another studio album in a couple of months.

2,000

It's taken a while, understandably so since I don't post all the time, but the blog has gotten 2,000 visits! Welcome to the reader in Little Rock AR and thanks for your time. Wish I had a prize, but I guess I'll just shake your hand if we meet.

SEGC

R and I are once again members in good standing with SEGC. I found out yesterday that it's been 3 years (!) since we've been members. Doh! I was one of the 6 or 7 at the first SEGC meetings back 12 years or so ago. R was the first foster chair for SEGA when it started up. It's nice to be back in the fold!

Puppies Run!!!

Last weekend was the annual CHASE Valentines day trials held at Old Mill Farm. We were blessed with great weather and lot's of really nice running dogs. Seemed like a great time was had by all.

While the trial was a blast, what I really enjoyed was getting the new puppy into "Field Trial Mode". This is the first opportunity we've had to get Carmela out to experience the whole enchilada, from loading up, the trip and the field. After losing her breakfast (whoops, we forgot she hadn't really ever traveled in a crate in the car, especially for more than 15 minutes), and drooling a bit, she travels like an old pro! She gets in her crate, lies down and just rests for the trip. No whining, crying or panting!! She's going to be a great traveling companion.

Carmela is only 5 1/2 months right now, but she knows what goes on when we get to the field! She was attentive to the bunnies from the beginning, but really became a monster after watching for a while and getting some practice runs in. Now, when the lure is moving, she's all business! Our plan next (I think) is to get her box trained and see how she'll handle racing. That'll be fun since we've never really done any racing with the Whippets. Can't wait!!

CHASE had a puppy run on Sunday, drawing Carmela, John and Laura Parker's Guiness, Kirby Overcash's litter-mates to Guiness, Pauli and Foster, and the Alley's Smokey. Everyone had really nice runs and I think everyone had a lot of fun. Just for the record, Carmela was judged the winner!! <G>

Here are a few pictures I took of the event.

More about the weekend

I shouldn't forget to mention that Mike is scheduled to come home Wednesday after spending about the last 2 1/2 months in the hospital. Karen has his room all set up and ready for his return. Mike says he's especially ready to come home so he can see the dogs as he's not been able to visit with them nor them with him during his incarceration hospitalization. I know that Karen is ready for him to get home so she can dote on him a bit while at the same time she pushes him to work hard to regain full function. I believe that he'll get there, he's got the will and she has the determination.

In case you don't know about it already, R set up a little blog for Karen and Mike. Go check it out.

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Cold as a welldigger's....something, but happy as a clam

I'm in NY visiting with our dear friends Karen, Mike and Sue. It's damn 19 degrees here right now with wind gusts up to 35 mph. Damn, I'm not designed to endure this crap!!!

It might be cold, but I'm happy to be here. I'm here with friends John Parker from Atlanta and Phil Allen from Seattle. We got to spend some time with Mike at the hospital the last three days. Got to meet all the family, Noreen, Mike Jr., Lloyd and Nicole. Add those to Mike, Karen, Sue, Me, Phil and John, we had quite the party at the hospital! Mike is doing so well that instead of arriving as expected in a wheelchair, he came strutting in with the assistance of a walker! He's made huge strides in the last couple of weeks, so much so that he is able to use his right side (the tumor is on the left side of the brain), walk, carry on coherent conversations, joke and laugh! With the exception of heavy use of "the word of the day", his conversations are completely normal. It seems that since his last spell, (I really don't know what else to call it. It's the result of the screw up with his meds brought on by too many Dr's having their hands in the mix) the word his brain defaults to is "well". So, you'll be talking about a lure coursing motor and it's "that lure well", or the hospital cafeteria is "the well". Hell, anything is "the well"!! It's really amusing once you get used to it. If he's talking about someone, it's "Richie Well". It's not that he can't think of the name, it's more like that just replaces some of the words. I'll have to do some research and see if I can figure out what it's called.

It's been an absolute joy to be here and spend time with my friend. I hate to say it, but when he was first diagnosed, I thought I wouldn't be spending time like this with him again. As luck has it, I might just get another chance to get up here in the near future. The plan now is for R to be able to come up again in a couple of weeks. She might not know it, but she is!! :)

I love these people and wish them all the best. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. If you know them, please feel free to drop them a letter, an email or a phone call and let them know that you're thinking of them. You should see Mike's face light up when he hears from an old friend or family member. Both he and Karen can use all the support they can get right now.

I'm heading home in the morning. I won't soon forget this wonderful weekend.

Voting today?

Whether you're Democrat or Republican, this election is going to come down to personal liberties. Both parties have plenty of candidates willing to strip you of your liberties for one reason or the other. Of course, some are more overt than others...

Hillary wants to provide universal health care. By force, if necessary.

Scary, scary stuff.

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Wiped out!

I caught some bug somewhere last week. I've been in bed since about lunch on Friday, up only for a bite to eat every once in a while, some kind of liquid to help stave off dehydration or Advil every four hours or so. This is kicking my ass.

Back to bed now.

There's actually radio worth listening too in ATL

The Regular Guys are back! Yeah, they're rude and crude, but it's still the smartest entertainment show in the mornings. Thank God!

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Year end ASFA Top 20

2007 was a pretty slack year for us in the amount the dogs ran. We ran a good bit less trials than years past due to injuries, cost and other commitments. Sweeney finished just out of the Top 20 for the first time in a couple of years. Lobo didn't quite make it for the first time in his career. Even though Everett had to recover from broken ribs early in the year and a toe issue late in the year, he still finished at 15 for Whippets!

All of our dogs amaze us with their abilities and their durability. We're proud no matter where they finish.

Congratulations to all the Top 20 hounds in all the breeds. Hope you all have a successful 2008!

Genealogy

I'm geeking on genealogy these days. R started a trial at ancestry.com last week and we've both been completely immersed. I've found quite a few generations back on a lot of my family, and to my surprise, not much for some of my other family. What I've figured out is that we've been in the South for a long time. Maybe I'll post some of the family tree one day.

Tom Cruise....beyond Oprah

Tom Cruise, over the deep end in this Scientology indoctrination video.

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Good news in the fight for property rights

The city of Stockbridge, GA has been trying to acquire a flower shop claiming eminent domain, with plans to build a city hall. The final chapter has been written in this almost 3 year long battle.

Grill

That's my grill. Well, a smaller, 2D version anyway. R and I bought this grill almost 5 years ago when we got married. It's been out of commission for almost 2 years now thanks to the burners rusting out and my lazy butt. I finally got around to ordering the replacement parts last week and they arrived yesterday. Last night I burned some steaks again and I have to tell you, that was the best damn cow I've had in, oh about 2 years!

Another photo

Carmela on the Deck.

First picture

One of the first pictures I took with the new camera. Nikon D40, retouched in iPhoto. This is Carmela, Notorious Poeta Fresh Fudge de Towih, 15 weeks old.

I'll try to get some stacked photos soon.

Where I live

You know where I live? Georgia. Peach State. Supposed to be a relatively moderate climate. If I wanted weather like we've had today (didn't get above 32) and are forecast for tonight, tomorrow and Friday, I'd move to the Arctic! Damn, I really don't know how you people up North deal in the Winter.

Happy New Year!

A Happy New Year to all! Today is football and relaxation before having to go back to work tomorrow. I'm a little bummed that Christmas break is over, but I am sort of looking forward to getting back to work. I love my job and really like the people I work with.

R and I did get the digital camera we've wanted. Finally went out and picked it up today. Got a Nikon D40 which after reading reviews and some helpful advice from Dan turned out to be a great deal on a great camera. I'll probably post some pictures soon.

What is it with people shooting these huge, booming fireworks on New Years? I get the fun of blowing stuff up, but when you're in a neighborhood those cannons are just a nuisance. From about 8:00 until well after midnight we had a steady diet of explosions coming from the house behind ours. The dogs were freaked the whole time. Finally, after we went to bed, the dogs settled down a bit and we got some sleep!

Missed the Winter Challenge for the first time in 10 years this year. Sometimes there are just more important things, like spending time with your good friends and family. R got to go north and spend some time with Karen, Mike and Sue. If you don't know, Mike and Karen are who we got Sweeney and Nellie from and Sue is Carmela's breeder. Mike was diagnosed with brain cancer a couple of weeks ago so we're going to really try to spend time with them and help them as much as we can through this process. I stayed home and chauffeured kids and took care of dogs and enjoyed the rainy days. Got a few things done around the house like hanging bulletin boards and pictures, fixing the leaking water heater line and the such. Basically, except for R being gone, it was an enjoyable few days. I'm bummed to have missed seeing some of our friends at the Winter Challenge, but I'm sure we'll get to see them again soon.

I hope everyone has a wonderful, prosperous and healthy New Year. I hope that this year goes by a little slower than 2007, but I don't have much faith that it will!!

Merry Christmas!

The kids are happy, iTunes cards have pretty much been burned through, Abercrombie will have some deliveries coming this week. It was quite the horse Christmas for E, she'll be attending riding camp the rest of the week. M's already gone to her best friends, a day and a half w/ the family is a bit much for her! :) C has lowering springs for his little Accord that should go on next week, depending on if he gets the shocks he needs. R and I might end up with the new digital camera we've been wishing for.

Spent Christmas eve at my grandfather's, same as I've done for the past 40 years. My cousins were all in town and this year the kids got to go with us and everyone had a good time. Today my mother, step-father, sister and brother-in-law came over around noon to swap gifts and visit.

Turkey was consumed and everyone is content. We're all thankful to be in good health and happy together. We wish we were with our friends Karen and Mike, but they're on our minds and in our hearts every moment of the day.

So to all out there, Merry Christmas!

The latest Perspectives

Take time to read this. Three parts, well worth the time.

Part I - LawDog.

Part II - Ambulance Driver.

Part III - BabsRN.

OS

Edit: Found via /. is this little blog entry about upgrading from Vista to XP... HeeHee

It's been a while since I've written about operating systems. If you've been reading for a while, you'll remember my earliest experiences with Vista. At first, not all was bad with Vista. The best thing that could be said about it as an operating system is that it's pretty. I was pretty happy with it for a while (it's installed on a Dell XPS M1210 laptop) since I was able to accomplish pretty much whatever I needed to do, just not as efficiently as I could with Win XP. Cut to the chase, I am no longer using Vista on that laptop or anywhere else for that matter. I've finally gotten sick and tired of dealing with Vista and all it's little idiosyncrasies. The final straw was when I went to uninstall Norton Internet Security and totally lost all networking ability. Yes, all networking ability. Wireless, ethernet, everything! Figured re-install drivers and I should be good to go. Nope, nothing. OK, uninstall all the wireless software, nothing. Ah, maybe it's just DHCP... Nope, static IP did nothing. I could see the network, I could see wireless AP's, but could never get the machine to get or take an IP address (oh, it had a self assigned local IP, but never anything else). I tried, a friend and colleague at work worked with it for a day. I read forums, tried published solutions, everything I could think of. Finally, I downloaded Ubuntu and booted it from the live cd. Wow, networking worked right off the bat! The machine got an IP right away! Next step was to re-boot into Vista, get all my files off the hd and install Linux. Nice, clean, easy install and almost all the drivers are installed! The only thing I have to get is the driver for the Ricoh card reader.

I'm really pissed that I had to give up on Vista, but I just don't think that an OS should take so much work.

On another note, I've re-discovered working with a Mac and I absolutely love it! I'm running Leopard and it's smooth and efficient. I can do pretty much anything I need to do with it AND run Win XP! I have Parallels Desktop installed so that I can run an instance of XP without any stress. I'm really happy that I've gone back to using Mac and plan on working with it for a long time to come!

Raking leaves sucks

That is all.

Tam says it better

Of course! My barber was lamenting just how sad it was that people were losing their homes, how it was so evil that the gov would allow the mortgage companies to do such things to poor everyday Joe Blow who never had a chance. Just dammit! I've never seen anyone forced at gunpoint to sign mortgage papers, but sure enough, the Fed is now going to take my hard earned money (at gunpoint if necessary) and "subsidize" poor ole Joe Blow and his bad spending habits.

Guess what. I made some bad decisions too. My family has sacrificed and worked hard so that we haven't had to 'demand' that someone bail us out. And guess what else. I can see the light, way down yonder. And we did it w/out Fed Gov.

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Region 4

Too tired to report much, but the past couple of days have been awesome. Had to pull Lobo yesterday since he skinned a stopper pad in prelims and I wanted it to not be too sensitive today for the Invitational. Today he did really well and took second in FCh. Everett took first yesterday and I forfeited him for breed to give the Open the points and because the ground was a bit rough yesterday. Today he took first in FCh and Breed. Ran in Best in Regional and he was beaten by a very nice Borzoi that ran in his course. I'm really proud of how both boys have done this weekend!

Weather was less than ideal with temps in the upper 30's all day, wind and rain, snow and sleet. Made it through the day just a bit wet and cold, but recovered with a nice dinner at a Mexican place across from the field. Another day tomorrow with rain and cold forecast. I'll get to head home though tomorrow after the trial. I'm ready to get home.

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Also

When I got in and checked my email, I read that Carol Curry, a fixture in the Whippet world, has passed away. Carol has lived with cancer for the past three years, beating the odds.

Carol was a wonderful woman who worked hard for the betterment of Whippets overall. I am fortunate to have known her and will miss her.

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Texas!

After a 13 hour drive, I made it to Texas. Like I've said here (or maybe elsewhere, I'm tired and really can't remember), I feel quite comfortable in Texas. I'm not real sure why, other than I've always had pleasant experiences when I've visited here. It reminds me a lot of the Atlanta area, just much much more spread out.

I've done a good bit of traveling this year, judging in many different parts of the country. I've been to Washington State, California, and Connecticut. I was in New York last weekend and all over the Southeast. I've felt a bit displaced everywhere I've gone this year except for home. Texas is always an exception to this discomfort. Ever since the first time I came through a few years ago, I've always felt that this was a place I could belong. Not many places in the country I can say that about.

Unfortunately, I am by myself here this trip. I agreed to judge a while back with the anticipation that we'd hook up with R's brother and sister-in-law and their kids. That didn't pan out this time. Add to that the weather forecast for Forth Worth, the fact that we have a 10 week old puppy in tow and we figured our best plan for the weekend would be for me to drive out with the older Whippets and for R to stay home with Carmela and catch up on some of her orders. So here I am on Thanksgiving, by myself in a LaQuinta in Denton, TX. I did get to have Turkey and all at Cracker Barrel up the road a bit, and I got to see R for a bit this morning, so Thanksgiving isn't at all a washout.

I'm really looking forward to judging my third Regional Invitational this year on Saturday. I'll be with a pretty good group of people here, Teri and Jack, Dana and many others. I'm not looking forward to the possibility of working the trial in the cold rain that's forecast for the weekend!

Y'all have a great weekend and stay dry!

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Whirlwind weekend!

The weekend was quite a blur for me! Good, but a huge blur. I left ATL around 6p Friday to fly to Newburgh, NY to pick up the new puppy, returning to ATL at 9 Saturday night. It was good to visit with our good friends the Lorenzos for a few hours and much better to have someone else do the driving to pick up the pup. She's been super since she's come to live here. Not crate trained by any stretch of the imagination, but that will come in time. I have pics on my website.

Looking forward to the Region 4 Invitational this weekend. Wish that the weather forecast was a bit more favorable, but we'll make do. It'll be Carmela's first long trip in the car, wish us luck!

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Veteran's Day

Thanks to anyone and everyone who has served this country. We bitch about how rough it is, forgetting that we <b>can</b> bitch about it.

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This makes no sense...

Tam's blog comes in at Elementary Level, but this blog gets

What up with that???

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UGH

This time of the year really wipes me out. I think it's more than just the time change, it's the changing light. The angle of the sun bugs me and the shortness of the days really makes me sluggish and kind of mellow. I really don't get terribly depressed, just sort of....blah.

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Boring

It's been a boring life of later. We're getting ready for the Regional this weekend which is keeping us way busy. Both been working too much as usual. We did get a bit of down time Saturday evening when we attended our friend Jennifer's wedding. Unique and fun ceremony! Congratulations to them and here's hoping they have a wonderful, long life together!

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Burned

A couple of years ago, I wrote about a "friend" who screwed me and how I didn't think of him as a friend anymore. This was an old blog, so don't bother looking for it. Well, we patched things up for a while. I got burned again by this person. Twice is once too many... Actually, twice is twice too many times. Never again.

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Coursing again!

Oy, what a week! It's been crazy, thus the lack of posting. I'll try and do better.

Our fall coursing season started with a bang last weekend with a long trip to Connecticut for the Region 9 Invitational which I judged. We headed out last Thursday for the trek and made it to Karen and Mikes in New York by mid day on Friday. We spent an enjoyable afternoon with our good friends, checking out some new whippet puppies and enjoyed ribs and roasted veggies for dinner. Headed out around 6:00 for the drive from their house to somewhere in Connecticut. The drive should have taken just an hour or so, but ended up taking us almost 3 hours thanks to the convoluted road system, bridges, traffic and tolls. Those folks up there are proud of their roads, charging tolls all over the place for a crappy driving surface. I mean, just damn. Spend some of that revenue on keeping the roadway smooth. I thought we were going to shake apart in places.

After a good nights sleep, we got up early and headed for the field, another 1 1/2 hours away. This was a really beautiful drive through middle Connecticut. It's a beautiful place, but there's no way I could handle the winters they have!! Anyways, back to the coursing. We got to the field, and what a beautiful place it is. It's a private farm with quite a few very nice, coursable fields. The field we were on was back off the main road set against a treeline on two sides, but that didn't matter thanks to the size of the field. It's a sloping field (rather a hill), down away from the start/finish. Dogs had to do a lot of work up and down that hill to be successful. The grass wasn't overly long, but it wasn't sheared short either. Actually, perfect running conditions. I wish I could pick that field up and move it south for our use!

There weren't many Greyhounds, Karen and Mikes, Tracy's and another couple had two there. Sweeney took BoB at the Regional and brought home a very nice trophy. The Whippets didn't place so well thanks to a really screwy judge (one I will NEVER spend money to run under again), but in my opinion ran great, especially since one hadn't run in 5 months and the other in 7 months! We had the Alley's Oh Jo with us too and she came up on the short end of the stick.

Sunday was a bit of a different story. We didn't run Sweeney (we're still working on one day a weekend) but ran all three Whippets and Nellie. Whippets did really well, with Everett taking BoB for his third 1st towards LCM 10. Lobo fell in prelims and just didn't manage to get back into it until too late. Jo did really well and finished 4th for the day. Nellie's story is a bit more of a disappointment. She collided with the dog in prelims and lost focus, decided it was time to play and ended up dismissed. We're not too happy, but life goes on. Maybe she'll have a career at LGRA or NOTRA.

This week has been busy as we're getting ready for Mike and Karen to visit us this weekend. They're coming down for the SEGC trials in Moreland and are staying with us. It'll be a lot of fun since this is their first time coming to our house.

I have to get to Moreland pretty early in the morning, help set up the field for the SEGC trial, then hustle over to the Coweta County Fairground to judge the IGCA National Specialty. Probably isn't going to be a huge trial, but it'll be a lot of fun and it's always an honor to judge, especially a specialty. Ruthanna is taking the whippets to Moreland on Sunday to run while I return to the CCF to run the lure for the AKC portion of the specialty. Going to be another busy weekend!

Unfortunately, we have canceled our plans to attend the Greyhound Specialty in Oklahoma this year. Just can't work it out, so good luck to everyone who's going!

I'll leave you with a picture...

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Nope, just observant

Am-I-Dumb.com - Intelligence Test

Day by Day

Hope everything is alright.

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evolution of lure coursing?

Torn...

That traitor Tom Glavine decides he wants to forgo the option year on his contract with the New York Mets. Rumor has it that he's willing to take a lower paycheck for a short (read 1 year) contract in order to come back and play for the Atlanta Braves. I'm a bit torn about this as I feel he could be an asset to the Braves, but at the same time I have a hard time looking past his lack of loyalty to the team that invested a lot of time in him (Braves). So, I ask, should I care? Is this just another aspect of the business that is professional baseball?

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This sucks

Comet's Royal Gala, LCM 20, VLCM 4
Comet's Alabaster Dodger, VFCh, LCM 10, Dodger
Numbers one and five on ASFA's Lifetime Top 20 Whippet list. We've tragically lost both of these fine hounds, two of my favorites, in the past month. My most sincere condolences to Les and Shirri, Beth and David in the loss of these two wonderful dogs. They'll be sorely missed.
Condolences also to John and Laura Parker on the loss of their Greyhound Wizz last month as well.

Gala was a beautiful, durable, fierce competitor who will hold the record for most LCM's and most dogs defeated for I'm sure a very long time. At 10 years old, she could compete with the best of the youngsters.

I have memories of Dodger from the day he went home to live with Beth and David. As a little background, Beth and David are some of the best people that I know in this world. We've known each other for over 10 years, meeting through Southeastern Greyhound Club in the early, early days. We've traveled together to trials for years. Beth and David have two of the best kids I've ever met. I could go on and on. Anyway, I have a picture of Les handing over Dodger's leash to Jen at an ACC trial down in Thomasville years ago. David has this priceless look on his face like 'What the hell have I gotten into...'. Little did he know that Dodger would become his best friend, a number one Whippet, top 20 for I don't know how many years and an absolute monster on the lure. He sired some pretty good pups, including my first Whippet, Comet's Just Run Wild Bigsky, FCh (J.R.).

We're losing too many of our best hounds. It's way too sad and they'll be missed greatly.

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Baseball thanks

Thanks to the Braves for giving us a decent season. Y'all did better than most figured you would and did it with injuries and less than stellar "stars".
Thanks to the Phillies for turning it on in September and overtaking the Mets.
Thanks to the Traitor Tom Glavine for losing the last game of the Mets 2007 season.
Thanks to the Mets for the greatest collapse in baseball history.

I'm done.

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Why it's hard to blog

Most of the reason I don't blog too much is quite personal. Meaning, I'm a relatively private person and I don't feel real comfortable sharing a whole lot of personal information with others. Don't know why, that's just me. So, that's kind of counter to the whole blogging thing... I'm trying to get better at what I share and write, but I still find it hard to really let it flow.

Anyway, that and time! :)

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Kevin Spacey is an ass

He was good in American Beauty. Now he's showing what an ass he is.

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Vacation

But what the hell am I doing online? :) Actually, we came down to a little cafe' to grab some coffee and wifi time really quick today. I swear I'm going to the beach later! We don't have a hi speed connection in the condo, and I'm not about to sit and play on dial up for long. Of course, I really don't care to be online long anyway, but every once in a while won't kill me.

Cocoa is still the beautiful, laid back place that it always has been. It's been on and off rainy since we got down here, actually started while we were crossing over on I-10. Evidently we've got a little almost tropical system sitting off the coast that keeps throwing thunderstorms and showers at us. No big deal, I can sit and read instead of getting out to the beach.

Probably be a light week for blogging since I'm not sure how often we'll come down to grab the wifi signal.

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Washington on Sunday

Getting ready to head out to the field in a few minutes. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to post much, depends on wifi coverage at the airport tonight. SeaTac is supposed to have good coverage, so maybe I'll be back on later. Just wanted to say that I had a great time yesterday at the trial. It took a long while to get started since the grass on the field was much longer than anticipated and was very wet. The lure just did not want to stay on top of the grass. It finally dried up enough to run dogs around 1:00. That's why it took until 8:00 to run the dogs we had. Everyone did a great job and pulled off a really nice trial.

Washington

Well, I'm not going to post much since it was such a long day. We hit the field around 7:15 and finally left at 8:30 pm. Oy, I'm tired!!!

Damn it's late

And I've got to get up in about 5 hours. Long flight to Seattle, but thanks to Phil I had a nice first class seat. Looking forward to seeing some nice dogs tomorrow. Kirby and Jason were talking a lot about OFC on the way up from the airport and I'm really jealous. Damn, I need to get out to do that sometime.

More tomorrow. Probably no pics since I don't have a USB cable or a card reader. I'll try to post some when I get back home Monday or Tuesday.

No, I didn't

Nope, didn't follow one of Tam's tenets on blogging. Didn't blog yesterday. Was a bit busy trying to get some of the Virtual environment set up. Had to get a haircut, go to the grocery store, fix dinner, do laundry and pack last night after work. I'm headed to Seattle tonight to judge the Northwest Sporting Greyhound Association's Greyhound Classic this weekend. I'm really looking forward to this assignment as I get to see some folks I haven't seen in about a year and I get to see some of the great NW Greyhounds we hear so much about but never get to see. I'm sure I'll be happy with what the club is doing since they're using drag (something we've not quite "mastered" here) and they're not shy about their yardage! Saturday is 1075 yards and Sunday is 905 yards. Love to see me some Greyhounds who can run some distance!

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Cool tech and house stuff

Sort of all over the map today. First, I've been spending a good bit of time looking for siding so that I can repair a rotted place on the house. I know I've mentioned before that our house was a foreclosure. Wasn't taken care of really well, so I still have a lot of work to do to get it up to snuff. Right now I'm painting the exterior. Along with this is repair of some rotted wood on the siding and fascia. The fascia isn't really a big deal, just 1x10 and 1x4 behind the gutters. The house has a bit of craftsmanship (not your typical ranch) and the overhangs are all angled downward away from the house and the fascia is not at a 90 degree to the ground. What happens is that I have to make some pretty complex cuts in order to make my corners.

The siding has turned into a bi of a chore since up until today I didn't really know what I should be asking for. Now I know it's reverse board and batten. Not a really good picture, but it'll do. Now I just have to find it!

Apple released details on the latest IPods today. Cool new IPod Touch and new Nano. The Video IPod is now the IPod Classic (didn't know you could be "classic" after a life of a year or so). Anyway, the IPod Touch looks really nice, based on the IPhone interface and sporting WiFi. Now you'll be able to download music anywhere you can get a WiFi signal and not have to wait until you can connect to your computer. I'm actually a bit surprised it's taken Apple this long to get to that point.

Speaking of Apple, I'm typing this on my new MacBook. Cool tool that I'm able to use for almost everything I do. What's nice is that I can play w/ Unix, Linux, Windows and Mac all from one machine. It's been years since I've played with a Mac and it's taking a bit of time to get used to the OS and the GUI, but I'm getting there.

Tam explains blogging

Tam who writes my favorite blog (she doesn't know me from Adam, but reading her blog inspired me to read and blog more) lays down some excellent blogging guidelines...

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All is right with the world...

College football season has started and the Good Guys won! Amazing defense with a bit of shallow offense and mix in some good special teams play and you have a recipe for a slaughter of stalwart Notre Dame.

The other team pulled off a victory too, but against who?? :)

Dark day for my friend Dan, though. Not sure how Michigan became the victim of the greatest upset in college football history, but somehow they did. Sorry Dan.

Just Damn

Sitting here at work, trying to figure out how to virtualize a physical server easily and without much pain (I don't think it's possible) listening to Suicidal Tendencies. I just decided to explore their music last week. Why'd I wait so long?

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Blogroll update

I've added a couple... Check 'em out.

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