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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