I thoroughly enjoyed my first ever visit to Gateshead’s amazing International Stadium on Tuesday night, despite the howling wind and rain.

Three points and an immediate response to Saturday’s flop at Ebbsfleet were the most important things on the agenda and Stags produced both in the most bizarre of surrounds.

For the Stags fans who did go on Tuesday, standing out in the open at the mercy of the elements in that vast athetics bowl, I salute you.

For those who didn’t make it up there all I can say is that it was like attending a big cup final where no one has been told its happening.

It was like watching a reserve league match at Wembley!

From the press box at the back of the stand you needed binoculars to see the far side of the field which may as well have been over the other side of the adjacent Tyne in Newcastle for what you could see otherwise.

But it was worth the journey and cold to see Mansfield fight back valiantly after going behind against the run of play.

I, and many others, were disappointed by the Stags’ lack of attacking prowess in the final half hour in the Ebbsfleet defeat.

It was disappointing to twice go behind to a struggling club, but you could accept that, and even defeat, if we had stood up tall and fought back but been unable to find a way through.

However, at Ebbsfleet Stags gave the home keeper far too easy a last half hour and cannot complain at the criticism heaped on them (though suggestions from some fans that David Holdsworth should go were frankly laughable and disgraceful).

But all that was forgotten and forgiven four days later.

It was good to see three new goalscorers at Gateshead with so many problems for the club’s top three scorers. Big credit must to go Kyle Perry for having an injection on his thigh (I can’t imagine how much that might hurt) and turning in a brave, powerful display.

Andy Burgess was a class act on the night, Jon Challinor had his best game so far in a Stags shirt, getting into the box more times than any other midfielder we’ve had since Craig Disley, and Louis Briscoe once again looked a potent threat running at defenders.

I do apologise for the athletics puns in my Chad report and, in mitigation, can only tell you I opted not to use even cheesier ones I had thought of!

The night continued to be an enjoyable one after the game too.

I didn’t finish work at the ground until 10.30pm but had a bed and breakfast sorted nearby on the banks of the Tyne and gratefully spotted a pub en route called the Schooner.

I walked in as the only other customer was walking out at 10.40pm and wondered if I would get a beer but the landlord and ladlady were typically friendly locals who were more than happy to serve and chat to me. And they even had a local real ale on handpump. Heaven!

They told me they had served over 100 Stags fans earlier and, despite no chef, had managed to cater for their food and drink needs and enjoyed the company of the visiting fans. Don’t miss popping in there next time we play up there.

I chatted to pubowners Debra and Gordon for ages and they were great company while their local ale helped me get off to sleep after all the excitement of the 90 minutes.

Yesterday, I noticed tha Briscoe’s eye lashes were matted. But her eye didn’t look red, and it didn’t seem to be bothering her, so I decided it was probably just dust or allergies.

This morning her eye was much more matted, and upon closer inspection, swollen. So I called the vet to make sure they were open and to expect the fluffy puff shortly.

When I picked up her leash, Briscoe looked at me like a kid on Christmas morning and bolted for the door. She was so pumped. Once we got in the car she stuck her head out the window and soaked up the crisp autumn air. When we pulled up to the vet’s office, she started crying.

I took her inside, and stood at the counter. The girl behind the desk looked at me and said, ‘Just a minute,’ and looked behind me at a woman standing behind me.

The woman said, ‘I’m here to get Lucky.’

For some reason at 9 am this morning, the fact that this adult woman stated that she was at the vet to get Lucky struck me as absolutely hysterical. I almost lost it.

Then the girl handed her a box. Lucky was her deceased dog, who had been cremated and she was here to pick up his ashes. I was immediately not amused anymore.

Then I looked on the desk, and there was an identical box, but where the other said Lucky, this one said Justice. My mind heard, ‘I’m here for Justice!’

My heart heard that there is no Justice and nothing Lucky about the fact that our dogs won’t live as long as we do.

When they took Briscoe back and I had to leave she tried to leave with me and didn’t understand why I was abandoning her at such a scary place.

I’m trying to make it up to her. She doesn’t seem much worse for the wear.

It was sunny and warm here all of last week, which always make for an interesting Halloween.  I remember as a child either sweating to death in whatever huge costume I’d been damned and determined to wear, or freezing to death in whatever thin material had seemed absolutely necessary. 

Last Thursday night Kate and I made pumpkin sugar cookies.  We spent the first hour arguing about which cookie cutter we should be using, how thick the cookies should be and whether or not we had a better cookie cutter that had gotten lost at some point in time.  We spent the second hour trying to keep Trav from eating the pumpkins that had already come out of the oven.  It is amazing how long the whole process takes, and Kate had to ice them Friday while I was at work.  He is a serious cookie monster, capable of destroying three days of work in ten minutes.

The heat wave finally broke Saturday night.  Saturday afternoon I had on a tank top, jeans and flip flops and I was so hot, but by the time I headed home that night after it had poured down rain it was chilly.  Sunday was borderline cold, we had a tennis match, and it was the first bit of physical activity I’ve had in about three weeks.  I wasn’t too sore this morning, but I felt the muscle aches set in this afternoon, and I just took a fantastically hot bath.  I love a good bath.     

I washed a load of towels and sheets today, and it was in the dryer when I came home tonight.  It was cold outside and I was tired and a little depressed that it was basically dark when I left work this afternoon.  Daylight savings always comes as a bit of shock to me.  It takes me a few days to adjust to the early darkness, and in the beginning all I can think about is how it’s going to be dark for MONTHS before it gets light again.  I got the hot towels and blankets out of the dryer and sat with them on the couch for a few minutes.  The smell of clean laundry, coupled with the comforting warmth slowly soothed the tension of my day and I was happy.  Hot laundry is not something you can properly appreciate in the summer time here in Georgia, and I had to admit that winter time has a few perks, like thick socks and fun gloves and warm laundry and Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

I hope you all got to see the moon tonight.  It was one of the prettiest full moons I’ve ever seen.  I love a good bright moon. 

Oh, and we had a mouse in the house last week.  Yep, and since I don’t have a landlord to call and demand something be done about it, I had to do something about it.  I caught that stupid mouse in the snap mouse trap I bought.  I don’t feel as bad as I would have imagined, you know, killing a poor defenseless mouse with my tricky spring trap.  I did have a few passing thoughts about the disney Cinderella movie, and how Gus Gus gets caught in the trap and Cinderellie gets him out of the trap, and picks him out a shirt to wear and gets him a hat and some shoes.  Well, I’m fresh out of mouse shirts and hats and shoes.  You can call me the exterminator. 

Briscoe was the cutest pumpkin in America for Halloween.  I’ll post you a picture as soon as I get one from Libby, who is my historian for life because I am so bad at taking pictures and she is awesome at it.

Aunts Aren't Gentlemen

TYPE: Humour

RATING: 9/10

REVIEW:

As with all of the other Wodehouse books, this one didn’t fail to keep me laughing and at the edge of all the suspense. Bertram Wooster will remain his ever favorite character with Jeeves following in a close second.

The adventures of Bertie take him to Maiden Eggesford this time, ‘for a breath of fresh air’ as the doctor put it. This time, he has Aunt Dahlia for company, who recommended Maiden Eggesford in the first place. However, things take a turn when he finds that he also has company from Major Plank, a person he had tried to sell one of his Uncle Tom’s collectibles and had narrowly escaped by the ever-genius presence of Jeeves.

On the other hand, there seems to be another bit of trouble brewing up with respect to a special cat which a “rival” horse has seemed to start liking. Unfortunately, it is up to Bertie to separate the horse from the cat, at least till racing day. Since Bertie already seems to have made a nuisance of himself at the Cook house, this job gets difficult too and the plot thickens to something of a hilarious comedy.

A well written book as always; it takes your mind off the nasty stuff in life.

DESCRIPTION:

The Curious Case of the Maiden Eggesford Horror

When the doctor advises Bertie to live the quiet life, he and Jeeves head for the pure air and peace of Maiden Eggesford. However, they had not reckoned on Bertie’s irrepressible but decidely scheming Aunt Dahlia, around whom an imbroglio of impressive proportions develops involving The Cat Which Kept Popping Up When Least Expected. As Bertie observes, whatever aunts are, they are not gentlemen.

Sublime comic genius. — Ben Elton

O escocês voador, Dario Franchitti, venceu no sábado o GP de Homestead – Miami, e se sagrou campeão da temporada 2009 da fórmula Indy. Numa das decisões mais equilibradas dos últimos tempos Dario fez uma corrida extremamente tática e conquistou seu bicampeonato na categoria, superando Scott Dixon e Ryan Briscoe.

Uma vitória tática!

Franchitti largou na pole, mas levou a corrida num ritmo moderado dando chances para Briscoe e Dixon superá-lo poucas voltas após o início. Ambos passaram a imprimir um ritmo fortíssimo e travaram um duelo particular e bem equilibrado durante toda a prova enquanto Dario se mantinha no terceiro lugar, sem se distanciar nem ameaçá-los.

A prova transcorreu sem nenhum acidente e com os líderes pisando fundo – tanto que chegaram a colocar 1 volta em cima do 4º colocado.

A dez voltas do final Dixon e Briscoe precisaram de um “splash & GO” (pit-stop rápido apenas para o reabastecimento). Franchitti aproveitou então que seu ritmo moderado lhe proporcionou a economia de combustível e herdou a liderança, cruzando a linha de chegada em primeiro. Com isso, somou 616 pts e comemorou seu segundo título mundial. Dixon chegou em terceiro e assegurou o vice-campeonato, apenas 1 ponto à frente de Briscoe, o segundo colocado na prova.

Dario comemora a vitória em Miami com Dixon e Briscoe.

Entre os brasileiros: Tony Kanaan chegou em 4º, Castro Neves em 5º, Mario Moraes foi o 7º e Raphael Matos apenas o 14º.

No campeonato Matos foi o 13º, mas assegurou o prêmio de Estreante do Ano. Helinho ficou em 4º, Kanaan em 6º e Moraes em 14º.

________________________________________________________________

Acompanhe aqui, na próxima segunda, tudo sobre o Grande Prêmio Brasil de F1,  penúltima etapa da temporada 2009 da categoria!

Boa semana a todos.

Dario Franchitti heeft in de spannende afsluitende race op de Homestead-Miami Speedway de IndyCar titel 2009 gegrepen. Na een teleurstellend experiment in Nascar in 2008 heeft de 36-jarige Schot zijn terugkeer in de IndyCar Series met een tweede kampioenschapstitel kunnen bezegelen.

Eind augustus zag het er nochtans naar uit dat het kampioenschap in het voordeel van Penske rijder Ryan Briscoe zou beslecht worden. Na de race op Chicagoland had Briscoe zich comfortabel aan de leiding van het klassement genesteld, maar de Australiër speelde zijn riante puntenvoorsprong kwijt op Twing Ring Motegi met een onbegrijpelijke slipper bij het uitrijden van de pitlane. 

Op Homestead-Miami voerde Briscoe lange tijd het commando, maar het uitblijven van gele vlaggen dwongen Briscoe en titelrivaal Scott Dixon vijf ronden van het einde opnieuw de pits op te zoeken voor een splash-and-dash. Dario Franchitti kwam dankzij een andere brandstofstrategie aan de leiding en reed uiteindelijk als eerste onder de finishvlag door.

Voor Chip Ganassi Racing is 2009 een uiterst succesrijk seizoen geweest. Franchitti en Dixon pakten elk vijf overwinningen en eindigden respectievelijk als eerste en tweede in de eindstand. De dominantie van Ganassi en Penske is dit jaar overweldigend geweest. De twee renstallen kaapten alle overwinningen weg, met uitzondering van Watkins Glen waar Justin Wilson van het bescheiden Dale Coyne Racing zegevierde.

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Hoje às 18h (horário de Brasília) a Band transmitirá a última etapa da temporada 2009 da Indy, no oval de Homestead – Miami. O grid de largada tem Dario Franchitti na pole com Scott Dixon em 2º e Ryan Briscoe em 3º.

Dixon, Dario e Briscoe: um deles será campeão hoje!

Os três brigam pelo título do campeonato e a diferença entre eles está em apenas oito pontos: Dixon lidera com 570pts, Dario tem 566pts e Briscoe 562pts.

A parada é simples: Quem vencer a corrida leva os dois canecos!

Não perca essa emocionante disputa, às 18h na Band!

Right! I have a new side project! I have teamed up with Shane Ball from Nashville rockers The Goldroom to form this little number. I will be on beat production, Shane will be providing us some epic vocals and evil lyrics! Oh it sounds like such fun!

We both see this as being a good outlet for some of our dark, darker music, so you can expect all kinds of bold behaviour from us!!!!

Our first tune is up on Soundcloud now, you can check it out below.

I had great intentions of having lots of interesting and funny things to say tonight, but then I got really distracted by this blog – Strange Maps.   I love maps.  That, coupled with the fact that my laptop is on his last leg and the keyboard only works when tilted a little forward, has sort of zapped my creative energy. 

Briscoe is asleep next to me, dreaming of something, because her legs twitch every few moments, like she is running in her sleep.  She and I went on a walk today and she has been very full of herself ever since. 

Sometimes, when I’m browsing facebook, and I notice that someone has something really uncool on their profile, like a guy who lists the notebook as one of his favorite movies or lists hootie and the blowfish as one of his favorite bands (you know, those guilty pleasure books, movies, bands that most people secretly like but pretend like they don’t) I immediately wonder – Is this person really cool and confident in themselves and really doesn’t give a damn that they still listen to the first Hanson album and loves the indigo girls? Or, is this person just dweebie enough to have no idea?  Does this make me a judgmental bitch?  Really, I know people in both categories.  Either is a distinct possibility. 

Oh, I was going to post about Serena Williams and Kanye.  But I’m too tired now and I can pretty much sum it up with three letters.  Boo.  Wait, here is a longer word – Unacceptable.  Childish, immature, and sort of scary.  I feel bad for Venus, she seems much less of a diva and much cooler of a person.  I can’t believe that Serena said that she didn’t understand why the line judge felt threatened.  Really?  Serena is what, like 6′3?  She’s a really large, imposing figure.  But you know who isn’t?  Kanye.  Taylor Swift towered over him.  Do you think that is why he took the mic away from her?  Because she’s 5′11 and had on heels and he’s 5′7? 

Honestly, I’m just always disappointed when super stars misbehave and try to intimidate those around them.  I don’t like it when you pick on the little line judge or the 17 year old county music singer when you are the most imposing female tennis player ever and one of the biggest icons in the music industry.  It seems, tacky.  But I do like the way Beyonce handled it.  She is classy.  

On a happier, lighter note, fall is here.  The mornings have become consistently cool and the fall smells are here.  The warm afternoon intensifies the tea olives and the late jasmine, gardenias and hydragas.  The damp humid, cooler mornings smell of oak bark, fallen leaves and wet grass.  I’ve been drinking a lot of starbucks.  Coffee is so much more enjoyable when it doesn’t make you sweat. 

Sweet dreams children, Briscoe has now rolled over on her back and is snoring with all four feet in the air.  I think I will join her.  It is much easier to count sheep when you have a live one laying at your feet.

Coming into the 2009 season there are high hopes for Jayhawks to repeat their 2007 season success.  With a weak Out of Conference schedule, to go along with several teams in the Big 12 playing with a new QB, this ought to be a good year for the Jayhawks.   Looks like we will be seeing those My Coach can eat your coach shirts again.  Well we know he can eat them, just look at the man.  However, can he reach the plateau again like he did in 2007.

I am sure it is pretty safe to say that the offense will again be the key to success for the Jayhawks .  However, can the defense actually stop someone.    The first was an easy prediction, but the later is a complete toss up.   Especially, considering how they performed last year.

The offense will once again be ran by the All American Reesing, to go along with the 2 stalwart receivers in Meier and Briscoe.    Sharp will be back manning the RB position, but the running game for the most part was a pretty sore spot for the Jayhawks.  The biggest concern on offense will be replacing 3 starters on the OL, which is basically 4 considering their starting OT will be moving over to man the Center position.   Hopefully, the transition is smooth at Center, and the new Tackle can play.  However, one thing to be concerned about is the fact that Tanner Hawkinson weighs only 270, which is about the size of the majority of the DE’s he will be facing.   This could end up being a major issue for the Jayhawks, lucky for them Reesing is a great scrambler.  When you look at the other end of things the defense will be returning 7 players, with the Secondary being the strong hold for the D this year, as all returning starters will be back.  The bad news is that the entire Linebacker corp will need to be replaced, and that will be a tough order to replace when your dealing with the likes of All Americans and All Conference players that will need to be replaced.     The front 4 will lose 1 starter, which should be very beneficial for the protection of Linebackers from the opposing lineman.

I will say that I believe this can be a great year for the Jayhawks, as things really do sit pretty for them.  The Jayhawks will be 5 and 0 by the time they play at Colorado, and although they are playing on the road in a tough place they should win this one.  Texas Tech is another team they play on the road at and it will be interesting to see how they play with the loss of Harrell and Crabtree.  KSU should be relatively weak, and having Nebraska and Missouri at home should lead to wins.   Some will probably think I have gone off the deep end, but I can easily see the fighting Manginos coming in with a 10 and 2 season.   However, if certain things aren’t addressed, then it might end up a 8 and 4 or 7 and 5 season.   Though, 8 and 4 will probably be the worst case scenario.

OH Snap! I’m been working, bloating, drinking, twisting and all those other fun things that keep you away from the computer but I’m back with a nice little serving of dank videos for your enjoyment. First let’s hit it off with a little classic stunting from my favorite dboys…

The Clipse- I’m Good (feat. Pharrell)

Lil Boosie- Better Believe ( feat. Young Jeezy)

Brisco Getting Robbed

Warm ATL Welcome

Ok kids, we are live and go.

Awful fricken start. Awful fricken restart.

Mario Moraes up 8 spots by lap 3.

woah! Carpenter is racey! 7 positions gained and a battle with Moraes.

Dixon running his own race. Briscoe catching Franchitti, with Helio close in tow.

Moraes up to 6th.

Are they using “the button”? NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!! But it’s would appear that some are or have.

According to the broadcast, Carpenter is using ALL of the available new options for the oval aero package.

Scheckter in the pits. They disconnected the rollbar and torked 3 turns out of the wing, Scheckter is loose an unhappy with that car.

Briscoe continues to stalk Dixon, while the pit window opens.

OH clusterfuckage in the pits!
Conway & Moraes into it. No replays yet, but conway’s front wing is toast and Moraes was ass backwards on pitlane.

Dixon managed to stay out an extra lap and maintain the lead.
Both Penske cars came in at the same time, Briscoe got out ahead. (despite Helio lighting up the tires in an attempt to get out first…LOL)

saw the replay. bad calls all around there. Looked like both Conway and RHR got into Moraes as he was entering his pit stall.

um… Carpenter is up to 3rd. ?!?!

Woah, Franchitti got waaaaaaaaaay high and almost kissed the wall. Dropped way back.

Lap 66: Dixon, Briscoe, Carpenter(!!!), Castroneves, Kanaan, Patrick, Franchitti, Andretti, Rahal, Power.

Bobby D in 17th racing Franchitti (7th) hard

Tidbit: Power has not used the button to this point (lap 74) (he is in 10th)

Twinkletoes and Carpenter battling for 3rd. Let’s hope that Helio plays nice. (hmmm… apparently that is exactly what he is going to do, according to his radio) (at least until it comes to the last couple of laps)

Sir Jackie Stewart in da house!! He is awesome!! (spilling the Penske secrets over the air though)

Lap 92: we are warned that the second fuel window is coming up.
At the same time Briscoe and Dixon are coming up on traffic.

RHR: Briscoe high, Dixon low split. Advantage Briscoe

Mutoh: Mutoh dives down pit entry, B & D side by side

Carpenter in out clean. (just misses Rahal on his pit in… zoinks)

Briscoe forced Dixon to burn off fuel, Dixon blinked, ducked in for fuel first.

Lap 107: Briscoe leads Dixon.

Bad news for Bobby D: couldn’t get right rear tire off, drive pins pulled off, now can’t get tire back on. Could be the end of his night.

Lap 121 yellow out. why? who knows.
uh oh, Wilson is having issues. Smoke coming out of his car (he’s the reason for the yellow)

He’s in the pits, seriously smoking, over the radio he said he “tried to pull up and it wouldn’t go” or something to that effect.

The iron hand of justice has come down on Matos. Improper Pit entry or somethingl. Has to drop back in formation, and has a drive through coming up…

Power takes them to the green (stayed out) Dixon jumps the green, falls back on his own, Briscoe gets waaaaaaaaaay high, skims the wall about as close as you can without touching. Carpenter (!!!!) up to second on the restart. Challenging Power for the lead now!

Carpenter is holding his own with Power, Kanaan and Castroneves battle for 3rd. (Castroneves took fuel only on this stint to gain position)

The race is getting racy finally! (up to now, the Lights race had kicked the IndyCar races ass) Apparently the new aero stuff is working like it was meant to. No idea whether the push to pass thing is working as we have no really idea if anyone is actually using and/or when.

5 leaders, 14 lead changes by Lap 154.

Power getting ready to come in for the pits. Almost drove into the wrong pits… oops. In and out clean. Back out in 11th.

Ed Carpenter is leading (legitimately) the race now. (looks around for swarm of locusts…)

Lap 169: Carpenter, Castroneves, Briscoe, Kanaan, Rahal, Franchitti, Dixon, Patrick, Andretti, Wheldon

Kanaan up to 2nd! Woot

Final stops coming up:
Carpenter into the pits. Not a full fuel, tires. (7seconds)
Kanaan (6 seconds)
Dixon in (fuel only)
Penskes both in both out. Briscoe wins the battle

20 laps to go, Carpenter leads. Kanaan second, Dixon 3rd

The deciding factor could come down to who had the most push to pass in the final laps…. This could be interesting.

Kanaan is gaining on Ed big time. oops… now he’s dropped back. Briscoe is all over his ass now. Kanaan behind.

Woah!!! Helio pushes it too hard and goes waaaaaaaaaaaay high to the outside, dropping back to 5th…

Holy Schnikey!!

Yay for Ed Carpenter! Yay for Briscoe for finally getting the win!

“I could cry, we were so close to that win” – Ed Carpenter
Briscoe may hoist the trophy, but Ed was tonight’s big winner!

Lindy: What was going through your mind in that last lap?
Briscoe: “50 points baby!”

LOL! that’s what I like about Briscoe. He thinks about the points, but he actually races for them!

and how about TK? Finally a good race for him.

What the hell happened to the Ganassi boys?

Ok… gotta go write this thing up. Be back later …

This has been a very interesting week.  In some ways, I have finally been able to settle back down into a schedule and get my life together.  There is still a lot of stuff that needs to be done at my house, but my second roommate Erin is moving in this weekend, and this is pushing me to get a lot of things sorted out now.  There is always something else that needs fixing.  Luckily, I have some really awesome people in my life.   

Last week I mentioned to Justin that I needed to borrow his lawnmower to cut my grass.  Brice let me borrow his lawnmower last time, but the Wright family was out of town and my lawn was really starting to thrive.  When I came home from work on Thursday, sweet Justin was at my house and had just finished mowing the lawn and edging and was about to roundup the walkway.  It was super, super nice of him. 

The rest of this story is pretty funny, so try to stay with me.  Libby was in town, so we went to the Thirsty Thursday baseball game and ended up coming back and sitting on the front porch for a little while before going to sleep.  Libby slept in the guest room downstairs, and was driving her dad’s car.  Libby would have normally stayed at her parents house, but she wanted to wake up and do P90X with Sara and Kirby on Friday morning at the crack of dawn (because they are XTREME) and Bryan’s flight got into the airport at like 8. 

Natalie was out on a narcotics raid in Harrisburg (I know that sounds hilarious, but she’s an ADA, and anyway, apparently it’s really fun to go on narcotic raids), so she didn’t get home until after we went to sleep.  I guess I had neglected to tell her that Libby might spend the night.  So I wake up in the morning and I have a text from natalie from 1 am that says, THERE IS SOMEONE IN OUR HOUSE.  And then by the time Natalie woke up on friday, Libby was already gone.  I felt really bad that I might have scared Natalie, but she swears she wasn’t freaked out, and once she saw libby’s toothbrush in the bathroom she figured it was okay. 

Ultimately the weirdest thing that has happened this week is that it has been cool outside.  Last night we went to dinner after tennis, and we left dinner, we were all cold.  Granted, we all had on our ridiculous looking tennis outfits, but still.  In Augusta, in July, you should be able to be in a bathing suit at any hour of the night and day and not be cold.  A wet bathing suit at that.  Normally it’s 90 degrees at midnight.  Recently, it hasn’t reached 90 degrees at 3 pm. 

Speaking of tennis, I’ve decided one of my favorite things about tennis is the fact that you get to wear ridiculous outfits that would be inappropriate anywhere else but are totally appropriate on the tennis court.  It is amazing how much I enjoy wearing tennis skirts.  My tennis shoes are a little clunky, but what can you do. 

The biggest problem of my life right now is that I can’t get up in the morning.  I would happily go to sleep at 9:30 at night if it meant I could wake up refreshed at 6:30.  But I can’t go to sleep at 9:30.  My body won’t let me.  And forget getting up at 6:30, I can barely drag myself out of bed at 7:30.  I  don’t lack will power in any other part of my life, I have a good bit of self control, and I work hard at life.  But I CAN NOT GET OUT OF BED.  It is a real problem.  My body wants to sleep from 2 am to 10 am, and not from 11 to 7.  Sigh.  Oh well.  I think I’ve been working out too late at night. 

Briscoe got her hair all shaved off last week, and she looks like a little lamb.  She also looks kind of fat.  It’s impossible to tell when she has long hair, but when she gets her hair all cut off, she seems to become a little self conscious of her figure.  Natalie made up a new song for Briscoe’s hair cut.  It goes something like this -

Bobby had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, Bobby had a little lamb who’s puffy, fluffy and white!

Robert Doornbos ziet zijn kansen op deelname aan de 500 mijl van Indianapolis zienderogen verkleinen na twee zware crashes net voor de eerste kwalificaties. De NHL-rijder reed tijdens de vrije trainingen op Fast Friday en op Pole Day twee Dallara’s in de prak en ziet alvast de 22 beste startplaatsen aan zijn neus voorbijgaan. Volgend weekend krijgt Doornbos een laatste kans om zich te kwalificeren voor de 93ste editie van de legendarische race.

De Rotterdammer had nochtans een sterke indruk gelaten tijdens de rookie orientation sessions eerder deze week. In zijn kennismaking met de roemruchte Brickyard toonde Doornbos zich de snelste van de nieuwkomers en moest hij enkel de ‘refreshers’ Paul Tracy en Scott Sharp voorlaten. Doornbos wordt in zijn eerste Indy 500 avontuur bijgestaan door tweevoudig winnaar Arie Luyendyk.

Pole Day werd volledig gedomineerd door het Penske team met Helio Castroneves op pole en Ryan Briscoe op de tweede startplek. Chip Ganassi piloten Dario Franchitti en Scott Dixon starten respectievelijk vanop plek drie en vijf, met tussen hen in Doornbos’ ploegmaat Graham Rahal. In totaal strijden veertig ingeschreven deelnemers om drieëndertig beschikbare startplaatsen.

Briscoe sure does love snow.

And that’s a good thing because we might get 6 inches of the white stuff.

Inspired by a recent Craftstylish post on dog toys made out of sweaters, Lynn and I decided to get crafty on Sunday. She brought over her sewing machine; I borrowed one from another friend. We hit up Goodwill for some sweaters and Mangelson’s for some fill. When we went to PetSmart for the squeakies, we were disappointed to learn that they were all sold out!  The salesgirl said they very rarely sell but that a women had just been in and bought them all. (She must be a Craftstylish reader, too!)

Off to work we went without the squeakies–and only one of us knew how to use a sewing machine. Can you guess who??

So our bones didn’t exactly look like bones when we were finished, but we had a fun afternoon chatting and crafting. In the end, Briscoe was happy to play with his new toy–and isn’t that really what it’s all about?

(via smosch.com)

PetSmart was having a 50% off sale on dog apparel, so I picked up a sweater and a jacket for the little man the other day. Don’t want him to be cold now that he’s without half of his fur coat!

Surprisingly, he was not too happy to model these fashionable new garments. It took forever to get him to stand still to take these shots.

]]> http://somewhereinmiddleamerica.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/briscoes-day-of-beauty-2/ Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:27:00 +0000 PJ http://somewhereinmiddleamerica.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/briscoes-day-of-beauty-2/

Briscoe had his second grooming appointment yesterday, this time with Lori at Pet Grooming by Audrey in Omaha. I was so pleased with the results! See for yourself:

Of course I immediately sent photos of Briscoe’s new ‘do to J, and he surprised me by expressing a bit of disappointment. “He looks like a Bichon Frise and not a Maltese,” he complained about Briscoe’s face. Truthfully, I hadn’t noticed, but next time we’ll talk to Lori about how to make the cut more Maltese-looking and less Bichon if it makes J feel better. I think he’s worried that Briscoe looks like a prissy dog instead of a manly one–but he’s only a puppy!

I woke up this morning with Britney Spears’ “Womanizer” in my head and a puddle of pee on my BlissLiving duvet cover.  The pee did not come from me, obviously.  I let the puppy sleep on my bed last night because he was barking from the floor when I was trying to fall asleep, and I thought he’d calm down if he was in my comfy king-sized cocoon.  He (and his bladder) must have have gotten too comfortable at some point in the night.

In a panic I called my mother and asked her what I was supposed to do with a urine stain (it leaked through to my down comforter). She reminded me that pee is mostly water, and that everyone has accidents — animals AND humans. (Note to self: No babies anytime soon.) I rubbed stain remover into the duvet and the comforter and stuck them (separately) in the washing machine. Fingers crossed the stains come out.

Lesson learned: No animals on the bed at night. Even adorable little puppies named Briscoe.

(image source)

Yesterday was something of a disaster.  My flight got in from New York late Sunday night, and I was exhausted when I woke up Monday morning.  In order to stay in bed for three more minutes I checked out the weather on my phone.  The weather channel said it was FOGGY, but only a 10% chance of rain.  I assumed this meant it was going to be foggy in the morning and clear up later, and it wasn’t going to rain. 

I was in a huge rush, and the dogs were being absolutely ridiculous in the backyard, so I threw them both a rawhide, put their water outside, and left them in the fog. 

Work was a little hectic, and I was busy, so I didn’t really think much about what was going on outside, other than to observe that it was still foggy.  Around 11:45 I checked the weather again, and it said – Light Rain.  And I got a little concerned. 

I looked out the window, and realized that although the rain was very light, it had been falling for a long time.  Which meant the dogs had been playing in the rain for hours.  Um.  I’m an idiot. 

I rushed home, to find two very wet, very muddy, VERY happy puppies.  Briscoe was a dark brown color and the white parts of Grayson were no longer visible.  And they were SOAKING.  I changed out of my work clothes, dragged them both through the house to my bathroom as quickly as possible, and gave them both a bath.  They both have winter haircuts, which basically means they have four to five times more hair now than they do in the summer.  It is amazing how much water their coats can hold.  And every bit of it was sopping with dirt.  It was a river of mud in the bathtub, and they were both ticked that I cut short their fun play time to give them the dreaded bath. 

After the baths, I had to wash the seventeen towels that were necessary in this task, and scrub muddy puppy paw prints off the floor of the kitchen and the rest of the house.  If you don’t wash dogs, you might not know this, but leaning over to wash two dogs does something painful to my hamstrings, and causes them to tremble, for hours.   I threw my work clothes back and rushed back to work.  Needless to say my hair left something to be desired on a professional standard yesterday afternoon. 

Since this was not the relaxing lunch I had been looking forward to, the rest of my afternoon was a blur.  I guess you could say a Foggy blur.  Cause, it’s still foggy, even today. 

But I did go to the trouble to go to the grocery so I could make soup last night.  Soup is awesome, cause you cook everything in the same pot and then put that pot in the fridge, and there is nothing to wash!  I can’t tell you how happy I was to sit on the couch last night with a glass of red wine  and two clean puppies, while my soup simmered and I watched all the television my DVR had saved for me.  It almost made me appreciate the almost disastrous day.  As I scratched Grayson’s ear, I realized he was still wet from his bath, but I let him stay on the couch anyway. 

Sigh.  And now it’s Tuesday.