Stuff

A disappointing day for horse racing...

     As promised I watched the Belmont Stakes yesterday and was so very disappointed to hear that I'll Have Another had a small tear in the ligament of his left fore leg.  As hard a decision  as it was, the best thing for the horse was to scratch him from the race and being that the vet said that it would take a year for it to heal properly, the owner and trainer decided to retire him to stud.  Ah well, it would have worse to watch him break down and hey, being a stud can't be all that bad, can it?

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Some things that I have to address...

     I've received a few emails from a couple of my faithful followers (you're actually still here?) that have expressed concern about me.  I thank you, I really am fine.  I just had a real shit-load of stuff come down on me all of a sudden that really shouldn't be addressed in this forum (especially when you're hunting a new job), the interwebs aren't a good place to express what the hell  happened but we're good now. :)

I started a new job with a company that does high voltage distribution as an estimator and it's been a steep learning curve for me but it's interesting.  I've been out to potential sites with a couple of the field guys to look at jobs and they're very personable and extremely knowledgeable about their trade and never look at me like I've just asked a stupid question.  They know where I come from and one of the project managers told me that one of them has a lot of respect for me.  Wow, I've only been there for 3 months.  The office staff get along very well and there doesn't seem to be too much office politics going on (some is always inevitable), so I'm pretty happy there.  Now to pull myself out of the financial hole that I'm in.

     The company that I'm with has a pretty strict internet policy, so I don't have the chance to even check my personal email at work, never mind post here.  Not to worry though, I try to catch up with you on the weekends but y'all are so productive that anything that I would like to comment on is already old and I've missed the conversation.  I AM lurking, but wading through over 100 emails and all of your posts Saturday mornings keeps me hopping.

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The knee...

     Yes, it's still attached to my body.  I finally got in to see the sports medico in March and he poked and prodded, flexed and extended, twisted and turned, and because it took so long to get in to see him, it was inconclusive (of course!).  So now we go for x-rays (which will also be inconclusive)and we're also scheduled for an MRI, in January, a full 13 months after my injury.  At least I'm off the sticks, but I won't be running the stairs any time soon.

     So there's not really much that's new or news worthy there.

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The Treatment...

     I've been having hot flashes (my friend's mother calls them 'power surges').  Yes, I'm old enough for that, and I've come up with a treatment that works wonders for those mid-night biggies.  You know the ones that start around mid calf level and roll up your body like waves breaking on the beach until the crest wave rolls over you face (Not fun while trying to apply yer makeup in the morning).

1. Flip covers back over dog.
2. Drag sweaty carcass out of bed.  Swim out if necessary.
3. Stop in ensuite and use the facilities (us old gals need to do that at least once in the night).
4. Wander down the hall to the kitchen in the dark (don't want to blast yer eyeballs with light).
5. Grab pint-sized promotional Budweiser glass from wherever you left it.
6. Fill with water out of the refridgerator (beer would work too, but not during the week).
7. Slug about 8 -10 swallows, refill and carry back to bed to help alleviate any new ones.
8. Wander back to bed.
9. External temp lowered from packing sweaty carcass around the house.
10. Internal temp lowered from slugging back 1/2 pint of very cold water.
11. Bed temp lowered from covers being flipped back.

Voila.

More on the talented Mario Gutierrez

Willes: Mario Gutierrez’s story already beyond any fairytale

 

 

By Ed Willes, The Province May 19, 2012 

Fans of Vancouver jockey Mario Gutierrez watch him race to victory in the Preakness on the big screen at Hastings Park on Saturday.

Photograph by: Les Bazso , PNG

Shortly after the race that changed Mario Gutierrez’s life — Part 1 — Glen Todd told the jock Hollywood would come calling for him.
And he wasn’t talking about Hollywood Park.
But even Todd, who had a front-row seat for the amazing journey of the young rider, was having trouble processing the second act of the most remarkable horse-racing story of this year, last year or any year going back to Secretariat.
Saturday in Baltimore, Gutierrez, the jockey who was making $125 a week as an apprentice in Mexico City six years ago and who was stuck out at Hastings Racecourse as recently as last year, rode I’ll Have Another to victory at the Preakness.
The win, which came two weeks after its equally improbable win in the Kentucky Derby, gives the Windsor-based horse a chance to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.
He’ll also try to become the 12th horse in racing history to win the Crown. This will happen in three weeks at The Belmont.
Those, at least, are the facts of the story.
As for the details, the best writer on his best day would have trouble crafting this narrative.
“It’s unbelievable,” Todd said at Hastings with the grandstand still shaking with excitement.
“You can’t believe it. It’s like Mario said, ‘If this is a dream, don’t wake me up.’
“But I had faith. Everything is falling into place. It’s like you know the result before it happens. He’s going to win the Triple Crown. I know it.”
And who would doubt him at this point?
Saturday, in virtual replay of the Derby, Gutierrez and his horse ran down the favored Bodemeister, catching him over the final 100 yards and winning by a neck. Three thousand miles away, the crowd of 10,000 at Hastings were on its feet for the entire race and exploded as the chestnut crossed the finish line.
“This is the greatest thing to happen to us,” said Wayne Russell, the senior steward who’s been at the Vancouver track since 1963.
“This is the most unbelievable shot in the arm.”
Gutierrez was back at Hastings shortly after his win at The Derby. He still calls Russell, Poppa Wayne. You can’t make this stuff up.
“He’s like Bobby Orr,” Todd said of Gutierrez. “He’s gifted. The horse knows. The last guy I could see do that with his hands was (Hall of Fame jockey) Bill Shoemaker.
“This is something else. It’s like coming out of the Mexican (baseball) league to Nat Bailey to Game 7 of the World Series in one year.”
And it just keeps getting better.
Todd, the leading owner at Hastings, snapped up Gutierrez when he came to Vancouver six years ago and now considers him part of his extended family. He was there when the young jock struggled with his early success — “I said, ‘You’re not going down that road and he listened. He was there when Gutierrez emerged as the top rider at Hastings. And he was there when he moved to Los Angeles to race in the big leagues.
He’s seen it all. But it still seems surreal; still seems too good to be true. In the run-up to The Preakness, Todd had race fans making a pilgrimage to his joint, The Derby Bar and Grill, to bet fifty bucks on the, “Canadian kid.”

He received a five-page letter from an elderly women in Victoria, telling him how much Gutierrez’s win had meant to her. She didn’t have a computer or access to e-mail, but somehow tracked him down after she heard Todd’s interview on CBC.
“I’m not an emotional man, but I’ve tears in my eyes a few times in the last couple of weeks,” Todd said.
He hasn’t been alone. A week after winning the Derby, Gutierrez returned to his former track and broke down at the outpouring of emotion. On Saturday, Todd said he’ll have him back before The Belmont.
“It seemed to work last time,” he said.
“It’s a fairy-tale story, but it’s real,” Todd continued. “Why shouldn’t it go on? He has the horse. And the best part about this? It won’t change Mario. He’ll be able to drive a more expensive car, but he won’t change.”
Even if everything around him does change.

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Willes+Mario+Gutierrez+story+already+beyond+fairytale/6650877/story.html#ixzz1vQ3HIjbA

Now THIS was a hehelluva horse race

It's been kind of a tradition in my family to watch the Derby every year and this year's race was a real thriller.  I'll Have Another won it and I was thrilled because of his Canadian connections.  Jockey Mario Gutierrez left Mexico and rode at Hastings Park in Vancouver imagine how thrilling it would be to be a total unknown, pick up a ride in the Derby and jump out and win it.  This vid is of the Derby.  Just  watch how Mario sits chilly and sends I'll Have Another at just the right time.  WOW!

Of course after that thriller I just HAD to watch The Preakness, and it did not disappoint.  For a while it looked like Bodemeister, trained by long time big guy at the track Bob Baffert, had it but then along came I'll Have Another to take it away in the last few yards.  It was so exciting I was yelling at the TV for Mario to send him, send him, send him, go baby, go baby, GO BABY!

Canadian-owned I’ll Have Another wins Preakness

 

 

By Richard Rosenblatt, Associated Press 

I'll Have Another, left, ridden by Mario Gutierrez, moves up as they enter the stretch to challenge Bodemeister, right on the rail, ridden by Mike Smith, and Creative Cause, center, ridden by Joel Rosario, during the 137th Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 19, 2012, in Baltimore. I'll Have Another won the race.

Photograph by: Garry Jones, AP Photo

BALTIMORE — Canadian-owned I’ll Have Another waited a little longer to catch Bodemeister in the stretch this time, and now that he’s done it twice in a row it’s time for a Triple Crown try in the Belmont Stakes.

With a breathtaking closing rush, the smooth-striding colt won the Preakness Stakes by a neck at Pimlico Race Course on a sunny Saturday, a nail-biter of a finish that topped his win two weeks ago in the Kentucky Derby.

The race unfolded the same way as the Derby, with the speedy Bodemeister moving to the lead under Mike Smith, with I’ll Have Another hanging back in fourth in the 11-horse field. The early fractions were slower than the Derby, but when it came time for Bodemeister to hang on, I’ll Have Another found another gear under young jockey Mario Gutierrez and ran down trainer Bob Baffert’s horse in the shadow of the wire.

“We’re thinking Triple Crown, baby,” an elated trainer Doug O’Neill said. “He’s a special horse. We’ll see how he comes out of it, and if he comes out of it in good shape, we’re heading to New York, baby.”

I’ll Have Another is owned by J. Paul Reddam, a native of Windsor, Ont., but the Canadian connection doesn’t end there. Gutierrez trained at Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver for six years.

“I knew it was a long stretch and I have to say there was a point I didn’t think we were going to get there,” Reddam said. “Bodemeister was running his guts out. It was a fantastic race. I didn’t feel confident we were going to get there until we were ten yards from the wire.”

It’s been 34 years since Affirmed swept the Derby, Preakness and Belmont and became the 11th and most recent Triple Crown champion. Since then, 11 horses have won the first two legs only to come up short in the Belmont. The most recent try came in 2008, when Big Brown was pulled up around the turn for home and did not finish. Before that, Smarty Jones was run down in the final 70 yards by Birdstone in the 2004 Belmont.

“I haven’t thought past today,” Reddam said. “We’ll just roll one day at a time and hopefully the horse is doing well out of the race. It’s going to get crazy and I’m going to try and keep everyone’s feet on the ground.”

With the two victories thrusting the colourful and controversial O’Neill squarely into the limelight, scrutiny is sure to intensify about his violations for giving his horses improper drugs. He was fined $1,000 and suspended 15 days in one incident. He is contesting another.

“We know we play by the rules,” O’Neill said. “It’s all about the horse, and we’re just going to focus on the horse.”

If margins are an indication, perhaps I’ll Have Another has a Triple Crown in his future. Affirmed won the Derby by the identical 1 1/2 lengths over Alydar, and then beat his rival by the same neck margin in the Preakness.

I’ll Have Another, sent off as the second choice at 3-1 over 8-5 favourite Bodemeister, covered the 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.94. The winner returned $8.40, $3.80 and $2.80. Bodemeister returned $3.20 and $2.80, and Creative Cause paid $3.60 to show.

Creative Cause was third, 8 3/4 lengths behind hard-luck runner-up Bodemeister, followed by Zetterholm, Teeth of the Dog, Optimizer, Cozzetti, Tiger Walk, Daddy Nose Best, Went the Day Well and Pretension.

Baffert, a five-time Preakness winner, thought his colt — named for his 7-year-old son, Bode — could pull off the win.

“I felt really good about where he was,” Baffert said. “I really thought he was going to do it. The winner is a good horse. He should get the respect now that he deserves.”

The chestnut colt has never been favoured in any of his seven races, but won five of them along with $2,693,600 after he was purchased by Reddam for $35,000 on the advice of O’Neill’s brother, Dennis.

“He showed he’s the real deal. He’s a real race horse. He gutted it out,” Reddam said. “The other horse was not stopping. He ran a bang-up race, to come and catch him, how can you criticize that? For those who have followed the horse and bet on him, that’s been pretty rewarding. I don’t know if that will be the case next time, though.

Gutierrez displayed the calm and cunning of a veteran.

“It’s not me, it’s him. It’s all about the horse,” the 25-year-old jockey from Mexico said. “He just keeps proving people wrong. I’m so happy for him because he’s such a great horse. He has a tremendous kick in the end.”

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

Read more: http://www.canada.com/sports/Canadian+owned+Have+Another+wins+Preakness/6650820/story.html#ixzz1vPpBn5s1

Not the best video, but the best of the ones that were available.  Please try to disregard the 'canned' whinnies in it.  Why do people do that?

And now you know what I'll be watching come June.......................

Stolen off the FB

Insert Niki and Jazz in the above.  I have a shot kinda like this one that hasn't been developed yet, I'll have to get right on that.

Dad delivers bulletproof parenting lesson

From today's op/ed pages.  
Well said Ms. Lakritz.  I watched the whole video of his message to her.  My daddy raised me up to respect my elders and what this guy did is the BEST.

I like what Tommy Jordan did. So do 74 per cent of MSNBC’s Today readers in a poll. So does David Code, an Anglican minister from State College, Pa., who writes about parenting, who was on CBC Calgary’s Eyeopener program Tuesday morning. So, too, according to Jordan, do the local police who showed up at his place with a social worker, and who reportedly lauded him for teaching his child a lesson.

Jordan is the North Carolina dad who discovered that his 15-year-old daughter, Hannah, had dissed her parents disgracefully on her Facebook page because of the household chores they insist she do.

He delivered his own video lecture to Hannah, which ended with him pulling a gun out and shooting her laptop several times. Then, he posted his video on YouTube, where it really took off.

Jordan did it because he was fed up with his daughter’s sense of entitlement — she didn’t want to do chores, but she wanted her parents to give her all the electronic toys her heart desired. And she resented their message that if you want to buy something, go get a job and earn the money for it yourself.

Jordan could have taken a pass on the typical American penchant for using guns. He could have locked up Hannah’s laptop at his office or ditched it somewhere. But everything else he did and said was right on.

Jordan has stopped talking to the media. He says he doesn’t want to send Hannah “the message that it’s OK to gain from something like this. It would send her a message that it’s OK to profit at the expense of someone else’s embarrassment or misfortune and that’s not how I was raised, nor how she has been raised.”

In the video, he says to Hannah, “I don’t know how to say how disappointed I am in you, how disrespectful you were to every single adult in your life ... I’m going to put a stop to it right now.” He then tells her that whenever she’s not grounded, she can buy her own laptop, and repay him for the software he had just installed on her computer prior to discovering her Facebook message.

“Hope you’ve enjoyed your little fiasco on Facebook. Hope it was worth all this,” he adds. “Have a good day, y’all.”

Code told CBC that while he “kinda” wishes Jordan would lose the gun, because it was “a bit over the top,” he’s grateful for Jordan bringing to light the message that “we have to acknowledge our current parenting strategy is not working.”

Code said parents have bought into the myth that the more attention they give their kids, the better the kids will turn out. To make the child happy, Code said, “parents are just killing themselves to create a Disney World around their child ... Where are the results?” Kids are “more sullen, more demanding,” with more mental and physical problems than they used to have.

“Children are like dogs; either you train them, or they’re going to train you,” Code said, adding parents need “to teach kids the world does not revolve around them.”

Consequences have been such a dirty word for so long, that it’s truly refreshing to see a parent mete them out the way Jordan has. Equally refreshing is Jordan’s unabashed use of plain language such as “disappointed in you” and “disrespectful” instead of pussyfooting around with sticky-sweet euphemisms like “inappropriate behaviour” or “making the wrong choice for yourself.”

As for those who are publicly expressing their fears that Hannah’s self-esteem is in ruins, they need to be reminded that self-esteem comes from doing for oneself, not from being told you’re special just because you inhale and exhale every day.

I’m willing to bet that one day, when she’s grown, Hannah will look back on this incident and thank her father for teaching her about discipline, responsibility, a work ethic and respect for authority. It’s gratifying to see Jordan give old-fashioned parenting a much-needed boost — and give the cult of self-esteem a well-placed boot in the rear. Who knows? Maybe it’ll catch on. That can only be for the good.

OK, this is cool

Some of my faithful will remember me writing about John Ware in my road trip post.  Now there's this out of today's paper.

Stamp honours iconic Alberta cowboy John Ware

CALGARY — Canada Post is recognizing an iconic cowboy and pioneer rancher John Ware with a commemorative stamp.

It’s one of two stamps issued to celebrate Black History Month. The other one is a tribute to Viola Desmond, a civil rights beacon in Nova Scotia.

“(John Ware’s) name has come up several times,” said Joy Parks, a researcher with Canada Post. “When we delved into the story a little bit more, and found the connection to the Stampede, it was just the perfect year to do this with the centennial this year.”

Ware was born into slavery in South Carolina circa 1845, working cotton fields as a child.

He was freed following the American Civil War and eventually made his way to the foothills of Alberta in 1882.

He established a ranch and started competing as a steer wrestler, winning the event at the 1893 Calgary Fair. Ware helped pioneer rodeo techniques that would become staples of the Stampede.

When he died in 1905, Ware’s funeral was one of the biggest Calgary had ever seen.

Significantly, the stamp of Ware, designed by Victoria-based artist Lara Minja, contains an image of the deed to his land.

“He hadn’t been a free man for very long, and to own land as a free man is definitely a milestone in his life,” Parks said.

Desmond’s stamp recognizes her plight to fight segregation-style laws in Nova Scotia that led to her spending a night in jail and being charged with fraud after sitting in a whites only section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow on Nov. 8, 1946.

The fraud charge stemmed from the one-cent difference in price between the white section and the racially-based secondary seating area.

She was pardoned posthumously in 2010.

This is the fourth year Canada Post has issued a pair of Black History Month stamps, which have become popular with collectors.

Although Ware died before the Calgary Stampede was launched, his achievements as a cowboy and rancher tie in with this year’s centennial celebrations.

A stamp celebrating the centennial will come out later this year.

Calgary playwright, author and historian Cheryl Foggo said she’s delighted Ware is being recognized by Canada Post.

“He was kind of a larger than life figure,” said Foggo. “He was so skilled as a horseman, and a cattleman, and a businessman and a people person. He’s very deserving of being honoured with a stamp.

“And It’s a really good way of raising awareness. I’m always surprised by the people I meet who still haven’t heard about him, even though there’s been a lot written about him.”

smyers@calgaryherald.com

Read more: 

Stuff

Between the pain in my knee and the beloved hot flashes, I've been awake since 2.  At 5, I said f*** it and decided to just get up.  Already read the paper, did the LA Times crossword and played a silly computer game.  Now what?

Let's see.
Went to physio Friday morning and told David that I really pay for visiting with him in the afternoon and the next day; my knee swells up and gets really hot, so he told me to just get on the bike and not to do the other exercises that he had me doing.  Poor guy's really pissed that I still haven't heard form the sports medico and is about ready to rip a strip off someone.  I don't blame him.  Patience is not my long suit either.  But then, the horror stories that I've heard about how long people have to wait for an MRI have me expecting to still be on the sticks come July.  David and I seem to be making progress with my knee.  I think I could probably get into a pair of jeans now.  I've been living in sweats and yoga pants since I hurt myself.  Not my preferred attire, I'll tell ya.
Friday afternoon I had an appointment with Dr. Anna, the needle-in-the-eye doctor. So  hauled my sorry old carcass downtown (did I tell you how much I absolutely hate downtown Calgary?), found a parking spot in the building parkade and went in to my appointment (set for 2:30) and waited.  And waited some more.  It was 3:30 by the time I got in to see her.  For. A. Total. Of. 5. Minutes.  AARG.  Glad I don't have to go back again until July. Coming out of downtown on a Friday afternoon is absolutely the shits too.  It took me 3/4 of an hour to get home, so I was definitely NOT the good humor person when I got here.
Friday night I could tell that I'd done too much.  We swelled up again and were really hot.  And then like an idiot, I went to the grocery store and did a mini shop yesterday.  We be payin' for it today.
How have we adapted?  Well let's see.
I've finally (after over a month) figgered out that the sore leg goes into the pants first.
I've figured out how to carry a go-mug while using crutches.
I've graduated to being able to stand long enough to be able to shower (instead of the dreaded bath EEW) (thanks David).  Let me tell you, the first time was definitely a job and a half and I was exhausted after.
I've figured out how to use 1 crutch (handy for carrying the beer in from the truck).
I found a way to fill the dogs' water dish.  I need both hands for that, so I push a chair into the kitchen, grab the dish and go fill.  Reverse the process, and voila the dish is full.
I've managed to be able to defeat those dang bloody commercial doors with the extra strong and extra fast closers on them.  Whip the door open and jam the end of one crutch in the bottom.