PFL

Peewee Football League

Yes, that's 'Bubba' Bouabidi carrying the ball in Giants Stadium during halftime of the Giants game last Monday night. He got to play quarterback.

RAGBRAI heading to Chariton

Wednesday -

Needing fog lights, the bikers head to Chariton.

We are waiting for an on scene account of the madness...if anyone survived...

See ragbrai.com for more pictures. Also a cool map of past overnight towns since the ride began - 1973.

Here come the Bulls

Yes, it is that time of the year again, rivaling the Felix Grundy Festival:

The Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain

The following could be said of both festivals:

A major reason why there are so many injuries is that people often run whilst incredibly drunk.
Your biggest fear should be not of the bulls but of other people around you falling on top of you or tripping in front of you. With the vast numbers of people, running this happens a lot. Even if you think you can outrun a bull, take into account that when five people fall in front of you, it is going to be difficult to take evasive action.

Smurf Gathering

More than 3,000 students from Swansea University hope to set a new world record by staging the largest gathering of Smurfs.

They will paint themselves blue and don white gnome hats for the attempt on June 8.
They hope to smash the existing record of 1,253 Smurfs in one place, which was set in the town of Castleblayney in Northern Ireland last July.

Hannah Lamden, of Swansea University's Student Union, said the bid in the city's Oceana nightclub will put an end to rival 'Smurf wars'.
She said: "It's a Smurf war. Bath, Southampton, Chester and Portsmouth University have all tried but we're going to make sure that no student is left un-blue.
"We want our record to stay in the Guinness Book for years to come."

Does anyone younger than 40 know what a Smurf is?

Volcano Boarding

A group of thrill-seekers have developed a 'hot' new adrenaline sport called 'volcano boarding', in which participants race at speeds of up to 50mph down the side of an active volcano.

Dressed in protective jump suits, knee-pads and helmets, the boarders visited the foothills of Nicaragua's Cerro Negro mountain, and climbed 726 metres (2,382ft) to travel down on specially-constructed plywood boards.
Cerro Negro is Central America's youngest volcano and appeared in April 1850.
It has been one of the most active volcanoes in Nicaragua, last erupting in 1999 - the 20th time in its history.
Yet despite its unstable reputation, Phillip Southan, owner of Bigfoot Hostel and Green Pathways Tours, which developed the sport, said all safety precautions are taken.
"The volcano is very active," he said. "But the biggest risk is the risk is getting some scratches if you fall off.

I think I'll just be a spectator at this sport...

Only in France

A French pole vaulting champion has run naked with his pole through the streets of Paris and posted the video on the Internet, in an attempt to secure a new sponsorship deal.

If this happened in the States, he'd be on the Sex Offender List!

Two people will sleep better tonight

Is this a Polaroid picture or what?

I don't know but it's the only picture I could find of Sebastian Schnuelle finishing

Second at the Iditarod.

see the man on the roof on the left? I thinks that's Anderson Cooper...

The winner, Lance Mackey, gets a new pickup, something like $68,000 AND a call from Gov. Sarah Palin. That would be enough to make me want to come in 2nd also.

Word has it that Sebastian might have won if he had stayed away from the green beer last night.

Anyway, I will sleep a full night after 10 of getting up every couple hours to check standings.

Nome sighting

Sometime today, these doggies will see Nome, and the end of the the Iditarod. I'm almost as sleep deprived as them...watching their movements for the last week and a half. No, it's nothing I would ever want to do. Too dang cold for me (when in Nome, I rented two parkas to wear over my coat and it was the day before summer solstice) and it would take too many pugs. It is said that it costs up to $100,000 to enter this race. The winner will probably not even recover the money he/she has put into it. It is definitely a tale of tragedy and triumph and is truly the 'last great race.'

Today's Red Lantern

The Red Lantern is the name given to the person in last place on the Iditarod. Rob Loveman gets the award today. I clicked on his picture and thought I was on a

Star Trek website. Is it just me or does Rob look strikingly like Jean-Luc Picard?
They might have something in common: Loveman is a nuclear physicist and I tell you what--he is very representative of the mushers in Alaska. Don't know why but I found it very interesting that most of the mushers not only have college educations but graduate and doctorate degrees. I truly wish the media would spend some time on the Iditarod and its personalities so we could learn what Alaskans are really like and rid us of the bad taste they left in our months with the whole Sarah Palin thing.

Time out on the Iditarod trail

Seems as though a bit of snow has stalled the action in Takotna, Alaska. A good time for Sebastian Schnuelle to pamper his dogs (think I am getting the picture on his hair care secrets). Patience is a virtue at this point as only a fool would brave the harsh elements of the interior during a storm. At this latitude, however, tonight's full moon is casting all kinds of moon shadows in the backyard. For the record, it is about 20 degrees colder tonight in Iowa than in Takotna...speaking of fools...

RAGBRAI to overnight in Chariton

I have been tracking the Iditarod teams through the Alaskan wilderness on the internet (go Sebastian-he's now in 3rd place)-they all have GPS units on their sleds. It is very interesting to see how everyone is doing as I have a few favorites (based on bad hair). I am now proposing to the RAGBRAI committee that they supply all bikers with GPS units and track them through Iowa (or at least through Lucus County) so I can watch the progression of the group via the internet. I hear Betty is looking for a 'curly fries' vending trailer for outside the office. Rest assured, no one will leave Chariton without an Iowa Realty water bottle!

No time for hair care on this race!

Sebastian Schnuelle

current leader of the Iditarod

If he wins (and he's

my second favorite), I'm going

to email him and ask him to go

on RAGBRAI (mushing dogs of course).

He looks like he'd

be a real fun guy to hang out with

and I bet he would fit in well with the

folks from south of hwy 34.

He can stay with Betty when they go

through Chariton.

Mushing Time!

If Lori was still in Anchorage, she'd be recovering from a wild day of opening ceremonies

Iditarod style!

I'm pulling for a wildcard, Kim Durst, from Deb's neighborhood, Blairstown, NJ, USA

Official start is Sunday. Keep track on www.iditarod.com.

Don't ask me about basketball, football, or baseball---I have no idea who plays, when they play or where they play but 15 years ago, I met Susan Butcher, the first woman to win the Iditarod. She is now deceased but her offspring (dogs) belong to the woman I am rooting for. Let's hope Redoubt volcano doesn't decide to erupt for a few days...the ash could be fatal for the pups.

Dwarf Status

To celebrate the anniversary of the finding of Neptune in 1846, this would be a good day to sign the Pluto Petition, saying that you believe Pluto should be reinstated as a planet and not just a dwarf planet according to the 2006 Prague Conference of astronomers.

www.plutopetiton.com

Was Tom Thumb any less of a human than you or I?

The headline below was also on this site:

Scientists Say Knicks Are No Longer a Basketball TeamPrague Conference Demotes New York Team to Dwarf Status

I wonder if season tickets are any cheaper now...

NCAA Football Gadget

With the Olympics coming to a close, I have added another gadget for you sports fans. This gadget has the AP, USA today, and BCS rankings for college football. If you football fans would rather have the scoreboard posted, I will change once the season starts which I think is pretty soon....I'm not a fan but think I saw mom getting out her Hawkeye sweatshirt....don't know why....don't see them on this gadget which you can pull down to see all 25. You can also click on a mascot and go to their 'stats page.' I will probably move it down on the sidebar but wanted to bring it on board in the #2 position.

Sleep deprived due to Olympics

The Internet is full of comparisons between Spitz and Phelps, the 70s vs. today, facial hair vs. body shaving, etc. Here are a couple of my favorites:
Ahhh the Olympics and the '70's... when real men swam with arm-pit hair; when real women from the Soviet Bloc countries swam with arm-pit hair; when the real women with arm-pit hair from East Germany were really men...



Sure Phelps will earn an easy $10 million. But unlike Mark Spitz he'll never know the joy of a guest appearance on "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour." And really, can you put a price tag on that?
http://gawker.com/5038801/so-why-cant-michael-phelps-get-his-gold-medals-on-gold-chains

Injury at the Olympics

One more reason to not lift weights...if your elbow goes out of joint while supporting a bar with 325 pounds on it -

your arm tends to bend at a weird angle as illustrated by this Olympic weightlifter....OUCH!

My First Olympic Memory

Vasily Alexeev in 1972 won the gold by lifting a whole bunch more (35kg) than the silver medalist...this is my first Olympic memory. What's yours?

Moonball, anyone?

http://www.pixheaven.net/galerie_us.php?id=3

Beware of the full moon!!!

Solstice in Alaska

Midnight baseball tonight to celebrate the solstice in Fairbanks-if anyone wants to make the trip. Deb and I had the opportunity to be in the Arctic Circle on the solstice back in '94. It was the strangest thing to see the sun circle the Earth, just above the horizon the entire time we were there. My sleeping patterns have never been the same, nor has my intolerance to cold weather...I had two rented parkas on and was still shaking---the natives only had shirts on. We were on the coast in a little Eskimo village and not in Fairbanks where I wore shorts. Anyway, I found some incredible photos of the Alaskan solstice and Midnight baseball game but they have rights on them so thought I should just post the link:


http://www.alaskastock.com/resultsframe.asp?txtkeys1=solstice