Gambling a bit...

Tuesday evening was pleasant weather so Linda and I went out to our local casino / horse track to watch the horses run. The number eight looked feisty to Linda so I suggested she place a bet on him. We had a few minutes prior to post for her to put two dollars down; I put two on the six, one of the more favored horses. Tickets in hand, we headed down to track side to see them come to the finish. The starting gate was in what I'd call turn two, the far side of the big oval. The horses would have a long straight before heading into turns three and four and then coming to the finish.

As the horses were being loaded into the gate, one of the few other people out along the rail said "He bucked him!" Linda's horse had thrown it's jockey! That re-affirmed the feisty nature of the horse but made us wonder whether it was actually going to be a good horse to have money on. The jockey climbed back aboard and the horse was loaded; the gates flew open and the race was on!

It was now, as the horses raced down the backstretch obstructed from our view by the tote board, that I realized we'd only paid attention to the numbers; the call of the race was by name! While the announcer called off names, we had no idea if our horses were doing well or fading fast. Fortunately, we saw a lighted sign that listed the numbers of the front four horses; unfortunately, our numbers were not among them.

As the horses came around the turn and pounded for the finish, we could make out the silks of our horses. As they went by us, the eight was moving up fast, possibly to contend for the money. My number six was ... well... not last. The finish was close enough to require photo review to determine third; Linda's horse was neither first nor second but she'd bet he'd show... it was still possible. When they posted the official results, third place went to the eight. Linda had won! We went to the window to collect her winnings: four dollars and forty cents; more than we'd arrived with and we'd enjoyed the weather and watching the horses run. We'll probably go back when we can actually watch several races.

On the way out, I took Linda over to the craps table to teach her a bit about my favorite casino table game. While intimidating to many, the game can be simplified and still enjoyed on a pretty reasonable budget. We stayed for about twenty minutes and left a little wiser and with enough winnings to more than pay for the gas. A good time!

Reporting the Darlington Results

The Track Too Tough to Tame proved again to be a worthy test for the NASCAR Nextel Cup. As last week, the saturday night race was postponed by rain and, for the first time in twenty years or so, there was racing on Mother's Day.

Several drivers had hopes of victory as the day wore on. In the end, Jeff Gordon drove the DuPont Impalla to the checkered flag. His car was overheating to the point of having a steaming geyser out the overflow vent for over fifty miles.

Jimmie Johnson finished third, Jeff Burton took tenth, Kyle Busch was involved in an accident and finished thirty-seventh. Juan Pablo Montoya scrapped his way to twenty-third.

#1 Bear Down Racing 356 vs. 445 #2 Overdue
#4 halffastracing 452 vs. 401 #5 Blue Bayou
#6 Red Neck Racing Academy 357 vs. 383 #3 Desert Denny

#4 halffastracing was 8-2; won; now 9-2
#1 Bear Down Racing was 7-3; lost; now 7-4
#5 Blue Bayou was 6-4; lost; now 6-5
#6 Red Neck Racing Academy was 5-5; lost; now 5-6
#3 Desert Denny was 2-8; won; now 3-8
#2 Overdue was 2-8; won; now 3-8

Marking the end of the USHL hockey season

This evening, I watched the website for results from the USHL semi-finals. Indianapolis was eliminated by Sioux Falls this afternoon, 3-2, in overtime. This evening, the Bucs fell to the home Waterloo Black Hawks, 1-0, in overtime. I'm sure both of those games were exciting to watch but the results are a bit disappointing to me. Maybe next year, we'll have an Indianapolis - Des Moines final.

Soaking up some Asian culture

Today, eleven Asian cultures showcased many facets of their history at Blank Park in Des Moines. Special performers travelled in from as far as California to participate in the celebration. There was singing and dancing, gardening and cooking, martial arts demonstrations and "villages" for each of the peoples present. Linda and I bounced around between the villages, martial arts demonstrations, and the cultural performance stage.

Indian, Japanese, Tai Dam, Thai, Chinese, Burmese, Filipino, Cambodian, Nepali, Vietnamese, and Lao were present. Some of their foods or traditional costumes were familiar; some were quite new. I had not heard reference to the Tai Dam people before today. I got to speak with a woman who shared a bit of their history and explained that they are located in an area that has been known by many names over the years but is now northern Thailand.

I think that one of the benefits of festivals like today is that it helps increase awareness of the diversity and common ground that can be found around the globe. It was pretty apparent that everyone likes good food! As I mentioned above, Linda and I would watch a performance here, watch a performance there, try an egg roll here, try a dumpling there. I didn't find anything that I didn't like (no surprise there!) I'm not sure Linda was a fan of the Indian food I chose but I sure enjoyed it.

There were some excellent performances on the cultural stage. Our favorites were the Japanese drums played by three women from Nebraska and two Indian girls who's costumes and dance were wonderful. We actually got to see those girls dance twice! It was a very fun day!

Checking out Principal Park

Last night was a beautiful evening to be outdoors. Linda and I had talked about checking out an I-Cubs baseball game and decided it was time. The Cubbies have been enjoying a prolonged win streak and it was a Fireworks Friday.

We got parked along the street about an ninety minutes before game time, enough time to talk up to Court Avenue and get a bite to eat. She'd never been to Buzzard Billy's, a fun Cajun spot very convenient to where we'd parked. We split a Big Fat Chicken Quesadilla and enjoyed the decor and clientele.

As we approached the ballpark, we enjoyed the music of a small band in Cubs attire; not quite dixieland but of that general flavor. It made the few minutes buying tickets slip by quickly.

We found our seats near the Cubs bullpen and got to see the pitcher warm up. Soon the players were taking the field and they did something I'd not seen before: a guest Little League team from a local community were "Anthem Buddies" and took the field alongside their corresponding position player for the National Anthem. I have to think that was a seriously memorable thing for the kids.

The game got started and the guest Fresno Grizzlies were retired quickly and quietly in the top of the first; being good hosts, the Cubbies followed suit. Fresno scored two in the second and the Cubs responded with a run of their own. The Cubs scored in the fourth and fifth to take the lead and held on for a 4-3 win, sweeping their second consecutive series.

The B-Bops Burger Race included the traditional face-plant, this time by Yellow. Blue squeaked by White in the final feet of the race. White has yet to win this year.

After the game, the fireworks display was as good as many of today's Fourth of July shows. There were never any gaps where something wasn't in the air. One of the amusing / disturbing aspects of the display was that the slight breeze was blowing in and the explosions were just a little closer than usual. Also, the grounds crew was kept busy scurrying across the field, putting out smoldering embers that were landing in the outfield. It was quite a show. A nice capper for the evening.

Friday Construction Photo #4

It's been a week suited for drying and the workmen are making some visible progress. The crane is actually in action this week and I got a shot I can actually discuss a little.

If you want to see some of the things I'm going to talk about, you'll need to actually open the photo full size in another window so you can see what I'm talking about. To do that, right click on the little photo and select Open link in new window. Resize and arrange the windows so you can see.

I can now recognize the red cage thing on the back of the crane; it's an engine that, apparently through a hydraulic system, drives the auger.

If you look closely, there are orange squares on the ground where they'll be drilling the footings.

The tan / medium brown soil is what the auger removes as it drills the hole. There's a little front loader in the right side of the image loading that dirt into a dump truck for removal.

There are three cement mixers in the photo. Each will unload into a hopper that feeds a pump to inject the cement into the hole as the auger is pulled back up.

There are lines of green reinforcing bars laying on the ground next to two of the cement mixers. I'm not sure if they end up in the cement in the holes or how they get there.

Near the bottom of the photo, there are a couple of dark blue pickup trucks. Near them are about half a dozen construction grade "cardboard" tubes. At some point in the drilling process, at least one of those tubes is slipped down into the top portion of the hole, apparently to somewhat contain the concrete.

That's it for this week; everything I know ... and then some.

Hangin' at the Junction

Linda and I strolled Historic Valley Junction (one of the 100 Places in Iowa to Visit) for the first Farmer's Market of the year. Live music, tasty food, and terrific people watching were the order of the day ... er... evening. Flipside, a popular local band, provided the music (with adequate cowbell) and the community showed up in terrific numbers. We pulled up a couple of chairs and watched as a couple did some nice dance moves while there was still room.

As we moved up and down the street, we enjoyed marches played by a local post-secondary school band... waaaay post-secondary school. Of course, I had to feature the trombone section. They did a nice job.

The food vendors were numerous and their offerings were tempting. We were familiar with a few and tried a barbeque place from Dallas Center; it was tasty! One of their side dishes had a pretty standard name but had an interesting twist. Their potato salad had a smokey flavor, maybe some barbeque spices; I'm not sure what they used but it was good.

When we returned to the bandstand, the crowd was present and hoppin' to the sounds. Flipside did a great job picking popular and danceable songs and played them very well.

I've come to understand some of the joy of playing in a band: you're there, contributing to the apparent joy of a large group of people. The smiles and laughter of people just having fun moving to your music has to be a pretty fulfilling payoff for the effort of the performance. Playing a dance situation would sure seem to be more fun than a concert where people aren't able to really move. A moment of enlightenment... ; )

Enjoying pizza and a movie

Yesterday, I was a bit late leaving work but got over to Joel's at an acceptable hour and we went to our regular pizza spot for our Wednesday night pizza. As we walked in, we had a momentary pause and I wondered if my tardiness had could have caused this disturbing situation: our table was gone! The chairs were still there but the table was not; an unsettling development for creatures of habit. We played it cool and seated ourselves at a nearby table and waited to see what would happen next. The server confirmed our regular order and explained that a party was going on and our table had been most convenient for moving; they figured we'd notice (duh!) and hoped we'd understand. We assured them we'd make do and had a good chuckle. The pizza was, as always, quite tasty.

After dinner, we took our regular tour of theaters to check out the offerings. None really were on our must-see lists but Next looked like it could have potential. We bought our admission and settled in to see how Frank Cadillac, played by Nicolas Cage, would utilize the ability of seeing up to two minutes into his personal future. Frank not only saw the future but was able to make minor adjustments based on that knowledge and thereby modify that future. A few minutes into the show, it was apparent that we'd stumbled onto a very entertaining action flick. Frank's experienced utilization of his skill were showcased in a brilliant chase. The action slowed but the story rolled on as the FBI and a terrorist group both became aware of the impact that Frank could have on their respective missions. Throw in a love interest and you've got a winner. The implications of seeing the future, even with only a very personal and short event horizon were very well explored and unveiled throughout the show. Certainly a winner. Two thumbs way up!

Taking in a Sunday Matinee

Sunday afternoon, Linda and I dropped in to see what the Spiderman 3 buzz was all about. The opening credits did a nice job of reminding me of several of the characters and events of the first two of the series; I'm not sure that they did as much for Linda who'd not seen either film.

New villains, a new twist on an old nemesis, and Mary Jane Watson all work to keep Peter Parker / Spiderman on the go, struggling to keep it all together. Stan Lee, creator of the Spiderman storyline, made his traditional cameo.

Several small moral lessons are presented without being too heavy handed. How to be a good husband, forgiveness, the value of friends, and consequences of greed all come to mind at the moment. There was even an interesting little perspective on the motivation of one of the bad guys that might be thought provoking.

The action was good, the story was good. I don't expect it to be recognized as a great film but it was worth a sunday afternoon at the movies.

Reporting the Richmond Results

After being postponed by rain Saturday night, the Crown Royal Jim Stewart 400 was run in Richmond this afternoon. I didn't get to watch the complete race but did see some during lunch and heard pieces on the radio. I saw that Jeff Burton was finished first when his engine let him down. I listened to the Hendrick Motorsports domination later as three of the four team members were fighting for the lead. This week my team was matched up against Joel and I was concerned to hear that, late in the race, he had at least two in the top ten to match mine and my third man had locked up last. Fortunately, the first two positions covered Joel's.

Jimmie Johnson finished first, Jeff Burton finished forty-third (last), Kyle Busch finished second, and Juan Montoya took twenty-sixth.

#1 Bear Down Racing 399 vs. 366 #5 Blue Bayou
#3 Desert Denny 162 vs. 389 #2 Overdue
#4 halffastracing 426 vs. 417 #6 Red Neck Racing Academy

#4 halffastracing was 7-2; won; now 8-2
#1 Bear Down Racing was 6-3; won; now 7-3
#5 Blue Bayou was 6-3; lost; now 6-4
#6 Red Neck Racing Academy was 5-4; lost; now 5-5
#3 Desert Denny was 2-7; lost; now 2-8
#2 Overdue was 1-8; won; now 2-8

Looking forward to the USHL Frozen Four

This morning, I checked to see how the USHL playoffs wrapped up and saw the following announcement.

Indiana, Sioux Falls, and defending Clark Cup champion Des Moines will be joining Waterloo in the quest for the 2007 Tier I National Championship.

Saturday, May 12
Semifinal Game 1: Indiana vs. Sioux Falls - 2:00 p.m.
Semifinal Game 2: Des Moines vs. Waterloo - 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 13
USHL Championship Game TBA

The field is set. Looks like the Des Moines - Indiana meeting is still possible. What a Mother's Day, eh?

Starting a racy month

The Kentucky Derby will be run soon. It's fun to have the familiarity of having recently been there. I didn't include this photo of the twin spires but, when Greg and I went to Bristol in April, we stopped by to see the track. It was quiet that day but it wasn't too hard to envision the massive crowd that has formed for today's running.

It's an exciting month for special races. I've also set the countdown timer in the left margin for the 91st Indianapolis 500. The OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon opened the festivities in Indianapolis this morning. Activities at the Brickyard begin tomorrow with A.J. Foyt Opening Day presented by the Indianapolis Star.

Pella Tulip Time

There is SO much to tell ... this'll take a while. Linda and I took the afternoon off and went to Pella to see one of the 100 Places In Iowa You Must Visit and try one of the 100 Things In Iowa You Must Eat. The weather was cloudy, cool, and moist with isolated thunderstorms in the forecast; this could be a pretty poor day to check out the goings on.

One of the regular features of Tulip Time is the scrubbing of the street before the parade. Linda had read about it in the paper and I'd heard about it from two of my co-workers; must be something to see. We hustled toward the square and arrived as a wave of costumed mostly younger people were running from the other end; something was up! They took positions and demonstrated several fun Dutch dances.

After the dances, there was a recessional as the Tulip Queen and her court left the stage to prepare for the parade. The Mayor and City Council then inspected the street. Even with yesterday's rain, these streets were not going to do for the parade; they must be cleaned. (They looked okay to me...) Fortunately, the community was prepared and hundreds of men, women, and children set to making things right. Of course, some of the younger cleaners were more about playing in the water but the gutters soon ran with some pretty icky water. I guess the city council got it right! Time for the parade!

While we waited, Linda and I tried a couple of fried Pella bologna sandwiches. I added cheese and sauerkraut to mine. Mmmm... tasty!

The parade was classic. There were horsedrawn carriages with the Tulip Queen and her court, bands from surrounding communities (also from Missouri and Michigan), the best fire engine the community can muster, local dignitaries in classic cars, and some very nicely restored tractors.

One thing that was distinctive of the Pella Tulip Time Parade was that there appeared to be more participants than could possibly live in the community! It looked like every school for miles around must have mustered their enrollment, in costume, to participate in the parade. There were strollers with those too young to make the walk; a section set aside just for twins! Pella must have a growing population.

The floats were actual self propelled floats; not flatbed trucks or hay racks.

Each of the roles of the historic village had their places in the parade. The cheese market, the burgermeister, the milkman, and others were represented. The wooden shoe maker must be very busy; one of local bands marched in wooden shoes. It was a nice touch.

During the parade, we did take the opportunity to slip over the Jaarsma Bakery to beat the crowd to get the Dutch Letters on the list of 100 Things In Iowa You Must Eat.

Believe it or not, after the parade, there was actually more to experience! Most of the tulips were past their prime but, on the square, they'd taken care to have a nice display. There were many locals roaming around still in costume for the remainder of the afternoon. People were finding places to get photos at the festival. Judging from the number of cameras around (and my own collection of photos), this is a HIGHLY documented event!

We ran into my friend John and he set us on a course to get to several of the remaining treats. The poffergies with powdered sugar were a sweet treat on our way to the canal. We wound our way along the canal and to the Pella Klokkenspiel. With over twenty minutes to wait, we stopped into a little shop where Linda found strawberries on sticks and a chocolate fountain for coating them; simply irresistable!

It was an excellent afternoon and marked two more things off the lists of things in Iowa we must do.

Friday Construction Photo #3

It's been a damp week and the skies are low. The project continues to move forward as a layer of gravel appears to be complete. They've even filled in that hole from last week's photo. I wonder if this layer is to provide a level of separation for the concrete that will be the floor of the building; a layer that would provide drainage possibly? Or, is it to provide a reliable surface for vehicles on the job site; something they'll dig through from time to time to actually build the building. Or both?

In the far corner, you can see the crane they've brought in and assembled. I'm not sure what the yellow boom vehicle is doing; maybe placing or adjusting the massive counterweight on the back of the cab. I've seen that long brown metal lattice piece attached to the crane; they use that to auger out the dirt for the pilings. I think that the firehose-looking line connected to the top of it delivers cement to the tip so they can fill the hole as they pull out the auger. Quite a handy tool. Maybe next week, it'll be up and operating.

Cheering the Bucs!

Surprise! Linda and I went to a Bucs game Wednesday night! It really is something of a surprise in that they were not expected to still be playing. As usual, the game was well played and I found myself on the edge of my seat at least once per period. The momentum started with the Bucs but, by the end of the first period, the Tri-City Storm was on the attack more often than not. The game was pretty even until the Bucs took a 2-0 lead; then the intensity moved up and the Storm were like a pack of wild dogs, chasing down everything with a controlled, caution-to-the-wind kind of chaos. At the finish, the 3-0 Buccaneer victory made it likely that they'd move into the Final Four competing for the USHL Clark Cup to defend their champion status.

There were a few things that were particularly memorable about this game. One was a bit scary when it happened. A player for the Storm went down hard and didn't really move much for a very long time. Their goalie called for medical attention who promptly got on a cell phone for an ambulance. As the gurney took him off the ice, he waved to the crowd who had already risen in ovation. It was one of the best displays by a home crowd I'd seen for an injured visitor.

Several minutes later, one of the storm was called for a penalty in front of their bench. The visiting coach vigorously discussed the call with the official. I'm not sure how far that conversation went but, as the official was moving to center ice to resume play, something more must have been said because the official turned, pointed at the bench and then pointed toward the locker room; someone was ejected from the game. Nobody moved. The official repeated the sign and one of the coaches started off the ice. He'd gone about twenty feet when the official pointed at him and motioned that he go back to the bench. The official then skated to the bench, very clearly pointed at the head coach, and ejected him. Of course, the crowd was very engaged in this minor theater and gave their coach ... or the official... another standing ovation.

I think we've gone full circle with attending Bucs games: the characters in the crowd are often nearly half the show. As much as I've enjoyed watching the games and learning about the players, the league, and the facility, the people who show up add a lot of color to the experience. The little girl in the upper left frame of the picture was doing the motions along with the playing of YMCA. The boy in the top right had one of the best collections of fan gear I've seen, even an eye-patch with skull and crossbones! He got up and danced about any time there was music. Later, he joined Air Guitar Guy "on stage" for a little jammin'; he even brought inflatable guitars for them to play! We've seen scary mothers, funny dads, women dressed fancy, women dressed grubby, possible nuns, infants, seniors ... and Greg; they've all been there supporting one of the great little events that Des Moines has to offer. I'm very glad we finally found it.
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News flash! The Bucs went to Sioux Falls and won 3-2; they're in the Final Four!

Subbing at the cribbage group

I got the call to sit in for an evening of cribbage Tuesday night. I hadn't played in a while so it was a nice opportunity to see the guys, enjoy a little of Jeff's cooking, and play some cards. The last couple of times I'd been there, I'd been fortunate enough to have been on the winning side of the nightly Championship Game so I had to take the opportunity keep the string alive.

All night, the hands were pretty low scoring but the pegging was very productive so the games were close and in doubt to the end. The first game looked like it was going our way until the last hand but Jeff and his father, The Commissioner, rallied to win. As we swapped victories, we paused a couple of times to enjoy some Hershey's chocolate and root beer floats; have to keep our energy up you know.

We were behind 2-3 when it came time for the Championship Game. As we were making our stretch run to the finish, we finished a hand just two points short of the finish. Our lead was no more than a dozen, certainly the game would be decided on the pegging. Jeff had been leading fours to me much of the evening and I had a four in my hand. To pair the fours would give us the two we needed for the win. I tossed a queen to the crib and moved the four to the front, ready to deliver for the win. Jeff played ... a duece. I glanced down and played my duece! The streak is alive! : )

Watching Talladega

Today, NASCAR visited the monster of a track that is Talladega. At 2.66 miles around, the high banked track is the largest on the circuit. Similar in basic geometry to Daytona, a meaningful twist was added when the start-finish line was moved beyond the end of pit road. As I understand it, the motivation was to make the seats normally beyond the finish line more attractive. It has made for some exciting finishes as the cars thunder past the stands.

Today, my team pretty well knocked itself out in one fell swoop. Tony Raines and Jimmie Johnson got into one another. Jimmie swerved a bit leading to a chain of events that put Kyle Busch into the inside fence and then into Jeff Burton. One little thing and my team was down to one car running. Oh well... it's just one o' them racin' things, I guess.

Jimmie Johnson finished second, Jeff Burton finished thirty fourth, and Kyle Busch finished 37th. Juan Pablo Montoya actually finished thirty-first, ahead of two of my starters. He still has some learning to do but he's well on his way.

#2 Overdue 242 vs. 445 #5 Blue Bayou
#3 Desert Denny 444 vs. 231 #4 halffastracing
#6 Red Neck Racing Academy 414 vs. 293 #1 Bear Down Racing

#4 halffastracing was 7-1; lost; now 7-2
#1 Bear Down Racing was 6-2; lost; now 6-3
#5 Blue Bayou was 5-3; won; now 6-3
#6 Red Neck Racing Academy was 4-4; won; now 5-4
#3 Desert Denny was 1-7; won; now 2-7
#2 Overdue was 1-7; lost; now 1-8

Appreciating Drake University

Years ago, I lived in the Drake neighborhood. I was tied into the loop of information on what was going on around campus. I just never really took advantage of what that actually meant, the opportunities that it provided. This year, I've very much enjoyed the sporting and theatrical events on campus. In years past, I've attended the occasional literary or musical presentation but haven't tapped into that channel again lately; that may well change. The quality of the events has been high and the people present made me feel very comfortable and welcome. I just want to go on record saying that I'm very happy to have rediscovered Drake and appreciate its contribution to the quality of my life and others. Thanks Drake!

Considering a play and a movie...

This week, Linda and I went to Drake for a performance of "Baby with the Bathwater," an odd, dark comedy. A night or two later, we watched the charming movie "Simon Birch."

The similarity comes from main characters who were "raised" by parents utterly unprepared to be parents. While I believe very few people are truly prepared for what really awaits when the abstract concept of baby becomes flesh and blood, these were beyond unprepared. The basic difference that I saw had ultimately to do with the faith and sense of purpose that each possessed. In the end, I believe that each character found their way to overcome their obstacles and contribute; they just took very different paths.

Attending my first Drake Relays

You'd have thought I'd have made it to the Relays at some time before now ... but this was my first. It was AMAZING! In one short afternoon, I saw some of the best in the state of Iowa, in the United States, and in the world do what they do. I saw people high jump over seven feet, pole vault over nineteen feet, and run a mile in under four minutes; all impressive feats (at least to me.)

I also got to actually see the steeplechase run; the image in the upper left corner is a participant in the steeplechase. It was pretty odd to see a group of runners approach and negotiate the barriers. From time to time, one would fall, recover, and resume the race. I'd seen the barrier and water pit in the north end of the stadium years ago. It was something else to see it in use.

There were three major levels for competition: high school, university, and select. Long time rivals lined up to do their best and it was fun to watch. It was like being at a four ring circus. There were races, high jumps, pole vaults, and shot puts going on all at the same time! Somehow, the public address announcer kept us aware of what was going on and when something of note was about to be attempted.

I had to park just under a mile away and, as I approached, I joined into little streams of people heading for the stadium. We passed businesses doing booming lunch business on makeshift patios, vendors of Relays memorabilia, and general shows of support. I felt fortunate to find a ticket still available; before the day was done, it was an announced sellout.

Once inside, the energy of the crowd was invigorating. Several were competitors, friends, and family so they had strong rooting interests. Many competitors have made it a point to return to the Relays regularly and have built a fan base with the regulars in the stands. It had a very special feel.

The events clicked off and Relays, stadium, and state records fell with regularity. A few more would have fallen but were considered wind assisted and not accepted; I believe they announced that fourteen records had been equalled or surpassed by the time I left.

I'll certainly keep this in mind in the future.