Kirsten's musings...

Friday pix

One last picture from this past winter's record snowfall.  Seems like someone didn't get the memo...

Does President Obama have a bias against the Pac-10?

You wouldn't think so, since his brother-in-law coaches at Oregon State, but in looking more closely at his bracket I see some strong evidence.

Six Pac-10 teams made it to the Dance.  President Obama picked five of them to lose - only Washington was spared.  In fact five out of the six won their first round games.

Not counting 8 vs 9 seed games, President Obama picked exactly three upsets, all involving Pac-10 schools.  #11 VCU over #6 UCLA, #11 Temple over #6 ASU, #10 Maryland over #7 Cal.  Only Cal lost as a higher seed.

When will people finally learn that the Pac-10 is not a "soft" conference?

Sports Overload - Results

Washington 71
Mississippi St 58

Next up:  Purdue

Seattle Sounders FC 3
NY Red Bulls 0

Next up:  Real Salt Lake

A very successful day.  I'd write more but I'm too tired.  Zzzz

Friday pix

This one seemed appropriate, and should amuse my friend Kris.

Sports Overload

Today is definitely going to put me in Sports Overload, and I can't wait.

At 2:00 this afternoon my Washington Huskies are playing their opening game in the NCAA Basketball tournament.  They had an amazing season this year.  This was supposed to be a "rebuilding" year, and they were picked to finish 5th in the Pac-10 conference.  Not content with this prediction they played a solid season and ended up winning the Pac-10 outright, the first time since 1953, when it was still the Pacific Coast Conference.  They faltered a little during the conference tournament, but look strong as the 4-seed in the West bracket.  They open against a tough Mississippi State team, but we're looking for a win.



This evening brings about a revival of a sports team from my youth.  I grew up playing soccer and going to Seattle Sounders games with my family and even a high school boyfriend.  I went to Sounders summer camps, dreamed about being as good a goalkeeper as Jack Brand, and even gave Asst. Coach Bobby Howe a ride from Sea-Tac Airport to the rental car company when he missed his ride.

The Sounders are back in their latest incarnation, Sounders FC.  The team looks strong and the fan support has been amazing.  Cheering them on to victory in a sold-out Qwest Field is going to be an amazing feeling.



My family went to the first sporting event in the Kingdome, which featured the Sounders hosting Pele and the New York Cosmos.  Interesting coincidence that the inaugural opponent for Sounders FC is the New York Red Bulls.

Go Dawgs!  Go Sounders!

President Obama's NCAA bracket

Just in case you need a second opinion about any of your picks...

President Obama's bracket

Political Differences

Big & Rich (Kenny Alphin and John Rich) is a country act that is the definition of 'Mutt & Jeff.'  They are different in just about every way you could think of.

Kenny is tall, John is short.
Kenny is blond, John is brunet.
Kenny is usually clean-shaven, John has a serious mustache.
Kenny is married, John is...oops...John just got married.  Okay, now they have one thing in common.

The biggest difference that I've noticed is that Kenny is a loyal Democrat while John is an ardent Republican.  If you watched any part of the Republican National Convention you probably heard his song "Raising McCain."

I watched a show recently that highlighted what each of these men has been doing recently.  John put out a solo album which included a song he wrote called, "Shutting Detroit Down," railing against the politicians that weren't sending enough money to the "Big 3" to help the workers, while Kenny was working with a charity in Sudan, helping the people who are targets of the genocide that is happening there.  It struck me that this is an interesting example of something bigger - the differences between Republicans and Democrats.

John wrote a song to try and get more money for the rich, white CEOs of Detroit automakers who ran those companies into the ground that MIGHT make its way to the workers, while Kenny actually got his hands dirty trying to help people get things like food and clothing.

Just my observations.  Feel free to disagree.  That's what makes this country great.

St. Patrick's Day Dash - Run report

What a miserable morning.  I didn't realize that it was raining until Jim pointed out that the dogs were wet.  The next time we looked outside the rain had turned to snow.  Surely it wouldn't be snowing in downtown Seattle, right?  It was, and don't call me Shirley.  (Sorry)

After making our way to the start line and heading off at the gun, we discovered the next surprise.  The Dash used to be a point-to-point run, meaning that you had to take a shuttle from the finish line to the start line, which had become too overwhelming.  Now that it would start and end at the same location we had a new course to follow.  Unfortunately that meant running north on Aurora for quite a while, which is a pretty steady uphill road.  Ugh.  It just seemed to go on forever - I swear we turned around in Ballard.  Okay, Fremont.

Finally, the finish line.  I haven't been that happy to finish a run in a long time.  We had decided to meet at the car since the weather was so ugly.  I knew approximately where we had parked, and figured that once I got to the street I'd be able to find the car.  I was wrong.  I walked up and down Denny and Broad for quite a while trying to find the right parking lot.  I finally asked a woman if I could borrow her phone to call Jim to have him help me.  Not fun.  Fortunately I had packed dry clothes so I could get out of the wet things I was wearing.

We headed to the Blue Star Cafe for our favorite post-run breakfast and then home to a long, hot shower.  Then watched the sun come out for a brilliant afternoon.  Totally not fair.

Run                 Distance      Date         Watch              First stop        Chip

Resolution Run                5K       1/1/2009       37.06                     1 mile +               37.05
Love ‘Em or Leave ‘Em   5K       2/4/2009       34.50                     1.25 miles          34.49
St. Patrick’s Day Dash      6K         3/15/2009        45.13 (37.40)            .75 mile 

Friday pix

Ever since Eli was a puppy I've been convinced that he wasn't really a Golden Retriever.  In his heart he's really a mix of a Terrier and a Pointer.  I guess I should add American Eskimo Dog to the list:

This is why I hate politics

A recent quote from the Republican Party, courtesy of Patrick McHenry (R-NC) from the House of Representatives (through his spokesperson):

"We will lose on legislation. But we will win the message war every day, and every week, until November 2010.  Our goal is to bring down approval numbers for [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and for House Democrats. That will take repetition. This is a marathon, not a sprint."

So they admit that they are purposefully blocking legislation that could get this country back on its feet so that they can attempt to make a better showing in the mid-term elections?  This may be worse than the pundits who openly claim that they want President Obama to fail.

Look, I know that this happens on both sides of the political fence, but there is a time and a place for this kind of hard-core partisanship.  When the country is in the middle of a crisis of any kind is not the time.  To borrow from Keith Olbermann, can you imagine if someone on the left stated that they wanted to bring down approval numbers for a Republican leader right after 9/11 so they could win those mid-term elections?  They'd be burned at the proverbial stake.

We'll be making a donation to the Obama fund this afternoon, just to piss these guys off.  Maybe I'll make it in his name.