Bravo didn't meet any dogs he wanted to play with, but he did find a little girl who loved him. And I spent a few minutes talking to the owners of a Great Dane while I rubbed the Dane's ears and he leaned against me. He was just a comfortable size - his back falling at the right place to make petting him very easy when standing next to him. I think Bravo is a little intimidated by dogs that much bigger than he is. His favorite part of the visit was when we were out all by ourselves on the back side of the fenced area. He really likes racing through the tall grasses and following almost-indistinguishable paths.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Bravo portrait
I don't have a lot to say today, but I wanted to post this photo of Bravo, taken today at the Carver dog park.
Bravo didn't meet any dogs he wanted to play with, but he did find a little girl who loved him. And I spent a few minutes talking to the owners of a Great Dane while I rubbed the Dane's ears and he leaned against me. He was just a comfortable size - his back falling at the right place to make petting him very easy when standing next to him. I think Bravo is a little intimidated by dogs that much bigger than he is. His favorite part of the visit was when we were out all by ourselves on the back side of the fenced area. He really likes racing through the tall grasses and following almost-indistinguishable paths.
Bravo didn't meet any dogs he wanted to play with, but he did find a little girl who loved him. And I spent a few minutes talking to the owners of a Great Dane while I rubbed the Dane's ears and he leaned against me. He was just a comfortable size - his back falling at the right place to make petting him very easy when standing next to him. I think Bravo is a little intimidated by dogs that much bigger than he is. His favorite part of the visit was when we were out all by ourselves on the back side of the fenced area. He really likes racing through the tall grasses and following almost-indistinguishable paths.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Tournament
The Hwa Rang Do tournament yesterday was scheduled to have kids competing in the morning, adults starting about 1, finishing about 6 and party starting at 7. Yeah, right. Adults didn't start too terribly late - maybe 2? But the competition went until about 11:30. I got there at 1, went home about 5 for an hour or so, and finally left at 10.
HRD devotees are very proud of the variety their particular martial arts style includes. And this tournament certainly showcased a wide variety. Jason competed in pretty much every category.
Weapons form. Jason did a terrific form and placed second out of about 14.
This is from his open-had form. The only event in which he did not place (but then, he will tell you forms are not his strong suit).
Sparring. He took second in a really close championship match.
Grappling. It was amusing because both of them were smiling. This was the championship bout, and it was a rematch from last year. Brett won last year, Jason took it this year. With the same ankle lock.
This is fighting with (bamboo) swords - wearing gear reminiscent of samurai. Jason took second. I believe he's on the right, but it's kind of hard to tell.
This is the multiple sword event. Jason (on the right) has 2 short swords while his opponent has one short and one long. He won this match. I left after that, but I understand he took 3rd place in this, and in the event that followed, where he fought with the same type of staff that he used in the weapons form.
I have to end with one of the medal photos since Jason made quite a few trips to this stand. And by the way, he and Russ built the stand for tournament last year.
Tomorrow I'm taking the day off for no apparent reason, except that I have to use up some vacation time before the end of the year.
HRD devotees are very proud of the variety their particular martial arts style includes. And this tournament certainly showcased a wide variety. Jason competed in pretty much every category.
Weapons form. Jason did a terrific form and placed second out of about 14.
This is from his open-had form. The only event in which he did not place (but then, he will tell you forms are not his strong suit).
Sparring. He took second in a really close championship match.
Grappling. It was amusing because both of them were smiling. This was the championship bout, and it was a rematch from last year. Brett won last year, Jason took it this year. With the same ankle lock.
This is fighting with (bamboo) swords - wearing gear reminiscent of samurai. Jason took second. I believe he's on the right, but it's kind of hard to tell.
This is the multiple sword event. Jason (on the right) has 2 short swords while his opponent has one short and one long. He won this match. I left after that, but I understand he took 3rd place in this, and in the event that followed, where he fought with the same type of staff that he used in the weapons form.
I have to end with one of the medal photos since Jason made quite a few trips to this stand. And by the way, he and Russ built the stand for tournament last year.Tomorrow I'm taking the day off for no apparent reason, except that I have to use up some vacation time before the end of the year.
Friday, November 7, 2008
The power of blogging
I came home from work yesterday to find an email from the BBC. They'd seen my blog and wanted to know if they could talk to me on their World Have Your Say "conversation show" (I guess that's "talk radio" in Brit-speak). The email had arrived at 8:30, and the show was on at noon my time, so of course I missed it. But wow! How else would I have even been contacted if I didn't blog?
Anyway, the topic was "whether the fact that Obama won the US election means we live in a more equal world", according to the email. On the website they unfortunately changed it to the more succinct, but rather silly, "Has Obama created a more equal world?”.
My response: The election indicates that we have at least moved beyond the Bradley effect, where a highly qualified candidate found that people "just couldn't bring themselves to vote for a black man". We did see that a majority of American voters could bring themselves to cast a vote for Obama despite his darker skin. But note that the election was still cast in terms of race. And as the soldier in Doonesbury said "he's half white, you know". And he was raised in a white family. In Hawaii, which does not seem to me as if it would be a center of Black culture (but I may be wrong on this - unfortunately not that familiar with "real" Hawaii.) Given the mess we are in after 8 years of Bush, with the opposition a 72-year-old cancer patient who makes reckless choices such as... no, I'm not even going to go there again. Anyway, I would have expected the popular-vote to be the landslide the electoral vote was, instead of less than 7%.
So yeah, we're further along than we were in 1970 in terms of race. And having an African-American family in the White House is GREAT! But I think we can all agree that Obama is an EXCEPTIONAL man. And in 1960 the big news was that another EXCEPTIONAL man had been elected despite the fact that he was a Catholic. Have there been any Catholic presidents since Kennedy? We have never elected a President who was not Christian. Or who was female. Or Asian. Or homosexual (at least as far as we know). And in day-to-day life, women get paid less, more blacks go to jail, most homosexuals cannot get married. There are plenty of inequalities to go around.
All that being said, I am "cautiously optimistic". I do think we are moving in the right direction in terms of tolerance, at least, for a variety of differences.
Enough being serious. I hope the Obama girls enjoy their puppy. I hear it will be a shelter dog, which is really cool. I saw a post where someone suggested they should get an Alaskan Malamute bitch. That made me laugh.
And this morning I was walking in the snow. Not sticking to the roads, and will soon change to rain, I'm sure, but for now - it's snowing. Bravo went racing around like a nut-case more often than usual as a result.
Have a great day, everyone!
Anyway, the topic was "whether the fact that Obama won the US election means we live in a more equal world", according to the email. On the website they unfortunately changed it to the more succinct, but rather silly, "Has Obama created a more equal world?”.
My response: The election indicates that we have at least moved beyond the Bradley effect, where a highly qualified candidate found that people "just couldn't bring themselves to vote for a black man". We did see that a majority of American voters could bring themselves to cast a vote for Obama despite his darker skin. But note that the election was still cast in terms of race. And as the soldier in Doonesbury said "he's half white, you know". And he was raised in a white family. In Hawaii, which does not seem to me as if it would be a center of Black culture (but I may be wrong on this - unfortunately not that familiar with "real" Hawaii.) Given the mess we are in after 8 years of Bush, with the opposition a 72-year-old cancer patient who makes reckless choices such as... no, I'm not even going to go there again. Anyway, I would have expected the popular-vote to be the landslide the electoral vote was, instead of less than 7%.
So yeah, we're further along than we were in 1970 in terms of race. And having an African-American family in the White House is GREAT! But I think we can all agree that Obama is an EXCEPTIONAL man. And in 1960 the big news was that another EXCEPTIONAL man had been elected despite the fact that he was a Catholic. Have there been any Catholic presidents since Kennedy? We have never elected a President who was not Christian. Or who was female. Or Asian. Or homosexual (at least as far as we know). And in day-to-day life, women get paid less, more blacks go to jail, most homosexuals cannot get married. There are plenty of inequalities to go around.
All that being said, I am "cautiously optimistic". I do think we are moving in the right direction in terms of tolerance, at least, for a variety of differences.
Enough being serious. I hope the Obama girls enjoy their puppy. I hear it will be a shelter dog, which is really cool. I saw a post where someone suggested they should get an Alaskan Malamute bitch. That made me laugh.
And this morning I was walking in the snow. Not sticking to the roads, and will soon change to rain, I'm sure, but for now - it's snowing. Bravo went racing around like a nut-case more often than usual as a result.
Have a great day, everyone!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
The GOOD and the bad of the election news
So overall YEA!!!! Democrats took the White House and extended their majorities in Congress. And the first African American President! Restores a little of my faith in America.
The bad:
My Senate race is too close to call, which means the nasty brawl between Franken and Coleman will continue. The ads in this campaign were almost overwhelmingly negative, and they were also ubiquitous. Made me glad that I watch most TV from recordings, so I didn't have to listen. Original results have Coleman ahead by less than 500 votes out of nearly 3 million. So there will be an automatic recall and it will be weeks if not months before the result is final. D**m you Independence Party! Once again, your candidate stole our votes!
California voters chose to end gay marriage. And 2 other states also chose to define marriage as between a man and a woman. I feel very sad for all those committed couples who no longer have the choice to make their commitment in such an open, public, recognized manner. I do have hope that the tide will turn eventually, as there are indications that kids in high school and college are much more tolerant. But for now, there is still inequality. Obama's stand on this issue also disappointed me - he said he did not support gay marriage, but thought they should have equal legal rights. Geez, you'd think that if anyone understood the soul-destroying implications of "separate but equal", it would be Obama.
GOOD again, though:
Victory for the pro-choice side! We have a pro-choice President and pro-choice gains in Congress. South Dakota defeated an abortion ban for the second time - this one included more exceptions, but the voters still said no. California defeated a parental-notification measure. And to me, the most important win was in Colorado. That initiative would have defined a fertilized egg as a person, and could have made many forms of contraception illegal. Would have made me very sad if my former state had not rejected that extreme measure.
As I said, definitely a celebration moment. I can't expect all the races to go the way I think they should. But all the states where I have lived - Virginia, Colorado and Minnesota - are blue this year! And Virginia and Colorado have been quite Republican in the past.
I hope that Obama didn't wake up yesterday thinking Oh no, what have I done! Though with the issues facing him, I wouldn't blame him. Still, I have confidence that the calm, disciplined, thoughtful, strategic approach that helped him run such a perfect campaign will help him work with Congress to bring us solutions. Dave Letterman certainly spoke for me last night when he said, "I think I speak for most Americans when I say, anybody mind if he starts a little early?"
The bad:
My Senate race is too close to call, which means the nasty brawl between Franken and Coleman will continue. The ads in this campaign were almost overwhelmingly negative, and they were also ubiquitous. Made me glad that I watch most TV from recordings, so I didn't have to listen. Original results have Coleman ahead by less than 500 votes out of nearly 3 million. So there will be an automatic recall and it will be weeks if not months before the result is final. D**m you Independence Party! Once again, your candidate stole our votes!
California voters chose to end gay marriage. And 2 other states also chose to define marriage as between a man and a woman. I feel very sad for all those committed couples who no longer have the choice to make their commitment in such an open, public, recognized manner. I do have hope that the tide will turn eventually, as there are indications that kids in high school and college are much more tolerant. But for now, there is still inequality. Obama's stand on this issue also disappointed me - he said he did not support gay marriage, but thought they should have equal legal rights. Geez, you'd think that if anyone understood the soul-destroying implications of "separate but equal", it would be Obama.
GOOD again, though:
Victory for the pro-choice side! We have a pro-choice President and pro-choice gains in Congress. South Dakota defeated an abortion ban for the second time - this one included more exceptions, but the voters still said no. California defeated a parental-notification measure. And to me, the most important win was in Colorado. That initiative would have defined a fertilized egg as a person, and could have made many forms of contraception illegal. Would have made me very sad if my former state had not rejected that extreme measure.
As I said, definitely a celebration moment. I can't expect all the races to go the way I think they should. But all the states where I have lived - Virginia, Colorado and Minnesota - are blue this year! And Virginia and Colorado have been quite Republican in the past.
I hope that Obama didn't wake up yesterday thinking Oh no, what have I done! Though with the issues facing him, I wouldn't blame him. Still, I have confidence that the calm, disciplined, thoughtful, strategic approach that helped him run such a perfect campaign will help him work with Congress to bring us solutions. Dave Letterman certainly spoke for me last night when he said, "I think I speak for most Americans when I say, anybody mind if he starts a little early?"
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Voter stories
I just saw a news report from polling places here in Minnesota. They said one woman came in this morning and said her daughter-in-law was in the car, 5 centimeters dilated and wanted to vote. She got curb-side service.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Clinton and McCain
So much of my mail these days consists of campaign flyers. I usually flip through on the way from the mailbox to the house, and immediately toss them all in the recycling bin. Today, though, it was dark by the time I got home (grumble, grouse), so I had to bring them inside. And one caught my eye.
It was a tribute to Hillary Clinton, with a picture of her and John McCain on the front, and a statement about how she had cracked the glass ceiling. Inside, the photo was of McCain and Palin, with text linking her views to McCain's and promising that HE would make sure "Hillary's efforts are not forgotten". And on the back, a quote from Joe Biden, saying that Hillary "might have been a better pick than me" for VP.
So let me get this straight: I am supposed to think that McCain is more like Clinton than he is like, say Bush, right? And that since he picked a woman as his running mate while Obama passed over Clinton, he cares more for women's issues? So obviously, if I supported Clinton, then the logical person to vote for is McCain.
Yeah, right. We all know that the main reason he picked Palin was because he thought it would get the Clinton vote. Palin, with her right-wing, conservative Christian, pro-gun, anti-choice views, her pride in "being a maverick" and her inexperience in any political arena with a population larger than 700,000, is not anywhere close to Clinton by any measure. Being female is about all they have in common, and I am insulted that McCain and the Republicans believe I should consider that sufficient.
It was a tribute to Hillary Clinton, with a picture of her and John McCain on the front, and a statement about how she had cracked the glass ceiling. Inside, the photo was of McCain and Palin, with text linking her views to McCain's and promising that HE would make sure "Hillary's efforts are not forgotten". And on the back, a quote from Joe Biden, saying that Hillary "might have been a better pick than me" for VP.
So let me get this straight: I am supposed to think that McCain is more like Clinton than he is like, say Bush, right? And that since he picked a woman as his running mate while Obama passed over Clinton, he cares more for women's issues? So obviously, if I supported Clinton, then the logical person to vote for is McCain.
Yeah, right. We all know that the main reason he picked Palin was because he thought it would get the Clinton vote. Palin, with her right-wing, conservative Christian, pro-gun, anti-choice views, her pride in "being a maverick" and her inexperience in any political arena with a population larger than 700,000, is not anywhere close to Clinton by any measure. Being female is about all they have in common, and I am insulted that McCain and the Republicans believe I should consider that sufficient.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Beta portrait
As promised, here is a photo of the pastel portrait of Beta (clickable for a larger view).
My friend did this in "payment" for keeping her dog while she went on a long trip. That was some years ago, and I did not actually do it for payment. J was a really nice little dog and the kids and I (and Beta) enjoyed having her. But I am still very happy to have this portrait, and looking forward to getting it framed and hung on a wall. I just need to figure out which wall...
My friend did this in "payment" for keeping her dog while she went on a long trip. That was some years ago, and I did not actually do it for payment. J was a really nice little dog and the kids and I (and Beta) enjoyed having her. But I am still very happy to have this portrait, and looking forward to getting it framed and hung on a wall. I just need to figure out which wall...
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