Trivial Pursuit

Posted By ê¿ê on June 9th, 2008

Some days I find my mind skipping from subject to subject much like an EntreCard power dropping session where you skip from site to site clicking the widget and not taking much in from the sites. There was a lot going on this weekend and while not much of it was earth shattering, a lot of it was notable.

Our dog show experience was not stellar. Payne garnered a hard won 4th on Saturday and was totally dumped on Sunday. Tigger won his large open class handily only to be denied the majors on both days. Butterfly was ignored both days. But my friend’s 8 year old finished in style –needed one single point and pulled off a 4 point major to finish which was exciting for her and I’m sure a relief to Tippy that the dog show thing is finally over as the couch is clearly the only thing she’s ever really wanted for her future.

Big Brown pulled up in the Belmont for mysterious reasons. We may never know why although there are many speculations as to the reasons he couldn’t make the finish line. From the crack in one hoof to the removal of steroids from his system to the heat of the day. More than likely, it’s a combination of any of the three reasons plus other unknown ones. Since Big Brown can’t talk, we’ll probably never know for certain.

Roger Federer was once again denied the French Open title by the fourth time wining, Rafael Nadal. In a blow out match, Nadal cleaned Federer’s clock (metaphorically speaking) by winning straight sets 6-1, 6-3, 6-0.

Robert Mugabe is gearing up to win the run-off against Morgan Tsvangirai. Reports of refusing food to Tsvangirai supporters, as well as violence in the more rural areas of Zimbabwe are rampant. Of equal concern is the treatment of foreign reporters there to watch the unfolding drama surrounding these elections. Mugabe is out to win by hook or by crook.

The Mars Phoenix failed in it’s first attempt to gather and analyze soil samples from the surface of Mars. NASA is in the process of conducting tests on the lander to determine the exact reason for the failure of soil to enter the oven chamber designed to conduct the tests.

The US continues to suffer weather related issues ranging from extreme heat and drought to flooding and tornadoes to forest fires. The Midwest has suffered extreme rainfall and flooding, with the nation’s breadbasket seeing a profound delay in planting crops while the Southeast and Southwest suffer drought and extremely hot weather. Many crops in the Southwest have been plowed under or not even planted because of the shortage of water to irrigate with. In the Midwest, the flooding has delayed planting to the point that it might now be too late to plant and bring in a crop. Farm workers have been laid off in expectation of no crops to harvest, while reports of tainted tomatoes are surfacing in the news.

Oil prices are up once again and gasoline prices continue to jump right along with them. Prices in the US vary from $4.50 per gallon down to $4.25 per gallon — I did see it at $3.89 on the way to work this morning, but it’s likely to be up by the time I head home.

Mrs. Bush visited Afghanistan in an effort to get more support from the International Community for resistance to the Taliban. She is scheduled to join her husband in Slovenia Monday, June 9th and then will travel on to Paris. Where they will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Marshall plan and the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift.

The Celtics have won the first two games of the NBA finals against rival, Lakers and now move to Los Angeles for two more games beginning Tuesday, June 10th.

The Stanley Cup trophy is reported as being OK after suffering a slight dent after taking a tumble at the Red Wing’s celebration on the 7th in Detroit. This 100+ year old trophy has seen it’s share of dents, dings and scratches most of which are buffed out before being awarded the next year. It continues it’s round amongst the players, coaches, and staff spending a day with each of them. It’s the only trophy that is so shared as most spend their time between awards in some display case at team headquarters.

The Texas Governor’s mansion has been the victim of an arsonists blaze this past weekend. Once the home of Laura and George Bush, we must hope that the White House doesn’t suffer the same fate once they leave next January. Thankfully the mansion was already empty as it was undergoing a 10 million dollar renovation, so no one was hurt in the blaze, but considerable damage to the historic site was done.

On a sad note, we lost several great people this past week. Bo Diddley, Yves St Laurent and Jim McKay all in their 80’s passed away. The world will miss their various talents all of which were ground breaking and memorably significant.

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