Blog Master G

“I figure if I’m going to die, I’m going to die with cold beer and my best buds.”
– Tony Peterson on Bourbon Street the day before Katrina hit

The predicted category 5 storm weakened to category 4 and New Orleans residents were spared the horrible blow that was expected. The death toll — now higher than 100 — seems relatively low.

What a scary thing to know that something so tremendous is going to hit and all you can do is run — or drink your beer and hope for the best.

My heart goes out to residents and families of those in New Orleans, Mississippi, and the Gulf states affected by this hurricane.

Katrina Floods Gulf States, Killing 55:

Announcing itself with shrieking, 145-mph winds, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast on Monday, submerging entire neighborhoods up to their roofs, swamping Mississippi’s beachfront casinos and blowing out windows in hospitals and high-rises. At least 55 people were killed, authorities said.

Yesterday was another picture-perfect day for the 136th running of the $1 million Travers stakes here in Saratoga. Though my luck was the opposite of my $100+ win last year — I lost money yesterday on all five races in which I bet — I still had a ton of fun.

Friends gathered around 1pm at our place for pre-race drinks and snacks, then we loaded up the new wheeling cooler and walked to the track. Everyone was really into the betting, which was cool, though my strategies were all doomed for failure.

It was awesome seeing San Francisco horse Lost in the Fog sprint to his ninth consecutive win in the $250,000 King’s Bishop race, the 10th of the day.

I tried boxed exactas and key trifectas most of the day, and came close to winning, but never hit anything. Had I brought myself to bet on the Yankees horse in the Travers — the favorite to win was Bellamy Road, owned by George Steinbrenner — I would’ve won. I was glad, however, that Flower Alley pulled ahead to win, followed by Bellamy Road and Roman Ruler. I had done a $4 exacta box on Flower Alley and Roman Ruler. The funniest part about the Travers race was the “Let’s go Red Sox!” chant in which Justin and I, along with some other track-goers in our vicinity, participated just before the race began. Maybe it was our chant that gave Ballamy Road a taste of the curse.

After the races, we high-tailed it back to our place for a delicious BBQ chicken dinner and sang karaoke into the night. New karaoke contestant David “Daddy Mack” gave reigning champion Anne “Nina” a run for her money.

View all Travers 2005 photos

History repeats itself:

Gabe, Jen, Cati, Alex: 2004 | 2005
Alex loses, Cati wins: 2004 | 2005

Helping to preserve an historic building, meeting new people, enhancing the quality of downtown resources in Saratoga Springs, and participating in a community project were some of the motivators that brought nearly a dozen of us together last night for the Universal Preservation Hall Young Members tour and meeting.

My first exposure to the UPH project was back in March at a fundraiser auction to benefit the project. To date, I haven’t been involved as a volunteer, but I do hope to do my part for the next year-plus to help restore this beautiful building during its final stretch of renovation.

The non-profit group’s objective in getting young members involved in the project is to broaden the group of individuals involved. Although monetary contributions are always important — the group has raised $2 million of the $3 million needed to complete the renovation — in-kind product or service contributions have been vitally important, too. Also, as I’ve seen in other volunteer groups, it’s important to keep new energy coming in to help distribute the workload and to keep volunteers from getting burnt out.

From the Project page of the UPH site:

The church building has significant historic and architectural importance and is located in one of Saratoga Springs’ National Historic Districts. Built in 1871 by a Methodist Episcopal congregation, it is one of the earliest examples of High Victorian Gothic architecture in the country. Its steeple, with a giant Meneely bell, is one of the city’s last tall spires. In 1999, in recognition of the building’s significance, a joint program of the White House Millennium Council and the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated the church as an official project of Save America’s Treasures.

That’s exciting stuff. Not only does the UPH project to convert the chuch into a community arts / music / wedding / event venue benefit the Saratoga community as a whole, but it helps to preserve an important national historic landmark.

During our tour last night, I learned that before the structural renovations began, we came really close to losing the whole building. A structural engineer told the project team that unless they began work to reinforce the roof before winter, a heavy snowfall could bring the whole thing crumbling down. Ten tons of steel later, the roof has been saved and the building is on its way to reliving its former glory.

I look forward to doing my part to help make the vision of this project a reality.

You know the 136th running of the Travers is just around the corner when your local supermarket has Travers Coke bottles in stock (thanks, Dad!).

The new version of Google Desktop is a big improvement over the last. I really dig the photo slideshow feature, which cycles through pictures you forgot you had on your computer, like this titillating one from May 18, 2003 Bay to Breakers, which showed up yesterday.

Google speeds searches on PCs / Free Desktop 2 personalizes Internet surfing

Three years ago today I joined the 1-Gallon Blood Donation Club. I need to give blood more often; I haven’t done so in a while. Damn, I could be up to a couple gallons by now. That’s my mission for today — to make an appointment to donate blood.

Saturday was our final wedding of this summer’s wedding extravaganza, and Jen’s second weekend in a row as a stunning professional bridesmaid. The weekend in Hartford was great fun and the wedding was spectacular, service and reception both held in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum alongside a Picaso, a 4,000-year-old mummy, and other priceless works of art.

View more Heather & Saahil’s wedding photos

“There’ll be two dates on your tombstone/ And all your friends will read ’em/ But all that’s gonna matter is that little dash between ’em…”
– Kevin Welch

After four years of death, darkness, and the entire range of human emotion, it was obvious in last night’s series finale that Six Feet Under is a show about life. It reinforced that without death, there is no life. No matter how gloomy or depressing life may seem at times, it goes on. And it’s all about happiness. I’ve watched the show since the beginning and last night confirmed what I’ve always said: It’s one of the best shows on television with the best writing, intriguing stories, and superb acting. The last few episodes leading up to the series finale were a bit darker and gloomier than others, but I’m glad they pulled out of that darkness to wrap up the series.

The show might have ended with the final Fisher dinner scene wherein everyone recalls happy times with Nate and toasts him. But it didn’t. Most of the show’s bonus 15 minutes were used by a musical collage fast-forwarding through the lives of each of the shows main characters and transposed against Claire’s journey to New York City to begin her new life. At first I questioned the decision to show us what happens to each of the characters many years in the future, but as I thought about it — and talked it over with Jen and my dad — I think it was an excellent decision. How could a show about the completeness of life — one that begins with death in every episode but this last, which began with life (Willa Chenowith’s birth) — not show us the highlights of the lives and deaths of its main characters? We know how and when each character dies — many years in the future (Claire lives to be 102; she lives from 1983-2085) — so it was a nice feeling of satisfaction and completeness.

It’s up to us to fill in the blanks.

Falling woman.

Yesterday at the track I lost $21 and Jen won $12. For the season, we’re now up a combined $41.50.

We attended the Philadelphia Orchestra’s performance at SPAC last night to watch and listen with amazement as Van Cliburn performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18. Sibelius’s Finlandia, Op.26 came before it, but it wasn’t nearly as impressive as the Rachmaninoff piece. I used to play the sax — even in my high school orchestra — but this, of course, was a whole different ball game last night. It’s incredible what these composers create in their heads and what some people are able to recreate with such beauty and emotion and no sheet music — just by feeling the music Cliburn could share the story and the emotion with thousands of us. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it turns out that we were witnessing not only a fantastic concerto but also a rare performance by “one of the greatest pianists in the history of music.” No wonder he got a standing ovation that lasted for several minutes.

Had we not been listening to beautiful music, we would have attended last night’s candle-light vigil downtown in support of Cindy Sheehan, the mother whose son died in Iraq and who’s camped outside the Bush compound in Crawford. Naturally, Bush refuses to speak with her. I was delighted to see the big story on the front page of our conservative local paper, and also that about 200 people attended — a solid turnout for our little town.

It seems too early to be true — especially following the dry, hot summer we’ve been having — but we’re beginning to see signs of fall: Leaves on the ground, chilly morning breeze, sniffly noses, a sweatshirt on my person.

One Happy Big-Box Wasteland / Oh my yes, there is indeed one force that is eating away the American soul like a cancer:

Do you want to feel like you might as well be in Tucson or Boise or Modesto or Wichita or Muncie and it no longer freakin’ matters, because we as a nation have lost all sense of community and place? Why, just pull over, baby. Take the next exit. Right here, this very one.

Ah, there it is, yet another massive big-box mega-strip mall, a giant beacon of glorious community decay, a wilted exclamation point of consumerism gone wild. This is America. You have arrived. You are home. Eat it and smile.

More…

My thoughts exactly the last time I drove cross-country. And why I love Saratoga Springs and feel lucky to live here — because it’s not like the rest of America.

(Thanks, Dad, for the link.)

It was the first of Jen’s bridsemaid double-whammies this summer at the wedding of Karen and Joti. The wedding was great fun, a huge success, and Jen was the most beautiful bridesmaid ever.

Jen and I hit the track yesterday on our day off (3rd time this season), and our betting strategies continue to be refined. In the 5th race, Jen put $5 on number 5 to win (he did). I played my first straight up trifecta — also a $5 bet — and turned it into $69.50. It was a 6-horse race wherein 3 horses were the clear favorites, so I played the morning line in order (5-2-3: Run Thruthe Sun, the horse to watch for in the future since he destroyed the competition from the second he left the gate until the end of the short 6 1/2 furlong race; Stolen Identity; Tetrahedron). It paid off. That gave me some money to play with the next couple races. I decided to play the same strategy in the next race, which turned out to be a bad idea since I lost.

However, I came really close to hitting another trifecta in the 7th and would have had I played the morning line favorites again. The conditions were the same as the 5th race in which I won — only 6 horses, a short race (7 furlongs), and 3 clear favorites. I made the mistake of following the odds, rather than my gut, for the place and the show horses. Horses are animals of habit, so they ran the morning line again, and I lost. It was 2-1-5: Vision of Beauty, who, like Run Thruthe Sun, smoked the field; Ten Carat Ruby, who made a solid final stretch comeback to place; Wild Storm. I had bet 2-5-1. I realized later that I should have bet 2 with 1 and 5 boxed. Then I would have won. Every day at the track is a new lesson.

Before yesterday, we were down $5 for the season. Now we’re up $50.50.

Live Horse Racing Tips

If you’re like me and separate your data from your OS & apps on your Windows machine, then the Tweak UI PowerToy is the tool is for you. Among other cool system features, it allows you to map your desktop to any drive, partition, or path. This is good since, by default, the desktop is mapped to your C drive and if your system crashes or you need to wipe your OS partition for a clean install, you don’t have to worry about losing any data you have on the desktop. You can also do lots of other cool stuff, like change the default command keys on your keyboard if it has things like Calculator, My Computer, Back, Forward, etc.

Tweak UI:

This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.

Version 2.10 requires Windows XP Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2003.

In other news, I took the hanging flower pot down to water yesterday evening and all five baby birds flew the coop. Just like that they were gone. I felt a sense of responsibility for them and worried when one little guy was wandering around in the road a bit before fluttering across the street to the neighbor’s yard. Nature is amazing. The birds had simply stared back at me many times before as I watered their sanctuary, but yesterday it was suddenly time to leave. So they did.

I think I’ll miss having those little fellas around. We had even named them: Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Jason Varitek, Eddie Haskell, and Enrico. Godspeed, my little feathered friends.