Obama = idiot. But we knew that.

Just have to say how disgusted I am with Obama. Mr. "doesn't want to wear a flag pin because he doesn't want to look like he's taking sides" when it comes to other countries.

DUDE. YOU ARE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT OF THE WHOLE FREAKIN' COUNTRY. HOW MUCH MORE SIDE-TAKING CAN YOU GET?!

My greatest desire right now (even overruling the one for chocolate) - the opportunity to slap Barack Obama REALLY, REALLY, hard.

Summer. Depressed. Bleh.

So I was raising a baby swan. He was cute. Then he died.

And I'm babysitting. The boys are not the most intelligent, especially the older one. It kind of drives me nuts sometimes. But the family is really nice and the pay's good, which is nice.

And I should have a new laptop in a couple weeks, which is TERRIFIC!!!!!

That's my life right now. Fascinating, huh? (yes, that was SO sarcastic)

I have the best job...

I woke up this morning, helped Jessica pack and said goodbye to her, watched an episode of "Stargate" and then wandered over to work by way of lunch. Got to work at about 12:30. Finished my poster I'd been working on, contemplated ideas for redoing our display, finished the beef cattle inventory. Played around online. Around three, Donn came in and asked if I wanted to go riding. So I left early, and now I'm going to change and go ride for the rest of the afternoon. And nobody minds, my work has been done anyway.

Best. Job. Ever.

OK, this is weird

So...enjoy playing classic games like Tetris, Pong, and Breakout? Ever wished you had a REALLY BIG screen to play them on?

Stumbled upon this today...
http://www.blinkenlights.de/arcade/games.en.html

The basic idea is that buildings are turned into giant game screens, and people play the games with their cell phones. How weird is that?!

Random Thoughts of the Day

The younger brother of Barbaro, Nicanor, has been shipped recently to Fair Hills Training Center. I'm sure we'll be hearing soon about how his first workouts have gone. Poor guy, he doesn't realize that there are thousands of people out there holding their breath to see how he does. Probably a good thing too; I'd be nervous! I just hope everyone around him is able to keep their nerves down when he races, so he doesn't pick up on it. I hope they give Edgar Prado the first ride on him too, it would only be fitting.
And Big Brown's stallion rights are in the process of being sold...sigh. More bad feet coming our way in a couple years. Apparently there is a "major international stable" trying to get him - two guesses as to who. Gee, how many major international stables are there?! Darley or Coolmore. One of the two. He's scared off most of his contenders from the Derby for the Preakness...only Recapturetheglory is going to try to face him again. So, yeah, unless things go horribly wrong, I'm predicting another potential Triple Crown winner. I have mixed feelings about that; the thrill of it is great, we haven't had one in thirty years and the sport needs one - but I just don't think he's in the same class as Secretariat, Seattle Slew, or even Affirmed. And quite frankly, considering the publicity over Eight Belles' death, I don't think we need one this year. But considering how fresh he looked crossing the wire at the Derby, I think he'll make it the Belmont distance. Saturday, June 7 will truly be a day of reckoning.
Bryan was talking to me about how he saw something about Eight Belles being inbred, so I pulled up her pedigree online and showed him how she was very inbred to Native Dancer. Her second dam, Be A Prospector, is by Mr. Prospector (who is by Raise a Native) out of an Exclusive Native mare (who is also by Raise a Native). Raise a Native appears three times on the pedigree, and his sire, Native Dancer, appears once more as well. Even Big Brown has multiple names appearing multiple times; both his sire and dam are by sons of Northern Dancer, and the cross of Damascus to a Round Table daughter is in there twice.
I know you want to stick to what works...but seriously, this is ridiculous!
Anyway...it was really funny though, because Bryan was amazed that you could track pedigrees all the way back to the late 1600s.
I found a terrific list on this website...I'm going to print it out and put it up beside my desk. And I'm probably going to write it out and put it in the ag office.
http://www.glennong.com/post/32984296
And, finally...finals are almost over. I have one left. YAY!!!!!!

...tick...tick...tick...

I'm slightly bored. I'm supposed to be making sure that all the right papers have been turned in for Dr. Russell's farm finance class...but that's boring.

It's finals week (at last!). I have two tests tomorrow and one Friday. I'm kind of stressed about those. Oh, and did I mention I've been sick all week? First bronchitis, and then the flu, thanks to the steroids they gave me to clear up the bronchitis. And I woke up this morning feeling like I'd ripped out a muscle in my shoulder or something. It's better now, but it's still really painful, so that's not saying much.

*sigh* I just want to get this over with. Get my workweek done, go home, sleep. Babysit, earn money for a new computer. Work on my special problem (which Dan FINALLY approved, hooray!).

Summer, come quicker.

Mark the date! I was WRONG!

So. I cheerfully admit that I was proven wrong today, when Big Brown lived up to all the hype his trainer has said about him and won the Kentucky Derby. I didn't think he could do it, considering he had three strikes against him; he had only had three starts, he was coming from the 20th post, and he was the favorite. But, he ran a really excellent, picture-perfect race. He broke clean, made his way over, laid in fifth or sixth the entire race, accelerated REALLY beautifully there at the end, and won easily. He looked fresh and looked like he could have easily run another race right then. He was feeling good enough to unseat his jockey. I have never been so happy to be proven wrong, because he really ran a very nice race.
Is he the Triple Crown winner we've been waiting for? I've got no comment on that. He looks good, and I believe he could last the length of the Belmont. But he's also got a history of quarter cracks and if one of those pops up, he's out. I think the real make-it-or-break-it point though is going to be the start. If he gets a clean start and doesn't get bumped around, he'll be okay, but I think he's very much an outside-running horse, and if he gets stuck towards the middle, it could be bad. Either way, as happy as I am to be proven wrong, I really, really wish I was wrong...you just know that people will be breeding a ton of mares to him, which means we're going to have a whole bunch of new little Thoroughbreds with bad feet.
But, poor Eight Belles...I feel so sorry for her and her connections. She ran an amazing race and was another example of me being proven wrong...only to be so severely hurt, AFTER it was over. That's just devastating, and it casts a pall on the whole day. When the news came that she was hurt, my mom looked at me and said, "How can you want to be part of something where stuff like that happens?" My response was simply "Because I want to breed horses so stuff like that doesn't happen."
That's my philosophy of horse breeding, right there. Horses need to be bred for soundness, speed, and stamina, but in the last couple decades they've only been breeding for speed. When I have a breeding program, I'm going to look to bring the other two back into it.
In other news, my thoughts and prayers are also with Chelokee, a wonderful racehorse in his own right. Chelokee was injured the other day and the headlines are calling for a 50/50 chance. He's a GIII winner, a four-year-old, and he won the Barbaro Stakes last year...an especially sentimental win, as he is a Michael Matz trainee, the trainer of Barbaro. Best wishes to him and his connections.
I promised Emily I'd watch a TV show with her, so that's all for now.