2007 Iditarod Starts This Saturday March 3rd

Keep an eye on the 35th Annual Iditarod Race on either of these two websites: http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/ or http://www.iditarod.com/2007/

Going to Devil's Lake via Amtrak

We're heading to Devil's Lake North Dakota to stick some jumbo perch. Friday morning at 2am (yep you read that right) a group of us are jumping on the Amtrak train here in Staples MN. Four and a half hours later, at 6:30 am, we'll get off in Devil's Lake North Dakota where we'll spend Friday and Saturday out on the ice. There's eight of us going: friends Ellie and Dave Boeckermann, friends Robin and Dale Kaiser, my cousin Jodi and Dick Calkins, Makita and myself. And let me tell you, we're ripp'n and rare'n to go. There's even rumors Shirley and Bill Bruers may make an appearance there in Devil's Lake.

We'll be staying and fishing out of Woodland Resort. Makita grew up with Kyle, one of the resort owners. I suspect there will be quite a bit of partying and some heavy fishing as well. Might even be a few side bets. May the best gal win!

You can check out the website at http://www.woodlandresort.com

My Sporting Ups and Downs

The up: Jeff finished second yesterday. That puts him third in points. That's very good. Just to give you something to gauge that with, Jr. is in 41st place, Stewart in 21st, Kahne in 32nd (after not finishing yesterday....so much for my fantasy pick). Next week the Cup series has the week off. Then on to Las Vegas on March 11th. My pick for that race is last years Champion Jimmy Johnson.

The down....my poor Avalanche's. I'm still cheering for them but the reality is ...they're in big trouble. Come on guys.....pull it together!

Gordon takes the pole for Sunday's Cup race

Gordon turned a fast lap of 185.735 mph Friday to grab the 57th pole of his career. The year is off to a good start. Jeff ended up finishing 8th in the Daytona 500. Let's keep up the good work.

MyCoors Light Challenge pick for this week is Kasey Kahne who is starting 2nd. I had to pick winners for all 36 races, never picking one driver more than 4 times throughout the season, prior to the start of the Daytona 500.

Smelly Guy

Sometimes you get the smelly guy. Oh you don’t think he’s going to be “the one” but much to your horror he is. He’s middle aged and sharp dressed. He has a yellow tie and a good looking suit on. The tag on his computer bag says he’s from some college. Starts with a B. No, not Berkley. It’s one I’ve never heard of. Which doesn’t mean anything since I haven’t heard of many. But as a general rule, if your school is not part of March Madness, I probably haven’t heard of you.

This guy doesn’t speak to you. Oh no…he’s much too important and you are to much of a dweeb to address. He does however let you get in to the seat next to him. Now you’re all tucked in by the window in seat 5D. First Class. Ready for a nice two hour, forty minute jet ride that will take you half way across the USA. The sun is shinning. Things are nice. You’re reading your book. It’s rather interesting. Kind of weird. It’s about a guy that sees ghosts. You take off. Your neighbor seems restless. He’s constantly straitening his tie that is already perfectly straight. He makes sudden jerking motions. Like he might have an itch somewhere you shouldn't scratch in public.

You’re up there around 40 thousand feet. They bring you some coffee…in a real ceramic cup. None of that environmental killing Styrofoam. Not up there. Not in First Class. At first whiff you think maybe they’re cooking up a storm right there in the galley of the plane. It smells like tamales. Have you ever had a hot homemade tamale wrapped in corn husks? Good stuff. I’ve had them in Texas for breakfast. Yep…good stuff. But Northwest Airlines is not known to serve homemade tamales. But they do serve us a cheese omelet, fruit and a bagel. Okay stuff. I never do get another cup of coffee. My neighbor finishes his breakfast and gets up to visit with an associate sitting a few rows ahead of us. He’s gone for quite a while. I’m still snug as a bug reading my increasingly weirder novel. My neighbor returns. All of a sudden I smell tamales again. I realize he’s the source of this smell. What the hell? Where did he get involved with a tamale already today? Or is it some other corn product? I’m not sure. And why would he eat another breakfast here on the plane if he had already eaten, from what I gauge to be, a dozen or so tamales? Oh well. The ride continues.

Tamale guy is typing away on his computer and writing notes on his boarding pass. Each time he finishes writing he flips the note over to insure I don’t sneak a peak at his top secret college notes. Maybe he’s a sports scout and he’s writing down the next offer he’ll make to the next prospect player for his never heard of college. It probably says ‘Hookers, Jack, Roids and a Honda’.

We only have about an hour of the ride left. Then it hits you. Super smelly. What now? Fart. Flatulent. Gas. Pooper. Toot. Plain and simple. At first I suspect the rather large woman sitting ahead of me. As soon as the smell almost takes down the plane, she gets up and goes to the restroom. Good, now maybe that’s taken care of. But no. She returns and goes to sleep. And again and again and again I am assaulted by fart. Is it? Could it be? Tamale fart? Who knows. But I’m absolutely sure it was tamale guy that is leaking this toxic waste. Please just get us on the ground safely. I fear if this drifts up into the cockpit, the captain could go blind and we’ll have to rely on that 12 year old co-pilot to land this bird.

But all ends fine. My eyes are blood shot from the fumes. My gut hurts from the retching but otherwise all is okay. Good bye and good riddance Mr. Smelly Ass. May our paths never cross again while you’re in such a condition.

Boston Ain't Really My Cup of Tea

I'm not sure where Paul Revere ran around here, but as we know it was a very, very long time ago. Long before streets ran on top of each other. Long before there were tunnels that go underground for miles. Long before one way's and "Rotery's" (roundabouts). Paul would surely wonder what has happened here. Though even today a horse that wasn't too afraid of vehicles, would be soooo much faster to get around on. Hell, a good pair of Tennies would be a faster way to move around here. I've never been among so many vehicles at a dead stop for so long in my life. I can't believe people live like this. I almost died of carbon monoxide poisoning while in a traffic jam in a tunnel for over an hour. I haven't seen anything worth taking a picture of. I drove downtown to get Bill Cynor his Hard Rock Cafe shot glass. It took me three hours to get there and back. Did I mention I'm only six miles from downtown. It's insane. And what's with the horns? I've never honked my horn in my life. Unless maybe I saw someone I knew and wanted to get their attention so I could wave a nice friendly hello to them. Well they know how to use them here. And it 's not to wave a friendly hello. No, it's to get your attention so you don't miss them waving you the bird. And to really emphasise their horns they like to honk them while in the tunnel. And if one person honks it sets off a honking symphony. Yes, I will call the tunnel honking the "Boston Symphony".

Well enough whining about Boston. I look forward to my quiet little life back in the Midwest.

Daytona 500 2007

The Daytona 500 concluded yesterday with Kevin Harvick in the number 29 Chevrolet barely sneaking by Mark Martin in a photo finish at 185 miles per hour. It was pretty exciting as cars are crashing behind them, they crossed the finish line.

Jeff ended up in 10th place. Jr. in 32nd. Jimmy in 39th. Tony finished dead last after his crash with ass wipe Kurt Busch. Kasey Kahne ended up in 7th but will end up with a lower points finish due to the penalties handed out to him and his crew for cheating last week.

So now we're off to California! It's a good start to the season for my number 24 team.

Gordon Wins one of the two Qualifying Races

That was the good news yesterday afternoon. That win would put Gordon in the number 4 position to start the Daytona 500 this Sunday.

However Gordon's car was found to be too low in post-race inspection. As a consequence, he was relegated to the 42nd starting position on Sunday. NASCAR characterized the infraction as the result of an unintentional misalignment of a bolt and shock mount on Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet. Gordon was allowed to keep the win.

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition, said bolts had been misaligned on the rear shocks installed prior to Thursday's race. Once the race started, the load on those misaligned bolts caused the car's quarterpanels, but not the roof, to be lower than the minimum allowed height.

"Honestly, I think it's something a mechanic made a mistake on as he bolted the shocks on during the installation process," Pemberton said.

That's of little solace to Gordon, who wasn't happy to hear the news. "I hate to hear that. That sucks," he said before the violation was announced.

Pemberton added that NASCAR was convinced the infraction was unintentional, and that no fines or point deductions would be warranted. Gordon, a three-time winner of the Daytona 500, will vacate his fourth-place starting position and instead roll off 42nd.

"I would say that this would be the end of the penalties on the 24 car," Pemberton said.

That's a welcome change for NASCAR, which has doled out a season's worth of penalties over the last five days. The crew chiefs of Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Scott Riggs and Elliott Sadler were all banished from Daytona after illegal modifications were discovered on each of their cars during qualifying Sunday. The same day, Michael Waltrip's crew chief was suspended indefinitely for an illegal substance found in the manifold of the No. 55 car. All four drivers also suffered point deductions, and all four crew chiefs were hit with fines.

Sakic Joins 600 Club

Joe Sakic scored his 600th career goal on Thursday night in Calgary, becoming just the 17th player in NHL history to reach that milestone.

He joined Brendan Shanahan and Jaromir Jagr as the only active players on that list. Jagr and Shanahan both reached the 600 mark earlier this year with the New York Rangers.

Sakic also joined Jari Kurri (Dec. 23, 1997 vs. Los Angeles) as the only players to score their 600th in an Avalanche sweater.

Surprise visit from my sister Lorrie

On her way to Baltimore Tuesday, Lorrie got stranded in Minneapolis overnight with some others she was traveling with. So I buzzed down there to see her. Here we are, along with a Chris from the Casper PD, showing off our double chins. It was nice to see her. I haven't seen her since last July.

I figured he might be somebody...

Recently on a flight from Minneapolis to Miami I sat next to a guy up in first class that I thought might be "somebody". He had the greatest hair. Dark with a hint of gray. Thick with a little wave. He had the greatest cowboy boots. Made of snake skin or something. And he had some jewelry on. Turquoise and silver. He carried a leather satchel. Worn but classy. He was older. Somewhat sophisticated. I thought to myself...this guy might be somebody.

At one point he picked up his satchel from beneath the seat in front of him, and I could see he had a luggage tag on it. His name was Gary Mule Deer. Why he must be part Indian. Without absolutley staring....but almost, I looked again and saw that Gary was from Spearfish South Dakota. Explains the turquoise. And clearly staring at the tag now, I saw his business was "Duck and Cover Productions". Well, I thought, this guys a duck hunter. Probably has a refuge or something. I wonder why he's going to Florida??

Mr. Mule Deer was very quiet on our 4 hour flight. At one point he assisted me in removing my jacket. Such a gentleman. I kinda liked this duck hunter, Gary.

After reaching Miami Mr. Mule Deer and myself went our seperate ways. Later from the airport I phoned Makita and told him to look up Gary Mule Deer on the internet. Well he found him. He's not a duck hunter. You can read all about him at http://garymuledeer.com. If you have a few minutes make sure you watch his David Letterman clips. Mr. Mule Deer is pretty darn funny.

And better yet you can see him this Friday night, February 16th on CMT at 8:30 Central time on CMT Comedy Stage. Comedy State is a half-hour stand-up comedy series hosted by Melissa Peterman, featuring Mike Armstrong, Nate Bargatze and Gary Mule Deer, performing in front of an audience.

Check it out. I know I will.

Gentlemen Start Your Engines.....

AHHHH what a sweet sound! Tonight kicks off the official NASCAR season with the Budweiser Shootout.

The Budweiser Shootout is a 70 lap, 175 mile all star NASCAR Nextel Cup non points race held at Daytona, one week before the Daytona 500. The event is held on Saturday night, under the lights. Also new this year is the race will be broken up into 2 segments. The first segment is 20 laps. The teams get a 10 minute break and line up in the same order as at the end of the segment. The second segment must end with a green, white, checkered finish. All caution laps count toward the total of each segment. All restarts are double file (like the start of the race). Drivers qualify, not teams. If a driver leaves a team, the new team will be in the race.

To qualify: Each driver/team must participate in Budweiser's promotion of pole qualifying (a decal). The driver/team must qualify on the pole (or be the fastest program qualifier if the pole winner does not participate) of a Nextel Cup points event in the previous year.
Past winners from previous "Budweiser Shootout", "Bud Shootout", and "Busch Clash" events are eligible. There is no more second round qualifying. The field starting positions are chosen by random draw.

For my friends and family that follow NASCAR, here's some positions drawn for the lineup: Dale Jarrett debuting the new Toyota and now racing for Michael Waltrip in the number 44 car drew the starting position.

Jimmy Johnson will start in the number 8 position.

Ryan Newman will start in the number9 position.

Jeff Gordon will start in the number 11 position.

Tony Stewart will start in the number 14 position.

Kasey Kahne will start in the number 15 position.

And poor ...surely a man humper...Dale Jr. will start nearly all the way back in the 17th spot.

"Boogity Boogity Boogity" Boys!!!!!

Sakic Caps Rally With OT Winner

DENVER (AP) - Joe Sakic scored a power-play goal 25 seconds into overtime and the Colorado Avalanche rallied past the Florida Panthers 5-4 on Tuesday night. Sakic got open in front and Paul Stastny hit him with a pass from behind the net.


That being said.....Aves currently trail the Wild by 6 points.

My Friend Robin Kaiser's 8 pound Walleye

Recently Robin Kaiser caught "Ethyl" on Lake of the Woods. In her words "By the estimates Ethyl weighed about 8lbs. She was about 27 inches. What a rush to see that coming out of a 10 inch fish hole. Even better to fight her with that little purple rod and reel. I only caught two fish in the two days of fishing, but catching her on the last day made it worth it! Biggest walleye in my life so far….I’ll keep trying to do better!"

Happy Birthday Jerry Katz

Today is my Alabama friend Jerry Katz's birthday. I have no idea how old he is...but he's had his AARP card for a while now.

Another Football Season in the History Books

As you all know by now, Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning and the rest of the Colts, took home the trophy last night. Good game.

I almost didn't make it home in time to watch it. I finally arrived in Brainerd at 2 pm on Sunday. What a return trip from hell. The old wheel chair people followed me all the way. By the time I got to Minneapolis Saturday night, the last plane to Brainerd had already left. So they rescheduled me to fly out in the morning at 10am. I went to stay at the Marriot..... so did the old people. They just wouldn't go away. And they were loud and talked with a Jersey accent and made me crazy. The next morning when I got to my gate at 9 am to fly out at 10 am, the message board said "Cancelled". What the hell. So I went directly to the bar (I was pissed) and ordered a bloody mary. Guess what? Bar doesn't open til 10:00. So ordered a breakfast burrito with as many jalapenos as they could put in it. And they put a bunch. It was awesome hot. Later that would come to haunt me. I got home just in time to shower and get back in the car to go to Gosheys.

Dan Goshey just built a bar in his basement, named Charneys (after his grandfathers I guess) and was a fine entertainer. Never mind Brian Moon with his stupid Farve Packer Jersey on. He's very wierd and confused...and ended up drunk besides. A disturbing combination.

Trying to get home.....

What’s worse than a six hour layover in Miami? A six hour layover extended by an hour delay. Stuck in Miami…which ends up getting me stuck in Minneapolis because my connection to Brainerd is the last flight to Brainerd of the day and will be leaving a half hour before I even get to Minneapolis. One problem with being stuck in Miami is that the majority of people that are flying out of Miami are a hundred and twelve years old. They don’t really understand delays and they don’t know how to calculate how an hour effects their connection in Minneapolis. For instance, they can’t calculate that if the plane was initially scheduled to land at 8:30 pm, it will now be landing at 9:30 pm. And if their connection is scheduled to leave at 9:00 pm THEY’RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT. They must go to the desk three or four times and ask the same questions over and over. “What time are we leaving Miami”? The answer is 6:50 pm each time. “What time will we land in Minneapolis”? The answer is 9:30 pm each time. “What will happen to us if our connection has already left”? You will be put up in a hotel for the night in Minneapolis and put on the first available flight in the morning, is always the answer. But just in case you are deaf or dumb, due to your age of 112 please feel free to budge in line and ask the same flipp’n questions again. And how does someone grow a penis looking nose? Not only is it wrinkly like an old penis (not that I’ve seen a lot of real old penises, but even younger ones are somewhat wrinkly) but this guy's is long and hanging off his face. It seems to be growing. It’s taken on a purple hue. Kind of like an alcoholic pompous nose but more like a penis. Wow…weird. Why would anyone, even a young person in their early twenties, think they could fly to Minneapolis in February in shorts and flip flops? It’s well below zero in Minneapolis right now. How cool does that make you if you freeze something off? Why do people think we’re all friends now because we have something in common (a delayed flight)? Just because we get to sit here with each other for an additional hour we are now somehow connected. Like we weren’t connected before the flight delay but now we are. Stop talking to me. Stop telling me you’re going to Rochester and you don’t think you’ll make your connecting flight in Minneapolis. Stop asking me if the wheel chair person will be there to help you when you get off in Minneapolis. They can see you’re going to be late and will make accommodations to pick up your crippled ass an hour later. Stop asking me if I think you’ll get your luggage if you have to spend the night in Minneapolis. I don’t know and I don’t care. Ask for a tooth brush at the front desk and turn your adult diaper inside out for tomorrow. Why don’t they have cocktail waitresses in airports? Would it kill them to walk around and take drink orders? I think not. Why is coffee $5.00 in an airport. You can buy an entire pound of coffee for $5.00. But then again it never tastes as good as it does when it costs $5.00. And how long has that cream been sitting out on that counter? Seems like it never goes bad. Should we leave the half and half out at home without worry of spoiling? I think not. Am I the only English speaking person left in America? I guess not. There are a few others. But those few speak some mangled version of English. I can’t understand them. And after I ask “pardon” three or four times they turn to their co-worker and start squawking in another language, surely complaining that I am stupid or deaf because I can’t understand what they are staying in English. And you have to love the messages that are broadcasted over the loud speaker in the airport in just about every imaginable language, including the mangled English version. How is it that I’m stuck in the Miami airport for almost 8 hours the day before the third most watched sporting event in the world (First being the Soccer World Cup Final and second being the Cricket World Cup Final) and not see one celebrity?

Well with that said, I'm going to go answer some more questions about luggage and wheel chairs. I'll still keep my eyes peeled for celebrities. And practice my chant for tomorrow night, "GO COLTS...LOVE YA MANNING...KICK SOME BEAR BUTT".

Here in Barbados

Here is from my little patio on my room in Barbados. The ocean is right there out my door. It's very warm here. The air is on non-stop.

I have limited internet connectivity at work. None at the hotel. I'll update you more later.

Off to Barbados

Tuesday I'm off to Barbados to work at Starcom (http://www.vob929.com). It is currently 8 degrees here in Minnesota, with a wind chill of -3 and it's 79 degrees in Barbados but feels like 82 with the humidity. Wow that will feel good.

You probably can't see it on this map but it's pretty close to South America. Look down in the lower right hand portion of the map, right along the edge of the map and you'll see Barbados. It's a very small island there.

I'll be staying at Rostrevor Apartment Hotel, St. Lawrence Gap, Christ Church (http://www.rostrevorbarbados.com/index.htm)

I don't know if I'll have much Internet service, so this may be all you hear from me until I get back this weekend.

Working in Duluth

Here's the gang I had the privilege of working with in Duluth recently. On the far left is Carleen, traffic director at the Red Rock Radio Group in Duluth. In the middle is my co-worker Marcia Chase. Marcia has been working hard to teach me the Visual Traffic software. And to the far right is Jennifer. She helps Carleen and does about a million other things around the stations. It was a good two weeks working with them all. And I get to go back there next week and work with the Red Rock Radio group again.