I may never get to Chicago

This winter storm is cramping my style. I've had several flights cancelled today. They'd cancell one and reschedule me, then cancell that one. I've only made it as far as Minneapolis. And that's only because Makita drove me here. And currently the flight I'm scheduled on for 7am in the morning is showing a one hour delay. This sucks.

Weekend in Sports

Jeff took second. Not too shabby. That moved him up in to the top ten. Next week they'll be in Texas on Sunday.

North Dakota Fighting Sioux made it to the Final Four NCAA Men's Hockey Championship. They will be playing Boston in Denver on April 10th and if they win on the 10th they will go on to the championship on the 12th.

Crosby Ironton high school Boys BB took second place in state. They had been undefeated until the championship game. They lost to New London/Spicer.

The Wild kicked some butt over the weekend. They smoked Vancouver Friday night and took a win in overtime against my beloved Avalanche yesterday. Minnesota has clinched a playoff spot and is currently leading the division.

The Av's won Friday in a shoot out against the Oilers. In our division it will more than likely be the Avs and the Flames who join Minnesota in the playoffs. We'll have to keep our eye on Vancouver to see how they do. I of course want the Canucks to lose and help secure a place for my Avs in the playoffs. Vancouver plays the Av's on the 1st, the Oilers on the 3rd and the Flames on the 5th. There is only two more regular season games for the Avs and the Wild. There is three games remaining for the Flames.

The Avs and Wild's last regular season games....ready for this....is against each other in Colorado this Sunday.

I'm getting ready to head out to Chicago. Hopefully the weather will allow me to get there. It doesn't look good right now. I'll keep you posted.

Come on Jeff!

Jeff is currently in 14th place. That's two places out of making the Chase. Come on! Martinsville this Sunday. Maybe we can pull one off on a short track.

Trace Adkins finalist on Celebrity Apprentice

The two hour Celebrity Apprentice finale will be this Thursday, March 27th at 8:00 PM Central time. We'll see if Trace can win the $250,000 for his charity.

Trace's charity is FAAN (Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network). PERSONAL CONNECTION: Trace's 6-year old daughter had a severe, life-threatening reaction to peanut butter when she was just 18 months old, an experience Trace called "terrifying." His daughter also suffers from allergies to eggs and milk. Trace feels that research could lead to greater understanding of food allergies, and perhaps someday a cure.

Check out what Trace has to say about it at: http://www.traceadkins.com/main/

You can catch Trace this summer at Moondance Jammin Country Fest in Walker MN. http://www.jammincountry.com/

Here's Trace last summer performing at Winstock.

Here's me and Trace a long long time ago. I bet it was over 10 years ago.

A weekend of NCAA Sports

Some of you may be watching the NCAA Men's Basketball tournaments. There's been a few upsets. The games continue with the Sweet 16 this Thursday and Friday. Then on to the Elite 8 on Saturday and Sunday.On that note, the Men's Division 1 Men's NCAA HockeyThe bracket is set. The 16 teams are in place. The games start this Friday the 28th.

Some teams of interest to me are St Cloud, whom will be playing Clarkson on Friday at 4pm. The winner of that game will go on to play the winner of the Michigan vs Niagara game on Saturday.

North Dakota Fighting Sioux will be playing Princeton on Saturday at 3pm. And then WCHA champs Denver will be playing Wisconsin on Saturday at 6:30pm. The winner of each of those games will go on to play each other on Sunday.

And the Minnesota Gophers will be matched up against Boston College on Saturday at 7:30pm. The winner of that match up will go on to play the winner of of the Air Force vs Miami (Ohio) game on Sunday.

WCHA Final Five kicks off tonight

Victories by host North Dakota and visiting Minnesota in critical game threes of first round conference playoff series Sunday (March 16) night have completed the field for the 2008 Red BaronTM WCHA Final Five, set for March 20-22 at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn.

The Fighting Sioux edged Michigan Tech, 2-1, while the Golden Gophers won a 3-2 double overtime contest against Minnesota State. Regular season and MacNaughton Cup champion Colorado College is the No. 1 seed, regular season runner-up North Dakota is the No. 2 seed, Denver is the No. 3 seed, St. Cloud State is the No. 4 seed and Minnesota is the No. 5 seed.

On Thursday evening at Xcel Energy Center, No. 5 seed Minnesota (17-15-9) will face-off against No. 4 St. Cloud State (19-14-5) at 7:07 pm CT.

On Friday afternoon at 2:07 pm CT, No. 3 seed Denver (24-13-1) will take on No. 2 seed North Dakota (25-9-4), while on Friday evening, Thursday night's winner will go up against Colorado College (28-9-1) at 7:07 pm CT.

Then on Saturday, the third place game of the 2008 Red BaronTM WCHA Final Five will get underway at 2:07 pm CT with the Broadmoor Trophy championship contest set for 7:07 pm CT.

Wild take the lead back

Well my Avs didn't keep the division lead very long. On Monday the Wild took it back from them at the Xcel Energy Center. And we were there to see it. We doubled up on fun with St. Patrick's and a NHL game. Lorrie (aka: Crazy Hair Bozo), Brad and myself even sported our shamrock glasses. Makita was a shamrock party pooper.

Mackey Win's Two in a Row

Lance Mackey, of Fairbanks Alaska, crossed the finish line with a strong string of 11 dogs at 2:46 a.m. this morning, winning the Iditarod in 9 days, 11 hours, 46 minutes and 48 seconds.

Following up on a storybook year in 2007 of unmatched greatness against unbelievable odds — winning the Yukon Quest and Iditarod back to back on a shoe-string budget wearing the same bib number of his father and brother when they won the race — Mackey has again claimed victory in both the Quest and Iditarod. Back-to-back double doubles.

Mackey edged out Jeff King of Denali Alaska, by tricking him into parking his team at Elim. He then tip-toed out of the checkpoint at 2:20 a.m. after just an hour and 20 minutes rest, right as King shut his eyes for a nap.

If King had won he would have tied with Rick Swenson of Two Rivers Alaska, with five wins, the most for one musher. Rick crossed the finish line 1 hour and 50 minutes after Lance this morning.

Lance Mackey talks to his lead dog, Larry, as he gets ready to leave the White Mountain, Alaska, checkpoint in the lead of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

WCHA Hockey Playoff time

The first round of Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs, set for this Friday, March 14 thru Sunday, March 16 (if necessary), have been set. The five, best-of-3 first round post-season series will feature:

No. 1 seed and 2007-08 WCHA regular season champion and Colorado College hosting No. 10 seed Alaska Anchorage

No. 2 seed North Dakota hosting No. 9 seed Michigan Tech

No. 3 seed Denver entertaining No. 8 seed Minnesota Duluth

No. 4 seed Minnesota State hosting No. 7 seed Minnesota

No. 5 seed St. Cloud State hosting No. 6 seed Wisconsin

Following next weekend's first round of playoffs, the five winning teams will be re-seeded No. 1 through No. 5 depending on their regular season finish and advance to the 2008 Red Baron WCHA Final Five, set for March 20-22 at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn. The winner of the Broadmoor Trophy at the Final Five will receive the WCHA's automatic berth into the NCAA Men's Div. 1 Tournament.

2008 Polar Plunge

Well the Polar Plunge is over. They raised $62, 500 just in Brainerd for Special Olympics. Quite a success. Makita ended up with $525.00. He was very pleased and thanks everyone for helping out. He didn't let you down either. He went and did the jump.

Here's the hole they cut in the ice for the plungers to jump into. They had to skim the ice off the top before anyone could go in. The temp was probably around 20 degrees and it was windy. I was cold and I was dressed for winter!

The Brainerd Fire Department came complete with truck and the fire Pup mascot.

Here comes Makita ready for the plunge.There he goes.Here comes the next guy. If you look in the lower left hand corner you'll see Makita in the water.Oh boy...Joe did a hand stand flip-a-roo.

There was lots of good costumes. Here's Shep "Hefner" and his bunnies before they jumped.

Daylight Savings Time (DST)

During his time as an American envoy to France, Benjamin Franklin, author of the proverb, "Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise", anonymously published a letter suggesting that Parisians economize on candles by rising earlier to use morning sunlight.

The prominent English builder and outdoorsman William Willett invented DST in 1905 during one of his pre-breakfast horseback rides, when he observed with dismay how many Londoners slept through the best part of a summer day. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk. His solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. He lobbied unsuccessfully for the proposal until his death in 1915.

Germany, its World War I allies, and their occupied zones were the first European nations to use Willett's invention, starting April 30, 1916. Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit, Russia and a few other countries waited until the next year, and the United States adopted it in 1918.

And we're still doing this non-sense. Okay it's non-sense in the Spring when I'm robbed of an hour. But it's a fantastic idea when I get it back in the Fall.

I wonder if BF also said "The early bird catches the worm". He doesn't look like anyone catching a worm. As a matter of fact he looks like he caught a seven course meal a time or two. He was, however, wealthy and wise. I don't know much of his health. I do know he had some hair issues though.

Happy Happy Dogs

Leaders running the Iditarod start to take their mandatory 24 hour layovers. Sebastian Schnuelle said he couldn't believe it. A 13 hour run from somewhere beyond Nikolai all the way to Takotna, and his dogs still barked and lunged into their harnessess as he checked in to take his 24 hour layover. He wasn't alone.

This race, with its relentless drizzle of snow and threat of rain, is seeing larger, livelier dog teams across the board. The vast majority of the top 20 are still running 14- to 16-dog strings. Schnuelle and the others, such as four-time champion Jeff King, know why. Dogs naturally slow down on soft trail and in warm temperatures, and when they run slower, they stay healthier. One of the arts of distance sled dog racing is finding the happy medium between speed and durability. If there’s a scale for that sort of thing, the 2008 Iditarod has forced its participants to fall well inside the safety zone.

Leif Sandnes of Norway, a race volunteer, holds Madelin, one of Paul Gebhardt's dropped dogs, in the back of a sled being towed by snowmobile to the airstrip atop a hill overlooking Takotna. The dog was being flown back to McGrath. photo by Jon Little.

It's the 3rd Annual Brainerd Polar Plunge. Makita will be jumping again with the Brainerd Fire Department. It will be held this Saturday, March 8th, at 1pm at Breezy Point Resort.

If you'd like to make a contribution in Makita's name, just click on the link below.

http://www.specialolympicsminnesota.org/Polar_Plunge_App.php?step=pledge&action=showwebpage&event_id=7&regid=2288&team_id=53

The Polar Bear Plunge (presented by Minnesota Law Enforcement to benefit Special Olympics Minnesota and part of the year-round fundraising of the Law Enforcement Torch Run to benefit Special Olympics Minnesota) is a unique opportunity for individuals, organizations and businesses to support Special Olympics athletes by jumping into frigid Minnesota waters. January through March, 11 plunges across the state give you the chance to be FREEZIN' FOR A REASON! Too chicken to make a splash? Show your support by making a pledge to a braver soul, or come out and be a spectator!

Iditarod Standings

Here's the direct link to check the current Iditrod standings:

http://iditarod.com/race/race/currentstandings.html

Headlines from yesterday:

WILLOW, ALASKA - (Sunday, March 2, 2008) - The stage was set today in Willow Alaska for what could be the most competitive race in Iditarod Trail history. Ninety five teams left beautiful Willow Lake saying goodbye to thousands of fans who lined up to witness race history; a field that shattered the previous record of 87 teams.

Teams wasted little time, waving to onlookers, forging their way out to the Susitna River, and on to the Iditarod Trail. Six Iditarod Champions (Rick Swenson, Jeff King, Martin Buser, Joe Runyon, Mitch Seavey, and Lance Mackey) were part of this very talented field that included thirty three rookies representing more than one third of the entire procession that is on its way to Nome.

This year eighteen mushers are carrying special tracking devices on their sleds. You can see their progress by logging on to http://www.iditarod.com/ and click “Iditarod Tracker” to see the action unfold in real time.

It's Leap Day

Why exactly do we need a leap day? Well it's to synchronize the seasons. The vernal equinox is the time when the sun is directly above the Earth's equator, moving from the southern to the northern hemisphere. The mean time between two successive vernal equinoxes is called a tropical year–also known as a solar year–and is about 365.2422 days long. Using a calendar with 365 days every year would result in a loss of 0.2422 days, or almost six hours per year. After 100 years, this calendar would be more than 24 days ahead of the season (tropical year), which is not desirable or accurate. It is desirable to align the calendar with the seasons and to make any difference as insignificant as possible. By adding a leap year approximately every fourth year, the difference between the calendar and the seasons can be reduced significantly, and the calendar will align with the seasons much more accurately. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah....boring.

2008 Iditarod

This upcoming weekend 96 mushers will head out of Anchorage on a 1150 mile race we all know as the Iditarod. There will be TV coverage after the race has finished starting on March 18th on Versus. In the meantime you can get all your Iditarod news at http://www.iditarod.com/

Pheasant Forever Banquet Report

Well folks if you bought a raffle ticket from either myself or Makita, you didn't win a gun. Neither of us won anything all night either. Ellie won a case of 12 gauge shotgun shells and a case of clay pigeons. Dave Jr. won two guns (he was a lucky dog). Ellie did have the winning bid on a fur hat on the silent auction. It's fox. It's her! As you can see by her picture below, she looks like she has a fur halo.

Soldiers' Angels

This week I became a member of Soldiers' Angels and adopted a Soldier. His name is James and he's in the Army serving in the 62 Quartermaster Company, 68th CSSB (Combat Sustainment Support Battalion). That's about all I know about him. I looked up his Battalion and it looks like they are supplying Troops in Baghdad.

Once you join (no fee to join) they assign you a Soldier. The Soldier could be from any branch of the service. Mine just happened to be from the Army. After you receive your Soldier's info you are asked to write to them once or twice a week and send one or two care packages month. Evidently it's a big deal to hear your name at mail call. And of course they could always use the stuff you send in the care packages.

If you'd like to learn more about adopting a Soldier, check out this website: http://soldiersangels.org/

Aitkin County Pheasants Forever Banquet

http://www.aitkinpheasantsforever.org/

This Saturday night is the Aitkin County Pheasants Forever Annual Banquet. Check out the website above for more info. There are still seats available. Grab your friends and come on over to Aitkin. You can buy tickets at the door. I know there's lots of guns to win as well as other great prizes. And don't forget the silent auction. I'll be there helping my friends Dave and Ellie with a card game. Makita will be emceeing it. I promise I won't throw up on the way home this year.

Global Warming My Ass

Brainerd and other surrounding area schools have closed again today due to the cold temps. It is currently -23 degrees, with a wind chill dipping down around -35 degrees. Let me make myself clear.....I'M GETTING SICK OF THIS COLD WEATHER. There, I said it. Frick'n ground hog.