Hillary Clinton Wins New Hampshire

With 95% of the precint votes in, Hillary Clinton was declared the winner of the New Hampshire Democrat Primary. This was unexpected. Everyone (i.e. pundits, pollsters, her own camp) got it wrong. Her camp was going to be happy if they lost to Obama in the single digits.

What turned the tide? Right now they're doing the analytics on it. Could it have been the fact that she showed her softer side the other day? Could it be due to the fact that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, took on the media the other day and wondered why they were not asking Obama the tough questions? Or could it be that the people in New Hampshire decided that they weren't going to follow the lead of the residents of Iowa and that they would vote the way they wanted.

I have read several news reports and it seems that people under the age of 30 showed up to vote. This is a good example that your vote DOES count.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few primaries. Could John Edwards win in South Carolina?

I haven't checked in with Fitness Nerd today but I bet he is peeing in his pants because is a big Hillary supporter.

This is the kind of stuff that makes elections exciting. This is the kind of stuff that should get people to the polls.

Ramblings of A Caffeinated Mind 8.1

Roger Clemens

OK. I will say that I sort of followed the guilt by association train of thought about Mr. Clemens. If his good friend Andy Andy Pettitte did the injections, then Roger must have done the same thing. And about Andy Pettitte, that was a lame ass excuse. I did it for the team.

Back to Roger...So. I watched the Mike Wallace 60 Minutes interview on Sunday evening. Mike didn't cut him any slack. I think I believe Roger. (Of course I also believed Marion Jones and Madeline Albright believed Bill Clinton.) You don't get that p!ssed off if you are guilty.

I watched his news conference this afternoon and his credibility factor went up with me. Did he really have to hire Rusty Hardin though? I always thought that if you hire Rusty, you MUST be guilty. :-)

I think Roger is a nice guy and I want to believe him. After hearing his phone conversation with his former trainer and hearing about some information that casts doubt on the trainer, I'm sort of thinking Roger is telling the truth. He is voluntarily going to testify before Congress next week. Stay tuned.



T-E-A-M (You're A Good Man Charlie Brown)
So the whole Roger Clemens thing has me singing a showtune. Go figure. There is a song in You're A Good Man Charlie Brown that has the following lyric:

Dear Pen pal...

You'll never guess what happened today

At the baseball game.

It's hard to believe, what happened today

At the baseball game...

Here is the whole song.

In other news...

• As I compose this post, LSU is kicking Ohio State's butt in the BCS Championship Game. I will say that Ohio State scored in the first minute and a half and was even ahead by 10 points but then...
• I did get out and run this morning. 3 miles
• I did make it to the gym for a weight workout. It was getting full but then it is always that way on Monday and the weather is a bit odd this evening.

From time to time, London Preppy and The Guy Who will list music at the end of their blogs. So based on that inspiration, here are songs that played on the nano today (starting with the most recent):

• Let The Sunshine In by Gerideau
• Above The Clouds by Amber
• Candy Man by Christina Aguilera
• All or Nothing by Cher
• Born To Be Alive (Full Vocal Remix) by Disco Kings
• Born To Be Alive by Weather Girls
• What It's Like by Everlast
• Rappers Delight by The Sugarhill Gang
• I Love You by Donna Summer
• This Time I Know It's For Real by Donna Summer
• Killer by George Michael
• Papa Was A Rolling Stone by George Michael
• Believe by Cher
• Estoy Aquí (Extended Club Mix) by Shakira
• Sexual Revolution by Leah Howard

Houston Marathon: The Hoopla

This is the ONE TIME of the year that the Houston Chronicle gives good coverage to the sport of running. There is an almost weekly running column every Thursday but beyond that the running community is sort of on it's own.

So why this week? You see...Sunday, January 13, 2008 is the Houston Marathon, 1/2 Marathon and 5K. It is the largest particpant event in the city of Houston. Approximately 17,000 runners will be hitting the streets for the marathon and 1/2 marathon and I don't know how many more will be participating in the 5K.

There is a good article about the increasing numbers of runners in the U.S. and the decreasing average completion times. To read the article, click here.

The thing about the marathon is that you never know what type of weather to expect. I have sweated my ass off and I frozen off my cajones. It's Houston. You just never know.

This year I am doing the 1/2 marathon and uh...let's just say I have been better prepared. I think I got into my running funk when I didn't get selected for the ING NYC Marathon. I'm still going to have fun. And I ain't too proud to walk part of the course in order to complete the run.

"Not everyone can be a hero. Someone has to stand on the sidelines and cheer."

-Will Rogers

Part of what makes the run fun (yes, fun) is seeing all of the spectators who come out to cheer. When the course changed a few years ago I wondered if the people in The Heights and Montrose would come out early to cheer us on. The answer was a resounding YES and they came out in full force. You see...they are toward the begining of the course so they have to get up early and yes some of them are out there cheering in their pajamas.

Prior to entering The Heights runners can usually count on some Tejano music playing as they run along Quitman. Sort of a mini-fiesta so to speak. I remember one year, there was a Roman Catholic priest in a cherry picker blessing us with holy water as we ran by.

The people in West U get to sleep in a bit longer but they have the most fun. Runners usually encounter block parties or yard parties. Mimosas, Screwdrivers and brunch while the runners traverse by.

I remember one year as I was approaching Rice University I could hear loud dance music coming from a house. I thought to myself, "Gays." Sure enough, a gaggle of gays were getting sloshed at 830A, dancing and cheering. I wanted to stop and join in.

The same year that the course changed at the beginning it changed around mile 16. The new route goes through Tanglewild. For those of you who don't know anything about Houston, this is the neighborhood where Daddy George Bush lives.

The neighborhood comes out to lend their support but they're a bit more sedate than the Rice U./West U./Montrose/Heights areas. Marathon runners can always count on the belly dancers right before they hit the proverbial wall at mile 20 which happens to be at Woodway and I-610 (the loop).

It is at this point the hoopla goes full force as the spectators come out to greet the runners as they come into Memorial Park. And it is non-stop for most of the way down Memorial to Shepherd to Allen Parkway.

If you live along Allen Parkway, I know that the runners would appreciate you coming out to cheer because this is the approach into downtown and the last part of the course. I call it the Allen Parkway Death March because it is up and down and up and down and up and down, etc. All that you can think about is getting through downtown and crossing the finish line.

I will say that one year the people from Casa de Eperanza were there with a band and Margaritas. At mile 23 though a Margarita was the last thing on my mind.

So if you're looking for something to do on Sunday morning, click here for a map.

Hope to see you along the course on Sunday!

Word Of The Day

"The reason they accepted Andy's statement is because Andy said he did it, and that's fine. Everybody put it aside," Hardin said. "What they're upset with Roger about is that he has denied it. If he had denied it the first day, the opinions would have been no different, and we would have been a lot less informed as to the weaknesses of the report and what balderdash this stuff is."

Balderdash
bal·der·dash –noun

1.senseless, stupid, or exaggerated talk or writing; nonsense.
2.Obsolete. a muddled mixture of liquors.

I can actually relate to both definitions.

A Rather Odd Dream

So Friday morning when I woke up I was singing a Whitney Houston song. Today I can't remember which one but I do remember it was Whitney. And here is what I remember from the dream.

Madonna was my BFF and we were running around town. We were running errands: grocery shopping, Starbucks, dog walking, etc.

When I get back to the house my roommate Barbra Streisand was there. We decided to clean house and I decided to turn on the cd player. So what do I pop in the player? A collection of Barbra's music. She comes running through the house screaming at me to stop playing her music. I start to laugh and she continues to scream at me. I turn up the volume and she starts crying.

So I go to my friend Heidi's house and her cousin Vicki is there. We are now in Laguna Beach, California (which is where Vicki really had a house) and we're just hanging out. I tell Heidi and Vicki that I need to get to the dollar store so they give me directions. However, the way that I entered their house isn't the way that I exited and the way that I left the neighborhood isn't the way that I approached it. It was almost as if the house and neighborhood had changed while I was inside.

So I get to the dollar store but nothing is priced at a dollar. Everything cost more than a dollar and it is sort of like Sam's or Costco (wholesale stores). Also, most of the merchandise is industrial stuff.

I go back to the car and Whitney Houston is there singing. And I wish I could remember what the song was because THAT is the song I woke up singing.

Analyze and discuss amongst yourselves.

Overheard

Overheard at a party
"Wow. You cradle that really well."

Overheard at a party
"I like mine crisp and hard."

Also overheard at a party
"I haven't been real regular."

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Last night was the Krewe's Royal Affair. There was a team of us that put this together but Blaine gets the credit for having the vision of using the lobby of The Alley Theater for the event.

The multi-level atrium lobby was the perfect venue for displaying the trains for former Krewe Royalty. Guests were able to mix & mingle while viewing the trains, bidding on hand decorated masks and partaking of adult beverages and nibbley things.

Around 930p I realized I had not sampled the food and oops it was almost all gone. I did hear that the food was wonderful. I spent my evening catching up with folks that I hadn't seen in awhile. Can't remember when I have talked so much (and I do talk quite a bit).

Dennis from The Alley was great to work with...again. And the bar manager made me laugh. You see...

Last year we did the Captain's Party for the Krewe's underwriters in the Board Room of The Alley. We drank a bunch of vodka and they ran out. This time around he brought in extra supplies of vodka and had another staff member to help. We *heart* vodka.

Because the party was on January 5 it wasn't a Mardi Gras party. You see...

Mardi Gras season officially begins today on The Feast Of The Three Kings also known as The Epiphany. I have included some information for you about the Feast Day.

Three Kings Day

The Feast of the Epiphany, celebrated each Jan. 6, is also known as Three Kings Day. It commemorates the day on which the three wise men visited the infant Jesus, bearing gifts.

• The date marks the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

• In some European and Latin American cultures, Jan. 6, not Christmas Day, is when gifts are exchanged.

• Some of the biggest celebrations are in Puerto Rico, where children leave hay in their shoes overnight for the kings' camels. In Latin America, the day is known as El Día de los Reyes or Día de los Reyes Magos.

• Three Kings Day is the first day of the celebration that ends with Mardi Gras. By tradition, king cakes are served.

OK. In a couple of hours, I will join my fellow Krewe members for our first bite of King Cake. It's sort of like eating black-eye peas or menudo for good luck on the first day of the new year.

In case you don't know, it is a VERY short Mardi Gras season. Several recent conversations have had this as their main topic of discussion.

Here is the short answer...the way I understand it. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered the advancement of the calendar by 10 days. He used the Gregorian Calendar to prevent further errors.

Easter is determined this way...it is the first Sunday AFTER the first full moon AFTER the Spring Equinox. And if I understand it correctly, this became a part of the Gregorian Calendar. So you see, Easter will never be before March 21.

So now you have to back up 46 days from Easter to determine the date of Ash Wednesday which is the first day of Lent.

THEN back up one more day and you have Fat Tuesday (aka Mardi Gras).

For 2008 here are the dates:

• January 6 - Beginning of Mardi Gras season (This date never changes.)


• February 5 - Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday)


• February 6 - Ash Wednesday


• March 23 - Easter Sunday

As I have mentioned in a previous post, my party season doesn't end with the new year. For instance...

• King Cake Party today


• King Cake Party next Saturday at Kenny & Steve's


• Mystery & Fantasy Ball - A Pirate's Fantasy on January 19


• Krewe Ball - Olympus @ The Library on January 26

I'm already tired!

So get ready to earn some beads. ;-)