Another Football Saturday!

Since we lost last weekend in the final few seconds of the game I did not write a post. Today is a big game against our biggest out of state rival - the Oregon Ducks! There is no team in all of football that I hate more than the ducks! Their fans are infamous for being rude and downright mean to opposing teams. Time to bring them down!




Go Dawgs!!!!!!!!!

Jim

It's a Football Saturday!

I've been negligent in my posting once again but after doing a quick update yesterday I made a list of all the things I need to post about. The two most time consuming things going on right now and therefore most appropriate to post about are college football and marathon training.

Since it's a football Saturday - I'll catch you up on the college football we've been enjoying. My last football post was our opening game against LSU. I blogged a lot last season about coach Willingham and the need to fire him which occurred before the end of the last season. Steve Sarkisian the offensive coordinator for USC was hired and what a difference good coaching can make. Last year the UW Huskies went 0-12 - it was a painful season and Kent witnessed 10 of 12 losses in person. It's a new year in Husky nation! Here's a rundown of our season to date:

LSU - Opening game of the 2009 season. Number 11 in the country, LSU was heavily favored and there were tons of LSU fans in town for the game. You could not go anywhere in Seattle the days leading up to the game without running into tons of LSU fans. The Dawgs lost the game 31-23 but not before demonstrating great improvement to a home crowd over the previous year. Despite the loss it was a great game - where the Huskies actually going to do something this year?

Idaho - Second game of the season and the Dawgs are expected to win. My nephew got married on this weekend over in Lake Chelan so Kent and I drove the three hour drive to Lake Chelan for the rehearsal dinner on Friday and then turned around and got up early Saturday morning and drove back to Seattle for the game and then back to Lake Chelan for the evening wedding! It was a lot of driving but it was worth it to see the Dawgs break a 15 game losing streak dating back to Nov. 17, 2007! Huskies win 42-23! There is hope at Montlake! Turns out the Vandals are a pretty good team and as of this writing has gone on to win 5 games. Only loss this season was against the Huskies.

USC - Best game I've ever attended! Huskies take on number 3 in the nation USC in front of a home crowd hungry for a big upset! Since our new coach was the former offensive coordinator for USC we wore buttons thanking USC for the coach! The Dawgs manage a huge upset and win 16-13! First time I've seen the field at Husky Stadium rushed by the hometown crowd! Unbelievable game and a huge win for a team that went winless the previous season. For one short week UW is ranked in the top 25 teams in the nation! (Kiss of death, which frankly seemed a bit premature, but it was still fun!)

Stanford - Away game - hopes high, only to lose big in Palo Alto. Dawgs lose against Stanford 14-34. Turns out that Stanford has a pretty good team this year and currently has a 4-2 record. Ironically the last time the Huskies won an away game was in 2007 at Stanford - Kent and I were at this game along with our friend Bill. I hope they break the away game losing streak today!

Notre dame - Okay, I'm not usually bitter about a loss for long but I still have not put away the bitter bag over our loss to Notre dame 30-37 in OT. We travel to two away games each year and this year Notre dame was one of the away games we attended. What a great experience despite the loss! We met our friend Bill in Chicago and drove to South Bend for the game. Great campus and the locals were especially nice. Kent has a former coworker attending graduate school there right now who met up with us and gave us a quick tour of campus so the entire experience was a lot of fun! So why am I bitter? Bad officiating! The UW officially challenged a couple of the calls and it was determined that had the correct calls been made the Huskies would have won the game! It would have been so sweet - the Huskies and Notre dame have played eight times and the Huskies have never won against them - this was our year and it was stolen right out from under us! Jake Locker was pissed!

Arizona - Huskies win a miracle game in the 4th quarter at Husky Stadium. They played well in the first half of the game and actually went into half ahead. The third quarter the Huskies pretty much fell apart and it looked like we were going to lose this one and that our chances of going to a bowl game were all but lost. Washington's Mason Foster made the miracle play and intercepted a deflected pass off the foot of an Arizona player and ran it back for a touchdown with 2:37 left. The Huskies rallied with two touchdowns in the final three minutes to stun the Wildcats 36-33! College football is never over until the clock runs out!

So here we are half was through the season and we are playing 500 ball with real chance of pulling together enough wins to make it into a bowl game! The remaining games are all Pac-10 conference games so they are pretty critical games from this point forward. The Dawgs play Arizona State tonight in Tempe so we will be watching that game later tonight. This is a huge game!

It's good to get caught up on my football blogging. I'll post an update following tonight's game.

Later -

Jim

About 71

I am here with another ask - I know it's been awhile since I've posted but now that the November ballots are arriving I need to ask you to vote to approve Ref. 71.

Voting APPROVE on Ref. 71 is a vote to keep the domestic partnership law that provides legal protections for lesbian and gay couples and seniors who are in committed relationships. To be able to take unpaid leave to care for a critically ill loved one, without being fired. To be able to cover a partner in family health insurance. To make sure hard-earned pension and death benefits protect children when a parent dies. Approving Ref. 71 ensures that important protections are not taken away from committed couples, so that they are able to take care of each other, especially in times of crisis. Keep the domestic partnership law - Vote APPROVE on Ref. 71 by Nov 3.

I really hope I can count on you to not only vote to approve Ref. 71 but to pass the word to family and friends to approve this Referendum.

Thanks - more posting soon. The New York Marathon is only two weeks away!

Jim

LSU Tailgate Party

The LSU fans are in town in large numbers! This is a view of the tailgate party on the UW campus headed to the stadium.



-- Post on the run from my iPhone.

Game Day - UW vs. LSU

Well we can only improve over last year! Once again we are stoked for another season of Husky football! New coach and hopes for a winning season. Fisrt game will be tough as will our schedule for the season but if the Dawgs can pull off a big upset win over LSU it willl be the talk of the Pac - 10.

We have new seats this year so looking fiorward to meeting our new seat mates and the view of the field. Should be great as we moved down and in by about 25 yards. I'll keep you posted. Go Dawgs!


-- Post on the run from my iPhone.

Missed Blogaversary!

I just realized the other day that I've been blogging on Ground Cover for over a year and I missed my blogaversary! Shame on me. For those who have been reading for awhile you know that I post on an inconsistent basis. Mostly related to how busy I am -that being the case over the past few weeks. I enjoy having a blog if for no other reason for the first time in my life I've been able to journal for a full year. That's essentially how I view my blogging. It's sad to say - more for me than for you! Not to say that I'm not glad a few people read it and periodically make a comment here and there. I really do appreciate the comments.

I've been thinking about the future of the blog and not sure where it will go in the next twelve months. I wish I had more time to simply sit and write but between work, chores and marathon training and a bit of socializing it frequently gets pushed to the side.

I just finished week four of a sixteen week training program for the New York Marathon on November 1, 2009. I'm more excited about this run than any other I've ran for so many reasons. As with many runners when I first started running I fantasized about running the Boston Marathon and the New York Marathon. When we go to New York in November our friends Bill and Mike will join us - they are fun to travel with and we always have a good time traveling together. The training schedule I've chosen is rigorous - I'm running 6 days a week with different routines each day - one day a week hills, one day a week speed work, one long run each week and then three days of easy runs - I'm putting in 42 miles per week right now and will peak at 60 miles just before the marathon. When all is said between the training and the marathon itself I'll have logged 722.2 miles! Great thing about it is that it keeps the weight at bay and I can basically eat what ever I want. Each time I train seriously - I try a few new things in my diet, this time I'm completely alcohol free, no deep fried food, more fish and less beef. Seems to be paying off. I've never really done a great deal of hill workouts before and I can already tell in just the first four weeks that it is really going to pay off. I'm also part of an online training group that has been fun and keeps me motivated. I'll be writing more about the training between now and November since I'm really going to be spending a great deal of time wrapped up in it until November.

Work has been very busy which is both a good thing and a bad thing - it's hard to tend to the day to day tasks and keep up on email, and maintain your sanity all at the same time but I manage. I am very lucky to have a great job and work with great people for the most part. Last week I was in a meeting with the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy - Gil Kerlikowske - former chief of Police in Seattle. The Director advises the President regarding changes in the organization, management, budgeting, and personnel of federal agencies that effect U.S. anti-drug efforts; and regarding federal agency compliance with their obligations under the National Drug Control Strategy. I've had opportunity to meet with John Walter who was the Director under the Bozo - I mean Bush administration as well.

I have been working on a federal grant that was submitted a few months ago to implement substance abuse programs fro transition age youth 18-24 years of age. Still waiting to hear if we got the grant but I received an inquiry last week for more information which is a very good sign. I'll keep you posted on that one.

Finally eating fresh tomatoes out of the garden - only the cherry ones at this point but I do have several large ones just waiting to ripen. Part of the price for living in Seattle! It's been a hot dry summer - Seattle reached it's all time record high of 103 a few weeks ago but now things are back to normal much to the relief of everyone I know!

Obviously I need to post more often - way to much to say. Kent and I saw Julie and Julia on Friday evening - I really enjoyed it. Julie & Julia was written and directed by Nora Ephron. The film depicts events in the life of chef Julia Child, contrasting her life with Julie Powell, a woman who aspires to cook all 524 recipes from Child's cookbook. The screenplay is adapted from two books: My Life in France, Child's autobiography, written with Alex Prud'homme, and a memoir by Julie Powell. In August 2002, Powell started documenting online her daily experiences cooking each of the 524 recipes in Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking,
I had read - My Life in France but I'm rereading it now because I enjoyed the movie so much. Very inspiring story - she was older than I am now before she published her first cookbook! It's never too late to try something new. Kent and I have actually been thinking about taking some cooking classes - we just talked about it with our friend Bill recently. Anyway go see the movie - I think you will enjoy it.

Anyway - I'll try to post more often so you don't have to slog through so much next time you check in - have a great Sunday and Bon Appetite!

Jim