And the winner is...

Minneapolis. That's right. Not London or China or somewhere in Africa. Minneapolis. Perfect timing too. I guess I better buy a coat...

I'll be up there at least through the end of the year, but likely longer. You know I'll keep you posted. (Pun intended. Help me...)

I fly up there on Sunday after practice and I am dreading the first day of school feeling...

Looming much larger on the horizon is Nationals in Sarasota next week. I'll fly to Tampa on Wednesday. Do keep an eye on the results here. I am really looking forward to it. This weekend will basically be practice and packing.

Went to see TV on the Radio with Stephen and that was a pretty good show. A psychic told me I liked Abraham Lincoln and freaked me out, but maybe he just says that to everyone. Burgers at the Spotted Pig post show.

I was also summoned for Jury duty recently. Man! Let me tell you, if you ever think a process is inefficient, you should compare it to jury duty. I was selected for a jury pool for two trials, but was never placed into the jury box for voir dire so, I never got to tell the judge that as I did not believe in 'facts' or 'reality' it would probably be difficult for me to follow his instructions. I just sat there for two straight days listening to others in the box think of any excuse possible to be excused. One watched too much CSI. One refused to sit on a gun related charge in defense of the second amendment. One woman announced that since the beginning of the voir dire she had developed a strong dislike of the prosecuting attorney and could not possibly be objective.

They asked everyone the same introductory questions: Where they lived and for how long, what level of education, what they did for employment, who else lived in their household and what they did for employment. It was very strange. We are all strangers. This city does not look you in the eye on the subway. Now there you are sitting in a jury box in a room full of 100 strangers telling us all that you've lived in Hell's Kitchen for 12 years. You went to SUNY New Paltz for 2 years and dropped out. You're in between office jobs and supplementing your income with online sales (eBay) and you live alone. I had too look away. All this personal information. It's like when the homeless guy bathes in the fountain. You just can't watch...

And that last question. Most New Yorkers, it seems live alone. I would say 12 out of 18 on each panel, (and I watched 4 but was never called to the box) responded that they had no one else in their household. Everyone answered that differently, "Divorced" "Single Occupant Household" "On my own" and one woman who confessed, "I am alone, totally alone".

I left with a sense that I am one of the least crazy people out there, on average. It seemed to me that everyone in the room was enduring some kind of withdrawal. Is everyone on drugs? Just sit quietly and read the paper. Do not fidget ceaselessly. Do not feel the need to comment on all the proceedings. Do not complain like this is the height of torture. DO NOT try to talk to me and get me to commiserate with you about how terrible this all is, how inconvenienced you are. Just sit still and be quiet you stupid babies!!!!!!! Grrrrr.

Anyway that's over for a few years and I'm off to Scandinavia Camp. Woo woo.

Ambush Ultimate: Courtney Kelly

Ambush Ultimate: Courtney Kelly

We're going to the Dance!

So, it came down to the bitter end, but Ambush is going to nationals. (I'm in the back row, 5th from the left.) Devens was gorgeous and sunny and not even windy both days, though there were a lot of mosquitoes.

We won our pool on Saturday against a good high school team, a bad college team and Sugar Shack, the 5 seed from Vermont. Then we played the #1 v. #4 crossover against Brute Squad and had them even at 9s before losing 15-9. Sunday we beat Hatch, then lost to the Capitals (Go back to Canada!) and had to play Sugar Shack again in the back door game to go for the 4th spot. They were a little tougher on Sunday, but we still finished them off. (Godiva shocked everyone and beat Brute Squad in the finals.) The scores of all the games are here.

Here's me scoring a goal:

I think that is from the Saturday Sugar Shack game, though I'm not sure.







Hillary has more free time now that she is not campaigning as much and she came out to watch the tournament.
She played really well.

Congrats to NY teams Pony (Open) and Puppet Regime (Coed) for qualifying for the trip to Florida as well.

I'll be down in Sarasota Oct 29-Nov 3 so start getting amped now!
See here:
http://club2008.upa.org/team/women

In other news I saw a few minutes of Les Savy Fav at the Williamsburg Music Hall Sunday night and they are insane in a good way.



Also, my mom got some miniature horses. Initially, I was very excited about this. I assumed that they were pocket-sized and could live indoors in a terrarium, like the household deer from that Johnathan Letham novel but I was mistaken. See?

They are more the size of a Saint Bernard, but as far as I can tell, do not fetch and will not bring you whiskey in an avalanche. (Which has me wondering why there aren;t more alcohol delivering dogs these days, that was a real 'value add service' as we say in consulto-speak.)


I was also mistaken in assuming that the miniature horses might serve as a replacement to the full sized horses already in the back yard. No actually, they are a supplement.

Supplemental mini horses. So There.

Stay tuned.