Saturday, May 28, 2005
12:04 p.m.
Kentucky Derby Days
Somehow, I was very lucky to get the chance to attend the Kentucky Derby this year. Wow, what a freakshow. If you are a lady, the idea is to have the most awful looking hat. If you are a man, the idea is apparently to dress somewhere between Love Boat's Captain Stubing and KFC's Colonel Sanders.
You will likely dress that way, unless you plan to spend most of the race in the infield. Then the idea is to look and act like white trash, and to get so drunk they have to haul you out in a golf cart.
The traditional viewer would likely have a seat in the stands, which are made up mostly of boxes of 6-8 seats, maybe more. These boxes are largely owned, it seems, by corporations and businesses who probably find a way to write them off by inviting clientele to watch the race with them.
As for the general public, there are some grassy places to watch the race from the infield and on the outskirts of the stands, on the southern end of the track.
Most people bring blankets and sit on the grass. And this is also the place where many television stations and networks set up their live positions, since the throw is a very short cable run to where they park the satellite trucks.
We'll go to the satellite truck compound in a minute. But first, I'll take you to the area where the horses are walked before they're brought onto the track.
You may note the twin spires that make Churchill Downs famous. They are just as pretty, but they are overshadowed by all that has been built up around them.
It's hard to go anywhere without seeing some kind of board posting the latest odds on the next race, and often other races throughout the day at the Downs or at other tracks around the country.
Here's another picture of the famous spires.
Back to ridiculous, it became very apparent, very quickly that even though people were really drunk, it seems as though liquor companies wanted people to buy more booze.
These guys were being paid by somebody to walk around all day with these monitors hovering over their heads. "Oh," I thought. "Are they walking around with live feeds of the race, or the latest stats or latest odds, or something like that?"
Oh, no my friends. Their little backpack/monitor contraption was a little server cranking out non-stop advertisements for the whiskey of the day, one of the companies promoting it's whiskey as the best whiskey to use in your mint julep. The sick bastards.
I did hear the best way to make a Mint Julep: An older gentleman told me that he shaves the ice, and crushes the fresh mint, places them in a glass and mixes them with a little bit of sugar. Then, in another glass, he pours in a few fingers of whiskey. He then throws away the other glass and drinks the whiskey. Old people are so dang smart.
I'd had enough and I'd decided that I'd spent enough money on losing horses. So as I placed the one last bet before the big race of the day, I thought I'd make one quick pass through the satellite compound and say hi to everyone.
That's when I ran into Tom Ewing, one of the guys who runs the Chicago truck for Fox News Channel. He's such a riot, always making people laugh and always doing something cool (both he and Dusty spent time in Iraq, and he was cool enough to give me a Dinar as a souvenir).
People always joke that Tom is Drew Carey's twin. And while I'll admit that they do look a little alike, Tom is much funnier.
So we watched the big race, and Tom had placed his bets.
Darned if he didn't win ON THE LONGSHOT, with over 50 to 1 Odds.
SHOW ME THE CABBAGE, MON!
It sure couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Of course, if you're wondering, my horse probaby came in last.
Of course, it turns out that Tom had received a tip from a certain Sir Richard Branson and decided that he would put a little bet on that tip.
I spent a whole day working with Branson the day before, I wonder why he never mentioned this to me? Oh well, it's only money.
Saturday, May 28, 2005
11:31 a.m.
One of my favorite art themes and eras is the age of art deco. And like the Del McCoury band is to Bluegrass (taking the art form and making it better), every once in a while, I happen across something and somebody who is truely amazing and awe-inspiring in the most unlikely corners of the world.
While working in Iowa, I happened across a guy working for a group of artists (most of them family) at Bogenrief Studios in Cherokee, Spencer and Sutherland, Iowa.
I was working with Jon and Ron when we struck up a conversation with one of the sons of the owner, and one of the artists.
When my dad owned a glass shop, all of us kids learned how to do some stained glass. But the stuff we saw here was miles ahead of our little pieces.
I remember seeing some pieces my dad finished that were really good, but I wonder how much more effort it would have taken to get to this level.
Blown glass is also quite remarkable. Some of my favorite pieces he was showing this day were the little tornado paper holders. While I thought they were great, I just don't have my office set up yet at the house, so I had trouble figuring out exactly I would place a tornado paper holder.
The most amazing piece, of course, was the stained glass piece. I didn't have the heart to even ask how many hours it took to complete such an amazing thing. I already know it was a long, long time.
On their main page, I found another piece entitled, "Sara." And I just know that at some point in my life, when I am going through there and have some free time, I have to go see at least one of their galleries.
If you're big into stained glass, check out their website:
www.bogenriefstudios.com
Saturday, May 28, 2005
11:13 a.m.
I warned you guys, and now it's too late. While going through some old pictures, I found some details I'd missed when the president last visited Mt. Rushmore.
I could have sworn that some of the squirrels were watching me. And now I have proof: They have trained some squirrel snipers, and they now have beads on all of us! Just take a look:
And you thought we went too far with the atomic bomb?
Friday, May 27, 2005
03:30 a.m.
Am I so far behind in my life that I'll never catch up? If that is the case, then I'm too numb to care right now.
Before this week of travelling, I had the chance to attend my cousin's wedding. And before that, I worked on a job covering a really gross knee surgery. It was well-lit, which made it even grosser. Is grosser a word? Anyway, I digress.
So I did the whole outfit, scrubs and all. As the crew walked around, doing this and that, we all kept saying to each other, "Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, yeah, we're all doctors here." If you want to see the best version of this, rent "Muppets from Space." I still find it funny, and that was a week ago.
So Paul and Andy stayed in their scrubs so that Deb and I could get a picture with them. They were really good sports about the whole thing. We had to work pretty hard on the whole gig, but they appear to be having fun.
Of course, before we went we had to get some pictures with Melissa. She made the whole weekend better.
This picture is one of my favorites, because of the reactions I caught. They were confidence in a good day's work now done. They were goofy with heat and lack of sleep. And everybody was just being themselves. How refreshing.
This one I placed on the background of my computer. It's just a perfect example of me hiding my nerdyness (did I just make up another word?) behind something or somebody cool. Life is all about smokescreens, people.
I didn't take pictures at my cousin's wedding. But I think Schyler said they will be posting some of them, or I may be able to get a hold of some by them. I don't know why I didn't take any pictures. Melissa and I were dressed to kill (at least she looked great).
But the highlight of the weekend was going to the sculpture garden outside of St. Louis, where I believe we saw everything. There are far too many pictures to show, so I'll keep the pictures down to only my favorites.
This sculpture was named something like "Symphony of Trees."
There were a lot of sculpures that would be impossible to capture in a still photo, or even explain.
For instance, I might call this the big red tube thing. She would get it, and I would get it, but without scale and the third dimension it makes no sense. It's still cool, it just makes no sense trying to show you this sculpture on a 640X480 pixel, flat image. Sorry, we did our best.
Again, here I am taking a cat nap in the cat thing. It doesn't make any sense, and that's the only thing I know how to convey. That, and if I don't get a little bit of a tan on those chicken legs I'm going to burn them by mid June.
She asked me to "make love to the tree," so here I am, trying to figure out how the aluminum wrap on the tree is fastened on...
Classic look... redwood sculpture.. very amazing.
This is where, if I should take one more picture, I would be flirting with death. So I chose to live dangerously, and get ready to run for my life.
This is probably my actual favorite photo of Mel because she isn't posed, isn't looking at or off of camera, and has a classic look on her face that most others don't get to see. And when she, or others ask me what I like about her, it's a moment or a look like this where I'm being ridiculous and she's trying to figure out whether to laugh or smash a pumpkin over my head.
My aunt Jean recounted a time where she saw the same in her future mother-in-law, who saw such a look at her husband. And then she recounted how her mother in law picked up a clomp of dirt and threw it at her husband of more than 40 years. (He gave a look of "ho-hum" and kept going.)
Once Mel and I spent a few hours scouring the grounds for our favorite sculptures, we headed off to Lake of the Ozarks to meet her dad Steve and his wife Becky.
We had a good time, and they brought us down to the marina and the lake for a little sight-seeing on the way back from the restaurant. What a nice bunch of folks.
I guess I did as I promised, and I didn't include all the photos (maybe about half). Sorry, but I had a really good time. Now I need to get some sleep. UH.
