Scooter Chronicles

And it wasn’t a good beginning for the defending women’s champion, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 5th of the tournament. She lost to fellow country woman Ekaterina Bychkova, ranked 97th in the world, 6-3, 6-2. From what I have read, Kuznetsova has been hampered by a back injury. Still a surprise. Unfortunately for her, she made history with the loss.

On the men’s side, 9th seeded Gaston Gaudio of Argentina lost to American Brian Baker, 7-6 (11-9), 6-2, 6-4. A rather big surprise, seeing that Baker appears to have just turned pro a few weeks ago, and is ranked 195th in the world.

It will be very interesting to see how Andre Agassi does. This appears to be his last shot at the US Open. Other Americans...

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My comment about the book “The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque” ranking up there with some of the best books I have read got me thinking. What are my favorite books? And why? Of course it is all relative to you reading this. I know I have read a few books that others had praised, and wondered why I didn’t see the same thing in them. Or vice versa. Regardless of that factor, I have tried to list them.

The Best
These just took a hold of me and wouldn’t let go. All of these have great character depth and great stories. But with some, there are extras as well that helped them in my opinion. When it comes to the science fiction books on this list, it has a lot to do with the world-building...

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Greyhound – Leave the Adopting to Us?
Marcia and I have contemplated for a while about adopting a greyhound. It was renewed this weekend when we went to Border’s. About two or three times a year you will run into people promoting the idea of adopting them at stores, though usually pet supply stores.

The one thing that makes this attractive is the fact that greyhounds are good apartment / condo dogs. Even though they run very fast at the tracks, they need little exercise. A couple of short walks a week is all to keep them happy. They are affectionate, easy going, and loyal, but lazy. Which about best describes Molson, our golden retriever.

The only issues facing us are the baby and Molson....

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Yesterday morning, I finished reading “The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque” by Jeffrey Ford.

Again, I cheat by using Publishers Weekly and their description found on Amazon.Com:

…… sepia-colored old New York is the fever-dream world. Piero Piambo is the portraitist of choice among New York’s nouveau riche in 1893, but his career fills him with self-loathing. When a blind man with uncannily white eyes offers him “a job like no other” painting the mysterious Mrs. Charbuque Piambo quickly accepts, as the hefty commission will allow him to abandon society portraiture. But the...

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Last night Marcia and I watched “Flight of the Phoenix”, starring Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi, Miranda Otto, and Hugh Laurie. This was a remake of the 1965 Jimmy Stewart movie (which also starred Richard Attenborough).

An oil drilling company has set-up shop in Mongolia, but have had little luck. Ian “the Suit” (Hugh Laurie), one of the company’s businessmen, comes in and realizes they need to pack up and go home to stop the money loss. So in comes Captain Frank Towns (Dennis Quaid) and his plane to pick up the crew, led by Kelly (Miranda Otto). On their way to Beijing, they come across a storm and crash...

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