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Go Charla and Mirna!

I can't believe I'm saying that but since Danny and Oswald were eliminated Sunday night, that's who I want to win out of the final three. I can't stand Mirna, but boy has Charla grown on me. So to speak.

My second choice is Eric and Danielle, but only because they've been "Yielded" twice and fought back from the brink several times.

The Beauty Queens? Oy vay. No way.

In Sunday's penultimate episode, Karma continued to bite Danny and Oswald in the ass. They just couldn't ever get a step ahead. They were close in Guam, but Oswald had trouble with the Roadblock, and with the 30-minute penalty they suffered for being last in last week's episode, it was just too much to overcome.

So now we're down to the final three. If you had asked me when the show started who I thought would be the final three I'd have said Rob & Amber, Danny & Oswald and probably Uchenna and Joyce, with the Guidos close behind.

Boy was I wrong. Which means I should probably cheer for the BQ's this week.

Charla and Mirna photo courtesy CBS

How much can one team take??

Trust me, as one of the biggest Chicago Cubs fans in the world, I am no fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. After the White Sox, I probably hate the Cardinals more than any other baseball team.

But I would never wish this on anybody:

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Josh Hancock, a key member of the bullpen that helped the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series last season, was killed in a car crash early Sunday.

Police said Hancock, 29, was alone in his 2007 Ford Explorer when he struck the rear of a tow truck at 12:35 a.m. The truck was in the left lane assisting another vehicle that was involved in a prior accident, officer Pete Mutter said.

The Cardinals postponed their home game Sunday night against the Chicago Cubs.

It was the second time in less than five years that a St. Louis pitcher died during the season. Darryl Kile was found dead in his Chicago hotel room in 2002 of a coronary artery blockage.

My prayers, sympathies and best wishes go out to Hancock, his family and the Cardinals.

Softball Opening Day (kind of)

The first of my two Opening Days for softball happened Saturday, with mixed results. My USA TODAY work team lost a heart-breaker in our first game against CNN, losing 7-6 when CNN scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, all after two were out.

But we bounced back to win the second game 5-4, beating ABC News with a three-run rally of our own in the bottom of the sixth inning.

That makes us -- the defending champions -- 1-3. Not the start I wanted or hoped for. But I think we'll be just fine.

Check out the MMSL website here.

My next Opening Day is next Sunday when NITRO begins its 2007 season. Can't wait. I think we'll be pretty good this season (we say that every year). We have a different attitude and new uniforms -- you can never go wrong with new unies. Hopefully I'll have a picture to post after next week's games.

We'll be traveling to Philadelphia for Memorial Day. We were supposed to go to Chicago for July 4, but that tournament has been cancelled. Oh well.

The big tournament for us, though, is the NAGAAA World Series, which this year is in Phoenix in October.

Thank God. Could you imagine Phoenix in August, when the World Series is usually held?

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Oswald and Danny are still alive, but by the skin of their teeth.

They are still my favorites to win, but they made a pact with the devil on Sunday night (the Beauty Queens) and it nearly came back to "bite them in the ass" (their words).

Danny and Oswald were out of money, so they made a deal with the BQ's -- if you give us some cash, we'll "Yield" Eric and Danielle, who had already been yielded once in the race. Well they did, but when they got lost during a Detour, they ended up last at the pit stop in Macau, China. But in a surprise, it was the final non-elimination leg of the race, keeping them alive, but marking them for elimination next week.

Charla and Mirna were a little taken aback by D&O too -- they told them that had they waited, they would have given D&O some cash with no strings attached.

As it is, the BQ's finished first, Charla and Mirna second, and despite being marked for elimination last week and being yielded this week, Danielle and Eric finished third.

Hopefully, D&E will be eliminated next week. I've tried to like them, but just can't. They are whiney, and while he's fun to look at, he's not got much upstairs and continues to make homophobic statements (though he's probably so dumb he doesn't even realize it).

My prediction: D&O win, Charla and Mirna finish second and the BQ's third.

Pretty please??

Softball forfeit

I hate to forfeit softball games. Hate it.

While Ed and were running in the Urban Dare on Saturday, my work team was opening the season in the Metropolitan Media Softball League, where we are the defending champions.

Well, we didn't have enough women (it's a 7 men, 3 women league), but league rules specify that you can borrow or loan another team enough players to play the game. Which makes sense. You give up about 4 hours of a beautiful Saturday, driving around the Capital Beltway, and want to have something to show for it.

Well, the first team we played was cool with that, but the second team we played said they would not loan us a woman player (you can play with 2, we had 1), so we had to forfeit. Granted, it is their right not to loan us a player, but it totally goes against the spirit of the league.

That's all fine and dandy. It's going to come back and bite them in the ass when we end up defending our championship.

Talk about motivation -- they've gone and pissed off the wrong team.

The photo is of me during last year's tournament.

Updates to follow.

Urban disaster

Well, disaster may be too strong of a word.

Ed and I ran the Urban Dare on Saturday (with the help of my sister Cheryl, sitting in front of her computer in Des Moines, Iowa. Thanks Cheryl!). We were doing pretty well until the final three clues -- and then we figured out we screwed up a dare at the Iwo Jima memorial.

We watch The Amazing Race and yell at the contestants all the time for not reading the clue correctly. Well, duh, we did the same thing. There was a dare at the memorial, but all we thought we had to do was take our picture in front of the memorial. So even if we had completed the final three tasks, we would have been penalized for not doing that particular clue/dare correctly.

That's why we are thinking of doing it again when Urban Dare returns to the D.C. area in September. Ed said "let's do the one in Philadelphia." Umm, sure, we did so well in the D.C. one that of course we'll do even better in a city we know nothing about.

Oh well. You live, you learn, you move on.

The Urban Dare awaits

If I'm skipping the opening day of softball season, you know it must be important. Since Ed and I probably will never be participants in The Amazing Race, we're doing the next best thing: the Urban Dare.

The Urban Dare is a one-day mini Amazing Race. A couple of years ago, we did the Urban Challenge, which has since gone the way of the Dodo bird. Teams of 2 solve clues to find checkpoints where they must perform dares. Walking or using public transportation, we should finish in less than 4 hours -- the winners are expected to finish in about 3. The picture at left shows the winners of last year's race in San Francisco.

Can't wait. It's going to be as close as I ever get to traveling the world -- even if it is only Washington, D.C.

Virginia Tech

How sad that one demented person can affect the lives of so many. Lives that will never be the same.

Parents sent their children to the Blacksburg, Va., campus to get a degree, to build a life. Not to be senselessly murdered.

And the person that did this? He's a coward who ended up taking his own life. But that's OK. He'll get his -- if he hasn't already.

RIP

Need I say more?

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Now that the power is back, I can report that this was a non-elimination leg of AR, with Eric and Danielle marked for elimination next week.

Oswald and Danny were first into the pit stop in Hong Kong, taking advantage of the Fast Forward to bolt to the front. They had to go head over heels in a car in a movie stunt, and did it in their own fabulous way. Only this time they didn't chase Phil Koegan around the mat, which was pretty funny earlier in the race.

The Beauty Queens were second, with Charla and Mirna third.

Four teams remain, and next week is not the season-ender on CBS. Which is good, because I don't know how I'll get my fill of AR until it returns this fall.

Thank God for TiVo.

Phil Keoghan photo courtesy CBS

The power is finally back on

Well, after about 12 hours, the power returned to our homestead last night. The N'oreaster that ravaged the East Coast did some damage to our neighborhood, knocking down trees and power lines, and we got about 4 inches of rain in the process. We needed the rain, but didn't need all that wind. My new windmill bore the brunt of the 60 mph winds, finally falling this morning. But it's back up, doing its job again. Until the next storm.

Gym update

With my schedule returning to "normal" -- normal being back to nights, which I really hate -- I've been able to get back in the gym.

I'm not a big fan of working out with a lot of people around, so when I'm able to go -- usually at 10 or 11 a.m. -- it's perfect because there aren't a lot of people around and you are able to use the equipment as you please. I've officially lost 20 pounds, as I now weigh 169 after starting this process back in January at 189. Still a few more pounds and some toning to go.

The only problem is this skin condition I have, actinic keratosis, which seems to get irritated when I sweat. It's a pre-cancer skin condition caused by my years tanning as a lifeguard, starting when I was about 20 years old. I'm being treated by a dermotologist, but the clobetasol cream I'm using on my arms is having little effect.

And don't worry about that "pre-cancer" term. In severe, untreated cases it can turn into squamous cell carcinoma (about 1%). But I've had this for years, I've been seeing a doctor for years, and I'm determined to get this under control.

More updates to come ...

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There will be no repeat for Uchenna and Joyce.

The Amazing Race 7 winners were eliminated Sunday night, their fate sealed by missing a connection in Frankfurt on their way to Kuala Lumpur. They knew they would be in trouble if they were delayed at all, and the 10 minutes they lost were enough to knock them out.

The Beauty Queens won the leg, but will have some serious competition next week from Danielle and Eric, who finished third despite being "yielded" by the blondes. Eric had the best line of the night at that point, calling the Beauty Queens "dirty hookers."

Eric and Danielle made up some good time when Oswald and Danny had trouble deciding which Roadblock to to, and it didn't help that Danny was oh so wrong about the cookie challenge. He thought you had to bite into one cookie in each of 600 boxes to find the one box with the licorice, when in fact you had to bite into EACH of the cookies to find the one with licorice. Oh well. They finished fourth.

A surprising second? Charla and Mirna, who continue to confound the experts, me included. I still hope Oswald and Danny win, but part of me wants to see Mirna and Chmirna knock out the Beauty Queens and Eric and Danielle.

Four teams remain ... Who will be eliminated, next?

Beauty Queens photo courtesy CBS

Cubs up, Nationals down

Things are looking up for my beloved Chicago Cubs. It's early, but the offense is making a lot of noise and the pitching has been a surprise (until today's outing by Wade Miller).

Cheryl and Val attended yesterday's 6-3 victory at Milwaukee. Carlos Zambrano and Aramis Ramirez were the big guns. Glad those two got to see a well-deserved victory. I was supposed to go, but because I went to the NFC Championship Game in Chicago (well, a bar close to the game), I couldn't go to the Cubs-Brewers game.

Things aren't looking so hot for my second favorite team, the Washington Nationals. Ed and I attended opening day (a loss). After Sunday's 3-1 loss to Arizona -- which completed a four-game sweep for the Diamondbacks -- the Nats are a pitiful 1-6. And if it hadn't been for a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth against the Marlins, they'd be 0-for-the-season.

I just have to keep telling myself that the new ballpark opens next season. But we still have to get through another 154 games. Oh my.

Thank God for the Presidents Races. They are about the only thing to look forward to at RFK this year. Maybe we'll even get to see Teddy Roosevelt win a race (he's 0-for-2 seasons). Or not.

Nappy, we hardly knew ye

So Ed went to the vet's office yesterday to pick up Trapper's remains. When he got home, Ed remarked how small the box seemed to be for Trapper. We knew he had lost some weight, but enough to fit in a box that seemed made for a gerbil?

Turns out we had the wrong animal. Somebody is missing their "Nappy" today, though we're not sure if Nappy's a dog or a cat -- could be a fish for all we know.

But be sure that while Nappy was in our loving hands, he was happy. Ed and Nappy are on their way back to the vet as we speak.

Another happy reunion awaits ...

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Team Guido is kaput.

Bill and Joe just couldn't make up the 30 minutes they were penalized for finishing last in last week's episode. They actually made up a 16-hour deficit and beat Eric and Danielle to the pit stop in Poland, but those 30 minutes were the killer.

As for Eric and Danielle, I really want to like him, but he keeps making stupid comments, like calling Team Guido a "couple of nellies." But if I had to hear Danielle barking in my ear all the time, I'd probably let a lot of expletives fly. Hopefully they are the next to go.

Oswald and Danny, and Uchenna and Joyce tied for first, joining together at the first intersection/fast forward of the race. They are my favorites to make it to the final two.

The Beauty Queens had to wait four hours at the intersection only to be paired up with their worst enemies, Mirna and Charla. The road block had them making and then eating 2 feet of sausage. Watching Charla try to stuff 2 feet of sausage into a body that's barely more than 2 feet tall was quite humorous. And for the second week in a row we got to see Charla vomit!

Who knew the Amazing Race was a comedy? And boy do I wish every episode were at least 2 hours long.

Team Guido photo courtesy CBS