The Preakness Backwards

I am on a beach vacation right now and have tried to pretend that I do not have full internet capabilities, but I began to have nightmares of all the meals and photographs collecting dust and unaired for all to see. What? Before I left I carefully chose and edited down the photographs I thought I would use to depict that which was Preakness Day. But somehow in the drive to NC, I have completely lost that piece of paper and far too lazy to spend the dedicated time to be similarly thorough a second time. So here, folks, you get a slew of Preakness photos starting at the end and working back to the beginning. Could I do it differently? Yes. Am I? Well clearly not. Here is Shackleford a few furlongs away from winning the Preakness. I love how there really is a second when a horse is running and all four of its feet are in the air. Neat-o.

The Preakness beginning. Just having gone through all the photos quickly, I was surprised to learn that Shackleford was in the front of the bunch from the starting gate all the way til the end. Or maybe he pulled back a little and then surged again. Often if a horse I bet on is in the front clump at the beginning of the race, I'm fairly certain that they'll be at the back by the finish line. So well done Shackleford. I lost more than I won, but I did have the exacta.
This dude's job was mainly to sit on a chair all day and make sure no one went up or down a flight of stairs. I'm sure if there had been rowdiness or fights he may have tried to clean it up, but mainly he sat and, from the look of it, got sunburned.
I forget exactly what task these guys did, but the two on the right seem wiped and not all that happy while the two on the left seem tired but in good spirits. They didn't seem like the best of friends.
There were many worrisomely skinny rich women, take this woman for example. Yes, she's buff, but girl needs to eat some things. Look at her waist. It gives me the shivers. There are times when I'm jealous of the slender and sleek, but in this instance I just worried that these women were going to fall over. And I felt sad that some aspect of their lives (husbands/boyfriends?) compelled them to this level of crazy town. Or maybe their metabolisms are naturally that good. Scoff.
Hat.
Never bet on a gray. They will lose, no matter how pretty you think they are.
So this is all before the Preakness, here is the woman who always interviews the winner on their horse after the race is done. Well, she doesn't interview the horse but the jockey, of course.
The ordered colored chaos of the saddling area.
Note the horse rearing. Everything was fine.
Pretty horse. Didn't win.
This is what I looked like.
This is something I saw in the sky. I wonder if Nancy said yest to Ozzie. I wonder if Nancy was a wee bit annoyed to be proposed to in such a public way.
Men and women came out of the sky. I took one million photographs of them, but here is one.
What it looked like inside.

Preakness Predictions (I'm Never Right)

My bets:

$2 Exacta box for the following:

6-8-12
2-5-8
and
3-7-8

While I don't like Borel's overly familiar use of the words 'honey' and 'sweetie' when speaking to a professional journalist, I can't completely dismiss his swagger.

Black Eyed Susan Day at Pimlico

This year was the first year, I guess, that people weren't allowed to bring alcohol into the Preakness. We were, however, allowed to bring in food (as long as it was in clear containers). B. our friend and neighbor made tasty steak sandwiches.
Our seats were in the outdoors grandstand just a little before the finish line.
Lazy!

The Races c/o Philadelphia Park

On Saturday my parents and I went to the races. We sat on the restaurant-y side of the complex and my father and I had lunch in addition to the so-so (actually, they weren't very good) bloody Mary's and bottles of Budweiser. I ordered the roast pork sandwich with provolone and broccoli raab. It was very disappointing. I mean, I know not to expect much from a racetrack's kitchen, but meh (totally acceptable word), I did not finish it.
I won once but it did not counterbalance the many losses of the day. But it was fun nonetheless.

A Day at Beaulah Park

My second and last day in Ohio was spent, predominantly, at Beaulah Park Race Track.
I won a little but lost it all. So did the two and half year old ... no college for her (just a joke).


This hot dog was not very satisfying.

Hawthorne Race Track

After dim sum we went to Cicero to see some horses run. Hawthorne Racetrack is, perhaps, one of the sadder tracks I've been to. Oh, that's too harsh. It was just a let down after this summer's trip to Arlington where everything sparkled.
The horse below ran in the second race. I bet on it. It came in dead last.
It was pretty sad, until the seventh race I was in the hole a bit. Not hundreds but more than twenty dollars. Then! Then I won a trifecta box as well as a straight win bet. The trifecta was worth 109 dollars. So I ended up very much in the red (or is it black? shoot, I really don't know...I ended up ahead?). I smiled a funny happy smile about it. I may have squealed.

Things about Blues Brothers:
a)I hate to say it but I thought it would be funnier.
b)I really and truly dance like Dan Akroyd in that church scene with James Brown.
c)The mother wished for less 'demolition derby' stuff.

I just finished a book and I'm still not ready to write my three sentences about it. I am currently reading The Devil In The White City which (that?) reminds me very much of The Professor and the Madman...Same non-fictional subject approached with novelistic tendencies...without actually becoming a novel. What?

Horse Racing in Chicago

Last week while still without a definite place to move into, the parents and I went to Arlington Park for a day at the races...where I managed to start with twenty dollars, double it, then lose it all. Oh well. But the track itself was pretty amazing. I have not, by any means, been to every race track in the world but of the six or so I have been to, this one was by far the cleanest. I mean the cement shined! It was strange not to be able to figure out where exactly the backside of the course was but other than that it was a really great day.

On Friday I spent seven hours waiting for the gas people to come and turn on my cooking gas. I had been told to be in the apartment between 11:30 and 3:30, around 3 I called to make sure they hadn't forgotten me (they said they hadn't and were coming). Around 6 I called again and found their offices to be closed and no voicemail to lodge a complaint. So I continue to be unable to eat anything hot in my own home.

Last night I went to Abbey Pub. I went with a friend who is interested in photographing burlesque dancers and that night there was to be a burlesque show. We took two buses to get there and by that time I was starved. The food (I had a chicken sandwich with bacon) was okay but because of the show everything was crazy and it took literally an hour for our rather standard fare to arrive. The show itself was entertaining and funny though some of the acts seemed to be trying to make too many political statements for my taste. Ah me, I felt a bit un-enlightened/provincial. But it was a good time.

This morning went about three blocks away to my local dim sum hookup and had quite the hook up for eight dollars. Dim sum is a lovely thing. Next time I will take photographs.