Take a hike.

Originally built in 1901, this walkway now serves as an aproach to makinodromo, the famous climbing sector of El Chorro.

El Caminito del Rey (English: The King's pathway) is a walkway or via ferrata, now fallen into disrepair, pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, near Álora in Málaga, Spain. The name is often shortened to El Camino del Rey.

The Last Shadow Puppets.

'The Age Of The Understatement' is a wide-screen, bold and brilliant introduction to the band. The Last Shadow Puppets are Alex Turner (from Arctic Monkeys) and Miles Kane (from The Rascals).

Firm friends ever since Arctic Monkeys toured with Kane's previous group, The Little Flames, the pair were so inspired by listening to the likes of Scott Walker, early Bowie and David Axelrod, that they hatched a plan.

The result is 'The Age Of The Understatement'.

I like the Bowie influence and had already liked the Arctic Monkeys.

Take me out to the ballgame.

This picture inspired this blog. Amy ran into this familiar looking guy in Lake Geneva and someone was nice enough to take a picture (since she had lent her own camera out to someone else).

Little did he know he would be booed for his singing two days later at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. Ha.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame was written 100 years ago, in 1908, coincidentally the last year the Chicago Cubs won a World Series (I didn't know that!!)

Broadcaster Harry Caray began singing it at Chicago White Sox games in Comiskey Park (early 70's to 1981) and later at Wrigley Field after he moved across town to broadcast for the Cubs (1982 to 1997).

It's sung during the Cub's 7th inning stretch (between halves of the seventh inning). Harry used to lead the crowd in the song, leaning out of his broadcast booth, his mike and arms flailing.

Late in his career (after a stroke) various guest celebrities would lead the crowd in song. The best and funniest has to have been Bill Murray.

Now at every home game, there is a guest performer for the 7th inning stretch singing of the song.

Some are better than others and the worst ones are remembered the most. Ha.

This last Sunday it was Tony Romo, Quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, and somewhat local resident. (He grew up just over the border in Wisconsin.)




The concensus is that he is not a singer but will join the elite crowd of those remembered the most for singing.
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Taken from a column by Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun Times:

Romo's oh-no of a solo

Maybe Jessica Simpson hooked up with Tony Romo because she knew she'd always be the singer in the relationship.

Romo's interpretation of Take Me Out to the Ball Game on Sunday still has small dogs howling in Wrigleyville.

He wasn't only off-key; he was in a key never before heard by anyone.

Not only that, Romo didn't seem to know all the words.

The Cowboys QB now joins Mike Ditka, Ozzy Osbourne, Jeff Gordon and "American Idol" alum Kellie Pickler ("Buy me some popcorn and Cracker Jack") as among the ranks of the worst "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" singers in Wrigley history.
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Looks like he's a good sport though and had fun.

Blonde and Bluesy.

Aimee Anne Duffy (born on 23rd June, 1984 in Gwynedd), known professionally as Duffy, is a Welsh singer-songwriter of soul music.

Album Notes: This her debut single made it to #1 in the UK! 2008 two track CD pressing of the first track pulled from the Welsh singer/songwriter's debut album Rockferry. Straight out of Nefyn, North Wales, (Aimee Anne) Duffy's smoky Retro-Soul has earned her comparisons with Dusty Springfield.

I really like her voice - this is getting a lot of air play. I don't know that she necessarily sounds like Dusty Springfield, but she sure has a catchy song out. She's been mentioned as an Amy Winehouse competitor. Could happen, who knows. I like her, and she's cute. Works for me.

A mention of both here.

Sunday pictures.

Sunday afternoon in the driveway. After doing yard work, I had Clint drive my mini-chopper over so I could take some pictures.

I should have moved it away from the picnic table but too late now.

Clint reflected in the chrome.

If you look carefully, a green tree, a leafless tree, and Clint are reflected in the handlebar.

My favorite; it's hard to fit everthing in the picture unless you are some distance from it. I compromised the front tire.

Was it in HD?

This is a site (Girls are Pretty) that I visit every now and then. They seem to share my humor and strange sense of unlogic and whimsical thinking.

I imagine things like the following post all the time; maybe because of too many Twilight Zones in my nurture years.

Anyway, being April Fool's day, it's something different and a quick read:

Girls are Pretty.

You Were On Last Night's Rerun of NCIS Day!

Wednesday February 27, 2008
By prettygirl

The emails have been pouring in all day long. "Great job on last night's NCIS!" "Hey I thought I already saw that episode but I must have missed you the first time!" "I didn't know you even acted, but last night you were on that show NCIS, which is just like CSI, except there's an N."

You're not an actor. You sell paint at a Tru Value. You don't know what everyone is talking about, but apparently someone who looks just like you was on NCIS last night. The weird part is when CBS forwards a bag of fan mail to you. It's all from the elderly."I think you're very attractive and I'd like to get you naked and tell you what my experience of World War II was like."

You contact the network and you're told that you were indeed on NCIS last night. "Don't sweat it," the head of CBS' parent company tells you. "It started happening in season 3. People just started appearing on the show without having any memory of doing so. We can't explain it, it just happens. Eventually, everyone's going to be on NCIS. At least for a few seconds."

The head of CBS' parent company goes on to explain that it's kind of a great way to get the ratings up, having people find out from out of nowhere that they were on it. Then he asks you what NCIS because he's never heard of it.

You start tuning in to NCIS regularly, waiting for your rerun. When you finally see yourself, it's really you. Standing in the background behind some people who are in the Navy, you're just standing there in clothes you don't own, staring straight into the camera.

You lock eyes with yourself and you can see how sad you look, how disappointed you are in everything you've become. The you on NCIS looks down at the ground, ashamed. You get up and turn off the TV. You can't bear to look anymore.

Narrow Stairs.

Death Cab for Cutie has a new single out, I will possess your heart.

I like it.

Death Cab definitely has a pop sound, enhancing it with catchy tunes and engaging lyrics.

I got their last album, Plans, and enjoyed every song on it.

Narrow Stairs comes out in May.

Shutterbug.

These are some pictures I took the other day playing with the camera.

That is our old camera. I think it still works but I don't have any film for it.

I should find some and try it out.

The camera was used to take those Christmas card pictures.

Aren't we all dressed up? I've never felt comfortable with a tie. Ever.

Garage doorknob. Another cold snowy day with nothing to do.

More old camera pictures.

We got these cards back in the mail last year from the family we had sent them to originally.

It was nice they had kept them all these years. They were probably tucked away in a desk drawer.

I have a drawer like that - a catch all for things I don't want to throw away. I have stuff older than my kids in my drawers - and I know the day after I throw something out, I will need it for something.

March Madness.

I have a handle on it this year.



I hardly watch any NCAA basketball during the regular season but I love March Madness. I have brackets at Yahoo, Chicago Tribune's Chicagosports.com, and a couple lesser known pools.

My best one so far is the one below (it is a pick each round only as you go - as compared to most where you pick all the games at once.) My other brackets are doing okay, but I need another round of games to sort out the ones I want to cheer on for the finals. (I have different teams picked to win.)

My Ranking

Percentile ChicagoSports.com

1 out of 1,673 100%

National

62 out of 87,073 99%

Happy St. Paddy's Day.

When I think Irish music and celebrating St. Patrick's Day, I think Thin Lizzy:



Sorry U2.