DWTS Season 19 Round 3

Tavis Smiley went home last week and this week we moved to a one night a week format- THANK GOD!!

Also different this week- Len was off to England and we had Kevin Hart as guest judge. 

It was movie week and we got to see two perfect scores 

Janel Parrish and Valentin Chmerkovskiy danced a tribute to West Side Story and it was wonderful. So very well done. Perfect score!

Bethany Mota and  Derek Hough danced a tribute to Gene Kelly's Dancing in the Rain and I know Gene Kelly would be proud of their great effort. Perfect Score!
 
Lea Thompson and Artem Chigvintsev  danced a tribute to Back to the Future by recreating the Enchantment Under the Sea dance and bringing out "The Power of Love". Julianne focused on a small mistake (she was really harsh last night over all) but I thought it was lovely

Alfonso Ribiero and Witney Carson danced their tribute to Goldfinger complete with Mini Me... Fun.

Sadie Robertson and Mark Ballas danced a light hearted but pretty complicated tribute to UP and I thought they did a lovely job.

Betsey Johnson and Tony Dovolani found out they were safe early so we got to see Betsey at her best in a tribute to Ghost that I really thought was beautiful. The judges, however, clearly want her gone because they totally underscored her compared to some of the other dancers... A 6, Julianne, really?

Tommy Chong and Peta Murgatroyd did a hot tango to Scent of a Woman (wasn't the same music in True Lies?) anyway they were really good- he has clearly Tangoed before... Kevin even gave him a 10!

Michael Waltrip and Emma Slater were also safe early, Mike did a nice waltz to Robin Hood's "Everything I do, I do it for you". He danced well, and his hard work showed

And now we have the couples who were in Jeopardy...

Antonio Sabato Jr.and Cheryl Burke danced to Ain't No Mountain High Enough and he looked really nervous... but being in Jeopardy does that to you...

Jonathan Bennett and Allison Holker  used the other song from Great Gatsby for their Tango- it was complex and well done.

Randy Couture and Karina Smirnoff danced a tribute to Rocky with a Paso Doble to Eye of the Tiger. Even with his timing a bit off, it was a powerful dance. Sadly, they were voted off so we won't be able to watch him continue to improve.

Dover's over: On to the Contender Round

Jeff Gordon won the race because disaster struck Harvick... Again... A lug nut took out a tire valve and he could not recover from the blown tire and resulting damage.

The Penske boys were second and fourth, with my boy Jimmie wedged in between. A quiet really good showing...

So when we got to Dover, there was only a 12 point difference between Matt Kenseth in Eight place on the Grid and Aric Almirola in the 16th spot. Carl Edwards, AJ Allmendinger, Kasey Kahne, and Ryan Newman were in and and the bottom four Chase Grid members included Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch were with Aric on the outside looking in...

Biffle, Busch and Aric ended the day where they started, and sadly, AJ, our other Cinderella joined them.

But happily, Denny Hamlin made it to the next round, as did Kahne, who had a really rough day.

Kansas is next.... I wonder if Kyle Busch is sweating it...

The Grand Jury has spoken...

At 3:00pm , the grand jury announced that Tony Stewart would not face criminal charges in the death of Kevin Ward Jr.

Since a civil suit is likely, I assume we will get very little additional information from Tony Stewart. I also envision him settling the case as quickly as possible...

Rest in peace, Kevin. I am praying for your family tonight.

Ebola 2014: September 24 Update

The Butcher's bill, according to the CDC, as of September 13th, is 4985 infected and 2461 dead... And I think it will get much worse before it is under control.

Smashed Potato on Yahoo reposted this info:

"Some wonderful poster had posted these numbers on here (wish I knew their name!) a few months ago. So far he/she is right on the money:

Linear Prediction Model: Based on a 1.86 Rate of Ebola Infection:

Mar, 2014 - Infected: 104 Dead: 62
Apr, 2014 - Infected: 194 Dead: 116
May, 2014 - Infected: 360 Dead: 216
Jun, 2014 - Infected: 670 Dead: 402
Jul, 2014 - Infected: 1,247 Dead: 748
Aug, 2014 - Infected: 2,319 Dead: 1,391
Sep, 2014 - Infected: 4,313 Dead: 2,588
Oct, 2014 - Infected: 8,022 Dead: 4,813
Nov, 2014 - Infected: 14,921 Dead: 8,953
Dec, 2014 - Infected: 27,753 Dead: 16,652
Jan, 2015 - Infected: 51,621 Dead: 30,973
Feb, 2015 - Infected: 96,016 Dead: 57,610
Mar, 2015 - Infected: 178,590 Dead: 107,154
Apr, 2015 - Infected: 332,177 Dead: 199,306
May, 2015 - Infected: 617,849 Dead: 370,709
Jun, 2015 - Infected: 1,149,199 Dead: 689,519
Jul, 2015 - Infected: 2,137,510 Dead: 1,282,506
Aug, 2015 - Infected: 3,975,768 Dead: 2,385,461
Sep, 2015 - Infected: 7,394,928 Dead: 4,436,957
Oct, 2015 - Infected: 13,754,567 Dead: 8,252,740
Nov, 2015 - Infected: 25,583,494 Dead: 15,350,096
Dec, 2015 - Infected: 47,585,299 Dead: 28,551,179
Jan, 2016 - Infected: 88,508,656 Dead: 53,105,193
Feb, 2016 - Infected: 164,626,099 Dead: 98,775,660
Mar, 2016 - Infected: 306,204,545 Dead: 183,722,727
Apr, 2016 - Infected: 569,540,453 Dead: 341,724,272
May, 2016 - Infected: 1,059,345,243 Dead: 635,607,146
Jun, 2016 - Infected: 1,970,382,153 Dead: 1,182,229,292
Jul, 2016 - Infected: 3,664,910,804 Dead: 2,198,946,482....."



Now that, to me, is frightening. Especially since the September data matches up pretty well... And the MMWR released yesterday agrees...

But I think the doomsday scenario it presents fails to take into account that the death rate in the developed world will be much lower based on better nutritional status, accessible barrier tools (gloves, masks, etc) and that the experimental treatment options may be successful.

I hope.

DWTS Season 19 Round 2

Lolo Jones went home last week as I predicted. 
Round two saw a mixed bag of results for our group.

Lea Thompson -Artem Chigvintsev  35/40: Three nines and an eight  for their Jive.... "Put those puppies in..." Really Tom?!? Thia is a family show! Carrie Ann falling off her chair... and giving Len a feeling down there again... Tom... this is a family show.

Janel Parrish -Valentin Chmerkovskiy 34/40: Two nines and two eights Call Me, Maybe foxtrot... I thought they did a lovely job and she is so beautiful

Bethany Mota- Derek Hough 33 /40:  Len was their only nine?!? All the rest gave eights... All About That Base...A song that is everywhere... No signs of an injury in that Foxtrot can I say...

Alfonso Ribiero - Witney Carson  32/40:  Four eights... Samba in a blue fishnet confection and they get jiggy with it... Pulling it out with the Fresh Prince... but can they do traditional? We will see next week... cause they will be back...

Antonio Sabato Jr.- Cheryl Burke 31 /40: Preempted, we didn't see them dance- NOT HAPPY... Three eights and a seven.... and I have no idea why... I hope they don't get sent home cause nobody saw them...

Sadie Robertson -Mark Ballas 31/40:  Three eights and a seven from Len... Our last dancers of the night did a jazz to country music... unique to say the least

Jonathan Bennett -Allison Holker 30 /40:  Two eights and two sevens... Cha-cha with a bit of an edge but low on content ...

Betsey Johnson -Tony Dovolani  28/40: Four sevens for the Girl who just wants to have fun- MOST IMPROVED and magnificent... A night to remember...

Randy Couture - Karina Smirnoff  28/40: Four sevens for their Cha-Cha... Can't get no satisfaction when you go first...

Tavis Smiley -  Sharna Burgess 28 /40: Four sevens for the Cha-cha... The Afro alone was worth an 8...  

Tommy Chong - Peta Murgatroyd  28/40:  Salsa bursting out all over and sevens all around... 

Michael Waltrip - Emma Slater  24/40:  Four sixes...I just can't see Mike lasting much longer even surrounded by Girls in Bikinis... Even with NASCAR nations phoning in...

Loudon was like bumper cars...

Denny got to lead and Harvick took over the lead due to a fueling issue with Hamlin's car. Then he got wrecked, because he was back of the pack multi-laps down, all resulted from a bad gas feed.

Joey Logano took over the lead from Harvick, and on the second restart he was leading, on lap 188, Kenseth had to check up, got rear ended by Kyle Busch, who got his hard from behind by Kasey Kahne , who was in turn hit by Newman. Jimmie darned the needle by just missing Busch spinning to the in-field.

Busch got the worst of it- his car is trashed.

Then Bad Brad spun around on 194 after contact with Kenseth- but what does he care- he is already in the next round.

201 saw  Ricky Stenhouse go around after a bump from Junior.

Kurt Busch hit the wall and went to the garage next...

Vickers and Kyle Larson made it to the top 5 with 75 laps to go...

Lajoie went around so we had a restart with 40 to go but barely got a lap in when Stenthouse hit the wall after contact with Carl Edwards cut down his tire...

Back to Green and we saw Paul Menard and Kenseth go around- 10 cautions in less than 100 laps...

Heartbreak came to Jeff Gordon as he hit the wall with 9 laps to go after blowing a tire...

With four laps to go- Smoke went around...

And when all was said and done, Logano won the race and has a lock into the second round of the Chase!

Kyle Larson held off Harvick for second and in happy news for Aric Almirola- he cut his points deficit with his sixth place finish. Congratulation Cinderella... and AJ finished 13th, which- along with the misfortunes of others, puts him in the top 12 on points- my happy ending for today!

New Shows of 2014: Part One

So I watched both of these shows and I have to say, they are already cancelled in my head...

 

Red Band Society (Fox, September 17^th): So I loved the "Brothers and Sisters" actor who plays the surgeon, but not enough to look up his name. The lady from "The Help", Octavia Spencer, an incredibly talented actress,  plays a spunky nurse and I really liked her character, but she cannot hold up the whole show. Of course, my son really enjoyed it, so who knows, I may be wrong...

The Mysteries of Laura (NBC, preview September 17^th): If this lasts more than a couple of episodes, you can paint me astonished. And I watch some real crap- "Hostages", anyone? This was BAD. Odd, not in a good way. 

Two more newbies next week- I will let you know how they fair...

Scotland Votes "No"

It is "No" for now.

Scotland will remain a part of Great Britain.

I wonder how the economies in both nations will react...

The Scotland Vote

Today, Scotland is having a Yes/No vote to decide if it will become an independent nation.

Many thoughts float through my head...

If they decide to be an independent nation, will they, like Ireland in 1922, overprint stamps and repaint mailboxes and buses?


Will Scotland's economy sink or will it do better on it's own than it did as a part of Great Britain. Will they gain jobs, lose jobs or maintain the status quo?

Who gets the oil? Who gets the debt?

How will England, Wales and Northern Ireland fair in the short term? Is a pull-out of the EU a logical next step for them?

Can independence really come without war? Have we come that far?

Will it spark more debate on a free reunited Ireland?

I am waiting to see what happens next.

Next stop: Grand Jury

On August 14th, I wrote an open letter to Tony Stewart and included my prayers for the Ward family. Over a month has passed and yesterday the D.A. announced the case would go before a Grand Jury. A simple majority vote will determine if Tony committed a crime on the night Kevin Ward died.

In a way I wish the case was already decided, so everyone could begin to heal. It will likely be another couple of weeks before we find out if Tony is indicted or if the result of the investigation is a "no bill", meaning no charges will be filed.

I am praying for everyone who was touched by the loss of Kevin Ward, and for Tony and his family.

Sad all the way around.

DWTS Season 19

I am giving the 4 judge thing a chance and looking at the opener through the performances. Still hate them dragging it out over two nights but that should go without saying. On to our dancers and their scores: 

Alfonso Ribiero & Witney Carson 36/40:  Carlton rocked the house. 

Sadie Robertson & Mark Ballas 34/40:  The 17 year old from the Duck Dynasty clan was better than good. With Mark as a teacher she can’t go wrong.

Bethany Mota & Derek Hough 32/40:  A YouTube sensation? Never heard of her, and in the DWTS audience, I do not think I was alone. She dances well and has Derek but will her fans be voting for her? We will see. 

Lea Thompson & Artem Chigvintsev 32/40:  Love my “Back to the Future” star and she was lovely and graceful. And it was a hard dance for the first night

Randy Couture & Karina Smirnoff 31/40:  I can admit- this was a surprise- Randy was REALLY good, so light on his feet. He will go a long way.

Jonathan Bennett & Allison Holker 30/40:  So our  “Mean Girls” boy looked like he was having the time of his life- I bet his dad is looking down smiling.

Tavis Smiley & Sharna Burgess 29/40:  One last crazy stupid thing before he turns 50? Crazy, yes, stupid- I disagree. The foxtrot is a hard first dance and 20lbs in 3 weeks- the boy is putting in the work.

Janel Parrish & Valentin Chmerkovskiy 29/40: Love me some Val… and the “Pretty Little Liar” did a good job.

Tommy Chong & Peta Murgatroyd 27/40:  Rocking a jumping car with old buddy Cheech, Chong and Peta had fun on the floor. 

Antonio Sabato Jr. & Cheryl Burke 25/40:  General Hospital is never short on hot guys, but wow, Calvin Klein, Thank You! And he has sweet dimples. I think he would have scored higher if he preformed later in the evening. 

Michael Waltrip & Emma Slater 25/40: All I can say is I CANNOT wait to see what they say on NASCAR Race Hub… gotta give the boy points for trying but I do not see a Mirrorball in Mike’s future.

Lolo Jones & Keo Motsepe 22/40:  Not since P. Miller in Season 2 has a performance been so uninspired or a contestant so cranky- she is my choice for first week elimination. Which is too bad because Keo is HOT!

Betsey Johnson & Tony Dovolani 20/40:  I think the prop malfunction really took away from this fireball fashion designer. 72 years old and doing cartwheels with a split? Rock it, girl!

The Heat is On...

Chicagoland is in the books and Bad Brad is a lock for Round Two (The Contender Round).

So who else was amazing yesterday? Kyle Larson, my Rookie of the year, left it all on the track- he was awesome. He made Jeff Gordon work for his second place finish. He started last, in a Back-up car, and finished 3rd- the best non-chaser finish.

Joey Logano, who blew up as he crossed the start/finish line and Kevin Harvick, who was wicked fast all day rounded out the top five.

Also sneaking a really good finish- Denny Hamlin- sixth place.

One guy who made up serious ground was Ryan Newman- he is only a point behind Carl Edwards after a really challenging day.

And for all the Jimmie Johnson doubters (only 12th place?!?!) Can I please point out- HE HAS NEVER WON AT CHICAGO and still managed to win 6, count them 6 championships...

The heart-breaker of the day was, of course,  Aric Almirola who blew up with only 36 laps to go while running in the top 10. I am afraid his Cinderella story may stop here, but I would LOVE to eat those words and have him and AJ (our other huge long-shot) move into the next round.

Next round is Loudon... I can't wait. Is Matt Kenseth going to go all the way, as he did last year?

Also in the news- Marcos Ambrose is heading back down under (Can you say open seat?) and Tony Stewart and the world will hear sometime this week the results of the investigation into the crash that killed Kevin Ward. I am praying for all involved in this horrendous tragedy.

Remembering 13 years later

My son was given a History project. He was asked to interview someone about 9-11-01 and the terrorist attacks- The example was given that everyone of a certain age remembered where they were when Kennedy was shot....  My son and his classmates have no memories of 9-11, they are all too young... Just as I have no memory of Kennedy... his assassination was history when I was born.

I have to say, the questions were not easy, and the memories flooded back....

Where were you and who were you with when you heard the World Trade Center had been attacked:

It was a Tuesday morning, I had stopped at the grammar school to vote in the Primary that morning and I was in my office at a special needs preschool  in the Bronx. I was meeting with a parent, when someone said there had been an explosion at the World Trade Center and one of the Twin Towers was engulfed in flames. 

How did you hear about it? What were you doing?

Because all the antennas were on the tower that was on fire, all the local stations went offline, so we watched Telemundo out of Patterson NJ- a Spanish Channel. Later in the day all the cable channels broadcast without encryption so people knew what was going on.

What were the first thoughts that went through your head?

I tried to call my cousin- her husband worked in that part of Manhattan and I wanted to know if she had heard from him. I also told my boss I would pick up my child and come back, and stay till all the children were picked up- with the roads and bridges all closed, I knew we would be there late waiting to reunite families.

Describe your feelings as events unfolded. Did they change as time went on?

At first I focused on getting my daughter and getting back to school to safely get all the children home. I worried about my cousin’s husband. On the way back, the police had all the highway entrances blocked, and I heard on the radio that the first tower collapsed. The Pentagon was hit. Air traffic was shut down. The second tower collapsed

We were at the school till almost six. We listened to Mayor Giuliani talk about the losses being more than we could bear. NYC was closed for business- no school no work no airplanes. It was a deafening silence. And when the wind shifted, we could smell the burning pile. And the military jets overhead were unnerving.

And then we found out who was missing- so many guys I grew up with- ESU cops and firefighters. Some stock brokers. There was so much sadness, so much loss. And yet so many miracles- Billy who missed a train, Colleen who changed her outfit and ran late, Mike, my cousin’s husband, who safely evacuated and was physically unharmed.

How did the attacks affect you in the long run? Did they change you in any way and have any lasting impact?

September 11 wasn’t just a day for those of us living in New York, and while over a decade has passed, I still feel like it was yesterday. It was hard to live in NYC afterwards, and we moved to Ohio 5 years later. I still miss the men I knew that were lost that day, but I am proud to have known them.

 13 years later and it feels like only moments have passed.... Today I remember....