2nd Round Recap

Lots of huge upsets last night threw the brackets for a loop. The best second day score was 12 out of 16. Only 1 of the 95 brackets picked Norfolk State over Missouri, Julie Wemhoff. No one picked Lehigh over Duke. 13 brackets lost their champions last night, 10 for Mizzou, 2 for Duke and 1 for Temple.

The leader after the first and second rounds is Eric Dorman with 25 out of 32. However, he's left with 3 FF teams after Missouri's loss.

In the Squares Pool the double ups started happening in the second day. The biggest being John Shupe's 5,0 square getting 3 of the last 7 games. Amazingly, in the 5 previous years I've run this game, the 5,0 square had NEVER hit. Not once. Then goes 3 times in 7 games.

3rd round games are 2 points each in the Bracket Pool and $50 each in the Squares Pool. All updates on the web site: www.SpydeysWebb.com. 

Let's Go!

2nd Round Day One

First full day of games are in and we have 19 square winners out of 20 games. The only double up was Poppa Hans getting the Gonzaga and Iowa St. games.

4 brackets went 15-1 yesterday in the first half of the 2nd Round.

www.spydeyswebb.com has all the details.

Time to tip off Day Two!

January photos

Hello dear blog readers!

Added some new photos to the Winter 2012 album this afternoon. Lots of good ones of us hanging out around the house. Lincoln is getting bigger each day and started eating cereal and green beans this week! We have a cereal photo in there for ya.

Click this link: WINTER 2012 to see all the photos in the album.

Lincoln and Rowan goofing off

Enjoy!

Christmas and Tennessee Pictures

Lincoln and Redskins Hog pillow pet

Picture update for Christmas and our trip to Tennessee in the Winter 2012 album, click this link to see the album photos.

Enjoy!

Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga

ROCK AND ROLL!!!

Rowan is 3

Playing with party toys

We had a very busy week last week with Rowan turning 3 on Thursday and Brooke and I celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary on Friday. To be honest, it's been a pretty busy summer with everything going on around the Stables and our preparation for Lincoln's arrival at the end of September. Haven't been keeping up with the blog much, that's for sure!

The party on Sunday was a great time. The weather was nice, but a bit windy. We had a great Toy Story cupcake cake that everyone loved and the hot dogs and snacks idea worked out well. Rowan loved it.

Here's a collection of items I've gathered over the last few weeks.

Check out the new Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on the Tidal Basin in Washington DC. A very impressive monument. The official unveiling was to be Sunday, the 48th anniversary of MLK's I Have a Dream speech at the Lincoln Memorial. Hurricane Irene has thrown a wrench in those plans and it's been postponed indefinitely. [Washington Post & NOAA]

The Redskins are one of a handful of teams installing renewable energy sources at their stadiums. Seems like a pretty good idea to me. [Washington Post]

Yoda shirt from Disney

I guess it has been a while since the last update! I saved this article from when the heat wave was stuck over central US most of the summer. It was a very hot July, the hottest in recorded history here in Fort Wayne and the 5th driest month ever. The grass suffered.

When the LA freeway was closed a few weeks back, a small group of people wanted to mark the occasion with a dinner...on the highway. [LA Times]

Cities are taking back old rail line areas and making them into urban parks and walking trails. One in particular is High Line park on Manhattan. [NY Times]

Hiking the Appalachian Trail in record time. [Atlanta Journal Constitution]

A cure for cancer? This gene therapy has worked to destroy leukemia cells...that's a good start. [Fox News]

Earthquake warnings from the animals at the National Zoo. They had a bit of a head start on this week's temblor. [Washington Post]

Have a great weekend!

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Pictures - Summer & Poppa Day at Wrigley

Rowan and the Poppas

Got some photos up this evening on my Picasa site. Made a new Summer 2011 album for some photos around this summer.

Poppa Day at Wrigley album is up with photos from our trip to Wrigley Field this weekend with Rowan's Poppas. We had a great time and the Cubs won 5-1! We are 2-1 in all our Poppa Day games so far.

Enjoy!

Swans on the pond!

Rowan and Mom

GO CUBS!

Summertime...

Waiting for fun at Disney World

The weather is going to take that turn into real summer this weekend. Both days are expected to be in the 90's with humidity building throughout the day. Joy! Not really, I don't care for days in the 90's where you can't even sit outside and I need to yank some stumps out of the ground too. Only good part of this is no mowing this weekend.

Fort Wayne's Three Rivers Festival kicks off this weekend and runs through next weekend. Should be able to hit Junk Food Alley at some point. We'll miss the parade tomorrow after actually making it last year. Bob Marley Tribute band tonight at the beer tent, that could be interesting. [3RF.com]

Fishing on the pond with Noah

Tonight, Brooke and I will be heading to Fortissimo with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. Two local bands and another indie group will be playing with The Phil in a one of a kind event. This should be very cool and we're looking forward to it. [The Phil & Journal Gazette]

This week's News Quiz. [Chicago Tribune]

Nebraska joined the Big Ten last week as the 12th member school. Here was a recap of the Big Ten for the Huskers, I thought it was a pretty cool rundown of the league. [Husker Extra]

Neat Op-Ed column about super powers, X-Men, and history. [New York Times]

One of my all time favorite Hoosiers, Calbert Cheaney, is back in the fold. He and I were classmates at IU. [USA Today]

Fishing on the pond with Noah

Paul sent me this link of a real life National Treasure found in India. [Guardian]

In commemoration of the final shuttle launch this morning, here's a sun article on a solar flare eruption with a cool video. It's simply amazing. [Fox News]

Google launched a new social media site this week with a limited release. One of the first to join up was Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Probably just checking out the potential competition. [New York Times]

Hope you all checked out the massive picture update I did last weekend. Lots of great photos of our trip to Walt Disney World. We had a very good time! 

Ziver Beaver (aka Ziva) chilling out

Stay cool this weekend!

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Finally more Pictures

Breakfast with Safari Daisy Duck (or Daphne, right Brooke?!?)

Made a huge picture update on Picasa this afternoon. Added lots from springtime and then another album for our trip to Disney World.

You can see the springtime photos here and the Disney World photos here.

Enjoy!

Minnie Mouse

Skating with mom

Skating with dad

Meeting Eeyore and Tigger

Rain, rain...go away?

Ready to go fishing!

Heard on the news last night that this is the wettest May in Fort Wayne's recorded history. Already over 9" this month with three days left. It's the 8th wettest month ever in Fort Wayne. Could be why the horses are floating? Not really, but they're close. The pond is at the brim and using the overflow pipe toward the field in back liberally.

We had our Ash trees treated this morning from the nasty Emerald Ash borer. Hopefully we can hold them off for a while, unlike many other cities across the nation. [EAB site & Time]

This week's News Quiz. [Chicago Tribune]

This tornado season has been unbelievable, from Alabama to Missouri and everywhere in between. [Washington Post]

Here's an informative Fact or Fiction write up on tornadoes. [New York Times]

Another amazing animal story from Depune. A dog crawls home after the Alabama tornadoes week's ago. Oh, he has two broken legs! [CNN]

The storms that ripped through Missouri also hit Bloomington pretty hard this week. Hundreds of trees downed on the IU campus, many of them old growth trees. [IU News Room]

The Tohoku region of Japan continues it's recovery from the March 11th megaquake. This town had a longsighted mayor who built a wall that saved his community. [Japan Times]

Saw this video linked to Twitter from the tsunami that wiped out Minamisanriku in Miyagi prefecture. Almost 6 minutes long and pretty incredible. [YouTube]

It is Memorial Day weekend here, a time to remember those who gave everything so that we could be free. The traditional Memorial Day will be the same as the day we observe it this year, May 30th. [MemorialDay.org]

Memorial Day weekend in Indiana means it's Indy 500 time. For the first time ever, a Type 1 diabetic will be in the race. That's a pretty good reason to root for Charlie Kimball, right? [WTHR]

Have a great holiday weekend and hope that summer is just around the corner...

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Feels like Summer

Planting veggies...

We've had a great couple of days for summertime weather. Rowan's been talking about summertime for a few weeks now. I think she may have actually talked it into coming around.

We found out this week we're having a baby boy at the end of September. Rowan is quite excited to be a big sister. I anticipate her being a very big helper when her brother arrives. We don't have a name yet, but we're working on it. Thanks for all the suggestions!

New Horsey named Chocolate

My review of Thor is up on the main page. We really enjoyed our first summer movie of the season. This week, Bridesmaids looks really funny and we can't wait for The Hangover Part II later this month. [IMDb.com]

Sheridan Stables are full for the summer. All 6 stalls have horses in them and things are progressing nicely. We haven't been able to start on the pastures yet due to the wet spring we've had. Might have to stick to the hay field and start the pastures next year. The ground needs to dry up quickly in order for us to do it all this year.

Here's the links I've accumulated since my last blog update.

This week's News Quiz. [Chicago Tribune]

A great story of two family miles apart that connected through the devastating Alabama tornadoes a few weeks back. [Washington Post]

Students with President Bush on 9/11 tell their story of how they remember that day. [Time]

Making sense of organic foods. [Chicago Tribune]

Story of the man who tweeted the raid on Osama's place. He's a pretty good read on Twitter (@ReallyVirtual). [Time & Twitter]

Piggyback ride with Mom during JDRF Walk

The Space Shuttle program is retiring this year. The remaining shuttles will be donated to several places around the country. Amazingly, Houston wasn't one of the places. [NASA & Crunch Gear]

The cleanup from March's earthquake continues in Japan. Here's a great story of people braving the nuclear threat to save a group of dogs. [Japan Times]

Japan Self Defense Forces, their military, has stepped up big time to help find survivors, collect the dead, and begin the rebuilding effort. [Japan Times]

Tsunami warning stones saved one Japanese town, I'm sure more will be made to save others in the future. [New York Times]

Prolific tweeter Andy Carvin (@acarvin) keeps the world updated on the Arab Spring and other happenings around the world. [Washington Post & Twitter & Guardian]

Have a great weekend!

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Spring Time Already?

Rowan on the new Dixie Chopper

I think we're going to hit 70 or even 80 degrees this weekend in The Fort. That's the kind of spring weather we need! Time to dry the grounds out at The Stables. I'd have to say I'm ready to hit the mowing duties when that time comes, we're all set with out new Dixie Chopper. Cuts grass at 4 acres an hour! Better than the tractor that was 4 acres in 2 days.

Rowan got glasses this week. She is farsighted and has another eye issue that the lenses need to correct. So far she seems to really enjoy them. They were on when I picked her up from school yesterday, so that was a good sign. I think she'll like seeing much better and know that the glasses help with that.

Rowan's glasses

A hearty Happy Birthday to Nana yesterday and my nephew Gustavo Byers today! He turned 3 today and we're celebrating tomorrow with his friends and family in Indianapolis. Three already? Where has the time gone...

This week's News Quiz. [Chicago Tribune]

Baseball is in full swing. The Cubbies made some changes to their menu at Wrigley. It's gotten a little more local flair to it. I'll have to check some of this out at Poppa Day at the Park in July. [Chicago Tribune]

Great survival story of a dog lost at sea for three weeks after the earthquake in Japan last month and then being reunited with his owner! What a story this dog could tell. [Japan Times and BBC News]

The swath of destruction in NE Japan is mind boggling. [Washington Post]

Great season Butler!

I'd like to say what this teacher in Japan is doing is what I would have done, but I'm not sure if I'd have stayed. I looked at the map of the US recommended evacuation zone for the nuclear plants and my town is about 25 miles outside that. Too darn close. [Japan Times]

It's been 25 years since Hoosiers was released? They're having a celebration of the movie at IU this month. [IU News Room]

Good NFL story: former IU great James Hardy is back at school to earn his degree. [IDS]

Have a great weekend! Enjoy the warmer temps and The Masters.

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SpydeysWebb NCAA Games - Final Four

What a tournament! Who could have predicted this Final Four group? Paul1 was the only bracket with 2 of the 4 (Kentucky & Connecticut) and jumps into first. The ones that had Connecticut, Butler, or Kentucky are still in the hunt save one bracket too far out. No one picked Virginia Commonwealth who took out three teams that were picked for the Final Four and National Champions - Georgetown, Purdue, and Kansas.

In the Elite Eight games, we had two repeats and two newbies for the squares. The Final Four games on Saturday are $400/each.

Site is updated with the latest standings for both.

Until Saturday night - GO DAWGS!

Japan Thoughts

The Great Wave by Japanese artist Hokusai

It's been almost two weeks since the Earth moved around Japan and changed so much over there. I once took a drive up that very coast the tsunami hit with my buddy Simon. We traveled to Sendai that day to check the city out. I can clearly remember it as one of the best days of my time in Japan. We saw the ocean in our drive through Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures. We went to see a movie, ironically it was Twister, and had a great dinner in the city center. After the earthquake, I thought back to that day and was happy we had made that trip and I had been to those places that you see in the pictures.

I was in Japan during the Kobe earthquake in 1995. I remember getting to school that day and several of the teachers were crying at their desks. I didn't even know what had happened. It wasn't like I woke up and turned the news on. We certainly didn't feel the earthquake in Karasuyama some 300 miles away and it didn't really affect my life that much. My parents and friends freaked out a bit because all they hear is earthquake and Japan and think I must be in the middle of it. I went through Kobe in the summer of 1996 to catch a boat to China. By that time, they'd done a lot work on getting the city center rebuilt, but the area was still hurting.

So now two Fridays ago, I came home after work and called my family in Toyama to check in on them. When Takashi answered the phone, he was surprised to say the least. We hadn't spoken since Brooke and I visited them in November 2007. His reaction to my question of his health was the same as mine to my parents after Kobe, "Earthquake? No problem." It's what I expected to hear, but it was nice to get that information directly. They didn't even feel it.

I can pretty much guarantee that Karasuyama felt this last one. I don't have any friends that I speak to in that area anymore. It's been over 10 years since I've heard from anyone around those parts. That memory of my drive to Sendai reminded me just how close my old place is to this devastation, less than 100 miles. There was only one of the many earthquakes I felt in Japan that had me running. It was one on the northern tip of the main island of Honshu in Aomori prefecture. It was long enough that I could get up and run outside my apartment to wait for the shaking to end. There was a minor tsunami for that one as well.

I've heard in the last week of two American teachers, like myself 15 years ago, missing from this tsunami. I can't even imagine what life would be like there now in Karasuyama. I can only say, I'm glad I'm not there...

Before and After pictures of towns in the tsunami's wake. [New York Times]

Some other links I've collected over the last several weeks...

The Internet is getting crowded. We may be running out of addresses. [New York Times]

Lego mania...check out these crazy Lego projects. [BuzzFeed]

Amazing story of one resilient puppy dog! Thanks for the link Depune. [WRTV]

Interesting story of the military challenge coins. [Washington Post]

Great article about the older generations keeping up with the newer technology. Not just Facebook but Skype and new iPads too. [New York Times]

Take care...

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SpydeysWebb NCAA Games Round Two

We had 6 brackets get 11 of the Sweet Sixteen right. There are 5 brackets tied at 48 points. Right now, Taylor R is in first because she has all four of her Final Four still alive.

Games are off until Thursday night when the squares move to $100/game and the brackets will move into the Elite Eight.

Until then!

SpydeysWebb NCAA Games

Jon S. takes the lead after the First Four and Second Round games with a solid 29. Lots of shakeups yesterday with Pitt going home, I think there were 5 brackets that picked Butler into the Sweet Sixteen. The winner may be determined by who picked Butler, Wisconsin, Florida, or BYU into the Final Four.

The rest of the Sweet Sixteen will be determined today. Updates will be available for that tomorrow morning.

Squares are going off the board with many different people winning one. We have a couple of double winners in the $25 games.

Time to tip off this Third Round Sunday!

Enjoy.

Pitchers and Catchers Report Today!

Rowan style!

Spring must be right around the corner, because the Cubs are starting Spring Training in Arizona! There'll be springlike temps this week in Fort Wayne. 50 degrees on Thursday? We were at -10 last Thursday! Crazy...The winds last night were enough to blow you over, so the weather is changing. [MLB.com]

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last week's News Quiz. [Chicago Tribune]

After last week's Snow Farm story, here's the next progression in a snowpocalypse winter, your roof coming down on you. [New York Times]

Did anyone print out the Popdose Oscar ballot? Anyone studying up for the Oscars on February 27th? Here's a rundown of some of the best short film categories, which are divided into three groups: animated, live action and documentary. [Popdose & New York Times]

Toy Story 3 is up for the big one, Best Picture, and the Best Animated film. Lots of time and work went into the third installment. With 10 Best Picture nominations now, films like Toy Story 3 can get into the discussion for the big prize. [IMDb.com & New York Times]

IU basketball is improving in fits and starts. One great game, winning or losing, followed by a real dud. Easy to forget where IU was just two seasons ago. This story about IU student manager Mike Santa reminds us just how far he and IU have come in less than 3 years. [Inside Indiana]

Twitter humor! Fake Twitter accounts are the best at parody and some seriously funny stuff. I follow a couple of these including Harry Caray's Ghost and Not Steve Jobs. [New York Times]

Square Board will be open in two weeks! The NCAA games will be available for anyone this year as all the games move to cable television. Beginning this year they're also staggering the start times so we can see all the buzzer beaters. [SpydeysWebb NCAA Games & ESPN]

Enjoy this great weather!

Who's this?!?

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Super Bowl Weekend

Snow sliding with dad

It's Super Bowl weekend! We throw the fantasy football party at our place. This will be the first one on the farm. Should be a great turnout and the potluck brings out some very good grub. Now let's just hope we have a great game to watch. My prediction: Packers 31 - Steelers 27.

The holiday on Wednesday went off great. Holiday you say? Yeah, Groundhog Day! It happened to correspond with a huge winter storm that kept us home for a snow day. Very nice. The sleet we got made the snow heavy but the total snowfall was around 10" at the farm. Oh, and Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow, so spring is right around the corner!

Nominations for the Oscars were announced last week. I think seeing The King's Speech was a very good idea! It leads all movie noms with 12 including the big ones for screenplay, director, and best picture. I have the scorecard for the Oscar Game already. You can download and print it off on the Popdose site. I was thinking about collecting $5/entry to make it interesting. Last year it was just Brooke and I with entries, and I came back for the victory because Brooke choose the wrong Supporting Actress winner. Either way we do it, it's a fun game. So if you want to play, print off the scorecard, make your picks and get them to me before Oscar night on Feb. 27th. I'll be including this info on future posts this month. [Oscars.com & IMDb.com & Popdose]

Moon Dough farm at the farm!

Here's a cool study guide link for Oscar nominated films you might not know about. [Huffington Post]

Another prediction study guide for who's looking good to take home the golden guy. [Time]

This week's News Quiz. [Chicago Tribune]

Where does Boston put all their 70+ inches of snow? Snow farms, of course. [New York Times]

Here's 5 Myths of the Super Bowl for this Super Weekend. [Washington Post]

Stay warm!

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She's fly like a G6...

Blizzard at Sheridan Stables

Mostly sleet last night, so the snow level wasn't as bad as it could've been. That sleet made some heavy snow shoveling!

View toward barn

Brooke resting after digging out

Moving the snow

- Posted via iPhone BlogPress app

Days are longer, but it's getting COLD!

Here we GO!

We'll kick the post off with more sledding pictures from earlier this week. I love the one where Rowan and Gus are all laid back getting pulled toward the parking lot! Too funny and cute. If you missed the video from the blog post on Tuesday, you need to go to the blog online to see videos. Make sure you do that! Heck, make sure you click and read the blog from the web site! Don't be lazy and read it from your inbox...

We can already tell that the days are getting a bit longer. I think sunrise will move into the 7 o'clock hour this weekend. Still means Brooke's doing most her morning work with the sky dark, but it is getting better. Now the temps are another story. We're going to have our coldest night of the season tonight. I think the low is around 0 with wind chills significantly lower. Nice night to stay home with a book...

Speaking of which, I've just cracked into James Swanson's "Bloody Crimes". It's a dual story about Lincoln's body returning to Illinois and the hunt for Jefferson Davis just after the assassination. I really liked Swanson's previous book on Lincoln's assassination titled "Manhunt", so I'm in for round two. [Harper Collins]

Movies! We're getting closer to Oscar time, so we must catch up with some of the contenders. The nominations will be announced next week, but Brooke and I kicked off the viewing with The King's Speech last night at Carmike. What a great movie. Good story and solid acting made it a lot of fun. I really like Geoffrey Rush, and he does a tremendous job. Colin Firth already took home the Golden Globe for his work in this one and I think he's the odds on favorite to win the Oscar for Best Actor. We'll should be checking out True Grit on our next visit, hopefully soon. [IMDb.com]

Poppa and Rowan, GO BEARS!

Big football Sunday coming up! I know I have quite a few Chicago Bear fans that read the blog. It's been a pretty amazing run for the Bears this year, considering most people feel their quarterback Jay Cutler isn't very good. Cutler is a fellow type 1 diabetic, so I've always been partial to him. However, he has an attitude sometimes that's hard to take. I think that's where people turn on him. The Bears/Packers matchup for the NFC Championship is their first playoff meeting in 60 seasons! These two teams have played each other more times than any other matchup, and this time it's for a trip to the Super Bowl. I'm rooting for the Bears, but I think the Packers will win this one 31-21. In the AFC Championship, I just can't root for the mouthy Jets and would have a hard time putting up with them for two weeks before the big game. So let's go Steelers 31-17!

Happy early Birthday to blog reader Paul Till. He turns 30-something or other on Tuesday the 25th. Happy Birthday Tillbilly!

I have quite a few links saved up, so let's hit this week's News Quiz and to get it started. [Chicago Tribune]

Starbucks is turning 40. So along with a larger 31 oz coffee, they are also changing their logo and some of the imaging. Changes can be seen sometime this spring. [Starbucks]

Some movie links to go with our run-up to the Oscars on Feb. 27th. Here's a list of 50 movies you must see before Oscar night. How many have you seen? I don't know who can do the whole list! Here's another list of the biggest flops of 2010. [Hey You Guys! & Box Office Mojo]

Which way to the car?

How long have humans been drinking wine? A dig in Armenia says it's close to 6,000 years! [Washington Post]

And a good follow-up to how long we've been drinking to how good is the advice you've gotten on the effects of drinking? Most of which is probably wrong![Washington Post]

Thinking about spring gets me thinking about golf. If you've always wanted to play the Masters at Augusta National, you can now on the new EA Sports Tiger Woods golf game for 2011. FORE! [Tees2Greens.com]

Here's a great link on how to reuse your old T-shirts. I've always though I'd get a quilt made of mine and I have some good ones. [Huffington Post]

Try to stay warm! Trust me, Spring is coming!

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Sledding!

Rowan went out for her first sledding adventure. She was with mom, Nana, Papa, Aunt Alicia and cousin Gus in Anderson. Happy MLK Day!

Suited up and ready to go!

Ready...Set...