No Pity for the Kitty 2012

Ever since we lost to UCLA, I've been saying I don't care what else happened, let's just beat UofA.  Well, praise Allah, we did last Friday night in the Territorial Cup, and just like two years ago, there's no pity for the kitty, even in lame all red uniforms that made them look like crayons.  Haller's recap in the Arizona Republic covered the highlights pretty well, but the AP story described it best: "Arizona gave up 24 points in the 4th quarter to lose to Arizona State."  UofA basically self-destructed, particularly QB Matt Scott.  His first two picks were actually nice plays by the Devil defense, but his third was a terrible throw.  Worst was his fumble as UofA was driving in the 4th and about to go up by two TDs.  Instead Deveron Carr scooped up the ball and Devils scored shortly thereafter to tie the game.  Scott was clearly out of it, as shown in this PRICELESS photo.

After the tie score, the Devils D came up big and stopped the Mildcats almost in their redzone.  Then we blocked the punt (photo at left), probably the key point in the game.  It was almost fated to be.  I don't usually gloat when a team falls apart like that, but watching UofA was enjoyable.  Another TD put us up by 14 with about 3 minutes to go.  I knew we had to score that second go-ahead touchdown because UofA would score to bring it within 7, which they did in what seemed like 5 seconds.  I think our D thought it was wrapped up and just watched them go by.  Thankfully the on-side kick went out of bounds and UofA had no timeouts left.  We ran out the clock.

Speaking of that loss to UCLA, if we had won that game (which was VERY winnable), we would've been Pac-12 South champs.  Oh well.  I'm very happy with a 7-5 season and a minor bowl game.  I had optimistically predicted we'd go 7-5 back in August.  Next year we ought to be even better, especially on offense, with QB Taylor Kelly having a year under his belt and spring & fall practice to improve.  The D will lose a great leader in LB Brandon Magee, but most guys are returning.  Hopefully that includes Pac-12 defensive player of the year Will Sutton, a junior who might leave early.  I'm hopeful going into next season.  Sure is nice to have a winning record again, the first since 2007 (Erickson's first year at ASU).  UofA is greatly improved under Rich Rod, and they are going to be a beast (hopefully w/o a good QB) next year in Tempe.  Can't wait.

And can't forget, many thanks to my cousin for special ordering ESPN so Zach and I could watch the game.  Worked out great.  That's me trying not to loudly celebrate after the final whistle, at her house with everyone else already asleep.  Brought my No Pity shirt from AZ for the occasion.

JoJo's New Dress by Bobbins

                          

                       

                         

Preview of Obamacare

From Montreal, Quebec, Canada:

A leading Montreal gynecologist said that these days, she cannot look her patients in the eye because the wait times are so shocking. Lack of resources, including nursing staff and budget compressions, are driving a backlog of surgeries while operating rooms stand empty. The latest figures from the provincial government show that over a span of nearly 11 months, 7,780 patients in the Montreal area waited six months or longer for day surgeries, while another 2,957 waited for six months or longer for operations that required hospitalization.
full article

Snooze

Musta been boring reading material

                          

ASU - UCLA Game

I mentioned in the blog post about the neighborhood Halloween party the tough ASU loss earlier in the day.  That was to UCLA.  I took MM along with Featha and Uncle Zach, and she had a good time.  She enjoys riding the light rail and likes Sparky.  In the stadium, she wanted to descend the stairs to the railing and look over, which I let her do before the game started (we arrived about 20 min's early, my preference).  I bought us a lemonade Sprite and we walked around at halftime.  She mostly sat on the aisle step next to me and watched a couple young boys in front of us.

I wish the game had turned out differently.  The Devils started fairly strong but gave UCLA a touchdown right before the half, then didn't do much in the 3rd quarter.  They gave up some big plays on defense.  Still, they hung in there and rallied in the 4th, taking a one point lead with just over a minute to go.  The UCLA QB (from Chandler, no less) led the Bruins on a drive to get into field goal position, and their to-that-point hapless kicker nailed it as the clock ran out.  That QB of theirs is going to be quite good.  The loss started a losing streak we only just recovered from last Sat., against Washington St.  I hope the offense re-gained their confidence 'cause they're going to need it badly this Fri. against the Stink of A.  GO DEVILS!

State Fair

I forgot to put the pic's up.  Back in October we hit the AZ State Fair.  Bobbins wanted to see the figure 8 racing and I wanted to see Weezer in concert.  We got some good seats for the racing and enjoyed seeing the cars beat each other and the dirt track up.  True to form, there was even a fight in the pit after the penultimate race.

MM was not feeling well that day...

             

              

We stopped for a bite to eat before the girls strolled around and bought new parasols.

         

              

Uncle Zach and I went to see Weezer in concert in the Coliseum.  It had been a while for me.  It was quite fun, even being sober.  I still shouted "Rivers!" a lot, just for C.  They played most of their hits (I can't remember the play order now), and Rivers did a neat trick by coming out into the audience for one song.  It was Zach's first official rock concert.

Life and Death of a Pear Tree

When we first planted it, in June 2009.  Featha and I had just finished landscaping this portion of the backyard, slinging all that river rock and pea gravel.  It had a good three years from this point, even with having to compete with those cut-down fig trees on each side.

Not sure what happened, but the poor thing didn't survive this summer.  It sprouted some half-dead pears at the beginning but then started wilting about July.  I thought it might come back but Bobbins convinced me it was gone.  When I cut it in the middle it was brown and brittle.

Swingers

When Nana T and Poppy were here in Sept, they took the girls to Chris-town Mall, where the girls talked them into a ride on a swing.

Old Pram

We fished out the old pram from the attic to sell. The girls got some last playing in it.

           

Skyfall

Cut out of work early and battled the retirees for seats at the opening on Friday of Skyfall, the latest James Bond movie (the 23rd in 50 years, actually).  Great flick that I highly recommend.  I enjoyed the traditionalist theme, the idea that what's old still matters, and may even be more relevant and useful than what's new.  This is introduced fairly early on and is touched upon throughout, from the 'new' Q to the weapon used to dispatch the villain at the end.  About the villain:  didn't enjoy Javier Bardem's performance greatly.  He went for the creep factor and certainly hit it, but maybe too much so, to the point of caricature.  At one point the audience laughed loudly at one of his menacing moves.  There isn't really a typical Bond girl in this installment, although in the traditionalist mode, they brought back Moneypenny very nicely.  The opening action sequence is fairly riveting and believable (although nothing will probably top the parkour sequence in Casino Royale), and the song by Adele is well done.  Probably the film's best attribute is the cinematography.  It is beautifully and meticulously framed and shot.  There is one scene in particular, in a Shanghai high-rise, that is quite visually arresting.  The scenes in the last act in Scotland are also visually gripping, particuarly Bond's and M's arrival to "Skyfall."

Halloween Party 10/31

Larry and Jenny held their annual Halloween party, this time with delicious food from Red Devil.  Larry's order was even #666.  The girls ran around with their friends.  Then we set off in the neighborhood.  MM was so excited she ran from house to house, the whole time, squealing at several points and louding proclaiming "trick or treat!" and "thank you!"  Both of them brought back a pretty nice haul.

Miss You Already

Bobbins and the girls left on their trip an hour ago.

                           

Native American Parade

One Saturday last month Bobbins talked me into joining her and the girls at the Native American parade on 3rd Street, which ends at Steele Indian School Park.  I'm not much of a fan of Native American culture, but it was a nice day out and the girls really enjoyed it, especially the candy (some from marching/dancing Get Fit groups...).

              

               

                

                

Happy 25 !

On a better note, my Dad & Jay celebrated 25 years of marriage today in a little renewal ceremony with Fr. Peter.  Congrats on a wonderful achievement!

Election Read-Out

Pretty depressed with the national outcome last night, obviously.  Romney could even match McCain's total, and Obama carried Paul Ryan's district...  The country is lost, and cannot be saved, as indicated by the sign at my buddy Dennis's house last night.  I fear we've crossed the Rubicon toward European social democracy.  We've reached the point where enough people who prefer to have Uncle Sam take care of them vote the Democrats into office to make that happen.  The 'people' would rather receive a check than take care of themselves.  And 'gay marriage' seems to have reached its tipping point.

This Corner post by Michael Walsh is probably the best analysis of the meaning of the loss I read.  I also liked this post's honest assessment of the situation.

As was pointed out to me today, "This too shall pass."  Looking on the bright side, Obama will inherit the mess of his own making.  And on the state level, Arizona did pretty well -- Flake won, Arpaio (whom I don't like) will remain a juicy thorn in the Left's side, the open primaries initiative failed, and the permanent extension of the 'temporary' tax cut also went down.  Would liked to have seen Parker win (we would've been represented by a Republican for the first time ever!) and bummed about Kirkpatrick, but on the whole positive.  So there's that.  And the fact that the Republican bench is quite deep, including lots of governors.  2016 only four years away.

Big Election

They say every election is the most important ever, but I do think this one is quite momentous, as a lot of the pundits have been writing.  Charles Krauthammer's weekend column said it best.

"An Obama second term means that the movement toward European-style social democracy continues, in part by legislation, in part by executive decree. The American experiment — the more individualistic, energetic, innovative, risk-taking model of democratic governance — continues to recede, yielding to the supervised life of the entitlement state.

If Obama loses, however, his presidency becomes a historical parenthesis, a passing interlude of overreaching hyper-liberalism, rejected by a center-right country that is 80 percent nonliberal."
I also liked this column by Ross Douthat (who is predicting an Obama win) and this one by Peggy Noonan.

I'm very cautiously optimistic about Romney pulling it out tomorrow.  I think the media is portraying it close because they ideologically want it that way but mostly for the drama and therefore ratings.  One of my buddies at work is confident enough that Romney will win that he's hosting a party to that effect, which I plan to attend.  Sure hope to be celebrating rather than sulking, like in 2008 when I tried to work while some of the guys got all excited at Obama's "soaring" speech in Grant Park.  I'm pretty sure most of them lost that magical hopey-changey feeling.  Now I'm hoping for change, to be delivered from the Obama program.

Neighborhood Halloween Party

Last Saturday the neighborhood ass'n held its annual Halloween bash at the LDS meeting house up the street.  This year, unlike the last three, I was able to attend because ASU's home game was in the day.  (A very tough loss to UCLA on homecoming.)  Sure is nice to walk up the street to a fun family gathering, with the Dog in tow.  A lot of folks liked the girls' Madeline costumes, but Bobbins's didn't seem to go over as well with the Mormons, who thought she was a nun (Miss Clavell is a teacher, not a nun).  Some Air Force MPs brought their police dog and did a cool demonstration.  There was a neat scary spider tunnel behind the church.  The girls each got a cupcake at the cake walk.  We hung with our neighbors Ben and Carrie a bit (their son Anton is in the blue car).  JoJo was too afraid to hug Crime Dog MacGruff, but MM cuddled right up to him.