I'm back! I was taking a training class in San Jose all last week, so I wasn't able to blog. I meant to try in the evening from home, but just never got around to doing it. I don't think I missed much anyways.
Had a pretty exhausting weekend. My class ended early on Friday, but I had to go back to work to fix a problem, and then I stopped by the hospital to visit my mom (she's back at home now and doing well - she was there to get treated for an infection). After that I drove to Campbell for a hair appointment.
In the evening, we went to Union City to watch The Departed with Henry. Really good movie. Very violent and totally intense. I actually think Leonardo DiCaprio is a pretty underrated actor. He did a pretty good job of shedding his baby-faced image for this movie. I think this is one I'd definitely rent and watch again.
Saturday we got up early and took Bandit to work sheep. I had to leave early, so Jan worked him for the rest of the session, and Marc took him home. I had to catch BART to head up to the Cal game, which started at 12:30. Leslie (friend, not brother) had extra tickets, so she kindly gave one to me. My brothers also managed to get some tickets, although they weren't sitting by us.
The game was crazy. It was a really weird atmosphere in the stadium - kind of dead, and I think it was partly hangover from the Oregon game. It was also pretty hot, and I think that sapped a lot of energy. The team was also sleepwalking, because they let a 23-point underdog take them into overtime.
The 4th quarter was crazy. The crowd finally woke up, and we were all standing and screaming on every down. I was so emotionally exhausted by that point that it took everything I had to keep screaming. I just wanted them to close the game out so it could all be over, but Washington just wouldn't die, and they tied it on a crazy hail mary touchdown.
Overtime was thankfully short. Marshawn Lynch took it in for a TD on just the second play of the Cal drive, and then Desmond Bishop intercepted the pass on Washington's turn to end the game. Everyone in the stadium was going crazy. I was so relieved, I really thought I was going to faint during that last quarter.
I got home, and Marc and I had dinner with Kenny and my dad before we went to visit my mom. Then we went home, and I went to bed early, totally exhausted.
Sunday we slept in a bit, but had to get up and going again to take Bandit to his agility trial at the Fairgrounds in Pleasanton. I had signed him up for both Saturday and Sunday, but opted to skip Saturday so I could go to the game. In hindsight, I probably paid some sort of karmic debt for this, because Sunday didn't go so well. Bandit needed to qualify in each of his runs to get his two titles, but he didn't qualify in either.
The jumpers course went okay, except that he went into the wrong end on one of the tunnels. I watched it again on tape, and it was totally my fault, because I pulled off early, and it caused him to go towards the wrong end. It's been so long since we've competed that I got careless. He also dropped a bar, which by that point was moot, but would've sealed the deal anyways.
The standard course was a complete disaster. We were out from the get go, when Bandit launched early off the A-frame. Contact obstacles, like the A-frame, require that the dog have at least part of one foot in contact with a painted yellow portion on the bottom before they go off the obstacle. I =think= he may have gotten a toenail on it, but I saw the judge put up her hands, which meant that we weren't going to qualify. He knows to go all the way to the bottom of his contacts, but in competition he just gets so fired up.
He did the next few parts great, until at one point he got distracted by the crowd a bit, and I managed to call him to me, but forgot about a troublesome jump, and he took the wrong jump. That one was my fault again. At this point Bandit was pretty much barking at me the whole way. He did the weave poles, but missed the last one - I didn't even bother to make him go back and do it, because I just wanted to finish at this point.
He was running so fast and crazy that I couldn't run fast enough to get in position where I wanted to be, and had to improvise, resulting in him dropping the bar on the very last jump. All in all, it was quite the disaster. But the crowd there seemed to get a kick out of it.
So there's another trial next month in Santa Rosa that I'll probably sign up for. I was going to skip it if he got his titles, but I'd like to get them before the end of the year, and we've got two more chances to do it.
Until then, we'll be working VERY hard on our contacts in class!
The rest of Sunday was spent doing chores, and working a bit more on the fish tank stand. We've run into a few snags, but I think we can get them worked out. It has definitely not been an easy task!
Anyways, I'm glad to be back and blogging again. :)
Bonnie, hope your mom is feeling better.
Football - the one thing that made me feel better is that Washington almost upset 2nd/3rd place USC.
Maybe they just really know how to bring on their A game when it matters.
But what I really liked about this game was 1) Washington's coach ... even as they were beating Cal, he didn't let it get to his head (from the interview) and 2) After the game, the players really looked like they were shaking hands and being respectful to each other
Hooray, you're back!