Sweet 16 - Ba-Beeee !!!!!

Well, MU basketball has had a great season. Pre-season picks had us at No. 7 or 8 in the conference, but the boys had something to say about that. After being in the Top 10 on and off, they won the Big XII tournament and headed for Big Dance. March Madness bore out our great season, with initial wins over Cornell, and the Marquette. That allowed MIZZOU to head for the Sweet 16, which just happened to be held here in Phoenix - yeah baby !!

I headed over to the arena to hang out with other Tiger fans, and hoped to grab a unused seat for the second session, which we were in. I could not have asked for better..... Not only did I get in, but snagged a seat 6 rows off the floor behind the Missouri bench. To add to the greatness of the evening, No. 3 MIZZOU pulled off the upset against No. 2 Memphis, and in the process scored 102 points. A team scoring 100+ points had not been done in quite a while, though the specifics escape me right now. That does not matter, as seeing MIZZOU live in a great win is something to appreciate! Alas, when we hit the Elite 8 game, we finally succumbed to UConn 82-75, but not after another great game that went down to the wire. Congrats, Tigers, on a great season!!!

Scottsdale Art Festival

This weekend we kicked off spring by going to the Scottsdale Art festival, in Old Town. As usual, the weather was good, if not a little hot, but a nice breeze kept it comfortable. Caryl and I had a nice lunch on the patio before heading in, and enjoyed a great afternoon. More pics in the 'my photo album' section....

Then later that evening, I took Caryl to see a show that was in Phoenix for limited engagement called Cavalia. It was done by one the founding members of Cirque de Soleil, and featured horses as the main part of the show, combined with some of their usual circus-type acrobatics. All in all, a pretty nice way to spend the day. If you want to see a clip of the Cavalia show, click on the link below.

http://cavalia.net/

The Wingert files (or trip, I guess)

Well, this past weekend saw my friend Roger and his wife Eileen come into town for a bit of Royals spring training baseball. The weather gods smiled on us yet again, and provided for some great weather and baseball watching. We got to take in 2 games, Thursday versus the division rival Chicago White Sox, and Saturday, which featured my hometown AZ Diamondbacks taking on the Royals in Surprise Stadium. As Caryl was working for the first game, she was gladly in attendance for the Saturday event. For this game, I really have no way to lose, as each team resides in a different division. Oddly, though, it has been in the past a fairly close game, with the Royals in triumph. Not this time, though, as the D'Backs let fly and gave a good ol'-fashioned butt-kicking to the Royals. At least it is only spring training. As for my KC guests, though, at least they got to see the Royals return the favor to the Chicago White Sox, so as to at least get a split for their "series" here.

We also got to do a little hiking. Last year, Roger and I went off to check out the flora and fauna while Eileen spent time with her relative. This year she was having none of it, and so we all went to a trail on the east side of Scottsdale that provided some beautiful views and hiking. Nothing too strenuous, just enough to enjoy the day. After that, we relaxed on the patio of a nearby Mexican restaurant and celebrated with a margarita - not a bad way to spend a Friday!

As usual, if you want to see the entire slide show, click on the 'my photo albums' link to enjoy....

p.s. As you can tell by Roger's tshirt, our allegiance does not stretch to the college level. As of this writing, however, both our teams have made it into March Madness with high seeds. Congrats to all the Big XII teams, but GO MIZZOU !!!!!!!

play ball !!!!

Well, it is that time of year - spring training is in full swing (pun intended, I guess). The temps have been great for an afternoon of baseball. The local news says crowds are a little down this year, and I can attest to that with my first Royals game. Just fine for us locals, though, as that is just more room to stretch out. And I even got to see the Royals win - yeah !!!!













Then Saturday, I got to do another of my favorite spring rituals, the Great Arizona Beer Festival. This is a charity event that has about 50 different micro-breweries from all over the West give samples of their beers. As the temp was barely 70 today, that made for some great tasting and enjoying the sunshine. Every year, though, this thing just keeps getting more crowded as the word gets out. I may have to skip it in a year or two as the bloom is off the rose.

Vegas NASCAR trip

Well, over this past weekend, I took my first trip to watch the Las Vegas NASCAR race. It was supposed to be a fine weather weekend, and that is not always the case in Vegas for this race. Also, as the economy is the worst in the nation for housing, I used this trip to look for a possible vacation/retirement condo in Vegas. On the way up, I took a little momentary side trip through Kingman and drove it's little bit of the old Mother Road - Route 66. There is really not that much distinctive left, but they do have a little historic district, and museum, along with a couple of nostalgic diners. Certainly not a destination anymore, but it was fun to say I have done it.

After that, it was on to Vegas for the real part of the trip. Saturday was as advertised, warm and pleasant for the race. That allowed Brian and I to do a little tailgating when we got there before heading into the race. A cigar, a libation, and the sounds of race cars practicing in the distance made for a good warm up. Sorry to say the race was not quite as good. There were 8 wrecks in the first half (100 laps) of the race and things got a little boring. But finally they got a number of laps of good racing in, and all was worthwhile.


Then Sunday, we headed down to the Strip to watch the race to the NASCAR Cafe in the Sahara, always a good time. As you would expect, the place was loaded with NASCAR fans and jumpin' !!!!

On Monday, it was off to look at a number of condos, and get some ideas regarding the possibilities. I will write more regarding this as it plays out.