Geezer's Night Out

Saw Alkaline Trio with Against Me at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver last night. Was up WAY past my bedtime on a weeknight and still a bit tired from my trip to Chicago but it was fun. Only caught 15-20 minutes of opening band Against Me which was a shame because they were surprisingly good. Unfortunately I was unprepared for the bad parking situation and long lines to pick up my tickets and then get into the venue so I misjudged how early we needed to leave the house.

Alkaline Trio were amazing, however the sound was not. In fact, it was atrocious which was frustrating after seeing them at the Fox theater in Boulder where the sound is awesome. The Fox is a lot more intimate too-700 person capacity compared to 3600 at the Fillmore. That show a year or so ago was so perfect and special, it just wasn't going to be replicated last night but still it's hard to have a bad time at an ALK TRIO show, they're one of the best live bands I've ever seen and the enthusiasm of their fans is legendary. There is no guitar player more talented than Matt Skiba walking the planet, trust me on this one. They jumped around the stage for an hour and 35 minutes straight making me wonder how that compares to marathon training.

I was easily the oldest person there. When I handed my i.d. to the woman passing out 'over 21' wristbands she laughed and said, 'Now remember, no crowd surfing!'. It was great to get out and see some bands though, despite the snarky bouncers and lack of sleep.

Photos

Finally got some of my pictures from the Albuquerque trial. There were 2 photographers so I still have more coming to me, hopefully I'll get 'em next week.

The trial last weekend had mixed results. Sat. wasn't great and I was ready to retire both dogs because I was starting to get some stress behaviors in the ring, esp. on the table. However Sunday went great, no Q's for Lola but each time was just a little blip here and there, all my fault. We almost finished up her Adv. Snooker title but I forgot where I was meant to go and sent her into the wrong end of a tunnel on the next to last obstacle. If I'd gotten the tunnel entrance right, it would have been enough points for a Q, even if we missed the last obstacle. I'm such an idiot but oh well. Cody had a beautiful standard run, finishing up both his Adv. standard title and his Adv. versatility title which means he moves to the masters ring in all events! He had a first place run too, by over 2 seconds. Now the dogs are split between masters & adv. sharing only masters jumpers as a common event so I'll be dealing with conflicts with the 2 ring trials. Cody had a beautiful Grand Prix run on Sat. that was nearly a Q (and probably a contender for first place, would have gotten second for sure) but I mishandled the last few obstacles in part because I didn't have enough time to walk the course properly because I was running in the other ring (yes, I know, excuses excuses but dealing with conflicts is a pain sometimes).

No more trials for 3 weeks then 3 weeks of trials in a row so I'm giving the dogs a little breather from training this weekend. We went to the Rez this morning for some mindless running and big fun chasing balls & frisbees and diving in the water.

I'm off for a trail ride in the beautiful sunny weather. Maybe I'll get a photo of a meadowlark, there seem to be tons of them this year. That's really my only goal for the ride, I'm still in rehab. My knee is now o.k. for running but the p.t. is worried about the problems/weaknesses I've been having with the muscles around the pelvis/groin so she told me to hold off a bit and keep up with my strength training. I've been doing intervals on the trails (novice level) on my mountain bike but today I'm easing up on intensity and hoping to increase time a bit (I'm up to an hour) so it's going to be a scenic ride.

Albuquirky

Just a quick entry until I get more sleep/time. Went to Albuquerque this weekend (6 1/2 hour drive, 7 with stops) for a USDAA trial. I decided to go to maximize my chances of qualifying for Regionals which will be in Denver this summer and-yeeha!!!- both dogs qualified!!! Cody had a clean run which was good enough for third place! He had some wide loopy turns which cost of us a lot of time but we were clean and under course time. Lola had a 5 fault refusal at the weave poles (it was an easy entry but a straight shot after the chute and I think I failed to slow her enough so she ran right past) however I got her back in the poles and we just squeaked in under course time by fractions of a second. You're allowed up to 7 faults in the Grand Prix so she got her Q and we're all going to Regionals, wheeha! Dare we think about qualifying for Nationals?

Cody also finished up his Advanced snooker title with a beautiful 1st place run so we're on to the scary Masters ring.

Albuquerque was nice, didn't get to see too much but managed to squeeze in a small 2 mile hike in the hills and saw the tacky 'historic' old town. The Balloon Fiesta Park trial site was beautiful, green fields as far as the eye could see (Lo had fun chasing her tennis ball) and great weather though a little hot at times on Sunday. Got home at 11:00 p.m. last night, thank goodness for daylight savings time since it felt like only 10:00 pm. I'm paying the price today, tired and dizzy but a couple good nights sleep and I should be ready for another USDAA trial this weekend. Luckily it's only about an hour away this time, I'm fed up with driving for a good while.

My knee did great with all the running, walking, standing, driving. A wee bit sore Sat. night but I iced it and was fine on Sunday. I'm actually having worse problems with the groin muscles that were injured in the accident. Those soft tissue injuries are STILL plaguing me and have been kicking up with the exercises the p.t. has given me for my knee. Hopefully she'll have some words of wisdom about it tomorrow. It's been almost a year since the accident, seems I shouldn't be having pain still.

I've got some great pictures from the trial (won't get those until next week) and sightseeing, I'll post later. For now, must get caffeine I.V. bottle.