Superdogs

Yesterday Chris and I returned to the Ex to take in a number of attractions that we didn't manage to get to on Friday, Chris particularly wanted to see the Eukanuba Superdogs show. Unfortunately the 4:00 PM show was full by the time we arrived. With the next show at 7:30 PM and dinner planned with Sheryl we had to do some quick restructuring. We invited Sheryl to come back with us for the later Superdogs show and fireworks, and left for an early dinner and a quick return. We got back just in time, with Chris and Sheryl finding seats while I parked. I ran to catch up, but got there after the doors closed. Luckily I was able to talk my way in. The show was pretty shmaltzy, but the dogs themselves were great performers.



Afterward we wandered the flea market (Sheryl picked up some nice Indian cushion covers ultra-cheap) and then the midway until the fireworks at 10:30 PM. Chris wanted to go on some more rides, but at $6 a pop I wasn't enthusiastic. Eventually Chris' begging weakened me and I got him a ticket for "Niagara Falls", a log-ride, which he loved. Next stop was getting him a Swiss Waffle (soft ice cream on a waffle, topped by strawberries) before watching human cannonball David “The Bullet” Smith's act. Finally we saw the fireworks, which were pretty good and then I poured a sleeping boy into his bed at about 11:30 PM.

We were up at 7:15 AM this morning to watch the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, again in High Def at my friend Brian's house. Not an eventful race, but "my" driver, Kimi Raikkonen made it interesting. He qualified first, with his McLaren teammate Juan Pablo Montoya in second and the Renaults of Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella following. However an engine problem forced McLaren to install a replacement in Kimi's car and take a ten place penalty. McLaren have really been held back by engine trouble this season, in spite of having excellent power and handling. Starting from eleventh Kimi was stuck behind Jacques Villeneuve for the first half of the race.

The engine change gave Kimi a chance to change his fuel load though and he was racing with almost twice as much fuel as the rest of the field. This allowed him to refuel just once while everyone else needed two fuel stops. He eventually managed to leap from 11th to 5th in one swoop because of this. Unfortunately a few laps later he had a serious left rear tire problem and had to pit again to replace it. This dropped him back two places but lit a fire under him and he managed to get up to fourth with a sniff at stealing third from his rival Alonso Fernando's teammate Giancarlo Fisichella. Interestingly, Kimi's teammate, who inherited the pole position and stayed there the entire race, suffered an identical left rear tire problem in the closing laps of the race. He was able to nurse his car home to a victory though.

Ferrari didn't manage a single point in their "home" race, as Michael Schmacher finished tenth and Rubens Barrichello twelfth, They really have a long road back to being competitive. And who knew fuel hoses had software? A software malfunction convinced the BAR team that they hadn't managed to put any fuel into Takuma Sato's car during his second stop, so they brought him back in two laps later and fueled him again. This actually left him weighed down with a double load of fuel sloshing around in his tank! Perhaps this was actually a clever cost-saving strategy given the rate at which fuel prices are rising.

Listening to: Don't Phunk With My Heart by Black Eyed Peas from Monkey Business.