Dubai World Cup

I have been waiting for this group of races which are from Dubai since last year. I really love this richest ticket in the world competition. It is mostly international bringing horses in from Australia, Southeastern Asia, Japan, and Europe, and a few American horses. It seems that since the track changed to Tapeta at Meydan, the American horses have not fared so well as when raced at a dirt track. I personally do not believe that the track is the reason for the losses, but everyone has to blame something. It is obvious to me after checking this year's entries out, and the manner in which they are raced that American racing leaves a lot to be desired when in competition with foreign horses. I love Australian horses, and the Japanese champion has caught my attention. This beautiful fun loving horse is named Gentildonna, and I am hoping that this gnetle female will win her race. She is adorable to watch as she enjoys racing so much, especially in Japan, so that I hope this trip will see her in the winner circle. I listened to some Europeans discuss the World Cup which they consider a weak field. If it is truly that weak, and one horse is definitely so good that he deserves to be favorite, then it will be a fairly easy race to play for winning trifectas and exactas. That means that any one of several longshots could surprise. But I am fairly confident that two American horses may do much better than thought, so that for American pools they will not be such longshots. The Europeans may cash in on them as they think very little of them. Odd how hometeams always think that their chances are best. I personally think that the Europeans may be half right. I hope that Trinniberg goes off on long odds and wins. I do think that he is fully capable of winning that particular race. Another American entry is used to the Tapeta since he races on it at Golden Gate so he may do better than the Europeans and others expect. However, I do see that he is only picked for third or fourth by most American handicappers. Interesting to note that while it is raced in Dubai, the locals do not bet on it at all. But the rest of the world gets in on the action, and one trainer from South Africa has as many as 13 horses in the running. I am sure that he will win something for sure. In this game, the trainers are who to study for the winning horses it seems to me. If I were an owner, trainer, and wanted to win this game, I would be sure to race my horses at Golden Gate to prepare them for their turn in Dubai. I think that many trainers should get half way serious about winning the richest pot in the world. Only one horse is entered that uses Tapeta in America...strange, isn't that? My belief is that entry from Golden Gate would at least prove that the surface does not impair the American horses. I think that Animal Kingdom is severely handicapped by a long layoff. I think that Dullahan has a chance but his post position makes it difficult for him at the beginning of the race. Royal Delta will have no excuses. But why on earth she did not do an exhibition at Golden Gate is more than I can say. I think that her racing interests should have let her win a few times at that track to prove that it is not the surface of the track but some other reason when she loses out... Oh, well, those are my thoughts. I will definitely be backing Gentildonna and a few other horses. I am hoping that either Dullahan or Royal Delta win the cup but I think that Hunter Light does deserve the win if he makes it, and for sure, he has been winning so much that if he keeps it up, he is a sure thing... So it goes.

Dubai World Cup 2013 schedule odds

Life's Mysteries

When I was young, we learned that with age comes wisdom. Well, I have lived long enough to realize a bit of the truth about that old adage. People used to always tell me when I was young, enjoy your youth while you can, never knowing what that meant, as we always want to be older and wiser, and do all the things that older people do...til too late, when we are old, and wake up to realize that the older folks were not what we really wanted to be after all...that must be pure wisdom. For the past few days, my childhood has been swimming around in my head at various times, meaning that I am remembering things about my mom or my dad, or some other relative, that I had long since buried and forgotten. I am seeing them as I saw them when a child, but now with the wisdom of old age, a bit better able to understand them when they pulled the various stunts that they did. I think that I am better able to evaluate and judge them now after they are gone than I had been when they were alive and well. We do forget things daily about the previous days, weeks, months, and years...but some incidents will return to plague us. I end up remembering why I would be so angry, disappointed, or hurt by something that one or the other of my parents had done when I was a child. I now look at it, and see the years since, and am able to better evaluate it and forgive it...if forgiveness is what is warranted. When I was a kid, money was everything We didn't have enough of it. We couldn't do this, we couldn't do that, because it all cost too much money. I never learned to play an instrument, except a tonette, which had been given to us free, and a piano, which my grandmother and mother both had had in their homes. But I was self taught...took two days or maybe just one of piano lessons, and said that is enough for me. Piano lessons means having a teacher who really makes you love what you are doing, or else, it just won't get done. My grandmother taught me the basics of handwriting, of playing the piano, and many other things, because she did take the time to spend with us. My mother had to work, and had no time to spend with either of us for anything. Although, she and my dad would go to all my brother's football games. So I think about them now that they are gone. I wonder where they went to in the world of spirit. My dad did not believe in the after life, thinks that when it is over, it is over, and my mother tended to believe and hope in Christianity, and believed as I do, in a smattering of a lot of things, reincarnation, Jesus, Buddha, and every other cockamamy cult group that offers something to the world. Eventually, after studying all the theories about life, religion, and cult groups, one arrives at one's own decisions and says the heck with all of them. I have the truth, and I know what it is, so don't try to sell me your stuff. So I am alternating between being one minute loving my parents and the next minute, angry and mad at them, as well, for believe it or not, it is our parents who give us the life we have, and who then help us to attain some useful lifestyle while dwelling on the face of the earth. My parents were far from perfect but they never let me forget that they had paid for my education, that they had provided for me, and that I should realize that they had loved me or they would not have done that. I in turn gave to them, but this outlet of self expression is not about what I have done for them but rather how I am coping with their death now, and remembering things and tidbits of the past. Mushroom hunting was one of those things. Ohio City Pride came up with a picture of morels today which made me remember going mushroom hunting in the woods in Ohio. I loved Morels...I wish I had a bushel. Ohio and Michigan have the best in the world as I remember...My mom and dad could find them so easily while my brother and I just fooled around looking at rotty old treetrunks. So Mom and Dad, whereever you are, yes, I miss you, and think of you all the time...thanks for giving me a childhood, good when it was hunting mushrooms.

Advertising and cellphones

Nothing has made heaven and hell more believable than hi tech tools have done. With something so simple as a smartphone, one soon learns the difference between heaven and hell....I have gone through Hell since purchasing my Samsung Galaxy 3 at Best Buy with Sprint as the carrier a while back. It is most irritating to have all these gadgets go bad on you, and I blame Best Buy now more than anyone. I don't like to badmouth anyone but the truth will out, and the truth is that Best Buy is the guilty party in this problem that I have been having with my Samsung. I will explain. Had I waited only one week or two, I could have had the phone free through T-Mobil a carrier that I had used with a Nokia basic phone prepaid style. I liked T-Mobil but when the HTC EVO cam out, only Sprint carried it, and thanks to all the advertising, I decided I must have one. I had never yet bought anything from Apple so I was not really interested in the Apple phones. I did wait for I Phone 5 to come out before I bought my Samsung as I had wanted to purchase it if I liked it, but having been spoiled by the HTCEVO I did not like the Apple I Phone 5 at first. It may be programmed perfectly but the size was too small for me. When one gets used to a video screen that does not need a magnifying glass to see the picture, one wants a larger screen, and as one ages, one needs larger print as well. So I liked the Samsung. I had asked a Sprint operator about HSN's offer of the Samsung with Sprint so she told me about Best Buy having a special of a saving of $100 if I went that day...stupid me...I went and bought it...to my ever eternal regret... But today Sprint did the best thing, and finally realized that the device that I had been sold at Best Buy was defective, so they gave me a new phone...Isn't that nice of them! At last, Sprint did give me a replacement phone, brand new, fresh out of the box, and I then realized why Best Buy had been guilty...the replacement phone that they had given to me for the first phone which up and died on me was not a fresh, brand new one, but an old defective one. I had not liked the way the girl had taken my defunct first defective phone and said to me, there, we now have a brand new phone, after she had taken all my data from it, and then she put it back on the shelf. I am sure that the replacement phone that she gave me was probably also one that had been returned to be put back on the shelf. At any rate, thanks to long time spent on Customer Service due to dropped calls and no connections, paying for nothing, I finally got some consideration, and compassion, and help. At last, i finally got a brand new phone right out of the box, and some advice from the technician...i appreciated learning a few new things about a very excellent, well programmed phone which has to be used to be fully appreciated. On top of all of this, I had had to purchase a phone from a different carrier in which I have had no problems whatsoever, no dropped calls, no difficulty with connections, all working as it should, in other words, Heaven. I hope that now that I have a new phone that all will work as it should. Already I have learned that it does function properly in my apartment as it should. It will probably all work out, but believe me, for a few months here, it was sheer misery and pure hell. Yes, indeed, there is Heaven and there is Hell. Don't ever doubt it.

One on One at Apple

Each time I have gone to the apple store I have had a different instructor or tutor, whatever it is that they are called. All are interesting, well informed, but unusually different in many ways. But most are boyishly young...yet they are in their twenties. It makes me wonder at when I was that age and starting my career of professional teacher. I bet I appeared the same to some of the old timers as these kids appear to me...young, very young. It is such a shock to me to realize how things have changed since I began my teaching experience in the early 60's. I am astounded when these young kids have no idea who Bobby Darrin is. I had seen a kid on a bus who reminded me of him and when I asked him if he had heard of him, he said no. Stunned me at how people only know who is making the news today. He had never heard of Mack the Knife at all. He was only 26. So that significant realization that I am on old fogey, real old fogey really got to me. Old age is such a pain in the neck with the body gradually doing nature's thing, shutting down, but it is hard on the mind to realize how much time has passed with only those who lived it capable of understanding it or remembering it. On that note, as I am writing this novel on Alexander of Macedon to show the influences in his life during his early years, I wonder at why it is that anyone should ever believe any of the historical writings at all, especially since they are written based upon hearsay and tales told so many years after the actual events. I am in the clubhouse now watching the news and using the free wifi. I had some trouble getting onto the clubhouse wifi but should not have as the computer should have retained that password. I ended up going out and asking some kids sitting poolside for help. They did help. Nice to have good neighbors. Back to the topic of one on one at Apple store, it is a service that I have paid to use, and I am able to use it as often as I need, which in my case, will be for the full year's service. The session only lasts an hour, and so far, the few who have been my advisors have been very helpful to me. I am beginning to understand apple and its word processing system. I have also downloaded Scrivener for a tree trial before purchasing it.

Phone Problems

This past week has been so annoying. I have to travel ten miles to go to the apple one to one program to learn how to use pages, and then the following day I had to go ten miles or further south to take my phone in to be checked. I had had way too many problems with this phone so this morning I had to contact Sprint again to complain about the fact that last night after having turned on some musical video the sound would not turn off when I turned the phone off. The phone is off, but the music continues to play. What the heck is that? I am reminded of the time when the camera had not worked so that I had to stop at the store to fix that but it came on there just fine. i am confident that this phone is jinxed. I have called and complained so many times that it is not funny. So finally the technician text messaged me and i texted back. I told her the problems and that I had also had a dropped call just calling into the store. She finally after hearing me out told me when she and the other technician will be in on Monday since I explained I have to take a bus there and I am weary of this phone problem So I decided on Monday as weekends are an hour wait on the bus lines. Sheer aggravation. i do not think that this phone can be salvaged or saved at this point. She said they will either trouble shoot it or give me a new device. i think that the latter would be preferable and I ready to change brands if I have to do so.

Where Have I Been?

The funny thing about taking these workshops and one to one sessions at Apple is that the instructors are probably the age of my grandchildren if I had any. I woke up with a big start today when I realized how times have changed in the world of education. I am learning how to do a word processing program on my new computer, and in the process I learned that today's children hand in their homework to their teachers through the computer. Imagine having to correct papers on a computer. It had never dawned on me that this was being done, and it left me utterly flabbergasted. I had paperwork galore whenever I had assignments that meant I would have to read and correct each and every one, so it came as a shock to me that professors and teachers alike are using computers to read and correct materials submitted by students. Proving how long ago it is that I was a part of the system, and how things have changed since. No doubt that I am ann old fossil. But I am ready to tackle my novel once again, getting a bit of a grip on how to work and operate a computer to enhance my writing experience. For starters tonight, I have begun a free trial with Scrivener's if it does get downloaded. I will check to see if it is on my group of apps and downloads. I am enjoying the apple experience but it flabbergasts me to realize how many things have changed since I first began studying on a computer myself. Positively unreal to think what changes will come in the next twenty years...Everything appears to be going to ebooks but again, as I am a part of a time period which cannot fully adapt to letting old books die, I still prefer reading paper books. I don't know if anyone is aware of it or not but now glasses are being made so that one can read computer material while wearing glasses, and another method is through a wristwatch. Crazy! Frankly, I am ready for the day when one only has to hit a button and all the material is flashed in front of your eyes without the use of any mechanical device...maybe it will be simply imprinted into your mind as you walk down the street. I honestly think that some of those experiences are happening already and have been for centuries in forms of dreams. Some people do have visions and can see things that others cannot and do not. So it is not very farfetched at all. Oh well, onward and upward. I will check to see if my Scrivener's trial has begun or not.