potpourri

A few folks (who should probably be doing more blogging of their own) (and so, of course, now some of them have) have been wondering what we've been up to here at The Regal Vizsla. I think August largely serves to delay September -- and while I am excited for both the hunt test and hunting seasons to open, I am also grateful that we actually have a few weekends at home this month and a little more time to rest.

Flavor #1: I did just write a new book review for Living with Bird-dogs. Even though it is a relatively new book (2006) somehow I had missed Jack Sharkey's Winning Ways up till recently -- despite the awesome picture of a happy hunting vizsla on the cover.

Flavor #2: We have also taken possession of the new Team Vizsla-mobile -- another Tacoma, this time a 2006. The novelty of owning a vehicle made in the same decade that we live in is a novelty we haven't quite gotten used to. All in all, our experience with Toyota -- from buying back our old truck to buying this new truck from our local Toyota dealer -- has been very positive. I realise that companies rarely do this kind of generous buy-back purely from the goodness of their hearts, but it was certainly nice to be on the receiving end of their munificence. We should get the new cap for it sometime in the next week or so. My friend Bob is taking his 2000 Tacoma in on Monday -- let's pray for rust, everyone!

Flavor #3: Mongolia won its first Olympic gold medal. All hail Tuvshinbayar Naidan! The article from ESPN makes it sound as though he defeated the reigning champion from Japan with some jinkin mongol wrestling throw. You can see Tuvshinbayar manhandle Suzuki clean out of the ring on this NBC video clip. (You will be asked to download Silverlight software. It's worth it.)

Flavor #4: Georgia has won two gold medals, the first in Graeco-Roman wrestling, the second in judo. And while Georgia will not likely win a beach volleyball medal, it is mildly comforting to note that not every encounter has to be a 'Blood in the Water' match. Jim Caple of ESPN was actually being fairly perceptive when he wrote "Given that the current conflict between the two countries is due in large part to disputes over who is Russian and who is Georgian -- and which country should hold power over them -- it was only fitting that the postmatch news conference also turned into a fierce debate about who is Georgian."

Nevertheless as the wise fellows at Registan have pointed out, the situation is also a lot more complex and, unfortunately for Georgia, imbalanced both symbolically and militarily -- even if it is willingly playing the victim as much as it is suffering at the hands of the Russian military. And why our present US government continues misunderstanding how to use its diplomatic and military influence.