Back on Track: Helio was on it when he danced the Cha Cha Cha with Julianne last night. Watching the results show was a heart attack, though. Completely shocked that Sabrina Bryan was voted off the show.

Vote for Helio: So, I posted this picture I made a while ago:

And look what Helio is wearing now: Insider

Flippin’ Sweet!

Freakin’ Sweet!: So, I was listening to SpeedFreaks last night and about 15 minutes in, my good MySpace pal Crash Gladys read a comment on the air that I had left on their page. Earlier in the year, Mike King read an email I sent him on his Indy Racing Weekly program. Guess I’m just a racing radio airtime junkie… *grin* You can always hear the most recent SpeedFreaks radio show on their site – they have guests from all over the racing world, and there’s never a shortage of racy fun.

Trekkin’: I have had ZERO time to follow the musicians’ trek up Mt. Everest, but it’s happening and you can get reports at Everest Rocks. Donations are encouraged to help support the cancer-related organizations affiliated with the Love Hope Strength Foundation. I hope to catch up with this in the next few weeks, but in the meantime I’m hearing there’s plenty of interesting stories, lovely music and loads of “soppy male tears” (yup – the usual suspect. LOL!) in the reports. I highly admire the cancer survivors who are climbing the hill – these folks truly know about challenges.

Back on Track: Next dance for Helio and Julianne is the cha-cha-cha…fun, fast, flirty – perfect! Can’t wait.

NoPaul: I can’t make Organic’s social event tomorrow night, and Paul’s going to the opera anyway because he missed the first announcement about the event and thus made his Magic Flute plans. Ah well – maybe next time. I occasionally meet former colleague Larry for lunch and keep in touch with a few other folks who now work in the city, so maybe a holiday-themed party or two will turn up that I can attend with them.

NoHersh: Hersh had to change his plans to visit California due to family health issues. Some kind of epidemic of family crises in his life this year. He’s not the only one, lately. So, he and his wife Lee will visit us next year. *frown*

Jack: Met my former colleague from Ecrio, Jack Miller, for dinner and loads of catching up. He showed me photos of Burning Man from this summer. This is what’s so fun about Jack – he celebrated his 60th birthday as the man burned. He’s just into everything. *grin*

Helio and Julianne – you’re SAFE!: ’nuff said.

WTF?: Okay, it wasn’t his best dance, but the rumba from Helio and Julianne surely wasn’t as bad as the judges’ scores and comments. He was more fluid than I though he’d be, and managed to keep that adorable smile turned down to suit the dance. Ah well…..everyone VOTE!

Where I Been: Here, that’s where. Got a new computer Saturday and spent most of the weekend getting it set up and personalized.

Working Stiff: Man, work is grinding me down. My boss’ boss wants her to get more involved with all things content. After being pretty much left to my own devices for over a year, the super-intense focus now is on me prepping her for her weekly meetings with her boss. I guess this means my meetings with her won’t be shoved aside, rescheduled or canceled quite so often anymore. There hasn’t been much in the way of focus on my career or improvement in those anyway (that’s what these meetings are supposed to be for), and it looks like that won’t be changing. There’s also more hovering over the shoulder behavior, figuratively, anyway. Smothered, or ignored? Neither, please, but if I have to choose – ignored. The last little bit of joy has threatened to leave the building…

Ready for a Break: I have a full docket for the weekend and what I really want to do is crawl into bed, stack the pillows behind my back and dig into a huge pile of books with the cats curled by my legs. This plan will have to wait – fall cleaning, installing an air purifier, buying and configuring a new computer and lots of racing events are on the agenda instead.

Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Joshua and Luke: My sister and bro-in-law took my nephews Josh and Luke to Orlando today for a looong weekend of rides and junk food and way-expensive tourist knickknacks. Can’t wait to see the pictures!

Jack…Paul…Hersh!: An old colleague of mine will be back in SF next week – we’re planning to connect for a bite to eat and catch up with each other. Jack and I worked together at a company called Ecrio, which made mobile messaging software for a few companies in Europe. Then, I’m due to attend an event hosted by another former coworker’s new company. Paul is at Organic, an interactive ad agency, and they’re throwing themselves a birthday party. Next week, Hersh arrives from Canada for a visit with family, friends and a few fellow Rundgren-heads. It’s gonna be a really busy couple of weeks…

Wistful Waltzing: Helio and Julianne were back near the top again tonight with a gorgeous waltz to Iris by the GooGoo Dolls. Really lovely choreography and costuming, and an easier dance for him, as far as wear and tear on the ankle goes. I’ll post a video when I see one!

Major Squintage: Friday I worked from home due to a throat/ear situation, and now it’s moved to my eyes. I’m taking a day off to ice them and dowse them with Similisan and try to get my vision back. My peepers are nearly swollen shut. If you email me today, it may be tomorrow before I can get to it. So if there’s something you need from me today, please call.

Week 4: Helio and Julianne will present the Viennese Waltz tomorrow night on Dancing with the Stars. Looking forward to seeing them get higher scores and finish closer to the top.

Another Lovely Day: Went out for a few errands today, and it was even better than yesterday. It’s supposed to rain most of the week. It’s really early for us to have so much rain – Friday, it poured most of the day – but it’s been so dry this year that it’s  good we’re getting some moisture. Every little bit helps cut the fire danger.

Pippi: She’s back at her old job, with her regulars lined up at the bar for her potions. Says it’s a little weird getting used to a schedule after not having a job for almost a year.

Crash: Finally got a chance to tune in to Speed Freaks, featuring my MySpace pal Crash Gladys. She’s a huge open-wheel racing fan and it’s great to hear someone on a racing show who actually DOESN’T want to talk about NAPCAR. We’ve been trading comments about the state of the dis-union in our sport. Right as the show ended, she squeezed in a “Vote for Helio” comment – she’s a big fan of his, also.

Out for a Bit: I managed to perk up enough to keep my appointment with Kim at Cinta, and it was a gorgeous day to be out in San Francisco. Clear blue skies and comfortable temperatures. I hadn’t been to Cinta for a few weeks, and when I got there, Swan said “We wondered where you were!” I’ve had services from Lihn, Swan and Kim there (three adorable Vietnamese ladies) and they’re all great at the mani/pedi thing, but Kim’s favorite treatment to do is my favorite to get (Tourmaline Spa mani/pedi) and I think she’s the best at that one. I booked a facial/haircut/mani-pedi for my birthday in a month…that will be a blissful way to spend the day!

Gore-ific!: So happy to see Al Gore get the Nobel Peace Prize for his crusading against global warming. Among the 1000 people trained to give his “An Inconvenient Truth” talk are a couple of co-workers of mine, and the program has been a tool in teaching us why our sustainable work practices are important to uphold at home. I’ve been a lot more careful since seeing it: recycling more, installing CFL bulbs and using a program called CO2Saver to shut down many functions of my computer after it’s idle for a few minutes. If every person is more mindful, we may have a chance – and it’s thanks to Mr. Gore, a guy who has finally found his calling, that so many more people are doing the small, simple things they can to make a difference.

Testing 1, 2, 3: A few stars of the IndyCars ran a test at the Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama today. Being put to the test was a paddle shifting system and a variable ratio steering rack that would both make the sleek machines a bit easier to handle. Tony Kanaan of AGR ran the fastest laps of the day, with life-long friend and rival Helio Castroneves right behind. Also testing were Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti of AGR, Vitor Meira from Panther, and both TCGR drivers, Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon.

Bash Update: Not much new here – battling a nasty cold at the moment, but mainly it’s work, then rest, then work some more. It’s all good. If I feel up to it tomorrow, I have a manicure/pedicure scheduled at Cinta, but otherwise I’m gonna chill and read and do whatever comes to mind.

Or Should Be…: Last I heard from Pippi this evening, she was 30 minutes from home. She was planning to meet family and friends at her old workplace, Mill Creek Restaurant and Bar. I haven’t sent a text all evening – I can imagine the reunions were tons of fun, and she has to introduce Bunny to everyone and I wanted to leave her to that. I’ll bug her in the morning. Woo hooooo!

OUCH: Poor Helio! He injured his ankle practicing a jump in the jive Julianne created for them, and then ripped up his pant leg and his knee when performing on the show tonight. The jive was a toughie to start with, but with the injury hampering him, it wasn’t their best performance. Straight 8s across the board are still quite good, and the advice the judges are giving is so focused – he’s really impressive so far, even if this wasn’t their best dance. I haven’t heard what the dances are for next week, but I hope he gets to do a nice gentle waltz or something similar so he can heal up a bit! I’ll post video when it appears on YouTube.

Hurtin’: My back was hurting too much to do a lot of walking, so I missed the Blue Angels’ demonstration this weekend. More accurately, I didn’t see or photograph it. I certainly heard it, though – the jets whizzed by within 1/2 mile of my place. Poor kitties – Sebastian put his ears back when they flew close, and Sabrina hid under the quilt until they were done. I took care of the chores that don’t hurt my back so much, did some reading and kept my eye on the fortunes of Lewis Hamilton and Jacques Villeneuve in their respective races. It was a quiet weekend overall – really needed to accomplish more here, but that will need to wait until I sort out the back problems.

Past Halfway: Yesterday morning, Pippi and Bunny left South Carolina, made a stop in southern Indiana for an errand, and ended up in Springfield, MO for the night. Right now, they’re in Texas heading for an overnight in Albuquerque. They’ll make it home (Mentone, CA) tomorrow night. Took her four days to get to SC from Mentone last year, and just three to get back. Guess you CAN go home again. *grin*

Back Where She Belongs: Pippi and Bunny are packing up the truck and moving to Beverley….er, Mentone, that is. Swimming pools…redneck bars. LOL! They pull out tomorrow morning and I’m ecstatic!

Angelic View: The Blue Angels will be performing their air show over the San Francisco harbor this weekend as part of the Fleet Week celebrations. I’m hoping to get out and try my new camera out on their show.

Moving Slowly: I use transit to get around – there’s nowhere to park in my neighborhood so I don’t own a car. Wednesday, the shuttle to work was overcrowded and I ended up sitting in the stairwell. There were people standing the whole length of the aisle as well. As we were driving on the freeway, the driver had to stop abruptly and those people dominoed forward, with the last one falling on top of me. Her weight came straight down on the top of my head, jamming my neck. I had a chair massage that day, which helped the neck stiffness and headache, by my lower back is still hurting from it. We’ve been complaining about the overcrowding to the transit company, and they finally replied that they will address the issue. Yesterday, the driver actually asked the standing passengers to get off, which is what we feared they would do. The standing folks need to get to work too – and they ignored the driver, who finally drove his route. If they start enforcing a new rule and leaving people behind instead of getting a bigger bus, that’s going to really tick people off. They only make a few runs during morning and afternoon rush hours, and it’s going to blow if I have to start leaving my house at 7 am instead of 8:15, just to have multiple chances at the shuttle.

LOL: Thanks to Joel for this link of Helio on YouTube. What a joker! You have to be an Indy Car fan to get all the humor, but he’s just too funny.

Helio, We Didn’t Know..: …that you were sexy. Julianne and Helio danced a mambo tonight, and it was muy caliente! I wondered how it would go – having watched his career the last few years, I saw a lot of things in Helio’s behavior, but full-on sexy was never one of them. He’s always charming, funny, playful and impish in his interviews, always with an innocence under it. But he brought out the hot tonight! The judges and audience loved it – they got 9s across the board.