Miss Alli's Week Two Recap

Is up! Enjoy.

I also forgot last week to say that Carissa Gaghan of TAR: Family Edition is also writing her own recaps (the precoscious ten or eleven year old she is now). Here is her Episode One recap.

Week Two: My Thoughts

Episode Two: Do horses smell fear?


Oh, hell yes. We follow up an awesome premiere episode with an equally awesome episode. I think this week I'll direct my comments to each individual team as my notes are kind of all over the place on my scoresheet.

David and Mary

• Okay, I have to say it: these two are great students of the game. They took another Fern! And he wasn't even wearing this shirt which, I admit, is one that I would really, really really like to have. In case anyone was wondering.
• There's something about Mary that I just really love. It's like she said in the first episode: she's never been out of Kentucky or Tennessee and doing this show is like dropping a 30 year old baby into the middle of the world and saying, "Go!" But as opposed to what I (and probably others) thought ahead of time, they aren't going through culture shock, or saying how bad and weird everything that they experience is, like another team I can think of (and we're going to reference that same team in a minute).
• I think the biggest culture shock these two are experiencing is actually meeting the other teams. Best line of the night goes to Mary from the beginning of the episode, first saying (and I'm paraphrasing) "We've never met any Asians" (cut to Mary putting her arm around __win and telling him how great he is) and then saying, "we've never, um, met any gay people...I like 'em!" I have a feeling that coffee breaks in the coal mine won't be the same for awhile after that comment. I imagine that David and Mary come from a very religious small town community, and I must say that it's people like these two that restore my faith in the Christian faith (pick a denomination). They look at the world with wide eyes, ready to accept what's in front of them, not judge. Not like these two. And for that, I'm really sad they aren't one of my teams because that is an attitude that will get them far. Except, I'm a bit worried that they pointed out at the end that Mary twisted her ankle, because that might be really bad.

Duke and Lauren

• I got done with my recap last week, and realized I hadn't mentioned these two at all. Sorry about that!
• These two were totally on my pre-show "Hm. I don't think I'm going to like them" list, but they have totally proven me wrong (just like I asked them to in my initial thoughts, so thanks, guys!). I've decided that they played up their estranged relationship for their team's "hook", because it's clear that these two are close and know how the other works. And I think that's awesome.
• Has anyone noticed how Duke is trying really hard to be "hip" with the young crowd? At least twice this episode, he'd go up to one of the younger teams and try to do a "fist-knock" and instead they move for the high-five, and it looks like he's punching their hand. Maybe it's just me that finds that funny.
• It does seem that "Lola" is Duke's nickname for her, which only reminds me of Lolita and, coupled with the fact that they were mistaken for a couple last episode and his answer was, "Well, I've been trying to ask her out for years", well, that's a little squicky.
• As Adam emailed me last night, "I so wanted Duke to say to Tom, 'my gay totally just beat your gay!' at the roadblock!" I think that would have been awesome. However, I was just happy to see a quite attractive gay woman shooting a flaming arrow on TV. Oh, wait, I have seen that before!

Dustin and Kandice

• I love these two. In fact, I love these two so much that I'm going to extrapolate a theory that covers their ass on a misuse of the English language. In the bus station (maybe train station) at the beginning of the show, these two decided they were going to try to find better routes, and remarked that they needed to do it "conspicuously". Girls? That would probably be "inconspiculously". However, I think they're actually geniuses, and they intentionally used that word because they knew they wouldn't find anything better but wanted to make it obvious that they were up to something, and that would make the other racers overwork their own minds trying to figure out what they had found, making the other racers tired and stressed while D and K could just relax. And there you go.
• And that's apparently all I wrote down this week!

Erwin and Godwin

• Sorry, dudes, I totally didn't write anything down about you! I promise to pay better attention to your dorky big muscled ways next week.

Kellie and Jamie

• Oh, my poor Gamecocks. There are sometimes when a team I like goes out early due to chance, and then there are sometimes that a team kind of deserves to go out early. Unfortunately, these two fall into the latter category. I can't count how many times these two got lost, but they were first when they got to the ceremony, and suddenly were last because they didn't know which way to go. And then their car breaks down (this? Probably not their fault. Lots of teams had trouble). And then when they leave the detour (which it looked like they rocked), they went the wrong way. So, this was a sad but deserved elimination
  
• HOWEVER, it's very hard for me to stay behind a team who QUITS a task, even if they know their last. Somewhere, Lena Jensen is shaking her head and saying, "you quit on arrows? It's not like they were hay bales".
  
• See you at TARCon with my shirt, dudes.

Lyn and Karlyn

• You know, I never thought that I would be rooting for cheerleaders over single moms to stay in the race, but I don't think I really like these two. And I really hate saying that.
  
• However, they took an AMERICAN Fern with them! And that is awesome. And, actually, I've known about it for months and have been sitting on this little gem of info. And now I can share it with all of you.
• The one time I really laughed about this team this episode was at the end when, trying to leave the detour, they couldn't get their car started. They went over to check how the local Mongol (is it Mongol or Mongolian?) was doing it, and one remarked "He had a long rod...". All right, maybe I'm just a wee bit immature. But I thought it was hilarious.

Peter and Sarah

• Just to warn y'all, the length of this recap might double by the time I'm done with this team.
• Dear Peter: Sarah is not an organ grinder's monkey that you can parade around and then expect people on the street to give you money after you command her to perform. That was really, really strange.
• Dear Sarah: Peter is not an organ grinder. And you are not a monkey. That's my title.
• Am I the only one that reeled back from the TV when they showed that her "foot" had nail polish on the toes? I don't know why that was so creepy, but it was. And I never, ever, need to see that again.
• I thought I'd share a little conversation that Zoe and I had during the show. Zoe: Sarah needs to hit Peter with her leg. Me: Maybe that's what the extra one is for. Anyone else want to join us in the handbasket to hell on that one?
• I find it a bit ironic that the only one who had a large amount of trouble controlling the beast of burden (was it an ox? water buffalo?) was the burdenous beast himself. But unlike the beast of burden, the budenous beast does not have "fire in his eyes". I think Peter is actually manufactured from the parts that his company makes.
• Irony: Did anyone catch that when Phil checked these two in, he asked Sarah, "two legs into the race, did you think you'd be in first?" Um, Phil? Come join us in the handbasket.
• I totally don't understant how Peter and Sarah switched detours not once, but TWICE and still managed to win a leg. I mean, the leg.
  
• I have finally figured out who Peter reminds me of. It's Greg Kinnear's character in "Little Miss Sunshine". And what do you mean you haven't seen that movie? Go see it now. Here are the showtimes. And then come back for the rest of the recap. It'll still be here.
  
• Wasn't that GREAT? Did you just about empty your tear ducts laughing in the last scene at the pageant? And when...wait, it just occurred to me that some of you might not have taken me seriously. SHOWTIMES. Run!
• I really like it when the kid found out he was...
• Seriously, people. If you like my recaps, you'll like my movie choices.
• Anyways.
• Peter did have one really good line: "Sarah, hang onto your jugs!". The same part of my brain that liked the long rod line had a gleeful time with that, too.
• Maybe it's just me, but why has Peter taken both of the first two roadblocks? I'm assuming the six roadblock rule is still in effect this season (better be), so why wouldn't you have the girl with one leg do the ones where running isn't involved? It's not like the clues were hard: "Who's hungry to stay in the race" and "Who's ready to aim high?" pretty much spell out, "TEAM TRIPOD: THESE ARE FOR SARAH TO DO". I'm wondering what will happen if they do bungee jumping. Can Sarah attach a bungee jumping rope around her skinny bionic leg? That's my thought for the night.
• I kind of can't believe that Sarah is already melting down on the second leg. Well, it is the second leg. Maybe it reminds her that she only...okay, never mind. That joke is way too easy. And lame. Like Sarah 'cause she only...
• I know that the villians make for good TV, and they give me a lot of fodder, but I kinda want these two to go away now. Sorry.

Rob and Kimberly

• It's official: we have a new Kendra. While nothing Kimberly said tonight bordered on the "They keep breeding and breeding" line, but between the "Can I get diseases from that?" when some water splashed in her eye in the cab, and freaking out over having to ride the horse, I was kind of glad when she totally missed the tree branch and got knocked off.
• Having said that, if there's any time for Rob to get off his high horse, it's when Kimberly fell off his.
• Apparently, some of these jokes are just for me.
• I don't really like these two. Not bordering on my hatred for Virginia Woolf yet, but I don't like 'em.

Tom and Terry

• Terry, I have someone I want you to meet. Her name is Charla, and she is fluent in a very, very special language called "Charlades". I'm glad you're fluent in it as well! (and if anyone can find the picture of Charla doing the plane or "choo choo" from season five, I'll max out your bonus points last week because I can't find it and it's driving me nuts).
• I really liked watching on the flaming arrow detour. Of course, if Tom was shooting them, they'd be flaming even if they were on fire or not.
• Eric is hoping that TnT's sound and camera guys are also gay. Because, if not, these two might be a tad too much for anyone else!
• And, the priceless Phil moment of the week: when Phil switched into his best New York accent to check these two in. You can always tell when Phil likes a team when he jokes around with them. I'd joke around with these two, as well.

Tyler and James

• I like these two, but I don't really need to be reminded that they went through rehab. Would it be really bad of me to add "every time they say sobriety or sober" to the AR10 drinking game rules?
• And the immature part of my brain is back. When these two were trying to work the carjack, "I can't get it up, man." I'm just going to leave that one right there.

A couple more random observations.

• I always love it when we get random shots of crew members. My favorite this week was the audio guy chilling with his boom mike waiting for the train. Yea crew!
• If they followed the Friends conventions of naming episodes, this one totally would have been "The one where all the cars break down". Seriously, this was bordering on a Dieselgate type episode.
• I loved that the teams on the second bus bonded and did a little dance. It was so akin to Papa Gaghan on the way to Huntsville.

And that's it for today! This is Scrappy, signing off.

Week Three Media Articles

...up in a slimy cellar,
Where rats who wanted things to eat,
to nibble her feet.

Caption THIS!

Week Three: Bonus Question

In the spring of 2004, a well-known actor and a friend took off on their own Amazing Race of sorts, but on their motorcycles, and with a camera crew (the trip was later turned into a six-part TV series). They had this to say about Mongolia:

There were no roads, just tracks that wandered off in different directions. When you asked someone for directions, they'd say, "Go down that valley, and at the second valley on your left, turn left. Then you'll come across two clumps of trees atop a hill. When you see them, you're headed the right way."

(Actually, that sounds like Ireland to me)

Who was the well-known actor, and what was the name of the TV series?

Team Scores after week two

1. Team Tripod 135
2. Team Zoolander 95
3. Team Double D (I'll let you dudes figure that one out...) 115
4. Team TnT 95
5. Dustin and Kandice (still needs a nickname!) 75
6. Team Mutual Loathing 65
7. David and Mary 45
8. Team __win 25
9. Team Bowling Moms *redux 15
10. Team Go Cocks -135
    

Pool Scores after Week Two

Pool scores after the second episode. Remember, if your name is in RED that means you are still in the running for the Perfect Picker Prize!

1. Courtney W. 850
   
2. Eric 765
3. Michelle 740
4. Dave 690
   
5. Allegra 685
6. Becky 670
   
7. Chris 655
   
8. Mark 645
9. Adam 612
10. Ashlee 600
    
11. Amy 594
12. Ben, Willow 550
13. Caitlin 540
    
14. Nancy, Robyn 535
15. Curt 520
    
16. Judy 517
17. Joanna 515
    
18. Anton 475
19. Courtney 465
    
20. Sarah 445
21. Chris H 435
22. Anthony, Zoe 430
    
23. Terry 415
    
24. Ami 395
25. Mark D 380
    
26. Linda 350
27. Boogie 340
    
28. Jay 335
29. Mary 325
30. Jill 320
    
31. Tracy 305
32. Kristin, Bari 285
33. Caitlin S 246
    
34. June 145
35. Mike 135
36. Stephanie 130
    
37. Les 105
38. Laura 100
    
39. Peter 68
40. Trina 10
    
41. Ryan, Kathy -30
    

Week Two: Bonus Question ANSWER

1. Gray Moray Eel
2. Seahorse
3. Snapper
4. Crab
5. Dolphin
6. Shrimp
7. Flounder
8. Octopus
   

Miss Alli's week one recap

It is up!

For those of you who haven't experienced the funny that is Miss Alli's recaps on TWoP, I suggest you start.

Another Pool Peep Tried Out!

Courtney just sent me the link to her tryout video for this season. And it rocks as well. Bonus points to Courtney!!

Team Scores after week one

I forgot to put these up, and we have a request for them from our Canadian pool counterpart. So let's give a friendly welcome to Saskatchewan!

1. Team Zoolander (Tyler and James) 115
2. Duke and Lauren (still needs a nickname) 125
3. Team Tripod (Peter and Sarah) 135
4. Dustin and Kandice 75
5. Rob and Kimberly 65
6. Team Go COCKS! (Kellie and Jamie) 55
7. Team __win (Erwin and Godwin) -5
8. Team TNT (Tom and Terry) 35
9. Team Bowling Moms *redux (Lyn and Karlyn) 35
10. David and Mary 25
11. Vipul and Arti -75
12. Bilal and Sa'eed -85
    

Caitlin S in Seattle!

Caitlin S and friends at Pike's Place Market in Seattle:

Tracy and Adam's China and Seattle Adventures!

Okay, the Seattle adventure is just Adam's, since it's his birth certificate from a Seattle hospital. Then some plane tickets from here to China, and a couple pictures of the Emanoffs in China. Enjoy!

Media Articles, Week Two

Currently, courtesy of Adam, Sarah, and Caitlin S! And, we will continue where we left off with Roald Dahl's Cinderella.

...the children happy.
Mind you, they got the first bit right,
The bit where, in the dead of night,
The Ugly Sisters, jewels and all,
Departed for the Palace Ball,
While darling Cinderella
Was locked...

Kristin in China!

Don't we have some awesome people in the pool? Kristin sent me some pictures of her in China at places where they were in the episode. Reminder, I'll give you bonus points for any pictures you send of me in places you have been that they go to on the race.

These are from January, 2002:

Episode One: My Thoughts

Episode Title: Real Fast, Quack Quack!

Just like that awesome Elton John song, the Bitch is back! And in this case, that's a good thing. The TV show that holds my attention like no other, whose random facts and stats live in a special part of my silly brain. Oh, how I heart thee. What I dig even more is that now this little pool, which started with 9 people in season five, has grown to 46 for this season--the biggest pool ever. But can anyone stop Adam from being a three-peat champion? I'm beginning to think he's the Roger Federer of reality tv pools. Anyways...back to the episode.

We open in Seattle, with Phil in what I admit is a very fetching outfit. Phil has been at the mercy of some really bad clothing choices in the past (does anyone else remember the white puffy parka from season 5? I thought he was the marshmallow man from Ghostbusters), but this is good for him. We then turn our attention to the sea planes carrying all of the teams. I'm glad they got this entrance out of their system, because having to get on one of those ancient contraptions where "in case of a water landing" is actually the norm would have Philiminated me even before the race started. The teams are introduced. And here are some of my initial thoughts on them:

Rob and Kimberly: "She can't control me--I'm a human being and she has to learn that", says Rob. Huh. She seemed very much in the same vein as Brandon's "What Nikki needs to understand..." interview from season five. Of course, that one went on to explain that they have to trust in God (more on that later), but still kind of the "my girlfriend needs to learn something which usually ends with the conclusion that I'm right and in the clear." Not my favorite.

David and Mary: Oh my, I think I heart them. I can't remember what interview it was in, but Mary waxes superlative about the hotness of David, and how she didn't think he'd ever be interested in her. Well, I'm not sure anyone would usually give a second thought to someone who handed them their fries working at McDonalds. David is totally the dude who used to wear a mullet in high school, and I bet anything he was a small town football player. He's her lobster, that's for sure. Mary reminds me of Amy Adams' character in Junebug. And if you haven't seen it, go now. Netflix, video store (do those even exist anymore?), whatever. And then continue reading once you're done. Wasn't that a great movie? I have to give props to anyone who works as a miner. The idea of being down inside a mountain / big hill / hole in the frickin' ground isn't that appealing to me. I've been on tours of both old coal and salt mines, and there's always this overwhelming paranoia in my mind that there are millions of tons of ROCK above your head at all times. But, there are perks. Like transportation.

Tyler and James (but not Frey): Oh, the addict pics. Children, let this be a lesson to you. Crack is whack.

Tom and Terry: Of course their intro video shows them getting manicures. I wonder if they were at Cao Boi's nail salon?

But back to the show itself. The starting line is Gasworks Park, which we've seen on the race before. Seriously, are we out of starting lines in the country? I can think of one. While Phil gave us plenty of eyebrow pops throughout the intro, his final one between "Travel safe" and "Go!" was a disappointment. They should really amuse us diehards who look for that moment a bit more. And we're off to...China? Are we, for the first time in ten seasons, going to head the other way around the world? I am a bit afraid that this will cause higher degrees of killer fatigue and faster due to jet lag (maybe it's just me, but I always find flying east to west is when the jet lag is worse). Which might be cool and entertaining, but hard on the racers.

And in the car on the way to the airport, this is where the ___win brothers endeared themselves to me: "To the homeland...although we're not Chinese." Too funny. I have a feeling some teams might have said to them "this must be so cool for you to go back to where your family's from." That'd be like someone saying to me, "wow, that must be cool to go to Lichtenstein since your family's from Europe." Except nothing interesting happens in Lichtenstein, and I'm Danish. Same principle. And then they pulled the whole watergun stunt, giving the sound editors their first opportunity to use the "what are these idiots thinking?" music, which is my favorite next to the "nuns descending the escalator" music. I'm just glad all they got from the security agent was a stern talking to, otherwise they may have been in some trouble. But, really, as this looked like it happened at the gate, way to go Transportation Security Agency on letting those through the security checkpoint!

Then it was time for the 'bama mama's to make me smile "They like Alabamans in China because of Forrest Gump." Oh, the funny. And so true! All I had to say to someone in Ireland was that I used to live in Fargo, and they'd buy me drinks. Certainly helped out the pocketbook.

Has anyone noticed the number of shot's we're getting of Sarah's prosthesis? In her case, "gratuitous leg shot" means something a different than it would for oh, say, Dustin and Kandace or something. I just find it a bit funny. And speaking of Sarah, Eric had a discussion question for the group at my house. Sarah and Peter said that they have a few different legs for her that they're carrying with her. First off, what happens in a "non-elimination leg" (giggling at leg in that context)? I would imagine that they would take away the others in her bag, or at least they should. And second, is this actually fair? If I was faced with, say the scaling the Great Wall challenge, I wouldn't have the option to swap out my arms for ones that actually have muscle in them. I'm just saying.

Also at the airport (good lord, a lot happened there) we had "handshake-gate", when Bilal and Sa'eed refused to shake Dustin's (I think) hand because she is a woman because it's against their religion. Now, this is true. Some devout Muslims follow the practice that they cannot touch a woman who is someone other than their wife. And I liked Dustin's joking comeback "what if I accidentally shook your hand?" I took this as just a friendly joking "totally cool, I get it" kind of thing. What I liked more was the question someone at my house posed "what if she pinched his ass?" That would have been interesting.

This also led into Kellie and Jamie's question of the day: do Muslims believe in Buddha? While it seems that most reasonably aware people should know the answer to this question, I'm going to give them a little leeway because if you watch the Insider Videos on cbs.com, there's a clip of Kellie and Jamie giving the other teams nicknames, and they wanted to call Bilal and Sa'eed "The Buddha Brothers". Which is a very cute and alliterative nickname, I think. I'm really hoping that the edit of "Do they believe in Buddha?" was in reference to them coming up with nicknames or reevaluating said nicknames.

Okay, maybe I'm just willing to give them a pass because Jamie sent me a tshirt from her college last week (okay, technically she sent it two tshirts to one of the racers from last season who is an email buddy of mine, and Joni thought I'd get a kick out of it, much more so than her sister who was the other intended recipient. And she was right. Keep in mind that they are from the University of South Carolina, whose team is the "Gamecocks".)

Teams depart for China, and we are encountered with a roadblock. Why is this surprising? Only because this is the first time we have ever had a roadblock on the first episode (they did do one in the first season, but it wasn't aired and the racers were mad because it was the Ostrich Egg Eating challenge that was later done is season five, and it was pretty tough). And we're going to eat...fish eyes. But I was okay with this eating challenge. Apparently, some people consider the eyes to be the best part of the fish (if it doesn't actually taste like fish, I'd probably be okay with it), it's culturally relative, and it wasn't a quantity challenge (see caviar or questionable meat products). The only people that have problems are Dustin and Kandace, and it's not the eating, it's finding the place. And why? It wasn't because they were dumb (I like these two), it's because they were asking for the "Golden" house instead of the "Gold" house. Thankfully we didn't spend much time there and the teams took off to get the standard first episode departure times, except that one of them read "LAST TEAM". Huh? And Bilal and Sa'eed were the ones who got it. All of a sudden, here's come Phil, an ethnic greeter, and the Amazing Bathmat. Jigga what? An elimination in the middle of the episode? This is a little crazy. I can't say that I was all too sad to see those two go. I had a sneaky feeling they might turn into Weaver types with their religious talk, but I don't know. My favorite line of this sequence was Bilal saying "well, we don't have control over what the creator does." But were they referring to Allah, or Bert and Elise?

Next morning: the first detour. Labor or Leisure? The best part about this task was that what looks like the physical task actually required mental fortitude (they needed to put the grey bricks in before the lighter ones) and the "easy" route required a fair amount of dexterity (catching the ball). The main challenge designer from Survivor came over to design tasks for race this season, and if we have more like this, I will be very excited.

Detour done. Off to the Great Wall (or, as Kimberly said to her cab driver, "The Great Wall...of China!" Um, which wall did you think he was going to drive you to? The Wall of Poughkeepsie?), where to actually get to the pit stop they had to scale the wall itself. SO COOL. This is the only time I felt a bit bad for Sarah. Her leg was leaking fluid (now, if someone else's knee was leaking fluid, they'd bring a medic. Shouldn't they provide her with a mechanic?), and she had on the "running" leg (the one I like to call the "freaky one"), and that was not made for trying to climb up those loops. How long does it take to change prostheses? Does anyone have a background in that kind of stuff? I couldn't figure out why she didn't just switch to the other with the shoe at the bottom.

Props to all of 'em for getting up that wall. That was crazy. Especially Tom who, as Terry said, had to "go straight" to get up the wall. Hee.

And Vipul of the fabulous tshirts and Arti get the second philimination of the episode. Harsh, but that's the way the game is. I was actually okay with it because the most memorable thing about them was the tshirts, and that doesn't necessarily make for the best tv.

Other random thoughts from the episode...

• Rob: "99.9% of the time I'm in love with this relationship. The other 1%..." Rob? That would be 100.9%. No wonder you couldn't figure out the mental math for the brick challenge. And no wonder you're a bartender.
• Dustin and Kandace found the first Fern of the season! Thank god for nice strangers.
• Dustin, "We worked so hard to get on the first flight." No you didn't. You drove to the airport.
• Kellie and Jamie "We could have a conversation with a doorknob", followed with a shot of the rehab models. Thank you, editors.
• I wonder what Tyler and James are going to buy with their $20,000? Crack is whack. Remember that, boys.
• Peter is a bit annoying with his over-enthusiastic "support". He's like the lovechild of Stewart Smalley and Susan Powter.
• When Sarah says, "I'm sprung a leak", she means "hydrolic fuel". In any other past season if a woman had said that, it probably would have been silicone. Yea for diversity!
• Kimberly on the way to the airport, when they were trying to figure out where to park the car "I don't know what Thrifty is. I don't rent cars." At first, I was going to give her a pass and assume she was younger than 25 and really can't rent them yet, but she's 28, so this was just kinda snobby.
• I figured out why the 'bama mamas don't like Sarah. They figured they would be the ones to get the "overcoming hardship and tough times" edit because they're single moms. And they got upstaged by a couple running the world's longest three-legged race.
  

Okay, I thought that last comment was funny. But I'm bad like that.

Week Two CAPTION THIS

Week Two BONUS QUESTION

In the first roadblock we've ever seen on a first leg, the racers had to eat an interesting Chinese delicacy, fish eyes. But did they know what eyes they were eating? Might help the ick factor a bit (or not). If you were faced with the eight eyes below, would you know what you were eating? Five points for each correct fish eye you identify.

Pool Scores After Week ONE

Just to show you that bonus points DO matter, I am going to give you two sets of rankings. The first is the official one (team and bonus points combined), and the second is just on team points. This year, the highlighted names are the ones still in the running for "Perfect Picker" (you correctly pick the top four teams).

Official Rankings

1. Courtney W 410
   
2. Adam 397
3. Michelle 370
4. Dave 360
   
5. Caitlin 350
   
6. Eric, Becky 340
7. Judy 337
   
8. Allegra 320
   
9. Mark 295
10. Ashlee, Ben 280
11. Curt 270
    
12. Nancy 260
    
13. Chris , Linda 250
14. Robyn, Boogie 240
    
15. Amy 239
    
16. Mary, Willow 230
17. Courtney, Joanna 200
    
18. Anton, Chris H, Anthony 180
19. Ami , Zoe 160
20. Sarah, Terry 130
    
21. Jay 120
22. Mike 110
    
23. Kristin, Les 100
24. Jill, Mark D 90
25. Bari 80
    
26. Tracy 70
27. June 30
28. Caitlin S. 26
29. Kathy 10
    
30. Stephanie -30
31. Laura -40
    
32. Peter -52
33. Trina -90
    
34. Ryan -100

Rankings without Bonus Points

1. Courntey W 410
   
2. Michelle 370
3. Dave 360
   
4. Caitlin 350
   
5. Becky 340
   
6. Eric, Adam 300
7. Mark, Ashlee, Ben 280
8. Curt 270
   
9. Judy 260
   
10. Linda 250
    
11. Allegra, Robyn, Boogie 240
    
12. Mary, Willow 230
    
13. Chris 210
14. Joanna 200
    
15. Nancy 180
16. Anton, Amy 170
17. Ami, Courtney, Zoe 160
18. Chris H 140
    
19. Sarah, Terry 130
    
20. Jay 120
21. Mike 110
    
22. Kristin, Anthony, Les 100
23. Jill, Mark D 90
24. Bari 80
    
25. Tracy 70
26. June 30
27. Kathy 10
    
28. Stephanie -30
29. Laura -40
    
30. Caitlin S. -50
31. Trina -90
    
32. Peter -130
33. Ryan -140
    

The Amazing Race Premiere Menu

So, for all of you SLACKERS who aren't at my house right now, you're missing out! Not only do we have the cutest little Pomeranian EVER (see picture of Stewie on the right), we've got 14 excited peeps waiting for the show to start! And we've got some amazing food as well, including:

Pork Tenderloin with Cranberry chutney, chips, homemade salsa, fresh salmon with cream cheese, chips, apple-cinnamon cake, fried green tomatoes, potato soup, wine, beer, cocktails and the most incredible rosemary cashews I've ever had. Well, okay, they're the only ones I've ever had, but they are awesome.

Race on, dudes.

Media Articles, Week One

This season, in honor of my favorite author, Roald Dahl, we will be doing media article links in the form of Dahl's "Revolting Rhymes". If you want to read more, you will have to send articles! This week is all courtesy of Adam. Each word is a link.

Cinderella


I guess you think you know this story.
You don't. The real one's much more gory.
The phoney one, the one you know,
Was cooked up years and years ago,
And made to sound all soft and sappy
Just to keep ...

In case anyone is interested

Here is a link to the Amazing Race 10 Google Spreadsheets I use to keep track of all of the pool scores. So, if you ever have questions about how I add points, now you can see it.

I heart google.

Caitlin's Amazing Race: Travel Advice #1

Points to Mark!


Plane into Midway or O'Hare? Either or, both are served by the EL. Both are about the same time.

Must find hotel for under $200 close to the El. Priceline has proved sucessful for me in the past. Anywhere in the downtown area is close to the el.

Rent a car. Find parking for the car. Parking will be $20 a day anywhere downtown.

Stay in the suburbs? Nope, stay downtown.

Is Lincoln Park technically a ring suburb or a neighborhood? Its in the Chicago city limits. Neighborhood
How to see friends and get drunk with them while working early the next morning? Start right after work so you can be in bed at 10:00.
Okay ... get up at 5 to beat traffic to college fair at Navy Pier ... or catch the El? Nope, sleep til 7am and take a cab from downtown hotel. $5.
El to Adlai Stevenson High School... No clue.
where's the train schedule? http://www.transitchicago.com/
Can I overnight 400 road pieces to Navy Pier? Or carry them on the El? Its a pain to carry anything on the El. Overnight and expense it.
Crap. How to get out of the city and to Milwaukee and back in two days? Crap crap crap. Take the Hiawatha Amtrak train $20 each way or the MegaBus $5-$10 each way
Oh, and I'm gonna need a martini at the top of the Hancock Tower,
because otherwise why go to Chicago? I can expense the martini,
right? All three of them? All three of them. If it's the rules at my work anything under $25 doesn't need an itemized receipt. Check (discreetly) with your finance department first.

JUST IN: A pool peep tried out for the show!

Mark just copped up to the fact that he tried out last season, and sent me the link to his audition video. GREAT stuff. You can see it here!

And Mark will also be getting bonus points for that.

Help Caitlin with her own Amazing Race Episode!

A plea from Caitlin, a six time race pool player, who recently begun a new job that requires her to do some travel planning. She will be going to Chicago for a conference and needs a bit of assistance on the planning side.

She'll offer a case of beer for the first person to make sense and give a good travel plan. I'll throw bonus points your way. And here's the scenario:

Plane into Midway or O'Hare? Must find hotel for under $200 close to
the El. Rent a car. Find parking for the car. Stay in the suburbs?
(No way.) Is Lincoln Park technically a ring suburb or a
neighborhood? How to see friends and get drunk with them while
working early the next morning? Okay ... get up at 5 to beat traffic
to college fair at Navy Pier ... or catch the El? El to Adlai
Stevenson High School... where's the train schedule? How much would a
cab cost? What's faster? Shoot, high school visits only at noon.
Okay ... El to Benito Juarez High School ... how far is that from the
El stop? Is that the school in the scary neighborhood or the one near
Boystown? Is it off Halsted? How far out is Hyde Park? Deerfield?
How did those admitted kids test last year? Can I overnight 400 road
pieces to Navy Pier? Or carry them on the El? Crap. How to get out
of the city and to Milwaukee and back in two days? Crap crap crap.
Oh, and I'm gonna need a martini at the top of the Hancock Tower,
because otherwise why go to Chicago? I can expense the martini,
right? All three of them?

Have fun.