Big Sister is Watching

Well, it's a little early to proclaim it Indian Summer, but it sure feels like it. In about an hour, Lisa, the little cowpoke and I are off to the farm in game-rich Andes. The whitetail bucks are starting to rub the velvet off their antlers, and the hardwoods are coloring up. This is my favorite time of year, Labor Day until, pretty much, Christmas. I've got some time off coming, and I mean to use it.

I need to warn you all that MobileSteggy has become a reality. The Hillbilly Princess has got some kind of a PDA-type device that actually enables her to access TypePad's administration site and write, edit and delete posts and comments. So, yes. As a matter of fact, Big Sister is watching. She's gone all ga-ga over her MS; I think she's shopping for a little pink dress for it. I wonder if Steggy got the MS model that as a built in Taser - she's got Ray and the guys coming over to watch Davis Cup, and we all know what happened last time.

Update: Steggy has a new, Sony flat-panel, with a 42-inch screen. When this girl goes, she goes big!

And more good news about the Hillbilly Princess: she's going to take a whack at starting a regular Monday morning post (working hed: Monday Update, but please suggest a more inventive title if you can think of one!). Steggy will take a helicopter ride over the weekend action and look ahead to the tournaments of the week. She'll hover here and there when so moved, but this probably will work best as a round-up and conversation starter, and free me from feeling like I need to cover the usual bases.

It's too bad that Philippoussis didn't give Nalbandian more of a match in Buenos Aires, but I'll still hoping that L'il Lleyton takes it to Acasuso and makes a tie of it. I'll be checking out the Davis Cup telecasts at the farm and may even post at some point; the Andes Hotel has wireless, so I can emerge from Fish Hollow and drive the 10 miles if I'm moved to post. BTW, if you live in the Northeast and want to check out the fall scenery, between now and Oct. 10th or so is going to be the ideal time. Email me if you 're interested in rambling around the western Catskills and I'll be happy to give you tips.

We have all kinds of fun things lined up for next week - and the immediate future.

Let's start with the First Annual Bec Cartwright TennisWorld Armadillo Poetry Slam (FABCTAPS; sounds like a font name or something, doesn't it?) results. I've asked TW's spiritual advisor, Miguel Seabra, to be our head judge among three. The identities and credentials of the other two will be revealed later. We decided not to recruit from among the ranks of our own Elders, because God only knows what kind of horse trading oh, Tim and Ray and Lucy might get up to, once the lust for imminent fame and glory kicks in.

Steggy and I are also working on the official TW logo; we're thinking an armadillo, with the words TennisWorld and K.A.D somewhere in the design. Any bright ideas, send them along. The winner of the poetry contest will be the recipient of the first piece of official TW-logo merchandise. Could be a  T-shirt, could be coasters, probably won't be a Pontiac Trans-Am (or a Holden, if Lucy wins) with a huge TW logo plastered on the hood.

And, of course, we're on track to record our epochal 10,000th comment next week, and you all know what Nostradamus said about this occurence, and the second most talked about event, the end of  the world. So stick around, it could get interesting. As of yesterday, Steggy was tracking the armadillo (the lucky comment poster's prize) through the UPS system and so far she reports that there is no chance at all that the poor creature is still alive. Wouldn't want to be springing any nasty surprises on the winner!

Last but not least: I expect to get the Man or Metrosexual? post and quiz up by the end of next week. It's taken a while, but I want the quiz to be somewhat challenging, so that after taking it you will know exactly where you stand on that scale.

Well, Tribe, have a great weekend. Go Aussies, Go USA.