No Country For Old Men

My wife and I went to go see a movie with two friends of ours yesterday - No Country for Old Men. It was really good. I can't do a better job summing it up than the trailer does. Check it out below.

Elvis Has Left the Building

This past week has been a big week or so for us and Jozy. A couple of our friends had to leave town for Christmas week and left their Shih Tzu (Elvis) with us to dog sit. As you know, Jozy is not good around other dogs, especially dogs in her territory. Thus, we spent the whole week with the house divided in two, one dog allowed in one half and the other allowed in the other half. Noises on one side of the house invariably caused the McCoy side of the house to erupt into a frenzy.

Throw in Christmas, work, graduation, visiting relatives and soccer coaching and it has been a whirlwind of activity for Jozy to get used to. However, by today, I have to say that she was starting to beat my expectations and actually had moments of quiet around Elvis...and was sometimes able to sit in his presence. And then Elvis left this morning, his parents home from their Christmas vacation.

Jozy, depressed and saddened at the loss of her new friend, was immediately consoled by her first day of puppy obedience school.

Class was a trip. There were about 10 other dogs, almost every one was some sort of small toy dog that had been purchased from Texas or Mississippi and was about 1/3rd the size of Jozy. Jozy took to her role of bad girl of the class with ease, barking and freaking out until the instructor dropped two pig ears in her lap to chew on. Throw in some summer sausage and Jozy was as happy as a clam. Most of the class was spent talking and eating pig ears. No real instruction yet. However, by the end of the class Jozy was having some one on one time with another classmate, sharing summer sausage in the training ring with only occassional outbursts of aggressive play. It will be interesting to see how she does next week.

Textbook: Ronaldo Goal vs. Sunderland

About 30 seconds into this video is a textbook view of how to take a free kick from the top of the box. What a great strike.

Mon chien a un os verts

I thought this was a nice photo of Jozy. The colors on the iMac display are pretty amazing. It took me about 15-20 minutes to learn some basics related to resizing photos so they were suitable for uploading. I think that when I understand the file directory and basic disk structure I will feel better. Not sure how long that will take.

The green bone (un os verts) in the photo is from my wife's mother. Jozy was in love with this toy...until she opened the next...and the next...and the next. I think her favorite might be some sort of mallard or small wild turkey. I'm sure you will see it here some time soon as I play with the photo editing features on our new toy.

Retro NASL

Here's a cool site for the retro soccer fans out there. You can check out all of the old NASL jersey's - the one below is the San Diego Sockers. You can go to Toffs and buy some of your own, or for that matter, retro jerseys from european clubs as well. A 1940 Manchester United jersey? Wicked cool.

Starting Over...

I have a new toy.

...and I am learning how to use a computer all over again.

Joyeux Noël

Joyeux Noël!

Mon chien a reçu un nouveau canard.

Tiger Art

This is a photo of the tiger statue outside of Mike the Tiger's cage. It was one of the most popular spots to get a graduation photo after or before the ceremony. So popular that we avoided the line.

Mike the Tiger

While we were on the LSU campus for graduation, we got to stop by the tiger cage and see LSU's Siberian-Bengal mascot, Mike the Tiger (the VI). Mike weighs over 300 pounds. I'm not sure how many times in my life I have seen an animal like this...he was really impressive. Here are a few Mike links:

Wikipedia page
Official Home Page
Tiger Cam
LSU letter to PETA after being asked to not replace the last Mike

The Graduate

Update: Flickr Slideshow of complete graduation set now available.

San Francisco, Chinatown 1

This photo above was taken during our recent trip to San Francisco - at the part of Chinatown that borders the area where City Lights is located. I just started working with some of the San Fran shots I took, so there will probably be a few more posted here sometime soon. The photo below is a miscellaneous street scene taken from the same walk.

P.S. Some graduation photos should be coming up pretty soon for those of you who are interested. Right now though, it is time to go brave some traffic and check out lines. Only 1.5 shopping days left!

Congrats!

My wife graduates from her masters program at LSU today. I am not sure how she managed to do it all on top of all of the things she does elsewhere...including taking care of me and Jozy. She is truly amazing. Congratulations!

True Fan

To continue my spirit of semi-shocking soccer images for the day, check out this passionate fan for Feyenoord, one of the big 3 clubs in the Netherlands. It's a famous photo at this point, but that doesn't mean it is not worth sharing.


Here is another photo of the same kid, just from the side.

Celebrate Your Success

It is too bad the co-ed season is over as of this past Friday. I was just starting to get comfortable with introducing true goal celebrations to the league. I've never been someone who celebrates after scoring so this is a new thing for me. I grew up as a calm "I've been there before" goal scorer...even though goals were a rare thing with my role as a sweeper.

Needless to say, I won't be doing this particular celebration any time soon.

via Who Ate All the Pies

Silversun Pickups - Kissing Families

This tune has been on repeat a few times over the last couple hours at this point. Thought I would share it. It starts out a little slow but the intensity in the lead vocalist's voice picks up big time towards the end. Cool tune.

SSPU Website

Coach

We had a player on our JV score a hat trick the other day. I was warming up the Varsity.

Player 1: Hey Andrey has a hat trick!
Player 2: A Mexican hat trick.
Coach: What does the fact that he is Mexican have anything to do with it?
Player 2: Stop being so Northern.

Pretty funny exchange. And by the way, the player with the hat trick is from Cuba.

What's At Stake

I was watching the NCAA Men's Soccer Finals last night (taped from Sunday) and ESPN had a little graphic flash up on the screen entitled "What's At Stake," during which they explained to me that the winner of the final would be the national champion.

...

...


To be fair, I think their point was that this would be the first time either team would be a national champion, but still, it seemed like a silly graphic. Both Ohio State and Wake Forest played great soccer. Wake Forest ended up winning 2-1.

Green Thumb

It's been a while since we checked in on the lemons in our backyard. Since I know everyone has been wondering how they are doing, I thought I would show them off. It looks like it is just about time to pick them!

Casualty

Hunting

Lapira headed to MLS Combine

"Major League Soccer today announced the initial list of 54 college seniors from 33 Division I schools who have been invited to participate in the 2008 adidas MLS Player Combine. The annual player combine will be held at Lockhart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Jan. 11-15, 2008."

On the list is Joseph Lapira, Louisiana native who went to St. Louis High School. MLSNet did a quick profile on Lapira as a top college prospect for the MLS. For some reason, he appears to be choosing to play on the Irish national team rather than the US MNT. He is eligible to do so because of his Irish mother. If you were good enough to play international soccer, would you pick to play for Ireland or the US?

Here is his Notre Dame player profile.

Hitch

As I was walking off the field from high school practice yesterday, it felt like my lip was getting a little swollen. I assumed I had been bitten by a mosquito...but the itching never started. Instead, by the time I was about 2 minutes into the drive home, I looked like Will Smith in Hitch.

Ok. Well, not that bad. Just my lip was swollen. It was about the size of my nose and was covered with a ton of little white dots. To cure the ailment, I took some Benedryl and put ice on my lip. I wasn't sure how bad it was going to get so I tried to find out what it could possibly be by searching on Google. If you ever search Google for "little white dots on my lip" you should know that the only hits you'll get are related to Herpes. After some careful thinking, I decided I would rule out airborne Herpes or mosquito carried Herpes as a potential diagnosis. With no other potential ideas at hand, my friend "retired" suggested that it might be a brown recluse spider bite. However, I wasn't showing many symptoms related to a venomous spider bite so I ruled that out.

Unable to diagnose the issue, I took a second benadryl and had a beer. Wow. Combining those two was a bad idea. I went out to dinner with my wife and could not carry on a conversation that stayed in one single thread. Today, the swelling has gone down a little but it still feels like I am woozy from the benadryl. So I am taking it easy and getting some rest, working only occasionally. What a weird night. I wonder what bit me?

Erik Edman Goal: Spurs vs. Liverpool

Here's another - I'm must be in the mood to post goals today. And after a long day yesterday, I'm trying to take a mental break every 45 minutes or so by catching up on some soccer blogs. 55 yards out, upper 90. I love the announcer's brogue.

(Who Ate all the Pies)

Larsson Goal: Birmingham vs. Tottenham

This one is just fun to watch over and over. Upper 90 from about 30 yards out, in stoppage time. Sebastian Laarson.

Michael Bradley's Hat Trick vs. FC Groningen

If you have not heard, Michael Bradley, US MNT player on the SC Heerenveen team in the Dutch Premier division netted a hat trick in Heerenveen's recent 4-2 victory over FC Groningen. His goals are the 2nd, 5th and 6th in the video below. He seems to have a knack for trash around the net. An American with a hat trick in a European league? Wow.

Ornithology

We went to Girard Park this past weekend, taking Jozy for her first outing at our favorite place to walk. I've uploaded some photos of the various birds that we saw. Besides the duck, I am pretty sure the other birds are different types of herons. I'm not a birder though...so I could be wrong. Jozy was out walking with the dog whose face she tried to bite off a few weeks ago (Elvis). After the initial greeting, and given enough distractions in the surrounding area, Jozy appears to be able to tolerate the presence of other dogs. Baby steps.

Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks

A little PB&J for your Monday afternoon listening pleasure. This track was on a Monthly Mix long past...can't remember which one. Video is odd. But you can whistle along. C'mon. It's easy.

usually when things have gone this far
people tend to disappear

Casualty

Another "squeaky" bites the dust. One bear down, one duck down, and we are now on a "soccer ball squeaky."

AFC Update

Our co-ed league has dragged on this season due to various cancellations and rescheduled games. However, at long last, we entered the playoff portion of the season yesterday and started off with a resounding 5-1 or 6-1 thumping of our first competitor. Our first goal was scored 25 seconds after the opening whistle. The game was marred by two unfortunate incidents:

1. Prior to the start of the game, the league commissioner announced that due to the fact that we will be unable to complete the full playoff schedule, that the playoffs are now meaningless. Regular season records will be used to determine the champion of the league. All games in the post-season are being considered friendlies. Pretty weird right? Note: Our regular season record puts us tied for first place. We are scheduled to play that team next Sunday. Seems like it might make sense to make this a league final.

2. Things got a little out of control during the "friendly" game. It's normal for this to occur. The unfortunate incident was that the other team's fans started cheering for their players to hurt us. It got worse. The children who were watching joined in. Picture a 7 year old girl standing on the sideline yelling "Kick him in the shin!" and you'll understand what it was like.

Crouch and Special K

I really like Peter Crouch (6 ft 7 in). He is deadly up top and it is a shame that he doesn't get more time with his club. That said, this play on "lookalikes" was too good to pass up. Who Ate All The Pies does this lookalike thing all the time. This just happens to be the best ever.

Cajun Signs: Olde Tyme Grocery

Best poboys in town.

Layover

In my spare time this weekend I am cleaning up files from my laptop and organizing some photos. This one was photo taken from this past summer in the Lafayette airport.

Maine Signs: No Trespassing on Island

Scene from York, Maine this past summer.

Firsts

I've been traveling this week (thus the lack of posts). I got to see my first snowfall of the year when I was in DC though. The other first was a trip to my first ever NBA game. Unfortunately it wasn't a close game so it was a little slow. Still cool though. It was the Wizards vs. the Cavs. Lebron was not on the court. That would have been cool.

That Guy

Tonight I was "that guy" for about 6 hours. I was that guy who loses his wedding ring on a business trip. I traced my steps back to the office at 10 PM, crawled around parking lots, peeked under couches in the lobby of the hotel, peered down elevator shafts, moved all of the furniture in my hotel room, dug through the drains of the hotel sink, contacted cleaning staff and grounds crew personnel, all with no luck.

...and then, I am headed to bed and decide to wash my hands. Clink. I drops from a towel. Sigh. Thank God I am no longer that guy. I am way too sentimental to just go out and buy a replacement. It would never be the same.

It makes you...

This is just a random image I stumbled upon on FFFOUND!. It's 2 AM where I am tonight and this fits my mood for no other reason than I am tired and cranky.

Letdown

If you're like me, and completely disappointed by the 4th quarter victory of the Patriots...and you're still sitting there wondering why the Ravens called time out, here's a video from a HS game to help keep things in perspective. The video starts with 3 minutes left and Plano East is down 41-17.

David Gray - This Years Love

Here's a classic tune from David Gray. It's not new by any means. I am simply rediscovering it.

Armchair Football

As I was watching football over Thanksgiving, I couldn't help but notice all of the NFL advertisements that were aimed at trying to make me more active as I sat around and reveled in the sloth of being Thankful and eating food to the point of excess.

Looks like UEFA is spreading the same message. This commercial is much more funny then the NFL spots. I love the trip and then the PK at the end. This is classic.

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Poster

The official poster for the 2010 World Cup was just released. Start planning your trips to South Africa now!

FIFA: ""[It] is symbolic of the relationship between football and Africa, and captures a sense of excitement, awe and aspiration," Fifa said on its website. "It also reflects the positive impact that World Cup will have on Africa. Africa is the hero of the official event poster.""

Van Nistelrooy Goal, Werder Bremen vs Real Madrid 3-2

A sublime shot from the Dutchman, Van Nistelrooy, whose full name happens to be Rutgerus Johannes Martinius van Nistelrooy. Sweet. On top of that, I just learned that he is about 1 year younger than me. Man...I guess my dreams of scoring game winning goals in the Champions League may never come true.

I guess I can settle for co-ed soccer glory. After all, as long as it hits the back of the net, I can still do my Cantona impression.

Matt Pond PA - So Much Trouble

Matt Pond PA is an indie band from...you guessed it, Pennsylvania. This song appeared on a Monthly Mix prior to them being published on Blades of Blue. You can go to their website and stream the new song I am enjoying these days, People Have a Way. I couldn't find a video for it so I decided to pull out this old favorite.

Enjoy your Thursday...it's 12:30 AM so I'll probably be sleeping in a little bit tomorrow seeing as I still have about an hour of work left that I want to get done tonight.

Regurgitating Pleather

I fully expect Jozy to be regurgitating some "pleather" from her new Size 3 soccer ball. She may not be able to do a step over or instep drive just yet, but she is damn good at eating the cover off of it.

David Beckham Goal, LA Galaxy Vs. Sydney FC

The LA Galaxy are on tour...or rather, David Beckham is on tour with the LA Galaxy. The Galaxy recently played Sydney FC and lost 5-3. What did the 80,000+ people come to the stadium to see? Perhaps this fine strike from Becks. Unreal.

The consistency that Beckham has on his free kicks is awesome. Pure and simple. One shot, one goal.

Size 3

Today was a proud day as a dog dad. Jozy has successfully started playing with her size 3 soccer ball. Of course, I have a few photos of this historic and proud moment. However, I am waiting until my laptop is fixed to upload them. I know you are all on the edge of your seats.

We have also taught her a new trick. It is called "dance." She seems to be a smart dog. Just yesterday she unlocked the back door in an attempt to escape.

Fixing a broken laptop...

...has proven to be more difficult than you would think. The Dell service repairman showed up today to replace my motherboard. Unfortunately, when he opened the box with the new motherboard, he saw that the new part was also broken. He was here for a total of 10 minutes and is now coming back tomorrow. Good times.

Research Later (2)

All 3 of these links have been from kottke. I haven't been inspired recently by that site, but these 3 sites all look promising to me. This one is an article - it is written by Michael Lewis (author of The Blind Side) and is about kickers in football. Enjoy.

Research Later

I don't have my laptop so I can't bookmark these 2 sites in my "research later" folder. Thus, they are posted here:

1. Eye-Fi: Wirelessly upload photos from your digital camera to your laptop, Flickr, Picasa, Snapfish, etc.
2. NYTimes 100 Notable books of 2007: Start building Christmas shopping/wish lists here.

A Blast from Wallbanger Past

Back in the beginning of this year, Wallbangers and Fatheads were the hot topic around these parts. At some point I was contacted by Fatheads and published a correction regarding who had established "life size removable wall stickers of famous celebrities" as a product first. This past weekend, my wife, her mother, and I went to the Southern Living Idea Home in Arkansas. The house was really cool...and gave me a lot of great ideas for renovating our house, creating a back yard oasis, and going into debt up to our eyeballs.

Lo and behold, in the game room upstairs, I saw my first Fat Head. I promptly announced, "Look! A Wallbanger!" and was summarily corrected by the Southern Living guide who was stationed in the game room. "That's a Fat Head." I then told her all about the EPL, FSC and Wallbangers. She did not seem impressed. Oh well.

Back Home

We made the 6.5 hour drive home today - we had a great Thanksgiving break in Arkansas. Nice cool weather, lots of great food, family, and lots of relaxation.

Digitally, it was a bad weekend - my laptop's motherboard appears to be fried and my Blackberry was a pain for a day or two. It looks like the earliest Dell can make it to our house is Tuesday, so I am borrowing my wife's laptop for as much of the work day as I can.

Dog news: Jozy learned to give us her paw yesterday.

Portraits on Lake Balboa

If at some point you get bored of photos of Jozy, feel free to say so in the comments section. I'm not sure it will do any good, but if it makes you feel better...

Lake Coronado

Arkansas can be really beautiful. The weather here is a little cold, but it is nice because it finally feels like November. According to the weather man, the temperature is 33 degrees! Here's a couple of photos of my new favorite subject on Lake Coronado (in Hot Springs Village), as she hunts waves and runs away from us. If it wasn't so cold I would have tested out her ability to swim.

Ladies of the House

So far so good. We had a couple of setbacks with Jozy on her first day here but since then she has been doing great. This morning she even brought in the paper (with a little encouragement). We took her to a lake yesterday - it was the first body of water she has ever seen. After attacking the small waves and getting nice and cold, she was ready to run through the woods with me chasing after her like a mad man. We went on a little jog as well, right before all of the Thanksgiving festivities started. As a result of the long day, she slept right through Thanksgiving dinner and didn't beg for Turkey once!

Yesterday was so full of turkey and exercise that the ladies of the house are now all passed out sleeping on the couch. It's tough to see her, but Jozy is in the bottom right of the photo above.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Meet the Grandparents

Jozy's first real test is today. She is driving with us to my wife's parent's house. It is a 6.5 hour drive followed by time in a strange house with lots of new and interesting things to chew on. Wish her luck!

Beirut - Guyamas Sonora

Here is Beirut performing Guyamas Sonora from their latest CD, The Flying Club Cup. This is a really interesting group, now featured for a second time on the Monthly Mix as of "silvery, silvery citibank lights." They were also on "Tiptoe Through Our Shiny City" with a track called Scenic World, one of my wife's favorites these days. The band is from Santa Fe and it combines elements of Eastern European and folk sounds.

This version of Guyamas Sonora was recorded by La Blogotheque as a part of their Take Away Shows, which are all really awesome. The studio version obviously sounds a little different. Enjoy.

BEIRUT - Guyamas Sonora from the FLYONG CLUB CUP
Uploaded by flyingclubcup

Hiding

Coach

Head Coach: Coach, can you step in and play on the yellow team?
Asst Coach (me): Sure
Yellow Player: But he's like 40!
Asst Coach: I'm 32.
Yellow Player: Same thing.

Acadiana Festival of Trees

Here are three pictures I took from this past weekend's Festival of Trees in Lafayette. The gala night was awesome. Great food, beautiful setting, lots of auction items - all for a great cause.

silvery, silvery citibank lights

I'm not sure why many of you would be excited about the release of a long overdue Monthly Mix...seeing as I still have a pile of envelopes and boxes with your names on them, all filled with "...the plot that you passed." But still, here she is. And I'll head to the post office before I head out of town for Thanksgiving. I promise.

1. Bread & Water «» Ryan Bingham
2. Down Together «» The Refreshments
3. Australia «» The Shins
4. The Opposite of Hallelujah «» Jens Lekman
5. The General Specific «» Band of Horses
6. Images «» The Selmanaires
7. Livin' In the Future «» Bruce Springsteen
8. Black «» Okkervil River
9. The River «» Josh Ritter
10. Incredibly Drunk On Whiskey «» Memphis
11. Breakdown «» Jack Johnson
12. The Other Side «» Ryan Bingham
13. God and Money «» The Ike Reilly Assassination
14. Mistaken For Strangers «» The National
15. Cigarettes, Wedding Bands «» Band of Horses
16. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere «» Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
17. Guyamas Sonora «» Beirut
18. Time Is A Lion «» Joe Henry
19. Blue Collar Suicide «» The Refreshments
20. I Predict A Riot «» Kaiser Chiefs

Casualty

Squeaky probably has a week or two left in him but I wouldn't give him much more than that.

US vs South Africa Tomorrow!

The US MNT plays South Africa tomorrow morning at 8 AM CST on FSC. Wake up early tomorrow to catch the game and cheer on the boys. Jozy Altidore might get his first start! If not a starting spot, I'm looking to see some playing time. And BTW, there are rumors that Real Madrid might be eying the young striker.

Here's a video of the team putting on a clinic for some young kids who look like they could school me big time.

Big Week

This has been a huge week for my wife. The biggest fund raiser of the year for her organization started 2 days ago and culminates in a gala event this evening. Planning for this event takes the better part of a year and the last few weeks have kept her incredibly busy. You can tell how busy my wife is based on how messy the house gets - I simply don't have the discipline and skills that she has when it comes to the basics...yet. She is still trying to teach me.

It is amazing how much time and effort she puts into this event, and it all shows in how beautiful the festival is year over year. Not only that, but it keeps getting better.

Check out the commercial for this year's event. And here is a link to the website.

Token

This is somewhat of a token post to just let you know I am alive and out there. I have lost my regular posting schedule temporarily because of all the life style changes that hit at once. Both HS soccer and a new puppy at the same time have thrown my time management all off...

Jozy is doing well, she has learned how to jump on the couch, and has also learned how comfortable it is. She can be found there for a good portion of the day. Most other moments you can find her eating the brick of our fireplace, which is really bizarre. Her toy Squeaky isn't doing so hot - he just lost an arm.

Prototypes on the Ad Circuit

The Prototypes, Blades of Blue Monthly Mix veterans with the track "Je ne te connais pas" made a recent Apple iPod Shuffle commercial. This makes 2 TV ad appearances for the band.

1. iPod Shuffle

2. BMW

There's just something I like about 1980-ish sounding French pop being made in 2007. Can you argue with that?

Re-Post: Tim Cahill - Chelsea vs Everton Goal

Since You Tube lost the Cahill goal, I thought I would post a version from another source. So for those of you looking for it, here you go. By the way, knowing that this was a 90th minute goal to tie Chelsea makes this strike even more awesome.

Chelsea_1-1_everton
Uploaded by andresiniesta

Tim Cahill - Chelsea vs Everton Goal

If you're like me, you were really pumped to see Twellman net a bike in the semi-final of the MLS playoffs. But then if you're like me, you'll think this one is just as good (if not better). Enjoy.

When soccer fans go too far...

No, I am not talking about stadium violence. Check this out:

Jozy and Squeaky

I have too much time on my hands (or)
I am just infatuated with our new dog.
Here is a mocked up photo strip of Jozy
with her favorite toy, Squeaky.

Los Campesinos - You! Me! Dancing!

I predict that you either hate this song, or are sufficiently intrigued to listen to it at least 2 times before you figure out if you like it or not. It takes a little bit to open up, but when it does, it has a pretty cool/happy beat. It is the singing, which I think can be categorized as twee, that will potentially lead you to question why I would enjoy this song... However, I think we have already established that my taste in music spans the gamut, so it should come as no surprise that I find this catchy and "on the good side of odd."

Jozy

So we finally named our dog! Let me re-introduce you to Jozy (pronounced like Josie). She had an action packed weekend that all started with her first bath. As you can tell, she really enjoyed it.

Other milestones from Jozy's first weekend:

1. First trip to the vet. So far, she has a clean bill of health but is a few weeks away from settling into a regular vet pattern. We are giving her some basic medicine and she is going back for shots and other fun stuff in the future.

2. First soccer game. She had a blast at the HS jamboree. So much so, that after the first 60 minutes she was collapsed on her side passed out.

3. First dog attack. Some of our friends brought their dog over on Sunday and Jozy was not very friendly. Elvis (the visiting dog) started the introduction by sniffing Jozy's face. Jozy returned the favor by trying to bite off his nose. We think that Jozy had it tough in the pound and may still be in the "fight for survival" mindset. Alternatively, she may have been protecting her brand new home. Either way, we'll have to figure this one out.

4. First crying child. She appears to be awesome with kids and plays with them really well, which is awesome. However, she is also very excited about nibbling anything she can get her paws on...which evidently includes the hair of my friend retired's daughter. Lucy was a big fan up until that point.