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.

32

This past weekend I turned 32. We had a great weekend - nothing spectacular or fancy, but just a good all around weekend. Friday night was sushi and basic relaxation at home, Saturday was a jamboree for the HS team I help coach, both varsity and JV won. Saturday night was a great dinner at Ruth Chris courtesy of my wife's parents (Thanks!). Sunday we played some pick-up soccer. Also, my wife took it upon herself to plan a small get together so we had some friends over for dinner. The dog, who now has a name, was pretty well behaved (there were a couple "incidents").

Serendipity

I had the opportunity to introduce Ms. Himperdink (this is a fictional name for our nameless dog based on a comment from the whiskey) to the maids who come by our house to help keep it clean. She promptly ran up to them and pee'd at their feet. She has impeccable timing.

Here's an unrelated photo of Himperdink eating the gargoyle in our backyard.


On a semi-related note, I think the title of this post represents a mis-use of the term "serendipity," at least as it relates to Himperdink's urination at the feet of the cleaning lady. However, it became a name candidate for me when I thought about it...lots of syllables though. We did meet Himperdink in a serendipitous fashion, in that we went to the rescue shelter looking for a specific dog (who ended up not being there). In her place was Serendipity.

Ryan Adams - Down in a Hole

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals have released a cover of Alice in Chains' Down in a Hole on Ryan's latest EP, Follow the Lights. I like this version. In my opinion, it is no better or worse than the original. You can't compare the original angst/grunge context of Alice in Chains to the current style of a singer like Ryan Adams. In my opinion, it just simply works - this is a strong cover of a classic tune from a difficult time.

Click here to watch the original version by AIC.

Let's talk about...

It is amazing how much the dog (still unnamed) has impacted my lifestyle already. 25% of my conversations with my wife currently revolve around whether or not the dog is going to the bathroom, how she goes to the bathroom, and where she goes to the bathroom.

Dog-isms

This may be the first "guest" post in the history of Blades of Blue. It is an accidental guest post though, as it was an email from my wife to me after the first few hours of her taking care of the dog while I was at soccer practice. She felt the need to warn me of a few "dog-isms" so that I would be prepared when I got home. I thought it was worth passing them along to all of Fifa/Lexi/Mia/Molly's fans out there.

Dog-isms

1) the dog needs a name ASAP :)
2) the dog is afraid of herself in the dishwasher reflection. She paws at it and barks... until...
3) I say "no"... the dog definitely knows the word "no" and has been VERY obedient...
4) the dog tries to dig the rug in the family room (until I say no)
5) the dog is still very timid
6) I did not feed the dog, but I did give her water. I have tried to make her pee outside, but no luck so far...
7) the clumps in her hair are actually dried mud it appears. definitely needs a bath.
8) the dog is sweet, sweet and sometimes can't control herself on the hardwood floor... oh so cute...

Office Mate

Allow me to introduce you to my new office mate. She is 5 months old and it is believed that she is a mix between a Beagle and a Spaniel. Right now, she is curled up by the window and taking another nap...

We don't have a name for her yet so consider the suggestion box officially ready for entries. We need a name!

Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot

On this morning's listening rotation...

Battle of the Unbeatens

No....not the Colts vs. Pats, which ended in a tremendously depressing win by the Patriots, but AFC vs. the Monarchs in the adult co-ed league. This past weekend we played the only other undefeated team in our league.

It was more frustrating than watching Manning's receivers drop the ball. The majority of the game was spent in the other team's half as we clearly dominated all over the field. The other team played a long ball game and left 8 players on their defensive side, sending through balls to two players up top. Unfortunately, it was effective and we were down 1-0 most of the game - unable to penetrate the 8 man wall that was in their box. Finally, with about 15 minutes left, we broke the ice. And oddly enough (as my wife pointed out to me afterwards, "you don't normally score goals like that"), it was me that scored the goal with a shot from about 25 yards out. I decided to introduce goal celebrations to the league and pulled a Cantona.

The game ended 1-1 - leaving both teams undefeated and hungry for a rematch.