Casualty

In a disturbing turn of events, the killer has taken on ritualistic tendencies, carefully extracting out the innards of her victim and arranging them in a parody of the grimace they experience at the time of their death. Notice the violent means of extraction on this particular victim, the large hole in the abdomen serves no purpose other than to prolong the agony.

Ronaldo Freekick vs. Portsmouth

You have to watch this free kick. The view 36 seconds in is nothing short of brilliant. Ronaldo scored both goals in Man U's victory over Portsmouth today. This was the second. Both goals were within 3 minutes of each other.

Bokmål and Nynorsk

Bokmål and Nynorsk are the two official written forms of the Norwegian language. I wish I could read it, because Blades of Blue made an appearance on a forum there this afternoon. It's one of those random moments where the hit count on this site spikes by a few hundred hits in a single hour. Obviously, they are talking about Ronaldo...but beyond that, I am in the dark. So to all of my random Norwegian readers today, mottakelse!

I can do that...

...in fact, I perfected all of these moves in my backyard just last week.

This is a promo for FIFA Street 3. I had thought that this was doctored but I now only believe that it is partially digitized. If you surf around the street 3 site, there are raw cuts of the moves in this video.

New US MNT Jersey

Someone must like pinstripes over at US Soccer. This is the second jersey with a heavy pinstripe theme. I think I like horizontal stripes better then the previous (baseball-like) vertical stripes of the last jersey.

...putting your whole mouth right in the dip

Courtesy of kottke, it appears that some undergraduate students at Clemson have tested the stated theory in a classic Seinfeld episode: if you double dip your chip, it's like putting your whole mouth right in the dip. Click here to find out if that's a true statement. If you don't really care and just want to revisit the Seinfeld episode, here's the scene at the funeral reception where Timmy confronts George Costanza.

I am sensitive to this fear so I usually break my chips in two and then dip the two halves separately. Some people turn their chip around before re-dipping...not sure that either of these options are any better since your hands are all over the chip when you adopt these approaches.

Felice Brothers - Whiskey In My Whiskey

Here's a live version of a little sing along that's been on my stereo at work today, dedicated to all you whiskey fans out there...

I put some whiskey into my whiskey, I put some heartbreak into my heart.

Stars - Take Me to the Riot

If you like Morrissey, I think you might enjoy this song by Stars, a Canadian indie pop band. The resemblance during the chorus is almost uncanny. The video starts out a little creepy (in my mind) but nothing ever comes of it. In fact, the video is a little weak, whereas the song is pretty cool.

Casualties

This is a double photo of two recent casualties. Notice that the killer is becoming more efficient as she targets soft squeaky toys at their most vulnerable point in order to extract the secret from their insides.

Cajun Math

I received this joke in my email last Friday and as I was trying to catch up on email from my day trip to Atlanta, I ran across it. It's pretty funny.

Cajun man wants a job, but the foreman won't hire him until he passes a little math test. Here's your first question, the foreman said. "Without using numbers, represent the number 9."

"Without numbers?" the Cajun says, "Dat is easy." And proceeds to draw three trees.

"What's this?" the boss asks.

"Ave you got no brain? Tree and tree and tree make nine," says the Cajun.

"Fair enough," says the boss "Here's your second question. Use the same rules, but this time the number is 99."

The Cajun stares into space for awhile, then picks up the picture that he has just drawn and makes a smudge on each tree. "Ere you go."

The boss scratches his head and says, "How on earth do you get that to represent 99?"

"Each of da trees is dirty now. So, it's dirty tree, and dirty tree, and dirty tree. Dat is 99."

The boss is getting worried that he's going to actually have to hire this Cajun, so he says, "All right, last question. Same rules again, but represent the number 100."

The Cajun stares into space some more, then he picks up the picture again and makes a little mark at the base of each tree and says, "Ere you go. One hundred."

The boss looks at the attempt. "You must be nuts if you think that represents a hundred!"

The Cajun leans forward and points to the marks at the base of each tree and says, "A little dog came along and crap by each tree. So now you got dirty tree and a turd, dirty tree and a turd, and dirty tree and a turd, which makes one hundred.....So, when I start?!"

Pat Noonan Going to Norway

Another American headed overseas to ply his trade: Pat Noonan is going to play in Norway. I'll miss him in the MLS, but not as much as Taylor Twellman will miss him.

Lapira in Scotland

Wondering what the story is with Joseph Lapira, LA native and college prodigy? I've been wondering...especially because I kept looking out to see if he would potentially land on an MLS team this upcoming season. Apparently, he's in Scotland trying to earn a spot on Aberdeen FC. Toronto FC has tried to lay claim to Lapira but I would be surprised if he lands there. It appears that the folks in Toronto feel the same way.

Medeski Martin and Wood - Uninvisible

From a song with amazing lyrics to a song with no lyrics at all. Can you ask for more variety?

MMW is a band that I picked up on in college and I go through phases where I listen to these guys, but you just can't go wrong with a double base, hammond organ and drums. So here is a video of their tune Uninvisible. If this is your first introduction to them, I recommend checking out some more of their music when you get a chance.

Apparently, MMW has a children's album out called Let's Go Everywhere. I'm thinking I might like it actually.

Josh Ritter - The Temptation of Adam, live at Paste Studios

If you like the Temptation of Adam song by Josh Ritter, you can see a great version of it at Paste Magazine this month. You will also see an interview with Jason Schwatrzman (Coconut Records). Check it out.

Coconut Records - West Coast

Cool tune. Apparently this song can be heard in the the movie Cloverfield.

What is Cloverfield?

Cajun Signs: Bienvenue

This is actually a picture I took in Canada. Seeing as Canada is a primary part/source of the Cajun culture here, this seems like a fair item to add to the 'cajun signs' collection. I really like this photograph and if you visit us, don't be surprised if you find this somewhere in our house.

No Practice

A while back, I told you about "back of the net on the fly," which is a competition I put my club team through as a way to put conditioning drills up against their ability to perform certain skills. I also put them to the test with "crossbar" which is a bit harder. The goal of crossbar is to hit the crossbar of the goal on the fly from 40 yards out. It is much harder and the reward for my team is greater - no practice. As they get older, I will probably decrease the reward as they are a little bit too good and hit the crossbar more then I want, but they are not not good enough to actually skip practice.

Turns out, a British TV show, Soccer AM, does a crossbar challenge with professional teams at different levels. Here is an older clip of Arsenal taking a crack.

If you search for Crossbar Challenge videos, you'll find a lot of interesting teams taking on the challenge. The latest version is from a team named Torquay United who play in a lower division in English football. It's fun to watch. I won't ruin it for you but I will say this: This one has more moments that made me laugh then the Arsenal video.

Torquay United Crossbar Challenge

Trust me, it's worth watching just for the mud dives.

Atlanta

Either I am hungry or the Atlanta airport is one of the worst/crowded airports I have ever been to. Maybe it is both.

18 games, 67 different players

I was reading a short blurb on what 2008 should bring for the US MNT on SI.com earlier today and it had an interesting stat in the middle of the editorial. This stat is pre-Sweden game this past weekend. That is kind of an obvious statement for me to make given the phrasing of the sentence below, but I mention it because if you add in that 19th game, the numbers increase.

"Over the course of 18 games last year, 67 different players suited up for the full U.S. national team, including nine debutantes."

That is a lot of players. Personally, I like the way Bradley has rotated and tested out a huge group of players that we probably never would have seen on an Arena squad. However, I would think that with qualifying for 2010 starting to ramp up, it is time to settle into a consistency and team building phase. It will be very interesting to see if this happens, and who this happens with. Next game is February 6th against Mexico! And it tempting in its location...only 3 hours away in Houston.

Johnson and Fulham - Done Deal

News from Fulham was officially released yesterday, EJ is joining the ranks of fellow Americans at Craven Cottage.

In a top secret location three hundred feet under the ground

I post a lot of music on this site in the form of video. This time, I am posting the lyrics first. This will be one of my favorite songs for a long time. Enjoy.

Josh Ritter - The Temptation of Adam

If this was the Cold War we could keep each other warm, I said on the first occasion that I met Marie. We were crawling through the hatch that was the missile silo door, and I don't think that she really thought that much of me.

I never had to learn to love her like I learned to love the Bomb. She just came along and started to ignore me. But as we waited for the Big One I started singing her my songs, And I think she started feeling something for me.

We passed the time with crosswords that she thought to bring inside, What five letters spell 'apocalypse' she asked me. I won her over saying 'W.W.I.I.I.' She smiled and we both knew that she'd misjudged me.

Oh Marie it was so easy to fall in love with you. It felt almost like a home of sorts or something. And you would keep the warhead missile silo good as new, And I'd watch you with my thumb above the button.

Then one night you found me in my army issue cot, And you told me of your flash of inspiration. You said fusion was the broken heart that's lonely's only thought, And all night long you drove me wild with your equations.

Oh Marie, do you remember all the time we used to take? We'd make our love and then ransack the rations. I think about you leaving now and the avalanche cascades, And my eyes get washed away in chain reactions.

Oh Marie, if you would stay then we could stick pins in the map, Of all the places where you thought that love would be found. But I would only need one pin to show where my heart's at, In a top secret location three hundred feet under the ground.

We could hold each other close and stay up every night, Looking up into the dark like it's the night sky, And pretend this giant missile is an old oak tree instead And carve our name in hearts into the warhead.

Oh Marie, there's something tells me things just won't work out above, That our love would live a half-life on the surface. So at night while you are sleeping I hold you closer just because, As our time grows short I get a little nervous.

I think about the Big One, W.W.I.I.I. Would we ever really care the world had ended? You could hold me here forever like you're holding me tonight, I look at that great big red button and I'm tempted.

Ngwenya leaves Houston

Joseph Ngwenya has left the Houston Dynamo and is going to play for an Austrian club, SK Austria. The only reason I am choosing to report this random piece of Dynamo news to you is that I am glad to see him go. Ever since he pulled that horrible PK against Pachuca in the Superliga 2007 Semifinals, I decided he was a lost cause. It didn't help that this lost them the game after I drove 3 hours to go watch it. You can see this PK at 5:02 into the video captured below. Fair warning though: it may make you hate Ngwenya all over again.

What was he thinking?!?!?

Carling Cup: Tottenham Hotspur 5 - 1 Arsenal

If I told you Tottenham could beat Arsenal by 4 goals, would you believe me? Me neither. But it happened:

Hot Springs Signs: Clinton Was Here

Since the election season is heating up, I thought I would pull out a this recent photo from Hot Springs, Arkansas that was taken this past Thanksgiving. If you did not know, Bill Clinton was raised in Hot Springs so any time we visit my wife's parents (who live in Hot Springs Village), we end up driving by his old house on our way to Starbucks. It is tough to miss the house...

Cajun Signs: Hot Boudin

For those who are not from around here: boudin.

Congelatio (Tom Coughlin's Frostbite)

Congelatio is the medical term for frostbite. The first thing I did after watching the Giants beat the Packers today was to search online for stories about Tom Coughlin's frostbite. Why he did not put on something to protect his face is beyond me. No stories have surfaced just yet, but I am thinking that the news just hasn't broken yet.

This picture doesn't do the damage any justice...but I wasn't able to find any other photo of Coughlin from the game besides this one.

US (2) vs Sweden (0)

First off, big win for the US as they get some revenge for their recent loss against Sweden. I thought the team had some definite bright spots in their offensive build-up. It wasn't consistent, but there were some connections being made in that game that were really encouraging.

• Brad Guzan looked really good in goal, making some spectacular saves to keep the shutout. He definitely made a case to be the number 2 goalie.
• Landon looked really good on the outside mid. It is impressive that he now leads the US men's program in all time goals and all time assists...and he does so at only 25. But, I hate the fact that most of the goals I have seen have come from PK's. It would be interesting to see where he stands if you removed the goals from the PK spot. I bet some enterprising soccer fan out there can figure that out for us. Maybe a search around Google would reveal the answer...
  
• Jozy Altidore looked dangerous, and did so in contrast to Twellman.
  
• It was good to see Jimmy Conrad back in the mix. I like him in the back.
  

Come

Jozy has fully recovered from the Saddest Dog Day Ever. In fact, she was pretty much fully recovered as of Thursday morning. This weekend, we spent a lot of time on Jozy activities and not much else other than watching football and soccer. On both Saturday and Sunday we took her out to Moore Park where we have found a baseball field that is fully fenced in. We let her run around the field, chase her, let her chase us, and she occasionally even fetches a frisbee or plays soccer. Let me tell you, watching Jozy in a full sprint across an open field is pretty damn cool.

I need to give Jozy some props on her "come" command. Carlee and I have tested her out across the length of this baseball field, from left to right field. She breaks out in a full sprint to get to the person calling her. It is awesome. To put the icing on the cake, in puppy class today, one of the exercises was "blind comes" - where Jozy would be engaged with the instructor on one side of the store and we would be on the other yelling for her to come (hidden down an aisle). The instructor couldn't keep up with her as she went sprinting around the store to come to us. It was another good week of puppy training.

Print Screen

Finally learned how to print screen on iMac OS X today. I wasn't actively searching for this tip but as soon as I found it, I remembered the few times I had tried to print screen and failed. Now I am all set whenever I need it in the future. There are some cool options on this feature if you use some additional keys to the Shift-Command-4 combination, so if you are a stranger in a strange land like me, check it out.

The National - Apartment Story

The National's album Boxer has been on the playlist this afternoon. Here's a cool tune called Apartment Story.

Oh we’re so disarming darling, everything we did believe
is diving diving diving diving off the balcony
Tired and wired we ruin too easy
sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave

Weezer - Island in the Sun

Been listening to this tune by Weezer lately.

hip hip

Lunch

Picking up a little take out today. Best burger in town is Judice Inn. If you are ever in town and want a good quick meal, this place is great. No fries on the menu.

TVGOLO - Best Goals - January 2008 (Week 3)

TVGOLO goals of the week below. Highlights for me include:

1. Goal #2: A reasonably good impression of the Cantona celebration by Ibrahimovic of Inter.
2. Goal "3: A stunningly awesome volley from Kevin Nolan of Bolton. He picks this one out of the air, over his shoulder, and beats the keeper (who happens to be American Brad Friedel). It's ok though, Blackburn ended up winning 2-1. This goal is fantastic.

Slideshow: Krewe of Carnivale en Rio Mardi Gras Ball

The complete photo set from the Krewe de Rio ball is now up on Flickr. Check out the slideshow here. Alternatively, you can watch the uploaded slideshow I created with iPhoto as an experiment (and subsequently uploaded to YouTube) below. The quality of the YouTube video doesn't do these pictures justice, but you get music with the video version. To see the photos in their true colors and quality, and really get a feel for the ball (which I really recommend), check out the Flickr slideshow that I set up.

There must be a better way to get a high quality iPhoto or iMovie uploaded to the web so that I can share it. For now, one small step at a time...I am slowly learning how to use this new machine.

US MNT Training Session

This is a cool video to watch as a coach. It is a high level walk through of a recent training day for the US MNT.

I always take something away from watching these types of things. There is so much for me to learn when it comes to coaching soccer and I would love to spend more time on improving my abilities.

US vs. Sweden

With less than 6 months left before World Cup 2010 qualification starts, the US is set to take on Sweden this Saturday at the Home Depot Center this Saturday at 5:30 PM PT. The game will be broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel. The US last met Sweden on home soil in 1998, with the U.S. winning 1-0 courtesy of Roy Wegerle. More recently, 5 months ago, we lost to them 1-0 over in Europe. Our squad has been in camp for the last 2 weeks. Click here to watch and listen to a recent 11 v 11 training session.

The Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)

Here's an Arcade Fire tune that was on an unpublished Monthly Mix - before I started sending them to people. I was searching for a video for their song No Cars Go (their doesn't appear to be one) and settled for this one.

Arcade Fire's website, specifically the interactive Neon Bible site is wicked cool if you have time to check it out. Be sure to click around if you decided to check it out.

The Tortoise and the Hare

Sometime within the last 3-4 months, my friend Mark informed me that if our co-ed soccer team was going to have a race to see who was the fastest player on the team, that I would not be invited to compete. I was a little offended by that but let it go after some brief posturing...after all...

...I know I am not incredibly fast. I believe that most of my speed on the field has to do with intelligent positioning and anticipation of the game (read: I may not be faster but I think I am more intelligent). However, if a race is to be had, I wouldn't write me off that easily. That is, until I saw Mark run the 40 in 4.8 seconds after eating bell pepper stew and having consumed an unknown number of beers while watching LSU win the national championship. I will admit, it was an impressive display. And it was caught on film (you can see me and my wife in the background of the photo). All that to say, Mark is fast and this is a long overdue introduction to my friend's site (Life of Mark) which made it into the side bar a few weeks ago. Mark happens to be the referee who appeared in this post in March of 2007...and whose wedding was featured here and here. He also happens to be one of the top 100 up and coming referees in the country and was just recently announced as a 2009 National Referee Candidate. Pretty cool.

Dream of Fleets

1. Anytown Graffiti * Pela
2. Seashell * Seabear
3. Flux * Bloc Party
4. Nantes * Beirut
5. Fear No Pain * Willy Mason
6. I Sing I Swim * Seabear
7. All The Night Without Love * Elvis Perkins
8. Kissing Families * Silversun Pickups
9. Apologies * Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
10. People Have a Way * Matt Pond PA
11. The Cure for Pain * Jon Foreman
12. Rain * Bishop Allen
13. This Year's Love * David Gray
14. World Shut Your Mouth * Death Cab for Cutie
15. Falling or Flying * Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
16. A Sunday Smile * Beirut
17. Rhododendrons * Bloc Party
18. Unless It's Kicks * Okkervil River

Release the Kraken!

"Release the Kraken!"

Who says American announcers aren't good at calling soccer games. I am a big fan of Max Bretos and this just makes me like him even more.

via Who Ate all the Pies

Things a Soccer Fan's Friend Should Never, Ever Do

My friend pele1410 sent me this list last week. Good enough to make me chuckle so as I was clearing out some inbox items today, I decided to post it here.

Things a Soccer Fan's Friend Should Never, Ever Do

1. Buy him a Wallbanger.
2. Forward him links to every transfer rumor involving Ronaldinho and Ronaldo.
3. Claim Michael Caine can "hang with those other guys" in Victory.
4. Start calling everyone by their Brazilian name.
5. Buy him blue cleats so he can join the local park game.
6. Use his Besiktas scarf to clean up the toilet.
7. Start a conversation with: "Hey, can you explain the offsides rule again?"
8. Pull this prank at his local pub.
9. Give him a copy of Ladybugs because it's a soccer movie.
10. Try and understand qualifying for the Champions League and UEFA Cup.
11. Talk about "Fergie" and not have it mean the Manchester United gaffer.

Eddie Johnson to Fulham?

Eddie Johnson is rumored to be in serious discussions with Fulham. That would make 5 Americans on one EPL team! Too bad they are in danger of being relegated. How crazy would it be if Johnson played for Fulham?!?!? Wow.

Krewe of Carnivale en Rio Mardi Gras Ball

We went to the Krewe of Carnivale en Rio Mardi Gras ball this past weekend. It was a blast. ... and I think I had a little too much to drink but I am not sure because I can't remember. I also took a ton of photos and am busy using this as an opportunity to play with iPhoto for a bit. I should have a full set and slideshow uploaded pretty soon. In the meantime, here is a sampling of what Mardi Gras balls are like in Lafayette. For this Jersey kid, it is one crazy scene.

Saddest Dog Day Ever

Jozy is in pain. She keeps moaning and is just laying there on her chair. I think she is pretty upset at me for letting that happen to her... Hopefully she forgets soon and is back to her normal self. The vet said it may take a day or two first. I feel so sorry for her!

Foals - Balloons

I'm going to float this one because I've been pressing play on it over and over in an attempt to determine just how catchy I think it is - it is described as a mix of techno and math rock. The Foals are from Oxford and it sounds like their album will be released on Sub Pop in March of 2008.

Bloc Party - Flux

Digging some techno-pop (not sure if that classification is quite right...but it feels right) these days. This tune is up there on my play list and found on the (to-be-published) January Monthly Mix.

"We were hoping for some romance
All we found was more despair"

Casualty

Best Dog Day Ever

Today may have been one of our best dog days ever...except for the fact that Jozy wouldn't leave us alone as we were eating our first crawfish of the season tonight. Why was it the best? Well, it was week 3 of puppy class and Jozy had a breakthrough in playing with other dogs. She wrestled with a great dane puppy for about 5 minutes and also wrestled with a staffordshire bull terrier. It was really awesome to see her interact with and enjoy other dogs, playing and rolling around the floor of Petsmart. It was amazing and I was really proud of her.

The photo above shows Jozy during week 2 of class. The blue cloth barrier is the training ring and we were waiting for her classmates to show up.

Tomorrow, as her reward, she is scheduled to be spayed!

December Goals

Here's a video compilation of the best goals of December from around the world. Not sure of the source but there are some nice ones in here. The Arsenal volley about 2:21 in is my favorite.

Not On The Same Page

I spent a portion of the night watching the Republican Presidential debate on Fox tonight and was shocked by one thing. During the debate, Fred Thompson kept dropping sarcastic and insulting remarks throughout the course of the debate. One example was that during a discussion on recent events in Iran, he said something along the lines of: "I would have sent them to meet all the virgins they are looking forward to."

When that came out of his mouth, I pretty much lost any interest in Thompson. Here though, is the shocker. After the debate, Fox switched to their focus group who watched the debate and asked for opinions. There was an overwhelming majority who thought Thompson won the debate. They liked how aggressive he was. They liked his humor. A few mentioned that his comments seemed inappropriate but they were definitely in the minority. It was pretty surprising to me that someone could hear that virgin statement and walk away thinking this is a good presidential candidate. I'm a registered independent with confessed Democratic leanings. I will definitely listen to the Republican party and see if there is a candidate I like. Fred Thompson and that focus group are definitely not on the same page as me.

Is it cream filled?

It is Mardi Gras season in Louisiana and this means that we are headed to Mardi Gras balls and eating lots of King Cake. I decided to bring a large King Cake up north to Virginia to share with my co-workers and I decided to carry it on the plane. It is its own separate box in my carry on entourage. Passing through airport security this morning was interesting as a result. As you probably know, liquids or gels are not allowed. So when I asked the TSA official if the cake was ok, her response was: "Is it cream filled?"

Airport Security

In the Lafayette airport security line (as stated by the TSA official):

Please remove all liquids and gels from your bags. All laptops must be out in a bin. Please remove all of your cell phones from your pockets and have your photo id's ready. All Buckeye fans must identify themselves.

Coach

(Conversation post-game, at dinner last night)

Wife: I mean, he stays so far out on the flank all of the time.
Coach: Babe, you just used the word 'flank' in mid-sentence with no pause. I'm impressed.

Cesc Fàbregas

Here's a compilation of goals, assists, and general play from Cesc Fàbregas' season for Arsenal (so far). I've been slow with posting these past couple days...and am traveling to Virginia today. Enjoy this video while I am cramped in coach. This guy is damn good.

Kirby Cukes

Found photo from our trip to Ottawa, Ontario this past July: Kirby Cukes probably make some damn fine modified cucumbers.

Success and Failure

So far, I have experienced alternate successes and failures with getting up to speed on our new iMac (10.5.1, Leopard). There are some basic things that I have been trying to accomplish. Here is my report card to date:

1. I needed word processing software but don't want to use MS Word or Pages because I just don't want to pay for this type of software anymore. Open source solutions should work. Thus, I downloaded OpenOffice and installed it on the machine. For a newb, just downloading and installing software on OS X is a challenge. I felt stunted to say the least. Example: Downloading Firefox and getting it to run from the executable directly seems to have been a chore. I am still not sure I got it right. Sigh. I guess I need to do some more basic reading on this thing. In the end though, OpenOffice was installed successfully and the end goal reached: First Monthly Mix of 2008 created on the iMac (will be published tomorrow). Now, learning OpenOffice is another story. If you just want to write a few paragraphs, no problem. If you use table formatting to create CD covers, it can take a while to get back up to speed.

2. Browsing the internet is still a challenge. I found Safari pretty slow and also found that it kept timing out with images showing up mostly as question marks. I decided to try Firefox instead and it seems to be slightly better. However, page load times and download speeds are still sub-par. I am beginning to suspect 1 of 2 things. Either the Netgear router we have has compatibility issues with OS X, or there is some sort of bandwidth/connection limit that we are hitting now that we have our Tivo, printer, stereo, 2 laptops and 1 desktop connected to our wireless network. The latter theory is doubtful because the iMac seems to be the only device with issues at the moment. I am thinking it is a compatibility issue.

3. It took me 2 weeks to find right click. Mac forums are about to become a regular reading site in my day to day life. After I read the right post, I realize I should have found this in about 10 minutes. No one to blame hear but myself. There are other keyboard shortcuts that have yet o reveal themselves but I am patient.

4. Monthly Mix: I needed to burn audio CD's without using iTunes because the man thinks I am trying to steal music if I burn more than 6 or so CD's and iTunes blocks my play lists. After searching for a while, it appears that no audio burning software (other than iTunes) comes default installed so I found SimplyBurns. It has worked great. A bunch of copies of the opening mix of 2008 were made tonight and are now getting ready for distribution.

5. Digital Photos: I was able to get our Digital Rebel XTi hooked up no problem and download photos on the first try. For Christmas, I bought Carlee a Nikon Coolpix S51 so that we could have a small digital camera convenient for everyday and travel use. It is starting to look like it may no be compatabile with OS X 10.5.1 yet...but I gave up after about 30 minutes of searching online. Verdict is still out.

All in all, I find these challenges interesting and am not really frustrated, but I am a little surprised by my slow learning curve. I recognize that I am just an old dog with tons of old tricks to relearn.

Champions League Top 10 Goals 2007

There is not a single one of these that disappoints. There are 2 chips over keepers in here that are phenomenal. And if you like step overs, check out 2:13 into the video. Watch all angles and see if you can count how many step overs this guy does. And of course, number 1 will pretty much leave you speechless.

Barista

Barista: He's a cute dog. What's his name?
Me: Her name is Jozy.
Barista: Like Mourinho?
Me: Yup. Or Altidore.
Barista (to Jozy): Are you The Special One?

Airports

One of the interestings things about airports is spotting the people on their way to or on their way home from big sporting events. Lots of people in Kansas colors around the Houston airport tonight. That was a good game last night.

Decisions

Update: Lest you think I have lost my faculties, I chose Option 1 and had dinner with my wife (of course).

Option 1: Take earlier flight, fly coach, middle seat, but get home in time to have dinner with your wife.

Option 2: Leave as scheduled, get free upgrade to first class but don't get in until 10 pm - no dinner with wife.

Thoughts While Unpacking at 1 AM EST

1. So I am here for 2 days...why did I pack 3 pairs of shoes?
2. Have you ever forgotten to bring your toothbrush and had to use a hotel's? Hurts right? Now imagine what using a hotel's free razor is going to feel like tomorrow morning for me. I am almost tempted to shave now and bleed out on the pillow...but then again, it is 1 AM.

Scheduled

I was in the Lafayette airport and they now have a flat screen display showing flight status (this is big time for our small airport). The status column had one of two possible values, either 'In the air' or 'Scheduled.' It made me wonder if they were avoiding the phrase 'On Time' on purpose...

Pack Your Gloves

I am flying up north tonight for a quick day and a half of meetings and the weather looks intimidating... It's just a bit colder then you would see in Lafayette.

MLS, Best Goals of 2007

Let the best of lists begin...

If you don't love goal compilations with cheesy music, I don't know what your problem is. Here are the best goals from the MLS from this past year. I think the LA goal at 2:33 into this video is one of the best passing build ups I have seen in a while.

Happy New Year!

2008 has arrived. 2007 was an adventurous and challenging year for me, with some major high points as well as events that presented difficult obstacles to look past. Some of those obstacles still lie in my way but I find myself recharged and ready to approach them with a fresh perspective. I don't make new year resolutions because as my wife puts it, "Why wait until the new year to decide and commit to changing. If something needs to be changed, start now." Despite the lack of a resolution, January 1st will probably always be a moment where I take stock for a moment or two. Thus, today I find myself looking forward to a new set of adventures and a new set of challenges.

Happy New Year to all of the Blades of Blue readers out there. I hope 2008 brings its own unique adventure to all of you. Thanks for stopping by.