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3 weeks of steady Mon-Fri ends today. I am really excited to be on my 6 am flight this morning. Travel is not over though. I have 3 more trips in March on the calendar. The good news is that they will all be 1-2 day sessions rather than week long excursions.

Outlier

I have a minor reporting capability built into Blades of Blue that allows me to know how many people visit the site every day. Over the past few months this number has been averaging around 60-70 visits per day (some visits being the same person coming back multiple times). This count is interesting to keep track of every once in a while for various reasons. Yesterday, an anomaly occurred that I thought you might be interested in (the image below is a sample report of daily trends).


Apparently, thousands of people are trying to find out what a Portuguese Water Dog looks like and this page has been a landing spot for a lot of them. 2,082 visits. Pretty crazy outlier in my statistics.

Shoot

Thought this was a funny photo from our game the other day. Not sure why Jen was not shooting the ball at this moment...

Bad Travel Day

Had a bad travel day yesterday. Bag got stuck in Memphis and so I scouted an early trip to Target to get clothes for my meetings in the morning. Gotta buy shoes, tie, shirt and pants. No cell phone charger, crappy plastic razor from the airport, and no real dinner. Sigh. Guess it has to happen every once in a while if you travel as much as I do.

AFC Spring Kickoff

The spring co-ed soccer season kicked off yesterday and we welcomed a new team to the league with a fairly bad beating. The team only had 3 men, so they played with mostly women. This proved to be a bad tactic as they lost to us by about 10 goals. I was trying to help them find more men after the game because they will definitely need some more if they want to compete by the end of the year. Their women were pretty solid though, with some coming from the local university soccer team.

Here's a photo of my wife in action. She gets better every year and got to try a stint at center midfield in this game. Not sure if she liked that position or not...

Exit Row

Flight Attendant: Hello, you are seated in the exit row. Are you willing and able to assist in the event of an emergency.

Person Sitting Next To Me: No. Absolutely not.

Me (thinking): At least she was honest.

Checking Bags?

Me: Excuse me sir, I have this laptop bag, my roller bag and this King Cake. Is the airline going to consider that 3 carry ons?

Ticket Counter Agent: Yup. You'll have to check one bag...unless you just want to leave the King Cake with me.

Cause and Effect

Cause: I've been stuck in the Atlanta airport for 4 hours, missing my wife.

Effect: After expensive sushi dinner, order a chocolate torte with a glass of port.

A.R. Rahman & M.I.A. - O... Saya

Cool tune from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. Headed home today. State semifinals tomorrow. I am so ready for the weekend...

Press Conference

Our friend Mark posted some cool pictures from a HS playoff game he officiated on Tuesday. Go check it out here. In that post, he made a reference to the struggles that traditional newspapers are faced with. Thus, when I saw this cartoon, I figured I would tie the coincidental curiosities together.

Coach

Player: Coach, you know what you need to do? You need to get out more.
Coach: I go out a lot. This past weekend I went on a date with my wife.
Player: That's not a date. That's like me visiting my grand ma.
Coach: I think there is a difference between my wife and your grand ma.

Slumdog Millionaire

My wife and I watched Slumdog Millionaire this past weekend and it was absolutely amazing. This could quite possibly be placed on my list of favorite movies of all time and I highly recommend it to all my friends. It is a great drama, mystery, romance, and fantasy story all rolled into one...with a killer soundtrack. Check out the preview below.

Daft Punk, Daft Hands: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Amazon had a deal the other day on their mp3 download site for the Daft Punk Musique Vol 1 album so I took the opportunity to grab the whole album for less than 2 bucks. Good bargain. It's not often that I go through deep electronic swings in my preference for tunes, but every once in a while this genre helps get me through long involved tasks at work and long flights.

This video is set to their song Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. It is made by an amateur but it fascinating. In case you haven't seen it before (I believe it may have gone viral a while back), let me warn you about this 3 minute 44 second video:

1. If you make it 52 seconds in, you will think you have wasted 1 minute of your life and that I have sent you down a rabbit trail for no reason.
2. At 1:40 you will wonder who has this kind of time on their hands (no pun intended) and be fairly interested in continuing for the next 2 minutes.
3. At 2:25, if you happen to like electronic music, you will still be listening and damn impressed by the effort put into this silly video by its creator.
4. 1 minute later you will probably decide that I may have wasted your time and may or may decide you like Daft Punk. At that point, you may just stick around for the last 20 seconds.

Enjoy.

Dialogue

This graffiti dialogue I saw when walking downtown this past weekend caught my eye. A rather harsh reaction to a no parking sign.

Courthouse

Cool sculpture on the steps of the courthouse in Lafayette.

The long wait ends...

At the end of my flight I had 9 text messages. They uploaded to my phone in the space of 6 or 7 seconds. In those seconds I experienced all the drama of an 80 minute HS soccer game as each text message hit.

They read as follows:

1. 1-0 lhs. ... scored 5 minutes in
2. 1-1. At 26 minute
3. Still 1-1. We've had 2 off the crossbar
4. 16 minutes left
5. 2-1 lhs. ... scored 15th minute
6. 3-1 acadiana red card
7. 4-1
8. Victory!!!
9. We.owned.them.

What an awesome way to end a flight. I wish I had been at the game but I am content knowing I will see us battle again in the semis.

The Wait

In 20 minutes, I take off for Philadelphia and in 35 minutes, my HS team kicks off in the state quarterfinals. The game will start and end when I am in the air. This will be the longest flight ever. Go Lions!

Cajun Signs: Cajuns for Christ

Stimulus Ideas

I came across the VA stimulus website the other day, Stimulus.Virginia.Gov and decided to poke around, partly out of curiosity related to my job and partly just out of personal curiosity. There is a link on the site that pulls up a report of ideas submitted from citizens regarding how to utilize the stimulus money. This one was one of my favorites:

My wife is trying to keep the economy going all by herself. We can stimulate the economy easily by sending my wife and other's like her a check. She will run right out and buy clothes, jewelry, shoes for herself and our children. To be fair, we do need a few of these things. Since this money will be spent immediately, it will have an immediate impact to our economy. I'd probably just buy my kid a college education since he will be working this debt off for his entire life.

Hejduk Slapped by Mexico's Asst Coach (Ramirez)

This has been all over the soccer news outlets and was also emailed to me by our friend Pele1410. However, for those of you who don't follow the post game news, I figured I would post a link to this. After the US beat Mexico last week, Hejduk was slapped by the asst coach of Mexico's team as he was leaving the field. Insane. Here is the incident caught on video. There has to be some sort of fine or penalty for this kind of garbage.

Mourinho Predicts Chelsea Return

I was watching Fox Soccer Channel tonight and they had an interview with Jose Mourinho where he spoke about the odds of him returning to Chelsea. I really liked how he answered the question:

If you are asking me if you think one day I will return to Chelsea, I tell you 'yes, I think so', although I'm not saying when.
...
I belong to their story and they belong to my story. I hope they get back to what they were, because the club has changed.

In particular, I like the phrasing of "I belong to their story and they belong to my story." Watch the brief interview here.

Krewe de Chiens Parade, 2009

We went to the Krewe de Chiens parade yesterday - which is Lafayette's annual parade for dogs during the Mardi Gras season. I am not a huge fan of dogs in costumes, but I make an exception for Mardi Gras. It was a blast. Here are some of my favorite scenes. Click here for a full slideshow.

Karen, Maggie, Carlee and Jozy posing prior to entering the parade grounds.

"What happened to me on the way to the parade and what is this ridiculous outfit I am in?"

Some people's dogs just match them perfectly.

Check out this dog's face. Awesome.

Many more pictures here. Check them out if you want to see more.

Need a Ride

I will be missing my high school team's quarterfinal game on Monday night unless I can figure out a way to get to Atlanta by 5 AM on Tuesday morning after coaching a 7 PM soccer game in Lafayette. Unfortunately, driving from Lafayette to Atlanta at 9 PM, pulling an all nighter behind the wheel of my car, has been overruled as an option by my wife. Let me know if you have any great ideas.

The Truth About Splenda

For some reason I have been frustrated all day. Maybe it all goes back to the coffee episode this morning. Click here to find out the truth about Splenda.

Sigh

Today, despite being home for the weekend, is a massively hectic day for me. And when it starts out with someone putting 4 Splendas in my coffee, rather than just sugar, I know I may be in for a long one.

Nice Guy

Had one of those flights this morning where the guy sitting next to you wants to make way too much small talk and he is also a little socially awkward. Good thing I slept a lot and also pretended to sleep a lot. As we were getting off the plane he says to me:

Nice guy: Man, you should get some sleep. You look dead. I mean, nothing personal, I don't want to offend you but you should really catch up on your sleep.
Me: I was faking.

Clint Dempsey's US vs Mexico Boots

In general, I am not a fan of the Nike Mercurial Vapor style boot, but these are pretty cool. Only 3 pairs of this shoe were made.

via US MNT

....on roids

With all the buzz in the news related to A-Rod, this post on Kottke made me laugh a little bit. Check out these cows! They are ripped. Apparently, there is a drug being developed related to these animals, so before long, we will see even more home runs.

And I Want My Scalps: Inglourious Basterds Trailer

New Quentin Tarantino movie trailer - check it out. I have a feeling this one will be a bit gory.

Early

I was the 16th person thru the security at the Philadelphia airport this morning. 5:30 am flights are not fun.

US Defeats Mexico 2-0....barely

There were some major close calls in the US vs Mexico game tonight, the latest World Cup qualifier for our boys in the stars and stripes. Despite those close calls though, we came out on top 2-0! Gotta love Bradley with the two goals and his effort all around. Great game by him. And I may be out voted on this, but Hejduk looked good! And let's put it this way, I would rather he be on my squad then theirs and he sure as hell didn't spear the other team's keeper with his cleats.

Poor Sven...his career might just be over, or at least his career at the helm of the Mexican national team.

Plate Lunch

The grill at the airport was out of burgers for lunch but lucky me, they have opened a plate lunch station there.

Me: What's that?
Cashier: Stuffed pork chop.
Me: Oh. What's it stuffed with?
Cashier: Don't know.
Me: I'll take it.

I will probably never know what that chop was stuffed with but it was spicy, with rice, and smothered in gravy. It was awesome. Time for a nap on the flight to Houston.

That's a Wrap

One month of portraits came to a close yesterday. I have a feeling that occasional portraits (self or other) will appear on this site over time, but the daily portrait project has officially closed up shop with this last item. Thanks for watching.

Ryan Adams - Sweetest Decline; New York, New York

Love him or hate him, sometimes Ryan Adams just gets it right. Here he is doing a Beth Orton cover. Today is the first day of the HS playoff season. Wish us luck. We play at 7 PM.

If you're in the mood for a more upbeat Ryan Adams tune, here is one of my favorites, New York, New York performed on Letterman. The official video (shot 4 days prior to September 11th) can be viewed here. Happy Thursday.

Red Snapper

Red Snapper and zucchini with onions for dinner tonight. As you can tell from all the butter, not the healthiest dish I cook.

Cajun Signs: Rajun Cajun Truck

This truck is actually employed by a local joint called Raising Cane's, a chicken tender fast food joint. They are closely affiliated with UL, whose mascot is the Rajin' Cajun. Geaux Cajuns!

Raising Cane's actually started in Baton Rouge and was the result of a business class project at LSU. I can only assume that their local roots and their focus on community involvement is why they are so into UL here. At this point, they have over 50 locations, many in areas with universities. Their revenue i m 200 was $97.3M. Not bad or a C- project in college...

Life is full of important decisions...

Watching the EPL

Took this shot as my two favorite ladies were watching the EPL this past Sunday. One was rooting for Liverpool and the other would not divulge if she was a Chelsea fan or not.

Coach

On rain days we play 6 v 6 indoors in the school gym. It is one of the few practices where we, as coaches, get to play with the guys. Great workout. I was dead after the first 5 minutes. My exchange with one of the other coaches prior to practice made me laugh. Of course, he reads this blog so he will probably not find this funny.

Other Coach: Hey, do you have any shin guards?
Coach: Sure...you wear shin guards when we play indoors?
Other Coach: Of course! You don't?
Coach: Well, I just play light and don't go into any challenges hard because I don't want to hurt our players.
Other Coach: Me too! I never go in hard.
Coach: Dude, you were slide tackling in the gym last time we played.

....and you daydream of punching small animals

If you hate going to work...and you daydream of punching small animals...

I meant to post this for Monday morning but ran out of energy. This was probably one of my favorites in what was a mediocre year in Super Bowl commercials. The game was fantastic!



For the record, my job does not fall into any of the rules noted in this commercial...thankfully.

View from the Sink

I started this self portrait project on January 5th and intended to attempt about 1 month of portraits. To be honest, I wasn't sure I would be able to do it. I think I have missed maybe 1 or 2 days but for the most part have stuck to the cause.

I asked my wife today if she was happy that I was only 3 days away from ending the project and she said: "I don't know. You've actually kept it pretty interesting."

That said, I think I am going to stick with the 1 month duration and February 5th will be the last one of the set. For today, a view from the sink.

Coach

Player: I really like playing for this team. I like the league games and I even enjoy practice.
Coach: Did I just hear you say you enjoy practice? I'm going to keep that in my back pocket!
Player: I mean...I don't really like practice that much.

It is not often that you hear some players to admitting liking practice, especially 18 year old players who are in the latter part of a high school season that puts them through daily sessions for 4 months. It felt good to hear it as I continue to determine my roster situation for the spring season.

Tug

This might be considered a stretch as far as a self portrait goes, but if you knew how much time I spend each night engaged in this age old tradition of man vs dog, you would understand why this is a perfectly valid subject.

Photo Shootout Entries

Here are the two photos I submitted to the photo shootout yesterday.