Happy Halloween!

After making sure Jozy got to terrorize a few ghosts and ghouls who came to our door, we went out to dinner tonight and then took this family portrait after we got back. As you can see, both Jozy and I were decked out in orange, with Carlee in the complementary black to celebrate the holiday. Happy Halloween!

Where is the Money Going?

Recovery.gov has a great GIS interface to help you explore where ARRA funding is going within the US (Where is the Money Going?). You can zoom into your hometown, choose the type of funding source you want to see, and examine each individual award to see the amount, jobs created/saved, and the recipient. Here is a snapshot of my hometown with a specific award selected and stats being displayed.


Here's a view of Lafayette Parish in an aerial satellite view with the recipients of the $44M in funding that has been distributed to the parish to date.


This set of data was recently used by Sunlight Labs to feed into the iPhone Layar app to create an augmented reality application that displays recovery.gov data on your iPhone.


What an awesome example of how data standardization and transparency can combine to create new ways to view and share data. Just think of the possibilities of being able to stream environmental and public health data into applications like this in the future...the data could be sent to regulating agency staff out in the field, surveying companies, construction companies or the general public.

Google Wave Testing

Testing out Google Wave as I chill out out the couch today. Looks like it might be a really effective collaboration tool. As a result, I sent out some invitations to some people I work with to see if it helps with communication for some of the teams I am on that are geographically dispersed. Playback features, inline editing, the ability to respond to mid-stream thoughts, and the option of adding new participants to a dialogue...all pretty sweet. Anyone else playing with Wave?

Listorious

Follow-up to my last post - check out Listorious if you are interested in exploring Twitter lists. This site has them broken down by category including: News, Media, Marketing, Charity, Food, etc...

Twitter List: Non-Profit Technology

Posting this for my friends (and especially my wife) who are involved in non-profit work and are interested in how technology can be used to help with their missions. Looks like a decent twitter list for those interested in this theme.

Non-Profit Technology Twitter List

adidas World Cup Historical Soccer Ball Set

adidas has released a package that includes genuine soccer balls from the last 10 world cups. Holy cow. Pure awesome. Good thing my birthday is coming up so that I can buy this for myself and use them all at my next practice. I mean, its only $900. So worth it.

Found on The Original Winger

Back on the Field

Well, today was my first day back out on the coed soccer field in about 3-4 months. My first touch went to the other team with a bad trap. My second touch went in the back of the net to tie the game 1-1. It was a great start, followed by me missing at least 3-4 other golden opportunities. In the end, we beat the BJ/Monarchs 3-2, and are headed into the playoffs undefeated!

These photos are from last week. Jozy is clearly excited about the success of the team. Giving high 5's to everyone she can.

Harvest Time at EarthShare Gardens

Today was our first weekend of harvesting at EarthShare Gardens in Lafayette. EarthShare is a community supported organic garden that we just recently joined (after being on the waiting list for about a year). It was pretty cool. We showed up and were directed to a pile of produce, picked out which pile we wanted and then browsed through the stocks of fresh herbs and other vegetables that were ready to take home. Our booty consisted of:

1. Butterut Squash
2. Okra
3. Some sort of Pepper Basil
4. Habenaro peppers
5. Lemon balm
6. Garlic chives
7. Green eggplant
8. Purple eggplant
9. Orange Mint
10. Onion tops
    

So now we get to try and figure out all of the cool things we can make with this stuff. We're looking forward to many more weekends at EarthShare!

Spoon

Fall has arrived in Lafayette and with our windows open in order to relish the cool weather, our house has dropped to chilly 64 degrees. Women and dogs have nothing left to do but huddle together for warmth in the face of the elements....

Coach (3 year olds)

Coach: Alright kids, let's get ready to play some soccer!
Kids: Yea!!!
Coach: Ok. My name is Coach Will.
Coach: (turning to one child): So what's your name.
Player: (eyes wide in terror) ...
Coach: What's your name?
Player: I...don't...know...

Liverpool Loses via a Beach Ball

When you take a Rules of the Game test for soccer (either to be a referee or for coaching), they always ask some crazy questions about what the ref should do if the ball pops or if a bird somehow intercepts a shot and scores a goal. This is right out of that play book. Here is what happens:

1. Liverpool fan hits beach ball on field.
2. Sunderland player takes shot.
3. Liverpool keep is well positioned to make save.
4. Shot hits beach ball.
5. Deflection causes goal.
6. Liverpool loses.

It will be super hard to find a video of this. I found this animated gif over at Dirty Tackle. Check it out by clicking the link. The picture above is a view from the goal just as the shot was about to be taken. Crazy!

Update: I added two more photos that show the same view behind the goal as the ball goes in.

Charlie Davies Tribute

Check out this Charlie Davies tribute. Relive the Costa Rica tie at the same time.

The Drifter & The Racontuers

This movie looks pretty cool...appeals to the vagabond streak in me. And just went and downloaded The Racontuer song (Carolina Drama) in the trailer. Cool tune.

Drifter Trailer from Poor Specimen on Vimeo.

in little waves

It's been a little while since the last mix. This one is one of 2 that could come from the recent set of music that I have been listening to the last month or so. As always, if you are not a regular, let me know if you want a copy.

1. Intro - The xx
2. Dominos - The Big Pink
3. All Is Love - Karen O and the Kids
4. Joy - Phish
5. Born to Be Your Man - Birdmonster
6. Forgive Me - Le Loup
7. Silence Summons You - Animal Kingdom
8. Kandi - One eskimO
9. Faith - Joseph Arthur & The Lonely Astronauts
10. Just Breathe - Pearl Jam
11. Run - Ben Kweller
12. Traffic Jam - Vega4
13. No Surprises - Radiohead
14. The Fixer - Pearl Jam
15. Stanislaus - Sea Wolf
16. Day to Day - Birdmonster
17. Penn Station - The Felice Brothers
18. Argentina - The Jones Street Boys
19. Crystalised - The xx
20. Tennessee - Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons
21. Together - Rabbit
22. How It Ends - Devotchka

Sky Mall

Me: Jozy, you're such a good dog.
Jozy: ...
Me: I wonder what kind of dog you are? Maybe we can get a doggie DNA test for my birthday.
My Wife: Have you been reading Sky Mall?
Jozy: ...

Gandhi - Google

Always a fan of the Google banner...