USA 2010 - Rise Up

My wife and I are just starting to plan logistics for our trip to South Africa this summer for the World Cup. We are registered for game tickets, investigating travel packages, and in general momentum building phases for the trip of a lifetime.

This video is a great way to start off the 2010 countdown as we enter the new year.

Rise up.

The Snake's Hip and The Bee's Knees

One of my player's introduced me to the phrase "the bee's knees" about 4 months ago or so. You have probably seen it on recent Geico commercials. I had never heard it before and thought it might have some sort of origin from a rap song or other pop culture source. Randomly decided to look it up tonight and came across this:

The phrase "the bee's knees", meaning "the height of excellence", became popular in the U.S. in the 1920s, along with "the cat's whiskers" (possibly from the use of these in radio crystal sets), "the cat's pajamas" (pyjamas were still new enough to be daring), and similar phrases which made less sense and didn't endure: "the eel's ankle", "the elephant's instep", "the snake's hip". Stories in circulation about the phrase's origin include: "b's and e's", short for "be-alls and end-alls"; and a corruption of "business".

Be on the look out for me dropping the phrase "the snake's hip" or the "eel's ankle" in the upcoming weeks.

Christmas in Arkansas

Tonight is our last night in Arkansas, celebrating Christmas with Carlee's family, enjoying the cold weather, playing frisbee golf, pickle ball, and fetch with Jozy at the lake. Here's a couple photos of the family.

Merry Christmas!

Tie up your boots
Jump off the ladder
Pack up your clothes
Nothing's the matter
Mistletoe hangs
Up in the bedroom
Your sister's bangs
She cut them herself
Santa is here
Sleighbells are ringing
Twenty-one elves
They are all singing
K-Mart is closed
So is the bakery
Everyone's at home
Watching TV

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you are all having a great holiday!

This song still sits at the top of my list of modern Christmas songs and has yet to be dethroned.

Jozy carries a Shammy in a Soggy Paw

Christmas came two days early in Arkansas today and Jozy was able to open two presents since it was raining all day and she got really wet. Turns out that two different people bought everyone's favorite dog some sort of tool to help her get dry after swimming or playing in the rain. One of them, Soggy Paws, happens to sling over her back and look like a back pack. Here is Jozy sporting her Soggy Paws with her Planet Dog Shammy in one pocket. The other pocket has the product flier/cover label.

Jozy loved it so much that she had to pull it off and see what it tasted like...

Making the official 2010 FIFA World Cup Match Ball (Jabulani)

This is an interesting video to watch that shows the making of the official 2010 World Cup match ball, the Jabulani. Hoping there is one of these under the tree this year!

Eleven different colors are used in the adidas “JABULANI,” the eleventh adidas World Cup ball. These 11 colors represent the 11 players in every team, the 11 official languages of South Africa and the 11 South African tribes that make the country one of the most ethnologically diverse countries on the African continent. The colorful design brings together the tremendous diversity of the country in harmonious unity. Four triangle-shaped design elements on a white background lend the ball a unique appearance in African spirit.

iCuju in the News

Introducing iCuju, Soccer Guru from iCuju on Vimeo.

Our iPhone application for soccer coaches made the local news this week as the iPhone app of the week. Check it out!

If you're interested in fine tuning your soccer coaching skills, check out our blog.

Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band - Worn Out Shoe

Speaking of worn out shoes, check out this tune from Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band called Worn Out Shoe. Pretty unique cool song.

Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band~Worn Out Shoe from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

Well Traveled....

So I recently hopped on Nike ID and designed a new pair of sneakers for myself. They were shipped this past week and are currently in Anchorage, AK. I had a little bit of buyer's remorse at some point because I did not spend as much effort into designing these as I did my last pair...which involved voting on this same blog. Granted, I spent days and weeks stressing over the last pair, so nto spending as much time on this pair of shoes was probably healthy for me.


I wonder how these will turn out. Each time I look at this design I have a different opinion. Sometimes I think they look pretty damn cool, sometimes I think someone in China might be laughing at this silly American. Take a look at the UPS tracking. Pretty amazing to see how far my shoes have run already (China, Hong Kong, Korea, Alaska).


In related news, I just completed 6 weeks of back to back travel (except for Thanksgiving) for my job. At this point, I will be settling into a steady and manageable pattern moving forward with no more travel until January. The last 2 months have been busy...and these sneakers are not the only well traveled pair of shoes that I own at this point - I just hit Platinum status on Continental this past month.