Hard at Work

Jozy was hard at work today - spent about 7 hours in this position. The other 1 was spent barking at the tree pruning guy giving me a quote.

Triumph

Random souvenir from my early trips to NJ back in 2000 when I was going there as a programmer. Picked up this growler from the Triumph Brewing Company in downtown Princeton. Good beer.

Lights!

This may be hard to believe, but the loose ends of the so called "kitchen project" are still be wrapped up. Today, finally, we got new lights. This is what the light over our table will look like (except the rounded edge will be facing down; it is upside down in this picture). Not a light I would choose on its own, but it looks really cool in the room. All credit to my wife on picking this out.

Here it is compared to the rather ugly looking chandelier that we have now. Big improvement!

Social Experiment...continued

Bike is still there. Local gym (Red's) has no reported stolen bikes. I am shocked that no one has stolen it yet! I think this is my first official lawn ornament.

Evenings

The last two days have been a flurry of work and I hit a wall at some point in the late afternoon. Completely crashed for about an hour after normal work hours. Wasn't even sure what day it was when I woke up. Odd. Regardless, was trying to figure out what to post today (yes, I am on a daily photo/post project in case you have not noticed) and was totally uninspired until late tonight. The scene you see above is often repeated during the week. The one thing you are missing is that I am normally to the left of Jozy, either watching TV, reading, working or playing with the new iPad. A typical family evening consists of this happy trio on the couch, some Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert and a soccer game on the DVR.

How long?

So how long do people leave items (like a bike) in your front yard until it becomes legally yours?

Bachelor

My wife is out until really late for a board meeting so I am playing bachelor for the evening. On the calendar?

1. Cook 1.5 lbs of porterhouse rubbed in Arizona spices and grilled over mesquite wood chips.
2. Wine
3. Work
4. Maybe some more wine
   

be careful of lonesome roads

Forgot to post this past one. Been on the car stereo long enough to have been replaced by the next one already. This is back from April. May's was just wrapped up today and June is fast on its heels. 2011 has been a crazy weird year, but lots of good music.

1. We Will All Be Changed ** Seryn
2. Oh My Stars ** Andrew Belle
3. Sparrow and the Wolf ** James Vincent McMorrow
4. Walk On ** G-Love
5. Summer Light ** The Cave Singers
6. I Will Remain ** Matthew and the Atlas
7. Santa Clara ** The National
8. Gifts and the Raft ** The Cave Singers
9. Si Pero No ** Alex Cuba
10. Static Waves (feat. Katie Herzig) ** Andrew Belle
11. Fajar ** Élage Diouf
12. Anna Sun ** Walk the Moon
13. Rio ** Hey Marseilles
14. Winter Winds ** Mumford & Sons
15. Rumour Has It ** Adele
16. Demon Host ** Timber Timbre
17. Under Mountain, Under Ground ** The Lighthouse and The Whaler
18. Tigers ** The Submarines
19. Trouble In Mind ** Erland & The Carnival
20. Born with a Broken Heart ** David Wax Museum

Social Experiment

We are secretly being watched in some sort of social experiment. Here is what I know:

1. Yesterday, a bike was placed on our lawn with no announcement or intention being made known to us.
2. Mid-day, the bike was moved up to the side of our tree.
3. I moved it back.
4. It has yet to get stolen (or taken back by its owner) and we are running a little over a day now I think.
5. It is in good condition.
   

Hungover

Jozy had a tough week. A couple days in doggie day care and then one sleepover at Woof N' Whiskers. Weeks like these usually result in what we affectionately call her Woof N' Whisker Hangover. She spends most of the next day or so on her bed and rarely moves.

Pollen

I was out of town earlier this week for work and then we were in Houston yesterday for the Gold Cup Semifinal matches. We had left out some sunflowers since Saturday that we got from our local community garden and their pollen is dropping on our counter.

Overheard in Airport

Older woman yelling at man:

"Why did you add them?!?"

No response.

"Stop adding people I don't even know to my Facebook! Give me back my phone."

-------------

Too funny.

Packed and Ready for the Gold Cup

Packed and ready for Houston. Got the USMNT jersey and the Once in a Lifetime book about the Cosmos all set. Don't tread on me.

Shine the Light on the Work

I don't have a lot of pictures of my father. I think I'd like to find a few more with other members of my family if they have time to help me out. Plenty of lessons learned though. My father was a man of lessons, teaching them and passing on wisdom when even when he was just simply trying to get things done. I've shared a few here in the past such as his philosophy of "a job isn't worth doing unless you're going to do it right."

I'll always remember doing work on the car with him (that I hated) and his frequent request to "shine the light on the work" or always making sure "you have the right tool for the job." Those two statements, while very specific at the time, stick with me to this day and I find that I can apply them to a great many situations.

He was an excellent soccer coach and created a foundation for soccer in the town that I grew up in, eventually elected to the state soccer hall of fame and having a tournament named after him. I'll always remember the winter soccer months when we would borrow a local gym, bring out the boom box and make 15-18 little kids dribble soccer balls to the sounds of Paul Simon and Rhythm of the Saints. He never played himself, but he knew the importance of the intangibles.

He was a great father and I never told him that enough. Thanks for everything dad - you are truly missed.

Laying an Offshore Pipeline

Children's book in South Louisiana.

Fireplace

We've lived in our house for over 5 years and have yet to use our fireplace. Granted, it's been behind our TV for 5 of those years so it was hard to actually even consider using it. We finally have easy access to it now though. Maybe this winter.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife! And yes, I scanned an old photo of you without your permission. Don't be mad. I didn't pick the one with the black eyes or the full body cast. Love you!

Where's Waldo?

What you are seeing here is a relatively common sight around our house. In that upper right corner of my messy closet, you can see it, the piece of a dog toy sticking its head out from under a pile of clothes. Sometimes Jozy just won't give up on a toy, especially her Kamikaze Chicken. This is made worse by those toys that she can tear apart easily and require constant supervision. I had forgotten that ol' KC was hidden up there until I was trying to do some cleaning this past weekend. Jozy has yet to find him but she eventually will, and we'll be treated to long spell of barking up at the toy from her frustrated 4-pawed height.

Golazo: Eric Hassli vs. Guardado

Two great goals from this past weekend in case you haven;t seen them. The top one is from the Vancouver vs Seattle game. It was even more special as it came a few moments after Seattle went up on Vancouver. And then Eric Hassli unleashed this:

I didn't see this next one live but heard about it and it is almost as impressive as Hassli's. Given the choice though, I'll always vote for a MLS goal over as Mexican national team goal.

Echos

The previous owner of our house was a history professor at the local university. To be more specific, he received his doctorate in history from Harvard University, and then,

"...was commissioned as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy. Following Japanese language training, he participated in the interception, decryption and translation of Japanese naval communications during World War II. Following his release from active duty from the Navy, he entered the Foreign Service in 1947, and served with distinction in diplomatic and consular posts in France, Germany, Panama, Japan and at the Department of State in Washington, D.C. In addition to Japanese, Dr. Dur was fluent in French, German and Spanish."

Just like any old house that you move into, there are echos of the previous resident left throughout. The photo above is something we found masking taped to the inside of a hall closet in our house when we moved in over 5 years ago. We've kept it without knowing what it says or what its origin is.

From Snoods to Hijabs

Earlier this month, FIFA banned the Iranian woman's soccer team from competing in the 2012 Olympics due to the fact that they were wearing Islamic headscarves. Apparently the decision was made right before the kickoff of their qualifying game against Jordan. Jordan was granted the 3-0 victory and Iran is out of the Olympics. The devastation that this moment caused for the team is difficult to look at it in the photo below.

One of my daily feeds, Co.Design posted a potential solution that has been developed by Elham Seyed Javad, an Iranian-born French-Canadian designer. This "sports hijab" is for female Muslim athletes who need/want to take the field in full head-and-neck cover. Personally, on top of its potential to fix FIFA's perspective, I think this actually looks pretty cool. The skeptics are probably out in full force though since FIFA is such a mess when it comes to sounds decision making and other topics such as women in sport.

One can't help but wonder if a Snood replacement might be next in the designer's queue.

Givers - Saw You First

Listening to a little Givers this afternoon as I crank out some overdue status reports for work. This local Lafayette band is making it big, with new album out (In Light) and a summer tour in progress. If you're looking for a great feel-good show with some truly unique music, check them out.

Saw You First:

Wasn't that a famous 80's song?

On our first trip oversees together, my wife and I sat down on a flight out of Newark, NJ headed to London, England. Sitting net to us was Dr. Habib Chamoun, author of Negotiate Like a Phoenician. We proceeded to have an interesting conversation with the doctor and he gave us a free copy of his book. The book sits, still wrapped in its shrink wrap on our coffee table waiting to be shelved as we continue to slowly unpack from remodeling (yes, we are that slow). Later on in that same trip, my wife and I would get engaged by Lake Grasmere.

Souvenirs

My father used to travel all over the world for his work when I was younger. I don't remember a lot about the trips when he was gone except for a few memories of the souvenirs he brought back or the postcards he would send. I remember one really large postcard in particular with a snow covered castle. I'm not sure what country it was from but if I had to hazard a guess it was Switzerland. I have it somewhere. On the back of that postcard, and probably others, there was one sentence, "Will, Be good for your mom. Dad"

That makes me smile. I think those postcards are what made me start to collect stamps when I was younger.

This souvenir is from one of trips to Mexico I think. I remember playing with it a lot growing up and I'm pretty sure my brother had one just like it. Wish I knew what it was called.

To use or not to use...

The last set of tickets I bought went unused. We are working really hard to make sure this next set (doubleheader for the Gold Cup semifinals) do not go unused as well. The only thing that we cannot really control is if the US team makes it. Go US!

PS - Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife next week (this is one of a few gifts and I count myself truly lucky that you are such a soccer fan).

Curious George

For some reason, Curious George can be found in our dining room. It is an interesting touch.

Old Man Markley - For Better For Worse

Wait, so a band that combines punk and folk and has a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, drums, bass, washboard and an autoharp all playing at once with at least 4 singers screaming out the chorus? You don't have to ask me twice. Old Man Markley from L.A. is right up my alley.

Warning, the following video shows simulated Sasquatch violence.

This song is available for free from their website.

Jozy's Chair

Jozy spends all day in this old beat up chair that officially became hers sometime a while back. She is literally almost the only one who ever sits in it. Even our guests know who the real boss is.

We Are Augustines - Chapel Song

Old fan of Pela? Check out We Are Augustines' debut album Rise Ye Sunken Ships. The band is made up of Bill McCarthy and Eric Sanderson from Pela so it may sound a bit like what you have been missing. You can catch more videos and get a free download from their website. Chapel Song is a pretty cool tune.

Tuesdays

Tuesdays are always one of my longer days during the week, inevitably filled with meeting after meeting. Do you have one of those days every week? If so, look into buying the Ostrich. Tempting right?

Joe Pug - In the Meantime

It's Monday and we are back in Louisiana. Work week beginning and I've got a to-do list that intimidates. This song from Joe Pug has been on the listening rotation a lot the last few days. It's a nice intro to a week as you try to dip in to toe and get back into the swing of things.

I'm savin' all my nickels
And half of every dime
I'm washin' all the blankets
God knows that I'm tryin'
I fixed the gate

We will find each other so they say
In the meantime
I'm lonesome while I wait