Christmas insanity

If you are reading this post right now, you are lucky. I am living this post, and it hurts. Every year my wife arbitrarily decides when Christmas time starts, and then proceeds to immediately lose her mind. She shrugs off all of her responsibilities so that she can be completely dedicated to only doing Christmas related activities. Needless to say, I was worried when I realized that Thanksgiving was on the earliest possibly date this year, leaving open the possibility of the longest Christmas insanity ever. Thankfully, she waited until this week to begin the holiday season, but she is quickly making up for lost time. On monday night she made me get a tree and decorate it in the same night! Finally, about 10 pm I gave up and went to bed; I have no idea how late she was up decorating.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

I am sitting here in total silence contemplating how sad it is that Fresno seems much nicer from the inside of a hospital room. Of course, the Fresno Surgery Hospital makes the Ritz look like Motel 6, so thats not too much of a insult. My mom just had total hip replacement surgery, so I'm here and Julie's at home taking care of all the animals... oh, yeah, and working a little too. I keep thinking to myself, wasn't I here a year ago. A little over a year ago I was in Fresno when my brother was hospitalized and my mom's husband left within the same few days. I thought we had finally gotten through everything, and now my mom has a hip replacement and my grandfather has lung cancer.
I have to admit that my thoughts often go back to that day a little over a year ago when I wrote this post. Some good contemplation there on my part, and encouraging to think about. Here is my happy thought that gets me through the day: Kota, my dog. The best dog in the world!

Scooter Bonds??

Does the White House really have nothing better to do than make statements about how disappointed they are in Barry Bonds? I'm actually very surprised. I thought lying to grand juries was par for the course at the White House. In fact, I assume that if Bonds is convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice, President Bush will commute his sentence. Right Scooter?

Ok, ladies, Cosmo gives really bad advice. Here's how to destroy your relationship (Cosmo-style). Worst advice ever!

Could this be true?

I'm too lazy to sit down for 5 minutes to post on my blog, but these people rescued a penguin, nursed it back to health, and trained it to go to the store for them. I don't know if I can believe it. But it was on TV so it must be true!

Bugger Off!

Here's something for all of you who resent my lack of posting. (Beware some bad language)


I have been busy enjoying soccer.

So it turns out that most Americans would rather have MacGyver around in an emergency than any other TV or movie hero. Question: Why do people in New Zealand care?

Just plain sad.

Crazy. I came across this story about a guy who spent days building a guillotine with which to end his own life. Lets just say, he was successful. I thought to myself, this has to be truly odd and unusual. Then I found even more stories of men doing this. The most amazing thing to me is that these people often spend days building these large, elaborate devices without arising suspicion from anyone. Sad.

Kevin Everett

This story is absolutely amazing. We hear so often about scientific research that will have an impact on medicine, but it is sometimes difficult to see how it will impact the lives of people. Everyone who has played football at any level knows that you walk on the field knowing full well that you may break your neck and never walk again, or may even die. Breakthroughs in medical and emergency response are making that much less likely. Fifteen or twenty years ago, Kevin Everett would have likely died from his injuries. Even five years ago, he would have likely been paralyzed for life. Thanks to the efforts of emergency responders and medical professionals, and to some new treatments, Everett moved his arms and legs today, and has a good chance of making a full recovery.
Many of the techniques used were developed by the Miami Project.

Cheater Cheater Bundchen Eater!

Ok, so you are a football team who cheats by using a video camera to steal defensive signals. Then, one game you get totally caught, but, amazingly, you get away with it... Most likely because the NFL doesn't want to tarnish the legacy of its most recent dynasty. Can you say "cover up"? An intelligent person would wipe his brow, take a deep breath, thank the Lord (or the devil with whom you made a deal) you got away with it, and never risk doing it gain. I mean, if you got caught once, it would surely happen again. That logic was clearly lost on the Patriots who clearly cheated this weekend. As far as I'm concerned, they have cheated in every game they've won in the last 10 years. Good luck proving they didn't.

And Jimmie, I know what you are going to say. At least they never got caught. Much less twice!

Moving Day

helping my brother move to Oakland this weekend... Julie just said, "You don't have to point out my wrongness for everything I say." Wrong again. Luckily, she is eating donuts, so she can't be mad. Plus, I have lots of goodwill built up right now after buying her this cool machine.

I was just getting ready for bed tonight, when I got an email from a friend of mine. He is in the army and he just got to Afghanistan. I know that we have been at war (sort of, I guess not officially according to some) for years now, and there are people that I know or have known who have been serving. This is the first time I can say that one of my friends, who I communicate with and try to see regularly, is an active participant. It is a strange feeling. There are a number of complex issues involved in the whole situation, and my feelings are even more conflicted by some issues surrounding my friend's enlistment. I guess it just really brings home a situation that I have spent so much time thinking and talking with others about. Whether or not it changes any of your positions, it just feels totally different thinking about the war when someone you care about is actively involved in fighting it. I haven't totally thought through all my emotions; I just hope he's safe.

Who has time for kids?

As you may or may not know, we have quite full house of animals. For those who don't know, I will briefly run down the list.
1)D'Wayne - cat - the elder statesman of our animals at the house, he is an indoor cat who loves attention from people and insists on sleeping in our bed every night even though I am allergic to cats.
2)Kota - Border Collie/Australian Shepherd Mix - He is our calm and gentle dog. He good and lives to please and get attention from his people. His downsides are that he likes to find things that died a long time ago and roll around in them, and sometimes he is a little neurotic.
3)Daisy - 8 month old border collie - Crazy! Always into everything. Digs, chews, jumps on, pulls over. Cute and ornery.
4)Fishtank - 55 gallons - I currently have 6 very active fish and 2 crayfish. I am really happy with this tank, but the crayfish destroy everything and make a lot of waste. I am constantly changing water, replacing plants, cleaning algae, clearing filters, etc.
5)Sweetie - Mustang (the horse, not the car) - Julie got Sweetie years ago. We plan to build a corral by our house, but for now she lives at Julie's Grandma's. She's a lot of fun and really only needs to be fed twice a day and visited by the farrier occasionally. When it isn't too hot, Julie tries to ride her or work her out at least once a week. I used to do it too, but developed a severe horse allergy last year and can't really do it any more.

Now that you have the stats, you might be saying, "that isn't so much." Well, after working at least 10 hours a day (including many saturdays), when you get home and it is 108 outside, taking care of all the pets sometimes feels like a little more than I can handle. The dogs are always into some kind of trouble, and everywhere I try to lay down there is cat hair. Well, now there is another one. Julie's family got 4 new bred heifers a while back and the first one gave birth this week. The calf seems fine, but the mother got all messed up during labor and died yesterday. Now Julie is hand feeding the calf and we are hoping it will live. Maybe she will take some pictures tomorrow and post them.

Random Madness

Here's a link to make the best Jeopardy player I know even better. Study up Ed!

Here's a link for the girl who loves evil cats (all cats really, but especially evil ones). Seriously, when she sees an angry cat, she laughs uncontrollably. She loves this video:


She likes this one even more:


Here's a link for Jimmie

How about a novelty mint? One for the Woody's, and one that would go great with eggs.

An Apple a Day

I'm back and better than ever. Kudos to Apple for the super-speedy service. I called them one day, received a box in the mail the next day, sent my laptop in the next day, and got it back 2 days later totally fixed at no cost to me. Bravo! I honestly don't know how their service could be improved. Perfection is the goal, excellence will be tolerated.

Well, the MacBook is going back to Mac for repairs. Luckily, it looks like they are covered under warranty. Hopefully, I will be back up and running by next wednesday. Not having the internet is so hard. Its amazing how you take things for granted until you don't have them.

Doh!

Well, sorry. My internet totally took a crap on me. It will likely be a few weeks before I get it back, but I will still try to post whenever I can. I plan on using other people's internet as much as possible. I'm using my in-laws computer right now. (I can't talk right now, we are being watched)

Becks Debut? Running blog

Well, Beckham finally made his MLS debut today. Here is my running blog of the game:

Pregame: Ok, so Becks won't start, but is expected to play as a sub. Regardless of that, the Galaxy need to start winning games if they want to make the playoffs. Imagine, after all the tickets sold and TV attention the team doesn't even make the playoffs. They had better do well in the SuperLiga then.

Starting Line-ups: Ok, who needs Beckham? Galaxy should easily win this game based upon the starting 11's, but will they play organized at all?

Minute 1: Wow, the pitch looks terrible. MLS will be so much better off when teams no longer play in multi-use stadiums. I don't even know how they can dribble on that pitch.

Minute 5: This has nothing to do with soccer, but Julie just made me some homemade chocolate chip cookies. mmmmmm!

Minute 25: I am working on some changes to my template while I watch the game. Why do I feel like I am being subliminally influenced by the new galaxy uniforms?

Minute 28: DC goal. Very poor goalkeeping. Maybe LA can learn from that; put the ball on frame and see if the keeper makes a mistake. Have they even taken a shot yet?

Minute 29: Thinking about Ed. What a lucky guy. A galaxy fan from the get-go. Not only does his team still exist (mine was SJ, but they should be back in a year or two), they will be on TV all the time now in out-of-area places like fresno.

Minute 32: At least they are doing the picture in picture to show Becks on the bench. I felt like I missed so much of the action in the Chelsea exhibition. They just announced the attendance 46,686. Wow. More than the Nationals usually draw at RFK.

Half: I'm sleepy. Should I even watch the second half? This is just really ugly soccer. LA looks like a rec league team. Their organization is terrible.

Minute 50: I haven't seen much Landon Donovan heckling. I hear they were brutal in Toronto this week. Every time he touched the ball they would throw pink streamers at him. HA HA!

Minute 52: Harms just got slammed. That was a stupid foul. Harms just got harmed. Isn't it ironic.

Minute 67: Martino just slid from behind for no reason. Baffling. There must be something between these players. That was shocking. It looked like there was clear intent to injure. The Referee really had no choice there. That is a textbook automatic red card.

Minute 71: They are bringing Beckham in. This is clearly just to appease the fans. The weather is terrible, they are a man down, and there is no way Beckham will help them win this game.

Minute 65: They just cut away from about a minute of play to show Becks walking around in a suit before the game. What were they thinking? ESPN, hire a director who knows how to broadcast soccer. Fire the guy who directed this game. Also fire Eric Wynalda. He is a cunt. That's right. I said it: cunt, cunt, cunt. Luckily, no one is reading this boring post anymore so it will go entirely unnoticed.

Final: Thank God its over. Maybe Becks can teach his mates how to play before their next match. Notes to Frank Yallop: No Organization. Terrible Finishing. Stupid Red Cards. Keep it up and you won't be able to find a coaching job in AYSO next year.

BARCLAY'S ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Thank goodness the Premier League starts again in two days. I know none of you care, but you can all go.......... Okay, sorry about that. It has been a long summer of depressingly poor football on the television. Maybe now I can actually watch a game where the tv coverage shows more of the action than the injured player on the bench (was that movie called Bend it Like Beckham or Bench it Like Beckham? I can't remember.) Lots of dramatic story lines in the Premier League. If I have the energy, I might write about some in the future. Even if I don't, none of you will care.

Feeling Crabby

I think the Giants should bring back the Crazy Crab. Who's that? He was a sort of anti-mascot they had for only one season in the 80's. I know they still have the costume; he made a cameo in I think '98, but he hasn't been seen since. They should bring the crazy crab back next year. Why not? the Dodgers have the Crazy Pig.

All this just so I could get in a crack about Lasorda being a crazy pig. Ah, the lengths to which I will go to make Jimmie mad.

Last crab siting:

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

BRAVO! There's nothing I love more than seeing someone inexplicably compromise their morals. How did you go from hating to participating? Well, anyway, welcome WOODY.

Ironic

It turns out the FCC is giving some pretty crazy call letters out to broadcasters now. Under the recent indecency crackdown, I'm pretty sure the FCC bans these stations from broadcasting the actual name it gave them. I'm not even going to post what the names are for fear that my mother will come wash my keyboard out with soap! You'll have to check them out for yourself here (check the comments for even more examples). I would love to hear if anyone knows of any others.

Happy Gilmore

Jimmie,
I finally found it!

New Poll: David Beckham

New poll question up today. Check it out. Feel free to comment if you don't like the voting options you are given in a poll.

World Dominaton

Wow. I guess you never really know someone. It turns out that my wife is a communist sympathizer. She has taken over a Soviet sub and is leading a revolution to return Russia to comunist rule. Don't believe me? Fine, here's some photographic evidence. I am willing to swear under oath that this photo was taken on a Soviet sub and has not been doctored in any way.

Who is Ron Paul?

I think I may have found the candidate I will be voting for in the next presidential primary... seriously. I'm not one for soapboxing, but I think everyone should at least check out his website and think about some of the issues involved. I certainly don't agree with all of his positions, nor do I think he will win the next election, but I hope that supporting him will help open some eyes about how needlessly huge the federal government is and how much money and liberty it is costing all of us. RonPaul2008

My Simpsons family portrait

Ever wonder what you would look like if you were in The Simpsons. Now you can find out. You can create your own avatar at simpsonsmovie.com
Here's what Julie and I might look like...

Can I come too?

"Hello there little missy. It seems nobody told you the bandwagon was full. Well, hop on then."
Still poking and prodding, but Julie has authorized me to announce her new blog is up and running. Visit her at julerton.blogspot.com

What the.....?

Very creative... Tunnel House. Maybe if these guys spent less time recreating their Science Fiction fantasies their house wouldn't be getting demolished.

News and Notes

News and Notes:

Julie is tinkering with a new blog for herself. Its not ready yet, but stay tuned for more info later. I am also working on some updates for my blog. I have added a new poll feature on the sidebar. I intend to update the question weekly and am really interested in gauging the opinions of my readers on what I hope will be some interesting issues. This week's is just a silly, stupid poll for the purposes of set-up. I promise better polls to come, and I hope to add more upgrades that will enrich the reading experience very soon. Please vote so I can see how many people will be interested in this feature.

Checklist

Lets see -- Dogs? Check.
All the crap for the dogs? Check.
Wife? Check.
Clothes? Check.
Crap to pick up dog crap? check.
Rental car to hold all the crap? Check.

Well, we finally made it to Fresno. Gotta get going if we want to make this guy's show tonight. Really excited to see more of his work. More news of Fresno to follow. Yes I rented an SUV, and, yes, I am ashamed. Feel free to call greenpeace on me.

US Border Fence Accidentally Built in Mexico

Oops. A US border fence was accidentally built on Mexican Soil. On the one hand, its never good to illegally enter another country and set up what is technically part of a military installation. Mexico has every right to ask them to remove it and seek some sort of damages for the intrusion. On the other hand, this is out in the middle of nowhere. It seems like the respective governments own most of that property and aren't using it for anything other than a border. What real difference would it make to move the fence 6 feet in one direction or another. I think the best solution would be for the US government to apologize and offer to lease the land from the often cash-strapped Mexican government for the going rate in the area. It seems like most of the land in the area is semi-arid farmland. Guessing how much farmland leases for in that area, I would say that leasing the land for maybe even 40 or 50 years would be cheaper than moving the fence. After that time both governments could reassess their positions, so to speak. Plus, Mexico would get some money out of the deal. But, of course, governments don't always do the logical thing. I'm sure this will take a long time to resolve and end up costing the United States taxpayers lots of money.

Slow day on the beat, Officer?

Think people are mean? Think the government is unfair? Just be thankful you don't live in Toronto...

News Anchor Freaks Out

I've watched this several times and I can't figure out if this is staged or real? I'm all for standing up for what you believe in, but aren't there bigger issues to take a stand against. Also, didn't she make the story even bigger than if she had just read the copy as quickly as she could and moved on to the next story. If it is real, I at least have to give her some credit for realizing that there are more important things to report on than PH and having the balls to do something like that. Fight the Power!

Hope for the Future

It looks like some of the best and brightest high school students had a message for the President yesterday.

Survival of the fittest

Ok, so there's this show that I'm totally obsessed with-- Man vs. Wild.
This guy is totally my hero. Anyway, the other day my wife asked me what I would do with my life if I could do anything i wanted. I didn't have an answer, but I just realized that I would probably do what this guy does. Except I don't think I could. Well it turns out I can do one thing he does...we both blog on blogspot.

oops

Sorry about the lack of posts. I have been very busy lately. I know that is a very overused excuse, but this time it is actually true. Anyway, I had to take a few hours off work to take Daisy to the vet after she had a fall today. She broke all 4 bones in one of her little puppy paws. She will be having surgery on Thursday, followed by a few weeks of difficult recovery. The vet gave her some pain medication, so she came home all drowsy today. I did manage to wake her up long enough to show her splint to the camera.

Presidential Myspace

The current President doesn't have one, but many of the candidates running for president in '08 have Myspace pages. Most are very odd and awkward to say the least. Some border on bizarre. Today I will link to Mitt Romney. I think he is the first Mormon on Myspace. The comments section is very odd. Lots of incoherent thoughts and very poor spelling/typing. You can find out his favorite music groups and books, though. I think its safe to say he is the first and only governor of the great state of Mass. to list Brooks & Dunn as one of his favorite musical groups.

Well since you asked...

Furniture by Adam Wall

This guy made us some amazing tables. Check them out here.

A different kind of "Handy Manny"

Some of you may have already seen this, but I was shocked to learn that some customers in New Jersey tuned into the Disney Channel only to find pornography. Comcast was to blame, not Disney. Check out the story.

Taxes

Wow. On my last paycheck I had $729 dollars withheld for taxes, social security, etc. The majority taken out was for federal income tax. In fact, so far this year I have paid more in federal income tax than on any single living expense. I pay more in federal income tax than I pay for rent, transportation, food or health care.

A GREAT SEGUE

So Boris Yeltsin died yesterday... in related news, I have been listening to an indie band for a while now called Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin . I would say that anyone who liked the old Weezer sound might like them, but that doesn't totally define them. They are in SF today and somewhere around LA LA Land tomorrow. I wish I could go, but I have to be responsible and work.

Page Updates

In an effort to make my page more entertaining, I am tinkering with some upgrades and changes. I have added a link to some video in the upper right hand corner of my blog. If you click on one of the images, the video will play at the top of my page. I'm going to try it out by featuring some music I am currently listening to. One warning: I am not responsible for the video content featured. The videos are automatically chosen by google from search terms I enter. I check it as best I can, but don't blame me if some weird S & M video accidently hops up there. Anywho, hope some of you enjoy some music I'm listening to lately.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but my wife loves The Office. Here's a clip from next weeks episode.

It seems I've come down with a stomach ailment so I'm not sure if we will make it to MCC or not.

MCC

Anyone going to MCC this weekend? I think Julie and I will drive up on Saturday morning.

feel scrambled?

If you're like me, your day was shit. You can only console yourself by finding ways to fit both "your" and you're" into the same sentence. Oh, and by checking out these pictures.

Julie and dogs

Farm Pond Fishing

We had to build a small pond behind our house for irrigation on the farm. We plan to stock it with fish and hope there will be some good fishing out there. In order to give the fish a more acceptable habitat, I designed some structure and put it in. I was hoping to include some pictures, but blogger is being stupid right now. In other news, Julie cut her hair. If anyone comments something like "why didn't you put up a picture of her new hairstyle?" I will explode in a fit of rage. Isn't it funny how technology can make you so angry sometimes. Anyway, she cut off a 10 inch braid to donate to Locks of Love.

Around the World

Sorry about the lack of posts. I have been fishing in Mexico for almost a week. The fishing wasn't very good, and I'm glad to be home. Other than that, I haven't had time for anything other than work, home, pets, wife. Not in that order. Hey, did I just hear that Switzerland invaded Liechtenstein?

Dog Days of February?

Yesterday we got our new puppy! Her name is Daisy, and she is a border collie. We think she is between 6 and 8 weeks old. She came to us from a shepherd with whom the farm does business. I am hoping that she has some herding instincts so that maybe I could learn to work dogs with sheep or even cattle. Daisy and Kota are already getting along pretty well. They both slept in the laundry room last night without any major problems. Daisy is adorably and loves to be cuddled and held by people. Thankfully, Julie had the day off today, and I think she held that puppy almost all day. Daisy has already latched onto her. I was hoping to update my Flick'r account with some pictures, but I seems to be down right now. I guess I will have to post a few here now.

Julie and Daisy on our brand new lawn

Dana, Kota and little Daisy

Kota is still my buddy. I didn't have to drive too much for work today, so he got to spend the whole day with me. That was fun. He is really getting excited about digging in gopher holes, and he falls asleep at my feet every night while Julie and I watch tv.

Update City

As I'm sure you can tell, I've finally switched over. I am actually very happy with the switch because now my mac browser can do all the simple things you all have been able to do for all of eternity. I can change my font, size, color, and many other things. Stay tuned while I blow your mind....

What the ....?

Check this out. winmysoul.com

Woodworking

Ok, so on the farm we are having a bit of a gopher problem. The problem is there are too many of them, and they really mess things up. So we have been trying to get rid of them, with very little success. So I am building these owl houses that will hopefully attract more owls to the area to eat more gophers. I have discovered that I'm not very good at working with wood on anything that needs extreme precision. Granted, I'm not exactly working with professional tools, but I would really like to be able to cut a straight line. It would be great if I cut 6 pieces that fit together in a cube perfectly, with all the edges perfect. No matter how hard I try, I simply can't do it. Needless to say I really admire how hard it is to do what this guy does.

We made it back from our trip. It was a lot of fun. I thought I would include a picture of one of the highlights.

This is actually really cool. Julie got to pet and feed some dolphins. Who can say they've done that?

I Feel Betrayed

Is nothing sacred anymore? The internet is ruining the world. I guess you never really know someone. The other day Julie and I went to Sea World and really enjoyed watching a couple of Beluga whales swim in their enclosure. Now, sure enough, I find out that even they have a sex video! I demand that Sea World take them off exhibit immediately. A family organization like the one that owns Sea World (Anheuser-Busch) cannot be promoting this kind of pollution of our morality. I am outraged!

Playoffs

Charger mania is gripping San Diego. All week there have literally been half a dozen huge Chargers celebrations a various locations throughout the city per day! The game doesn't start until 1:30, and there was already a huge traffic jam to get to the stadium at 7 am this morning. The gates weren't even open yet, but literally thousands of cars were lined up waiting to be allowed in to tailgate.
As for the game, I don't know who will win, but the Chargers clearly have the better team. If you look at it from a matchup perspective, the Chargers win at most positions. It remains to be seen, however, if the Patriots have a game plan to neutralize this disadvantage.
So much has been made of San Diego coach Marty Schottenheimer's playoof record. For those of you who have been in a cave for two weeks, he's got 200 carrer wins (a hall of fame type number), but is only 5-12 in the playoffs with no Super Bowl Wins. Most analysts say this makes him less of a good coach, but I disagree.
Coaches get their teams ready to play on a weekly basis. Great players win playoff games. Schottenheimer has coached some less than great teams into the playoffs, but they simply didn't have the talent to win in the playoffs. Other coaches wouldn't even have gotten some of those teams into the playoffs. To me, this shows that Schottenheimer is a great coach, and I think he has the talent to at least get to the Super Bowl this year.

Woman Dies From Radio Station Contest

Can this story possibly be true? If it is, this may be the most damage a radio station contest has ever done.

If you ever go to San Diego, go to the Bali Hai for dinner. Call and make a reservation for a table by the windows at a time you know will be after dark. Beautiful view. They also are a great value. Julie and I both had drinks, crab cakes, dinners that included soup and salad, a dessert and coffee. I was shocked when I got the bill (in a good way for once). It was the cheapest meal we have had since we left Bakersfield. The food was top-notch, and the service was great too! It was so good, we are honestly considering eating every meal there for the rest of the trip. This place is seriously amazing. It would be worth an expensive dinner for the view alone. Yet the food is also great and totally underpriced for what we have experienced in the city so far. I highly recommend this place.

Also, Julie looked really beautiful tonight, but she always does.

check it out at BaliHairestaurant.com (don't know why blogger won't let me hyperlink right now)

Soccer in America

The big news today is that David Beckham will be coming to MLS and playing for the LA galaxy for a reported $250 million. I don't know how the league can afford it, and I think that it makes some crazy assumptions about how much of the contract will be covered in endorsement money. But I leave all the talk about this to the sports stations; Sportscenter anchors love talking about this just so they can bring up Victoria and show scantily clad pictures of her.
In terms of the international game tapping into the American market, I think there is a much more interesting story. With the news that Clint Dempsey has been approved for a work visa in the UK, EPL team Fulham now has 3 current or former US national team players in their team (I think Brian Mcbride technically retired from the national team after the World Cup). Word has also been out for weeks that Fulham are also pursuing a transfer for US player Oguchi Onyewu who is currently playing in Belgium. The question is, with so much quality talent out there, why so much interest in US talent from Fulham. A likely reason is that they are finding US talent highly undervalued internationally. What they get out of McBride is a steal for what they pay him. Maybe they just are finding that they can get good US players for cheaper than their international equivalents. Then again, the $4 million they paid for the unproven Dempsey certainly seems like more of a gamble than a frugal tactical move. I think its possible that they are hoping to tap into a growing US market for top-tier soccer. There are a handful of cable channels that now regularly broadcast premier league games in the US, and some of the ratings numbers indicate that more people in the US want to watch the EPL than the MLS. Can you blame them? It is possible that Fulham could parlay some of these US national players into a loyal fan following in America. Time will only tell.

Mobile Blogger

Julie and I are visiting San Diego for our anniversary. We just arrived at our hotel and my mobile wireless internet works great. My plan is to blog every night, but I don't know if I will make it. We didn't really do anything today except drive. We packed and left this morning, stopped at the store for a few last minute travel items, and spent some serious time in traffic. We also ate at "Il Fornaio" in Del Mar. I know that this is a chain, so its not like I'm reviewing a local place. The food was good and the view of the sea was beautiful. We had a corner table upstairs in the glass-walled, covered patio. There was a great panoramic view of the sea and coastline. I hate places like Del Mar, though. Everyone is so pretentious. Crazy! Its like a different planet these people live on.

New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year (a little late)! New year's day came and went without much fanfare for me since I went to bed about 9pm on new year's eve so I could get up at 4am to go fishing the next day. My father-in-law and I were in a tournament. We came in 5th place out of 31 boats. In this tournament 5th place payed off, so I won money for the first time ever in a fishing tournament. We almost won back the money we paid to enter the tournament. Anyway, I have 2 resolutions for this year. Sleep more and spend more time with Julie. So far I have been failing miserably at both, but I plan to make up for it soon.

Oh Christmas Tree

Has everyone else taken their Christmas Trees down already? If you had one, that is. We sure haven't. I hope Julie lets me take ours down before June. I took this picture of the tree with the camera in my new computer.