Thursday, June 29, 2006

the blog days of summer

yep, not much to talk about today. or, that is, there is plenty to talk about in the world but i'm not feeling up to commenting yet (like the supreme court handin out a byatch slap to bush & co about gitmo prisoners, enemy combatants and military trials).

in other news, i'm starting to turn in resumes around town. hopefully something will come of that.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

dear cable, i hate you...and love you

i've mentioned here before the frustrations that i've had with comcast, our cable provider. most revolve around frequent lack of service. i suppose that frequent isn't a fair term, as most of the time we do have service. but, every so often, the cable goes out for no apparent reason. when this has happened, i've called the customer service. they have been very courtious, but generally haven't been able to accomplish anything but schedule a tech to come out. this really isn't that helpful because the cable goes out for maybe 10 minutes and then comes back on. so, when a tech comes out three days later the cable is working fine. i can describe what happened, but unless it's happening right when they come, they can't really diagnose accurately. i should also mention that comcast did offer to comp. basically the first 2 weeks that we had service because of four service calls during that time period. then again, we've yet to see that compensation.

this morning, i was watching brazil vs. ghana. fairly enjoyable game. ronaldo had a great goal in the fifth minute. i missed the second goal. the cable, inexplicably, was out. during the game the cable went out five times. twice for 6 minutes, once for two minutes, once for one, and once for about 30 seconds. this is extremely frustrating when you are trying to watch a live event. sure, i could catch a replay later, or any missed goals on highlights. but the main reason we got cable was for the world cup. i wanted to be able to watch any game i chose to watch. so, this b.s. doesn't cut it. in fact, i did miss the second goal by brazil. watching the replay of the goal later, there was an obvious offsides call missed. the third goal by brazil was much closer, but still was perhaps offsides.

this is why i hate cable.

but, i love cable for other reasons. like on demand. today i watched concert footage of johnny cash from 1994, and watched concert footage of the cure. previously i've watched the dresden dolls and radiohead. and there is a lot of other good, free stuff available on demand. that is, when you've got service.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

i'm back...

yes, after 5 days of no internet, i'm back. we had a great time helping becky move to canon city, co. and hanging out with jay. if you want to see a small photo diary of the trip, click on the link to my flickr account. about 50 pics.

watched the england/ecuador game this morning. ecuador looked pretty good in the first half, and england more or less dominated the second. beckham looked great on his set pieces, and scored the winner. marcelo balboa annoyed me most of the game by talking about how beckham wasn't as good as everyone says, how england should sub him for someone that wouldn't slow the attack and so on. look, you shlep, that's how they want their offense. one side is more fast paced, quick attacking, the other is a little more deliberate. that sort of balance helps them be pretty dangerous. and unless beckham is a liability on defense, which he hasn't been, then his strength on set pieces more than makes it worth it for him to be on the field.

now, i'm writing this @ the start of the portugal/netherlands game. now that the u.s. is out, i think i'm wholeheartedly throwing my support behind the dutch side. as i spoke about the other day, maybe on my blog or on dana's, i've always liked the dutch for no real reason(i checked, it was on mine). so, hopefully they'll go far. of course, with my luck, they'll lose this match and be done with it. sadly, netherlands isn't wearing the orange kit today.

which brings me to something i've been wondering, and i'm sure some stat geek has: the record of teams based on sponsorship (Nike has 8, Adidas 6, Puma has 12. like, how are the adidas teams doing versus nike? and what about puma and umbro? did kelme, kappa or some other company show up? (here's a an interesting link, but no stats)

Monday, June 19, 2006

music

a short recommendation for two groups if you like hip hop.

the coup - a group out of oakland. i've got their album "party music" as well as their new one, "pick a bigger weapon"

public enemy - the godfathers of political hip hop. they've kept making music, and lately i picked up two of their latest, "new whirl odor" and "rebirth of a nation". definately worth a listen.


if you don't like hip hop, i don't got much for you today.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

photo update

hey, i uploaded a bunch of photos from becky's farewell kareoke. click on the art photo + friend photo link to the right!

alright gents

ghana led the way this morning (2-0 over czech republic), now it's our turn. beat the italians.

Friday, June 16, 2006

friday night plans

hey, you're welcome to join us for:
jeopardy @ 7 - wink, you know
dave chappelle's block party - 8ish
kareoke @ tokyo - 10

call me on the cell and rsvp

some beautiful games

today, i woke up to watch the early game (6am) between argentina and serbia/montenegro. turned on the tv, plopped down on the couch, and fell back asleep. i think i woke up to hear the call on 2 of argentina's 6 goals. 6 goals? wha? serbia hadn't given up a goal in like the last dozen games or so. bad time to break that streak.

i was well rested for the netherlands - ivory coast game, which was fabulous. i've always loved the dutch side, for no real reason other than great players and fabulous orange kits. the current unis, damn near rediculous. really, they're probably one of the few teams still sportin a collar on their shirts. and the numbers look like they're taped on in electrical tape, all square and such. they played good, had two fabulous goals. cote d'ivoire looked good as well, had a super nice goal, and almost had an equalizer (it was off the woodwork). holland was another team that hadn't yeilded a goal in a while, but did today.

and then, to cap off my soccer start of the day, mexico failed to win. that...was...awesome. angola, in their first world cup ever, played them close the whole game and stole away a draw. mexico leads the group w/4 points but moving on isn't guaranteed for the number one seed. angola looked pretty strong all match, and spent most of the first half in control of the game. mexico, outside of two or three stretches of the game, frequently failed to string together passes in the final third. and i loved it all. probably the only thing better would have been to watch this game with someone else, even if they were a mexico fan. if the u.s. fails to advance, my only consolation may be if mexico fails to advance as well. it would be unlikely, but still possible.

u.s. vs. italy, tomorrow @ 11:30. feel free to join me as i root on our side. i'm hoping for 2-0 u.s. hey, i can dream.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

kareoke june 16

so, becky, are you sad that you're leaving? you look sad. sad? sad? sad, sad? just kidding. (that's a inside joke, don't worry about it. it's not really that funny.)


but, as a part of the becky farewell tour, we hooking it up @ tokyo garden for some kareoke on friday night. show starts @ 10. come one, come all. and, as a reminder, here's this link.


don't know how to get there? see here (1711 n fulton)

don't like to sing? that's alright. you're welcome to come and have a beverage and a laugh.

and, although people sometimes goof on it, i recommend you make a list of songs you might like to sing. sometimes the spirit just hits you (and you fall down) and you know what to sing. but, most of the time, you're struggling to think of good songs. that's why i make lists.

quick hit

this is something you will rarely see: another sport being cut and cross country added.

not much to say...yet

so, i haven't had too much to talk about. most of my time lately has been spent on my couch, watching the world cup. hey, if you want, you can join me on saturday morning for the u.s. vs italy. the game starts @ 11:55. this is pretty much a must win. ok, it's still possible to advance with a draw here, but a win would put us in a much better position.

i want to send some love out to one of my new favorite night spots: lipari. it's a nice little italian place on fern, next to starline and just down from 'stones. nice little patio, friendly service staff, excellent sweet potato fries, nice prices on libations. needs a little bit better ventilation, and slightly less echo'y to be prefect.

after sweden/paraguay i think i'll ride my bike over to target. need to pick up a few things. maybe that'll be eventful or thought provoking enough to inspire some good bloggin.

Monday, June 12, 2006

wasp anyone?

so, when mike wise came over to watch the u.s. suck it up with me, he informed me that there was a wasp's nest in our little peep hole knocker deal. he was right. i looked at it and it did not appear to currently have any wasps in it. so, i took a golf club that was in the entryway (i should put those away), opened the peep hole, and knocked it down. it feel on the ground and broke open. it was weird. appeared to be filled with dead little wasp babies, as well as little dead spiders. a bunch of both. bizarre. so, i cleaned up the mess and watched the game.

for the italy-ghana game, i went over to my mom's to watch with my brother. (he had the kids over there. our apt. isn't the most kid friendly.) so, when i came home, i saw a wasp fly out of the peeper. i looked in, and saw this:






so, i knocked the new one down. it was empty. but, before i was done, the wasp came back with more mud. he dropped it and flew off.



i waited a bit to try and get a photo, but he didn't came back. we'll see what happens next.

vegas, my story (now with pictures!)

here's the story. now, i'm not going to recount every little detail, just some stuff.

thursday - arrived, took a nap, played a little craps and pai gow. then the woody's showed up, with their friend russel. nice guy, we met @ woody's wedding. anyway, we hung out around the new frontier for a little, then went downtown for a bit (craps & slots), back to the n.front and played some blackjack.

friday - watched a little germany in the morning, and then went to the time share sales pitch. that is, after all, how we had 4 days & 3nights for free in vegas. want details how you can go for the same deal? anyway, after that we did something. and then we went back downtown, played some poker and some slots. i am unashamed, i love downtown vegas. then back to the new frontier for some more cards.

saturday - got up early and watched england. then went back to sleep for a while. then, went downtown to binions and played in a poker tourney. now, they have 4 of these a day, so it's not like it was some elite deal. but, there were over 70 in this tourney. i made it to the final tenth, finishing tenth. lowest payday spot. not huge money, but i won back my entry fee plus a little. heather and sara went to the wax museum, and shopping. so, heather was pretty tuckered out. she ended up staying in the rest of the evening. woody, sara, russel and i went to dinner @ il fornio (in n.y. n.y.) and then to a comedy show @ the riveria. it was free with our sales pitch. after that, we went to gilly's for a bit, then to harrah's outdoor deal. then back to new frontier. then hotel for sleep.

sunday - the woody's went home early this day, and we were flying out @ 8:30 p. so, i watched some soccer, heather and i played some penny slots. we went to some malls and to the airport.

and so went a fun, but tiring weekend. but, of course, i got up @ 5:45 to watch soccer. (the u.s. looked like crap this morning in the 2nd game. they better win the next 2.)

and now to the photo's

this is for jay. for some reason he always wants to see this show.


heather in front of our hotel...


the riviera!


sara and woody (the unapproved by sara version)


sara and woody (the approved version)


sara and heather


woody throws them 'bows, sara heather and russ.


poker legend doyle brunson, at binion's.


heather and hugh. he offered her a job apparently.


sara and hugh. no job offer. maybe he's got some sort of aversion to pregnant ladies.


brad pitt, i know that you are recently divorced, and just had a kid, but stay away from my wife.


sara, explaining to cap'n picard why the original cast was better.


heather's trying to break up the band.


"don't hurt the tiger! montecore was trying to help me."


here's your chance to tell the president what you really think.


lady di. yep, she's alive and in vegas!

Monday, June 05, 2006

the omen




7pm, signature theater.

who's coming with heather and i?

Sunday, June 04, 2006

what a week

this is a big week! not so much for me personally, but a lot's going on.

tuesday - the release of the new version of the omen.

thursday - the start of the nba finals

thursday - we're spending time in vegas

friday - the beginning of the world cup

sounds like fun.