Me and My Imaginary Friends

The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

New Office

So, we leased out half of our office building to another company.  Over the past couple of weeks, we've all consolidated into one section of our building.  What used to be a sprawling and spacious building is now full...almost bursting at the seams.  The main change for me is that I now sit very close to the owners of the company.  I didn't think that would be a big deal because we've actually closed off the door between "us" and "them."  But I have already seen the owners several times today.  In fact, I had my door closed this morning because I was on a conference call.  One of them opened the door and poked his head in.  I guess he wanted to know if anyone was now occupying this office.  Funny thing is, that's the second time he's done that to me - he did it once before in my old office.  (I keep my door closed quite a bit - sometimes because I'm on the phone and sometimes because I'm cold.)  Anyway, no big deal - it's just odd seeing them and having them say hello to me.
 
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Friday, June 13, 2008

Now With 50% MORE Soccer!

So, Germany played Croatia yesterday. So sad. My Germans lost 1 - 2. Who knew that Croatia had such a good team? [Obligatory Arsenal mention alert!] One of Arsenal's most exciting players, Eduardo da Silva, should have been on the Croatian team. Unfortunately, he sustained an almost-career-ending injury back in February. At the time, they estimated that he would be out for 9 months. We didn't think we'd see him until October, November, or December of the coming season. But the latest news says we may see him earlier than that.

Anyhoo, Eduardo's got great spirit and is a really good little scorer. And yes, he is technically Brazilian. But if the German team can have two Polish players, why can't the Croatian team have a Brazilian? (Yeah, I still don't get how people decide which national team to play for 'cause there was another guy on the Croatian team who was born and raised in Australia.) In general, the Germans had a really frustrating game. The biggest problem in my mind was that the manager started the same lineup from the previous game. But there was one player in that mix who just played terribly in both games, Gomez. (Gomez, that's a good German name.) Germany finally scored after he was replaced, but it was too little, too late.

This doesn't mean that Germany's out of the tournament. But it means that they probably have to face Portugal next. That is a scary proposition for any team. The only good news is that Germany beat this same Portugal team at the World Cup to finish third. So, Portugal is not unbeatable.

Today, the Dutch take on France. I so hope that Thierry Henry is fit for the match. I can't take another lack-luster performance from France. Plus, Henry vs. Ruud? I've got chillbumps just thinking about how exciting this game can be!

Also on the schedule for today is Italy vs. Romania. How do you say "Kick Butt" in Romanian?

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Euro 2008

I know, I know, you hate it when I write about soccer. Sorry, it's can't be helped right now. Why? Because one of the biggest tournaments is happening right now...Euro 2008. Euro 2008 happens every 4 years, alternating with the World Cup. Did I explain that right? So, the last World Cup was in 2006, Euro is in 2008, the next World Cup is in 2010 and the next Euro is in 2012.

So, as the name implies, only European national teams play, which only leaves out a couple of really big teams...Brazil and Brazil and ... Brazil. (OK, Argentina has a great team.)

THIS is why I fell in love with soccer. Two games every day! Each player on each team playing like each second of each game matters. The big difference this time around? I understand the game and know the players.

A quick summary of the games I've seen (and care about).

Germany vs. Poland - This is my German team. I fell in love with them 2 years ago and the shine hasn't worn off. From my Mad German goal keeper, Jens Lehmann (only recently no longer of my Arsenal), to the Polish Wunderkind, Lukas Podolski (who doesn't seem to play this well for his home club), this team plays with passion. Quite simply, they are a pleasure to watch. Podolski scored 2 goals to lead his team to victory over Poland. (By the way, don't ask me why 2 of Germany's best players are actually Polish. I don't understand it.)

France vs. Romania - This is not my French team. And I'm not happy about it. First, Thierry Henry was injured and on the bench. Arggg! I want to see Henry play!!! Second, the manager really should have brought in Gael Clichy at left back, but he didn't even make the team. Instead, we saw Abidol. Seriously? At least start Patrice Evra if you're not going to select Clichy. Basically, France and Romania just ran around the pitch for 90 minutes, not doing a whole lot of anything. Actually, Romania got in France's face quite a bit. But France should have blown Romania away. Instead, the match ended in a 0 - 0 draw. Nope, not my France at all!

Turkey vs. Cristiano Ronaldo - So, it's supposed to be Turkey vs. Portugal. Yeah, like anyone is watching this Portuguese team because of Deco or Carvalho (except me, I like Deco). While the world is all a buzz about where Ronaldo will play next year, Man U or Real Madrid, he claims to be focused solely on Euro 2008. I begrudgingly admit that the guy is amazing to watch. But he knows it...and that just rubs me the wrong way. Whatever. Turkey concentrated on shutting him down. Ronaldo didn't score, but Portugal still won, 2 - 0. Interesting, but expected.

Holland vs. Italy - There's an old phrase, "To beat the Dutch." It means to say something incredible. And if you had told me ahead of time that Holland were going to thrash World Cup holders Italy 3 - 0, I would have said, "Well, don't that beat the Dutch!" But you still would have been right. Holy Hannah. Ruud van Nistelrooy had to be begged by the national team manager to even play in the tournament and then scored a gorgeous, though controversial, little blooper of a goal to lead his team to victory. This is when it's nice to understand the game. Every person on the planet thought Ruud was offsides and that the goal wouldn't count. Ruud himself kept turning around to see how the assistant ref would rule it. But the offsides flag never went up, and, Bob's your uncle.

Quite simply, the offsides rule states that an offensive player (the ones trying to score at any given moment) can't be between the ball and the goal unless there is also a defensive player (other than the keeper) also between him and the goal. (There's more to it than that, including the timing of passes, but I'll leave it there for this discussion.) Essentially, this keeps each team from letting one guy hang out around the keeper, just waiting for the ball to get to him. (Which is totally what I'd do. "You want me to run? Yeah, I don't think so. I'm just gonna hang out down here by the goal. You run around and when you get the ball, you kick it to me and I'll see if I can get it in the goal.") Without this rule, there'd be a lot more scoring and a lot less drama. The key to this particular play was that one of the defensive players was off the field, actually behind the goal. He'd been pushed off the field by his own keeper when he and another player came barreling at the keeper with the ball. The keeper threw his own defender out of the way so that he could deal with the ball (which he didn't do very well since it got loose again and made it to the end of Ruud's foot). The Italian defender then just laid down back there, enjoying the Swiss sunshine. He wasn't really hurt, maybe he was winded, but that doesn't mean he's ruled out of play. At least, that's how the refs interpreted the situation. The players, even Ruud, had no idea that the guy lying on the ground still counted as active and basically kept every single Dutch player onside. Anyway, this goal is a big talking point now and we'll see all kinds of clarifications about this situation in the coming weeks. (It's like the shoe polish play in the 1969 World Series. But you probably don't get that reference, either...)

Wow, I waited this long to tell you that Robin van Persie, of Arsenal, came on as a substitute. I would rather Robin not be in this tournament. He was plagued by injuries last season and the last thing we need is for him to get hurt on international duty. Let Ruud do all the scoring, keep RvP on the bench, please.

Spain vs. Russia - No surprise that Spain won, although getting beat 4 -1 is more than a tad embarrassing for the Russian team. The big deal out of this match was that the big superstar, "El Nino"
Fernando Torres, didn't score. Instead, David Villa scored the first hat trick of the tournament (3 goals in one match). I was thrilled that my little Cesc Fabregas was brought on as a substitute and even scored the 4th goal. It's hard to watch Cesc play on this team. He's the heart of Arsenal and we'd be up the creek without him. But the Spanish team doesn't revolve around him, so he doesn't look that impressive. I know, he's only 20. But I'd love to see what the Spanish side would do if they really let him drive. I think they'd be unstoppable.

Greece vs. Sweden - Ok, yeah, I admit that there was only one reason to watch this match. Sweden won 2 - 0. But I only cared about the result in that it would keep a certain Swedish captain on my television screen for a few more games.

Czech Republic vs. Portugal - Portugal won 3 -1. Ronaldo scored once and had one assist, both of which were gorgeous. Arsenal should have had a player on the Czech team, Tomas Rosicky, but he's been hurt for a while now. I'm glad he didn't play; we need him in full form next season.

And that about catches you up with the games that interest me. I left out a few games that I didn't watch. But who really cares about the Austrian or Swiss teams? They only got in the tournament by default by co-hosting it. (OK, technically, Arsenal has a player on the Swiss team, but he's a defender and not exciting to watch at all.)

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Published Again

I got published again, twice. Well, this is kinda cheating because 1) I'm not getting paid and 2) these are only blogs. But, still, it's always nice when someone thinks your photo is the right one to accompany their story.

One of my Ireland photos was published on National Geographic Traveler's "Intelligent Travel" blog. That makes three they've used. Wait, can I tell people that I've been published by National Geographic? Hmm...

The other one is a little more interesting because this shot came completely out of my brain. Someone contacted me through Flickr to ask if they could use one of my Barbie (Midge, really) shots for an article on their site. The site is supposed to be a community gathering place for Panama City. It's a new site, so I don't know how many people read it. The big deal is that the guy who contacted me is a fantastic photographer. It's really cool when someone that good wants to use one of your images.