I can be an odds-maker

During the soccer season, I will mostly be thinking about soccer. I think my bloggity-blog will largely reflect that. Starting today, I am going to include my predictions for winners of the weekend MLS games. If only I worked in a really cool office where people cared about soccer; I could use my predictions to win a pool.

Toronto FC at Columbus Crew
Word is that even with a new coach, Toronto is playing awful. Gabby says they are the team to beat this year. Columbus also has home field advantage and that one guy who wears his sleeves shorter than everyone else’s. I’m fairly certain we’ll see a Crew victory from this one.

Chicago Fire at Real Salt Lake
As much as I hate to admit it, Chicago is good. Or they were last season. I don’t like Blanco. I think he is a baby. I am also afraid that with another off-season overhaul of RSL, they aren’t playing at their full potential, yet. Of course I am hoping for a RSL win, but I think when we hit 90:00, the Fire will go away with the 3 points.

Houston Dynamo at New England Revolution
Oh boy! Here we have a match-up of the two teams that played in last year’s MLS Cup. If this game goes the way of the cup, Houston will win. I’m thinking it will. The Revs lost Noonan and Dorman. I’m sure their misery over that will slow them down. It certainly did me.

DC United at Kansas City Wizards
Kansas City sans Eddie Johnson? When they were forced to play without him last year, they lost almost every game. I hope they’ve acquired some depth since losing him. I’d say DC takes it, but not by more than a point. The Wizards are at home, and though they don’t start him much, they still have Sasha Victorine!

Los Angeles Galaxy at Colorado Rapids
This game could end in a 0-0 tie, but I think Colorado might pull out a victory. Nothing that happened in the off-season convinced me that LA has made any strides towards becoming a better team. Beckham and Donovan will be jet-lagged and tired from playing earlier in the week. Who else is on the team? I give this match to the Rapids.

Chivas USA at FC Dallas
The only Sunday game this weekend and it’s against the two teams whose shirts involve red and white stripes. I love Kenny Cooper. However, I love Esky a little more. And I think Chivas is probably still the better team. I’m giving the victory to them.

Good luck to all (except Colorado, I hope they lose). One day.

Call me!

I am a cell phone murderer! Since I started working at my current job (a little over 2 years ago) I have owned four different phones. When I got a new phone it was because I was forced to.

First phone I broke by sending it through the washing machine. Yeah, apparently you shouldn’t do that. Who knew?

Next phone was a Sidekick 3. I hated that blasted phone. First problem: whenever I made a call on it, I was told I sounded like I was “underwater”. Second problem: It would not receive some text messages. Ever. I would have them sent to me multiple times and never get them. I called the service provider and they informed me that I would have to wait to get the software update sent to me. Lame. Third problem: When it got cold, it would lose all its battery and die. It would turn off and I could not turn it back on until I charged it. Not good since I owned it mostly in the winter. There were times when it would just freeze up on me and I would have to take out the battery and memory card and then wait for it to turn back on. Sidekicks take a very long time to turn on. I also dropped it one too many times and so it wouldn’t flip correctly. I don’t blame the cell phone maker for that, just me for being clumsy. Finally, I took it on Splash Mountain and go the wettest I have ever gotten on that ride. Unfortunately, my phone also got wet (or kind of fortunately in this case). I dried it out by removing all the parts I could, but then for the last while I owned it, the screen was upside down and backwards. That was interesting when trying to read/write text messages.

Next phone was my favorite phone I have ever owned. It was a Samsung and was a thin little candy bar phone. This one I snapped in half. Yes, I managed to snap a phone in half. When I tried to buy another one of the same model, I was told it was only for new customers. What?!

I am currently on a Motorola SLVR. I like it fine, but it makes me angry a lot of days. I purchased it unlocked from a website and turns out it is a European Phone. It will not learn how to spell “thing” in predictive text. I have taught it that word every day, but it will not learn it. Instead I get vigoi. Also, it likes German words, even though I set it to English. It spells “im” before is spells “in”. It suggests umlauts to me on most words that contain an “o”. When I start to spell early, the first word it comes up with is Darjeeling. It takes me much longer to write a text message than it should.

Sometimes it’s so frustrating I wish it would break. But then, I don’t know what I’d do. T-Mobile has lame phones and I wouldn’t want to purchase another European one.

I am convinced that the cell phone gods are punishing me for mistreating so many of their brethren. But I can’t help being so clumsy!

Soccer is the world's favorite sport

So, last night was the “Kickoff Cup” for Real Salt Lake at Skyline High School. (?) We were a little late due to my idiocy in not thinking of taking the I-215. Sorry about that, Gabby. The weather was alright when we first arrived, but it quickly got chilly and windy. Thankfully, it was not raining. I was not prepared for that. We did have to huddle down through most of the second half. I don’t know how the fans of European soccer deal with the weather through their entire season.

Anyway, the starting lineup was announced and we were still looking for a seat. I did catch that we started Kyle Reynish in goal (though I would have known him anyway). Dema Kovalenko was also on the field as was Alex Nimo. I have not seen either of them play for RSL before. Pretty much the only other person on the field that I recognized was Kenny Cutler. Why is he still around?

We settled on some front row seats near the center of the field only to find Leo standing directly in front of us and obstructing our view. We got up and went to the north end of the bleachers and settled towards the back.

The game was actually kind of boring. Kovalenko scored around the 20th minute. It was a lovely shot. Cheering and then pretty much nothing happened again until he scored again about fifty minutes later. Movsisyan scored the third of the game not too long after. Even more reason to love Movsisyan, not that we need any. The game ended on that score. RSL won 3-0.

I think the low point was when the Lobos Girls (I don’t know if that’s what they are called, but that is what we will call them) got up to dance at half-time. I’m not sure what they were doing, but I, a self-confessed terrible dancer, could have choreographed a better dance than what they subjected us to. Thankfully, their dance was only about one minute long, but then when they decided to throw out T-shirts and do some additional dancing; they played the same Black Eyed Peas song again. I think they only had that one minute clip of the song, so they played it over and over. It was annoying.
So help me if RSL gets “cheerleaders” when we move to the new stadium, I will boycott them. I can figure out when to yell for my team. If I couldn’t I still wouldn’t want some idiots telling me when to do it.

Come on in, the water's fine!

I love water. It is my favorite of the elements. I love to drink water, to listen to it, to watch it, but most of all; I love to swim in it. That was not always the case. When mom took me to my first swimming lesson I was terrified. The way the water moved against me freaked me out. I was sure it was going to push me over.

It only took a little coaxing; however, and assurances that water moved that way, before I was out as deep as they would let me go. I took a couple years of swimming lessons. I learned the basics, jumping off the diving board, the freehand stroke, etc. Most of my swimming comes from my cousin Yevin or from my dad.

Yevin taught me the swimmer’s start and the turn around when they’ve completed a lap (I can’t remember how to turn around anymore). He taught me to dive. He taught me to swim underwater without plugging my nose. Dad taught me to swim using my legs mostly, to float on my back, and to snorkel.

I love to snorkel. I prefer swimming in lakes for this reason. Lakes are not crowded. You don’t have to fight fifty other people for the same cubic foot of water space. You are free to swim as far as you like with only the piranhas to worry about.

I can swim pretty much anywhere, the deeper the better. I’m an excellent treader-of-water. I love to put on my fins, mask and snorkel and swim out as far as I can and then swim back. Then I collapse on the dock/shore/etc. and pant until I am ready for another go.

Unfortunately most of my siblings don’t share my love of swimming. Oh sure, they like to go to the pool, but only if it’s warm. My little brother loves to swim about as much as I do, but he’s not quite up to my level. It was also difficult as a kid. Most of my friends would swim for an hour maybe two and be done. I wanted to swim all day. I didn’t care where; I wanted to be in the water.

And it hasn’t gotten any better as I’ve gotten older. I like to walk in the water. I like to swim in it. I like to canoe. I wear Tevas on purpose when hiking so that if I encounter water, I can get in it. I’m pretty good at skipping rocks (the secret is to be as close to the surface of the water as possible).

So, summer is my favorite season because of that too. The activities that are generally associated with summer are my favorite things to do. I’m ready.

Take a hike.

Happy Easter!

I’m pretty sure that Gabby and I will be writing about the same thing. Friday night we decided to take a little daytrip to Zion National Park. We chose the Kolob Canyon entrance because it’s closer and had a hike we wanted to take last year. The hike is called Taylor Creek Middle Fork.

The hike is a nice hike. I’ll bet in summer it’s a great hike. Unfortunately, right now it’s still cool down there and with the very heavy snowfall this winter, about half of the trail was still snowy.

We were wearing shorts and tevas, so we were exposed to the snow. It was alright, though. I had a good time. The water wasn’t too cold. Especially after we walked in the snow for a while and our feet were freezing from the ice.

At the end is a little alcove. We stopped and took pictures and turned around. We met a lot of people on the way back and they kept asking us how much farther it was. Gabby, luckily, had our very useful book so she was able to tell them how far it was from each point.

Here’s a picture of Gabby with our useful book at Bryce last year. Every hike we go on, she brings it with. It points out useful sights, things we would probably miss without the book. It gives us advice on where to eat and where to stay. It tells us how long each hike is, where they begin and end. What type of scenery and terrain you’ll encounter. It was a sound investment. Lonely Planet’s Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks.

We also bought a National Park Pass so that we can spend the next year not paying to enter them anymore. We’ll surely be getting our use out of it.

6 days until first kick and tomorrow is the Real vs. Lobos PFT game!

You know I love you more than one guy should

My sister invited me to go to the Novell Brainshare Concert with her last night. She got tickets from a friend who didn’t want to go, but knew how much she loved the band playing. That band was none other than Collective Soul.

Collective Soul is one of my favorite bands. I’ve been listening to them since their first album came out in 1995. I was really excited for the concert.

Unfortunately, not everyone who was at the concert was as excited as we were. You could tell as soon as the first song started, they were unsure of what was going on. I chalk that up to the fact that they are a bunch of nerds from a computer company. No offense whatsoever to them, but it was kind of funny. Never before have I seen people leave a concert after a song or two.

I like to stand throughout a whole concert. I prefer the floor. Those are the people who are really there to see and hear the band. They dance and sing along and generally have a good time. All the people around us last night were seated and were not singing, dancing or anything. It was kind of disappointing.

I was comparing it to the last Collective Soul concert I went to. It was about seven years ago. I’m pretty sure the people next to me were drunk, but they were enjoying themselves. We were all standing and dancing and singing along. It was a good time. I felt bad for the band last night. Most of the people were just sitting still like they were at the symphony or something.

Anyway, we had a good time and we also got to see the comic Frank Caliendo. He does voices in his act such as John Madden, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Charles Barkley, Jay Leno, Kermit the Frog, Robin Williams, etc. It’s very impressive they way he just goes from voice to voice. And hilarious.

We are now down to the single digits. 9 Days.

Unky Moe, my sody is too cold, it makes my teef hurt.

Yesterday morning I went to the dentist. In preparation I brushed my teeth twice that morning, flossed and swished with Listerine mouthwash. It must have paid off, because the dentist and his assistant both said that I have very clean teeth and that I should keep doing what I am doing.

My dentist is located in Magna, which is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. I have been going to the same dentist my entire life. He knows my family well. When we were little, he had a prize drawer. When you had finished with the dentist, you got a toothbrush and then you got to go pick a little toy from the drawer. I got all sorts of cheap little knick-knacks that I loved.

I think the prize drawer is part of the reason that I like the dentist. It’s not that I’ve never had painful work performed, because I surely have. I have had cavities filled without the aid of gas or shots. I had all four of my wisdom teeth pulled last year and I remember pretty much the entire procedure; and I felt it.

But he’s a really good dentist. He takes good care of me and the pain is never so bad that I can’t forgive and forget.

I don’t get a prize from the drawer anymore. I’m not even sure if he still has one. I get a toothbrush, mouthwash, floss, and toothpaste. And the free stuff, still kind of wins me over.

Here it goes!

So, absolutely nothing has been going on in my life. It’s the same as always. I get up, get ready for work, drive to work, work, drive home from work, run, watch TV and go to sleep.

With spring coming on, I am getting very excited. Not only for soccer, but also for all the other stuff that comes with warmer weather. In my case that means camping, swimming, hiking, and all that other outdoors-y stuff.

When I was young, my family used to spend almost all summer camping at one place or another. I’ve been to Bryce, Arches, Zion, Capitol Reef, Mesa Verde, Great Basin, and everywhere in between. We spent a lot of time at our friend’s cabin up in Island Park, Idaho on Bill’s Island. It’s one of my favorite places in the world.

We also had a property up Fairview Canyon where there was a lake. The lake didn’t allow boats with motors, so there were a lot of fishers, canoes, rowboats, peddle boats and all that. We would swim in the lake, too.

Sadly, Gabby was not treated to such an outdoor-friendly childhood as I was. She did not spend her childhood vacationing. So, in my mothering efforts (that’s just my personality), I am trying to go to as many places as I can with her. Last year we visited Bryce and Zion. This year, I’m hoping we can get to Capitol Reef, which is my favorite of the National Parks I have been to.

And, I’m also trying to get her to try new things. I think this year we may actually camp one of our trips. Although, I admit, I kind of prefer the hotel route. It’s nice to come back from your long exhausting hike and take a shower or lie in a bed. You can’t do much of that with tents.

We will definitely be spending a lot of time outside and out of town this summer. It’s great. Utah is a summer state, to me. I don’t like the winter activities or the cold. Plus, ReAL doesn’t play in the winter.

Eighteen Days.

It's ReAL now.

In an effort to show the world how nerdy I am (I doubt further proof is needed) I will divulge some information.

I have a word of the day calendar. Actually, I have two word of the day calendars. One is the Merriam Webster word of the day, with definitions; and the other is the word origins calendar. I know its lame, but I love words. I love the history of words. I love using big words to prove how smart I am.

These calendars are very useful. They have taught me such words as octothorp (another word for a number sign) and chary (wary). As well as what klick means when used by the army (a kilometer) and where dibs comes from (a game played by Scottish children where they would say “dibs” when capturing one another’s dibstones). Every day I tear a page off each and learn about two more words.

And now I’m going to make it part of my blog. That way, anyone who reads will increase their nerdiness as well. The English language has nearly one million words, so I have a lot to share. Compare that to less than 300,000 for Spanish and only about 100,000 for French.

Now here is my soapbox moment.

I’m not a curser. Most of the words I use for cursing are not altogether common. I like ones like “Holy Mac!” or ones I hear on TV/movies or read in books. I think my favorite is “blast and double blast” which comes from one of the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde. I’m also partial to “ah nerts” which I have heard used on How I Met Your Mother, The Simpsons and It Happened One Night.

I don’t want you to get me wrong. I don’t yell at people for swearing. I don’t groan during a movie every time someone uses language (my friend in high school actually did this). I just don’t choose to use these words myself. With one million words, I think I can come up with something better.

So I’m going to force my words on everyone else.

Today is parsimonious: frugal to the point of stinginess. This is definitely not a word that describes me. I am a fan of stimulating the economy. A great example of this is the purchase of ReAL season tickets, which I got today. 23 days until we use the first one!

Gabby sent me a most awesome fruit basket today. This is a lovely picture of it. It has strawberries, pineapple, canteloupe and grapes. All of them the best looking fruit you've ever seen, as well as delicious. It's also adorable because it looks like flowers. It was so pretty.

I don't write a lot in my blog.

I feel like a failure. It's just I spend all day at work at my computer and can harldy think of anything to write.

I think it's partly because I am of one mind lately. I think about soccer almost all the time. I am so excited for the season to start (in 24 days). I am sad because we have lost a lot of good guys, but I am also excited for these new ones.

Here's hoping for the best.