Germany Wins!!

I just finished watching the Germany v Argentina match and it was pretty damn good. I'll admit that I like watching soccer a bit more now. Compared to other sports its nice that soccer doesn't really stop the game that much for stuff like time outs and what have you. Today's game ended in a shoot out with Germany making 4 goals to Argentina's 2.

Next up is the match with Italy v Ukraine. That one should be interesting but I'm more interested in the other matches. I'm anxios to see how Brazil does.

Oh glorious Friday!!

Ahhh today is pretty awesome so far. Today I woke up slightly later than I normally do (thats because of the cat or else I would have woken up even later) and set about to TELECOMMUTE for the day. This is one of the best things ever invented on the planet for office workers. Not only do I get to stay home, but I can do all my regular work as if I was in the office but just without the distractions of my co-workers. I have the added benefit of being able to actually make use of my home computer today which I don't do nearly enough.

Today I'm going to be testing out my GPS stuff that I just got yesterday for my phone. It looks really promising even though the maps are a bit on the dated side for Florida. If this was for the north east I'm sure I wouldn't have a problem since no one is building roads up that way anymore. I also have to actually hit up my bank and make a deposit. I haven't done something like that in a long time since all my stuff is done electronically most of the time.

I'm also going to spend some time with my older cat Thumper since I've been away quite a bit during the month of June. He's the affectionate one although my wife differs in that opinion and calls him annoying. I can see her point of view though since he loves waking us up at 6 every single day. He normally starts keeping quiet when I pet him or somehting in the morning. I'll let him run around and play with the laser pen I have since he enjoys doing that.

The rest of the weekend should be pretty good too. I have a 4 day weekend! Thank you 4th of July!! 4th of July means tons of 4th of July sales and of course that means tons of shopping. AWESOME! I'm heading to the Prime Outlets at Ellenton in order to pick up some clothing for work since I'm getting kind of tired of the polo's and I figure I might as well get some button down shirts since I'm low on those. I'm also going to get an exercise bike and I'll probably sell the trusty Nordic Track because my back really hurts after I use it. Hopefully I can put the bike downstairs since the Nordic Track disturbed the neighbors and currently sits upstairs on the loft along with my computer. Time to get to work!! :)

World Cup vs. Olympics

I will be the first to admit that I am not an avid watcher of sports. So far the only things I'll really watch is stuff like the super bowl, NY Yankee baseball, and tennis if its one of the four major tournaments unless I'm going to see it live, oh and X-Games because that shit is just super cool to see. Just this past year I think the Olympics were on for the winter, I can't remember since I had just about zero interest in watching it and neither did a lot of other people. However now that the World Cup is on, people are leaving work and taking really long breaks to watch it. I've seen people with streaming video on their PC's with highlights of the games.

I find this kind of interesting that there is so much more interest in the World Cup than there is for the Olympics. They both have a lot of similarities in my view. They both occur only once every 4 years in a different location around the globe, there are national teams from all over the world competing, but the major difference is that the World Cup is just soccer (or football to all you international people) wheras the Olympics encompasses a lot of sports. World Cup coverage in the US has been pretty good so far with tons of matches being showcased on ESPN and ABC even though the US team is pretty lousy when it comes to soccer on the international stage. Maybe thats part of the appeal, the US isn't a major player in the sport and it gives the rest of the planet a chance to cheer for someone else or see someone else take the crown.........

They do say that soccer is the worlds sport. I know that people all over the world except for the US go crazy for this sport which is probably why attendance is so high at the World Cup compared to the Olympics. Germany has so many stadiums in its country dedicated to soccer that it must be giving the whole country a huge economic boost wheras the Olympics are really centered on just one small location in a country. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the World Cup even though I have to Tivo it. The only World Cup final that I remember is the one in 1998 and that final was kind of dull by ending in a shoot out. I hope that FIFA has changed things around a bit so that the final has to be played out all the way till there is a clear winner, sudden death over time baby!!!!!!!!!

Thursday shall be glorious!

Why is Thursday going to be so super sweet?? Well for one thing, I'm getting the GPS software and Bluetooth attena for my Treo at the office via FedEx, secondly, two of the movies that I rented from Blockbuster are coming as well so its not going to be another boring evening of watching bad re-runs on TV, and three I'm getting some extra moolah in the bank for some work I did last week. Ahhhhh what a wonderful day, can't wait till tomorrow comes around. Now if I could only find a way to get out of work early, say when I receive my package with my GPS stuff, that would make it the ultimate day as far as work days go.

Tivo plus Yahoo is just simply awesome

I've had Yahoo for quite a while but for the past few months I've been using Yahoo TV listings to set up recordings on my Tivo. I have to say that its super sweet. Right now the world cup is on and its always during the day so I can never watch it. Since I'm lazy and don't like using the Tivo to look up shows, I've been using Yahoo TV instead and just scheduling it from whatever PC I'm using. I have to say I love this feature. I've also experimented with some of the other features like traffic reports and weather but thats less useful to me right now.

I have just finished scheduling the Germany v Argentina game thats set for Friday. That game is going to be totally bad ass! Can't wait to see it when I get home on Friday night.

World Cup 2006

Lately like the rest of the planet, I've been watching World Cup Soccer. Its been really interesting to watch all the different national teams play each other and also hear the fans in the background chanting as well. It's too bad that USA soccer got bumped from the tournament but when I see these other countries play soccer, its just obvious they are so much better than USA soccer. Right now the teams that I'm most interested in is Brazil (of course), England, and Germany.

Right now I'm watching the Brazil/Ghana game and I just saw one of the really awesome forwards for Brazil basically dribble the ball into the goal past the Ghana goalie for a world record breaking 15 goals in the world cup. And Brazil scored within the starting five minutes of play! Now thats what I call some awesome soccer! I can't wait to see who's in the finals, I'm figuring I'm taking the day off to see that game. Hopefully it won't end in a shoot out like one of the other world cups that I saw in the past. It needs to be more exciting than that.

Yeah baby, I'm getting GPS!

This past weekend I decided to get a GPS bundle for my Treo. Most people probably would get one just as a standalone but those suckers are so expensive! The one I wanted was around $600 and I think thats a little too much. Instead I opted to get a TomTom GPS bundle with a Bluetooth receiver. The one I bought was a little over $200 which isn't bad and I got a car cradle for it too so I can mount it on my dash board so I can see where the maps on the screen. Although the screen is a bit small, I think this will be awesome for when I go to different cities that I'm not familiar with. The GPS unit is small enough to carry in my pocket and lasts for about 10 hours powered on. It should be here by Thursday :)

Now that's what I call a party!

I just got back from the best corporate party I have ever attended. I am currently in Miami attending a software conference conducted by HP. I've been here since Monday night and so far I've had a blast.

The first party was on Tuesday at Bongo's in Miami. There was tons of food there plus awesome Cuban music. There was the added benefit that the entire place was basically reserved for conference attendee's. I had about two plates of food and enjoyed the music for the night.

That party paled greatly in comparrison to the one that was tonight. HP and its partners had reserved a huge swath of beach right on Miami Beach and also in the middle of Ocean Avenue. Again, lots of Cuban food present to feed the 3000 or so people there. There was an open bar, well at least 6-10 open bars. There was an air brush tattoo artist, at least 2 regular bands, a cuban band and dance team, and after that a DJ. Oh it doesn't stop there! There are pillow lounge chairs everywhere, free Coldstone Ice Cream made on the premisis, and to top it off, a Cuban cigar roller on hand maiing free cigars for everyone. I also saw the largest skillets I have ever seen cooking food for the masses.

The party lasted to at least 10:30 but it could have been longer since it was going well after I left on a bus back to my hotel. I kept it light on the drinks but definately had ice cream and a good helping of food. I would have stayed longer but there are more things to attend tomorrow. I haven't been to that many conferences but this was by far the best. I'll remember this one for a long time to come. :)

Trip to Stamford, Part 1!

Well here I am in Stamford CT once again. Instead of being here to have fun I'm actually here doing my old job. There's a conference going on and they needed some help so what better way to get to Stamford than to volunteer to work there? I arrived yesterday after taking a really early flight (7:25) and then I went over to Budget to get my rental car. What car did I receive? A lovely sea green Ford Focus! I'm not the biggest fan of Ford or the Focus in particular but I will say this, that little thing has a bit of spunk to it. Compared to the PT Cruiser that I drove in Vegas, this thing has a bit more muscle to it. Granted I haven't driven it for very long but I have pushed it pretty hard on the highways basically because I know where I'm going and I have no fear of cops since I know all their hang outs on I-95 and the Merrit Parkway.

Now to top it all off, on top of getting the Ford Focus as a rental car, I am staying at a Howard Johnson's in Darien CT. Why so far? Because its graduation time in Stamford and every hotel is booked up solid. Most of the hotels approved for use by my company are like Hilton's and Marriots but since they're all filled, I had to dig way down and stay at a lovely HOJO! Everything in the room is like vintage 70's except for maybe the TV. The drapes, the furniture, especially the bathroom all looks like it was built in the 70's. I think its kind of amusing really. If I had my digital camera I would have taken a picture of it. I won't have to deal with it for too long since I am going to be leaving Stamford on Saturday anyway. Until my next post.......

Looks like Alberto is gonna get an upgrade

Since I live in lovely Floriduh, I've been watching the progress of good ole Alberto. Seems like he just hit 70mph for sustained winds. Add another 5 and he becomes a category 1 hurricane. By all projections its not going to come to Tampa unless it takes a major turn to the right, then it'll head straight into the bay but the likeliness of that happening is small right now. I'm just hoping they'll let us all telecommute tomorrow :)

Welcome to Tampa Tropical Storm Alberto

It's only 12 days into Hurricane Season here in the dirty south and what better way to kick things off than with a named Tropical Storm called Alberto. This thing started way down south but of course its going to hit Florida in some way. So far there has been a good amount of rain (if I'm lucky there will be enough of it so I don't have to go to work tomorrow and can telecommute), there will supposedly be high winds and there's even a tornado watch in a few of the counties next to mine. Wild stuff right?

I don't expect to see that much damage this time around. But just in case it gets bigger, Claire and I already went grocery shopping so we have plenty of supplies to last us through. I even went so far as to get two extra bags of cat food for my evil ones as well as a little bit of extra litter. I guess I'll see what happens in the next few hours, in the mean time I have to create a packing check list so I don't forget anything for my trip to Stamford later this week.

Logan's Roadhouse and Cars

This past Friday my wife and I went out to the movies and saw the Disney/Pixar movie Cars. It was pretty long for an animated movie but the content was great and the animation was freakin sweet! If you're into the Pixar films, go ahead and watch this one. There is a funny short at the begining of the movie like most Pixar films thats very well done too. K thats it for the movie, I'm not going to give away any of the story.

After the movie, we went to a close by restaurant called Logan's Roadhouse. It got a really good review on CitySearch so we figured why not give it a try. It's mostly a steak and rib place so of course we ordered a steak (me) and ribs (my wife). The food there was pretty good I have to say, it certainly lived up to its CitySearch reviews and the service was really good too. Quite attentive but not overly so like some of the more expensive places that we've been to. But the best part about this place? Unlimited peanuts! Yeah thats right, unlimited freakin peanuts and you know whats even better? You can be as messy as you want and toss the shells on the floor. This place was kind of like the English Long Bar in Singapore where you can eat all the peanuts that you want and toss the shells wherever. I didn't have too much because I had to save some room for dinner but still it was really fun over all. I'll have to find a branch in South Florida online one of these days when I'm good and bored and have nothing better to do with my time.

Yankees are in first place :)

Over the past few nights, my wife and I have been watching the Yankees/Red Sox games that have been on TV and so far the Yankee's have not disappointed us with 2 wins under their belt. We saw most of the first game which was a lovely 13-5 blow out and some of the second game although we really only saw results on MLB GameDay since they weren't televising it here in Tampa.

Tonight is another story though, tonights game will be on ESPN and we'll probably end up watching it since there is nothing else to watch this evening. Re-runs are so boring so what better way to stir things up than with an exciting Yankee game! I hope they win tonight so they can increase their lead in the AL East. Not bad for a team that has 3 starters out on injuries.

Is the day of reckoning upon us??

Well today happens to be 6/6/06......... but what most people fail to realize is that it is 6/6/2006 so we've already been through this exercise before in human history and so far the Earth hasn't blown up or the hand of God hasn't come down to smite the wicked among us from the planet leaving only the good behind. Although there should be some good parties in the places that are named "Hell" haha

Gas up $0.20

This weekend was pretty nice, gas was around $2.60 (who thought I would ever think that is a reasonable price for gas??). This morning I was driving in to work and noticed that gas went up to around $2.79!!! How insane is that? It's only Tuesday! I hope it doesn't go up much more or I'm petitioning for myself to work from home exclusively because my salary can't take this kind of hit anymore.

Emailing my blogs isn't working!!

I'm pretty sure I've blogged about this before but sending emails to my blog to be published still isn't working. I would say that I blog a good deal on my PC but I do occasionally like to blog using my phone. My Treo lets me send out email and such and the reason that I chose to use Blogger was because I was able to send emails to blogger and they would be published. I've tried to use the email feature a few times from the email addresses I have set up and they still don't work right :(

I'm going on two trips in the next few days and I'm probably not going to be blogging via PC but via email. Since this isn't working, there probably won't be many blog entries in the next two weeks unless they finally fix it. I was going to add pictures too since I was going to bring a camera or use my phone. GAH! Blogger needs to get this damn thing working already! It's been months!

I am the Cat Whisperer

I have finally taught Nala to sit. She's not trained to the high degree of Thumper. I trained him over the course of a couple of months and he was the only cat at the time. He's clicker trained to come to me and to sit. He'll even jump off of counterd when Claire or I tell him. We're still working on him getting to shut up but we can live with it for now.

Nala will now sit when I shake the treat can which is a good thing. She sometimes comes to me or Claire when called, but its funny that she listens to Claire more than me since I'm the one that likes cats and all. Maybe Claire should also be known as the Cat Whisperer................ even though she would be a reluctant one.

Corporate Sales are Awesome

This weekend, I was able to go to a corporate sale at Macy's. All these huge corporations in the Tampa area got a 20% off coupon on any clothing in the store. I was able to get myself some pretty sweet deals on some work clothes since I am always in need of more. Since my wife belongs to the same company, she got 20% off her clothes as well. The only bad part was that I didn't win any of the door prizes that they were giving away. Oh well, maybe next year I'll get something. Needless to say we spent a lot but I think we also saved quite a bit. I'll be sporting some new threads come Monday morning :)

A truely sweet sale

Tomorrow my wife and I are going to a corporate sale event sponsored by our company. We get 20% off stuff thats like over $100 bucks or something like that. There are supposed to be door prizes and such too so maybe I'll win some money or a shopping spree. I need to get more work clothes anyway, I'm starting to run low, especially in the pants department and this is as good a time as any to stock up on my wardrobe. And since I'm going with my wife, I'm sure to get something semi trendy since my taste is pretty bad but hers is pretty good so I should at least come up with something decent if we compromise.

There's nothing to blog about.....

I'm sitting her in my office cube thinking about what to blog about and nothing comes to mind. I never blog about work since thats just dangerous and dumb since companies are looking at blogs to see what employees might be saying. There's nothing interesting going on this weekend except a special sale for employees at my company at Macy's where I probably won't buy anything, although I am getting Apollo 13 on DVD from Blockbuster pretty soon.

Hmm........... Only thing thats worth mentioning is that I'm going to Miami Beach for a conference to evaluate HP software to use. That should be quite enjoyable since I'll be staying right on Miami Beach. I'll be sure to send pics if I'm not encased in a conference room all day long.