Offline IMOk, I get it, early winter. Well, for here anyway. I love the cold weather, just not the snow and ice.--> Click here Reply
1 - 5 of 22 First | < Prev | Next > | Last
1 - 5 of 22 First | < Prev | Next > | Last
Charlie M's Blog Full Post View | List View
Just whatever crap spews forth from my fingertips and on into cyber space.
- Entry for September 15, 2006
-
How about a blog just to keep everyone strung along and looking at my page? Just one so people know I haven't died and gone on to better places. Ok, here it is. Happy now????? Gotcha.Friday September 15, 2006 - 09:46am (PDT) Permanent Link | 3 Comments
- France Loses
-
Ok, maybe I was the odd American out who wanted France to win the World Cup. Sorry, after the nose break that Italy gave the US team, I had no love for the Italians. I paced all throughout the Penalty Kick phase of the game. I even got a little choked up at the loss. Yes, it was a good game. Very physical, with the Ref's giving lots of leeway. They could have throw many more cards throughout the game. I saw lots of fouls that in earlier matchs they would have given cards for, and in this one they let them pass. I await the next World Cup in 2010 for France to cup. Okay, so I really want the US to win in 2010, but lets be realistic, the US may not have a descent team to field for many years to come. We are very much behind the curve in the sport and do not do enough to foster the youth into the sport. So, we will wait for the next World Cup. Sadly, I missed my other favorite sport due to the fevor of the World Cup. Wimbledon. All of my favorites were eliminated before the quarter finals, so, I didn't miss anything by not seeing the finals. I await the US open next month.
Sunday July 9, 2006 - 02:59pm (PDT) Permanent Link | 2 Comments - Vacation
-
I'm back! I did something I have not done since I was a kid. I went on vacation. Actually went somewhere and did something. Yes, over the years I have taken vacation time from work, but that was more just to get a break from work, and I stayed home. This time I actually went to North Carolina. I visited with Brooke's kin and friends in the mountain of western North Carolina. We had a blast. We were on the go from 9am till 10pm every day. Out and about, visiting, sightseeing, me laughing at rednecks. No, not you Lisa. Of course we drove both ways, something we may need to rethink in the future. I drive for a living, I didn't want to have to drive 17 hours each way. Doing the first leg overnight, and the drive back in nothing but rain. Yes, we had rain from NC till just past Texarkana. I have a new folder for the photos from our trip. Check it out. It was just slightly cooler than here (mid to upper 80's) which was refreshing. I wore jeans while the locals melted from the heat. I did some things I have never done before, I panned for gems at a mine, or what used to be a mine. That was fun, got a whole bag full of gems to play with in the future. Hiked mountains which I haven't done in years, and boy am I out of shape for that. I am certain my loving wife was bound and determined to make me sick with her driving on the mountain roads out there. They don't have a straight road for a 100 miles, just curving, winding roads. Which are fine at the posted speed limits, but not at double the limits just because she knows the roads. We stayed at a campground in a cabin, nice and cozy. VERY QUIET. I am used to a certain amount of background noise, dogs, cars, trains, airplanes. What a difference when there are NONE of those sounds around. Just quiet. Course our cell phones didn't work at all, and our cabin had a tv but no phone. So, for the treasure hunt we had to find a pay phone to call people out there. That was an adventure in itself, we were in towns that didn't have a pay phone in the entire town. Buying a calling card at Wal-Mart was no problem, just finding a pay to use it was. Course there is only 1 Wal-Mart for 4 counties. Yes, counties. I have spoiled my wife with having access to 4 super centers within a 10 mile radius, not counting the Target or the other shopping centers. It was a 15 minutes drive to Wal-Mart from our cabin. Yes we spent some time there, getting supplies and looking for souveniers. That was another disappointment. Go into a Wal-Mart here and you will find Texas ashtrays, shot glasses, thimbles, spoons, and other items in the Wal-Mart, (yes there are there if you have never noticed them before), but at the only Wal-Mart for 4 counties they have ZERO items that say North Carolina on them. We looked, I asked and got that shocking news. It was actually hard to find items that said nothing but North Carolina on them to get for people back here to show we were really there, we spent considerable time doing just that. Yes, we finally found our trinkets to brings back. Course it would have been easier if we had been in a major city, but being out in the sticks it was harder. I got to meet my wife's kin. A bunch of good solid, god-fearing people, who, living in a small town area, know everything about everyone. Gossip abounds out there, and yes, everyone does know everyone else. The only reason nobody knew what was going on with us was because we live out here. If we were still there I don't know if we could walk out the porch and pass gas without having it make the paper. Yes, I read the paper out there, (the once a week publication) and yes that kind of stuff would make it, they need the filler. Nobody knows what an air conditioner is. We would go into peoples houses and since the temperature was kinda warm, it would be downright stuffy in there. I missed my central a/c. No, our cabin did not have an a/c, ceiling fans yes, but no a/c. We could however sleep with the windows open, and since it got down into the 60's at night it was pleasant enough. Okay, later all. I'm done.
Saturday July 8, 2006 - 06:07pm (PDT) Permanent Link | 9 Comments - Entry for June 26, 2006
-
Major day in the football world. Awesome contests. Italia scored in the 95th minute to beat Australia and advance to the round of 8. The other contest today was just incredible. Very low count on yellow cards, very even match, very fair match. It finally came down to PK shots. This is a rarity in the football world. After playing a full 90 minutes plus stoppage time, 2 overtime periods of 15 minutes each, the score was still tied at 0-0. Amazing, after 120 minutes of running, battling, shooting it came down to penalty kicks. This lead to the final score of Ukraine 3 and Switzerland 0. This is a world cup to remember. The close contests, the overtime plays, and now the first PK shootout.Monday June 26, 2006 - 06:28pm (PDT) Permanent Link | 1 Comment
- Entry for June 25, 2006
-
Why is it we live in a country of antigrammatical phrases? We grow up learning that we drive on parkways and park on driveways. Now in the heat of the most recent Wrold Cup we are faced with more American, yes only American, idioms that do not fit. We are the only country to refer to it as soccer. Soccer? What does that mean? The entire rest of the world calls it football. A game played with your feet and heads, not your hands. We, Americans, have football. It is played with your hands. Only during punts and kickoffs are feet allowed. Were we too proud to call it from whence it came? RUGBY!!!. No, we can't associate with the old world can we? We must show our independence from mother England and come up with our own names for these sports. Its amazing we kept lacross the same as the indians played it 200 years ago. So, we have football, played with the hands, and soccer, played with the feet.
So now the US has been eliminated from the world cup. Will I still watch and follow the world cup? Damn straight! Why? Your country has been eliminated. Yep, and they deserved to be eliminated. Now I can watch/listen to some good games. Today's Portugal/Netherlands game included 4 red cards and 18 yellow cards. That is a physical, hard fought game. Yesterdays Argentinia/Mexico game went into overtime. That is good football. Sadly the fever only hits the US every 4 years, like the olympics, and fades quickly afterwards. We have such short attention spans. Always gotta have new news and information. New sports. New seasons.
Hopefully, the fever from the world cup can continue for a little while. We can get our kids interested in the sport and grow some new talent to send to future world cups. GO USA, World Cup 2010 in South Africa!Sunday June 25, 2006 - 05:35pm (PDT) Permanent Link | 2 Comments
