And so much to be optimistic about ... getting married on Thursday, batteries recharged after a slow week in Pittsburgh, and i just saw Chelsea put another three in the net against AS Roma. The team is really coming together, and all the pieces are performing. The Roman side managed just two shots on goal all evening, and new keeper Petr Cech had each of those easily in hand. Our central defense of John Terry and William Gallas never looked very challenged, while wing back Paulo Ferreira looks to have put the misery of Euro 2004 behind him, opening up a number of good attacks. Perhaps most impressive is the midfield (and it should be, given its price tag) ... Geremi has put in two excellent performances now and appears to be staking his claim for a starting spot, while Joe Cole has been very effective in two games as an attacking midfielder. The match began in a similar vein to the one in Seattle, with Chelsea (playing in their new black and silver away kits) immediately launching into the attack. On ten minutes Joe Cole received an excellent through ball from Geremi, and put it under the advancing Roma keeper to make it 1-nil Chelsea. Kezman and Gudjohnsen each had excellent chances in the first twenty minutes, but were unable to find the net. Service to the strikers so far this preseason has been superb. The rest of the first half played out testily, as play became more physical and both teams began to get frustrated ... Roma because they couldn't buy offense and Chelsea because the ref was becoming annoyingly pro-Italian. At the outset of the second period of play, Mourinho replaced Gudjohnsen with new signing Didier Drogba, and also inserted Wayne Bridge, William Gallas, Arjen Robben, Alexei Smertin, and Frank Lampard. Chelsea resumed their assault on the Italian defense, while Roma were lucky to string two passes together in the Chelsea half. Frank Lampard was able to send Arjen Robben down the left wing, and after coming all the way to the end line the Dutchman sent the ball to the middle of the penalty area where Mateja Kezman was charging. Roma keeper Carlo Zotti got a hand on the shot but couldn't keep it out the net, and the Serb deservedly upped his preseason tally to 4 after some fine play.

This being Pittsburgh, something low brow had to happen. Shortly after the goal, Olivier Dacourt shamefully kicked Arjen Robben in the hamstring after being completely burned on a run. Robben went down in pain, and Mateja Kezman sprinted over to stick up for his new teammate, pushing Dacourt back. A scuffle ensued, and when the dust settled the ref red carded both Dacourt and Kezman. The right decision ... Kezman has been fantastic so far this preseason but needs to keep his temper in check. We got our revenge soon after though, as Zotti was unable to hold on to a typically wicked Frank Lampard screamer, and Didier Drogba opened his Chelsea account by side footing the rebound into the net. He'd made a series of penetrating moves already and totally deserved reward, even if it was a garbage goal. Robben looked in pain and was subbed not long after. Hopefully the hamstring won't keep him on the bench ... however the substitution meant the entry of Damien Duff, out since May with a dislocated shoulder. He started a bit tentative, but soon was making excellent turns and feints down the left side. An excellent back heel springed Lampard on goal, but the shot went wide. Final whistle, an impressive 3-nil victory for Chelsea, only slightly detracted by the sending off of Kezman.

The match was only half the story for me, though. I left my hotel at 6:45pm so i could walk to Heinz Field along the river. I arrived there about 7:15pm, and tried to buy a t-shirt but was told the credit card system was down. Oh well, i'll just go in and get money later. However, the security guard takes a look at my messenger bag and tells me "I don't know what that is". Hrm??? "I don't think you can bring that in." What about those women and their purses? "That's a different kind of bag." But it's smaller. "Doesn't matter." Well are there any lockers i can put it in? "No." Jesus Christ! Thanks for the help! Immediately ruling out the idea of chucking the bag somewhere, i was able to find a taxi to give me a five minute ride back to my hotel. Ran upstairs and left the bag in my room, ran downstairs and caught another cab. This one gets me onto the bridge over the river and by the stadium, but then we find the stadium exit is completely backed up ... big surprise. When the cabbie asks me if he can let me off somewhere, i say sure, i can walk. So he stops the cab ... on the friggin freeway! I ask if he can get off the expressway, dumbfounded, so he drives past the stadium exit and heads to the nearest surface road. Apparently this was close enough for him, so he again tries to put me out on the freeway! We finally compromise on a back road just after the first exit past the stadium, so i ran the half mile up to Heinz Field, arriving in my seat at 8:10pm, just before kickoff. Whew! Oddly, my seat was in almost the exact same spot in which i'd sat in Seattle, sixth row, even with the top of the left penalty area.

Tomorrow i bring my Pittsburgh adventure to a close, and i can't say i'll miss the steel city. Next stop, marriage!

Pittsburgh is a weird town. When my philosopher/cabbie drove me downtown at 8am on Monday morning, i was immediately struck by the interesting geography of the city, with the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers providing the northern and southern boundaries of downtown, respectively, converging into the Ohio River just south of Heinz Field (formerly, and more appropriately, Three Rivers Stadium). But having spent a few days here, i've noticed the odd mishmosh of architecture and general evidence of decay. There's no consistent design aesthetic, buildings range from gothic stone to Victorian brick to hideous seventies blocks to hideous nineties gothic glass abominations. The bridges that traverse the rivers all share the same construction, a mundane steel arch painted yellow in apparent homage to the Steelers. It's certainly a blue collar town, but it almost feels like the entire populace never recovered from the decline of the steel mills. New industry and the "culture district" can't mask the sense of malaise.

I took a two hour walk today to collect these observations. Since i saw the Mariners play in Seattle last weekend, i toyed with the idea of checking out the Pirates as i walked by PNC Park, but decided i wasn't enough of a baseball or Pittsburgh fan to watch nine innings by myself in a strange place. Luckily, Heinz Field is within walking distance of my hotel so i can avoid taking a taxi to tomorrow night's Chelsea/Roma match. I keep wondering if i'm going to run into John Terry, Frank Lampard, and co. in a diner downtown somewhere.

My talk at the AAPM meeting Tuesday afternoon went very well. The conference on the whole has been a bit of a let down though. I'm just not interested in 90% of the work being presented, and for some reason the organizers scheduled the 10% i am interested in during conflicting sessions. Combine that with the most ridiculous awards ceremony i've ever seen (although i have to give props to my friend Mark for his induction as an honorary member of the AAPM), and i just can't see myself attending this meeting again. This is the conference that my division at Stanford (Radiation Physics) attends religiously, but i can't see why i should waste $1000+ a year coming here when it's doing nothing for my career. The annual SMI meeting, coming up this year in October, is cheaper, more informative, and infinitely more exciting.

Forgot to mention that while i was at home with Ana before heading across the country, i got reacquainted with Cartoon Network as that's what she demands on the television 24/7. I used to know all about CN's lineup ... Cow and Chicken, Dexter's Laboratory ... heck, i remember watching the original Johnny Bravo short that led to his series. But these days, other than Adult Swim and the fantastic adult humor shows therein, i have no idea what is on CN. Turns out there's all kinds of good things. My new favorites are ¡Mucha Lucha!, featuring an elementary school for aspiring young masked wrestlers like Ricochet, Buena Girl, Snowpea, and the Flea, and Teen Titans, loosely based on the DC comic of the same name featuring a superhero task force starring Robin of Batman And ____ fame. I even found myself getting into heretofore incomprehensible Yu Gi Oh!. V and Arlene seemed amused by my engrossment, but i must say that Cartoon Network is keeping up it's tradition of excellent original toons.