I called 411 on Sunday night to learn the location of Red Robin in Santa Clara. I was moaning about something Veronica, Geoff, or Naomi had said (not just figuratively, i was actually going "ohhhhh ohhh") when the phone picked up. There was a moment of silence, after which the computerized voice returned with the question "I think you said Lowell, Massachusetts. Is that right?".

That might be lots of fun, shouting random things in the phone and seeing what the voice recognition software thinks i'm saying.

Our first weekend without Pepe was a bit somber, for me at any rate. I can't tell when i play with Tara if i'm projecting my sadness onto her or if she's genuinely missing her little friend. I keep seeing the way he swaggered around the house, his little shoulders rocking from side to side. Or remembering how we would try to burrow down under the blankets when we put him up on the bed. I miss our Peppers.

We spent said weekend with Geoff, and subsequently with Naomi after she got back from a two day trip down to La La Land. G spent the night on Thursday after dropping N off at the Oakland airport, and then again on Friday. Before he arrived on Friday night, V and i made an unscheduled trip to Honda of Serramonte. In keeping with my typical lack of patience, i've been contacting dealers in the area to see if anyone already has the 2006 Civic Hybrids in stock. What i've learned is that car dealers have a radically different definition of "in stock" than i do. On Friday i got an email from the Serramonte dealer telling me they had one 2006 Civic Hybrid with the GPS unit ("navi") in stock. When V and i got there, we didn't mention that i had already contacted them, to gauge their reaction. We were told the new hybrids would be arriving the second week in November. Oooookaaaaaaay. My contact called me Saturday morning to ask when i would be coming in, so i asked him to verify that they had a 2006 hybrid in stock. He sounded confused, and then said "oh ... i thought you just wanted the nav system". Yeah right ... i'm going to mount it on my head so i always know where i am. Menlo Honda also emailed me Saturday morning to tell me that the hybrid was currently available, but again on further probing i learned they weren't going to be on the lot for another three weeks. I have no idea how this strategy of misinformation works in the dealers' favor, but it's pissing me off.

On Saturday we ran some errands with G before picking N up in Oakland. That included stopping by EB so i could grab Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PSP, as well as an extra Xbox controller so Geoff doesn't have to use the older, bulkier controller when we conduct our Halo forays. After Naomi got in, we ran a few errands with her then headed home so she could get ready for an evening scooter girl party. Her costume, Uma Thurman/Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction, post-adrenaline injection in the heart, came out nicely. We dropped her off at the function in the city while G, V, and i headed off to Amoeba so Geoff could sell a few hundred cd's. I picked up a Killing Joke compilation while there, then we headed over to Polk for a late dinner at Chai Yo while we watched all the Halloween merrymakers. After retrieving N we headed back down to RC, and got in a coop round of Geoff's new acquisition Sniper Elite, followed by a few late night matches of Halo on Xbox Live. I called it a night when i was traumatized listening to the assorted online nitwits indoctrinate a poor seven year old with a variety of racist comments and sexual abuse.

The mission Sunday was to complete our dining room by painting the trim. Geoff and i masked it off and got one coat on by early afternoon. We watched the very entertaining and somber Sideways on Tivo while we slowly got ready, then collectively headed down to Valley Fair for more shopping. Geoff had eyed an orange corduroy coat at Kenneth Cole on our previous visit, and wanted to grab it this time. In order to qualify for a discount, i threw a laptop case in the sale that is considerably slimmer and more comfortable than my current one. I also picked up a nice pair of black pin stripe velvet trousers from Banana Republic. We got home around 9:30pm after a meal at Red Robin in Santa Clara, although it felt like 11pm given the Saturday night clock change. Geoff and Naomi decided to head back to Sacto, while i put another coat on the dining room trim. V and i removed the tape an hour or two later, and found that we had some bleed onto our beautiful red stripes. We'll have to touch that up sometime, although to be honest it's not really all that apparent. On their way home, G+N spotted a sign at San Leandro Honda saying they had Hybrids in stock. I gave them a call this morning, and again demonstrated that car dealers use the term "in stock" very loosely ... they don't expect them in for another month. By that definition, i've got a 2006 Hybrid in stock.

V and my Halloween will consist of a visit to the Fillmore for Bauhaus. V saw them at the Warfield last week and concluded they weren't as good as on their 1998 reunion tour. The Fillmore is a bit more intimate (although V and Naomi did have the prime front row balcony seats at the Warfield), and it is All Hallow's Eve, so we'll see how it goes. The 1998 show was very theatric, with lots of great stage sets and acting by Peter Murphy, and apparently that's out the window this time. Doh. Oh well ... Bauhaus still command a lot of respect in my book.

Last Saturday Veronica and i took Tara and Pepe to the vet in Fremont. Tara has an ear infection, and Pepe's cough has been getting progressively worse. The vet managed to listen to Pepe's little heart after he calmed down and stopped coughing, and she heard a murmur. Originally he had been diagnosed with collapsing trachea, but the vet surmised he was now going into heart failure and recommended immediate medication for that, as well as kidney medication to prevent possible kidney failure associated with the heart problems and potentially the heart medication. We started him on that on Saturday, and noticed an immediate improvement. By Tuesday his cough was almost completely gone. However, that evening he vomited when we went to bed, and again twice more through the night. I called the vet the next morning and we agreed to take him off the medication immediately, and only begin again if his symptoms returned. Pepe however looked very ill, barely able to stand and walking very wobbly when he did get up. Veronica and i left him and Tara in the house and headed to work. I came home early that afternoon to see how he was doing, and found that he was gone. We guess that while the medicine helped his symptoms, he was too far along in his lung and heart problems. Our poor little pup.

We took him to get cremated that evening at the vet, and will probably spread his ashes around our yard when we get them back. We're happy that we were able to give him ten months of love, and that we got him out of the shelter for his final days. I'll miss the way he would crawl on my lap to be scratched, and how when i slacked off he would turn around and scratch my hand with his paw. We're not sure how Tara's going to respond now that her little friend is gone, but she was always relatively independent and we think she'll be okay. She has seemed a bit confused by his absence over the last few days. I've been confused too ... it's strange having Tara hopping excited at the door when i get home and not seeing Pepe rise from his bed to come say hello. Or not hearing his funny little bark and growl when i don't get the treats down from the cabinet fast enough for his liking.

V and i spent our Sunday giving Flat Stanley a tour of San Francisco. Flat Stanley is a children's book about a boy who gets squished flat and has adventures because of his new dimensions. Ana's class sent us a copy of him, and asked us to take him on a vacation. So we dressed him up in SF Giants apparel and showed him the city, including Fisherman's Wharf, the Golden Gate bridge, SBC Park, and Ghirardelli Square. Veronica even conceived of him getting brain freeze from eating too much ice cream at Ghirardelli, so we took him to Stanford for me to give him a brain scan. Afterwards, we got some photos of him in front of Hoover tower and the main Stanford gate. Veronica's currently annotating the scrapbook i printed up of our excursions, then it gets sent back to Ana's class.

A man of science? Pshaw. When it comes down to it, i'm as superstitious as a voodoo witch doctor. Today's the day Stevens Creek Honda told me the new Civic hybrids would be arriving. Of course, that was three weeks ago and there's no guarantee the cars will arrive on time. Also, i have meetings all day so even if i do get said call, i can't make it down to San Jo until tomorrow. However, the Tercel seems to be putting me through some sort of karmic test (dammit, My Name is Earl strikes again!). The radio in that car has always been iffy, but this morning it just plain quit. I suspect the connection to the speakers is the culprit, as the deck seems to power up fine, but you hear a slight click from the speakers and then nothing. So no Howard Stern for me this morning. I'm totally addicted to him these days. When the new car arrives, my next purchase (or perhaps Christmas present?) is going to be a Sirius satellite radio so i can hear the uncensored morning show come January 1. Anyhoo, unless i decide to get my hands dirty, it seems the Tercel's radio days are over. Is this some sort of cosmic sign that my new car is coming soon? Ie, i don't need the Tercel's radio anymore? I can only hope.

I spent the last two evenings rewiring the pullstring light in our closet. A while back the cord broke on it, somewhere inside the mechanism, so we've been managing without a light for a few weeks now. On Sunday night i finally decided to tackle the problem, and disassembled the mechanism. I finally succeeded in reconfiguring it (only tripping the circuit breaker twice before deciding this job was best done with the power off), and mounted the repaired unit back in the closet. The next morning, first pull on the cord and it breaks again. The problem wasn't with my fix, it was that the beaded cord was old and brittle. So yesterday evening i stopped by OSH and bought a new pullstring wall mount. After doing some minor wiring, the new unit was installed and working like a charm. Hurray for me.

Chelsea dropped their first points of the English season over the weekend, a come from behind 1-1 draw with last year's surprises and this year's duds Everton at Goodison Park. I have to agree with Frank Lampard, it's almost a relief to get this out of the way so everyone can stop talking about Chelsea going through the season without dropping a point. Totally impossible, so now we can just focus on recapturing our good form of late.

V and i (along with G and N) have been watching that new show My Name is Earl for its first few weeks. It's not bad, usually good for a few laughs. What's kind of annoying is that each show spends at least 5-10 minutes giving a kind of Zen 101 lecture on karma.

However, i had a kind of karma lesson of my own today. V and i have been eagerly awaiting next Tuesday's Bauhaus show at the Warfield for a month or two now. We pounced when tickets were released (we were in Cologne at the time, searching for tickets at an internet café), and managed to get seats in the front row of the balcony, prime real estate at the Warfield. However, perusing my calendar at work i found i have a faculty meeting next Tuesday evening as well, ending somewhere around 8pm, right when the show is set to begin. Dammit. I should be a good boy and go to my meeting, so it looks like no Bauhaus for me. So i had a look at the Warfield/Fillmore site to see if maybe (please?) Bauhaus had an opening band. Apparently not ... but ... what's this? ... Bauhaus are playing the Fillmore on Halloween? When the hell did this happen? I quickly jaunted over to Ticketmaster, found that was indeed the case, and more surprisingly was able to get tickets. Miss one show, go to another better show. Karma.

There is only one viable choice for "best single ever". For me anyways. I'm not worrying about b-sides here. I'm talking about a single song that was released and just fucking worked ... it was the culmination of the band that produced it, and struck a perfect note for that one instance in time. For a band that had basically imploded to reemerge a year later in 1997 with something as cathartic as Bitter Sweet Symphony is unbelievable. But that's exactly what Mad Richard and the rest of the Verve did. Ashcroft's tumultuous relationship with guitarist and foil Nick McCabe was rekindled in a record that fulfilled every promise even hinted at by the band in their former incarnation. Never mind the lawsuits by the owners of the sample used in the song, or its subsequent adoption by a myriad of advertisers (Nike springs to mind) ... this song was the penultimate expression of the Verve, and so wonderfully captured the band's sentiment that it left the realm of "single" and became a landmark.

I knew it would happen sooner or later, but it still cracks me up. I didn't really spend all Saturday listening to Laika, the Lambrettas, Le Tigre, and Led Zeppelin, although you'd guess as much from a casual glance at my listening statistics page. Veronica and i started listening to the new Ladytron record on my iTunes, then we went out to run errands. Little did i know, Veronica had simply turned down the volume on the computer instead of stopping the player. As i had it playing songs in order, it went right through Ladytron and proceeded along the L's, until we returned hours later and while wandering past the computer i noticed the faint sounds of Led Zep's "Kashmir" emanating from it. Ha ha ha ha ha.

No, what really occupied me this weekend was getting the stripes up in our dining room. This alcove was primed by Arlene, Bob, and Veronica way back in July. The first coat of red was applied shortly thereafter, but then as we saw just how many coats it would take to effectively cover the walls, our effort dwindled. Just a few weeks ago Veronica took charge and put the finishing touches on the red. We were instructed to wait two weeks for the paint to dry before applying the masking for the stripes, which gave us the green light this weekend. I spent an hour and a half Saturday night trying to figure out how to most efficiently use my laser level, finally giving up and proceeding with an array of old school levels, pieces of paper, and tape. I finished only one wall that night, but the next morning i got up at 9:30am and, having perfected my technique, plowed through the other three in a scant four hours. Another hour later i'd masked the trim and V was ready to start adding gloss finish.

I then took some time to beautify myself before heading off to Lowe's while V took over in the dining room. We'd been there the day before, buying some supplies for the painting as well as picking up an electric hedge trimmer and a leaf blower/vacuum. Turns out the blower was missing some parts, so i returned it and while there picked up more painting supplies, and then headed to Petco for some doggie supplies (treats, mainly ... one track minds). Returning home, V had put up about 60% of the gloss. It's a subtle effect, and we're going to have to think about what lighting will best bring it out, but i like it. Classy. When i got up this morning, it looked really nice with the sunlight coming in the window.

As implied above, i also played with our new hedge trimmer this weekend, and found that if you accidentally get the extension cord near the blade, it makes all kinds of cool sparks as it shorts and severs the active power cable. Silly me.

I gave FIFA 06 some more time on Sunday night, and had a couple more thoughts. First, success in the game really depends on effectively using the right thumbstick, which controls "gravy" moves like feints, crossover dribbles, etc. In previous versions of FIFA these controls were available, but tended to be more of a source of confusion than anything else and were mostly ignored (completely, in my case). So this year i likewise ignored them, but found breaking down defenses to be incredibly difficult using only standard passes and sprints. When i tried using the right thumbstick on Sunday i immediately had more success in beating defenders one-on-one. There seems to also be some new feature using the right thumbstick that allows you to shield the ball from defenders and thus better maintain possession, but i haven't discovered that yet. The spectacularly slim instruction manual is little help. My other conclusion from the weekend's gaming is that the game plays as if stuck in a tar pit. My attackers seem to be in a drug-induced daze, while my superstar defenders routinely get bamboozled by mediocre opponents. I suspect there are more critical controls of which i'm ignorant, but i do believe that EA has a big problem with tempo.

I woke up Saturday morning to find Chelsea had come from 1-nil down to ring up 5 second-half goals on Bolton. Didier Drogba continues to give a hearty "f@$# you" to all his critics, scoring twice and setting up one of Frank Lampard's goals with a great back heel in the box. Lampard is doing the same to everyone who claimed he's overrated after starting the season in a dip of form. Arsenal meanwhile lost to lowly West Brom, somewhat predictably as it seems that every big name Arse player is nursing an injury at the moment. Manchester United continue to lurk as our closest rival, but for now we've won 27 points out of 27, and are 9 points clear of second place Tottenham. Life is good.

I've now got my name on two preorder lists for the Honda Civic Hybrid 2006, due to come in later this month, as well as on the preorder list for the 2006 Toyota Prius, arriving in November. I'm leaning towards the Civic, but we'll see. The Prius is outselling the Honda hybrid by nearly 4 to 1, but there may be a multitude of reasons for that. One i've heard repeatedly, to which i give some credence, is that hybrid owners want others to know that they're driving a hybrid. The Prius has a funky, futuristic body shape that is instantly recognizable, whereas the Civic hybrid is indistinguishable from the conventional Civic except for the little "hybrid" tag on the rear. I think this is true of hybrid owners, but as for me, i could care less about letting everyone know how eco-conscious i am. As long as i get the gas mileage, i'm happy.

Everyone in my department is in Denver this week for the annual big radiation oncology meeting. One year i'll go to that, but for now i'm staying put as i shot my conference budget on going to Germany. No worries, i'm more than happy to get some peace and quiet here.

i remember when the days were long and the nights when the living room was on the lawn constant quarreling, the childish fits and our clothes in a pile on the ottoman all the slander and doublespeak were only foolish attempts to show you did not mean anything but the blatant proof was your lips touching mine in the photobooth cup your mouth to compress the sound skinny dipping with the kids from a nearby town and everything that i said was true as the flashes blinded us in the photobooth well i lost track when those words were said you took the wheel and steered us into my bed and soon we woke and i walked you home and it was pretty clear that it was hardly love and as the summer's ending the cold air will rush your hard heart away you were so condescending as the alcohol drained the days and as the summer's ending the cold air will rush your hard heart away you were so condescending and this is all that's left the empty bottles, spent cigarettes so pack a change of clothes 'cause it's time to move on

shouldn't have to pay for this because you didn't ask for it you shouldn't have to pay to live living as a counterfeit tie me to the telephone make me be a slave to it watching our nights alone taking down the deficit all you've ever known is what they told you and they told you that you wanted searching to the sun

every time that you shout from across the street never comes out a sound, just the way you look at me what have you heard about me from those kids i always see you hanging out with? what kind of gossip, calculations? we've got something to hide on my side of town you know it's no real surprise, but word gets around i don't know what you heard about me from those kids i always see you hanging out with their outlet, indignation when they call up your house, you're nowhere to be found say you're not coming out, but you still come around i know you're no good with secrets you always seem to forget just what the point is i hear the words slipping out of your lips

I cannot stop listening to this Editors record. In my opinion they've surged past Interpol as the post-punk leaders of the 21st century. See my entire review (and in depth Joy Division comparative analysis) here.

blood runs through your veins
that's where our similarity ends

I played more of FIFA 06 last night. I honestly don't know how much more time i'm going to give this game, because i find it seriously lacking when stood up against Winning Eleven. One thing that's absolutely terrible is how the motion-capture animations interrupt gameplay. For example, if you take a shot on goal and the opposing keeper manages to get a hand on it, there's several things that can happen ... he catches it, he deflects it either out of bounds or back into play, or he bobbles it near him. When the latter occurs, the game kicks into autopilot to show the keeper dropping the ball then leaping on top of it. While this is happening, you lose control of your attackers and they all automatically begin running away from goal. Even when the ball is lying in open play after the keeper spilled it. I was ready to beat the TV last night when the game forced Hernan Crespo away from goal while the keeper was struggling to smother a loose ball that was two feet away from my striker. This is totally ridiculous in my opinion. The game is slick visually, no doubt, but it's all for naught when some of that eye candy is obtained at the cost of realistic gameplay. My conclusion is that the game takes waaaaaaaay too much control of your players. For example, when your opponent crosses the ball into your penalty area, you are automatically given control of the nearest defender, but all too often i find you are prevented from getting in the prime position by some kind of mysterious force field. Or when i actually have the foresight to identify where the ball will be played, i first have to switch to the right defender (a challenge in and of itself) and then try to break down the same force field. Why? Who freakin' knows ... maybe this was EA's solution to make the game more challenging. Lame. My frustrations with the available formations continue ... my forays with Chelsea have been seriously damaged by the fact that there is no formation that makes proper use of both Makelele and Lampard. Last night, playing the default 4-3-2-1 lineup, Makelele was infinitely more present in the attack than Lampard. No freakin' way. And it's totally bogus that a defensive midfielder with a role as defined as Makelele pops up in the penalty area during set pieces. Little things yes, but WE doesn't have these same problems so Konami has obviously figured something out that EA has either knowingly or unknowingly ignored.

I got a call from the Honda dealer on Stevens Creek last night, telling me that the 2006 Civic Hybrids would be arriving later this month and inquiring whether i'd like to put myself on the list. Doing some research, i find that the 2006 model has a more powerful engine (110 HP), and now boasts a GPS navigation unit similar to the one found in the Accord as well as the Toyota Prius. All in all seems, the latest Civic hybrid seems to rival the industry-leading Prius. Hrm. I put down a deposit (they're refundable, so whichever car i choose, i get the other deposit back), and we'll see how it goes.

I've only played three matches in FIFA 06, but i have to say i'm pretty disappointed. I don't know why, the game is basically the same as the one before it and the one before that. EA seems to be suffering from "Dutch boy plugging the leaking dyke" syndrome, as for every problem they fix another three come to the forefront. I'm not sure there are any fundamental controls lacking from the EA game, but it's certainly not as flexible or deep a play system as the one Konami has mastered in the Winning Eleven series. In fact the only real reason to play FIFA, as near as i can tell, is that it features a boatload of authentic leagues, teams, and players. I found myself ready to smash the disc into little pieces when i found i couldn't custom edit formations. They've got Chelsea playing with Lampard, Essien, and Makelele in a line in front of the back four. What tactical genius dreamt that up? If i could change things, i'd make it so Makelele plays in front of the defense, with Lampard and Essien in front of him, and Duff and Robben on the wings just behind the lone striker (Drogba or Crespo). But unfortunately such an arrangement is not one of the preset formations, and unlike WE i can't just mold an existing one to my whims. Dammit. I'll give it some more time, but for now i'm keeping one eye on my trusty copy of WE8. And the other eye towards February and the release of WE9, which will feature online play on Xbox Live ... yippee!

if fortune favors the brave
i am as poor as they come

The image of Naomi, Geoff, Veronica, and i leaving Valley Fair mall at 10:30pm on Saturday night said it all ... each of us with 3 or 4 shopping bags in our arms and bellies full of Cheesecake Factory. We did our part to help out the U.S. economy. Purchases doted mainly on clothes, including for myself a pair of dark brown khakis and a brown harrington jacket from Banana Republic, several new pairs of pants and sweaters from the Gap, and FIFA 2006 for Xbox, the new Family Guy DVD Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, and the bargain bin uncut Eurotrip DVD from Best Buy. I also copied Geoff a bit by buying the same super-sweet Kenneth Cole jacket as him, after he'd discovered it in the back of the KC store and become enamored of it. Naomi got a freakin' rad warmup jacket at Lacoste, while V made a bunch of purchases at Lane Bryant and also bought our new living and dining room curtains at Restoration Hardware. Phew.

But the biggest purchase of the weekend actually didn't help the U.S. economy at all, as i put down a $500 deposit on a 2006 Toyota Prius at Stevens Creek Toyota. My tolerance of Veronica's 1991 Tercel has reached an absolute low, and i've made up my mind to get a hybrid not only to reap the numerous tax benefits but also to mediate today's ridiculous gas prices. Turns out most Toyota and Honda dealers are currently sold out of the Prius and Civic hybrids, so it's a wait list issue now. The Toyota dealer told me the new 2006 Prius models begin production this month, and should begin arriving in November. So i plunked down my money and requested a black one with all the extras (i'm giddy about playing with the GPS navigation unit). Unfortunately nobody has one to test drive, but i was able to give an Accord Hybrid a whirl at the Honda dealer. The Accord is unlike the Prius and Civic hybrids in that it has a 255 HP engine, but the gas-electric interaction works the same so i got to see what it's like. It's a bit strange when the engine switches off at a stop light, but when you take your foot off the brake it revs right back into life so it's no big deal. Braking is a bit weird as you can feel the computer system take over braking when you do something more than a light tap. When you release the brake after a significant slowdown, there's a minor lag as the system switches off the battery charger. But from what i read you quickly adjust, and i'm no performance guru anyway so i doubt i'll care. Now just to impatiently sit by my phone until the dealer calls with good news.

V, N, and i (G is off on yet another business trip, this time to Hotlanta) took in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence last night in downtown SM after dinner at Bombay Garden. V and N came out complaining it was way too clichéed, and to be honest they have a point. I really wanted to love this movie. Cronenberg obviously set out to look at the lamentable but often necessary role of violence in American society. The story centers on Tom Stall (former Strider/Aragorn Viggo Mortensen), proprietor of a diner in a small Indiana town. He's forced to defend himself and his employees when two thugs try to rob and murder them late one night. Tom responds by killing both with brutal efficiency. From there, questions begin to surface about Tom's past as a cadre of Philly gangsters (led by crazy dead-eyed Ed Harris in a great performance) come looking for Joey Cusack, a long vanished foe whom they recognize as Tom after his sudden ascent to hero status. These initial parts i found enthralling ... Cronenberg examines Tom's son's reaction to violence as he is bullied in school, and how he changes after seeing a side of his father he'd heretofore not witnessed. There are a bevy of wonderfully framed shots ... i especially remember a blood stained Tom hugging his son, a touching scene until his hand comes into the frame holding a shotgun. However the second half of the movie, as Tom's buried alter-ego Joey comes to the surface, slogs a bit. There's a particularly pointless episode which seems to have been added simply so Cronenberg could point out that sex and violence are often synonymous. Viggo Mortensen does a good job handling the two sides of his character's personality, exhibiting a wild-eyed stare as his psychotic old self rises to the fore. He's perfectly cast, as his appearance fits with both the small town bumpkin and the deranged Italian mobster. The basic problem with the film is that at some point it loses its credibility as a story and begins to serve as simply the vehicle for Cronenberg's message. It's not a bad message, but the delivery in the second hour is somewhat clunky and inelegant. Oh well ... on to checking out Green Street Hooligans next (more reflections on violence).

Chelsea made my weekend by knocking the snot out of those Mersey f@#ks at Anfield, 4-1. Didier Drogba put off his naysayers (for a week or two anyway, as Mourinho was quick to point out) by setting up all four goals and generally carving the Liverpool defense apart. Hopefully this will quiet the stream of bulls@$t coming from the scousers ... "they're afraid of us!" was particularly ridiculous. My favorite was the claim that we play unattractive, long ball tactics. Just last week an independent reviewer compiled statistics about long ball play in the Premiership and found that Chelsea ranked 20th out of 20 teams in terms of number of long balls played. And guess who ranked first? Liverpool, of course ... a team lobbing balls into their 6'7" striker should not be accusing others of ugly tactics. Somehow the "mighty" reds continue to plow forward in Europe, but can't string two decent results together in England.

The weekend also included the continuation of our dining room paint job. The red is now reasonably homogeneous, and we're now letting it dry for a couple of weeks so we can apply the gloss stripes. Hopefully this week we'll also paint our long neglected bedroom French doors, and catch up on our yardwork. Like living in a damn forest, i tell ya.