Friday, June 30, 2006

Mary Ruth Jams

We enjoyed watching Mary Ruth perform with her band "Uncle Rico" tonight at Carlos Goldstein's in San Jose. She has a great voice and can really jam!

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Thursday, June 29, 2006

Overfields visit from Texas

Amber and David Overfield are visiting the Bay Area and came over to see us tonight. I hadn't seen them since they moved to Texas and it was great catching up. They are real estate entrepreneurs and it's impressive what they've accomplished in so little time. I'm looking forward to visiting their new home next time I visit Plano. Posted by Picasa

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Visit from the Balaks

Mike, Tiffany, Brittany and Blake came over for dinner today. Brittany and Blake entertained us with Karaoke.

Click here for more photos. Posted by Picasa

Saturday, June 24, 2006

More World Cup Musings

Reyna's costly blunder more than anything else caused the USA's failure to enter the Round of 16. The USA was controlling the pace and ball movement until that first goal. After that, the USA was really out of sorts playing from behind. Who else was baffled by the Eddie Lewis substitution in the 74th minute? I thought he was the only American providing a spark at the time.

Of course I'm thrilled to see Ghana represent Africa in the second round. Kudos to Angola, Ivory Coast, and Tunisia who also represented their continent well. Shame on Togo who's players placed money over national pride. Easy for me to say, I suppose, but Togo squandered an opportunity to shine on the world stage by their embarrassing internal bickering.

Unfortunately, Ghana must now face Brazil who finally looked spectacular against Japan. Parreira's patience with Renaldo finally paid off with his two goals that equaled Muller's World Cup scoring record. Ronaldo is still a couple of steps too slow but if he can get back in form, watch out! I hope Parreira continues to start Robinho who adds that extra something, something which was missing from the "beautiful game".

Kudos to Mexico who sadly must exit the World Cup once again in the second round. I thought Argentina would have their way and score an easy victory but Mexico took the game to them and actually dominated possession in the first half. I actually prefer the Messi/Tevez combination to Crespo/Saviola. I guess it's just proof how deep Argentina is. I think Argentina should have brought the youngsters in sooner in the second half.

Funny to see people finally jumping on the Germany bandwagon. I still predict a Germany/Brazil final but Germany will have their hands full overcoming Argentina next week. This is turning out to be a great World Cup!

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Dani Smiling!

Dani is five weeks old today. This is the first photo I've taken of her smiling! Posted by Picasa

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Father's Day

Michelle treated me to a brunch and spa treatment at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay. We had brunch at the famous Navio Restaurant. It's expensive but certainly worth the experience. You've probably never seen a brunch with this kind of spread before. Michelle said I shouldn't get used to it - she was being extra nice since this is my very first Father's Day. Next year it's iHOP!

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Dani and her grandma

I've been getting complaints that I'm not posting enough photos. That's got to be a first! Here's a photo of Dani right after getting a bath courtesy of her grandmother. Unfortunately, Dani's developed a diaper rash which has made her a little irritable the past few days. Posted by Picasa

Saturday, June 17, 2006

World Cup Musings

One week of matches in the 2006 World Cup in Germany have been played and here are my thoughts:

It's way too early to predict who will win based on the games played so far. Although Argentina and Portugal have looked the sharpest, you should keep in mind that teams evolve during the tournament. Many teams will get better with each game and that's why you still shouldn't count out Brazil, England, or Germany.

I'm a huge fan of Ronaldo but I think he should be benched. First of all, he's obviously not match ready. Secondly, I don't like having Adriano and Ronaldo on the field at the same time. They are too much of the same kind of player - requiring service as opposed to creating opportunities. Finally, you're keeping Robinho on the bench and he could be Brazil's most potent weapon.

It wasn't Rooney who made the difference for England off the bench against Trinidad - it was Aaron Lennon. Sven should start him!

Ivory Coast were my favorites from Africa. I'm sorry to see them eliminated. Ghana made my day with their thorough drubbing of the Czech Republic.

Group E proved to be the Group of Death after all. Everything hinges on the final games. Each team can still qualify. Each team can still be eliminated. Wow!

The USA showed up today against Italy. I wish the ref would have let them play. Only De Rossi's red card was justified.

The Netherlands have been playing some beautiful soccer. Arjen Robben is legit! I haven't been following Kluivert recently but I'm shocked he didn't make the team.

Messi is legit! He could cause some damage in the knockout stages.

Bill Ihrie Visits

We had Bill over for dinner tonight. Here he is with Dani. Posted by Picasa

Montgomeries Visit Dani

Bess, Denise, Kristin, and Tyler came to over to see Dani today. Click here for more photos. Posted by Picasa

Monday, June 12, 2006

Melody and Martin Visit

Melody and Martin (in town from Sweden) came to visit Dani today... Posted by Picasa

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Enis Visits Danielle

Our real estate agent Enis Hall came over last weekend to see Dani for the first time. Posted by Picasa

Friday, June 02, 2006

An Inconvenient Truth

We just saw "An Inconvenient Truth" tonight. Everyone should see this important documentary where Al Gore talks about global warming. This global crisis requires all of us to swiftly respond because our future on this planet is at stake. Whatever your political disposition, you owe it to yourself to get informed.

Roger Ebert said the following in his review of the movie:
"In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.”

There's already been this misleading attack on the movie from Fox News.