9/25/05, 7:51 p.m. --
Football and futbol
There was so much hot frothy football action this weekend I felt like I just had to make a post
about it. First off, on Friday the Cyclones somehow managed to pull off a road victory against Army,
very much in spite of themselves. When I left at halftime to go get food + brew with some
friends, ISU was down 14-7 and had looked pretty awful. Guess they just play to the level of their
opponents... On Saturday I went to my first ever Gophers football game, which ended up being an
incredibly entertaining 7-point win in two overtimes against Purdue. So many times I thought the Gophers
were done for--times when people would even start leaving the 'dome--but somehow they managed to win it.
Even the Vikings found a way to win today, so that was good, I guess.
As for futbol, my intramural team had what's probably been our most exciting soccer match yet. The game was right after the Gophers game, so a few of us were pretty tired from having been on our feet for the last 4+ hours, but it turned out well. We were pretty evenly matched, but pulled off a 2-0 win with both goals coming in the second half. I scored our second goal, which is probably the most meaningful goal I've scored since before high school =)
On top of everything else, I got to see Sam & Erin & Mrs Miller (the elder) Saturday evening while they were here for some shopping (congrats Sam on your new nano), and was treated to a nice dinner. It was nice to have someone other than Wong pay a visit to Mpls ;)
Finally, one of the professors at my lab sent me a highlight video of some pretty amazing soccer moves and dribbling exhibitions; I don't think you have to be a soccer player to be able to appreciate most of these. Click here or here to download it. Enjoy!
As for futbol, my intramural team had what's probably been our most exciting soccer match yet. The game was right after the Gophers game, so a few of us were pretty tired from having been on our feet for the last 4+ hours, but it turned out well. We were pretty evenly matched, but pulled off a 2-0 win with both goals coming in the second half. I scored our second goal, which is probably the most meaningful goal I've scored since before high school =)
On top of everything else, I got to see Sam & Erin & Mrs Miller (the elder) Saturday evening while they were here for some shopping (congrats Sam on your new nano), and was treated to a nice dinner. It was nice to have someone other than Wong pay a visit to Mpls ;)
Finally, one of the professors at my lab sent me a highlight video of some pretty amazing soccer moves and dribbling exhibitions; I don't think you have to be a soccer player to be able to appreciate most of these. Click here or here to download it. Enjoy!
9/18/05, 7:03 p.m. --
Yes, I'm a nostalgist.
This weekend was another exciting Weekend of Sam (woo), as Wong
once again trekked up to the Great White North to
practice with his band, eat at HKN, and (in distant third place) see me. Or at the very least to
sleep on my mega-comfy couch =) My dad was also up here this weekend, so I got to eat dinner with him at
Pizza Luce downtown on Saturday night, and that was a good time. (It was also really awesome to
see my dad walking around again, as the last time I saw him was two days after hip surgery and he
could hardly move.) Sam, however, did not join us for pizza
as he had brought some HKN home with him after visiting the mega mall. Though I guess the whole
reason Sam was at the mall at all was because I had an intramural soccer game at 5, and he didn't want
to just hang out at my incredibly exciting apartment =| But Sam was a good sport and watched Ong Bak for
what was I'm sure about the 8th time this week (I hadn't seen it yet) and OMG it kicked a lot of
ass. Tony Jaa does some pretty incredible stunts, he's like the second coming of Jackie Chan, I guess.
Today was also a good time, as we
had a small adventure locating the Uptown Diner (where they serve food in gargantuan portions --
I had 3 pancakes the size of a frisbee), visiting Coffee and Tea Ltd for some quality beans,
and hanging out at Lake Harriett for awhile. Weather was perfect, too. I hope everyone had a chance
to spend some time outside this weekend, it was pretty awesome.
Finally, as a bit of a sidenote (and as Sam pointed out to me earlier this week), Nintendo has *finally* decided to release the greatest game of all time on the GBA. All I really have to say about that is IT'S ABOUT. DAMN. TIME. Ever since I knew what FF4 was, I couldn't stop thinking how friggin' awesome it would be to play it on the GameBoy. In all honesty, it's the only game I think I've ever truly wanted to see on the GB. And although this just barely falls into the category of better-late-than-never (rather than too-little-too-late), I'm still pretty pumped. OMG so much awesome -- FINALLY =)
Oh, and the Cyclones pounded the Hawkeyes last weekend 23-3, in the biggest football game of the year in the state of Iowa. I suppose it was more that Iowa lost the game rather than ISU won it (Iowa had 5 turnovers), but the 'Clones did look pretty sharp. They've now won 6 of the last 8 meetings -- Go Cyclones!
Finally, as a bit of a sidenote (and as Sam pointed out to me earlier this week), Nintendo has *finally* decided to release the greatest game of all time on the GBA. All I really have to say about that is IT'S ABOUT. DAMN. TIME. Ever since I knew what FF4 was, I couldn't stop thinking how friggin' awesome it would be to play it on the GameBoy. In all honesty, it's the only game I think I've ever truly wanted to see on the GB. And although this just barely falls into the category of better-late-than-never (rather than too-little-too-late), I'm still pretty pumped. OMG so much awesome -- FINALLY =)
Oh, and the Cyclones pounded the Hawkeyes last weekend 23-3, in the biggest football game of the year in the state of Iowa. I suppose it was more that Iowa lost the game rather than ISU won it (Iowa had 5 turnovers), but the 'Clones did look pretty sharp. They've now won 6 of the last 8 meetings -- Go Cyclones!
9/06/05, 1:03 p.m. --
Woo/2
Yesterday marked the official last day of summer for me, as classes will resume today in about
an hour. Sadly, I spent the majority of yesterday on planes or waiting in airports (although
I think Kyle had it the worst, waiting 9 hours in the Norfolk AP.)
As is usually the case, the summer went by way too fast, and I don't feel like I did
half the things I had wanted to, especially in regard to work. Oh well. My classes should be
pretty decent this semester; I'm taking a GIS class on the St. Paul campus, and an independent
study class on surface energy fluxes with a professor in the Soil, Water, and Climate department.
Should be interesting (to me, anyway).
The highlight of the past week by far was the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach this past weekend. The race itself was a lot of fun -- Kyle, Ross, and I finished the 13-mile course in about 1 hour and 40 minutes (a 7:40 mile pace), good enough to place in the top 1000 of over 16,000 finishers. Much better than we'd hoped, really. Ashley finished a ways back, but being the hardcore marathoner I'm sure she would have whupped us all if she hadn't been sick and injured. However, we all spent the rest of our time there hobbling around and taking lots of naps, and I think my only regret might be the fact that I failed to find the beer tent after the race =|
As for the city, I didn't care for it much. It was sort of dirty and run-down and incredibly expensive, and there was really very little diversity in terms of shops and restaurants -- as Kyle put it so well, it felt like walking through a video game where the background keeps repeating itself. The beach and boardwalk area was really awesome, and we spent a good deal of time there, but I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon. All in all it was a good weekend though, and well worth the time and money.
Ross, Kyle, Ashley, Yours Truly.
The highlight of the past week by far was the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach this past weekend. The race itself was a lot of fun -- Kyle, Ross, and I finished the 13-mile course in about 1 hour and 40 minutes (a 7:40 mile pace), good enough to place in the top 1000 of over 16,000 finishers. Much better than we'd hoped, really. Ashley finished a ways back, but being the hardcore marathoner I'm sure she would have whupped us all if she hadn't been sick and injured. However, we all spent the rest of our time there hobbling around and taking lots of naps, and I think my only regret might be the fact that I failed to find the beer tent after the race =|
As for the city, I didn't care for it much. It was sort of dirty and run-down and incredibly expensive, and there was really very little diversity in terms of shops and restaurants -- as Kyle put it so well, it felt like walking through a video game where the background keeps repeating itself. The beach and boardwalk area was really awesome, and we spent a good deal of time there, but I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon. All in all it was a good weekend though, and well worth the time and money.
Ross, Kyle, Ashley, Yours Truly.