Moving and Thinking

September 21, 2010

It's Tuesday, September 21, and it's time to play, "Whatcha Up To?"

For me it has included:

• (Wednesday) resuming the School for Christian Living on Wednesday nights at First Presbyterian Church. We will go "In Search of Paul."
• (Thursday) making my coaching debut against my former trainer Elvis (my current trainer Wally traveled with the A&M women's team to Portland). We lost 1-0 (my team and the Aggies).
• (Friday) hosting beading with my lovely friends. Boy they do beautiful work!
• (Saturday) spending the morning touring possible venues for a Bill White/Robert Earl Keen event (I hope to see you at The Corner at 6:00 on Friday October 22), and spending the afternoon doing much-needed weeding in the iris bed and now wishing I had seen the poison ivy before I grabbed it.
• (Sunday) marching the the Fiestas Patrias parade and shepherding one last house party (number 15).
• (Monday) mailing lanyards, doing office work, and mixing with the beautiful people of the Microplex at a fundraiser. I also added in a date night with Walter.
• (Tuesday) oil change, committee meetings, plus teaching.

Of course, these are all add ons to the usual business of the day. At least part of the time in the last week I have been contemplating the bathroom (and why is it called a bathroom if there are no bathing facilities?) around the corner and down the hall from my office. It is a quite lovely public facility although not as practical as these better options. It has a little vestibule with a couch-y kind of thing, presumably from back in the day when women became indisposed and their bosses wanted them to be able to lounge about for a bit before they got back to the filing (instead of clocking out and heading home).

That's not the point I have been pondering. We have a number of stalls. That's also not the point I have been pondering.

We have eight sinks, all in a row, about ten yards worth. The only place there is a hand soap is to the left of the first sink and to the right of the last sink. Paper towels are even further to the left and right. Basically, no one uses three-quarters of the sinks because they would have to collect soap, commute, wash, rinse, then commute back to the towel area.

Why make the investment? Seriously.

Fill

September 14, 2010

Recycle. Reduce. Re-Use. The mantra of the greenies.

And here is a new idea that does all three, while highlighting red, white, and, uh, blush:

With this self-service wine vending machine, you can reduce individual wine packaging by reusing and recycling containers. Bring your own resealable container, then select your vintage and pump. This handy meters keeps track:


Then you print and pay. Eliminating packaging is not only greener in an ecologic sense. It is also greener in a monetary sense. Cheaper shipping is passed on to the buyer with lower prices. You can read the complete story at Dr. Vino's blog.

This whole story leads me to think about what the ideal container to bring home wine in would be. It would have to be re-sealable and big enough, but not too big. What would you use?

Furinate

September 13, 2010

I never guessed I would spend so much time thinking about dog fur. I grew up in a home with dogs, but back in the old-fashioned days, dogs lived in the backyard. Maybe on the coldest, nastiest days they would get to claim a spot on an old towel in the laundry room.

My life and my dogs' lives are different now. It's not unusual to see Willie curled in a ball on the sofa, hindquarter twitching a bit in rhythm to his bunny dreams. Teddy has thousands of years of breeding built into her system which demands lap time (and a spot on the bed between my right leg and Walter's left leg). Uma feels obligated to pace around the kitchen if anyone else is there, to claim any carelessly dropped morsel of anything (and I do mean anything, including a scrap of celery).

They each have their own grooming problems that require attention for them to live inside. Willie's short, sleek hair isn't as big a problem as his continually muddy feet, but he does shock shed (if he gets scared or if his cervical stenosis flares up, we find his stubby red fur on all the furniture). Teddy doesn't shed, but her tail plume and ears pick up burs and beggar's lice. She requires beauty shop appointments every couple of months to maintain her beauty and keep her coat manageable.

Uma, however, is in a league of her own. She is a fluffy dog who sheds year round. The solution:

This little tool (actually called a FURminator, but I think it sounds oh-so-much-more potent to drop the "m" and call it a furinator in my best Arnold Schwarzenegger accent) can take the fur off! In fact, the neighborhood birds leave bribes on my back porch and window sills, trying to entice me to furinate her so they can collect her fur and add to the loft and plushness of their nests, much like if they feathered their nests with luxurious Hungarian goose down. Here's what a minute and a half of furinating produced:

Now, as John Cleese might say, for something completely different.

This is something that made me say Hmmm last week. I pulled up to a red light (first in line). I checked my rearview mirror hoping not to see some careless student driver about to be ticketed for failure to stop. Instead, I saw a shiny red Prius, just like mine. Then before I looked away, a third shiny red Prius pulled up and joined the line. I felt like I had wandered into the filming of a Toyota commercial and that the three of us were supposed to rev off on some adventure while the loving-eyed camera followed our moves around tight curves with beautiful vistas as the backdrop.

Please consider yourself invited to our Bead-i-licious Beading Workshop on Friday (September 17) at my house, come after you finish school or work. Stay as long as it fits in your schedule.

Aware

September 12, 2010

Friends all over the country have done a much better job calling awareness to Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. There was even a letter in my local paper today, AND I DIDN'T HAVE TO WRITE IT. Even President Obama outdid me, signing a proclamation last Thursday:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/10/presidential-proclamation-childhood-cancer-awareness-month

I'm going to do my part this Friday and jump back into the lanyard game with both feet. I know that Bryan High has an in-town football game (come early and you can still make kick-off), but Rudder's game is out of town and Consol has an off week. A&M is in-town against Florida International, but that still frees your Friday afternoon/evening up for fun and friendship.

It has been way too long since I have spent time with my beading friends. What better way to to spend time than to do something you like that creates beauty and also does good in the world?

Coach

September 9, 2010

Nursing a blister on my left heel today.

I'd like to claim that I got it clocking a left-footed shot into the upper 90. Nope. Also negatory on breaking in new boots during my team roping trials. Nor is it a fire-walking injury.

Yesterday morning I put on my not-so-stylish Red Ball rubber boots before I took my morning stride around the lake with Pup 1 and Pup 2 (FYI--Pup 3 almost always sleeps in). I figured with the two-plus inches of rain on Tuesday, I would have to splash through some mess went I went off-road around the lake. I was wrong. All I encountered was firm ground. The thirsty ground had soaked it all up. Completely.

I wish I had straightened my sock and pulled it up tight before I started out. I will know better next time. Of course, some times the rains are so far apart, I forget such pledges.

The Tuesday rain did help in one aspect of my life. You may have noticed that I posted about our first tournament game last weekend, then never wrote another word. I have to say that my pride ran fairly shallow for the other two games, and not because we lost to some stiff competition. Rather, I had some disappointment about the way my team members treated each other when the pressure of the game ramped up. My mother taught me that if I didn't have something nice to say, I should say nothing at all. Thus, my silence on the subject.

Tuesday night, in lieu of practice, we had a team/parent/coaches meeting to get back on the maturity track. I do not want to give into the stereotype that 13 year-old-girls can't help it if they are mean to each other or disdainful of adults. I have a much higher opinion of them than that. We will see what happens going forward, but I am willing to bet that if we give them the tools to cope they will figure out a way to change their behavior. If not, I suppose they will need to find someone else to play for.

Read/Watch/Listen: Learn

September 7, 2010


I asked my students this morning "Where do you get your news?" I wasn't looking for a specific answer like Fox News or The Eagle or Ezra Klein's daily blog Wonkbook. What I wanted to hear was that they consulted a variety of source. None of us can get by with sourcing our news from one place. Variety is not just the spice of life. It is how we can triangulate the world and figure it out. Regularly consulting more than one source is good. Mixing it up so that you don't always hear the same point of view is even better.

Of course, that takes us out of our comfort zone.

I found the photo that I led with this morning on my Google news reader. It came across on a blog that I try to read regularly. When I followed the link http://2photo.ru/en/post/19380, I found the website of

Photographer David Zaitz

who does really fantastic work. In just a brief moment, I made a discovery and learned about something I had never known about before. It's less threatening to learn about artists and "cool" things than it is to learn about things that might rearrange your underlying conception of the world. I force myself to do it anyway. It's why I read all the op ed pieces in the local paper, instead of just the ones that will make me nod in agreement. Sometimes it feels like drinking from a fire hose to read, watch, and listen to all the different things I tune into every day. But I do it anyway.

I hope you will take a step towards the uncomfortable zone and choose to read/watch/listen to at least one source of news that may contradict your usually held opinions.

Tie

September 4, 2010

The Aggieland Texans U-14 girls team (my team) played with energy and enthusiasm. They slipped one past the other team's keeper to go up 1-0, then let in an unstoppable free kick that bounced down off the upper corner and into the opposite side. They handled the ups and downs of the game (including the red-carding of an opponent on a pretty minor offense and the ejection of the opposing coach) with maturity. They also raise their level of competitive spirit instead of whining and making excuses when the other team played fast and hard.

Final score 1-1.

I am really proud of them.

Sag

September 2, 2010

I sagged a little under the weight of August. It's not that I'm unaccustomed to the heat. That I can tolerate. And I don't mind resuming soccer practice or prepping for the start of the semester. You will never find me complaining about raising money for pediatric cancer, so the various showings we had for our lanyards that netted more than $2500 the last couple of weeks and the fantastic NB Fun Run in Cypress that cleared $10,000 were high on my list of "Must Dos." The dozen house parties I shepherded and attended in August were among the most important things I have ever done in my life, and even with at least three more pending in September, I do not begrudge a single moment they took. Whence the sag? Well, it's not because I've shed so many pounds that my belt no longer holds up my pants. I think it is accumulated sag. Just a bit too much here and a bit too much there.

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to try to become a recovering sagger. The first casualty of the sag was my robust online life. I am hoping to return to form quickly with more ppw (posts per week) and more lpp (laughs per post).

I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can suspend the sag.

Launch (or Re-Launch)

August 27, 2010

I can read the date and know today is an Odd Friday, but I woke up not feeling well this morning and took a slow start to the day. Next Friday is also an Odd Friday, but my soccer team has a tournament in Dallas the next day, and I probably need to make the three-hour drive on Friday afternoon/evening instead of driving like a crazy woman way early Saturday morning.

Interpretation: Give me a chance to re-group on Lanyard Workshops. I will launch the new season with the Let's Get Back To It! Odd Friday Lanyard Workshop at my house on Friday September 17.

I hate to put off the start to the fall lanyard season because I have so much good news about how lanyards have gone this summer: new schools, new venues, new lanyard wearers, new lanyards makers! Still, I think we can all use a break today. A lot of folks have barely survived the first week of school and several of us face that hill next week.

If you don't know what to do with yourself, come help us out a the NB Fun Run in Cypress tomorrow morning.

Say HMMMM

August 17, 2010

I pulled up to a red light on Saturday morning, next to an extended-cab Ford F-150 on my left and a relatively new Toyota Camry on my right. The light lasted a long while, so I entertained myself by looking around. The driver of the truck held something up to his nose, then passed it over to the front-seat passenger who took a deep sniff and handed it to the guys in the back seat who did the same thing. I admit, I stared at them until I figured out what they were doing: taking turns smelling a stick of deodorant. I turned away, trying to process whether they had confused the new drug known as Spice (K2, a blend of herbs, spices and synthetic cannabis) with the product the Old Spice guy has been hawking. When I looked to the right, all five of the people in the Camry, including the driver, had their phones raised in front of their faces, texting as fast as Miss Jane on the Beverly Hillbillies could type.

The light turned green, and all I could do as I drove away was to say Hmmmm.

You may have noticed that I have not contributed to The Davhee Repore that regularly this summer. Now that he is a college graduate and moving 1000 miles away, it borders on weird for me to write a blog about him. I am going to try mothballing his site for a while and if I have something to say, include it here. If I end up having more to say than I think I will, I'll write over there.

Here is a video that we made of his last few minutes at home. Don't expect too much in terms of content or videography.

Chase

August 10, 2010

My cup runneth over, and I feel grateful that I have the health and the energy to do so much each day. Lanyards, soccer, a little community organizing, helping with the NB Fun Run, getting Davis ready for grad school. Willie and Teddy make sure that I start each day right, with what used to be a brisk 25 minute walk around the lake. These days, it takes more like 45 minutes because we have to stalk the new temptress, seductress, harlot of the homestead, whore of Leisure Lake. That's right Mrs. Bun or, more likely, one of her tart-y daughters or granddaughters has taken up residence in the bamboo grove across from our house.

I can't really tell who it is because I walk when it is just getting light (and besides, it is pre-first cup of coffee in the morning). All I can see is her pouty lips smeared in "jungle red" or "red sinner" shades of lipstick and fake eyelashes batting coquettishly at the dogs when they run out to the yard. Whoever she is has her bodice laced tight enough to mimic the effect of a high-dollar push up bra. Apparently, she is a thief as well as a slut. As the dogs make the corner and head to the front yard, they inevitably find her purloining fallen pears. This send them into a frenzy. . . but clever girl she is, she bolts to the cover of the bamboo, where Willie can't easily pass and we are forced to spend the next twenty minutes sniffing the ground trying to pick up the scent of "White Shoulders" or whatever it is she wears.

Ah well. If I didn't have a forced slow start to the day, I would probably be worn out by this time of day and unable to blog effectively.

Anyway, the reason I logged on this evening was to let you know that I can not have the previously scheduled Last Chance, Back-to-School Lanyard Workshop this week. Davis leaves for Ohio State on Friday, and he is using much of the available space in the house to stage all his belongings for transport. Since we are having a large group over to meet with Chet on Saturday afternoon, I just don't have time to recover from Davis's packing, have lanyards, and get the house swell and clean by the next day. I know you will understand.

Here's what I suggest instead. On Friday, pour yourself a beverage of choice. Put your feet up, and start brain storming what we can do during the month of September with our lanyards to build awareness (Remember September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month). Maybe you want to host a workshop or take some lanyards to show around your workplace or your kids' schools. Maybe you want to host a bead drive. Maybe you want to think of something quite novel. Anyway, that's your assignment, if you choose to accept!

BUT if you have the itch to bead, you can stop by and get supplies this week. Call before you come.

P.S. Let me know if I owe you a lanyard! My workspace is a mess, and while I think I have mailed everything I was supposed to, I may have slipped up.

Sweat

August 8, 2010

The off-season came to a screeching halt on Friday and the cool New Mexican mountain air that I breathed only last Wednesday became a faded memory. Soccer resumed on Friday. Truth be told, it resumed last Monday, but I slacked and enjoyed vacation while the girls had their first practice of the fall season with their new trainer Wally Crittendon. We had our first friendlies yesterday, and I am almost certain that most of the girls wish they had spent less time with facebook and their smart phones during the last two month and more time away from their couch. Frankly, I am thinking the same thing about the way I Spent My Summer Vacation. August promises to be a painful month--not just hot but dedicated to turning those soft, gone-to-pot muscles back into something useful.

It will be torture, but I can not think of a greater group of young women to torture myself for than

Megan

Sydni

Emily

JJ

Sydney

Alyssa

Lindsey

Tori

Ariel

Bailey

Keaton

Regan

Kiley

Lexi

I'm also hoping Kimberly makes it back on the pitch from her season ending knee injury last May and really wish Sam would reconsider her need to take a season off.

We are going to do fantastic things together this year!

Question

July 30, 2010

Happy Birthday to my sister Elisabeth! Thanks for sharing Annabelle with us last week.

(NOTE: if your fingers are flying over the keyboard, "sister" can become "sistern" faster than you think. Luckily, spell check thought I had misspelled cistern, so I caught my almost insult, before it happened).

Walter and I made a break for it on Thursday and headed west for one last gulp of cool air in the New Mexican mountains so we can re-group and face a summer whose heat and humidity will last another two months, even as the responsibilities of our jobs and the fall semester fast approach. I thought July had more "must do" activities than it should, but August is shaping up worse. It is never a good sign when you have things penned onto your calender for a majority of days in a month BEFORE the first day of the month has yet arrived.

I am solacing myself with several quick and fun reads this trip. I'm laughing my way through Fool, by Christopher Moore, who reeks of inappropriateness in every sentence he writes. Here's perspective: Carl Hiaasen (author of Sick Puppy and several other wickedly humorous books and who is quite reek-y himself) writes this blurb on the book cover: "Christopher Moore is a very sick man, the the very best sense of that word." I also picked up a Tony Hillerman mystery and will try the first one In Nevada Barr's series featuring Anna Pigeon (has anyone read any of these and do you have an opinion about her work--not, of course, in a literary sense, but in a quick-but-enjoyable-easy-as-cotton-candy-to-swallow vacation fare?).

The satellite radio came in handy on the long drive out. But, at about hour six and not even to the halfway point, my mind started wandering. I am no longer a young chick. I have been listening to music since I started school (not college, not junior high, but first grade at Trudy's Kiddy College!). I can sing (I use that word very loosely) along with a huge number of songs. For many of them, I can recall when I first heard them. Most songs I know bring to mind certain summers or particular friends or special occasions.

I am not above admitting that I danced to "Brick House" in junior high down at the Friday night Manvel dances sponsored by the catholic church there (probably on the theory that if young people were dancing in the fellowship hall they weren't doing other, more regrettable things). I can remember singing along with the "Stray Cat Strut" as I watched the video on MTV. If we want to go waaayyy back, I can remember playing 45s of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on my little record player as a five-year old--most likely right before or after I shook my fine self to the "Hokey Pokey" .

Revealing my dicey taste in music over the years to you is not the point of this post (although it is tempting to reveal that I my first live concert was jazz trumpeter, Maynard Ferguson, and my second live concert was the inaugural Texxas Jam at the Cotton Bowl. Eclectic tastes, if nothing else). My point is that somewhere between Sonora and Ozona yesterday, I realized that I did not have a soundtrack to my life for the last two decades.

Well, strictly speaking, that's not entirely true. I just don't want to admit that Raffi took over the playlist in the 90s, and after that I reverted back to replaying and luxuriating in old tunes rather than doing the hard work of listening to new music and attempting to separate the wheat from the chaff. How does this happen? I know all the songs from the 70s, most from the 60s, a large number from the 80s (despite the weakening quality of music and encroachment of corporate music which began in the 70s). I can sing along with many songs from the 50s, despite never drawing a single breath in that decade, and sadly recognize more popular songs from the 40s than from the 90s or 00s. Yet, besides Taylor Swift (who my young junior high friends listen to), I cannot name (or really even discern) artists or songs from the last twenty years. How, tell me how, did this happen (AND PLEASE don't answer with reference to my ancientness if you were born in either of these two decades)?

Bless

July 25, 2010

A friend of mine recently responded to an email I sent her. A few months ago she had asked me to make some Christian Year necklaces based on our Christian Year lanyard because she thought folks at her church might be interested in them in our effort to raise money for neuroblastoma. We made them up and sent them on. A little while ago I got them all back, and I had asked her if they never got there or if they hadn't been that popular. She wrote me back:

I haven't been back to that church in a while. I used to be on staff until I hurt my back again in Jan. But I never received a card, call or visit since then, so my feeling were hurt.

I'm not going to jump in right here and make a judgmental comment about what church family is for (which my baser instincts would prefer), but I would like to take the opportunity to reflect a little on that experience and reflect it in our own.

I can remember getting Erin's diagnosis eight years ago this month. When we got back to town, I drove straight to my friend Elaine's house and had a good cry. Soon after I made an appointment with our associate pastor for lunch and share our heartbreaking news with her. Of course, at that point my priorities were hugely confused. There was no doubt in my mind that Erin would survive her cancer, but I was really worried about how it was going to change our life and how folks would treat her. I didn't want her to be a freak or damaged goods or cried over or pitied. Both Elaine and Marie encouraged me to take the lead about the way I wanted people to act and they would follow, and follow they did.

Eight years, they followed, through pastor changes, multiple turnovers in the session and diaconate, new staff, new members, and every step of the way we felt the loving arms of our community of faith. We had more meals delivered than I ever had time to give proper thanks for, endless crafts, gifts beyond measure, visits on lonely days, written messages on every imaginable occasion, and so many, many voices of commiseration, celebration, and encouragement. We shared our friends arms for hugs and shoulders for strength.

This didn't end when April 2009 ended. We still look to our many, many friends at First Presbyterian Church, Bryan with awe and inspiration for how they continue to live in relationship with us. I am reminded of the verse (maybe in Luke, despite teaching adult Sunday School for fifteen years, I'm not very good with verse citations) that loosely translated says love God with all your heart and strength and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. And I have to say that our friends at church really take the second half of that verse seriously.

Knowing such an experience is possible made me really sad for my friend who heard nothing from her church family when she needed them most.

P.S. Let me know if you are in the market for a Christian Year necklace. I have a dozen or so.

Run (like a Chicken with Its Head Cut Off)

July 19, 2010

Davis made it back from Utah Saturday evening, stuffed with new knowledge from his classes and sprinkled with freckles on his arms and legs from the UV rays that flash through the thin atmosphere that one finds at an altitude of almost 7000 feet.

The whole adult son relationship is a crazy one to navigate, especially considering that our time together this summer is split between cozy togetherness and distant apartness. We keep getting thrown in with each other and then apart from each other, and it takes us all a couple of days to get our sea legs stable (not to mention coordinating our biorhythms and sleeping and eating patterns).

We have refocused on the 3000 piece puzzle that we started before his Utah trip, and have it more than two-thirds finished. Of course, most of what remains we saved for last for a good reason (and not because they were the easy and obvious pieces left to fit in). I remain motivated, however, so that I can rescue my drop-leaf table and reclaim a large swath of my living room.

Today I wore a variety of hats. I packaged up a new shipment of lanyards to send to my internet friend and marking partner, Marni, in Chicago. The office staff at Children's Memorial are crazy about the lovely lanyards we make. I dashed to the bank to make a deposit (and avoid those pesky bank fees). I spent a couple hours planning some house parties for my friend Chet. I am also subbed this afternoon at the Brazos Democratic Party headquarters because my friend Maggie finally got to take a vacation. At 3:00 I jumped in the car to meet Athena in Plantersville to do a lanyard supply and display transfer for her pre-school teachers' conference in Spring tomorrow. Now I am updating the website while the oatmeal from the breakfast dishes soaks off, so I can put them in the dishwasher.

My booth mate in Dallas sent some photos of our lanyard booth. We sold about 110 lanyards and made $2035 dollars, plus I got to see both my sisters, one niece, and my cousin and her daughter. Talk about win, win, win. Tomorrow I drive to Austin to see my sister-in-law, teach a lanyard workshop to participants at her Education Through Music Conference, and hopefully find some new adoptive parents for our lanyards!

Slack

July 13, 2010

As in, cut me some slack for letting a week slip by without an update. For those of you who lost interest in my World Cup ramblings, it is safe to come out and read. I will say I have no idea why an octopus named Paul would have more skill at picking games than I do, but clearly, he outclassed me coming and going. I will also say that I may have to find a 12-Step program to help me break my habit of WC watching. Luckily we are only weeks away from the start of the EPL season.

I am completely out of my comfort zone this week. I am manning a booth at a conference as a vendor. I spent the entire weekend trying to figure out what that meant. I am hustling lanyards for CNCF, but because I am not comfortable "selling" (see my entry about ask versus guess), I was, it's safe to say, a bit concerned. My natural strength is planning and organizing, so I spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning doing the prep. You can imagine me, sorting and labeling lanyards, doing quality control, thinking about display options, et cetera, et cetera. Everything to prepare me for the "moment" when someone wonders into your booth and either loves you (actually your lanyards) or NOT!

Even though I have time write now to write this entry, I think it is just a temporary lull. The conferees at the Texas Career Educators Conference have been enthusiastic supporters of the Lanyard Project so far. Here's where I need to thank everybody: Athena F-B (not facebook) for securing the booth and encouraging me to sell, to Rachel H. my cousin's daughter (is that a second cousin or a cousin once removed?) for helping me with the set up (there is no way I could have done it without her), and to my sisters, Katherine and Elisabeth for helping me in the booth. I feel all kinds of personal growth going on for me here.

Catch Up

July 7, 2010

I don't have a lot of free time this week. I'm getting ready to take lanyards to a big conference in Dallas next week (free reminder: Red-Hot Lanyard Workshop at my house on Friday afternoon/evening to add the final touches to the inventory) and The Chet Store opened this week.

Some of you recall what fun Erin always had visiting The Chet Store (which is really just the local campaign office for her friend Chet Edwards). Because of their relationship, I am donating my time this summer to help with his re-election bid (more on this later).

I did a couple of things you might be interested in this week. Some of you have your own blogspots. If you do, you may have noticed they recently rolled out a new design upgrade for templates and layout. I have played round a little with this on some of the other blogs I keep, most noticeably on the Erin's Dream Lanyard site (http://chooseaverb.blogspot.com if you want to save the URL).

The whole lanyard project has gained momentum and spread. We want to be absolutely inclusive and welcoming to anyone who has a stake in neuroblastoma, so we have widened access and created a portal to everyone's lanyard projects. Go to NB Lanyard Link (http://lanyardlink.blogspot.com) to check this out.

When I am confident enough that I know how to manipulate the new Blogger, I may even take a crack at modernizing Let's Do It!

I have also taken a few extra minutes each day to check on the status of the Giant Swallowtail eggs that someone (should I say somecaterpillar) deposited on a citrus-type scrub tree by my driveway. The really cool thing about caterpillar eggs is how quickly they grow into big fat caterpillars. As Eric Carle promised, they are hungry. . . so hungry in fact, that they decimated my little tree, and I had to collect small, leafed branches from a tree down the road and around the corner, so they wouldn't starve. Please do not confuse Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar, with the one in this YouTube video.

The last of them moved along into chrysalis land today, and in less than a couple of weeks I will have a herd? flock? of giant swallowtails in my front yard.

Have your ever seen a giant swallowtail caterpillar?

Do you now know why they are called "bird poop" caterpillars? Here's a hint:

And in the Second Match?

July 2, 2010

As much as a younger version of myself could fall in infatuation with Uruguay's Diego Furlon, I think I will have to go with the Black Stars on the merit of their performance against the USA and their 2009 U-20 world championship. Here's my prediction:

Ghana-2 Uruguay-0

Here are my picks for tomorrow as well:

I think Argentina and Germany will end regulation at 2-2 and Germany will win by one in extra time. I am not confident about this prediction at all. It could be just the opposite.

As much as I would like Paraguay to win, I think Spain will win this one 2-1.

I took some time off from blogging the game to have lunch with my lady friends. In the knock out round, the second half is often quite exciting. Suaraz, who is in the running for the golden boot, just looked quite dangerous. It makes me wonder if this brash young Ghana team can hold it together under the onslaught that will no doubt come over the next half hour.

This foul (67th minute) looks like a get back even call for not calling the short pulling, push from behind in the box a couple of minutes ago. Ball over the frame.

In the meantime, here are some of my fan picks:

Here was the first fan I captured. Although, sadly, Brazil is headed home, we thought that this fan won the "Best Use of Country's Flag" category:

These Chilean fans also won in a flag category. When we found them in the Sandton Center (a Galleria-style urban mall) they had a great difficulty posing, leading them to win the "I Love My Country, but Can't Tell the Top of Its Flag from the Bottom." Luckily, Davis is a flag afficianado and helped them out so they didn't embarrass their countrymen. I'm pretty sure the man to my left was not pleased with Davis's assistance.

With fewer than ten minutes remaining, nerves seem to unraveling. So far, it is looking like extra time. Will Ghana keep their cool or will Uruguay just chip away at their confidence. Forlan just had a really good chance, but couldn't quite catch up with the ball (in the replay he looks off).

Wow, the Ghana goalie's face looks frustrated and concerned (his eyebrows are stuck in that perpetual surprise position). I'll bet he is wanting the ball down at the other end for a while. Whatever happens, he's better off now than he would be if this goes on for another half hours and ends up in PKs.

901st minute. The Ghanans look like they remember how the USA game ended. They are really pressing.

If it goes another 30 minutes, you have to wonder whether athleticism or experience will win out.

Are you up for some more fan shots?

Here are fans from our play group. I think we combine to win the Best Overall Group Costumes (though Group A with Mexico, South Africa, France, and Uruguay came close, and Group G, with Brazil, Ivory Coast, Portugal, and North Korea would have been the big winner of this prize if Kim Jong-il had let ANY fans out of North Korea. . . instead he hired 100 Chinese to go to South Africa and pretend to be Korean fans).

We also had the opportunity to take pictures of fans whose teams did not make the World Cup (I suppose that comes from making your airline reservations and buying your game tickets before your team actually qualifies). They win the Fans Without a Team Award.

Here are a couple of Polish fellows:

And here are some French-hating Irish:

Fifteen more minutes on the field. Then more drama.

The final couple of fan awards go to Fans Who Exceeded Their Team's Efforts. Cameroon and Honduras ended up at the bottom of their play groups, but their fans we met were really FANTASTIC.

Wow!!!! Suarez! Red! Hand on the ball at the goal line! In the last seconds!

Gyan shoots for Ghana. And he missed it. . .

On the third kick, Ghana opens the window for Uruguay.

Uruguay wins. Cheeky final goal.

Catch Up and Go Forward

July 2, 2010

The announcer just said that all the starters for Brazil are happily married (though I'm not sure how anyone would actually know that). Such a factor could give Brazil and edge that I hadn't added to my calculations when I made my prediction. Given that it is a warm and sticky day in Port Elisabeth, there are other reasons why I might reconsider. I have to assume that warm and sticky fits with Brazil more than Holland.

In fairness, I will now show you the complete table of my group and first knock out round predictions and outcomes. I have italicized the matches where I predicted the outcome correctly and italicized and bolded them if I got the actual score correct (rare event).

Group A

South Africa-2 Mexico-3

Uruguay-0 France-2

South Africa-2 Uruguay-2

France-2 Mexico-0

France-1 South Africa-1

Mexico-3 Uruguay-1

Obviously I knew Nothing about Group A.

What a softness in the middle. Rabinho scores for Brazil, and it was no fluke. Beautiful movement to free Rabinho.

Group B

South Korea-2 Greece -1

Argentina-2 Nigeria-0

Argentina-2 South Korea-2

Greece-0 Nigeria-2

Nigeria-2 South Korea-1

Greece-0 Argentina-2

A bit better in Group B.

Group C

England 2- USA-2

Algeria-0 Slovenia-2

Slovenia-2 USA-3

England-2 Algeria-0

Slovenia-0 England-2

USA-1 Algeria-0

Given that USA really probably beat Slovenia 3-2, this is one of my best efforts.

I'm thinking that the 40% of employed folks in The Netherlands who took time off from work today or this afternoon may be biting their nails at this point. The Orange defense looks so much shakier than they have in their first for games and the Brazilians (who look strange to me with blue on top) look customarily collected.

Group D

Serbia-2 Ghana-1

Germany-3 Australia-0

Germany-2 Serbia-1

Ghana-2 Australia-2

Ghana-1 Germany-2

Australia-0 Serbia-2

Pretty mediocre. Missed out on Serbia's effort completely.

Sidenote: I met some Serbian fans at the Lesedi Cultural Village and, of course, asked if I could take their photo. They didn't have on fan gear, just black coats with Serbian crests, but I didn't think I would have a chance to see Serbian fans any other time so I went for it. As we lined up and Davis prepared to snap the shot, the man standing next to me reached over and pulled my stadium coat more closed. When I looked puzzled, he said, "I must cover your Adidas [on the soccer jacket I wore as an extra layer]. We are Nike."

Brazil seems to have a secret map to the seams in The Netherland's defense. The are looking quite dangerous. I think Robben has a goal in his shoe, if he can just get in the box without nine blue jerseys.

Group E

Holland-2 Denmark-1

Japan-0 Cameroon-2

Holland-3 Japan-0

Cameroon-2 Denmark-2

Denmark-2 Japan-0

Cameroon-2 Holland-2

Obviously, betting against Japan and in favor of Cameroon was an ineffective strategy. The Indomitable Lions were actually quite domitable. Oh Well. And Japan fielded a team that had more than just skill on re-starts (which was quite amazing). Honda has become one of my favorite players!

Group F

Italy-1 Paraguay-1

New Zealand-0 Slovakia-2

Slovakia-2 Paraguay-2

Italy-2 New Zealand-0

Paraguay-2 New Zealand-0

Slovakia-2 Italy-3

After a brilliant first match call, this group fell apart for me. I didn't think New Zealand had a chance to score and they left the tournament unbeaten. In the process Paraguay became one of my favorite teams to watch (gotta love the barber pole red and white socks).

Can the Dutch answer fire with fire. We will see over the next forty-five minutes. I hope they added starch to their back line at half time.

Equalizer in the first 10 minutes. Sneijder from quite a distance.

Group G

Ivory Coast-2 Portugal-1

Brazil-4 North Korea-0

Brazil-2 Ivory Coast-1

Portugal-2 North Korea-0

North Korea-0 Ivory Coast-2

Portugal-1 Brazil-1

This group had the advantage of having North Korea in it. making three of the picks pretty obvious. My best percentage correct.

Group H

Honduras-0 Chile-2

Spain-3 Switzerland-0

Chile-2 Switzerland-0

Spain-2 Honduras-0

Chile-1 Spain-1

Switzerland-0 Honduras-2

Finished with one exacto and half the group.

Holland adjusted some at half and currently the game looks more like I thought it would.

Unbelievable header from a corner for the Dutch! Sneidjer again!

Melo sent off? Who can believe it. While it makes it difficult for Brazil, perhaps that will fire their belly to counter this surge from The Netherlands.

Ten minutes left and things are getting quite scrappy.

Obviously, given my lukewarm predictions (20 right, 28 wrong), my Round of Sixteen predictions had to be re-vamped a little, based on who was playing, rather than how I filled my brackets before the Cup started.

I actually predicted three-quarters of the teams going through on the left wide of the bracket and five of eight on the right side. I think I only predicted two match ups correctly: Argentina/Mexico and Brazil/Chile.

I'll start with those two:

Argentina-2 Mexico-1

Brazil-2 Chile-0

The Dutch ends up on top. Unbelievable. I can't believe Brazil couldn't hold it together.

Predict

July 2, 2010

I want to get my prediction down, before I attempt a little live blogging and World Cup commentary over the next couple of hours.

Holland-3, Brazil 2 (maybe in extra time)

Erin Rules- Brazil wins