Ryan's Waste of Precious Webspace

I think I may have found my new favorite football (soccer) announcer/commentator:

Youtube Link

I realize that my last two post have centered around soccer and announcers. Shocking as it may seem, I don't simply sit around all day and watch soccer.

Enjoy!

I strive to maintain my integrity, though failing at times, and I gave my word to deliver content to this listless blog. And I won't have this blog disqualify me from claiming a desire for that integrity. But worry not, I don't intend to do "the bare minimum" just to fulfill my word - I will still put some energy into these entries I have promised (although I won't kid myself about anyone actually reading them).

Since a post two years ago (to the month), I have not revealed any details about my life (save that I enjoy International Football), although you who read this probably know the basic current state of affairs for me. If you've depended on this blog to know me as a person, I apologize; I have failed you. But I don't believe "you" who I just described exists.

From that post, let's review what differs:

UCSD

Well, no longer do I attend that school, but I still attend a local JC to maintain my "student" status (in order to avoid repaying my loans and stay on my parents' insurance plans).

Brenda

You'll just have to discuss this personally with me if you'd like details. But, at the moment, I'm single (but working on it).

Argentina

I returned this past summer and had another great time. The trip this time had much fewer complications for me. And my team didn't leave me there. But again, you'll have to ask me about this if you want to know more.

Staccato

I haven't worked there for over a year and a half. I have a swell new job, where I do "business programming" (the best descriptor I could create) and we play foosball on Fridays. I have worked there for a bit over a year.

palswim.net

You're reading this here, right? Nothing here has changed, though I did recently change hosts.

And there you have my life update, although like I mentioned several times, to actually know anything specific, you'll have to talk to me directly.

I wonder which guitarist has chosen the more difficult path:


or

(To see the real rocking action, watch the beginning or jump to about 3:10; the transition to wailing begins around 3:20.)

As a disclaimer, I do not and have no ability to play Guitar Hero at all. I believe I still have chosen the more difficult path, but I don't know since I don't play both sides. My association with Guitar Hero only lies in acquaintance.

(2007/12/11) Edit: Updated the music video as the Youtube had invalidated the original video.

Obviously, you do! Or, you will, anyway.

I made my last entry on July 12. That's over 7 and 1/2 months since I've written anything. Here are a few of the ways I've convinced myself not to write anything during that time period (and their rebuttals):

• I'm too busy to write anything.
  Yeah, right. Why don't you tell me this on Saturday morning when you're sitting around doing nothing but surfing ESPN.com and picking your belly button lint.
• I'm waiting to move my blog management from Blogger to Wordpress (or another locally-managed blog maintenance system).
  Blogger has served your needs perfectly fine for the last 2 years. Also, instead of constantly telling me you'll eventually move your blog service, why not shut up and do it?
• Nothing's happening.
  You know that's not true in the slightest, especially recently.

So, there you have it. That's why I haven't written much, and as you can read, these are terrible reasons. But, I promise new content soon (all right, within the year), including:

• Life update
• Nit-picky rant
• Highly specialized, highly limited San Diego entertainment guide
  

It wasn't the "FIFA World Cup" or the "FIFA World Cup, presented by Adidas"; it's just The World Cup. I'm not going to think "oh, no, what about the AYSO World Cup, presented by Umbro!". Anyway, this time around, I was ready. I guess this past year, I've committed to watching and enjoying professional football (soccer) more and so I was looking forward to this World Cup the most I ever have.

Most of my thoughts during the World Cup were something along the lines of "Go Argentina!", but I did notice and ponder plenty of World Cup action outside of Argentina winning or losing:

• Thanks to sites like Footy-Vids and IsoHunt, I had the opportunity to watch any game I wanted to watch, even if I didn't tape it, and most of these games had British (mostly BBC) commentary, which was many times better than the ABC/ESPN commentary available in the U.S.. A few examples of why this is so:
  • (Video Link) The commentators take little good-humored jabs at each other. ("I don't want to put a curse on anybody here, but I've commentated on every single own goal in this World Cup." "Well, I don't know whether that's, uh, a bit of a curse, potentially or whether it's a case of you been covering too many games.")
  • (Video Link) The commentators make sarcastic remarks at what goes on during the games. (The commentators were at the mercy of a German feed, which wouldn't always show what they wanted and the camera was showing a close-up of the Italian coach: "Whether we see the replay or not, Henry could possibly have been the nearest... [camera still on the coach] Let's just have a picture of Lippi (coach) instead; far more interesting.")
  • (Video Link) The camera was on some French fans in some silly costumes and face paint and the commentators were remarking on the weather: "Well, it's still sweltering here in the commentary box um..." The commentator trailed off as the camera changed shots to an attractive young woman, but quickly picked right back up: "That's a better picture isn't it." And the other commentator: "Getting hotter."
  I think U.S. commentators are afraid to say anything, but then again, lawyers have made them that way.
• I don't think Zinedine Zidane really tarnished his greatness with the headbutt. I heard about it before I saw it, and I thought it was a lot worse (i.e., head to head) than it was. Journalists were saying that he can't be considered great like Pele or Maradona anymore, but it's not like Maradona did massive drugs or anything, right?
• While I didn't like the massive amount of cards the refs produced and I absolutely hated the diving and whining (Portugal, especially!), the thing I liked least about this World Cup was the dearth of goals. My goodness! Could England have at least tried to score off of something other than Beckham's free kicks? The most entertaining English moment was when Rooney crotch-stomped Carvalho. Same deal with many countries (including the United States). And I think Argentina could've mustered more than the 2-1, 1-1, or 0-0 games they pulled out of the trash - they showed they knew what they were doing when they scored six against Serbia-Montenegro.
• The most entertaining thing I found to read throughout the World Cup was Michael Davies's Blog over at ESPN (but mind you, I didn't look too hard for other material to read).
• I'm embarrased to say it, but I enjoyed the Adidas (+10) commercials, simply because they gathered footage from so many great players. (They even found Franz Beckenbauer!)
• People were saying how Argentina's weak point was their goalkeeper: Roberto Abbondanzieri. However, he was excellent throughout the tournament until he had had an encounter with German striker Miroslav Kolse's boot. The force of the collision was like me resting my foot on your chest. It was nothing. But, Abbondanzieri went down injured and Argentina had to use one of their three precious subs to put in the reserve goalkeeper and I believe this cost them the game (not that the reserve goalie wasn't any good, just that Argentina only had two substitutions left). The most ineffective player for Argentina was their right back in the final game (Fabricio Coloccini) - every time he had to defend somebody, I cringed because he looked clueless. Another honorable mention for most overhyped Argentinian was Juan Riquelme - people rave about him when he actually does very little.

Anyway, I want to watch even more football and possibly find pickup games around me (I'm sure they'll destroy me at first). So, I look forward to this upcoming season, thankful that ESPN2 may cover some games and that we have cable at this house, as well as the Champions' League and any International friendlies and also look forward to South Africa in 2010!

There is a word in this culture that in me evokes disgust and anger when I hear it float in from other peoples' conversations and shame when it pops up in my conversations (and outright humiliation when I have to use it). The word is MySpace.

Why is this atrocity of a website so popular? It's like taking all the drama of high school and putting it on the web. Every time I hear something like "Steve got in trouble with his girlfriend because of a comment he left on Sarah's MySpace", I want to kick a pidgeon.

My MySpace experience:

MySpace went too far when it entered the realm of everyday conversation. People can put thought into their online webpresence, but MySpace has stripped the individuality out of creating it. On journaling sites like Livejournal, the content is the journal entries and the comments are secondary. On MySpace, the content is usually how many friends you have and their comments to you and the journals are just an afterthought, and thus it has turned into a popularity contest with no real thought involved. Sure, there is a slight competition to win "eProps" on Xanga, but most people just post primarily when they want to post and don't worry about their eProp count too much.

You may ask "Why haven't you deleted your MySpace profile then?". And believe me, I have considered it countless times (and I'm sure one of these time's I'll just delete it and get it over with) and with each mention of it in real life conversation, the temptation to nuke it grows. But, I still have it up there to serve its original purpose: To give people who may have lost touch with me information about me and to serve as a portal to this site. (There is a link to it on this site, but I won't provide it for you here.)

So, although it has already ensnared me, too many of my friends, my brother, my sister, my girlfriend, and my other sister (in that order), there are still people out there who have not let this disease taint them.

My closing advice is this:
If you don't have a MySpace, don't get one.
If you do, why is Tom still your friend?

Well, the football in 2006 started poorly (as I posted earlier), but I would say the last two weekends made 2006 officially a good football year.

The LBC ladies tore it up in their tournament, especially the defense (anchored by the superstar Yoonjee - pictures later), which allowed one score over the span of four games. Their play greatly inspired our defense.

... which only allowed one more score than the ladies did (for all you math majors: that's two). No silly trick plays beating us this year! The craziest thing about our tournament was the last game's final score: 2-0. That's not two touchdowns to nothing, because then the score would have been something like 14-0. But no, that is a safety and a goose egg. I'm sure this made the game a little less interesting for Brenda, Jana and my mom to watch, but it was a thrill to play (and chase their version of Vince Young all around the field). I only wish I had eaten a little bit more - adrenaline can only take you so far. Near the end of that last game, I was worried my legs would give out.

There is nothing better than LBC sports, because it's like exercise and fellowship all rolled into one sweet package.

And in other news, Sprint's phones' new crime deterrent feature has made me consider switching back to them.

Well, I wanted to visit CCM a while back when Pat spoke. But Ray walked in one night, and I asked him where he'd been, and he told me, "I went to hear Patrick speak at CCM." So that was that.

I finally had the opportunity and a good excuse (John speaking - Christ as the Lamb [in Sacrificial Atonement and Judgement] - you should have been there) to return last night, and it was just like I never left (except more hugs and I couldn't stay around until 3 in the morning). I even met a bunch of freshmen, which is something I haven't had much opportunity to do lately (and something about which I've felt bad). But there were still people that I didn't get to see - I guess I'll have to visit again.

And when I left, there was more nostalgia waiting for me on my windshield. That's right: another ticket (my ticket luck). What happened to the Campus Parking Patrol going home at 7? I can't escape these guys!

But yes, though it was familiar, I still had to be an old man and not play afterwards, though I did go to In N Out with everyone (Can you believe they accept cards now? It just isn't the same.).

School was fun - I miss it; but working isn't too bad.

Rock 105.3 greatly impressed me today. In the five (separate) instances I drove, I heard four Tool songs. When you don't have a CD player in your car, stuff like this can make your day.

What doesn't make my day is that up until about 10 in the morning, Rock 105.3 is all talk (and mindless talk at that).

And on down my presets:

• FM 94.9 - Why so much Alice In Chains lately? I'd expect that from 105.3 - I thought the idea was to play a variety of (good) music. Other than that and their DJs being too full of trivial information, I'm glad to have a station that keeps its focus on playing music.
• 91X (91.1) - Much improvement since escaping from Clear Channel. A little too much morning talking, but solid music choices.
• KROQ (106.7) - Plays more System of a Down than 105.3, but I can only get reception about 50% of the time.
• 103.7 - 50% talking; 49% commercials; 1% music. When they do play music, it's all right, but the rest is pure garbage. What happened?
• KPRI (102.1) - Occasionally, I'll hear a fun, popular song from high school or a quality song, but it's always music, which is always preferrable to an ad.

Also, it's good to know that any time I drive for a period of longer than 20 minutes, I can almost guarantee I'll hear System of a Down ("Hypnotize" usually, which although it's far from their best song, it's still better than 95% of the rest of the radio's music.) on at least one of my presets.