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Bring on France!

Here's a link for the ladies... Dolce & Gabbana is using Italian national team players Manuele Blasi, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo, Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro in its new underwear advertisements. Remember, Italians do it better.

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The problem with using your neighbors' wireless Internet connection is that when they move, you're screwed. July 1 is a popular annual lease contract date and I'm feeling the full effect of it. Hopefully the new neighbors will set up new unsecure wireless connections soon.

This weekend:

  • I went to my uncle's house on Lake Ki in Arlington on Saturday. The water was great. I took some excellent pictures of Dad doing flips off the diving board. My mom's dog tried swimming and almost drowned. He's an idiot. The dog has no instincts.
  • My long-lost high school friend Wesley came up to visit. We went running around Lake Padden and I kicked his ass in a sprint. I am one fast mofo. He kicked over the course of the 3-mile run because he's a psycho cross-country runner. He even went around a second time, which was fine because I opted to sunbathe and hit on a girl instead.
  • I had band practice with NoPAT last night. The songs are coming together and we brought in a new guitarist who can absolutely wail like Eric Clapton reincarnate. I was wowed.

Today I'm confirming a recording session for focuspoint up here August 12. I'm trying to score a gig at the Rogue that night, too. FYI, I will NOT be playing in the focuspoint acoustic show this Friday, but I will be down south this weekend. Now to make some plans for the Fourth of July...

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The World Cup is serious business. In China, a man pulled his TV out from his burning house to find the nearest electrical socket outdoors to watch the rest of the France-Spain match on Tuesday. His wife and child escaped safely on their own. Another man in Beijing quit his IT job, even after a pay raise offer, to return to his hometown and watch the World Cup uninterrupted.

And today, I had to call the office on my lunch break and to tell my boss that I needed an extra hour to watch the end of the Italy-Ukraine match. From Murdock's, perhaps one of the trashiest sports bars ever to televise the World Cup, I watched in excitement as the Azzurri advanced to the semi-finals, defeating Ukraine 3-0. The hicks watched me, bewildered by my enthusiasm, as I cheered on the Italians. Bring on the Germans.

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On this day, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of President Eisenhower's signing of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which led to the creation of the Interstate Highway System. I am inclined to honor my favorite freeway, I-5.

Dear I-5,

Congratulations on the anniversary of your conception. We've known each other for so long, and I'm happy for you. We've seen bad weather and hundreds of accidents, but still you remain a reliable friend.

Sometimes too many people use you at once, usually between the hours of 4-6 p.m., and that pisses me off, but you are always determined to get me from point A to point B. I know you've seen many surgeries to keep you functioning, and I know there's more to come, and I thank you for taking the construction with a smile to help the rest of us.

Your friend,
Paolo