Great marketing...

A company in Washington state that makes bags and backpacks has started using a care label with a subtle (or maybe not so subtle) political statement. Not only is it quite funny but also is a great way to get publicity. Check them out at http://www.tombihn.com/ and look for the "The notorious French/English care label" link near the bottom of the page.

Softball, Game 1

We played our first game of the season this evening. We lost 15-18 to Orange Animals. We all agreed that we played quite well and were all positive regardless of the loss. All four of us played well, Marla made a great catch in the outfield, Rachael got some great hits and played well at RF, and Griff & I started what might become a nice little middle-infield partnership (Griff at 2B and me at SS). We had a few put-outs and one double play. We're all looking forward to next week!

Best news ever?

Susanne and Mark will be coming to the UK at the end of May. It's hard to explain how happy I am about this - we have not seen them since their wedding in Colorado - that was November 2000!

Weekends past and birthdays to come...

Monday morning again. We had a decent weekend, although Marla had to go to work both days. She is working tres hard at the moment... but the worst of it should have passed after Tuesday and her big inspection. On Saturday we had a practice session for our softball team. Griff, Marla and I went and had a great time. Our first game is on Tuesday, so we needed a bit of practice.

Yesterday we went to the Assembly Inn quiz. After winning last week our hopes were high. However, they were soon dashed when we learned it was a St. Georges day themed quiz. It was not really our cup of tea and we limped home in 8th place.

It's Joe's 24th birthday on Thursday - and my 30th the following Thursday - and we have all sorts of meals out planned. Plus we will be going camping next weekend with the gang, which should a great time and a chance for us to use our new tent for the first time. More about the camping later in the week.

The biggest news from the weekend is that Liverpool beat Manchester United 1-0. A great result which keeps hopes of 4th place alive. It would have been even better if Newcastle hadn't also beaten Chelsea 2-1 but at least Liverpool still control their fate, as it were, and can keep 4th place if they win all their remaining matches - including the season finale against Newcastle!

Pictures from Anfield...

Finally got the pictures from our trip to Anfield up on an Ofoto album:

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=1t0q0p7.28p04k7r&x=0&y=iusesa

Liverpool vs Fulham...

Literally just returned home from our trip to Liverpool. It was an excellent trip with everything going to plan in terms of timing and getting to see all the things we wanted to at Anfield. The game was good, even though it was a 0-0 draw, which from Liverpool's perspective is a poor result. For my money the Reds had the best of the game and created plenty of chances but were unable to break through and Gerrard had a penalty saved which was a huge dissappointment. Right, that'll be all from me for now. I'm off to bed soon. I'll have the photos on-line tomorrow.

Illness and a classic movie...

I felt very unwell today and spent most of the day in bed. It looks like the illness that got Andy & Rachael while we were in Cornwall is working its way through us all - Griff & Fi were ill today too and Marla has just said that she does not feel too good. Hopefully me, Griff and Marla will all have recovered before we go to Liverpool this Saturday.

This evening I watched To Kill A Mockingbird for the first time in quite a while. It is truly one of the greatest movies ever - of course the book is astounding too. Atticus Finch is the perhaps the greatest character in any film. I recommend both the book and the film to all.

Cornwall...

We have just returned from Cornwall after an eventful trip. We had a great time and went to numerous places, including The Eden Project, the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth and The Minnack Theatre. We also had considerable troubles with illness with our departure delayed by a day due to it. Both Andy and Rachael were very ill - Rachael recovered enough that she, Paul, Griff and Marla were able to return on Monday. Andy was too ill so I stayed behind and came back with him and Fi today.

You can see the best of the photos I took at the following Ofoto Gallery:

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=1t0q0p7.2klzfx93&x=0&y=ms5kzy

Departure imminent...

We're leaving for Cornwall this evening. The traffic will be an absolute nightmare due to the Easter rush. Luckily I'm going to be a passenger so I am not that bothered. We're driving down with Paul and Rachael. The plan is to pick Marla up from her workplace as soon as we can get there. Marla, more than anyone, is looking forward to the break. She has been working very hard recently and deserves to relax a bit.

Baseball...

We signed up for the MLB.tv service today. It's amazing. For $79.95 (£44) you can watch virtually any baseball game you like live via your web browser. In addition to that they archive every game so you can watch them later. The video quality is by no means TV standard but it is very watchable, see:



I would recommend it to anyone that is interested in baseball.

One other thing, yesterday we booked our tickets for the flight to Spain in June. We'll be leaving on the 26th of June and returning on the 2nd of July. It'll be a great trip.

Andy's Blog...

Just announcing that Andy has started a weblog of his own. Check it out at:

http://andyclist.blogspot.com/

I've also added it to my links.

Incidentally, I forgot to mention this earlier, but my Grand National prediction was a load of old tosh. Red Striker didn't even run and my two other picks (Shardam & Takagi) both fell early. Half way through the race I said, "I have a bit of a soft spot for Puntal" who then promptly fell at the next fence. Don't ever listen to me if I give you betting advice.

WLAN, Football, Pub Quiz & Baseball Draft - all thoroughly exciting issues!

Update on the problems with my WLAN... I think it is a problem with my modem actually. It might even be something stupid like the cable comes out of the socket a little bit and the contact is poor. Anyway, I'm sure you are all relieved to know that it is working now.

Liverpool won 4-0 against Blackburn Rovers yesterday. Owen scored twice, which is a good sign and perhaps adds potential for excitement to our trip to Anfield on the 17th. I saw one of his goals on TV this morning, it was a cracker.

Six of us participated in the Assembly Inn quiz last night (me, Marla, Andy, Fi, Jay & Marie). We had our best result ever by finishing joint-second. Only three points behind the winners.

The fantasy baseball draft went well on Saturday night (and Sunday morning). We couldn't manage to get Chris's web cam working so there was no video conference, but MSN Messenger did the job well. Griff came over too and we watched two movies while waiting for others to make their picks. I am happy with my team.

A bit of a rant...

My wireless LAN is a mystery. Two nights in a row now it has stopped connecting to the Internet even though the computers can still detect each other and the router, and every status monitor says nothing is wrong (and Xbox Live still works!). Two nights in a row I've messed with the network settings, turned the router off and on, and so on, with no results - until, out of the blue it starts to work again. I have no idea what, if anything, I did to fix it. Oh well, at least it is working again. Maybe it'll happen tomorrow night as well, which will give me another chance to figure out the mystery.

On a brighter note, there is a great day of sport tomorrow. The FA Cup Semi Final between Manchester United and Arsenal is on at noon, followed by the Grand National. I won't be betting any money on the National, but I will proclaim to the world that I am picking a horse called Red Striker to win the race.

Then, in the evening (actually 10:00pm) Griff and I will be Yahoo! Messengering it up to participate in Chris Esch's fantasy baseball draft. I was trying to set up my webcam earlier (perhaps catalyst to my WLAN problems) so that we can see what's going on at draft HQ - but no luck so far.

More footy & Easter plans...

England lost to Sweden 1-0 in a friendly last night. Steven Gerrard was captain in the absence of David Beckham and Michael Owen. I like Sven's policy of making the best player the captain. Anyway, it means Gerrard's streak of never losing when playing for England is over.

I forgot to mention that we have good plans for the Easter weekend. We'll be going to Cornwall with the gang (Andy, Fi, Paul, Rach, Griff, Jay & Marie) to stay a few days at Andy's parents house & chalet. It's also Fi's birthday on the 11th so there'll be a double celebration.

Oh, it's April Fool's Day today and I've already had a joke played on me. Fell for it hook, line & sinker. I'm so gullible!