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| From Politics & Soccer |
Showing posts with label personal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personal. Show all posts
President Obama
Barack Obama is now President, which is awesome. His job would be hard enough if he didn't have to clean up after one of the worst US Presidents in history. But in addition to cleaning up Bush's mess, the world is changing extremely rapidly, including in the international security realm. Michael Tanji was gracious enough to invite me to contribute to a book he edited and which is now available for purchase. So purchase away! The title is "Threats in the Age of Obama" and it's published by Nimble books. My chapter specifically looks at how a rational person can become involved in terrorism, gang violence, etc. (i.e. it's not all about "the crazy Moozlims" or "thug culture"). Click "read more" to see the book cover.
By popular demand:
What I do
My place of employment, the Monroe Crime Analysis Center, had our public rollout last week. Here are news articles from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle and local TV (watch the video here). Here's the official press release from New York State's Department of Criminal Justice Services (which gave us lots of money).
Friday cat blogging
Oomi
As previously mentioned, my wife and I are proud owners of a new kitten. Here are some pictures.
Oomi likes to climb the carpeted wall in the basement so she can go play with the vents, but she does it in less than a second so it's hard to get a picture of her doing it.
This doesn't happen very often:
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| From Oomi |
Oomi likes to climb the carpeted wall in the basement so she can go play with the vents, but she does it in less than a second so it's hard to get a picture of her doing it.
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| From Oomi |
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| From Oomi |
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| From Oomi |
This doesn't happen very often:
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| From Oomi |
Break radio silence
Brief updates:
My fiance and I are now married.
We went on a honeymoon to Alaska:
We got a kitten and named her Oomi, short for Oomingmak, the Eskimo word for Musk Ox, of which we saw some in Alaska. Oomingmak means "bearded one" - Oomi has some white fur where a beard might be. Check out her attack the blinds at the bottom of the post.
I am now back at work, but going to this conference next week.
Lots of stuff happening over in Mali and Niger re: the Tuareg rebellion, but no time to write on it. Al Jazeera has got a reporter in there and put out a few stories on it. Still ignored by the American press. On request I put up some stuff over at www.counterinsurgencylibrary.org, including a copy of my thesis (available as a pdf here) if you would like to read it.
Another blogger that just broke radio silence is Pat - go read his post about his idea of creating a money stream to politicians that can be turned off when they do bad stuff, like Obama voting for amnesty for telecom companies that broke the law. It would be easy to implement and effective at showing politicians that people actually care about issues that the media ignores.
I will get back to blogging once I figure out where to fit it in my schedule.
Now for Oomi!
My fiance and I are now married.
We went on a honeymoon to Alaska:
We got a kitten and named her Oomi, short for Oomingmak, the Eskimo word for Musk Ox, of which we saw some in Alaska. Oomingmak means "bearded one" - Oomi has some white fur where a beard might be. Check out her attack the blinds at the bottom of the post.
I am now back at work, but going to this conference next week.
Lots of stuff happening over in Mali and Niger re: the Tuareg rebellion, but no time to write on it. Al Jazeera has got a reporter in there and put out a few stories on it. Still ignored by the American press. On request I put up some stuff over at www.counterinsurgencylibrary.org, including a copy of my thesis (available as a pdf here) if you would like to read it.
Another blogger that just broke radio silence is Pat - go read his post about his idea of creating a money stream to politicians that can be turned off when they do bad stuff, like Obama voting for amnesty for telecom companies that broke the law. It would be easy to implement and effective at showing politicians that people actually care about issues that the media ignores.
I will get back to blogging once I figure out where to fit it in my schedule.
Now for Oomi!
Going dark
I am picking up and moving to Rochester, NY, via Boston. Little or no blogging until June.
Quick soccer post
Two quick soccer notes: Joey Franchino and Gary Flood's "incident" at Fenway Stadium, my account of the Revs game at New York.
First up - last week, Revolution midfielders Gary Flood and Joey Franchino got tossed from Fenway Park last week for public drunkenness. Usually Franchino gets ejected from games when he is a player, not a spectator. Supposedly Flood peed on someone, but that report has been denied (it'd be denied either way, frankly).
Franchino had some personal issues last year, and the Revs and us fans gave him his privacy to allow him to deal with his issues. Apparently he hasn't, so the Revs organization got fed up and traded him to LA. Flood played in the reserves game this past weekend. I think Flood will be allowed to stay with the organization for two reasons. First, coach Nicol thinks Flood has big potential. Second, the Revs seem to give one freebie - Franchino used his last year, Clint Dempsey used his when he got in a fight with Franchino in training (Dempsey was apparently at fault). This is Flood's freebie - shape up or you're gone.
I get irked when people who get paid to play a game for a living turn out to be numbskulls.
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I went to the Revs game in New York last Saturday with a bunch of friends, some of whom came from out of town. It was a fantastic night. The Revs went down to a Jozy Altidore goal, then went down a man when Mauricio Castro had a fit of stupidity and kicked a Red Bull player in the balls, but Brown University 2004 graduate Jeff Larentowicz tied it up with a free kick in the 2nd half. It was perfect, as I was even wearing my autographed Larentowicz jersey from his rookie year. It ended a 1-1 tie, but it was a moral victory for the Revs as New York couldn't hold a one goal lead at home with a man advantage. An ugly yet gutsy result.
Regarding Castro's red card: Castro has been in MLS for only 5 games, and is used to much less physicality and more protection from the referee. He was getting pushed around a lot on Saturday and in all 5 games. I think the foul directly proceeding Castro kicking Goldthwaite in the balls was the straw that broke the camel's back and led to Castro's moment of madness. This isn't to excuse him, but I think once Nicol yells at Castro and makes him realize that he isn't going to get the same calls he's used to, Castro will be a more effective player - less time on the ground crying, more time on his feet scoring goals and making assists.
We had an interesting incident with some home fans sitting in front of us. We were all cheering for the Revs and engaging in some friendly banter with neighboring RBNY fans, although there were some other Revs fans around too. We even grudgingly applauded Altidore's goal.
Then after Larentowicz's goal, all of a sudden people turned on us - we were "spilling beer" (untrue) and yelling swears (also untrue). A soccermom in front of us turned around to yell at us for these perceived offenses, and another guy called security on us. The security guy showed up and was pretty wise. I think it helped that nobody else near us seemed to back up his story. He said "hey guys don't do it again [wink]" and that was that as far as security was concerned.
However our new friend sitting in front of us wouldn't let it go. He then yelled at us for "destroying US soccer" because back in the NASL, someone threw a beer bottle at his grandmother's head and then his grandma didn't want to go to soccer games anymore. Apparently cheering for the away side is a comparable crime to chucking beer bottles at grandmothers heads. However his accusation of "destroying US soccer" was actually a close one, as one of my friends confessed later that he actually had attended the soccer game for the sole purpose of destroying US soccer. Plus, seeing as the NASL ended the year many of us were born, I guess a credible case could be made that we destroyed the NASL as well. So I guess we got away with one there.
Here's the video of Larentowicz's goal:
First up - last week, Revolution midfielders Gary Flood and Joey Franchino got tossed from Fenway Park last week for public drunkenness. Usually Franchino gets ejected from games when he is a player, not a spectator. Supposedly Flood peed on someone, but that report has been denied (it'd be denied either way, frankly).
Franchino had some personal issues last year, and the Revs and us fans gave him his privacy to allow him to deal with his issues. Apparently he hasn't, so the Revs organization got fed up and traded him to LA. Flood played in the reserves game this past weekend. I think Flood will be allowed to stay with the organization for two reasons. First, coach Nicol thinks Flood has big potential. Second, the Revs seem to give one freebie - Franchino used his last year, Clint Dempsey used his when he got in a fight with Franchino in training (Dempsey was apparently at fault). This is Flood's freebie - shape up or you're gone.
I get irked when people who get paid to play a game for a living turn out to be numbskulls.
----------------------------------
I went to the Revs game in New York last Saturday with a bunch of friends, some of whom came from out of town. It was a fantastic night. The Revs went down to a Jozy Altidore goal, then went down a man when Mauricio Castro had a fit of stupidity and kicked a Red Bull player in the balls, but Brown University 2004 graduate Jeff Larentowicz tied it up with a free kick in the 2nd half. It was perfect, as I was even wearing my autographed Larentowicz jersey from his rookie year. It ended a 1-1 tie, but it was a moral victory for the Revs as New York couldn't hold a one goal lead at home with a man advantage. An ugly yet gutsy result.
Regarding Castro's red card: Castro has been in MLS for only 5 games, and is used to much less physicality and more protection from the referee. He was getting pushed around a lot on Saturday and in all 5 games. I think the foul directly proceeding Castro kicking Goldthwaite in the balls was the straw that broke the camel's back and led to Castro's moment of madness. This isn't to excuse him, but I think once Nicol yells at Castro and makes him realize that he isn't going to get the same calls he's used to, Castro will be a more effective player - less time on the ground crying, more time on his feet scoring goals and making assists.
We had an interesting incident with some home fans sitting in front of us. We were all cheering for the Revs and engaging in some friendly banter with neighboring RBNY fans, although there were some other Revs fans around too. We even grudgingly applauded Altidore's goal.
Then after Larentowicz's goal, all of a sudden people turned on us - we were "spilling beer" (untrue) and yelling swears (also untrue). A soccermom in front of us turned around to yell at us for these perceived offenses, and another guy called security on us. The security guy showed up and was pretty wise. I think it helped that nobody else near us seemed to back up his story. He said "hey guys don't do it again [wink]" and that was that as far as security was concerned.
However our new friend sitting in front of us wouldn't let it go. He then yelled at us for "destroying US soccer" because back in the NASL, someone threw a beer bottle at his grandmother's head and then his grandma didn't want to go to soccer games anymore. Apparently cheering for the away side is a comparable crime to chucking beer bottles at grandmothers heads. However his accusation of "destroying US soccer" was actually a close one, as one of my friends confessed later that he actually had attended the soccer game for the sole purpose of destroying US soccer. Plus, seeing as the NASL ended the year many of us were born, I guess a credible case could be made that we destroyed the NASL as well. So I guess we got away with one there.
Here's the video of Larentowicz's goal:
Egyptian traffic
There was a big traffic accident in Egypt today that made the international news wires. A bus smashed into a truck on a highway. So far the death toll is twenty-three. At the end of the article there's a short bit on how Egypt has tons of traffic accidents. I thought I'd share an anecdotes about traffic in Cairo from when I was in Egypt in the early nineties.
Photo from GHAWAYESH
I accompanied my parents to Egypt when I was in 6th grade (November-December1991 1995) as my dad was going there for a business trip. The first day we arrived in Cairo, after we checked into the hotel, I got a Pepsi and went out to the balcony which looked out on the Nile and a bridge across it. I sat down on one of the chairs and watched as a public transportation bus went the wrong way over a bridge and crashed into a dark blue station wagon. The bus ended up skidding and rotating so that it blocked off the entire bridge. Everybody piled out of the station wagon (like five people) and the bus (more like twenty) and then dispersed through the traffic jam that had piled up behind the bus.
I was fascinated by this and sat and watched while my parents were inside unpacking everything. After all the people who were in the bus or station wagon had left, the cars behind the bus just sat there unable to move. After maybe twenty minutes a policeman on a bicycle finally showed up. According to my Egyptian friends, after an accident everybody claims to have not seen anything when questioned by the police - if they tell details, they might spend the night at jail to make sure the police don't lose their witness. I never did see an ambulance arrive but I couldn't see that anyone was actually injured. By the time I had to go, there was still a bus sitting sideways across a major bridge on the Nile, spilling oil across the pavement with a destroyed station wagon in front of it and traffic backed up as far as I could see.
That was my introduction to Egypt.
Photo from GHAWAYESH
I accompanied my parents to Egypt when I was in 6th grade (November-December
I was fascinated by this and sat and watched while my parents were inside unpacking everything. After all the people who were in the bus or station wagon had left, the cars behind the bus just sat there unable to move. After maybe twenty minutes a policeman on a bicycle finally showed up. According to my Egyptian friends, after an accident everybody claims to have not seen anything when questioned by the police - if they tell details, they might spend the night at jail to make sure the police don't lose their witness. I never did see an ambulance arrive but I couldn't see that anyone was actually injured. By the time I had to go, there was still a bus sitting sideways across a major bridge on the Nile, spilling oil across the pavement with a destroyed station wagon in front of it and traffic backed up as far as I could see.
That was my introduction to Egypt.
Personal stuff
There has been an RFI on recent changes to my romantic status.
On Sunday, August 5th, I asked Ruth, my girlfriend, to marry me, and she said yes. Actually I didn't really ask her, I just slipped the ring on her finger while we were watching our little bonfire down at the beach in the Finger Lakes. I guess I don't have the panache of TDAXP, but then again if I had asked her on my blog she never would have seen the question! We'll get married next summer.
We are planning to have the reception at the Rochester Science Museum. A cocktail hour in a room with a wooly mammoth in the middle - I'm excited.
Now back to your regular programming (of political rants and soccer videos).
On Sunday, August 5th, I asked Ruth, my girlfriend, to marry me, and she said yes. Actually I didn't really ask her, I just slipped the ring on her finger while we were watching our little bonfire down at the beach in the Finger Lakes. I guess I don't have the panache of TDAXP, but then again if I had asked her on my blog she never would have seen the question! We'll get married next summer.
We are planning to have the reception at the Rochester Science Museum. A cocktail hour in a room with a wooly mammoth in the middle - I'm excited.
Now back to your regular programming (of political rants and soccer videos).
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