+ Thursday, June 30 - 11:23am Germany +

Last night in Frankfurt I attended the 2005 FIFA Confederation Cup final. It was certainly one of the highlights of my trip so far.

45,500 people were in attendence to watch Brazil go up against Argentina. I've never been to an American football game, or a basketball game...but this game had so much more energy than any American sport event I've ever attended (including the 1997 MLS Cup game in DC, which is a distance second). I was even told that the crowd was relatively quiet.

From the very start Brazil just dominated the game. They scored two goals in the first 15 minutes. And damn, Brazil can play. their passing and ball handling is really amazing. I have very little experience watching football, but even I could see why they are considered the world's best. Argentina simply could not keep up. They did manage to score in the final 15 minutes of the game, but they were done.

I took some photos that can be seen here.

I've had a few emails that have made me feel like I've been complaining a lot about Germany. Everyone I've met here have been super nice (well, one waitress was a bit angry). I'm just burnt out from traveling. There's also the fact that I rarely leave the hotel. If I had the time, I'm sure Frankfurt is a great city...I'm just sort of trapped.

That being said, I don't think I've ever looked forward to flight more than my one home tomorrow morning.




+ Monday, June 27 - 9:58am Germany +

- In NorCal I can go months and months without even smelling a cigarette. Here in Germany it seems like everyone smokes. During breakfast in the hotel, people are smoking between mouthfuls of pork sausage.

- German Mtv is pretty funny. The program I caught was discussing the finer points of 'Dirty Dancing'. People were singing 'Time Of My Life' and praising Patrick Swayze. It's also amazing to me that it's someone's job to translate Jessica Simpson's show to German. I guess her appeal transends all language and cultures.

- There are two English speaking channels in my hotel, BBC 1 and EuroSport. On a good night EuroSport has coverage of the World Rally Championship. Those guys can drive.

- A popular drink here is Coke mixed with Orange Fanta.

- I visited the Museum of Applied Arts here in Frankfurt. They had a pretty interesting exhibit featuring the design and brand history of Lufthansa Airlines. The entire thing was in German, but I did pick up a pair of headphones to listen to one part of their presentation. '99 Luftballons' was playing. I swear.

- By this time Mr. Tom Hanley will be hitched. Congradulations to Tom and his new bride, Maureen.


+ Thursday, June 23 - 7:21pm Germany +

Alright, I've over this.

I'm ready go come home now. I have to be here for another week (I fly on July 1st) and already this place is starting to get to me. It's not horrible or anything, it's just fairly difficult to eat and I'm sick of hotel rooms. I went out and got some running shoes, so I can hit the treadmill and that helps my sleep...but not enough. I'm exhausted.

On the positive side I did eat at a decent Indian place last night, and rewatching all the episodes of Spaced keeps me sane. Damn, that was a great show. I think it's creeping into my all time sitcom list.




+ Thursday, June 23 - 7:21pm Germany +

Before I left for Germany and after our London vacation we visited my brother and his wife along with my parents in Boston.

One of the highlights of the trip was attending Speed, Style, and Beauty: Cars from the Ralph Lauren Collection on display at the Museum Of Fine Art in Boston. Just a unbelievable collection of cars. If I was beyond wealthy this would certainly be what I would do with my cash. So many classics to see, but the highlight for me was the 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder. A perfect car in every way. The serial on this car was 55-0055. The car James Dean died in was 55-0061. Just six cars apart. I would have rathered the hoods not be up on my first visit, but it was nice to see the engines. Here are a few shots I took of the car.


+ Wednesday, June 22 - 9:21am Germany +

Wait...what day is it? It's around 9am in Germany, which means a bit past midnight on the west coast. A have a headache and need to eat some breakfast.

All I know about Germany so far is that the Martim Hotel in Frankfurt seems nice. I haven't left the place. No english on the TV, which is strange. You rely on TV when you're alone and when that's not available a hotel room gets pretty creepy pretty quickly. Watching DVDs on a laptop is my only option.

So my new job involves FIFA and design and that's all I'll say. Getting too keep into work descriptions on this thing can be dangerous so I'll leave it at that. I do hope to catch one of the Confederation Cup games while I'm out here, but so far it's TV viewing only I'm afraid. I will have to stay awake long enough to see one and that will be a challenge in itself.

Back home Farmer got 'Death At One's Elbow' and upped the ante on Smiths tattoos.

I missed all the action of 'Go Skateboarding Day'. I was there in spirit. Damn it.




+ Monday, June 20 - 7:51am Eastern Time +

London. Just got back after 9 days.

- Tourist activities are worth it. The Tower of London is super fun, you do learn a lot riding those double-decker buses, and check out the Jack The Ripper walking tours. Sounds corny, but it's worth the time

- It's fucking expensive. One pound equals roughly $1.79. This meant everything was pricey. Everything. It's a bit hard to relax and not think of money when you have to pretty much double what you see on menus and price tags. What this meant was very little shopping, which was no big deal.

- It was great to see Sam and Clair and have dinner at Eat And Two Veg a tasty veggie restaurant with vegan shepard's pie and all the rest. Thanks for the time Sam; it was great to catch up.

- The Smyths were amazing. You'll never see The Smiths play again, so these guys are certainly the next best thing. The singer has Morrissey DOWN…the arm gestures, the dancing, the flowers, the talking between songs. When are they coming to the states? HIGHLY recommended. The pub they played in Putney was also quite cool.

- Why can't every airline have the on demand entertainment system like Virgin. 20 plus movies, US and UK television shows (12 episodes of The Simpsons, 8 of Spaced), and fairly entertaining video games. All this when you want to watch it with Fast Forward and Pause features. Insane.

Right now I'm in a hotel room in Boston. Just finishing up a visit with my brother and his wife and spending time with my parents who came up from Philly. In 8 hours I'm off to Germany. Not really looking forward to it. I would love to just go home.


+ Monday, June 6 - 8:27pm +

- BK and Donna's wedding on Sunday was beautiful. The weather was perfect and the Mill Valley Art Center was a great location. Congratulations to the happy couple who threw one hell of a party.

- After the Pit Bull attack on Friday, Gavin Newsome has appointed a group to determine how to prevent fatal dog attacks. Hopefully this won't lead to Denver like restrictions. Luckily, California has a law on the books that prevents cities from passed their own dog restriction laws. The entire state would have to pass such a law. I only hope it doesn't come to that.

- 'Dogtown' guys were OK, but McFly had the goods'. And this guy calls himself a sports writer? What a jackass.


+ Saturday, June 4 - 10:35am +

- Walking the dog this morning and this headline is splashed across the front page of the Chronicle 'S.F. BOY, 12, KILLED BY HIS FAMILY'S PIT BULLS'. Horrible. Everyone who new the dogs seem to be very surprised that this happened. It was nice to see they also ran a story about how great pit bulls can be, but it's not going to help the breed. What a terrible shame.

- I know some people tend to bag on the Get Up Kids, but man... can they put on a good show. On Thursday we saw them at the Fillmore for their last show in the area. I enjoyed it.'Shorty' is such a great song. Check out the final tour poster, designed by that famous poster guy. Pretty good.

- I was considering making the nessisary arrangement to attend the Isle Of Wight Festival. It would have cost a bundle, so I didn't. thanks goodness, as Morrissey bailed out. I love the guy, but I have to say...it sounds like he is full of shit.


+ Thursday, June 2 - 9:00am +

'Lords of Dogtown' was pretty good. It was better than I thought it would be. The documentary is much, much better and gives a clearer picture of what was actually going on during that time, so it's really hard to watch this without thinking about that film a lot. There were a few things that felt out of place...a strange love triangle, the addition of a few people not true to the real story, Johnny Knoxville's stupid character...but overall I enjoyed it. The editors did a good job as the actors playing the main skaters (Alva, Peralta, and Adams) couldn't skate at all and had to default about 90% to stunt doubles for the skate scenes. One fun thing was keeping an eye out for he actual skate legends in cameo roles (Peralta, Red Dog Muir, Alva, Adams, Skip, Hosoi, Beniak and others are in there).

- Infantile updates with some new shirts, all great ('Death To False Milk' is pretty great).

- For a good laugh watch the totally offensive 49ers video here. Jocks...what the hell were they thinking?

- Unhappy Birthday (not really but...)

- Last day on the job...exactly three years in.



+ Wednesday, June 1 - 8:59am +

June is going to busy one hell of a busy month.

One week from today Jess and I will be on a plane to London for a vacation. We'll be there for nine days. On the 17th we'll be flying back over to Boston for Father's Day. Then I'll be heading back over the pond to Frankfurt, Germany for my new job. Same place, different title, task, and group. Very, very cool. More on that later.

I may be updating from the road...I may not. I'm just going to see how it goes. The way my schedule looks right now I return to SF on July 1st. A little hard to swallow when looking at the big picture.

Thanks to everyone who sent me an email wishing Kato well. She's done great and is pretty much back to her old self.

- Go visit the SHAC7 website and then go over to Food Fight! and give if you can . These guys are getting railroaded big time.

- Also stolen from Food Fight!, this killer story about Lisa Leitten, undercover animal rights activist. I'm glad thereare people like this out there

- I just started listening to the new Darkest Hour album, Undoing Ruin. First impression...fucking good. More later.



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