Watching the World Cup in a Hotel Room

 I just spent a week visiting California.

As I stated in an earlier post my Mom's best friend is visiting from France, and one of the things we wanted to do was take her to some of her favorite places in California: Cambria, Hearst Castle, Solvang, and Santa Barbara.

I've also mentioned in previous posts that I'm a bit of a sports dunce.  If sports could be made sentimental in anyway, I'd be more inclined to watch.  I'm always up for going to a baseball game thanks to going to Anaheim Angel games as a kid.

With my Mom's friend Patou being here I've watched a few of the semi-final games to catch up a little. A few years back I tried getting into Soccer by watching the Salt Lake Real games on television.  It didn't stick, though I made a valiant effort. I have to say the team logo and merchandise is sweet. The female team logo is totally Gryffindor meats Utah.  I wonder if I went to a live game if that would help.

Anywho . . .

Earlier in the trip I couldn't watch the Belgium vs France game since we were visiting Cambria that afternoon, but it was fun telling Patou that France was advancing to the finals.

Sunday was our head back travel day.  Drive from Solvang to Las Vegas, stay the night, then come home Monday night.  Thankfully the game was at 8 am, so it was possible to watch the game and then the awards before hotel checkout.

The game was really good.  6 goals in total.  As I've learned watching soccer, * cough* football, that's a lot of points for a game.  I heard so many variations of "Ooh La La" from Patou during the match that it was pretty amusing.  Usually I don't root for a team when watching sports, which is probably another reason I struggle watching games, but it was a lot of fun rooting for the French team.  And sure enough they won.  Patou was overjoyed.

So overjoyed was Patou that she wrote about it on a deli chalk board.

Then there was check out.  So many people must have been watching the game because everyone seemed to be leave around 11 am.

We got a late start getting back due to the deli and grabbing another pastry in Solvang.  Word to the wise: Never visit Solvang on a diet.  We drove through Baker around 11 pm.  The giant thermometer read 106, and that's at night.  Late night I-15 construction got us to the hotel after 1:00 am.  Three lanes narrowed to one.  The next day it was 108 in St. George during our stop.

Suddenly the mid-nineties doesn't feel so bad.

Stay hydrated.

Quidditch World Cup vs the Fútbol World Cup

 The FIFA fútbol, aka football, aka soccer (because we Americans are weird) World Cup ended this last Sunday, and it's been a crazy month.

(And for the record I believe Soccer in the States should be called Football, and American Football should be called Grid Iron, but that's just my two cents.)

Anyway, Spain not surviving the group round was a total shock.  That game they played with the Netherlands was tragic.

And the USA making it to round 16, kicking out Portugal, was such a pleasant suprise!  And it put Tim Howard on the map.  (He's a total Time Lord BTW, in case you were wondering :0)

And then Argentina and Germany played their final match.  My brother Robbie, who lived in Argentina for two years serving a mission, was so focused on the game: curled up in a ball, pillow to his chest, eyes glued . . . I'm only half exaggerating.

Robbie: This game is going to be so intense!
Steven: I'm rooting for Germany.
Robbie: Shush! Shush your mouth!

* Later *

 
(Steven catching the last minute of the game) 

Steven: Robbie.. Are you ok?
Robbie: ... *Looks left, then right* ...
Me: Robbie?
Robbie: Yeah.. I'm just super bummed.

Poor kid.

Germany won.  They played a great game.  Germany played many great games, including beating us in Group G, earning 7 points to our 4.

But still . . .

 This happened, coldness between Manuel Neuer and Lionel Messi, the Golden Glove Winner and Golden Ball winner, respectively.

Meanwhile, over in the magical land of Hogwarts, aka Pottermore.com, the Quidditch World cup was underway.  Quidditch World Cup 2014!!  And we even got the last match in real time via instant posting on the site.

The top 4 teams was USA, Japan, Bulgaria, and Brazil.  We took 3rd and 4th with Japan, meanwhile Bulgaria and Brazil went for first and second.

Ginny Weasley Potter is the Daily Prophet sport reporter. You can read all her commentary under the Daily Prophet tab on Pottermore, all 23 entrees between all the countries.  Honestly, it's a lot of fun.

Rita Skeeter, that ol' snoop, provided the gossip, which was hilarious!  If you want to know what modern-day Harry and friends are up to, you need to wander over to the Daily Prophet.

Worth it!

 And just so you know, us Muggles can play Quidditch, too . . . 

And yes, they run around with a broom between their legs.

There's A LOT of teams around the US that play.  And you can even support the USQ (United States Quidditch) team by buying your very own USQ jersey.

I want one!!

It's a very cool design.

What's Your Revolutionary War Experience?

I've heard my Sister-in-law talk about the "You Choose" books, the type of book where you pick your own adventure.  She loves them, admitting that when she was younger she always managed to die.  I've always been curious, but not curious enough to buy a book to try out.

Then late last week, while visiting Costco, I found a set of You Choose books featuring the American Revolution, Civil War, and two different WWII.

The books are AMAZING!  Sure, the writing level is Young Reader-ish, but the material gives you a feel of the times.  The pictures and maps are fantastic.

It's more fun to interact with history then read it through a text book.

With this being 4th of July week, I've been focusing on the Revolution book.  So far I've experienced the Boston Massacre through the eyes of John Hancock's maid, a British Soldier, and a 13 year old apprentice.  Fought on both sides of the battle of Bunker Hill, and both sides during the Revolution.

When we think of early America, we think, at least I do, that everyone must have been a Patriot.  But that's not the case at all.  There were a great many loyalist as well, and this book does a great job showing what it must have been like to live then, and why some people followed one path verses another.

For instance, I didn't know that after the war many loyalist fled to Canada and East Florida, a British colony.  When I played/read through as a loyalist, I choose East Florida, which, in a couple years was traded with Spain for the Bahama's, so I ended up living the rest of my days in the Bahamas.

These books are also really good at showing how a simple choice and action can drastically change our life.

Really interesting and fun.

In other news I'm getting over influenza!!  It suddenly attacked me Thursday, and by 10:00 pm that night I had a 104 fever!  I was feeling well enough last night to eat and watch street fireworks.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to help volunteer with the parade this year, it was a blast last year, but my Dad brought me back an American Freedom Festival Volunteer shirt, which I'm wearing now.

You want to know what else I'm doing now, besides writing this?  Watching the FIFA World Cup.  Argentina vs Belgium.  Argentina up one point!  I'm cheering them on.

Another random thought: Why do we need another Hercules movie this year?  Having to endure the first incarnation was bad enough.  (Just saw a commercial.)

Heh, and with all the randomness, none of my family warned my Grandpa what the 4th is like in Utah.  We have surrounding neighbors who love to buy the expensive aerials, and it's 2 + hours of bangs and whatnot.  Heh, so it'll be interesting to see  if he has anything to say about it! He's not in California anymore!!!

(There were a few years in Porterville where sparklers were made illegal.)

Half time is almost done!!  Back to the game :0)

Getting Into the Fifa World Cup Spirit, from a Nerds Point of View

 I'm a bit of a nerd.

For the longest time I thought I was more geek then nerd (I know many people think they're about the same, but this isn't the blog post for that), but after conversations with my family I've realized I was in nerd-denial.

I am a nerd.

Bona fide.  100%.  Classic textbook.

In short, if I had a choice of going to a sports game vs. spending several hours in a library or bookstore, I'd choose the books.

(Unless it's baseball, in that case bring on the hot dogs and Cracker Jacks.)

That being said, I've been trying to branch out a little.  See if I might like sports beyond the Olympics, Ice Skating, or occasional minor league baseball game, so I picked a sport to try a couple months ago, Soccer, thanks to the Real Salt Lake team who are quite popular here.

It's interesting, but I'm not quite hooked yet.  As far as I can tell people run back and forth trying to make a single point.  2 points in a professional game is really good.  Just running back and forth.  (You can fast forward a game and get the gist.)  I know!!  Not giving the experience what it's worth!  Not giving soccer a true try.

I've heard that seeing a game in person is a lot better then watching it on TV.  That's surely the case for baseball.  I want to catch at least one live Real Salt Lake game this season before making my assessment on soccer, then I'll try out another sport.  Salt Lake Jazz?  Maybe.

(I just Googled "Salt Lake Jazz" to add a link, but discovered a Jazz music festival in Salt Lake this July instead.  I love jazz.)

Anyway, enter the Fifa World Cup!

I've watched most of the games so far.  Accomplishment.  (Granted, some of the games were fast forwarded, but I did go back to watch goals and referee calls.)

When I wrote on Twitter, "Just finished watching the #WorldCup2014 game between Brazil and Croatia. Congrats to Brazil. Still thinking about that yellow card . . ." a few days ago, my brother Steven wrote:

"Still shocked that you are still watching..."

Then Robbie wrote: "Impressed."

Come on, this isn't any stranger then my Dad getting into NASCAR!

Though, gotta admit, watching cars spin off the track is pretty fun.

But I was suddenly reminded of this picture.

Place: Bee's baseball game in Salt Lake.

What: Robbie and Michael playing their Nintendo DS's instead of watching, and being quite proud of the fact.

When: Many moons ago, aka years.

I asked Robbie yesterday if he wanted to watch the Argentina team, and he declined!  Choosing to watch a Star Trek marathon instead!  (It did make me nostalgic over Star Trek Voyager, and a realization that I should watch all of Deep Space Nine.)

That being said, I am actually enjoying the World Cup.  Fast forwarding aside.

The game between The Netherlands and Spain was really good.  Sad Japan lost their game.  Happy Argentina won theirs.

And the USA game is about to start!  They're playing Ghana.  (I'll be watching that tonight.)

June 22nd is Portugal

June 26 is Germany.

So far the jury's still out, but I'm giving Soccer a fair chance, and learning a little something along the way :0)