Finals Coverage & Team Pic

Team Box on Day 3


Finals Coverage

I am exhausted and very behind at work and all other aspects of my life like e-mail and mountains of molding ultimate laundry, but I will post more next week.

Nationals: Quick Re-Cap of Days 1-3

This will be quite brief as I need to go to bed, since I have Semis tomorrow at 9:00 AM. Go Team Box!

On Day 1 (Sunday): We went 2-1, winning two games quite easily against teams from Brisbane and South Australia. Then we lost a close, windy, zone based game against Wildcard from Sydney.

On Day 2 (Monday): We went 2-0 and won a very close game against Ishtar from Melbourne. We took half 8-3 and narrowly hung on to the second half 9-8. Then we beat South Side from Sydney in a close one as well.

On Day 3 (Tuesday): We went 2-0 and beat the Sugar Magnolias (from Canberra?) at 8:30 and narrowly beat the undefeated NoNoNo from Sydney (15-13) in a high speed, huck filled game. I caught a long goal and also threw a goal and got some Ds. NoNoNo are an experienced group of women that have played a lot of club and world championships and don’t bother with practice or plays. They are very talented. Winning that game allowed us to keep the 1 seed as, only 2 of the top 6 had only 1 loss (Team Box and NoNoNo) and we beat them head to head.

Day 4 preview:
At 9:00 AM, as the 1 seed, we will play the 4 seed: South Side (again) from Sydney. If we win that, we’ll play the winner of the other Semis: Wildcard (Sydney) or NoNoNo (Sydney). We are proud to represent Victoria and Melbourne in a comp that is otherwise dominated by that other city with a fancy opera house (who cares!). We are healthy, amped and skipping the party tonight to get some rest.

There will be pictures and more details later, but this is a quick update. I am having a great time.

Live Nationals Scores

http://olennick2.homedns.org/scores/

2 Geniuses

What Matthew Barney has been up to is this.

And what Will Ferrell has been up to is this. (Thanks to both Marc and Kimmie who forwarded this along.)

Has anyone ever seen them in the same place at the same time? Coincidence?

Want to be mentioned in 'spondence? Send me a link or a postcard or a care package. It's better than a chain letter for good luck and better than H&R Block at doing your taxes, which are late by now by the way.

My Date with Jeff

On Wednesday (18/4) I went to the Palais theater to see Wilco. It was really easy to get there on the 16 tram. The theater was on the beach in St. Kilda.

There was a little mix up at will-call and it took me a few minutes to get in. Once I got in I went upstairs and started looking for my seat. I was getting all frustrated because I couldn’t find it and I thought the show was about to start. I finally found an usher who told me to go downstairs. Down there, I found another usher, who walked me all the way up to the 6th row, dead center, middle aisle. Perfect seat. Perfect. Could not have been better. Aisle is key so you can lean around a tall person if necessary. (It was a little weird to see them in a theater with seats, rather then just general admission. There was less dancing and the crowd was pretty subdued.)

The show was incredible. I think it was the second show of the world tour. (They were in Brisbane last night). Jeff was really funny. He kept making jokes about starting a show in the southern hemisphere where no one knows who they are. For some reason he thinks all Australians are pirates and led the audience in a call and response of “Arrrr!” [You would have excelled here, LP.] I did not get all the pirate jokes. He talked a good bit through the set.

They went on at 9:06 and left the 3rd encore at 11:36. That is the longest I have ever seen them play. I kept some notes about the set list for a while and then I got sick of that, so here’s some of the songs that were played (The new album is pretty well represented*):

1. You are My Face*
2. I am Trying to Break Your Heart
3. How to Fight Loneliness
4. Impossible Germany*
5. Remember the Mountain Bed
6. Side With Seeds*
7. War on War
8. When the Roses Bloom Again
9. Jesus Etc.
10. Hate it Here*
11. Theologians
12. Walken*
13. I’m the Man who Loves You
14. Hummingbird
15. California Stars
16. Late Greats
17. Heavy Metal Drummer
18. Poor Places

The show was so good that I did not really mind that the Australian guy sitting next to me called a different friend every song on his cell phone to let them listen to part of the show. He also sang along pretty loudly and hugged me every time they played a song off YHF or Summerteeth. You know how I feel about human contact (strongly con).

[ Special to Marc - I suggest you burn all these tracks onto a cd or playlist for Paige and put it on one night after O goes to sleep and you guys can relive the show.]



Here’s a couple of terrible pictures I took at the show. There were signs everywhere that said “No Photos. Violators will be Ejected”, and you know me, I follow authority. I do not want to be ejected. Still I tried to snap a few, but I guess I can’t work my camera in the dark and I couldn’t figure it out there for fear of getting caught. You can sort of get the idea. (Jeff looked great. He was wearing some kind of Johnny Cash goes hiking outfit with black pants, a black polo shirt and a black jean jacket.)

Anyway it was a great show. Be sure to check it out when it hits your hemisphere.

Tralfamadore and Beyond

What can I tell you? Work is work, almost ceaselessly. A correction/update from a previous post is that I may not be seeing Paul down here after all. We are still working on it, but suffice it to say that circumstances have changed. I previously mentioned that I won’t be blogging about my employer, so I’ll honor that. But reach out to me directly for more #@&%! than Andy Capp.

My heros keep dying. First Hunter, now this:

My favorite author died. I don’t have anything sage to say about that. Breakfast of Champions was always my favorite but Sirens of Titan is great too, along with everything else. If I have a world view, it is plagiarized from him. I think he’s right about many things: being a humanist, that a two person unit is not enough for anything, man’s illogical drive to survive and most importantly, “Dammit, you’ve got to be kind.”

Speaking of Kindness, I’d like to thank the most recent visits from the mail fairy: Mara and Jax. Mara is all world traveler on me, sending a postcard about her time in Israel, penned while visiting Athens and posted from Oxford. Whew! Jax, sent me a PERFECT care package with what I miss from NYC. Thanks Jax. Much love.

There was an article about the dance night at the Guggenheim and PS1 in the Melbourne Age weekender this week. The point was that if New Yorkers can dance in an art museum, Melbourne should do that too, challenging local museums to open up. I’ll keep you posted on if they do. I got to feel a little smug about myself reading that. “Oh yeah, that’s my home.” Though I went to the Guggenheim dance night exactly once and PS1 maybe 3 times in 4 years, so I can’t exactly claim to have patronized said venues. Maybe you could go for me next time on my behalf?

Did I mention that there is an international comedy festival on? There is. I’ve gone to good shows. I’m going to see the British and Irish guys. Very funny. My favorite bit so far has been about mild super powers. What are yours? You know mine: I can see well in the dark and I have excellent oral hygiene. The Australians do impressions of people I’ve never heard of (probably famous Cricketers) and talk more slang than is intelligible, so I am avoiding their shows.

Deirdre and I did a GREAT bike ride today with one of the Team Box captains, Liz. We followed the Yarra trail on a 30 K ride around the city. It was wonderful. The ride went through a number of city parks, past great modern art both planned (sculpture) and volunteer (graff) and by the zoo. The city is very bike-able and likeable.

I am starting to get a bit nervous for Nationals which is next Sunday- Wednesday. I don’t feel ready yet, but the time is here, so here I go. Go Team Box! I will let you know how it goes.

Today I went to see the footy. All Australians seem to like AFL and care about it more than their own kids. I like sports more than most things, so I am up for getting involved.
I went to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, known to locals as the MCG stadium to see a battle between the Hawthorne Hawks and the Melbourne Demons. Everything is abbreviated here, (even at work, documents are “docos”, registration is “rego”) so I wasn’t surprised that locals were cheering for the “Dees”. The stadium was nice. It was much more laid back than going to an NFL game at home. The stands were quiet and polite where I was sitting. Everything in the stadium seemed new and clean. Above are some pics of the stadium.

The game was fun and fast-paced. Alas, the home team fell to the evil Hawthorne Hawks, due to some errant kicking that left them gaining only 1 point instead of 6 too many times early on. I need someone from Australia to explain the rules to me. The timing seems to be random as some ‘quarters’ last several minutes longer than others.

I think the biggest concept I noted was the official membership. I think premiere league soccer does this as well (Ben?). Here fans aren’t just fans, they register and pay a membership fee. With this membership fee, comes certain privileges: sitting in the members section, going through the member gates (with shorter lines) and a scarf that shows how long you’ve been a member. (Hawthorne Hawks 10 Years). This is basically just another revenue source. I’m sure I would have become an Eagles member if I had the opportunity. I think members may get a program or some mailings as well. It seems like I good way to keep your fans involved and extract some additional money from them.

I haven’t settled on a team to go for (or barret) yet but fans of those teams should be offering me cash to pick someone else, with my sports luck. (See City of Philadelphia Sports Results from 1984-Present.) Right now I am leaning toward the St. Kilda Saints, the Melbourne Demons and the Richmond Tigers. Send in your votes.

In other sporting news, the Kentucky Wildcats have gone outside the fold to hire their new coach, trumpet great Dizzy Gillespie. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizzy_Gillespie) While a surprise choice, everyone can see how Gillespie will improve the harmony of the team, and their ability to improvise. Look for the Wildcat Band to improve as well, as a bonus.

Not an imperative sentence...

But a construction company doing work all over Melbourne.

A Roller Skating Jam Named "Saturdays"

Hello. I had a great day today. I slept in, went for a good run, has some brunch, did some shopping and worked for a few hours (but on my own with no meetings and actually got some things accomplished.) I also got myself a mug and some tea and snacks at work, so my late nights will be more pleasant.

Also, the CRM group I work in has asked to interview me about my involvement in “extreme Frisbee”. I am terrified. I will keep you posted.

I think I may go see an AFL match tomorrow. I’ll tell you all about it.

If you are looking to kill a little time on the internet please check out:
This Australian weather report (suggested by Marc), this Russian recipe for a tiny pancake and this informative nature video (from Ben).
Also see Jesse’s contribution to my concerns about Iran.

fo-fo-fo

One of the great things about today is that I know the date. While tomorrow might be April 5th or May 4th based on where you are from 4/4 is nothing to argue about. I look forward to Cinco de Mayo. (Maybe I will try to have another Margarita.)

I have been working 8 AM – Midnight, with lunch at my desk and no dinner break. It’s about as awesome as it sounds. Stress is near maximum. I’ve eaten all the skin off the ends of my fingers. It’s pretty gross. I have a constant low grade headache that spikes on conference calls and when anyone speaks to me. Stupid huans! Woo woo. Every day I get assigned X things to do urgently, and achieve .4X of those things. I am a frog sliding deeper into the well every day. No worries about getting bored. I seem to have about 5 people who think I report to them. None of them are shy about delegating action items. As long as I keep trying to do everything they ask, all this will probably persist. If only I weren’t so conflict averse... I’d rather eat the wrong order than bring it to the waitress attention that I ordered the grilled cheese, not a calamari platter.

I never played D&D, but I wish I knew the lingo, because I would drop a line right here about needing two sleep potions. So there.

My employer (who I’ll never name again here) has recently expanded it’s corporate policy to prohibit employees from having a blog. Though many of my readers are co-workers, I’m hopeful they won’t report me. I think the intent behind the policy is to stop us from disclosing any corporate secrets. They needn’t have worried, as I don’t know any.

Imagine if I started blogging about corporate methodology. I don’t even think my Mom would check Courtneyspondence any more. “Another best practice is writing things down…”

One final point about work is that my good friend Amy Cooper’s husband’s baby brother is about to come from Dublin, Ireland to work with me. DON’T WORRY SIMON: It’s won’t be as bad for him as it is for me, I promise. As a ‘non-executive’, his hours are tracked and he’s not eligible for overtime, so while I’ll likely continue to work to midnight each night, he’ll need to leave by 6:30 or so PM every day, which is reasonable. I’m looking forward to having someone around that I know and someone that I trust. Paul is super smart, so having him on the team should make my life a little better. I am getting sick of cutting the meat into safe bites for the ponce who reports to me now.

Tragically, the Hoyas lost. Final 4 is pretty good though. Pretty good. I think the team might be decent next year, too. We didn’t play great against Ohio, but it wouldn’t have mattered as there was no stopping Florida. No stopping them. (From the accounts I read of both games.) Does U of K have a coach yet? Is it weird that I think Joquim Noah looks a little like my sister?

How much do Macs suck? Okay they have better commericals, but try using one. I am using my powerbook right now, so I can’t put links into this post. Ability to hyperlink text is not exactly a new ask. I’m only able to use word because somebody awesome who lives with Dave Marino gave me a copy, not to get her in trouble for the student exemption. ( I’m a student, of sneakers. )

That’s about all the complaining I can fit into this post. Expect more.

On the up side, pieces 4 and 5 of mail have arrived from the US: YAY! made my week! Super thanks to Ali Kling for a PERFECT care package of exactly what I was missing. Also super thanks to Tim, Alex & baby Nina who sent me 4 cliff bars, one for each day of the upcoming nationals tourney and a reminder to be sure only to eat them in my 'glycogen window'. I’ll try. I bet they only feed Nina in her glycogen window.

Things are pretty good right this second too. I am home in 301. I have on a track suit. I am blogging and listening to Iron + Wine, Kings of Leon and drinking a glass of champagne. Does anyone (Curtiss?) know how to get the cork back in the bottle. I only want a glass. It’ll go flat…

Also. In a few weeks, I'm going to see Wilco. I bought a ticket today. I had NO IDEA they were coming, but Hootchie sent me a clue and I jumped on it. And you all thought he was good for nothing... I guess this'll be my 7th or so time to see Jeff Tweedy. It's an assigned seating show. that'll be one night to leave work before midnight.

Choc Tiny Bears

Above is the view from Michelle's house, Michelle, the beach, a tide pool, with creatures and some of Team Box (incl. me) in the 'hot tub'.

Weekend away in Wonthaggi was incredible. It was a 2 hour drive from downtown Melbourne. Michelle’s family’s beach house is a property inside a cattle farm. You go through 4 cattle gates to get there. There is a no development clause, to keep it from getting commercial, but if farmers had existing domiciles they are allowed to lease them out. There was plenty of space for the team in the basic cabin.

I’ve attached some of the pics here and put more up on Flickr.

We hung out. Played on the beach, made up a song about a carton of snack cookies and sang it for hours, sat in a ‘hot tub’ made up of couches and blankets, played the secret game and lots and lots of box-lid-goose, which is like ro-sham-bo (box traps the goose, lid shuts the box, and the goose eats the lid).

We practiced all day on Sunday at a nearby cricket pitch that was available out of season.

The best part was going to the beach. The beach was rocky and complex. The endless tide pools were filled with snails, star fish, anemone. I could have hunted in them all day. I saw a washed up dead penguin. It was sad and I didn’t take a picture. There were so many good shells it seemed silly to bother picking any up. If I ever run away from home looking in those tide pools would be a good way to spend some time.