dry toast: sometimes i am boring

Tsonga wins! (This is actually the Quarters)
Maria wins the Final!

Sorry it's been a little while. I've been celebrating Australia Day and it took a lot out of me. It's a doozy.

On Friday I gave blood. (Make an appointment right now! It is so important.) Australia has pretty tight controls on who can donate. I was only allowed to donate because I hadn't been to the US in over 6 months. They are worried about West Nile Virus.

Last Friday Liz came over for dinner and to watch the Novak/Nadal match. It was great to see her as she has been really busy lately selecting the Australian women's national team to represent the country in Vancouver in August. I think I might try to go watch some matches up there as it will be some great ultimate and it is supposed to be a great town. I like watching ultimate almost as much as I like to play.

On Saturday, I went to Rod Laver again to see the women's finals of the Australian Open with Amanda. That was pretty cool. They were 15,000 silent and attentive fans. I've seen 3 women's grand slam matches in my life, and I've seen Sharapova win 3 times. She was dominant. It was really hot in there.

After that, I went to a full-on Aussie barbecue at Dave and Sarah Trovell's. We had beers and sat in the back yard. I felt genuine Australian patriotism. I think there was even cricket on the TV.

Sunday I went to the final Team Box try-out for this season and afterwards, Jess and Steven had a bunch of us over for even more Aussie barbecue and to watch the Tsonga/Novak match. That was heaps of fun and we were all for Tsonga. Maybe next year.

Monday was a day off for Australia day. I had brunch with Joy and Hussey at Issus and then rode Dierdre to St. Kilda beach. She can't swim so she just hung out by the bike rack, but I swam around in the warm ocean and read magazines on the beach before going to Monday night league. It was great and I need to go to the beach more often while it is still summer. It is about a 15 minute bike ride from my apartment.

At league, I got there early, and so did Snail, so we ran a quick 5K around Albert Park Lake. Then I played a Div 2 game with the Juniors and got to handle in the zone as the axis, and played a Div 1 game with Joy and Hussey where we had only 2 guys and 6 girls so I got to play a lot and played pretty well, though we narrowly lost.

Tomorrow I'm going for a throw with Jess and she is making me dinner.

Friday I am going to the cricket at the MCG to see a Twenty-20 match which is the wildly abbreviated version that doesn't take 5 days, but instead takes only a few hours but still makes baseball look fast paced.

With Football over and done with, I can focus on basketball, and naturally my focus is on the Nuggets. Go Allen. Go Melo. Go Nene. I hope he is back soon. Do you think that this story has basketball announcers thinking of new ways to describe a turnover so that in the future they can avoid saying that Nene has "lost the ball". (Not funny, I know. I can't help it.)

I can't believe how quickly January flew by. I'll be going to Rimini, Italy again in March, so that's the next big trip.

That's pretty much all my news. Nothing clever or particularly noteworthy, but I am well and hope you are too. More soon.

Sing a Tsonga of 6 Games

So, last night I went to Rod Laver arena to watch the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. I had an absolute blast. I went with Lauren (aka Mama because all Australians are required to have a nickname). What I didn’t know until we arrived was that Lauren had been a ball kid at the Australian Open, back in the Sampras era, so she was super wise about all the goings on at the Open.

When we arrived we wandered around the grounds a bit and actually saw the tail end of a doubles match between the Williams sisters and a Chinese doubles team. The Chinese team prevailed and we headed off in search of beers.

We ate some noodles, and settled in to the center court at Rod Laver to see the quarterfinals match between world #1 Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova. The place was mostly full and the crowd was pretty in to the match. There were some great points and long rallies, but Sharapova dominated from the first serve until match point. I won’t be surprised if I see her again on Saturday when I go back to see the final.

My mom stayed up all night back in the US to watch the match live in case I turned up in a pan the crowd shot on ESPN. No such luck, as my seats were pretty much back row, but you’ve got to admit that’s dedication to the cause.

After that, there was a men’s quarter final between my new crush Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and the Russian #14 seed, Youzhny. Despite being un-seeded and a relative unknown, Jo-Dub dispatched the Russian in three sets to the delight of 6 or 7 very loud French fans. Tsonga’s up against R-Fed next, which may well be a tough spot, but might prove entertaining none-the-less.

I’m psyched to have been to the US Open in 2006 and now the Australian Open. Maybe Wimbledon is next?

Also, please check out this link for the Puppy Television Channel. If this ever gets off the ground I will quit my job for sure and stay home and watch it 24 hours a day. I may even have to consider the Astronaut’s approach to practicalities.

Sufjantastic

What can I tell you? Things are busy at work. Boo.

Also I had a bout of what the Australians politely call "Gastro" last week so I missed a day of work. I was writhing in pain on my bathroom floor in cold sweats, but I did miss work, so I guess I would call it a push.

I am back in Melbourne. I have been playing some disc and riding Deirdre around. I joined a summer league in Albert Park. I have been hanging out with Joy and Hussey, and I helped my friend Amanda clean her apartment before a move.

Tomorrow I am going to the Australian Open to see Henin v. Sharapova (which is a quarter but could basically be a final) and Tsonga v. Youzhny. I saw Sharapova at the US Open a couple of years ago and I am psyched about the shrieking and grunting.

I am hoping for a 0-0 tie in the Super Bowl. Jerks.

I went to see American Gangster. It was pretty good. I love Common as a brother, and I love the RZA as a cop in the 70s. You can see his WuTang tattoo in one shot and that's a bit of an anachronism I guess.

Last week after the 'bout' I went to see Sufjan Stevens at the Forum. I think it was my 4th time to see him, and maybe the best. He played his tone poem to the BQE, and did some light up hula-hooping. The graphics were mind blowing all show. He wore wings for much of the set. He played 7 Swans, Good God Bird, Casmir Pulanki Day, Predatory Wasp..., Upper Peninsula and lots of other great songs. Best of all, he explained almost each track for a minute or two prior to playing them. Explaining the geography of Michigan in great detail to the Australian crowd, and teaching the HOMES mnemonic for the Great Lakes. He talked about his fear of trees. I hung on every word.