The Vernacularist

US Open

at Nadal v.  Ferrer.  Amazing seats!

ITALY WINS!

ITALY ITALY ITALY!!!  Here are some more pics from the evening in Jersey City and Little Italy.

italy will win

the are ezcited and are getting shots on goal. The bar is packed too!

ITALY WINS!!!

I had my heart in my throat the whole game, but in the end, we scored two beautiful goals.  The final on Sunday is going to be outrageous.  Forza Italia!

Guess i'll be rooting for Italy

Damn penalty kick.  2-1 Ghana wins.  I hate it when the refs play a controversial and decisive factor in a game.  However, the USA had other opportunities they missed. Ghana deserved to win, and the US couldn't put together consistent offense. Not a lot of one-touch passes.  The stars weren't shining at all.

Was it Bruce Arena's fault? He made some poor choices, especially about when to sub in players. Not all his fault.  The players didn't score when they had opportunities. That's the game.

I have to cool down....and my toe still hurts.

GOOOOOAL!

Finally!  Our own goal at the 43rd minute by Beasley.  YES! 

I've been watching an incredible amount of World Cup.  It's great to be out of work right now.

You can do WHAT on a Cruise Ship?

I never thought this could happen. I guess the cruise ships decided that docking and waiting for the straggling passengers was just too expensive. I guess that I shouldn't have been surprised that technology would reproduce every natural adventure experience.

If the mini-disc seemed like the next big gadget....

If the XFL seemed like the right adrenaline rush on a Saturday night....

If Milli Vanilli deserved to keep their 1990 "Best New Artist" Grammy because "Blame It On the Rain" was THAT good....

Then you have to see Royal Caribbean's new FlowRider surf simulator on their newest ship. I'm new to surfing, but there is nothing like being on your board and reading the waves in the distance.

This is like one of those golf games with the ball on the string. A imagination dependent game that doesn't compare to the adrenaline experience of the sport. I'll keep surfing on the ocean, rather than above the ocean. However, I bet this feature is a hit. Hell...I'd like to try it once. Heh.

Windsurfing at Davenport Beach

Mt McAbee

You can see the pacific in the distance. Took a great 3 mile hike to make this overlook.

More surfing and getting my butt kicked

I went surfing again last evening and this morning. My friend Andy is completely addicted and I'm not complaining. Well, not till this morning at least.

Last evening, we surfed again at Pleasure Point, but at a bigger set of waves. It was a beautiful evening without too much wind, which makes the water choppy and hard to catch waves. Clear skies and about 50 surfers out on the swell.

My confidence was soaring, and this wasn't completely unjustified. I had a great fist day. But I know the ocean heard me. I must have said something like, "Oh, this is easy." Maybe something even stupider like "If this is all it is, then I'm gonna be great at surfing."

The ocean decided to turn me into a little pile of very sore muscles. The first wave I tried to ride pummeled me. I was sitting close to the top of the board and when the wave came through, my board went under the wave and sucked me in. So I recovered quickly, but another wave was right on top of me. I couldn't swin away from it, so I tucked under it. All I remember was spinning and spinning uncontrolably for about 10 seconds.

Jumped on my board and started to paddle hard left so that I could miss the brunt of the next wave, right on top of me already. This one missed me, but only because I paddled as hard as I could for 20 seconds.

More sprint paddleing to miss the fourth wave.

Finally the set stopped and the pounding was over. I had been swept to the shore and far away from the line up. So more and more paddleing, maybe a quarter mile, to get back there and wait for more waves. This was the first 15 minutes of my evening on the ocean.

The rest was a mix of exhiliration from almost catching waves and exhaustion from paddling, bending, spinning and swimming.

Loved it, but paid for it this morning. We went out to Cowell's, near where Andy lives, and I could barely move my right shoulder. It was too dangerous for me to try and catch waves with only one good shoulder. After about 10 minutes, I paddled back in and called it a morning.