Goblins, Sprites, Trolls, Oh My...

Last night Lauren and I watched the Spiderwick Chronicles. When I say "watch" I mean, I watched the whole movie and Lauren caught bits and pieces of the movie in between snippets of a nap. On the whole, I have to say I liked the movie. I thought it would be too much of a kid's movie given its association with Nickelodeon and the children's books. I was definitely entertained, and hope that they continue to make movies out of the books, though my quick scan at the Spiderwick site makes me think they combined the first two books into the first movie, so maybe there's one more movie left?

If you haven't seen it yet, give it a shot. It's a movie you could watch with your kids or watch with a friend and not feel too childish.

Feeling Fall... and Other Thoughts

With the temperatures in the 60s and 70s this week, and college football set to kick off this Thursday, you can't help but feel that Fall is in the air. It was nice to take advantage of our office location in N. Old Town and get out for a run last night. While attending the DC United games this summer has been great, I cannot wait to watch the Penn State game this Saturday (against Coastal Carolina). Speaking of which...

My rant of the week has to be about how ridiculous Comcast is (not surprising). After enough fans complained last season that Comcast should pick up the Big Ten Network (as DirecTV did), Comcast conceded and added the BTN to their sports pack lineup. As it turns out, the PSU game is only being televised on the BTN this Saturday, and as a Comcrap subscriber, I was very excited to be able to watch the game in the comfort of my own home rather than needing to go to a bar. But no... Comcrap comes through again with runny brown colors... They must have purchased the rights to show ONE channel and ONE game at a time. So, instead of getting the Penn State game at 12 on Saturday, we will only get the Ohio State v. Youngstown State game. If I really want to watch the PSU game, my only choices are to head to Carpool or catch the game on Comcast's BTN channel, Sunday at 11am. Thanks Comcast... as always, you continue to meet my expectation of being an absolutely worthless service provider. If my neighbor did not have the largest tree on the block which happens to stand on the SW side of our house, I'd drop you like the worthless POS you continue to be.

In other news, Fantasy Football is around the corner with both of my league drafts set to take place next week. With FF drafts taking place, it obviously means that the regular NFL season is set to start, with the Skins taking on the Gints next Thursday. I actually got my Sean Taylor #21 jersey on Monday and am ready to wear it proudly at the first game I'll get to (Cardinals game on 9/21).

BTW - the Match update is that she's doing well. She seems to have finally taken to her crate and understands that it is her home when we're not home. She will go quietly into her crate and not put up much of a fight at night when we go to sleep, which has been great... that and the fact that she can pretty much make it all night now without having to go out. Nice to finally get 6 consecutive hours of sleep for a change.

The Dog Gets what the Dog Wants

Long Ride Home
Originally uploaded by psubuzz

So, I set up the car for the ride home exactly as I set it up on the ride out to Salisbury. Full sized dog crate with papers, the bottom half of the smaller crate with a rug, all for Match to sleep in on the ride home. Where does she end up? On top of my pillow on my duffel bag right NEXT to the crate with her rug.

I'm so happy we decided to devote half of the 4Runner's cargo space for our pooch, none of which was used on the long ride home yesterday...

Figures.

Our first road trip

This was Match's first road trip as we went to visit Lauren's parents out on the Eastern Shore. Other than a little vomit incident in the first 5 minutes (before I had even picked up Lauren from work), she did really well. I think the one lesson we learned on this trip is that Match doesn't necessarily need to have both her big cage and the small cargo carrier. She'll be just fine in the cargo carrier next time... WAY too much space taken up by her stuff.

Pooped

This is my Saturday night when one of my girls is sick and the other is totally pooped from a long day.

Fortunately I have a glass of wine in one hand and my iPhone and the remote in the other.

Cheers to the American olympians and the undefeated Skins (in the preseason anyway). Oh and I love Colt Brennan.

Two Georgians Say They Have Bigfoot’s Body

Too funny... A part of me hopes this is true... and that the rest of the bigfoot clan hunt down these guys and capture a specimen of their own.

Two Georgians Say They Have Bigfoot’s Body - NYTimes.com

DC United Advances to US Open Cup Final

Mix of Emotions
Originally uploaded by psubuzz

Rounded up a good group of friends last night to catch DC United take on the New England Revolution at RFK in the US Open Cup Semis. After opening the game in the first 3 mins with a goal, the pace of play slowed down a bit... before heating up for a 3-1 finish.

DC plays for the US Open Cup championship and automatic berth to the Champions tournament in September against USSL team, Charleston.

It should be an entertaining final - and it will be nice to see United get back to that place they were a few years back... on top. Now if we can only find a way to get some points in the league play...

Preseason

New Dog!!!

Napping with Mom
Originally uploaded by psubuzz

Lauren and I have been wanting a dog for a long time, but had been waiting for the wedding craziness to pass before thinking about a dog. Well, about a week ago, we searched the area for any kind of poodle or hybrid that would alleviate any allergy concerns that might arise. Unfortunately, there were no potential options, so we turned to an online shelter based in Missouri.

Fortunately, we found Match...

You can see the follow along with us and Match moving forward by clicking on this link to see Match's album...

Match is a Goldendoodle though we are unsure which is the dominant gene at this point. My hope is that it's the poodle so that the shedding is minimal. The beauty of the goldendoodle (besides it's look) is the combination of smarts and athletic ability, not that she'll be competing for us some day, but there is that potential...

Anyway, we're thrilled to have this new member join our family.

Big Win

After 4 straight losses at home, DC finally looked organized and
mounted a strong attack. The integration of Guererro was successful
and United recorded their first shut out of the season 2-0.

This was following their first goal.