Beth

I'm Alive!

2008-07-28T23:48:24Z

I don't expect many people will read this post but just got a nice reply from niamh_x and thought I'd come back and give a brief update on what's been going on with me. I'm still working with the same company as when I left back in '06 has it really been that long since I've posted. Wow! But now I've been promoted and work in the billing department which I like so much better than what I used to do. I'm still studying to get my medical coding certificate which I should be able to take the test on Sept. 13 (*crosses fingers*).

I've also moved out of my Dad's house (finally :p) and am living in a nice basement apartment. It's a decent size and bigger than many of the tiny studios I had been looking at. It's still really expensive to live on your own around here, but I've been making do so far.

Now on to the important stuff... SOCCER! (haha). I still watch but not as much EPL as I used to. It's going to be hard this upcoming season because I don't get FSC (channel that shows EPL) in my new apartment. So I think I might have to go visit my Dad on some saturday mornings if there are any games with Blackburn on. I'm still watching my boys (DCU) of course and still have season tickets :D There have been so many changes to my team this season, and with that has come many issues. Things have definitely been better for us, and I'm still hoping the players can figure out a way to work a bit better together. You can see some players have good ideas, but their teammates just aren't always on the same page.

Ok now I need to do some studying! I've been very lazy about that this weekend. Bye! I'll try to post more often that once every couple years :p

dcu_fan @ 2006-09-24T17:00:00

2006-09-24T21:23:18Z

How's everybody doing? It's been one insanely busy week at work, and I was so needing a weekend. The weekend is almost over now but I do feel less stressed. On friday I went on a first date and it went well, and we'd both like to see each other again. Then Saturday was all about soccer as it should be. :D I got to watch the Reading v Man U game and was very happy with the result. Marcus was a bit scary with some of the rebounds he was giving up, but I can't blame him on Chris' goal. I then watched Stuttgart play at home. They were leading late into the game, but don't worry they managed to give up a late goal to tie it up. :( Stuttgart is so frustrating!

Then came the DCU v Red Bull game at RFK. The stadium was pretty packed and I think we were particularly loud. :D As has become a custom with us we were missing a bunch of starters (Gros, Namoff, and B Carroll). I really enjoyed the tribute to the original '96 team. Marco has also been officially put up on our Wall of Excellence. :D Brian Carroll stoped by the Barra and got a T-shirt! :) Our players are awesome! So after we were up 2-1 in the second half when Facundo looked like him and Youri were having a bit of a diagreement and kicked at him (I haven't watched the game again yet so not sure). But Facundo got a red while Youri got a yellow. We managed to score two more goals on the run of play while playing a man down, and we also gave up two. So we won 4-3! A win is a win, and now we are guaranteed first place in the east and home field advantage through the playoffs. :D

Then on Sunday we had our last reserve home game. We ended up losing 0-1 on a PK. This game seemed like on of the louder reserve games I've been to, and I was laughing during most of it. We have some fun hecklers on our side. :D Before the game even started Jon Conway was warming up punting the ball and he kept hitting it into the stands. So when he finally kicked one that stayed on the field we cheered, and he bowed to us. :p When Buddle subbed in many people were having fun with the DUI jokes. And there may have been a few Scotland sheep joks. :p

I then decided I really should do some clothes shopping because it's been forever since I bought more than a jersey. :p But I kept getting annoyed again when I couldn't find any pants that fit. I did manage to find one pair of black pants and some khakis. I must have lost more weight than I realized because I used to fit in 2 or 3, but now some 1-2 are too big for me. :( I need to gain some weight, but my body doesn't seem interested. I seem to go through times where my stomach doesn't want to eat anything and I have to force myself to eat small amount, and then I'll start feeling better. This has been going on for about 2 years now, and maybe I should think about going to a doctor. I don't know. (Sorry to annoy anyone trying to lose weight) :(

More Landon complaing

2006-09-18T22:32:17Z

I know I said I wasn't going to bring up this Donovan not going to Europe crap, but

I just found a new article and I just have a few thoughts. I'm glad he's happy living in California (actually I couldn't care less :p I guess I'm still bitter about what he did during the last LA game). He mentions here that he might in the future be interested in going to Europe (England or Spain, but not Germany). I was wondering how long he was planning on waiting?

"I'd probably become a better soccer player just from the day-in, day-out grind of it there,"
Well it's good to know that he realizes he'd become a better soccer player.

"There are a lot of factors that would go into it: the country, the language, the people, the playing situation. Am I going to play or be sitting on the bench again? I have no time for going over and trying out and doing things like that. That doesn't interest me.
I wonder if he just expects to play without really trying. Because if he takes games off like he does around here sometimes he'll definitely end up on the bench. And he doesn't have time to go try out? Well boo hoo to you. :p

Ok let me mention this before a LD fan yells at me. I realize it's not my decision what he does with his life, and he doesn't owe me or any other fans to reach his full soccer potential. I just would love to see him go over and be the player I want him to be. Just look at how much Convey has improved on his stay in England. He hardly played when he first came over but worked hard and didn't give up, and now he's starting for an EPL team. :D Oh and in case you were wondering I'm still rooting for him 100% when he plays for the USNT.

When I got to work yesterday one of my coworkers mentioned that I was wearing my Redskins colors. I was like no, but I was! :p I had on my maroon scrubs and a yellow t-shirt underneath. It was very sad (I really don't like the redskins). So today I made sure to wear good colors (royal blue and red for Buffalo). If you just read that I'm sorry that I wasted a few seconds of your life. :p Now it's time to start studying the next chapter for medical terminology.

dcu_fan @ 2006-09-17T20:22:00

2006-09-18T00:37:37Z

Well the good news is Buffalo beat Miami!! But in worse news DC lost to Chicago 0-1. Not only did we lose but we got two freaking red cards! So now we'll be missing Bryan Namoff, Josh Gros and Brian Carroll for our game against Red Bull. Namoff's second yellow was deserved but I really have no idea what happened for him to get his first. I'm so worried that we're just going to get drummed out of the playoffs. Jaime really could use a break. I'm surprised that Simms didn't get the start with Olsen out. There have been so many red cards this weekend.

The Man U v Arsenal game was really entertaining. It's too bad that Arsenal pulled out that goal at the end. I saw that Blackburn beat Man City 3-2!! :D And it was also DaMarcus' debut for City. Oh and both Boca and McBride started for Fulham!! :D

Aww.. poor Burpo. He hasn't started since he had his "wonderful" game against us (I was being very sarcastic). But I think Guzan should've been starting anyway. I can't believe Llamosa is still playing.

I wonder when the next youth national team tournament will be. I'd like to watch some national team games to make me feel better after the WC. :p

Oh there's a Scottish player signed by Houston his name is Paul Dalglish. kels_450 have you heard of him? And yes I do realize you probably don't know every Scottish person in the world. :p The announcers said his Dad was a famous Liverpool player.

Go Stuttgart!

2006-09-16T16:00:46Z

GolTV showed the Stuttgart v Werder game, and I'm so very glad they did! I was feeling rather unenthusiastic when they went down 2-0, but when Pardo tied the game up I don't think I've ever cheered that much for any Mexican player. :p I was going to be happy with a 2-2 draw away from home but then Gomez scored and I started jumping around the living room. :D It was great! I was going to complain a bit about the second goal Timo gave up, but I think he made up for it with all the saves he had to make. I also found out David Yeldell is still playing with the Stuttgart Kickers. :)

Now I'll be watching Aston Villa v Watford, and I hope to see Jay DeMerit play for the first time.

I had to work about an hour late on Friday because I did check out, but I really don't mind that much though. The more I do check out and used to entering charges the better the chance I'll get to move into the billing department. The office manager mentioned to me that it looks like I'll be able to start working for the billing people once they have their own office. As of right now they are in one room and simply don't have the space. It looks like the move will be happening early next year. This makes me very happy!

dcu_fan @ 2006-09-10T15:03:00

2006-09-10T19:54:41Z

DC's game yesterday was rather disappointing. :( I guess I shouldn't be that upset about a 1-1 tie since we were missing four starters. There was a nice higlight were Boswell and Esky joined the BB and SE. :D We had so few real scoring chances, but luckily for us Freddy put away a nice free kick. I think DeRoux did very well for his first with the big team and he definitely plays bigger than he really is, and I like his energy. As much as I love Nicky I missed having Troy back in goal. I'm glad Troy was just getting the day off rather than an injury.

The reserve game went much better with us winning 4-1. The two reserve games my Dad has missed both ended with big scores so maybe he should miss them more often. :p The first goal was scored off a free kick by Moose (I'm still waiting for the weather to cool off some more so I can wear my long sleeve Moose jersey). We had a number of guest players in this game and one of them Ssjemba (sp?) got a hat trick! :) Esky didn't play at all so I'm wondering if he has a knock of some kind. The fans were rather subdued especially when compared to the fun of having Mathis playing during the last game. I also got to the game really early and actually almost beat DCU there. I saw a few golf carts go by in the distance with some DCU players on them they went in the back way. But as I was walking towards the front entrance a cart went by me with Boz driving and I just smiled and wanted to say something like good luck (but I'm a chicken) :p.

I watched a few EPL games this weekend but only really paid attention to the Blackburn game. It was also pretty sad. None of the three penalties given were deserved so it was good that all were saved. Sheffield Utd shouldn't have even bothered trying the PKs with Big Bad Brad in goal. :p

Now switching over to American football real quick. Buffalo was beating NE for a while which is very surprising, but don't worry they gave up a saftey late to make sure and lose. I have a feeling Buffalo will make me very sad this season. :(

Happy Happy Joy Joy

2006-09-09T02:29:25Z

You can officially ignore all my whining about my computer falling apart beacause... (drum roll) I was able to get everything off the hard drive! :D After checking with some people I decided to bring it back to the store and ask about trying to save my data and see if it was saveable. I seriously could've jumped over the counter and given him a big hug! I am such a dork. So now I'll be spending time organizing all my stuff. :D

And I just have to say I'm sick and tired of DC getting their butts kicked my LA and Chicago. I really hope this weekend goes well!

dcu_fan @ 2006-09-06T18:22:00

2006-09-06T22:55:21Z

I really didn't have a very good day at work. :( It was a very busy stressful day and I worked about an hour and a half past the end of my shift. And I still didn't get everything done. But the one thing I kept telling myself was that I'd get to watch the Germany game (this is how I keep myself sane :p). I get home rewind the tape and all I can flipping see is a freaking blue screen!! I know how to use a VCR but everyone in a while it just doesn't work. I really think I should look into getting something like TIVO. So now I'm in even more of a pissy mood. :(

Come on DC!! We need to beat Chicago! That chip from the midline over Zach was hilarious! :p

This made me giggle

2006-09-06T00:16:04Z

I've always loved Jimmy Conrad's articles, but even though this wasn't one of my favorites I thought I post something for the Chelsea fans on my list.

I could describe my battle with Drogba, his propensity to kick me, and my two-footed retaliation. Or I could enlighten you to the distinct body odor that followed Shevchenko around like PigPen from Peanuts (you make a gajillion dollars, buy some deodorant!).
This really shouldn't make me laugh as much as it did. :p

Tomorrow DCU plays Chicago in the semis of the Open Cup. Sadly the game is in Chicago and won't be on TV. :( But since we'll have four starters on the bench for saturday we don't have to worry about resting them. I really hope Esky can get back on track. He is an amazingly streaky player as many strikers are. FSC is showing the Germany v San Marino so I'll get to watch some soccer. Now can anybody name one player from the San Marino side without looking online? :p

I think I'm feeling a headache coming on so I should probably get off the computer. Good luck to everyone on tomorrow's Euro qualifiers.

dcu_fan @ 2006-09-03T22:12:00

2006-09-04T02:23:21Z

The more I look for the pics I've lost the sadder I get about all the other things I've lost from my computer. I haven't given up hope that the info can be saved though.

I got to watch a couple of the Euro 2008 games. I thought Bulgaria had problems with their defense, but then watching Hungary was even worse. I really started feeling bad for them. But Pedersen's goal was awesome! :D

I'm happy with DC's hard fought win tonight against Chivas, but it came at a big cost. We will now be missing Boswell, Gros, Eskandarian, and Gomez for the game against RSL. :( And if Jaime's knee injury is bad he might be out as well. :( That's going to be one tough game. I have no idea who we'll have to play in the reserve game on Sunday. I wish I knew what exactly happened when Gros got his red card. It's so nice having a keeper that is strong in the air. Troy has been doing so well this season! :D

I'm Back!

2006-09-02T15:49:35Z

I didn't actually go anywhere, but last week my computer decided it'd be fun to stop working. I'd push the button to turn it on, and I could hear it trying to turn on but then it'd just stop. I brought it into Best Buy and they said there's definitely something broken (well no crap genius :p). He said it's most likely a hard drive problem. :( And since my laptop is so old I couldn't even try to have it fixed. So now I've lost pretty much all of my soccer pics, which I had a ton of them. And the icons that I made a gone. And since I won't be able to find the pics for some of them I'm pretty sad still. I do have some of my pics on photobucket so not all is lost just most. But thanks to vanillabean's Dema pic spam request I still have all those on photo bucket. :p I just really wish there was a way to save my old hard drive. My Dad who knows a lot of computer smart people is going to check around at work though so that's nice of him.

But using the money I've saved from not having to pay rent I was able to buy a new computer. It's a widescreen, which I think looks weird but it was cheaper than the regular sized. So I'll be spending the weekend getting stuff downloaded. And of course I'll be watchind DCU on Sunday, and continuing to pretend the LA game never happened. :(

What's wrong with DCU?

2006-08-21T00:52:37Z

Soccer wise the weekend went ok. For some reason DCU can't seem to beat Colorado! We tied 1-1 and that's simply not acceptable. :( We played really poorly for most of the game. Alecko was really working hard and I really felt like yelling at Jaime. Why doesn't he want to shoot the ball? Since it was an afternoon game it was really hot and even though I wasn't jumping around I still had to leave the SE section. :( I started to feel the familiar sick feeling in my stomach so I left and as I was slowly walking up the stairs my vision started to get spotty. But with taking breaks I made it to the shade and drank some more water. For Tammy and Cody who helped me last time this happened (btw thanks again! :D) I caught it earlier than last time so it wasn't nearly as bad.

The reserve game was even worse. :( We lost 0-1. I mostly had a good time and as soon as I saw that Mathis was going to play I knew I'd be entertained. :p He got heckled quite a bit, but you could tell he was enjoying some of it. Even though both Mathis and Kirovski were playing they had Luchi "rat boy" Gonzalez as captain. Sorry for not saying bye rebelzero. I realized once I got to the car and that was rude of me. I was really hot and not feeling all that super by that point.

Both Stuttgart and Reading won 3-2! :D Reading had the big comeback from 2-0 down. While VFB scored their second goal one man down, and their third two men down! Yep Stuttgart like Blackburn both lost two people to red cards. So VFB will be without da Silva and Osorio for their game against Dortmund. Their third goal by Cacau was an amazing long distance blast to the upper corner! :D I like Cacau and I'm glad he's starting again.

Oh and Santino is annoying me right now. I'm sort of watching the LA game and I see Tino taking on players and doing well on the dribble. Why wasn't he doing that for us? Oh well on the bright side maybe he'll really improve out there and then become a great USNT player.

dcu_fan @ 2006-08-09T17:27:00

2006-08-09T22:10:08Z

I'm so glad these last two weeks are almost over!! I've been training a new person since then and it's been so very stressful. I understand when you're new you can't do things as fast. Hey I was new a few months ago. But it's just so hard to deal with someone who uses the computer like it's their first time (she has her own computer and has taken computer classes). She still has trouble using the mouse and still has trouble with double clicking, or using the right or left mouse button. And when their are patients standing right there waiting it's hard to just let her take her time. And there are times I've had to repeat insurance information I know I've told her over and over. Luckily she's very nice, and I can tell she's trying. But I won't be training tomorrow!!! :D I actually thanked the person who trained me since I realized how hard it can be. :p

Tonight DCU will be playing Real Madrid in Seattle. I still don't get why we have to go all the way out there. But lucky for me the game will be on TV, but since it's not coming on untill 11pm I'll just watch it on Thursday.

On Saturday we'll be going up to visit my Grandma, and I can't wait. I'm especially excited about going swimming in her pool! :D And having the best pizza in the world!

And now for some pics from the DC v Celtic game. I know it was a long time ago, but I just found them

I could hardly recognize them without their green hoops. :p And they have Coors light as a shirt sponsor? That's weird..

This pic made me laugh! :p

Bouncy Freddy

Happy Boz!

dcu_fan @ 2006-08-06T21:09:00

2006-08-07T01:32:01Z

Tagged by niamh_x...

1.Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
6. Tag five people.

"However, some skin neoplasms are malignant, or cancerous, and they tend to invade other body areas. Indeed, skin cancer is the single most common type of cancer in humans. One in five Americans now develops skin cancer at some point in his or her life."
Yes this is from my anatomy & physiology book. I've been a good student with my studying. :p

I'll tag whoever wants to do this meme. :)

I watched the All star game and it was pretty fun. The MLS All stars started with 6 out of the 11 players from DCU. :) And we ended up beating Chelsea 1-0 on a goal by DeRo. Jaime seemed to enjoy himself during the game and was smiling and hugging JT.

Today my sister and I went to the National Zoo. I hadn't been there in quite a long time. Luckily for us we I checked the metro schedule online and found out they were doing work on the area we usually go. I wanted to see the baby panda, but there was a long line to wait so we decided to skip it. So we're going to go back when she comes back for Thanksgiving break, which will be much less crowded. The baby sloth bear was really cute though. :D Oh and two people randomly asked us if we were sisters. It's very weird. Especially the guy at the Metro who looked at us and said "sisters!" ummm.. yeah weirdo. :p

dcu_fan @ 2006-08-03T06:54:00

2006-08-03T11:10:16Z

I was just a little worried when we got to the Open Cup game because we went there without tickets. We got an email the morning before the game saying the email couldn't be sent. :( We were trying to buy them through Screaming Eagles, but luckily when we got there DCU still had standing room on the hill. The game went pretty well and it had to go into overtime but we ended up winning 2-1 against Columbus. Nowak was definitely going for the win starting all our normal guys except Nick.

The Washington Post is saying that there are rumours saying that NY is interested in getting Dema!! :( They already have Bruce and Harkes. Dema going there would be completely unacceptable!!!! Did you notice I REALLY don't want him to go to NY? :p I think he should go to Dallas. Hahaha :p

My training of the intern is going pretty well I guess. I don't really like training very much because when it gets busy I have to try and balance letting her learn and keeping the patients coming in. And I'm really not used to people who are pretty new to using computers. First off she's getting better at double clicking and just moving the mouse. Luckily I'm a very patient person because I could imagine this could be very annoying. :p But she's very nice and seems to want to learn, which is very good.

I managed to find a place to rent the tv show Firefly! :D My sister and I have only watched a couple episodes but we already want to buy it. Today we'll watch another episode, but then I really need to get back to studying.

dcu_fan @ 2006-07-31T07:09:00

2006-07-31T11:20:45Z

I've been getting really behind on my LJ and it's just going to get worse. I don't like being behind schedule in my class so I'm going to be spending time to catch up. This weekend was fairly good. I'll start with the bad.. DC lost to RSL in the last freakin' five minutes of the game. :( The PKs were a bit weak, but I'm not blaming Medhi, Klein, or Abbey for this loss. Why the hell did Wilson feel the need to leave his feet (two times) *GRRR* while in the box like that!!! I was thinking that he had been having a good game up until the end. Oh well it's not like the season is over or anything, but it was a very frustrating way to lose a game. And I'll be going to the Open Cup game against Columbus tomorrow and I'll be expecting a better result!

The rest of the weekend was fairly relaxing and we rented some movies. One was Elizabethtown, which was a cute movie. The other was Serenity, and I really loved it! It's based on a TV show called Firefly. I had never seen the show so now I'm going to look at Blockbuster and see if I can rent it. Sadly the show only lasted about half a season and there's only 15 episodes total.

dcu_fan @ 2006-07-23T12:51:00

2006-07-23T20:27:12Z

Well before I start complaining I want to write about the fun stuff I've been doing since my sister came back from her work experience in New Jersey. We've mostly been watching movies and hanging out, which I find to be a lot of fun. :) We also went to an Asian festival yesterday. We got to look around the shops, eat some good food, and watch a few interesting performances. My persoanal favorite was the Indian spring dance. We had some chicken on a stick from a stand named "The Chicken Smells Good", and you know what it did. :D And I saw really interesting looking drink called Bubble tea. I have no idea what was in it, but it had chunks of things in it. It looked a bit scary. :p

Now for the whiny rambling. I would advise skipping this part, and just look at the fun pics at the end. I don't have a life. To be more specific I don't have a social life. There isn't anyone at work who I'd consider a friend. I like pretty much everyone but many are quite a bit older than me and already have kids in college. I haven't been in touch with my friends (only a couple people) from high school for years. And I pretty much only talk to one person from college and she lives too far away to go and do something with. I'm just not good at making friends. I'm too shy around new people. :( I do go to DCU games, but I almost always go with my Dad. He had bought my season tickets before I got my job. We both like to sit in the same section so I always end up feeling like the kid even though I'm 23. But luckily today I've done some studying for my class, which also takes up some of my time. :(

Thanks to konichiwacobra I stole this interesting article about choosing your favorite EPL team. That got me thinking about how people choose their favorite teams. DCU was obvious for me seeing as it's my home town team, and was born there. I follow Stuttgart because that was the local team when I lived in Germany, and it was my first pro outdoor game. :D Oh and if you were curious my first pro game was a Washington Warthog game who played in the now defunct CISL. I still have the T-shirt. :) Blackburn was a bit different. One of my very favorite players is Ryan Nelsen, and I decided I'd root for the team in England he joined (as long as it wasn't horrible :p). When he went to Blackburn it wasn't hard to start supporting them since I already liked them since Friedel was there. And many of you probably know I also root for teams with yanks on them, but once they leave their teams I don't usually root for them anymore. I remember chatting to someone on a soccer site who said their favorite teams were Man U, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Inter and AC Milan, Barca, and Real Madrid. It's hard for me to take these people seriously. I don't have any favorite teams in Italy or Spain because it's hard for me to just randomly choose any team to support. So not counting home teams how did you choose your favorite teams?

It looks like Gooch won't be moving to 'Boro. Reading also had put a bid in for him, but he won't be moving there either (that would have been great :D).

Gooch has shaved his head, and he looks very good still :D

This was from an old 90 minutes magazine article and I nearly died when I saw it :D
And these makes me feel a lot better after the complaining. :)

No BRUCE NOT NY!!

2006-07-19T01:38:12Z

Bruce Arena is the New York Red Bulls head coach. :( That is the worst possibly job he could've gotten. Why did he have to go there?! (Yes I do know that he is from NY, but I don't feel like being reasonable right now) *GRRR*

The All-Star team (aka DC Untied :p) has been announced. And there are many DC United players which isn't really that surprising, and they are Troy Perkins, Bobby Boswell, Josh Gros, Chirstian Gomez, Freddy Adu, Jaime Moreno, and Alecko Eskandarian.

I mentioned that I thought Freddy looked pretty tired and not really himself at the Meet the Team day, and I think I found out why. Freddy was in a car accident on his way out of RFK on Saturday. Somebody ran out in front of his car on 295 and he swerved to avoid them and ended up being rear ended into the median. His Mom was driving a few cars behind him so he got a ride home from her. But then he started complaining about a headache so she brought him to the emergency room. So that would explain why he looked so out of it the next day. I'm so glad he's okay. :)

Random fact from the Meet and Greet: Bryan Namoff is right footed but writes with his left hand. I wonder how many people are like that.

Meet the Team Day

2006-07-16T23:08:18Z

First of all DC had a game against Columbus here yesterday and we won 3-2. Our record is now 13-1-5 (W-L-T)! This is just too amazing! :D The game ended up being really dramatic with Columbus trying really hard to score at the end. We seemed to stop trying to score 10 minutes to the end. Our goals came from Gomez, B. Carroll, and Olsen. The flag in the Screaming Eagles got a bit complicated (I really don't like the flag very much, and I sit in the row where it starts). It went up after the first goal, and then somebody was telling us it was backwards. I was confused because we've been doing the same thing every game so far this season. So we try and turn the big thing around and it ends up getting a tangled. So all in all it was right the first time. Even though it annoys me I can't imagine moving out of the section. I love bouncing and singing as loud as I can. We had a good turn out, but I could still clearly hear myself over some of the people around me. I know I'd surprise people with how loud I chant during games compared to how quiet I am around most people.

Now on to today's fun! Today was the Meet the Team day and this year since I have season tickets I got to get into the line earlier than the first time I went a couple years ago. We still had to wait hours in line, but I think it was worth it. I brought my soccer ball that only had a couple signatures from the Meet the Team day before (I got there very late and only caught a couple guys). This time the whole team was there. First off I did some shopping at the mini equiptment sale. I got myself a black long sleeved Moose jersey. He wears a small and it fits really well, but I won't be wearing that for a while. I also got a white training jersey with Erpen on the back, and a black Simms training jersey. :D I could so easily spend lots of money at these things. I'm like a kid at a candy store! :D So after buying these shirts I got in line. It was so hot outside, but luckily we got in the shade fairly quickly. I found out the players had had a team brunch before the signings. But I turn around after the signing had already started and Freddy Adu walks by me clearly late. He looked pretty tired. But we know he couldn't have been out partying because he's only 17. :p

Once we got in the room it went by fast. I got my ball signed by everybody on the team and the coaches. We were only allowed to have one thing signed and in between doing that they were signing their player cards, which I also picked up. I did remember to bring my camera so here is what I got. Most of the guys were really nice even though they've been sitting there for hours signing autographs. Sadly I didn't get a pic of Tino and Benny :( but I had been distracted from their goofiness. :p My Dad had said to Nick that it was good to see him out there against Celtic (or something like that) and then Tino who was sitting next to him chimed in about how Nick was 20lbs overweight (aww.. I love chubby Nicky :p). Then he said look who's talking and lifted up his Tino's shirt (very nice! :D), and then Olsen mentioned somethng about watch out he's not wearing anything under those. I could've just died. :p So during this I missed their pics. Some aren't too good since I was trying to be quick, and we weren't allowed to take pics with the players.

Christian Gomez

Jamil Walker, and the two girls were sitting between him and Gomez but I don't know who they were

David Stokes

Clyde Simms on the right

Nicky! and you can see Tino in the background

Troy Perkins, our current starting keeper and I had to tell him what a great job he's been doing this year

Jaime Moreno

Brandon Prideaux, I asked him how much longer he'd be out and he said 3 weeks.

Bryan Namoff and Matt Nickell

Andy Metcalf and Justin Moose.. He's the little guy :D

Dominiec Mediate, oh and Tammy I told him my sister was a really big fan of his! :D But I didn't say he looked like a puppy. :p

Devon McTavish

Ryan McIntosh our third keeper

Josh Gros, and I checked with him to make sure his wrist was okay and he said everything was fine

John Wilson

Alecko Eskandarian, I asked Esky if he had had any more headaches, and he said no and that he didn't have many brain cells to kill. :p He's fun! :D

Facundo Erpen

Rod Dyachenko who I said I'd hope to see more of, and liked watching in reserve games. He thanked me for my support. He seemed a bit nervous (I was very nervous and excited) since he's really new to all of this.

Stephen DeRoux

Jeff Carroll who was sitting by his big brother :)

Brian Carroll, who I congratulated on scoring a goal yesterday

Bobby Boswell (the girs behind me kept saying that they only wanted his autograph, and really didn't seem to like Freddy, or some of the other players) :( I love Bobby too, but I love Freddy too! :D I'm really not very picky since I love all the DCU players. :D

Tired Freddy Adu

Head coach Piotr Nowak

Asst coach Tommy Soehn

Goalkeeper coach Mark Simpson

Wow! Sorry for the long entry, but I had a lot of fun! :D

dcu_fan @ 2006-07-15T11:39:00

2006-07-15T18:35:05Z

Something weird happened this morning when I went to go take my exam for my anatomy & phys class. I go in to the testing center and give the person there my exam pass and my photo id, and she says thanks Mr (my last name) and I thought I had just mis heard her so I continue to sign in and then she says ohh Ms. and gave me this weird smile. I just looked at her with a confused look. I thought she may have been talking to the guy standing next to me. She then gave my pass to another person who worked there so he could show me where to sit, and she whispered something into his ear. I know this probably had nothing to do with me, but I was feeling pretty self conscious and the moment. So throughout the test I kept thinking what do I look like a man or something. I know I'm not the typical pretty girl since I don't wear make up, and I did have my Petke jersey on. But still I'm like 5'4 and at the most 100 lb and I really don't think I'd pass for a guy. So either it was an honest mistake, or she was trying to insult me for some reason. And thanks for talking to me about such silly stuff Jen.

On to the important soccer stuff. Bruce won't be our coach anymore, which really isn't surprising at all. I was pretty sure he would be leaving no matter how we did during this WC. I really hope it cools off before the game tonight because it's way too humid outside right now. It looks like Klinsmann might be a real possibility now. Alot of our training camps take place in LA, and he wouldn't have to worry about anyone complainging about where he lived. This would also be a much lower pressure job than the coach of Germany.

dcu_fan @ 2006-07-13T06:59:00

2006-07-13T11:16:37Z

I was worried that we might not even be able to play the game against Celtic because of all the thunder and lightning. On my way home from work there was a bit of a flood/mud area on the road that we had to go around, and I also saw a tree down that had taken power lines down also caused a power outage. If the signal lights are out you are supposed to treat it like a 4 way stop! The other people in front of me just kept flying through the intersection. I stop to let the person on my right go since they got there first and then I was going across. Well somebody decided to try and turn left and tried to hit me. Learn how to drive people!

But the game was lots of fun! :D We won 4-0! :D I realize this was just a friendly and Celtic is still in preseason, but it's still fun. And there was much singing and dancing. Our first goal was scored by Freddy on a nice run down the middle of the field after getting behind their defense. I think Freddy is figuring out how to score again. But after we were up 2-0 one of the Celtic players was annoyed that Wilson stole the ball(?) and then proceded to scissor him down from behind. :( He was then shown a straight deserved red card. On the free kick Gomez sent in a nice free kick which Boswell headed into the goal! :D By the end of the game we had all our reserves out there, and Matt Nickel even got a goal late in the game. After a while Celtic was clearly looking very frustrated and kept doing some close to dangerous tackles. At the end of the game their keeper, number 22 (is he the back up keeper?), jumped right over the boards and went straight into the locker room without shaking any hands. He had some scary moments during the game and he kept yelling at his defense. I felt a bit bad for him. On the lighter side Ben Olsen tends to be a very grabby player and as he was falling he almost pulled one of the Celtic players shorts off. :p

Now it's almost time to go to work. :(

What the Hell?!

2006-07-09T22:27:08Z

I know everybody has seen this by now, but what the hell was Zidane thinking?! I'll explain it for you Tammy since you probably didn't see it. Zidane head butted Materazzi (an Italian player) in the chest. They were both talking to each other and then Zidane looked like he was going to leave him alone, but then the head butt happened. He obviously got red carded. That was such a stupid thing to do, and it's especially bad because this is his last game. This will always be remembered, and it's not the way you want to end such an amazing career. And even though I decided to root for France, I really don't mind that Italy won.

On a lighter note does anyone know more about the Camoranesi hair cutting celebration? And haha Gattuso took off his shorts at one point. :p Silly Italians.

Something else that's really been annoying me is the whole Cristiano and Rooney situation. Now we have reports that say Cris wants to go to Real Madrid or Barcelona. I hate that he's basically going to be run out of England. *GRRR* I wonder if the Manchester United fans are also want Ronaldo to go. Because if I was a fan of Man U I'd want to keep Ronaldo on my team. And if it's mostly about his diving well he's been doing that for years.

Happy day!

2006-07-09T02:14:47Z

First I went to the used bookstore near my house and got a bunch of books for relatively little money. The sci-fi books that are normally $2.99 or lower were only 95 cents so I got about 5. :D Yes I freely admit I am a dork and read sci fi. :p

Then back home to watch the Germany v Portugal game. That went very well! :D Seriously a few minutes before Schweini got his first goal I had said I didn't think he had played as well as I expected. He proved me wrong today. :D And I got to see Hitzl play! If only Timo had played it would have been perfect. But we didn't get to see any presentation of the medals. :(

And then DC beat Columbus 1-0!! :D The goal was by Alecko and it was a nice powerful set piece shot. But then Esky decided to be stupid. :( He was trying to waste some time and sort of shouldered the Columbus player (who definitely made the most of it). But still he really shouldn't have done that, and we had to play for about 20 minutes a man down. I guess this means he'll get to play the whole game against Celtic on Wed. Benny was running around like a crazy person as normal. We have 41 points!! :D

Mo lost his job in NY, and little ABMOD has taken over as coach in the meantime. I wonder where Mo is going to find a job? He can't go back to Scotland because if he does he'll have to pay back all the taxes he owes. :p

And I don't want to shock anybody but... John O'Brien is injured!! :p

I know I'm probably in the minority here, but... GO Portugal! :)

2006-07-05T21:27:31Z

I'm not going to write much about the Germany game because you'll probably already know how I feel about it by now. :(

DCU also played on Tuesday since it was a holiday all the teams had games, and we beat Dallas 1-0 at their home! :D Our goal was scored by Gomez, and assisted by Moreno and Adu. After Gomez scored Jaime ran over to Freddy to give him a hug! This proves once and for all Jaime doesn't hate Freddy. :p I realize most people won't get the joke, but it amuses me. :p We didn't control the ball very well for most of the game, and we were out shot 19 to 6. But the score is what's important. Nowak will be coaching the All-Star team when they play Chelsea. Nowak and Jose... hmm interesting coaching match up. They are both very intense coaches. Caveman made a brief apperance, but I don't think Simms or Carroll deserves to sit for him. It's really nice having this depth! :D And Alecko got some time too! I really think he should've scored on that late break away though.

Now I'm going to study for a bit before watching the Portugal v France game. I found someone else at work who had been watching the World Cup! Too bad it's almost over, and I never have time to talk to her.

dcu_fan @ 2006-07-02T20:57:00

2006-07-03T01:18:18Z

I'm a bit worried about work tomorrow. I have to work up front by myself and I know it's going to be crazy busy. Please everyone be patient. But I'll just keep reminding myself that I get July 4th off and the Germany/Italy game and DC/Dallas games will be on. :D

Eddie Johnson didn't show up to Kansas City when he was supposed to. He just is trying to make it hard for me to like him. He didn't tell anybody why he didn't show up. That is so annoying! And I'm not even a KC fan. ETA: I just read that he was at the game, but showed up late and wasn't allowed to dress. There probably will be a fine.

I'm amazingly bad at taking pictures. I hate getting my pic taken and I just never bring a camera anywhere. I just finally charged my new digital camera battery, and I found pics on my memory stick from freshman year of college. :p So I'll put them up here for practice. I decided to find my camera so if I do go to the Meet the Team Day I'll at least have a camera to take pictures. :D

First just a couple pics of me. Notice the beautiful prison block walls in the background. :p

Here's Angie and Amanda with face masks on. Angie was my roomate the first year of college, but we were never very close. She died in a car accident after her sophmore year. :(

And this isn't one of my pics but I hadn't seen it before. I wish I could find out if Nelsen's injury is fully healed. It's annoying when one of your favorite players isn't popular because it's hard to find out anything. But my sister kept bugging me to name my car so I named it Kiwi after him! :D