Hangin' Out

Gah! What a week. Day from Hell yesterday as we had a company staff meeting in Peoria (about 2.5 hour drive from here). I drove only to Sterling, 30 miles away and had my boss/co-worker take me down there. Unfortunately after the meetings we had to go fix a server in Kewanee that had a RAID failure. What should have been a simple hard drive swap took three and-a-half hours and basically required a complete replacement of the box (RAID controller failure + controller on motherboard + 3 year warranty expired last month= new server) Ended up getting home at 8 last night after rising at 4:40 a.m.

I have also realized in the last week that all industrial and office chairs are built such that the only way to remain comfortable in them one must sit with one's legs at an generaly 90 degree angle at the knee with the feet flat on the floor or at an acute angle with the feet tucked under the seat. Trying to remain with one or more legs at an obtuse angle leaves the upper thigh pressing against the seat edge restricting circulation (especially for me who has low blood pressure, darn all that cardiovascular activity). Makes it very hard to be in a chair for anything more than fifteen minutes at a time. I've spent a very uncomfortable week.

On the positive side, slept nearly ten hours last night and awoke refresehed. Got to watch the England - Portugal match, the first Cup game I've seen since last weekend.

God, what a waste! England were so bad in this tournament and the greater sin seemed to be that they brought everyone down to their level. Portugal had the better run of play but the turgid style of the Brits seemed to affect them too and I lost count of how many good opportunities were wasted by Portuguese players failing to make or continue a good run or see a passing opportunity right in front of them. Instead it was play around the edges and cross uselessly into the box.

I think the Guardian's, Paul Doyle summed up England's comeuppance best:

...it's the same, same old story for England. Gerrard and Lampard took awful penalties, but there was big controversy over Jamie Carragher's miss. Lampard and Gerrard are motionless, broken, it's horrible and a little poignant. Rio is crying violently; fate has merked him, and it's harsh because, quietly, he had an excellent tournament. Ultimately, however, England found their level - the quarter-finals - and all the bluster and blame and bull****, particularly over Rooney's sending off, we will get over the next few days can't disguise it: that dullard idiot Eriksson has trousered £4m a year to do something that you or I could have done.

I did pick up $5 betting by next door neighbor Jeff Bron that Portugal would beat England but in all fairness to him I did say that Portugal would play them off the park, so I'll let him pay me in beers.

There's been a that English style of play in this Cup and I have to say that it is really the worst in my memory (which only goes back to 1990 really). I was greatlydisappointedd by USA's performance which brought back memories of the 1998 debacle. We are really a much better team than we showed. I think that the blame must lie largely at the feet of Bruce Arena for playing men who were clearly not up to the challenge this time around (Beasley, Reyna) and for failing to insert players who although relatively inexperiencedd at least showed an ability to put some spark into the team (Cunningham, Wolff). I think it is unquestionably time for Bruce to move on with the thanks of a grateful nation. But the question then becomes who does one replace him with? If the idea is an American coach there are damn few options other than perhaps Chivas USA (former Fire and NY) coach, Bob Bradley who I think will become the instant front-runner. Otherwise I hear MartinO'Neilll might be ready to work again. (grin)

Thanks to Larry Johnson for the kind note. I'm just loafing around the house so perhaps I will finally post the much-promised ethanol article.