The StrengthWheel

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Tottenham 3 - 1 Stoke City

Talk about a huge victory! In what both sides were calling a "must win game", Spurs dominated all aspects and most importantly, the scoreboard. Although the season is still far from over, tonight we put some distance between ourselves and at least one other candidate for relegation in Stoke.

It's been a long time since I've been impressed with the way Spurs have played, but tonight they put on a clinic in the first half. The movement on and off the ball was spectacular. After 24 minutes we were already up 3-0! If you didn't know what was going on in the league you would have thought Tottenham were challenging for the title. Things settled down in the second half and Stoke got one back, but Spurs thoroughly outclassed them in the end.

Modric had a huge game. He essentially setup 2 of the 3 goals. He was by far the player of the game for us. Quite honestly though, when I look at the game everyone played well including Cudicini, our newest signing from Chelsea. Hopefully this is the beginning of a run that will steer us clear from danger. If we continue the form we showed tonight in the league, we could potentially win 4 out of the next 5 league matches (the schedule is very favorable in the short-term) and be all but a few points away from safety with 10 matches to go.

Cardboard Box Fun

Why play with anything else when there's a box around? At first Julia wanted to push it, but then we put her inside it and took it for a spin. She loved it.

It's pretty simple really...in a child's mind, a cardboard box = hours of entertainment.

More Power!!!

I've been talking about buying one for awhile now...and I finally have one! Check this out: $100 at Home Depot. It's a 10 inch, 14 amp, Ryobi. I read some reviews and you can't beat this "bang for the buck". It's big enough to cut a 4 x 4, and I had a hard time coming up with something larger I'd need a mitre saw to cut. At any rate, I can burn through 3 of these bad boys for the same cost as a nicer one. Next up...crown molding throughout the entire house!

I used its "frickin laser beam" to make my first successful cuts (below). One would think that the builders would have centered the outlet...but I guess not. I was able to move it over enough though. In case you're wondering, yes, I'm very proud of myself.

Choking the Chicken

The mighty cockerels almost choked last night…hence the highly distasteful (yet creatively funny) topic title.

"With five minutes to go it was looking like the most embarrassing night of my life in football," said Harry Redknapp, Tottenham’s manager. Long story short, we began last night’s Carling Cup semi-final second-leg game with a seemingly insurmountable 3 goal lead against lower-division Burnley. Due to injuries and a large lead, many backups and youngsters started the game. Most notably, our young goalie Alnwick got his first start in a Tottenham jersey.

Sheltie and I turned on the game, and settled in for a comfortable 90 minutes of “running out the clock”. Unfortunately, it was a cold, rainy, and muddy night away from home…and on a pitch that looked like it doubled as a prairie dog sanctuary. I then realized that my DVR had recorded the game for a puzzling 3 hours. A sudden sense of dread filled me. Why would this game be recorded for 3 hours unless it went to extra time and/or penalty kicks?

About 30 minutes in we gave up a free kick about 25 yards out. Our young goalie, literally swimming in his over-sized wet jersey, strategically positioned himself on the far side of the goal leaving a gaping hole. The only thing he didn’t do was put up a sign and an arrow that said “shoot it here”. The bending free kick went in the open goal, and all Alnwick could do was flap his arms wildly in the air as if demonstrating why humans can’t fly.

Stacey later joined us, and so I unwisely opened my mouth and said the one thing you never want to say while watching sports: “if Burnley score again…” Of course, shortly thereafter, the “comment curse” delivered and they scored again. My heart sank because I knew that if they scored one more goal they would knock us out on a tie-breaker.

With 2 minutes left in the game our keeper, in very much “Robinson-esque” way, dropped a cross after colliding with two of our own defenders. Result: goal. The referee blew the whistle to end regular time. As things currently stood, we had to score in extra-time or be eliminated in a humiliating way on par with our “3 goal halftime lead only to lose 4-3 to Man City debacle in the past”.

Actually, Harry, it was 2 minutes to go on the clock. After a few neat, one-touch passes, “Pav” knocked home a centering pass from the wing which deflected off of the goalie’s glove and into the net, saving “massive face” for everyone associated with the club (fans included). There’s never a dull moment with this club… At least now we’ll get pummeled in the final by a better team (United), instead of adding more misery to an already dire season. Then again, that’s what we thought about the final last year and we actually pulled off the win.

403...Represent!

I'm coming up on my 2 year mark at work in 2 months...yes, it's very exciting. The exciting part about the 2 year mark is that I will now qualify for 3% employer matching on contributions to a 403b retirement account. In simple terms, I can contribute as much as I want to the plan through an automatic payroll deduction and Focus will match, dollar for dollar, up to 3% of my annual salary.

I've been talking to a fellow co-worker (and a fellow veteran) in the office that has been doing this for a few years. Apparently, your cash fund (portfolio money fund - where your deposits go before you tell them where to invest it) guarantees 3% a year to keep up with inflation.

So let me get this straight...if I contribute (save) $1,000 a year to this plan, Focus will pay me an additional $1,000 and this fund will pay me an additional $30, guaranteed? That's a 103% return on my money with ZERO market risk...even if I just save and don't invest it. That's as close to free money as you can get. This is a no brainer people.

Doggone!

Naming a dog is hard. I spent all afternoon at work scouring the internet for a good name to call Quincey. I just can't see myself yelling "Quincey" across the park this summer. So, here's my list. If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them...I need help.

In alphabetical order:

- Chase (he's a sheepdog, after all)
- Chester (Disney's "The Kid" - he dreams of owning a dog named Chester)
- Gizmo (he has the same colorings as this character from Gremlins)
- Shadow (he follows me around everywhere)

If you like any of those choices, let me know. Or better yet, give me some of your own ideas...

Tottenham 1 - 1 Portsmouth

Well, that was a much better performance. Of course, somehow Spurs always find a way to disappoint. Anyway, we're now officially out of the relegation zone on goal difference. Strike up the band!

For those of you who don't know...Tottenham and Portsmouth like to trade managers and players between themselves. Our current manager Harry Redknapp and forward Defoe used to manage/play for Portsmouth this season. Sol Campbell (aka Judas) used to play for Spurs before he suddenly moved to our arch-rivals Arsenal and now wears a Portsmouth jersey. Point being, all this familiarity added more drama to the already important league game.

It was a wide-open game. We out shot them 29-12. If it weren't for some spectacular saves by James we would have tonked them. Basically we dominated the game. However, 30 minutes in Roman got tackled hard from behind. So hard, that I heard the tackle on television. He had to come off on a stretcher and I hope his ankle isn't broken. Then, right before halftime, our captain King had to come off with a hamstring injury. Did I mention that our goalie has a strained groin? It's so bad that he doesn't even take the kicks anymore. Problem is, we don't have anyone else. He's our best option even though he's injured.

So, after dominating the game and not scoring, the game was perfectly setup for...a goal on a deflection. The ball grazed the bottom of Bale's foot and instead of stopping it or slowing down, it merely re-directed the shot perfectly an inch inside the post. All of a sudden we were down 0-1 and wounded. The commentator said that "we'll get to see what Tottenham are made of now", and to that end we fought well. Defoe finally scored, and had a pretty good game otherwise. However, I was left with a feeling of disappointment when the late winner was sent wide. It was just Bent and the goalie James...and although completely unmarked, Bent sent his header from 5 feet away (aka a "sitter") "wide right".

There were a lot of good things to take from this game. In typical Spurs style though, they seem to excite to only to disappoint either through a dominating performance and then injury or letting in a goal, or coming back to almost win it but falling incomprehensibly short. As one podcast said this week, "we're all serving our life-sentence at White Heart Lane". We can't leave even if we wanted to.

Ice Skating

We went ice-skating at Sertich with Headwaters Saturday night. It was a really good time. Although I skated a lot in college, I hadn't gone ice skating in over five years. I guess since Stacey and I mainly lived in California and Hawaii before moving back to a state that actually has a winter, we never really thought about going ice skating together. The good news is that nobody in our group fell the entire night! Amazing, really. At one point we stopped for a photo-op...and I captured this great shot of Stacey. It's a great picture of Stacey and I particularly like the fact that she is the only one in focus.

Wingsuit Base Jumping

This is sick! I've always wanted to visit Norway, the "homeland", and this video shows why. It's beautiful. Oh, and maybe I'll try out a wingsuit while I'm there too!

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.