Massive

 
I was up in my parents town this past weekend briefly. As I was driving down a road which ran parallel to some train tracks, I noticed the passing train was carrying dozens of massive propellers. Each of these propellers were larger than a single train flatbed car! They are the kind used in those giant windmills out in West Texas to generate power. I quickly whipped out my phone and snapped this little pic of the massive blades. I just found this interesting. 

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

 

Since Early May of 2006, Ive been planning to build a new high end PC. With each week that passed, I shopped wisely, buying each piece as the right deal came along on the particular part I wanted. This is going to be a PC that has to last me for a few years to come. A PC with the power to run any application, video game or program with ease. But yet, still offer some upgradability for the future. But to buy top-of-the-line everything, would have cost me near $10K! Through smart shopping and deal hunting, i've been able to build an awesome system for $1080 after my mail in rebates all come back. That is FAR cheaper than the $2000 I originally calculated. The final piece of the puzzle came earlier than I expected. The CPU, or processor, which I had my eye on retailed for $632. Ouch, I cringe just looking at that number! But then it as announced AMD, the maker of this CPU, was about to slash prices on all models to compete with Intel's release of their new Conroe CPU. To my delight, this past Monday, the CPU which was $632 dropped to $309! I couldn't click "Add To Cart" fast enough! It wont even ship till next week, but at least I have one in my name now. Its the final piece I need before I can power it on for its first BIOS test and configuring. So far, I have to highly recommend the CoolMaster 530 PC case. Its completly tooless. Meaning you can pretty much put every part into your pc without needing a screwdriver. Only the motherboard mounts with small screws. After that, its all slide tracks and clamps that hold everything in place. Its great! Well I will update my blog in a couple weeks concerning the new PC. I'll try to include some benchmarks and speed tests. Stay tuned!

A quick rundown of what's inside this beast:
Motherboard- MSI K8N Diamond Plus
RAM - 2GB CORSAIR XMS Dual channel memory
Video - 2 GeForce 7900GT 256MB PCI-E vid cards in SLi mode
Power Supply - Rosewill 600W Power Supply
Case - COOLER MASTER Centurion 532
CPU - Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (w/dual core 1MB L2)
 

Champions!

Last night was the championship game for my Co-ed indoor soccer team. We were going into the game with an undefeated 7-0 record against another very good team with a 5-2 record. They had some good players but I knew it would be a challenge. Well after a tough 45 minutes of play we were the champions! This is our 3rd title in a row. But this was probably the toughest to win against this particular team. Normally we blow out the teams we play against. This game we pulled off a 5-4 win. I had an excepionally good game, scoring two goals... the second being the game winner! On the first goal, I received the ball at the top of end of the field. I dribbled in fast towards goal. A defender came from my right to stop me so I pushed the ball out to my left. As soon as I had space, I took a shot. It hit the wall just outside the goal, low on the left. But the ball bounced back and up. I was still running and followed up my shot. I leaped into the air and headed the ball past the goal keeper still getting up from diving for the first shot. Goal! This goal put us even at 1-1 after we gave up a quick early half goal. The second goal was just great timing on a subsitution. Tyler was playing forward and was clearly tired from running hard. He called for a sub and trotted towards the bench. As he did, the 2 defenders coving him, turned their attention upfield to the action and pushed up. They totally ignored me coming onto the field for Tyler. Our goalie Andrew was quick to see me, now wide open and calling for the ball, and threw it over the players heads right to me. The ball bounced once, I controlled it and it was one on one with thier goalie. He stepped towards me and I tried to flick it fast to his left, low. But he dove and blocked the shot. The rebound came right back to me! I pulled the ball away from his diving arms with my left and drove in a low, hard right footed shot. Goal! After that, the other team went on the attack scoring 2 goals, making the score 5-4. We defended and held on till the buzzer, winning the championship!! I was nice to get some goals in the big game which we really needed them in. Funny thing was my buddy Greg who plays on this team was jokingly taunting me all week about if I was ready to watch him score all the goals in this game. He didn't get any goals. Ha! Maybe next season buddy.

Shipped Off

 

Well next week Im being shipped off to a week long tech training course in Dallas. Its actually a Novell Zenworks course. These are kinda fun cause its a break from the norm. I get to drive down to North Dallas, and sit in a classroom and learn some new stuff. I dont have to listen to any of our users cry and whine for help. No deadlines, projects... stress. Just sit and learn. Plus my buddy Top Jimmy works just down the street, so I have a lunch buddy. About the only down side of the entire week will be the drive through traffic to get to the class and the two toll boothes I have to pass through. Luckily work will reimburse me for gas and tolls, which is nice because I actually come out slightly ahead after it all adds up. So, its Friday, the weekend is about to start... then im off to the Novell classroom! 

Playing in the Fire

Well that's at least what it feels like. Outdoor soccer in Texas is always a warming experience. Which is why for the past 3 years I have avoided getting myself into an outdoor season. I don't know if it was all the World Cup soccer I had been watching or if I just missed the pain and suffering of playing outdoor soccer, but I've committed myself to a new team. My buddy Ken approached me last week and said they needed a striker (forward) for a Men's Over 30 4th division team. I had never played in the Over 30 division before. Normally I played in the "Open" division because of better competition. But I decided to come out and see how they looked. Also, another factor in this was this team was gearing up for the Fall season. Which meant about half our games would be in cooler, more barable weather. So Sunday rolls around and I show up for their training session to get signed up. The coach gets me and Ken's information and we join the group in warming up. I notice there are a lot of guys there and some look pretty old. Then one of the guys tells me this is a combined practice between the Over 30 team and the Over 40 squad. That would explain the older, heavier guys. They split the group up into two teams, light shirts vs dark shirts. I was wearing white so i got put on the team with the majority being the Over 40 group. It didn't bother me much because this would give me a chance to play against my future teamates and see what skill level they are.

The scrimage kicked off and we were playing. Many of these guys knew eachother from previous practices. So I was just going to play it low key and not go 100% until I got the feel for the pace and how to play with this group. I started out in midfield, just recieving some short passes... knocking the ball around.. not playing too hard. I noticed our outside midfielder was getting the ball a lot, so I moved to the left inside midfield position near him. He received a pass along the side line and looked up for help since a defender was already covering him. I made a run to him and he layed the ball off to me. I quickly one-touched the ball behind the defender and into the large open space behind him down the field. My player who just gave me the ball sprinted down the line and got to my pass. He crossed it to the center and our forward shot it wide. But we had sucessfully put together an attack. Now, I was getting the ball much more frequently. I guess I had earned some trust or something. I noticed our forwards were becoming exhausted, so I moved from midfield into a forward position. I pushed up the field to their last defender, staying on-sides even though there were no linesmen to call offsides. Suddenly, one of our midfielders steals the ball from theirs. I look at him and put my arm up, calling for the ball. He see's me and sends a perfect pass over the head of the defender next to me. I pour on the speed to meet the ball about 10 yards out from the goal and its 1 on 1 with their keeper. The ball bounces once and the keeper starts to come out. I jumped into the air and with the outside of my right foot, calmly flick the ball by the charging keeper and into the right side of the net. Goal! Immediatly, guys on the Under30 team began coming up to me and asking me my name and which team I was on. It was funny. I soon learned they were so happy to see that because the one thing they were missing last season was a forward with a scoring touch. Defense has always been their strength. Which I did learn there are a couple very good defenders on this team. Lots of good hustle and mental toughness. These are good signs to see in my new teamates.

So today during my lunch hour, I took a trip down to a local sporting good store to look at some new outdoor soccer cleats. I didn't expect to find anything I liked really, since local stores are known for carrying only 1 or 2 types of shoes and not very good quality ones at that. I was pleasantly surprised to find several decent pair to choose from. But one pair of Adidas cleats caught my eye. They had a good cleat design for hard ground, good colors to go with most any uniform, seemed well built and most impressivly they were feather light. I mean so light, it didn't even feel like i was holding a soccer cleat. This was an important factor since by the second half my legs feel like 2 cement bags tied to me. Light is good! So I found my size and bought them. Im looking forward to getting them broke in. This is the first time in 12 years I have worn another brand of shoe besides Kelme. I feel bad about being a traitor and not buying them. Kelme's are such high quality boots I hope these $50 Adidas can compare to them. Don't be fooled by the price though. The Kelme's I usually wear run $100, double what I paid for the Adidas. But the Kelme shoe's are imported and all imported soccer shoes carry a bit higher price tag. Maybe these USA made cleats can win me over. We'll see as the outdoor soccer action pics up!

Zidane Fest

And the comedy begins...

Rebirth!

Besure to check in on my main website, thorpeland.com in the coming days. A total transformation is about to take place. Changes have already begun. A new look, a new webhost and some new features! Oh, the excitement. I know... I know.

Vacation Time!!

 
After being gone for the past week, Emily and I have returned from Puerta Vallarta Mexico! What a blast we had. We arrived Wednesday, July 5th at 8:30 in the morning. We got checked into the hotel and began to explore the area, eat and hit the beach. That evening I was able to take a bunch of pretty good pictures as the sun set.

Thursday morning, we were up early and on our way outside of town to the jungle for the Canopy Zip-line tour. A network of 13 tree-top platforms with cables running to each. They suit us up in our harness gear and we fly through the canopy along these cables at high speeds. Fun! We returned to town that afternoon to relax and hit the beach. Since our trip was an all-inclusive package, our meals were included and we could eat as many times as we wanted. Surprisingly, we didn't gorge ourselves as much as the average toursist might have. Which is probably good, since we had so many things planned.

Friday was another early morning out of bed. This time we had to be at the Marina to catch a boat. We were headed down the coast for some snorkeling and exploring. After about an hours ride on the catamaran, we stopped at a small cove and everyone suited up with our masks, snorkels and life vests. As we hopped into the water, we were handed a dinner roll by the tour guides. This was to feed the fish underwater. What I did not expect was the ferocity of the little buggers when they saw the food! I looked down and saw one colorful sunfish coming out of the coral and seaweed at the bottom. Suddenly, I was caught in what best could be described as a pirranha like frenzy. I could feel fish all over me and they churned the waters around me. I struggled to quickly take out my waterproof camera, and I think I got some decent pictures. I still have to get them developed. A bit later while swimming, Emily tells me she lost one of her swimming fins! I look down and its sitting on the coral floor about 15 feet down. So, I wiggled out of my vest and gave it to Emily to hold on to. I took a deep breath and began my decent. About half way down I began to think, "what if i get down here and there is a barracuda in these rocks?". Ha! Well there wasn't and I returned to the surface safely. We all got back onto the boat shortly after that and got served a good lunch. Emily wasn't able to enjoy it as much because she was getting a bit motion sick from the rocking boat. But she kept her eye on the level horizon and never threw up. A few minutes later we arrived at our second stop, the remote village of Yelapa. This is a town only accessible by boat and which only recieve electricity five years ago. Our tour guide gave us a walk thru tour of the small village then lead us down to a picturesque beach. We stayed there for about an hour, relaxing and swimming. Then we all boarded the boat for the return trip back to Puerta Vallarta. Our tour guide Jovani was a real comedian and kept everyone entertained the whole way.

Saturday was another day of getting up early. We had to catch a ride to the airport at 7am, even though our flight wasnt until 9:40. Emily took a little fall at the airport on some stairs. But she was alright. Just slipped on a couple stairs, bruising her backside a bit. We got on our plane and landed in Dallas by 12:30 in the afternoon. Home in time to unpack, relax and still enjoy the weekend before returning to work Monday.

On Sunday, I was able to meet up with Dan (who was in town for work from L.A.) and Kirk at Hooters to watch the World Cup Final. It was a great time and a very entertaining game. The French scored first on a penalty kick, but a short time later, Italy got the equalizer off a corner kick header. Very nice! The game went into extra time, then into a penalty shootout. Italy won it 5-3 to claim the World Cup trophy! It was a great time since both teams played some decent attacking soccer. And being able to watch the game with my old college buddies made it even more fun.

I took a TON of pictures while in Mexico. Check them out at HERE!