Disaster Strikes

Sometimes in soccer you get to do the whipping, other times you get whipped. Well tuesday my men's team got WHIPPED. 11-0 to be exact. Yes you read correctly. No, we were not short players. No, we did'nt play the Brazilian national team. We just played awful. At half time, we were down 5-0. We've been there before as a team and have come back. So no one was too worried. By mid-second half, we began to realize and accept that we just could'nt buy a goal that night. For any of my teammates that may find their way to this page, let me break down what exactly went wrong. First off let me state that the score was of NO fault of our goal keeper Steve. He played great actually, making some incredible saves. It was our lack of defending and player marking that got us in trouble. The week before we had played a weaker team. We were able to run the field at our own pace and score on odd man rushes. Not this time. Often caught with only two defenders, we waited for the quick turn over to spring a forward for a fast break. This didnt work because the other team had plenty of speed and was able to get a third defender back every time to help kill our attacks. There was no build up in midfield and no combination passing in our attacking third. Our midfielders wanted to attack, became tired and were unable to defend effectivly. Their speedy forwards and midfielders were able to bring the ball up the field, almost unpressured for the most part and find an open forward making a run downfield. Frustration began to set in and aggressive ball tackling turned into just plain player tackling as our defenders tripped and drug down their forwards. This resulted in two penatly shots and 2 goals for them. As we fell behind in the score, all patience was lost. Normally we are a team that controls the ball. Cycling it around our defenders, through midfield and to the forwards to finish. On this night, it was the oppisote. We resorted to send repeated long balls up the field in hopes of getting a lucky shot. We probably connected no more than 4 consecutive passes and forced or hurried 80% of our shots on goal. This resulted in lots of easy saves for their keeper. A long story short, we just fell apart. It looks like it will take at least one more season for our team to be ready to take the tittle. We will now play in the third place match in the play-offs. Bummer.

Almost There

My co-ed soccer team scored a big win last friday night with an 8-1 win. Also during our big win, my girlfriend Jenna got her first ever assist for a goal! She recieved the ball at the top left of the keepers penalty box. She spun to her right and fired a left footed shot which hit the wall just outside the net. The rebound came rolling right out to the penalty spot where another one of our girl players finished it off with a goal! I was very proud of her when she got the assist. This is her first soccer season ever so she's still learning.
On a totally different note, if you are into video editing on your PC and are looking for a cheap and easy video editing software suite... check out Microsoft Movie Maker 2.0. Its free to download from Microsofts site and is a MAJOR upgrade from the previous version. In a short amount of time you will be editing video clips, adding music and special effects. Then tell it what you want to use the video for, (the web, CD, LAN) and it will help you choose the correct format and compression. I had it pretty much mastered in 30 minutes.

HATE!!!

If you're like me, you absolutly hate pop-up ad's on the web. It's really insulting to think the ad's are put there with the expectation that we will be distracted from the site we came to see, enough to click on the ad and buy their product. Anyhow, don't waste your money on pop-up "killer" software. I saw one of these programs at walmart for $30! Consider this my download tip of the week. Go to www.avantbrowser.com. Download their browser. It has a built-in pop up killer that works great. It also has a ton of cool web surfing enhancements. Its not actually a completely new browser. It uses Internet Explorer as its basis. But, its free and very very good at what it does.

Big Win!

Last night my men's A league soccer team scored a big win over a rival team, 7-4. This gives us the 3 points needed to move us closer to second place and into the finals! We played this team about a month ago and had to come from behind to end the game with a 6-6 tie. It felt good to get the win this time around. I gotta give props to our keeper Steve. He was on his game, making diving and quick reaction saves on practically every shot he faced. The Goal of the Game goes to Cody for his almost half field volley that caught their keeper standing off his goaline, scoring a crucial goal. And lastly, I cant forget Dustin (tenatious D). His relentless defensive hustle and constant runs into the offense, helped us out on both ends of the field. One more game and one more win needed to make it into the final match!

Time Flys

Well it seemed like just last year I was writing about playing paintball. Oh wait, it was. Christmas and New Years Eve have come and gone and im finally getting back to updating my blog! Xmas was all good here. Got some cool things I wanted. Spent New Years Eve at a pub called The Londoner with my girlfriend, Jenna. Its a sports bar with a small dance floor and a very English theme to the place. Go figure. So today I sit, in a Novell training class, overlooking Addison Texas from the 12th floor of a high rise office building. Im here with a co-working trying to do the "advance my knowledge-advance my career" thing. So far its all good. Stay tuned!

Splat!

This past saturday, I played paintball with a bunch of guys from work. I had forgotten how much fun that sport is! Earlier this year I had bought a paintball gun (marker) from a buddy of mine and I finally got to use it. The last time I played I had to rent a gun. Which turned out to be a single shot, pump action type. This time, I was fully armed with a semi-auto, paintball spraying machine. haha In the course of 4 hours of play, I shot over a 1000 rounds (1 case)! But having the semi-auto gun definatly increased my number of tags. Be sure to check the pictures on my site of the paintball battle! www.thorpeland.com/paintball.htm

Today

It's finally friday! Although Im here at work and its just past 7am, at least its the end of the week. Not a whole lot of excitement as of late. Thanksgiving at the Thorpe house went smooth. I ate all I could. Then, like the Grinch who stole Thanksgiving, I snuck away with most of the families leftovers from the big meal. Ah yes, I was eating good for the next few days.
Its actually starting to get cold here in Texas. Lately our nights have been getting down to the uppper 20's (F), and the days have barely been topping off at 50. I laugh because when i was living in the Chicagoland area, those temperatures would have been reason to put on the swim shorts and hit the beach! Instead, my friends up north are just hoping each daytime high will get UP TO 20 degrees. My friend Dan in California emailed me the other day to taunt me with the 70 degree temps they are getting. (note to self, be sure to laugh at dan after next large cali earthquake.) See, life all balances out. hehe

Guess Who's Back?

Well, Monday night I renewed the Thorpeland.com Domain name for another 4 years!! That means I will be around for quite a while longer. Who know's what adventures and pictures I will get to post over the years to come. I have some big ideas for my site, just havent had the time to sit down and really do them. Perhaps now that I know I have four more years of site updating, it will motivate me to really change things up? If anyone has any cool website ideas they think could improve my site, please go back to my hompage (www.thorpeland.com) and click on the "Contact Me" link. Shoot me an email with ANY ideas.

Stupid People Tricks

Some people are just too stupid for their own good. And to think, this kid will probably sue because he was given the idea by something he saw. Idiot! Go. Read.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/12/life.jackass.reut/index.html

Yeah, im a nerd.

After walking through the local software store, i find myself excited over the following games being released.
Unreal Tournament 2003
FIFA 2003
Hitman 2
The Sims - Online (not out quite yet)
Ghost Recon - Island Thunder

Yeah, im a nerd. I find this stuff fun. So, if you are a nerd too.. check out these games ASAP!!!! haha

Party Time!!

Congratulations to my girlfriend Jenna for passing the Texas Bar Exam!!

Post Weekend Update

Here we are again on a monday morning. The weekend halloween party turned out pretty good. My friend Roger's costume party was a lot of fun. My "death" costume left many people guessing until i removed my mask. haha The party probobly had a turnout of around 30 people. Even the cops showed up to tell us to close the windows and keep it down. I guess thats what Roger gets for moving into suburbia.
This past weekends football was one of those good-bad sundays. My chicago bears, are sucking. Losing their 5th in a row!! But on the upside, the Dallas cowgirls also lost and the Greenbay Packers won (i think).
That is all my thoughts for this time. Please tune in again.

Boo

Its friday, and Im getting my stuff together for a costume party saturday night at my buddy Rogers' house. And its a very good costume, i must say. I can mention it on here yet because he comes to my site and will figure it out. I wouldnt tell him when he asked earlier. You know, surprise. At a past halloween party, this costume won me Best Costume. hehe Not much happening on this friday night. Just chillin at the crib and watching tv. I'll probably post some pics from the costume party by early next week. Check back in!

IM BACK!!

Im back from Germany, recovered from my jet-lag and ready to get back to american life. Germany was a very interesting experience. I got to explore an 800 year old castle, drive on the autoban and mingle with many people who had no idea what I was really trying to say. Starting the trip, Jenna and I landed in Frankfurt. We spent about two days there. For those who have never been, Frankfurt is a busy, crowded city with NO parking what-so-ever. Our hotel only had two parking spots for its customers use, so we ended up parking at a train station (hauptbanhoft) about 5 blocks away and walking back. And during this walk back, we got lost and had to catch a cab to find our hotel. By the second day we were ready to get out of the concrete maze called Frankfurt. We packed everything into our Mercedes A-140 and drive an hour south to Hiedelburg. This was a much more interesting place. The Hiedelburg Castel overlooks the city. And it was a much easier place to navigate. Soon I will be posting pictures on my Adventure page from this city, and the rest of my trip. My flight back was a painfully long 11 hours. At least airplane food is getting better. I ate better than I do at home! haha Check the site later this week for my best pics from this big adventure!

FRIDAY!!!

Its finally here, Friday! Just 2 days left until I leave for Germany. I have so much to do, its going to be a busy 2 days. My camera is ready and I cant wait to return with mucho cool pictures to add to my site. Not much in the way of exciting today. Work is very slow. The final 45 minutes are going to just crawl. All I can think is, "I am 45 minutes away from a weeks vacation". COME ON CLOCK!!! MOVE!! More to come soon. Stay tuned.

Yes Sir! May I have another?

Today my um... place of employment put on what they called an "employment appreciation day" picnic. Even though I brought my lunch, im not one to pass up all you can eat free food. So, my friend Craig and I hopped in my car and headed towards the picnic grounds. The lunch offered, chilli dogs and frito pie. I was a starvin marvin so I had the lady load me up with 3 chilli dogs and a frito pie. Now, I dont even really like frito pies, but it was free and I'll be darned if im going to pass on free food even if i dont like it. I quickly downed everything on my plate and thought, I bet I could eat one more chilli dog! Oh... mistake. 30 minutes later I can barely breathe Im so full. But still smiling, as I felt I got the best of my foolish office for offering me free food! Ha! As I return to my desk, I could quickly feel the sleep monster come calling. This will be a tough afternoon.

VICTORY!!

Last night my indoor soccer team won our league championship match! It was a close one though, final score 7-6. Funny thing was we were winning 5-0 at halftime. We scored the winning 7th goal in the final 20 seconds of the game. Whew! Too close for comfort. You'd think for winning a championship game the team would get like a big trophy or something. Nope. A white t-shirt with the name of the soccer place and the word Champion on the front. Very rewarding i tell ya.
My buddy Dan fly's back to L.A. today. Yes, I will miss that boy. He always has interesting stories of his life in the really big city. I only got to hang with him for 2 of the days he was here. We had a blast as usual. He mentioned to me that his buddies back at Honda HQ have been taking a peek at my site now and then. In that case, let me take a moment to give a big shout out to John M., Jason D. and anyone else I forgotten that slaves daily under the rule of corperate Honda. Thanks for checking up guys!

Oh the Pain

Its monday, again. ugg Back at work and tired as usual. Drove across the border (oklahoma) for the weekend. It was Jenna's birthday! We had a nice dead cow dinner (steak) and I gave her a present. It was a very good weekend overall. I had lots of fun. We also got to finalize our plans for next week. Her work is sending her to Germany to teach a course for a week. I am going along with her a week early to tour around and sight see. Expect a TON of coolio pictures when i return, posted on Thorpeland.com! Im really looking forward to this getaway. More info to come soon!

Pre-weekend thinking

Today is thursday and my bud Dan from LA fly's back into dallas tonight. His plane comes in at 11pm! Of course he'll be on LA time so to him it will be 9pm. Im sure he'll want to do something. I am predicting a tired Thorpe come work on Friday morning. Its worth it though. To see his face when i greet him at the airport pretending to be his long lost gay lover, estatic to see him. Yeah, its pretty funny. He tries to act like he doesnt know me and to keep walking. But you can only run so far from a screaming maniac who wants a hug. hahahahaha Boy i hope he reads this. Why does today feel like friday?

Competition Sunday

Today is pretty much a day of some type of competition. Ive done a bit more of that editing thing on Premiere. But the majority has been watching NFL games, killing people in various types of mutiplayer online games and getting ready for my soccer game tonight. Which the league has so nicely put at 10:30pm. These late games are never all that fun. Especially when they put us on the Sunday match. This is my teams last game going into the championship match. We have a 7-0 record and are playing the 3rd place team tonight. Id like for us to beat them and go into the final undefeated. If we lose, i wont feel good about facing a tough second place team in the championship game next week. CRAP!! Im watching the NFL game highlights. The Bills just scored an overtime touchdown to beat my Bears. That is.... upsetting.
Why is it the Ken Burn Civil War series is so hypnotic to watch? Bummed that my team lost, I changed channel and stoped on this historical series. Now, I cant touch the remote!
WOOO WHOOOO! Just got in from my late night soccer game. The other team didnt have enough players to start. We won by default. As ugly as that is, it gives us a perfect 8-0 regular season record. In just over a week we face our the second place team in the finals. Even though the league champion only wins a T-shirt saying "Champion", i'll take it! I can always use a new T-shirt.