Jared Simons

2013 Year in Review

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 19:07:00 +0000

Since I figure I have to post at least once a year to this to be getting my money's worth for holding my namepage, here we go! 2013 went by fast and furious (insert off-color Paul Walker joke here). So instead of blathering on about just how awesome I am at life and how much more amazing my 2013 was than yours, dear reader, I've decided to do it a short montage of photographs. 2013 was a year of refereeing for me - including somewhere on the order of 140 matches refereed, starting with a trip in January to Arizona for a tournament I had played in since childhood, and I got to referee with my dad.

That trip included a visit to California to visit family I hadn't seen in AGES, and where Sto Lat was taught to Christine.

I then flexed my muscles as the family archer, and destroyed everyone at archery competition, including the dreaded Uncle "Gerg"

I then visited NoVa, where the "4th best youth tournament in the country" takes place, and enjoyed my time getting to know my fellow East New York Elite Referees (along with other referees from around the region). In fact, you can see just how close we became by checking the eyeline of my friend here:

I spent plenty of time working men's games in New York as well - as I'm incredibly talented due to my having two functional sets of arms.

However, I was told during a trip to Dallas that I "ran like a T-Rex" and needed to work on my form, so I spent some dreaded time at the track, getting myself into shape and getting my arms to drop to a more natural running position.

(I'm the all grey blob if you can't see me).

Of course, refereeing is not all about game time - so I made sure to keep my black tie handy for gala events. Thankfully, Christine helps keep me looking respectable at these things.

June (yes, we're in June now, keep up), was a whirlwind of activity, seeing me traveling from NYC to Dallas to somewhere near Albany to Western New York to Central PA, and oh wait, now we're already past the 4th of July. Dallas was for the US Soccer Development Playoffs/Showcase, where again, I was told I ran like a T-rex (really had to work on that). And I got to eat the best waffle ever and see friends I hadn't in forever!

Then I went back to refereeing in the heat.

And hosting wonderful friends and family from overseas!

July was also weddings, weddings, weddings!

Oops, that wasn't a wedding! That was a Sack Race. That me and my "bride" dominated.

And babies! From Tickle Timers!

August meant my and Christine's birthdays (sorry, no photos allowed for birthday pictures. Just imagine plenty of responsible imbibation of spiritous beverages), and a quick trip down to the Delaware beaches and one of the best boxers ever (sister, I said "one of" not "the" so no hate-texts about OJ please).

And More soccer, including my first technically "professional" league match, a W League game, where the two MALE coaches decided the game itself wasn't exciting enough, and engaged in a little bit of hand-bagging-head-butt action after the final whistle.

Then there was more wedding on my first ever trip to the Great State of Washington.

And old friendships Rekindled (along with some stone-cold-steve-austin-photoshop-skills)

We also saw some awesome livestock (first time up close for "country girl Christine")!

Annnnd back to soccer, I had my first game on the field at Red Bull Arena!

My brother Hayden visited New York City for the first time ever, and we had a BLAST! (This is just my Times Square Resting Face):

I took my parallel parking skills to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL (pay attention to the grey car - these two pictures show the front and back of it after I finished parking in a "spot"):

Many fun times and presents were had over Christmas in Charlotte, and that about wraps up the year!

It was a Hoot of a year.

Christmas Card Note for 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 02:24:00 +0000

I'm far too lazy to actually mail out Christmas cards, so, in the spirit of last year's short blurb about my life, along with the picture of me and a random-to-me girl posing at a 10 year high school reunion with me holding a sign saying "I got her pregnant on prom" here is my current Christmas card note, with all my activities of 2012. I hope you enjoy it or choke to death, one or the other.

The past twelve months have been a combination of exuberant melancholy and tedious joy in the Jared Simons household. At some point in February or March, the love of his life, Peace-and-Quiet, packed up and left, so he resigned himself to the greatest life challenge man faces: cohabitation with a female of the species. From that day forward, his personal space has been severely curtailed, and his individual freedoms are now similar to that of a laborer in a North Korean prison camp – that is to say he really, really, likes living with a girl and that it’s the best thing ever and the food is good and he is allowed occasional entertainment such as 15 minutes per day listening privileges to the first 50 Hz on the AM radio and there is sunshine at least 4 days a week and the water is most certainly potable and there is almost always toilet paper and definitely plenty of space in the shower for man soap and... Okay, she stopped reading over my shoulder, please send comic books, video games and cap guns disguised in cakes; morale is still high, but rations are running low.
In early January, he discovered that a “Crock Pot” is not actually slang for bad cannabis and took a job as a chef in the Deska Gulag and never looked back. Once, during a break from potato peeling duties, for about fifteen minutes, he agonized over the fact that a close friend of his was not actually sending him coded messages by alternating capitalization and lowercase spellings of the word “boycott” in a note, but rather that some cheese-wizz got on his friend’s shift-key. His moral sense of right and wrong has been fuzzy ever since.
April through Thursday has been spent wildly drunk, the cause of which is unknown but speculated to be somehow related to Theresa Giudice of the Real Housewieves of New Jersey. Some people he met once let him hold their newborn child and it didn’t end in heartbreak for anyone but the child, who developed a postpartum congenital heart defect from the rum absorbed through his sweat and now the kid literally has a broken heart.
His beard has been known to attract burrowing owls. Squirrels and dogs love him, but probably only because he keeps bacon in his pockets at all times for when he is feeling peckish. He spends as much of his free time with Jonathan Goldsmith and “that black Old Spice guy” as possible – which, if you recall from earlier would be patently untrue, as he has no free time.
He became a degenerate gambler on fictional NHL games, and is in debt to bookies from Moscow to Kuala Lumpur over his wager that he could corner the market in Egyptian cotton -- though this shouldn’t be an issue as he recently issued shares of the crop to everyone – please just send a self-addressed stamped envelope along with $473.50 and three oatmeal cream pies for shipping and handling for your shares. Due to a slight downturn in the market and the aforementioned attempt to corner Egyptian cotton, his net worth is now estimated to be somewhere between 3 pre-scratched $1 lotto tickets and a shipping container filled with peanut butter.
While in a hot climate in the middle of Central American summer, he experienced rain; mosquitoes as large as a baby’s fist; rain; bananas that were strangely called “plantains” by the locals; more godforsaken rain, a 6.5 magnitude earthquake; God’s tears, also known as rain; and he eventually developed a severe propensity to denounce anyone who couldn’t appreciate the therapeutic effects of sitting with 133 of your closest new friends on a stock 1976 Blue Bird School Bus for 4 hours on an unmaintained dirt road.
During the 2012 Presidential election season, he aided FiveThirtyEight Blogger Nate Silver in his data aggregation by constantly sending him unsolicited mail about how great he was at finding standard deviations. He also lobbied tirelessly for Utah to name him as the official State Mineral (insert Mormon based laugh-track. Thank you Elders, you can go marry your third second cousin now - everyone else look up Jaredite). After ensuring that Newt Gingrich won the Republican primary unless he did something REALLY stupid, and further ensuring some guy named Joe was selected to be the Democratic Vice-Presidential Candidate despite being from Delaware, he quit domestic politics, as they seemed pedestrian and far too easy to rig. In the end, his vote was based on “who might be able to kick his ass” and he chose wisely (and avoided a regular warden-administered beating in the process).
Jared continues to consider a return to the professional Scrabble circuit, averaging scores of over 350 - which is something he’s still unsure of whether he should be proud about or if he’s just playing against inferior spellers. Furthermore he continues to enjoy cheese and barbeque sandwiches, sometimes dabbles in ballistics coefficients, enjoys spending his weekends yelling at small children who are just trying to play soccer and once even broke up with Grammy winning country music artist Taylor Swift before she could write a revenge song about him. He finally wants everyone to know that at least 1/10th of this article is not complete propwash, but leaves you, dear reader, friend, family member, bookie, secret service agent or parole officer to determine which parts are verifiable, and which parts are simply awesome facts. Merry Happy whatever.

My Experience with customer satisfaction surveys

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:55:00 +0000

Sometimes they are good. Sometimes they are frighteningly bad. Copy pasted from my email, my responses are in bold:

From: Travel-Survey
To: Jared
Date: 20/10/2011 11:57 AM
Subject: Re: A Survey From American Express

Thank you for your prompt response to our Customer Survey. You're welcome. I wish I could say the same, but seventeen days response time on your end is not very prompt.

Your feedback is extremely important to the success of our business. If my feedback actually was extremely important, perhaps you would have read everything I wrote before firing off this form email to me.
Could you please respond using the numbering system, as suggested below, instead of the "yes/no, etc." answers that you used. No. Unfortunately, the questions that were asked were not consistent with a "rated" response. I could not therefore, in good conscience give an arbitrary numbered response, unless you considered a "yes" to be a 5 and a no to be a 1.
Let me go over the yes/no questions in a little more detail to explain myself:
Were you able to reach a counselor promptly? This is a yes/no question, as either I was able to reach a counsellor promptly, or I wasn't. A 5-1 scale response would just simply be nonsensical. How could one for example explain what a "3" response meant empirically? Does it mean that I was able to reach a counsellor promptly, but then placed on hold for 2 hours? Does it mean that the counsellor didn't pick up the telephone until the 4th ring? Does it mean that I left a voicemail and didn't receive a response for an hour (or a day, or a week, depending on how urgent my needs were)?
A better question to ask, if you wanted to rate every question from 5-1 would be: "With 5 being extremely satisfied, and 1 being completely unsatisfied, how would you rank the promptness with which our travel counsellors dealt with your request? Please explain."

Do you feel you were offered the lowest fare based on the UN travel policy and your official Itinerary? Again, either I felt like I was offered the lowest fare or I wasn't. I can't rank this as a 5-1 question. And frankly, there really isn't a very good way to get a 5-1 question out of this particular line of questioning, as either the responder received the lowest fare or they didn't. And to be even more frank, if the responder didn't receive the lowest fare possible at the time based on travel policy and the needs of the Itinerary, the AMEX office isn't doing their job. However, I suppose if you wanted to talk about the responders feelings "Do you feel?" you could ask: "How satisfied are you, with 5 being extremely satisfied, and 1 being completely unsatisfied with the fare you were charged for your itinerary? Please explain"

Did the counselor acknowledge your travel preferences and present options? (i.e. seating, personal stopover)? Once more, either the counsellor does their job or they didn't. They can't 2/5ths or 4/5ths acknowledge preferences and/or give options. They either do or they don't. Hopefully it is AMEX policy for them to ask these questions and provide that service, and in that case the survey should be asking, "How satisfied are you with the level of options that were presented to you by the travel counsellor at the time of the itinerary booking? Please explain."

Quick and easy reservation. I mean this one could MAYBE qualify as out of 4, because it could have been Quick and Easy (4), Quick but not easy (3), Slow and Easy (2) or Slow and not easy (1). But it's not even phrased as a question! This should really be split into two questions though, with one being "How quickly (with 5 being extraordinarily rapid and 1 being extraordinarily slow) was your reservation completed?" and "How easily (with 5 being extraordinarily easy and 1 being extraordinarily difficult) was your reservation completed?"

Were your arrangements complete and accurate? This is exactly the same as the above question. just change the words "quickly" "easily" "complete" and "accurate" and you're all set.

The counselor I contacted provided proactive advice for this trip. There is no way you can make this into a rating question. Unless again, you are expecting the counsellor to provide the advice, then you can ask how satisfied the responder was with the advice offered.
Thanks for your cooperation. Anything I can do to help.

Travel-Survey@un.org

---------------------------------------------------------

Travel-Survey---03/10/2011 03:53:38 PM---Dear Traveler,

From: Travel-Survey
To: Travel-Survey
Date: 03/10/2011 03:53 PM
Subject: A Survey From American Express

Dear Traveler,

You have received this survey because you recently booked a trip using American Express Corporate Travel UN Office. American Express is interested in your feedback to make sure that we are serving your business travel needs. The answers you provide will remain strictly confidential and will be used only to enhance our understanding of your needs so that we may better serve you.

Please submit the survey by using "Reply with history," and entering your appropriate rating at the end of each question or, if you prefer, you can fax this form back to 917 367-xxxx.

Customer Service Survey for the United Nations

Your Name: REDACTED

Traveler Name(s) (added in an "s" there for you, as there are occasionally multiple travellers): REDACTED

Travel Arranger Name: (This question needs to be re-written, as there are multiple travel arrangers in the UN Travel planning process - do you mean the AMEX Travel Arranger? Also, you call them "counselors" later in the survey. I'm going to go ahead and presume you mean the AMEX Travel Counsellor) I had the pleasure to do business with both Redacted and Redacted.

Please rate the following eight questions on a 5-point scale where 5 = Excellent and 1 = Poor. Please rate as "N/A (Not Applicable)" any question that does not pertain to your last trip booking.

1. Were you able to reach a counselor promptly? This is a Yes/No question, not an "out of 5 points question" So, Yes.

2. Do you feel you were offered the lowest fare based on the UN travel policy and your official Itinerary? See Above. Yes

3. Did the counselor acknowledge your travel preferences and present options? (i.e. seating, personal stopover) See Above. Yes

4. Quick and easy reservation. See above. Except it wasn't quick OR easy, but that wasn't the travel counsellors' [we use British English at the UN, hence the two l's in counsellor, even though just one is also correct] fault. So, No, but that was due to circumstances outside the AMEX office's control.

5. Please rate the professionalism and knowledge of the counselor. Here's a rating question! 5! I give both the wonderful counsellors 5's!

6. Were your arrangements complete and accurate? Again with the yes/no questions. so, Yes.

7. The counselor I contacted provided proactive advice for this trip. Yes

8. Please rate the overall quality of service provided by the American Express Corporate Travel Office while booking this business trip. I'd give the QoS of the counsellors a 5. I'd give this survey a 1.

Would you like a call from American Express Management at the UN to discuss your concerns?
If you answered yes please enter your contact number. If you'd like to contact me regarding the sad state of affairs that is this survey, I can probably offer some pointers, but otherwise your folks have done a terrific job. My Tel. is in my signature at the top of this email.

Additional Comments/Suggestions to help American Express improve service:
See above. Improve this frighteningly user-unfriendly survey.

Once more, a staunch "conservative" outed as a liberal

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:24:00 +0000

How incredibly liberal of her to suggest that the United States is BEHIND the rest of the "advanced" world in its maternity leave laws. This is the same Megyn Kelly who Media Matters "a politically progressive media watchdog group which says it is "dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media" only has 9 pages of links to inflammatory "conservative" remarks with her name tagged (see: Megyn Kelly).

So, which is it, Kelly? Do you support this ultra-liberal, nay, possibly SOCIALIST doctrine of legislating plenty of maternity (and maybe even paternity) leave for Americans? Or should you maybe, perhaps, as your bosses I'm sure would rather have you, toe the conservative party line and state "you know, let the free market be the guide. If a woman has to take time off in order to have a child and begin raising it, well, that's her prerogative, but the rest of the market shouldn't be made to suffer her absence for it."

You fake conservative. Go back to Brandeis or wherever you sleeper agent liberals received your training.

(end sarcastic rant)

One more reason to hate domestic politics

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:24:00 +0000

This is exactly why I'm sick and tired of American politics these days: A blatantly partisan blogger (and regularly featured talking head on Fox News) goes off (on my birthday no less) and slags a Feature Section of the Smithsonian Magazine.

Seen Above. Sure, ok, yep, those gears are set up in such a way that they will never turn. A big fat F to the art department of the Smithsonian Mag. But to turn this into some sort of commentary on the US Government, and in specific the Obama administration?

Based on the way she writes, it seems like the blogger feels as if the impetus and the funding for this, erm, oh, this is the feature section of a magazine and not a real cabinet level governmental department? came straight from the Obama 2012 reelection campaign. If this woman paid ANY attention or took two seconds to do even the slightest bit of research instead of flying off her rocker about "hurr hurr, Obama administration failed with THIS one!" she would realize:
a) The Smithsonian Institution, while government funded, is run by a board of regents. Of which the US Supreme Court Chief Justice (John G. Roberts, appointed by George W. Bush, if you don't recall) is the Chancellor. This board of regents is bipartisan, and has some incredibly powerful Republican interests on board (see: Carlyle Group).
b) While I'm sure the Regents don't oversee the day-to-day operations, they are around and active enough to make sure that "the world’s largest museum and research complex, with 19 museums, the National Zoo and nine research facilities" doesn't take on the characteristics of a political propaganda machine.
c) an artist (Jamie Simon) drew this "logo" for a section of the Smithsonian Magazine. Not some actual existing or soon to exist Government Department (oh, hey, there it is!)

But this is the exact sort of thing that pushes us Americans apart. Some artist makes a small mistake and it looks like it might have ties to one political party or the other, then boom! The crazies jump all over it, turning a story out of absolutely nothing. And people read this, don't think it's that big of a deal (I would have never seen this if one of my friends hadn't thought it would be funny to forward to me), and add one more tick in their "why we can't trust the other side" column in their brains. Shame on you Michelle Malkin, you are a disgrace to journalism and to the United States of America.

Oh, and before anyone accuses me of being partisan myself in this one, by all means, I'll happily bloviate about any crazy untruth being pushed by the left. Just send me the example of what is factually inaccurate, and heck, I'll research it myself to be sure then rip the crazy a new one (not that they'll ever read what I write).

We had a jumping contest on the beach

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:11:00 +0000

Cancun Photoshoot, originally uploaded by wykell.

Somehow Christine won.

Married to the Sea strikes again

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 16:10:00 +0000

Thanks, Married to the Sea, for making it more reasonable to get out of bed in the mornings.

In the woods of Olean

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 17:51:00 +0000

What I was busy doing all weekend. How many deer can you spot?

Today's Word of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:22:00 +0000

I receive a daily e-mail from www.dictionary.com with their "word of the day" and today's word is thus:
palingenesis \pal-in-JEN-uh-sis\, noun:

1. Rebirth; regeneration.
2. In biology, embryonic development that reproduces the ancestral features of the species.
3. Baptism in the Christian faith.
4. The doctrine of transmigration of souls.

I'd like to add a 5th definition:

5. The act and moment of Sarah Palin making up useless words.

Ahh, memories

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:50:00 +0000

From the AZ Daily Star Archives, and because their link to it sucks, but seems to be ok with things being seen for free, I'm just going to repost the article in here:

April 30, 2002
Section: SPORTS
Page: C1

Soccer violence ends local rec season
Dave Ord
The Tucson Metro Soccer League is canceling its men's summer season in hopes that cooler heads will prevail.
An increase of violent conduct on and off the field during the amateur league's fall season, including a recent incident involving a machete, has undermined matches.
"The players have lost sight that this is supposed to be a game," said referee Bob Barton. "Some are so passionate that sometimes they're reckless about it. ... They have brought violence into play and after play.
"Sometimes, they lose perspective. It's not the World Cup. ... The champions get a T-shirt.
"During this down time, the players can reflect."
And the board of directors can rest, according to league president Brode Meyer. When asked to explain the cancellation of the season, Meyer said "the board is old, and we decided we needed a rest."
He said the incidents of violent conduct were "discussed" before the board's split-vote to cancel the summer competition. Meyer does not vote.
Of the 86 fall-season disciplinary or rule-violating offenses listed on the league's Web site, 48 were for serious foul play, violent conduct/threats of violence or a physical attack on a referee/assistant referee.
Maggie Barton, who shares referee scheduling duties with husband Bob, says the total of 86 offenses is up about 20 percent to 30 percent over last season.
Two incidents in particular are testaments to the rise in intensity over the past six months.
After a March 24 match had been terminated by the referee because a fight broke out on the field, one player went to his car to get a machete.
The player, who has received a lifetime ban from the league, was subdued before the incident escalated.
During an April 14 playoff match that Barton was officiating at Ochoa Soccer Fields, which are east of Jacobs Park, a melee broke out after an extra-time goal was disallowed for offside.
"At the same time I whistled the play for offside, the ball goes into the net. I had to call the goal back," Barton said. "The goalkeeper (of the team whose goal had been disallowed) comes down the field, starts using profanity and throws his gloves down. I ejected him and terminated the match.
"After that, someone came up behind me and kicked me. Then another player does the same thing."
A few minutes later, a brawl ensued in which "a whole team comes running from the parking lot and 20 to 30 guys are punching each other," Barton said.
Barton said three other officials were struck by players before he called the police.
A report was filed with the Tucson Police Department. Barton said three arrests were made.
The league has existed for approximately 30 years and the summer season for more than 10 years. In addition to 50 fall teams in five men's divisions, the league also runs women's and coed divisions, which will continue to have summer seasons.
One of the league's faithful is Ebie Aldaghi. He has played in the league for more than 12 years and has been on the board for the past four years. He was a dissenting voice when the all-volunteer board voted 6-3 to cancel the summer season.
"I voted no, but I'm behind the decision," Aldaghi said. "The incidents, like the machete incident, added up to this situation.
"Shutting down the season is trying to send a message to the 1,000 players: Let's think of the sport. Captains need to be more selective in who plays on their teams. Players need to make a conscientious effort to control their teammates. They need to respect the officials."
The hiatus will also allow time for the league's disciplinary committee to consider changes.
"We've already had the first meeting," said Barton, who is a Tucson Police Department sergeant. "In youth soccer, the cautions add up to having points taken away from a team in the standings. We don't have that."
Aldaghi suggested that teams and/or players might be penalized financially.
While the break will hopefully quell the violent incidents, it will not suppress the game.
"Soccer is not going to stop," said the 47-year-old Aldaghi, who plays in all three men's divisions and helped create the over-45 division. "We are going to have the over-45 playing friendly games, even if it's just the blues against the whites."

Copyright 2002 The Arizona Daily Star

The reason for this post, if you aren't coming here from BigSoccer, is that there was a bit of a discussion on a referee forum about Foul and Abusive Language here: http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1584889 and I felt like adding in my fun story about being a 16 year old AR2 on this match, and "getting the party started" by having a player sent off for F&A language after an offside call I made (which, btw, the player was EASILY 15 yards offside, not even close), and a defender from the punished team came running 50+ yards to me and shouted in my face "Tu madre es una puta!"

Geniuses, all around.

My thoughts on Veteran's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:29:00 +0000

I was considering posting this to Facebook, but then realized that there are quite a few people that are "friends" on there that may not grasp at the meaning of the posting properly. So for the 5 people who read this, instead of my posting of "In Flanders Fields" (which is a wonderful poem, written in 1915 by John McCrae, a battlefield surgeon), I shall provide you with my true thoughts on this day, 11/11, as written my Mr. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. in Breakfast of Champions

I will come to a time in my backwards trip when November eleventh, accidentally my birthday, was a sacred day called Armistice Day. When I was a boy, and when Dwayne Hoover was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.
Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not.
So I will throw Veterans' Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don't want to throw away any sacred things.
What else is sacred? Oh, Romeo and Juliet, for instance.
And all music is.

Patriotism Now!

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:03:00 +0000

Taken from the genius(es) at Married to the Sea

Hmmm

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:42:00 +0000

From Russia?

From Boston:

The similarities are astounding.

Game time

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:23:00 +0000

Game time, originally uploaded by wykell.

Football at Fenway, beautiful evening after some thunderstorms in the afternoon. Had a great time at the match with Davenshine, Colin P and Jason.

Getting close to game time!

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:24:00 +0000

Celtic FC vs Sporting Club de Portugal tonight at 8

TTSSC Times Square Tourists

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:27:00 +0000

TTSSC Times Square Tourists, originally uploaded by wykell.

More tourism shots - love the guy on the far left near the end of the video, looking intently at whatever we were pointing at. Also, who is the loser in the statue of liberty hat and glasses - oh, wait, that's none other than our own, Shirley. Good job Shirls, you win the prize for most ridiculously outfitted.

TTSSC Times Square can-can

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:18:00 +0000

TTSSC Times Square can-can, originally uploaded by wykell.

This is what happens when you take 15 New Yorkers, put them in ridiculous I <3 NY shirts, and take them to the Olive Garden in Times Square.

*No real tourists were harmed in the making of this film, though we tried our hardest.

DPI Team - Champions

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:13:00 +0000

DPI Team - Champions, originally uploaded by wykell.

Campeones!

DPI 2010 UN Soccer Club Champions!

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:35:00 +0000

DPI 2010 UN Soccer Club Champions!, originally uploaded by wykell.

!!!!
That's right, I get to take the trophy home!

Setup at the UN

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:33:00 +0000

Setup at the UN, originally uploaded by wykell.

Hey, it may not look like much, but a) it's free, and b)it's right where seats are set up for the World Cup. I'll take it.

President Obama, 1st Soccer Fan

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 12:18:00 +0000

Best faces ever.

And yes, it's fake, but likely the face he was making anyway.

UPDATEWorld renowned journalist James Fallows saw the picture somewhere as well and posted on it - and I seem to have had the fastest fingers to inform him about it.
Here is his post.

World Cup Mascot at the UN

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:49:00 +0000

World Cup Mascot at the UN, originally uploaded by wykell.

Outside the Viennese Cafe, this little guy stands, guarding the entrance to the 50 or so seats behind it for the big screen TV where all matches will be shown.

T-shirt design prototype

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:16:00 +0000

Anyone want one or two?

Make custom t-shirts at CustomInk.com

For anyone who isn't sure what I mean, here is the 17 page ~~bill~~ Law. WARNING PDF LINK Arizona S.B. 1070

I'm as surprised as this guy is that the Tea Party hasn't jumped on the "THIS IS EXACTLY THE LARGER GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE AND TAKING AWAY OF OUR RIGHTS WE WERE TALKING ABOUT!" platform yet. Shocked, really.

There's one letter missing

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:46:00 +0000

This from one of the most powerful voices in America right now.

His editorial staff must have taken the day off?

BTW, this is old news, from August of '09

Hate Government and Taxes?

noreply@blogger.com (Jared) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:09:00 +0000

Since I have no idea on the copyright law, this may or may not be legitimately stolen from