The United States Nat’l Team got waxed by Germany 4-1 yesterday. According to FIFA, that’s the #5 team on the planet getting done over by #22. So this is an upset, right? And it should give hope to the US’ World Cup opponents, Italy (#11) and Ghana (#50) that they might be able to upset the Czech Republic (#2) and the US come cup time.

Or maybe the FIFA World Ranking (or should I say the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings) are really just a marketing tool to ruffle the Europeans’ collective feathers and make the also-ran countries feel better about themselves.

Nah…

Planning for our Portugal trip in May is coming along nicely. We’ve got just a shade under two weeks and we’ll see most of the country. We start in Lisbon and leave immediately for Porto, then work our way through the mountainous northern region and the Douro River Valley, then wind our way back down around to the Algarve Coast, then back up to Lisbon. Or at least that’s the plan. Watch this space. Can’t wait to go and I’m badly in need of a break. Wanderlust, the Chinese call it. Part of me still wishes it was Spain we were going to, but hey, it’s all Iberian.

Current Mood – Not So Bad |
Currently Listening To – Billy Bragg & Wilco – “Mermaid Avenue Vol. II”