Monthly Archives: July 2009

The Silly Season is Upon Us

7/31/2009 – 5:56 pm

/ / /
I’ve been watching a smattering of footie from the Gold Cup (yawn) to the World Football Challenge (surprisingly good) and the Peace Cup (a bit of both) as well as following all the transfer shenanigans. Observations in no particular order:
* Real Madrid still look pretty disjointed overall and the [...]

By Trent | Posted in * Footie, - England/EPL, - Spain/La Liga, - US/MLS | Comments (3)

Plugging Away at Reading

7/26/2009 – 1:55 pm

I’ve been knocking down a few of the shorter titles on my prelim including The Sand Child (which I wasn’t a huge fan of) and The Invention of Morel (which I was). The Sand Child exhibits all of the necessary traits for a postmodern, magical realist work in that it has multiple and conflicting layers [...]

By Trent | Posted in Reading | Comments (0)

Moaning About the Stone-Age Submission Process

7/22/2009 – 10:46 am

I sent out a 4100-word (14 page) story yesterday to ten different literary markets. Paper and toner aside, postage and SASEs came to almost $20 on the nose, or $2 a sub. For some reason, I feel better about paying the USPS to deliver my deathless prose than paying a magazine a submission fee for [...]

By Trent | Posted in Writing | Comments (0)

My Take on the Beckham Fiasco

7/21/2009 – 10:35 am

Guy, my little friend from school whose cubby hole is near mine, asked for me to form an opinion for him on the Beckham confrontation with a fan. First, a recap.
Here’s my take: Beckham’s career was stalling out in Europe so he and Posh Spice decide that they’ll move to Hollywood and take over. [...]

By Trent | Posted in * Footie, - US/MLS | Comments (0)

If I Don’t Fawn Over Everything Gaiman, Am I Thrown Out of the Club?

7/20/2009 – 4:41 pm

Okay, so I’ve been working through a number of “classic” graphic novels over the past few months. Here’s what I’ve read, with the most recent first:
The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg
The Quitter by Harvey Pekar and Dean Hapsiel
It’s a Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken by [...]

By Trent | Posted in Reading | Comments (11)

Slacking on Blogging

7/15/2009 – 4:00 pm

I’ve been a bad blogger lately. It probably correlates to the fact that I can either blog or use my scant free time doing things that actually matter. In a bulleted list, here’s what I’ve been up to:
– Parenting! Grey turned 10 weeks on Monday and things have definitely gotten better. He cries less [...]

By Trent | Posted in * Footie, - Spain/La Liga, -Pickup, Outdoors, Parenthood, Reading, School, Teaching, Writing | Comments (0)

US (yawn) vs Honduras and Other Footie Thoughts

7/9/2009 – 8:54 pm

The USMNT B-team beat the Honduras B-team 2-0 last night. The first half was dreadfully dull but the second half was more watchable. What this tournament has proved thus far (in the opening two games for the US) is that the talent pool is not deep. Granted, ten years ago US Soccer could not [...]

By Trent | Posted in * Footie, - Spain/La Liga, - US/MLS, Movies/TV | Comments (0)

Dirty Dealings with Dish Network? and Differences with Directv

7/8/2009 – 6:39 pm

As mentioned previously, our Dish Network DVR crapped out back in May and we decided to switch to Directv, largely because Dish Network had also dropped GolTV and because Directv had a good promotion going. I had already called to get a new receiver but Canceling was easy enough. Or was it?
The phone rep apologized [...]

By Trent | Posted in Movies/TV | Comments (2)

The Irish Whiskey Experiment

7/7/2009 – 2:12 pm

At a reading last fall, the Irish chain restaurant Brocach had an early bird drink special, a shot of Bushmills Irish Whiskey and a Guinness for $6. Quite a deal indeed, and the experience was so enjoyable I found myself craving a whiskey & Guinness combo more often. I’ve experimented with a few different whiskeys [...]

By Trent | Posted in General | Comments (4)

Does the Gold Cup Really Matter?

7/5/2009 – 2:02 pm

My excitement for the US playing in the Gold Cup can be summed up with the statement that I watched about half the game today, fast forwarding using the DVR. In light of the Confederations Cup, it just doesn’t hold my interest this year.
The problem? Most of the teams in CONCACAF aren’t that good. [...]

By Trent | Posted in * Footie, - US/MLS | Comments (0)