Saturday, August 19, 2006

Opening Day...

Today is opening day for the English Premier League. It would be absolutely wonderful if I'd have done my research but given that I just had one thistle of a week I hope you'll forgive me.
Still, as play starts today I have to give my season's prediction so here's what I'm going with having done no real research at all this pre-season...

1. Chelsea
2. Manchester United
3. Liverpool
4. Arsenal
5. Blackburn
6. Tottenham Hotspur
7. Bolton
8. Reading
9. Newcastle United
10. West Ham United
11. Middlesbrough
12. Wigan Athletic
13. Everton
14. Aston Villa
15. Manchester City
16. Portsmouth
17. Charlton Athletic
18. Fulham
19. Watford
20. Sheffield United

As for the league below, I'll predict a one-two punch of Crystal Palace and Norwich City with Birmingham City returning to the Premiership after a season down. It will be nice to see my Canaries on FSC next season. They just have to get some help on the right flank in midfield. Now that Green is gone and we still have some money from the Ashton move to West Ham, it'll be nice to see us get a decent midfielder. Can we afford one of Chelsea's 15 Midfielders? Yeah right. Like anyone is going from Chelsea to NCFC.

So far today I'm looking close. Portsmouth won which was a bit of a shock as did Reading which made me happy. Arsenal surprised me with a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa who has a storied history as one of the most successful English clubs in history but has been VERY weak the last few years. Norwich tied with Derby County to earn their 7th point and they still can't score on the road. 2 wins, 1 tie, 1 loss. Nice, but I'm hoping for more confident feet up front from some of the outside midfielders like Lee Croft.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Seven Short Years

Last night Victoria and I celebrated seven very short years as a married couple. Over 13 together. We had a good time.
I picked her up around 4pm or so and we had a little over an hour before the movie started so we headed over to a little british store she saw last time she was on India Street (her parents took her to Indigo Grill which I hear is a great place to eat). ANYWAYS. This store is a bit larger than the one we went to in SLC but not by a lot. Surely there's candy, pop and the few grocery items you can't find in the states like HP sauce and various citrus curds. Also there was plenty of British memorabilia type stuff like phone booth salt and pepper shakers, toy double decker buses and a few flags, banners and stickers with which one might be able to proudly claim their British heritage. Sadly, no football related items. Even if it'd been something like ManU or Liverpool I might have gotten something but not a single thing. Not even a newspaper other than the Union Jack and I'm not totally sure that's British.
I got me some Scottish spiced biscuits and we headed out to the movie. Little Miss Sunshine is a movie which has gotten rave reviews from nearly all the critics (Jim Ridley of the Village Voice didn't care for it, whoever he is). I will say this much: Victoria loved it. I thought it had it's funny moments but maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for it. I laughed here and there but it wasn't as hilarious to me as it seems everyone else found it.
Anyways, after the movie we headed to Crest Cafe for dinner. Now Crest Cafe is a place we found a few years ago and went there for dinner on Valentine's Day. We loved the place so we've gone back there for various other Valentine's Days or Anniversaries. This year was no different.
My problem? Every time I go, I forget I don't care for their pesto sauce and I always order something with pesto because normally I love the stuff. So I get a Fifth Ave Burger with Pesto which is nothing more than a burger, a bun and some condiments on the side (Lettuce, red onion, tomato and a pickle). They give you horseradish mustard (can't stand horseradish) and ketchup but this time it just didn't help. I ate most of it anyways but I have to remember there are far better things on their menu.
We left Crest Cafe after paying our $18 bill with a $4 tip for $22 total. Given the $16 we paid for the movie this is turning out to be a much cheaper evening than I anticipated, so I suggest a little dessert. Victoria points out that Corvette Diner has a Soda Fountain. Cool with me, that's basically the sort of thing I'm thinking of, so we head over there. Turns out that while there is a soda fountain they only let you sit in that area when it's real busy or somethin. Anyways, they put us at the bar and we get a root beer float for her and a hot fudge sundae for me. Neither of us can finish even half our order thanks to dinner so we pay the tab and head home.
It was just a great night of hanging out together and having fun. Can't wait to do this again. Perhaps next time for no other reason than to just go out and have fun together.