Sports and the Economy...

When I think of the fall classic (and for all you non-sports people that is the World Series) I think of Mr. October - Reggie Jackson himself. A hitter who built his reputation on coming through when I mattered most. If he was playing today, would we have to change his name to Mr. November. It is absolutely a joke that the World Series did not start until October 28th! It looked like the winter classic in game 1 from New York as the rain poured down and players were bundled up like a 2 year old on Christmas day! Seriously baseball, lets get the World Series done before its snowing!

There was a good article in the Economist today entitled "A joyless recovery". It talks about consumer confidence being low, unemployment rising but yet experts remarking that the recession is over! On a simplistic level, a recession is defined as two consecutive quarters with negative GDP growth. So, I guess from that definition yes we are out of a recession as GDP grew 3.5% in the second quarter - but don't be fooled, this recession has a long road to recovery.

Winding Down

For most students, once summer hits a certain sense of freedom hits. Freedom from awful professors, freedom from the stresses of school, freedom from writing papers you don't care about and then sucking up to a professor you don't like to get a good grade. Summer brings with it a renewed "fresh start" feeling that you get during the start of a new phase in your life. However for me, I get a overwhelming sense of "is it over" when summer hits. The last three summers have been fun, don't get me wrong, but have carried with them a heavy work load. This summer was no exception. But thankfully the end is near. My biology class ended last week which takes care of my core biology requirement for Calvin. I have 2 weeks left of my RA responsibilities and my work at Howies Hockey Tape will significantly slow down from 40hrs to 9hrs in 3 weeks. With that is the start of school, friends returning and a focused intellectually challenging 4 months of school. I must say, thank goodness for the end of summer - fall is almost here!

The perfect game...

Maybe you heard - Mark Buehrle on Thursday threw a perfect game for the Chicago White Sox. As a Tiger fan, you can NEVER cheer for the Sox, but it was special to see a perfect game nonetheless. To give some perspective on this, since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon 40 years ago there have been a total of 11 people who have walked on the moon. During that same time, there have only be 9 perfect games thrown by baseball pitchers in the major leagues.

Basically since I have gotten back from Spain, I have been GO-GO-GO 24-7! Whether its work, school, or trying to be a good boyfriend, friend and son - its been a constant go-go atmosphere. Currently my schedule consists of me working or going to class from 8am-10pm every day of the week. However my biology class is coming to an end and I will once again be able to experience dinner before 11pm and hopefully have somewhat a a "normal" life again! :)

Finally, I would not be doing my job if I did not touch on the President and his health care plan. Its becoming more and more apparent that he is looking to show the American people results regardless of others opinions even the opinions of people in his own party! Early this week he held a prime-time news conference trying to win the public and many of his critics over. The working class people of this country don't want socialized health care because:
1. They want to keep more of their money. Government run health care would HAVE to raise taxes across the board 10-15% annually.
2. The government is the worst run corporation in America and they will become inefficient and unproductive in the ability to provide health care to people in need!
These are my 2 cents on the subject, we will see what happens!

Called third strike - He stood there like the house by the side of the road and watched it go by

If your a believer in conspiracies, this was the week for you! During the annual summer baseball classic President Obama threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Back to Obama in a second....

Shortly after9-11, President Bush threw out the first pitch for a world series game in New York. Bush threw a perfect strike - from the rubber on the pitchers mound. Many saw his throw as a way of displaying his strength during a difficult time in America's history. Click here to see his throw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evb489N11Q4&feature=related

Back to Obama... In the days leading up to his pitch there was much speculation about his ability to throw a baseball. He was quoted as saying, I won't bounce it up there, that is for sure! Well, when it came down to it, our friends at FOX didn't show where Obama's pitch went. Rather, the camera angle used showed him throwing the ball but didn't show home plate. As it turns out, Obama did indeed "bounce it up there". Now, what does this have to do with Obama as president? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I don't care if my president can jump rope, hopscotch, or throw a baseball, I do care about his policies. However, the effort on Fox's part to show Obama in a good light was obvious as they were extremely "selective" on which camera angles they used. So, was this a conspiracy on the part of Fox or was this simply a logistical decision. ?

I hate to admit it...

On Friday, June 26, 2009 I wrote a blog entry entitled "The King of Pop is dead... who cares". Since then, despite my efforts to thwart off the urge, I have become a Michael Jackson Fan, well, at least a fan of his musics. Leading me down this road, I must give credit to my co-worker at howies hockey tape Mr. David Visser. His repeated playings of MJ's songs - "Black or White", "Will you be there" (theme song from Free Willy) and "Thriller" slowly broke me down to the place that I am today: A fan of Michael Jackson. So now I say, the King of Pop is dead, it is a sad day for fans of Music everywhere.

In other news my beautiful girlfriend Megan came and visited me this weekend. Last night we went to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. I have never been to a Japanese steakhouse before but thoroughly enjoyed my experience. After, we went to watch a movie. Being that neither Megan or I are huge movie goers, we went without knowing what was even showing. After a "discussion process" we decided on the newly released comedy "Whatever Works" directed by Woody Allen. The movie at times was funny, witty, and at other times extremely bizarre. Overall the message was horrible (the message was - "whatever works" in your life) and portrayed Christians in a bad light. Despite they negative aspects of the movie, both Megan and I enjoyed our time and our evening together.

Barack Obama visited Africa today, specifically Ghana. Ghana is located on the eastern side of Africa next to Togo. Touting the fact that his father came from Kenya, he is urging the countries of Africa to move forward in their development, politically, economic and socially. "You can conquer disease, end conflicts and make change from the bottom up," Obama said. "You can do that. Yes you can. Because in this moment, history is on the move." It will be interesting if Obama is able to using his popularity world wide and specifically in Africa to bring rival tribes and country's together and move toward a more economically and socially stable continent. Only time will tell, but you have to hope that for the sake of the people of Africa good will come out of his visit.

4th Of July Weekend!

WOW! The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays because it contains many of my favorite activities:
1. Parades - Lets be honest, who doesn't love a good parade
2. BBQ's with friends and family
3. The fourth is just not complete without a great fireworks display

Well, this 4th of July weekend contained all of those with a twist! My roommate that I lived with in Spain Ben and his fiance Rachel, who also studied in Spain, got married this weekend. Megan, and a our friend Danielle from California who we met in Spain came up to Grand Rapids to attend the wedding with me. We all had a great time. The reception was at the Amway Grand Hotel, and we watch the Grand Rapids fireworks from the River just outside of the hotel. All in all, it was definitely a 4th of July to remember!

As for today - I am on Michael Jackson memorial service watch. Trying to catch as much as I can lived streamed over the internet at work.

Baseballs summer classic has several great stories this year. The game will take place next week but without two of baseballs biggest stars. Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez were both skipped over by the fans and will be watching the game at home just like the rest of us!

Who tells Tiger Woods, I want to play a round of golf with you but don't have time? Well, none other than our President. Woods at a recent press conference said that both his people and Obama's people are trying to set up a time that they can play a round together but as woods put it, "he's really busy".

Finally, in other news - The Pope, yes Pope Benedict XVI has chimed in on the world's financial crisis. Today, he called "for a new world financial order guided by ethics, dignity and the search for the common good..." (From the Wall Street Journal).

The King of Pop is Dead.... who cares

Has there ever been a person who fade out of the direct spotlight and into this bizarre area of pop culture as quickly as Michael Jackson? Will the undisputed king of pop be remembered for his dance moves, the music video thriller or his uber bizarre ranch - "Neverland", his nose job, or the numerous accusations of inappropriate behavior with young boys? I never understood Michael Jackson's music, well, I never could get past Michael Jackson to appreciate his music. But nonetheless - The King of Pop is dead... Now move on

An Upset for the century!

Well it happened! The greatest sports upset since the 1980 USA Olympic Ice hockey team upset the “unbeatable” Soviet Union occurred today. After backing into a semi final match against España (that is Spain for all you non Spanish speakers) thanks to a unlike 3-0 victory over Egypt and a 3-0 drubbing Brazil gave to Italy the US team took the pitch against Spain. To put this in context, Spain hasn’t lost a game since 2006. In this tournament Spain has not yielded a goal to their opposition! In the minds of many US soccer fans keeping the game in reason would have been a moral victory and scoring a goal could have been counted as a victory! Against all these odds, the US came out on top 2-0 over the Spanish juggernaut. Simply a thrilling victory for US soccer fans everywhere. What the highlights here

In a really sad news conference, Republican Governor Mark Sanford announced today he had been having an affair for over a year with a woman in Argentina. Gov. Sanford was thought by many as a possible presidential candidate in 2012 and was currently serving as the head of the Republican Governors Association. This story was rather bizarre as Governor Sanford had seemed to disappear for a week leading up to this news conference. It’s reported that he was in Argentina while his staff reported he took a weeklong vacation to go hiking. When will republicans learn they are completely bankrupting their moral arguments with their political leaders failing to walk the walk?

On Tuesday night Eric led his baseball team with 3 hits, 4RBI’s and solid defense in the field! Its tough to keep track of all that is going on with the brothers as they are constantly on the go. But I always enjoy hearing about what they are up to listening to their ridiculous stories! Finally – I will be traveling north this weekend to visit my Family as John, Nellie and the baby will be visiting as well. This will be the first time in a long time that most of our family will be together in one place. Needless to say, John and I will be fighting it out on the Crystal Mountain links for golf champion on the family! Regardless of what happens in the match (lets be real, John doesn’t have a chance at beating me) it will be great to see the family. Who knows we may even make it out on the lake to catch some bass!

Everyone is doing it, why not me!

Well, it seems that everyone is staying in touch with the world now through either a blog and or twitter. So, being that I am the last one to truly get on this band wagon, I announce to the world that the blog and twitter band wagon is full. Yes, for all you who want to know what yours truly is doing at 8:23am, you can now find out via my blog, twitter, or facebook. You have so many ways to stalk me, feel connected with me, without ever having to talk with me! For those of you who have trouble with sarcasm, you just got hit with a big iron pan of sarcasm right over your old dome. But on a serious note, for those who really care, you will be able to see what I am up to, read about things important to me, and maybe, just maybe on a good day learn something from the old' blog of Mattyso.

First things first - As you know, or may not know. I was studying in Spain for nearly four months. What a great time. Now that I'm back here in the USA, I'm once again working for the greatest hockey tape company on earth, Howies Hockey Tape. www.howieshockeytape.com
We have recently launch a new product, the first of its kind, the "Hockey Lace Belt". You can see said product at www.hockeylacebelt.com and find them in hockey pro shops accross that country this fall. Well, you will find them if I do my job and sell them properly that is!

Until next time my friends - shoot low stick said everytime

Mattyso

Moving...

Well, after the first couple months the school thought it best for my roomates and I to move houses. There were a couple of issues, but nonetheless we have moved into a new house with a new Senora! We are closer to the river, and across the street from a fresh fruit and meat market. The new place is much bigger, which is also nice. Our new Senora (Isabel) is simply an amazing cook. We have had the best food of my life for the last three days! Although, they have also been the biggest portion sizes too! I told her I can't eat this month or else I'm going to go home fat (gordo in Espanol). She said, just tell everone it was my fault and not yours!

Today also marked the end of our thrid class (Spanish 201). I had tests and presentations all week. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully the grades will turn out fine. We have class tomorrow then we are off for week 1 of Spring break!

Tomorrow we leave for Portugal and our trek through Northern Spain. There are 5 of us going and we are renting a car. We are planning on spending tomorrow night in Lagos and then traveling to Lisbon Saturday or Sunday. I won't have a computer so when I get home I'll be sure and write about our adventures!

Stolen

So we are off to Barcelona for the weekend. We fly out tonight at 9:50 from Sevilla and I fly back at 6am on Sunday morning. Short but sweet (I hope). Not exactly sure what we are going to see or do, but I´m sure it will be fine. A lot of walking and seeing fountains and plazas.

This past weekend my back pack was stolen at Plaza de Espana with my ipod, camera, computer charger and all of my home work / notes all in side. It was 5 feet away from me with 2 other people and some guy took off with it. Ben and I couldn´t find him unfortuantly. Lucky for him, not lucky for us. So, needless to say, pictures may be at a minimum on the blog.

Tests are next week. Hopefully I´ll pass. We will find out soon. Right now its: yo no hablo espanol, lo siento.

The weather is getting nicer. Its been sunny and warmer all week. Might have even hit 60 today.

Spain beat England last night in Soccer. There is this english pub by our appartment which we watched the game at. We might have been the only Spain fans in there. I almost got into a fight with this drunk english guy, but he was so drunk he wasn´t sure where to throw a punch. Nothing like futbol in Europe.

Cordoba and Granada

Were back from our weekend trips to Cordoba and Granada. It was quite the adventure and had a great time. 8 of us went (Ben, Shire (my roommates), Sean, Dallas, Jenny, Rachel and I), on the Fri-Sun adventure to Granada, and the trip to Cordoba was through the school and everyone came. We visited ruins outside of Cordoba from the 10th Century. Spain went through different periods of being controlled by Muslims and then by Protestants (Catholics). Most of the architecture is Muslim, and then "changed" to a more protestant style as time went on. Granada was the last hold out of Muslim territory in all of Spain. The weather was cold and rainy but we made the most of it. The bus ride was beautiful with the mountains in the foreground, and we passed through miles and miles of olive groves.
This week I have a test tomorrow (Wednesday) and I'm staying in Sevilla for the weekend. Next weekend we leave on Thursday for Barcelonia and will be there until Sunday.

Pictures of Spain

Here are a few pictures of the city, as well as our apartment and my room. We are going to Cordoba, and Granada this weekend. Right now were in the process of planing our trips for the semester. It looks like we will be going to Paris, Italy (Rome, Pisa, ect) Portugal, and on several other trips throughout Spain. There are 8 students from Calvin here and we have become good friends and most of us are going to travel together along with Dallas and Sean, the other two guys on the semester.

This picture is the of the river that runs through the city. I live on the North Side and the School is on the south Side, so we cross it every day. The second picture is the view from the balcony of our apartment. We have one of the best locations as it is only about a 10 minuet walk to school and most everyone has to pass our apartment on the way to anywhere. So, it's a convenient meeting location!

We went bowling last night for "guys night". The school paid, which was nice. There are only 5 guys so it was a small group. Afterwords we had Tapas for dinner, and a sandwich. (Tapas are kind of like appetizers - meat, cheese, bread and fish are the most common kinds) It was a lot of fun!

Class are challenging and frustrating. I have no clue what is going on for the most part, so I hope that it gets better/easier for me to understand.

Holla!

We made it safe and sound to Sevilla after a long day of travel Tuesday/Wednesday. I have two roommates (Ben and Sheril). Both are really nice and Sheril speaks Spanish very well so he's a big help. Our Senora is Margarita - she is an older Widow lady. She has a lot of charisma and she is a lot of fun. She loves to make fun of me because I have no idea what is going on a lot of the time!

We registered for classes today, and they begin on Monday. I'm excited to start just so I can hopefully beging to understand a little of what is going on. Right now I am completely lost. We ate dinner and explored the city last night. Nothing happens till around 1am here. Sleep is not importantant to the Spanish.

I'm running out of computer battery and don't have my plug with me. I will take some pictures of the appartment I'm staying at as well as my roomates and Margarita.

Adios!