Aaaah, den hedder jo ikke The Big Blog of Nothingness for sjov, vel
See, this is exactly why I stopped blogging in the first place! Whenever I am busy I completely forget that I have a blog, so I stop posting to it – even if I did promise you a follow-up to my previous post. Oh well, I guess my two regular readers will forgive me.
Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.
Malcolm Glazer is evil. Pure evil.
He has now installed his three sons on the board of Manchester United and one of the consequenses is that all future board meetings will be held in Florida. What a joke.
He has also outlined some of his future plans for the club, and it is no surprise to see, that he plans to raise ticket prices and limit spending on new players. The club will also have to travel to Florida once a year to participate in a match against another team – hopefully not the Buccaneers, but I guess even Glazer can not be that stupid, that he thinks football is football 😉
Now that we are talking player transfers, it seems as if Park could be joining United, which I see as a good thing – and I am talking about his footballing abilities, not the marketing options this might present in Asia.
Another football story today: Liverpool get to defend their Champions League trophy. What a joke. They didn’t qualify for the spot, but UEFA decided that the holders should be allowed to play in the tournament anyways. I guess rules are rules – until it doesn’t suit someone who holds money as their main objective.
Finally Van Der Sar joins United
..and it disappoints me immensely! Don’t get me wrong, Van Der Sar is a great keeper, but he is past his prime and will only last another year or two – United were trying to sign him in 1999, when Schmeichel left, but Van Der Sar chose to join Juventus back then. Well, now we got him.
My choice for the post would have been Swedish international Andreas Isaksson who is currently at Rennes. He is young and very similar to Chelsea’s Petr Cech, who is probably the best keeper in the world right now.
The only logical reason for this transfer is that Sir Alex Ferguson still believes that Tim Howard can be good enough, but needs a few years under the wing of an accomplished keeper, which is exactly what Var Der Sar can bring.
Also in the news today, United are chasing Real Zaragoza striker David Villa, whom I know absolutely nothing about. I must admit that chasing a striker at a time when the midfield could use some coverage seems pretty strange to me – also because there are more than enough strikers at United: Saha, Rooney, Smith, Nistelrooy and The O.G. Also, Rossi is one of the hottest young prospects out there, so why on earth move for a striker, unless some of them are on their way out??? Saha is the one most likely to go, and unfortunately the club could see Ole Gunnar as being past is, so he could move on also. There have been rumours about Nistelrooy going to Madrid and Michael Owen going the other way, but I think Madrid would have to pay some cash on top of that, and the deal is unlikely to go through.
The top midfield choice, Lyon’s Essien, is on his way to – who else – Chelsea, so who else to go for? There have been talks about Essien’s midfield partner at Lyon, Juninho, but I am not sure he would fit into United.
Tonight I am going to watch the new Star Wars movie “Episode III – Revenge of the Sith“.. again. Yes, again. I left it out in my previous post, but we went and saw it when we were in the states, and let me just tell you about that experience:
We booked tickets and went to the movie theatre early (in the States the seats are not assigned with rows and numbers) to get good seats. After all, we are talking about one of the most anticipated movies in the history of cinema, and it had just premiered a few days earlier. We got in, got good seats and began waiting. To my big surprise the cinema was far from full, but once the movie started, people started coming, so the first 5-10 minutes there were people in the aisles talking and scrambling to get the best seats left. Very annoying! Also, I guess about 60% of all the people in there left at one time or another to go the toilet. I guess they couldn’t do that beforehand, but what was really wierd, was that the kid in front of Louise went twice! He was about 15 years old and he is already having bladder problems – sad..
Anyways, the movie is great, so great that I don’t mind seeing it twice in the cinema, and it is far better than the two other prequels, but I guess that’s not saying much. I actually found myself wanting Anakin to die, although everyone knows that he survives to become Darth Vader.
May the force be with you! (It is definently with Orange in this brilliant ad!)
New York
As most of you know, I (we) have been to New York for a couple of weeks to visit my sister, who graduated from Rutgers College while we were there. Actually, that was the reason we went this time, as she held a big party in the backyard.
Here is a little rundown of things we did, things we saw and places we visited while in the States:
The Late Show
We went to see a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman. I was prepared and brought an extra shirt, but the theatre wasn’t cold at all – for years Mr. Letterman has been telling jokes about the low temperatures inside the studio, but I guess they fixed the heating system 😉
The guests on the show were David Arquette whom I guess is only famous because he is married to Courtney Cox. Well, he is an actor, but can anyone name a good film he has starred in? I can’t. The other guest was British chef Gordon Ramsay who was there to promote his new show, which I can’t remember the name of, and it sounded like a typical reality-show: boring and mind-numbing.
New York City
We (Louise and I) spent a couple of days in the city. We stayed at a nice hotel on E24th Street called “The Marcel“, although we hardly spent any time there. It was merely used as a base, while we went and spent our time shopping, going out for lunch/dinner and just walking the streets of Manhattan. The picture shows a giant PSP, which is the biggest thing in the US right now.
Family
Obviously we spent a lot of time with the family, as we rarely get to see them. For those not in the know, the picture shows Joel, Katrine, Kirsten and Lucas in a hammock.
Next up is a silly picture of Kirsten…
And here is one of Lucas looking a bit spooked…
The Yedids
As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I used to be an au-pair/nanny when I lived in the States, so Louise and I went out to visit my “family” in Long Island. It was quite scary, because the kids are growing pretty fast and the oldest (Alan) is looking at colleges! Anyways, it was great to see them all again, and here is a pic of some of them (Dave, Jake, Elyse and Alan):
Party time!
Katrine threw a big party in the backyard, and on my request there was a keg of beer 🙂 Nobody got drunk, but it was a good party, good food and lots of nice people.
Other stuff
While we were there Manchester United lost the FA Cup final on penalties to Arsenal, even though they dominated them in regular time. I have never seen an Arsenal team so anonymous, so it’s quite a shame that they got the trophy, but it just goes to show what kind of season, United have had. Malcolm Glazer has now taken full control of Man Utd, so I guess the club could be in dire straits within a few years… Join Shareholders United! NOW!
FCK also lost to Brøndby, but let’s not talk about that anymore…
I got back on thursday, and here I am on a saturday writing some lame excuse about not updating my blog. I have a lot of stuff to write about, but I’m just not in the mood right now, so be patient.. Maybe tomorrow… or monday… or tuesday…
I’m leaving tomorrow
Tomorrow I am going to New York to visit my sister, her husband and their two kids. I haven’t been to the States for a couple of years, so it will be great to go back. For those who don’t know, I lived in New York for a year back in 1996, where I worked as an au-pair – au-pair is just a fancy word for a nanny, isn’t it?
I am going with Louise, and a few days later my mother and her boyfriend are joining us as we are all going to celebrate that my sister is graduating college. I’ve asked her like a million times what she has been studying, but I keep forgetting the exact word, although I know it has something to do with social studies..? One thing I am sure of, is that she has had to endure some math tests along the way, and she hates math. With a vengeance. She passed though, so now it’s actually only the graduation party that is left 🙂
Our program is pretty tight, but among other things we will attend a taping of the David Letterman Show, which I think will be really cool (no pun intended – rumour has it that the theatre, where the taping takes place is freezing).
Louise and I will also spend a couple of days in a hotel in the city, where I predict there will be some pretty heavy power-shopping going on. I know I will be doing the usual rounds looking for rare sneakers and records.
We will also visit the family that I used to work for, and that will be a fun experience – it’s been 3 or 4 years since I last saw them, and the kids have changed a lot. They are four boys, and when I left in 96 they were 2, 4, 6 and 8 years old – imagine how much has gone on in their lives since then!
Other than that, we will spend a lot of time with Kirsten and Lucas, chill out in the house and just enjoy being away from home for some time.
I will try to keep the blog updated, but please be patient 🙂
More than a year ago, I described on my blog how television was addictive and how it had affected me. Well, a few days after that admission, my tv was sold and out the door. Instead I took my computer lcd-monitor and installed as a tv, which made the livingroom into a livingroom again, and gone was the days of the tv dominating the room – All of a sudden we had a livingroom where you noticed other things than the giant grey box in the corner.
Now, I need a new tv though. The lcd-monitor has done a great job although it is only 19″, but it makes a wierd noise when it’s turned on, and now that noise has driven me crazy (remember: I hate noise). At first I was certain I was getting a Sony – they always make nice designs, and I own so many other things Sony, that I quite trust the quality of their products. Unfortunately for Sony, they will not be getting my money this time, as they only have pc-inputs on the lcd-tv’s that are 32″ or bigger. And just because I am getting a tv again, doesn’t mean I want to give up my livingroom, so the maximum size of the new tv is set at 23″.
So now I have been studying the market and I have a shortlist of three tv’s:
All that is missing is the final decision on which one to pick? Any recommendations? I really want to go to a store and see the tv “in person” – although I will probably end up buying it online – I just haven’t been able to find any of the three in any store in the Central Copenhagen area!
Ok, arrived back from Manchester late Monday night, but I haven’t had the time to blog until now.
The weekend was fantastic! Arrived at my uncle and aunt’s house Friday night, had something to eat and went straight into “hygge”-mode. If you don’t know what “hygge” means, don’t bother looking it up, no translation does the word justice! It basically means relaxing, eating, drinking, chatting and hanging out – and that’s only half of it, but I can’t find the right words to describe it.
On Saturday we started off with a long walk, ended up in the pub for lunch (fish and chips, what else?), went back home to relax before going out to dinner. Around 7 we took the train to Central Manchester, went for dinner at Stock, which is a restaurant based in the old Manchester Stock Exchange. The food was brilliant and from what I was told (I didn’t have any) the wine equally so.
On Sunday we enjoyed lunch in the garden, played garden bowls(?) and Louise and I went to Old Trafford to see Man Utd take on Newcastle. It was a close game, but Man Utd eventually ended up winning 2-1 – Wayne Rooney scored an absolute screamer, probably a candidate for goal of the year. On Sunday night we had a fabolous home-cooked dinner and ended up doing more “hygge”.
Monday was spent shopping and browsing in Manchester before going to the airport.
We will be back soon!
I will be leaving for Manchester tomorrow afternoon. I haven’t been there for 2½years, which is quite a long time, considering I have family there.
Hopefully my uncle will have gotten us tickets for the match against Newcastle on Sunday, which will be quite entertaining – on my last visit to Manchester we saw a Premier League match against Newcastle, and United ended up winning that 5-3! Not that I have any hopes of a repeat, because the way they are performing at the moment doesn’t exactly give me high expectations.
I don’t know what it is about Manchester that I like so much. The city centre is relatively small, but the atmosphere is great, and I would choose Manchester over London any day! My family (uncle + aunt) lives right outside Stockport, which is located outside Manchester, and the place has a nice country-side-feeling to it. It will be three days of pure relaxation, great food, lots of drinks and good old fashioned “hygge”.
Will be back Monday…
