guapacha.com

No, not my San Diego apartment and its 88F internal temperature. It turns out that the happiest place on earth is – Denmark. I’ve been there for a week and can easily see why although locals were telling me that during the winter months when there is little sunshine, they have a high suicide rate but that doesn’t seem to figure into the assessment.

The USA finished 23rd in the survey; the UK 41st. The bottom two countries were Zimbabwe and Burundi. Click on the image for a pretty map of the results.

Make that single of the year. Watch the video, then go buy the album at the iTMS.

Nizlopi – JCB Song.

What’s up with cans of fizzy pop these days? Over the last few weeks I don’t think I’ve been able to open one can without it splashing everything nearby. I don’t think I’ve lost the ability to open the can right, so what gives Coca Cola Co?

I am ashamed to admit this but, in the hope that confession is good for the soul, I want to say that I am hooked on this here piece of junk.

The newspaper printed a final article on their Beat the Press competition this weekend. Our subscription ended so I don’t have a scan of the article at the moment. Bottom line is that a Mexican sports writer won the whole thing, and the top member of the public came third. I got the next best public showing, coming in joint fifth with a couple of other sports editors but since no one beat the press, the $100 goes unawarded.

[Back to our regularly scheduled programming]

Sat in the food court over looking the ice rink this evening, a family takes the table next to me, mother, father and three small kids. But before the kids can sit down, the parents bring out the wet naps and wipe down the table. Yeah, the table could do with a wipe. Next they wipe down all the chairs, including seats and frames. Well, they are all wearing shorts. Finally, more wet naps come out and they wipe down the metal railing over which you can watch the action on the ice. I suppose you can’t be too careful in these germ infested hovels.

So its all over for another 4 years. A decent game to end on, especially the second half where I strangely found myself wishing for a French victory. Crazy headbutts aside, Zidane was amazing as usual; its a shame he will be remembered more for his sending off than his skill. I hate seeing the final being decided on penalty kicks but we saw 8 perfect penalties (England players take note). I am sure FIFA isn’t reading but can I ask that next time the final be a golden goal decider rather than the kicks?

Not sure what I will do with myself now the end has come. Next World Cup is in 2010 in South Africa, but there is the European Championship in 2008, qualifiers starting in October to keep us all going until then.

Really, I don’t get the need for a third place playoff, and for much of this game I don’t think the players did either. It got better towards the end (perhaps the player remembered their 3rd place bonuses) but mostly it was a waste of 90 minutes of my life. But, as an England supporter, I’m used to that.

Germany coming third definitely puts me down in the Press competition. I’m hoping they will publish a final table with everyone’s points but I think no one will have beaten the editor so no one will be collecting $100.

With the World Cup coming to an end this weekend, plenty of pundits have been giving their thoughts on how to improve on the beautiful game. I thought this guy from the Guardian has some good ideas, as well as plenty of other good options in the comments.

At my last meeting with the INS I was told that my new card could take “6 weeks or 6 months” to arrive, and to my amazement it came over the weekend. Even more impressively, it is valid for 10 years from the date they mailed it not 10 years from my first approval back in 2004. So I have a shiny new card to show the Border Patrol on my weekly commute and don’t need a new one until 2016. Although, there is a very good chance I’ll be applying for citizenship in October.