Totaalvoetbal

Totallvoetbal - "total football" in English - is the Dutch term for advance soccer tactics. In short, total football means that any player on the field can play any position. If a forward is injured, a defender should easily be able to take his place.

The height of total football was the 1970's, when the Dutch national team reached two consecutive World Cup Finals, losing both to West Germany and Argentina. During this same time, Ajax Amsterdam, the leading club team in the Dutch Eredivesie, utilized total football to win three consecutive Europen Championships. The best player using total football, and probably the best player in the world during his time, was Johan Cruyff. Cruyff epitomized total football by roaming the field without regard to position. One could easily see him in the defense and then in the offense in a matter of seconds. When all players move so flexibly, other teams, stuck to such movement based on position only, could not keep up with the Dutch.



The reason that I bring this up is because of the Netherlands vs. Italy game today in the EURO 2008 tournament. Italy is the reigning world champ and therefore the Dutch did not have much of a chance to win. The Dutch however, showed their class with renewed total football. Note that the second and third goals were scored by defenders on plays that were both counter attacks begun on their own goal line. In other words, the Dutch defenders are playing at a level that even the Italian forwards could not sustain. Below are the highlights.

Wii Baseball Record

Because Iva is out of town, I decided to buy a Wii to help pass the time. After some training sessions, I achieved the gold medal for baseball hitting/homerun distance.

I hit all 10 balls for homeruns with a total of 5474 feet total. Can any of you Wii owners out there claim that many feet?

New Jersey -- Fogedaboudit!!

We found out last week that we will have to move to New Jersey sometime this year. We knew that we were going to have to move somewhere in the Northeast, but we were hoping that it wasn't New Jersey.

We don't have many details about relocation and are unsure what we are going to do with our house, which we contractually cannot even sell until October 1. That doesn't even take into account the devaluation of real estate in Arizona.

As soon as we have additional details, we'll update everyone. Please see below for pictures of some of New Jersey's greatest contributions to society.

New Management -- Temporarily

While Iva and A.J. are out of town for the next five weeks, it looks like I am going to be the new sherriff in town, at least for this blog. I hope that I can live up to Iva's high standards of journalistic integrity and pithy social commentary. I will also try and include pictures of their trip in Bulgaria when she is able to send them along.

Let me introduce you to Iva's home town of Pleven.



This is the the Mausoleum dedicated to the Russian and Romanian soldiers that liberated Pleven from the Turks in the late 1800's. It is definitely the highlight of the town.



This is the Panorama. It is the best museum depicting an 1877-78 period Balkan liberation siege of Ottoman troops in diarama format that I have ever come across! And even better, it's only like $2 to get in, at least the last time I was there. I hope they haven't changed the musket exhibit!

Pleven is a pretty nice town. It has good food and nice people. It does get humid in the summer due to its closeness to the Danube, but it is a pretty cool place to hang out.

A.J.'s First Birthday!

Today is our little boy's Birthday! He is one and I can't believe how fast time flies. We celebrated his B-day last week with Grandma and Grandpa B. Today A.J. had his first cake and he got a lot of presents.

Tomorrow we may go to Red Robin. Last year we were having dinner there with our friends when we found out that he is about to be born. What a good boy, he waited until we got to the hospital. We want Red Robin to become a tradition for his B-day and this year he actually can try some food, probably just fries:)

Fun, fun weekend

Last week/end we had very special visitors-grandma and grandpa B. On Thursday Bruce went to Tuscon to take pictures of humming birds, and I had a girl day with Ginny. We went to warehouse for beauty supplies and we got new nail polishes and hair colors. Then we spent an hour at Michael's and had lunch at Sonic.

On Friday A.J. had his first professionally taken pictures. Ruby, the photographer, did a great job. We found her through Celebrating Adoption site - photographers from all over the country donate free sessions to adopted kids and their families. We found the site through Galina. We thought that it will be a good way to celebrate this special year for us. Ruby posted some of the pictures on her blog.

On Saturday all of us went to the Wild Animal Zoo and we had a great time. We saw all kinds of animals and we fed the giraffes. A.J. had his first carousel ride. He was scared but he didn't cry.

On Sunday we celebrated A.J.'s b-day with grandma and grandpa. Bruce took very, very cute pictures of A.J. 2 photo sessions for 3 days, A.J. is a real pro...

We are getting ready to celebrate A.J.'s real B-day on Friday, and this time he will have some cake, I promised Hans:)

Real Man of Genius

Today we salute you, Mr. 80 SPF Sunblock Wearer (mr. 80 SPF sunblock wearer)

There are 24 hours in a day; You're wearing 80 hour protection. If the sun fails to go down...You'll be ready. (don't forget the moonlight)

Your coconut-scented force field blocks out all the sun's rays and any stray rays from another sun, in another galaxy. (you're a star)

30 SPF? Please...you might as well be wearing cooking oil (something smells delicious)

So crack open an ice cold Mountain Dew (My mom made me change it to have no beer reference) Mr. 80 SPF Sunblock Wearer

In fact, feel free to crack one open at high noon, in the middle of the Sahara Desert