WPS...let the fanfare begin

So, nearly a week after the allocation of the USWNT into the seven teams of the upcoming WPS, I sat down to think for 10 minutes about where my loyalties might lie. When the allocation was first announced, I stared at the teams wondering how I could possibly pick a favorite. Wondering how I could tolerate my idols losing week after week (hey, as long as somebody is winning games, somebody is losing). I have outlined a preliminary ranking of the teams based strictly on the three WNT players that have been assigned. These rankings will only adjust slightly as the teams are filled out, as I am fairly ignorant of the players who participated in the recent combine. It's mostly W-League players so far, although I'm sure some current NCAA standout seniors will be breaking onto the scene come spring. The rankings are likely to change more based on where I end up next year (won't matter much if it's Colorado), how much research I do, and how the teams perform early on (nobody likes to back a losing team).

In order with minimal commentary, here is the list:

1. Sky Blue FC: Rampone, O'Reilly, Kai--not hard to see why they top the list. I love all three of these women and I think they bring the best combined talent and diversity of any threesome.
2. Washington Freedom: Krieger, Wambach, Whitehill--hard not to root for Mia's alma mater so to speak. Of course, I gotta cheer for Abby. But I'm also intrigued by Ali Krieger after reading about her European conquests when she was named an Olympic alternate.
3. Chicago Red Stars: Lloyd, Markgraf, Tarpley--despite not being able to get behind the team name, I think this should be a good group. I hope Tarp starts showing more of the spark I know is in her.
4. Los Angeles: Boxx, Cox, Wagner--Still trying to decide where Cox lies, but Boxxy and Wagner in the midfield are going to dominate possession and distribution. It will be nice to see Wagner get some substantial playing time so the rest of the world can see her stuff.
5. Boston Breakers: Hucles, Lilly, Mitts--excited to see Lil back on the field. Hucles was impressive over the last couple months but she hasn't completely won me over. Lilly is keeping this group ahead of St. Louis.
6. St. Louis: Solo, Chalupny, Ellertson--haven't seen much from Ellertson in a while. It kills me that I don't think I can root for this team more, because you know my heart is 100% a Solo girl.
7. Bay Area: Barnhart, Buehler, Osborne--a fairly definitive last place. Not that I don't like these players, but look at the other trios they are up against.

Too weird for words

In my dream last night:

John Wirtz telling me that I need to spend more time with the amazing Gonzalez family before they head off to Eastern Europe. Because, you know, they are gold medal winners among other things, and I should take advantage of being in the same city as them. (What?? They aren't really gold medalists)

Being in a desert canyon surrounded by local soldiers with guns. The guy with me pulls out his gun and takes three shots to kill a little green lizard who starts oozing green gunk. The green gunk forms a waterfall of sorts down the canyon and all of a sudden rocks start magically flying to form a path over the green gunk. Only we can't run down the path forward. We have to run down it backwards or we'll fall. (Double what??)

Something involved sitting on blankets in campout style with dozens of other people, but that one is fading from my mind. I know that Kelley was there.

Okay, I had to get that out while I ate my oatmeal. I got ten and a half hours of sleep last night for anyone who cares. Pretty awesome. Now I'm going to go work out (or at least pretend for half an hour), shower, head to Barnes and Noble for a little guilty pleasure shopping, then to Target for a new travel mug because I lost mine. And somehow I only had one. I only go two places: work and my apartment, so I don't know how I lost it or how it was my only one, but now I have to get a new one. Cheers!

This turned out a lot more mundane than it was supposed to:

Let me start by saying that The Office is awesome!!! I love Jim and I love Pam and I love when Jim reprograms Dwight's phone to ring to his earpiece.

Let me continue by saying that the only thing that kept me motivated during my workout today was that Friends was pretty darn funny. "Act nonchalant...that's not nonchalant." "I have no idea what that means." And it's a good thing I worked out. Because I had a piece of cake before and after my workout. Yup, two pieces of cake. One with frosting, one without. Two.

Thirdly, "it was love at first see, with my ears," where do they come up with this stuff? Awww, and Jim's gonna propose tonight (not really because I've seen this one before and Andy ruins everything, but it's still cute.)

You know that scene in Garden State when Natalie Portman says "this song will change your life," or something to that effect? Well, I was thinking a lot about that scene as I listened to the new version of "Many Sparrows" by Dan Craig. I loved the song to begin with, but I really could just listen to it all day now. I'm not saying it's changed my life, but when I listen to it, I just want to get together with everyone I know and force them to listen to it with me. Because it's so good. And they would never hear it if it weren't for me because who has heard of Dan Craig? I feel like there are a lot of songs like that, little known (yup, Michael just confused Yoga and Yoda. Made me laugh out loud) artists who have a pension for writing songs with passion and emotion and meaningful lyrics and soulful melody. Anyway, that's really all I have to say about that.

Even though I posted it on facebook, go here and check it out. The player at the bottom left of the page will get to Many Sparrows eventually. The other songs are good too.

And let me finish by saying that I was going to spend the entire hour of The Office creating this great blog to make up for the fact that I haven't blogged in a while. I don't think it's going to happen. I have nothing to say. Except that I am highly looking forward to a great weekend. Maybe I'll have something to say after that.

Planting seeds

I used to get frustrated at the lack of fruit produced from my spiritual endeavors. I would use the concept of planting seeds as a comfort and reassurance. I was simply called to plant the seeds that others would come along and cultivate and water and grow and harvest. It was somewhat of a comfort, but also an additional frustration since I figured that the planter isn't always around to see the finished product (pronounced fine-ished, like finished and final).

God granted me the grace to see the harvest shooting out of the ground. And while I used to think that sometimes planting the seeds was the hardest because you have to break the rocky ground where nothing has gone before, I've learned that maybe I had to plant the seeds because I didn't have it in me to make them grow as well as those who came after me. Case in point, the fruit of my labors: The Saint Peter Canisius Society.

I don't think I ever would have had the strength to see it through like the passionate and faithful ones who picked up the reins. I was on their website today--yes they have a website--and saw that their entire semester is planned out with brilliant topics and brilliant speakers. They are digging deep, hitting stuff like faithful citizenship and papal infallibility, stuff that wouldn't have made it within a five mile radius of campus five years ago. Not even a month into school, they've created (what I hope is the first of many annual) Roman Week, to collaborate with Catholics in every manner possible: fellowship, entertainment, prayer, discussion. Pray for the week's overwhelming success, that the fruits continue to multiply.

I am humbled by the wonders that have been wrought from what I'm selfishly claiming as my seeds. I think looking back that I gave pretty much all I had. God obviously knew this better than me and called on others to finish the job. Or finish the start. Because I pray it's not even close to over. I pray that another 5 years from now, I may contact Canisius Society and find an abundance of young Catholics evangelizing and growing in their faith. So that I can write them a big fat check to host more amazing events. And maybe even come and be a guest speaker. Until then, I'm content to watch them run the race. Because they are running to win.

As it should be

What could make day 11 of 19 in a row at work bearable? Oh, only the magnificence of a gold medal. Vindication. Pride. Teamwork. Passion. Heart. Courage. My girls stepping up when it mattered most and making the big save, the big tackle, the big goal! I could write all night about the joy it brings me, but instead I'll post a few of my favorite pics from the day's events and head to bed.

Way too early

Just sitting here at 4:19am (hey, that's my birthday), watching a little soccer. When I first woke up, it didn't look like the game was online. It just showed the Sweden game and I was like, oh well, too bad, I guess I get to sleep another 3 or 4 hours. But no, it's posted and now I am watching. No excitement yet, at least not enough to really get me awake and alive (and alert and enthusiastic).

I'm still just so exhausted from the week. Lots of hours at work, lots of work from home, lots of early mornings and very little sleep. [sidenote: good save Solo! nice grunt too] I hate being this tired. And of course, I probably could have slept through the game and not told anybody and they'd all assume I'm still my avid fan self. I may still sleep through the second half.

I wish I could be more coherent. That would make for a much better blog. I also wish I could remember all the funny quotes from this week. Stuff like "You're gonna die. Ha, just kidding, but your [GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL] hiccups are gone." Wow, what a beautiful hit from Lloyd. Upper netting from outside the 18. Anyway, the hiccup comment was after one of my patients had been prescribed prn Baclofen for hiccups and then another pharmacist said she had been asked the day before what the doctor could order for hiccups on a different patient and she had told them something else. And we were joking that you could write the order "scare patient prn hiccups". Hence the death sentence.

As a side comment, the NBCOlympics commentary on their streaming video is lousy. About like the commentary on Mary's state soccer game. I'd much rather read the commentary from ussoccer.com's MatchTracker. But it's not posted. Seriously, my brain is mush. I'm gonna stop writing now. USA USA USA!

Grace for the day

Or week, or whatever:
+++ Had a great week on OHSCU (oncology/hematology special care unit), training for my staffing shifts and getting used to things before starting my oncology rotation tomorrow. The pharmacists were great and allowed me to kind of take over and run the show which boosted my comfort level immensely. I pretty much staffed by myself on Friday, with the occasional (or frequent) question for the real OHSCU pharmacist who basically got to just hang out for a day. I finally feel like I'm getting used to the hospital and starting to get into patient care which was the whole point of the residency anyway.

+++ The fam was in town for a brief not-quite 20 hours. It was so great to go to Mass as a family (well, most of us anyway). I commented to my dad that during the processional hymn, the song hit a high note, and my mom and dad and I all sang the same note which happened to be about a note-and-a-half flat. What a gene pool! Dinner at Olive Garden and breakfast at VI topped off the weekend, and I even got leftovers and an iPod out of the deal.

+++ I rearranged my furniture. This may not seem like a big deal, but you should've seen it before. A large living room and sparse furniture doesn't mesh well, and the TV was about 20 feet from the couch. Now I think it's about 12-15 feet away, the room looks much cozier, and I have a consensus of where to hang all of my pictures. Also on the furniture front, I finally bought a bookcase, and I'm so excited to have it all put together and functional so that I can get rid of the stack of boxes currently housing all of my bookshelfy things.

+++ I'm reading "What's So Amazing About Grace?" and finding lots of extra graces in my week for having put forth a tiny bit of effort into my spiritual life. The homily last night fit so well with what I've been reading in the book and discovering throughout the day. It's like God knows what He's doing or something. :)

+++ I'm finally driving my new car---named Stella---and I really like it. Stella was the family consensus, especially after discovering it was my great-grandmother's name. We always just called her Bobo and I don't know that I ever knew her name. Glad I went with that great-grandma name instead of Wilda. Poor Wilda never recovered after I let her bird Pepe out of his cage. If I decide the car needs a boy name, I'm going with Emerson, which was my great-grandfather's name (Wilda's husband). Coolest name ever! I'm still taking suggestions on a vanity plate for my car. So far, leading options have to do with Colorado (DNVRGRL) or me being a pharmacist (PHARM Z; DR ZAP), or something like that. Please help!

+++ Mary's naming the Seadoo "Phyllis" which I think is hysterical. Not really a grace for the day, but I thought it deserved a comment.

Okay, I have to go now so I can continue my nosocomial candidiasis research. I have to get a good chunk of it done before I work out this afternoon (right now exercise is scheduled for 3pm because Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is on TBS at that time, and I have to have good TV while I run). And I have to do laundry. Yuck!