Saw Temple at Penn men's college basketball game at the Palestra, section 201, row 17, seat 21, with Jeannie, Jeannie's dad, Malinda, Omar, and Eric, for $14.00 per ticket.  There was a post-game performance by Bill Cosby.

Saw Temple vs. Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) at the Liacouras Center, section 119, row T, seat 13, for $18.00 with Jeannie.

Saw Temple vs. Rutgers at Lincoln Financial Field, section 105, row 26, seat 9 for $35.00 with Paul.

Saw Temple vs. Villanova at Lincoln Financial Field, section 133, row 23, seat 9 for $20.00 with Wagner, Corey, and Ben.

Saw Temple vs. Massachusetts at the Liacouras Center, section 102, row F, seat 8, for $35.00.

Saw Temple vs. Villanova at the Liacouras Center, section 102, row U, seat 10, for $35.00.

Saw Temple vs. Rhode Island at the Liacouras Center, section 201, row E, seat 10, for $16.00.

Saw Temple vs. Penn at the Liacouras Center, section 103, row M, seat 8, for $35.00.

Saw Temple vs. Georgetown at the Liacouras Center, section 214, row A, seat 5, for $25.00 with Ileana.

Facebook status update

Temple men's basketball opens the season tonight ranked #22 in the nation. I like that Juan Fernandez has moved to the point, and Ramone Moore steps into the starting line-up as the 2 guard. I'm really excited for this season, I think this team has a lot of potential to win lots of games.

Saw Temple vs. Richmond in the championship game of the 2010 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament at Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, section 219, row L, seat 20, for $40.00.

Saw Temple vs. Dayton at the Liacouras Center, section 114, row F, seat 6, for $35.00.

Saw Temple vs. Rhode Island at the Liacouras Center, section 102, row R, seat 9, for $35.00.

the end of a busy week

It's certainly been a very busy week. For the first time, I had three hearings scheduled for one week. It didn't turn out so bad, though, because my client at this morning's hearing had already decided to remit all child support arrears for the defendant and terminate the support order, all by the time I got to court. So in the end, I only had to put on two hearings this past week, on Monday and yesterday. Even besides the hearings and the preparation involved for them, I've been busy trying to catch up on call-backs to clients. I still have a list of about ten calls that I need to make today. And over the course of the day, other things always seem to pop up to slow down any progress. But I realize that it's all part of the ebb and flow of work. Next week should be pretty good. I only have a custody master's conference on Thursday. So that should afford me the opportunity to catch-up on some things that really need to be done.

Anyway, enough about work. This past Wednesday, Wagner and I went to see the Temple men's basketball team take on the UPenn Quakers at the Palestra, the famed basketball arena. The game turned out as we had both hoped: Penn hung around for the first half and into the beginning of the second half, enough to make it an interesting and entertaining game, but then by mid-second half Temple began to pull away en route to their 60-45 victory. For buying tickets right there at the box office about five minutes before tip-off, our seats were not too bad: just behind the Temple student section, behind and slightly to the side of one of the hoops, and not too, too far from the Temple bench. There were no outstanding performances from the Temple players, more of just an overall team effort. As I commented to Wagner during the game, I think Temple played down just a little bit to their competition.

Last night after work, I went out with a few co-workers for happy hour. Diane organized the outting, and we went to the American Pub, underground near the Clothespin on 15th and Market. The atmosphere was decent, though nothing to really go back to in the future. I had a couple Miller Lites. Afterward, knowing that I had nothing at home to make dinner, I invited Ileana out to dinner. We shared some mozzarella sticks and a pizza at Pietro's Coal Oven Pizzeria, on Walnut Street near 18th.

So that's what's been going on. Besides simply reporting my weekly, or even daily, activities, I wanna get back to writing here about random stuff. Maybe if next week isn't so busy at work, I'll be able to take a quick break here and there to post some thoughts on non-personal issues. In the meantime, I hope you don't mind too much reading my online personal diary. Have a great weekend, fellow user of the world wide web!

Noticias

Estimados lectores hispanohablantes:

Este noviembre voy con mi amigo, Paul, al sureste de Asia. Mas especificamente, vamos a intentar a visitar los 4 paises de esa parte del mundo: Tailandia, Laos, Cambodia, y Vietnam.

Estoy emocionado porque esto sera mi primera vez en Asia. Realmente, mi primer toque en Asia sera en Japon porque tengo un cambio de vuelos ("lay-over") en Aeropuerto Narita, que es el aeropuerto de Tokio. De ahi, voy y llego en Bangkok, la capital de Tailandia.

Otro evento mas temprano es el concierto de Tortured Soul, uno de mis grupos favoritos. Haga clic AQUI para visitar el sitio de ellos y escuche unas piezas de Tortured Soul. El concierto es el proximo jueves, en Newark, una ciudad al norte del estado de New Jersey, que queda muy cerca, solo unos kilometros de New York City.

Tortured Soul es un grupo de tres maes: uno en la guitarra baja, otro en el keyboard, y el baterista, quien tambien es el cantante. La musica puede ser clasificada como house o electronica, por el sonido del keyboard. Pero tambien puede ser clasificada como soul, por la voz y la forma de cantar del cantante. En total, es una combinacion que me gusta mucho.

Finalmente, les digo que tengo ganas de ir a un partido de football ("futbol norteamericano") de mi universidad de derecho: Temple University. La universidad esta ubicada en el norte de la ciudad de Philadelphia. Por un acuerdo con el equipo profesional de football aqui en Philadelphia -- los Philadelphia Eagles (Aguilas) -- el equipo de Temple juega todos sus partidos en casa en el estadio profesional de los Eagles. El estadio se llama Lincoln Financial Field, y es uno de los mejores estadios en todo el pais. Fue construido muy recientemente.

En la temporada pasada, el noviembre pasado si me acuerdo bien, yo fui con mi amigo Bill a un partido de los Temple Owls contra los Penn State Nittany Lions, en Lincoln Financial Field. Penn State es mucho, mucho mejor que los Owls, y ellos ganaron. Pero los Owls lucharon hasta el final contra un rival mas fuerte y con mas "armas," es decir, mas jugadores mas atleticos.

El primer partido en casa de los Temple Owls es el 6 de septiembre. Quiero aprovechar de ver un partido en Lincoln Financial Field, sin pagar tanto como ir a un partido de los Philadelphia Eagles. Y a la misma vez, quiero apoyar mi universidad, la universidad donde estudie derecho.

Bueno, ticos, nicas, boricuas, y cualquier Fulano de Tal, espero que todo este bien con ustedes. Espero que sigan visitando mi sitio aunque sea casi siempre escrito en ingles. Y finalmente, espero que todo este PURA VIDA, MAE!!!

Pride for the Cherry & White

Earlier this afternoon, the Temple men's basketball team lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament by a score of 72-61 to Michigan State. A group of us from work went to the Cherry Street Tavern to watch the second half of the game.

Today's loss was a real disappointment, of course, but what's most important is -- as always -- to look at the bigger picture. And here, the big picture is that Temple undoubtedly had a great season. They are the 2007-08 Atlantic 10 champions. Before today's game, they finished the season with seven straight wins; in other words, they came together as a team and began rolling right when it mattered most. And considering the preseason prognostications, they far exceeded all expectations; that, in my mind, is the sign of a true champion: working your ass off and ultimately proving all the naysayers wrong through positive actions and concrete results.

Looking beyond today to the bigger picture that includes the future, almost the entire team returns next year -- and now with NCAA tourney experience (and the confidence that comes along with that) under their belts. Although Temple will lose their senior leader, Mark Tyndale, we'll still have our leading scorer, Dionte Christmas, who'll be a senior next season.

Props and many thanks once again to Luis Guzman, starting point guard, for hooking us up with comp tickets for several of this season's games. I'm already looking forward to next season, to seeing all the returning players get even better, and to seeing Temple continue to build up a nationally-recognized and -respected program.

In honor of the guys, and with pride for the cherry & white, I'll leave you now with the lyrics to Temple's two fight songs (you have the offseason to memorize):

"T for Temple U"

T for Temple U
Un-i-ver-sity!
Fight! Fight! Fight! For the cherry and the white;
For the cherry and the white we'll fight, fight, fight!

"Fight! Temple Fight!"

Fight! Temple, fight on!
Fight with all your might!
Fight for the Cherry and White,
Keep our colors high!
Roll that ball and hit the line,
All the Temple stars will shine,
Skill and courage win the game
Fight on, Temple, fight!

Damn, man, I'm goin' to Amsterdam

Saturday night in Dusseldorf was good. Five of us went: Roland and his brother Alex, Roland's friends Ayman and Auggie, and me. Roland drove the family Mercedes for the half-hour ride from Essen to Dusseldorf, the main part of it on the famed German Autobahn. We hit our top speed of 220 kph, which converts to somewhere around 135 mph. And I guess as a testament to German engineering, I guessed out loud that we were only doing around 90 mph, then Alex pointed to the speedometer; man was that a smooth 135!

When we got there, the guys wanted to get some food, so we went to Subway. Inside there was a television with MTV on, so we watched some Jackass. From there we went to get ice cream at McDonald's. When we walked out of there, I joked with Ayman that I would return home to tell all my friends that I went to Dusseldorf to hang out at Subway and Mickey D's. He laughed, but I was ready to hit some true German bars.

We went to a few places that really showcased the stereotypical German pub/club environment: a lot of 80s music, mostly American but some German, to which the DJ would turn the volume down during the chorus so the whole place could sing it out loud, and this was nearly every song. The one song I remember was "Eye of the Tiger" because it reminded me of course of Rocky, which in turn reminded me of Phila.

After bouncing around to a few places we ended up at O'Reilly's Irish Pub, where they had karaoke (very popular here).

Well, after driving back from Dusseldorf, we stopped off to walk through Essen's small red light district. It was very interesting for me to see these women just sitting or standing in the windows of these places.

We got home at 3:30 in the morning, I had just enough energy to check online to see that Temple won the A-10 championship (which made me very happy), then I went to bed. I woke up this morning just before noon, which means that I'm totally refueled to push hard for the rest of my time here in Deutschland.

Well, time to go. Two of Roland's other friends just came by, and they are our ride to Amsterdam (about a 2 hour ride west of here). I'll be sure to take lots of photos. Alrightie then, check ya later!

Go Temple in the A-10!

Alright homies! How you doin'? For all y'all that ain't keepin' up, Temple is in the A-10 final in a rematch tonight against who else but our cross-town rivals, St. Joe's. And if you've really been out of the loop click here for my run-down of the last game between the two, when Temple edged out St. Joe's in a one-point thriller at the Palestra. Temple's got strong support over here across the big pond, and we'll all be happy when they claim the A-10 title and thus secure a bid to the big dance. Go Temple!

In other news, there are riots in Tibet. And in other news, I am in Essen, Germany now, after a four and a half hour flight from Cairo to Cologne, then a two hour plus train ride on the slow, local "S" train from Cologne to Essen. But here I am, stinking it up after playing basketball and then soccer (do I have to say football?) here in the neighborhood. The shower is calling me, but I figured I'd stop in for a quick cameo.

The only final update to my time in Egypt was my visit yesterday evening at the Khan El-Khalili bazaar. As soon as I got out of the cab I was approached by a guy who told me to call him "Bob", I laughed at that one, but told him that I would play along.

Anyway the rest of that story is pretty good, but I'll have to fill it out later, since I have to hurry now if I want to go to a European football match. I hope the weather is getting nicer now in Philly. And without further ado, I'm off for a much-needed shower.

I'll leave you simply with a photo of me in Cairo's nicest and by far largest shopping mall, City Stars, in front of one of its most recognizable tenants; as one of the last photos taken before we went to the airport just a couple hours later, you would say it's a bit paradoxical, wouldn't you?

Redemption at the Palestra

Earlier this evening I went with a friend to the Temple - St. Joseph's men's college basketball game at the Palestra in University City. And what a great game it was!

But to put this game into context, we have to recall the previous Temple - St. Joe's meeting, in which St. Joe's won by one point at the last second, when Temple's Mark Tyndale missed a lay-up as the final buzzer sounded.

So tonight's rematch promised to be entertaining. But for most of the game, it didn't really seem like it would be. St. Joe's clearly appeared to be the quicker team, in addition to their bigger line-up as compared to Temple's. These advantages led, at one point, to a 16-point lead for the Hawks, and things were beginning to seem bleak for the Temple Owls.

But with about 5 or 6 minutes left in the game, the Owls began a slow, almost unremarkable comeback, gradually chipping away at the lead, while tightening up their defense. Eventually one began to realize that Temple was really fighting as if their backs were up against the wall. The wake-up call really sounded when Tyndale took the ball the length of the court, avoiding Hawk defenders along the way, en route to a dunk right in front of the Temple student section; the crowd went wild and that was the exclamation mark that announced that this game was gonna come down to the wire just like the previous meeting between the two clubs.

The last possession of the game was classic. Temple was up 57 to St. Joe's 56, and St. Joe's had the ball for the final 20 seconds of the game. In the season's earlier contest, St. Joe's best player hit a 3-pointer near the end of the game to seal it for the Hawks. So the question tonight was whether history was gonna repeat itself or whether the Owls could stage a game-winning defensive stand. Fortunately for this Temple fan, it was the latter. The Owls stifled the Hawks' last three consecutive shot attempts, and pulled out the dramatic victory.

And so went Temple's sweet redemption of their earlier loss to St. Joe's. And with that, Temple now claims second place in the Atlantic-10 Conference. Nice!

Word up to Temple starting point guard Luis Guzman for hooking us up with comp tickets.

San Jose, Costa Rica -- evening

Here I am, once again in Costa Rica. Back where this journal began. I guess maybe that's how life operates: in cycles. The biggest difference, I suppose, is that I'm two years older. Of course I don't really know if I feel like I'm 27 years old as compared to 25 years old. But then again, when I came last time, I was drinking a shitload of alcohol. Life was a party for me then. Anything that happened in between drinking sessions was simply an intermission. Now I've become greatly accustomed to not drinking at all, or at least drinking very infrequently. Every once in a blue moon, I get the itch to drink my ass off, but I think that's okay as long as it really is once in a blue moon. I drank a bunch of Concha y Toro red wine last night; it gave me just enough of a kick. It was just what the doctor ordered and gave Tia Zahyra's crazy comments an extra dimension.

However, it seems that even if I wanted to go out, it really wouldn't be happening. That's because Carlos is working from 10am to 10pm, 7 days per week. That leaves him with no time and even less energy to hit the town. I don't even expect to see him until the reunion on the 25th.

A second difference from my last visit is perhaps just as important as the first. That is, I'm here with Mita this time, whereas I was alone last time. In other words, last trip was mine, this trip is hers. Of course, my disposition resents any type of impediment on my independence. For better or for worse, I've resigned myself to keeping my mouth shut and just going with the flow. Only when I'm in a one-on-one situation do I really engage in conversation. That'll likely be the status quo until Cherise arrives here on January 1st. I'll keep my spending to a bare minimum until then, then we'll blow it out for 6 days, 5 nights.

Being here has already helped me to appreciate the relationship. I'll be really happy to see Cherise on the 1st. But for now, I'll hold off on that aside.

To continue on the second point above, I also has much less time here and much less money. For all intents and purposes, that means I'm basically attached to Mita, at least until Cherise gets here. Its tough, too, because I can only take so much of Mita at a time. She never seems to be paying attention to what she's doing, it seems to me that she sometimes puts on a 'clueless' act for whatever reason, and she's constantly trying to put on a comedy show. I guess she's having fun, and that's great. But I can only take so much.

Enough about that, though. The reality is that this trip will be different. Besides seeing family and getting some time in a comfortable climate, this trip is a much-needed break from Temple Law, which sucks most of my energy, and not even because of the studies. The social atmosphere at Temple is still so repressive to me that it drains me sometimes. I began to feel a tiny bit more comfortable at the end of the semester. Nevertheless, I definitely needed a break. I have to make a concerted effort to keep up with my work, especially early in the semester, and set an early standard of class participation, albeit at a moderate level. I need to be more assertive at the outset. I think that will make me more accessible to my classmates. And my confidence will feed off of both the cause and the effects.

For now, though, I'll try to chill out down here. Law school has only crossed my mind a couple of times, and only to give me appreciation of my temporary repose. So despite any difficulties (e.g. American Airlines losing our luggage for one day) and annoyances, this trip is just what I needed.

In the short-term, I'm looking forward to the 25th to see more family. Then I'll look forward to what will hopefully be a good 31st. Then, of course, I'll really be excited to see Cherise. Of course I'm already looking forward to seeing her.

And finally, to review really quickly, today we drove all the way into the mountains of Alajuela, near Volcan Poas, to pick-up Tia Tere, then drive back to the town-center of Alajuela. I should say that I drove the whole day. For what it was worth, it felt good to actually be in control of something. And I got to see much of the countryside.

Alright, I'll write again soon, probably tomorrow, since writing gives me a chance to be left alone to my own thoughts and reflections. This and reading allow me my only real methods of enjoying the independence that I normally enjoy back home.