World Cup R16 Day 1

Goodbye Messi!  Goodbye Ronaldo!  Best players in the world - whatever.  I was impressed by France - when they went 2-1 down, they were able to find another gear and come back.  Classy.  England don't have that.  And, naturally, not sorry that Argentina went out.  Don't like them for all sorts of historical reasons: Falkland Islands, Hand of God, and masters of the dark arts of football - cheating, diving, time-wasting, fouling, complaining.  They won't be missed.  Not unhappy that Portugal went out either - Ronaldo is a preening egomaniac, and they are undeserving European champions.  I'm no big fan of Luis Suarez either, but impressed with Uruguay as a team.  Will be a good quarter final between France and Uruguay - but I tip France to edge it.

Wot no football?

No “soccer” today – it has kind of thrown my recent routine into disarray!  Instead, I’m going to mention something that came up at a recent meeting.  Our company conducted an employee survey recently, and they’ve gradually been disseminating some of the results and conclusions – and today, they shared some of the results from my group.  One of the more interesting points they brought up was the fact that our group is particularly multi-cultural with many people whose primary language is not English, but that it is still necessary to discuss work in a “universal language” – which is obviously English.  And what happened when we came out of the meeting?  All my Chinese cube neighbors continued to discuss work in Chinese, even though we had literally just come out of a meeting telling us that we shouldn’t.  Insulting.  But not in the least bit surprising.

Choices

I’m not going to talk about England’s game today.  As I write this during the afternoon, I haven’t watched the game yet – although I know the score.  And I am quite content with the result.  I guess the next game will decide whether it was the right choice or not to rest most of the players and maybe not try your hardest.  I think/hope it was.

Instead, I’m going to talk about a dilemma I have.  I’ve been invited to an onsite interview for a company in San Diego.  But I don’t know whether to go.  It’s for the same company I applied to back in February (?).  And I had a phone interview earlier this week that seemingly went well enough for me to be asked to come in.  But I’m conflicted.  On the one hand, it’s San Diego.  A place I miss and a place that I’ve said I’ve always wanted to move back to.  Conversely, my worry is that I see San Diego through rose-tinted glasses from my great time there before, and that I won’t ever be able to replicate that.  There are also several red flags concerning the company I might be moving to, and I’m also in a much happier position now in my current job with my new manager.  And also my living situation is better than its ever been.  My current thoughts: the grass isn’t always greener on the other side; better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.  Also, one of the names on the interview list was familiar to me from my time in Orange County some 10+ years ago – and if it is the person I think it is, I'm not totally sure, then he is a total douchebag.  So, I’m almost talking myself out of interviewing – even if it means burning bridges for any future job applications.  Maybe I should just interview and see if anything comes out of it – what have I got to lose? - but even that is a hassle, because it would be the Monday before I fly back to the UK, and it’s hardly professional for me to ask for another day off work right before a 3 week holiday.  So I suspect I won’t apply, but I’ll stew about it for a bit longer.  Historically, it hasn’t always been a good idea for me to trust my gut – so maybe I should just go for it.  But the more I think about it, the more I think that if I was ever to quit this job then I’d much rather take some extended time off rather than jump into a new job immediately.  This is where my indecisiveness comes to the foreground.  I hate myself.  Whatever decision I make I’m sure I’m going to regret.    

World Cup Day 14

AUF WIEDERSEHEN DEUTSCHLAND!  The first big upset of the tournament, with Germany crashing out.  How mightily enjoyable was that!  You’re used to these ruthlessly efficient and clinical German teams – and the German team I watched today wasn’t anything like that.  Very, very surprising.  Especially after that last minute winner against Sweden, you thought they would step up.  DAS IST NICHT GUT.  I was hoping that Brazil would also contrive to go out today, but alas that was too much wishful thinking.  Having seen how the draw is panning out, I definitely want England to finish in 2nd place now in Group G – that half of the draw appears easier.  But I look at all the teams who have qualified or who can qualify, and nobody has stood out and they all look beatable – so is it better to continue riding our momentum?  The game against Belgium is going to be interesting – how many changes do we make, how hard do we push, how good is Belgium?  I wish it was the early game – those 7am games are perfect for me getting up to watch, showering at halftime, then heading to work after they’ve finished.  The 11am games are a hassle because I’m at work, I typically can’t avoid the score before watching the replay that evening, there aren’t any sports bars nearby I can go to watch the game at, so I rely on the BBC or Guardian website to follow the game via text updates – which sucks – and both of England’s next games are on at that time.  I might have to stream them or – more likely – head home to watch them at lunchtime.  Work is clearly not a high priority at times like this! 

FAKE NEWS

TIME clearly going for a record number of covers featuring a certain President Trump - none of them particularly flattering or reflective of a positive presidency.  It's not just Trump - the Supreme Court upholding the travel ban is particularly repugnant - and only happened because Republicans blocked Obama's pick for the Supreme Court, a cynical and nasty tactic in itself.  Politicians are the absolute worst.

Westworld Finale

Bonkers.

World Cup Day 11?

A comfortable win for England.  I don't remember ever having said that about an England World Cup game before.  Panama fan's celebration after scoring their goal - having conceded 6 - was hilarious, like they'd won the game.  But did England do too much?  Looking ahead, finishing 2nd in Group G actually may theoretically give an easier path through the tournament.  Of course, so much can happen between now and the end of group play - but that seems to be the general consensus.  So how then should we play against Belgium?  I would definitely play different squad members - give everyone at least some World Cup playing time.  I think any team from Group H is beatable in the round of 16, so let's see how the potential quarter final opponents line up before deciding how hard to go for it against Belgium.  I'd rather England face the likes of Mexico or Switzerland than the likes of Germany or Brazil.  Mind you, Brazil and Germany have hardly been convincing so far.  But nice to think these thoughts rather than fret about even getting through the group stages.