My Face Hurts...

I got tripped playing soccer on Sunday afternoon. A teammate passed the ball in front of me, so it was just me and the goalie. He came charging out at me, so I kicked the ball past him. He slid and I tried to jump over him but he clipped my feet and sent me tumbling to the ground. I face planted right into the turf. It was no frozen tundra but it hurt. The goalie got a yellow card. The diagram below illustrates what happened. Note that I'm wearing the cape only to show who the hero is. I usually do not wear one in public.

My face was rug burned and cut up yesterday and now today it has really swelled up on the left side. I pretty much anticipated having to explain what happened to coworkers today. I hate having to explain it every 10 minutes. Its the same story all day.

What I think is even worse though is the people that don't ask a thing. They talk to me and they just stare with that "D**n! WTF happened to your face!?!?" look, but ask nothing. I wonder what their theories are.

The worst part about it is that now I can't shave. The "rug burn" and soreness are all over the left side of my face and in the facial hair. I'm gonna be Grizzly Adams by the end of the week.

Fantasy Football Update: Anthony Fassano is a Stiff

I know it's the most boring thing in the world to listen to someone spout about their fantasy football team, but here is goes. I'm in the semifinals of my league this weekend. For those of you not familiar with fantasy football, what basically happens is you chose a certain amount of players from random teams and then add up the stats for those players. I then compete with other people in my league that do the same. Got it.

This week I had a few dilemmas with my starting lineup. The biggest was who to start at the tight end position. My starter, Aaron Hernandez, had been sick with the flu this week. So sick that he hadn't practiced at the end of the week and his status before the game was listed as "questionable".

Not wanting to lose because I had a guy in my lineup that would not play, I scrambled Sunday morning to find a new tight end. Pickings were slim this late in the week, so I decided to go with Anthony Fassano of the Dolphins. I've heard his name before and I swear he catches a touchdown every time I watch him play. Lineup; set. Potential problem; avoided. way to go Mr Lemon.

Everything was great until the games actually started. Anthony Fassano turned out to be a stiff. This ninja caught 3 balls for a grand total of 30 yards. Whoopty Doo. I should have known this would end badly. In searching for pictures of Fassano, I came across more of him playing golf or hanging out with his girlfriend or him just chillin' or looking like a total stiff (see below) than him actually playing with the Dolphins. Sigh*

On the flip side, Aaron Hernandez went all Michael Jordan and scored 2 touchdowns in the Sunday night game. The photo of him below is an actual photo of him during the game. I'm an experienced lip reader and I'm sure he mouthed that I should have started him.

Had I started Hernandez, I would be in the finals with one player (Adrian Peterson) still to play Monday. Now, I have to hope for a Monday Night miracle from Peterson to advance to the finals. We shall see....

I'm a Big Deal in Thailand

This just in: Thai people love me! If you go to the Thai version of google and search "Innamoto" my blog is the 8th result. I know what you're thinking, and you're welcome.

New York, New York

Like I said last week, I spent the weekend in New York. My girlfriend's sister gave us some of her hotel points so we get to stay in Manhattan free for two nights! Look at this view!! Did I mention we paid nothing!?!!

I'm actually very disappointed that we didn't jump on the bed :(. I had planned on doing it, but totally forgot about it. Life is filled with disappointments. Some big, some small. This one will hurt for awhile.

We didn't really head to the city with any concrete plans, so a lot of the time was spent just walking around, taking in the Christmas feel. A funny thing I noticed. Everyone knows the stereotype that New Yorkers are rude, but the rudest people were the tourists. Like this guy:

It was obvious I taking a picture. I had been setting up the shot, waiting for the cars to start moving and this guy walks and just stands there. And it wasn't even like he was going somewhere. He just wanted to stand right there at that exact moment. Sigh... some people. I hope someone stole his wallet.

One of the major bonuses of the trip was going to Madison Square Garden. Like I said last week it was my first. Growing up following the Jordan Bulls, I hated the Knicks and that stupid organ. Once I got in the building though, it was so cool. When the game got close and the crowd was chanting "DE-FENCE!" along with the organ I gotta admit, I got goose bumps. I still don't like the Knicks though. Like usual, Spike Lee was at the game as you can see from my photo. He's the one with the blue hat with the orange bill.

I yelled down that I loved "Inside Man". I think I saw his head move. He probably heard me.


I took a ton of photos that I'd love to share, but I know that would get boring, so instead of posting all of them I just made a video. Nearly 500 photos in a minute! Enjoy!!

Ok, I lied. Here are some more photos :)

New York State of Mind

I'm getting out of the city tonight for a Christmas time trip to NYC. Guess I shouldhave posted a winter time picture. Meh. I'm not so sure what we'll be doing yet. So far most things are still up in the air except for one thing. I got Knicks tickets for Sunday afternoon. I'm super excited because I've never been to the garden before, so it should be pretty cool. Growing up so far from any NBA team, this is only my 3rd game ever. Oddly enough it'll be my second Nuggets game. Anyway more details when I get back!

Architecture in the Schools: Team JKL FTW!!

Last night we had the final presentation for our Architecture in the Schools program. The program looks for local architects and classrooms to join together to get kids excited about the profession.

Team JKL (pronounced "jackal". Jody, Kelly, Luther and newest member Jess) volunteered at Lasalle Backus Elemetary School over the fall semester. We went to class once a week to teach the kids about architecture with a focus on a final project. We decided to have the kiddos design their own community. They decided what would go in it, and then were in charge of building all of the buildings.

It turned out better than I could have ever imagined. Other groups may have had cleaner, more polished projects, but ours was done completely by the students. We built them the base with the streets drawn and they covered everything else.

Over the course of the semester I fell in love with the kids. I had so much fun with them. At the final presentation, two had prepared speeched. When they were done, there was silence and everyone looked at me to say something. So, I walked over to the microphone and started talking about the class. I felt like Dick Vermeil.

For those who don't know. Dick Vermeil is the former coach of the Eagles, Rams and Cheifs. He was known for being very close with his players and coaches. At times he invited some to live with him. He was also was famous for crying during press conferences, after press conferences, after playoff games, after preseason games, when he retired, when he un-retired... I think you get the point. He's emotional.

When I was up at the microphone, all I could get out was how proud I was of the kids and how they always amazed me with what they had done every class. Then my voice started to waver and I knew if I kept talking the tears would start flowing. I got down before anything happened. Phew :) Afterwards, an older guy who I think was a professor at Howard came up to me as I was hanging a poster about the kids' project. He said he could tell I really cared about them and he wanted to meet me. He shook my hand, said a few words about the program then he left.

Below are some pictures from the event. I will post more once I get them from our teacher. I can't say how proud of my kids that I am. There personalities really came out in the buildings that they designed.

Ausie Gods Giveth and Taketh Away.. and then giveth something similar if you're polite

For anyone that's interested, MHz a local station out of Falls Church, VA shows Aussie Rules Football (AFL) on Monday nights during the season. Before the games would start they would always show a commercial asking people to fill out an online survey about the coverage. Filling it out would also enter you into contest to win gear.

I filled it out the first day I saw it. The quality of the broadcast looks like it could be out of my parents basement so the viewership couldn't be that high and the amount of people that would fill out a survey would be even lower. I was guaranteed to win it, and I did!!

Unfortunately I signed up using my second email address (you know, in case they tried to spam me. Pretty smart I would say) Anyhoo, I totally forgot to check it. When I finally remembered to check it about a month later I had 3 emails from the network asking me for my favorite team. The final email said I had until 5PM that day to respond. Egad!!!

Distraught, that I had missed out on this awesome prize, my mind instantly jumped into action. I responded with a sob story about my email. I told the woman over at MHz that my gmail account had been hacked but dubious hackers who intended to steal my personal information and when I looked to google for assistance, the evil computer geniuses would not assist poor, innocent me. How awful!! If not for a friend savvy in the ways of the computer I would have never gotten back into my account. I ended the email asking if any of the prize(s) were still available. I then thanked her for the wonderful coverage of the sport I love. The final piece of genius on my part was to send this email from my work account. My signature has all my architecture and LEED information. People love architects. Plus, who wouldn't be sympathetic to an environmentally conscious architect who has been wronged??? I know, she never stood a chance. My attack was flawless.

She responded minutes later asking from my address. She said she would send me whatever they had left. Ok, so in hindsight I think my story was a bit of overkill, but it worked! Later that week my prizes came in the mail. I received two pens that had roll out schedules from the past season. I know, how useful. I broke the first one trying to find out what was inside. Oops.

I also got a baseball hat for the Hawthorne Hawks. I'm sure my dad will love this one. He loves random stuff like that.

The coolest part of the package was the mini aussie rules football. I think it has already bounced off every surface in my apartment.

So, the moral of this story is that you should always check your fake email addresses, and if you don't, be an architect and have good stories.

World Cup 2018- Russia... 2022 Qatar

Today FIFA awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar. At first I was gonna write a post complaining about the percieved corruption of the bidding progress. But I'll let Nick Webster handle that.

Ok, I'll get into a bit. How is it possible for the bid considered to be the favorite get bounced out in the first round?? Its amazing what a few crates of crisp $100 bills will get you. Just sayin...

But a more upbeat note, the stadiums Qatar is proposing are sick. Ok, maybe not the "Ribbon of Friendship" one. I know somewhere some intern was given the task keeping the stadium from looking like the gay pride arena.

He failed.

I'm secretly a bit happy the US didn't win because most of our stadiums are already built. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to watch Brazil play at Fedex Field or England at Soldier Field, but these places are kind of boring compared what could be built where there's a fresh canvas. See for yourself.

Al-Khor Stadium is easily my favorite. Sorry, I'm a sucker for tensile structures :) I'm so excited about these stadiums. This is the reason I became an architect!! Ok ok, I'll stop drooling now.

A few highlights from the award presentation are below. Not picture is Nelson Mandela, err.. I mean Morgan Freeman losing his place during his speech. Sadly my boss was talking during the stream of the presentation, so I couldn't watch it. Sigh... some people forget whats really important:

Elle "The Body" Macpherson and Australia's lacked body. Ok, that was lame. I just wanted to post a picture of Elle Macpherson.

Johan Cruyff and Netherland/Belgium's green bid failed to impress. He rode his womans bike home in shame.

Poor Becks :(

The prince told Andrei Arshavin to "piss off!" after Russia won the 2018 cup. I actually don't think I'm that far off. That face is epic. You'd think he's be able to hide his emotions a bit better.

Hopefully I will have accrued enough vacation time to go one of these :)

See you in 2018 and 2022!