Cricket in a Foreign Land

Avid readers of my blog may remember that I am the vice-president of a university cricket club. This would not be particularly note-worthy if not for the fact that the university is in the good old US of A! Cricket in America is an interesting experience, and certainly has novelty value.

The club I am involved with is competitive, enthusiastic, and reasonably competent. We are like any cricket club: We have a 5 member committee made up of players - The president has been largely absent during the season, the secretary always forgets to bring a pad and pen to meetings and cannot see the value of taking minutes, and the treasurer doesn't handle the club finances as the chairman is obsessed with making sure they are done correctly!

Last weekend was our big tournament: 6 teams from 3 states, 100 F weather, and around 70 players born in the subcontinent (of all the players in all the squads myself and a New Zealander were the only caucasians).

A few random observations:
- We lost the final. A visiting team needed 6 runs from the final over with 9 wickets down. A four, a wide, and a flick over the close in fielders, and it was all over! Having said that, we lost the first two of our four league games, so to make it through to the final was quite something!

- Over 150 gallons of Gatorade was consumed during the two days!

- Of 15 games played, 12 went down to the wire (including a tie!).

- One team had two flat tires on their way to the tournament in their team van! They arrived at their hotel at 5am, but were first to the ground at 9am the same morning, were on time for every game (winning 3 of their 4 league games), and were by far the most courteous team at the tournament (including our own!).

- Finally, when running behind on the first day and needing to shorten the one hour lunch break, a team complained that 20 minutes was insufficient time for lunch. When asked the shortest time they would need for lunch, they replied "One and a half hours"... They got 45 minutes.

Kiwis, Quizzes, and a Failed Nerdship

Readers (read: siblings) may remember a previous post in which I bemoaned the fact that the Australian on the "Outback Steakhouse" adverts is in fact from New Zealand.

The Kiwi in question is part of a duo called "Flight of the Conchords", New Zealand's fourth most popular digi-folk paradists who have a self-titled show on HBO.

Last weekend I got to watch "Flight of the Conchords" and they are hysterical! For those with time on their hands, YouTube "flight of the Conchords" and enjoy!!

My siblings have all posted their "Nerd Type". I took the quiz and I am, not surprisingly, a "Science Nerd". Where is the post I hear you ask? Well the link you are meant to copy and paste onto your blog had a number of errors (aparently), so I couldn't even post it! Hence my failed nerdiness...

Finally, a quiz question:
Who invented frequency hopping (the technique of changing frequencies, originally used to prevent radio-jamming, commonly used in cell phones and WiFi)?

I'll give you a hint... She was one of the first actresses to appear naked in a major film.

Triple Threat!

Recently, my siblings have revived the art of blog-trivia. So being the follower that I am (and not having any really funny stories to blog about) here are some questions for my audience to ponder:

1. In which film did Noel Coward appear with Michael Caine, Benny Hill, and Rossano Brazzi?

2. On his deathbed, who said: "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One of us has got to go"?

3. What do Heath Ledger and Mick Jagger have in common?

Enjoy!

Throw Another Shrimp on the Barbie...

American's love Australia, or rather, they love their misconceptions about Australia. I discovered a prime example of this recently:

There is a chain of Australian-themed restaurants in the US called "Outback". The restaurants are decorated with assorted "Aussie" paraphernalia and are excessively cheesy and corny from an Aussie-in-America viewpoint. The adverts are much the same, with a dorky guy proclaiming in an over-the-top Aussie accent how much he loves “Outback”.

Until now, I have always believed that this actor was either an American trying to sound Australian (they are about as successful at this as they are at sounding Russian... that's why we have English actors!), or an Aussie actor hamming it up for his Yankee audience (can't fault that if it gets you employed!). However, I discovered on the weekend that this actor is in fact from New Zealand!! A flaming Kiwi mongrel!!!

Now, an American pretending to be an Aussie for an American audience I can understand, but there's something wrong about a Kiwi doing it (I thought we'd signed some ANZAC treaty against that sort of thing!)... It's even sadder to realize that for the Americans who see the ad, it really doesn't matter...



Okay, now that I've climbed down from my soapbox, I'll finish this post with a quiz question:

In the computer game "Wolfenstein 3D" (generally regarded as having popularized the first-person shooter genre... think "Doom"), a secret level in episode 3 paid homage to which classic arcade game?

What's Your Pirate Name?

Mad Dog Kidd

Part crazy, part mangy, all rabid, you're the pirate all the others fear might just snap soon. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

http://www.piratequiz.com/

Eight Things About Me!

So I'm not too sure how this works, but my siblings are doing it, and being the independent thinker that I am… and it’s not like I need an excuse to talk about myself!!

Here are the rules (Oh good! This will explain everything!): Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I took beginner adult swim classes when I was 22 to learn how to swim. It should be noted that I was taught how to swim as a child, but that I learnt how to swim at 22.

2. My middle name is the Scottish version of the shortened form of my first name (trust me, that sentence does make sense!).

3. My scalp is very sun burnt from spending all Saturday outside. I thought I had been good and covered everywhere with sunscreen, but I forgot my scalp.

4. As you may have gathered from the last point, I am not a hat person. I will wear a beanie, or a broad-brimmed cricket hat, but that’s it.

5. I have been known to be melodramatic on occasions! (This does not include the statement about my sun burnt scalp, which is really quite sun burnt).

6. I am a dork, and a nerd, but not a geek.

7. I use to play tuba in high school. I use to strap a skateboard to the underside of the tuba to transport it from place to place.

8. I will talk your ear off, but I will hear every word you say.

Blogging the Suburbs

It's been a long time between blogs! (Yes, I am a master of understatement!)

Today's post is a thank you of sorts... I walk the same route to the launderette every Monday (I realize this isn't sounding like the most gripping story, but bear with me!)... On my way to the launderette this Tuesday (Monday was Memorial Day) I was walking past a rather well-maintained house when I spotted some blue cloth hanging on the gate. It seemed so out of place in front of this lovely neat house and garden... As I got closer, the blue cloth began to look familiar... "That looks a lot like my blue Hawaiian shirt" I thought, and indeed it was! It must have dropped from my basket last Monday, and the owner of the house clearly placed it out for me to find on my return.

Today, as I walked to work, I walked past another house and noticed a pair of glasses hanging on the fence... Someone must have lost them outside the house and the home-owner had left them there to be retrieved.

So thank you to those two home-owners, for being neighbours in the truest sense of the word!