JamieZ

I'm not sure which of our new signings I'm supposed to share this Coke with or how it's all going to work logistically, but until I figure it out, it's in the fridge.

If were going American, i think Zardes is our most interesting player right now. Been in great form. But he's not named Jordan.

Might as well take a punt on Jordan Morris while we're at it.

I was skeptical of the new Max Martin-produced Weeknd single untillll...BAM. This is legit pop music.

(The original sentence was "It smacks of Scott Parker and Steve Sidwell when they went to Chelsea (respectively), we all know how that ended up," and that's what I was commenting on. There's obviously no need to use "respectively" in the case of two people who went to the same place. Shall we get back to talking about what a tool Fabian Delph is?)

Better. I also would have accepted "It smacks of Scott Parker and Steve Sidwell when they went to Chelsea and Chelsea (respectively), we all know how that ended up." Now, about your use of a comma instead of a semi-colon or full stop...

I am trying for the life of me to figure out what function "respectively" plays in that sentence.

This Dave Gahan track is my favorite Soulsavers song.

Apropos of nothing, this is a picture of me wearing a very shiny suit.

My average is in the 875-925 range. I'm a drummer, so I don't know whether that's a solid score or not. I know I still haven't mastered playing to a click. But I find that with any groove, thinking in terms of smaller increments (e.g. 8th or 16th notes when you're playing quarters) keeps your time a bit more consistent. So when I did that tapping exercise, my other hand was doing 16ths on the desk.

Nope, but I'm coming back from a calf injury and hope it won't be too much longer. When I do come back from an injury, though, I find it helps to run with someone else, if possible, who is slower than you. I have the habit of overexerting myself after a period of recovery and reaggravating the injury. Running with someone who keeps that in check is helpful to me.

Of course catching the keeper off his/her line from the halfway line is a goalkeeper error! That doesn't detract from the goal. The only way one can succeed in football is to punish your opponent's mistakes. Most players in the women's game and most in the men's game wouldn't have a) seen the opportunity and 2) made the shot. In a video game era, I think people lose sight of how difficult it is to make plays like that happen. Even with the keeper off her line, we're talking about very small margins for error. If I put you at the halfway line, put a keeper on the 18, and tell you, "There you go, lob him," how many would you make out of ten? Now, do it in the context of a match. It was a killer goal.

Is that a t-shirt?

USA!!! USA!!! USA!!! That was more like it.

5-2. Goalfest.

USA absolutely annihilating Japan. 4-0 fifteen minutes in. Carly Lloyd with a hat trick.

Nice! How 'bout a shot of the interior? Cast or rolled shell? How thick? I have a Noble & Cooley Alloy Classic and it's quite a nice drum. 3mm rolled and welded aluminium. The chap that rolled and welded it for me did a stunning job of hiding the weld. You really cannot see it. However the shell does go very slightly out of round at that point but not enough to make any noticeable effect on the sound or tuning. The holes and snare bed and bearing edges I cut myself using standard stuff like routers and even just hand files. I then sprayed it myself (I considered going with powder coating but decided to just stick to doing it myself) and added tube lugs and DW throw off and butt end. I also have a mini kit I made that I will upload a picture of later. That uses mahogany shells from what used to be Carrera drums. Great. I'd love to see the kit!

Nice! How 'bout a shot of the interior? Cast or rolled shell? How thick? I have a Noble & Cooley Alloy Classic and it's quite a nice drum.

I've been sticking to songs released this year, but this may be my personal favorite summer volume-up windows-down sunset-or-afterward 'Repeat 1' driving jam.

Mutoid Man...is that one of the Cave In/Converge side projects? I have a hard time keeping up with them all.

Germany will feel hard done by the referee's decisions, but that match was only ever going to end one way. USA dominated. Germany rode their luck against France but weren't able to count on the same breaks against the US.

USA up 1-0 on a penalty given for a foul outside the box.

USA dominating but just not finishing.