To continue a tradition we established last year, tonight, Brooklynne and I went out for steamed Maryland blue crabs. We got a dozen large males and finished almost all of them. We also ordered a dozen hush puppies which I believe are the most heavenly side dish on the planet.

We also bought a stroller/travel system today. Funny, huh? I never thought about ever having to do that. Anyway, we would have waited, but we found one that we REALLY liked and it was on sale for roughly 2/3 the normal price. Still pretty expensive, but way better than the cheaper alternatives.

The US also stayed alive (barely) in the World Cup. Now we HAVE to win AND get some help in order to continue. Although there are several other unlikely paths that would take us into the finals, for us to advance the most likely scenarios require either 1) Italy to beat the Czechs, or 2) the Czechs to beat Italy by (6 minus our margin of victory) goals, or 3) if the Czechs and Italy tie, we would have to beat Ghana by at least 5 goals.

Another scenario that would be kind of fascinating: if the US beats Ghana, the Czechs beat Italy by (5 minus our margin of victory) goals, and the US scores exactly 2 more goals than Italy on Wednesday, then the second group E bid into the finals would be determined by the US and Italy drawing straws. Drawing straws is really the tie-breaker provided in the rules for that case!!!

Obviously, an Italian victory over the Czechs would give us the only realistic chance of moving on.

I thought that once school was over I would have an abundance of time to spend on the blog, but alas, this hasn't been the case. But here are a few notes just to keep the blog up-to-date:

1) Last night Brooklynne and I had dinner with Kristy Kent who was as fun and great as always. We have almost talked her into a blog of her own, so watch out! Other topics of conversation included her possible return to school, Team Beautiful, Mr. Wesley, and the recipes for cheese and sausage balls.

2) Wednesday was a momentus day because the Travis Web Journal turned one year old. In the first year, there were 161 total entries posted and 507 comments (not including spam). My goal is to better these totals next year, and I'm announcing a five dollar gift certificate to your favorite ice cream parlor for the lucky person who posts the 1000th comment.

3) I also received a phone call from my old friend Tajiki friend Furuh, who is now visiting Baltimore. Brooklynne and I plan to meet him in DC this weekend to catch up and find out more about life in Russia, Tajikistan, and Finland--the three places he's lived since leaving the US two summers ago.

4) I didn't have time to post comentary about the US-Czech soccer match on Monday, but the second game for the US is tomorrow vs. Italy. Although the Czechs essentially brutalized the US team, I'm still marginally hopeful. Despite what the commentators said about the team looking "flat," really the US looked better than I've ever seen them look (I didn't see the 2002 world cup because Montana tv doesn't offer quite that same level of international programing), and poor offensive effort was not as bleak as it looked. If anything, the US should be worried about its defense. The poor defensive play that led to the first Czech goal essentially allowed the Czechs to play 9 men in the box the rest of the game. If the US allows Italy to score early, look for the Italians to do the same thing and don't expect the US to score any goals of their own. The US needs their defense to play well, so the Italians will have to spread the field. Finally, we should all pay attention to the Ghana game on saturday also. If we lose to the Italians, we'll be eliminated. But if we tie the Italians, then we will need the Italians not to lose against the Czechs to give us the best chance of advancing. But if the Czechs beat Ghanna, then they will have already clinched a birth in the elimination round before playing the Italians. They could rest their stars, play for a tie (which would still allow them to avoid meeting Brazil until the finals), and essentially hand Italy the second Group E bid.

The US will make its 2006 Wold Cup start against the Czech Republic today at noon (eastern time, ESPN2). If you've done much reading on the game you might know all this, but here's a quick rundown of some points of interest.

The US is making its seventh World Cup appearance and fifth straight. The US first qualified for the 1934 cup in Uraguay, and in 1950, the US accomplished perhaps our biggest international win by upsetting England. Since then, we qualified in each cup since 1990.

The Czechs qualified independently for the first time this year, but as a combined team with Slovokia, the Czechs appeared 8 times, making it to the final game twice. In their opening game in the 1990 cup, they beat the US 5-1.

Jan Koller, the most acclaimed player for the Czechs, is also the tallest player in the cup at 6'7". The tallest US defender he'll likely be matched against is Oguchi Onyewu at 6'4".

The US team is represented by two players with ties to UNC. Eddie Pope (pictured above) is a High Point native, and played college soccer at UNC from 1992-95. Backup Gregg Berhalter played at UNC for 3 years before leaving to play professionally in Europe. Captain Claudio Reyna also took classes at NC State, although he played his college soccer at UVA. Pope currently plays for Real Salt Lake.

As I mentioned earlier, since learning that the bun in the oven is actually a little girl, I have been reading The Wonder of Girls: Understanding the Hidden Nature of our Daughters, by Michael Gurian. Gurian's main point is that there is a unique femininity that is biologically determined; nature over nurture. He argues that this femininity ultimately boils down to an "intamacy imperative" that is a biological reality. Whether girls choose to accept or reject this reality, they always behave in some relation to this nature within themselves. Thus, Gurian argues that parents must acknowledge and address this feminine nature in their daughters. Here's a passage....

"To say that femininity is somehow 'hard-wired,' then to see the intimacy imperative inherent in the hard-wiring becomes a great challenge. The early feminists, without using brain research, saw it. Carol Gilligan saw it. She saw that intimacy was a lion's share of the feminine imperative. But she, like her feminist colleagues over the next few decades, turned away from it, and occupied themselves with empowering women and girls toward greater male-held social status.

"Had Gilligan and others, thirty years ago, stuck to their early findings about the inherent qualities of femininity, it would not seem so alien to say that the future of femininity, no matter our age or era, has always lain in a culture's commitment to providing girls and women with secure webs of interrelationship, bonding, and attachment. Providing girls with the ability to compete with men, while very useful, may not lie at the heart of how a society must nurture its girls."

I think I want us to be the type of parents that value the feminine nature of our daughter, and teach her to have the wisdom, confidence, and ability to compete/cooperate with men without denying this part of God's design for her.

More thoughts from the book later. Meanwhile, what are your thoughts on this balance? Comments Please!

We booked our flights for this summer and changed our move-out dates. June 29th we will fly to Las Vegas and drive the two hours to St. George, UT, where we will visit with Brooklynne's family at her grandparents' house. Then we will return to Vegas for our third anniversary on July 5th. On the 6th, we'll fly to Salt Lake City to see Brooklynne's father and the rest of her family. Finally, we'll return to RDU on July 12th.

Since we're flying from Durham on the 29th, we'll be moving to Durham on the 27th instead of July 3rd as first planned.

Like many of you, I am getting excited about the World Cup. I always liked soccer as a kid, and the 1994 cup hosted here in the US came at a time when I was really getting into following sports beyond the UNC-Dodgers-Steelers set that I've always loved. But I never cared as much about the World Cup until I experienced European WC madness in Wales during the 1998 Cup. That year, Wales had not made the Cup, and England was a outside favorite to win, so I got a quick introduction to the England-Wales rivalry (Wales would be bigger than England if it were rolled out flat). It was awesome to be in Europe with real, football-educated fans as France marched toward a homefield victory, but the most fun team I remember watching was certainly Italy, whose front line played a magical style of small ball that I had never seen before, much different than the boring long-ball strategy that I hope the US has left behind. Anyway, the US path to the cup will first pit them against the Czech Rep. (ranked #2 in the world) and if we get by Italy and Ghana with at least 4 points we might run up against #1 ranked Brazil. So, it doesn't look good for us, but maybe it's good for America to be humbled on occasion, and I'd rather us take our lumps on the soccer field.