Wow. I can't believe I haven't posted anything since April 28th. Shows you how busy I've been. Classes are finished and after winding down I've been chilling out a wee bit. Feels good. Here's a couple of posts in the "who knows what else category":
I've been watching many of the World Cup games. I became a fan of the World Cup in 1982 when I was working in Latin America. I have some clear memories of that time. First, it seemed seemed that every country I went to had youngsters playing futbol on dusty fields, whether I was in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador or Peru. In Lima, a US audit partner in Arthur Andersen's office there had to take his six year old daughter into the ER with a badly bleeding (but ultimately not serious) scalp wound. He went nuts trying to get the ER docs and nurses to break away from the TV on which they were watching Peru's national team play. Finally had to make a scene to get them to attend to his daughter.
Later, Mike Guheen, a US consulting partner running the Bogota office and I were in New Orleans for a conference on the final day of the '82 World Cup. Italy won. We happened to wander into a high-end luggage store owned by an Italian. When I congratulated him on Italy's victory earlier that day, he was so delighted to encounter a couple of Americans who were even aware that there was such a thing as a World Cup that he gave me 50% off on a fine leather briefcase. I still have it.
This year, The US started off in Group A, along with Algeria, England, and Slovenia. As of this writing, the two winners of Group A have not been determined. Most of you know that I know Slovenia very well, having been there over 20 times, mostly for Professor Joze Gricar's annual EC Conferences. It is also where I earned my PhD and, as far as I know, I am still the only American with a PhD from the University of Maribor. I was in the country in 1991, and left eight days before Slovenia declared its independence, which was followed by skirmishes with the Yugoslav Federal Army. The war did not last long as the Slovenes were very well-prepared and the Yugoslav Army soon pulled out. You know what happened next.
There were a lot of jokes about the US playing the Slovenes, but they were made by yoyos who were not familiar with this small (2 million citizens) but highly talented country. One sportscaster even said Slovenia (he had never heard of it) sounded like a new prescription drug.
Once morel, you know what happened next. The Slovenes were well-prepared, as I knew they would be. They led the US 2-nil at the half. The US came back in the second half, tied the score at 2 all, and then had the winning goal called back by a dim-witted referee. In any event, it was a great match, and now lots of Americans know about Slovenia. I hope Slovenia and the US both advance to the second round.
One more short international item. The new president of Nigeria is named "Goodluck Jonathan". That's right, Goodluck Jonathan. I think it is the neatest name for a president I have ever seen. Lots of luck, President Goodluck!