The Cleveland LeBrons couldn't beat the Boston Truth as Paul Pierce scored 41 points to squeak the Celtics into Eastern Conference finals. So now in 7 games we'll know that the Pistons are far superior to the Big Two featuring Ray Allen. The series starts tonight with a Pistons victory.

In the other pro basketball league, the Seattle Storm had their home opener Saturday against the Chicago Sky. The first half was not pretty. The Storm was playing good defense, but every shot the Sky attempted went in. The Storm was absolutely hideous on the offensive end, putting up a bunch of unanswered prayers. Jackson was looking absolutely flat and Swoopes wasn't much better. Bird and Yolanda Griffith were the only people making any shots. Between those two and Sky turnovers, the game was only a 6 point Sky lead at the Half.

The 2nd half started like the first. Sky making their shots, Storm looking flat. Luckily, about 3 minutes into the third quarter, the Storm found their shot. Even more lucky, about 2 minutes left into the third, the Sky lost theirs. By the end of the third, the Storm had the lead and with about 3 minutes left in the game we were up by 15 and the starters were pulled from the court.

Final score:Storm 67, Sky 61

A public graffiti animation. The work put into this must have been amazing.

Got a question for all those middle of the road fence Democrats out there. When two people of the same sex want to spend the rest of their lives together, what's is the verb used in this case?

Mary and Susie are getting ___________.

If it's a Civil Union, are they getting unionized? If it's a commitment ceremony, are they getting committed?

My friends Jorge and Marcus are having a commitment ceremony and I have no idea what verb to use. Marriage is already an overloaded term, would it take too much for the Howard Deans and Christine Gregoires of the world to come out in favor of Gay Marriage instead of something which has the same rights but is called something different.

That said, I'm very excited for them. It's one wedding I'm actually looking forward to this year. My parents might be in town that day, but they'll have to entertain themselves. I'm going to this wedding hell or high water.

So I've been playing Grand Theft Auto. I'm kind of surprised there wasn't an uproar of controversy instantaneously after release, since in most respects its more risque than its predecessor. That said, its much tamer than Scarface, The Departed or any other mob movie.

The game is... impressive. I've never cared much for the GTA series, but this one has probably the closest to cinematic feel I've experienced in a game. I wouldn't put the plot up there with Godfather or Snatch (yes, those two are on the same level,) but it's as good as any run of the mill Mob movie, which is more than I can say about any other video game.

The freedom in the game is awe inspiring, but not overwhelming. You almost always know what you need to do to keep the plot moving and when you don't, it's because the game is encouraging you to lose yourself in Liberty City. Sometimes all you need to do is wait and things will happen around you.

Boston lost another away game. I keep thinking this is going to catch up with them, but they keep winning their home games. The Cavs don't have enough of a team to win a road game.

The Pistons, in the meantime, have closed out their series with the Magic and are awaiting either the Celtics or the Cleveland LeBrons.

This Monday came with a little less pain than last week. I'm not sure if it was the stretching or if I'm just getting more conditioned, but other than a slight tweak in the right calf when I'm sitting, I'm pretty much pain free. It's really pretty incredible considering I took a pretty big hit (from my own teammate) and got the wind knocked out of me such that I couldn't breathe. I can walk around, and I might even jump rope tonight.

The result of the game, however, was not as enviable. We played the Mutts and lost 14-0. All things considered, that's a pretty good defensive effort. Flag football is an offence minded game and we shut them out for the first half. Our offense was good for the first, but we just couldn't punch it in. A few dropped balls, a few errant passes. If those things went our way, we could have had at least a tie game.

And just to prep you for the event of the millennium:

Wednesday night was the Mark Kozelek concert at Town Hall in Seattle. It was probably one of the best places I've been for acoustics in a while and it showed. The entire concert was him and his accompanist fingerpicking on acoustic guitar. It was one of most emotionally moving concerts I've been to, and certainly the best display of guitar work I've heard in a while

The venue is an old converted Christian Scientist church. While I respect any religion with two lies right in their name, the conversion was for the best. The venue is probably better served for music than proselytizing. They even kept the pews and stained glass windows.

David Bazan of Pedro the Lion fame opened the show. While he was good, it was like getting served a 20 dollar a bottle wine with an 100 a plate meal. It was good, but forgettable in comparison.

Mark Kozelek was brilliant. The concert was focused on one thing: guitar fingerpicking. He sang the lyrics but with the mix they used and the acoustics in the room, they took a back seat to the guitar. His notes and that of his accompaniment played around each other effortlessly.  The hour and a half of playing was ethereal bliss, only marred by the audience's need to shout out requests during tunings. No, he didn't play my two favorite songs from Sun Kil Moon's first album, but neither would have fit the mood of the night very well. Carry Me Ohio would have needed a drummer and Glen Tipton was a little too country for the feel of the evening. This concert's still in the front of my mind, but would probably make the list of top 5 concerts I made about a year ago. Not sure which I'd kick off though... Have to think about that.

Saturday was spent in the warm Seattle sun. It was a nice 72 degrees, so we grabbed the pooch and headed to Seward Park. Lots of Puppy fun time was had. Photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeandcandice/tags/puppy/

So we played the first flag football game of season on Sunday. Only, 8 guys showed up and one of them pulled their hamstring in the first drive. So after not getting any exercise since the last season ended in December, I had to play every down, both ways for two 30 minute halves. Needless to say, I hurt. My legs are stiff as boards, and my arms are only a little better. The good news is that we won 32-22, and I had a few good plays in there. Unfortunately, Candice didn't capture any of them, but here's some photos anyway: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeandcandice/sets/72157604566245093/detail/.
 

Here's a wonderful photo of a ball whizzing right through my hands.

As we are the Coasters, there was much beer to be had, and we hit the Issaquah Brewhouse afterwards.

Monday and Tuesday were spent limping around the office. Hopefully I'm better enough to stand at tomorrow's Mark Kozelek concert. Even more hopefully that Town Hall has seating.

Frankly, I think Andy Samberg could make an R&B song about anything and make it funny. Apparently, the guy in the hook is from Maroon 5.

After much deliberation with my significant other, (others if you count robduf and rockanachronism,) I have decided to apply to jobs in Microsoft Europe (Dublin and Cambridge) sometime next summer. We'd stay over there for one to two years and head back to have kids. This was a decision not made spur of the moment or anything. Our reasons are many: governmental, cultural, geographical, etc. but the main reason is because we can. It's an experience not afforded to everyone and those who have lived abroad rarely regret it. All of this is, of course, reliant on me getting a job at one of those places, which isn't exactly a guaranteed occurance. All of this is a long way off, 10 or so months, but I figured I may want to warn everyone just in case things work out as planned.

London pics are up in rough form you can see them here:

http://candicebailey.spaces.live.com/

Our first sightseeing effort was at the British Museum. This has all the "gifts" of the former British Empire. This includes pieces of the parthenon, Egyptian ruins, and the Rosetta stone. The most interesting pieces for me, however, were the ancient artifacts from the British Isles. You don't get much Celtic history from high school world history, especcially when your teacher is just cruising until retirement.

After the museum, we ate some Thai food and headed towards Oxford street to do some shoppiing. The big complaint over London pricing is a little exaggerated. It's not much more than a big US city, even with the exchange rate. After considering that most dishes include tax and tip, it's not really so insane. After a jetlag nap, we went for a curry in SoHo. Taystee stuff, but not any better than Seattle.

• The passport line was not unlike the Vogon scene from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It even had a cameo appearance from Kathy Griffin.
• The Heathrow arrivals gate was just as endearing as the opening scene from Love Actually
• The houses in the suburbs look just like something out of Billy Elliot or The Full Monty
• Some tube stations look as run down as the ones in Neil Gaiman's Underworld.
• Unfortunately, we have yet to find a dog with an 80 carat diamond in its stomach.
• We didn't see platform 9 1/2 this morning. we must've been at the wrong station.

Candice: There is a stunning array of accents here, very few actually british. Joe keeps stoppinng me from 'adopting' any "orphans" in the park.He says all the twee children in matching outfits are on something called a "field trip".We're on the train to bath now and the countryside is postcard perfect.