Soccer combine at practice today. Followed by parents V kids friendly in honour of father's day.

First (last?) annual father's day badminton challenge ends in a draw, resulting in tie-breaking procedures.

My girl ... none the worse for wear.

2011 Soccer season starts

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Actually started earlier in the week but I was out of town. ; That must be why the boy saved his first two goals of the season for this game.

Jess 2011 indoor soccer season

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First year of indoor soccer for the girl. ; Started off with same defensive thinking from outdoor season.

Channelling MJ

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According to the boy, there is no Kobe v MJ debate.

Ankle breaker

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The girl's soccer team has hit their stride over the past month or so. ; It really showed when they went undefeated over the weekend in the city soccer tournament.

10-24-10 Hockey 8

10-24-10 Hockey 8
Originally uploaded by Lao Er

Got a Minolta 70-210 lens - turned out to be 2nd hand but never used (thx kijiji) so got some better shots at the boy's 2nd hockey session. He's already showing a nice butterfly style; shows 5-hole then closes the door. AKA - typical ankle-bender stance and happens to fall at the right time.

Nosy Neighbour

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Originally uploaded by Lao Er

Dragging a wet basement rug outside to dry and I find myself face-to-face with 3 young-un's. They were wary enough to move to the neighbours yard for a while - long enough for me to grab my camera. But this one eventually decided the grass was greener (or needed to be greener - based on the amount of evidence left behind) in my yard so the ballsy buck trots back and gives me the "are you done?" stare.

U9 B-Side City Champs

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Originally uploaded by Lao Er

Did it! The girls did a great job throughout the playoffs, including shut-outs in the semi's and finals, to finish as champs.

I put together a season video for the team and it's pretty cool to see how for they've come. It was such a great experience that more than half of the girls have signed up for indoor soccer.

I think we get a week off.

playoff goal 9-11-10

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Soccer playoffs started today. ; Stroke of coaching brilliance had Jess pinch in on D, so she potted this one.

Winning Smile

Winning Smile
Originally uploaded by Lao Er

The girl was a guest player for a soccer tournament last week. The team won - quite easily actually. Pretty big jump from her regular 9 yr old team to the 10 yr old's she was playing with.

She also ended up winning a shootout competition for that division - as the keeper! (Two other girls on the team - took 1st and 2nd as strikers.)

Nice goal Jess

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Just like we practiced!

Capping off soccer season

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Catching up on Jacob's soccer vid's.

WCVL 10-04-2009

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Hmmm ... some things to work out with a slightly new lineup.

WMVL 09-29-2009

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Second exhibition match to get the season started.

The birthday girl

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Originally uploaded by Lao Er

... and her ever present sidekick.

Thanks for all the birthday calls and wishes - she had an excellent day!

Diamond Extreme PVR600 with Win7 - sweet!

Thanks to TechyTurnedLawyer for the tips on getting this to work! Here's his blog. You need to find his May 26, 2007 post.

http://techyturnedlawyer.blogspot.com/

Some things to note ...

- (Step 1) The Diamond Vista drivers for the PVR660 seem to work. That's what I'm using. I found them here under the "Support" tab of this page ...
http://www.diamondmm.com/PVR600RCUSB.php

- (Step 2) I had a hard time finding the download he mentions. I found it here ...
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/support/support_pvrusb2.html

- (Step 3) He directs you to run the downloads. Some of these are just compressed folders so you can move/copy them from Explorer to put them in the directories he mentions.

- (Step 7) He refers to the "p2usbdw.sys" file. For me, it was actually the "p2usbwdm.sys" file (ie. with an extra "m").

Other than that. It works fine. Started Media Center in Windows 7 and it found the TV tuner and based on my postal code, found the right cable provider. Now I'm watching and recording TV in Windows 7 with this old usb TV tuner.

May 14/09 The Boy's Soccer

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After four games, he's got 5 goals and about a dozen break-aways.

About two degrees outside today - perfect for Canadian soccer.