Reason 18,641 why I like soccer and the Chicago Fire: The team is sending myself and four other fans to Mexico for a playoff game between it's Mexican League partner, Monarcas de Morelia, and Tecas. Of course, the way the timing worked out, we're leaving Saturday at 9am, the game is at 8pm, and we're flying back at 2:45am on Sunday, but you know what they say about gift horses and mouths and all.

In one of those good news/bad news situations, I got a quick turnaround from a potential employer once the recruiting firm I'm using forwarded them the "tweaked" résumé that teased out some of the particulars of what they're looking for. That's the good news. The bad news is that I seem to have lost some of my packrat par excellance status. They're going to need a writing sample, and I can't find anything from my last two jobs anywhere. I could have sworn I had saved materials from both, but I still have a stack of floppies and ZIP disks to check.

It also dawned on me last night, as I was about to complain about being sore from playing soccer Tuesday night, that I wasn't sore from playing soccer Tuesday night. I'm thinking maybe that and my improved play as of late might be connected. It could still be Adam's exhortations from last week, but I'm definitely throwing my weight around a bit more, and combined with a much better first touch on the ball, it's allowing me to be much more effective. It's a good feeling, even when we get shellacked 11-0, albeit by the best team in the league. These things take time.