Goal: The Dream Begins

By Stephen Boudreau at 10:10 AM| Permalink | Comments (3)

Shelley and I went and saw "Goal" last night. In a word: awesome.

The Da Vinci Code

By Stephen Boudreau at 03:21 PM| Permalink | Comments (5)
As a fan of both Ron Howard an Tom Hanks, I'm pretty excited about the upcoming Da Vinci Code movie. But clearly, there are quite a few controversial issues circulating the contents of the novel and film.

Motivated by curiosity, a desire to have an informed opinion, and a general interest in reading an exciting story, I picked up the book this weekend and am racing to finish it before the movie release on Friday. I am about half way through and am definitely gripped by fast-paced suspense of the story.

I'm looking forward to the rest of it, but that's all I will say for now. More on tihs later.

Shave Everywhere

By Stephen Boudreau at 04:43 PM| Permalink | Comments (7)
This is one of the funniest things on the web right now.

Visit ShaveEverywhere.com.

Shave everywhere. I agree.

See you in Germany

By Stephen Boudreau at 12:11 PM| Permalink | Comments (9)

The UPS man made a visit the Boudreausian palatial estate this weekend. And he came bearing gifts.

This past weekend Shelley's and my match tickets to the upcoming World Cup arrived. And with them, even more material evidence that we are about to embark upon a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Four years in the making, we've been talking about and planning this trip since the last whistle blew at the '02 tournament. It's hard to believe that it's almost here.

On a Friday afternoon next month, we'll be getting on an international flight bound for Amsterdam. After a couple of days taking in the sights, experiencing the culture and hanging out with a bunch of Dutch people -- the real adventure will begin as we go to the only place that holds the prescription to our World Cup fever: Deutschland.

We'll climb aboard a train and arrive in Cologne, Germany. To make matters even better, we'll rendezvous with our friends, The Poetschkes. Cologne will serve as our home base for a few days as we will be taking in a couple matches in the surrounding areas. First will be our beloved team USA vs. Czech Republic in Gelsenkirchen. Assuming I survive the euphoria (or heartbreak) of that experience, a couple days later we will see host-country Germany take on neighbor-to-the-east, Poland, in Dortmund. The atmosphere at the German game should be electric. We were very, very fortunate to get our hands on these tickets. Actually, I think it's safe to say we are very fortunate and blessed to be going on this trip, period.

On that topic, the atmosphere in the entire country will be breathtaking. The entire world will be converging on Germany - in person and/or in spirit - for a little over a month to watch 32 teams compete in 64 games for one treasured prize. Being a part of that would be enough, but getting to attend games makes it all the more special.

So where was I? Ah yes... Cologne. After the Germany/Poland game we will be catching a train down south to catch up with the Poetschke's in Munich. A couple days of experiencing the beauty that is southern Germany, fraternizing with fellow soccer enthusiasts and drinking lots of Hofbrau House beer - we'll head back west to Frankfurt.

About an hour and a half south of Frankfurt, near the border of France, we'll be catching our last game in a small town called Kaiserslautern. There we will watch the USA take on Italy in a match that will be pivotal for our team in advancing out of group play. (Sorry if you aren't familiar with how the World Cup is structured or what a soccer ball is... I will digress from that now.)

That game will be a late night match. We will probably roll back into our hotel in Frankfurt very much past midnight. But there will be no rest for the weary as a flight bound for DFW airport will be leaving the next morning. And yes, we will be on it. Asleep. We'll need our rest.

There will still be four weeks of World Cup action to watch from home.

Time to water the lawn

By Stephen Boudreau at 04:25 PM| Permalink | Comments (10)

The neighbors have complained. They've sent emails. Left voicemails. Text messaged their concerns. The message has been received. Loud. And also clear.

It seems I have been a bit neglectful of my dot com property and the weeds of stale content have choked out the life from what was once a field of fresh, green communication. Sincerest apologies for my delinquency. Thankfully, the information superhighway has survived in my absence.

A quick update on the lives of The Boudreaus over the past few weeks:

- Shelley celebrated her 28th birthday on Easter. I continue to be stunned by how this gorgeous, wonderful and caring woman continues to laugh at my jokes.

- Certainly one of the biggest announcements is that Shelley has commenced training for a marathon. The race is in December here in Dallas. She was slowed a bit by a soccer-related ankle sprain, but is back on her feet and nearly 100% again.

- On a somewhat related note, Shelley ran in "The Race for the Cure" 5K out in Ft. Worth and finished in about 30 minutes. I am very proud of her.

- My cousins, Ryan and Melinda, are now proud parents of a beautiful baby boy named Carter. He was born with an awesome Beckham-like faux-hawk hair style. Seriously. He is great.

- I read the book, "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller. This is a good book.

- Many friends and family have come in from out of town to visit. You know who you are and you are always more than welcome to return to the Boudreausian palatial estate.

- Ascendio has relocated offices. The office is now in Valley Ranch, just three blocks from our house and a mere five minute (at most) commute. Not quite as exciting a building or office space, but the proximity to home is priceless.

- I have been in physical therapy for the past five weeks for treatment on what the doctor described as "chronic shin splints". Not fun. Neither is the fact that after taking nearly five weeks off from soccer, they continue to flare up if I do anything resembling rigorous athletics. But, I'm determined to overcome this. I suppose life is more interesting when we have challenges to overcome.

So I think that's a fun little update for those of you estranged from regular contact with us.

Regular posting will now resume at its normal inconsistent frequency.