Back to Back Blogs, Wow!

I had some trouble sleeping last night and happened to wake up at a quarter to 6 am and remembered the Twins-Yankees game and thought I'd check the score. (Un)Luckily the game wasn't over yet, so I watched from the bottom of the 8th inning to the end and fumed over the loss like all other Minnesotans. Tonight I'll try to watch the entire second game of the series since it starts at midnight my time and I don't have any class tomorrow morning. If we lose that one, the series goes back to New York and there's no point in watching because there's no way we can win.

Tomorrow night I'll join a number of my FC Adrenalin teammates and go to an Austria national team soccer game. It's somewhat important in that it's a qualifying match for the 2012 European Championships, which is the second most important soccer tournament, after the World Cup of course. The game is against Azerbaijan and I would be expecting Austria to win. Because our team falls under the umbrella organization of the Austrian Soccer Federation, there was some crazy deal on tickets and it's only 1 Euro per person. I hope we get similar deals next year when we get to play against some better teams like Germany and Turkey. Both of those matches will be very exciting as Germany has got to be our biggest rival and the largest immigrant group in Vienna are Turks. I've already suggested that my bro Turner come visit next June when we play Germany so we can go to the match together, I hope he accepts the offer!

Finally, I think my residence permit is all approved. I've got one last appointment at the immigration office in Neusiedl am See for Monday morning and I think they'll be giving it to me then. That should also entitle me to work legally. I've been applying online for a few jobs per day recently, hopefully one of them will work out.

Minnesota Sports?

At the moment all I can think about is sports back in Minnesota. It's really the first time I've been wishing I was back in St. Paul so I can enjoy what's going on at the moment. First, my Minnesota Twins are about to start the playoffs against the New York Yankees in our brand new, beautiful stadium. I have the ability to watch the game on the internet but due to the time difference the first pitch will be around 2:37 am Vienna time so I'm not sure if I'll be staying up to watch it since I have class tomorrow morning. I don't have class on Fridays so I'll more than likely be watching game 2 which starts just after midnight on Thursday night.

And in one of those "do you remember where you were when you heard?" moments, for Minnesota sports fans at least, I saw on Twitter yesterday that it was highly likely that Randy Moss would be returning to the Minnesota Vikings today and everything I'm reading today has confirmed that news, including Randy Moss' Wikipedia page. Right now I'm listening to podcasts of the local sports talk radio station and it's really getting me pumped up.

In Toby news, I started my new German class this week. So far it's not as fun as my class last month mainly due to the teacher but my German is still steadily improving. I feel pretty comfortable speaking it all day and being able to express myself which was not true a couple months ago.

News in Brief August 20

Even though I thought mosquitoes only laid eggs in lakes, there were a ton in Madeira. They were especially mean to be doing all their attacking at night when I was helpless to resist. All my mosquito bites are just about healed.

Marlene decided to a vegetarian. She has lasted one week so far.

Yesterday we moved most of Marlene's possessions from Neusiedl to our apartment in Vienna and there's almost enough space for everything.

Austria Wien lost the away leg of the Europa League matchup with Aris Thessaloniki 0:1. The only goal of the match was scored in stoppage time by former MLS star Carlos Ruiz. They play the second leg of the series on Thursday in Vienna and I expect to be there. I'll also be buying my season tickets soon.

After arriving here one of the first things you notice as an American is the different models of cars they have in Europe, but one stood out from the rest and I finally got a picture of myself next to it... wearing my Twins hat of course.

Fiat Punto: The ultimate car for defensive drivers.