My dream home

I really don't remember what I was looking for when I came across this on some website, but it really struck my fancy! I thought I would post the pictures and layout so that even if those builders don't have this plan in 20 years I will be able to refer to my wonderful blog and get an idea of what to look for in our dream home. I'm really drawn to the Spanish/Mediterranean styles and Rachael doesn't object. Another thing that we both want is some sort of relief work on the facade or entrance to throw in some art deco or turn of the century feel. We both agree that we will have a lot of fun when we can finally own, plan, and decorate our own home.

Nash’s first love

I was surfing the web and I ran across an article at the New York Times. I'm a huge Phoenix Suns fan and I thought I put some excerpts here. In addition, I thought I'd gloat a bit about my Las Vegas NBA summer league experience with the whole Suns front office. I got to sit right next to coach Mike D'Antoni and his brother, team owner Robert Sarver, new GM Steve Kerr, all the assistant coaches, and Vinny Del Negro (not quite sure what he does, but I always seem to see him around the team). I didn't say much, little star-struck, but it was fun just being around them and enjoying the moment. Much to my delight, I did get a promise that the core (Nash-Stoudemire-Marion) were sticking around for another year.

On to the article: Nash spends most of the year running the point for the Phoenix Suns, but in the off-season, he can be found playing soccer in rec leagues in New York.

“It’s better for me than just running lines,” he said. “I don’t want to play a lot of basketball until September’s over or I’ll burn myself out. I just shoot, work out and play soccer.”

Standing on the sideline with his children, Claudio Reyna, who was captain of the United States national team in last summer’s World Cup, said Nash was an excellent soccer player.

“He’s got the vision like on the court,” Reyna said. “When you have vision in soccer, you can connect the pass. It’s the same idea. You can see that from playing basketball, and also from growing up playing soccer, he understands the game.”

Soccer was Nash’s first love — he said his first word as an infant was goal. His father played professionally in South Africa and England, his sister was the captain of her university team, and his younger brother, Martin, has played on Canada’s national team.

“I think my dad, more than anything, gave me the passion,” Nash said later, in a telephone interview Tuesday night. “I remember sitting on the steps waiting for him to come home, and we’d be playing in the backyard before he even had his tie off.”

Nash’s other recreational team plays in an eight-a-side league at Pier 40, in a league populated by college friends trying to stay in touch and desk-job dreamers trying to stay in shape. Nash’s team wears T-shirts adorned with the name Phebe’s, a bar and grill on the Bowery where they sometimes adjourn for postgame camaraderie.

“At Pier 40, it’s better because everyone’s there for our league,” Nash said. “There’s not a lot of people around. I can just be one of the guys.”

At a game there in June, the Phebe’s team beat a group of Cornell graduates, 8-4. Jeremy Freyer, the opposing squad’s goalkeeper in that match, said he initially was not aware that one of the N.B.A.’s biggest stars was in the game.

“I didn’t even realize it was him until it was the second half and he scored a couple goals on me,” Freyer said. “It made me feel a little better.”

Nash travels to Europe occasionally to attend soccer matches; he said he followed the English Premier League the closest — particularly his favorite team, Tottenham Hotspur.

“The atmosphere is electrifying,” Nash said of England’s top league. “The pace is great, with the fans singing along. They demand a passionate performance. The fans are right on top of the players. Anyone who’s ever had a chance to go to a premiership knows there’s nothing like it.”

Certainly not Central Park, where the only fans who watched Nash’s entire pickup game were his wife, Alejandra, and his twin daughters.

By the end, Alejandra seemed excited to leave. As Nash grinned and shook hands with his teammates, she said, “The one time I come to one of these games, it’s just three hours of eating dust.”

Gone fishing

My summer is quickly coming to an end and I can't seem to pack enough stuff in. I have to paint our bedroom, organize the study, buy my law books and read the first assignments, and finish up any pending web projects.

Of course, I had to head up to the hallowed waters of Fish Lake for my annual fishing trip. Last weekend I got permission from Rachael to fish away for a few days with my uncle Stewart and my cousins Jessie and Courtney.

We went to Daniel's Canyon on Saturday. To this day I have yet to see any signs that say "Daniel's Canyon", but that's what my family has been calling it for years. It basically consists of driving on an old washout road leading out of Fish Lake for some 10 miles. Then we park the truck and start hiking down into a rather steep canyon. It takes us a little over an hour to hike in and close to double that hiking out.

Tradition keeps drawing us back every year. The fishing isn't bad either. All we catch are small little brook trout, but it's fun to string up the fly fishing rod and put some worms on a hook. Altogether we brought out about 15 fish; we probably caught triple that but threw most of them back in.

My Grandpa Ole loved to go fishing there. It was his little piece of heaven to share with his son for years and then his grandsons. Even though the hike in and out is arduous, I know I'll always go back.

On Sunday it rained the whole day which is good because it didn't encourage us to go out fishing. But early Monday morning we got out on the lake. I think I much prefer the fishing on the boat because one can just cast out and wait for the taps. The weather was perfect and the water was glassy smooth. We put out our anchor at our favorite "cheese whole" on the north end and it didn't take long for the four of us to start reeling them in.

It was perhaps one of the best days on the lake that I've had in years. We only had the boat rented for half the day and had to get back to Vegas that day, but in just a few hours we pulled in 24 good looking fish. Stewart and Jessie got some of the biggest rainbow trout I've seen. I caught a healthy five, but their size paled in comparison.

Right when we got off the lake, the afternoon storm came in. It was blue skies all around except for right on the lake. It seems that Fish Lake has always been able to create its own weather no matter what the weather patterns are doing in the rest of Utah. I think that just adds to the mystic of the lake for me.

I came back happy and relaxed, and I've already started the countdown for next year's fishing trip when I return to my beloved Fish Lake.