April 2007 Archives

From the BBC: Birmingham and Sunderland will play in the Premiership next term after Derby's defeat by Crystal Palace sealed the pair's promotion from the Championship.

The Rams started the day four points adrift of Sunderland and five behind leaders Birmingham and were unable to close the gap, with one match to play.

That means they must be content with a place in the play-offs.

Birmingham go to Preston and Sunderland visit Luton on the final day of the season as they battle for the title.

And Birmingham chairman David Gold says the club's promotion justifies the faith the board showed in manager Steve Bruce, even when fans were calling for him to be sacked in mid-October when Blues were 11 points adrift of then leaders Cardiff.

"A few months back people were looking to see Steve Bruce go from the club," said Gold.

"They were saying to us 'you should do certain things' but forgive me if I now say we have been vindicated for refusing to panic and in keeping faith in Steve.

"It is rare for clubs to go straight back up and it is a great performance to achieve that.

"There have been some dark days but Steve has been outstanding. He was determined to bounce back. He has rebuilt the team and now we are all back where we want to be."

And Blues managing director Karren Brady confirmed there will be funds to strengthen the team during the summer.

"Of course there will be funds," she stated.

"There is a lot of money coming into football next year from the broadcasting deal and we have all learnt that the Premiership is the only place to be.

"We have learned from our mistakes, we understand what needs to be done and that is going to take an enormous amount of investment.

"The board has got to stump up that money and has got to invest that money in the club's future."

Today's front-page article in the Wall Street Journal on the legal troubles of Gemstar founder Henry Yuen caused me to google a few of my friends from back then.

My old friend Shannon was featured prominently in an article in the March 25, 2007 edition of the New York Times. Shannon and I did some work together at both Gemstar and Idealab.

Northeast Los Angeles: Set for a Close-Up - New York Times

I watched almost all of The Good Shepherd this morning, but left before the very end, so I'll have to finish it later.

I had a lot of discomfort when the needle was first inserted, and again when it was pulled out. I'm not sure why. The rest of the process went smoothly, but took longer than usual.

After some early difficulties, Carole and I really enjoyed seeing Wicked at the Pantages on Wednesday night. The actress playing Elphaba had a slightly more perfect voice, and Glinda had comic timing to die for, and individually they were both excellent — but together, their chemistry was very special.

On our way home from Easter dinner at Claim Jumper, Carole drove us down Muscatel from Huntington. Just south of Emperor School, a couple of peacocks were wandering around in the front yard of house on the west side of Muscatel.

Peacocks are regulars up in Arcadia, and no one pays them much attention except to drive more carefully when they're in the street. As we drove south we noticed a couple of groups of walkers coming up the street towards the birds, and we both wondered why the birds had come so far south from their normal hunting grounds.

O'Reilly School of Technology

I watched the first episode of the British mini-series MI-5, known as Spooks in the UK. Kind of 24-ish, it stars Matthew Macfadyen, who played Darcy in the recent film Pride and Prejudice.