In the morning I went to Esteban & Belen's house to watch the game between Germany and Argentina. Sadly, Argentina lost. Still, I bought bread at Gugelhupf, a German bakery.

In the afternoon Vladi and Irina came over and we watched Spain-Urugay together.

I watched the game against Brazil at Peter & Jose's in Cary with 15 other members of the Dutch club.

A nice crowd to watch an exciting game with. Very happy with the result, of course.

Update 7/5: more pictures here.

The game started at 10.00 am so: coffee.

We woke up at 6.00 am this morning and went to Mackey's Pub downtown, a few miles from Georgetown.

We had a unique Dutch-American breakfast (broodje kroket with eggs and hashbrowns) and watched the soccer game Netherlands vs. Japan. Holland won, it was an exciting game to watch.

Later we saw the other two matches; a great day.

The customer meetings went very well this week. I demonstrated an alpha version of our product to them; it all worked and the customer likes the functionality. It's so valuable to meet people face-to-face.

We left the hotel at 6.00 am this morning. There wasn't much traffic on the way to San Francisco airport so we arrived early. Due to the 3 hours time difference with the East Coast I had my first conference call at 7.00 am.

Over breakfast (home-made Californian granola) I watched the game between Slovenia and the USA. The game started at 7.00 am Pacific Time, and lots of people in the airport were watching it. A great game with the USA coming back from 2-0. It really should have been 2-3, that last goal was valid!

This morning I watched the soccer game Netherlands-Denmark in a bar at Times Square in New York. It was a unique experience to be in a bar at 7.30 am on a Monday morning. No beer for me, just coffee, but plenty other fans had beers with their soccer game.

Petra and her mother were also there; it was great to see them. They were leaving on a cruise to Canada in the afternoon and spent some time in New York City this weekend. There were about 300 Dutch people in the bar watching the soccer game, and maybe 15 to 20 Danish fans.

It was great to watch with such a crowd, even better of course since Holland won with 2-0.

Just before the first goal.

All orange.

The second floor of the bar.

Ilana turned 11 years old this week, and today we went to her birthday party. It was an outdoor pool party.

The World Cup game between England and the USA started at 2.30 pm and we watched it from the bar at the pool area. It was an exciting game with a good result for the USA. Even if the goal in the 40th minute was a very lucky one. Ruud Gullit was a commentator for ESPN/ABC. I get the impression that soccer is getting more popular in the US.

In the evening Sasha and I made barbecue at our pool. We cooked chicken, sausage and corn, with plenty of leftovers for during the week.

I watched Argentina - Urugay with some very nervous friends tonight. We watched the game online on two monitors in the living room.

For a couple minutes I was cheering for the wrong team until I realize that Argentina was playing in different shirts this evening. I quickly corrected myself after some deadly looks from my friends when Urugay almost scored.

Luckily Argentina won (1-0) so it was a fun evening. With this win Argentina qualified for the World Cup in South Africa next year. It will be fun to watch those games next summer.

The match between the Netherlands and Russia was the first one I saw live in Euro 2008, and with the 1-3 result it was also the last Dutch game to see in this tournament.

We went with a a couple of friends to Woody's Tavern in Cary, where about 40 Dutch people were watching the game together. It was nice to meet Dutch people in the area, and to watch the game together. Petra was there, and we met Maarten for the first time as well. Two years ago in the World Cup I watched the elimination of the Dutch team against Portugal in a bar in DC.

After the first 90 minutes the result was 1-1, so another 30 minutes were played. About half way that extra time all TV screens stopped showed the game, and a Weather Alert interrupted the broadcast for about 3 minutes, without showing any information on the game... A big storm was coming over the Triangle, and when we drove home we were right in the middle of it. In the evening we had friends over for dinner and it was a very nice evening.

Watching soccer.

Argentines rooting for Holland.

Plenty of decorations.

Belen and Sasha.

Petra, Guus and Maarten.

Tonight was the Super bowl XLI, the final match of the NFL 2007 season. This year I haven't really followed the football season. A shame really: the Super bowl game reminded me how much fun it is to see American football.

The match started with a very spectacular first quarter with a touch down for the Chicago Bears; the first touch down ever on an opening kickoff. However, the Indiana Colts came back in the 2nd quarter and continued to rule the match during the 2nd half.

The Colts won with 29 to 17. I was kind of supporting the Chicago Bears in this game but it was great to watch anyway. Next season I'll definitely follow more games in the NFL -- let's hope that the Redskins will do well.

My favorite commercial was one by Blockbuster, about using a "mouse" to get on internet. There was a nice preview of a silly movie that I'd like to see, Wild Hog. While Pepsi is the official soft drink of the NFL Coca Cola placed a lot (great) commercials around the game.