Despite losing 2-0 to Arsenal on Wednesday night, Villa boss David O'Leary seems confident in his team. I, however, will reserve judgement on this issue until after tomorrow's home game against Leicester City. Villa's record against Leicester is awful - they last beat them back in April 2001!
Over in the U.S. D.C. United progressed to the semi-finals of the Open Cup on Wednesday night with a 1-0 win over Wilmington. They'll face archrivals the MetroStars for a place in the final. D.C. take a break from MLS action this weekend to face the El Salvador national team at home in a friendly.
A few years ago, a series called Millennium (by X-Files creator Chris Carter) got its first UK showing on ITV. It was about a man named Frank Black, who hunts criminals by seeing into their minds. I absolutely loved it, but for some inexplicable reason, the morons at ITV dropped it half way through the first series.
Needless to say, I was devastated. So imagine my elation when I discovered that Sci-Fi, one of my favourite cable channels, are showing all three series back to back! They show two new episodes on Tuesday night, and repeat them again on Sunday night, and it's just as good as I remember it.
Villa played to a well earned 0-0 draw at home to Liverpool yesterday. Over the other side of the pond, D.C. United lost to San Jose 1-0. United face the Wilmington Hammerheads in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night, whilst on that same night, Villa are away to Arsenal.
So it's official - the crown for biggest worldwide virus infection to date goes to Sobig.F. I just knew it was going to be a big one after receiving 43 e-mails infected with it over the past three days. And to add insult to injury, I even received an e-mail infected with our old friend Klez.H today!
Thankfully, Sobig.F has a built in self-destruct mechanism, and it will stop spreading on September 10th. However, I don't think we've seen the last of the Sobig family. In fact, I reckon we might see another Sobig variant in the very near future. I just hope people will be better prepared when it comes.
Our old virus friend Sobig is back - this time in a more virulent strain called W32.Sobig.F@MM. All indications suggest that this is the worst strain yet - so far today I've received ten e-mails infected by it. If you've been infected, Symantec have created a fix tool for you to clean your system with.
There's also a new "friendly" worm out there on the web called W32.Welchia.Worm that downloads the patch to fix the vulnerability last weeks Blaster worm exploits. Despite its good intentions it still causes problems, so if you've been infected, Symantec have created a fix tool for that as well.
It has been a bad weekend for both my teams. Villa got off to a bad start losing 2-1 against Portsmouth. And D.C. United lost 3-1 to Chicago Fire. Villa's next game is at home against Liverpool next Sunday, and D.C. United also play that Sunday against the San Jose Earthquakes in San Jose.
Remember I told you about rising star Freddy Adu a few days ago? Well, he's currently in Finland playing for the United States in the FIFA Under 17 Championship. The U.S. beat South Korea 6-1 a few days back, and despite being kicked all over the park by the South Koreans, Adu scored a hat-trick!
Various scouts from all over the world are watching the Championship looking for upcoming talent. I just love the quote from Everton's youth academy director, Ray Hall when asked about Adu: "His composure was brilliant. He needs to come to a club in England to expand his development, possibly us".
The new Premiership season starts tomorrow and I can't wait! My beloved Aston Villa start their season away at newcomers Portsmouth - it'll be a tough game, that's for sure. Hopefully with a new manager at the helm, and a revitalised team, performances will be markedly better than last season.
Over the other side of the pond, D.C. United etched out yet another 1-0 win against Colorado on Wednesday evening, and are now within striking distance of the top of the Eastern Conference after a poor start to the season. They face top of the conference Chicago Fire away on Saturday evening.
Well, it took me two attempts, but I finally passed my Driving Theory Test yesterday! I wasn't feeling too confident when I came out of the test room, so when I was told I'd passed, I nearly jumped through the roof! I got 32 out of 35 for the multiple choice, and 49 out of 75 for the hazard perception bit.
The worm they feared has finally come - on Monday the rather nasty W32.Blaster.Worm started spreading across the web, and infecting thousands of unprotected Windows machines. I helped a friend to remove the worm from his machine yesterday evening. Incidentally, he hadn't installed the patch.
And speaking of the patch, I've already told you numerous times on this site to get it. So if you haven't already, go and get it right now! If you've been infected, you only have yourself to blame. However, Symantec have created a fix tool for you. Once it has done its work, install the patch without delay.
I've been busy at work covering for a colleague who was on holiday last week, so if you've been wondering why I haven't updated for the past few days, now you know why! I've also been busy sending my CV to job agencies, playing CM4, and enjoying the rather hot weather here.
My favourite MLS team, D.C. United, made it through to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup last Wednesday with a tight 1-0 win over the Virginia Beach Mariners, and over the weekend, they beat New England 1-0 with a goal in the last minute to move up to third in the Eastern Conference.
Staying with U.S. soccer, The Washington Post has an interesting article about U.S. soccer star, Freddy Adu - he isn't even 15 years old yet, but he's going to be one hell of a player. He has been coveted by some of the top clubs in the world, and has already signed a multiyear $1 million deal with Nike!
Back over this side of the pond, the Premiership season starts next Saturday, and apart from a disappointing 2-1 friendly defeat against Walsall, Villa are looking good. They recently signed goalie Thomas Sorensen, and thumped St Patrick's 6-0 to win a preseason tournament in Dublin.
After a two week hiatus, Crossing Jordan - one of the best shows on the TV at the moment - returns to ITV tonight. When it disappeared without warning I thought ITV had axed it. Thankfully, this doesn't seem to have been the case, and I'll be tuning in tonight at 11:30pm - make sure you do, too!
Courtesy of Yahoo's Oddly Enough section yet again, you simply must read this hilarious story about a man with a grudge against smart cars (thanks to Michael for the link). Finally for today, go and play the highly amusing, and extremely addictive flash game Spank The Monkey (thanks to Charlie for the link).
Remember when the PM's wife, Cherie Blair, sang the Beetles tune, When I'm 64, for a group of Chinese students last month? Well, someone has took her efforts and remixed them into a dance track that has become massive on the dance floors in Ibiza and Cyprus! Expect it to top the charts here shortly.
Staying on the subject of music, the BBC News website has an interesting article offering an alternative argument on music piracy that I totally agree with. It argues that it's not Internet music swappers that are killing the music industry - it's the huge piracy rackets in the Far East and elsewhere that do.
Be on the look out for the sneaky e-mail virus, Mimail. It pretends to be from your company's admin department - but it's not really! It has been causing quite a few problems for UK firms this morning. If you've been infected, Symantec have created a removal tool for you to clean your machine.
I've already told you about the Windows vulnerability that's causing security experts much concern. They feared that over the weekend, at the annual DefCon hacker convention in Las Vegas, someone might write a worm to exploit it, which would obviously be a very bad thing for everyone.
Well, someone did write one (sort of). It's not technically a worm as such - it's more of an attack tool - a collection of programs designed to work together to exploit the vulnerability. I still think it's inevitable that a worm will be released sooner or later. Again, if you don't have the patch, go get it now!
In sports news, the MLS All Star team beat CD Guadalajara 3-1 over the weekend in what looks to have been an excellent game. The MLS returns to its regular season schedule this weekend, where my favourite MLS team, D.C. United, take on the 3rd placed New England Revolution at home.
It's the 2003 Pepsi MLS All Star Game today. The MLS All Stars (made up of a team of MLS stars, obviously) will take on CD Guadalajara of Mexico at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles. Only one D.C. United player, Ryan Nelson, is in the All Star team. It should be a good game - may the best team win!
There's an interesting offseason article about the Capitals over on ESPN. It makes for interesting reading (well, for Caps fans like me anyway). And on a related note, one of the games greats, Mario Lemieux, recently announced that he's going to play another season with the Penguins.
There's an excellent article in the Boston Globe all about how U.S. law enforcement agencies protect a 900 foot liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker from potential attack when entering Boston Harbour - nothing is left to chance. It was absolutely fascinating to read, so I suggest you read it, too.
Finally for today, (and before I logoff and immerse myself in the world of Championship Manager 4 once again), coming courtesy of Yahoo's Oddly Enough section, you simply must read this hilarious article about a German who made a potato firing bazooka (with thanks to Michael for the link).
There's a program on ITV called Young, Posh & Loaded. It's about young people who enjoy the high life by living off mummy and daddies wealth. I don't know about you, but if I were them - and I had that sort of money - I'd have plastic surgery on my face. Maybe it should be renamed Young, Posh, Loaded & Ugly?
According to a Washington Post article, it looks as though the Caps will start the new season with both star players, Jagr and Lang, since no team wants to take on their massive salaries with the collective bargaining agreement looming. Personally, I think this is great news for all Caps fans.
Although CNN's Offbeat News section is the best source for hilarious (but true) news stories (like this one, for example), Yahoo's Oddly Enough section comes a close second, and is teaming with hilarious news stories - this particular story is one of the funniest things I've read all day. Ouch!
As if virus writers using spam to spread their viruses wasn't bad enough, according to a BBC News article, hacking activity on the web is on the rise due to hackers looking for ways to exploit a particular Windows vulnerability. If you haven't already got the patch for this vulnerability, go and get it right now!