Back from London, which was a lotta work. Hope you guys caught all the tape of it over on Fox Soccer and FoxSoccer.com -- and if you didn't, it's all archived on the website so you can see us guys walking everywhere.

Next up: African Nations, Olympics and then Champions League. A very, very busy year this. I cannot wait until August when I will finally get some time off!

Hope y'all are well.

Guess it's time for a small update. We'll be in London soon for the holidays (well, work, but over the holidays) and that should be quite nice. While it's not Scotland, it is rather close to it.

Things here in Chicago are OK -- just been very busy with all the sport and TV stuff -- and all told while some things could be better, most things are excellent. Hope the same is true for all y'all.

Happy Chanuka and Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate.

j

1996/97-2011.

We miss him very much.

Lavonne and JamesWyper had the Big Hipster Food Tour of Chicago this week, with stops at Kuma's, Longman Ampersand Eagle, Honky Tonk, Skylark, Ramova, Kohan (that one was just for soup, though) Maria's, Pleasant House and Three Aces.

They had her body weight in burgers (she can really maw a burger, BTW), had a lot of local greens and saw all kindsa parks, churches, buildings, and sunshine. Aww!

Lavonne and her man jameswyper are in town. I think I may have killed them with my "Let's see all of Chicago on my day off and by the way have you ever had a Kuma's Burger?" tour. I guess I won't have to buy cat food for a while.

Edited to add: Go see her instagram fotos of the metal.

Season's started. Maybe it never ended. Super super busy. If you really want to keep up with me, you can either follow me on facebook (it's not hard to find me) or, you know, call me up. Most of y'all have my number.

Anyway, I'm off to write about men in shorts kicking a ball.

Cheers and have a great rest of your summer

j

Wow, what happened? Oh yeah, soccer.

So, as you know by now (if you care, natch) I'm on the TV lots these days, supplementing my ever-constant appearances on the web, in the papers, on the radio and in the glossy magazines.

It's both weird and cool, but I'm enjoying it far more than I thought I would. I did a really neat standalone thing while I was in London last week that will come out soon on Fox Soccer. I'm a bit nervous about it as it is my first solo special, but, hey, I gave it a good shot and I'll learn from all the feedback I hope! I also have a couple more projects — one soccer, one totally not — in the pipeline. So wish me luck.

I now get to have some time off, which is a blessing. It's a grind, this job, and getting a week or two off is really superb.

All else is well. Health is awesome, partner is adorable (ask Smythe) and times are generally good. Now, if I could only get these two books off my desk...

See you at some show somewhere sometime.

j

Uh, wow, I guess it's been four months? Huh. Well, anyway, I'm just slammed with work (Fox, two books, other stuff) but all else is going very, very well. Personal life is awesome, thanks, and while Chicago's winter would be better if it would end at some point, all things considered, it ain't been a bad year.

You can check out my fotoblog of the city at jamietrecker.tumblr.com if you wish, and catch me every weekend on Fox Soccer Channel.

Hope y'all are well.

j