I'm in Southern California this entire week for a long-awaited vacation. Yeah, vacation! Today I watched two World Cup games, went to the beach and ate some decent seafood. The weather is spectacular (wish you were here, natch), blue skies and wide horizons. Old man June gloom hasn't shown his face around here just yet.

Normally I look forward to cross country flights as a chance to spend dedicated time with my iPod. I dropped a bushel of new songs, along with choice old favorites onto the little player and prepared for some long interrupted listening. Then I remembered - I'm flying JetBlue early in the morning and the World Cup will be on. So instead of checking out Alex Smoke's Paradolia or Ghostface Killah's Fishscale, I sipped a Bloody Mary and watched the Netherlands defeat soon to be separated Serbia-Montenegro 1-0 on a screen the size of a CD case.

Having only seen one other complete match, the snooze-fest that was England vs Paraguay, I was relieved to see a well-played World Cup game. Goal scoerer Arjen Robben (who plays for FA Premier League champions Chelsea) owned this match for the Dutch, creating chances seemingly every time he touched the ball. I haven't been following the Dutch that closely lately and was unfamiliar with most of their team. Where's Edgar Davids or Clarence Seedorf? Is Dennis Bergkamp still retired from international play? Holland played well, but I am not yet convinced they will make up for missing the last World Cup.

JetBlue's TV package includes ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic, but not ABC so I missed the Mexico-Iran battle. With two hours of a five-hour flight remaining, it was music time. Thanks to Forced Exposure, I've been introduced to two excellent Latin collections: Senor Coconut and His Orchestra Play YMO and Panama! Latin, Calypso and Funk on the Isthmus, 1965-75. Both albums seemed appropriate given the international spirit of day. Then it was on to my first spin of Brightblack Morning Light's laconic debut record, which Rajeev has been pimping for good reason lately. The album's hazy, lackadaisical vibe was just right antidote for in-flight anxiety. Meanwhile in France, Rafeal Nadal was beating Roger Federer on NBC. Why does JetBlue have NBC, but not ABC?

Around 11 AM I was finally in San Diego and ready for seven days of football (you know, soccer), beaches, freeways and complimentary hotel breakfasts. Now if only the U.S. team would play better! More on that later. Now back to my vacation.