Hello, everybody. Boy, it's been months, but what has been up in my life? A new job here in Atlanta, of course (and in the very high-end Buckhead district)! But other than that, scores of things going on, starting first up with -- you guessed it -- the World Cup.

Group play in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil has already ended and we're now into the next phase: Win or go home. And in the case of the United States, they ain't going home...at least not yet.

After beating Ghana in their first game, the attention turned to Portugal last Sunday, where a win against them means a berth in the next round. We were just a few heartbeats away from that, until Portugal, thanks in no small part to Cristiano Ronaldo, tied it up at 2-2 in the very end. Not since Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals (in which San Antonio almost won the title until Miami's Ray Allen's 3-pointer kept his team alive; the Spurs truly got their redemption this year) have we ever seen the whole country -- especially soccer fans watching the game at Atlanta's Soccerfest in Brookhaven Park -- suffer emotional strokes after that last-second goal.

So it's on to the next game against Germany, and despite our 1-0 loss...we barely made it to the Sweet 16! Germany may have won Group G (which has been dubbed the "Group of Death"), but it's Portugal and Ghana -- among several countries including England, Australia, and defending champions Spain -- that's gone home. We survived Ghana, Portugal, and Germany; can we do the same with Belgium? We'll find out on Tuesday.

Now the USA/Portugal match was on television, but right after that, most of us hit our computers, tablets, and/or smartphones for that other big event on Sunday: The 41st Daytime Emmy Awards. Now usually I've recapped the Primetime Emmys, but quite frankly, the daytime counterpart has never been the same since Susan Lucci finally won in 1999 after some 20-odd nominations. At one point it ended up on The CW and even HLN to the point that nobody even cared anymore.

So, what did they do this year? Put the show exclusively online and, just like PBS, commercial-free! It could've been also rated TV-MA because presenter Sharon Osbourne, knowing that the awards aren't televised anymore, dropped a few F-bombs before awarding Best Drama to "The Young and The Restless." The other big winner was the absent Steve Harvey, claiming both Game Show Host ("Family Feud") and Informative Talk Show.

And last but not least: I've said that most of Atlanta watched the USA/Portugal match at Soccerfest last Sunday, which is quite fitting as we have become a soccer-crazed city as of late.

It started last spring with the Mexico/Nigeria exhibition match, which filled the Georgia Dome to the brim. That success led to the announcement of a Major League Soccer franchise, helmed by Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank; they'll be playing in the new Falcons stadium under construction right now. And on the night before I started my new job last month, I went to a Braves game for the first time. Fairbanks may have a baseball team of their own with the Goldpanners, but let's face it: baseball season back in Alaska lasts about only 13 weeks while high school football runs from September till late November.

In about a few years when soccer comes our way (team name TBA), we're all going to be in our seats with our sweet tea shouting, "GOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLL, ya'll!" So long and stay strong.