Special Getaway

I knocked 2 tests out yesterday...or perhaps they knocked me out. We'll see when the grades come out. That concludes the end of the first round of tests and oh my...I'm in for a long semester. After my first test, I had some time to myself to relax...which I chose to spend in the Bio/Bio bathroom (one of the best bathrooms on campus I'll have you know). Well, it seems that my usual stall was occupied, so I moved down to the last one. You know the one, the so called, "handicapped" stall. I decided I think a better name for it would be the Hummer stall. Because I had all that extra room, but what was I going to do with it? I decided that I had enough room to bring in a table and have a tea party right there. Of course I would have had to bring in another chair for my guest... Bathroom stalls are for the most part, rather cozy. You can't deny it. It's a nice little retreat away from the outside world. For the most part, you're in complete solitude. Best of all, you can keep a watchful eye on those on the outside through the conveniently placed gap by the door hinges. Just so you can keep track of what's going on out there, who's washing their hands and who isn't...stuff like that. But this was my moment of solitude, I tried hard to drown out the guy next to me, let's call him Blue Flip Flop Guy since that's all I really know about him. BFFG must have been the fastest reader in the world, I thought as the sound of him flipping pages in a newspaper returned every 5 seconds. Soon it was time for me to go, as I didn't want to overstay my welcome. I took my backpack from the corner of my large, luxorious cubicle and proceeded to Ag Cafe and to the rest of my day. Sometimes you just have to get away. And while Hawaii is out of the way, the Bio/Bio Bathroom is always there for you to go close your eyes and enjoy a momentary vacation. And if you listen closely, I swear you can hear the waves.

Kevin and I went bike riding last night (Special shoutout to Merriam for not hitting us with the bus). We cruised the campus, made some adventure, it's a good, fun workout. Crawling up the ladder in the parking garage, opening the hatch, peeking my head up and coming face to face with a video camera...that just doesn't happen working out at the Rec. To end the night, we rode our bikes down the ramps to the bottom of the parking garage where we saw a nice blue alarm light going off. We're nearly positive that we were the cause for that.

Now this is the part of the blog where I remind everyone how bad we're going to beat Baylor. I anticipate a beating by at least 30 points, a larger margin of victory would not surprise me. But here's the prediction: Aggies-54, cubs-24. I can't wait to make all those jerks eat their words. But first thing's first. Our ladies have to take care of Boise State tonight at the Aggie Soccer Complex. Game's at 7, I'm headed there after work to meet my hooligans an hour and a half before the game starts. My parents are then coming to town, which I'm super excited about. I finally got them up here to enjoy a football game. They don't get the whole Aggie thing. I hope I'm able to show them some good Aggie traditions and a good Aggie time without freaking them out too much. First, I'm taking them to midnight yell...this should be fun.

Dance Party

Karen, she made me a C Rat cake. I'm very thankful for that. Thank you Karen. And thanks for your comments. Also, for those of you that don't know Karen, let me tell you that she has what she thinks is the best joke in the world. If you see her, ask her about it...it'll make you "appreciate your brain cells," Tiffany promises. And also, I appreciate Penny too. Thank you for going to the store with me to visit our friendly, hat-loving neighbor that gives out free milk!

But mostly, I appreciate the crazy spontaneous dance parties that the residents of my apartment break into. With Nick DJing from his keyboard and Clinton and I gettin krunk, it was off da chain fo rizzle. I encourage y'all to join us next time you need a study break.

For some reason I had "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing" stuck in my head today. I don't know where it came from. Luckily Tiffany was here to replace that song with "Yes, Jesus Loves Me." I suppose I'll use the rest of the time at work to probably work and then study for my 2 tests tomorrow. Tiffany also requests that I use some of this time to teach her to study like me and make good grades. I assume by that, she wants to learn how to use study time to mainly sing songs and dance around, but still make As. It takes natural ability Tiffany. And that's something that can't be taught.

"A Major Disappointment"

I typed a very long and what I considered to be one of my best written entries today. And the computer deleted it. Now I don't have time to duplicate the last post, but I'll do what I can. I hate technology...but only because it hated me first.

It seems a large number of the residents of the B/CS area were rather disappointed with Hurricane Rita. They'd stockpiled, made big hurricane plans, and then Rita dodged us. Disappointing indeed...I think these people should go look at some of the pictures taken of Beaumont and refamiliarize themselves with the footage we've all seen of New Orleans. Then we'll see how disappointed you are by your excess of bottled water and batteries. I myself am thankful that the hurricane missed Corpus and College Station completely (aside from the devestating winds ripping a stick out of a tree at my apartment and blowing it across the parking lot). However, if you or or families were affected by the hurricane, just know that the nation is praying for you. My grandad very recently bought a house in Vidor. He left my mom a voicemail saying, "it's not good." The eye of the hurricane passed right near Vidor, bringing some of the most devestating weather with it. Reed Arena is now housing over 950 evacuees, bringing in many from our own state, in addition to those from Louisiana. This morning at FMBWCEFPWWIIM, we saw several tables full of troops sent in to help aid in the relief efforts. We spoke with one of the men as we were cooking our breakfast on the grill, he said he was sent from El Paso. Quite a distance away. Troops were sent from all over to help alleviate what is being called a disaster area. I consider myself blessed to not be included in that area and not a bit diasappointed.

Speaking of disasters, the Aggies barely pulled out a win over AA Texas State. In the worst game I've ever witnessed at Kyle, our defense did nearly all they could do to ensure a loss. Luckily our offense was able to step up as usual and bring the team out of the hole the defense left them in. Big props to Reggie, Jason Carter, Courtney Lewis, and Chad Schroeder. This was the first time that A&M has ever recorded a 300 yard passer (Reggie), 200 yard receiver (Carter), and 100 yard rusher (Lewis) in a single game. And Chad...all he does is score touchdowns. After the Texas State game, his stats are as follows: 5 receptions for 5 TDs, 1 Rush for 1 TD. I'm convinced that the only reason Fran doesn't put Chad in to return kicks is because he'd score on every attempt and Reggie wouldn't get any offensive stats. With one of the most explosive offenses in the NCAA, even a merely decent defense could ensure the Aggies would be a forced to be reckoned with. But we don't have a decent defense. Our defense is horrendous. It's a defense that allowed a AA school to score 31 points and rack up 493 yards of offense. That's more yards than either Delta State or S Utah gave up to Texas State...and those aren't exactly what you'd call defensive powerhouses. Despite the mere two days we had to prepare for Texas State (compared to their full week due to a bye last week) because of the hurricane, we should not allow any school, especially one that is not Division 1-A to put up nearly 500 yards. This makes me very uneasy about playing Baylor next week (not to mention t.u. and tech down the line). However, I am not one of those that is expecting a loss at the hands of the Bears. Losing to anyone at Kyle, let alone Baylor is not something that we should be afraid of. This is Kyle field, the most intimidating place to play in all of College Sports. And they're Baylor... Despite the wretched defense that showed up last game, I am expecting a 30 point win over a sadly confident Baylor team... Just how many points the offense will have to score in order to achieve this margin of victory is all up to how many points our defense allows. 37-7? 80-50? We'll see...

Aggie Ring Day

It's beautiful. I finally got my Aggie Ring yesterday. It's been a long time coming, but there it is on my right hand. Ring day was different than usual. We just had to walk up to get our rings, no waiting in line for tickets. I'd say it was very efficient, I don't know why they don't do it like that normally. I ran into a bunch of people I knew getting their rings too, including far too many Calallen kids. It was an exciting time. I had to wait what seemed all day to put it on my finger though. After a lovely breakfast with Jonathan, one of my Growth Group guys, I had to go take that big bad MGMT test for that t-sip prof of mine. It didn't turn out to be as big and bad as we all expected. The Multiple Choice section was down right easy. We'll see how the essays turned out sometime. My prof didn't even show up for the test, she had family to tend to in Houston. Tuesday she refused to postpone the test for the students that had family in the coastal area. There's a guy in my class that was sent here from Tulane that had to head to Galveston after the tet to help his grandparents board up. I imagine he's still on the road. The traffic reports I was hearing yesterday were unreal. 26 Hours from Houston to Dallas? I'm glad I'm staying right here in CS. The hurricane moved anyway, I doubt we'll see any major storms.

Nonetheless, I'm off of work today, it does not seem like a Friday at all, I agreed with Nick when he said it feels like Thanksgiving. Last night did not feel like a football game at all either, I'd say the defense agreed with me as they didn't even show up. It was seriously the worst game I've ever witnessed at Kyle Field. Letting a I-AA school hang with us like that is inexcusable. Luckily we have some talented guys on offense; Reggie, Courtney, Jason Carter, Chad "All He Does Is Score Touchdowns" Schroeder. They did their best to make up for the terrible defense. I dont think our secondary could be any worse. If our defense was half-way decent, I'd say our offense could lead us to a Big XII Championship. But they aren't half-way decent, they aren't any type of decent. I don't care if we only had 3 days to prepare and Texas State had a whole bye-week preparing for us, they're a AA school that deserved to beat us...on Kyle. That is Inexcusable.

That's all... I got my ring, our defense is the worst ever, and the reason Fran doesn't put Shroeder in returning kicks is because then Reggie wouldn't get a chance to get any offensive stats... It's Photographic Friday and I have some dandies! Look at it sparkle!
















Tiffany and my fingers look naked as we wait
for the others to arrive.















That's more like it!

Hurricanes!

There is a big, bad hurricane coming! Look at this thing, it's huge. Galveston is under manditory evacuation and Corpus residents are closely watching the weather. We've got a lot of Galveston CIS people that were sent here, running in and out hecticly. The announcement about the Texas State game has been postponed until 3PM today. they will then tell us whether the game is cancelled or rescheduled for tomorrow. I've heard from various sources that the game will most likely be moved to 7:30PM tomorrow night, but that's not for certain. If it is moved to then, it'll be the craziest Ring Day ever! Test, get my ring, game time. I'll be keeping an eye on the storm and will be decided whether to stay in CS or head to Austin or Waco for the weekend, just to stay dry. Hurricane road trip! My class for tonight is cancelled because the prof has to go to Pearland and board up his house. So I'll be attending the Tulane soccer game at 7PM. Come out and support the Green Wave!

If anyone read the Batt yesterday, join with me in congratulating the most worthless people on campus for getting published all on the same day. The grad student that was upset that the Batt did not capitalize the F in Farenheit, check this out, I don't even know if I spelled it right. She said that the Batt was taking away from all the teaching done in the classroom by this mistake. It makes me reconsider going to grad school. I dont want to be one of those people. And next was the guy that disagreed with the writer that wrote that Video Games were a dangerous addiction. He argued against the fact that the writer said, "Once the social element is taken away, (video games) have very little benefit." The arguer said to subsitute "cell phones" for "video games" in that sentence because they are harmful too. No dummy, once you take the social element away from cell phones, what else do you have? That's the whole purpose of the phone. His whole argument was dumb. Hey nerd, video games aren't real and are probably harmful in the excess that you play them. Next was the liberal hippie that finished his argument against Bush with the line, "He's living the Bush family nightmare; helping poor, black people." Ugh...how does that get put in the Batt? Lastly, the people offended by the cartoons Ivan Flores draws are back once again. He draws scantly clad cartoons that I'm not really a fan of, but I think it's ridiculous how many people complain. I thought we solved this 2 years ago when I wrote in my sarcastic response to all these arguers. There were a couple of girls on the front of the Batt sunning in their swimsuits. I thought it was ironic how many people were offended by the cartoons, but not about the actual scantly clad people... Oh well. I was going to write into mail call, but I thought I wouldnt get published by calling people dummies, so I write here. Alright kids, stay safe, keep the gulf coast in your prayers.

Good Bull Story - Jaxson Appel

Jaxson Appel plays Free Saftey for the Aggies, he'sI've always liked Jaxson, he's one of my favorites, definately a team leader. Saturday he recovered a blocked punt and returned it for a touchdown. There are many stories about the guy, including him playing the whole season 2 years back with a severely broken hand with pins and screws in it and still leading the team in tackles. But here is the story I want to share, I found it on TexAgs yesterday. It found its way to Gage's computer this morning as well and she also really liked it.

From Texags:
"My parents came into town for the game and had a grand old time in the shady section, with me stuck up in section 331. Afterward, we go out to eat at delicious McCallister's and my mother is dying to tell me about the game. I'm a junior so I'm a bit surprised how excited she is to tell me something because she's seen the Ags beat the hell out of schools before. She waits until we're all sitting and listening. She then tells me one of the best stories I'd ever heard. Now my parents aren't old Ags, but they've come to love the university they've sent their son to. One of the things I've taught them is that Jaxson Appel is one of my favorite players, and honestly, lots of people's favorite. So there they are in the stadium and they are chatting with the people behind them and can't help but notice their "Jaxson's Mom" and "#19 Appel" t-shirts. They ask and they don't just wear the shirts, but are in fact his family. They chat a little bit and eventually tell my parents this story.Now as we all know, in highschool Appel was a defender like none other... but what I didn't know is that he was also a featured running back. Before each game, his mom would tell Jaxson to "score one for me." When he invariably would, he tapped his helmet for her so she knew that he was thinking of her.Then on September 17, 1998, her father passed away the day before his birthday. Although she was practically inconsolable, Jaxson still tried to lift his mother's spirit. That night she told him that there was something he could do. During the game Friday, don't score one for her. She told him to "score one for Poppa".The opening kickoff, Jaxson returned it 102 yards for the score. He got down on one knee, pointed to the sky and said, "Happy Birthday Poppa, this one is for you. I know it isn’t much of a gift but it is all I have to give." The entire team did as well, and knelt in the end zone.Now as my parents are listening to this story, they're getting slightly teary eyed, as was Mrs. Appel on telling it, and even me on retelling this.She continued. Less than an hour before kickoff and the team is preparing for the game in the locker room. Mrs. Appel gets a call from her mother, telling her that today is Poppa's birthday... could Jaxson score one for him? Coming out of the locker room before the game, Mrs. Appel ran along side the team. "Today is Poppa's birthday! Mimi asked to score one for Poppa. A la junior year!" Jaxson gave a thumbs up and yelled "I love you Mom."Mrs. Appel, quite teary at this point, had finished her part of the story. Jaxson told the rest. SMU, deep in their own territory, was ready to punt. They got a clean snap and a good catch... but Amos Ghunblee blocked it and the ball bounced right into the hands of #19 for a Fightin' Texas Aggie touchdown. The sluggish start to the game had finally been broken and the good guys had put points on the board. Kyle Field erupts.But Jaxson took a knee, and pointed to Poppa. That one was for him."

His aunt also replied to the thread:
"i wanted to thank all who have responded to this article. Jaxson is my nephew and it is my Dad (Ralph Lowe) whom he honored with his touchdown. to be able to celebrate my Dad's birthday seven years after his passing is something special. my Dad's favorite saying was "Pass it on" and it means so much to all the family for the spirit of Ralph Lowe and the spirit of Aggieland to be forever linked on this special occasion. Many Thanks--Blake Lowe"

And then his Mother in the most emotional post:
"I, like my brother, want to thank you all for what you have written. For years I have read on Texags some pretty bad things written about Jaxson. It was hard on this mother's heart but I know everyone is entitled to their opinion and if I can't take criticism then I need to quit reading it. But today has made up for all those times I wanted to gouge out all the eyes of every poster that said my boy wasn't fast enough, or couldn't cover and so on. Thank you for what you have given me today, thank you for what you have given my mother. The story started in little league when Jaxson was playing fullback. Instead of saying good luck I would say “score on for me”. He would score, but one day after a game I asked him which one was for me. He had scored several times and I wasn't sure which one I got. He was 11. He said “I tell you what, mom, the next time I score and it is for you I will pat my head.” He scored on the first drive of the next game and he patted his head, he scored later on in the quarter and he patted his head and to this day he pats his head whenever he scores. He's done it every touchdown of his football career except one. That was on Sept. 17, 1998, his junior year in high school. My father had just died and I was very distraught. I cried and cried all day, they finally sent me home from work. That night I was still crying, it was my father’s birthday tomorrow and for the first time he would not be here to celebrate with me. Jaxson came up to me and he said “I can't stand to see you like this what can I do?” I told him there is nothing you can do. He was adamant that he had to do something. I told him him, tomorrow is Poppa's birthday instead of scoring one for me score one for Poppa. He took the opening kickoff 102 yards, knelt down in the end zone and said "Happy Birthday, Poppa, this one is for you. I know it isn’t much of a gift but it is all I have to give." The whole team followed suit, knelt down in the end zone and said Happy Birthday to my dad. Sat. Sept 17, 2005 my mother calls me 45 minutes before game time. "Can Jaxson score one for Poppa on his birthday?” How am I going to pull this one off, he's in the locker room, he doesn't remember it's Dad's birthday, it's been 7 years, how am I going to tell him? And guess what mom, he plays Defense!!! I don't tell her this I just say O.K. I wait 45 minutes in front of the locker room praying that out of 135 players number 19 will pass by me. We make eye contact the second he comes out of the door. What are the chances of that? I have about 5 seconds to tell him of his 85-year-old grandmother's request. I start running with them to the field. I yell over the crowd, “today is Poppa's birthday, Mimi ask to score one for Poppa.” As he runs away I yell “Ah la junior year”. He gives me thumbs up and yells back, I love you mom.And I'll be damn if the kid didn't do it. Picked up that blocked punt, ran to the end zone, knelt down in the end zone pointed straight to the sky and said "Happy Birthday Poppa, this one’s for you, I know it's not much of a present but it's all I have to give." To all my brothers and sister, to all my nieces and nephews, to my most beloved mother, Poppa is doing just fine in heaven because surely he had a hand in this one.Shana Lowe Appel"

Very heart warming story about a tough guy. The full thread can be found here: Jaxson, Score One For Poppa

In other news, I got an 84 (after an 8 point curve) on my first big, bad MGMT 466 test. I didn't realize we had assigned articles for to read for class, neither idd Nick. When we got to class and he said we were discussing the articles, I began praying to not be called on. It worked, for 50 minutes he called on the other 25 people in class without picking Nick or me out But the class is 75 minutes long... So just when I thought I was in the clear, he called on me. After all the strategies I'd gone over in my head for evading the question, avoiding his attention, I'd been called out. Luckily, my friend Janette had read and took notes! I was able to form a vague, but acceptable answer. Nick wasn't as lucky...

Do your homework kids, it's a good idea...

Arrrr!

Ahoy! Well 't seems that September 19 be upon us an' that means one thin'. `Tis "Talk Like a Pirate Day!" T' celebrate this occasion, last night, Nick an' I recorded a traditional sea dog song. I tried postin' 't on here, but be unsuccesful. If ye`re interested in hearin' 't, but haven`t yet, IM me or email me at me chriswilson@tamu.edu address an' I`ll get 't t' ye fer yer listenin' enjoyment. If ye dasn't want t' hear 't in celebration o' this grand day, then ye`re a lily-livered bilge rat that dasn't deserve t' be here. Onward with me bloggin'!

This was a grand football weekend with the Aggies winning big against those poor ponies and the Panthers with a big win at New England! The first home football game was great. Good seats, good friends and after some first quarter nonsense, Reggie and the rest of our team just started clicking. Reggie was in the zone the 2nd half, I'd like to see him stay in that zone, especially when the Longhorns come to town for Reggie's last game at Kyle. Our offense looked unstoppable at times, even considering it was SMU that we were playing... Reggie earned National Offensive Player of the Week honors for his record breaking 449 yards of total offense (349 passing, 100 rushing) 5 Passing TDs (breaking his personal best of 4 that he threw, beating #1 OU in 2002) and 1 Rushing TD. This is Reggie's 2nd straight game with exactly 100 yards rushing. As for the Panthers, look for them in the NFC championship! In other football news, Brett Favre actually stepped up and played a decent game, leading my fantasy football team to a sure victory this week. But more importantly, he threw several balls TMurph's way yesterday as he played in his first NFL game! Whoop!

After the game Saturday, we enjoyed some good fun and food at Peyton's parent's tailgate. We played some dominoes, ate some jambalaya, it was delightful. Friday night was a good time too. It started off with a nice Rumours dinner (the only decent place left to eat on campus, the other dining facilities sold out and they have been getting plenty of feedback from me on their comment cards..) and then it was time for volleyball. We got to sit in the special "Party on the Patio" section. It was a lot of fun, but I sadly we lost and I had to leave early to make it over to first yell. First Yell was fun, not as good as last year whn Bill Cosby was here, but who can compete with Cosby? Then it was time for Midnight Yell. Now I'm not sure if I've ever missed one...well before Friday night that is. We got there at 11:30 and waited in line for the next 30 minutes and our gate still wasn't open. Now I've never had a problem getting in this gate, but for some reason they decided to lock us out. We were still standing outside after midnight yell started. Finally at about 12:20 we got up to the first deck, where Robert and his E2 buddies had some seats saved for us. However, all the dummies on first deck decided to stand in the aisle, preventing anyone from exiting or entering the section. Then...someone dropped the ball and turned the lights out, so I figured it was time to mug down, signaling the end of midnight yell, but it wasn't yet, someone had just jumped the gun. So there I was, standing by the stairs to go up to the seats, behind the big concrete wall, unable to hear anything and pretty fed up with things. So I decided to go home. So that's what we did.

Skipping back ahead to Sunday, we went to early service so we could go and support our other volleyball team, Tulane at 1. It was a good time, we modified some yells to fit them, Roll Wave! Again, sadly we had to leave early and we lost. After growth groups, I followed suit of the rest of my weekend and was a complete bum. I had a plan at the beginning of Friday to do some major reading this weekend. That didn't happen...but I did get to watch Mean Girls. As Sunday night wore on, we were reminded that today was Talk Like a Pirate Day, so Kevin, Nick and I sang together to celebrate and then sang our song to Chelsea. Nick and I soon decided that we were going to need to record this song together as C4 to share with the world. Since we'd been bothering our sleeping roommate Clinton for the past hour, we decided to take my laptop to our recording studio in Nick's 4 Runner. "I'm a pirate, that's for real. My recording studio is an automobile!" If you listen to our song, you'll notice parts where there's a slight chuckle in my voice. The reason? Our neighbor pulled up in their car, noticed the 4 Runner's lights were on and were waiting for us to leave so they could have our parking place. I guess they then saw we were sitting in the backseat and backed up and found a spot on the other side of the full parking lot. I'm sure they know what cool guys they live above... And if they don't, I'm sure Penny brags about what a stinkin' awesome boyfriend she has to everyone that lives up there.

I did my part at work to spread the pirate cheer. Nick asked me upon leaving for work today if I was going to talk like a pirate at work since it would be unacceptable for him to do so at Bennigans. "Aye," I answered, "Do ye be knowing where I work or the scurvy dogs I work with? It won't be seen as weird behavior...I promise." What a grand holiday. Big Ups To Tiffany for following in my footsteps and being published in mail call. She wrote about having quizzes or tests on Ring Day, maybe my tsip prof will read it and change her mind about my test...doubtful. Check it Out: Professors Shouldn't Give Quizzes On Ring Day.

Pulled tickets this morning, 2nd deck, row 26 or so...50 yard line, decent seats. But we couldn't sit with Gimpy Gage since there's a limit of how many people can accompany her to the handicap section. Poor Gage... Then it was the first Monday FMBWC. Peyton joined Clinton, Matt, and I. Matt earned honors for most improved on the grill, I was told I needed improvement in my attitude. It's pirate day, there's no time for manners.

Arrr...that be the end of the post today. Let me know if you would like to hear our pirate tune, it's gotten grea....well it's gotten feedback. And most of that feedback is simply, "Oh wow..."

3 Days till I get my ring...Whoop!!

Smells Like Aggie Spirit

The tent sales are going strong, the traffic on Texas is unbearable, an abundance of old folks are bustling around campus, and there's a sense of anticipation in the air. That can only mean one thing, Football in Aggieland. The first home game is less than 24 hours away, it's going to be nice getting back into Kyle (especially in my nice 2nd-deck-45-yard-line-under-the-overhang seat) and joining with all the other Aggies in yelling for our team. SMU should provide a nice rebound for us since that disappointing Clemson game. But first thing's first. There's plenty going on tonight. First, a 5:15 dinner at Rumours before the volleyball game. Then we'll head over to G Rollie and get our special "Party on the Patio" seats above the masses. Sadly I won't be able to stay for the whole game because it overlaps with First Yell. This year First Yell features Bill Engvall, it should be decent. He's no Bill Cosby though. I'll probably end up being a little late to that, which means I'll most likely miss the choirs and percussion studio...as if I haven't seen them 88 times anyway. Then afterwards, it's midnight yell. My favorite tradition of all. Then after a short night of sleep, it's Aggie Football time! I love gameday weekends! Whoop!

But before the weekend begins, I must endure work. It's just me and Justin today, so it shouldnt be bad. But before today came, I had to endure another day of classes, and another day with my tsip prof. Tuesday, we had an arguement...debate I suppose in class about whether or not Bush was at fault for the situation in New Orleans. According to my prof and the hippie in my class, America is Bush's company and he should know everything that's going on and take care of every aspect. He didn't instill enough sense of emergency in New Orleans before the evacuation... They compared this to the Enron situation being the CEO's fault. I argued that the CEO of Enron only had Enron to focus on, he should have been aware, but America is a big company for Bush to be in control of all aspects, that's why we have more government than just president and the evacuation problems were the fault of someone lower like Governor or Mayor. They just wouldn't agree, but time expired in class. Anyway, yesterday I returned to class and the hippie boy in my class was given the floor by t sip prof. He told the class that he went home Tuesday and was watching the news and I quote, "George Bush took full responsibility for Hurricane Katrina." I told the kid that was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard, Bush is not at fault for the natural disaster. Another girl across the class began arguing with him too, but he wouldn't have it and my prof squashed our efforts and began into class. So I had to turn to my friend Jason and ask him if that guy was serious, "Yeah...that whole hurricane thing. That's my bad." He replies in his W voice, "My bad, that low system front was my doing. Sorry guys." But that is honestly what this dude was trying to convince us. I did realize though that since most people here thing W is God, he may actually be at fault for the hurricane...

In other news, FMBWC is in its trial state of FMBWCEFPWWIIM (Friday Morning Breakfast With Chris Except For Pull Week When It Is Monday). An overwhelming majority passed a 2 week trial starting Monday for FMBWC to be after we pull tickets at 7 on Monday mornings the week of a home game. We'll see how it goes for the next 2 weeks when we have Texas State and Baylor at home. FMBWC went on today though and it was delightful, we welcomed Mary Beth, one of the few girls that have ever attended.

Photographic Friday! I made this the other night with some pictures of Nick because I'd never used some Animation program I had and wanted to. So here you go, though I'm sure most of you have already seen this. It was ugly because of the black background, so I couldn't post it on here, so you have to click here to see it: Cheer Nick, Cheer!

Class Complaints

Yes, I was well recognized from the Batt yesterday, many people commented to me. And there was no argument published today. Peyton had his response ready for anyone who disagreed with my opinion, but it was unneccesary. Not a whole lot happened today. Robin is the best boss ever and got us pizza for lunch. She loves us. Tiffany talked all day about her cute new puppy, Maggie. She loves her.

Yesterday was the first small group in growth groups. I had 4 guys show up, they seem to be awesome guys. I'm very excited about this semester and getting to know them. Today I have my first test...and probably the first test on the entire A&M campus. Who has a test this early in the semester? Ah well. the prof I'm really fed up with is my other MGMT prof, the t sip... You cant imply anything good about George W in her class... I called her out yesterday after she gave us some wrong info, another girl agreed with me, but she still wouldn't believe that she was wrong about anything, even after I read it straight from the book, the response I got is, "moving on..." The woman didn't know what Ring Day was and wasnt too concerned that our test was scheduled on the day I get my Aggie Ring. Stupid sip... Well, I'm going to put some more time into studying for this test...

Fish Spurs and Mail Call

A short entry for today. I am very pro-fish spurs for the SMU game. For those of you that have been asking about the fish spurs on campus, let me explain. In recent days, the fish in corps have made their bottle cap "fish spurs" and worn them the week before the Texas Tech (ugh) game. But the reason they're wearing them this week goes back to old army days. Back in SWC days, when SMU was in our conference, the yearly tradition was to wear the fish spurs the week before our matchup with them to show we were going to "spur those Mustangs." Since the SWC disolved, we rarely play SMU, so we swapped the tradition for a new in state competitor, Texas Tech, since we play them every year. Since we're playing SMU this year, I like the throw back and was excited to see the old, good-bull tradition resurected.

Next business. Who is this very knowledgable guy published in the mail call? I like the way he thinks. Soccer Atmosphere Must Be Kept Unique. It seems they edited out "Aggie Soccer Hooligan" from under my name. If the SBP writes in, they include his position in the mail call(Jim Carlson, Student Body President, Class of 2005). But they don't include my position...officiall Aggie Soccer Hooligan... Disappointing. they also failed to include, "Kick '08ers in the face." Ah well, I hope I got my point across. Time for brunch.

Bartok the Fish

It was good to be back in the Aggie Soccer Complex, aside from a few 08ers who don't know anything about Aggie Soccer... Hopefully the Batt will publish my mail call tomorrow. But we won, 3-0, another shut out. After the game, I sat Keaton down and had a talk to him about reinstituting "Dance Party" at Soccer Games, he wasn't as supportive as I hoped. We also got an audience with Coach Blair and Jonathan Lusk, then of course we talked to all soccer players and collected their autographs on the new soccer poster. I never realized how many of them are Marketing majors, whoop!

The rest of my weekend pretty much focused primarily around Football. Several good games, way to go Clemson, make us look better... Sunday came around and I had no idea the Panthers' game was going to be televised, so I got home from lunch at the beginning of the 4th quarter, kind of upset that I missed probably the one Carolina game a year that Fox televises. I realized it was televised because their opponent was the New Orleans Saints. So pretty much the whole country was united behind the Saints, except for me. And then FOX ruined my day by taking the Panthers game off with 30 seconds left, as New Orleans was about to set up for the game winning Field Goal to put on the stupid Cowboys... Thanks a lot. New Orleans went on to win, making everyone in the nation happy...

Nick and I went and studied in my study place, the skywalk in the MSC. There were a lot of band nerds having a meeting up there, not even the FTAB, some lame, non-reg band group. We wanted to infiltrate and take their ice cream, but we were definately too cool looking and lacking the instruments neccesary to fit in. So we just studied until they left at which point it was time for a study break. A race across the skywalk was in order I decided. We lined up, said, "Go" and began the race. It was a dead heat heading into the midpoint of the race, but then I saw a shoe fly out in front of me. It had come off of Nick's foot, I quickly jumped it and continued down the hall. I turned back just in time to watch Nick collapse to the ground. I finished the race before turning around to laugh at my fallen roommate. We went back to studying and soon some more people decided ot have a race down part of the hall, except this race was a log rolling race. The rolled down the ramp into the hallway. They seemed embarassed when they saw us, but I told them that we had just raced and assured them that, "There is a lot of physical activity that goes on in this hall."

And Merriam has a fish named Bartok... She wanted to announce it to the world. Merriam comes to hang out with us at work, the Teague building is becoming the cool place to be. Come by and visit, we'll give you a cookie.

In Full Swing

School is officially in full swing with the first "Friday Morning Breakfast With Chris" of the year! 8AM, Friday Mornings at Sbisa, I know it's early, that's a big hinderence against more people showing up. Today it was three, but we are the most loyal FMBWCers around. The second thing that today should mark is the reuniting of all the Aggie Soccer Hooligans for tonight's game. But Clinton decided to go camping instead. Still, the remaining Hooligans will be assembling at 6PM at the soccer field. The game starts at 7, but we are Hooligans after all, getting there an hour early is a must. Especially with the recent crowds... If anyone wants to join us, you know where we'll be. It's the East Carolina Pirates that we are hosting tonight by the way and the pirate is ASH's official mascot. Thirdly, Clinton pointed out that I'm a senior now and have to pull football tickets on Monday morning! So whoever wants to pull with us, let us know. The first home game is fast approaching! Whoop!

I'm glad A&M stepped up to house so many students displaced by Katrina and now 4 of the sports teams from Tulane (Women's Soccer, Women's Volleyball, Women's Swimming and Diving, and Men's Basketball). With the shortage of home soccer game's this year, I'm definately looking forward to supporting Tulane there, as well as the other sports. The Hooligans will definately give them some sort of homefield advantage, even here in Aggieland. Roll Wave.

That's all I got, not a whole lot else to say unless you want to hear my rant about Ms. Talksalot in my MGMT class. But I won't do that, I'm trying to keep these things shorter, it's fall yall have enough reading to do for school and such.

Pop Quiz

I'm not enjoying most of my classes. Two quizzes, two poor grades. They're a lot rougher than I thought they'd be. Aside from my Teachers Pet class, I'm still liking that one. I'm also very disappointed with the lack of comments on here. Slackers.

Well, I went to my new class for the first time Monday afternoon and I was introduced to the class by the following scene:
The professor asks someone to summarize what was discussed in the previous class on Wednesday. No hands go up. "Ok then, does anyone have any questions?" The hands remain down. "Alright," he says, "everyone put your notebooks away and clear off your desk..." Groans fill the class room. I look over at Nick and Janette who are also in this class for the very first time. Finally I raise my hand. Without waiting for him to call on me, I say, "Hey...this is a quiz isn't it?" The class breaks into laughter and is joined by the professor, "Yeah...I can tell you're going to do very well in this class." Perhaps I'd chosen the wrong words. I delicately word my next phrase, "I sincerely hope that I do not have to take this quiz as this is my first time in the class..." The professor tellsme that I could have looked at the sylabus on the internet and known to read Chapter One. Pretty impossible sinceI don't even have the book. Again I choose my words carefully, "Well...that sucks." He agrees. I go on to fail the quiz. After class I ask the other students about it and they said it was questions straight out of last week's lecture. I cry unfair. No one seems to care. Why should they, I'm the class joke. Needless to say I'm not looking forward to that class, but at least it's interesting. My 8AM Marketing class is vrey dry, my professor says a lot, but really says nothing. The next class is nobody's favorite. The professor says a lot, and really says a lot. And any class participation is taken over by Ms. Talks A Lot who everyone grumbles about after class.

Jimi the Llama was stolen from my house Monday night. The thief wrote her ransom demands on the dry erase board. She wanted 2 orders of fried pickles delivered to an address which so happened to be MB's residence. We identified her as the culprit and sprang into action. We reminded her that we do not make deals with terrorists, we terrorize them. Many threats were made and she was ready to give the llama back before I even left work. We turned the tables on her and gave her a deadline of 9PM and told her she'd better arrive with some pickle chips and the llama. But for some reason, the llama disappeared from her house. Through some scheming of our own, the llama was returned safely to our house. MB did not know about the disappearance and therefore thought she lost the llama. So, as the 9PM hour approached, we maintained our threats and deadline as she tore her house apart looking for Jimi. A scheme was crafted as a forerunner of a first attack. We were going to do a minor attack to remind her of the wrath that was to come for stealing Jimi. With a little bit of expired food from the fridge and some creativity I made the following threat which was stuck to the door. On a sausage link I wrote, "Hey you little weenies" followed by "you DONUT want to mess with Jimi," tacked to some bagels. The next note was written on an old hamburger patty, "unless you want beef with us," then on some Kiwi, "you will reap the fruits of your actions" which was attached to some kiwi. The last note that was taped on the door read, "This is not even our first attack. Just letting you know what's to come." Another hamburger was adhered to the door by some cheese and a kiwi was smashed onto the door handle. All in all it was a pretty big mess. After having to clean this up (sorry Audra, Kelly, and Lisa), MB went into a complete panic. I told her brownies and Jimi would suffice, so she baked the brownies and delivered them. We asked her where Jimi was and her lip quivered as she lied and said she'd go get him. I told her that Clinton was in her house right now looking for him. Mary Beth told us that we were being mean, so I reminded her that she started it and we had not even begun yet. Nick and I ate the brownies as we "waited for the call." Clinton was of course in bed, we gave her quite a bit more grief until finally, Karen made me tell her the truth. MB learned that she should not mess with us, I encourage y'all to realize the same.

My days are getting more busy. I was home only for a very brief time yesterday between the hours of 730AM- 1130PM. And the time I was home was spent napping. Tuesdays are going to be hectic with Class all day, Growth Groups, Breakaway and the monthly Silvertaps. I recieved more information about the Katrina Student Mentor program. If anyone is interested in helping out some of the students that are here from Louisiana (I have 2 in one of my classes from Tulane. And I saw the Tulane Volleyball team wandering around the MSC today) go to this website: arc.tamu.edu. ARC is sponsoring this program, I was part of ARC my freshman year, so that's cool. Tiffany and I have already applied, I encourage you to do the same if you have the desire and time to.

Alright, now I'm going to read so I don't look like a big dummy in class again.

"Hurricane People"

Not a whole lot to be said about this past weekend. At least volleyball team is good. We get to sit up in the Party Patio for this next game thanks to Matthew "Love" Rackar. I haven't lost all hope in football and soccer, although I didn't get to see the loss and the tie the girls had in Michigan this weekend. I'm still confident that Reggie and the Ags can finish with a successful year and a possible Big XII championship. It just wasn't too fun watching the poorly executed game at Clemson this weekend.

Anyway, Mrs. C came in last night and took all of her kids (Nick, MB, Audra and I) out ot IHOP at like midnight. We figured it was a good time to grab some grub. So I didn't get the homework I would have liked to get done finished, but that's what work time is for (and yet I'm blogging...). I did get to spend all morning at Beutal with Gage though (actually not with Gage, they mainly confined me to the hallway), so I got some good time in with my Marketing Research textbook that I haven't paid attention to. Not much else going on except I hate what they've done to the Commons.

Upon walking into the SCC this morning, we saw some girls approach a worker and tell her that they were "hurricane people" and needed to register. Them calling themselves hurricane people made us sad. So we talked to our friend Cynthia, the lab supervisor and after telling us some of the sad stories she'd heard, she sent us upstairs. We wanted to give everyone hugs, but instead we watched all the students register, sign up for financial aid, find housing, basically the whole process of enrolling at A&M. We asked some students where they were from. There were a lot of colleges represented up there, very sad that they were displaced from their lives and now have to go here for at least a year. We need to get some students over to them to explain to them all the "weird Aggie stuff." I know they're gonna be frightened by the corps boys and all of our traditions. We're accepting 1000 students and I heard about a program that's buddying Aggies up with a hurricane student. I tried to find more information out upstairs, but no one knew about it. I'm sure by tomorrow, I'll have some kind of information. Both Tiffany and I are very interested in doing that program and at least trying to make them feel a little more at home. Well, I guess I'm going to go write my paper now. I work till 5, then I'll be going to our brand new MGMT 466 class. I hope it's all it's supposed to be.

Go For Two

If you get a touchdown putting you up by a point in the last minutes of a game, you go for two. If you get it, you'll be ahead by a FG, if you miss, you'll still be up by 1. If you make an extra point, you'll be up by 2, which does you no more good at this point than being up by 1. Go for 2, get the tie. Go for 1, lose to Clemson...

A Story from LSU

I found this tonight. Quite a read. That's all...
Behind the Scenes: Katrina aftermath hits LSU hard

Warrick "dunn" good

"Happy Birthday Tiffany!" That's what the sign above my desk says. That's why there are 2 types of cake on the table. Seems like she's having a pretty good birthday. I'd hope so. After the celebration at Harry's, I went home to sleep. I've had bouts with my insomnia again recently. Not too fun. Last night it was after 4:30 before I finally fell asleep. A call at 8 this morning woke me back up and kept me from ever falling back asleep. Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty drowsy this morning. I got no time to nap though. I'm working till 5 this evening, then it's time for some volleyball. And also, Penny and my 2 Monthaversary, I hope she's up for some Aggie Sports...

Mainly though, I am pumped that our first football game is Tomorrow! Finally! I can't wait, A&M - Clemson is going to be one of the best games of this first week of College Football. We're going to surprise some people this year. I know it. The party's going to be at Justin's house tomorrow. After a couple of volleyball games, we're heading over there. I can't wait. I don't imagine sleeping is going to be any easier tonight...

And I can't close out this week without mentioning Hurricane Katrina. I can't believe some of the stuff I'm seeing on tv. In the time people should be uniting, they're fighting. Some of the pictures I've seen makes New Orleans look like a third world country. With the disease and hunger and violence their facing, it's just unimaginable. This is the worst disaster in my life time. They're our neighbors, if you can find a way to help, do it. Some guys on campus are trying to organize some efforts to get donations at the SMU game. It may be similar to the Red, White, and Blue Out from 2001. I'll let you know as information surfaces, there's a meeting on Monday night about it, I'm going to try to make it if my late class doesn't interfere. And I'd like to salute Warrick Dunn, runningback for the Atlanta Falcons. He has a foundation for building houses for single mothers in Baton Rouge. Well, he is so distraught by the situation in Louisiana, he's stepped up and challenged every NFL player (except the Saints) to donate at least $5000 to relief efforts. He said the Flacons had already committed to $260,000. If his goal is met, the NFL players will be able to get together $8.2 million. With so many NFL "role models" making the news because of their negative on and off field behavior, it's good that there are still guys like Warrick Dunn in the spotlight. I say take TO's $50 million contract and donate it all...

No photographs for Photograph Friday, I was trying to get pictures from someone of the snow the other day, but they never got sent to me. I'll see what I can do about that, they may be up later. Hope everyone has a terrific weekend, Gig 'Em Aggies, and keep coastal Louisiana in your prayers.

The Horror of MGMT 466

So it's Thursday and I'm posting. Yeah, I'm at home, but what else am I going to do? I don't have class again till Monday evening, so studying's out of the question. So before it's time for the super slammin birthday bash for Tiffany and Gage, I decided I'll blog a little.

I went to MGMT 466 yesterday, expecting the class to prove itself not as hard as I imagined it to be. But alas, I was not imagining. Class began and the professor went into a crazy lecture, spouting off random facts and definitions. I could not find any sort of connection between each sentence he said. The professor seems very smart and it seems his supply of knowledge is never ending. But for some reason, he picked yesterday to be the day he shared all of his knowledge with us. So as he jumped from topic to topic, I stopped trying to take notes and scribbled on my paper to pretend I knew what was going on. I was not alone. Nick was sitting to the left of me, he had finished playing some sort of invented solitaire Connect Four in his notes and was now staring blankly, with his jaw slightly open, at his notebook. The rest of the class also resembled some sort of Wehner High zombie. After class, I asked some girls in the hall if they knew what was going on in that class. "No," the agreed, "I tried to take notes, but he jumped around, so it was impossible." I told them that I had been in classes before that I hadn't understood the concepts or known how to do something, but this was the first time I've ever been in a class and not understood at all what was going on. We all agreed. I had talked to, Janette and Claudio, a couple of coworkers who had MGMT 466 with different professors and they both said it was going to be a piece of cake. Claudio said his prof played music in class and was going to focus his lessons around the music industry (sweet!) and he let them out of class early so he could go do his Fantasy Football draft (my kind of guy). So as we trekked back to the West Campus Garage, Nick and I agreed to check for openings in the 5:45-7:00PM MW class and if there were 2, we'd take them. Well, we arrived home and there were 3, so we took them. I found out today that the third slot was actually taken by Janette.

After that, itw as time for some fun in the snow. Gage, Tiffany, my roomies and I went out to Mt. Aggie where several inches of snow had accumulated (thanks to a snow machine) and we sled down several times. I must admit that it was the first time I've sweated while sledding in the snow. After the fun, we proceeded to Rumours for dinner. The guy in line in front of me looked very familiar and I tried to figure out where I had seen him. "Who is this guy? I know I've seen him in the past two days. I feel like I should know him," I mouthed to Nick. He just shrugged. Finally I looked at the guy who had turned in my direction and began, "Hey, you look famil...."
"Chris, right?" He interupted.
"Yeah..." I said. Crap, he knows my name, I always feel so bad when I forget people's names.
"Yeah, you're in my Marketing class. Dr. Busch called on you enough in class, everyone knows your name," he admitted.
Ah, my reputation as teacher's pet proceeds me. I laughed and began chatting with him. He told me he was the guy in class that during introductions, said he wanted to grow his beard out all semester and have the longest beard in class. I remembered him now. He told me that he was having second thoughts though, he rubbed the hair on his face. (I saw him in class today, he shaved it all off. He used to be "beard guy" to me, now he had nothing. At least I was still "teachers pet.") Our topic of conversation strayed from facial hair and I learned that he was just coming from the MGMT 466 class that Nick and I would be in now. He agreed that it was an easy class and he winced as I spoke about our unpleasant experiences in the 4:10 class. I got my food and told him I'd see him later. I'm looking forward to this new class. These kids better appreciate how good they have it. I've seen the other side and it's not pretty...