Ohio State defeats Purdue (Part II)

As promised last night, here is part two of this post. The Boilermakers put up a good fight, especially in the first half, but the Buckeye's heralded freshman class prevailed in the second half. Purdue hung around within 10 points most of the game, and the game was played closer than the 18-point final margin. As an added bonus, Indiana beat Wisconsin tonight allowing the Buckeyes to move into a tie for first place in the Big Ten.

I was a little surprised that the game didn't sell out. I'm sure that more Buckeye fans would have made the trip had the game been on a Saturday. I bought the tickets like 6 weeks ago thinking the game might sell out..... I didn't want to miss out on seeing Ohio State when they came to town. It was great to have my sister from Indy come up for the game as well.

Ohio State defeats Purdue (Part I)

Last night I had the pleasure of watching the #5 ranked Ohio State lady Buckeyes defeat Purdue... along with Alfred, Annie, and SooAnn. Besides the exciting Buckeye victory, a highlight of the evening was stepping outside of the arena to find it snowing. Annie got sooooo excited, snow is still a brand new experience for her. I also had the privilege of throwing a snowball at Alfred, a first for him. Actually it was more of a loose wad of snow, since it wasn't very sticky, but I think it counts. Stay tuned for "Ohio State defeats Purdue (Part II)"... coming up after the men's game Wednesday evening.

Be sure to check out the post below. This was a two-post evening for me.

Thanks for signing in....

Thank you everyone who answered the roll call. Although I did not quite reach the 30+ comments that M.Kate and GKnee have achieved recently, 28 was not too far off. (Not that this is some kind of competition or anything). And as an added bonus, I learned a lot about the saran-wrapping incident. Near as I can figure, based on the responses, here is what happened last Saturday evening:
1) The birthday party for Dana ends at around 8:15 PM. Very early compared to the late-night party the night before, but commendable since everyone obviously wanted to get home early so as to be well-rested for church on Sunday.
2) Abby, out of the kindness of her heart, decides to return the balloons that Eric and I helped inflate for the party earlier that day. So she drives over to our place, opens Eric's minivan with the key she posesses, and returns many of the balloons to the vehicle. (I'm not sure why she did not also return the streamers we helped hang up... perhaps because of #3).
3) Meanwhile, while she is placing the balloons in Eric's vehicle, she is scared off by another vehicle pulling in the driveway and hurries away, forgetting to lock the door.
4) Inside this vehicle is a group of guys coming from playing pool at the Union. Their plan all evening was to saran-wrap Eric's Noni-van and my car, as evidenced by Lee's "forgetting" to call me and Eric to invite us to play pool. An added bonus was that they found Eric's vehicle unlocked and could saran-wrap the inside.

I would like to thank all of the commenters for helping to clarify the events of the evening. I apologize profusely from the bottom of my heart for falsely accusing the ladies. And I feel horrible about the "electronic tissue" comment. How insensitive of me.

Roll Call

After seeing the success of GKnee's roll-call, I've decided to do one of my own. In addition to indicating that you have read this post... please also indicate whether or not you had anything to do with (or have any pertinent information regarding) the saran-wrapping of my car last evening. I have a pretty good idea of who reads my blog, so any of you that do not respond in a timely fashion will be presumed guilty. :) (M.E., Wendles, Gknee, Jodi, Dana, Abby.... you are at the top of the list) Retribution will be swift and just.

My Nephew

Here are a couple of photos of my nephew, Calix, taken around Christmas. I'm pleased to see him reading and playing the piano, a couple of activities that I really enjoy. And, as you can see, his reading is quite advanced for his age. This was not a staged photo... I had given him a little Golden Book as a gift, but then the next time I turn around he was standing there reading Reader's Digest!

Speaking of the piano, I've recently started practicing again after a long, long, long, long hiatus. This was spurred on by a man I met out in Utah last week. Every evening, he went and found a piano at Utah State University to practice on. He was not getting ready for any performance or anything, but just enjoyed playing classical music. So I got to thinking that if he went to so much trouble to practice while on a business trip, what is my excuse for walking by my digital piano multiple times every day without touching it? So, I've gotten out some of the classical music I used to play and am amazed how quickly it comes back. Our brains are truly amazing creations... how connections with my fingers I haven't used in so long still seem to be there, just waiting for me to open up the music book and start to play.... even if it is rusty the first few times through. I was thinking yesterday about how amazing modern computers are.... and yet the human brain that God has created is so much, much, much more powerful. It is truly awe-inspiring.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy playing the piano and how relaxing it can be. Playing has also brought back memories of my much younger years and the house I grew up in where I first learned these songs. Have you ever lost interest in or stopped doing something you enjoy, and forgotten how much you enjoyed it?

Well, it is getting late. I think I will go play a few notes and read a few pages before getting some rest.

West Side Lunch

Here are a couple of photos from today's "West Side Lunch" at the Parthenon. The highlight was having my co-worker from India, Alfred, and his wife of less than a month, Seema, join the gang. Thanks GKnee for organizing these lunches!

Lunch at the Partnenon reminded me of a family camping vacation many years ago when we visited the Parthenon in Nashville, TN (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon_(Nashville)). On that trip, we also went to Opryland, watched the Grand Ole Opry from the nose-bleed seats, and walked through the lovely atrium of the Opryland Hotel. I was probably around 11 at the time. I distinctly remember a girl about my age waving at me from one of the balconys overlooking the atrium... although the friends I was walking around with all said the same thing. I guess I will never know...

I'm thankful for all the good times that we had as a family on these vacations and for all the neat places (historical and otherwise) we saw.... Though I don't suppose that my appreciation always showed too well on some of the tours....

Colts Win!!!!

I returned home a few minutes ago from watching the Colts win in the AFC Championship game with a group from the Career class ABF. A fun time was had by all. The evening started out eerily similarly to the Ohio State game a couple of weeks ago, with the Colts falling behind 21-3 in the first half. But then the Colts started their comeback with a field goal just before halftime which gave the group a glimmer of hope. And then came the second half comeback and very exciting finish!!! Thanks Abby for opening up your place for the party!!!

Next up will be the I-65 Super Bowl in a couple of weeks.... I'm sure things will be interesting here in the Lafayette area with lots of fans for both the Bears and the Colts. I imagine it will be something like the rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees that I experienced while living in Connecticut!

Comet McNaught

Check out www.spaceweather.com for some great photos of Comet McNaught! These photos are almost enough to make me buy tickets to somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere (Australia would be great!). This is the brightest comet in my lifetime so far! It was visible from the Northern Hemisphere before last weekend, but the info I got was always a day or two old so I never saw it. It was even visible during the daytime last weekend, but I didn't find that out until it was too late. So, I'll have to settle for enjoying the photos from down under.

I remember seeing Comet Hyakutake and Comet Hale-Bopp back in the mid-90's. Hale-Bopp was especially awe-inspiring and it hung around for several weeks. That must have been 1996 or 1997, since I was just starting grad-school at Penn State.

I'm off to Indy tomorrow for a Christmas gathering with my mom's side of the family. Last Saturday was Christmas with my dad's side of the family in Fort Wayne. We're really stretching out Christmas! It's great to be able to see relatives a lot more often now that I'm living back in the Midwest!

GO COLTS!!!! and GO BEARS!!!!

Cache Valley Utah

Yesterday I traveled to Logan, Utah, to attend some training for work. The 1.5 hour drive from Salt Lake City to Logan was very enjoyable with snow-covered mountains in view the entire way. Logan itself is located in Cache Valley and there are mountains (up to about 9000') in all directions. The shuttle driver even stopped along the road for a minute at one of the most scenic spots so I could take some photos. I definitely need to come back to this part of the country some day when I have more time to travel around and give my camera some good use taking photos of God's creation.

After such unusually mild winter weather in Indiana for the past month, the -5 F temperature this morning was invigorating. It was a sunny day with calm wind so it didn't feel super cold. And it's nice to see some snow on the ground.

The training today was interesting and will be helpful for my job. There are about 10 people in the class from places ranging from Long Island, NY, to South Dakota to just down the road. It was fun to talk to them and learn more about their various parts of the country and different lines of work. The company took us out to a very tasty 2-hour lunch at a nice place. I got the Cajun Shrimp Alfredo pasta. I don't think the break will be quite as long tomorrow, though, since I think we are a little behind where the instructors want us to be in the training.

My first blog

Well, after a few weeks of contemplating entering the world of the blog, I have finally set mine up. Unfortunately, I don't have anything profound to say at the moment.... except that (in the words of Eric) "sleep is good." More posts to follow soon....