Mmmmmmmmm...football

April 9, 2008...

That was when the last entry was posted on Weekend in Vegas. Wow, a lot has changed, at least for me, since that time.

Hopefully, life will start to settle down and I can maintain some sense of a routine. Of course, I've probably been saying that for 10 years now.

I was hoping to blog more, but not sure what platform to use. Not that I have anything to say about a particular subject, but occasionally I like to engage in discussions via the world wide web. So, should I use this blog, or start a new one??

Dione Warwick sang, "that's what friends are for" and I must echo her words as i thank you guys for taking time to help us unload the Uhaul. It was an exhausting couple of days and it was refreshing to have familiar faces helping to unpack my junk and by junk I mean furniture, boxes, etc.

Matt, I love that we are already reaping the benefits of living less than 10 miles apart. Larry, I hope work occasionally brings you over, but would love to have you and the family come visit sometime. I know that you won't be able to use the "my friends in town from Wisconsin" card but hopefully we'll be able to hang out in Huntsville soon.

When's the next Boys, uh, I mean, Guys Weekend?

More charts

I think we really needed something new on the front page. These are borrowed/stolen from the AUBurner.

War St. Patty's Day?

Uh, I never knew anything in Auburn to be overly Irish (except Lil' Irelands). But this fresh gear looks pretty cool.

Interesting

Went to a Marquette basketball game today at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. They looked quite good, but they were playing Rutgers, which is at the bottom of the Big East. Anyway, the thing that stuck out was that they sold beer at the game. Not sure why, this just seemed foreign that you could buy alcohol at a college event. Guess it's just because I always had to sneak mine in. What, I didn't just say that.

Nooma Video Premier

If either of you have a facebook account (I am betting you both do), search for Nooma and watch the latest Nooma video called Open. I am continually moved by Rob Bell's messages and perspective. It is only playing for 48 hours, so try to catch it between noon Monday and noon Wednesday.

Juno - 5 out of 5 stars

Jen and I went to see Juno last night. First of all, we went to a Sundance Theater that opened in the last year here in Madison. Apparently the only other one is in San Francisco. It's a very cool atmosphere with a little cafe/restaurant. You can buy beer and wine to take into the movie with you...legally. The theater itself wasn't much better, if at all, but overall, it seemed a little more upscale than the local megaplex.

The movie itself was great. Ellen Page was unbelievable as Juno, almost to good at times as a quick witted 16 year old. Michael Cera was superb as well. However, I think my favorite character was Juno's dad, played by JK Simmons. I'm not saying he's the model for fatherhood, but in a strange way, I thought he was a great representation of what Christianity should look like. People screw up and make mistakes. He wasn't judgmental, he didn't bail, he was there for her and basically treated her the same throughout the whole journey. Anyway, I encourage you to check this flick out if you get the chance.

I blame the Lowe's

Since playing cards with Larry and Amanda back in the summer, we came to enjoy Rex Goliath's Pinot Noir. This is great because a bottle can be purchased from $7 - $9. However, we went out for sushi last night and it was $6.50 per glass. Daaaaang, I gots to get in the wine bizness.

Picture

Where and when was that picture taken. I like it. Phil and I were talking the other night, and we both agreed that another guys weekend is needed. Any thoughts/comments?

Anyone for some hoops?

It's the heart of basketball season, but no outdoor hoops here.



Yes, another snow day for me. You're thinking, that's great, but honestly, the thought of shoveling another 12 - 18" makes my back cringe. I'm debating on watching a movie or grading papers....hmmmmm.

With regards to basketball, tomorrow is actually the last game of the year for the freshman. I'll still have to help out with varsity, but no more planning practices, reviewing game tape, or scouting opponents. Ok, I may have exaggerated some, but I'm pretty burned out. I have a good group of guys, they're just lazy. At the end of semester 3 players made F's, so they are ineligible for the rest of the season. Meaning we've played the last 2 games with 6 players. Anyway, it will be nice to be able to leave school before the sun goes down.

Larry, I was finally able to download the picture from the Mofro show. I'd love to see some pics, here some clips, or at least read a review.

Boner, any stories to share from school?

Still snowing

I promise to stop complaining....when it stops snowing!! It's only February 2. You will probably see me on the news being carried off in a straight-jacket.

Movie rental

Not sure if you've heard of the movie Chalk, but it's an independent film made in the model of Best in Show or Drop Dead Gorgeous. It's painfully funny and many things are true. Boner, you must watch it before next year. Granted you have a lot of class time already, but I think you'll find many of the portrayals accurate. It's a little slow but worth watching. Larry, I'm sure you would also find it quite humorous. Plus Amanda could probably relate.

Global warming?

Without a doubt this has been the worst winter since I've been in WI. People always talk about how it used to be and that winters are so mild now. Well, I can't imagine it being much worse. It seems to be constantly snowing. Still, with all the snow we haven't had a full day off from school. Well, today we got something worse than snow...COLD. It was -34 deg F with the wind chill at 5:30 am this morning. Fortunately they canceled school so I didn't have to go out in it.

Pie Charts Too

Check out the rest here:

Bar Charts Rule

Happy New Year

Okay, so it's only a few days late, but Happy 2008 to everyone. Just wanted to say thanks once again to James for coming down to Atlanta to celebrate Leah's baptism as the Godfather. Hope the hellish return trip was worth it. It was awesome to have you there and we're looking forward to you guys being closer to us very, very soon.

Merry Christmas

Hope to see everyone soon!

Best...Sign...Ever

Not only is this billboard real, it is on the interstate smack dab between Tuscaloosa and Shreveport, where the bammers will be vacationing in late December for the 2nd straight year.

And the search(es) is on

Well, I guess I was the only one who didn't see the Al Borges bloodletting coming. All the message boards and blogs I read (and it's not really that many) had a "yup, this has been in the works for weeks" kind of mentality about it. I think it was a bit odd that they were able to keep it quiet for almost a week. Apparently Tubs let CAB know last week that he wouldn't be retained. My guess (actually stolen from other things I've read) is that it was so Tubs could negotiate a quick hire of the OC from Troy (disciple of the Leach/Mumme spread offense) and CAB could look for another job before the story broke. So that's what it looks like. We'll be running the spread offense in Auburn next year. I sure hope its more of a power spread featuring a strong running game instead of a pass happy, toss it all the field, three yard outs on every play type of spread O (and yes, I've already seen it referred to as the Spread Eagle attack). Here's a few things I don't like/understand about it. Personally I thought it was Tubs who was "calling off the dogs" on offense the last couple of years. After seeing the way CAB liked to spread the ball around and put up gaudy numbers in '04 and '05 I didn't think he would be one to "shut it down" on offense. That definitely seemed more like Tuberville's MO. He is old school, despite the Riverboat Gambler moniker, and loved to win games by running the ball and shutting the other team down. Also, CAB's quote said he understood the situation after talking to Tubs for "about 20 minutes" last week. Again, this makes it all seem so premeditated and underhanded. Tubs knew he was going to go in another direction and it looks to me like he didn't give Borges a chance to explain how he was going to change things for next year, either personnel wise or schematically. I just think that Cox's shortcomings as a quarterback and his injuries are the real reason the offense sputtered so badly at times in the last two seasons. I never wanted to pin the blame on Al.

As for the other coordinator on the Plains...despite the fact that we saw this same things just two weeks ago with Tubs, reports out of Fayetteville are saying that Will "Boom MoFo" Muschamp

will be named the new Head Pig as soon as tomorrow. I had no doubt in my mind when we hired Muschamp last year that he wouldn't be around long. I figured he'd be snapped up as a HC soon. I was just hoping we'd maybe get a couple more years out of him. The interesting thing to see will be if he succeeds in Hogville the next couple of years and Auburn struggles, if Lowder and Co. try and engineer a swap with Tubs heading back to R-Kansas and Will coming back to the Plains. We shall see, we shall see. Okay, I should really be finishing this paper on Plate Tectonics I've been avoided all day. Peace out peeps.

Oh yeah, James. We enjoyed having the wife over for dinner Saturday. It'll be nice next year when that is a weekly occurence. Pack yo bags mister...it's been in the 70s for four straight days!

How's the Bachelor Life JDinz??

You been livin' it up since the little lady headed down South? I'm picturing empty pizza boxes and beer bottles lying around the couch. Maybe even the pillows from your bed on the couch since you've been sleeping there watching ESPN all night. Are you at least remembering to feed the animals? That would be good. Anyway, enjoy the good life my friend.