Saturday, September 30, 2006

Sunrise, Gameday, Traffic, Moving, and Dogster...

I'm in the mood to ramble. Consider yourself warn-ed.

So I was going to post yesterday morning. It was a great morning. I woke up in a good mood, feeling great. The doctor has me doing a new series of exercises for my back (apparently my overly tight hamstrings have something to do with my back pain) and it really seems to be helping. Add to that a cool morning, good coffee, my lovely wife, and a gorgeous morning sky as I drove to work and I was brimming with joy I couldn't wait to share here in the Bell Tower.

Of course, I couldn't remember my password and didn't seem to be receiving the emails that would allow me to reset that password and you got nothing. BUT I'm back, BABY!!! Now that I've discovered what email address I actually created this account with...

Oops.

Moving right along...

Not all of yesterday was pleasant. Many of you will remember how this past January/February involved moving my office off campus. All in all, this was a great thing. Our old building on campus is old, poorly designed, and really just needs a wrecking ball renovation. The new office is great. Clean, free parking, easy access, sturdy... oh, and is not owned but rather leased by the university.

So, yep, you guessed it, we are moving again, this time to a building owned fully by the school. Still off campus, but we get to pay for parking again all the same. Woo-ha.

So Friday a group of us went to assess our new digs and begin planning for the move. But the building was certainly not designed for a bunch of media folks like us. In a former life it housed a bank, since then its been slightly renovated to best accommodate folks who answer email and push paper... and nothing else (read: cubicle hell). On whole, this isn't something we are unable to work with... except the University doesn't want us getting rid of any of there furniture, and in fact we are supposed to PAY to move anything of theirs we don't want out. Can you believe that? WE pay THEM to remove THEIR stuff or just accept all that doesn't work for us and surplus all of the furniture and equipment that does already work for us... Let's just say that negotiations have begun, and the opening offer was NOT impressive...

Did I mention they want us to pay for off-campus parking?

So today was game day. Aggies v. Tech. And the YR's along with the CR's tailgated for Van Taylor and our local candidates. I wasn't sure what to think. I'd never been anywhere near Kyle Field on game day. Add to that how my wife's ankle was sprained a few days ago in disastrous dog-walking incident...

But the day was great. We parked 362 miles from the field and hobbled our way there. Got things set up, waited for the food to arrive, then we all waited another hour for plastic forks and cups to arrive. But it was a great time. The CR's are a fun bunch and the food (C&J's) was worth waiting for. We were expecting the Gov to arrive about 1:30, but I can't say if he did.

Poor Mel, hobbled there with me, but her real pain was in the arriving. That's when I stuck her in a chair with some ice for her ankle and pretty much made her stay there. So, by 12:30, I'd fed her lunch, and force some cake (Tori's and it was yummy) down her throat. I figured it was time to get her home and take proper care of her. Besides, I've met the Gov before. Nice guy. Fairly standard political-type. He has my vote... though I would have liked to ask him about his conditioning regimen. We don't call him Governor Good Hair for nothing.

So all was good until we got the bright idea to go to Target. The game was still on, after all, so the roads would be ideal.... Dumbass. It was the start of the fourth quarter when we left. I was in the back of the store, surveying the newest good t-shirts ("Jack Bauer for President" is my favorite) when I overheard a store employee's walkie-talkie. It was the manager stating in a frightened voice, "Its over. We lost. They are coming." So I grabbed Mel as fast as I could, but I knew it was too late. Long story short, what should have been a 10-minute drive instead took well over 45 minutes. We did see our share of hilarity. Road rage. Brave Tortilla Tech fans dancing and flashing the Raider guns as they drove through miles and miles of angry Aggies, and one young woman who I swear to you had her cell phone surgically grafted to her face. That young woman elicited a few choice words from me of the sort that I don't use EVER.

Okay, safe and sound and that is all. Really, nothing exciting at all to share here. Just felt like rambling for a while. I appreciate you taking the time to listen, or at least skim. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

Oh, one last note. Something I can't really explain. You'll just have to go and look for yourself:

www.dogster.com

The Internet scares me.

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