Real American

It is almost Halloween and I hope everyone knows what they are going to be and how they are going to celebrate. I am pretty excited about it, I love Halloween. I will hang a scarecrow called Craig, carve a pumpkin, and I already got a skull for the entertainment center. I am growing out the goatee so I can pull off Hulk Hogan as well as the young gentleman above. Throughout his wrestling career, Hulk taught that we should all be real Americans (you WWF fans know what I'm talking about and while you don't need this link, you will enjoy it). Richard Zerhinger deserves some credit too of course for helping Hulk spread this message. Now I'm spreading it to you-be a real American. Eat an entire pizza. Complain about taxes. Watch a war movie. Play X-box or Wii. Lie to your boss about being sick and go golfing (men) or shopping (women). I know I will.

Hate (I really don't like you)

Craig Thompson has forever cemented his place on my hate list. For all you Direct-TV users out there please be advised that you will be unable to watch a top 10 college football team Saturday as result of his ignorance, greed, idiocy, dim-wittedness, and just plain stupidity. And most TV users in general will be unable to watch 3 top 25 teams all season. I suggest everyone do what my roommates and I did a few years ago to effect change in the 2004 AL championship series. Make a scarecrow (use wadded paper instead of straw if you must as we did), name it Craig, and hang him from the rafters. I lament that we did't burn Derek (Jeter of the NY Yankees), this year I will most certinly burn Craig-and I hope you do so as well. When talking about your project and pointing out your effigy, always use first name only-it further debases him. Craig, hate is a strong word, but I really, really, really don't like you.

Movin' Out

I had a hard time deciding what to title this post. Billy Joel wrote and sang about my physical situation (see post title above) and Leonard Cohen wrote and sang about my emotional state (in his hit song 'Hallelujah'). That's right, I moved out of my parent's house into a new place about 5 miles away. It's a 2 br apartment and my roommate is moving in this weekend. He's a recent BYU grad who's looking for a place to live in the area so he doesn't have to live with his parents. It's so nice just to be able to have my own place and space. I always felt somewhat cloistered and like someone was also looking over my shoulder (even if they weren't). I feel like shouting "Hallelujah." My parents should be okay for a little while as my brother's family are back in the basement until they can move into the home they just bought in 2 or 3 weeks; after that I expect a complete meltdown.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Last weekend my dad and I flew to Dallas and watched BYU beat OU at the new Dallas stadium-it was awesome. Let me tell you all about it.

We drove 2 1/2 hours to Spokane before we even got on the airplane, but we saved $100 on tickets so I guess it was worth it. We took Frontier, and now I love Frontier! They had little TVs in each seat like you get on big or international flights, and to further add to my delight the complimentary beverage service was made up of Pepsi products. Instead of forcing barqs or sprite or coke down my gullet, it seemed as if I were at Mt. Olympus drinking the nectar of the Gods with Zeus himself. I felt like echoing the immortal words of Jimmy Page, "Valhalla I am coming."

We had a layover in Denver and went to a Mexican restaurant where I received by far the worst service from the waitstaff that I have ever received. We had to seat ourselves and get our own menus. Our water was never refilled and the waitstaff stood in the corner and chatted noisily most of the time while we were staring at them waiting for our menus, water, food, check, and change. My dad gave them a 50 cent tip, and he way over tipped. After the food fiasco we found our gate, scanned the crowd waiting for the flight, and immediately saw a bunch of BYU fans from Salt Lake there on a layover on their way to the game (there were dozens of us).

Once we got to Dallas we met my uncle and cousins who drove out from Missouri, and drove down to Waco to stay with another cousin. Little did we know that he had just moved into the place and had no furniture. He did have 2 bowls, 2 spoons, 3 cups, milk, cereal, bread, peanut butter, and a can of chili. The next morning we ate breakfast at Denny's and a Texas fan sitting near us cheered us on to victory (University of Texas fans hate OU and visa versa).

We finally got to the stadium, parked 1/2 mile away, and started looking for scalpers (as my cousin from Waco was supposed to buy tickets thought scalping was a better idea). Anyway, we got in with great seats in the BYU cheering section and had a good time. The a/c was on (but it was still hot in there) and the replay screen was amazing. Stretching 60 yrds on either side of the field, it gave one a great look at the action going on below. As most of you know, the game (though sloppy at times) was one heart pounding moment after another. After the game we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and a full recap of the day's events. What a great time!