Game Day in the Husker Nation

I had the opportunity to attend a Nebraska Cornhuskers home football game. Our opponent was Kansas University who tromped us badly the previous season. I do have to admit, it's a completely different experience watching the game on television versus seeing it live. I attended the University of Nebraska and attended a few games as a student, but that was 18 years ago. It was a great experience, and I had an absolute blast. I initially invited my father in law to go, but he said he'd rather just watch it at home to avoid the crowds. Everyone else guilted him into going, and I was very hesitant (and mad) that he was going to ruin the experience. We can both be very stubborn sometimes, and I really just wanted to go by myself. In the end, we both went, and both enjoyed the game. It was a great game, we totally dominated in the first quarter, but then really fell apart in the 2nd, 3rd, and most of the 4th quarter. In fact, I would have bet good money that we were going to lose. However, a renewed surge late in the 4th quarter gave us the lead, but Kansas battled back to send the game into overtime. We prevailed, 39 to 32. Woohoo! Football fans can be quite rowdy. It's funny how they all shout and yell, thinking that the players can actually hear them. I've seen my brother do this dozens of times as he yells obscenities into the TV, thinking that his rantings will actually make a difference. But, it's a way to vent, and a way to "really" get into the game. I'm glad I went. I had a lot of fun. I'd like to attend more games, and perhaps some day I will.

Just a quick snapshot of the Cornhusker stadium flags.

We arrived at the stadium about 75 minutes before kickoff. The crowd is just trickling in.

A shot of the gameplay in action. This was a night game, with a kickoff of 610 pm. It was a beautiful evening, temperatures at kickoff were in the upper 70s, cooling into the upper 60s by the time the game was over.

A picture of the band performing at halftime.

Too Many Socks

As I was getting dressed this morning, it occurred to me that I have to many socks. I was looking for a pair of tan dress socks. I pulled out two socks, hoping they would be a match. No such luck. I continued to pull out 4 more socks, and again, no suck luck. Finally, on the 7th sock, I made a match. Wow, I didn't know I had that many pair of tan dress socks. Hmm. Then, I started fumbling through the remainder of my sock drawer. It's a mess. In fact, there is another pile of socks sitting in a basket that won't even fit in my sock drawer. So, I suppose I need to go through the socks I have, throw out the old socks, and bundle matching socks together. Who would have thought that socks could be so difficult.

Things Happen For a Reason

I was in the basement this evening, playing on the computer. It's my hobby. My wife calls it my mistress. In a way, she's right. Everyone has their thing, and mine just happens to be computers and surfing the Internet. Tonight was no different. I wasn't doing anything important, just putzing, trying to download the latest political cartoon from our local senate campaign.

While surfing, I heard a loud buzz, then immediately began to smell something burning. Being surrounded by 2 computers, 2 monitors, 2 printers, a scanner, 2 TVs, a VCR, and a stereo, I didn't know which electrical component to check first. I smelled each one, but couldn't find the offending unit. I then looked up at the fluorescent lights overhead. I had a 4' tube light installed above the desk, and thought maybe it had popped. No, it was fine. I checked the other fluorescent lights, and sure enough, one of the 15 watt CF bulbs had burned out. It's kind of scary really, the transformer was incredibly hot, and the plastic around the glass was literally melting. Yikes. I quickly turned off the circuit, and unplugged the bulb. Crisis prevented.

I wonder what would have happened had I not been sitting here in the basement to catch that? Would the house have caught fire? Would the plastic have melted to a sticky pile of goo and that would have been it? Thankfully, we'll never know. But, I've come to learn over the previous few years that everything happens for a reason. I don't really attribute that to a higher power, but just that a particular course of events can all be tied to a single moment in time. Was I supposed to be in the basement to avert a potential disaster? Perhaps.

Making a New Commitment

I've been blogging on and off for the previous 3 years. Recently though, I've not been very committed to adding new entries. It seems there is always an excuse or a reason to not blog, and it falls through the cracks. So, I'm making a new commitment to blogging more frequently. Stay tuned.