My Tigers Win Big!

So tonight I watched the big Mizzou vs. Kansas game. AND THE TIGERS WON!!!! The pets and I (Bruce was a work) hunkered down in the living room for the big game. I must admit that all my yelling and screaming made them a little nervous. Every time I let out a yell, they all quickly ran from the room, only to creep back into the room carefully. It's pretty much the reason that I don't watch too much football, because I just get a little too crazy.

Yes, this college football season (filled with upsets) has put the Big 12 in the national spotlight. And the Missouri Tigers are front in center. Before going into this huge game they were ranked 4th in the BCS poll and KU was ranked 2nd.

Now the Tigers face off with Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship. Oklahoma is the only loss, we have had this season. Some may call me a fair-weather fan, but it's hard to be a fan of a Big 12 school in Big 10 country. As part of my marriage vows, I have shown full support for Michigan State. Tonight - in my joy - Bruce who has declared the Big 12 a sub-standard conference (I beg to differ)- admitted that Mizzou was his favorite Big 12 team. I am glad he is finally showing his support.

The Green Mountain State

What do I know about Vermont? Not much, I know that I stopped at a rest stop there with my mom in August of 2002 on our way to Maine. I know that it is the home to Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and that they have lots of Maple Syrup. I know that my childhood neighbors Howard & Leanor would always bring us back Maple Syrup from their trips to Vermont. So why all the interest in Vermont? Well one of my dearest friends, let's call her Julie Foster our favorite Dairy Queen employee from Columbia, Missouri (she was employee of the month for like 5 years straight, however she never was working, how does that work?), and her husband are moving to the Green Mountain State, I was pulling for him to get a residency in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan, however Mother Nature and an ice storm foiled our plans and forced his flight to be canceled and when you are a medical resident it turns out you don't have a lot of free time to make more trips. I am saddened, however, I decided to devote myself to learning more about this mysterious "Green Mountain" Ice Cream Natural Toothpaste state in the northeast. So I spent the evening after the gym with my good friend Wikipedia, were all good bloggers go to find accurate information, that in the vacation Vermont website.

Here are a few things I have learned about Vermont, our 14th state however it's the 49th smallest state in population, only state smaller in population is Wyoming. The state bird is the hermit thrush, flower: red clover, state tree: sugar maple, that's a nobrainier , state pie: apple, they have both a state cold water and warm water fish, neither which I will name here, state mineral: talc, state beverage: milk, remember these people are healthconscious with their natural tom's toothpaste you will not find soda on this state's rooster and finally the state mammal, the Morgan horse, there are more but it's my blog and those are the ones I care about. Here are a couple of notableVermontinians or are they Vermonters, hmmm... none the less here they are: Ted Bundy, serial killer, Calvin Coolidge, 13th President, Howard Dean, former Presidential Candidate & Senator and head of the Democratic Party, Bob Keeshan a.k.a. Captain Kangaroo, & of course our friends Ben & Jerry.

The Vacation Vermont website (which is very slow loading for me tonight) is still promoting snow, which makes me wonder how long their winters are. I told Julie Foster tonight that she must embrace snow, love it, start skiing or snowboarding, because it's either that or spending most of the year wishing you were in a warmer state, which brings you down. That was my plan for Michigan this winter, which only got as far as getting a ski coat for Christmas, maybe next year I will use it for its intended purpose. As I read more about the weather it is know for it's mild falls, cold snowy winters, with annual snowfall up to 100 inches and it's mud season also know as spring.

Vermont however is offering to fuel your vacation. Which of course I have entered, because I am now planning to go there. However, I am intrigued by the Green Mountain Film Festival which is currently ongoing in Montpelier, the capital. They promote the bohemian lifestyle with art, music, winter sports and lots of maple syrup. So I must say, Julie Foster, I am very excited about my visit and maybe I will get to put my new ski jacket to good use.

The G. Love After-Glow

So it's been a couple days and well I am still obsessing over the G. Love concert. I am trying to figure out ways to see them again. However, it looks more and more unlikely. I did get a set list from the show and will be posting it soon, it's helping me continue the nonsense.You may ask, why not post it now, well it's upstairs and I am too lazy to go and get it. Plus I like the tease. I just found out my friends in Chicago: Mindy & Casey went to see him there. They however saw him living it up before the show and on the L platform after the show. Again, I never get in on any of that action. All I have to say guys is where is the picture... come on, puh-lease, let's not be so selfish and think of your friend in Michigan. Oh well, I guess it was not meant to be. I am wondering how long it will be for me to come down from this concert high.

Maybe I can bide my time with another TiVo show... Yes that is right set your tuners kids, its that time of year again, next week February 28th, that's a Wednesday America's Next Top Model with our friend Tyra starts. Also do not forget to TiVo the last of Beauty & the Geek this Wednesday, tomorrow. Who is getting married? Is it Nate and JennyLee? Could it be Scooter and Megan? (That one I don't think is at all possible however, people are searching the web with these questions and ending up here.) It's part of the reason, the TiVo Changed My Life Blog had a record day yesterday with 43 hits. Yeah! Now if I can just get people to leave comments, HINT, HINT, NUDGE, NUDGE.

Today I had professional development, however, by the end of the day I felt underdeveloped. I probably went to the wrong session, it was more targeted for English teachers. The woman managed to slam journalism many times. I wanted to raise my hand and be like as a member of the journalism society (ok I am not a member of any society but well I have a bachelors in journalism from the prestigious University of Missouri-Journalism School so close enough) I object to these false statements and journalist are writers. At least I proclaim to be one, the proof: TiVo Changed My Life Blog. You had to ask?

Reconnecting with "The Space"

I am sure you have heard about it. All the kids are talking about, at least my students are. Many adults (at least I know one - Angie) think it's the anti-christ. I think your exact quote is Classmates.com + Match.com = MySpace.com. I must admit I am not a user of MySpace like that or my students. I am not really looking to make "new friends." But I am using it to reconnect with old ones. What? Yes, I am finding friends from college and high school on myspace.

Most recently, I have reconnected with my friend David Griner. David and I worked on "The Maneater" together in college. The Maneater is the college newspaper at the University of Missouri. The staff was fun crew, who had a lot of fun parties. I enjoyed David's company in college, we even crossed paths for a day in Paris on spring break. But like with many college friends we lost touch. I have often thought out finding these friends but never had much luck, until I checked out "the space." It's been a fun week catching up with him and other friends.

However, if you go looking for me on "the space" you will find that my profile is set to private. Why? Well I don't have much on it, in fact what you see in the picture above is about it, but for some reason students are fascinated with "the space," especially when teachers have it. So this helps me separate my adult life from my teacher life. I figure I let them know enough about me on this fabulous blog.