Arkansas and mind blown

This week, for part of it, I am in Blytheville, Arkansas. This bustling metropolis is where Nucor is having a little intern get together. Should be a good time. Anyway, I am taking advantage of the free wi-fi at the hotel and my mind has been blown. New Facebook at www.new.facebook.com. I couldn't get it to work through the hyperlink. It is up and running. Check it out and don't waste too much time. I'm not sure what I think of it yet, but it seems like a general improvement so far. Lemme know what you think.

Rose Bowl Road Trip: Post 5

Day 6: Today was the day we looked forward to. The big game. We arrived in Pasadena before sunrise. There was already a mass of people parking in the lots around the stadium as we arrived. This was an intense scene where we saw people polarized in their maroon and opposing orange. We walked ourselves over to the grandstands for the Tournament of the Roses Parade. It was nuts seeing people who had slept on the street for as much as a couple days before the parade to make sure they got the best seats. The parade was a slight disappointment, although the floats were out of this world complex. Check out this Germany tribute...
After the parade ended, we returned to the stadium park. There we grabbed some food, changed into wonderfully warm weather clothes, as it was in the 70s. What a glorious piece of weather we had. We got a chance to interact with a lot of different people outside the stadium before stepping into The Rose Bowl itself. What a antastic piece of history that stadium is. It is absolutely incredible inside. You see palm trees from the inside peeking over the edge and it has a neat shape to it. However, it is no Memorial Stadium...:)
Once in the stadium, we got a chance to see the place fill up and had orange poms on our seats from the U of I alumni association. Our seats were near the Illinois end zone, and were actually pretty fantastic. Well, the game went uhhhh, uhhh, well, Rashard Mendenhall had an awesome game, and now he's projected to be a top 15 pick int he NFL draft. That was nice.
OK, the game was a blowout. USC destroyed Illinois, but it was a lot of fun to be there still. Once we left the stadium, we avoided some of the more obnoxious USC fans and hightailed it out of town. We ate at In and Out Burger and ran off to Kingman, AZ, where we stayed at my buddy Chuck's house. His parents were fantastic in letting us stay and I still thank them so much.

Rose Bowl Road Trip: Post 4

Day 5: Las Vegas was our destination and goal for Day 5. The problem is of course that after this day, the days start to blur. We woke and were out of the hotel by about 10 am. This led us to a free parallel parking spot just off the strip that we would not return to until well after midnight. We walked up and down and up and down the strip, most likely putting in the neighborhood of 15 miles on our shoes (rough calculations done using Gmaps Pedometer). We got a chance to see a lot of impressive casinos and some fantastic architecture. It was all so very over the top. Especially the insides of some of these casinos. Little cities are built up inside of them. It all feels very fake though, like everybody is looking for something and can't quite find it, so they substitute the glitz. As for the casino's gambling areas, other than a couple pieces of decor, they are all very similar. Flashing lights, crazy people, and super expensive drinks. We spent so much time walking around and finally got a chance to chill as we waited for Mike to join us from his airport arrival, making our journey complete with four members. We then proceeded to sit outside of New York, New York to see a band play to count down to New Years...yea that's right, New Year's Eve in Las Vegas. So many people were in the streets, as the law enforcement closed them off (picture 4). We counted down to 2008, and then missed the fireworks because there were none behind the casino we were looking at, but there were some behind every other building it seems, so we got to hear them and see them on tv screens strewn around. This led to our scramble to the car, an intense trek up the strip dipping and diving through people trying to survive while getting to the car. We arrived at the car right around 1ish and were headed off to Pasadena from there, no sleep unfortunately.

My impressions of Vegas weren't all that unexpected. It looks like Mos Eisley Spaceport from a distance. It just sticks up in the middle of the desert. I just feel like it isn't my kind of town. But it was still a great experience to visit such a growing community. Of course, if you weren't aware, the glitz of Las Vegas Blvd. and The Strip extends about 2 blocks either way, and then you realize how much like other places this is. It seems like there are many hurting people there, just as any other place, but the juxtaposition between them and the glamour makes it all the more noticeable.

My Writers Strike Ends

So, I wasn't blogging...at all...over break cuz I didn't find the time, didn't have a computer of my own, etc.

So now, I find myself writing again for the first time...So, in old school fashion, I present to you my bullet points of the recent times.

• I went to the Rose Bowl on an epic journey across our country (this will be highlighted later)
• The Packers are in the NFC Championship game and I am stoked
• I got an amazing Canon digital SLR camera for Christmas (thanks mom and dad!)
• The Cowboys lost to the Giants! Sorry Tony Romo...
• I started classes again. I am enrolled in 5, but one of them is super lame so far, so it might be gone, as I don't need it.
• Illinois basketball is playing super sloppy
• Christmas was a lot of fun with family and getting to see my new young cousin Peter was a blast. He's a cutie.
• I have been watching a lot of tv shows on DVD. My roster includes Lost (gotta get through season 3 before the 31 of Jan), The Office (just about caught all the way up), and Heroes (thanks Emily for that one! I'm finishing up the most recent episodes that exist)

I think that's a good start...