Sunday, December 13th, 2015

Well today I'm writing about yet another Iowa State basketball victory, this time over the Arkansas Pine Bluff Golden Lions, 78-64.  The game itself was probably a little closer than it should have been, but the outcome was never really in doubt.  Iowa State led by at least 10 points for most of the game, but they didn't exactly look like the nations #4 ranked team.  Part of it may have been that Naz Long sat out the game to rest his hips, and part of it was probably just a "hangover" after the team's emotional win against the rival Hawkeyes on Thursday.  Still, the Cyclones managed to have five players score in double figures: Jameel McKay (18), Matt Thomas (17), Monte Morris (12), Georges Niang (11), and Hallice Cooke (11).  I would say that Thomas was the player of the day again as he connected on 5 three pointers.

In case you were wondering, the Arkansas Pine Bluff Golden Lions play in the SWAC (Southwestern Athletic Conference).  Over the years I have actually seen the Cyclones defeat quite a few teams from the SWAC.  Let's see if I can name them:

• 2002 - Iowa State 90, Arkansas Pine Bluff 46.  This was one of the first basketball games that I can remember definitely going to at Iowa State.  I know I went to some earlier games as well, but I couldn't say for sure which ones.  Anyways, this game was memorable because Chris Alexander scored 25 points for the Cyclones.  He was on my floor when I was a freshman at ISU (just 3 doors down from mine I believe).  He had to sit out the first part of the season for some reason.  When the team played the Iowa Hawkeyes earlier in the year, he did not travel with the team to Iowa City.  The funny thing was that he actually came over to my room and watched the game with me on TV.  So I had a 7'1" Iowa State basketball player watching the ISU-Iowa game with me on my couch.  Haha.  The Cyclones beat the Hawkeyes that year, 73-69.
• 2011 - Iowa State 84, Prairie View A&M 59.  
• 2011 - Iowa State 67, Mississippi Valley State 65.  What I remember from that game was that Royce White had the flu and didn't play much at all.
• 2012 - Iowa State 82, Southern 59.  This was the season opener that year, and it was also the first regular season game that Georges Niang and Naz Long played as freshman.  
• 2012 - Iowa State 98, Alabama A&M 40.  Wow, a 58-point victory!
• 2014 - Iowa State 88, Southern 78.  
• 2014 - Iowa State 83, Mississippi Valley State 33.  
• Then of course today's game vs. Arkansas Pine Bluff

Go State!

Thursday, December 10th, 2015

IT'S A CYCLONE STATE!!

That's right.  Tonight my beloved Cyclones triumphed over evil, defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes, 83-82.  This seems like the most stressful basketball game that I have ever seen in Hilton Coliseum.  Not only was Iowa State trailing by 20 points in the second half, their hard-fought comeback was not enough to give them the lead at any point until roughly 9 seconds left to play when Monte Morris's floater put them on top.  After a missed last-second three pointer for the Hawkeyes, it was then time to celebrate.

In the first half, Iowa State could not find a way to stop Jarrod Uthoff from scoring (he had 30 points at halftime).  The only Cyclone to really play well in the first half was Matt Thomas, which is part of the reason why I would say he was the player of the game for Iowa State.  Thomas ended the game with 19 points (including 6 for 9 from three-point range).  He made a huge three pointer from the corner with less than a minute left which turned a 6 point lead for Iowa into a one-possession game.  As for Uthoff?  He disappeared in the second half and finished with 32 points for the game.

Thomas was joined in double-figures scoring for Iowa State by Monte Morris (20), Jameel McKay (20), and Georges Niang (16).  This was the second time that I have seen ISU play Iowa in basketball, the first or which was an 85-82 win for the Cyclones in 2013.

It's a Cyclone State!!

Monday, December 7th, 2015

#4 Iowa State Cyclones 84, Buffalo Bulls 63.

Iowa State remains a highly ranked team this week as they sit at #4 in the Associated Press and all the way up at #2 in the USA Today Coaches poll.  I still can't believe all the love the team is getting.

As for the game today, Jeremy Seago came with me for the first time this year.  Iowa State really didn't put the game out of reach until they went on an 11-0 run in the middle of the second half.  The Cyclones were led in scoring by Georges Niang, who tallied a career high 31 points to go along with 12 rebounds.  Niang shot 5-7 from three point range tonight.  He was joined in double figures by teammates Jameel McKay (13), Monte Morris (12), and Abdel Nader (10).

Next up for the Cyclones will be a clash with rival Iowa on Thursday night.

Iowa State controlled the tip-off against Buffalo.

Cyclones win!

Tuesday, December 1st, 2015

Today I ate bison for supper, and so did the basketball team.  You see, I ordered a bison and mushroom pizza from Jeff's Pizza (along with some smotharella sticks).  Nolan even ate about a half slice of pizza.  He didn't mind the bison, but he picked off the mushrooms.  Of course when I say the basketball team ate bison it was because they defeated the North Dakota State Bison by 20 points..,

#5 Iowa State 84, North Dakota State 64.

I would say that the player of the game for the Cyclones was Jameel McKay, who scored 15 points, pulled down a career best 19 rebounds, and blocked 3 shots.  He was joined in double figures by the other four Cyclone starters: Nader (21), Morris (18), Niang (15), and Naz Long (11).  There was one scary moment in the first half when Niang fell to the floor holding his leg and appeared to be injured.  This was before he had even scored a point in the game.  After going to the locker room to get checked out, he came back into the game after a few minutes and played well the rest of the night.

Go Cyclones!!

 
I also wanted to mention that Elizabeth, Nolan, and I traveled back to the farm this past weekend for Thanksgiving.  Amy and Brandon also came over from Omaha for the weekend.  It was fun to see everyone, and we even managed to see Terry, Deb, and great-grandpa Dick for lunch on Saturday.  We all went out for a pizza buffet at Godfather's in Spencer (I guess that we love pizza).  It was nice to have Dick get to see his great grandson for a little while because it's not very often that they are together.

My grandpa Dick, Nolan, and Elizabeth.

Monday, November 23rd, 2015

Well, I'm glad to say that basketball season is finally in full swing.  I'm ready for football to be over, especially now that news broke yesterday that Paul Rhoads will be fired at the end of the season.  But, anyways...

#4 IOWA STATE 83, CHATTANOOGA 63

Yes, that's right.  Iowa State is now ranked #4 in the nation in college basketball!  It's kind of crazy to me that they are so highly ranked. This is the highest that they have been ranked since the 1996-97 season, and as far as I know it's tied for the highest that they have ever been ranked.  I know they have a pretty good team this year (I would safely say top 15), but it's hard to say if they deserve that high of a ranking quite yet.

Naz Long was the player of the game for Iowa State tonight as he led the team with 24 points, including 6 three-pointers.  He was joined in double figures for Iowa State by Georges Niang (19), and Monte Morris (14).  As a team, the Cyclones connected on 14 of 29 three point attempts for a very good 48%.

Eben joined me again today for the game.  It's always nice to watch the game with family :)

Cyclones win, 83-63!

Tuesday, November 17th, 2015

Normally I try to blog about basketball games that I went to on the same night as the actual game to fit with the theme of my blog "note-o-the day".  I am making an exception now for yesterday's game between the Iowa State Cyclones and Chicago State Cougars.  I ended up taking Nolan to the game with me, along with Eben.  It was fun having three generations of Saltons in attendance for the same basketball game.  The game didn't start until 7:00, and we ended up staying for the whole thing.  By the time we got back home, I brushed Nolan's teeth, changed him, and read him a book, it was 10:00 (two hours past his normal bedtime).  The little man did pretty well considering I kept him up so late.  This marks the fifth men's basketball game that Nolan has witnessed at Hilton Coliseum, and it was the second consecutive game.

As for the game itself, it was a blowout win for the seventh-ranked Cyclones.  Jameel McKay was the player of the game for Iowa State as he scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.  Included in his 25 points were a total of 10 dunks, mostly on alley-oops.  He was joined in double figures by teammates Abdel Nader (17), Monte Morris (14), Naz Long (14), Georges Niang (11), and Hallice Cooke (10).  This was the home opener for the Cyclones, and it was coach Steve Prohm's first regular season game in Ames.

One thing that I will remember about this game was the two technical fouls that Chicago State had.  Both happened immediately after they had made a three point basket... apparently for taunting or swearing at Iowa State.  I would have thought that they would learn their lesson after it happened once, but apparently not.

Three generations of Saltons with the scoreboard :)

It's nice to see dad smiling.

Go STATE!

Friday, November 6th, 2015

A little while ago Nolan and I just went to watch the Iowa State exhibition game vs. Grand Valley State at Hilton Coliseum.  We ended up leaving part way through the second half because it was getting past Nolan's bed time, but the game wasn't exactly close anyways... the Cyclones ended up winning by a score of 106-60.  Nolan was able to behave himself pretty well in the stadium.  Every time the ISU fight song came on he would clap along with everyone else.  He mainly just sat on my lap and looked at the crowd and all of the stimulating things to see.  He would point out Cy the mascot to me every once in a while.

I believe that this is the fourth ISU men's basketball game that Nolan has seen in person.  The first was vs. UMKC in 2013, his second game was the Melvin Ejim game vs. TCU, and his third game was the UMKC game in 2014.

Naz Long scored 20 points for Iowa State which included 6 for 7 from three point range.  He led a group of seven Cyclones that each scored in double figures.  I've been looking forward to Cyclone basketball all year as they should be a good team this season with seniors Georges Niang, Abdel Nader, Jameel McKay, and Naz Long to lead the way.  Iowa State enters the year ranked #7 by the AP and the USA today coache's polls.

Nolan sitting like a good boy in his seat waiting for the game to start,

Our view from section 216.

Saturday, October 31st, 2015

Happy Halloween, and HAPPY VICTORY VS TEXAS!! 

Tonight I witnessed a huge homecoming victory for the Iowa State football team as they shutout the Longhorns, 24-0.  This was the first time ever that the Cyclones have beaten Texas in Ames, and it was also the first career start for Iowa State's quarterback, Joel Lanning.  

I watched the game from the sideline since I was part of the ISU alumni band that played on the field at halftime.  I pushed my aunt, Lavonne, in a wheelchair as she played her clarinet.  It was actually quite a bit of work pushing her up and down the hills around the stadium and then onto the field.  We also spent quite a bit of time before the game practicing our formations that we would go through for the halftime show.  It was all worth it though to be able to see this great game from the Cyclones tonight!  Maybe I am a good luck charm as part of the alumni band.  I also pushed Lavonne for the homecoming game last year when ISU defeated Toledo.  

This was the first time that Texas has been shutout by an unranked team since 1961.  

Friday, October 30th, 2015

Today was beggar's night in Ames, so it was also the first time that Nolan has actually gone trick or treating!  Elizabeth took him to do daytime trick or treating on main street, and then tonight they went around to a few of the neighborhood houses to collect candy.  I stayed at the house and handed out candy (M&Ms, Reese's peanut butter cups, and Hershey's cookies & cream bars) to about 34 kids.

Here is Nolan trick or treating in his Buzz costume on main street.

Elizabeth and Nolan getting ready to head out to the houses on our street.

Buzz Lightyear!!

Wednesday, October 21st, 2015

Happy back to the future day!  Yeah, it's kind of funny that in the 1989 film, Back to the Future Part II, Marty McFly and the Doc travel in their time machine to October 21st, 2015... today.  When I was a kid growing up, I always wanted one of the hover boards from that film.  Alas, they are not something that people use today :(

What I really wanted to blog about tonight was the volleyball game that we went to see.  The Iowa State women defeated West Virginia in straight sets, (25-20, 25-11, 25-16).  Elizabeth and I took Nolan to the game, and we stayed for the first two sets before it was time to come home and put the little guy to bed.  He still has a hard time sitting still to watch a game.  He mainly wants to run around the concourse of the stadium or climb over seats.  The best part of the game for us tonight was having Nolan meet Cy before the game.  Nolan gave Cy a big high five and posed for a picture.

It's CY!!!

Nolan was so happy getting to meet Cy, and he wasn't super shy or scared like some other times when he has met him.

We watched the match from the end of the stadium where there was plenty of empty seating for Nolan to run around and not get in people's way.  It's not as good of a view, but it's better to have some free space with Nolan.

Saturday, October 3rd, 2015

This morning I got up bright and early (at 4:00) to get ready and be at the tailgate lots by 5:00 so that I could have a full day of fun with our tailgating group before the football game kicked off vs Kansas at 11:00.  I met up with Dan Becker, Tim Nevins, Kyle Perkins, and everyone at the WRNL tailgate.  Dan made everyone omelettes which was pretty cool of him.  Elizabeth and Nolan stayed home today and got some extra sleep.

Today was the fourth time that I have seen Iowa State play Kansas in football, and I'm happy to say that all four of the games have been Cyclone victories (today, 2013, 2011, and 2002).  Today's final score was 38-13.  Iowa State looked alright, and our freshman running back, Mike Warren, ran for whopping 175 yards and two touchdowns.  On one play in the third quarter, he ran up the middle for a 62-yard touchdown.  However, it seemed that Kansas was just a bad football team in every phase of the game.  Hopefully this game can give the team a little confidence heading into the rest of the conference schedule.

The view of the game from our seats

Sunday, September 6th, 2015

Yesterday we took Nolan to his first ever football game at Jack Trice Stadium.  Maybe he was a good luck charm, because the Cyclones defeated the UNI Panthers 31-7.  It was also the first game after the new south end-zone renovations were complete.  The stadium itself looked very nice, and it was a record crowd (61,500) attendance.  The game itself did not start until 7:00, and we were only able to stay until halftime because it was well past Nolan's bedtime.  We sat on the Northeast hillside which was not the most comfortable.  The two north hillsides are where all of the "Junior Cyclone Club" kids and parents sit.   Nolan wasn't so much interested with the actual game, but he did have fun watching the crowd of people.  Elizabeth also played a movie on her phone for a while just to keep him happy.  We bought him a corn dog, which he ended up eating about half of.  Oh, and Nolan used a port-a-potty for the first time as well (it was pretty gross, and I basically just had to hold him above the seat).  

The first half of the game was pretty close.  UNI scored the first points of the game in the second quarter via a 19 yard touchdown pass from Aaron Bailey to Savon Huggins.  That combined with ISU's two missed field goals early in the game had me frustrated.  However, the Panthers would not score for the rest of the game.  It seemed like Iowa State's defense really played well, and they finished with six sacks for the game.  The only scoring for the Cyclones that we witnessed in person was a 1-yard TD run by Joshua Thomas and a 24-yard field goal for Cole Netten which made the halftime score 10-7 in favor of the Cyclones.  

The view of Jack Trice Stadium from our tailgate lot, G7.

Here I am trying to explain the football game to Nolan.

...but he just wanted to play with my hat!

Thursday, August 27th, 2015

We now have a maple tree in our back yard!

Nolan looks so happy with the new tree in the back yard!

Today while we were at work, the people from Country Landscapes came and planted our Red Sunset maple tree for us!!  I'm looking forward to watching it grow and grow over the years to come, and to hopefully provide us with some nice shade in the back yard along with some nice fall color each year. 

Some information about the Red Sunset maple tree:

• At maturity, the tree should have a height of 40 to 50 feet and a spread of 35 to 40 feet!
• The tree grows at a "medium to fast" rate, about 13 inches to 24 inches per year.
• It's leaves will turn vibrant shades of red and orange in the fall
• It will have winged fruit in the summer that are reddish in color

Sunday, August 23rd, 2015

It seems like it has been quite a while since I've updated my blog.  We've been busy enjoying summer and potty-training Nolan, so I don't always have a lot of time on the computer.  Nolan has been good about going #1 for quite a while, but he's still having trouble with #2 you could say :)  What else have I been doing recently... well yesterday I made some homemade Swedish meatballs, and I ordered a maple tree from Country Landscapes.  I'll get to that in a bit...

The highlight of today though was attending the Cyclone Fan Fest at Hilton Coliseum!

Here I am with Nolan waiting in line to get into Hilton.  He was getting a little cranky having to wait around...

Elizabeth and Nolan pose with head volleyball coach, Christy Johnson-Lynch.

CY!!  Nolan was happy looking at Cy from a distance, but when he got up close it was a little scary!

I also stood in line to meet some of the basketball players.  They had a tent set up just to the north of Hilton, and it was a huge line of people.  There were five lines, each one leading to a separate table of players.  You had to pick which players you wanted to see, and it you wanted to meet all of them you would have to wait through each line.   I guess that the estimated crowd for today's event was 4,000 people.  Anyways, I was able to meet Nick Weiler-Babb, Jameel McKay, Abdel Nader, and Simeon Carter.  McKay and Nader autographed my 2015 Big 12 championship shirt that I was wearing, so that was pretty cool.  Shortly after that we had to head home because it was nap time for Nolan, but it was a lot of fun!

Another thing that I am excited about is finally purchasing a maple tree for our back yard.  Hopefully in the future it will provide us with some nice shade.  I picked a "Red Sunset" maple tree from Country Landscapes.  I wanted a good maple tree that will have colorful leaves in the fall.  Originally when I was searching for a maple tree, I wanted to buy an "October Glory" maple, but none of the stores around here sold that type of tree.  Anyways, I think that the Red Sunset maple should look very nice.

Tuesday, July 28th, 2015

Today was my first day back to work after a fun four-day weekend vacation to Estes Park, Colorado.  My family held a X-mas in July reunion out there, and it was a beautiful place for a family gathering.
Elizabeth, Nolan, and I left Ames last Thursday afternoon after I was done with work, and we met up with Amy & Brandon in North Platte, Nebraska for the night to break the long drive up some.  That was a good idea, because it was a heck of a drive for little Nolan to make... and driving through Nebraska is just awful anyways.

Some of the highlights of our trip while we were out there were hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Park, eating breakfast on Saturday morning at the famous Stanley Hotel (where Stephen King wrote The Shining), and I stopped by the Estes Park Brewery Saturday night with Amy, Brandon, Lyndon, and Missy for a couple of drinks.

The scenery of the entire place was just beautiful.  I wish that I would have taken more pictures, but here are a few from my phone...

Here I am with Nolan by a waterfall outside of the Stanley Hotel.  

Here I am with Bear Lake in the background.  Elizabeth, Eben, Nolan, and myself went on a short, half-mile hike around the lake on Saturday.

Me again... with mountains and water and stuff...

Eben.  It's nice to see him smiling after suffering that dislocated shoulder recently.

Nolan passed out around the time we arrived at Bear Lake, and he slept through the whole hike.  Elizabeth had to haul him around the whole time!

Here is a panoramic photo I took of Bear Lake when we were about halfway done with our hike.

Bear Lake info

Wednesday, July 15th, 2015

It's hard to believe, but yesterday Nolan turned two years old!

Elizabeth and I took the day off from work, Amy and Brandon came over from Omaha, and grandpa Eben came down to help us celebrate.  Nolan opened presents all by his self in the morning (grandpa Eben gave him a neat little tractor piggy bank and a grain wagon that it can pull).  Then after Nolan's nap we all went over to Reiman Gardens to check out the butterflies and walk around.  We had Hickory Park for supper, and after that we had birthday cake back home.  The birthday cake had a picture of Elmo on it, and Nolan even blew the candle out himself!!

Maybe if I lay down nobody will see me open this present...

I grilled brats and hot dogs for lunch.

Nolan looks at an orange butterfly at Reiman Gardens

A butterfly at Reiman Gardens.

Another butterfly

This is an atlas moth.  It's huge!

Look at how big that moth is in the background.

Nolan points at a butterfly

Nolan and daddy on his birthday :)

Nolan with frosting from his birthday cake all over his cheeks.

Thursday, July 9th, 2015

Happy 4th anniversary to my wonderful wife Elizabeth!!  It doesn't seem like it's been four years since we threw the greatest wedding and reception the world has ever seen...

We hadn't really planned to do much for our anniversary this year, as most of our attention has been focused on Nolan's SECOND birthday which is coming up soon.  He is getting so big!  This Tuesday we took him around campus to have his two-year photo shoot.  Here are just a few of the many photos we have...

Family photo on central campus

As you can tell, Nolan loves to climb!

Mommy and Nolan on the steps of  Beardshear hall.  We had to hold him, otherwise he just wanted to crawl up and down the steps!

Nolan running along the sidewalk at Lagomarcino hall.

Another good way to keep him still was to give him rides in a wagon...

Nolan poses with the wagon

Nolan and daddy at Beardshear

He's just too stinking cute.

Ok, so back to our anniversary today.  I did manage to swing by Hy-Vee over my lunch break today and pick out a bouquet of  purple and white flowers for Elizabeth, and then I dropped them off at her work.  I chose purple and white because that was the flower colors that she had for her wedding bouquet when we were married.  Then, later on today I found out that the traditional wedding gift for a fourth anniversary was flowers or fruit.  It sounds like I picked the right gift!

We were planning to go out to the Cafe for supper tonight, but we had a last minute change of plans and went to West Street Deli instead.  That was a little easier place to take Nolan out for supper anyways.  After that, we swung by Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt.