Sunday, March 29th, 2026

 This weekend I took Elizabeth and the kids up to Mason City to visit grandma Becky and to celebrate my birthday. 

Friday night after arriving in Mason City, Elizabeth and I went out for some drinks as Fat Hill Brewing.  They had some live music by a group called "The Sheet". After that, we stopped over to the Sports Page to watch the ISU basketball game. Unfortunately, the Cyclones ended up losing to Tennessee in the Sweet 16. 

On Saturday we hung out at grandma's house for a bit, we let the kids play at a nearby park, and then we went to the "No Kings" rally in Mason City. Grandma had made a funny poster that showed Trump peeing into a fan and back onto himself. There were lots of other fun posters that we saw with things like "Orange Lies Matter" and "You can't fix stupid, but you can vote it out". It was nice to see a bunch of Iowans with some common sense.  We did stop by Birdsall's that afternoon to enjoy some ice cream.

That night, we all went out to eat at Northwestern Steakhouse, which I picked as my birthday meal.  This was the kids' first time here.  Nolan, Maxwell, and grandma all ordered the fillet with spaghetti. I wanted to try something different, so I ordered the ribeye with spaghetti.  After comparing each, I would say that the fillet is definitely the best, but the ribeye was good too. 

Saturday, March 7th, 2026

 #6 Iowa State 86, Arizona State 65

Today Maxwell and I had a fun afternoon.  We went out for lunch at Culvers, we watched Iowa State's senior day win over Arizona State, and then we went over to Edwards Elementary so that we could play basketball. Maxwell had enjoyed the game so much that he felt that he needed to shoot some hoops.

As for the game, the Cyclones were trailing at halftime 41-37, but they went on a decisive 24-0 run in the second half to put the game away. Tamin Lipsey was the player of the game, as he had 16 points, 6 steals, and 6 assists. He was joined in double figures scoring for Iowa State by Joshua Jefferson (16), Milan Momcilovic (16), Jamarion Batemon (13), and Dominykas Pleta (11).  The Cyclones end the regular season with a record of 25-6. 

Today was the 43rd men's basketball game that Maxwell has attended, and this was the first time that he has witnessed a victory over the Sun Devils. Now, there are only 4 teams in the Big 12 that Maxwell has not seen the Cyclones beat (Arizona, BYU, Houston, and Utah). As for myself, this was the first time that I have seen Iowa State take down Arizona State.  I have now seen the Cyclones defeat every team in the Big 12!

To recap the season, here are the games that I attended:

Wins;

• Arizona State
• Houston
• Baylor
• Colorado
• UCF
• Oklahoma State
•  West Virginia
• Houston Christian
• Long Beach State
• Eastern Illinois
• Iowa
• Alcorn State
• Grambling State
• Fairleigh Dickinson

Losses:

• Texas Tech

Cyclones 86, Sun Devils 65

Maxwell had a bacon cheeseburger and onion rings at Culvers for lunch.