Saturday, December 1st, 2012

Elizabeth and I just got back a little while ago from Marshalltown where we went bowling for my work Christmas party.  It wasn't your regular night of bowling.  During our first game we bowled normally, but in our second and third games we had to bowl with a specific style for each frame.  Opposite handed, pushing the ball with a pool stick, with something over our head to we are blindfolded, granny-style, etc.  I actually only had strikes a few times that I bowled silly... my only attempt blindfolded I threw a strike.  Also I had strikes when using the pool cue and when throwing "as hard as I can".  No strikes when I tried to bowl normally. 

The other highlight of today was taking Elizabeth to watch the ISU men's basketball team defeat BYU, 83-62.  Will Clyburn was the star of the game for Iowa State, scoring a career-high 32 points. 

Outside of Hilton Coliseum

Today's game was "Color it Cardinal", and the Cyclones wore red instead of their usual home white.  Later on this play there was an amazing alley-op pass that Clyburn dunked over a BYU defender. 

Halftime score 48-37 Iowa State leading. 

Cyclones win again!

 

I was able to shave this past week once our donation quota was met at work.  Here I am before shaving...

Mustache!!  Ok, I looked like a pedophile.

One other thing that I will remember about today's basketball game was the large number of BYU fans that made the trip over here to watch the game.  It seemed like there was one whole section that was filled up with the visiting team's fans.  I'm guessing that they had a couple charter busses or something.  At least they all got to be disappointed in the end :)

Sunday, November 18th, 2012

It's time for another blog post... this time yet again about basketball.  Tonight's game featured the Fighting Camels from Campbell University against our very own Iowa State Cyclones.  Once again Iowa State proved victorious, this time by a score of 88-68.  In case you're not familiar with Campbell, it is a coed Baptist university located in Biues Creek, North Carolina.  Their mascot is "Gaylord the Camel", and their enrollment is listed as 6,182.  They play in the Big South Conference

Anyways, I had never heard of Campbell before last year when they beat the Iowa Hawkeyes, 77-61.  That was great.  However, tonight was a completely different story for the good old Fighting Camels.  Chris Babb returned from his 3-game suspension for violating team rules and was one of 5 Cyclones to score in double figures.  It really was a well-balanced game scoring for ISU.  Tyrus McGee came off the bench to lead the team with 16 points.  Will Clyburn added 15, Melvin Ejim and Babb each had 13, and Niang had 11. 

Just about to tip off.

A view of the action in the second half.

Final score: ISU 88, Campbell 68.

Since I went by myself today, here I am trying to get a self-shot and the score in the background.

Notice that I've been starting to grow a beard.  It's part of "No-shave November" which all the guys are doing at my work as a way to raise money for the Salvation Army.  I may look like a homeless person, but it's kind of fun and different.

 

Monday, November 12th, 2012

I just got back from Hilton Coliseum where I was able to watch the Cyclones absolutely demolish the Alabama A&M Bulldogs 98-40.  Wow.  The 58-point margin of victory was the sixth-best ever in ISU's history.  This game was never in doubt... although at one point Iowa State was trailing 2-0.  I took my cousin David with me to the game, and even though it was a blowout we managed to enjoy ourselves.  Tyrus McGee led five Cyclones in double figures with 18 points.  Not really much to say about this one... the crowd never really was into the game, and really Alabama A&M was god awful.  This was not a test for our team at all. 

Iowa State wins the opening tip vs. Alabama A&M

Halftime score: ISU 41, Alabama A&M 14

David posing with the final score, 98-40.

This was the biggest win I've ever seen for ISU.

Friday, November 9th, 2012

Tonight Elizabeth & I just got back from watching Iowa State's 2012-2013 season opening victory over Southern University, 82-59.  I was curious to see how our new team would gel together now that we've lost Royce White to the NBA and welcome in a pair of transfers (Will Clyburn & Korie Lucious).  We've also added a couple of freshmen that look ready to see significant playing time this year in Naz Long and Georges Niang. 

The game itself started out very slow and sloppy for the Cyclones, as Southern surprisingly led by as many as 11 points in the first half.  It took a last-minute 3-pointer from Niang to put Iowa State on top at halftime 41-39.  Iowa State woke up in the second half and cruised to the 23-point victory, but it seems like there is quite a bit we need to work on.  Going 15-28 from the free throw line is a big one.  Turnovers another.  In the end though, I'll take the win.  Hopefully our new team can learn to work together more efficiently soon. 

The highlight of the game for me was propably a monster dunk that Will Clyburn had as he drove along the baseline in the second half.  Also there was a very odd bounce that Naz Long got late in the second half... he tossed up a wild lay-up attempt very high... it bounced up off of the top of the backboard... and ended up landing right through the hoop.  I wasn't sure that a ball was allowed to bounce off the top of the backboard, but I guess it counts.  Percy Gibson led the Cyclones with 17 points.

About to tip-off the 2012-13 season!

Halftime... 41-39 Cyclones.

Final score: Iowa State 82, Southern University 59.

 

Sunday, November 4th, 2012

This weekend was another one full of entertaining Cyclone athletics.  To start off on Saturday, Elizabeth and I got up early to tailgate with her sister, Rachael, and their cousins Karmin, Katie, and Alissa.  We probably got into the student lot around 7:45 or so (had to get there early since kickoff was at 11:00).  We set up a very nice tailgate complete with a big heater that we all huddeled around, a table for games, and a table with lots of food.  Elizabeth made breakfast burritos (sausage, egg, cheese, red & green peppers), we made Velveeta & rotel cheese dip, lots of chips, and one of the cousins brought a really tasty appetizer.  They were jalepeno halves which were stuffed with "little smokey" sausages, cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, skewered with a tooth pick, and then cooked.  Those were awesome.  I ended up going into the game with Tim Nevins while all of the ladies stayed out at the tailgate and had a fun time catching up. 

Today I countinued my Cyclone sports weekend by attending the men's exhibition game against Minnesota State.  While this game technically did not count, it was still fun to be at.  Iowa State started out the game strong, seemed to get complacent and let the Mavericks of Minnesota State back into it, and finally got their act together to win in blowout fashion (90-57).  I'm looking forward to the men's regular season games!!

The girls (from left to right: Alissa, Katie, Elizabeth, Rachael, and Karmin)  were getting ready for a nice "cousin picture" when all of a sudden... PHOTO BOMB! 

The band spells out CYCLONES before the game.

A shot of the action vs Oklahoma... sadly we lost the game 35-20.

Here is the view from my seats in section 216.  It's way up in a corner, but there really isn't a bad seat in Hilton.

Sunday, October 28th, 2012

This weekend turned out to be a very fun and memorable one as we hosted a number of old ISU friends at our house who returned for the homecoming football game.  This year was the 100th Cyclone homecoming, and it was great that we were able to celebrate the "Cy-tenial" with an important 35-21 victory over the Baylor Bears.  Mike Kazlauskas, Sara Bauman, Erick Ude, Rachel Stork, Renee Oehlerking & quite a few more peeps joined us for tailgating fun in Ames. 

"I-S-U" marching band

Sara & Mike

I know that the three videos above are poor quality & shaky, but they were taken on my phone and I was in the middle of a a bunch of roudy fans, so it was hard not to get bumped. 

It was nice to finally see some consistent quarterback play for Iowa State as Steele Jantz tied school records for TD passes in a game (5) and pass completions in a game (36).  Jarvis West had a career day for Iowa State as he managed to catch three TD receptions (the first three of his career by the way).  Now the Cyclones only need 1 more win in their last 4 games to be bowl eligible!!  GO STATE!!

Sunday, October 14th, 2012

Today is basically a recovery day for Elizabeth and myself after our trip to Chicago over the past few days.  I spent all day Thursday, Friday, and then 4 hours Saturday morning at a continuing education class in Rosemont, Illinois.  It was a very interesting class called Chain Reaction 3D which covers Applied Functional Science, and it was taught by "the father of function" Gary Gray. 

While we were in town, Elizabeth had fun shopping at Ikea, we got to see Timmy & Alana for a little bit, and we were able to enjoy some quality Chicago cuisine that we don't get to have very often.  This trip was actually the first time that I've been back to Chicago since we moved back to Iowa last year.  I made sure that we had my favorite sushi, Sushi Para in Palatine, which we enjoyed on Thursday after my classes were done.  Then on Friday we met up with Timmy & Alana for Exchequer Pizza. 

Menu at Sushi Para

My first plate: Volcano roll, 4 salmon sushi, 4 tuna sushi, 2 massago, 2 eel sushi

My second plate: Under control roll (bottom), a Chicago roll (middle), and 2 salmon sushi

Myself trying a piece of the Under Control Roll

My last plate, another "Under Control Roll"... it was so good that I needed one more!

Friday night's dinner was at Exchequer's in downtown Chicago.

Large pepperoni and sausage deep dish.

There is so much cheese on the deep dish!