Sunday, February 17th, 2013

This weekend Amy & Brandon came over to visit from Omaha, and we had quite the fun time.  Of course the highlight of the weekend was Elizabeth & my trip to the doctor's office on Friday... where we FOUND OUT THE GENDER OF OUR BABY!!  Right now I'm still not going to reveal the news on here because some of our close family still doesn't know.  Elizabeth & I mailed out a special package to our parents and siblings that is filled with either pink or blue candy. 

On Friday we gave Amy & Brandon a tour of our house, as it was the first time they have seen it.  Then we went to the Memorial Union to watch The Vagina Monologues.  It was a different kind of play, but it was still very enjoyable.  Basically it was a collection of different women's experiences (good and bad) as they relate to their lady parts.  It also raised awareness for violence against women around the world.  Then after the show we went out to eat at Oddfellow's Burger Kitchen here in town.  Amy had the "Sunday Mornin' Burger" which among other toppings had a fried egg and bacon, Brandon had the "Ring of Fire Burger", and I had the Green Chile Burger.  I'm not sure if Elizabeth had a burger or something else...

Then on Saturday I took Amy & Brandon to watch the ISU men's basketball game against the TCU Horned Frogs.  The game itself was a laugher, as Iowa State won by a score of 87-53.  This is TCU's first year in the Big 12, and they are definately the worst team in the conference (1-11 conference record currently). 

Tip-off between ISU and TCU.  The Cyclones controlled the tip.

Amy & Brandon after Iowa State's big win.

My usual scoreboard photo :)

Later on Saturday we met back up with Elizabeth and went out for supper at Hickory Park.  Needless to say, but we had plenty of good food there as well!!  This weekend we also took a few family pictures at a nearby park, went out to sing karaoke (well, Elizabeth and Amy sang at anyways), and we played a board game called Settlers of Catan.  All in all, it was a very fun weekend to share with family (and to find out more about our future family)!!

Friday, February 8th, 2013

Check out what I just received in the mail today...

This year the ISU men's basketball team is officially tracking every three-point basket.  For each three that is made they are giving out one of these mini-basketballs.  Last year they gave out numbered t-shirts, and our friend Erick Ude caught one.  Our seats are so far up at the home games that there is no way they would ever throw one of these things up that high.  However, for each away game they post a picture on facebook.  If you comment on the picture they enter you for a chance to win a mini-basketball... and I won this one!! 

My basketball represents the 176th three-pointer of the season for the Cyclones.  It was made on Wednesday, January 30th, against Oklahoma State.  I searched ESPN's play-by-play game log to see that Will Clyburn made this exact three-pointer with 15:22 left in the first half.  The basket put ISU on top by a score of 13-4.  Unfortunately for ISU, the Cowboys would eventually rally to win the game 78-76. 

I think that this is a pretty cool souvenir as far as ISU sports memorabilia goes.  However, one aspect of this is a little sad.  Wednesday the 30th was the same day that LaVonne had her stroke.  According to Gary's facebook, he said that her stroke was around 7:40 that night.  The ISU basketball game started at 7:00, and this was made 4 minutes and 38 seconds into the game (shortly after the first TV timeout).  It's hard to tell the exact time, but this was probably within 30 to 40 minutes of her stroke. 

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013

The last couple of days have been pretty scary and sad for myself and a lot of my family.  On Wednesday of this week my aunt LaVonne suffered a major stroke.  We're all wishing her the best, and our thoughts are with her!  We love you very much, LV!!

I haven't gone down to visit yet just because there have been a lot of family at the hospital so far, and I don't want to overwhelm her & Gary.  Elizabeth and I might stop by tomorrow if it seems like the time is right.

On that note, this really has been a Groundhog's Day that is one I would not like to re-live.

I did end up going the the ISU men's basketball game with Jeremy, and it was nice to watch them defeat Baylor.  At least it got my mind off of other things.  Will Clyburn ended up having a big game for the Cyclones, with 28 points and 10 boards. 

The view of Hilton from our seats in section 216.

ISU won the tip-off...

Cyclones win again!!

 

Saturday, January 26th, 2013

WE JUST BEAT, K-S-U!!

That's right folks.  Iowa State just defeated a top-25 ranked Kansas State Wildcat team 73-67!  Coming into the game, KSU was ranked #11 by the AP and #13 by the USA Today Coaches poll.  This was the first basketball game that I've attended where the Cyclones have beaten a top-25 team.

Will Clyburn led the way for Iowa State with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Georges Niang added 15 points.  This was a huge win for Iowa State to get back on track after dropping a game on Wednesday to a horrible Texas Tech team.

Before the game, Elizabeth and I had a delicious lunch at Hickory Park. 

Elizabeth with her smoked turkey sandwich and sweet potato fries.

BBQ dinner with baked beans and fries.

KSU won the tip-off...

...but we won the game!!

GO STATE!!

Wednesday, January 16th, 2013

I just got back from Hilton Coliseum where I thought I was going to have a heart attack!  I'm happy to say that Iowa State defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers 69-67, but it's really amazing that it was even that close in the end.  At one point in the second half Iowa State was leading by 18 points with about 9 minutes remaining.  That was before West Virginia got hot and made 8 three pointers in the final 9 minutes to tie the game.  Luckily for Iowa State, we have Georges Niang on our team...

So it turned out to be quite the memorable ending to the game when for quite a while it seemed like it was going to be a blowout.  Had ISU ended up losing, it would have been quite the heartbreaker. 

One other memorable part of this game was the great dunks by Will Clyburn.  Here is a youtube video highlighting a couple...

Saturday, January 12th, 2013

Today's highlight was the big Cyclone victory over Texas, 82-62.  This was the third time I've been able to watch the Cyclone men's basketball team play the Longhorns, and I'm glad to say that Iowa State has won all three of these matchups (2004, 2012, and 2013).  I've also seen the ISU women play Texas once before in 2005, a 73-69 Cyclone victory.  I guess the only reasonable explanation must be that I'm the good luck charm the basketball teams need when they play vs. Texas :)

Before the game today I met up with Jeremy Seago to grab some lunch.  We decided on New China, a good local Chinese restaurant located next to the west Hy-Vee in Ames.  Jeremy enjoyed their chicken with broccoli while I ordered orange chicken... mmmmm :)

My orange chicken... I had plenty of left overs to take home!

Texas won the tip-off, but that was about their only bright spot.

Georges Niang led all Cyclones in scoring with 18 points, and Tyrus McGee came off the bench to hit four big 3's en rout to scoring 15 points.  Coming into today's game, the Longhorns were leading the country in 3-point % defense.  That didn't stop the Cyclones from connecting on 11 of their 26 3-point attempts today.  This also marked coach Fred Hoiberg's 50th career coaching victory.  It's worth noting that the crowd today was a sellout.  I'm glad to see the ISU fans come out and support their team, and it was nice to see the players respond well coming off of their heartbreaking overtime loss at Kansas earlier this week.

At the half ISU led Texas, 42-31.

The halftime show was a trick frisbee-catching dog. 

CYCLONES WIN!!

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

Happy New Year!!

Today was my first day back to work this week after a long trip to Memphis over the weekend to the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.  Even though the Cyclones lost the game, I still had a fun time going down with Erick Ude, Jamie Hughs, and my brother-in-law Brian Gleason.  After going to Jenny Manser & Francisco's wedding in Des Moines Saturday night I left for St. Louis with Erick and Jamie Sunday morning.  We decided to make it a weekend for BBQ, so after getting down to O'Fallon we went out to Ethyl's Smokehouse & saloon for some ribs. Might as well compare them to Memphis style ribs right? 

Monday morning was an early one as we were on the road just after 5 AM from O'Fallon.  We arrived in Memphis around 10ish I think and were ready for a morning of tailgating.  We had a parking pass that put us right next to the stadium in Silver lot 5.  After carrying our cooler back to where some of Jamie's in-laws were tailgating we began our fun.  Flippy cup galore.  It was also worth noting that there seemed to be at least 5 times as many Cyclone fans around as there were Tulsa fans.  The difference was obvious once we got into the stadium. 

Brian Gleason outside of Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium

Here I am during with pregame ceremonies in the background.

The ISU side was quite full...

...while the Tulsa side was much more sparse.

The game itself started out very promising for Iowa State.  We got out to a 10-0 lead following a Jeremy Reeves interception return for a touchdown.  After Tulsa came back to score their first touchdown, ISU was able to quickly answer with a 69-yard touchdown pass from Sam Richardson to our tight end, Ernst Brun, Jr.  At that point the Cyclone fans were going crazy, and our 17-7 lead looked promising.  Oh well.  It wasn't like there was just one thing that went wrong after that point.  Tulsa scored the next 24 points to win the game easily.  It was so frustrating.  I think that we will be in for another quarterback controversy at ISU come next fall.

After the game we made a quick stop back to the room (where Jamie took a momentary nap we'll call it), and the rest of us went out for dinner.  This time we stopped at Charles Vergo's Rendezvous, as seen on one of my favorite food related TV shows, Man v. Food.  There I ordered a full slab of ribs, Erick enjoyed a half-order, and Brian tried a brisket and rib combo platter.  It was all very good, but I think that I still prefer a messy, saucy style of ribs to the Memphis-style dry rub. 

My full slab of ribs complete with baked beans and slaw.

The next stop on our journey through Memphis was to Beale Street where we enjoyed some live music, a few "soda pops", and we stayed out until midnight to ring in the new year.  We had thought about going to BB King's namesake bar, but due to the $35 cover charge we decided otherwise.  We ended up at a place called Wet Willie's that had no cover charge, and it still had very good live music.  At this point it was imprtant to be inside somewhere since it was around 40 degrees and was lightly raining.  In rained during most of the game as well which had us shivering and very tired of the rain.  Jamie ended up meeting back up with us at the bar, where we stayed for most of the night. At midnight we pushed our way onto the crowded street to watch the guitar drop over the next-door Hard Rock Cafe.  

A view down Beale Street

...more Beale Street.

Erick and myself inside of Wet Willie's

The lady who is singing was large and in charge.  She really belted out the songs.

Lit-up guitar above the Hard Rock: high position.

Medium position...

... and bottom position... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We all threw our hands up in the sky... HASA DIGA EEBOWAI!