Want to be paranoid?

Go read this article:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-ways-youre-accidentally-making-everyone-hate-you/

I found it linked on CNN and then I wasted a lot of time reading other articles on there too. But this one will make most people cringe.  I maybe only do like 80% of these things. It does explain why I rarely post on facebook though, just so many ways to offend people unintentionally. You can't say something to ALL your friends without pushing someone's sensitive button. Something about your kids? Salt in the wounds of your infertile friends. Politics or religion? Only a fool goes there. A shout out to a friend for something nice she did? Whoa, that sets off a whole host of reactions from her other friends being possessive.

UGH, possessive friends, I am so tired of that. Not sure if this is a small town thing or what, but this didn't happen when we lived in big cities. As a big believer in the saying, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions", I actually try to follow through with those good intentions by offering to help others. Also, many people have helped me, but I don't like that phrase "pay it forward", (because it was so overdone a few years ago, like "whatzzzz up?", shudder) even though that's what I'm doing. The reactions I've gotten from the "BFFs" of people I'm helping would be shocking and hilarious  if it wasn't so hurtful. I understand being possessive of your husband, but people can easily handle more than one friend.  Mostly people are suspicious of ulterior motives, they can't believe someone would be nice and helpful just because that's what you've been told to do every time you go to church.  Of course even if you don't go to church most people have heard of the golden rule, they can even talk about that in public schools, that's not religious at all. That's just good for society. And karma! Surely everyone has been exposed to one of those lines of thought. That's what I'm doing. Period.

Enough of that, back to my schedule.  Trying hard to be productive now that I've got more time to myself and then more time to spend with just Emily.  When the kids are all in school I manage to keep busy out of the house and then when Emily is home I try to catch up on stuff around the house.  This translates to less computer time which is for the best, unless you're my Mom and waiting for blog updates.  I do find time to keep up with my sisters as we count down to the Arrested Development new season starting!  We're passing quotes back and forth (Katie you MUST start watching so you can participate and fully enjoy Gangi and Pop-Pop).  Today's quote is very appropriate considering how much I've neglected around here lately:

Michael: [seeing everyone lying around on couches] Okay, is there a carbon monoxide leak in this house?

Cat Houses in the Keys (retitled)

 We stopped for lunch at the Islamorada Fish Company per Angela's suggestion.  Kind of place that makes you think about moving down there.

 View from our table, perfect weather, what game?

 We didn't want to stand in the line to take photos on the other side of this marker that really spells it out for you, most southern part of the US.  I took that photo 17 years ago, we're going for the faster angle here.  There is naturally a naval base right there with awesome housing.  Who voted for army?  Seriously.

 Okay, I am not familiar with the prostitution laws in Key West but this cute little house had quite a list of activities that you could go in and do.  I almost wanted to go in just to get info for the blog.  So the lady on the porch, employee?  Customer?  Updating her blog on her iPhone?  Oh great, did everyone just leave my blog to go look for hers?  keywestzumba.blogspot.com

 I don't know but I had to get a picture.

 Made it all the way to Key West, why not some Denny's?  So many reasons why not...

 Hemingway's house which we again ponied up some large tourist fee to tour with 15 minutes until closing.  The guy said we could come back the next day if we wanted to see more.  Yep, 15 minutes was enough.  I read the Paris Wife which was pretty good (not by him, but rather about his first marriage) so I was curious to see the house and cats.  Anna would have loved it of course, cats everywhere including on all the furniture that had signs on it to stay off.  Those cats own the place, they were clearly mocking all the signs.

I'm sure on a hot muggy Key West day there is no cooler place to lay than on the glass display case that says do not touch.

 The cat house, for cats not whores.  Or maybe tiny whores?

 Where Hemingway did his writing.  Surely he sat his large drunken self down in that tiny chair and wrote like mad.  Wait, they do have his typewriter there, but I am skeptical...

Sean paying his respects in the cat cemetery.  They're going to need to expand, the place was literally a cat farm.  I'm a little tired of all the cool houses being made into museums because that is a prime piece of real estate there.  Any place with separate quarters for an office is exciting to me!  I cannot tell you how having Sean's office across the breezeway has changed my life.  Not having to keep the children quiet while he works is priceless.  And this one comes with cats, as far as the children are concerned it would be a done deal.  Yes, every day is a house hunt for me.  I'm sure the great Ernest Hemingway would be thrilled to have his sacred writing space turned into a teleradiology hub.  I don't know how this post evolved but I'm sure no one is reading anymore anyway... all distracted looking for keywestzumba....

Tourist day (resuming Miami posts)

So after the memorable (for the Alabama fans) game, we had ourselves a little tourist day to distract Sean.  I had planned this all along of course, long time ND fan here, I knew how it was going to go.  Anyway, we decided to go down to Key West for the day.  There was one problem: confusion over toll roads.  When we rented the car the guy was pretty sketchy about how to pay for tolls.  He was trying very hard to sell us the flat rate toll thing which made me think it must be like adding additional insurance to the car.  So I started asking questions about it and he totally backed down (got sick of me) and we left it with the option to add on the toll package afterwards if we ended up using the toll roads.  So then we were totally paranoid about using the toll roads (you can't pay cash for them) and found the alternate route down to the keys.  It took ages and ages and we were getting slightly annoyed about our wasted time until I saw a sign for the Coral Castle.  Yes, something I saw a show about a few years ago, which is amazing considering how little random TV I get time to watch.  So to salvage this waste of time we pulled in and paid $13 each to tour this place.  Yes, it was 10 cents a long time ago.  Shaking my fist to inflation.

 I won't bore you with the whole long story, or perhaps  you've seen the show yourself, but this rather eccentric guy spent most of his life making this castle thing out of coral blocks.  It was a feat of engineering magic, blah blah, and this was the sun dial he made.  It totally worked.

 An overview of the castle, he did this all by himself... cut the coral blocks from the ground and put them in place.  What the heck, I know, it took a long time, go find the show and watch it.

 Oh, and he was a little guy, this is supposed to be a life sized photo of him.  My husband, the giant.

This is one of the gates he made that was perfectly balanced, weighs 2 tons or something.  There is a video on youtube of a child pushing it with one finger.  I will spare you the rest of the photos, give you a reason to stop there yourself.  On the way back from Key West we took the toll road home to save a lot of time and we tried to tell the guy when we dropped off the car that we needed to add on the toll coverage but he said they'd bill us for it.  Hmm, can't wait to see what those charges are.

Kansas happenings (in between trips)

 I love Kansas winters with the wild temperature swings.  I can get through cold spells knowing that nice days will return shortly.  This is from when Sean took the kids to the park recently and Patrick was the cool kid on his new razor tricycle.  Here he is with some fans, i.e. kids hoping to get a turn.

 Warm enough to get ice cream afterwards.  Sean took them, I was happy to miss out because for some reason I can't stand Baskin Robbins.  I must have had a traumatic event there as a child, I don't know, I even hate the smell in there.  Now I hate dealing with their sticky faces when they're done.

 Emily started dance class because her favorite sitter is the teacher.  Not much is cuter than a three year old in dance clothes.  She loves going, the highlight of her week.  This is the opposite of her sisters.

Patrick spent one evening after bedtime getting his friends arranged.  Always amuses me to come in his room after he is asleep and see what he has been up to.

CIA lunch

This is for mom.  Lunch at St. Andrews at the Culinary Institute of America.  I think the waiter is used to people coming and wanting to try almost everything on the menu, which we did...

First off, I cheated on Bold Rock and thought I would try a local New York hard cider.  I thought I should do more research to confirm that Bold Rock is the best and yes, it is.  This Doc's Draft had a floral scent to it which was disturbing frankly.  I'm not one for drinking something that smells like a candle or fabric softener.  Only disappointment of the meal.

 Carrot, apple and celery root soup and I assure you it was fabulous.

 Butternut squash gnocchi with roasted pumpkin seeds.  This was one of the two appetizers we split.

 And the second appetizer... fancy mac and cheese with chicken and mushrooms and many fancy cheeses.  A favorite for sure, but rich so splitting was the right decision.

 We also ordered two salads and I forgot to get a photo of the first one.  This one had a soft boiled and breaded egg and it was perfect with the fancy bacon and green stuff.

 This is Mark's ideal dish right here.... steak with ketchup, albeit a fancy version.  The fries were polenta and it was a great variation on a simple dish.  Oh, the sautéed spaghetti squash underneath it all was perfection.  I need to try that at home.

I never order chicken when I'm out because clearly I make chicken at home and I want to try different things when someone else is cooking.  So glad I made the exception because I have never had such great chicken.  We're talking about going to a cooking camp at the CIA and I hope they teach us how to make chicken like this.

 One of the desserts... bread pudding.  It was good, but not nearly as good as the churros or the....

 Lemon meringue pie.  Even more beautiful before we split it in two.  I'm not usually a fan of meringue but that's because I've never had it made correctly I guess.  Very smooth and creamy, not that foamy eggy blah that is on other pies.  I might enjoy learning to make this in cooking camp but then we'd all grow very fat from me making it all the time.  We asked for another one to go and our waiter was confused, thought we meant take home some of the piece we were eating.  So he comes back out and sees that we've licked the plate and says, "oh, did you mean another piece to go?"  YES, oink.  It was for Mark who had been on a business trip and missing out.  Okay, that was an outstanding meal and I'm still full.

Baby, food and tea time

We hit the highlights in Milton, New York.  Erin was an angel and slept the entire time we drove around sightseeing and going to lunch and shopping.  She got revenge in the evenings, hopefully just a growth spurt and not how things will be for Katie for months and months.  Anyway, the photos:

 My favorite kind of tea, Harney and Sons!  Going to their tasting room was a big deal to me and I even saw John Harney.  I resisted sneaking a photo because I realize he is only a celebrity in the tea world.

 This was our tasting guy, what a job... talking about tea all day and making it for fans to try.  He explained to us that they used to tell people that caffeine was removed during the first time you use the leaves (you can re-use tea bags several times, depending on the kind) because that is what John says, but his son Mike explained to the workers that is wrong and to stop saying it.  I had heard that years ago and have been telling people that too, so please disregard or you will be up late into the night (with Katie and Erin)!

 Here is Katie in the cafe at the tea shop where we had lunch.  Amazing food and of course, whatever tea we wanted made the correct way.  That bar behind her, that is my dream bar.  Tea, not liquor!

 And here it is, the most perfect food on Earth: CHURROS.  I know you are thinking, what the what?  Trust me, you have never had them prepared the correct way until you have had these.  And dipped in what?  Salted caramel sauce.  I regretted not being able to bring some home for Sean because I know he would have loved them.  I had to resort to getting him some Vosges chocolate from O'Hare.

The best churros come from the Culinary Institute of America, we got them in their cafe.  Went back the next day to St. Andrews Cafe for lunch, which will be its own post.  Anyway, the campus was very impressive.  I was also impressed that kids come out of high school knowing they want to be a chef or run a restaurant, a set career path sounds better than graduating with some vague liberal arts degree like some of us writing for a non-money generating blog....  Downside to being a CIA student: houndstooth pants is part of their uniform.  Do they have to cheer for Alabama??

And here is Erin, sleeping for hours and hours during our adventures when Lane was in school.  The perfect baby.

Sean's vacation

The kids are finally at an age where I can leave for a few days and it's not too annoying for Sean.  With no moonlighting shifts and no army shifts, this should be a piece of cake considering how most of them are in school every day.  He is babysitting the little girl I drive to preschool and he will be doing our usual carpools and even driving for a field trip, so I guess he won't get to sit at home all day.  Okay, he is really being a trooper about all this.  I have never been able to go out and see any new nieces or nephews at this newborn stage so I am excited!  A perk to mine growing up, I have more time to be a doting aunt.  Katie sounds interested in going out to lunch and shopping too, we are sisters after all, ha!

I made the pie

Just looking at the photo of the key lime pie from Joe's Stone Crab reminded me to look up and see if I could have a pie shipped to us, as I know they ship the stone crabs.  Well, before I found the page to order it I found the page with the recipe.  Looked easy enough, especially after I did find the page to order.... $68 for one pie?  Hmm, pass.  I made it pretty much immediately after I got home from the grocery store and it was such a big hit with me that I'm wondering what time second dessert is.  9pm?  Here is the recipe:

http://www.joesstonecrab.com/recipes/keylime.html

If you're local, stop by and get a piece otherwise I am having it for breakfast too.  Megan and Sean also enjoyed it.  Megan said it was as good as the Schwan's version.  Sean quietly explained that is rude to say.  If you try the recipe, don't cheat and get the premade crust.  Really, if you are zesting a lime, the least you can do is take 30 seconds to make a pie crust.

While I'm attempting to turn this into a food blog (kidding), I also made zucchini on the grill tonight that the kids hated.  Quartered zucchini strips, brushed with olive oil, grilled until tender, then tossed with lemon vinaigrette, pine nuts, and feta.  So good that I'm looking forward to having the leftovers.  No salmon left, kids actually like that, probably because it is pink like hotdogs.

No segways.  When Emily says, "hey, look this", I definitely look and sometimes I just start running towards her voice.  That means a stunt is in progress.  Having an older brother has really made a difference in her personality compared to her sisters.  The other night she came and crawled into our bed which she rarely does so it almost seems adorable.  I was talking about it in the morning and said that it was odd because she never gets out of bed.  Megan informed me that she only came to our bed because she had kicked Emily out of her bed.  I guess she is a frequent guest.  And this is how keeping the temps low at night pay off.  Who wants to walk all the way to another room instead of another bed a few feet away when it's 64 degrees out?  And that would be a perk to jamming three kids in one room.  At this point I don't know if we could really split them up.

And now for just a short thought on the Manti situation.  To everyone who is mocking him for being so trusting and gullible and also saying things like, "what sort of person falls for that?", I say, what sort of person pulls a hoax like that????  What is wrong with people?  And who has that much time to maintain that for months and months?  If you ever find yourself tempted to start something like that because you have so much free time, bookmark this post and pick another activity:
1. go to class
2. study
3. read a BOOK
4. get a part time job
5. get another part time job
6. go to church
7. go volunteer to help at any of literally millions of places that could use an extra hand
8. clean up your house
9. clean up your yard
10.  paint your house
11.  go help fix up your neighbor's house

Oh wait, I seem to have slipped into things that I think welfare people should be doing while they wait for their next check to arrive.  I am all for helping those who truly need it, especially if it's a temporary situation, but the abusers who sit watching crap TV all day instead of making a difference in the world... well, I hope they feel the shame that is appropriate.  I hope that those who tricked Manti also feel some shame, but I doubt it.  And I hope that those who mock Manti look back on their own lives and how they've felt when they've been tricked or done something  embarrassing.  I have some hilarious (in retrospect) dating disasters, but not only would I not put them in writing here, I certainly wouldn't want to go on TV and discuss them in great depth!  If you stop by though, I even have photos to go with my stories...

Food inspiration

One of my goals for the new year was inspired by some articles I've read about all the food that is wasted in America and how much money that translates to.  A waste of resources, energy, money, you name it.  I've always been one to try and use up our leftovers, mostly by forcing them on the children unless it's something I like.  I had a friend in San Antonio who was so organized that she literally had nothing in her fridge except the food they were eating that week.  I assume she had a huge fully stocked pantry of dry and canned goods, she was Mormon after all and they are so good about that.  We were having lunch at her house one Friday and the only thing in her fridge were the tortillas, avocados, and cheese that we were going to eat.  I was shocked and asked her why that was.  Safe to assume they wasted no food in that house.  She made a menu, they stuck to it, it was impressive.

So I am trying to use up all fresh food we have before it goes bad and that means use up the random stuff that I've had in there for ages.  I saw a pizza that I pinned to pinerest last year that involved several of my nagging ingredients so I whipped that up today.  Half a jar of roasted red peppers, fontina cheese that said best by April 2012 (hey, it had never been opened and it's cheese, cheese doesn't expire, right?), balsamic glaze and then in the freezer I had Naan bread and turkey meatballs.  Are you feeling sorry for the kids right about now?  I won't force it on them.  I can be kind.  Last night I gave in and got them a treat dinner from Freddy's, cheeseburgers and fries.  The receipt shows that I did not order onion rings and the whole way home I debated which was more appropriate for me: a medal or a trophy?  I am addicted to them but clearly I shouldn't be.  I decided instead to just sneak out after the littles were in bed and the girls were settled in with their dear friend Netflix streaming (Sean working his shift in the office) to meet a spontaneous friend (who didn't drive her minivan or wear sweatpants) at 4 Olives for something worth the calories.  I did bring poor Sean home some of the signature toffee at least.

Anyway, if you need some food inspiration, here are the vacation food photos:

 The night when we were in Key West we looked up best burger down there and picked The Black Fin Bistro and I went with their well reviewed specialty one involving a fried egg on top.  I recall Finnegans being offered a fried egg on a pizza recently so this is quite the trend, and I approve!  Sean was suspicious.  He will never eat a runny egg, so missing out... on heart disease?

 This was from Joe's Stone Crab which I mentioned earlier.  The first night we went with the recommended menu which is family style... the stone crab legs which were good but not really something I'd order normally.  Their most popular sides were fabulous though, the hashbrown style mashed potatoes and their fried green tomatoes, of which I ate the most.  It's a vegetable!  Oh wait, it's a fruit.

Their key lime pie was the best we've ever had and Sean discovered that he loved it.  This was unfortunate as we were sharing a piece.  This is why we went back again the next night... more pie.

I ordered this spinach salad at YOLO in Ft. Lauderdale before we headed to the airport our last day.  I hate when I make my own salads but I love when other people make them for me.  I mentioned that fact to friends lately and some laughed but others nodded solemnly in agreement, this is a real phenomena.   Anyway, my mom will notice the raisins that were not listed on the menu but I choked them down because it was so good all mixed together.  Pear, cranberries, red pepper, egg, bacon, rotisserie chicken, cashews and other random nuts (a departure from the menu again, frown).  A great meal to end the trip on.   Oh Sean got a prime rib sandwich, not as photogenic but delicious.

Our true last meal of the trip was at Wolfgang Puck's in the Chicago airport on our layover.  Best pizza ever, for real, and now the one I just made up from leftovers here is not seeming as good.  Hoping this will all inspire me to make a menu and go grocery shop now....

OH wait, I just found a photo I'd been looking for... in my camera roll on my phone but never made it to the photo stream even though the ones that I took at the same time are there.  Annoying but perhaps iCloud has a limit to how many boring food photos it will allow?

Breakfast nachos from The Grand Lux.  I know, it's a chain but it was so good that I have to admit we went there.  This was also located at the high end outlet  mall nearby, so convenient.  I had salmon piccata for lunch there the first day too, going to try and make that soon, an update on the chicken one we love.  Anyway, this is perhaps the best breakfast I've ever had.

A Productive Day

After spending all morning reading and writing about Manti, I felt like I had an office job again (meaning neglecting my actual tasks for fun computer time).  Wow, amazing how much time one can waste without realizing it...  I did play with Emily a bit and I reread Fancy Nancy to her enough times to feel some rage at Nancy for over-explaining to me what fancy versions of words are, but in general such a slacker morning.  So then I felt guilty and crossed cleaning bathrooms off my to do list, which is my favorite use of my iphone.  I mean using the notes feature, not using it to clean the bathrooms.  Wait, is there an app for that?!  Oh, but how I hate when I accomplish a big task, like marking dots on the wall for Sean to drill and install blinds, and I go to my list to find that I never put it on there so I can't cross it off!  Curses!

When the kids got home from school Megan told me the bathroom smelled weird.  Yes my dear, that is the smell of cleaning products.  I can't wait to introduce her to them.  I could probably get a lot more work out of her if I told her she could earn that iphone she is begging dramatically for on a routine basis.  That's right, she is eleven and is never without a teacher or a parent, there is no justification for that.  I have no problem holding firm to this and I enjoy thinking of new ways to say no.  So ridiculous.  She is not becoming a teenager early, I don't care how tall she is.

Meanwhile Emily tried to tell me she is only two and thus doesn't have to go on the potty.  Then I reminded her that she can't go to big girl dance class then and she said, "oh, that's right, I three, ha ha".  She is potty trained when she wants to be, which is at school and when she wants candy.  I have explained to her that she can't go to fun big kid camp on vacation with everyone else unless she is potty trained and that's enough to get her to go once.  And then she wants to get in the car and go right then.  Hmm, not what I meant.  She hates having her diaper changed, I don't understand this.  She will stink up the whole house, to the point where all the kids are complaining and I will ask her if she wants to be changed.  "No, I fine".   I have heard some variation of this all day long for weeks now.  It's funny when it's your last and you are almost through it.

Well, here's hoping that tomorrow will be more productive or at least reveal some more info on the Manti story because I need answers.  I just found out that Sean has a four day weekend so he can witness the new schedule tomorrow that he will be dealing with next week when I go meet Erin!  New preschool building and schedule and carpool is shaking everything up.  Exciting times my friends, exciting times.  Just not productive times...

Manti and More

I hope the investigation into Manti Te'o and his hoax of a girlfriend is completed soon because I am wasting FAR too much time on blogs and ESPN getting reactions to it.  Clearly he is either super naive or a pathological liar and I can see that going either way.  As someone who is very naive and trusting, always assuming that everyone is a good person, I can see how Manti could have been tricked.  He seems to have that personality: sincere, earnest, supportive of his teammates and fans...  I have also seen similar personality traits in others who go to his church, they seem to have a positive and trusting faith.  Of course a pathological liar could fake all that and put on a huge narcissistic show to get as much attention as he could.  Clearly other athletes have done similar things and it's hard to trust or believe in anyone these days.  So now we wait...

Another thing I have learned from perusing many blogs this morning is that a LOT of people hate Notre Dame and are more than happy to tell you.  Some even share the reasons they hate ND and most of those have to do with how smug ND is, how they have many bad qualities for not joining a football conference.  I don't fully understand all the conference joining pros and cons because (full disclosure) I don't care AT ALL.  To me, Notre Dame is the university I went to.  It is the first place that I went based on my decisions, not the decisions my parents made for me, for example, what city to raise me in and what high school to send me to.  I'm certainly not criticizing their decisions, I am just pointing out that is how it works... college is the beginning of making decisions for yourself and once you get there you meet others who made the same decision and it narrows down from there... clubs you join, majors you choose, etc.  This is why college friendships are typically longer lasting and more meaningful than childhood friendships, or at least you keep in better touch with more college friends than high school friends.

So to have so many people hate the place where I met so many great people, where I learned so much, and where so much good is accomplished through education, research and social service, is disturbing.  People who hate an entire university and all it stands for based on the football program are ignorant.  Lots of fans may disagree, but football is just a sport and one of many at Notre Dame.  It's fun and exciting to follow the team, go to the games, discuss it in great detail, but at the end of it all... it's just a sport.  It's not the purpose of the university and my professors did a great job of illustrating that.  I didn't have any professors who were big fans, quite a few seemed to roll their eyes at the amount of attention football got.  Sure, they probably bought tickets and went to the games, but it was very clear that they were at Notre Dame for their academic careers.  After football season was over and classes started up again in the snow after Christmas break, the true Notre Dame came out.  A quiet campus where people holed up studying and writing papers all night, where friends bonded and talked about the future on weekends where it was too cold to venture outside, and where roommates went to mass together in their dorms and explored their faith,  that is the Notre Dame I knew.  Then the late spring where people stressed about picking majors and classes for the next semester, where the Center for Social Concerns lined up summer service projects, and where the seniors started to chart their paths after graduation... grad school, careers, or a few years of volunteer work.  That is my Notre Dame.

Every university is like that... so much more than their sports programs.  I am tired of rivalries that get nasty and people who are rude and condescending about other universities.  There is a fun and joking way to behave around your rivals where it's clear that there is a level of respect behind it all.  This could be seen at all the games I've been to lately: when opposing fans pose for photos together.  All those photos I took of the "super fans" illustrates this.  People were posing with them because it was in good fun, showing off how into the spirit some get with their costumes.  You admire how much love those people have for their school because it is how much you love yours.  There is a common bond there.  Of course those are usually alumni at those games because it is difficult or too expensive to get tickets otherwise.  There are lots of great subways fans for all teams but we all know of the ones who are not really welcome ambassadors and unfortunately those are often the most vocal.  They usually keep me away from message boards and comments after articles online.

As a sidenote, I would like to add that if you laugh in your friend's face and say that you're not sad their team lost, then you should do some soul searching as to why you are happy about something that is upsetting to others.  I have always been supportive of all teams here and am happy for my friends when their teams do well.  I like my friends to be happy and the majority of my friends are the same way, spread the joy.  I am no longer accepting the explanation that some people can be rude "because that's just they way they are".  People, that is enabling bad behavior.  Being rude and unkind is NEVER acceptable.  That is what is wrong with our society these days.  And if indeed Manti is a sweet naive man who was tricked by some people playing a very unkind joke, then shame on them.  If Manti is the manipulative liar then that is a huge disappointment because he was sure shaping up to be a great role model.  I guess from the football standpoint, no matter what the truth is, that story sure motivated the team through an amazing season.  I don't think anything would have lead them past Alabama's team but the timing of Manti bringing it to the university leaders leads me to believe that was a factor in his lack of intensity in the National Championship.  Either he knew the gig was up and the truth would be coming out or else he was devastated to learn he had been emotionally manipulated and was about to be completely mortified in the national media.  We're waiting to learn which one...

Sigh

 Okay, this part of the game was cool.  The Air Force Academy had their precision parachute team land on the field.  The guy representing Alabama stumbled, the rest did not.  That was no indication of how the game would go unfortunately.

 Oh look, so happy.  Clearly this was before kickoff.

 And that's how close we were to the top.  It's a small stadium though, our view was still pretty good, even though we may have wished it wasn't...

 The last parachute and last thrilling thing to happen that night.

 Oh but wait, our band honored Back to the Future, this is supposed to be the car from it. What?

 More halftime show.  Give me some tradition.

Wow, just when we thought the game couldn't get any worse... after the Alabama and ND bands played, the Miami Sound Machine WITHOUT Gloria Estefan came out and played while shiny dancers pretended they were at a nightclub and danced on tables.  Umm, did their parents know about this beforehand?  The random band people with them all came from different marching bands, what an honor to play in a thrown together band and only have a few days to pull together a routine.  It was fine but kind of hoped for a better ALL AROUND night.

Oh well, my back had been hurting the whole trip from so much standing and walking so I wasn't too upset when the crowd quickly lost steam and decided to sit down.  It was an experience either way, just not the one we hoped for.  I don't think we will ever go back for such an event.  This was the miracle season, we went from unranked in the preseason to  playing for the National Championship.  If this was a movie we would have won.  Or I suppose this could be one of those artsy movies with an unsatisfying ending.  That's why I don't see artsy movies much, if I want a crappy ending I can find one in real life.  I watch movies and TV for pretty houses, good fashion, and a little Jeff Winger never hurt.  Cool, cool, cool.  Sigh, does no one watch Community besides us and Finnegans?  We did just start Nashville too...

They've got spirit, yes, they do