Yes

It's a tad cold

Okay.
It's officially cold here.

Snowing Again

It is snowing again out there and to be honest, it looks nice.
It is super warm out there today, 28 degrees.
I may be losing my mind.
Ha Ha Ha.

First Day of Class

Yeesch.
Just got done with my class and while it was not a total disaster it was not a total success.
I believe I am the butt of some of their jokes (verbal tics when I pause for time) and for being too excited for lessons (I tend to shout and have off-the-wall examples).
I respond with way too much homework and assignments.
Ohh well.

I'm hoping that the cold will, well, ahh' nothing. More complaining on my part will not help much.
Ha Ha Ha.

Saturday Night Hockey

This weekend we saw our fourth men's hockey game (we have seen the women once).
A big game against this school's biggest rival (at least in men's hockey) Minnesota.
We went Saturday night and had a pretty decent time (this would be the point where I told my wife that I am still uncomfortable rooting too openly for this school and the people who currently go here, the alumni base, and local populace, not really sure why I feel this way, but I do, I think it mainly has to do with the logo and the nickname, but not entirely, maybe).


It was a blowout.
The local team was up early and blew em out early in the third period.
The Gophers were without their coach (who is having some serious health issues) and maybe were not totally into the game, but you could tell the local team was into it.
Lots of fighting, chippy behavior, cheap shots, talk/yelling at each other, and the crowd was pretty go (kudos to the student section, while I feel they are not the most original bunch, they were into the game and it was a pleasure to sit across from them).


My favorite subplot whenever I go into the hockey facility, is guessing how much of the interior (and exterior to be exact) will have to be changed to accommodate the oncoming nickname change.
There is supposed to be over 4,000 Sioux logos in the building and all of them have to be removed according to the agreement the university signed.
It will be a nightmare.
Ha Ha.
Ohh' well.
It was a good time (my wife sits next to her friend and has someone to talk to while zone out and stare at various things happening all around me: the student section and what they are doing, the band and what they are doing, the crowd and how they respond to the game, the "cheapness" of the surroundings, all the little kids who want to come and exit our section, the loud lady behind me who seems to be a one-woman cheer-section {which I secretly love, go lady}, the bar section to my right, the little kid next to me who was signing some song and who was being 'coached' by his Dad on what was really happening in the game, the poor little girl next to us who was wearing both a gopher and a Sioux jersey and changing it to appease both her parents {who were both decked out in opposing outfits with jerseys, hats, buttons, scarfs, beads and face paint, awesome}, and actually watching the game, which was fun).
Good times.

Cold

Whoa.
The temperature is supposed to keep dropping here and not approach zero again until Friday.
Ughh. Sigh.
This is getting ridiculous and sort of cruel.
Ha Ha.
We went cross-country skiing this past weekend and my groin feels pulled in three different directions. Also my knees feel old.
So.
Things are great up here.
yeah.

Small Time

This university is at the crossroads.
This is ND's first year in Division One athletics. They made the move in part to keep up with the school to the south (NDSU) since they made the move to division one about five years ago (this would be the point where you point out how in the past ten years that the 'land grant' has surpassed the 'flagship' although when I ask the my students, the undergrads, about this fact (well it is a fact to everyone else not in GF) they deny the fact that they now attend the number two school in the state, whoa, I was shouted down in class last semester when I brought this up, ha ha love it).
The local paper has an article which explains how the Summit league (a goof-ball collection of schools from Maryland to Utah, Louisiana to North Dakota State, public and private schools with enrollments ranging from just over 28,000 students to just under 2,000) just decided to not even visit this campus for consideration to join the conference due to the logo and nickname issue.
Yeesch, this is a bad sign for this school. This is the conference that UWM left a few years back and never looked back (the history of this conference is a nice historical story of how schools wanted to get their teams into NCAA tournaments and how little known schools wanted to 'get big' by pumping money into their athletic budgets).
This will be interesting.
Link:
Summit Bypasses UND

Happy New Years

Well we're back in town and after taking a mental day back on it.
I need to finish up my syllabus for one class and create another one for a class which is a second part of a programming class (not really sure what the chair wants me to do, but hopefully it will be told to me in this packet I was handed this morning, ha ha).
Otherwise, I'm tired. The goofy curling team I'm on (yeah, I am the fourth member of a Monday night curling team, the best part is that the club has changed the soda vending machines into beer ones, "Why yes, I would love a Pabst.") lost again last night but my team members told me it was a close game (I throw first and in the eight ends we play, I make good throws in about three or at best four of them, I am the weak link and find myself getting down on myself for playing a sport I barely understand the rules to).
It rose above zero today. Yeah.
Cool.