Party like it's 1999

Yesterday was the biggest day of the year for Aggie fans. We watched our beloved play the longhorns. It's Halie's family's turn for Thanksgiving this year and we had it on a Friday at her Grandma's house. I like to be locked in to my TV set so I wasn't too excited about that, but at least I would get to see it. Her dad is a Longhorn alum who is a very intense fan as well. It was my first time to watch the game with him as normally he wants to be by himself so he can "concentrate." He doesn't make a big deal about the longhorns winning - I think because he is used to it. Maybe a little too used to it. However this year would produce something different

We haven't beat t.u. anywhere since 1999 and we haven't beat them in Austin since 1994 (which was the last time we were pretty good). The game was mostly a defensive struggle but the Aggies popped out to an early lead. As the game wound on I didn't think we had enough points to beat them. I figured in regular longhorn fashion they would make a last second run when it really mattered. But they didn't. Halie's dad sat on the couch 2 feet away from me mostly quiet and expressionless. Anytime the Aggies would score or do something good, Halie would jump up and dance with the singing Aggie bobblehead doll that I brought. I tried to remain mostly even keeled because after 3 heartbreaking losses this season I know how quickly things can change.

When the dust had finally settled though, the score was still there 12-7 Aggies. What a sweet sweet victory. The Aggie faithful everywhere really needed this one! 365 days of pure bliss.

Faghet aboudit

I went to New Jersey last week for work. I hadn't been there since I lived there almost 15 years ago. I was excited to see that the place I was going was only an hour away from where I lived. Another thing I realized was that I was going to be about 5 minutes away from Piscataway which is where Rutgers is. Who's Rutgers you might ask? I always thought they were some obscure college team with a lousy football program, until this year and all the hype they've received. It was just a couple of weeks ago when they knocked off #3 Louisville in their biggest win ever. So like on all my trips, I try to go see the stadium where other schools play football.

Rutgers stadium wasn't all that impressive. It reminded me a lot of Colorado's stadium, although maybe a little bigger. It wasn't that tall but was sunk into the ground a bit. The Rutgers campus wasn't nearly as nice looking as I expected. Most of the buildings were fairly non-descript. I figured an old New England school would look much nicer.

After my visit to Rutgers I stopped by my old house. I snapped some pictures of it for my parents. I lived there for 3 years growing up. It was kind of weird to go back because it still looked the exact same and it brought back a lot of memories. I also took some pictures of the lake where I learned to sail and where I spent a lot of time. Check them all out in the Gallery.

A&M vs. Nebraska

We went down to A&M this weekend for the last home football game of the year. We took our friends Melanie & Toby who are big Nebraska fans. We had a blast, even thought we lost AGAIN by 1 point. We are beginning to think we have a curse seeing as the last 3 games we went to this year we lost by 1 point in the last minute! Nonetheless, we had fun cheering on our Aggies and eating at Freebirds! It was a fun car ride back with 2 happy Nebraska fans and 2 bummed Aggies. :)

ESPN College GameDay!

Halie and I took a trip down to College Station for a weekend full of football! ESPN GameDay came to Kyle Field for only the 2nd time ever. I had always kind of regretting missing the first time when I was in school, so I made sure we went this time. We got there about an hour early and had a really good spot along the fence. Unfortunately, I don't think we got on camera.

It turned out to be a very long day as the game wasn't until 7pm that night. And sadly the Aggies ran out of time to beat the Sooners. It was a very exciting game but one that left a sour taste in my mouth when we decided to throw from 3rd and goal at the 2 yd line.

We also visited the bonfire memorial which is the first time I've seen it. It was quite a thing to behold and was very tastefully done. Each of the doorways has a carving of the person's face and some notes written about them. The doorways face each person's hometown. It brought back the memories from 1999 when it all happened.

Happy Little Campers

Halie and I went camping a couple of weekends ago at Cedar Hill State Park which is just SW of Dallas. I took Halie on her first REAL mountain biking trek. There is a 2.5 mile loop there that is pretty technical and challenging. I was very impressed with how well she did. We spent the evening cooking hotdogs over the fire and listening to the Aggies beat the Baylor Bears! It was a great time!
There are pictures in the Gallery!