Favorite Music from 2007

As the year winds down I've seen a lot of "best of" lists when it comes to music from 2007. These lists are obviously comprised of songs and/or albums that were released in 2007.

This of course got me thinking about what my personal favorites from the year were. However, I soon realized that most of the new music I started listening to consistently in 2007 didn't necessarily come out during the year, but was new to me. In some cases it was 20+ years old. The following is not in any particular order and in some cases is not a specific song or album but rather an artist.

1. "Beyond the Neighbourhood" - Athlete
This was one of the few ones on my list that came out this past year. Their album "Tourist" still remains one of my overall favorites.

2. Badly Drawn Boy - I can remember hearing the song "You were right" a few years ago but never knew who sang it. I came across it when I was on Hype Machine one day and ended up checking out a lot of other BDB songs. All good stuff. BDB did have an album come out in 2007 called "Born in the UK" but "Have You Fed the Fish" is the by far his best in my opinion.

3. "Sundress" - Ben Kweller
This is one of those cases where I liked this particular song a lot, listened to it over and over. Unfortunately I could never really get into any of his other stuff.

4. Joy Division
I had always been a big New Order fan but could never really get into their precursor band Joy Division other than the song their probably most well-known for, "Love will Tear us Apart." Then I watched the movie "Control" in November which is a biopic on the late Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division. The movie itself was pretty good but it of course feature a huge dose of Joy Division songs. After watching the movie, Joy Division became a regular on my workout playlist. I could listen to "Transmission" over and over again.

5. "Mockingbird" - Derek Webb
I love the way Derek sings about his faith and puts it the context of everyday issues. He isn't the most subtle guy with respect to how he feels about something, just check out these lyrics to "A King and a Kingdom" - there are two great lies that i’ve heard:“the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die”and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican

6. "Mr. Lemons" - Glen Phillips
Although I continue to be a huge fan of the former Toad the Wet Sprocket lead singer, when this album first came out in mid-2006, it really didn't do much for me. Then there was a few days of brutal commutes a couple of months back that I was listening to nothing but GP and the Mr. Lemon's songs really spoke to me. The lyrics to most of the songs had a very spiritual undertone to them, particularly "Everything but you" and "Thank You."

7. "Nothing Left to Lose" - Mat Kearney
The title song hooked me on this album. Took a little while before I could appreciate it but the strong lyrics did it for me. Kearney is one of the best Christian songwriters I have heard in a while.

8. "We were dead before the ship sank" - Modest Mouse
I could listen to "Dashboard" over and over again. Former Smiths' guitarist Johnny Marr joined the group for this one and put these guys over the top in my opinion.

9. "Boxer" - The National
One of those artists I constantly heard thanks to satellite radio. Never got tired of hearing "Start a War."

10. The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir
Great band out of Chicago but you would think they're from Ireland. Kind of have a bit of Chieftains sound to them.

11. "Our Ill Wills" - Shout Out Louds
Everytime I hear their lead singer, it makes me want to watch Austin Powers Goldmember. Lead singer sings with a heavy dutch/scandanavian accent, but it's not so bad that you can't understand what he's saying.

Tis the Season for Texas Christmas Fun

We got our Christmas buzz on this weekend when we headed up to the Dallas suburb of Grapevine, the self-proclaimed "Christmas Capital" of Texas. I'll take their word for it given there are tens of thousands of towns in Texas and I really don't feel like trying to substantiate the claim.

The weekend had very much a Christmas feel to it as a cold front blew in on Saturday morning and there was a biting wind all day that made it feel like it was in the 20s with the wind chill. I'm sure all of our friends in the midwest and northeast yawn at that one but hey, we've been in Texas for eight years now, our tolerance for cold weather stops when the temperature drops below 50.

After the requisite picture in front of a really big Christmas tree in the town square, the kids turned their attention to Frosty.After tormenting Frosty, a Santa Claus on stilts and an elf, we took a carriage ride for more small town Christmas fun.
After being outside for more than 30 minutes, we determined that we were far colder than we should have been (at least Tricia and I were, the children were of course unphased by it all) and we headed over to the Gaylord (insert "Meet the Parents" movie reference here) Texan Hotel for an indoor winter wonderland. I looked long and hard at every Target in the great Austin area for this decoration and could not find it, apparently it's one of a kind.

We thought we could warm up by going inside but that typically doesn't happen when you decide to check out ice sculpture exhibits. For some reason, 9 degrees is the magic number to keep ice from melting indoors. I'm guessing with all those cooling units working 24/7 to keep the million-plus pounds of ice frozen, achieving carbon-neutrality is a bit challenging for the hotel.

Amen!

We got back in time on Sunday to enjoy the neighborhood holiday party. Unfortunately our HOA couldn't secure one of those cool throne-like chairs the mall Santas get to sit in all day. The park bench was the best we could offer. I'm pretty sure we ended up with a non-union Santa as a result.

Chandler pondered her numerous requests and Clancy and crew figured there was strength in numbers.
While the weekend had its challenges - seven plus hours in the car, a restless night's sleep at the hotel, some lengthy waits and the typical angst that results from our kids spending lots of time around each other, it was a fun time and I wouldn't hesistate to do it again!

Extreme Team Makeover: Ed Wade Style

With the trade of Chris Burke, Chad Qualls and Juan Gutierrez for D-backs closer Jose Valverde, this is now officially Ed Wade's team. The guy has guts, that's for sure. While I still think he gave up too much for Tejada (I'm not even going to get into the steroid issue this post,) it was the type of shake things up trade this franchise needed. This team was not going to win next season with some minor tweaks.

I still don't know if this team is good enough to win a weak division, I still think Wade needs to go out and get one more decent starting pitcher. The idea of going into the season with Woody Williams, Brandon Backe, Wandy Rodriguez and Chris Sampson as the guys throwing when Oswalt doesn't is a bit unsettling for me right now. Woody showed us last season he has nothing left, Backe and Sampson have had arm troubles and Wandy was erratic. I have concerns about the bullpen as well after Valverde and Brocail. However, if everyone stays relatively healthy, there's no reason this team shouldn't contend with the lineup they have in place now.

Here's my wild (and wishful) thought of the day: Roger Clemens has a Texas-sized ego, I'm almost certain the guy thinks he has something to prove following the Mitchell report. Why not extend some overtures toward him for a May/June return. Perhaps he will give the team the hometown discount circa 2004 season.

Pac=10 Co-Champion = trip to Holiday Bowl

So here's my rant:

• ASU is co-champions of the Pac-10. They are co-champs of what could arguably be the 2nd or 3rd toughest conference in college football. If Oregon has a healthy Dennis Dixon, I'd say we're tied with the Big-12 for 2nd.
  
• Hawaii - congrats on going undefeated with your 137th ranked strength-of-schedule (according to Sagarin.) Spare me the whining about how no good non-conference teams want to come and play you. I hope you guys go to the Orange Bowl and thump Kansas (89th-ranked schedule) but you'll have to do better than you did against the LAST PLACE team in the Pac-10. ASU's strength of schedule according to Sagarin's computer model - 29th.
  
• West Virginia - a 28-point favorite against Pitt loses, costs itself a spot in the National Championship and because of the stupid BCS conference tie-ins, the Fiesta Bowl is forced to take them.
  
• Speaking of conference tie-ins - the Rose Bowl people should be ashamed of themselves. Congrats on picking a team with three losses who will get thumped by USC, maybe even worse than ASU did. Here you have the flexibility to set up a great match-up with another, more deserving team like maybe West Virginia, but you feel compelled to keep that Pac-10 vs. Big 10 tradition alive. Get over Rose Bowl committee, Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler don't coach in the Big-10 anymore. The Big-10 is awful and overrated.
  
• It's a complete travesty that Ohio State is playing for the national championship .... again.
• Then again, had the Devils taken care of business in just one of the games against Oregon or USC, then all of the above are moot points. Sigh.
  

Living in the Austin area, I get Longhorn football shoved down my throat pretty consistently. I accept it, it's part of being a sports fan in the home of the biggest university in Texas. It doesn't mean I have to like it however.

This is where I see a silver lining in all of this. My bitterness about ASU not playing in a BCS game is somewhat off-set by the fact that ASU will take on the Longhorns in San Diego. If ASU wins this game (and there's no reason they shouldn't) I get to throw this in the face of my fellow co-workers, neighbors, parishioners and anyone else who rides the burnt orange bandwagon for the next year.

My note on last night's win over Tucson is simply this: Chris McGaha is a freaking stud. It's a shame the guy hasn't scored a TD yet this year.

Diving Catch By Chris McGaha in Arizona vs. Arizona State

My Favorite ASU-U of Tucson Memory

As Saturday's Territorial Cup match-up approaches, the Bob Young of the AZ Republic had a blog about the Top 10 Territorial Cup moments. He put as number 1 John Jefferson's TD catch in the 1975 game that led to an ASU win. Given that I was four at the time, living in Houston and had no clue who ASU was, that one obviously doesn't mean a lot to me.

It was easy to remember however which one was my top one - the 1991 ASU 37-14 win where we snapped Tucson's 8-0-1 streak against us. To this day I still say that it is the absolute best football game I have ever been to and really ignited my passion for Sun Devil football. Sitting in the student section with some friends, a couple of whom were dating gals from U of Tucson that made the un-wise choice to sit with us.

It wasn't the competitiveness that made it special, it was the thrill of being there when the streak was snapped. ASU was in control the entire game and we just wanted to see them keep scoring and run it up and take out 9 years of frustration on the kitties. ASU was going nowhere that season, this was their bowl game and coach Larry Marmie was canned soon after. None of that matter, the streak was over and I was there to take in the moment. We stormed the field after the game, tore down the goalposts which subsequently fell apart and we carried pieces up to the top of the stadium. It was an amazing night.

I guess my other favorite one would be Kevin Galbreath's 51-yard TD run in the Devils' 7-6 victory in Tucson the next season. It was against the "Desert Swarm" Kitties that had been leading the nation in scoring defense at the time. Overall, it was a boring game but an exciting play and the Sun Devil D made it stick in a game we had no business winning.

0 for 2

Two games on the national stage against the other top teams in the Pac-10 (I'm omitting Cal because they are just not that good) and ASU both times gets embarrassed. The Oregon game was excusable. Rudy had the bad thumb and Dennis Dixon was playing out of his head. Getting thumped by USC at home by 20 is not. Talent gap aside, there's no excuse for the poor tackling and overall shoddy defense displayed on Thanksgiving. How many times can one defense bite on a simple play action, naked bootleg? USC is getting a lot of credit for their recruiting prowess and getting their swagger back as to why they put on the clinic they did the other night but frankly some of that is attributable to ASU just not executing like they should.

Now on to the University of Tucson where I'm sure the Stoops brothers are sitting around inventing new blitz packages to throw at the Devils sorry excuse for an offensive line. I was a bit worried after Thursday night that the Devils would not be motivated for the Kitties but then I saw this quote from Erickson this morning:

"This game has nothing to do with the BCS, nothing to do with bowls, nothing to do with anything," coach Dennis Erickson said Friday. "Winning this game is more important than any bowl game. It's the University of Arizona. It's the most important game of the year."

Glad to see DE is publicly acknowledging the importance of this game. I just hope his team is better prepared to play this time around. This one also has the potential to get ugly real quick. If this team finishes 9-3 with a loss to Tucson, all the good things that happened during this season will be overshadowed by the last two weeks.

Brian McLaren was in Austin this week

And I'm really bummed I didn't know about it beforehand. The Austin-American Statesman had a story about his visit to do a book signing and talk with local Christians of all denominations.

When Tricia and I lived in Maryland we attended Cedar Ridge Community Church where Brian was the senior pastor. He is an amazing teacher and his sermons (although I am hesitant to label them as such) always spoke to me. He always knew just how to take scripture and relate it to contemporary and pop culture. I'll never forget the one from Easter 1999 where he was talking about how Christ's disciples were feeling on the day he died and he closed it by playing a song from one of our favorite singers David Wilcox called "Show the Way."

I have read one of his books, "Finding Faith" and the one referenced in the article sounds like one I will want to check out. Also, I had no idea he was named to Time's 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in the Country. He definitely sticks out among some of the others on the list like Chuck Colson and James Dobson.

Thoughts on "The Mayflower"

Given that Thanksgiving is next week, it's timely that I finally finished reading Nathaniel Philbrick's "The Mayflower." Given Philbrick's background in Maritime history, I thought it would focus more on the period of time leading up to the Mayflower's departure from England and the voyage itself. Instead, that didn't even encompass a third of the book. In fact, it seemed like half the book was focused on King Philip's War and the events leading up to it.

After having read Philbrick's "In the Heart of the Sea" a few years ago, I knew going into it the guy had what it takes to turn a historical narrative into a readable story. I wouldn't quite put him at the level of Stephen Ambrose yet, but he's pretty close.

Here are some of my quick takeaways:

• The Pilgrims' desire to have the freedom to practice their religion was discussed at length in the beginning but was only touched upon briefly throughout the rest of the book.
• I never realized the original destination of the Mayflower was the Hudson River.
• Philbrick portrays Myles Standish's unprovoked raid of the Wessagussett Indian settlement as having "irraparably damaged the human ecology of the (plymouth) region."
• King Philip's War was a bloody one that resulted in more colonist deaths than was ever discussed in my college Colonial history courses.
• King Philip's War may have dragged on much longer if not for the heroics of Benjamin Church. While there were probably many other aspects of this Indian vs. Colonists nearly two year battle that were not captured in the book, Philbrick focused on Church's battles and his pursuit and ultimate capture of Philip. Philbrick portrays him, he's very much the type of hero someone could probably develop a screenplay around. Primarily because of his trust in the Native Americans and willingness to form alliances with them at a time when other colonists refused to and would kill any and all they came in contact with.
  

Overall, the book was extremely informative without going into the extreme details that some historical narratives tend to do. Check it out if you're looking for a good Thanksgiving read.

Saturday at the Rose Bowl

Sitting in the DFW airport right now waiting for my connection back to Austin having flown in from L.A. earlier today -- I was supposed to be home by now, but the 3:40 flight got canceled. DFW remains the scourge of all U.S. air travel IMO.

However, I would be even more miserable right now had the Devils blown it yesterday. They are either just real lucky or a good team that is able to overcome their mistakes. I like to think it's the latter but frankly it's probably a combination of both and the fact that UCLA is just not very good and Karl Dorrell is doing his best Dirk Koetter impersonation, circa 2006 season. He has clearly lost his team and they are just playing out the string. He may even have the dubious distinction of the being the only coach to lose to Notre Dame this season when it's all said and done.

Rose Bowl was a great place to watch a game and their were more ASU fans there than I would have ever guessed. Local alum group said they had a record turnout for their tailgate party. The good news is we escaped with a win at the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1996, won with a quarterback who had a bad throwing thumb, we're 9-1 and have a nearly two weeks to prep for USC on Thanksgiving in Tempe. Here's hoping Erickson gives Rudy at least a week off to rest that thumb.

Look about halfway up the section, I'm the one in the Gold

Ed Wade Appears to Have a Plan

Whether or not the trading of Brad Lidge for some unproven players works out, I commend Ed Wade for having the guts to do what his predecessor never did. Brad Lidge was never going to be a successful closer in Houston. Everyone around baseball knew he still had killer stuff but just needed a change of scenery. Unfortunately Wade's predecessor had hang ups about trading homegrown Astros players while they still had some trade value (see Morgan Ensberg.)

What I like most about this deal is Wade appears to have a plan and vision for how this team should look next season. He knew there was a hole in CF and he addressed it. He apparently feels like Chris Burke is not the solution at 2B and is making overtures toward free-agents who he think can be. With Pupura there never seemed to be any plan for how to address needs on the team. He stuck with his homegrown boys such as Ensberg and Lane and they let him down.

The next logical move would seem to be a package of Burke and possibly Luke Scott for some pitching. Both players are young and still have trade value. Keep taking risks Ed, this team needs to change. Good luck to you Lidge, I truly do admire heart and the way you never shied away from the challenge of taking the ball night after night when things were going bad.

Random Thoughts from the Oregon Loss

• Nine sacks is unacceptable. The O-line definitely deserves much of the blame for this one, but Rudy must quit holding on to the ball so long or else needs to learn how to throw it away effectively. There were a couple of times where the tailback would be in open in the backfield and Rudy didn't even look him off.
  
• With Dixon going out of the game in Q4, the Devils had an opportunity to rally but turning the ball over twice in the quarter makes that a bit challenging.
  
• Either Oregon's offense is that good or our defense was just that bad in Q1.
  
• Stewart ran all over the ASU defense like no one has this year, particularly in Q3. I'm sure a couple of more have ran for more yards but some of those runs by Stewart were killers.
  
• What the heck happened clock management-wise at the end of first half? We had momentum going our way at that point and to not get any points set the tone for the second half.
  
• Dixon looked like a Heisman candidate in Q1 but wasn't overly impressive after that.
• We clearly missed Ryan Torain that game. Particularly at the goal line in Q1 and the 4th and 1 attempt in Q3.
  
• The Devils national title hopes are probably finished but Rose Bowl hopes shouldn't be. As has been proven week after week, anything can happen this season. Oregon's remaining schedule would indicate that they probably won't lose a game. But they still have their in-state rival to play and have to travel to AZ to play the suddenly hot University of Tucson.
  
• I have no idea what to expect from UCLA next weekend. They are a team that is reeling with a lame duck coach. I wouldn't be surprised if UCLA fans are actually pulling for the team to lose to help seal the deal on Dorrell being ousted. Based on the past two weeks, his team doesn't appear to be rallying around him.
  

I'm Enjoying it While I Can

Continuing on from my earlier post regarding the rest of the nation taking notice of Sun Devil football, here's some sound bites from others outside of the state of Arizona:

"But with 14 starters back from last year's 7-6 disappointment, Erickson has instilled a belief system that has made ASU this week's talk of the nation. How much did the players believe in the coach who turned around Idaho, Washington State and Oregon State, and won two national titles at Miami (Fla.)? Not one player has quit or transferred." The Denver Post

"Conventional wisdom said Dennis Erickson would get Arizona State to play with physicality and toughness. Conventional wisdom also said the Larry Brown of college football wouldn't achieve greatness this quickly." FoxSports.com

Even Tucson is smart enough to know a good thing when they see it:

Things we cannot ignore about Arizona State, after rallying past California:

The Sun Devils are more persistent than ants. They have trailed Colorado 14-0, Oregon State 19-0 and California 13-0. But they've outscored opponents 153-29 in the second half . . . Freshman Thomas Weber has not missed a college field goal yet, hitting all 15 . The Tucson Citizen

"Staying in the Pac-10, the undefeated Arizona State Sun Devils have given up more than 20 points just once this season, thanks in large part to the play of underrated senior OLB Robert James. Standing just 5-foot-11, 228 pounds, James covers a lot of ground, is a sure tackler and has excelled in pass coverage." Mel Kiper, ESPN

Oregon sports information David Williford took a break from calling security to send along a note from his colleague Mark Brand at Arizona State. Brand says the only way for reporters to talk to Erickson will be on tomorrow's Pac-10 teleconference. Why? "He has had over 60 interview requests in the past nine days and I have him booked solid for the next three weeks." The Oregonian

So what does all this mean? Absolutely nothing but after 10 years of not being talked about nationally to any large extent, it's nice to get some national spotlight shining on the program. Even if we lose to Oregon this weekend, I'm going enjoy reading about my Devils in something other than the Arizona Republic this week.

Nation Taking Notice of the Devils

In addition to the reporter in Alabama who keeps voting ASU number one in the AP poll, others are finally starting to take notice of ASU football. Ivan Maisel wrote this story for ESPN and this picture was running on the ESPN homepage tonight.
Haven't seen this much love for ASU football since the '96 squad and their run. Don't blow it boys, you have a rare near sell-out this weekend for a game not against the University of Tucson and it's prime-time recruiting season with a coaching staff that actually knows how to recruit. The result of Saturday night's game against Cal will have an impact beyond this season.

Chandler Cracks Up

Perhaps it was the fact that she was overwhelmed with excitement for this weekend's Cal-ASU match-up or just the fact that she's a silly 7-year old, but nevertheless Chandler took a spill from the bar swing pictured below.

She landed awkwardly on her arm and the result was a five hour visit to the emergency room and this picture.

The doc said there is a "subtle" crack somewhere in those bones. Guess they have a special class on finding cracks at med school because I can't see it anywhere. But I saw the swelling and that was good enough for me.

The end result is Chandler gets to wear the multi-color cast she is proudly displaying here for the next three weeks.

Torain is out, but that's ok ... I think.

Sun Devil football is taking the weekend off to reflect on their 7-0 start and how it means nothing more than the fact that they are now eligible to play in the Las Vegas Bowl. Hopefully Erickson will have the team more ready to play coming out of bye weeks than his predecessor did. In his last three seasons, Dirk Koetter was 0-3 coming out of mid-season bye weeks.

The Devils bad news of the week was the loss of leading rusher Ryan Torain for the season. Fortunately for ASU, RB was probably the position where we have the most depth with Keegan Herring and Dimitri Nance ready to step in and fill the void. This isn't like what would happen if we lost Carpenter at QB for the season. However, neither one of these guys brings to the table the wear you down style of running that Torain delivered, at least not what I've seen from either of them thus far, both are speed guys. Truth be told, it was always Torain who got the ball in the 4th quarter when the wearing down was needed and we frankly don't know what either Herring or Nance can do in similar situation.

Nance and Herring will be playing for the starting spot next season, so let's hope the competitive spirit shines through and they both step up.

Good luck in the NFL RT.

Favorite lyric I heard today

From Mat Kearney's What's a boy to do?

"Funny which words stick around 20 years down when you’re driving alone"

Devils Still Undefeated; Number 8 in first BCS ranking

The Devils took care of business Saturday night against Washington and have now officially beat all the teams they were supposed to beat. After their upcoming bye week, the soft part of their schedule officially ends.

The match-up with Cal on Oct. 27 was supposed to be a premiere match-up of undefeated teams but unfortunately Cal did not deliver on their part of the bargain. Sure their starting QB was hurt but legit top 5 teams are supposed to overcome those type of things against weaker competition, particularly on their home field. Way to screw up an opportunity to be number 1 Cal and hand the top spot to an overrated and undeserving Ohio State. People want to say ASU is overrated because we haven't beaten anyone yet, but Ohio State has beaten an even more unimpressive schedule of nobodies.

I'm trying to be realistic about ASU. Here's my realistic prediction -- 3-2 over the next five games with wins against Cal, UCLA and U of A with losses to Oregon and USC. 10-2 record results in trip to Holiday Bowl.

Drama Queens Win!!

Chandler's softball team played FIVE games today over a span of about 12 hours - 8 am to 8 pm. They went 4-1 over those games and won their championship game 12-5.

Chandler had a great day at the plate and knocked in the winning run in the semi-final game.

It was a long day for everyone in addition to the players. Clancy was a trooper all day, as were we the parents who endured hard bleachers, lots of dust, a few questionable calls and no diet soda or popcorn at the concession stand. I'm pretty sure Chandler had a good time and winning the championship made it that much more special for her, I truly do think she will remember this day for a long time. I know Tricia and I will.

Congrats sweetie! Mommy and daddy are proud of you.

LCP Softball tourney

Chandler's team is 2-1 at the Leander-Cedar Park softball tournament today. As of this posting, they have to win one more game to make the championship!

Chandler has been hitting the ball well today and caught two pop flies in the first inning of the second game.

Pundit Predictions on ASU - UW game tonight

I always like to humor myself and read the scouting reports and predictions on ASU football games in not only The Arizona Republic but also the local paper(s) of the school they are playing that day. It's always interesting to compare and contrast the perceptions of the teams.

Oddly enough in this case, all three papers (The Arizona Republic, Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer) have ASU winning and all have the Sun Devils scoring 31 points. In my opinion, this is not a good sign for ASU.

Here are their predictions:
Arizona Republic
Seattle Times
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Another Blow to the Recording Industry

Following in the footsteps of Derek Webb, Radiohead is selling their latest album via the Priceline approach of the customer naming their price to buy it. Given the publicity they have gotten already, even if they average $3 bucks a download, I'm pretty sure they will make money and the record companies will not see a dime of it. Plus, I'm sure Radiohead will clean up when they go on tour. Particularly considering what people are willing to shell out to see Hannah Montana.

Suddenly the Pac 10 conference is up for grabs

Now that Stanford has pulled off the upset of the year -- apologies to Appalachian State, aka the "other" ASU -- the Pac-10 has a wide-open football race.

There are now only three unbeaten teams in conference play - Cal, UCLA and ASU. Cal clearly is the favorite now and may very well be the number two team in the country on Sunday. If ASU takes care of business next week against Washington in Tempe and Cal does the same against Oregon State and UCLA, all eyes will be on the Cal-ASU match-up on Oct 27. Will Corso and the ESPN gameday crew possibly make a trip down to Tempe?

I'm probably getting way too ahead of myself here. If ASU plays like they did today against Washington State, they wont beat UW. This is a good Huskie squad Ty Willingham has and they have something to prove after barely losing to USC last week.

ASU was lucky to leave Pullman with their 23-20 win. If anyone watched the game (my condolences for enduring the torture that is the FSN broadcast crew of Barry Tompkins and Petros Papadakis) you repeatedly saw the non-TD call that went against the Cougars in the first half. If that catch is ruled a TD, like it probably should have been, then ASU probably doesn't win the game.

I think the officiating crew tried to make it up to the Cougs with a bogus roughing the kicker call against ASU in the 3rd quarter but even that went ASU's way. Justin Tryon ran an interception back for TD on the very next play. Btw JT, that taunting crap you pulled on the run into the end zone was completely bush.

It wasn't pretty, but the Sun Devils are 6-0 and escaped a hostile environment with a 'W'. In the end, that's all that matters. Also the fact that Bill Doba got his words shoved down his throat was quite refreshing to see. Being on the wrong end of a comparison to UofA is not something Sun Devil nation takes lightly and if Doba is still with the Cougs next season when they visit Tempe, I'm sure he will be reminded of it over and over again.

Friday night sugar rush

Chandler and Clancy got to frost their Halloween cookies Friday night. Hard to believe that Halloween is only a few weeks away, particularly since it is still 90 degrees here in Austin.

If you watch Clancy toward the end, you will clearly be able to see the effects of being tired and having licked the frosting knife repeatedly.

We were the lucky ones

Craig Biggio played his last major league baseball game on Sunday. While the Astros won the game, it was the emotion of Bidge's 20-year career ending, all as a member of the Astros' organization, that will be remembered most about the day.

As expected, Richard Justice penned a great column in Sunday's Houston Chronicle to celebrate and reflect on the significance of Bidge being an Astro his entire career. In the lead paragraph he wrote:
Craig Biggio once said he was fortunate to be able to play his entire major league career with one team. Truth be told, we were the lucky ones.

Amen. I know I was lucky to have spent half of my Astro rooting life being able to follow this guy's career. While watching the game on Sunday, I interrupted Clancy's current Star Wars' adventure and picked him up into my arms and had him watch Bidge's final at-bat of his career with me. I was shocked that my four year old son actually paid attention and listened to me tell him about how Bidge was the best player ever to put on an Astros' uniform and how if he continues his little league career he should always pretend to be Bidge.

Bidge ended up grounding out at to Chipper Jones in his last AB, but trust me when I say it was the most emotional groundout you will ever see when you look at Bidge's face and constant ovation he was given by the Astros' fans. For me personally, watching that moment unfold with my son is one I'll never forget.

In what was considered an awful season from a standings and results standpoint, the Astros still managed to draw more than 3 million fans. Drayton can personally thank Bidge and his quest for 3000 and eventual retirement announcement for those numbers. Frankly, credit must be given to the Astros' marketing department which milked the Bidge retirement tour for everything they could.

I will miss you Bidge and so will baseball for that matter, not just the Astros. I truly hope you are involved with the Astros in some way, shape or form moving forward.

See images from the day here.

Finally time to win in California?

The last time the Arizona State football team won a Pac-10 game in California;

• Google was just another search engine
• Bill Clinton was president
• Baseball fans still enjoyed watching Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire play and we all thought they were just naturally strong guys
• The Bone Collector was the Number 1 movie in America
• RIM had just introduced the BlackBerry to the market
• There were no iPods
• Napster was all the rage
• I had no kids

November 6, 1999 was the last time Sun Devil football won a conference game in the state of California. That was a 26-16 win over USC, well before they were the USC we all despise today. Future NFLers shined in that game with Todd Heap scoring a TD and more than 100 yards receiving and JR Redmond racked up more that 150 all-purpose yards.

The last time they won at all in California was 2002 when they escaped San Diego State with a 39-28 win. Thanks Koetter for preparing the boys to show up in California. In case anyone is interested, Koetter was 1-12 in California during his time at ASU.

Clearly Saturday's game against Stanford is a big one beyond the obvious reasons of staying undefeated, beating a team they should beat and continuing to climb the rankings. Getting a conference win in California will truly represent the changing of the guard for the program and will go a long way in demonstrating to the locals who need to fill the stadium that ASU is for real.

On paper Stanford doesn't look great, but this is a team that gave Oregon all they could handle last weekend and they have a fiery up and coming coach in Jim Harbaugh. Should be a good one and the first close game from start to finish ASU has played in thus far in 2007.

Really good article in PR Week

This guy quoted in here seems particularly sharp.

Astros sweep AAA team; Biggio lovefest begins

The Astros finished off their roadtrip with a sweep of the Reds and some of their best future prospects with a 4-3 win Thursday night.

After this roadtrip, which was a rare winning one at 5-2, my biggest question is what does the future hold for the Astros and Brad Lidge? He blew a save this past weekend in St. Louis and nearly blew two more in Cincy.

I'm sure the Astros will say he is their closer, no question about it. However, I'm hoping with a new G.M. on board, he's looking at contingency plans. Hopefully, some of the challenges Lidge had in the late season are attributable to his knee problems which are supposedly going to be addressed with off-season surgery. I'm just curious why they didn't shut the guy down sooner, let him have his surgery and give him that much longer to recover and be stronger for the 2008 season. These games mean nothing.

The Astros wrap up this most forgettable season with three games at MMP against the Braves. All three games are soldout as fans come to say goodbye to the greatest Astro ever, Craig Biggio. Also, Bidge is schedule to start Saturday's game at catcher for the first time since the 1991 season. The games mean nothing to the rest of the world, but to Astros fans who have watched the guy play since 1988, they mean everything.

Channeling Jake

Arizona Republic reporter Jeff Metcalfe said it best when he led off his story on ASU's 44-32 win over Oregon State by saying that Rudy Carpenter was "channeling Jake Plummer" during the game.

Because the game was not televised ANYWHERE I unfortunately have no video to back up my point, all I have is the firsthand accounts from my buddy Steve who was one of the few fans who happened to make it to the game (I will give the locals one more chance to step up and show up before I rant on them.)

On more than one occasion Steve shot me a text from the game that exclaimed that he just seen the most amazing play ever from Rudy. Sigh. No YouTube highlights, no nothing for rabid Sun Devil fan forced to track the game in Texas. Anyhow, the point is, Rudy is becoming quite the escape artist in the tradition of Jake the Snake. Hopefully he can do it minus all the INTs Jake used to throw.

Despite my not being able to see any of the game, the Devils won thanks to a great defense and clutch plays from Rudy. Don't look now but we're 4-0 and ranked. AND, all games will be televised from this point on.

Astros and Cards in Sept used to mean something

I'm sure when the MLB schedule-makers had the Astros travel to St. Louis for a 4 game series against the Cardinals, they probably thought they were enabling some good pennant race drama. Alas, this September, all this series represents is a showcase of potential future starters for both teams. In the case of the Astros, the three being watched closely are JR Towles, Josh Anderson and Cody Ransom.

Nevertheless, watching the bits and pieces of this series have been a painful reminder of the fact that the Astros are playing irrelevant baseball in September for the first time in the past seven seasons. All compounded by the fast that the irrelevant baseball they have been playing is just plain bad baseball. Outside of the 18 run explosion the other night, there has not been a whole lot to even be encouraged about for next season.

Oh btw, they lost 7-4 tonight to the Cards.

A week's worth of runs in one game

That's pretty much what the Astros did Thursday night against the Cards with their 18-1 win. More impressive was the performance by rookie catcher JR Towles. Towles with 4-4, HR and 8 RBIs. The 8 RBIs was an Astros' rookie record.

Now let's put the win in perspective:

• The Cardinals are a beaten team. The Rick Ankiel HGH thing seems to have taken the wind out of their sails.
  
• No Albert Pujols in the lineup. Granted, Pujols doesn't pitch, but the guy is a game-changer.
  
• It's September, stats in Sept. are meaningless in my opinion. Particularly when it's essentially a lot of minor leaguers up against minor leaguers, which was the case with the Cards-Astros game last night.
  

But hey, there hasn't been much positive Astros' news to get excited about, so I will take it.

Don't Make Eye Contact

This is what I'm always told to do whenever I'm walking the streets of San Francisco and pass what seems to be an endless stream of panhandlers. San Francisco by far has one of the largest populations of panhandler and homeless types in comparison to the other big cities I have spent time in. They are also the most aggressive in SF.

One time I was on a business trip a few years ago, we decided to have a late-night breakfast at one of the all-night diners there and we were seated close to the door and it seemed that every five minutes someone was coming in off the street asking us for money. Of course the restaurant staff told us to not make eye contact or acknowledge them and they would go away.

I was reading my Daily Heartlight email today and it posed this question;

Is there a time to ignore the professional "panhandler" who continues to live irresponsibly by taking advantage of well-intentioned people?

This is one that I have continually struggled with over the years. Phil Ware provides some good examples from the New Testament of times when Christ discerned it was the right time to walk away from those in need.

Do I still feel like there is no right or wrong answer here? Absolutely. However, it was a good and somewhat simple reminder for me to pray for wisdom and discernment every day when it comes to helping others. James 4:17 leaves little room for interpretation;

And when a person knows how to do good, but does not do good, then he is sinning.

How Refreshing...

Now that I have had a chance to take a breath from some of my work activities, I finally was able to digest some of the coverage of the Sun Devils 33-14 win over Colorado on Saturday night.

While the score may not indicate it, it was probably one of the more uglier lopsided wins I have ever seen. The Devils were penalized 12 times for 136 yards. Eight of those penalties were of the personal foul variety. Having watched the game I would say that only six of those were legit. However, even if it were only one personal foul, it's one too many.

While Tricia likes to remind me that this type of play is indicative of Erickson-coached squads, she still cant forget the drubbing his Oregon State team laid on Notre Dame at the Fiesta Bowl in 2001, I have to say that it was refreshing to read DE's post-game comments:

Erickson said his team's 12 penalties were "embarrassing" and "ridiculous." "There's no excuse for that. It's not going to happen ever again or they're not going to play. The discipline part of the penalties really bothers me. That's the most disappointing thing of the game."

I'm pretty sure if Koetter was still coaching the team, we'd be hearing about how the Devils played a great game against an underrated Colorado team coached by his buddy and that the Devils were lucky to have won. Followed by some statement about how the Devils need to practice better.

Nevertheless, I do hope the discipline factor does improve next week against San Diego St. If you cant improve your discipline against the Aztecs, well then we could be in for a long season.

"hey you, in the maroon, how's your jumper?"

Pics from my visit to LucasFilms

As a long-time Star Wars geek, it was quite a thrill for me to visit the LucasFilm campus in San Francisco last night as my company hosted a launch event there.

Here are some of the pics, hope you enjoy them Clancy-boy!

Why now Drayton?

I really don't get why Drayton pulled the trigger on kicking Garner and Purpura to the curb now as opposed to back in June or early July when it was clear the team was going nowhere. If you're serious about giving Cecil Cooper a real audition as manager, he needs more than just over a month.

I'm traveling today in San Francisco and trying to digest all the Astros' news of the day but unfortunately I am once again dealing with a very slow hotel Internet connection. An example of this slow connection is the fact that I have been trying to send a 4 MB file via email to a colleague in Germany for more than three hours. This proves my theory once again that if you have to pay more than ten dollars for an Internet connection, you can pretty much guarantee it will be brutally slow. Take note of this if you're ever staying at the Westin Market St. in SF.

I will probably have more to say on the Astros latest moves later this week but for now, I'll say good luck Cecil.

Word to Drayton, please don't let Tal Smith talk you into hiring his kid as GM.

Erickson - Koetter comparisons starting to come out

When there is a transition in coaches and coaching staff, players who played for the previous regime are naturally asked to compare the differences between the two coaches. I've started to notice it's happening more frequently with the Sun Devils as they continue with practices and draw closer to the first game on Sept. 1. Here's the most recent example from from Zach Krula in today's AZ Republic:

The 23-year-old said of the new staff: "There's nothing they're doing that I don't like. They're able to separate work from play a lot better. "I just felt I was never able to let my guard down (with some on former coach Dirk Koetter's staff). If I was going to talk to some person, it had to be about football. I couldn't just talk to them about the movie I saw - or really insert anything here. There is a certain time when you can't talk to these guys about that, because it's business. But there's always that time when you can talk to them about anything else. More than anything, that's what I appreciate from this staff the most. They're not really trying to be a parent at all points in time."
Well Zach, I'm glad you have some new buddies, now let's see if you can stay healthy for a full season. He continued on to say:
The Sun Devils' practices are shorter under Erickson. The point is to be fast and physical without getting pounded. "I feel we get more out of them, and I also feel they're almost easier somehow, which really doesn't make sense to me," Krula said.

I do hope this one is true. One of the complaints you continually heard from Koetter and some of the players last year were about bad practices. Clearly this was reflected in their gameday play if last year is any indication.

Keller gets nod at Nebraska

Following up to my post earlier this week, Sam Keller was indeed named starting QB at Nebraska, a year after having the same position given to him then taken away at ASU.

Bob Young of the AZ Republic has an interesting take on the comments Sam made after he was named the starter for the Huskers.

"So if we were in Ganz's cleats, we wouldn't do anything hasty. Stick by the phone for a couple of days. And if Callahan doesn't pull a Dirk, you can always call Mike Stoops in Tucson or something."

Back in the days of the Sam and Rudy lovefest

Sam and Rudy; One year later

It struck me today that we're a few days away from the one-year anniversary of when former ASU football coach Dirk Koetter made what would ultimately be a season-defining decision for his 2006 squad when he took the starting QB role away from senior Sam Keller and handed the reins to sophomore Rudy Carpenter. This of course after he had named Keller the starting QB just a day earlier. As everyone who follows ASU football knows, this decision would be the beginning of the end for Koetter who was given his walking papers after the season ended.

It is interesting that the AZ Republic has not come out with a story on what really drove DK's decision. Perhaps we'll see something in a few days or next weekend before the first game on Sept. 1.

I also plan to do a little reading on whether or not Keller is being challenged at all for the starting spot at Nebraska. Had heard initially that he wasn't a clear-cut favorite.

If you're ever hungry in Boston...

... I recommend Tavern on the Water, particularly if you're looking for a low-key, casual place to eat . Great food and great views.

I don't however recommend the Royal Sonesta Hotel. Bad Internet connectivity and customer service. Only redeeming feature was the nice view of the Charles River I had from my room.

And so begins the "Astros are back in it" chatter...

Never mind the fact that they are 12 games under .500, the Astros completed a sweep of the Cubs and Astro-killer Carlos Zambrano tonight with an 8-2 win. They are now 8.5 games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central with with 48 games to play.

I'll go on record now as saying they have NO shot. I don't care what has happened the last 3 years and the incredible runs they made, this is a different team with a very mediocre pitching staff and inconsistent offense. Last three seasons we had Clemens, Pettite and Oswalt at the top of the rotation and a much stronger bullpen. Now it's Oswalt, Woody and Wanda at the top of the rotation with erratic pitching from Qualls and Lidge in the pen.

But hey, at minimum I'd love to see them build on something for 2008.

Devils in pads; Astros win first two against Cubs

ASU football training has swung into gear with their first practice in pads yesterday. I feel for you boys, two-a-days in pads in Tempe. I often wonder if these practices help build up their stamina or wear them down and catch up with them as the season goes on. It would be nice to see them build an indoor practice facility to find out if it does have a long-term effect.

I'm still not sure what to think about this year's squad. The vibe from the players and Erickson is positive right now. However, the vibe from DK was positive a couple of days into training camp last year as well. We will know a lot more about this team after their first two games against San Jose State (coached by former U of Tucson coach Dick Tomey,) winners of the New Mexico Bowl last season, and an improved Colorado squad.

On the baseball front, Wandy "I only throw strikes at Minute Maid" Rodriguez and free agent bust of the year Woody Williams pitched the Astros past the Soriano-less Cubs to win a landmark two games in a row.

Roy O goes up against Carlos Zambrano who owns the Astros with his arm and his bat. I'm pretty sure the guy is hitting something like .400 against us with a couple of dingers for his career. Oh well, it's always nice to win 2 out of 3.

Eric Bruntlett hates Round Rock

Or at least never wants to visit there again as a member of the Express. It is going to be real interesting to see what the team does when Pence comes back from his injury in a few weeks. My guess is that you don't see Pence back until September anyhow and at that point rosters will have expanded. However, if Pence is back before the end of August, Bruntlett or Lane will be the obvious choices.

It shouldn't be EB as he is playing some of the best ball I have ever seen him play. Sparkling defensive plays in the field and now some clutch hitting. Last night he robs one of the many obscure Marlin hitters of an HR with a leaping catching at the centerfield wall. Oh by the way, it was only his second time in CF this year. The night before he comes up with a clutch tw0-run double in the sixth inning to put the Astros up for good in the game.

Now you have Lane hitting the ball hard again like he did in 2005 which muddies the Astros OF picture even more. There's not enough ABs for these guys right now. It's clear Purpura needs to try and get something for Lamb and Loretta so they can start opening up playing time for guys like Lane and Luke Scott and begin building something going into 2008.

51 runs allowed in 4 games

Watching the Braves-Astros game right now and it is 9-9 going into the bottom of the 9th. The Astros were up 5-1 early in the game and then found themselves down 9-5 four innings later. So what do these masterful pitching performances in recent days equate to; 51 runs (or more pending outcome of tonight's game) allowed in 4 games. That's about 13.50 ERA over the last 34 inings for Astros pitching. All courtesy of Wanda, Sampson, Woody, the Texaco bullpen and of course Jennings' now epic 11 runs in the first 2/3rds of an inning on Sunday against the Padres ... at home no less.

Since I haven't posted in a while, here are some other random Astros' observations:

• Given the way the Astros have pitched since he was traded, I'm guessing that Dan Wheeler is actually happy to be a Devil Ray
• Could this be the beginning of some kind of Wheeler-Ensberg curse? They've lost all three games since trading Wheeler and waiving Ensberg.
  
• Ensberg has two HRs for the Padres since joining them, Wheeler has thrown 2 scoreless for the D-Rays.
  
• Purpura is apparently trying to trade every Astro to their respective hometowns this season.
  
• Biggio should announce his retirement every day.
  
• Cody Ransom has 22 HRs for Round Rock. We have two third sackers now, why not three?
• How the heck could Purpura not have found anyone to take Mike Lamb? Oh wait, I forgot, Purpura is the worst GM in baseball.
  
• If not for the Carlos Lee signing, this past off-season would probably go down as their worst ever; had the rug pulled out from them in the Jon Garland deal with the White Sox (that's what happens when you try and do a trade with a team that swept you in the World Series,) lost Pettite which in turn led to Clemens leaving, let Russ Springer and his bullpen leadership go to a division rival, signed Woody Williams and then of course there was the Jennings trade.
  
• Another reason why the Atlanta Braves remain one of the classiest organizations in baseball; they just showed a 2+ minute video highlight tribute to Craig Biggio. They showed Bidge in the dugout after it was over and you could tell he was extremely touched by it.
  
• Why is Brian Moehler still on this team? Oh wait, he's from North Carolina. No MLB team there. Guess he's stuck in H-town until he moves somewhere else.
  

"Traveler" finale a disappointment

Tricia and I got sucked into watching the ABC summer series "Traveler." We both thought it was a good show until the finale.

All indications were pointing to this being a one-shot deal given the fact that there were only 8 episodes. With a run that short, you fully expect them to close up all loose ends. Apparently this wasn't the case. Thanks ABC, you developed an entertaining show, then accelerate the plotline because you don't have long-term plans for the show and then produce a finale with all kinds of unanswered questions. Sure hope you don't do this with "Lost" when it ends it run in a few years.

Maui, Days four and five

A belated post here. Day four was filled with more beach time and snorkeling. Water was a bit too cold for some of the group and the idea of breathing through the snorkel was challenging for the kiddos. I had fun however, although the outfit that we went with wouldn't let us swim in the good parts.

Day five was kind of a wind-down day as Chandler spent some time shopping with my cousin Jaquita, Tricia napped and Clancy did what he does best, just hang out and play with his toys (what few ones he has here.) Saturday night we went to a luau at the Royal Lahaina Resort. It was a pretty good time, food was okay, drinks were good and show was impressive. Kids of course loved the fire guy at the end.

Also, check out the cool rainbow that Tricia shot a pic of here:

Maui, Day Three

Today it was more beach time followed by lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise, which is a great place to get a burger if you're ever in Lahaina.

After lunch, we drove about 45 minutes over to the West Maui Mountains, specifically Iao Valley Park. Here is a picture Tricia took of the Iao Needle.

Maui, Day Two

Today was beach time and parasailing in Maui. It was the first time parasailing for the Hughes clan. While it was quite hot at times and some of the group succumbed to motion sickness, a fun time was had by all. There is nothing quite as peaceful and serene as soaring 800 feet above the ocean.

Here is Chandler with her cousin Parker at the Beach.

Maui, Day One

We survived the dreaded flight out here. Didn't have it near as bad as the rest of my family who was supposed to leave at 3pm on Monday but didn't leave Phoenix until 4am Tuesday.

We have a great place in Lahaina with an amazing view of the water, excuse the rooftops, I'll try and have a better pic tomorrow. I will try and have Tricia take more of the pictures moving forward. We're told the cruise ship in the picture is one that cruises the islands for 11 days.

We ate dinner at a great little Mexican joint in a mall right by our house. The salsa was better than most places in Austin and they had $1 tacos! Tricia thought the fish tacos were pretty good, I guess I will have to take her word for it. The kiddos had a good time chasing their cousin Parker around the restaurant.

Happy 4.5 Clancy Boy!

We celebrated Clancy's half birthday today at the neighborhood pool. Since Clancy was born on Dec. 31, we typically celebrate his birthday at the half year mark since New Year's Even is usually a tough time to have a birthday party. However when he's older I'm sure he'll appreciate having his birthday on that day.

Happy half-birthday Bubba. I love you pal.

Luke Scott looks lost in RF

Watching the Astros and Phillies battle it out in the 12th inning right now and I've seen the replays of the two "doubles" the Phillies hit at key points in the game, one to drive in a go ahead run in the 7th. I'm further convinced that Luke Scott is just not a very good rightfielder. Both doubles hit over his head seem like they were balls he could have caught had he gotten a decent jump on them.

This opinion has not been formulated on just one game but rather over the the last couple of weeks, particularly after watching him misplay the single in Milwaukee last week. Contrast this with the Phillies Shane Victorino who can fly and has a rocket arm in RF.

Btw, even if the Astros should win tonight, I'm still not convinced they have a run in them. I think Milwaukee is the real deal and there are too many good teams in the hunt for the wildcard that they would have to bypass. My concern is that they go on a run that stretches into August but peters out come Labor Day. By that point, they will have missed their window to trade some of their tradeable players to restock the farm system. I'm sticking to this belief and don't plan on flip-flopping like Richard Justice.

Belated Congrats to Bidge on Number 3000

Unfortunately I was traveling last Thursday when Craig Biggio singled for hit number 3000 of his great career and missed it. I truly wish I had been at the game to see it happen. As much as I bag on the guy these days, I can honestly say that he is probably my favorite all-time Astro.

There was a time when this was the best player in baseball in my opinion and never received the attention he deserved for his achievements because he chose to play in Houston for his entire career. I have never seen anyone play with the hustle he does, the ability to adapt and play any position (C, 2B, OF) and exhibit a quiet leadership on and off the field. Never have I seen the guy ever argue balls and strikes or a missed call, even when the umps clearly blew it.

It seems highly probable that he will retire at the end of this season. I really wish he had a few more productive seasons in him because as Clancy gets older and starts to appreciate baseball, Bidge is the guy I'd point to and say, "he plays the way you're supposed to play."

As the Astros play out the string this year, it's a shame that Bidge has to play in meaningless games, but I know that no matter how meaningless or out of hand they are, he will play hard on every pitch. Congrats Craig.

A 'Wicked' good time in Chicago

Tricia and I had a great time in Chicago this weekend which was capped off by seeing the matinee of 'Wicked' at the Oriental Theater. We weren't really planning to go but were able to get decent tickets from a scalper at a Borders Bookstore right around the corner. A hint to anyone going to see it if you are in Chicago -- go to the drawing they do for front row tix (at only $25 per) and even if you don't get picked, you may be lucky to get them from a scalper who apparently hangs around the drawings. Nevertheless it was a great show and a great trip.

A big thanks to our good friends Rich and Mary and Tricia's Uncle John for their incredible and generous hospitality. Also a big thanks to Tracy and Chad for watching the kiddos.

Most of all, thanks to my lovely wife for convincing me to go, I had forgotten how much I just love hanging out with her.