Cheerio!

Welcome to Cheery Old London

Or as my seat neighbor on the plane called it 'Dreary' old London. I think
I gotta go with that. May be a great day to forgo pictures and just get
some sleep.

Big Day? You Betcha!

Not to say Tuesday was a historic day or anything but both O'hare & JFK
were completely sold out of all newspapers. I managed to get one of the
last few USA Todays thank goodness.

Then when I landed in the UK the counter person where I purchased my
shuttle ticket saw I was American and started talking excitedly about
Obama. He wants the first thing Obama to do is go to Iraq & apologize for
the huge mistake. Not a bad idea. Then going into the newsstand every paper
had Obama plastered on the front and hailing the day America 'Turned the
Page', 'Made History', and so on.

Then I saw this man in the airport. I didn't capture it in the photo, but
he was not American but he had an Obama button on his lapel. Amazing!

Honestly, for the first time in many, many years I am proud to say I am an
American when I am overseas.

Game Time!

A cool 56 degrees under a blue-grey sky. It is time for some Notre Dame
football!

Trick or Treat!

Ok, I understand it is hard to know what areas are safe to take kids trick
or treating. But going to an oasis on the interstate? There were a few kids
hitting this little plaza! Of course my question here is why do the parents
feel the freeway stop is a safe lace to let your kids roam!? Not sure where
the parents were. Maybe she drove herself in her little princess mobile?

HHRrrrockin!

Well I managed to get another cool car. Although this one so far has many
negatives to go along with the positives. We will see how it plays out!

High Over Smoggy ATL

A Journey of a Thousand Cities Starts with a Single 6:45 am Flight!

OK, maybe not a thousand cities, but it feels like it here at the starting
line. Chicago, South Bend, New York, London, Amsterdam, and Madrid. All
over the next 14 days! And this coming off my 1 day 'layover' in the OC as
I got back from Las Vegas in time to unpack, do laundry, and repack - all
while getting caught up from being out AND getting ready for the trip
ahead. Man, I am tired already and e haven't even taken off yet!

So Endeth the Fun

From Earth, Wind & Fire to boredom, tedium & drowsiness of the following
morning's keynote address. The future of 'Information on Demand' woo hoo!
If we are lucky they'll turn this into the next big stage hit, a la Mama
Mia!

Shining Star for you to see...

What your life can truly be! Oh yea, Earth Wind & Fire! Playing the IBM
conference! We bad!

IBM? No, We B Jammin'!

We have Ricky Martin wanna be and a Jessica Simpson clone with their band
'rockin' the house. Oh yea! I am feelin' "Hot Hot, Hot" now, now, now!

IOD Day 1

Day one and my feet already hurt! This is my 'fun' & 'exciting' trip to Las
Vegas. I am sitting in the Mandalay Bay events hall listening to an exec
prattle on about managing your enterprise database. He keeps talking about
System Z, but it feels more like System zzzzzzzzz

Minnesota Layover

Oh yeah, you betcha. Spendin' time in that great northern state of
Minnesooota. I actually saw a very scary sight here during my layover.
Minnesota airport sushi. If there were ever 3 words that did not belong
together! Yeesh! I shiver at the thought!

As you can see I am flying Northwest - or NWA as they now like to call
themselves. Gee, I wonder if they ever heard of the militant rap group from
the eighties? They had a different take on life that I am not sure the good
white-bread folks of Minnesoooota would be in tune with (no pun intended).
There abbreviation stood for N____ With Attitude. Hard not to chuckle when
the skinny little blonde white chick from the land of Nordic descent
welcomes us to NWA!

Irish Do it Again!!

ND is 4-1 on the year! And unlike last year I am undefeated for the season
in games I attend! Go Irish!

Beautiful Day for Football!

Crowd gathers for the ban's pre-game concert on the steps of Bond Hall.

Somethings Should Never be Combined

I love ND. I love sushi. Don't know which I would give up first. But
combining them? These are sushi rolls you can by in the ND student union.
Let me just say NO Friggin Way! I will leave sushi for places I can see
and talk to the chef as he makes my sushi AT THAT MOMENT.

I wonder if the ND sushi is bad if you'd end up hurling blue & gold with
highlights of green?

OK and of course my mind is churning with bad puns. I'll spare you any
further pain though!

You've Got to Be Kidding!

Time to go hit a movie! I thought 'Choke' looked like it might be interesting.So, I find a theater showing it late and off I go. Little did I know that is what the theater would do!

It was a way cool theater. As you can see it has the old movie house design and feel. Inside there was actually a bar and restaurant! Way cool! While I thought that was really fun, I was more interested in discovering the answer to question number one about any movie theater I go to ... "Do they serve Coke or Pepsi?" Well, it was NOT a good answer as they serve Pepsi products. So, at this point I will not ever go back to another Muvico theater - OK, I wouldn't even if they had theaters in OC!

But while that wouldn't sway the normal person (after all who else is so ridiculously adamant about "Coke" not Pepsi!?) the rest of the experience might make you pause. Certainly the movie paused! Literally! The start time was 10:35. I made my way into the theater and was literally the ONLY person in the theater. I had my own private showing! But as I sat there I realized that a lot of time had passed and the movie had not started. It was odd as there was no pre-preview thing - just a slide that kept refreshing every 15 seconds like it was a brand new one and a looping 'soundtrack' that restarted right along with every 'new' slide. I looked at my watch and saw it was 10:45 - 10 minutes past the show time. At 10:48, I thought maybe I'd go check to see if they were actually going to show anything this evening.

As I got to the counter and asked, one of the THREE employees hanging out chatting, suddenly realized what it was he had apparently forgotten. You guessed it, he ran to the back to 'start the movie'! OK, that was weird. Never had that before! Well the trailers started and the lights went down - well most of them did. The movie theater was still pretty light as half the lights were still on! After about 1o minutes of the lights being on it was obvious they were going to stay on for the movie! So, out I go again. "Um, are they going to turn off the lights in the theater? Like all of them?" The manager rolled his eyes that his employee was apparently falling down so magnificently! Got him on the walkie talkie and got the matter resolved.

As I headed back into the theater to see if they might actually be able to get the movie finished without further issue, I saw the ad poster for the theater. And it was definitely a case of truth in advertising! Although I am not sure they intended it the way it came across to me at that moment! "You've got to be kidding" is right!!

Actually, the pre-movie excitement turned out to be the best part! I am still not sure what the hell 'Choke' was about! Oh well. It was yet another crazy night!!

Game Day Shots

As the announcer mentioned at game time, the weather was a bit better than it was a couple of weeks ago! Darn good thing. I am not sure that AT&T would buy another "my phone just stopped working" story!!

At the pep rally, David Grimes, senior wide receiver and team captain mentioned that a coach once told him that there are 3 kinds of people. Those that make things happen. Those that watch things happen. And those that wonder what just happened! He vowed to make Purdue the latter as he and his teammates will be sure to be in the first group!

Irish Guard lead the band out for pregame!

The greatest college marching band in the land, the Band of the Fighting Irish!

Robby Parish heads to the south end zone for the pre-game prayer.



















Jimmy showing off his newly cut hair as he preps for the game.

Irish D readies to take the field

Kickoff! Let's get this party started!

OK, settle down Kyle! No need to get yourself thrown out of the game!

Duval Kamara takes it down field

My favorite madman lineman breaks through!

I would not want to be across the line from Pat Kuntz!!

Irish Line. It'd be pretty funny if they suddenly stood up and did River Dance!

Brian Smith focused!

And in the end. The Irish made things happen. We fans watched things happened. And about the Third quarter, Purdue definitely wondered what the hell just happened!!

Gentleman's Dessert?

Is it just me or does my dessert need a bra? For some reason I was VERY interested in my dessert when it got to the table. I just couldn't seem to take my eyes off them - I mean it. I didn't know if I was supposed to eat it or slip it a dollar!

Victory!!

I remain undefeated in September! 3 ND wins & a Yankee game. In fact the
only ND loss this year is the MSU game that I did not attend. Coincidence?
I think not. I better go let Charlie know!

The Only Peppy People

Chuck & I @ the pep rally tonight.

Raiders of the Lost Pep!

Well we couldn't find any pep so Chuck & I decide to manufacturer our own,
the old fashioned way. You brew it yourself!

The Mishawaka Brewery features 8 different types of beers, all brewed on
premise. So, you gotta taste 'em all right! With names like Lake Front
Ale, Indiana Pale Ale, and the Four Horsemen Ale, I end up liking the Wall
Street Wheat. Go figure!

In search of the Pep

Maybe we will find some of the pep that was missing from the pepless rally
in here, one of the local ND bars?

Ummm, no, not really! Semi-crowded beer hall style of atmosphere but with
people sticking to their own groups. Lots of ND shirts and a dork walking
around in a hat that looked like an old leather helmet. But alas no pep
really to be found.

Too Pooped to Pep?

Tonight's pep rally seemed to never really find its pep! A couple of
players got up and spoke and then Charlie. Before you know it the band
started playing the alma mater and the team started to head off the floor.
Very worried about the intensity of the team as they head into a rivalry
game. This could be bad tomorrow!

Am I in LA?

I could have stayed home for this! Why is there a traffic jam going in to
Indiana? Is there a sudden run on corn?

Are You Friggin' Kidding Me!

'Delayed Luggage' again!?!? Last week Delta managed to 'delay' our luggage
and here the very next trip it is happening again!! Note that 'delayed' is
the new term for "lost" or "we were too damn lazy to put any real effort in
making sure your stupid luggage made it onto you second flight. Deal with
it"

Well I definitely sense a nasty letter being written to Delta! And let me
tell you this view of an empty carousel and no more people waiting for
their luggage is not an enjoyable one!

9/21 - HOOOOMMMME Pleeeaasse!!

OK, I am WAAAYYY ready to hit the road - or take flight in this case. It was a good trip with Jordan, as well as Ken & Rich, but given the amount of time I have spent on the road recently and the upcoming trips, I'd like to get a move on and get home.

Now for the trip home we were not able to get our seats together. Both flights (LGA to ATL & ATL to OC) were completely full. Since my tickets were purchased and not FF award points, I got upgraded for both flights. I thought Jordan would get a kick out of sitting in first so instead of taking First Class for myself, I gave Jordan that seat on both flights. His big response - "It was OK, nothing special". OK, mental note, next time, the kid can fly in cattle class stuck between the sumo wrestler and Samoan princess and see how coach stacks up!

9/20 - AWAY GAME DAY: ND @ Mich St.

Jordan and I basically just hang out in NYC today. We actually looked at coming back early but really didn't have the option to do so.

We ended up joining Ken & Dale at MIckey Mantle's, a restaurant across from Central Park that I think the former Yankee actually owned. While we were there we could have gotten the autographs from Mantle & Martin. Ok, no not Mickey Mantle - he's dead. And no, not Billy Martin - he, too, is dead. Instead we could have had the autographs of their sons! What the hell is that about?? Why would anyone do that? Selling autographs because your father is famous without you being famous at all doesn't seem like it'd be a big revenue generator. I guess some people will take 'fame' anywhere and any place they can find. Gee, next time I am in Chicago I'll have to see if I can get Michael Jordan's son's autograph!

As for the rest of the day, really not so much action. Jordan needed to study and didn't want to really do anything. And since the ND MSU game was being broadcast on ABC, we hung out in the hotel room. Me to watch the Irish stink up the place angainst MSU and he to do his homework.

9/19 - Goodbye Yankee Stadium

Today it was off to venerable Yankee stadium. This classic venue was home to immortals (Ruth, Gherig, Mantle, Maris, etc) and historic accomplishments (World Series, Reggie's 3 home runs on 3 pitches, Maris' 61, US Papal visits, early NFL games and even Knute Rockne's infamous Gipper speech). And after Sunday this historic baseball and New York landmark of baseball will itself become history. But for today it was a chance to share history with my son and 2 of my uncles. This was a great day and one I am glad I was able to give my Yankee fan of a son. And also that I was able to share it with my uncles.

And before this bit of history, Jordan & I took a quick trip through Central Park. In all my trips to NYC I had never been able to get into Central Park. So it was awesome to wander the park and finally see what the big deal was. It was an awesome place and very strange that it is buried right in the middle of the Big Apple.

Really cool fountain near the lake in Central Park. Sorry, I take the pictures. I am not the keeper of the names of stuff I shoot!

Central Park lake with some really cool building in the background. Boy if I knew the names of anything I was looking at!

OK, this one I know! This is the tribute to John Lennon in Strawberry Fields in Central Park.

After a walk in the park, it is off to the stadium!

Took the 4 train to 161st. The subway during rush hour? Wow, it was the highlight of the trip. It was so packed I was more that intimate with several New Yorkers. In some states I think we would have to now get married!

We sat in the bleacher seats pretty much dead-center, actually. I was sitting right next to the fence that blocks off the blacked out section in centerfield.

Game action!

So that is what the little shiny square next

to the phone camera lense is for. So, if I

had to title this one, I'd call it

"Moron takes self picture

at Yankee Stadium"!

Joba in the bullpen, getting ready to come into the game. Our seats were right next to the Yankee bullpen.

Yanks win! I was happy for Jordan & Ken. I had mixed emotions though. Hate the Yankees for them stealing the best A's players all these years. But it was nice to see them get a win in closing out the ballpark.

Jordan all pumped up about an exciting Yankee win, and the chance to fly clear across the country to see the game with his dad and uncles and to see a game in Yankee stadium before they tear it down. It was hard to contain him he was so jazzed!