(props to anyone who can tell me what movie that quote is from WITHOUT looking it up. About 200 cool points are on the line on this one...)
Ok, this just had to be blogged about...
In what can only be described as the greatest Cinderella team story since the Villanova Wildcats of 1985, Team Glen Hollow United(kinda gay name, I know, but Dan came up with it ages ago. We all don't even live in Glen Hollow, so it really doesn't make sense. I prefer GH United, as it sounds slightly more refined. Anyways, I digress...) soccer pulled off their SECOND playoff victory today!!! This is our first deep run into the playoffs, and considering we won our FIRST ever playoff game 4 days ago, this is just great news.
We played the Catholic Student Association soccer team, and let me tell you, they weren't being very Catholic, let alone Christian, in the contest. They pressured early with several shots, and from a quick through ball sent from the 18, they scored 10 minutes into the match. Unphazed, we bounced back quickly, scoring 2 goals within the next 10 minutes. The second half was even more heated, with CSA fouling more often and yelling very non-Christian words, haha. Adam Brown miraculously put a ball in the back of the net halfway through the second half. The ball was actually shot by dan from about 30 yards out, but the ball deflected off a defender, and Brown happened to be at the right place at the right time. In stride, he simply extended his left foot and the ball shot into the lower left corner. GOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!
Defensive-wise, we were solid. Trevor was back(had to miss last game due to class), and coupled with Dusty playing left fullback, we were a brick wall. Because of the guys in front of me, I didn't have to exert too much effort. There were a few balls I had to dive for, but they weren't super-dives(which are fun, as well as entertaining to watch). I also had to charge from my line on a few occasions, punching the ball out of play once and leaping to grab it the other times.
If you can believe it, there IS a downside to this whole affair. Our next playoff game is scheduled for SUNDAY AT 6:00pm. What the f#*@!?!?! Who schedules intramural games for Sunday afternoons?? Not only is this time just bizarre in its own rite, but it also happens to be during a hockey game I am scheduled to play. Under normal circumstances, I would call Richie in a heartbeat and ask him to reschedule the game, but since I have already done that to Richard once this semester, I don't think I can do that to him again. He has a hard enough time scheduling these games, and when they have to be re-scheduled, it's just a headache. My hockey game IS at 5:00 on Sunday, and they do usually last around an hour. If we can get done early, I can shoot on over across town to the intramural fields to join my teammates. I will already be stretched and primed for action, so it may even be good for me. Kyle, a fantastic player we drafted this year, has quite a bit of goalie experience, so it's looking like he will start in goal until I can get there. He's got a bitchin' shot, so once I get there, he can move to the front and start hammering away.
I go to get pre-advised tomorrow. Just wait until I tell you what classes I have to take next semester. Oh man, they are freakin' sweet. Next fall I think I can be officially called an aerospace engineering student. All engineering classes, no electives. It's gonna be fun, haha. I'll post my fall schedule on my next post.
The weather outlook has improved for tomorrow, so it's looking like round 2 of Dan/Adam vs. Henry/Trevor will commence as planned. Everyone of us has been dying to play all week, as the weather has been very summer-like. I can't wait to play tomorrow. At some point I'll try to get someone to take some pics, so we can show you how it's done :)
-H
Friday, March 31, 2006
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Alot of Sports with a Little Bit of School
Quick update:
-Our men's intramural soccer team won our first playoff game in the history of our clubt(almost 3 years!). We somehow managed this win without our steadfast sweeper, Trevor, but we did it nonetheless. It was great soccer all-around from our team. We play again on Thursday at 6:00.
-Softball was moved from Wednesday to Thursday night, so we wont get to start softball this week(see previous note).
-We had to forfeit our hockey game on Sunday. Once again, my team lacked the minimum number of players to play. TWO forfeits in one season. SO SO SO lame!
-Friday has been set as our next volleyball match with Dan and Adam. We are itchin' to play everyday, but it's evident from all of our schedules that volleyball is going to have to be restricted to Friday-Monday of the week. On Friday, we are all out of class by noon, so come 1pm, we're going to be ballin' it up on the sand :)
-Family Force 5 is playing at Rick's Thursday night. I admit that I'm not that big a fan of their music, but everyone says that put on a bitchin' show, so I figure why not(despite my dislike of Rick's). Besides, what a great way to kick off the weekend of the party, volleyball...and more volleyball.
-I've erected a countdown to my 21st birthday on the right column over there in red. No, I don't update that thing EVERYDAY with a new number; rather, I constructed a simple javascript to do the math for me everytime you log in. Sweet, huh?
-Henry
-Our men's intramural soccer team won our first playoff game in the history of our clubt(almost 3 years!). We somehow managed this win without our steadfast sweeper, Trevor, but we did it nonetheless. It was great soccer all-around from our team. We play again on Thursday at 6:00.
-Softball was moved from Wednesday to Thursday night, so we wont get to start softball this week(see previous note).
-We had to forfeit our hockey game on Sunday. Once again, my team lacked the minimum number of players to play. TWO forfeits in one season. SO SO SO lame!
-Friday has been set as our next volleyball match with Dan and Adam. We are itchin' to play everyday, but it's evident from all of our schedules that volleyball is going to have to be restricted to Friday-Monday of the week. On Friday, we are all out of class by noon, so come 1pm, we're going to be ballin' it up on the sand :)
-Family Force 5 is playing at Rick's Thursday night. I admit that I'm not that big a fan of their music, but everyone says that put on a bitchin' show, so I figure why not(despite my dislike of Rick's). Besides, what a great way to kick off the weekend of the party, volleyball...and more volleyball.
-I've erected a countdown to my 21st birthday on the right column over there in red. No, I don't update that thing EVERYDAY with a new number; rather, I constructed a simple javascript to do the math for me everytime you log in. Sweet, huh?
-Henry
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Newton is My Homeboy
I really should start updating this thing more often. I always intend to post every few days, but I inevitably hold it off, thinking that I can sum everything up in a post at the end of the week. Of course, by the time I sit down to write about everything I usually forget to include at least a few crucial events that occured the previous week. Here's to keeping up with the times...
I don't have to tell you that I really didn't want to come back to school this week. I was having such a great Spring Break(snow skiing, road trip, V for Vendetta, mom's cooking, hanging with the dogs), and I also knew that there were some big tests awaiting me upon my return. The week did get off to a good start on Tuesday, however. The Dynamics test I took the Thursday before Spring Break was returned to us, and I got a 98. I'm really rolling in that class; I got a 100 on the first test, and the homework is just ridiculously simple. This whole class is basically physics I, except it has much more calculus. I think that's why I like this subject. Everything we use is derived from one simple equation created by Sir Newton himself, and it has real applications in the world.
Tuesday afternoon was my Early U.S. History test, an exam covering the span of the War for Independence and the American Revolution. According to my grade on the first exam, I obviously didn't write enough on the discussion questions for my teacher, so I made sure to give him mounds and mounds of text this time. The multiple choice questions are, as my Differential Equations teacher a few years ago stated, "Mickey Mouse." Every junior high student knows the answers to them. Considering that my hand really felt that it was going to just fall off my right arm by the test's end, I'm feeling like a perfect score was accomplished. We'll see on Tuesday.
Wednesday was our second Physics III exam. It covered pretty much all of our lenses, mirrors, and optical subejct matter. I was actually shocked by how easy it was, and that's not just my talking. Pretty much everyone said that after walking out of the room. For example, this was an ACTUAL question: A clown stands in front of a mirror that is 1.8 meters high. Approximately where should the clown look in the mirror to see his feet? Yeh, exactly. (The answer is halfway down/up the mirror, or 0.9 meters. Just common sense stuff that everyone knows). Despite the level of difficulty, I was excited to see later that day that I got a 100 on the exam. Awesome stuff.
My Materials exam was moved to next Thursday, so I still have time before that one. I had a poor showing my first test in that class, so I'm ready to bounce back. I completely understand the material(beam loading, beam deflection, shear and bending moments in beams), although Dr. Sullivan is renown for pulling problems out of nowhere to put on her test. We'll see how it looks come Thursday.
The rest of the week minus school was still just as hectic. My hockey team had a game on Tuesday; we didn't play poorly, but we weren't magnificent either. My control of the puck was WAY off. I kept leaving juicy rebounds right in the slot through most of the night, which did lead to two goals for the other team that ended up being the difference in the game. Our best player is out for a few games because he is covering the Final Four in Indianapolis(broadcasting major), so we're going to have to change our gameplan slightly these next games leading up to the playoffs.
The intramural soccer tournament started this week, but our mens game was moved, so we only played with our co-ed team on Thursday. We ended up losing(catching a theme here?), but we never expected much with our co-ed team. If we had girls like Mallory or Kate(Trevor's friend from high school. AMAZING soccer player) on our team, I could guarantee that we'd go deeper into the tournament. Oh well. Our mens round 1 game is tomorrow. We feel much more confident with that group.
Wednesday and Thursday the group went to Polliwogs(Thursday to celebrate our not-so-triumphant end to the co-ed soccer season).
Friday, we decided to have some fun. Knowing good and well that the movie Stay Alive would be very very very bad, Aaron, Reggie, Trevor, and I headed to the movie with all intentions of making fun of its entire length. We would have never guessed that everyone that went to that movie showing was planning on doing the same. The theater was full of laughter and comments AT the movie the entire showing, which made it even better. We continued the fun night at Dan's after the movie.
Saturday continued the fun. Trevor and I woke up around noon to play some 2v2 beach volleyball with Dan and Adam Brown, the official start to our own volleyball season. I think we stayed out there for close to 3 hours. Trevor and I didn't drop a game the whole day(they play "games" instead of "sets" in volleyball), and that equated to 3 straight matches that we won. We played a short game to 15 points at the very end, and due to our faulty net(Avalon has ordered a new $100 net to be here soon), we lost the match point to Dan and Adam. Neverthelesse, we were pleased with our performance. We get better with each match. The weather was on the slightly chilly side, with the high around 58ish, but being in the direct sunlight made it feel closer to 75 degrees. I can't wait for it to warm up. I need to get to work on my tan :)
Saturday night(last night) we went to Dave's Tavern to see an old friend of Trevor's, Reggie's, and mine from Grenada play in a band. David O'Bannon(our friend) has been in Iraq with the military for the past few years, but he's been home on and off throughout that time. He plays the drums for this band called Mosaic(at least, that's what we think it was called). They are a combination of jazz band, jam band, and latin jazz. I had no idea what to expect from these guys, but they ROCKED. The whole place was jumping halfway through the night. The highlights of the evening included the great music(of course), the random conga line that materialized near the end of the night, my being offered free drinks(I said "offered" mom!), and the lead saxaphone player jumping onto the bar at Dave's to play the finale. Put simply, the evening kicked ass.
As always, stuff is happening this week...
Mike Griffin, Administrator of NASA is coming to MSU tomorrow to kick off a lectureship series started by a group of professors here. I saw Griffin speak at JSC last semester, but I am looking forward to seeing him speak again. I mean, how many times does the NASA Administrator come to Starkville, MS?!? My parents, being the cool people that they are, are driving all the way from Canton to Starkville tomorrow, just to see him speak. It's open to the entire public, so I bet that the Hunter Henry Center is going to be packed.
This week is the start of softball season for Aaron, Trevor, and me. I'm looking forward to returning to the diamond. Aaron even bought himself a Boston cap over break, so now we are all set hat-wise. Aaaron has his Red Sox cap, Trevor has his red Yankee-Hater cap(which is awesome, btw), and I have my trusty old Red Sox cap as well.
The AVP season starts this weekend. Can't wait. The AVP Tour is even coming to Birmingham and Atlanta this summer, but too bad I'll be in Houston :(.
The big March/April party is this weekend too. The month's fall a little funny this year, so we're having to split it this weekend. Friday will be the March Party, and Saturday(April 1st) will be the April party. SO many people are coming to this thing; it should definitely be fun. Mallory may even come down as well.
Well, I think that's about it. I have a busy day today: laundry, schoolwork, hockey, grocery run, hanging up stuff, schoolwork. It just never stops, haha...
-Henry
I don't have to tell you that I really didn't want to come back to school this week. I was having such a great Spring Break(snow skiing, road trip, V for Vendetta, mom's cooking, hanging with the dogs), and I also knew that there were some big tests awaiting me upon my return. The week did get off to a good start on Tuesday, however. The Dynamics test I took the Thursday before Spring Break was returned to us, and I got a 98. I'm really rolling in that class; I got a 100 on the first test, and the homework is just ridiculously simple. This whole class is basically physics I, except it has much more calculus. I think that's why I like this subject. Everything we use is derived from one simple equation created by Sir Newton himself, and it has real applications in the world.
Tuesday afternoon was my Early U.S. History test, an exam covering the span of the War for Independence and the American Revolution. According to my grade on the first exam, I obviously didn't write enough on the discussion questions for my teacher, so I made sure to give him mounds and mounds of text this time. The multiple choice questions are, as my Differential Equations teacher a few years ago stated, "Mickey Mouse." Every junior high student knows the answers to them. Considering that my hand really felt that it was going to just fall off my right arm by the test's end, I'm feeling like a perfect score was accomplished. We'll see on Tuesday.
Wednesday was our second Physics III exam. It covered pretty much all of our lenses, mirrors, and optical subejct matter. I was actually shocked by how easy it was, and that's not just my talking. Pretty much everyone said that after walking out of the room. For example, this was an ACTUAL question: A clown stands in front of a mirror that is 1.8 meters high. Approximately where should the clown look in the mirror to see his feet? Yeh, exactly. (The answer is halfway down/up the mirror, or 0.9 meters. Just common sense stuff that everyone knows). Despite the level of difficulty, I was excited to see later that day that I got a 100 on the exam. Awesome stuff.
My Materials exam was moved to next Thursday, so I still have time before that one. I had a poor showing my first test in that class, so I'm ready to bounce back. I completely understand the material(beam loading, beam deflection, shear and bending moments in beams), although Dr. Sullivan is renown for pulling problems out of nowhere to put on her test. We'll see how it looks come Thursday.
The rest of the week minus school was still just as hectic. My hockey team had a game on Tuesday; we didn't play poorly, but we weren't magnificent either. My control of the puck was WAY off. I kept leaving juicy rebounds right in the slot through most of the night, which did lead to two goals for the other team that ended up being the difference in the game. Our best player is out for a few games because he is covering the Final Four in Indianapolis(broadcasting major), so we're going to have to change our gameplan slightly these next games leading up to the playoffs.
The intramural soccer tournament started this week, but our mens game was moved, so we only played with our co-ed team on Thursday. We ended up losing(catching a theme here?), but we never expected much with our co-ed team. If we had girls like Mallory or Kate(Trevor's friend from high school. AMAZING soccer player) on our team, I could guarantee that we'd go deeper into the tournament. Oh well. Our mens round 1 game is tomorrow. We feel much more confident with that group.
Wednesday and Thursday the group went to Polliwogs(Thursday to celebrate our not-so-triumphant end to the co-ed soccer season).
Friday, we decided to have some fun. Knowing good and well that the movie Stay Alive would be very very very bad, Aaron, Reggie, Trevor, and I headed to the movie with all intentions of making fun of its entire length. We would have never guessed that everyone that went to that movie showing was planning on doing the same. The theater was full of laughter and comments AT the movie the entire showing, which made it even better. We continued the fun night at Dan's after the movie.
Saturday continued the fun. Trevor and I woke up around noon to play some 2v2 beach volleyball with Dan and Adam Brown, the official start to our own volleyball season. I think we stayed out there for close to 3 hours. Trevor and I didn't drop a game the whole day(they play "games" instead of "sets" in volleyball), and that equated to 3 straight matches that we won. We played a short game to 15 points at the very end, and due to our faulty net(Avalon has ordered a new $100 net to be here soon), we lost the match point to Dan and Adam. Neverthelesse, we were pleased with our performance. We get better with each match. The weather was on the slightly chilly side, with the high around 58ish, but being in the direct sunlight made it feel closer to 75 degrees. I can't wait for it to warm up. I need to get to work on my tan :)
Saturday night(last night) we went to Dave's Tavern to see an old friend of Trevor's, Reggie's, and mine from Grenada play in a band. David O'Bannon(our friend) has been in Iraq with the military for the past few years, but he's been home on and off throughout that time. He plays the drums for this band called Mosaic(at least, that's what we think it was called). They are a combination of jazz band, jam band, and latin jazz. I had no idea what to expect from these guys, but they ROCKED. The whole place was jumping halfway through the night. The highlights of the evening included the great music(of course), the random conga line that materialized near the end of the night, my being offered free drinks(I said "offered" mom!), and the lead saxaphone player jumping onto the bar at Dave's to play the finale. Put simply, the evening kicked ass.
As always, stuff is happening this week...
Mike Griffin, Administrator of NASA is coming to MSU tomorrow to kick off a lectureship series started by a group of professors here. I saw Griffin speak at JSC last semester, but I am looking forward to seeing him speak again. I mean, how many times does the NASA Administrator come to Starkville, MS?!? My parents, being the cool people that they are, are driving all the way from Canton to Starkville tomorrow, just to see him speak. It's open to the entire public, so I bet that the Hunter Henry Center is going to be packed.
This week is the start of softball season for Aaron, Trevor, and me. I'm looking forward to returning to the diamond. Aaron even bought himself a Boston cap over break, so now we are all set hat-wise. Aaaron has his Red Sox cap, Trevor has his red Yankee-Hater cap(which is awesome, btw), and I have my trusty old Red Sox cap as well.
The AVP season starts this weekend. Can't wait. The AVP Tour is even coming to Birmingham and Atlanta this summer, but too bad I'll be in Houston :(.
The big March/April party is this weekend too. The month's fall a little funny this year, so we're having to split it this weekend. Friday will be the March Party, and Saturday(April 1st) will be the April party. SO many people are coming to this thing; it should definitely be fun. Mallory may even come down as well.
Well, I think that's about it. I have a busy day today: laundry, schoolwork, hockey, grocery run, hanging up stuff, schoolwork. It just never stops, haha...
-Henry
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Spring Break Shenanigans
Spring Break 2006 has come and gone, and it was absolutely the best one yet
Note: Mal's posted many of the pics from the trip on her latest post, and she's also added a link to the Facebook album that has ALL of our Spring Break photos. So if you want visualizations to go with what you read in my post, open up a new tab and scroll through Mal's blog. Definitely make sure to check out the Facebook album. Don't worry, you can still access the pics even if you do not have a Facebook login(just click each picture to go onto the next one)...
So yeh, Trevor and I packed up and headed to Chatt-town U.S.A. early Saturday(the 11th) morning in my mom's bitchin van. We made a stop in the Big Ham so I could do look for some new swim trunks for the summer(yes, I was successful); we also stopped to eat(twice) while we were in the mall. We arrived in Chattanooga around dusk, and Mal, Alicia, Trevor, and I went to this nice(and evidently very popular) Italian restaurant. The highlight of the meal was my daring Trevor to drink the rest of the melted butter that was in the bread roll holder. I offered to pay his way for the movie, and he accepted the challenge. He shot the butter with no problem, but he did feel the after-effects throughout the night. After dinner we(just Trevor and I...the girls had to pack) went to see The Hills Have Eyes. Definitely one of the most disturbing movies I have ever seen. Trevor says it's nothing compared to Hostel, so I'm making a point of checking that one out when it hits the dvd shelves.
Our whole ski group congregated Sunday morning at the parking lot near Mal's place. After some creative packing, we were off in 3 cars toward Snowshoe, West Virginia.
.......8 hours later.......we arrived at what we were hoping to be snow-capped mountains and slopes. Unfortunately, just the slopes were covered, and worse still, it wasn't the "real" snow. Our spirits weren't broken, though, and we proceeded to check-in at the bottom of the mountain. This is where the trip took a turn for the better. Mallory and Alicia, with their amazing powers of persuasion and charm, were able to turn a mistake made by Snowshoe(not making one of the rooms available) into an SUPER sweet deal for us. Mal and Alicia ended up saving everyone about 75$, and they were able to make it where the entire group was housed in one 3 story-condo. Needless to say, at that point we were all very, very, very excited.
We headed up the rest of the mountain pass, checked-in(again), and moved into our freakin' sweet condo. This place was awesome: huge kitchen, plenty of space, too many rooms to count, fireplace, great balcony view of the valley and mountains, 3 bathrooms, and a living room made for Spring Breakers. After we got settled in, we headed to the Village area of the resort to get some grub.
That night was occupied mostly by a game of Catch-Phrase. Basically, it's like Taboo, except a little more mobile in that you pass around a device that displays the word you need to describe. Unfortunately, at a point about midway through the night, my brain had a fatal memory lapse. The Catch-Phrase gizmo came my way, and I was charged with starting the round. I pressed(what I thought to be the "word" button), but in reality, I had pressed the "category" button, so the display of the device read the category of the words that would follow. There is the Sports category, the Around the House category, etc. etc. When I pressed the button it happen to show the category "History Buff," which is, as you guessed it, a category of historical facts and notes. At the instant I see the words pop on the screen, I start describing "History Buff" perfectly, and within mere seconds, my team had correctly guessed it. I then passed the device over to CG, who was on the other team. It didn't take him long to realize that I had read the category instead of the words, and he made that fact known to the whole group. About 2 very very very very long minutes of laughter ensued. Of course, I couldn't help but laugh too, as it was one of the dumbest things I think I have ever done. I can guarantee that most, if not everyone there during that trip, will make sure I remember that deed.
Trevor and I woke up really early on Monday to get a jump-start on the skiing. The only person awake before us was Tyler, who had the day's forecast laid out on the breakfast table, as well as a fresh pot of coffee going. Trevor and I were on the sloaps no later than 9:30. It had been 7 years since I last skiied, but Trevor was very patient to help me rejog the skills Gabi had taught me in Switzerland. After about a half hour, we were bolting down the slopes. Granted, these were Green(as in difficulty, not in color. They made sure there was enough fake powder mixed with the real stuff) slopes, but even Trevor admitted that they were some of the more fun ones he had tried. From that point until 4:30 that afternoon, all we did was ski(with a small lunch in between). It SO kicked ass...
That night we all went to eat at the nice restaurant in the Village, the Bistro. Mal and I splurged, ordering the Filet and Beef Tips Special respectively. Our waitress was also very sociable and fun, which just added to the already great evening.
We returned to the condo to start up a game of Turbo Cranium. We had 3 teams, with Mal, Trevor, and I composing one team. Without going into the details, I'll just say that we had no trouble at all in winning that game. I'm willing to bet that that triumvirate is unbeatable........It will be interesting to see how good Mal and I are come August this year, when we go to the beach with my family. Will/Andrea and Carolyn/Richard are sure to be awesome at Cranium, so we'll definitely have our work cut out for us. You hear that, Caro and Rich? Start brushing up on your Cranium skillz, haha. (If you can't tell, I'm pretty excited about Horne Beach Party 2006...but that's another post for another day)
Tuesday was CONSIDERABLY colder than the day before. Whereas the high on Monday was around 75, the high on Tuesday was closer to 36. Yeh, that's about a 40 degree drop. Yikes. Nevertheless, we were all out at when the slopes opened, and it was another glorious day of snow skiing. I even attemped a dreaded Blue slope in the earlier part of the day. It was very icy, but I managed to go through some moguls without TOO much difficulty. I felt I improved my turning and sharp stopping skills during the second day; I just need to do this ski thing on a more regular(yearly) basis, and I think I can get up to Trevor's skill level in no time, haha.
A myriad of games were played Tuesday night at the condo, and it sucked that the trip had to end. Tyler and I woke up on Wednesday to about a foot of fresh powder that had fallen the night before. We couldn't believe it. The day we leave is the day the best snow comes. Grrr.
We were cleaned up and out of Snowshoe by about 10:30 local time, and we were on our way back to Tennessee and beyond.
So that about sums it up for my Spring Break. Again, head over to Mal's blog for more pics and funny captions.
As for the rest of the break...
Trevor and I saw V for Vendetta at the new Madison theater. AWESOME place to see movies. It's closer to our house, uses digital projection, has huge screens and one MEGA screen for some movies(like the one we saw), and produced some bombastic sound. Absolutely breathtaking movie experience. Can't wait to go back :)
Found out Mike Griffin(aka Administrator of NASA) is coming to MSU a week from tomorrow to speak on "Leadership and Space Exploration." This is part of a new Lectureship Series created by some professors and alumni here at State. It's pretty cool that we get such a bigwig as Mike himself to come. I'm definitely going to attend and here what he has to say. I saw him speak at JSC last fall, but this time promises to be a much less-crowded affair.
Uhm...we kick ass at baseball. The defending SEC Champs(that would be the Mississippi State Bulldogs) are 15-0, the best start in school history. Better than the '85 Palmeiro/Clark/Brantley team even. Kick ASS. We wooped up on some Vols this weekend taking 2 out of 3 before the finale was cancelled today due to rain. Definitely picking up some tickets before this season is over. Omaha-bound, anyone??
School starts tomorrow....bleh.
-H
Note: Mal's posted many of the pics from the trip on her latest post, and she's also added a link to the Facebook album that has ALL of our Spring Break photos. So if you want visualizations to go with what you read in my post, open up a new tab and scroll through Mal's blog. Definitely make sure to check out the Facebook album. Don't worry, you can still access the pics even if you do not have a Facebook login(just click each picture to go onto the next one)...
So yeh, Trevor and I packed up and headed to Chatt-town U.S.A. early Saturday(the 11th) morning in my mom's bitchin van. We made a stop in the Big Ham so I could do look for some new swim trunks for the summer(yes, I was successful); we also stopped to eat(twice) while we were in the mall. We arrived in Chattanooga around dusk, and Mal, Alicia, Trevor, and I went to this nice(and evidently very popular) Italian restaurant. The highlight of the meal was my daring Trevor to drink the rest of the melted butter that was in the bread roll holder. I offered to pay his way for the movie, and he accepted the challenge. He shot the butter with no problem, but he did feel the after-effects throughout the night. After dinner we(just Trevor and I...the girls had to pack) went to see The Hills Have Eyes. Definitely one of the most disturbing movies I have ever seen. Trevor says it's nothing compared to Hostel, so I'm making a point of checking that one out when it hits the dvd shelves.
Our whole ski group congregated Sunday morning at the parking lot near Mal's place. After some creative packing, we were off in 3 cars toward Snowshoe, West Virginia.
.......8 hours later.......we arrived at what we were hoping to be snow-capped mountains and slopes. Unfortunately, just the slopes were covered, and worse still, it wasn't the "real" snow. Our spirits weren't broken, though, and we proceeded to check-in at the bottom of the mountain. This is where the trip took a turn for the better. Mallory and Alicia, with their amazing powers of persuasion and charm, were able to turn a mistake made by Snowshoe(not making one of the rooms available) into an SUPER sweet deal for us. Mal and Alicia ended up saving everyone about 75$, and they were able to make it where the entire group was housed in one 3 story-condo. Needless to say, at that point we were all very, very, very excited.
We headed up the rest of the mountain pass, checked-in(again), and moved into our freakin' sweet condo. This place was awesome: huge kitchen, plenty of space, too many rooms to count, fireplace, great balcony view of the valley and mountains, 3 bathrooms, and a living room made for Spring Breakers. After we got settled in, we headed to the Village area of the resort to get some grub.
That night was occupied mostly by a game of Catch-Phrase. Basically, it's like Taboo, except a little more mobile in that you pass around a device that displays the word you need to describe. Unfortunately, at a point about midway through the night, my brain had a fatal memory lapse. The Catch-Phrase gizmo came my way, and I was charged with starting the round. I pressed(what I thought to be the "word" button), but in reality, I had pressed the "category" button, so the display of the device read the category of the words that would follow. There is the Sports category, the Around the House category, etc. etc. When I pressed the button it happen to show the category "History Buff," which is, as you guessed it, a category of historical facts and notes. At the instant I see the words pop on the screen, I start describing "History Buff" perfectly, and within mere seconds, my team had correctly guessed it. I then passed the device over to CG, who was on the other team. It didn't take him long to realize that I had read the category instead of the words, and he made that fact known to the whole group. About 2 very very very very long minutes of laughter ensued. Of course, I couldn't help but laugh too, as it was one of the dumbest things I think I have ever done. I can guarantee that most, if not everyone there during that trip, will make sure I remember that deed.
Trevor and I woke up really early on Monday to get a jump-start on the skiing. The only person awake before us was Tyler, who had the day's forecast laid out on the breakfast table, as well as a fresh pot of coffee going. Trevor and I were on the sloaps no later than 9:30. It had been 7 years since I last skiied, but Trevor was very patient to help me rejog the skills Gabi had taught me in Switzerland. After about a half hour, we were bolting down the slopes. Granted, these were Green(as in difficulty, not in color. They made sure there was enough fake powder mixed with the real stuff) slopes, but even Trevor admitted that they were some of the more fun ones he had tried. From that point until 4:30 that afternoon, all we did was ski(with a small lunch in between). It SO kicked ass...
That night we all went to eat at the nice restaurant in the Village, the Bistro. Mal and I splurged, ordering the Filet and Beef Tips Special respectively. Our waitress was also very sociable and fun, which just added to the already great evening.
We returned to the condo to start up a game of Turbo Cranium. We had 3 teams, with Mal, Trevor, and I composing one team. Without going into the details, I'll just say that we had no trouble at all in winning that game. I'm willing to bet that that triumvirate is unbeatable........It will be interesting to see how good Mal and I are come August this year, when we go to the beach with my family. Will/Andrea and Carolyn/Richard are sure to be awesome at Cranium, so we'll definitely have our work cut out for us. You hear that, Caro and Rich? Start brushing up on your Cranium skillz, haha. (If you can't tell, I'm pretty excited about Horne Beach Party 2006...but that's another post for another day)
Tuesday was CONSIDERABLY colder than the day before. Whereas the high on Monday was around 75, the high on Tuesday was closer to 36. Yeh, that's about a 40 degree drop. Yikes. Nevertheless, we were all out at when the slopes opened, and it was another glorious day of snow skiing. I even attemped a dreaded Blue slope in the earlier part of the day. It was very icy, but I managed to go through some moguls without TOO much difficulty. I felt I improved my turning and sharp stopping skills during the second day; I just need to do this ski thing on a more regular(yearly) basis, and I think I can get up to Trevor's skill level in no time, haha.
A myriad of games were played Tuesday night at the condo, and it sucked that the trip had to end. Tyler and I woke up on Wednesday to about a foot of fresh powder that had fallen the night before. We couldn't believe it. The day we leave is the day the best snow comes. Grrr.
We were cleaned up and out of Snowshoe by about 10:30 local time, and we were on our way back to Tennessee and beyond.
So that about sums it up for my Spring Break. Again, head over to Mal's blog for more pics and funny captions.
As for the rest of the break...
Trevor and I saw V for Vendetta at the new Madison theater. AWESOME place to see movies. It's closer to our house, uses digital projection, has huge screens and one MEGA screen for some movies(like the one we saw), and produced some bombastic sound. Absolutely breathtaking movie experience. Can't wait to go back :)
Found out Mike Griffin(aka Administrator of NASA) is coming to MSU a week from tomorrow to speak on "Leadership and Space Exploration." This is part of a new Lectureship Series created by some professors and alumni here at State. It's pretty cool that we get such a bigwig as Mike himself to come. I'm definitely going to attend and here what he has to say. I saw him speak at JSC last fall, but this time promises to be a much less-crowded affair.
Uhm...we kick ass at baseball. The defending SEC Champs(that would be the Mississippi State Bulldogs) are 15-0, the best start in school history. Better than the '85 Palmeiro/Clark/Brantley team even. Kick ASS. We wooped up on some Vols this weekend taking 2 out of 3 before the finale was cancelled today due to rain. Definitely picking up some tickets before this season is over. Omaha-bound, anyone??
School starts tomorrow....bleh.
-H
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Off to the Slopes
TONS of stuff has happened this week...here's a brief recap:
-My hockey team won both our games on Saturday, 18-4 and 14-6. We're rollin.
-Had a Dynamics test on Thursday. OWNED it. Had a Early U.S. History test too later that day, but classes were cancelled after 1:00pm due to the impending super storm, so I got out of that one :)
-We lost our co-ed soccer game on Wednesday. We are playing SO much better, though, and our guys' team is now STACKED. Too bad our guys' game was cancelled due to the super storm on Thursday.
-Trevor, Aaron, and I were recruited at the deadline as Free Agents onto the softball team of BJ's(Trevor's co-worker). Trevor and I are stoked. We wont start playing with them until our soccer season is over, so that will be in a few weeks. I can't wait. I'm) ready to start ballin' on the diamond again(hopefully)...
-Schilling says he is feeling the best he has ever felt in his career(awesome)
-Foulke says he will be ready by opening day. Says he is in the best shape he has been in over 4 years(awesome again)
-My Avs traded the hot as-of-late David Aebischer to the Montreal Canadiens for the 2001-2001 Hart and Vezina Trophy winner Jose Theodore. Normally, I'd be ecstatic about this trade. I mean, Aebischer was a bitchin' goaltender, but Jose Theodore is equally impressive, and he is entering the prime of his career. The part about this trade I hate is that Jose JUST injured is ankle, and he's going to be out for several weeks. That means the Avs have to mind the net with backup goaltender Peter Budaj until the playoffs. Theodore says he will be ready come playoff time, so that's good. He's an experienced goaltender, and that's what we need. But why trade your badass goaltender(Abby) for a guy that just fractured his ankle(Theodore)? My only guess could be that Pierre Lacroix(GM for the Avs) was hoping to make another Patrick Roy trade. Roy was acquired by Colorado from Montreal after he had a falling out with the coaches and management. He in turn led the Avs to two Stanley Cup titles. Theodore is no Roy, but(again) he's entering the prime of his career, and he's been in the playoffs before, so maybe there's promise. He's not in the intense spotlight of Montreal anymore, and that allowed Roy to prosper, so Lacroix might think Colorado will have that same affect on Theodore. Here's to hoping.
-Trevor and I are packed for West Virginia. We leave tomorrow morning around 9am.
-Colin, Eric, and I have purchased our season tickets for the new MLS team in Houston, the Houston Dynamo. We have AWESOME seats. I'll try to post pics of the seats sometime. We've already drafted what games we want, and I've got a few really good ones. I'll post about those as the dates approach.
-I have bought tickets for me and Mal to all 3 games of the Boston/Atlanta series later this year in June. We have(again) some AWESOME seats. We're both really excited. I'm gonna fly in from Houston, while Mal will drive in from Paris. More details as the games get nearer...
-This just in....this summer is going to be awesome.
-Trevor and I officially started our volleyball season today. We went out to the court(which is about 50 yards from our apartment) for two hours today, working on drills and receiving serves from Aaron. Man, what a workout that game gives you! I got a feeling that we're going to be really good. We both saw a dramatic improvement today from when we first hit the ball to the final serve from Aaron that we successfully bump-set-spiked. Trevor and I, for some reason, naturally tend to be pretty good teammates in the sports arena. We're both ready to come back from Spring Break and play Dan and Adam(who have been boasting their vball skillz) in some 2v2 beach volleyball on the court. It's gonna be great. The weather isn't as warm as we want it yet, but it will be there before too long. This summer is going to especially be awesome volleyball weather, as I'll be in Houston. Who knows, maybe I will actually get even darker than last year! No whammies no whammies...
well that about sums this week up. We are headed out early in the morning. I promise great pics of our Spring Break in my next post. Until next time...
-Henry "Downhill Skiing" Horne
-My hockey team won both our games on Saturday, 18-4 and 14-6. We're rollin.
-Had a Dynamics test on Thursday. OWNED it. Had a Early U.S. History test too later that day, but classes were cancelled after 1:00pm due to the impending super storm, so I got out of that one :)
-We lost our co-ed soccer game on Wednesday. We are playing SO much better, though, and our guys' team is now STACKED. Too bad our guys' game was cancelled due to the super storm on Thursday.
-Trevor, Aaron, and I were recruited at the deadline as Free Agents onto the softball team of BJ's(Trevor's co-worker). Trevor and I are stoked. We wont start playing with them until our soccer season is over, so that will be in a few weeks. I can't wait. I'm) ready to start ballin' on the diamond again(hopefully)...
-Schilling says he is feeling the best he has ever felt in his career(awesome)
-Foulke says he will be ready by opening day. Says he is in the best shape he has been in over 4 years(awesome again)
-My Avs traded the hot as-of-late David Aebischer to the Montreal Canadiens for the 2001-2001 Hart and Vezina Trophy winner Jose Theodore. Normally, I'd be ecstatic about this trade. I mean, Aebischer was a bitchin' goaltender, but Jose Theodore is equally impressive, and he is entering the prime of his career. The part about this trade I hate is that Jose JUST injured is ankle, and he's going to be out for several weeks. That means the Avs have to mind the net with backup goaltender Peter Budaj until the playoffs. Theodore says he will be ready come playoff time, so that's good. He's an experienced goaltender, and that's what we need. But why trade your badass goaltender(Abby) for a guy that just fractured his ankle(Theodore)? My only guess could be that Pierre Lacroix(GM for the Avs) was hoping to make another Patrick Roy trade. Roy was acquired by Colorado from Montreal after he had a falling out with the coaches and management. He in turn led the Avs to two Stanley Cup titles. Theodore is no Roy, but(again) he's entering the prime of his career, and he's been in the playoffs before, so maybe there's promise. He's not in the intense spotlight of Montreal anymore, and that allowed Roy to prosper, so Lacroix might think Colorado will have that same affect on Theodore. Here's to hoping.
-Trevor and I are packed for West Virginia. We leave tomorrow morning around 9am.
-Colin, Eric, and I have purchased our season tickets for the new MLS team in Houston, the Houston Dynamo. We have AWESOME seats. I'll try to post pics of the seats sometime. We've already drafted what games we want, and I've got a few really good ones. I'll post about those as the dates approach.
-I have bought tickets for me and Mal to all 3 games of the Boston/Atlanta series later this year in June. We have(again) some AWESOME seats. We're both really excited. I'm gonna fly in from Houston, while Mal will drive in from Paris. More details as the games get nearer...
-This just in....this summer is going to be awesome.
-Trevor and I officially started our volleyball season today. We went out to the court(which is about 50 yards from our apartment) for two hours today, working on drills and receiving serves from Aaron. Man, what a workout that game gives you! I got a feeling that we're going to be really good. We both saw a dramatic improvement today from when we first hit the ball to the final serve from Aaron that we successfully bump-set-spiked. Trevor and I, for some reason, naturally tend to be pretty good teammates in the sports arena. We're both ready to come back from Spring Break and play Dan and Adam(who have been boasting their vball skillz) in some 2v2 beach volleyball on the court. It's gonna be great. The weather isn't as warm as we want it yet, but it will be there before too long. This summer is going to especially be awesome volleyball weather, as I'll be in Houston. Who knows, maybe I will actually get even darker than last year! No whammies no whammies...
well that about sums this week up. We are headed out early in the morning. I promise great pics of our Spring Break in my next post. Until next time...
-Henry "Downhill Skiing" Horne
Saturday, March 04, 2006
So Close...
Not sure why I haven't posted any this week. It was almost completely uneventful, so I'm assuming that that makes me lazy?
We lost our hockey game Tuesday 7-6 in overtime, and it was ALL my fault. I was too aggressive on a player coming in on the left face-off circle. I was certain he was going to have a breakaway if left unchallenged(and he would have certainly scored; he's good), so I went too far from the crease. He effortlessly put it over my left shoulder. It sucks because we were having a great game and playing really well. We're still have a solid group of guys, and I like our chances heading in the 2nd half of the season and playoffs.
Our intramural soccer team has come alive. I was unable to play on our co-ed team on Wednesday; I was definitely not feeling good that day due to a lack of sleep and headaches the night before. I was ready to go for our men's team on Thursday night though. I don't know what it was, but we started hitting our passes, started talking, and started scoring. Dan had two goals including a bitchin' header off a set piece, and Kyle had 2 as well. It was a pretty lame game for me; I don't even think they had a shot on goal the entire time. We ended up winning 5-0. We celebrated by going out to Chili's afterwards.
Last night was basically a party at Aaron's all night with the Splendid Chaos concert in between. After the concert, the guys brought back about 11 people that we didn't even know, haha. They were all relatively cool, though, so it wasn't too awkward.
Today Trevor, Dan, Aaron, Reggie, and I went out to the public soccer fields to kick the ball around. We got some good practice end and came up with some great ideas for more set pieces and corner kicks.
I got a dvd in the mail today that we've been waiting on for about a week. It's the movie The Wizard. Being video game nerds, this movie is one all of the guys remember from their childhoods. It's basically a 90 minute commercial for Nintendo products...seriously. We haven't watched it since I got it, but we are all pretty sure it has the same bad acting it had in the 80s. It's hard to find on VHS, let alone on dvd. That's because it DOESN'T exist on dvd; the guy I bought it from on ebay copied the movie from vhs to dvd, which I thought was cool. We're all going to Aaron's tonight to watch the movie. Should be fun.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow. My parents are coming to Starkville to attend this fund-raising breakfast at the Episcopal Church here; the fund-raising has something to do with the Gray Center, so naturally that's why my parents are attending. While they are here, they are also going to switch cars with me, as we need the van to transport people on the ski trip in a week. Mom and Dad are also going to get to see me play some hockey as well, which is great. They haven't seen me in a game in a loooooong time(remember, I was gone for a year). I'm sure we'll eat lunch in between all this madness tomorrow too.
Speaking of skiing......uhm, yeh, I'm exicted. In one week will be on the snow-laden peaks having a freakin' blast. Two tests stand in my way next week, however. My professors just had to make it difficult didn't they?
We lost our hockey game Tuesday 7-6 in overtime, and it was ALL my fault. I was too aggressive on a player coming in on the left face-off circle. I was certain he was going to have a breakaway if left unchallenged(and he would have certainly scored; he's good), so I went too far from the crease. He effortlessly put it over my left shoulder. It sucks because we were having a great game and playing really well. We're still have a solid group of guys, and I like our chances heading in the 2nd half of the season and playoffs.
Our intramural soccer team has come alive. I was unable to play on our co-ed team on Wednesday; I was definitely not feeling good that day due to a lack of sleep and headaches the night before. I was ready to go for our men's team on Thursday night though. I don't know what it was, but we started hitting our passes, started talking, and started scoring. Dan had two goals including a bitchin' header off a set piece, and Kyle had 2 as well. It was a pretty lame game for me; I don't even think they had a shot on goal the entire time. We ended up winning 5-0. We celebrated by going out to Chili's afterwards.
Last night was basically a party at Aaron's all night with the Splendid Chaos concert in between. After the concert, the guys brought back about 11 people that we didn't even know, haha. They were all relatively cool, though, so it wasn't too awkward.
Today Trevor, Dan, Aaron, Reggie, and I went out to the public soccer fields to kick the ball around. We got some good practice end and came up with some great ideas for more set pieces and corner kicks.
I got a dvd in the mail today that we've been waiting on for about a week. It's the movie The Wizard. Being video game nerds, this movie is one all of the guys remember from their childhoods. It's basically a 90 minute commercial for Nintendo products...seriously. We haven't watched it since I got it, but we are all pretty sure it has the same bad acting it had in the 80s. It's hard to find on VHS, let alone on dvd. That's because it DOESN'T exist on dvd; the guy I bought it from on ebay copied the movie from vhs to dvd, which I thought was cool. We're all going to Aaron's tonight to watch the movie. Should be fun.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow. My parents are coming to Starkville to attend this fund-raising breakfast at the Episcopal Church here; the fund-raising has something to do with the Gray Center, so naturally that's why my parents are attending. While they are here, they are also going to switch cars with me, as we need the van to transport people on the ski trip in a week. Mom and Dad are also going to get to see me play some hockey as well, which is great. They haven't seen me in a game in a loooooong time(remember, I was gone for a year). I'm sure we'll eat lunch in between all this madness tomorrow too.
Speaking of skiing......uhm, yeh, I'm exicted. In one week will be on the snow-laden peaks having a freakin' blast. Two tests stand in my way next week, however. My professors just had to make it difficult didn't they?
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