Had a great dinner tonight - went out to Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant, to celebrate Christina and Dave's birthdays!
Other than that, not a whole heck of a lot going on... just busy at work as usual. Things are *slightly* slower now - seems like the the start of the semseter rush is finally subsiding a little. All of Robert's paperwork is in, now it's just a waiting game for the approval before the School can officially move on and give me that position. Still, at least it's a step forward this time...
Yet another game we let get away. Three shots late to score on good drives and we still found a way to lose. And as if that's not bad enough to go through as a fan, it was probably the hottest weather for a football game I ever remember and I've been through some hot games in the past. Thankfully they passed out small handheld fans on a stick for everyone before the game... made an excellent sunshade. Despite that and probably 50 ounces of water during just the game I still left the game with a bad dehydration headache.
Anyway, had a good tailgate - Brian and Debra's baby Caroline was born Friday so they weren't there, but Tim and Kristi were able to use their spot. There's an extra spot next to us I think that we haven't seen anyone use this year, so hopefully they can get that space for the remainder of the season.
Welcome to the first day (and hopefully last) of our gas crisis of 2008.
Our local news station has a story on their website saying that because of Hurricane Ike it's hard getting gas into SC for some reason or another. They also had a picture of a gas station sign that had gas grades for $5.23/$5.35/$5.47 a gallon in Sumter, SC.
Let's just say that has sent everyone into a frenzy. Which sucks, cause I really did need gas. The truck was down to less than a quarter of a tank and I'm not about to run out sitting in traffic Saturday night after the football game. Plus, I needed gas for the generator (my gas can for the mower was empty).
So... I did what any good American would do when told not to bum rush the gas stations. I went to go fill up. And let's just say I've never seen lines like that... it is completely insane out there! And I have to have looked like some hoarder too with my extra gas can I filled up which makes it even funnier.
Anyway, here's my proof.... I Survived the South Carolina Gas Crisis 2008!
Yes, the game sucked last Thursday. We found a way again this year against Vanderbilt to shoot ourselves in the foot enough to lose to them - just like last season. Too many penalties, bad punt plays, blocked field goals, overthrown passes... the list goes on and on.
Not sure what this means for the rest of the season. We have a good defense... in fact, they kept Vandy to 50 total yards and 3 points in the first half, but that'll only get you so far. If we don't start executing well on offense instead of stammering through every single drive like we do, it could be a long year.
Which, speaking of the loss, it did make it funny getting my Gamecock tattoo last night after a loss like that. Yes, tattoo... been wanting something for years, never really could decide what. And for all those years, I've always said that I should just get a Gamecock since it's one of the only things I associate with enough in life for it to always be something I like. I figure 10 years of going to football games, graduating from Carolina, and working for Carolina for over 10 years that it's in my blood. Now it might as well be literally, right?
So the story goes our friend Kristi is getting a tattoo and the rest is peer pressure. Hah! I'm kidding of course, but it's funny how her getting a tattoo prompted Christina, Janna, and I to all get one too. Yes, Christina... it took her over 13 years since getting her first one to get a second, but she found a beautiful stencil-designed dragonfly thing online.
I know... pictures, pictures... here's a few of mine and Christina's - there may be a gallery up later of the whole trip and the other's tattoos also.
My first photo is a little shiny because of the ointment you have to keep on it for the first few days. Once they get past that stage and the scabbing stage and they're settled down (a couple weeks), I'll take some photos of the final look.
We're both absolutely thrilled with how ours turned out which is great since it's you know... permanent! The woman who tattooed Christina's had excellent placement on it so it's wings go down the slope of her shoulder and the guy who tattooed mine really did an excellent job with the shading and depth so that it didn't look quite so much like a logo or cartoon version.
It was a fun night - well, maybe not so much for Kristi since her tattoo of vines, flowers for each of her family, and a palmetto tree in the middle took around 4 hours and 45 minutes to do - she was under the needle for a long, long time for her first tattoo. The tattooing itself isn't really that bad - the fill/shading was worse than the outlining, but like I said last night it wasn't as bad as I worried it could be but it certainly wasn't as good as I hoped.
I put the links back on the left hand side for other blogs and added a couple new ones. Let me know if I forgot any!
Had a good weekend, hung out with Tim and Kristi at their place Saturday to watch Clemson get spanked by Alabama and they came over for dinner on Sunday. Good times - just about ended up running to Charlotte late Sunday night so Kristi could get her tattoo she wants! Word is she's going to get it Thursday after work before coming over to our house for the Vandy game that night. We'll see!
It's great being chin deep in College Football again finally. After how last year ended it took me until 10 minutes before kickoff sitting in the stands last Thursday to get excited about this season. But between tailgating again, going to a game, winning it 34-0, and watching games all weekend, it's great that it's back finally. Let's hope this ends up being a good season!
Couple shots of the short tailgate - no TV on Thursdays worth bringing all that stuff, so we brought the Xbox down there and played NCAA football instead. Brian grilled some chicken wings and some bacon-wrapped scallops to go with a good pasta salad and some homemade chocolate chip cookies.
Generator worked great for the TV and Xbox and out at the tailgate you can't even hear it where we put it. Thanks again to my brother Brian for finding it, should make things easy this season power-wise. Should run just about everything we need. I did put the fan on a battery though since I'm bringing those anyway as a backup just in case the generator goes down... plus, they make nice weights on the tent legs since we can't stake down the tents.
