The setting was a pharmacy in northern Tennessee, where the over the counter drugs are behind the counter. (Your identification insures you are not a drughead, but rather just have a mild medical issue you’d like to shake.) I’d just gone on a mini-rant to the things I would like, including breathing, Sudafed, an improvement in my throat’s general condition and the ability to breathe.
I did have this particular bug, virus, crud, infection or allergies. I did not explain that I didn’t have the local variety, but had rather contracted this elsewhere and was considering adding to the local scene’s viral joy if she didn’t give me the Sudafed.
She was a very lovely young lady, pleasant and chipper. She wished me well. She wanted to chat. I wanted to medicate, tired of not breathing, I’d come to think of those two tiny pills as the miracle elixir. It’ll take many doses, but give me the things, let’s not discuss microbiology.
We’re traveling, clearly. The goal is South Bend for a quick weekend. This is a nice trip, schmoozing on behalf of a non-profit, seeing a friend, perhaps catching a football game.
Watching a game at Notre Dame Stadium will be a treat. It’s a long-time goal that has suddenly materialized as a possibility. How many of those do you get in life? You have an idea of something you’d like to experience at some point in the future. Then, one day, you turn around and suddenly you could be doing that this weekend.
Life is good.
Except for the sniffles.
Saw this at a Chick-fil-A along the way:
Ice Cream was booked, apparently. Actually, they call all of their dairy-based dessert-like substances Ice Dream. I’ll leave it to you to examine their ingredients and tell me why.
Because of the throat pain I indulged in a milkshake. I recommend the peach. Sadly the banana pudding version has been removed from your list of choices.
Spending the night at one of the family outposts. My step-brother was there, ready to set out for his next trip. He travels for a living, which sounds like a lot of fun when you’re in your 20s, as he is. Now, in my 30s, I’m thinking of our trip and realizing “This would have been better at 24.”
Why do we let this happen to us? Why does it take so little time?
Tomorrow, something from South Bend. And then Sunday we’ll be on the road again. Lots of windshield time this weekend.
Trying something new for my bike rides. Since we live on the hilliest part of the coastal plains (despite being 180 miles from the coast and about 120 miles from the nearest mountain foothills) you can’t leave the house without pedaling up and down something.
Since I’ve noticed it takes six or eight miles for my legs to warm up, and since the hills here hurt when my legs aren’t ready, and since I’m not a very good cyclist anyway, I’m looking for somewhere flat to start.
Problem: there’s nowhere flat to start.
I have found a two-and-a-half mile loop with just two hills on it. So I’m riding that a few times before the actual ride begins. Those five miles make one of our standard routes 31 miles, which I can do without too much trouble, despite the hills. (I’m a wimp.)
All of this to say, if you have a good topographical map you can share, I’d love to borrow it for a while.
Productive day today. Did a bit of research, fired off the many important emails. Read a lot and booked hotel rooms for an upcoming conference.
The conference is in February, but it is one of those college towns where there’s not much there besides mountains and woods. The locals told us to book early, because if you aren’t in one of the two establishments in town you’re staying at a tavern 13 miles out of town. After that you’re looking at 20 and 30 mile commutes from Super 8s.
So I called the local Hampton Inn and asked for their policies and their availability for hotel rooms in February. (And felt an immediate sympathy for people working the phones at hotels. Oh the questions they must hear, over and over again.) They had something like 10 rooms left. In addition to this conference which will bring several hundred undergrads, there’s also softball, equestrian and men’s and women’s basketball in that tiny town that weekend.
Glad I booked early.
Did an interview today. I’m accustomed to conducting the interviews, but today I was the subject of one. The experience is a different one. This is in response to an idea that a lot of people had and the subsequent little essay I wrote about Unrolling Toomer’s a few weeks ago. It got re-printed on The War Eagle Reader
and picked up in one of the fan forums, too. Online this idea has taken on a life of its own. In practice it is growing a little more slowly. But there’s another interview to be done this weekend, too. So maybe we’re on to something.
So, naturally, I treated the interview like a stand-up, saying everything I could to one open-ended question. Only took two takes, but it worked out well. We’ll see the finished product next week.
Waiting for pizza.
Mellow Mushroom is the best pizza place in town, and one of the busiest places in town. I wonder how things would go if they had a second pizza oven. Maybe folks wouldn’t have to wait an hour for a table, and then the better part of another one waiting on the food.
Dining out on a Friday before a home game is tough. Life is hard, right?
Talk Like a Pirate Day today, of course, but there are no “Yarrrs” or speeches about torrents or proxy IP addresses. Today is my lovely wife’s birthday, and it just seems wrong to share such a day with a fake slogan. I can talk like a pirate any day.
I just choose not to do so.
I wrapped one a last present, and then pleaded my ignorance about how it got there. She opened her fourth and fifth cards that have been spread out about the house since last week. And then I installed the new present. It only took four tries!
It is a special light fixture, which may not sound like your idea of a present, but she asked for it specifically. And it glows in the dark. You can imagine our entertainment.
The first installation attempt I tried following the instructions. On the second and third tries I operated on the assumption that the instructions were wrong. The sticker said Made in China and, while the English was straight from a solid 101 class, the first screw stripped with less than half-a-turn.
When this happens you immediately move beyond a need for the installation instructions.
On the fourth try, though, I decided to give them one more good faith effort and, what do you know.
And now one of our rooms is lit even when it isn’t.
We carefully saved the box and are preserving the old fixture because, as she said “That one is going with us if we ever move.”
Told you she liked it.
We had the traditional Japanese birthday dinner, surrounded by our new best friends, a 13-year-old in a poodle skirt who was just learning the joys and intricacies of ginger and wasabi and that she can’t trust her father for anything, ever, and a family of five, who eat there each week, who just bought a new car, who’s oldest plays fall baseball and who’s youngest is an unholy terror.
Also, the Japanese place in town does a Halloween costume contest ever year. Our chef has won the prize by going as Buddha and almost burned himself alive as Nacho Libre. Capes are flammable, and get this guy away from me.
The Japanese steakhouse is very instructive.
We also had a delicious slice of Oreo ice cream cake from the local place walk-up shop and tsettled in for a nice DVD date night.
She announced to the room in general that it was a great birthday.
To celebrate the kickoff of the 2011 football season, here’s a picture from every week of Auburn’s championship 2010 season.
Kodi Burns, quarterback turned receiver, scores the first touchdown of the season against Arkansas State, beating the visiting Indian-Red Wolves 52-26. The obscuring shaker just adds to the atmosphere:
Auburn was on the road for their second game, a 17-14 win over conference foe Mississippi State:
The legend of Cam Newton begins in the 27-24 overtime win over visiting Clemson. After only three games he’d amassed 315 yards rushing, 525 yards passing and nine touchdowns. Even still, Clemson had to miss a field goal to allow Auburn to escape from their biggest scare of the early season.
Auburn rallied past South Carolina. Linebacker Josh Bynes forced this fumble and secured an interception, each helping to turn the tide in a 35-27 victory. Cam Newton would be responsible for all five of Auburn’s scores, on the ground or through the air. Freshman tailback Michael Dyer gained 100 yards, proving to college football onlookers that the Tigers suddenly had too many weapons to defend.
Auburn, now in top 10, improved to 5-0 with a tuneup win over Louisiana Monroe 52-3.
Auburn traveled to Kentucky and escaped the Bluegrass State on a Wes Byrum field goal as time expired. The Tigers orchestrated a 19-play, 86-yard drive in the final 7:22 to set up the game-winner. The 37-34 victory has been somewhat forgotten. All of these big scores, though, were only foreshadowing.
The game the scoreboard broke. Arkansas and Auburn set an SEC record for points scored in a regulation game. When everyone recovered from heart palpitations they discovered the guys in blue had emerged with a 65-43 victory that was a lot closer than the score suggested. Arkansas lost their starting quarterback early. No matter, the backup tossed it around for 332 yards and four scores. But in the end the stir he created was the man who would begin to show his Heisman bona fides. Cam Newton rushed for 188 yards and three scores and threw for 140 more yards and another score.
And finally doubters would be satisfied. LSU brought one of the best defenses in the country into Jordan-Hare Stadium, and they were torched for 526 total yards, 440 of which Auburn gathered on the ground. Mike Dyer collected 100 yards rushing, but the man of the hour was the man wearing the number two.
That’s the end of this famous run:
A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
After gunning down Arkansas and running over LSU, the season definitely took on a special feel. Up next was Ole Miss, who were just a mascot-less speed bump in the way of a juggernaut. Ole Miss was looking for a Halloween surprise, dressing up as a football team (albeit in new, gray unis) but Auburn took the win in Oxford 51-31. Cam Newton caught a touchdown pass from Kodi Burns. The Tigers were showing themselves to be:
Up next was Homecoming. Auburn hosted Tennessee-Chattanooga 62-24, improving to 10-0 on the season, ranked third in the nation and put up statistical superlatives across the board. Cam Newton, in just 30 minutes of play, set a personal best for passing yards. The Tigers put up 484 of offense in the first half, and eclipsed 600 yards offense for the second time of the season. It was the fifth time they’d scored more than 50 points on the season. Terrell Zachery found a career high for receiving yards, including this 80-yard touchdown reception.
Auburn clinched their appearance in the SEC Championship game in a 49-31 victory over Georgia in a controversial reunion of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. And by controversial I mean that Auburn’s Nick Fairley had one late hit, was flagged for it, and Georgia whined and whimpered about it for the rest of the game. Then they tried to take him out late in the contest, which prompted a fight. Most of Georgia’s sideline stormed the field. Two of Auburn’s players were ejected in garbage time (and suspended for the first half of the upcoming Iron Bowl) and despite all of that, Auburn still won and Georgia looked like poor losers.
But on the day when Auburn earned the right to go to Atlanta, the Tigers’ offensive line deserved special recognition. Guys like Cameron Newton, well on his way to the Heisman Trophy, wouldn’t have accomplished all he did on the field without these guys:
Same story for Mike Dyer, who would in the Georgia game break Bo Jackson’s freshman rushing record:
And the same shot, as told by AUHD:
It was simultaneously the biggest choke ever by Alabama and the largest comeback by Auburn, as the Tigers finished their regular season a perfect 12-0 after the 28-27 victory.
In a year full of tremendous efforts, Antoine Carter may have saved the season on this play, shifting the momentum of the game inexorably into Auburn’s favor:
Some time after this a deranged individual would prove his poor decision making and self-worth by poisoning the trees at Toomer’s Corner.
But before we knew that, it felt like this:
Half of Auburn was in Atlanta for the SEC Championship game against South Carolina. More of us were in the new Auburn Arena to watch a simulcast. The Tigers played their most complete game of the season, proving themselves a force while winning their first SEC Championship since 2004. Auburn thumped Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks 52-17. More than a few of us grew misty-eyed when the score became 49-14 and we realized these Tigers would have a shot at football glory.
That night I wrote “For 1983, 1993 and 2004. For 270,000 alumni. For every coach and player from Shug to Gene. For Auburn and for ol’ API.”
The state’s newspapers the next day:
A month later Auburn faced Oregon in Arizona and brought home the national championship after Mike Dyer’s run:
… which was exhausting, and Wes Byrum lined up behind senior backup quarterback Neil Caudle to cinch the win:
Kodi Burns, the quarterback who so famously and selflessly said he’d move to wide receiver, unifying the team behind eventual Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton, scored the first touchdown in the season and the first touchdown in this game. From September through January, this team was a joy to watch.
And then there was the final celebration of the year at Toomer’s Corner:
This is a sunset somewhere over the southeast, as we traveled from Atlanta to St. Louis:
That same sunset, but without the plane in the way. Sometimes the fuselage helps, sometimes it does not. You may say it helps, especially when you are in the plane:
I love the next picture. There are a half-dozen stories in there. On the left, the man is explaining he’ll be home when he gets home. There’s the guy rushing, the three men in the middle who are beaten down by life and this airport. Just out of the margin is a clutch of young troopers, headed off to parts unknown. There’s the kid studying, or about to throw up, on the floor. The lady in the foreground is relaxed, her companion is ready to fly and the guy on the far right is doing business on his phone.
Of course I took this picture to point out the fancy plug/USB station, but people are always the better picture:
The sun setting over the Atlanta airport. We sat there, the sun in our eyes, for a long time. Seems the plane parked in our spot was running late.
