A Trip Home

I've got some serious catching up to do. There are a lot of blogs out there that set the standard pretty high on the amount of posting. I mean, seriously, do they still have class at college? It's almost upsetting when you think about our obsessions with the internet. Don't worry, I'm right there with you; I just don't have as many stories about pigs named Olivia that have devil horns or tales about Lil' Jon as my running mate for yell leader. You've set a high bar, my friends, but I'll try to keep up.

I'm proud to announce that I was absolutely right about this weekend. The weather flirted with the idea of creating a depressing Saturday and Sunday rainstorm, just in time for the weekly corporate holiday, but it changed its mind. Probably after reading my blog. Met up with a fellow Aggie, Matt Giese, on Saturday and then we made our way down to Aggieland. Stopped in at the Fox and Hound restaurant and bar for a good dinner and front row seat to the NCAA playoffs. First things first, and that's always the food of course, I have to compliment a couple of their items. The chips were tastefully salted and the queso dip delightfully seasoned. Dinner was a hard choice, because there really were a lot of nice items on the menu, and the elaborate pictures always makes it even more difficult. I finally settled on one of the "House Specialties" and that was a pulled pork sandwich, accompanied with a set of six barbecue sauces creatively carted out to the table in a Corona Light carrying case. After sorting through the choices of Hot, Mild, Tangy, etc. I settled on the Smoky bbq sauce. "Mmmm. That IS a tasty burger!" - Pulp Fiction. That just may have made the trip worthwhile right there, and I didn't even NEED the nice weather. Enjoyed the rest of the afternoon as we met up with a few more friends there, including some lovely ladies there for a Maggies reunion. Notice the polite tact as I completely skip over this as a topic to harp on, because we all know the Maggies great obsession with food. Obviously because I'm highlighting my pork sandwich over the final four game, I can relate. I did enjoy watching the game, but gotta say that I was pulling for OSU. If it was t.u. still in there, my loyalties would not lie to the Big 12, but just whoever had the best chance of beating them. Overall though I like OSU.

From there it was on to the AFC Reunion. Major props go out to any readers from the Archives committee. You should be proud of putting on a fine show. I particularly liked the t-shirt cutouts from each of the previous years. You can think my counselors back in AFC 99-00 who chose the most hideous shirt imaginable. Truth be told, the printing company blew up the font, so much so that you could literally see another AFCer from about 500 yards away. True statement. And then even though the Internet at the Garden Room wasn't working, it was a smart idea to have the laptop there to update the alumni information on the website (compliments go to the Committee of Internal Affairs on that one). I heard that Fundraising made quite a killing as they set another great record for the Golf Tournament....Anyways, about the reunion. It was good to see a lot of people that I had not seen in awhile. I loved my four years in AFC and wouldn't trade them for anything. Lessons that I learned from challenges as a fish, counselor or director are greatly beneficial to me today. But the thing I love the most is being able to see and hear where everyone is moving onto, be that new organizations, counselors, directors, new jobs, new relationships, and the list goes on. I left there to go meet my older friends (many from AFC years past) at Northgate, but I had a tough time leaving the Reunion because there was still a lot of updates that I wanted to hear from people. Fish, y'all look like you've definitely had a good time this year. I've only been involved in a few parts of your year: Fall Retreat, a football game, Spring Retreat, a random meeting, and then this weekend. But you'd be amazed at the difference and the progress I've seen between each of those times. Hope you had fun with it, and keep up with the friends you made, because it really does require an effort, no matter how close you are right now. Well that night we had a great time at Northgate, then the boys of the Speakeasy (namely Mike Ivey and Hal Denbar) were kind enough to offer Giese and I a couple of beds to crash on for the night (additional thanks to Blake Knight).

I think this post lacks any sort of a real direction, which is probably contributed to my reading of some of these other blogs. But generally, I would just say that it was great to see Aggieland again this weekend. Back in the summer and early fall of last year, it was almost dangerous to visit because I was so nostalgic about it. I was glad with this trip that I could enjoy some good times with friends, old and new, and still be able to love it for what it is. I basically lived there for 4 years of my life. You become attached to something after that long of a time. But after this trip, I realized that I get an even bigger kick out of the fact that I can see that others are still enjoying the place. Not vicariously living, just observingly admiring. After all, I'd have to say that that was one of the best BBQ pork sandwiches I've ever eaten.