New Logo

As you may have heard, ISU is going to drastic measure to try and turn this season into something bigger than beating Iowa. Have you seen the new logos for all uniforms? Reminds me of the 80's, but hey, whatever it takes.

To see what the uniforms look like, click here.

Parents for a Day or Maybe Just an Afternoon

On Saturday Jared and I went to North Liberty to visit Jason, Brenda, and the kids. After a very entertaining example of how lunch time takes place with a two and four year old, Jared and I thought it would be fun to take Ally and Drew to the Children's Museum at the Sun Mall (aka Coral Ridge) and let Jason and Brenda get some things done around the house while the kids were gone. Let me first say I was throughly impressed with the museum. They had many different activity centers for children to play. Both kids were excited to be there and it was fun to watch them play and pretend at the different stations. It is really interesting how much they pick up and imitate their parents and other things they see adults doing. Here are some of the pictures Jared and I took.......
Above is Ally at the Construction Station building a house.
Below is Jared helping Drew build ???



Ally milking a cow like her Grandpa's
Drew checking out at the grocery store
By the end of all this fun I don't know who was more tired Drew or Jared? We all had fun though and the trip was a success. Oh and I can't forget to mention the hilarious comment by Ally on the way home as we drive by a Culvers....... "So, are we gonna stop at Culvers and get me a snack or what?" Jared and I both laughed pretty hard at that one.

Christmas in September?

I was in Lowe's this morning and they were setting out the Christmas trees and light displays. does that seem a little early to anyone else??

Also, if the cashiers know me by name, does that mean i'm there too much?

house update

Here are a couple more photos of the house. we will be insulating monday and tuesday and start sheetrocking wednesday hopefully. the garage floor and stoop got poured this morning.

cyclone state of mind

I love a good rivalry game. I love it even more when my cyclones win it. While the black and gold was busy racking up 40 or so yards of offense in the first half, ISU kept marching down the field, warming up Shaggy for the eventual game winner.

As i talked with my boss before the game, i said how it would be a good game, as long as it didn't come down to field goals... well, i was right on the good game part, but who would have thought isu would actually WIN a game because of their kicking.

I wish i could put into words the excitement of beating Iowa. Even though we have won 7 out of the last 10, it is still a great feeling every time that trophy returns to the hallowed halls of the Jacobsen Building. The excitement of that last second field goal, my heart stopping on that last kick-off return, (what were we thinking??) followed by the joy of thousands of fans pouring over the walls onto the field was such a fitting end to a great game.

I can't wait to hear the Hawkeye fans saying, " who cares, we won a lot in row 20 years ago."

LET'S GO STATE!!!

Texas Trip

Last week at this time Allison and I were enjoying Labor Day weekend in Texas. We left Ames Friday about 12:30 or so and arrived at Erin and Jason's house about 1 in the morning. It was a long drive, but it was worth it. They recently moved into a house in Terrell, Texas (just east of Dallas) and have done a great job making the house a home. The previous owner had trashed the place so Erin and Jason had a lot of work to do to make it nice, and their efforts payed off.

We got to do a lot of fun things while we were there and also help out a little with some projects. The big project Jason and I worked on was building a trellis like structure in their yard for a nice shady area. I think it took longer to dig the holes than it did to actually build the thing. It turned out pretty decent though.

One day we enjoyed a trip into Dallas to eat some quality pizza at a fun little shop in downtown . We saw the area where JFK was shot. We rode a trolley and drank some good coffee.

One night we also went to a huge arboretum that had an orchestra playing and then showed a movie when the sun when down. Another night we ate outside by a lake in Rockwell and went to a movie.

Other highlights were having some time to relax, barbequeing with Jasons family, putting in a row of tile in their kitchen, meeting and playing with their puppy-Jean, seeing some awesome houses outside of dallas on big lots for incredibly cheap,playing some X-Box football, and being with family.

On our way back to Iowa on tuesday, we were able to stop by my relatives in Arkansas and got to visit with them and see the house they had completely gutted, added a second floor and have it almost ready to market.


One funny thing from the trip....Before we left Ames, i was telling Allison about this new country song i liked and was hoping to hear while we drove. Well, we were on the road for almost 24 hours total and never heard it. I kept talking about it and flipping stations trying to find it and Allison was beginning to doubt the song even existed.

The next morning i was driving to work (a three minute commute) and guess what song came on as i pulled out the driveway? yep. good grief.

0-2

Well, my prediction was half-right. UNI earned their 24 points and ISU just left to many missed opportunities on the field.

You won't hear any positives written about the game anywhere in the media, but there were some bright spots...1. ISU had more total yards of offense and averaged more yards per play than UNI. 2. Only one penalty...for only 5 yards. very impressive. 3. We still have Todd Blythe. It is inevitable he becomes the go-to guy again. I only remember 3 passes thrown his way yesterday. When the wide receivers get in sync with the quarterback, watch for lots of yards. 4. ISU got to or close to the red zone 3 times and failed to score. When those turnovers and botched plays stop happening and points go on the board, some swagger will come back to the offense. 5. Short fields gave UNI a big edge. Two turnovers in Iowa State territory gave UNI 10 easy points. 6. ISU D-Line continually got a good push on a O-line averaging about 315 pounds. the result was 3 sacks and lots of hits behind the line of scrimmage.

The best thing about the game though...the weather was beautiful!

And like some fans were saying as we left....we can still go 10-2. :-)

Prediction

I believe the reason iowa state lost their opener was partly because i failed to make a public prediction on the outcome of the game. if that doesn't help this week, i'll turn to something else.

So my prediction is Iowa State 27, Northern Iowa 24.

Go Clones!