(no subject)

My family is a football family. Hooboy. My parents are never more fun than on a Virginia Tech gameday. My brother Adrian met us yesterday morning and we loaded up the car for our trip. We met my cousin Maria and her husband J in Troutville and all rode on together in their van. Maria is a little older than Adrian, I think, and definitely my parents' favorite niece, as she is a Hokie. My family loves to rib each other, and the banter was plentiful all the way to the game. We tailgated for a while, Tech won 38-0, I lost my voice from screaming...great day.

A note about Hokie football games. If you've never been to one, you can't possibly understand. They say the Hokies have the best home field advantage in college sports. It's true. Tech fans are incredible. Yesterday's game was never supposed to be a big deal, really - they just played I-AA Northeastern, but it was still a sellout crowd, and even though it was a complete blowout, all 67,000 fans were on their feet screaming for the Hokies the whole time. I'm not just saying this because I'm biased - ESPN dudes will tell you, you do NOT want to be the visiting team at Lane Stadium. Man, it's incredible.

On the way home, my brother taught me a car game that he and William used to play when they were little. It's called "Cat in the Window," and though my parents insist they didn't make it up, it sounds like a Bill Massie classic, and googling it didn't bring back any results, so I'm crediting my father with the invention of this game to shut my brothers up in the car. The rules:
One kid gets one side of the road, the other kid gets the other side. You count cows on your side of the road. Each cow is worth one cow (of course), but if you see a white horse, that's worth 5 cows. If you see a graveyard (on either side of the road, doesn't have to be your side), and you are the first to call it, your opponent has to "bury their cows." But the kicker - you can only win the game if you see a cat in a window (an actual cat in the window of a house). The cat sighting must be corroborated by others in the car, or it doesn't count (unfortunately for me, because I saw three unconfirmed windowcats). So where do the cows come into the final scoring? Well, they don't. They're just something to keep you occupied until someone sees a cat in a window, which my brother said had never happened in all the years he played this game. Think about it, how many houses do you really see on the interstate, anyway? Yeah. So we all played this crazy game all the way home from Troutville, and Adrian and I shit-talked each other the whole way. Unfortunately, he had the advantage of experience, and damn if he didn't see a cat in the window in my next door neighbor's house as we were pulling into the driveway. I hate losing.

My niece is here for five days now, so I'm going to go play with her now. Pictures are coming.

Peace.

(no subject)

My brother brought his dog, Slim, with him on this visit. That dog is very cool. It's a medium-sized hound, and he's just as cute and sweet as can be. I took him for a little walk last night to win points with my brother, then this morning when my mom took everyone else to Monticello, I decided Slim and I would try to go for a run/walk. I'm going to the movies later today, so that knocks out the possibility of going to the gym (it closes early on weekends), but I definitely wanted to work off the popcorn I'm going to eat later, so I hooked Slim up to his leash, turned on my iPod, and took off. Last time I ran in this neighborhood, I had an asthsma attack before I'd finished the first (extremely hilly) 2/3 mile loop. This time I told myself I'd let myself walk as soon as I started feeling winded. Slim and I ran for probably about a 1/2 mile, then slowed to a walk for the giganto hill, ran down it, walked a little more, then alternated running and walking in about 300 yard spurts until we'd done 2 and a half laps for just over 1.5 miles. I also did some ab stuff in my room. I didn't have an asthsma attack, though I wasn't breathing as comfortably as I'd like to by the end of it, and my legs are a little noodly now.

After taking Slim off his leash, I treated myself to the best feeling in the world: a cold shower after a sweaty workout. If my legs were feeling stronger, I'd probably still be in there under the cold water, but there's been a drought this summer, and my legs wouldn't have it anyway, so I'm just sitting in my room in my underwear now. And I feel good. :)

I'm so glad it's a three day weekend. After the movie tonight, I'll probably come crash to an early night's sleep, and then I've got a busy day ahead of me tomorrow. Lunch at Virginia Page's in Nelson with the whole family, then I'm going to try another run with Slim in the afternoon, because my gym will be closed for Labor Day.

Oh, yeah, and Bridgewater won their season opener at McDaniel 41-0 - the first time McDaniel's been shut out since 1987:) Go Eagles! I'm going to a home game in a few weeks...

Peace.

(no subject)

Little Miss Sunshine is probably the funniest and best movie I've seen in my life.

End of story.

Peace.