72 Degrees!

Nope, this is not the name of a new boy band.

Nor is it the low for this evening.

As I type, the temperature outside is 72 degrees. Not. Kidding. Fall is coming, and boy howdy I am ready for it. You see, for me, fall means a lot of wonderful things:
1) Mornings that feel like mornings. I have never felt like it was morning when you get to your car @ 7am and it is already in the 80s. Morning should have a nice chill in the air; perhaps enough to wear your favorite sweatshirt. Fall provides that.
2) Football. This one is three fold: 1. Alabama football (yes, I have become a rabid fan during grad school), 2. Dallas Cowboy football (yes, I pretend that T.O. is not T.O. but someone else, like perhpas Drew Pearson of old), and 3. playing football... on the quad, with my dad, with my brothers... oh man.
3) Working outside. You see, grad students work all of the time. At least during the fall you can sit at a nice picnic table with your laptop instead of the closet I sit in that is my "office."
4) Hiking. I can't during spring or summer because of the ants. But when it gets cold enough they retreat underground!
5) FIDDLERS. The fiddler's convention is on par with every other major holiday for me (at least in secular terms). Its in two weeks and I can't wait!
6) Family. We're talking Fiddler's, Peeg's birthday, Thanksgiving, and lately, the birth of children. Liam, Maddox, and soon... John Patrick.

I love fall. And it has put me in one of those mushy moods where you forget about the 4,000 pounds of work you have to do and sit outside in a giant captain's camping chair and grill Hebrew National hot dogs. Specific, I know, but I am a man who knows what he likes.

I hope everyone is enjoying this as much as I am (if not more).

Peace,
Joe

PS... Mr. Alligator will return next post.
PPS... I am considering moving my blog to my main website (which is currently under a brand new make-over thingie... you'll see). I'd like to know if my readers (i.e. my family and a few friends) like the current theme or think it is time for a change. If you think that I should re-work stuff, let me know. And if so, please suggest a theme. You know, like, "Tubby eats a Pound of..." or the like. Yes, and thanks.

Michael Jackson sweetly embraces around Sam.

Look, Mr. Alligator said it, not me.

Sometimes he can be downright prophetic. Also from Mr. Alligator today:

"You should have been wavering your divine aliens."

Well, you should have. No excuses!

I hope everyone is well.
Peace,
Joe

Benjamin Franklin infuriates fantastical boogers.

Apparently, Ben Franklin and snot do not get along. So says Mr. Alligator today.
Rainy day, and starting to get a little cooler. The highs are no longer in the upper 90s / triple digits (although it is still hot). Rain no longer equals super steamy days where you walk outside and then get into your car (approximately 100 feet away) soaking wet. Today it is just a cool drizzle. Enough to make my walk over to the student center for lunch a bit wet. But nothing too bad.
In fact, I am about to walk over for an early lunch. I thought about going into the 5 year anniversay of 9/11, or talking about my abysmal research talk from friday. But I think that both of those deserve more time than I have to give them right now, so I'll wait. I know that usually means that I never get to talking about them full-fledged, but I'll try. Don't look at me that way! I really will try.
Well, its off to the cafeteria to see what I can scrounge up.
I hope everyone is well.
Peace,
Joe

Every raspy cucumber wailed Monica Lewinsky.

Mr. Alligator came up with an awesome today, I tell you. The only question is: was Monica Lewinsky wailing "Every raspy cucumber?" OR were all of the raspy cucumbers wailing "Monica Lewinsky!"? The world may never know.
This past weekend Tonya and I took a trip up to Chicago to celebrate her birthday and about the 1 year mark for us dating. It was an awesome time. We went to all the museums we possibly could, saw the traveling King Tut exhibit, ate dinner at the Signature Room ( http://www.signatureroom.com/ ) on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building, and ended by gorging on deep dish pizza the night before we left. There are several regular trip stories I could share, but since the readership of this blog is mostly family and very close friends, I'll share one in particular that you all will sympathize with.
I love public transit. When I go to big cities I like to take the buses and trains, etc, and read a book and feel like "big city Joe." But the El in Chicago makes me a bit nervous at the same time. I am always scared that I'll get off at the wrong stop and be hopelessly lost forever. So, last Saturday, we took the El from Midway to the Loop to get to our hotel. I had printed out exactly what stop we should take and how many miles it would be to the hotel and an alternate bus route to take if it was raining. I was prepared. Oh yes. But then, the stops announced didn't match the one on the website. I started to get nervous, standing up every so often and almost falling on Tonya each time we took a curve around the tracks. Eventually we started to loop back toward the airport. My worst fears were confirmed. We got off at the wrong stop!
Tonya wasn't worried, but I was in high gear, imagining all the different ways we could never make it to the hotel. So we got off and walked to the corner. There stood a police officer. We asked how to get to the hotel and she told us. Simple enough, right? Wrong. We now had the option of walking 10 blocks or taking a bus, neither of which had I previously planned or mapped out. Tonya mentioned that we might look for a map. Then it happened. I said it. "What would you want one of those for? We are lost!" It left my mouth and traveled by slowly. I watched it float through the air, perfectly rediculous, until it hit Tonya's ears. She said "to know where we are going." I said, "oh."
Eventually we just walked and it was quite enjoyable. The rest of the trip we collected several maps. Lots and lots of maps. With the aid of those maps, we mastered the transit system, and all was Ok.

Ok, just one more.
Mr Alligator: "Bouncing and polkafying is fun."

It certainly is, Mr. Alligator.

I hope everyone is well.
Peace,
Joe