Aggie Land

Last week we were feeling lonely for the friendly confines of Lane Stadium and the color maroon, so we bought cheap tickets to the Texas A&M opening game. So Saturday we watched the first half of the Hokie opener on the computer (not half as good as TV, no comparison to being there) and hopped in our car driving into East Texas. East Texas might as well be its own state, as it differs GREATLY from the Waco area... but most anyplace is better than Waco... But the drive down route 6 was pleasant through great countryside. College Station is actually an hour and a half away, further than earlier reports had indicated (people must drive FAST here... New Jersey drivers are slow in comparison). We parked on the edge of campus and took off in search of the bookstore and Will Call. What we entered was very familiar, meaning that Texas A&M is Virginia Tech on a Texas scale, so VERY BIG. Seeing hordes of maroon clad folks was comforting, as well as walking through a large, imposing campus. The campus felt "right", unlike Baylor's tiny excuse for grand campus planning. Except for the immensity of the place and omission of mountains, we really could have been on Blacksburg on Game Day. The bookstore was conveniently placed adjacent to Kyle Field, which is one IMPRESSIVE structure. We bought Aggie shirts to fit in, and waited to enter the stadium as the corps of cadets marched by. Finding ourselves in the north endzone, we had a view of the field similar to the Marching Virginians in Lane, except the Video Board was gigantic behind us (it was new). The north endzone reminded us of Lane Stadium's new South Endzone, just bigger. The East and West stands mirrored each other with several large decks. We decided that if the fans got into it, this place could really rock (close to 80,000 people showed up for the game against I-AA Citadel). At this point we were really excited and felt normal, until the fans started acting strange. A&M has no cheerleaders, just five male "yell-leaders" who have the power through weird hand movements to incite mass student choreographed responses. The responses were amazing, seeing 40,000 people move in unison, but seemed odd to us. Further, when some Aggie song is played, EVERYONE in the stadium locks arms and sways. We did it to fit in, but felt too much like UVA students. Overall we felt that the stadium was impressive, but not as intimidating as Lane Stadium. Texas Aggie fans were simply not drunk for one thing, the smell of bourbon was not in the air, which of course resulted from poor tailgating. We encountered little tailgating near the stadium, which results in poor cheering. Except that the A&M fans were not drunk so they could better study the game and respond to yell-leaders orders... Thus, the fans do not get loud unless told to. Virginia Tech fans like to get into opponents heads, A&M fans simply hold to traditional movements. However, overall the atmosphere was great and felt like REAL football, especially in connection to Baylor... The Texas A&M football team seemed poorly coached as they had many turnovers and bad execution all game keeping the score surprisingly close. They should not have fired R.C. Slocum. We left after the third quarter when everyone started swaying again, plus we had a late night drive through dark roads to Waco. On the way to the car we were passing the "century oak" where Aggie couples traditionally went to propose. An older man walked by and stated bluntly if we were going to the oak to become engaged... which brings up interesting questions such as, why would anyone ruin a nervous man's proposal? We are already married, thank you. On the way out of town we discovered a Jimmy-Johns and a Kroger... College Station = Blacksburg. So far, Waco = Lynchburg.

Fun Macbook features!!!

Our new MacBook has a sweet Photobooth program that we've had an awesome time playing with! As you can see...it's quite entertaining! :-) We went to the graduate school picnic today, and the brisket was good. Brisket is a new phenomenon for us...I am a fan, but James really isn't. Another interesting thing about Texas...it's hard to find sweet tea around here. They are always like...you can add sugar to your tea...but clearly that is not the same thing. The park we were at today was very nice though, right along the Brazos river, which made for a pretty view! College football started tonigh! :-D James and I are super happy!!!! Off to do some work so we can be completely involved in football this weekend!!!

The moment you've ALL been waiting for!

Our Hokie living room:

It's very good to have a small Blacksburg in your apartment....especially when you live in Waco. This way...one does not forget the importance of the best university in the world...and what a special place Blacksburg is...and Waco isn't. And...let's be honest...an orange and maroon living room is very trendy.



Our grad student study:

There is nothing quite like a wall full of Hokie diplomas...this is James' side of the study...the maps you would have seen in his room last year...are now in the bathroom.



Our books for this semester/ reminders of home/ everything that didn't fit in any of the other rooms...



Is that Angela's side with all of that pink? :-D It's like my miniature piece of WAJ...complete with a little piece of "borrowed" Hokie Stone!

Our other rooms to come later....:-D

Musings from Opie

A happy birthday to my brother in law Brent! Sometimes I feel he gets lost with the interest in our new nephew (who is rather adorable, you can find a link to their link on the right side of the page). They live in West Virginia, which we can't make fun of too much as we live in Waco! In any case, we are feeling the pressure of Thomas Jefferson here. Angela has a professor from the UVA here who wears orange and blue ties. The professor I am assisting is a UVA alum. Conspicuously absent are faculty from the greatest university on earth. I really do miss the mountains in early Autumn. Today I bought a pumpkin spice latte at Starbuck's, a decidedly Autumn drink. I am all for Autumn weather, but it is still August in central Texas. Granted we have been experiencing a cooling trend, and the weather is now only in the mid 90s... Today Angela and I attended a decent session on a cool program called Ref-Works. For a small school, this place has more libraries than one can follow. Finding all the documents we need to write papers on will literally be a detective hunt. We miss government over sighted schools where organization seemed to make some sense. In any case, this place is different. Did you know that Virginia comes up EVERY day here in class discussions? Apparently we left the mecca of American thought and higher education... We were discussing the religious implications of Jamestowne (honestly the original colonists were not pious, I don't know why we were talking about it) and the professor asked me to add any points about Virginia since I was from there. I stated it was hot, but humid, and there were real trees. I should have mentioned that the animals in the Old Dominion are not demented. Birds in Waco appear to be afflicted with what has only been described to me so far as the "Waco Curse." The birds are creepy and are like mini-crows, but I theorize that they are just thirsty. Talking about water, this place has the absolute worst tasting water in America. We immediately hooked up a PUR water filter to the faucet. Welp, college football FINALLY starts tomorrow, and the Baylor campus is not excited. We are wearing orange and maroon everyday to pump ourselves up, and listening to Metallica. You would think in Texas people would understand football, but the student clientele of Baylor appear to be too wealthy and privileged to be bothered. They may, however, prove me wrong on Sunday when the Bears take on TCU in a religious battle.

OPIE!

Attack of the killer crickets??

Cockroach count: 7 (not bad since we've lived here for a whole month now!)
Crazy huge sick looking mutated cricket count: 6 (in one day!)

Okay...what is wrong with these crazy looking crickets that just decided to attack Waco? There were hundreds of them dead in the parking garage today...and we didn't begin to see them until last night...but they are EVERYWHERE! It's kind of freaky in the middle of the night to hear these creepy crickets just doing their thing outside of our windows. And then you turn the light on and see this huge thing jumping around and crawling on your stuff. I'm not a fan... To sum it up...I'm a little freaked out. But, they don't really try to get away from being killed...and they just kind of die when you hit them once with a flyswatter, so I think there is something wrong with them.
Yes...that is a picture of a TEXAS CHIP!! :-D Sweetness...they taste good too...

So...today in class we were discussing what was going on in the world with current events and the such, and I added that college football was starting tomorrow! Okay...I was really excited about this, but no one else seemed to think that it was very funny. :'( Where are all of the football fans at Baylor? To get over the fact that we are not in Blacksburg for this football season (which makes me super sad) James and I bought tickets to the Texas A & M game this weekend...so we will still get to see some awesome football...and hey...they wear maroon! :-D

My professor today (from UVA) was wearing a UVA tie...a bow tie…and it distracted me so much that I think I only heard half of the lecture. But...I was wearing my Tech flip-flops, so I felt somewhat accomplished in representing our school.

Academically speaking, James and I went to an awesome seminar today on REFworks...which is a program that basically does your bibliographies for you, and gives you a place to store all of your references. Wish I had that last semester, as it would have helped a lot! I'm one of those people who generally has to keep going and looking for references over and over again because I loose them...so I am pretty excited about this program! :-)

Major excitement right now though....FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!

First week down!

The first week of classes has come and past, and it is time to reflect upon what I know and what I do not know. The classes are a little different than I expected them to be, and it is interesting how different they are! I am taking a seminar in Public Law, a seminar in Morality and International Relations, as well as a seminar in Comparative Public Policy. It is kind of intimidating, because most of my classes are full of Ph.D. students who have a great deal more experience than I do. But, I know that I can do well, it is just going to take a great deal of work on my part. I think I'm really going to like my class in Comparative Public Policy with Dr. Riley, as we will be looking at 6 different countries and comparing national policies like welfare, healthcare, education, the environment, etc. I am very interested in how America is doing comparatively in education, so I think I will get a lot out of that class. It is also my smallest class, with only 10 other students in it, so that is a major positive. I haven't quite figured out my course in Morality and International Relations yet, as we are still in the introduction stages of the course. My professor, Dr. Clinton is a graduate of UVA, that friendly school down the road, but so far I like him nonetheless. The course is with both graduate and undergraduate students, which is definitely interesting, and I think that once we get into it, I will like it more. My third course is the most intimidating, as it is a seminar with 27 graduate students, 17 of which are PhD or law school students. I was hoping to be in more classes with just MA students, but my wish was not granted. It is basically going to be a course in constitutional law, which I have never had before, but am fairly interested in. It's going to be a trying semester, that is for sure, but I think I will learn a lot, and get the most out of the experience. I absolutely love my assistantship with Dr. Hibbs, the Dean of the Honors college! He and his assistant Paulette have been nothing but wonderful, and I enjoy the work I have been doing so far. I spent this last week editing and working on the index of a chapter in a book on film noir, which I enjoy a great deal to begin with. It was very gratifying working on something that was real, and would be making a difference in the world of academia.

Post-Orientation Fun

After a long day of training seminars that left Angela and I still lost and confused on campus, we found enjoyment in what Waco offers as a nightlife. The history department second year graduate students invited all the new students out to a local bar, "Cricket's." We found the place in a set of restored wearhouses in downtown, among the few businesses obviously open in that area. The group met on the balcony, with the temperature only in the 80's at night! We proceeded to have a several hour discussion over drinks with people our age. It was really nice to connect with other students like us, many of them new to the area as well and experiencing the same kind of shock. The best part of it was the chance to learn from those familiar with Baylor. In many ways, this meeting at the bar was much more beneficial than our day long orientation, run by the amazingly inept Baylor administration. Pleasantly surprising as well was the amazing drink selection found there. This place had beer on tap that is not sold in many parts of the world. One test of an area is how good the beer is, and for at least one establishment, Waco passed. In addition, alcohol is amazingly cheap here! We were there on a Wednesday, in which all drinks were 2.75! This outing made us feel more connected to the area and has eased our transition to Baylor. We plan on suggesting graduate orientations within department's themselves in the future.