Kopaka's Ice Engineering

Hattu!

I've been hit by the nostalgia bat recently. A few weeks ago, I was tagged (on the book of faces) in an 18-year-old photograph of my senior homecoming, well, a homecoming alternative put on by those of us (and our parents) at the church I attended at the time. I was about to turn 17 (if I wasn't already) at the time of the photograph, and I'm now more than twice as old as I was when that photo was taken. Something else I saw on the book of faces recently: an update to something I posted 6 years ago. I got to reading the old entry, and I was struck as to what has changed in the past 6 years: I have not worked at another MathCounts competition since then. One of the other judges at that competition is now a co-worker. I'm now considering sending my firstborn daughter to one of those three Lake Castle schools for pre-Kindergarten. As for the funny email, well, it appears six years hasn't done too much to the running joke. I'm sure you've heard it before, but here it is to enjoy again. (Lines with no change have been greyed out.) Good comedy never gets old. Does this qualify as good comedy, though? -KIE

Behold, the end of C. Ray Nagin's trial on counts of bribery during his term as mayor of New Orleans. ...courtesy WDSU, NBC affiliate in New Orleans, LA (and whose offices are catercorner from my office (parking lots both open to Carondelet St)). I've wanted to post about my computer for a few weeks now, but I haven't gotten around to it. This, this is something I couldn't delay in posting, not when I borrow one of his most famous lines to entitle my blog. It would behoove me to learn more about this text editor, too, should time permit. In the interim, I'll simply say that I'm not dead yet, and that two girls a wonderful, except when big sister acts out on little sister. -KIE

Hello. Remember me? I used to be a moderator here on these boards, but life has happened over the past 7 years. If I hadn't rotated off the forum circuit by the time Katrina hit, I was awfully close to doing so. I'm thankful, however, for the time I've gotten to know people with color-shifty masks. I'm honored to have been one, and I do not regret the time spent, for more reasons than making friends scattered throughout North America and beyond. Gee, it sounds like I'm leaving the site. I'm not leaving the site: it's just been 10 months since I've gotten around to posting anything of consequence. Maybe if I were more studious about posting, I wouldn't feel like I have to reintroduce myself each & every time I duck my head in the door. "What has happened in the past 10 months?" you may wonder. Well, I live in the "country" now. My house is on an acre and a half, and the nearest full grocery store is some 10 miles away. My office in downtown New Orleans is 50 miles away from the carport. I spend about 2½ hours a day commuting. (What's more, the computer is usually reserved for my daughter to watch Jay Jay the Jet Plane episodes on a popular website for video in the evenings.) I find myself getting up at 5 AM to get to work, and am rarely home before 6:15 PM. I'm not complaining, per se: this is just where I am now. Anyway, I have more to address than the two tanks of gas I buy in a week. No, today is an important day in the USA. ELECTION DAY! Forty-five months ago, I set forth an auspicious challenge. A vote is a grave matter, and not something I should have thrown around so haphazardly. Of course, I felt that I was shielded by the fact that it would take a southern Democrat (see: Carter, Clinton) for Louisiana to light up any color other than red on the map, regardless of my ballot. I made my gambit not having a clue what the next years would actually have in store. And oh, did those next years have a curve ball. I confess, I felt as though this criterion was open and shut within 3 months. The passage of the second half of the stimulus package was a big deal, and we at the Jefferson Parish Sewer Capital Program sought to put in on the money being made available. Not a one of our projects was selected, and I thought that this was going to be it for my January posting. Then life happened. Not 4 months after the wedding, I leave the Yenni Building and end up getting laid off after 4½ years at DEII. Miraculously, I am hired before my severance runs out, and a countdown clock of sorts starts: with this job, of which 60ish% of the funding is footed by the ARRA, I am going to have to move my wife & I to Illinois for almost 2 years. As the calendar switches from March 2010 to April, we're driving a UHaul north on I-55 (figuratively: a good chunk of it was I-57). Not long after we leave, the Deepwater Horizon accident happens, and the Oval Office puts a moratorium on all deep water exploratory drilling. My father is laid off from Halliburton after 35 years, some 2 years away from his planned retirement. People in Illinois ask me what the big deal is, why drilling on the shelf alone isn't enough: I inform them that, by and large, the shelf is tapped out, and no one has expected to find anything new there for the past 15 years. Over the course of two years, my wife & I acquire a set of close friends in Illinois. We learned who we are as a couple, independent of our respective families. We learned how much we can rely on the other, for there were times (before the friends) we had no other person there. We become parents to a wonderful, adorable little girl. I say all this, needing to circle back around to the original question I posed myself forty-five months ago: are my life and surroundings better off than they were four years ago, and if so, are they a direct result of Barack Obama becoming president and his policies becoming law. To the first part, I say yes, absolutely. Certainly it is not in the manner I thought it would be "yes" when I typed that four years ago, but the fact remains: yes, despite my father losing his job, I and my family are better off. (I suppose there's a tangent here about when or where the definition of "family" shifted from "my parents & brother" to "my wife, and now daughter." Even though it doesn't seem to be long, I'm not going to chase it here.) To the second part, I credit my family's fortune to God's provision. However, I feel compelled to further elaborate. I'll save the full text of the story about God, the flood victim, the news, the boat & the helicopter and say that Divine Providence takes on many forms. It would be remiss of me to ignore the very real possibility that ARRA was God providing a way for me to provide for my family, even though none of it went to the sewer projects I helped submit for in the first place. Is this two years of northern exposure mellowing out my hard right lean? (Maybe) Is this all an exercise on how one shouldn't throw one's vote around? (Maybe) Is this going to make a real, appreciable difference? (Not really. It wouldn't have made a difference if we weren't back from Illinois yet, either.) Am I going to own up to my statements? (Yes) From the outskirts of Chocolate City will vote for the following candidates for the Louisiana Electoral College for the November 6 election: 2012 Electoral College Karen Carter Peterson Shane Riddle Gilda Warner Reed Jay H. Banks Diana Hamilton Cedric Bradford Glover Leslie Dandridge Durham Kyle Gautreau pledged to vote for Barack Obama of Illinois and Joe Biden of Delaware. From the outskirts of Chocolate City endorses the following candidates and positions for the November 6 election. United States Representative, First Congressional District of Louisiana Steven Scalise (R) Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #1 Medicaid Trust Fund for the Elderly AGAINST because we don't need to solve problems that don't exist Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #2 Strict Scrutiny Review for Gun Laws AGAINST because we don't need to solve problems that don't exist (didn't I just say that?) Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #3 Earlier Notice of Public Retirement Bills AGAINST not when the bills are going to get changed in the legislative process anyway. Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #4 Homestead Exemption for Veterans' Spouses AGAINST not interested in changing the state Constitution for the benefit of less than 5 people. Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #5 Forfeiture of Public Retirement Benefits FOR as toothless as this may be, since it's usually the USAO that prosecutes these Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #6 Property Tax Exemption Authority for New Iberia AGAINST Nope. There are better ways to do this, City of New Iberia. If there aren't, you just got unlucky and are going to have to deal with it. Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #7 Membership of Certain Boards and Commissions FOR because it won't make sense otherwise Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #8 Non-Manufacturing Tax Exemption Program AGAINST because I honestly believe we have too many tax exemption programs out there now Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #9 More Notice for Crime Prevention District Bills FOR ...because nobody needs "concerned citizens" end-running around their neighbors. I mean, come on. Local Option Vote #1 Term Limits for St Tammany Parish School Board Members FOR because incorporating new blood is important My vote is my vote, not yours. That said, I am a registered Republican, and will remain a registered Republican. I would appreciate no further thoughts about, as a Republican, my supposed inability to empathize with views not my own. Bring back the melting pot: this composed salad bowl mentality isn't healthy for us as a nation. -KIE

<image to be added at a later date> This time I'm walking to New Orleans I'm walking to New Orleans I'm gonna need two pair o' shoes when I get through walkin' these blues When I get back to New Orleans I got my suitcase in my hand now ain't that a shame I'm leavin' here today yes, I'm going back home to stay yes, I'm walkin' to New Orleans you used to be my honey 'til you spent all my money no use for you to cry I'll see you by and by 'cause I'm walking to New Orleans I've got no time for talkin' I've got to keep on walkin' New Orleans is my home that's the reason why I'm goin' yes, I'm walkin' to New Orleans I'm walkin' to New Orleans I'm walkin' to New Orleans I'm walkin' to New Orleans

Packing is a most arduous task with a 9-month-old in the house. One person must always be parted off to entertain the girl, and sometimes, one isn't enough. This is a new feature against the 3 previous moves in the past 7 years, and it's a bit of a trip. One that has been constant through the past three moves has been a 10" non-stick skillet. A relatively heavy aluminum number done by Invitations, and I don't know if that's a store brand or what. All I know is that I've had it since my mom gave it to me when I moved out from under my parents' roof in February, 2005. It wasn't party to the first actual cooking I'd ever done. (That was trying to sliver in a clove of garlic into a raw, frozen chicken breast and cooking in the microwave. I ate a can of pasta that night instead.) However, it was my pan when I cooked chicken parmigiana the first time. It was my pan when I did extensive potato/onion experimentation in the art of the mixed hash browns. It was my pan when I first cooked for someone else. It has been my pan for so long, it's as though it's an extension of my cooking skills. Sadly, I must part with it. 7 years of use have worn away at the non-stick coating to the point where aluminum flecks show through in the cooking surface. 7 years of poor cleaning skills have left a mahogany brown coating of oil & grease on the bottom of the pan. I can't clean this off, and I can't cook with it properly: it pains me, but I must retire this skillet. When we pack our belongings this weekend, the 10" Invitations will not be boxed, and will remain as an unannounced gift to the next owner or tenant of this house. *21 cork salute* -KIE

I can't exactly say that I'm a fan of Semisonic, or any of the other bands who may have covered the song "Closing Time", although it is a very appropriate lyric at the moment. We have just gotten back from a whirlwind trip to NOLA, only to be thrust into more acceleration. It is the endgame of my time in Morris. As of 12:30, my wife & I now own (well, mortgaged) a house outside Covington, Louisiana. Yesterday, the Army Corps of Engineers completed the dredging beneath the new bridge, widening the navigation channel by 150%. In other words, we are done here. Not to sound overly cryptic or shifty with my words, but this is the end. Morris is the past: when we arrived in Morris, I was met with McSkillet burritos at McDonald's, Italian Chicken Sandwiches at Burger King, homestyle fries at Arby's, and boysenberry syrup at IHOP. Things that had left my world before I had wanted them to leave. Morris is the future: as we leave Illinois we will not be the two we were when we arrived. Indeed, we are now three, and even just the two of us aren't the same as we were almost two years ago. While we've been up here, I've had the opportunity to download the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Virtual Console, and have played through it a few times. Forgive me if I hear Spirit Temple music in the background until we move next week. -KIE, who won't be publishing his bowl picks this year: no time to transcribe them into a blog entry

What do the Buffalo Sabres, Oakland Raiders, Silkeborg, UMass Minutemen, Lille, Αποελ Nicosia, LSU Tigers, the Ohio State/Michigan game, Mississippi State Bulldogs, and Maurice Jones-Drew have in common? If you said "sports" or "athletics," you're about as close as I would expect anyone to get. For the past two years, I've been playing a game called Streak for the Ca$h on ESPN. It's a simple little game: select one from a series of offered props on sporting events. Sometimes it's a simple as who will win; sometimes it's on an individual's performance. Sometimes, it's something even crazier. However, not once have I ever strung together double-digit wins in this monthly game. Not until this past Sunday. I feel proud of myself, even if you don't. I may never win money with it, but I do feel quite the sense of accomplishment in achieving a blue star once. Even if it took 2 years. -KIE

Ever since I moved out from under my parents' roof in February 2005, Thanksgiving has involved traveling. I [and later Amanda] jumping in a car and driving an appropriate amount on I-10, I-20, I-55, or US 165 and arriving at my parents' [or her parents'] home for a Thanksgiving meal. (Except in 2007: that year we were on baby watch for Oliver in Baton Rouge.) Not so this year. For the first time, family is coming here for Thanksgiving dinner. Our cozy little house of 3 will become 11 in a few short hours, and cooking must be done. Good Eats, don't fail me now. I will be attempting to implement the Good Eats Nobel Prize Pending Roast Turkey recipe found from the 14th episode of the famed cooking show, named "Romancing the Bird." In the absence of time, I will refer you to the Food Network archive of said recipe, although a search of the episode's name will surely elicit 45ish minutes of high quality turkey talk. I will say that as my mother-in-law has an apparent allergy to sage, the sage will be replaced with garlic and/or bay leaves, in a quantity not yet determined. As I have a bajillion other things to get done, both with cooking and with work, I will bid you, dear reader, adieu, and wish you the warmest and heartiest of Thanksgivings, even you Canadans who jumped the gun a month ago. Don't go dropping frozen turkeys into a too-full pot of hot oil. -KIE

Erebus: I remain employed by the New Orleans office, even though I haven't been there in over a year. I'm on a field assignment that relocated be 900 miles away. Once that assignment is done, I report to work in the office. In other words, I will not be looking for work in Illinois, in fact, I will move and not look back. B6: According to the website, it's MLK weekend, not President's Day. We may end up there yet. Pinkie,er, Smeag: The bird will make an entry this year. If a trip to the mid-Atlantic happens this August, it will not include Bonnie: she flew with us only because there was no other way, and we will avoid that until she's older. She may yet be that old in 10 months' time: we'll know then. GNG: Which bridge? Did I actually talk about my bridge here?

Hello there. Have we met? For the many here that don't know me, I go by KIE on these boards, which is short for Kopaka's Ice Engineering. I derived the name from the bridge Kopaka built at the end of the first BIONICLE comic so many years ago. I am a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Louisiana, though right now, I live and work in Illinois. Within the next two months, my family will be moving back to NOLA [greater New Orleans], more properly, the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Hence, I will retain the "Chocolate City" reference in my blog's title, even though we're far closer to the outskirts of Chicago right now. I am 32 years old. I met the woman who would be my wife while we were summer missionaries some 10 years ago in northeast Ohio. It was there I discovered an Onua canister, and wondered aloud why LEGO Bricks weren't this cool when I was in the target age. I became an AFOL at that point, and have nestled into a no-longer-board-active role on staff here at BZPower. I am a father. My daughter Bonnie is 7½ months old at this juncture, and she is just so precious. I must gush, for she is my first child, and we do get a share of comments from random people about how beautiful she is. I like to play around in the kitchen. The 2011 edition of Tryptophantic Advent will include staying home instead of traveling. I'm roasting a turkey, too, this year. Wish me luck. I've worked for the company I work for now for 2 years. They've been in the bridge business since 1893, and the name is synonymous with excellence in bridges. It's funny, though, since 25 months ago, I was laid off from 4+ years modeling and maintaining [in an office role] the sewer system of Jefferson Parish. Admittedly, that has nothing to do with bridges. BUT, it was a bridge design program about 20 years ago, when I was a participant in MATHCounts that led me to engineering, civil engineering even, in the first place. A long, circuitous route to come full circle. I am also open to a line of questioning, if anyone cares to ask anything. If nothing else, expect more to filter in during the coming weeks as we move back south, out of winter's way. Seriously, why is it December outside the door already? -KIE

My my, what have we here? So much dust; so many events; so much life has happened here, I should think I ought take a moment to catch you all up. However, that moment is not immediately. Expect more soon.

<twelve odd seconds of monotone electric guitar> <8 bars of melody> Just close your eyes Take in the tune I sing to you For my lullaby can soothe when your friends have moved to Neptune It must be the way that I can hear you say this now "Don't be afraid, just know that I'll be with you somehow. All of your cries, soon they will drown in my lullabies, Just close your eyes, just close your eyes." Don't be afraid when the day has become your lion's den. It's pure concentrate your comforting words have marked a trend I'm giving up wishing on the falling stars I'm living up to something new, I've made a vow It's taking me high, it's taking me far. I'll keep singing your tune; you'll hear it all around. It must be the way that I can hear you say this now "Don't be afraid, just know that I'll be with you somehow. All of your cries, soon they will drown in my lullabies, Just close your eyes, just close your eyes." <17 bars of electric guitar solo, and "woohoo, woohoo"> It must be the way that I can hear you say this now "Don't be afraid, just know that I'll be with you somehow. All of your cries, soon they will drown in my lullabies, Just close your eyes, just close your eyes." "Just close your eyes, just close your eyes." "Just close your eyes, just close your eyes."

Kew Eff Tee Thank you, and good night. -KIE

For those of you up at this hour, my wife's water just broke. Next stop, Morris Hospital. -KIE

As the temperature cracks 60 degrees of Fahrenheit for the first time since November, I have to comment that I'm glad that the snow is gone. Yes, I understand that the snow isn't gone for good: Chicago has seen snows as late as May, but, at least now, everything outside is brown as it should be [for January, not March], not white. I want to go back to a world where a "Blizzard" is something you go to Dairy Queen to get. I have had the pleasure of digging out a snow drift, shoveling the driveway, plowing through snow in the Modjeskimobile, driving on ice, and driving on a frozen road (two different experiences, let me tell you). I have seen a blizzard, and I have seen how ugly and nasty snow gets when the plows get bits of dirt and pavement with their frozen quarry. I have to think I've gotten the full on "Winter" experience that forever eluded a boy from the bayous of southwest Louisiana. (No, I'm not like Swamp People, but I am kin to some of them. I grew up in a subdivision, thank you.) In other words, bring on March. And not the upper 40's/lower 30's March of Illinois, but the upper 60's/lower 50's March of Louisiana. I'm tired of the calendar being two months ahead of the weather. There is a lot of anticipation about the garden this year. Not just because we're growing potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, squash, and a gamut of herbs: it's March; green would be nice to see. On an unrelated note, as of today, Amanda is 75% and Bonnie is -1. In layman's terms, "April 14" just became "any day now". Here we go. (and I'm not talking about Bud Light). -KIE, who will likely be a father within the fortnight

Ditto. A thousand times ditto. *can't wait to move back to a place whose Januaries are marked by brown terrain instead of white* -KIE

Finally. Those of you (yes, all 6 of you) who have read through the archives know that I've played Team Fortress 2 for a while. In fact, I posted a quick screenshot some three years ago. Three years ago...wow. I'm happy to report that my 119th medal is golden, and I am known to still haunt a certain server set [who has their own forae and as such I won't link them here]. Though, if you go hunting for me on Steam, you'll find me with an avatar that looks awfully similar to the one I sport here. In 2009, Valve changed the item drop system and introduced hats to the game. I remember wanting to get around to installing Idle Fortress to increase my chances of actually garnering one of these rare pieces of headgear, but by the time I got around to it, Valve had pulled the plug on this 3rd party app, and rewarded those who didn't use it with the Cheater's Lament halo. Also in 2009, during Halloween, they made available two event hats, the Ghastly Gibus and the Mildly Disturbing Paper Bag. I got the achievements associated with these, and garnered two more pieces of headgear. Hooray for simple, straightforward acquisition. On to Halloween 2010, and the Ghastly Gibus becomes Ghastlier, and the Horseless Headless Horsemann's Head is made available. I never got any of the paper bags that lead to the Saxton Hale mask, but alas, I barely had the opportunity to play at the end of October. I did think I was coming out ahead (heh heh) to get the Horseless Headless Horsemann's Head by the end of it, and for what it's worth, I still don't know my way around Mountain Lab or Mann Manor. 4 hats. All of them available for all classes. And yet, they rang hollow because they weren't mine. I may have a certain cosmetic loadout, but the vast majority of TF2 players could load themselves out in an near-identical fashion. I still want a hat. And so, ever since crafting started, I've been saving. I was going to make that Medic hat if I could ever get to it. Well, last night, my brother gave me the last 3 scrap metal I need for my 12th reclaimed metal. I've long since made Medic, Heavy, and Pyro class tokens, and while I traded the Pyro token for five Series 9 crates, I still have everything I need to finally make that hat. (One might ask: you traded for crates; clearly you purchased keys to open said crates. Why didn't you just buy the hat at the same time you bought the keys? I tell you, with as much time as I have had invested in the fabrication of this hat, I wasn't about to abort the process and just go buy a hat. Would've been grossly unfulfilling. I will likely go purchase a hat at some point, but not without having made one first.) What do I hope to get? Well, I will be crafting a Medic hat. Medic is my primary class. I'm hoping for the Otolaryngologist's Mirror, the Physician's Procedure Mask, or the Gentleman's Gatsby. If end up with the Vintage Tyrolean, that'd be great, and I wouldn't be upset with the German Gonzilla either. Ze Goggles or the Blighted Beak will be promptly put up for trade. Don't know how I'd react to the Pickelhaube, though. Oh, and my brother also gave me a Mining Light, so that's up for trade, since while I am an engineer in real life, I'm the world's worst Engineer in TF2. In fact, since they reset the World Traveler and Head of the Class achievements, Engineer is the last class I have to play to re-achieve the latter achievement. I understand you may not care about any of this, but I care. It's been a bug in my ear for two years now, and if I'm never going to get to master all 8 Virtues in Ultima Online (which admittedly, I haven't played but 20 minutes since we moved to Illinois last year), I'm going to be an instantly recognizable hat-wearing Medic in TF2. -KIE EDIT: Behold, the Berliner's Bucket Helm. Pic forthcoming.

A day will come that we will make our triumphant return to Washington, DC. There's a chance that day will be 2011, but more likely, 2012. -KIE

For entertainment purposes only. New Mexico Texas-El Paso (+11½) over Brigham Young BYU 52, UTEP 24 Humanitarian, uh, MPC Computers Northen Illinois (-2½) over Fresno State NIU 40, FRES 17 New Orleans Troy (-1½) over Ohio TROY 48, OHIO 21 St. Petersburg Southern Mississippi (+3½) over Louisville LOU 31, USM 28 Las Vegas Boise State (-16½) over Utah BSU 26, UTAH 3 Poinsettia United States Naval Academy (+1½) over San Diego State SDSU 35, NAVY 14 Aloha, er, Hawaii Hawai'i-Honolulu (-11½) over Tulsa TLSA 62, HAW 35 (6 turnovers in the first half...unreal...) Motor City, er Little Cæsar's Pizza Toledo (-1½) over Florida International FIU 34, TOL 32 Independence United States Air Force Academy (-2½) over Georgia Institute of Technology AFA 14, GT 7 Champs Sports North Carolina State (+2½) over West Virginia NCST 23, WVU 7 Copper, er, Insight Missouri-Columbia (+1½) over State University of Iowa IOWA 27, MIZZ 24 Military East Carolina (+7½) over Maryland-College Park MD 51, ECU 20 ev1.net, uh, GalleryFurniture.com, er, Houston, um Texas Baylor (-1½) over Illinois-Champaign ILL 38, BAY 14 Alamo Oklahoma State (-6½) over Arizona OKST 36, ARIZ 10 Armed Forces United States Military Academy (+7½) over Southern Methodist ARMY 16, SMU 14 Gotham, er, Garden State, um, Pinstripe Syracuse (+1½) over Kansas State-Manhattan Music City Tennessee-Knoxville (+2½) over North Carolina-Chapel Hill Holiday Nebraska-Lincoln (-13½) over Washington (Sorry, xccj) Meineke Car Care South Florida (+4½) over Clemson Sun University of Miami (-3½) over Notre Dame Peach, er Chick-fil-A South Carolina (-3½) over Florida State Liberty Georgia-Athens (-7½) over Central Florida EagleBankTicketCity Northwestern (+9½) over Texas Tech Hall of Fame, er, Outback Florida (-7½) over Pennsylvania State Citrus, er Capital One Michigan State (+10½) over Alabama-Tuscaloosa Gator Michigan (+6½) over Mississippi State Rose Texas Christian (-2½) over Wisconsin-Madison Fiesta Oklahoma-Norman (-17½) over Connecticut Orange Virginia Tech (+2½) over Stanford Sugar Arkansas-Fayetteville (+2½) over Ohio State Mobile..er, papajohns.com, um, GoDaddy.com Miami University (-1½) over Middle Tennessee Cotton Louisiana State-Baton Rouge (-1½) over Texas A&M-College Station GMAC, er, Compass Pittsburgh (-2½) over Kentucky Emerald, um, Fight Hunger Nevada-Reno (-9½) over Boston College BCS Oregon (+3½) over Auburn Last year: was a very momentous year, but not for football picks This year: 8-7 straight up, 8-7 vs. spread Key: Correct Correct versus spread only Correct straight up, but not against the spread Incorrect -KIE, who reserves the right to update and republish this throughout the bowl season.

Check again: I'm taking Northwestern straight up and Michigan and State against the spread. I needed to see more against tOSU for me to take Iowa over Mizzou.

Rule #1: Order the beef, not the vegetarian plate. This does not preclude ordering a side of asparagus, though. Rule #2: Don't lose your coat claim check. I have an expense report to take care of today. One of the drawbacks of being field personnel is how very far away from your home office you can find yourself sometimes. For instance, when the annual Christmas party came to pass 7 evenings ago for the New Orleans office of Modjeski & Masters, at Angelina's in Metairie, Amanda & I found ourselves some 900 miles away, in Morris, Illinois. Not content to have us suffer by my staying at my post (the bridge site), M&M offered us to have our own Christmas party in Chicago. With a budget of $50 per person, many steakhouses in Chicago became open for discussion. We decided to return to the place in Streeterville where we celebrated our first anniversary earlier this year: Lawry's: The Prime Rib (not The Chicago Chophouse, ha ha). Before researching restaurants earlier this year, Lawry's existed in my mind only as a brand of seasoned salt that my mom would pick up on occasion at Market Basket. I had no idea where the players in the Rose & Cotton Bowls ate on New Year's Eve. But wouldn't you know, it was restaurant that beget supermarket, and not the other way around. This trip was slightly more eventful than in June, primarily that June does not have snow. (December usually doesn't have snow either... in Louisiana.) When we made reservations, our only options were at 9 PM on Friday, 9 PM on Saturday, or 4 PM on Sunday. Our only real choice was early Sunday evening. When we made that decision, though, there wasn't a blizzard in the forecast. Growing up in the Gulf South, the first (and, by and large, only) thought that crosses my mind when presented with the word "Blizzard" is "I'll have a small Heath Bar, or maybe the Chocolate Covered Cherry." (I also remember when Dennis the Menace was on those Blizzard cups; why did you go to a disembodied mouth again, Dairy Queen?) Snow really isn't part of the equation. Well, it is now. Amanda & I made the grueling trek up the Stevenson Expressway into downtown Chicago for dinner. I have to hand it to Illinois DOT: they are prepared for snow, and the roadway was in very good shape for snow blowing around. The worst part of the trip was where my windshield washer fluid tank froze, and I couldn't clean my windshield. When we got back to Morris, the dark blue metallic vehicle was 60% whitewashed by the roadway salt. Dinner was amazing, though. It was still worth the trip, but I'm glad I won't have to do that again. I think. -KIE

I saw my first snowflake yesterday. I've mentioned before that it will snow on rare occasion in south Louisiana. While it did snow two weeks before Christmas 2008 in New Orleans, it also snowed on Christmas in 2004, and to ring in the new year 2001. Before that, maybe something in the late 80's. I'm too lazy to look it up in an almanac now, anyway. Those of you who know the story that brought me to BIONICLE may also know that I passed a semester of graduate school at The University of Akron in 2003. It was the spring semester, which means that school began in January. While it did snow during my time there, it was largely a blur. Remember, part of the story that brought me to New Orleans was that I couldn't drive in the snow, and wrecked my car [the first time, although the second time was what did the experiment in]. It snowed for the first time of the season overnight November 30. Where the snow continued on December 1, I was in the Modjeskimobile (what my wife & I have taken to calling the company minivan I'm using to go to work), and saw a small six-point star hit the driver side window. For a moment, I stopped to look. I'd never seen that before. I mean, we'd cut paper snowflakes in elementary school. It was a rite of passage in December, when leading up to Christmas ("I'm dreaming of a white Christmas//Just like the ones I never knew...."), but never did I get to see the real thing. It would snow, but it'd be minuscule flecks that would melt when they'd touch something, and could never be inspected. Even when I arrived at Akron, snow was already on the ground, and it all ran together. My, those things are pretty. In a slightly related note, it has become insanely cold outside. To compensate, Amanda & I bought our Christmas present to ourselves early: a copy of Wii Fit Plus, with a Wii Balance Board. Immensely fun, but not near as easy as we'd think. That, or we're really uncoordinated. Oh, and neither of us are keen on being deigned "obese", either. I have a large frame, and Amanda is pregnant. Those are very good reasons why our BMI's are above 22, thankyouverymuch. Seriously, if I got down to 167 lb., I would have to check into an ER again like what happened 11 years ago, with dehydration. Has it really been 11 years since my life took such a straight-yet-winding turn? My, how time flies. -KIE

One of the most thrown-out-there quotes is "Art imitates Life; Life imitates Art". There's a measure of truth to it, too. For instance, I give you a scene from both Bleach 19 and 211: Bakudō 99. It's funny, in that the first time it is introduced, the ultimate manner of restraint is rendered insufficient. In a similar manner, I've seen intangible things grow lives of their own, even recently. That the hype around some things can grow and build and compress and concentrate and...compress, it is noteworthy, in any life. Have any of you ever had a delayed surprise for friends or family? Has the planning ever made you giddy? Has the anticipation ever got so intense, it welled up in your chest like a knot? Did the reactions in your mind's eye ever distracted you so, that the energy started to eat away at you? Has your heart palpitated over such a surprise? Was it such that there wasn't a day you couldn't think about it? That random eye and hand twitches pop, just out of the blue? Imagine, if you will, trying to squelch such emotions for two months. I have a confession to make: when I restarted this blog, it was under a slightly false pretense. None of what you have read since August here has been fabricated. Come to think of it, none of it since 2006 has been fabricated. However, I've not been forthright in hitting the biggest points going on thus far. This is by design, however, as protocol dictates blood family carry certain courtesies not extended to non-related family. Two months have passed tonight, and finally, the opportunity to extend said courtesies has come to pass. It's time to spill the beans. WE'RE PREGNANT! WE'RE PREGNANT! WE'RE PREGNANT! WE'RE PREGNANT! WE'RE PREGNANT! WE'RE PREGNANT! WE'RE PREGNANT! -KIE

I will have my moment, then, where the Astros made it two weeks into September before being mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. Call me a hater, but I'm glad the Cardinals didn't win the Central this year. -KIE