Same town, New Place

I moved again into a new place at the beginning of the year. After a few struggles, I've been able to settle in. There are many things that got me interested in this new place and I'm excited to have. Its not perfect, but I like it for now. It's a one bedroom condo/duplex on the outskirts of town. I like the rural setting and even have a fenced in backyard! Also have a covered front porch and a real mailbox. I can jump around (workout) inside my home because no one lives underneath me. I have my own washer/dryer in the walk-in closet area. All new appliances (new construction) and nice countertops. Inspired a bit more decorating. The unit has its own water-heater so no more crazy cold/hot changes in the shower. And I welcomed a few friends over last night for a house warming party. That was nice.

Christmas Break

I spent a fairly quiet Christmas 2011 at home with my parents and youngest sister and brother. Half the time was spent at home in B'ville, the other half in southern OK to watch Jakob play in a basketball tournament.

Christmas Eve Bonfire in our backyard

Jo and I went to the BYU v. Tulsa bowl game in Dallas Friday morning. BYU won in the last minute and the weather was really nice.

Thanksgiving in Chicago

Got to visit family in Chicago for Thanksgiving and watch Noah play in a couple games there.

Bedlam

Walked around outside OSU stadium here in Stillwater before the annual Bedlam football game between OSU and OU. I typically root for OU but this year they were down and OSU had a great team.

Eskimo Joes

If College Football had a Playoff...

It's definitely time to implement a playoff system into D-1 college football.

There are 3 scenarios that could play out this year, which is a bit interesting. The final (c) will likely be the ideal situation for future consideration (similar to the NFL set up).

a) The Top 6 teams (switched around a bit to make things interesting):
    (1) LSU v. (4)Stanford/(5)Oregon
    (2) OSU v. (3)Alabama/(6)Arkansas
   And what we get is most of these games have been played! LSU moves on to the championship game (Oregon beat Stanford, LSU beat Oregon in the regular season). All we need to see is OSU/Alabama for the right to play LSU in the national title game.

b) Take what we have now:
   (1) LSU v. Oregon/Wisconsin (ROSE)
   (2) Alabama v. OSU/Stanford (FIESTA)
   Play the Monday games (Jan 2) with the winners going on to New Orleans to play in a FINAL FOUR atmosphere Saturday afternoon/evening. Then, just like basketball, the winners meeting up as already scheduled Monday (Jan 9). Exciting? yes! Crazy? Of course!

c) The top 4 conference champions (highest ranked) + 2 'wild cards' (next two highest ranked teams)

Seed the 4 conference champs in order of rank:
1. LSU
2. OK-STATE
3. Oregon
4. Wisconsin

Wild-cards:
5. Alabama
6. Stanford

*First and second round games cannot contain teams from the same conference unless impossible.

Play the first round the next week (Dec 10 this year)
Oregon @ Alabama
Wisconsin @ Stanford

Play the semi's the following week (Dec 17)
Wisconsin/Stanford winner @ LSU
Oregon/Alabama winner @ OSU

The championship game is played in bowl format 3 weeks later at a neutral site. The other 4 teams can still participate in new years' bowl games (2 or 3 weeks after previous game).

Maximum # games possible (Oregon and/or Wisconsin) = 16 (2 more than each team is will play this year). Still time for student athletes to take finals, enjoy Christmas, etc. Award ceremonies during this time can be worked around.

Taylor Swift in Concert

Yep, I went to see Taylor Swift in concert in OKC. She put on a pretty good show! I sat in the lower bowl in the handicap section with my own seat.

Me and Taylor

Grand Finale

Latest Travels

Utah

Helped my sister move into the dorms at BYU. Went on a new hike.

Washington DC/Annapolis, MD

Another trip to the east coast for work.