We interrupt the football coverage to bring you an amazing performance by She & Him

Thank goodness Steven DVRs Conan, otherwise I never would have caught this. I still can't stand the monologues, but his musical guests alone are worth adding him to your DVR schedule. This episode was particularly great as it included an interview with the always bizarre Sarah Silverman.

Wish list for 2011: See She & Him in concert.

The last Nebraska showdown

We missed the UCF game because of Dana's wedding, which turned out to be a lucky break. We tried to catch the game in the Pizza Hut in Osborne, but due to the world's most ominous clouds, we watched an hour of delay programming and the ugliest 2nd quarter of K-State football that I've seen since the Prince era. Not good, friends. When we left for the church I was sure we were headed for our first loss of the season. But somehow, through the power of Dana and Justin's nuptials, Carson Coffman found some leadership and we ended up 4-0.

Unfortunately, that luck did not carry over to our Thursday night ESPN showdown with Nebraska. There was no luck that night. Just high, high hopes....

I hate how well Nebraska travels. Too much red in that stadium. Makes me never want to go to away games.

And then sickening realizations...

I hate you Nebraska, and your history of running quarterbacks. Like Tommie Frazier all over again.

Michael Bishop was in the house, and when I saw him walk out of the tunnel, it felt like such a good omen. We chose new seats for the game, closest to the tunnel and in the corner, where we thought we could see more of the endzone. They were great seats for pre-game.





Pre-game started out great. There was energy, a packed house and skydivers that landed on the field! What could possibly go wrong? I felt nervous in our new seats, even though we got to be next to the players as they came out of the tunnel. I just felt like we were too far away from the endzone crowd to really control the emotion and pace of the game. Although, I'm not sure if there was any seat in the house that felt in control of the game after that botched 4th down attempt. Suffice it to say, Bo did not get mad that night. Taylor Martinez had a record setting game, and I had a hard time moving forward with the same enthusiasm. A loss is always more crushing in football than it is in basketball, but there's just always been something about Nebraska. I know Coach wanted it, and we all wanted it to at least be close. Instead it was embarrassing, and revealed for the first time just how young our defense was.

I'd like to say that I was a good fan and kept the faith, but the truth is that the season felt over for me after that. We had some good ups and downs, more wins and losses, and our first bowl berth since 2006. But beating Nebraska would have been better than all of that. If only. I'll take comfort in not seeing that game on our schedule next year. But I'll take more comfort in seeing Nebraska struggle in the Big 10 next year.

Golden Birthday

Let's catch up, shall we?

Back in September of this year, I turned 25 on September 25th. My cousin Dana also got married that day so I celebrated my golden birthday a little early. In the past couple of years, Dad has proven to be the best birthday shopper in my life. After years of books and study guides for birthdays and christmas, he has rewarded me with techie goodies. When he came to visit this summer and see my newly painted digs, he noticed that the only thing missing was a flat screen HDTV for football season.



He is enormous and flat and beautiful. Not only did it make every other TV in the house obsolete, it's given me a new perspective on entertainment. HD is the only way to watch TV.

Not to be outdone, Steven took the opposite approach to win my gadget loving heart. Where Dad went big, he went small.



My iPad was quickly christened Gordon, and has become an indispensable member of the family. Hailey sent me this adorable carrying case for him, and Steven's co-workers introduced us to the Angry Birds. Steven's Dad got him a Nook for his birthday, so our house is appropriately gadgeted for 2010.

Steven is all of 1 day younger than me, so we celebrated our birthdays together, even though his golden birthday isn't until next year. I had a pretty good hunch that he had bought me the iPad, so I tried to catch up in volume. It's a family tradition.



My 24th year was spent accumulating creature comforts - house, yard, garage, driveway, painted walls, real furniture, big screen laptop, CD player for Iggy, home WiFi, and now a fancy TV and iPad. It's made me appreciate being at home, settling in and enjoying these conveniences. I'm sure it's made me entirely too dependent on stuff, but for now, I'll just appreciate the fact that we're young, with good jobs, and small bills. 25 is good.