I do however, blog about the children, the Hawkeyes, and video games quite a bit. Those things are pretty interesting to me – if not anyone else. I got my Hawkeye Highlights section updated, though I hesitate to call most of them “highlights”. It was a great game today; however, as Iowa took double-overtime to defeat Michigan State in Iowa City. I was a little disappointed that it even came to overtime after a disappointing final defensive series.

Of course it could also be said that they were lucky to even be in the lead at the end of the game after riding Albert Young for 5000 yards or whatever it was. Iowa has a decent shot at bowl eligibility, and if they win out ( no small task, I know ) it will be all but a sure thing. It is at times like this that I think about how Iowa State is 1-8 – with a sole victory over Iowa – and it makes me want to keel over the yak on the floor. Oh, well – next year, right?

We have almost all of the memory cards full for the camera now, so one of these days we’ll have a lot of pictures for you. Time has become such a commodity lately. It’s really crazy. I have a lot of video to work on as well. It’s something I like to do, but the only time I have to do it is about 30-60 minutes after I get home at night when I usually feel like…

Playing Halo 3. In the fictional land of galactic war, you may now refer to me as LT. BillyActionface. I’m officially a Spartan officer now, so that is sweet. That is more so a reflection of experience at this point rather than skill, but I have been holding my own.

It is now time to watch the Big Ten finale show, and next time I’ll tell you about my candlelight dinner at the Chick-Fil-A!

A couple years ago, a man I work with at Sprint told me that he’d been given two tickets to the Outback Bowl in Tampa, FL. Iowa was playing Florida that year, and he said that if I’d use them I could have them. I ended up taking Dad down there and having one of the most memorable weeks of my life (thanks in no small part to the atrocities committed against Iowa by the Sunbelt Conference officials!).

These were really nice tickets on the club level with the climate controlled concourse and the reserved restrooms and concession stands. We got to go to the corporate tent village before the game and eat and drink to our hearts’ content. It wasn’t something that I get to do every day, to say the least! The face value of the game tickets alone was $150 per ticket, and they could have easily been sold for some tidy profit. But they weren’t, and I got to take a week-long trip to Florida to watch a bowl game with my dad for just under $600.

Clarinda recently signed up for, and won, NASCAR tickets for this weekend. I’m a little curious about what it would be like to go to a race, but on the whole – not interested. We have a neighbor; however, that will be going to two races on our behalf this weekend with his son who likes racing very much. I forgot to jot down what all they get to do, but beyond the races they’ll entry to the corporate village as well as pit tours and a host of other events any race fan would love. Everybody seem shocked that we didn’t try to sell them – even the recipient!

Maybe I’m crazy, but I don’t get that attitude. I get far more joy out of observing the gift getter than I would the extra cash. I’m not saying that I’m unique.. I have a lot of family and several good friends that are very generous spirits – givers in every sense of the word. It’s just nice to be able to see the circle come around every now and then. Just this weekend one of those good friends and I were discussing the difficulties of accepting what we perceive as charity. I have struggled with this myself, but I think it’s something that a lot of people in our culture could do well to get over.

It’s not that I have more money than I know what to do with – I don’t – or that I don’t have any desire for an extra couple hundred bucks – I do. It’s just that I’ve given very significantly at several different points in my life. I’ve seen first hand that while getting is pretty darn sweet, giving is on a whole other level!

That said, it was reassuring to see the Hawkeye put up some good numbers on offense. Here’s hoping it carries over into Ames next week for Iowa State. 3-0 isn’t a bad way to start the day! Now, the game is going to be on Versus, which I don’t have. Anybody out there get that channel and want to hang out Saturday? Anyone?

UFC 75, on the whole, delivered. The main event with Quinton Jackson overcoming Dan Henderson was an excellent display. The decision victory of Michael Bisping over Matt Hamill was completely baffling to me. I’ve seen my share of dubious decisions, but this doesn’t even qualify! When they interviewed him, the best highlight they could find for him to talk through was him not getting taken down once. Hooray.

There are a lot of factors that are supposed to go into judging. There must be some that I don’t know about. And even if the rules are different, it just means that the rules are lame. However you come to the conclusion that Bisping won that fight, you came to it incorrectly!

I was searching through the program guide on the Dish to find all of the channels that were going to have college football tomorrow. I was fairly surprised to see that the Big Ten Network showed as available on my programming package!

Sure enough, Dish Network announced yesterday that they have added the Big Ten Network to America’s Top 100. That’s the cheaper package, therefore, that is the package I have. Needless to say, I am a happy camper as I will be watching Iowa vs. Syracuse tomorrow night!

The other big event tomorrow is UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion. The champions in question are UFC light-heaveyweight champion Quinton Jackson and Pride middleweight and welterweight champion Dan Henderson (the two organizations’ weight class names aren’t the same). Henderson hasn’t fought in the UFC since 1998. I’ve never seen him fight before and am very much looking forward to it – especially free on Spike TV!