ACC redo

After the great response I got from my first college football post, I have decided to make my blog more of a college football blog rather than just about my life. I mean, let's be serious, I am not extremely witty or funny, so the more interesting thing for me to do would be to fill you in on my obsession...college football. This week it's all about an ACC redo. I mean, let's face it, the ACC was an embarrassment to me and all the college football fans out there that went to an ACC school(even college football fans that didn't go to an ACC school).
So here we go.... The ACC went 5-7 the OPENING week. For most respectable conferences, winning seven games is embarrassing, much less losing seven. When I watched the Alabama/Virginia Tech gameday and saw a sign that said "Almost Competitive Conference," I found myself agreeing. When teams like BYU and the WAC conference have an argument as to why they should get into a BCS game and the ACC has an opening week like this, it scares me a little. (Good thing we aren't as bad as the Big East who didn't even have a team in the top 25 until this week).
Here's to the good part though. I believe the ACC can change. After watching another epic battle between FSU and Miami(sorry Whitehills-me not included), I realized that the ACC can make a great comeback by the end of the season. One of the greatest aspects of college football is that you NEVER know what will happen next. Miami and Florida State(as hard as it is for me to say this) seem to be back on the rise. Now, as a Florida fan, I think this is still going to take awhile for them to get back to where they were, but I thoroughly enjoyed the game and I think it is good for college football for these two teams to be good. Since Virginia Tech and Boston College have arrived, the Big East (since these teams came from there) still makes arguments that they are a better football conference than the ACC, but I believe that with UNC, FSU, and Miami having a much better showing than say, Virginia Tech, this past week I think it is a great sign for the ACC. (Some of you may be saying to yourself that VT played Bama and they were supposed to look bad, but coming from a #6 position they shouldn't look that bad. Plus, "T-mobile" was a little embarrassing for you VT fans.) There are a few key games for the ACC to revive their season and to dismiss that William and Mary defeat....For instance, UVA and Clemson can come through and beat a WAC conference team in TCU, FSU can beat another WAC team in BYU and hopefully show BYU it was a little lucky to beat the Bradford-Gresham less Sooners on Saturday night. Virginia Tech can redeem themselves with a Big 12 win against Nebraska and Miami can do the same to Oklahoma(hopefully Bradford will return by then and make it a highly competitive game). I guess we shall say that BC can beat Notre Dame to help us gain respect, but after the slashing that the UNC women's soccer team put on the Notre Dame soccer team, it's hard for me to say 'respect.' And then of course there is the end of the season where the SEC/ACC rivalries come into play. Needless to say, A LOT of time for redemption. Maybe we can call this second week of college football a "redo" for the ACC. A kind of "first week" all over again so they can prepare for week three where a lot of ACC teams can really redeem the conference. I believe.
Here are my picks for the week. Let's see, I was 7-6 last week, which wasn't too good, but I changed some picks to compete with my dad and I ended up winning the weekend. I am going to try and do better this time....

Clemson at GT- GT
UNC at UConn-Go Heels
Stanford at Wake-WF
Troy at UF-Go Gators
TCU at UVA-TCU
Notre Dame at Mich-ND
UCLA at Tenn-Tenn
Vandy at LSU-LSU
South Carolina at UGA-Go Dawgs(please redeem yourself!)
Miss State at Auburn-Auburn
USC at Ohio State- USC

college football

I am so excited about today at 7pm and I hope everyone out there is too. South Carolina(the other carolina) and NC State play on espn. Robert and I are just going to sit and eat a pizza and enjoy the beginnings of a beautiful fall. There are so many great games this weekend, a first for the first weekend in football. Even on Thursday there are a couple of good games. One is the south carolina game, but there is also Oregon and Boise State. You are probably thinking why do I care about Oregon and Boise State since they don't affect my fav teams? They will once the BCS rolls around. Boise State is one of those spoilers and if they remain undefeated(and most likely they will if they win this game), they will probably be in the BCS game...especially with what happened last year.
Then we have Saturday. One of Robert and my favorite days of the year(well every Saturday in the fall). We just sit in front of the tv all day, eat really bad food, and enjoy all the football. You may be thinking to yourself, how sad is that, but we love it and we will cherish these days for the rest of our lives.
One of my favorite parts of college football weeks is making my weekly picks with my dad. Every Thursday we take the list of college football games, pick the most competitive ones, and pick who we think will win. We add up who gets the most right at the end of the year and whoever loses buys the other dinner. What a great way for my dad and I to get a fun date! We have been doing this since I was in high school and I love it. Here is a preview of my picks for the week...how well do you think I did?

South Carolina vs NC State- NC State
Oregon vs Boise State- Oregon
App St vs East Carolina- App State
UGA vs Okla St- Go UGA!
Baylor vs Wake Forest- Baylor
Citadel vs UNC- Go Heels!
Charleston Southern vs UF- Go Gators!
BYU vs Oklahoma- Oklahoma
Richmond vs Duke- Richmond!
Alabama vs Virginia Tech- Bama
Maryland vs Cal- Cal
LSU vs Washington- LSU
Miami vs FSU- FSU

Plane Etiquette

#3- If you have earphones in, it means "DO NOT talk to me!"

#4- Unless you are missing a flight, it is unnecessary to run up as many rows as you can just to try and get off the plane first.

Plane Etiquette

I have decided, and I am guessing that many people who fly often have done this, to write a little blurb on the blog about plane etiquette. It is something that people who don't fly often should know and people who do fly often should make a part of their everyday flight. I cannot express to you how annoyed I get when people do not follow these simple rules to flying. If you are like me at all and you have this annoyance to people slightly touching you, plane etiquette is crucial to an enjoyable flight experience. I mean, is it not enough that take off and landing scare the living daylight out of me? Plus, how many flights have had some kind of problem this year...people, let's make flying as pleasurable as possible!
#1- If you are the unlucky person who gets the middle row, you have the right to both armrests. If you have the window or aisle seat, you are already designated one armrest where there is no fight. Why not be a kind flyer and give the worst seat in the plane two places to put their arms so that you can lean far away to your own designated place and give them some kind of comfort. Again, the whole touching thing can really get in the way if you are in the middle seat.
#2- Please put your bag above your OWN seat. Just because you see extra space as you are walking back to your seat that is the closest one to the bathroom, DO NOT put your bag in that spot. My guess is there will be space near your own seat. The most annoying thing is when your seat is near the front of the plane and the only place to put your bag is ten rows behind your seat. What this means is you have to wait for everyone to leave the plane(which takes FOREVER!) or you have to go against the grain and try and get your bag. Please tell me that you don't find this annoying!
Stay tuned for more complaints to come!

What a weekend!

What a wonderful weekend! I am sitting on my couch right now thinking about how awesome this weekend was and how tired I am from having so much fun! The Mansfields came to visit which was so amazing, especially for Izzy and Maeby as Tracy practiced her motherly skills and was constantly showing some kind of affection to the two of them.
I just love hanging out with the Mansers as we are so content sitting around and chatting about life and catching up. Even though we enjoyed the apartment air conditioning, we still made it outside a few times to enjoy the wonderful sunny weather that neither one of us had the whole week. We ventured to the dog park, I played and they watched a soccer game, strolled around rocking Rockville with the pups so that Zack and Tracy could remember surburbia and hit up Panera, and we went to eat at a sport's bar to watch our tar heels give up an amazing performance by our starting pitcher and lose 5-2 in ten. Needless to say, it was soo much fun! Thanks for hitting up the bus and taking a trip to the DC area!
We also got a treat with the Whitehills visiting. Although we didn't get to see them very much, we still had a great time. They got to experience their first Women's Professional soccer game plus their first DC United game which turned out to be a very good game. Plus the fans from United were in rare, but good form! We then met them in good ol' Bethesda for some good grub and chat time and it was some good quality time with the in-laws. Sadly, they left today, but the short but sweet trip was a whole lot of fun for Robert and I.
As I reminisce about the weekend, I am just filled with the joy that these great families bring me. I love being around them and I love that they were here to see the first shutout(finally!) of the Washington Freedom! Now it's nap time so I can recover from the weekend and so I will be ready for our next game...St. Louis. They did just take second place from us after the weekend so we need to go there and take it back!