So I had to run to pickup some stuff for work today. THis involved going to the store. It reminded me of when I was working from home in Kansas City, and I would go down the road and get supplies from target in the mornings. It would usually be me and about a thousand moms with babies. Apparently weekday mornings is the time when new mothers go shopping. And this is true for both Joplin and Kansas City, and I would assume the rest of the world. The only difference was that the moms at the Overland Park Target drove Lexus, BMW, Volvo, etc… SUV’s, where the mom’s here stick to more of the plymouth voyager (with and without rust), ford ______, or one of the hundreds of models from GM’s lineup.

Saturday is the last homegame at MSU, I think its sold out, so if you want to go with me you are pretty much out of luck, because I already gave away all of my tickets. I am pretty excited. If they win this game, I think they will have a sure shot at getting into the ncaa tourney.

Hey and if you haven’t heard already… march 10th (friday?) is the SKATING PARTY. Its fatt matt and jennifer’s birthays, and they are having the very first ever 25th birthday celebration at keeley’s. Everyone should come because it will be like going through a time warp back to 3rd grade. Those of you reading from springfield, KC, and elsewhere – you need to come down for this! You can stay at my place. Gimme a holla if you have questions.

You may remember the survey from back in the day. It’s taken awhile to figure out what to do with the results… and it seems that I misplaced a few of yours. But…I have compiled the basic results here. My comments are in italics.

Even after 2/3 of my team bailed because of rain, I was dead set on enjoying my saturday to the fullest extent possible. Two of the 3 others (who shall remain nameless) decided getting wet didn’t sound like much fun… and stayed in Joplin. I guess most people’s idea of fun isn’t hiking around the forest and climbing in caves in the mud and pouring rain?!? I simply prepared by taking a change of clothes, a towel, and a plastic rain pancho. Obviously the highlight was onyx cave, which is probably the coolest cave I’ve ever explored out in the wild. We also saw a huge natural bridge… which was just plain cool. All in all – it was a completely awesome saturday and well worth getting soaked and muddy…even if most people don’t think so.
Anytime you need to get away and spend some time in the outdoors, the Mark Twain Natl Forest is a great place to do it (good weather or not). Plus, there are lots of pine trees in some areas! Check out all of the pics here !

I went to the 617 thing at grant’s church last night, and then played this lord of the rings-esque board game with a few other guys. I guess my strategy of not having a strategy didn’t pay off because i was the first person to loose all my players. Oh well, it was pretty fun, even if my massachussetts minute men didn’t quite get the job done against grant’s evil wildebeast with the sabre and luc’s serpant-thing!

Friday I attempted to organize a fun geocache expedition to find some new caches in nearby Oklahoma. I wouldn’t say it was a flop, but it was darn sure close. I had fun, and I think a few other people did too, but I think we were the exception to the rule. Perhaps if we hadn’t driven 15 miles away before we realized we didn’t have the coordinates that might have helped. Or maybe if we had actually found a geocache. Ahh, the ‘what if’ game.

Saturday I went up to the Springfield and participated in some homemade pizza, which was both good and fun. Colby also made a calzone, and I am pretty sure there was an entire bag of cheese in it. Needless to say, it was really good. Sunday I went to Riverbluff church and saw a girl I hadn’t seen in probably 3 years, who I knew really well at SMS, and she pretty much snobbed me off.

Then a bunch of us went to the MSU game. For some reason I was having a hard time motivating anyone to go with me. It was probably the loudest most energetic crowd I have ever seen there. It was awesome until they gave up a 12 point lead and lost. But I am a loyal fan, so I will continue my support.

In light of recent mullet discussions I feel inclined to introduce the cat-mullet from a few years ago. Kurtis, I am interested in your expert mullet opinion here… I bet you didn’t even know that the mullet species has a THIRD gender??!! I added a few pages back to the website…. The tribute to the ratsnest official cat/mascot Cosmo. I often get ridiculed for the insane amount of cat photos I have taken. And also this way oldschool one of a visit to Candice’s parents house.

Last night I went to the annual Mo State v. S. Illinois basketball game – the arch rival. As usual it was an arena full of super-pissed fans unwilling to forget the game a few years ago when SIU came back from behind on a fouled 3pt shot with 4 seconds left in the game… the siu players (and at least 1 asst coach) began taunting the crown and throwing their sweat towels up at the fans. Needless to say it did not go over very well with the bears fans, and also confirmed that the salukis were in fact a team with no class. Or at least I like to believe that.

Last night’s game was no less exciting. The bears gave up an 18 point lead to see SIU come to within one midway through the second half. The fans were up in arms because of the 10 – 2 foul count in favor of the salukis, combined with SIU’s typical style of suckness that just makes you want to throw an egg at someone. All things considered, it was a very exciting game, and a great win for the bears. Enjoy the photos, which show me with a totally sweet mullet that was a few seats down. And then we have the lovely Mason sisters who have seats right behind mine. And last but not least we have a shot of #15 Blake Ahearn making free-throws that sealed this critial win for SMS…err MSU.

This was a pretty fun weekend. Friday night I went to grant’s house for dinner with a few friends. Then we took my rental car (my cr-v is still MIA) and loaded it down with 7 people and had a party in it at the ice cream place. Grant called in and said “hey we’re having a party in a rental car and we REALLY want to hear jessica simpson”. And then they put him saying that on the radio and the car exploded with laughter. Also I have been taking full advantage of the rental car by taking my friends and launching over railroad tracks and big hills. Lots of fun…and it’s cool coz its a rental car. And its ugly.

Then sat night was the big air hockey tournament (see pics here), which was inspired by the big bball tourney that bass pro was having this weekend. So i invited a few people over and we had an air hockey tournament… once everyone was there and signed up – we drew up a bracket, double elimination style, which was a little complicated since we had 14 people. I made it pretty far staying undefeated, but then lost back to back games and my chances of winning were suddenly gone. Jimmy-Jack ended up winning. And i made a sweet first place medal and big check thing… i tried to make it like the real deal.

Oh and then i went out geocaching until 3am with drew and some of their friends. It was fun, a typical group geocache… about 3 guys who are looking for the cache and a bunch of other people who just kinda stand around being afraid of getting their hands dirty. Good times….