That brings us to the 9th inning. We were down 11-9 and tied it up at 11′s. Then we got one out. Man on third. Missouri decides to walk our 4 and 5 hitters bringing up 6. No big deal right? He gets a few pitches and then JACKS a walk-off grand slam for the 15-11 win capping off a 6-run 9th and the series win. My voice is still hoarse. Go Tech.

Last night I finally had the chance to watch the newest episode of the second season of Heroes called Volume 2: Generations – Four Months Ago. So far the first seven episodes of the season had become pretty lame with not much going on and boring story lines here and there. For those of you that haven’t seen it I wont go into detail but we finally get a good cliffhanger at the end of this one which had become such a great trademark of the show from last season. I am actually looking forward to seeing the next episode in a week. Now that it seems the show has finally hit it’s stride for the season it’s a little disappointing to know it’s only going to last for another couple of episodes because of the WGA strike not allowing for more production. Hopefully that is resolved soon and the cast and crew can get back to work.

*cue the theme music*

It’s time for PowerBall!

Friday we got kicked out of the office early and I went to the Rec and worked on some more knee rehab. Apparently, according to my physical therapist, I am progressing very well. Katie and I also joined the Young Adult Small Faith Group at Olive Garden for dinner. I ordered the Tour of Italy, man was that good, I was not able to finish it so I had to take the rest home to finish for lunch Saturday.

Saturday was nice and relaxing. The tv repairman came by the house and stopped the ridiculously loud and high pitched ringing noise that my tv was making to extend it’s useful life. Chris and I then went to the Ashley Home Furniture warehouse to pick up his new kitchen table that had just come in. Katie and I went to confession at CTK and I dropped her off at her place so she could finish up a few things. I helped Chris put his table together when I got back. Then it was time for Pat’s 21st birthday party. It was awesome, plenty of friends and fun to wish him well on this milestone of his.

That was the weekend.

Once I got back there they took my height and weight measurements as well as temperature. I changed into my hospital gown, laid down, and watched some NFL Classics on the NFL Network. They had told me it was going to be about two more hours, before they would be able to see me so I just chilled, tv and magazine reading keeping me sane.

The next part was the least enjoyable of it all. The nurse that was taking care of me in pre-op then came in to start my IV and pre-op antibiotics to reduce possibility of infection. Aside from being an obviously heavy smoker she wasn’t able to get my IV started. She tried twice, bending one of the needles pretty bad, before handing me off to another nurse. Nurse #2 then tried just as valiantly once and couldn’t get it. In comes Nurse #3 for attempt #4. Nurse #3 was as unsuccessful as the first two and my surgeon had become frustrated with them and called in the anesthesiologist. He got it going first try no problem. This whole process took over 35 minutes by my best guess. It was the only part that didn’t go according to plan.

I got wheeled into the operating room, they put an oxygen mask on me, informed me they would intubate as soon as they knocked me out and they went to work.

I woke up several hours later with my leg wrapped up heavily with gauze, ace bandage, and a brace just like you see above. I was told by my surgeon that along with the full ACL replacement that they had to also repair my lateral torn meniscus. Apparently it didn’t show up too clearly on the MRI for them to know about it ahead of time. I now have a 2″+ vertical incision over my knee as well as two smaller holes on each side from when they began the arthroscopy.

The physical therapist came in a while later and gave me some crutch walking lessons, on flat ground, and the stairs. Once I was able to master the crutches, I then had to master a restroom break. That was no problem whatsoever and after that I had fulfilled my ability to go home requirements and got carted out to the car where I laid down in the back of my parents Explorer.

Over the last day and a half I’ve just been sitting around the house recovering by eating, drinking, doping up, watching TV, playing online poker, and getting a few walks around the cul-de-sac for exercise. Everyone is more than welcome to stop by and hang out or call, I am fully coherent and have been de-loopyized from the hospital meds. Thank you for all your support and prayers, the doctor said the surgery was a success and I know that I owe a lot of that to you all.

Well, Katie and I were on the road by 5:30pm, made one stop on I-20 for some dinner at Wendy’s and continued on our way. At about 8:45pm, no less than about 30 or more minutes away from the hotel the Rodeo starts shaking violently and I slowed down because sometimes Katie’s car gets a little wobbly at 65 or above. Then I continue driving at about 60 and hear the tell tale *thud thud thud thud* and I see white smoke coming out the back of the car through the rear-view mirror.

We get out, check the right rear tire and it is almost completely shredded away from the wheel, a complete blowout (the picture above is from Google Images, the real one is still on my phone and I’ll post that on Monday). It was pretty sweet, it looked like someone had used a gigantic can opener to uncork that tire. Needless to say it was getting dark quick and we were almost totally out of sunlight.

I started getting all the proper tools out but one thing was missing, the damn tire iron that we had broken in March while trying to fix another flat while driving to Possum Kingdom State Park for some Spring Break camping. We needed that tire iron to twist the long metal rod to get the spare down, we already had a replacement four point tire iron, but it obviously wouldn’t twist the spare down.

So Katie starts calling AAA and I started walking down I-83 so that we can give AAA the mile marker we are closest to when some good Samaritans drive past me, slow down, turn around and ask what the situation is and offer to help, not to mention a couple of beers. It turns out that these two kind hearted souls live in Plainview where the husband farms and the wife actually works in Lubbock selling makeup in the Ribbons & Bows lingerie store near 82nd and Quaker.

Well, they help us get the spare down and the lugnuts loosened when out of nowhere a guy walks across the street and asks if we need help with anything. Apparently this guy has been working this 1,700 acre ranch that I-83 bisects and he was out on his ATV and saw the flashing hazards of the Rodeo and stopped to help. He went back to the house real quick, picks up a hydraulic jack, comes back, jacks the Rodeo up in two seconds, puts the spare on and we are on our ways.

After the job was done both of the guys that helped out ended offering each other beers, which was pretty funny, but we respectfully declined as I had to drive and Katie is not a fan. So, here we sit about to hit the sack at the Days Inn in Brady, TX ready to take on the day of Brandon and Betsy’s wedding when the sun comes up, see everyone on Sunday when we get back.

Toopy 3.0 is back, and 6.0 can no longer be found.

I have become addicted to Guitar Hero on the PlayStation2, thanks Kevin.

Make your own South Park character here.

By this time in two weeks I will have been in Italy already for 3 days.

Work is work, I need something more challenging, hopefully a promotion after New Year’s will bring that challenge.

Overused Movie Quote of the past several months: Anything from 40 Year Old Virgin, most specifically, “Oh… she loved… to… dirty talk…”

Katie and I have been dating for over 9 months now, now everyone all at once “How does she do it?” I don’t know.

I’ve got two more weddings to attend this year and possibly three.

Now because of TiVo, I watch way too much tv.

Dog the Bounty Hunter in South Park character form is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

Another addicting game, DHTML Lemmings.

Last week I finally finished building my pc with Windows Vista and a new 250GB hard drive.

Andy, Pat, and I throw the best parties.

RA #35 was great, of course, and I’m looking forward to RA #36 in February.

Oh yeah, I voted today, you should, too.

Until next time folks…

After the game was over we all immediately put it out of our minds and began playing Guitar Hero on PS2. Does that say anything about the game? I guess it doesn’t help that it was on the radio so we didn’t have as much emotional involvement as if it had been live on TV or a home game at The Jones. Either way, a win is a win, and that brings us up to 5-3, 2-2 in the Big 12, and needing one win to be bowl eligible, which I think is very reasonable now if we can play the same against Baylor and OSU. Winning out would be phenomenal, but we also still have to play Texas and OU, so we’ll see how that shakes out.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I am now addicted to Guitar Hero, Kevin H. I will have to hurt you some day for introducing me to this game.