iCalendar

My Army re-enlistment bonus (for the Reserves) arrived recently, and after paying off our bills, we spent a little bit first before putting the rest away into savings. When it arrives in about a month, we will be the proud owners of our very own iPad. It will even have an orange cover!

One feature of the iPad which I am excited about is the use of a Calendar App, especially because we plan on getting iPhones when our contracts run out this August (with a 2-year plan, we can get them for not too much, and we don't even necessarily need to have an internet plan to get use of this Calendar feature). We just signed up for a Google Calendar and are really happy with the features. We each have several calendars (work, school, personal, etc), and we joinly hold a family calendar, and the program lets us view any or all of the Calendars that we choose to view. Enter: the awesomeness of the iPad/iPhone. Using an App which uses a Google Calendar, on our iWhatever we can edit our calendar, and even if we are not connected to the internet, once we are, it automatically updates on the internet version as well. Basically, we can update our calendar no matter where we are, letting us keep our schedules entirely digital, even when we are not physically with each other.

The reason this is exciting for us is that on numerous occasions, we have had issues with our schedules due to miscommunication and other similar factors. Work shifts end up getting cancelled because one of us signed up without knowing the other's schedule, etc. Having this system will go a long ways towards preventing future conflicts.

Basketball, Band, and the S.W.A.T. Team

I just got back from a CRAZY couple days in LA last night! As a member of Oregon State's Travel Band, I  augmented its scholarship group at the annual Pac-10 Basketball Tournament, at least until either the Men or Women lost. The trip featured way-too-early mornings, time on TV, and a police S.W.A.T. team and helicopter.

The trip started on Tuesday at Legendary Gill Coliseum where we loaded our buses. Before our buses arrived, I saw the Men's team depart. It was a bit weird seeing Craig Robinson in loose basketball sweats after only ever seeing him dressed nicely on the court. It was interesting watching the players up close and out of the spotlight.

We arrived in LA late that night, and after figuring out who was unlucky enough to sleep on the floor in our 2-bed, 4-man rooms, we got to sleep a little after midnight. The next morning, I, along with several other volunteers, reported in the lobby at 4:30 a.m. and went down to the Staples Center where KTLA was doing a live broadcast. Before we played, another mellophone player took out a can of orange spray-on hair dye, so we enjoyed orange hair for the day. We played the Fight Song in and out of commercials, got free breakfast, and got paid, so I thought it was well worth it!

Later that day was the first Women's game in USC's Galen Center where they played Arizona State. It was not expected to be close as we were the #10 seed and ASU was the #3 seed, though on the court, it was at least somewhat interesting-- they were down by a lot, but then for the last few minutes surged back to within five points, but no closer-- but we started to get really annoyed by ASU's band! Besides having a bass guitar with an annoying tinny sound (come on, really?) that made their tubas sound non-existant, they were bearable, though I was really glad when the refs told both bands to not play during the game because it got old hearing their stupid bass riff after every basket and foul (Our playing was just the drums after fouls). They also got really obnoxious too during their jeering because the did such a terrible job at heckling! While Stanford will always be the most annoying band in the conference, ASU is now my pick for either the #8 or #9 most annoying band in the Pac-10. As with any tournament, each band had its turn to play on alternating time-outs, though to be fair, during unscripted "free for alls," we did interrupt their band a couple times, though not before they started playing some boring 70s song during our Fight Song-- that is a crime you do NOT do!

After the loss, we had some free time before doing a short rally outside and heading into the Staples Center (home of the Lakers and Clippers of the NBA) to play for the Men's team against Stanford, who in addition to being annoying like ASU, are also terrible musicians since they are essentially, and self-admittedly, just a party group that happens to have instruments to go along with their beer. If you are unfamiliar with this "band," just know that they have a life-time ban at Notre Dame, recently ended a decade-long ban from the state of Oregon, and have a life-time ban from one of the major airlines.

Before the game, we started trading off with the Stanford Band with some music, and when the OSU Women's team filed in to the stands, we turned to play our Fight Song to them, and they waved back since they could tell we were doing it for them (as opposed to the fans seated in that general area). During the game, we also had a bit of fun. We got on the screen several times, and I was told I was on TV numerous times as well. Sitting in front of us was Orlando Jones, an actor from the movie Drum Line, and at one point we had some fun by chanting his famous line "One band, one sound" from the movie, to which he turned around, and with a grin, gave us a wave. I also was told that Gary Payton was in the audience, though I did not see him.

During the game, OSU played fairly well, and despite the most stressful 30 seconds I have ever witnessed in a basketball game, we hung on to win 69-67.

After the game was when the real craziness happened. When we got to the hotel, we were asked if anyone had a room above the 25th floor (the hotel has four towers with 32 floors each). Thankfully, none of us did. We did not really know what was going on except from rumors of a gunman. Inside the lobby, we saw police standing around, and one was even holding a shotgun! Later some of us even saw the S.W.A.T. team get into the elevator and what looked like a couple snipers, and I saw a couple of policemen with some riot gear and a cart with a shotgun attached. Inside my room I heard a helicopter, and when I realized the sound was not passing, I guessed it belonged to the LAPD as well, which turned out to be true when I went outside and saw it hovering near my room! I read the story the next morning on a KTLA report as well as what people had learned in the lobby. Apparently, a crazy man refused to leave after the hotel told him that his credit card did not process. When the LAPD came to talk to him at 7:30 p.m., he told them he had been smoking marijuana and doing narcotics, and that he had a gun, and by 4 a.m., they had put tear gas through the room's air vent before arresting him. All of this happend just a few floors above me! The funny part was that when talking about how this was one staff member's last trip with us, ironically, a comment was made that something big would happen that brought out the S.W.A.T. team.

The next day, members of the Travel Band went home while the rest stayed for next game, a loss to Arizona. It was dissappointing to go home early, though we got the last laugh because those that stayed had a really early flight the next morning instead of an afternoon flight like we had, and their per diem was not much more.

After a crazy few days, I am glad to be home, even if I no longer can enjoy the weather in Southern California... but there is always next year!

It's Greek to Me

I am learning Greek! It is from my pastor since OSU does not offer it (and driving down to the ugly school down south is NOT an option!). So far I have just started learning the letters. So far I can write the lowercase letters for the first 12 letters, as well as others, out of 24 total. It won't help me identify much in Greek Life since the actual language rarely uses uppercase, so seeing these boring sweatshirts all over campus will continue to look Greek to me. Haha.

 So far, learning the letters has gotten me wondering if our lowercase letters were mostly borrowed from Greek as I can really see how some letters written sloppily could turn into English letters, and looking at some modern Greek examples compared to the Greek of the New Testament (the type I am learning), I can see this even more. As I learn the alphabet, my other task is to start copying down the first three verses of John from the New Testament so I can start getting used to the letters, as well as some other marks which accompany the vowels. It looks like it will be a long and arduous process for learning this, but it will be worth it when I show up to Seminary with a heads-up on an important subject.