11/16/05--Day #3 in the Midwest

So we get up early in the morning and head for the campus.  I had told Kim that it was always a good idea to get to the school's bookstore early on a football weekend, because...quite frankly....if you wait until its too late, its like a Wal-Mart on the day after Thanksgiving.  Total insanity.

So we got there and it was almost totally empty.  It was hilarious.  There were like 6 cashiers standing there, waiting for the rush (oh, and don't worry--it eventually arrived)
and the four of us were like the only ones in the store, as I scurried about like some rat looking for cheese--in this case, my cheese was Notre Dame merchandise.  So Kim had gone to the ATM and taken out like $400 for spending money to last us over the weekend.  That was until I got up to the register.  I bought a jacket, about 4 shirts, various books, some various ND-related items.....the cashier rang up the merch and:

$315.

I looked at my ever-so-understanding wife, who's eyes grew large as she saw the total.

"Hey," I said, "Look at the bright side.  I only come here once every ten years."

Somehow I don't think that made her feel better.
So after that we went to the administration building...ya know, the "Golden Dome" (which is actually the administration building) and had a brief lecture by the director of admissions for the university.  Afterwards, we were lucky enough to be taken around the campus by one of the students, who pointed out various items of interest around the campus.  Our goal, and by that I mean Kim & I, was to make an impression on Andy about what sort of work would be required to get into a university like Notre Dame....or the Naval Academy, which he's also considering.  I think our objective was reached, as Andy was interested to see that ND offers a course in Astrophysics.
Sometimes the fact that he doesn't have my bloodline becomes glaringly obvious.

We spent a few hours in the afternoon standing in line to get free tickets for the pep rally.  What's happened is that, with the terrific year that the Irish have had on the field, interest in the school and the team has gone through the roof (amazing what having a decent coach will do, huh?) and interest in the pep rally has gone up along with it.
The school's gym, where the hold the Friday night events, seats about 12,000 or so, and what the school has started to do is to give out tickets (for free) tothe event.  But you have to stand in line to get them.  Which means, the line is like 6,000 deep by the time rolls around for the tickets to be handed out.  The only interesting thing becomes that you begin to talk to the people that you're standing in line with.  We were in front of a family from upstate New York and had a very nice conversation with them, talking about everything from football to the recent hurricanes in south Florida.
After we got our ticket, we decided to do our good deed for the day.  Every person gets two tickets, so after Kim & I had been given ours, we had the kids get two apiece and then we walked towards the back of the line and gave away the tickets just to save people a long wait in line.  I gave three to a man waiting in line with his two small children.  You could tell it really made a positive impression on him.  If I keep doing nice things like that, people are going to start thinking I'm some sort of nice guy....so, ya know, I gotta watch myself.
We sort of shadowed the various band members the rest of the day, as the kids were really looking forward to watching them perform.  We walked along with them as they headed to the gym for the night's pep rally.  The kids really enjoyed the cheerleaders, the dancers, the light show....just everything.  I think it made quite an impression on them.  I enjoyed listening to head coach speak with admiration for the opponent, Navy.
Charlie Weis said that Navy is not the "usual" football opponent for the Irish.  He said that he and the rest of the team realize that by June of next year, the Navy football players could be in a war zone defending our country....and he asked the fans there to see Notre Dame to have the respect for the players of Navy that they deserved.  It was very well done and nicely received.  The guest speaker for the week was NY Yankee player Tino Martinez, who revealed to the crowd how much the guys in the Yankees clubhouse loved ND football.  My man RPM truly would've died had he been there.
Finally, after the pep rally we headed out to the old Cracker Barrel for dinner---of course, that was after we got lost trying to get out of South Bend.  I mean, c'mon...its not like we were trying to leave Chicago.  How embarrassing.

Later,
Jeff