Jason's Untimely Thoughts

Happy Raincoming Tiger Fans.  The best time of the year during the best time of the year is here, beautiful fall to coincide with a beautiful football Saturday.  You can tell it’s Homecoming week by the smell of pomp and rainy circumstances around ole Collegetown.

On Saturday, our beloved Tigers take on the Red Raiders from Texas Tech University in a battle of ranked teams (Tigers #15/17, Tech #22/21).  It seems that they’ve taken to calling themselves the “Air Raid” for their prolific offense.  I’d have suggested “Get Beat By Good Teams” for their habit of said offense getting beat by teams that are any good.   I’ve previously documented Tech’s student population, which is entirely made up of people too dumb & poor to get into UT and too stupid to get into A&M.  And those that have flunked out of both.  Like any good peon population, however, they’ve arisen to take over and have assumed football dominance in the Lone Star State.  Sneaky Pirates.  Sneaky broken-armed while bicycling pirates.

Tailgate will begin at 11:30 or so.  My parents are bringing up ribs from Southeast MO, so wear a don’t mind getting sloppy shirt.  Might also pick up some CJ’s at parade time, we’ll see.   On the costuming theme, the athletic department is again asking for fans to be decked out in gold.  No word on whether the players will again reciprocate with gold pants instead of the Ninja Tiger look.  I’ll also be sporting my new porncracker hat (idea courtesy of Joe Walljasper) as both the Tigers and I take another step into the national limelight.

Big crowd is expected again this weekend, ABC is broadcasting the game.  Tech appears to be a very good team, pirating jokes aside.  Go Tigers, Go buffalos, screw ku, and “ha ha” to the Corn.

41-6. Wow. Take that Huskers. 2003, 41-24, but the game was really much closer than that. 2005, 41-24, but the game wasn’t really that close. 2007, 41-6, and I don’t think it was even that close. Like a punch to the gut to all in the land of corn.

We saw a cattle-hauler on the road near the stadium post-game, someone made the (obvious but still funny) joke that it was full of Nebraska cheerleaders. Turns out, that was almost true. Sarah saw them loading that stupid thing full of Nebraska fans, sort of like a bus. Sort of, except it was a trailer for hauling cattle and they were stuffing it full of Nebraska fans.

Sarah did indeed get a helicopter ride pre-game. I absolutely believed that the lighting combination (bright lights, nighttime) would make for next to worthless photos. Turns out I was wrong and they were awesome. Check them out here.

Speaking of the photos, people are funny. “Could I use those for free?” “Would you please send me a full-size file so I can use as a screensaver?” Um, no. Like walking into the car dealer and pointing out that you like the new Mercedes, maybe I could just drive it for a few months? I will make an exception for anyone that can get me on a plane to Norman, OK, on Saturday though.

beat Oklahoma, screw ku.

In case you hadn’t heard, there’s a little football game this weekend. Some team from some town north is making a little trip down the road to face our beloved Tigers. Some little network based in Vermont or Connecticut or somewhere is coming in for the broadcast. Hopefully Coach Pinkel and the boys can finally win some games so we can get a ranked team to come play, or a decent network to cover the game, or a fullback, or something.

To quote our old receptionist, “I’m sorry I’m drunk and I can’t come to work.” Oh wait, that’s not the quote I was looking for. “I woke up naked and got free cable.” No, not it either. “I kid, I kid”… That’s the one. Bless her heart.

The 17th ranked Tigers take on the #25 Huskers from Nebraska this Saturday at 8:15 p.m. on ESPN. It’s the annual gold-out game, so wear gold. It’ll be a packed house, so plan on going in early too, so as not to be standing in line as we return the opening kickoff back for a touchdown. We’ll be tailgating by 3:00, join us when you will. Bryan Ninichuck of Wingate Pest Control is taking care of the food this weekend. Buckingham’s will be delivered at 5:30. If you’d like us to haul things to the tailgate, probably better have it to our house by mid-Saturday morning. And call Wingate for all your pest control needs.

Sarah and the athletic department are trying to find a plane/helicopter/parasail/Wonkavator so she can take aerial photos of the game. If you happen to see a plane circling at opening kickoff, smile and wave. Same goes if someone is on a really really big ladder somewhere.

Somewhere along the way the boys from Nowledge changed their nickname from Cornhuskers to Huskers. I can’t say for sure, but I assume it has something to do with Columbia’s reputation regarding stray monkeys on the loose and those monkeys’ propensity to bite those who have corn (get well soon Liam, no kidding). Look out cornhuskers, stray monkeys Unleashed.

Also big news in Columbia is Sir Elton John’s performance at Mizzou Arena on Friday night. All week I’ve had visions, strange scary visions, of bedazzled Elton fans and be-jeaned, white-jeaned, N fans running into each other all over town, finding secret attraction in each other, and then combining to show up on Saturday in fabulously spectacular sequin covered jeans and reds, rhinestone covered corncob heads, and sparkly sunglasses. I sort of hope this comes true.

To recap, Wear Gold, Lot D, Buckingham’s, Wingate, Go in Early, BEAT NEBRASKA, Smile and Point and Laugh at the sequin-covered white jean crew, and (implied) screw ku.

Sarah & I were out of town over the weekend, so I didn’t watch any football. I was frantically checking scores, however, especially once I started to clue in to all the upsets going on.

Thanks be to the MU schedule makers who allowed us to have a BYE this week instead of playing the Cornshuckers. The weekend’s action should have drilled in to the Tigers’ collective head that anyone can beat anyone in college football, should you not be ready to play. Now they’ll be prepared and won’t overlook the lowly boys from Nowledge, who come in as 7-point underdogs hoping to shock the world.

Beat Nebraska, screw ku.

It’s still football season, although the Tigers are taking it light with ISU-light this week.  That’s Illinois State, not Iowa State.  Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m., I hope to be tailgating by 10:30.  No word on food yet, although I do expect to have lunch of some variety.  CJ’s wings would be a reasonable guess.  If you’d like us to haul stuff for you, will happily do so as long as it’s at our house before early Saturday morning.

Our beloved Tigers are ranked #25 in the most recent polls, while ISU is ranked #14 in the subterranean division, or whatever the hell they’ve decided to call this collection of crap teams.  With a good showing and some definite losses happening in the polls above us, Tigers should move up by beating up on a cupcake this weekend before moving up a little more by playing no one next weekend.  That’s a literal no one, not the figurative no one we’re playing this week.

I know almost nothing about Illinois State, except that their mascot is a Redbird.  I went to their website, their motto appears to be “Go You Redbirds”.  Inspirational.  This Redbird looks strikingly similar to the bird that’s stuck in Iowa State’s cyclone, so I assume that these two schools are bitter rivals.  Matching initials, matching mascot, matching colors, bordering states, they either hate each other or have massive man-crushes.  I choose hatred, as that’s what makes me most comfortable.

The stuck-part-of-the-Cyclones-logos did almost beat K-State last year, although that was before the invasion of the Power Towels.  No way they could have played close with that grey squirrel chasing them with a towel all day.

Speaking of hatred, insert anti-ku diatribe here.

Happy fall Tiger fans,

The happiest time of the year delayed its debut in Mid-Missouri for two weeks, allowing blues, BBQ, and bicycles to bring in the fall. The combination has us anticipating a weird home opener. The weather is decidedly October-like, the opponent is decidedly non-descript, and we’ve already seen the Tigers have 2 wins under their belt over quality competition.

Coach Bill Cubit brings the Western Michigan Broncos to Columbia for a 1:00 kickoff on Saturday. They were pre-season favorites to win the MAC, but have started 0-2 with losses to West Virginian and Indiana. In keeping with recent tradition, we’ll start the home season by tailgating with the Miller’s crowd. Drinks and Buckingham’s aplenty, starting at 11:00, with 200 or so of my closest co-workers. The kids and I will likely be at the tailgate by 9:30, so come on out whenever you like. We’ll be happy to haul stuff for you, as always, but I remind you, drinks and Buckingham’s aplenty, starting at 11:00.

Cubit is no stranger to Faurot Field. He was offensive coordinator for the Broncos when they raced up and down the field against our Tigs in a 1999 MU victory. The next year he showed up on our sidelines as co-offensive coordinator in what turned out to be a bad year. My lasting memory of his control over our offense is the Tigers working all pre-game in “secrecy” in the Devine Pavilion, to allegedly surprise the other team with our new sneaky no-huddle offense. Not so good on the surprise o’meter, is my recollection.

Adelaide’s fifth-birthday is coming up, for which she’ll be having a rock star party. Kids are supposed to dress up like their favorite Rock Star or High School Musical character. Speaking of HS Musical, someone who shall not be named compared getting his photo taken with Chase Daniel on the field after the Ole Miss game to “meeting your favorite High School Musical character.” A big dork, just has two little girls at home, or both, you decide.

We’ve beat the Indians and the Rebels, with Bronco-taming next on the schedule in our mascotonial trip through American Yankee history. Damn Yankees. On a side note, screw ku.

Many have asked recently how Sarah is doing, so despite my continuing promises of no more updates until something changes, here’s an update.

We recently had another round of scans, both CT scans and Octreoscans, and then the visits with the corresponding doctors.  The scans continue to show either no change or positive change.  Some of the spots continue to get smaller while others appear to be stable.  Beyond the liver and specific lymph nodes, any time something “new” has popped up on a scan, it’s later been debunked.  No new spots, no growth, some shrinking.  All good.  And we simply can’t stress enough how fortunate we feel to have friends in town who can and gladly do help us decipher this stuff.

More detail, Sarah has been diagnosed as having “atypical carcinoid”.  The main feature that makes it “atypical” is that it grows faster than typical would, a diagnosis based on where Sarah’s carcinoid started, how it metastasized, and the tissue sample from that removed tumor.  However, it’s not behaving as a typical atypical carcinoid would.  Specifically, it’s not growing and has shrunk.

Based on the diagnosis, the standard treatment at this point should likely include chemotherapy.  In fact, the physician we saw in New York recommended a specific (eventually) combination treatment of two chemo drugs, to start immediately and last at least 4 months, potentially for years.  While not decided for certain, we don’t feel now is the time to start that treatment.  If the CT scans were showing something different, then maybe.   We’ll continue to monitor closely (more closely than every doctor we’ve visited recommends, with the exception of our local oncologist) and to investigate options.

One hope, among many, is that perhaps the situation has changed enough to make surgery an option on the lymph nodes, the liver, or in combination.  If we can get the disease limited to the liver, then that opens additional proven treatment options.  That’s where things stand as of today.  The decision on chemo hasn’t been made fully, but that’s how we’re leaning.

A common question when we’re discussing the situation with others is “How’s the football team going to be?”  We’re happy to report that another 14-0 season is in the works.  Tigers open the season in 10 days (6 days using Melissa Smith’s magic counting tricks) against Illinois in St. Louis for victory number one.  We have lodging arranged for 11 of those 14 games, with others in the family taking the bold lead and reserving hotel rooms in San Antonio for the Big 12 Championship game.

Adelaide and Jack have both gone back to school this week.  Adelaide’s in her third-year at CDC, or “Jack’s school” as he calls it.  JT has started there as well, going 2-days/week to “Adelaide’s school”, as she calls it.

That’s where we are.  Hope you’re well where you are.  Go Tigers.  Screw carcinoid.  Screw ku.

As I’m getting ready this morning, Adelaide comes into the bathroom asking “Have you ever heard of nose glowers?”  Um, no.

“They’d be little balls that you’d stick in your nose at nighttime,” she said, sticking her nose out one way and her butt the other.  “They’d glow, so when you were searching around for stuff you could see!  Wouldn’t that be a good idea?!”

Yeah, I say, we could call them ‘Rudolphs’ with your nose so bright.  “No, daddy, they’d be all different colors… yellow, and blue, and green, and purple.  Not just red.”

Just when I thought we were all set to be millionaires, she told me she was just teasing me.  Oh well, inspiration is sure to strike again soon.

I’d been wondering why I haven’t put any new pictures up on the site in a while… turns out it’s because there were a few hundred photos from throughout the summer on our little camera. Some of those have now made their way here.

Many have recently asked how Sarah’s doing. All is well, while we continue to investigate options. The physician we visited in NYC recommended some other treatments, which we’ve been discussing with Sarah’s local oncologist and researching on our own. As part of that, another friend of ours (who is a radiologist) was good enough to review all the CT scans with us looking over his shoulder (literally). Just making sure we knew what we knew. At the moment, no plans for any new or different treatments, but we’re still looking around some. There is another round of scans scheduled for late August, so that could certainly influence a decision. Will probably due a full-blown update then.

Football season is coming up (hooray!). Sarah is continuing her history of shooting lots for them… some paid and some not. We’re interested in doing more of it paid, if you know anyone in the athletic department tell them to pay her.

It’s August and it’s hot. Around 100 degrees every day this week. Construction going on at work (expansion), so A/C is sketchy. That makes it fun. Heat index is for sissies, but it is hot.

bring on football season.

Speaking of which, here’s some football news.  Media picks the Tigers to win the Big 12 North, UT to win the South.  2007 football commercials are online at mutigers.com.  Also, some good video tours of the recently completed Mizzou Athletic Training Center are online.