Kickoffs

Away We Go!

Today is the first Saturday of the 2015 college football season. I like college football, so you can expect to find me writing about it from time to time here.

"You're going to write about stuff you like? Way to think outside the box, Shu."

 Don't be a hater...

Among other games on the schedule, my beloved Missouri Tigers (two-time defending SEC East champions) will be taking on Southeast Missouri State at
Faurot Field. Mizzou-RAH!

Kate

I married for the second time on July 16, 1988, in Casper, Wyoming. The following spring, my wife Karla and I decided to upgrade from the compact Buick Skylark
I was driving when we married (a car I wrote about here). We did some shopping in Casper, but eventually elected to wait until we were in Kansas City for a visit with my parents to buy a new car, because the prices were significantly lower there (thanks to greater competition).

We eventually chose a brand-new 1989 Ford Taurus GL (still a First Generation iteration of Ford's breakthrough design), black with gray trim and interior. It looked just like the picture below except for the hubcaps (and we chose whitewall tires to "dress up" the look a little bit). We purchased her from Bill Woods Ford, not far from where my parents lived at the time. We called her "Kate" based on the first two letters of each of our first names. (What can I say, we were young and in love, which involves a certain amount of romantic sappiness.)

1989 Ford Taurus GL

We were separated in 1995, and divorced in 1996 (not my choice). Divorce is never an easy process for anyone, but one of the sorrows I had to bear was parting with this car...and all the positive memories I associated with it.

Hawkeye Express

When it comes to collegiate sports, my allegiances are to the Missouri Tigers and the Iowa State Cyclones, but I must admit that I really dig something the Iowa Hawkeyes do for their home football games.

Once again this season, fans will be able to ride the Hawkeye Express, a shuttle operated by the Iowa Northern Railway that runs between Coralville (a suburb of Iowa City) and Kinnick Stadium.

On the way from Coralville to Kinnick Stadium

The locomotive, which is wearing a Rock Island "heritage" livery, is an EMD F40PH. The bi-level coaches, painted in the University of Iowa's black-and-gold, are also very cool.

Quite a few Hawkeye fans will be riding the Express today, as Iowa is playing Illinois State University at Kinnick later this morning...

Language Moves On, While Some People...

From the wonderfully droll webcomic xkcd, by Randall Munroe, which you should read every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, as I do.

Until Next Time...

While he was here in Council Bluffs last weekend for a visit, my best friend Skip showed me some pictures he had taken while on a trip to New Zealand earlier this year with his wife Elaine. The pictures were breathtakingly beautiful, as New Zealand is truly one of the most scenic places on Earth. As he typically does when he returns from his travels, he is preparing a multimedia travelogue he'll be sharing with friends back in Pennsylvania, where he and Elaine live.

When I was looking for something to use for today's send-off, I happened across a similar (albeit much shorter) travelogue video featuring scenic photographs of Scotland. I will most likely never get to visit such beautiful locales in person, so I appreciate opportunities to "visit" them via photography. And this particular video did a splendid job of pairing the photographs with a stirring bit of music.

The song is "The Gael," by Scottish singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean, which was adapted by film score composer Trevor Jones into the main motif for his score of Michael Mann's 1992 film The Last of the Mohicans (which is one of my all-time favorite movies). It is performed here by the pipes and drums of the  Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. Enjoy...