Battle of The Unbeatens

Sunday night. ESPN. Duke vs. Wake Forest. The only two undefeated teams in the country...someone has to lose.

Sounds like a great night of Basketball to me!

Wash Your Hands, Eat an Apple a Day, and Get some REST!

All of that will help you avoid the flu, and you have good reason to be concerned about getting the flu. A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that flu deaths are on the rise in the United States. Fatalities related to influenza increased from about 20,000 per year in the 1970s to about 36,000 per year in the 1990s. In fact, one analyst says that this data proves that you are more likely to die from the flu than from AIDS. Kinda makes you think twice about taking care of yourself doesn't it?

Another Good Thing Comes to an End

HBO announced today that Sex and the City will end early next year after their 6th season.

More sadness...

I helped bomb a Nightclub

I was driving down the highway this morning in my 15 mpg SUV when I was informed of the above statement. Until that moment I didn't realize that I was involved with the bombing, but that's what a grassroots group called the Detroit Project is alleging. You see, they are saying that because I drive an SUV that guzzles gas/oil I am putting money in the pockets of the terrorists who are bombing nightclubs and hijacking planes. According to a report on NPR this morning, this group formed shortly after the September 11th attacks and says that they are the answer to all the American's asking "What can I do to help protect our Country?" What you can do, they say, is give up your SUV. To help promote their anti-SUV message they have filmed TV commercials that will be debuting this weekend during Meet The Press and various other morning news programs. One of the groups arguments is that America has become too dependent on oil, they sight the example of the oil rations during WWII which limited American's to 3 gallons of gas per week. (This group claims that an American driving an SUV uses 3 gallons of gas in 3 trips to Starbucks a week...)

First, I am not sure that giving up SUV's is the solution to the national security problems. While I agree that there might be an overabundance of SUV's on the US roads these days, the core function of SUV's, to assist people with the hauling of large groups of people or large amounts of cargo, proves the necessity of the SUV in today’s world. Yes, there are people like myself, who do not utilize their SUV for these functions very often (I only haul large amount of cargo after weekends in Chicago) but if I chose to trade in my SUV for a car with a little better fuel efficiency the slight reduction in the amount of fuel I would purchase would hardly stop terrorists from bombing nightclubs. They will find a way to fund their organizations no matter how much oil America guzzles.

Second, I think comparing the oil rations during WWII to the world situations today is a little like comparing apples to oranges. America during WWII and America now are two completely different places. There were far fewer people using oil during WWII, there were fewer cars on the road and fewer planes in the air. To use this example and only apply it to SUV's is ridiculous. I will have to do some research, but it's my guess that cars during the WWII era were not getting the best gas mileage either, there were just fewer of them. In fact, I would go so far as to allege that the WWII cars got worse gas mileage than the current SUV's. (again I don't have hard facts for this, it's just my hunch) People's lives were much more centered around their individual towns and they were able to avoid having multiple cars in a family and driving them lengthy distances.

In short, I am all for the idea of helping protect our country. I just don't know that this is the most effective solution.

Sadness

Roll Call, one of my favorite sites for political "inside" news. Is going to be a subscription only service as of Monday, January 13th. A subscription costs $199 per year...YIKES. No more roll call news for me.

Clone might be a Hoax...

Does this really surprise anyone??? I mean is it really shocking that people who believe that we are descendents from ET would pull a stunt like this for media attention?

I didn't think so.

Didn't you just KNOW this was going to happen?

In a familer turn of events, Sadaam is claiming that the UN inspectors are spies. Haven't we heard this song and dance before?

Vacation Recap (edited)

It happens to all good things at some point or another...they end...and the end of my vacation has come. After two trips in two weeks, the time has come to work rather than play, however, I'll take just a minute to share with you the highlights of the latest chapter of The Utech's Travel Diary.

On Monday night, December 30, Jeff and I loaded up my car and headed to Chicago to begin our trek to Florida for the 2003 FedEx Orange Bowl and what we hoped would be an Iowa victory. We spent Monday night in Chicago where we shared a hotel room at the airport with our friend Chad. All three of us had to be at the airport to fly out super early on Tuesday morning, unfortunately Chad wasn't joining us in Florida, he was flying home to California, but it worked out nicely that we could spend a few hours together Monday night before heading to opposite coasts.

Tuesday morning we boarded a plane at 6:40am for Orlando. My fear of flying was ever present and the flight felt like it took forever, but eventually we landed safely in Orlando and headed out to ring in the New Year at Walt Disney World. We arrived at Disney's Beach Club at around 1:00pm, I was so excited to be there (kid you not, Disney turns me into a 7 year old...) I could hardly stand it, the hotel is magnificent any day of the year, but decorated for Christmas it was even more spectacular. While my Dad checked us into the hotel I marveled at the GIANT gingerbread carousel set up in the lobby, it stood about 8 feet high and had at least 5 carousel horses on it. It was massive, I can only imagine how long it took to create! After waiting for the bellman to bring our luggage to the room, we exchanged our winter clothes for summer clothes and headed to EPCOT to begin our New Years festivites. The rest of New Years Eve feels like it was two different days. We spent the afternoon in the park, wearing our shorts and sandals and around 6pm headed back to the room to put pants on and gussy up a little for New Years. That part feels like it was one day, the rest of the evening felt like it was a completely different day because as soon as we arrived back in the park all gussied up, it started to rain. And it didn't just sprinkle, it RAINED...5 inches. By the end of the night we had made another pilgramage back to the hotel to exchange our cute sparkely clothes for Gore-Tex jackets and running pants. We were wet to the bone. Thank goodness that the good folks at Disney were handing out New Years Hats to everyone in the parks because the plastic top hat kept my head dry for the evening. The park emptied out fairly quickly once people realized that the rain was not going to end, but we stuck it out and witnessed the laser/fireworks/fog creation that occured at Midnight.

Wednesday morning we hopped in the car and drove 4 hours south to Miami for the Orange Bowl Festivities. Wednesday night was the Hawkeye Huddle...and it was out of control. They estimated that there would be approx. 15,000 people at the Huddle and I think there was every last bit of 18,000 people there. The place was packed with people in Black and Gold and the energy was amazing. The HMB played, the parents of the team talked, the Governor was there. It was awesome. At the Huddle we were lucky to run into a bunch of friends from college who we don't get to see very often. After the rally we took our group of friends back to our hotel, where either Jeff or Scott had the brillant idea to forgo the bar scene and do something that we can't do at home....sit and drink on the Beach. So, we visited the cafe in the hotel, ordered a slew of appetizers and frozen drinks and headed out to the oceanfront. We spent the next 2 hours, catching up, laughing, and enjoying the sounds of the surf. It was a wonderful evening.

Thursday....GAME DAY! Jeff was so excited when he woke up he was wishing everyone "Happy Orange Bowl Day." We didn't do anything during the day on Thursday except lay in the sun....and that's exactly what I wanted to do. We ate breakfast, put on our swim suits and all headed to the pool. The entire group of 11 of us sat at the pool, again drinking our frozen drinks and soaking up the sun. Around 2:00pm we decided that we better start getting ready for the game. After a considerable traffic delay we finally made it to Pro-Player Stadium, found our friends and headed into the game. The rest of the evening was fairly anticlimatic. After all the anticipation, all the predictions, all the analyzing our Hawks did something no one thought they were capable of...they forgot how to play football. It was not the team that we had watched all season playing in that football team, and unfortunately, our band was overshadowed and our fans were outclassed. It was a very disappointing evening for Jeff and I. Congrats to USC...you have an outstadning football team, an incredible band and very respectful fans. It was a pleasure to play you. After the game, we decided to gather around the pool at the hotel again and drown some of our sorrows. We sat under a shelter as rain poured on us....we all griped about the game and felt better before we went to bed.

Friday forced us to take a deep breath and put our sorrows aside...it was time to go back to Disney World for a night. This time we took Dave and Sheila with us. The weather in Orlando was a little shocking, the high Friday and Saturday was in the upper 50's, we were freezing, but we spent Friday night and Saturday morning giving Dave a brief tour of my favorite place on earth before we boarded a plane and headed home again.

So here we are....all in all it was a wonderful vacation, a little disappointing (Iowa lost) and stressful (try moving 11 people in the same direction at the same time), but the bottom line is that it was time spent with people I love, most that I don't get to see very often and all of whom just make me feel happy. Another trip is a must! Here's to the Hawks...thanks for the memories of this unbelievable football season and HELLO Basketball season!