Welcome to my blog, or should I say to the ramblings of an old man. I doubt that my ramblings are of much value, but at least I have an opportunity to share them.  So, please be kind and humor me. If nothing else of value stands out in these thoughts, I hope that you at least sense the value I place on a daily walk with the Lord.  That walk is what has provided me with motivation and a sense of purpose throughout my lifetime.  My prayer is that you, too, are experiencing this direction and joy in daily living which is available to everyone who puts his trust in Christ.  So, thanks again for joining me.  Please don't go without leaving some comments here so I can get to know you better as our paths intersect today in this blog.

Monday, October 12, 2009

The Loaded and the Loopy

On Saturday we made one of our fall trips to Happy Valley to watch Penn State in a game, or maybe I should say a scrimmage, with Eastern Illinois University. And we were just two of the approximately 104,000 who gathered there that day. It has been our experience that even when the game is lousy, like this one, there is always fun to be had. The events on this trip ranged from the spectacular to the loaded and even to the loopy. Spectacular describes the beautiful trees, changing to a spectrum of colors, that we were able to enjoy, especially on the afternoon drive home. I love this time of the year. This time we had a new experience at Penn State. We had a reserved parking spot on the macadam near the stadium. This area is reserved for those who have money. Many of these season ticket holders who are also large donors, have six to eight permanent reserved parking spaces. And they need that many to park their huge, and I mean huge, buses and motor homes. We sat there and watched these folks pull in, park and setup for tailgating like you wouldn't believe. First, since the lot was on a slight incline, they all had special blocks designed to level their vehicles. One near us, parked, balanced, then automatically lowered four leveling devices, before expanding the sides. Their kids were in bunk beds and when the sides expanded, they looked out the windows. In this case the owner spent another hour or more unpacking tables, chairs, grills, food and drinks for a massive tailgate. It was amazing and I couldn't begin to guess how much money was invested in this excursion. And with all the drinks that were displayed, I imagine that the loaded were really loaded until the afternoon was over. Then came the loopy. As we entered the statement we saw folks in unbelievable clothing and hats. We found our seats and, just before game time, the lady next to Dianne finally showed up. She quickly pulled out the ingredients for a sub sandwich which she probably illegally smuggled into the stadium. She unwrapped individual packages of tomatoes, then onions, followed by peppers, and finally the mayonnaise. One could smell the ingredients seats away. Now if you've ever been to Penn State, you realize how close together the seats are - sometimes you need to inhale and exhale together. Dianne could have easily leaned down and taken a big bite of the sub. That wouldn't have been any more rude than making and eating the sandwich in that confined area. Maybe Dianne should have at least sneezed while she was making it. Then, throughout the game, whenever music was played, this lady, probably in her fifties, would jive and shake in her seat, fortunately without even hitting Dianne in the ribs. However the bench did shake. We had a few other older ladies in the area who stood and danced every time the music was played. Loopy is one way to describe their performances. Then we watched the student section as they tossed girls up in the area, to the time of the music, every time Penn State scored. Even the wave was special. The students would start it at normal speed and then when it had circled the stadium they would change it to a very, very slow speed for the next round. Finally, the third round was done in ultra high speed. And of course there was the great Blue Band and the Nittany Lion with their special performances. Even if you aren't a football fan, there is always plenty of entertainment for everyone. And, too soon, the game neared its end and we headed for home. We did that to beat all the traffic, as well as to avoid all the loaded who would get loaded and probably loopy with their post game tailgate. PSU football is a unique experience.

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