Tag / Boiler Up!

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Fitbit IX – Week 44

A nice bounce back week put me back on the right side of the 30,000-step plateau.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday, finishing 30 steps away from 3900.  Monday saw a very small increase, coming just 21 steps shy of 4000.  A trip to the mall for lunch on Tuesday left me just 29 steps short of 5400.  Wednesday saw a big drop, going down to 3600 steps.  The big Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday actually saw an increase, falling just 20 steps shy of 4200.  A trip down to West Lafayette on Friday saw a bit of a drop, coming 23 steps away from 3500 after the expected nighttime band practice was moved outdoors.  Danny’s Senior Day on Saturday was easily the best day of the week, garnering 9500 steps while traipsing across the Purdue campus.

Total steps: 34,072

Daily average: 4867.4

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We Are, Once Again, #1

For the third season in a row, and the third season in program history, Purdue is the #1 ranked men’s college basketball team in the country.  Following their victories over #11 Gonzaga, # 7 Tennessee, and #4 Marquette while winning the Maui Invitational last week, the team moved up from #2 to take the top spot, becoming the first Big Ten program to do so in three consecutive seasons.

Their next big test will come in three weeks, when they battle Arizona, the current #2 ranked team, on a neutral court in the Indy Classic.  Hopefully they will retain their #1 ranking when I head to Mackey on December 21st to see them battle Jacksonville.

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2023 Final Standings

The 2023 college football season, and Danny’s marching band career, came to an end yesterday, after Purdue squeaked past the Hoosiers 35-31.  After winning the Big Ten West last season and making a New Year’s Day bowl game, this year’s 4-8 finish was a bit of a disappointment.  Yesterday’s game brought my total for the year to six games, a new high point.

2023 Team Records

University Won Loss Winning Pctg
Wisconsin Badgers 1 0 1.000
Syracuse Orange 1 0 1.000
Purdue Boilermakers 3 2 0.600
Minnesota Golden Gophers 0 1 0.000
Indiana Hoosiers 0 1 0.000
Illinois Fighting Illini 0 1 0.000
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Fitbit IX – Week 42

After taking October off, this week brought college football back to my routine, which helped keep me on the right side of the 30,000-step plateau.  The week got off to a decent start on Sunday, finishing just 32 steps away from 4400 thanks in part to last week’s Saturday night extending into the early hours of Sunday.  Things were even better on Monday, coming 29 steps short of 4600.  A slight decrease on Tuesday pushed me back down to 4300 steps.  Despite a trip up north for a work lunch, Wednesday was the low point of the week, needing an additional 5 steps just to get to 3100.  Another work outing on Thursday, to Topgolf in Schaumburg, pushed my back up to 4200 steps.  Friday was a little better, going up to 4400 steps.  A trip down to West Lafayette on Saturday to see Danny and Purdue battling Minnesota led to the week’s best day, finishing with 7800 steps.

Total steps: 32,871

Daily average: 4695.9

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College Basketball Tipoff

The men’s Purdue Boilermakers kicked off the 2023-2024 season last night, the 126th in school history, so let’s take a look at the results of the now 20 men’s college basketball games I have attended in my lifetime. You’d think it would be more, since I was a big fan and we had a great team while I was in school, but for some reason I only made it to two games while enrolled in college. The other 18 have been post-graduation, with the latest three coming last season thanks to a trip to Bloomington and the Big Ten Tournament being at the United Center.  Anyway, without further ado, here are the standings for those 20 games.

All-Time Team Records – Men

Team Won Loss Winning Pctg
Virginia Commonwealth Rams 1 0 1.000
North Texas Mean Green 1 0 1.000
Indiana Hoosiers 1 0 1.000
Butler Bulldogs 1 0 1.000
Purdue Boilermakers 12 7 0.631578947368421
Northwestern Wildcats 2 3 0.400
Illinois Fighting Illini 2 3 0.400
Vermont Catamounts 0 1 0.000
Penn State Nittany Lions 0 1 0.000
Ohio State Buckeyes 0 1 0.000
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders 0 1 0.000
Long Beach State 49ers 0 1 0.000
Iowa State Cyclones 0 1 0.000
Houston Cougars 0 1 0.000
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It’s Hard To Hold A Candle

We are entering the home stretch of 2023, and, to prepare for Danny’s upcoming birthday, we have various shots of him from the 2022 Purdue football season.  From left to right, he’s outside the co-rec heading to Slayter Hill for the band’s pre-game performance, finishing lunch following the pre-game practice, and standing on the sidelines of Ross-Ade waiting to take the field.

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Fitbit IX – Week 38

Another week, unexpectedly without football, leaves me below 30,000 steps for the second week in a row.  The week got off to a slow start on Sunday, finishing just over 2700 steps.  Things picked up a bit on Monday, jumping up to 4300 steps.  Tuesday was nearly the same, coming in just 45 steps behind Monday’s total.  Wednesday saw a bigger drop, going down to 3800 steps.  Thursday jumped back up again, falling 27 steps shy of 4400.  A case of Covid in the house helped put me up over 4600 steps on Friday as I tracked down food and medicines while trying to keep myself healthy.  Sadly, I missed the trip to the Purdue game on Saturday just in case, which caused me to come 33 steps away from 3300.

Total steps: 27,516

Daily average: 3930.9

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Fitbit IX – Week 36

Another successful week as we wrapped up the 2023 baseball campaign.  The week got off to a slow start, needing an additional 26 steps to to get to 3900.  Monday saw a slight improvement, pushing just over 3900 steps.  A slightly larger push got me over 4200 steps on Tuesday.  An afternoon in the Scout Seats at Guaranteed Rate Field on Wednesday left me 23 steps away from 6200.  Thursday was another afternoon spent at the ballpark, but this time I needed 34 more steps to get to 5000.  A night game on Friday pushed me back up again, finishing 35 steps shy of 6200.  Another Purdue home game on Saturday led to my highest total of the week, garnering 8000 steps despite the four hours spent driving there and back.

Total steps: 37,406

Daily average: 5343.7

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Fitbit IX – Week 35

A successful week, garnering my highest step total since my trip to Seattle back in June.  Despite a trip out to Anderson’s Bookshop to meet Millie Bobby Brown, Sunday ended up a disappointment, needing 2 additional steps just to get to 2600.  Monday saw a nice improvement, coming 27 steps shy of 5400 thanks in part to a lunch trip to the mall.  A post-work trip to Wrigley Field, my final visit of the regular season, pushed me up over 8300 steps on Tuesday.  Wednesday fell back down to a now-normal 4000 steps.  Thursday also came in just over 4000 steps, despite a 2-hour drive to Lafayette after work.  Friday turned into my second 10,000 step day of the year, finishing just 15 steps shy of 11,700 thanks to a remote working day followed by Purdue football losing once again to Wisconsin.  A morning walk about campus followed by breakfast with Danny before heading home led to 4200 steps on Saturday.

Total steps: 40,262

Daily average: 5751.7