We enter the tail end of summer, and the beginning of meteorological fall, with a look back to last summer, when Danny and I travelled to Seattle to visit the Space Needle and see the White Sox take on the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
Tag / DLM
2024 College Football Kickoff
The Purdue Boilermakers, kick off their 2024 gridiron campaign today, starting a new era of Big Ten football with new member Oregon coming to town in October, for just their third visit to Ross-Ade Stadium. Now that Danny has graduated, my game attendance is likely to trickle back down to the once every couple of years pace I was on before he matriculated after attending an all-time high five games last fall. That said, it’s time to take a look at the results of the now 32 college football games I have attended since the 1993 season, covering six different stadiums in a whopping three states, including one bowl game.
All-Time Team Records
| University | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Syracuse Orange | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Penn State Nittany Lions | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Ohio State Buckeyes | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Wisconsin Badgers | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Louisiana State Tigers | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 4 | 1 | 0.800 |
| Purdue Boilermakers | 19 | 11 | 0.633 |
| Northern Illinois Huskies | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Illinois Fighting Illini Continue reading → |
Fifty Years Of Music – 2001
Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth. In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.
We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 2001, the year the world changed on a Tuesday morning in September, I celebrated my 27th birthday, and Danny joined the family. 22 of these songs remain familiar to me today, with just nine of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.
#99: Enrique Iglesias – Hero
iTunes stats: N/A
Released less than two weeks before 9/11, it peaked at #3
#75: U2 – Beautiful Day
iTunes stats: N/A
The lead single from the group’s tenth studio album, it reached #21 on the Hot 100.
#47: Aerosmith – Jaded
iTunes stats: 26 plays
Topping out at #7, the song made Aerosmith the first act to have an actively charting single when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
#44: 3 Doors Down – Kryptonite
iTunes stats: N/A
The group’s debut single, it spent nine weeks atop the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, eleven weeks on top of the Modern Rock Tracks chart, and went to #3 on the Hot 100.
#43: Nelly Furtado – I’m Like a Bird
iTunes stats: 22 plays
The debut single from the Canadian singer-songwriter, it became her first top ten hit, peaking at #9.
#39: Creed – With Arms Wide Open
iTunes stats: N/A
Spending a single week atop the Hot 100, it remains the group’s sole #1 hit.
#35: Missy Elliot – Get Ur Freak On
iTunes stats: 20 plays
Reaching #7, the track was the lead single from her third studio album.
#33: Moby featuring Gwen Stefani – South Side
iTunes stats: 15 plays
Spending 32 weeks on the Hot 100, it topped out at #14 in May.
#29: Crazy Town – Butterfly
iTunes stats: N/A
The group’s third single, it spent two non-consecutive weeks at #1 in the spring.
#27: Faith Hill – The Way You Love Me
iTunes stats: N/A
The song spent four weeks atop the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in May, becoming her eighth #1 hit on that chart, while later peaking at #6 on the Hot 100 in December.
#26: Jennifer Lopez – Love Don’t Cost a Thing
iTunes stats: N/A
The lead single from her sophomore effort, it reached #3 for two weeks.
#25: Outkast – Ms. Jackson
iTunes stats: 25 plays
The Grammy winner for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, it spent a single week at #1 in February.
#24: Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya, and Pink – Lady Marmalade
iTunes stats: 26 plays
Recorded for the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge!, it spent five weeks atop the Hot 100, making it just the ninth song to hit #1 when recorded by different artists.
#23: Destiny’s Child – Survivor
iTunes stats: N/A
Inspired by a joke that compared the group, who had already lost three members, to the reality show Survivor. it went to #2 on the Hot 100.
#19: Uncle Kracker – Follow Me
iTunes stats: N/A
Peaking at #5, it was the debut single for the former Kid Rock hanger-on.
#18: Nelly featuring City Spud – Ride wit Me
iTunes stats: 14 plays
The third single from his debut studio album, it reached #3.
#17: Shaggy featuring Rayvon – Angel
iTunes stats: N/A
His second straight chart-topper, it spent a single week at #1 in March.
#14: Staind – It’s Been Awhile
iTunes stats: N/A
The group’s sole top ten hit, it went to #5.
#12: Shaggy featuring Rikrok – It Wasn’t Me
iTunes stats: N/A
The lead single from his fifth studio album, it spent two weeks atop the Hot 100 in February.
#8: Dido – Thank You
iTunes stats: 17 plays
Sampled for Eminem’s hit Stan, it spent three weeks at #3, her first and only top ten hit to date.
#7: Eve featuring Gwen Stefani – Let Me Blow Ya Mind
iTunes stats: 31 plays
Eve’s highest charting single, it peaked at #2 in August.
#4: Train – Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)
iTunes stats: N/A
The lead single from the group’s sophomore album, it reached #5.
Summer Travels
The first half of 2024 wraps up with Danny outside of Pike Place Market from our trip to Seattle last summer.
FB10: Week 16
Despite some pretty good days, the week overall fell below 30,000 steps after two weeks above. A slow-ish Sunday got the week off to a poor start, finishing with 3300 steps. Things improved nicely on Monday, jumping up to 4800 steps. Things fell off on Tuesday, as I needed 27 steps just to reach 2000. An afternoon trip to Wrigley Field on Wednesday for my first Cubs game of the year pushed me back up to 5900 steps. Thursday fell off once again, dropping down to 2600 steps. Another increase on Friday put me within 18 steps of 4500. Graduation day for Danny on Saturday left me with 6700 steps, ending the week on a high note.
Total steps: 29,911
Daily average: 4273
Ever Grateful Ever True
On May 18, 1997, I graduated from Purdue University. Today, nearly 27 years later, Danny will do the same. It has been a quick four years, with a freshman year impacted by COVID, three years of football games, a trip to Florida for a bowl game, two trips to watch men’s NCAA tournament games, women’s basketball games in Mackey, and the ever-present band concerts both on and off campus. I could not be prouder of him and look forward to seeing what comes next.
School’s Out Forever
With a busy month of graduations ahead, Angelina getting her PhD from Boston University and Danny earning his BS from Purdue, we celebrate with this shot of Angelina and her house skeleton from my trip to Boston last October to celebrate our birthdays.
FB10: Week 14
An up and down week, starting strong and then building back up after work got in the way. A trip to Purdue on Sunday for Danny’s last band concert got the week off to a good start, finishing with 5000 steps. Things kept pace on Monday, coming just 39 steps shy of 5000. A midday escape down to Wrigley Field for a photo op with Cody Bellinger on Tuesday left me with 4500 steps. A dramatic crash occurred on Wednesday, as I needed 29 steps just to reach 3500. Things improved on Thursday, rising above 3800 steps. Friday continued the upward swing, finishing over 4100 steps, despite rainy weather which caused me to skip the White Sox game. Saturday jumped up again, ending the week on a high note with just 36 additional steps needed to get to 4500.
Total steps: 30,442
Daily average: 4348.9
2023-2024 Final Standings
Purdue’s season of redemption came one win short, falling to UCONN last night in the national championship game. It was the best tournament showing by a Purdue team since 1969, their last appearance in the championship game. Thanks to my donations to the John Purdue Club, I was able to score tickets to two home games, my first visits to Mackey for men’s basketball since 2015. I then was able to attend the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games in Detroit, adding Little Caesars Arena to my stadium collection.
2023-2024 Team Records – Men
| Team Name | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purdue Boilermakers | 4 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Tennessee Volunteers | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Jacksonville Dolphins | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Illinois Fighting Illini | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Gonzaga Bulldogs | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
On the women’s side, I made it to two Big Ten battles, seeing Caitlin Clark in person for the first time while enjoying Danny’s performances with the band.
2023-2024 Team Records – Women
| Team Name | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa Hawkeyes | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Indiana Hoosiers | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Purdue Boilermakers | 0 | 2 | 0.000 |
Beware The Ides
We come to the start of meteorological spring with a picture of Danny, dressed up and preparing to blow his horn at a band concert last year at the Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Lafayette.