big weekend

My ankles are hurting.  My right knee still hurts a lot, especially when I turn it.  It makes it hard to get to sleep.  This has been aggravated by running and jogging as a middle school football referee.  Well, this week I have three more games, just when my legs were recovering.  My legs felt a little better when I lay down last night to sleep. But tonight it will likely be worse.

DW counseled that I should stretch.  It seems that is all I do as stretch.  Sometimes it looks more like squirming, trying to get more comfortable.  I do stretch while I am standing.  I do it while I am sitting.  I went out Saturday night to see the Rice Light Extravaganza on the academic quad.  That is the one with the statue of William Marsh Rice himself.  The light show was spectacular.  But the whole time I stood and watch I kept moving around, trying to get comfortable.  I was sort of stretching as I could.  It looked more like wiggling.

The Extravaganza was implemented with a computer program that projected sophisticated  light beams off three large buildings on the eastern side of the quad.  The quad consists of six three story buildings so this was done off the eastern half of the quad.  It started with a projected owl flapping from one side of the three "walls" to the other side.  Even though owls fly quietly this is a/v after all so the flapping was pronounced.  The show ended with a similar flight of the owl across the three walls.  In between there was some interesting a/v affects and some teaching and preaching.  We saw names of greats from Rice's past.  There were Curl and Smalley and a picture of a buckyball.  At one point we saw a bunch of typical Rice graduates, at least I think that is what that was.  One period of preaching was a treatise on Rice goals with the visual effect of water (or molten rock) being poured to one side.  Then it reverses and pours back to the other side.  This reversal happened several times.  The show was very arresting.  It lasted about 20 minutes.  All through I was moving around, trying to get more comfortable.

Earlier JB went with me to see the homecoming football game.  Rice surprisingly won over an unbeaten UTSA team 34-14.  Rice dominated the game pretty much like Green Bay dominated the Texans Sunday night and like Oklahoma dominated Texas (Boomer Sooner) on Saturday afternoon.

Thursday through Saturday Rice celebrated 100 years of existence.  There were events all over campus of various times.  There was free food and long lines everywhere.  There were also expensive formal dinners, for those who prefer that.  DW is pretty tired these days after doing the things where she wants to serve.  So she did not come with me to any of these events.  I am sorry I could not share it with her.  But there was quite a bit walking even though a lot of parking lots were open.  I saw a lot of people I had not seen in a long time and got to talk to some of them.  The 100th anniversary of Rice brought out many who never or very rarely come back.  On to the next 100 (as several wags have said).