October 27, 2019

Minnesota Golden Gophers Football vs Maryland


Minnesota Golden Gophers Football vs Maryland
Todd Swank's Diary Entry for October 27, 2019


Our week started out with a rousing round of Bingo at The Pointe with our good friends, The Korkowski Family.  I didn't win which made me very sad.  I just really love yelling Bingo!


On Friday night, Miss Sheri and I had fun at our favorite restaurant, Outback Steakhouse.  Right after the bartender took this picture, some really big guy down the bar said to me "You're lucky.  She makes you look good."  Naturally I responded with a smile and something like "Yeah, I know she does."   But as I sat there for awhile, I started to think about his comment.  Was he trying to tell me I'm ugly?  And why does he care if I'm ugly?  People are funny.

  
This guy didn't care if I'm ugly.  He was happy to see me regardless!


It was Parents weekend at the University of Minnesota this weekend so we headed down to see Avery.


Avery is living at his fraternity house this year and this was the first time I had a chance to see his place.  I was really looking forward to spending some time at a fraternity house on a Saturday game day for awhile.


We met several of Avery's friends and they were all very nice and welcoming to us.  By the end of our time we were there, I started feeling like I want to go back to college and be in a fraternity again.  Time for some Old School!


Our good friends, Guy and Jeanine Perera, have two kids in the Gophers marching band so they go to every game.  We had fun hooking up with them for awhile before the game started.


Avery normally sits in the student section at games but was kind enough to spend time with his folks while we were there.  Such a good boy.


This was our first time seeing the Golden Gophers play this year.  We were pretty excited to watch them since they were undefeated at 7-0 going into this game.  They'd also won 9 in a row dating back to their defeat of the Badgers last year and a Bowl game win.  That is their longest win streak since 1941!  We were hopeful we'd get to see them extend it to 1 more.


The stadium was electric as everyone was going nuts throughout the game.


I was pretty impressed with how well the students stay in unison when they were announcing when the Gophers scored a first down.  That must take a lot of practice.


This is head coach PJ Fleck's third year.  Of course he's highly responsible for the program's recent success.  I really like him, but was a bit nervous for him at first with his Rah Rah attitude and Row the Boat philosophy.  He obviously can walk the walk of his talk the talk though which is pretty cool.  I like inspirational people.

  
The Gophers started off dominant and never let off the gas.  They put on a clinic for how to play football against the over-matched team from Maryland.


These guys really like to run.  You'd think they'd get tired after awhile.  This was them heading to the locker-room at half time.  You'd think they'd want to rest for a minute.


We enjoyed watching the band at half time as we always do.


The final score ended up being 52 for the Gophers and 10 for the Terrapins bringing the Gophers streak to 8-0.  The big test will be coming their next game when they take on undefeated Penn State in 2 weeks.  Ought to be a fun game to watch!


On Sunday, Grandma Linda invited us over for a family meal and we decided to drag Avery along with us.  Everyone loves spending time with Grandma Linda!

October 20, 2019

The Colors of Fall 2019


The Colors of Fall 2019
Todd Swank's Diary Entry for  October 20, 2019


Life has been relatively quiet lately.  We haven't been doing much for fun other than taking daily walks through the neighborhood and enjoying the colors of fall.  Sometimes this time of year can be a bit depressing as we see all the leaves falling, the days are getting shorter, and it is inevitable that Winter is Coming.  The colors sure are beautiful, though.


This log has been officially designated as a duck resting log until further notice.


This blue heron was protecting his log so no dang ducks would try to take it over.


The leaves were changing colors at Kona Grill also.  They are very pretty as well.


Luke came home from college this weekend which made for a pleasant experience for all of us.


On Friday night, we headed to the American Legion to hang out with our good buddies, Dan & Jen Walters.


Dan and I both love singing karaoke and yelling at each other when we have the microphone in our hands.  Not sure if anybody else enjoys it, but we sure have fun.


Who likes taking pictures with statues?  This guy!


We actually had beautiful weather this weekend.  It was almost 70 degrees outside which seems kind of crazy for October 20.  But I'm certainly not complaining.  Maybe winter will miss us this year?

October 6, 2019

Minnesota Women's Volleyball vs Rutgers


Minnesota Women's Volleyball vs Rutgers
Todd Swank's Diary Entry for October 6, 2019


On Thursday night, we stopped by Mystic Lake Casino for the Thursday Night Football version of the Meatsauce & Monty Show.  Not sure why we did that, but I do enjoy listening to Meatsauce on KFAN in the mornings.


I had the opportunity to have lunch with a couple of my old Oracle buddies, Will and Mike.  It's always great to catch up with these cool dudes.


On Saturday, we headed to the St. Croix River for our last boat ride of the season.  We were a bit surprised to see that river was so high and was actually in No Wake restrictions.  Darn Rain.


The weather was pretty miserable, but it didn't stop us from going out and having a good time. We can usually do that in any weather.


Especially when we're hanging out with these crazy people.  Rain or shine, they're always up for fun times.


It's pretty difficult to get us all to squeeze in to a picture on the top of the boat, so we had to cheat and take two pictures to get everyone in here.  Next time we'll just have to squeeze in tighter.


We left the boat ride early to try something new.  We went to see the Number 7 rated Minnesota Golden Gophers Women's Volleyball team take on Rutgers.  I'd never been to see college volleyball before so we thought it would be fun to check it out.


It turns out, the game was played right across the street from Avery's fraternity house, so we thought it would be fun to pick him up and bring him with us.  Besides, what college student doesn't want to hang out with his parents on a Saturday night?


I thought the fans at the football games could get pretty rowdy, but the volleyball fans were totally intense!


As they usually are at any Gophers sporting event we attend, the band was totally into it and playing fun tunes to keep everyone motivated.


Goldy Gopher was also there working people into a frenzy.


You can see why these ladies have such a winning team as they all seem to be very focused on success.


In the end, they had to be pretty happy with the outcome as the home team walked away with the victory in 4 sets.

Way to go, Ladies!