the dreaded day.

i knew this day would come eventually, i've just been suppressing the thought to the back of my mind for the past few weeks. after the crazy thunderstorm in the whee monday morning, i noticed that our trees are beginning to look bare. the top third of all of the gorgeous trees on campus so longer have clothes on. so it's true people, winter is going to be just as dull and brown here as it is in southeastern nc. i'm thoroughly enjoying the yellow, red, and orange while i can.

on a much lighter note, schmem came up for a visit this past weekend. friday afternoon was complete with a trip to "the rez" for aimless, touristy wandering. saturday we packed a cooler, hopped on the cat-tran, and showed those catamounts how to tailgate. since they only give us 3 hours to prep for the band's performance [football game at other universities], we had to disregard the food mandate and ignore the '15 minute warning'. those folks were incredibly impressed with the two ncsu alums and one bama grad and were thankful that we taught them the alternate meaning of 'shotgun'.

[note: looking back at this picture of me and the bear, it looks horribly inappropriate. i was simply attempting the redneck stance. this is for you, hawley.]