U Rah Rah, ICE-consin

Trip 2 - T minus 61:15

We're here in Madison. ... another whole happy, ice-encrusted, Badger Hockey Showdown.

I've now been to enough of these to know thaqt this one is a memorable one, for many reasons. It's my first time in Madison. It happened over the New Year, so I missed most of the useless bowls the idiots that run. And this year, we got a winter storm that iced over the whole city. No shuttles, no buses, no cabs... of course, after we got to the hockey games.

We walked, on New Year's Day, over 16 blocks in freezing rain on ice covered streets to get home from a losing game.

Prepositions aside, we had a good time at the games despite the sad outcomes. I've never seen Wisconsin's hockey team play this tournament with much effort, and this time was no different. Especially sad was that the teams in the tournament outside of Wisconsin were a combined 9-29. Wisconsin was 13-5 and ranked 4th.

They beat the 1-11 team in a shootout after overtime 2-1, and lost to a 4-9 team by the score of 5-3.

Otherwise, Christmas with the family and the soon-to-be family was good, and not terribly restful. Jenny got me back and we spent two days on the road visiting family, getting lost, and trying to catch up. It's a different way of life up there, and I kind of feel bad if I spend time on the computer instead of with her family. I'm actually writing this now while the family is chatting.

Tomorrow we're going to brunch, waiting for the roads to clear, and driving back home. We pack up and spend one last day before heading back to IL. One more hectic day of cleaning, one more night sleeping on the air mattress, and then...

Forward.