Purdue’s season in a nutshell: loose a few, win a few.

 

Actually, it goes more like this: win some you probably shouldn’t have, win a few you darn well better have, loose a few you had no business loosing, barely loose a few that you had no business being competitive in, finally win one on the road in conference, thump a team you had no business thumping, get thumped by a team you really needed to beat. 

 

I’m sticking with my prediction that the Boilers we go to the NIT this year.  I would love to see them make the NCAA tournament, but depending on how they would be seeded, they could get bounced by a mid-major team very easily.  No, I think the middle of the Big 11 pack is just too garbled and Purdue hasn’t done enough to stand out.  That could change if they make a good run in the Big 11 tournament, but after the Iowa loss I’m not banking on that. 

 

I think the team has made very good strides this year.  Matt Painter should be in the running for conference coach of the year.  Any post season this team can get will go far towards preparations for next year.  What I would really like to see is Coach Painter find a talented center in next recruiting class. 

So I noticed that Purdue beat IU in basketball last night.  Very good.  A solid win.  A home win.  A win that keeps the tournament hopes alive.  But then again, any win over IU is a good win.  What I like best about it is that the place was full (even with the bad weather) and the fans were really into the game.  The rivalry has meaning again.  Happy Days!

 

 

Coach Painter tries to get a ride after the game (courtesy of the Indianapolis Star)

I've been traveling for work the last few days, so I haven't really had time to process the events that took place here on Monday night.  The mall - Trolly Square - is about 2 miles from me.  It is small and nice, full of mainly small local shops and some good restaurants.  The kid who did the shooting was a Serbian immigrant who has been in the US for a number of years now.  They still aren't sure why he snapped. 

 

Since I haven't been able to watch or download much on this over the last few days, I thought I would post an email I got from a friend who was actually there when the shooting started.  This is from Jenny Esker, someone I know from church and have played softball with the last few years:

 

"Monday, February 12th, 2007:  Pete's Birthday Dinner

Just a minute or two after being seated for dinner at Deseret Edge Pub,  a random shooter entered Trolley Square area firing shots. Megan, Sameera, and I were taking Pete out for his birthday and the restaurant was located just above where the shooter entered the mall.

While Megan headed to the bathroom, Pete, Sameera, and I were scanning the menu when we heard three loud shots. I paused, trying to place the sound, but the situation materialized when all the pub customers near the window panicked and hurried away from the window and to the mall exit of the restaurant. The three of us got out of our seats and followed.  At this moment, I witnessed a short conversation between to men.  One guy asked the other, "Did you hear the shots?" And the other man responded, "NO, I SAW HIM PUMP THE GUN AND TAKE THE SHOTS!" I continued toward the mall with no visual of Sameera or Pete when I heard shots coming from inside the mall. I immediately doubled back, grabbed my coat and purse, and exited the pub by way of a private pub entrance.

I ran outside and hid behind a wall just as I was called by a school to sub (6:44pm). I mention this because it let's me place the shooting to have started at 6:41pm. I hurriedly told the woman I would call her back later and hung up.  Then I called Pete and as he answered, Megan ran by my wall.  Megan and I ran through the west parking lot (where the shooting started) and  across the street. As I talked with Pete, he had locked himself in a closet. He was calm and he felt safe. Together, Megan and I proceeded to make more distance from the parking lot, and I tried to call Sameera.  She did not answer which really prompted fear.  I hated that we had all been separated and I really felt tortured that Pete and Sameera had been trapped inside. Megan and I continued to talk with pete, tried to reach Sameera, and kept unsuspecting people from going to Trolley Square.

About 7-8 minutes after making way to a safer location and 12-13 minutes after the initial shooting, pete finally called saying he was running out the mall (after being advised by Police). Megan finally got a hold of Sameera, and it turns out that Pete had just run past her. So they were together about a block away from Megan and I.  We took off to find them, and then headed to our friends' house (Jen and Brian).  We got there around 7:10pm, and proceeded to calm down and follow the story.

At that time, the shooter was still on the loose with victims and fatalities.

You can find more thorough details about the whole scenario at:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=888784

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/12/salt.lake.shooting/index.html

As for me, I'm ok.  It's troubling to know that I heard the shots that wounded and possibly killed people.  The sound was chilling.  It was evening more frightening to be trusting a mass of frightened people and my sense of sound.  "is this real?" went through my head a couple times. I thought I handled the situation only with the grace of God, but my torture was being separated from pete and sameera. Especially not talking with Sameera.  I was not good then, but in retrospect, we were in the best possible location at the best possible time.  We had the first notice of the shooter; we had high ground; we had an outside exit apart from mall exits; and the shooter went in and passed our location so we could get out unharmed.  God followed us closely last night. It was a pure blessing, but still upsetting that other innocent people died.

In the past days, I've been processing and I've been taken through a range of emotions.  My body tends to fight between the strong, mental, responsible persona (which I feel is what I should portray) and the emotional breakdown where my body curls in a ball and just releases (which is what I want to do when I'm by myself). I'm not sure what is right, if there is a right.  In fact, I think a balance of both is probably the right answer because as much as I want to be strong and unaffected, God wants me to be humbled.

I do know that this experience won't define me.  It won't prevent me from living my life; it won't keep me inside; it won't prevent me from entering Trolley Square again though it will take time. I know that God wouldn't want me to live in fear and I know I won't.  Everything will process and unfold in the next couple of weeks.

Feel free to share the news with those you think might care, but be sure they know I don't want to talk about it. I just wanted to let you know what happened. Writing let's me reflect. The event is draining to describe over and over, but writing is calming and it is reassuring to know that everyone knows the same, complete story."

While Hugo Chaves is taking Venezuela back to 1950’s communism (you would think he would learn something from the Chinese), politicians here in Utah are throwing public money to private interests.  Okay, so this isn’t new to capitalism by a long shot, but it still ticks me off. 

 

The Utah House of Representatives passed a bill yesterday that was approved by the Utah Senate and the Governor, Jon Huntsman, Jr. to “give” the Salt Lake Real futball team $35 million from the hotel taxes.  Someone needs to help me out on this one – isn’t that money technically the county’s?  So in essence, the state legislature, pushed by the governor, has taken the county’s money, which just a week ago denied said money, to a private business owner so he could build a stadium for his team.  Oh, and the county turned down giving the team $30 million last week, so we’re out an extra $5 million.  No, $5 million in road improvements around the area is a silly idea.  Let’s give it to a sports team so they can build luxury boxes to sell for a boat load of money to corporations and pocket said money. 

 

When are we going to quit giving teams money for stadiums?  How much is Indianapolis sinking into that new stadium for the Colts?  Good thing they just won the Super Bowl.  Can you imagine spending $400 million or more on a team that sucks?  Oh, ask a Cleveland or an Arizona fan about that.

 

So Dave Checketts went out of his way to quote Thomas Paine to summarize the “struggle” he has had to endure for this stadium.  Checketts said, "That which we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly."  The quote seems to be garbled a bit and cheaply is interchanged with “cheap” and “easily” when I look it up from multiple sources.  But I think I will interpret his use of the quote in a different manner than Checketts is.  “That which the team owner gets from the public, he esteems as disposable.”  If the legislature doesn’t work some language into the deal with Real that the team has to pay back the $35 million (plus interest) if it leaves within 15 years, then the governor should have just put the money in a big pile and burned it.

It is the boondoggle that refuses to die.  Now the Governor of Utah, the state senate, and various members of the city and county are trying to do everything they can to get the team to stay in Salt Lake.  Problem is, they are still going to spend county money on this stadium that won’t generate the type of money that the soccer team management says it will.  Sure, that money could go to other places, say terribly under funded schools in one of the country’s fastest growing areas, but what fun would that be.  The politicians, now at three levels (state, county, city) are having much more fun blaming each other for either botching the first go around (they tend to forget that the county bond review board said this wasn’t worth doing – these are the money guys talking) and for throwing up road blocks to keeping the team here.  Even Larry Miller, owner of the Utah Jazz NBA team has gotten into it.  He forgets that the city paid for a large chunk of not only his basketball arena, but his triple A baseball stadium. 

 

I hate to say it, but after this I respect George Steinbrenner more.  He at least is paying for the construction of the stadium with New York just paying for infrastructure around the stadium.  You know, things like roads and utilities changes or upgrades that would be needed with the extra traffic and people in the area.

 

 

Finally - I have a full kitchen again.  Well, as full as a small condo kitchen can be.

 

Here are some pics