Thunder in January

Last night, Alex and I went to a Wichita Thunder Hockey game. Initally we got our tickets for free from our real estate lady but decided to upgrade our tickets for a mere $5. It was SO worth it. Did I mention that it was our first professional hockey experience ever?

There were over 4,000 people at the game, most of which were packed into the upper balcony (i.e. the free seats). The Thunder played against the Laredo, Texas Bucks and totally kicked their butts! Our seats were only 5 rows behind the goal so we got to see tons of action. Of course, there were fights- 2 almost fights and one big one that happened right in front of us. Both the Thunder and the Laredos had to sit in the penalty box for the last 2 minutes of the game for that one. Some of the coolest moments were when the refs actually leaped over the puck to keep the puck in play and when some of the locals decided to show off their colorful art of the spoken language. A "lady" (and I use that term lightly) named Cindy constantly reminded the Laredo goally name Jung that he indeed "SUCKED" the entire game, which he did to our benefit. And how could I forget! We even got to witness a "Hat trick". So you haven't got a clue as to what that is? No problem. Neither did I. It's when the same player makes 3 points in one game. It rarely happens unless you're Wayne Gretsky. In honor of the players accomplishment, fans throw their hats onto the ice as a sign of respect. I'm not sure what they do with the hats afterwards, but it was neat to see. In the end we won 6-3.

School is back in session once again. The break didn't seem nearly as long as I wanted it to be. As always, the first week of class is always the easiest. For the most part the classes are shorter and most of the time you discuss the next 16 weeks of homework assignments. I'm excited that the overall work load this semester doesn't seem to be as heavy as in the past and what makes me the most excited is that there is very little busy work. I hate busy work.

The down side is that I have a 30 page research paper due at the end of the semester on ANY historical topic that I chose. It could be a theme, and event, a time period, a person. So far I'm leaning toward the history of Migrant Workers focusing mainly on the Bracero Movement. My second choice is the inner workings of households in the 1870s. And my third choice is Advertising in the 1940s (pre WW2). I have to have at least 5 primary sources and at least 10 secondary sources. In the end I'll have double that. As overwhelming as it seems at this point, I'm actually looking forward to it. I'm always up for some great ideas as to what to write about. What historical topic would you chose?