Tim’s Blog

I decided to go to the big Montana State University vs. University of Montana football game this year, but I didn’t want to wait in line for tickets. Luckily one of my roommates had gotten a media pass from the radio station where he works and didn’t mind making forgeries. At Kinkos we were able to make color copies and laminate them, making them look as good as the original.

I convinced my buddy Chris to go along with me and act as a reporter.

The day before the game I went to the Salvation Army and bought a pinstripe suit jacket and a pink spotted tie for a grand total of $1.87. I put on a striped shirt, borrowed a hat from my roommate, and my outfit was complete.

The morning of the game, I woke up early and Chris and I went to an Eggs and a Keg party. I brought a small pad of paper and a pen for taking notes.

After an excellent breakfast and some beers, Chris and I continued on to the game. Our first stop was the tailgate area. I interviewed a some people and had a few of them convinced that I was a real reporter.

We were able to enter the stadium with our forged media passes without a problem. I got lots of comments about my awesome attire.

During the second half, I decided it was time to try and enter the press box. You can see the press box and the balcony in the picture above. Chris and I managed to find the elevators, but he chickened out and decided not to go up.

I flashed my media pass at the elevator operator and made small talk as we ascended to the 5th floor. I got out on the press level and immediately began wandering around, looking for anything interesting. I found the balcony overlooking the field and snapped a couple of pictures. Notice the nice view of the mountains.

Very shortly after I took the pictures, a lady approached me and asked to see my pass. She took a quick glance at it and said that it should say “Cat - Griz” on it. I guess there were different media passes for this particular game and the only person that knew it was in the press box. She then pointed me to the exit and told me to leave. Luckily I had already achieved my goal of making it into the press box and taking photographic evidence of it. Chris and I went back to the stands and watched the rest of the game.

We didn’t end up winning the game. We were in the lead for a little bit, but we fell way behind in the second half. UM was undefeated so we weren’t expected to win. I took lots more pictures of the game and the associated festivities.

No Shave November is going pretty good. I have a beard with only a couple of bare patches. John is winning with the best looking facial hair. Luke and I are pretty even. No pictures yet, I’ll post some at the end of week after it’s all done.

I got back from a good Thanksgiving with my family. It was pretty much the same thing as the last couple of Thanksgivings. I suppose that’s the point of tradition. We went to my Aunt and Uncle’s house in Seattle and had a feast. Then we went to Whidbey Island for a short visit.

Less than 2 weeks of class left, then a week of finals. In that time I have to write a program in Lisp to solve gomoku for my Artificial Intelligence class. Everyone in the class is writing one, then we are having a class tournament. I have read a couple of papers on the subject and I hope to be able to write a winning program.

So it begins. John, Luke and I are all not shaving for the month of November.