TCU News

Stuart's Wedding Weekend
DATE: April 23-24
Stuart, also known as simply "Stu", was my new member captain back in 2000. This weekend, he got married to Katie, whom he had been dating for quite some time. I was honored to be a guest at his wedding and the rehearsal dinner the night before. I took Jane, who had a very good time doing the whole wedding thing. I'm surprised she didn't bring a notepad along, but apparently Katie's idea of a perfect wedding is quite similar to Jane's.

One of the best parts about the wedding was all the old BYX guys that were present. Scott Munson, Cody Dick, James Carter, Ron Mayott, Ric Moseley, Gary McGregor, and Andrew Ripley were all there representing the "old" segment, while Geoff, Santi, Troy, and I were there to represent the "new".
The wedding was at Fort Worth Presbyterian Church, and the reception was at the Fort Worth Club downtown. Plenty of dancing and plenty of single Alpha Chi girls too. And oh yes, I caught the garter. That makes me 2 for 2 including Genna's wedding last summer.
After the wedding, I convinced many of the old BYX guys to go to the Odessa House, for the first ever "Odessa Rave." I knew it wouldn't take too much convincing of Munson and Ripley, since they are original Odessa House men (and on some levels, manlier men than the current residents). To prove they were really in town -

Softball
DATE: April 24-25
It wasn't a good weekend for softball. First of all, Nena calls me at 7:45am Saturday to inform me that Frats at Bat was rained out. This was a major bummer, especially since it's our senior year and it got rained out last year too. Then on Sunday, we were set to play 2 softball playoff games for the intramural season. We beat Lambda Chi 2 in the first game. Then in the second game, we lost a nailbiter in the last inning to Rammed a Guy 1, I mean Lambda Chi 1. And thus, our 2004 softball season came to an end, one game away from the finals. On the bright side, there's a rumor going around that Frats-at-Bat might be rescheduled for Thursday, the first dead day. I am very much in support of this, and I hope Chi Omega can make it happen!

Zeta Formal Night (Kind Of)
DATE: April 16
Sunni (from San Antonio fame) invited me to Zeta Tau Alpha formal on Friday night. I was very excited; I had never been to a Zeta event before, and they are great girls for sure! Well, unfortunately, Sunni called me Thursday and said that formal had been cancelled, due to some circumstances out of their control. Rather than let a perfectly good night go wasted, we went out for a night on the town. Dinner at Pedro's Trailer Park (faux dive) and then downtown to the Main Street Arts Festival. No formal attire, but it was still a very good time.

Walker Ranch Campout
DATE: April 16-17
Cici held another campout at her family ranch in Mineral Wells. It was, as usual, a blast. I did not get there until 12:30, after my night with Sunni (I tried to convince Sunni to come, but it was no use.) There was plenty of time for bonfire building, relaxing, and teasing the girls...just like a middle school youth lock-in, I like to think. I left the next day for Worth Ranch, where Evan was camping with Troop 62. They were canoeing on the Brazos...fun times as always.

Here's the crew this time...a lot of usual suspects, and due to Geoff's absence, I was the resident old man.

A few things to note...why is Erin upset? Why does Amanda's hair look so big? Is that a Holstein bandana on my head?

Ben's 21st Birthday
DATE: April 17
Saturday was Ben's 21st birthday. What a great day to turn 21...unlike mine, on a Monday. Ben's two best friends from high school came in for the event, as did his sister Carrie. I saw them here and there, but the guys reported back to me that Ben did indeed enjoy his birthday and it was worth it for them to fly down from Omaha.

BYX Softball
DATE: April 15
The regular season is finished, and BYX went 5-0. Now it's playoff time and we are the #1 overall seed. First game is April 22.

A&M Island Party

DATES: April 3
Every BYX chapter holds their own Island Party. This weekend, the Texas A&M chapter of BYX held theirs, and I made the trip to College Station with some friends. About 20 people from TCU came. I drove down in Meredith Baker's car, but I left early with Scott, who was there for an ultimate frisbee tournament that happened in the morning. We weren't as thrilled to see Shane Barnard & Shane Everett since they were at the TCU Island Party our freshman year and we saw them then. A&M's IP is a much larger scale event than ours is. At a school of 45,000, it should be. They have a perfect location to hold it, an amphitheater about a mile from campus. I called several Aggie friends, since, as I found out, anyone who went to high school in Texas has an old friend who goes to A&M. I made calls, but didn't end up seeing anyone, since Scott and I left early. Mary Chester showed up after I left, as did Ryan Couch. But oh well...there will be another time.

Saturday Night Live...on Friday
DATES: April 2
It's sad...the last BYX theme party of my college career was this weekend. The theme: "Saturday Night Live." Actually, I was only at the party for about an hour. I had to cut out early to see Mingo Fishtrap play at the Ridglea. It had been 5 months since the last time I saw them, and I was going through withdrawals! They were freaking awesome, and Erick Creed came along with a "date." Kara and Erick both loved Mingo so much they bought both CDs.

New Neighbors
DATE: beginning May or June
Jane, Cici, and Alonso are moving to Cockrell. They are going to rent the Zeta house beginning in May or June. That's a mere 50 yards away from my front porch...I don't know how I feel about this, but I do know that I'm only on the lease until August, so we will be neighbors for only a short amount of time.
OTHER COCKRELL RENTING NEWS...John, Tim, and Ashley have found a new place to live, leaving Little Cockrell available for rent. I mentioned this to Lisa today, since she is being "evicted". Hopefully, I will have some new Tri-Delt next door neighbors...

Party Time in Fort Worth on Saturday
DATE: April 3
Scott and I got back from College Station in time to go to Clint Gage's house for a get-together. First of all, Clint lives with two girls, which isn't the norm, but I still find intriguing. Second, he has a dog that I am very impressed with. Normally, I don't like dogs at all, but "Bock" is the greatest canine ever. Evidence:
Clint: "Bock, get me a beer."
Bock: (goes to fridge, opens door, grabs beer, and returns it to Clint).
Clint: "Good boy."
I was amazed. I had no idea a dog could be taught such a great trick. Later, I tried it on Bock while we were in the living room. Bock returned with a Keystone Light...I guess he's still learning.

BYX Softball
DATE: April 1
We had a "doubleheader" on Thursday, when actually Kappa Sig didn't show to game 1. Game 2 was against Fiji, and it was...well...a beating. We won 27-4 after scoring all 27 runs in the first two innings. We batted through the order 3 times, and then went 1-2-3 somehow in the third inning. That makes BYX Softball "Defending the Title" 3-0 in league play this year, and Dietz computed that he's 13-0 as a starter.

Fiji Poker Tournament
DATES: March 6
The first annual Texas Hold'em Tournament was held several weeks ago. From what I could see, and from what some of the Fiji guys said, it was a big success. Over 120 people showed up. I drew a pretty difficult table. When 8 of the 10 guys know some sort of chip shuffling tricks, you know there's experience. My table included Jose, a guy who runs a weekly 2-4 game, and the eventual tournament winner. Jose did the best of my poker buddies, finishing 9th. Carrie's (my boss at the admissions office) husband David finished 6th. Scott held on for a long time, and finished 15th, and the rest of us not that close. I at least finished in the top half.
Overall, it was a blast; I would've done it again the next day. Can't wait for next year.

Other Spring Breaks
DATES: March 11-March 21
There's a variety of great locations that my friends went to this spring break. In no particular order:

Life & Times of Ian

22nd Birthday

DATE: April 21
Wednesday was my 22nd birthday. It was spent in grand fashion, with the evening starting at the chancellor's house for dinner. It wasn't just me, it was all of Student Foundation. But let's just call it my birthday anyway. It actually wasn't just a dinner for my birthday either, since it was Alicia Kirkpatrick's 20th birthday as well. Hallie took a picture of us standing on the fountain (while everyone sang happy birthday to us). The sun was setting behind us, so the picture isn't that good (see right). Oh well, still a great party.
Next, I met friends at Marble Slab for (what else) ice cream. That was good, friends are good, birthdays are good. Finally, all birthdays should end at the Pub. Or as Blake says, "all days should end at the Pub." They wouldn't give me anything free, since it was my 22nd birthday, not 21st. It's not like I try this trick every week; I did show the bartender my ID to prove it.

Ian and Chancellor Boschini celebrate a milestone.

Job Hunt
DATE: April 21
I passed the first round phone interview with Accenture on Wednesday. It was great that Scott Munson was in town this weekend, because I could talk to him face to face about Accenture, the firm he's been working for since 2001. He said great things about the Chicago office, so I might have to make that #1 on my list. My other options include Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Detroit, DC, Hartford, Boston, and NYC.

Haircut
DATE: April 23
I got a haircut on Friday. I usually go to Great Clips because of the convenience, but cuts were $12, way too much for a cheap haircut. I drove around, trying to find a Pro-Cuts, but could not. Finally, I settled on Westcliff Barber, which I had been to once before at the recommendation of David Durnil. They do a good job, and the place has a very old-school barbershop feel. Plus, they use a straight razor to shave your neck. Very cool.
VIEWS: man, this is a slow news week.

Some Bad News
DATE: April 22
Hans finally figured out some concrete dates on when my flight benefits run out. The black day - June 8, 30 days after my graduation from college. At that point, I will cease to be his dependent and therefore no longer immediate family, and therefore on my own for flying. Oh sure, I will still have some discounts available to me, but not like what I have now. I think I should learn a little bit about the airline business. Like, how do you buy a ticket? How much does it cost? I've never had to think about these things.

Worth Ranch
DATES: Memorial Day to Fourth of July
Well, it's official. I sent in my application and I've been hired as the aquatics director for summer 2004. It's going to be a blast!! Joe Orbock is working, but the rest of the class of '98 are a bunch of pansies.

Worth Ranch
DATES: June, mostly
I'm thinking about working at Worth Ranch again this summer. It's the first summer with no internship or surgery since I've been in college, so why not? I haven't worked since 2000, so I'm really looking forward to it. If you're an old Worth staffer, class of '98 (Zach, Joe, B-Mac, Storrie, Jay, Jacob, Kuhns, Randi) you best be coming back. Best summer ever!

FM Connection (and outlying areas)

Rob's Poker Winnings
DATE: April 18
Rob was in contention for winning the most play money on PokerRoom.com this week. Tonight, he made the dream come true and ended up with $137,000 in play money at the hold'em tables. The fruits of his labor: a green PokerRoom.com t-shirt, which Josh Lund has already offered to buy for $40.

Tommy Meets Roy Williams!
DATE: Final Four Weekend
Tommy has graduated from UT and now works in San Antonio. During Final Four Weekend, which was in San Antonio, he was at some restaurant/dinner/event where he got to meet Roy Williams, coach of the historic UNC Tarheel basketball team. (Tarheel born and Tarheel bred...) There are other people in the photo, as you can see. Tommy explained: "that fat man behind Roy? That's Rick Majerus, Utah coach." The fattest man in college basketball, right there in the same room as Tommy. Amazing.

News?
DATE: March 28
I guess it's been awhile since I visited Austin (5 weeks). No news to report. Real League drafted a week ago, for its 6th year of existence.

The Homefront

Family Visit to Fort Worth
DATE: March 28
Hans, Pam, and Evan came to TCU today to see me. My mom's sister, Aunt JoAnn, is in town, so I coerced them into coming here rather than me going there. I had this great idea of going to Pedro's Trailer Park for lunch, but apparently it's closed on Sundays. We went to Mi Cocina instead, and I gave Aunt JoAnn a brief tour of Fort Worth. Good times.

THE VOORN PROJECT, ltd.