Halloween Nostalgia

You know how you can tell TigerBlog's kids are a little older?

He didn't write about Halloween at all yesterday. Had this been 10 years ago, it would have all been about how his 10 year old and seven year old had agonized over costumes, finally found ones that did or did not work for them and then spent the evening traipsing throughout the neighborhood collecting candy.

Ah, those were the days. TigerBlog is actually getting quite nostalgic thinking about it.

He has a great old picture somewhere, an actual picture, of TigerBlog Jr. as Harry Potter and Miss TigerBlog as a cat. There was also the year when TBJ wore a rabbit costume, and when he knocked on a neighbor's door, he was told that he looked like such a cute mouse.

And both of TB's kids wore the bear costume more than once. And the line at the pizza place? It's longer on Halloween than any other night of the year. 

Now? MTB had a big test today and couldn't be bothered to care about Halloween. And TBJ? TigerBlog is just happy that the holiday has come and gone and he and his Sacred Heart lacrosse teammates managed to get through it without landing in the news.

TigerBlog saw a picture of TBJ and two of his friends in their costumes. One of the friends was Ivan Drago from "Rocky IV." The other appeared to be dressed as a roulette wheel. As for TBJ, he said he was a cowboy, but he mostly looked like a kid from the Northeast in a straw hat.

TigerBlog works with a lot of people who have kids in that age range, or younger. They all seemed to come up with cute ideas for costumes, or even improvised combinations, including one "Disney Princess/Pirate" that his colleague's daughter went with.

Halloween, of course, is one of the great days of the year. There's candy, candy and more candy, and the little kids - all in their preferred looks - can't get enough of it.

TigerBlog always preferred to be the one who stayed in and opened the door for the kids who came to the door. There were a lot of years where he said to himself "okay, just one more mini Kit Kat and that'll be enough" as he waited.

It's also the start of a sprint from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year's. Of all the times of the year that fly by, this could be the one that zips by the fastest.

Today is Nov. 1. Within the next 12 days, Princeton will have every one of its fall teams, plus men's and women's hockey, basketball, swimming and fencing plus wrestling all compete.

In yesterday's event meeting, the schedule for the weekend of Nov. 10-12 was laid out. That'll be a very, very busy one, and it could get busier with some possible postseason events.

Actually, three Princeton teams will definitely be competing in the postseason: field hockey (which has clinched the Ivy League's automatic NCAA tournament bid) and the men's and women's cross country teams (who will be in the NCAA regionals). The women's soccer team needs a win and Columbia loss or tie (or tie and Columbia loss) to clinch the automatic NCAA bid, but the Tigers and their top 10 RPI figure to be in the NCAA tournament regardless.

Those weekends are the fun ones for TigerBlog.

This coming weekend isn't quite as busy. There is ONLY football, field hockey and both soccers (all at Penn), women's hockey at Colgate and Cornell, men's hockey here against those same opponents, women's volleyball here against Columbia and Cornell and women's fencing, men's tennis and women's tennis on the road.

Oh, and wrestling. That's a huge one.

Jadwin Gym will be the home Sunday for the NWCA All-Star Classic, which begins at 3 (and, unfortunately, there is an admission charge for this one). There will be high-profile wrestlers from around the country here, with wrestling on two mats - men on one, women on the other.

Everything you need for the event is right HERE.

What else an TB tell you today?

Ah, that's what he forgot.

The Jadwin lobby project is nearing its conclusion. Remember how he told you how it's going to look great when it's done, back when construction started in August?

Well, you'll be able to judge for yourself in the next few days. The project has resulted in a lot of hammering and noise upstairs for the last few months, but TigerBlog is okay with that, because 1) the finished product will be great and 2) his office is so far downstairs he couldn't hear it anyway.