Going wireless, drumming

I mentioned in my previous post that I got a laptop. Right now, I’m sitting in the library, at a table in the middle of the room. No wires, no cords, but still an internet connection. Wonderful. I’m told that he Campus is in the top ten finalists for a grant that will allow the entire campus to go wireless. That would mean that I could go anywhere on campus, and still check my e-mail, write a Blog post, and so on.

Funny thing I noticed last week–someone viewed my website from the University of Portland about two days before I got here. The referring link was from the forum on my free webhost-someone else here must be using aloofhosting. It’s a small world..


Went to the game, where the Pilots won 1-0. I got there about halftime, and joined up with the drum squad. I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned the squad yet, so here goes.

Basically, lots of Villans bring lots of drums to all the home soccer games. We beat out rhythms, encourage the players, and heckle the other team. Today, #4 from the other team (UAB, which I think is University of Alabama Birmingham) kept having his shoe come untied. We looked in the program and found out that his name was Jason. And so every time his shoe was untied, we’d all yell for him to tie it, etc. Then came the offers to buy him velcro shoes, and so on. When a player subs out, we all chant Right, Left, Right as they walk off the field, and then ‘Sit down’ as they do. The two games I’ve been to, both times at least one player has gotten frustrated by us and taken a funny hop step, or several small steps in a row, or faked us out as to when he’s going to sit down.
Then we have the cheers. This game, towards the end, when we were up 1-0, we sang, to the tune of “Sweet Home Alabama”, the following. “Go home Alabama/Jason tie your shoe.” and so on. Every goal results in the Pilots flag being run down to the goal and dipped once for each point we have, as we count off each point. Then if their score is zero, we line up and sing , to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, something like the following: “One-nil, one-nil, one-nil, one-nil/one-nil, one-nil, one-nil/…”.

In general, we try to rattle the other team, and support the Pilots. I’m told that the legacy of the Villa Drum Squad is that no one likes coming to Portland to play. Apparently, the word is out. I’m told that Good Day Oregon, a morning talk show in the region, is intending to do a segment on the Squad, and may do an interview Wednesday. We’re going to be out in force for the first ever night game this Friday, and they may also be there to film us in action.

Lots of reading to do tonight, so that’s it until later.

–Nathan

PS: Not all technology is smart. While spell checking this post, Blogger Spell Ckeck didn’t recognize the word Blog. And Blogger’s only product is blogs!

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