Cheese and macaroni

I've been more behind on my updates than usual, but I'm hoping to do a little make-up blogging over the holidays...First, I want to clarify a couple of things about the last post, since I've gotten quite a few emails and comments (who knew Pee Wee Herman would generate such a response?!): The two lines quoted are in fact the only part of "Deep in the Heart of Texas" I know. And, for those of you who inquired, that is not my favorite part of that movie. My favorite part would be a toss-up between the part with the Mr. T cereal, the part where Pee Wee dances to "Tequila" and then rides a motorcycle into a billboard, the part where he rescues the snakes from the pet store and then passes out, or the part where the butler tells him Francis is taking a bath and Pee Wee says, "Oh, really? Where are they hosing him down?"...Actually, I think I love pretty much the whole movie, except the part with the scary trucker that freaks me out completely.

But I digress. One of the greatest coincidences of this trip happened during my second-to-last interview in Dallas, with John Conway. A little history: When I was a student at Notre Dame, I was on the staff of Scholastic magazine, the oldest continuous college publication in the US (or something like that), and every year around April 1, we published an edition known as Sarcastic lampooning various campus news, events, figureheads, etc. Those of us on staff who were historically minded liked to get inspiration from past editions of the magazine, one of our favorites being the 1986 Sarcastic. That beacon of cleverness and entertainment features a hilarious interview with the newly elected leaders of student government, who had run on the platform of starting a campus revolution by changing the dining hall nomenclature from "macaroni and cheese" to "cheese and macaroni." And they beat a guy who had been preparing to be student body president since Freshmen O. Ouch. Anyway, a few of us enjoy this issue so much that before we graduated, we went and made copies of it so we could look at it years later. And for the past five years, I have kept my copy, and I even brought it on this trip, because it always cheers me up when I'm having a bad day. I have come to believe that there is no problem so great that it cannot be overcome by McDonald's French fries and the 1986 Sarcastic. Anyway, John and I sat down and started to talk, and he starts telling me about his roommates in Cavanaugh Hall, and how he managed their campaign for student government using only signs written in crayon. At which point I actually stopped the interview and said, "Oh my God, you were roommates with Mike and Don?!" Which was a little weird, and completely unprofessional, but once I explained to him that I had a magazine that is pretty much dedicated to his old roommates in the trunk of my car, he totally understood. And it was a funny sort of interview, because I actually was able to remind him specifically about things in his own past that he had forgotten.

Unfortunately, immediately after that interview, the cold that had been threatening to happen all week hit hard. I was spending the weekend at the home of Greg and Susan, who were out of town all weekend, and the only one home was their youngest son Zack, who is staying at home while finishing up college. I had gone to meet them and pick up the key the day before, which was a little weird even for this trip. So after my interview with John, I drove to their house, lugged in my gear, put on my pjs and took a nice 3-hour nap. Then I woke up, picked at my dinner, and slept for another 12 hours. That's when I know I'm not feeling good. But the good news was that I had my own space to rest and recover, and Zack was a very gracious host, checking on me and making me special tea for my throat. Since I couldn't have my mom, it was nice to have a brother stand-in for the weekend. On Monday morning, I was feeling better, so I packed up and headed down to Houston as planned.