What happened today

I spent the first half of the day tearing shingles off the roof of a house with a pitchfork. Sorry you couldn't come, Michael.

Anyways, the second half of the day I spent, mostly, driving. AcaDeca State was held at Sandra Day O'Connor High School this year. That's in north Phoenix, about an hour away. I drove there in time to see Red Mountain get absolutely creamed at Super Quiz. (I tied their score, and I haven't even read the packets.) Seriously, RM was like 8 points behind CDO.

Anyway, after that I went with the team, for the first time ever, to the mall during the break at State. Previously I'd had All-State auditions to rush to and back from. We went to the only commercial complex anywhere near the high school. There wasn't a whole lot interesting there. We did go to a sporting goods store and buy a football, intending to while away the time with a relaxing game of physical prowess. But some security lady rode up on a golf cart and told us, and I quote, "If you guys want to play football, you'll have to find a field. This is a parking lot." Well, we found a field, and then commenced to go behind the stores into a seldom-used parking lot/driveway. There we played football, with all the finesse and power eight Academic Decathlon competitors could muster. But the security lady was sneakier than we gave her credit for. She drove up again, but this time in a station wagon. We didn't know it was her until too late, so we trudged back toward the van.

Playing football in the hot sun has a tendency to make one thirsty. NIck and I really wanted water. We didn't, of course, want to pay for it. We wanted a water fountain. So we went into Barnes and Noble, where everyone else was. No drinking fountain. So we looked around for other stores that might have that beacon of life within them. We saw a Petco, and when we got in, lo and behold there were two drinking fountains. Eagerly anticipating that luscious nectar of life, I tenderly depressed the valve activator. Nothing came out. I tried the other. Nothing. Thus foiled, we went next door to Staples, which had one (1) drinking fountain. It did work, though.

About then it was time for the awards banquet. I couldn't go, of course: I had no suit and I had no seat. So I went off in search of food. I had a serious jones for some Arby's, and I figured "Hey, how hard could it be to find an Arby's somewhere around here?" Very hard is the answer, it turned out. I drove down the 17 for a bit, and then exited on Bell Road. Turning east, I found many fast food restaurants (including one called "Burger Mania"), but no Arby's. Furthermore, the quality of my surroundings seemed to be degrading, and soon there was not much besides car dealerships around me. I turned around and got back on the 17. Going north a mile or two, I got off again and this time went west. I drove many miles, eventually finding myself at Arrowhead Town Center, where I thought I might find an attractive fast-food restaurant. By this point I was despairing of finding an Arby's, and ready to get something else so that I could return in time for the awards ceremony. I had seen a Panda Express a ways back, so I decided to go there.

Just as a hint, Chinese food is not particularly easy to eat while driving. Using a fork to spear pieces of meat or grab noodles is no mean feat at 45 mph. But I managed it. While I was driving back, I noted an Arby's on the side of the road. The same road I had driven to Panda Express on. It would even have been a nice, convenient right hand turn. At least I got back to the school in time.

For some reason, the powers that be had decided to hold the awards ceremony in Sandra Day O'Connor's miniscule auditorium. They had to place about 20 of the teams behind the tables holding the medals and trophies. We all crammed in somehow, and the ceremony happened. CDO won, by more than 3000 points. Red Mountain came in second, beating Mountain view by a whole 63 points. Yeah. They deserved it; they were a very good team and had worked very hard.

One last thing: I, um, accidentally tailgated Mountain View's coach Mr. Canaday on the way home. You see, he passed me on the 202, driving a large white MPS van, and I kind of assumed that it was Miss Christensen. So I sped up and followed the van. When it finally pulled over to get off at Gilbert, I looked over to see who was driving. Mr. Canaday. I wonder if he noticed.