Thank God, for Hurricane Rita moved to the right at the last moment and avoided Galveston and Houston. We still haven’t even gotten any rain here in San Marcos. This is quite a relief, as the storm was originally expected to make landfall in Galveston as a category 5 hurricane, which most likely would have resulted in the entire destruction of the island. Anyways, all is well.

This past Thursday, the TX State Bobcats took on Texas A&M University in their first game against each other since 1949. The Bobcats did lose 44-31, but they put up quite a battle. The game was intense and full of energy, as TX State, a division-1-double-a school, came dangerously close to beating out a division-1 Big 12 program.

That same night, I got into a crazy wrestling match with one of my fraternity brothers. The only thing was, he was bigger than me and definitely had some whiskey in his system. Our scuffle was crazy, with us flying all around the room. At one point, I lifted him over my head and slammed him on the kitchen island. Anyways, the match came to an unfortunate end when he had me in a head-lock and toppled over backwards; I managed to basically dive into the concrete floor, knocking my head so hard that people outside even heard it. I just saw black and then a bright flash… Concussion. No big deal though, I was fine the next morning.

Ahh, good times. Enjoy the week!

The video card on my laptop broke Thursday afternoon. This is the same thing that happened in June, and that took HP three weeks to fix! I’ve already called their tech support once, and I received the same scripted answers that I always get, that don’t offer any substantial advice, but just aggravated the situation. Anyways, I’m taking the laptop to a private repair store tomorrow, and if that doesn’t work, I’m going to have to send it off to HP in California to get it fixed. This sucks.

On the flipside of things, I signed up for a www.FreeMacMini.com account. The way the website works, you sign-up for one of the “offers” they provide, ranging in price from about $1-$10, and then they give you a “credit.” Next, you have to get 10 of your friends to sign-up and do the same thing. Then, they send you a Mac Mini computer in the mail. One of my buddies did it with the free Ipods site and it worked, so I’m going to try it with this program. I already got credit for my $1 trial offer, so if you’d like to help me out, and possibly get a computer of your own, use this link to sign-up.

Take care all, willroman.com out.

I can’t believe that it’s been four years since the horrific events of September 11th, 2001. I’ve offered up my own recounts of my feelings in the past; the experience of hearing the PA announcement, seeing the flames, the jumping people, and finally the falling towers will forever be emblazened upon my mind.

Below I have quoted a personal account of a friend who lives in New York. It is moving in it’s simplicity and honesty.

Hard to believe that it has been 4 years already since those planes hit those beautiful Towers that stood outside my window and above my city for so long.

I still remember where I was (I mentioned this story before, but sometimes it appears like it changes every year). In class, first period history in the basement floor. The floor took an unnatural rumble as the first plane hit (of course, we didn’t know what it was — construction?). Low and behold, we were quickly being evacuated (my high school was quite close to the Towers, both Lower Manhattan, several blocks, doesn’t take a long time to walk there) once the second one hit. Before then we were told what happened on the PA, and some kids in class started crying because they had parents who work there.

Once outside, the school’s security guards told us to just move toward the direction opposite of the towers. I could have entered the subway and went home like many a friend did: I had the chance before even the ‘ways were shut down. But I stayed to watch, as many other people did.

We huddled and watched the towers. To watch what looked like paper and other objects falling out of the billowing windows, fast into the concrete below. But it wasn’t paper. They were people. People who saw the light down below. No place for them in the building. I often wonder what they saw when they jumped the distance. Was it the fire that forced them out? Undoubtfully. Or did they see something spectacular, something you can not see nor understand unless you were in the same position they were? Maybe they were already dead before they jumped. Or they thought they were.

I wonder.

It was only a matter of time that the towers fell, the both of them, eventually.

We didn’t think they would fall. No one who was watching there with me did. We thought we were going to keep watching, however long it took, until they burned out.

The first one fell, and smoke and who-knows-what gathered and I ran. I ran and met up with some friends, luckily, a friend by the name of Sid who I never saw again after that high school year was over (my Senior). We walked up Manhattan, away, away. That was when the second building fell. (I ran after the first, didn’t stay to look at the second fall, but we felt it. We all felt it.) After a hundred Manhattan blocks, an eternity, Sid took me home with him in what I believed to be Harlem. Maybe I was the only white kid there, it seemed (it seemed). But Sid took me home and we watched the telly and replays until the subways (some of them) were in working order so I could ride back with other subway riders that seemed just as fazed as I was.

And they talked in the subways of what they thought happened or what one knew what happened and where they were when it happened and if it would happen again really soon. No one felt they were not safe in the subways though. They were indestructible. They always take us New Yorkers home, however late sometimes.

Anyway, I babble. I look our my window now and see two bright beams shooting upward, higher then the Twin Towers even could have reached, and I’m somewhat satisified by this.

Rest the souls of the neighbors I lost this day and elsewhere around our ways. What a horrible mistake it seems the terrorists made. It still doesn’t make sense.

But sometimes it doesn’t have to.

As I’m sure you know, the Gulf Coast was hit by a category-5 hurricane a week ago. I’ve been glued to the television, watching 24-hr updates and following the latest developments. My hometown of Houston has received over 100,000 refugees from New Orleans, and the state of Texas is holding over 240,000 refugees from the disaster. I’m sure a further explanation of the devastation is not needed, but I will say that I have tried to help out as much as possible: donating clothing, what money I can spare, and talking with the few people I know who were directly impacted. This event ranks as one of the top-2 worst natural disasters to hit America… It blows the mind.

I cannot begin to describe the wave of emotions I have experienced following the hurricane, break of the levies, the flooding of New Orleans, the slow governmental response, and the following life stories. To see over 20,000 people housed in the Astrodome, to hear that my old neighbors are housing displaced families, to talk with survivors… Speechless.

Tonight was the Steps mixer with ADΠ to celeberate our new pledge class. We finished rush strong with a good group of 26 quality guys coming through. We’re all excited about the potentia they all contain… and I am thankful it’s all over. Partying every night takes its toll and I need to get back to work and studies.

On a different note, I engaged in one of those great 3am talks with a good friend of mine. We contemplated life, God, politics, theology, philosophy, and even the details of a Jack-in-the-Box taco. The little things are what makes life worth living.