Social Media Break

Happy St. Patrick’s Day ! That means Lent is nearly over and I have to admit this Social Media Break has been a little tougher than in years past. I haven’t really missed it …. I’ve thought about keeping this break going through the election. I promised when we started this thing that I would avoid politics and I meant it. It does grind my gears that all these years later and we are back where we started and that just seems stupid on so many levels.

However during this break I have thought several times about specific people that I “check in” with on the various social media apps and wondered how they are doing. Golden has kept me informed of news events I need to know about and she has apparently created a TickyTock playlist for me assuming that we are all still allowed to use TickyTock by the time I get back.

So what have I been up to ?

I got to take a work trip in late Feb. as part of that trip I got to see Golden, walk around a bookstore and eat some good food. I also got to go watch my boss get inducted into the Engineering Hall of Fame which was really really cool. See he’s amazing. I helped prepare his application for induction even after he told us to stop. He said he wouldn’t win so I doubled down. I really wanted this for him. When we found out he won he looked me right in the eye and said I want you there. I said yes sir. I booked my hotel room and waited fro someone to steal my seat. Turns out he bought his OWN table for his family (brothers/sisters) and I had a seat at that table. I felt super important and got to meet many people who I’ve e-mailed many times over the years but never talked to in person. That was pretty cool.

My nephew and his wife just celebrated their one year anniversary. I think they had a good time, they are hoping to take a trip once the summer starts to really celebrate it. I hope they do. They have been through a lot this year but they are still standing, things are still moving forward. They are about to move from a cramped townhouse to a starter house (renting) with a yard for their big furbaby. My nephew is about to finish his college life and I think that’s sinking in some. The real world is waiting I’m not sure he’s ready but he’s going to figure it out quickly.

I just got a new phone …. I got the Samsung S24+ mine was ok … but it was starting to lag and kept telling me it had no storage even though I had removed everything I could off of it. I just got tired of fighting it and said I’m gonna get a new one.

My Auburn Tigers have just lit up the place in basketball and my gymnastics team is gearing up for the SEC tournament. My poor Gymnastics team they were doing so well and the last few meets seemed to have gone off the rails. The SEC Gymnastics championship are in Baton Rouge and I almost bought tickets but cooler heads prevailed. I mean I just bought a phone, taxes are coming up, and work is still moving pretty fast. I like to think they miss my peptalks.

Golden and I did secure out Dragon Con memberships the other … yippie something to look forward too! :D I am also hoping to get to her house for her birthday again this year. If nothing else we’ll be in the same room. We might both be sleeping through the movie of choice …there will also be laughter, fun, and good food.

So until I get back online … I hope you are all doing well, having a good week/day and I’ll see you all again soon!

 

Marcy

An Open Letter to Coach Caddy

I write this the morning of the 2022 Iron Bowl, but it has been rattling around in my head for days, maybe even weeks. This is not a call for Auburn to give this man the team outright, tho I admit I'd love to see that happen, it is simply a letter from one Auburn Alumni to another. 

Dear Mr. Williams, 

Thank you.

While that doesn’t seem like enough that’s really what it boils down to, thank you. Thank you for reminding the Auburn Family what it means to be a family. Thank you for giving this fan base something to rally around. Thank you for showing this team what they are capable of then helping them unlock it on the field. Thank you for salvaging a season that frankly didn’t have a lot going for it. Thank you for showing the character and heart that an Auburn Alumni has 24/7. Thank you for showing kids that there is another way and that you can in fact break and rebuild the mold at the same time. Thank you for not giving up on these boys. Thank you for not phoning it in the last few games but going out there and fighting for every second of every game since you took the helm of the ship. Thank you for making this fun again. Thank you for letting passion overtake polished. Thank you for speaking from your heart not a playbook handed to you from the University. Thank you for making mistakes and learning from them. Thank you for being the living embodiment of the Auburn Creed. Thank you for all the memories I have of watching you run that ball down the field in such amazing ways. Thank you for understanding TEAM vs ME. Thank you for completing your degree and showing the true character of an Auburn Man. Thank you for teaching kids everywhere that you could do both, have a career and an education. 

       

Let’s go out and do it one more time and let the momentum that you have built carry on for years to come cause the most important thing you have taught us this year is that when the fan base is behind these Tigers, they can do AUsome things. 

Mostly, thank you for that, may it be a lesson we always remember.   

Marcy

AUBURN GYMNASTICS

Before I shut down my Social Media for Lent I have to give a shout out to my Auburn Gymnastics team and let them know that while I’m not going to be cheering them on online I’ll be thinking about them daily, sending them positive vibes, watching from the sidelines and wishing them the best SEC Championship ever cause this team deserves all of it.

It’s been a fantastic season for the Auburn Tigers …. 4-0 at home … 3-2 away … 7-2 overall. Their only losses in the SEC coming at the hands of Florida (the eventual SEC Champions) and Alabama, whom they came within like 3 toe point points and a stuck landing of taking down in Tuscaloosa. Read that again .. I’ll wait. As a matter of fact if Auburn had gotten the score they put up against Florida in Tuscaloosa they would have tied the meet with Alabama. It was their second highest road score of the season and gave them a 2^nd place finish in the SEC Regular Season. Just saying this team is capable of taking the entire tournament. 

This does not come as a surprise to me. I have seen this coming. As I think I have said before on this Blog, my dorm for all 4 years at Auburn was the closest dorm (at that time) to their practice facility so they would put the Freshman Gymnast in our dorm. In an effort to support these ladies we formed a group that would go to all the home meets and cheer the girls on. We'd put up things in their hallway with positive thoughts and encouragement for the weeks they had away meets. Heck I often drove them to practice so they wouldn't have to walk it. Gotta save those legs, they might have also been running late ha! During my 2nd or third year the group of girls in our dorm (cause I lived in the dorm all 4 years at Auburn (my last two years in a room by myself) since I had a job in the dorm that basically paid me to do my homework) came to the front desk one day while I was working and said that they really appreciated my support and loved that I came to the meets but politely asked that I go to get a drink or a snack during beam cause I could be distracting.  

Jeff Graba, pictured, and his staff have been building to this for years. He joined this program in 2010, I believe, and had a vision from his first day in the gym with these ladies. They have been planning for it, recruiting for it, and preparing these ladies for this shot, this chance and now they are going to grab it and hold it high. Graba has given them the tools, the coaches, the drive, the determination and the belief that they can win it all. Or completely fall on their faces … that’s how Gymnastics works. It’s not what you have done it’s what you are doing right this second that counts. No matter what happens this year has been so much fun to watch and this team can only build on this moving forward. I've said it before and will say it again. The FUTURE of Auburn Gymnastics is strong. 

There are 6 freshmen on this team, several that have already made their mark on the events this season including the amazing Derrian Gobourne who is so much fun to watch. If you haven’t seen her perform yet you really need to treat yourself and look her up, she’s won several all-around titles this year and I can’t wait to watch her evolve over the next few years. She can only get better which should scare the rest of the teams out there.  She’s powerful, talented and just a joy to watch work. Then you have 5 Sophomores on the team ready to take over leadership roles when asked including my home town favorite Allie Riddle an excellent Beam walker who does the other events pretty well too. I can't wait to watch her over the next few years too. She's from my hometown so I have a special place in my heart for her. GO UMS Bulldogs.  

Our Seniors include Sam Cerio (Engineering), Taylor Krippner (Human Sciences), A’Miracal Phillips (Science and Mathematics), and the always consistent Abby Milliet (business). I’m gonna miss these ladies but look forward to seeing what’s in store from them off the mats. Each of these ladies have served as leaders on this team and are a large reason why this team is in the place they are in right this second. They have helped build the foundation that the rest will build upon moving forward. 

Auburn has two more meets before the SEC Championships (in New Orleans March 23^rd BTW). One with Alabama, this weekend March 9^th in Birmingham and another with Air Force Academy in the Auburn Arena on the 15^th. Both events are great and fun events and allow Auburn to get that Bama monkey off their back before the SEC Championship which sets you up for the NCAA Championships which will be in Texas in April. I have no doubt in my mind that they can and will beat BAMA before this season ends. It's gonna happen. 

I tell you all of this because these young ladies deserve your love, support and respect. They put in the hours in the gym, more so during the off season. Their hard work is definitely paying off and it’s showing. Now we as fans need to continue to show up for them. 

War Eagle Ladies …. FINISH STONG!!!!!

Marcy (@beaslma)

DRAGON CON DAY 2

Today has been all about missed connections. From not being able to connect to the interwebs to not being able to connect with a stupid bus, it’s been one giant day of not being able to connect, even within our own group. Let’s start at the beginning. The alarms went off around 6 ish …. Far earlier than any one human who is on vacation should be getting up. One of our crew arrived last night and had to pick up her badge and we wanted to be there right at 8 so we could get good spots for the parade at 10.  Last year we watched it on TV at the hotel mostly cause Saturday’s at Dragon Con are just …. Well ….. stupid. All the locals turn up on Saturday for the parade and have day passes which creates this gridlock of people throughout the area. With SEC football playing this weekend, the Falcons playing this weekend (well yesterday) and many other things happening in the Atlanta this holiday weekend Saturday becomes a cluster of people and not all are nice. We were talking earlier today about how the last 3 years everyone has been really nice and really inclusive and this year there is this underlying layer of …. I don’t know how to describe it …. Like you know one wrong move and it  could all just pop off with very little warning. We have since decided that this is due to the number of people here for the first time with a feel of entitlement that they have not earned yet. This is the biggest crowd ever for Dragon Con and it’s been very clear that Dragon Con, and the host hotels in general, haven’t been prepared for it. I mean some of these hotels have been beyond trashed and I've felt really bad about it.

Photos from today’s parade can be found on Golden’s twitter account, some of my favorite pictures from today can be found below.

  

 

  

This is the BEST parade hype man in the world. He'd find random kids in similar costumes, and bring them together, below is his "Footlong hotdog" :D he really made the waiting on the parade to get to us time go by fast. He was having as much fun as we were. At one point he pulled a tiny Storm Trooper out into the street to help him hype up the crowd. The kid had so much fun it was awesome to watch. Volunteers for Dragon Con are just the best. 

   

 After the parade, we went through the vendor hall which is several floors of all the things to buy, look at, and see. Stan Lee was signing merchandise today at the Vendor Hall which made the people like 15 deep instead of the usual 10 deep. Dragon Con PSA #1 --- I get that we all cosplay and love dressing up in awesome things we have created but can we all agree that there is no place for that shit in the Vendor Hall. I mean if you have on fairy wings that took you 6 months to create and go into the Vendor hall and they get messed up that’s on you. Don’t bitch people out cause they brushed up against your stuff in the 2-way-2foot hallways of the Vendor hall.

Anyway … using the technique taught to me recently by the boss man has made my panic attacks this year very minimal. I’ve nearly had a few but was able to beat them back down and focus on my breathing and made the panic attack not seem so bad. I already texted him thanks for that. While in the Vendor hall our crew of three often became a crew of two as one of us would wander off while someone stopped to look around. At one point I just left the vendor hall and texted my crew saying I was at the elevators, take your time, as I sat in my awesome chair.

After the vendor hall is when the missed connections came full circle. We waited on a Shuttle Bus for nearly an hour before saying screw it and called Uber. Uber has been our savior this trip which has been great but also sad. The last few years the Dragon Con Shuttle was one of the best parts of the Con, those drivers were awesome. This year we can't even get the drivers to stop let alone have a conversation. It's been real disappointing. We know the Green Line exists cause we caught it on Friday but haven't seen it since. Like it's some Yetti in Sasquatch territory. Like we know it exists but no one believes us because we have no documentation of it. We stood there with two ginger haired young ladies and got really angry when the Purple Line bus, which we had decided we were getting on cause Green Line had said screw it and gone to get a samache, drove by waving at us like we were just saying hi, when in all actuality we were saying, “Hey jerkoff stop your bus so we can get on it!” It's not like we were trying to flag them down in the middle of the street we were at the Dragon Con Shuttle Bucket but he didn't give a damn. We finally called Uber and I felt bad cause we had to leave our Ginger friends behind. I accidently clicked the small car (as I always do having a small crew) and we wouldn’t all fit. I really felt like an asshat. I can see their hotel from my hotel so we could have made it work …. But yeah they have their own cell phones and life and can make shit happen if they need too right!? I do hope they made it home and are not still down there waiting on that bus.

The temperature this year hasn’t been too bad there’s even been a few instances of “I’m cold” uttered from someone’s mouth, and it might have been me. Usually the weather is so hot here it’s suffocating. I reserve the right to bitch about the weather later if I want to but for now know it’s starting to feel like Fall.

Saturday ended with us having dinner at Hard Rock and by dinner I mean we ate food sometime after 10pm, then walking to the Marriot to watch all the pretty and hang out. We saw DJ MC Chris do his thing, an impromptu dance party, lots of naked, and even a couple who I’m pretty sure said screw it getting back to the room is too far let’s do what we have to do in the middle of a room like no one could see them. Bless them I hope they had protection. If one has a Baby at Dragon Con do they have to name it after the hotel?! We rolled back into the hotel around 3 am as Day 2 flowed into Day 3.

Happy Con

Marcy
Golden
M

SEC Gymnastic Championship starts TODAY

It's time for the SEC Gymnastic Championship!!!!! One of my favorite times of the year because you get to see so many amazing athletes in one location and it makes me so happy!

OK People get your chores done and get in front of the TV these ladies are talented and need your support!!!

2016 SEC Gymnastics Championship March 19 Afternoon session 2p.m Eastern on ESPNU​ and the evening session 6 p.m. on the SEC Network

• Afternoon Session features Georgia Gymnastics​ Arkansas Razorback Gymnastics​ University of Missouri Gymnastics​ and Kentucky :D
• Evening Session features Auburn Gymnastics​ Alabama Gymnastics​ Florida Gators Gymnastics​ and LSU Gymnastics​

​This is the first time the tournament is live in its entirety on national television. Let's all support it so it won't be the last! These ladies work so hard throughout the year that they deserve the recognition and the support.

If you don't follow NCAA Gymnastics, and you totally should, the field is stacked this year and it's really going to come down to who makes the fewest mistakes. Ok most gymnastic meets come down to that but in this case a stick landing here or there isn't going to cut it. These ladies have to be perfect, the pressure is enormous and pride is at stake. The evening session alone is going to be really tough.

I really believe LSU is the team to beat this year and yet Florida, the returning champions might just take it again this year. Then again you can never count Alabama out of it as they are the king.... sorry ... Queens of stuck landings and that's how you get points people. For the 2nd year in a row my Auburn Gymnastics team is peaking at just the right time and could be the dark horse that surprises every, well everyone but me. It's only a matter of time before Auburn takes this field by storm. It's been building for years and their time is coming. With some impressive wins tucked into those Leos they are ready to take their place among the SEC Elite! Those stuck landings and a young team will make it difficult but not impossible. Coach Graba has given them the tools, now it's time for them to get out of their heads and let their bodies do what they do! Graba's Gladiators are ready.

The afternoon session will be just as exciting to watch. Georgia Gymnastics is powerful and fun to watch every single time they step on a mat, Arkansas has the home filed advantage and will want to perform well in front of a semi home crowd. Missouri is a young team but has a lot of heart and is putting up impressive numbers at every meet. Kentucky just beat their Big 12 foe Iowa State with a score of 196 and is building momentum.

As stated, the meet is in Arkansas this year, if you live there you should be attending, there's still tickets left after all...go support these athletes!!
Remember!

“If gymnastics were easy, they would call it football.”

“Football – 4 downs, 4 quarters.
Baseball – 9 innings, 3 outs, 3 strikes.
Tennis – multiple games, tiebreakers, 2 serves.
Gymnastics – 1 chance”

Good luck to all the ladies competing today! I'll be watching and cheering you all on cause let's face it you are all amazing to me and there are no second or third chances. Gymnasts are superheroes without the capes!

Whose taking home this hardware this weekend?! 

My hope is the Auburn Tigers!!!! However who wins the journey has been a blast to watch !

WAR EAGLE!