grad school etc.

Hello to all! After some thoughtful consideration the J.T. familia has finally decided that I will attend Texas A&M next fall for business school! Yippee! It basically became a 2-horse race between A&M and Michigan State. I was also accepted to SMU in Dallas, and I probably would have gotten in at Georgia Tech if I had waited. SMU is way too expensive (in the neighborhood of $38k per year!) and not as good as Michigan St. and A&M, and Georgia Tech basically told me that I'd be on my own when it came to a job search, so I told those fools to scram!

Michigan State offered me in state tuition in addition to a nice little scholarship, which sweetened the deal quite a bit. A&M offered me a Graduate Assistant position, which lets me have a paid position working for the program, pays for 9 hours per semester, and gives me access to the same insurance the faculty has...all of which is very nice. Even though I liked Lansing a lot, A&M just felt right, so I went with my gut...and the fact that it doesn't get down below 10 degrees helped a bit too. The missus didn't even like Utah winters, so I can't imagine how much she'd dislike Michigan winters!

Just to be sure we still wanted to go to A&M, I took the family down to Austin last weekend to stay with my brother for General Conference, and then on Saturday morning me and the missus drove over to College Station for a program for admitted MBA students. It was informative and helped us to get some realistic expectations about Business school or "B-school" as all the cool kids call it. Best of all though, we got a visit from some crazy choral group and a MUCH crazier Yell Leader. This choral group sang A&M's "War Hymn", please read the masterfully written lyrics below:
Hullabaloo, Caneck! Caneck!
Hullabaloo, Caneck! Caneck!

Good-bye to Texas University.
So long to the Orange and White.
Good luck to the dear old Texas Aggies,
They are the boys who show the real old fight.
The eyes of Texas are upon you.
That is the song they sing so well,
So, good-bye to Texas University,
We're goin' to beat you all to --
Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem!
Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem!
Rough! Tough!Real stuff! Texas A&M!

Saw Varsity's Horns Off!
Saw Varsity's Horns Off!
Saw Varsity's Horns Off!
Short!

Varsity's Horns are Sawed Off!
Varsity's Horns are Sawed Off!
Varsity's Horns are Sawed Off!
Short!

OK, first off what is "hullabaloo", "caneck", "Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem", why do they keep saying "short!", and whatis this "real stuff" you speak of? What I don't get is that this is basically the school's fight song, if I understand correctly, and it is almost entirely directed towards the University of Texas or "T.U." as they call it since UT is not THE University of Texas right? There is a first verse to the hymn that is more generic and talks about the Aggies, but I guess no one ever really sings it. I really don't understand A&M's hatred towards T.U. to the point that they make their entire fight song anti-T.U. It doesn't stop there though. A lot of Aggies, instead of showing their school pride with an A&M sticker on their car, will have a "Saw 'Em Off" sticker.
I guess maybe I just don't get it, right???? I did find a kind of humorous picture in my search for the above image though which will lead beautifully into my next little section. See below for T.U.'s version of Saw 'Em Off.

The dog on this shirt is supposed to be Reveille, A&M's mascot. Reveille is very highly regarded at A&M, so much so that they have full military funerals since Reveille is considered the highest ranking official in the corp, and all the past Reveilles (we're on Reveille VII) are buried just outside Kyle Field (the football staudium) in their own special graveyard. Originally the dogs were buried so they could see the scoreboard at home games, but an expansion to Kyle Field blocked their view, so the wee doggies got a wee scoreboard built at their graveyard so they can see the score of the games. What's also cool is that the main guy in charge of Reveille takes the dog with him wherever he goes (even to class), and if Reveille barks in class, then class is immediately dismissed.
The Yell Leader was entertaining though and truly opened my eyes to how crazy Aggies are. Yell Leaders at A&M do what cheerleaders are supposed to do everywhere else and lead the crowd in various yells and get the crowd pumped up. We even practiced a yell that went "Beat the hell outta ______!" (fill in the blank with whoever we're playing that week). Yee haw!I haven't decided how fully I'll dive into all these traditions and yells and such, but if nothing else, I'll have a good time watching at the football games. Oh, and their business school is purty darned good too.