Blue II...A Giant?

Somebody get my super agent, Ari Gold, on the phone because it's NFL draft day and it appears that the fans are clammoring for my gridiron services.

Evidently the World Champion New York Football Giants are in need of some help at the free safety position and some of their fans think I could fill that role. It's true. Check out this blog site, second paragraph which reads:

"Safety is by far the biggest need for the Giants this year. Neither James Butler nor Michael Johnson is going to cut it at free safety. I would feel more comfortable with Don Johnson or the Butler Bulldogs’ mascot at safety"

That's right, you would feel more comfortable with me at safety, even if my only previous football experience is running the Butler Bulldogs on the field at each home game.

Clearly my reputation of a tenacious defender preceeds me in New York. Hey Mara and Tisch, I prefer jersey No. 2!

Before I sign off to go watch the draft myself, I did want to send out a couple of belated birthday wishes. My apologies to Rachael Stephens Burt and Arni Sribhen for not mentioning their birthday on April 24th.

Happy Belated Birthday Rachael!

Happy Belated Birthday Arni!

Blue II

Spring has Sprung

My apologies on not posting a blog for a while, but with all of this nice weather, I've been trying to take as many potty breaks as possible and enjoy the great outdoors. Hopefully you haven't noticed the lack of posts because you've been doing the same...and by "the same," I mean enjoying the great outdoors and not experiencing more potty breaks.

Although, it's not just the the nice weather hampering my blog schedule...my dad was in Japan all last week so that kind of limited my ability to blog. You don't really think I type these myself, do you?

Anyway, it's been yet another busy week around here. When my dad got home on Monday, I was so excited. He sets his bags down, greeted me, and off we went in the car with the windows down to run some errands. We went to the car wash, gas station, bank and dry cleaners. We rolled the windows up for the car wash part. I got a couple of treats at the bank as well, but overall, it was just great to be back in the saddle (read passenger seat) with my dad.

When my mom came home from work, we all went to Hoghead's BBQ in Broadripple. They allow dogs there so I got to chill on the deck with my water bowl while my parents ate on the picnic table above my head. After that we went for a short walk on the Monon Trail. It was the perfect end to a spring day.

On Tuesday it was back to work, which for consisted of playing outside on the campus mall. I also stumbled upon some cornhole tournament which was going on as well. It looked like a good time.

Wednesday was Administrative Professionals Day, so we got the office administrative professional, Shelby, some flowers and a Startbuck's gift card. Then she took me over to Clowes Hall to visit her daughter's fourth grad class from St. Thomas Aquinas. They were there to see some sort of production, but I'm guessing that I stole the show.

After that I attended an event on Norris Plaza for the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. I don't know what the event was all about, but it involved lots of students, faculty, various pharmaceutical companies, a lunch buffet and a country/western theme. So, I wore a bandana, posed for pictures and begged for food. I will try and post some pictures from the event at a later date.

I took a quick break after the COPHS event I grabbed a big gulp of water and headed off to my next appearance on the patio outside of Starbuck's and Atherton Union. There I helped the senior class fundraise for their class gift. Basically, I was the bait and my friend and senior class representative, Brian B. was the switch. They come pet me, and Brian would then hit 'em up for cash. That's a pretty good strategy if you ask me!

Today I got to work early, so I just slept and hung out around the office for most of the morning. Things picked up in the afternoon, however, so that was good. First I got to attend PAWS on the Mall, which is basically an excuse to hang out on the campus mall and enjoy the weather. I'm all for that sort of thing, so Kyle and I went out and blanket hopped...went from blanket to blanket visiting students. I had a blast out there today!

After that Registration and Records held an event for students to turn in some sort of paperwork that I think related to summer classes. Regardless, the event had a beach theme which was good for me because I got to destroy the inflatable beach balls and ring. See picture and video...

After that, I headed over to the Reilly Room in Atherton for Dr. Roger Boop's book about the history of the College of Education. I was so tired by that point, I mainly just laid down on the cool floor while the rest of the guest mingled and got their books signed.

It's been a great, but tiring week. I hope you've enjoyed the weather as much as I have. The weather man says it's going to cool off this weekend and next week so be sure to soak it up before the cold temps set in.

Have a great weekend!

Blue II

A Week of Activity

I've had quite a bit on the schedule this week so I apologize for not posting sooner.

If I remember correctly, Monday was just a typical day in the office so there's not much to report there, but Tuesday is when things really started to pick up for me.

On Tuesday mid-morning it was time for the annual Relay For Life Jailbreak on the lawn just outside of Starbucks. The goal of the event is for people/passer byers to pay to release me and other campus celebrities from "jail." All of the money raised goes to the American Cancer Society and you participants can set their own personal goal as to how much money they would like to set as their "bail."

Of the six participats I was third behind the stiff competition of Dr. Levester Johnson, VP of Student Affairs, and men's basketball coach, Brad Stevens. Coach Stevens brought in the most at $584.17, in second was Dr. J. with $215.31, while I had $87.33. My inability to speak really put me at a disadvantage in this competition.

Overall $961.22 was raised in an hour and a half so it was a successful event. Here are some pictures...


In the afternoon I made my way over to Irwin Library for their second annual READ Poster Unveiling. You may remember that I was a part of the inaugural READ Poster unveiling last year. I have posted the poster below for visual reference...

I did not have a new poster in this year's set though. I was just on-hand as READ Poster alumni and for public relations.

Thanks to the wonders of technology, I was able to do my first appearance on Wednesday from the office using Blue2TV. Brad Ward in the Office of Admission, the guy who had the idea behind Blue2TV and set it all up, was giving a presentation for IACAC and wanted to show off the web camera.

Of course, I'm not always reliable when it comes to staying in view of the camera so my colleagues in the office put some peanut butter on one of my bones and laid it right in front of the camera so that I would stay in frame. I just laid there licking at it the whole time so their plan worked.

Today, things got started with another Early Registration appearance for the Office of Admission.

Then I got to go to a annual Student Government Association (SGA) reception for their "Apple for You" program which recognizes those with a strong dedication to students and the entire Butler Community.

I was honored to be recognized like that, but at the same time, the reception kind of bummed me out since it was catered with people food.

Later in the day a couple students brought in their roommate's new Golden Retriever puppy named Payton (9 weeks). She was pretty cute!

Payton and I got to play together and I had a lot of fun. When she left I wasn't ready to settle down so I ran around the office terrrorizing my colleagues until I finally passed out. Good times.

Well, I think that's about it for now. Tomorrow I believe is just another day at the office and then it's on to the weekend where I will try and rest up for another exciting schedule of events next week!

Blue II

One Busy Week to the Next

A lot of people have said to me (as if I could talk back) that life would slow down for me now that basketball season is over. Ha! If only.

Basketball season may have ended, but I am just as busy as ever. Just check out some of my most recent posts and you can see that things have yet to slow, and they probably won't until graduation ceremonies in early May.

Speaking of some of my recent posts, I wanted to post some pictures related to those posts. Here are a couple of pictures of my distant relative, Pete, and I playing last weekend...

And here's a shot from the Rotary Club meeting that I attended...

Okay, I think that brings us up to where I left off... i.e. Thursday.

On Thursday, I changed up the toy rotation and went with the "bulldog" after chewing through the "rooster," as previously seen in the videos I posted. For your viewing pleasure, here is me giving the business to my stuffed bulldog.

That's pretty much what I did on Thursday before going to the year-end party for the Dawg Pound. My friend and Butler student, Hannah Muehlbauer, picked me up and took me over. I had a good time hanging out with the crew and begging for food.

On Friday I had yet another Early Registration appearance for the Office of Admission. This is a great way to end the week...mingling with future Butler Bulldogs, begging for a piece of their breakfast muffins, and taking pictures with families...all of this while my dad hangs out in the back eating muffings and sipping green tea. Must be nice!

I spent the rest of my Friday sleeping, running around the office, shredding toys and enjoying the nice weather outside.

This weekend I mainly rested and prepared for the up and coming week which again is loaded with an appearance or activity each day. I think I've got something at the library, a Relay for Life event, and SGA gig and a couple of other things. It should be fun, and of course, I'll update you along the way.

Finally, one of my HRC buddies and Butler student, Jessica Kline, is in the running to be an Indianapolis Colts cheerleader for the 2008-09 season. She initially auditioned with 400 girls and she's now made it down to the 90 finalists. The auditions will continue for the next two weeks where they will continue to make cuts down to 30-40 girls.

To keep moving on to make the squad, she needs your vote! You can vote for Jessica K. here: http://www.colts.com/sub.cfm?page=cheer_profiles

Good luck Jessica!

Blue II

Red Rooster Romp

Yesterday I got things started by destroying one of the favorite toys that I received for my birthday...the Red Rooster. Perhaps its the warmer weather, pent-up agression, or the desire to onery, but whatever it is (maybe some of all three), I just felt the need to get my morning off on the right paw via a little toy destruction. Perhaps you saw some of it on Blue2TV: http://go.butler.edu/lifeatbutler/?pg=4731

My dad decided to get a little footage of the massacre. In the first video you'll see me began to tear off the rooster's appendages. You'll also notice how proud I am of my accomplishments.

In this next video, you'll see that my dad and Uncle Kyle enjoy mocking me and how I take that out on my kill, or rooster.

After pulvarizing the rooster into a soggy slobbery mess, it was time to head over to the College of Education for a freshman recruiting event. Of course, I always enjoy being invited to a social activity, so I was happy to mix and mingle with the guests. Unfortunately, I just missed out on a piece of Papa John's pizza and a cookie that fell of someone's plate and onto the floor.

Had I been able to get my mouth around that pizza, the event would have gone from good to great. Oh well, maybe next time I'll be so lucky.

We had to leave that event early to head downtown to the Scottish Rite Cathedral for a Rotary Club meeting that Bill Ervin invited me to. Rotary has established a scholarship at Butler for the Student Sociology Association/Butler University Chapter of the John Weidner Foundation for Altruism. So the scholarship recipient was presented at the meeting and I got to be the Butler ambassador on hand for support.

On the way back to campus, I got to enjoy the spring air blowing on my face as dad rolled down the windows for me. Once we got back to campus, I took a long nap to rest back up, then went to work again on my rooster. As you can see in the picture, I did pretty good for a day's work. In fact, I clearly felt satisfied enough to move on to my bone (in mouth).

Today things got going with a welcome party for a new staff member in the alumni office. That was cool because they had bagels from Panera and I got some.

Once I got settled in at the office , I got started again on a little rooster activity. I finally got all appendages off and went to work on the inards and stuffing. By the end of the day today, the rooster is basically just a wet, floppy shell of a stuffed animal. Job well done!

Later in the day I got to go outside for a bit and enjoy the weather and some fun with my best friend Kirby. We had a great time running around the campus mall and doing our usual rough-housing. Good times.

I concluded the day with another new staff member party in the Office of Conferences and Special Events and a trip to the HRC for my dad's workout.

All of that pretty much left me down for the count for the entire evening, both last night and tonight. It's hard being me!

Tomorrow should be another typical day in the office. I'll find another stuff animal to terrorize, try not to get too wet outside from the rain that's supposed to move through, and take a couple of naps. I also get to go to the Dawg Pound end-of-year celebration to help hand out the fan of the year award and other fun stuff.

I thought I would be a good candidate for Dawg Pound Fan of the Year. After all, I did get on the cover of Sports Illustrated wearing my Dawg Pound shirt! That's national Dawg Pound exposure! Unfortunatley, I don't think I qualify given my canine status. Oh well, I'll let you know how it goes.

Blue II

My Busy Spring Monday on Campus

I had quite the busy day today on campus. It all got going just before lunch as I went to the HRC with my dad.

Kirby's mom was working the front desk at the HRC so I helped her with laundering the towels and other chores. That means I get the run of the HRC and lots of elevator rides!

From there, I had to head straight over to the Office of Admisson for their high school junior preview day where I greeted potential Butler students and drooled again over the fine display of cookies and rice crispies treats.

Immediately after that, I had a video shoot with CMC Media. They are putting together a video for the ButlerRising Campaign and they needed some footage of me.

First we started with some "green screen" shoots which I really wasn't all that excited about. Basically I was either standing, sitting or lying on the "green screen" while my dad tried to get me to make different facial expressions, bark, etc.


It sounds easy, but I was so worn out from the other stuff, that I could hardly control my breathing to even focus on the task at hand. Plus, I didn't really get the point of it all.

After that we decided to go outside to get more footage of me running around the campus' main mall. Spring was definitely in the air today and I took full advantage of the great weather while I was outside.

While outside I chased my ball, mingled students studying on the mall and greeted campus tour groups. For videos of it all, visit www.youtube.com/butlerblue2.

Here's a shot of me with some of those students that were studying on the mall.

By the time I got back to the office after all of this fun, I was completly worn out. I went through about three full bowls of water and then crashed on the floor with my toys.

Tonight I've got to get my rest so that I can make an appearance for a College of Education recruiting event and for the Rotary Club on Tuesday. It should be fun! I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.


Blue II

Jeremy Piven & Blue II Illustrated

Sorry I was not able to get these pictures posted with my previous post. I had to have my dad's help to get them downloaded and posted and he didn't get back from the race in St. Petersburg, Fla. until early this morning.

Again, these pictures are from my meeting with Golden Globe winner, Jeremy Piven after his visit to Butler's campus last Thursday, April 3rd.

Jeremy Piven - The Next Addition to my Wall of Fame

You may remember back on January 30 I mentioned in my blog that I was so busy and booked with appearances that I might want to employ the services of a manager, and not just any manager, but the infamous Ari Gold of HBO’s Entourage.

Well, on Thursday of this past week, I did jus that as Ari Gold made a visit to Butler University.

I suppose that in a fictional world I would have made it happen and I might have even been on the next episode of Entourage; running around with Vince, Eric, Turtle and Drama.

But this is reality, and in the real world, the famed actor who plays Ari Gold, the Golden Globe winning Jeremy Piven, came to campus on Thursday in support of presidential candidate, Barack Obama.

If you are unfamiliar with Piven’s fast-talking and often vulgar mega agent role as Ari Gold in Entourage, then perhaps you may remember him from such movies as PCU, Old School, Black Hawk Down and Smokin’ Aces.

Jeremy spoke in the Reilly Room at Atherton Union and got in and out before I could catch him, but I was able to track him down out in the parking lot to “hug it out” and pose for a quick photo. He was very welcoming and was quite complimentary of me.

Of course, Jeremy’s no stranger to the English Bulldog, after all, he’s been spotted around Hollywood with a bulldog pup of his own and he attended Drake University…also the bulldogs.

A special thanks to Jeremy for posing for pictures and for being so cordial. I will get some pictures from the encounter uploaded on the blog very soon.

In case you missed it, Butler Bulldog and NCAA men’s college basketball all-star, Mike Green, was honored this past week with two national awards: the Chip Hilton Award and the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award.

Not to mention, Mike also played in the DiGiorno College All-Star Game at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Friday. In addition, fellow senior guard, A.J. Graves participated in the 20th Annual State Farm 3-Point Championship; making it to the semi-finals.

Congratulations to both of those guys…I’m going to miss you both next year. Hey Mike, now that you are done with Butler basketball, can I get a play date with your doggie, Miss Hoops Green?!

Sorry it has been a while since my last post. I have been busy making rounds with my on-call medical staff. I met with Butler grad, Dr. Kurt Phillips on Wednesday at Woodland Animal Hospital in Carmel, Ind. for a check-up on my ear infection. The infection is gone, but there’s still some bacteria in there so I got some special antibacterial wipes for that. I also got my nails trimmed while I was there.

On Thursday morning I got to visit Dr. Deborah Stephan at Indianapolis Veterinarian Specialists in Castleton. She took a look at my eyes and found that they were too dry so I got some ointment and drops for that.

It was great to go to the vet…I love it! I got lots of treats, love and great care. A special thanks to Dr. Phillips and Dr. Stephan, as always, for their great support of me and Butler!

This weekend has been a lot of fun for me. I got to go to Wabash, Ind. to stay with my Grandma and Grandpa Richards house for the occasion of my cousin Andrew’s birthday.

I got to ride the four-wheeler for a while which is one of my favorite things. It had been since last fall since I’d been on the four-wheeler and I was ready…so much so that when I heard it, I ran outside and even jumped up on it myself!

After my four-wheeler ride and went over to Andrew’s house where his Grandma and Grandpa Dinkins had their dog, Pete. I had never met Pete before, but we hit it off really well and played very hard.

Talk about a perfect weekend…the spoiling of grandparents, four-wheeler rides and play time with fellow four-legged friends. What’s not to like?!

I have another busy week ahead of me. Monday I have a H.S. Junior Preview Day with the Office of Admission and a video shoot for the ButlerRising Campaign. Tuesday I have a freshman recruitment party for the College of Education and a Rotary Club meeting down at the Scottish Rite Cathedral. On Wednesday and Thursday I will do my usual thing and on Friday, I have another early registration event.

I’ll keep the blog updated with the aforementioned fun this week. It should be a good time!

Blue II