Family Fun

Whether it’s been my Butler family or my immediate human family, it just seems that this spring has been filled with family fun for me.

Of course, this past weekend was the celebration of the Christian holiday, Easter, so I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one getting in some quality time with the family. My parents and I loaded up and headed to Wabash, Ind. to see both sets of grandparents.

Of course, my young cousins (read nieces and nephews to my parents) were in attendance at these family gatherings so their playtime was also my playtime. That also means that I got to share in their Easter egg hunts, romps in the yard, rough-housing sessions and even a little dance-off. The videos are below and all featured on BlueTube. Enjoy!









I've also made a new friend to add to my extended family. His full name is Wilberforce, but we just call him Wilber for short. He's a 10-week-old English Bulldog puppy adopted by fellow Butler grads, Noelle and Daniel Pulliam.

I got to go over to Wilber's house last week, meet him and have a fun play date. I showed him the ropes a bit, taught him how to be a man and gave him some tips as to what to watch for growing up. He's a great little dude and I look forward to future get-togethers with him. Below is a video of our time together...



Even though the basketball seasons have come and gone, I’ve still been very active on campus. My Butler family has been requesting my presence quite frequently as well. From greeting prospective students and their families at early registration events to making class visits, I’ve been a busy bulldog.

Like I do every semester, I made my visits to Dr. Steven Vibbert’s public relations classes. I absolutely love Dr. Vibbert and visiting his classes so this is always a highlight for me. So much so that when my dad says his name, my ears go back and when he gives the command, I drag him through Jordan Hall, out the door, to the Fairbanks Building and directly to Dr. V’s classroom.

Dr. Vibbert is the only professor that habitually invites me to his classes so he and I have a special bond. Here’s a pic of me with some of his class members…


We also had some first graders on campus this week from IPS School No. 91. They were visiting some of our faculty and students from the College of Education. So I stopped by to see them just in time to get a look at their great bulldog drawings.

Here’s a shot of me with those kids, some of their mentors and their great bulldog drawings.

In other news, I got a promotion the other week. It’s true! Well, sort of anyway. I’m no longer just the official mascot of Butler University, but now I’m also an official building supervisor for the HRC! Yep, since I’m at the HRC so much, hanging out behind the control desk while my dad works out or teaches a fitness class, the HRC staff got me a belated birthday gift which made me a building supervisor.

It’s my very own HRC building supervisor bandana to wear around the joint. I sort of had an all-access pass anyway, but not it’s official. Special thanks to my friends at the HRC for the great gift!

Finally, the big buzz on campus recently has been a new contest featured in the campus newspaper, The Butler Collegian. It’s a photo caption contest that the Collegian staff started last week and the picture they chose to kick things off is of me laying a big smooch on my dad at a football game.

I didn’t think anything of it, but my dad just can’t seem to live it down. I’ve included a picture below, but this is a full color, half page spread of me planting a big wet kiss on my dad’s face. Consider it sweet revenge on my dad for making me do things that I don’t want to do. Ha ha ha ha! Good stuff.

Well, that’s about all from me at the moment. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to keep up with me on a daily basis via Twitter (www.twitter.com/butlerblue2) and on Blue2TV.

Woof!

Blue II

A Hard Days Night, and I've Been Working Like a Dog

While Homecoming was a big weekend for me, that certainly hasn’t been the only thing filling up my work schedule (that’s code for “this is going to be a long post”). In fact, it all started a week before Homecoming when I was invited to pay a visit to Clinton Young Elementary School on the south side of Indianapolis.

You see, Clinton Young Elementary has these little learning communities where classes at various grade levels get together and learn about going to college and all of that good stuff. Well, it just so happened that one of their learning communities picked the bulldog to be their mascot, and it just so happens that I work for a university and I happen to be a bulldog. So, I’m pretty sure that’s why they invited me to be a part of their kickoff convocation.

We all gathered in the gymnasium where the kids got me barking when they sang “Who let the dogs out?” Then I did my routine of tricks, posed for pictures and let my dad do a little talking about me to the students. Good times.

Fast forward past Homecoming and into the week following Homecoming and I got things going right away with an appearance downtown at the Indianapolis Marriott on Monday. The Office of Admission invited me down there to take part in the annual IACAC Conference. The IACAC is basically a nerd-speak way of just referring to the Indiana delegation of admission counselors and professionals. Sweet.

Anyway, they had a little competition with other state institutions to see who displayed the most spirit at their respective admission booths. So it was set up like a giant college fair, only there were no aspiring college students, just a bunch of has-beens with name badges and school gear. I have no idea how Butler faired, but I think we should have won. Sure, other schools had guy-in-suit mascots on hand like the rat, er greyhound from UINDY (sorry Mom) and the grizzly from Franklin, but nobody had the live mascot thing going.

On Tuesday it was a visit to my favorite professor’s class. That’s right, Dr. Vibbert invited me to call on one of his PR classes. He lists me on the class agenda as the “guest speaker.” That just means I get to go run around the classroom for a few minutes, enjoy some loving from the students and of course, perform my tricks.

You may remember that Dr. Vibbert was the one included me in his commencement speech this last May. That alone earns you honors as being one of Blue II’s favorite professors.

Wednesday it was time for the annual men’s and women’s basketball tip-off luncheon in Hinkle Fieldhouse. A capacity lunch time crowd filled the main floor in Hinkle to hear Coach Couture and Coach Stevens speak about their impending seasons. I had the honor of welcoming those folks to the event and then my dad stashed me in one of the admin offices while he enjoyed lunch…hardly fair, but I that whole reasoning and speech thing puts me behind in these arguments all the time, so I just have to deal with the consequences.

Although, he awoke me afterwards to another adventure that involved heading back downtown for an appearance at the new Lucas Oil Stadium, so I forgave him for leaving me out of lunch pretty quickly. Funny, I remember not being allowed in that place for a grand opening ceremony because of some policy about dogs. Just a month or two later and I guess the sheen and prestige has worn off enough for dogs to enter. Whatever, I wasn’t going to complain.

It was the gracious NCAA who happened to make arrangements for me to be there as they were unveiling the new logo for the 2010 men’s basketball final four which will be hosted at Lucas Oil. Butler is the host NCAA institution for that event, thus my/our involvement.

I had a good time greeting guests and media there and posing for pictures with the Butler cheerleaders and dignitaries. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get down on the field to “mark my territory,” but I still had fun.

At this point, we were only half way through the week and I was exhausted. I think my dad could tell as I was asleep in the car before we even left downtown proper. So he drove me straight home where I basically slept, or was in some state of sleepiness from 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday until about 7 p.m. on Thursday. And after some dinner, back yard business and some play time, I was back to sleep for the night on Thursday as well.

And for good reason too as I had a big weekend ahead of me including the made out to be scary, but actually ridiculous holiday known as Halloween. But before my parents subjected me to the costumes, parading and pictures, I had real work to do, and early in the morning too!

After being carried from the bed to the car on Friday morning, I awoke in the parking lot of the Glendale Mall at 6:15 a.m. where the Smiley Morning Show was set up and doing a remote broadcast for their annual pumpkin drop. However, my role there had nothing to do with Halloween, pumpkin destruction, or anything like that. Instead, I was there to promo Smiley’s presence at the Butler Bowl on Saturday as a part of his college tailgate tour.

Again, I let me dad do the talking, but I really enjoyed running around the parking lot, checking out the big crane that was to drop the pumpkins, barking on-air, and stealing the show.

After that I headed to campus where Brad Ward from the Office of Admission picked me up and took me over to Atherton Union to visit with all of the prospective students and families in for the big open-house. Someone told me that there were 900 visitors on campus for the open-house, but I don’t really know for sure.

One thing I do know is, I got my picture taken with a lot of folks and Brad promised all of these people that their smiling mugs would appear on my blog, so here they are…


After work we headed over to Schwitzer Hall where the residents were hosting trick-or-treaters for the evening. My parents dressed me up in my lobster suit and took me over to greet the youngsters and families that came. I also ran into my pals Addison and Wrigley (Bulldog Beauty Contest winners) who were also dressed up as a bumble bee and a piglet (respectively). It’s all pictured below…

On Saturday it was back to campus for another round with Dave Smiley of WZPL-FM, 99.5, who had his camper trailer all set up and ready for the Butler stop on the Smiley Morning Show College Tailgate Tour.

Smiley always knows how to get me fired up and while hanging out with he and his producer “Weedman,” I located one of Smiley’s footballs in his camper and made myself at home. And by “made myself at home” I mean that I destroyed his football. Just check out the video…

My parents had to finally pull me off the football so that I wouldn’t waste all of my energy before kickoff of the game. I did my typical lead the team to battle routine, but this time my dad let me off of my leash to see how I would do. I guess I passed the test. I was really fired up for it…if you watch the video you’ll hear me barking before we do our 50 yard dash onto the field.

After that I left campus and headed to Holliday Park for a family photo shoot. Instead of posing by myself or with famous people, I finally got to have a photo session with my parents for once. I enjoyed being out at the park and I think with the fall colors, we’re going to have some nice looking photos to choose from for our Christmas Cards. A big thanks to Butler’s own Christi Isgan of Christina Isgan Photography & Design for taking our photos!

Following the family photos I went home and napped to prepare for the first men’s basketball contest of the 2008-09 season: an exhibition matchup with Marian College. I had been looking forward to getting back in Hinkle Fieldhouse for a basketball game since our final game there last season. I was so thrilled to be back. Of course, I did my pre-game routine with the starting five players and the Dawg Pound and even though we started three freshman, they are all quick learners as all five starters gave me a little good luck tap when announced. You can check out the video here…

At halftime of the game, I then headed next door to the HRC to visit some youngsters who were in the pool and enjoying a Riley Teen Retreat. They got me a little wet, but I didn't mind. I was hot by that point so it felt pretty good actually. I really wanted to join them in the water, but I'm not exactly a good swimmer so I had to refrain.

On Sunday, I tried to relax, but I did my fair share of running around too as I helped my parents rake leaves in the yard and later went to a Colts viewing party. And that was my week. Whew. It was even tiring just to watch my dad type all of that! Hopefully you haven’t been working as hard as I have. If so, take a break. If not, don’t change.

Blue II

Graduation 2008

As I mentioned in my last post, I got to be a part of this year’s graduation ceremony…and I don’t mean just showing up because it’s a university event. No, thanks to Dr. Steven Vibbert, this year’s selected faculty speaker, I was actually an integral part of the program.

Dr. Vibbert is a professor in the Eugene Pulliam School of Journalism and specifically teaches undergraduate courses related to public relations. You may remember his name from my blog as Dr. Vibbert is the only professor that invites me to pay a visit to each one of his classes, every semester.

He’s also my dad’s favorite professor from his undergraduate days and it’s easy to see why, especially after I had the pleasure of hearing him “profess” to the graduating class of 2008 on Saturday.

Dr. Vibbert started his speech off with a very valid point. He said to the graduates, “Look around you right now and soak in the feeling that fills this field house. You know what that feeling is? It’s accomplishment. And now look at those around you—at your friends and family and at this proud faculty in their own very spiffy hats behind me, look at all the people who supported you—and who share your sense of accomplishment. Here’s the good part about accomplishment. It is a renewable resource. You’ve earned the good feeling—I’d say the good vibe—of this accomplishment, but you know that having done it once, you can do it again and again. You can achieve this feeling over and over, by doing things as you’ve done here at Butler—the Butler Way--and by sharing in the accomplishments of others as parents and friends in future years.”

I found that to be some great perspective, even from my point-of-view, which is affixed on four legs and about a foot and a half off the ground. However, the crux of his message was based on an acronym…an old trick he uses a lot in his classes.

He told the graduates to use the acronym BLUE to guide them. B for "be flexible," because "change is going to happen to you"; L for "let someone know they made a difference to you; U for "use the front-page test – if you're doing something you wouldn't want everyone to read about on the front page of your hometown newspaper, then don't do it"; and E for "enthusiasm," which they'll need to succeed.

He ended it with, “As I look back on the four points I’ve written: Be flexible; Let someone know they made a difference; Use the front page test; Enthusiasm matters…B.L.U.E. I see that they spell BLUE. I want you to remember BLUE, Butler Blue, to do things the right way—what is sometimes called the Butler Way.

Are these four points really part of what it means to be Butler Blue? Can they in some way connect you all, today and in the future? Are they worth remembering, as I think they are? How could I prove such a statement? How could I make your last class at Butler stay with you?

I have an idea—a friend of yours and mine whom I’ve asked to come to commencement just to make this call.”

This is the part where I made my grand entrance and found my spot on stage next to Dr. Vibbert and the podium, amid the cheers, laughter and clapping. It was quite fun.

Really, I was probably on display for a minute, but like Dr. Vibbert, I think it drove home the point and maybe made that one of the most memorable speeches in all of Butler’s 152 commencement exercises.

In all, the University conferred degrees on 877 students – 275 from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 196 from the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, 185 from the College of Business Administration, 120 from the Jordan College of Fine Arts and 101 from the College of Education.

Dr. Susan Solomon, a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was the keynote speaker. She was part of the group that won the 2007 Nobel Prize for their efforts "to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."

I don’t really know anything about that, nor will I pretend to. When it comes to climates, I just know that I’m the sort of breed that pretty much has to live in a temperature controlled environment, thus, I need a very mild climate…i.e. indoors.

Anyway, Dr. Solomon got an Honorary Degree during the ceremony. I did not, however get an Honorary Degree. That’s okay, I’m probably only deserving of an “Ornery Degree.” I know…bad joke.

In other news, fellow Butler Bulldog and IndyCar Series driver, Ed Carpenter, did make the field for the Indianapolis 500 on the first day of qualifying this past Saturday. He will start the 92nd running from the 10th position. Go Ed!

Before I sign off on this post, I want to wish my good friend Kirby the best of luck in Minnesota. His mom graduated on Saturday so I have to bid farewell to my good friend. Thanks for leaving me your purple wading pool too, Kirby! I’ll put it to good use like I did my blue one last year.

Bye Kirby…I’ll never forget the great times we had together!

Blue II

Friends in High Places

Retired General and former Secretary of State, Colin Powell once said, "Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard."

Sounds like a good plan to me, after all, as the old saying goes, "you are the comapny you keep."

So, I did just that, I spent my Monday with some pretty significant and successful people...the type "who take their work seriously, but not themselves."

Maybe you will recognize some of the people I spent my day with yesterday...

That's right, I got to spend the day with THE Colin Powell; Butler head men's basketball coach, Brad Stevens; 2003 Butler graduate and IndyCar Series driver for Vision Racing, Ed Carpenter; the entire Butler men's basketball team; and Indianapolis mayor, Greg Ballard. That's just how I roll!

It started out as a typical Monday...lots of sleeping in the cage that's in m dad's office, a lunch time appearance at the HRC, and more sleeping for the afternoon. Settling into the work week after a busy weekend has never been one of my strengths.

Then, come late afternoon things started to get interesting. My dad and I headed to the car and made our way to my favorite building, historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. Once there, we met up with Ed Carpenter and headed into the arena to watch the men's basketball practice.

You see, last May Ed gave A.J. Graves and the coaching staff a tour of the Vision Racing garages at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when A.J. waved the green flag to start practice for the Indianapolis 500 . This time the Bulldogs returned the favor by inviting Ed to come watch practice, tour the locker room and basketball offices, etc. I was fortunate to get to tag along.

Here's a picture of Ed and Coach Stevens discussing the intricacies of Butler's motion offense and which Horizon League member institution has the best cafeteria food. No, not really, but those would be things I would like to talk about with the coach.

After that it was over to Clowes Memorial Hall where General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.) was scheduled to enjoy dinner with some VIPs and speak to a capacity crowd as a part of the Diversity Lecture Series.

That's where I ran into General Powell and Mayor Ballard, as well as some other Butler and community big whigs like university president, Dr. Bobby Fong, and the Butler Board of Trustees.

I even got to take a picture with General Powell! Unfortunately, I do not have the picture to post right now, but I will do so in a future blog. It was sweet. All of these important folks got to meet General Powell and get a picture with him. I'm pretty important, so yes, I got a picture with him as well.

When I arrived, he smiled, kneeled down, clapped his hands once and said, "come here boy!" So I quickly ran over (when a General calls, you come) and he proceeded to pet me and love on me a little. He then stayed in a kneeled position and we took a picture together. It was cool.

Here I am, just an English Bulldog from Indiana who ended up mascot of Butler University posing for a picture with the one-time military leader of the free world. Eat your heart out "Spike," the Drake University bulldog!

Yeah, we've got a big game against No. 16 Drake on Saturday at Hinkle, so I am starting to prepared for that. It airs on ESPN2 at 5 p.m. (EST) and has been billed the best ESPN "Bracketbuster" matchup ever...of course it is, after all, both teams are represented by the English Bulldog! By the way, the Bulldogs of Butler are ranked a school-high No. 8 this week in both polls. That's pretty impressive! Go Dawgs!

Today, wasn't quite as exciting, but that's not to say I didn't get to have a little more fun. Each semester, my dad's favorite professor while in school, Dr. Steven Vibbert, invites me to come visit his public relations classes. He usually asks me to come mid to late semester when the students are starting to get restless. So today I stopped by class, did my tricks, and got a little love from the students. Below is a picture of that...

Note that class size. That's a student to teacher ratio of 16:1. Nice. Gotta love a Butler eduation! Although, it's not quite as good as my puppy class, but still, it's pretty good.

Okay, my bed time is quickly approaching so I've got to get going. Thanks for reading and before you leave, please vote for me again this week for the Bissell MVP contest! You can vote here: http://www.bissell.com/redirect.asp?page_id=47088&Pet=7217.jpg

Blue II