All I can say is, man prime rib is delicious. Especially when its free.

Day 1 of our stay out in California is almost complete, and man what a busy day it was. Things kicked off at around 9 when the five of us(Nate came along too) headed to the media hotel to get our credentials. They're sweet, complete with our pictures on the passes (Wible looks a little constipated in his).

After that we headed to Penn State's "open" practice, which essentially is 15 minutes of stretching. The players looked ready to go, and Joe Paterno was walking around without a cane, back to his ol' self.

Some Notes from practice:

Stefen Wisniewski took some snaps with Daryll Clark, as he is expected to move to center next season.

Jordan Norwood was suited up in his light blue jersey, signaling his likely return to the starting offense. Norwood was battling an unspecified injury, but looks to be back in form.

Though we could only watch 15 minutes of Penn State's practice, USC's was a dream. Picture this, readers. You want to watch the team practice? Go ahead, any time. You want to watch Rey Maualuga smash opposing players' heads during practice? Come on in. You want to see Pete Carroll toss footballs around, and joke around with players? Of course.

Just another day in the life of a Trojan fan. Their practices are open to the public, and surrounded by palm trees on the USC campus. USC looked fired up, running through offensive and defensive drills, including some conditioning drills too. The most memorable moment from practice came when Maualuga leveled a scout team running back, leaving fans watching on the sidelines in awe of his hitting abilities.

ATTN: Possible John Voight sighting at USC's practice!!!! :ATTN

On the way out of USC's practice, our very own Travis Johnson reported seeing a man who looked a lot like famous actor John Voight. (Note: This is not the Jon Voight whose '89 Lebaron was purchased by one George Costanza.)

The highlight of the evening was the 53rd annual Lawry's Beef Bowl. Penn State arrived around 4, dressed nicely in suits. And then there was the Collegian crew. Needless to say, we were sadly underdressed, and looked like fools in a very nice restaurant. Thankfully we were still served, and out came the prime rib....

Prime Rib Status:

Eller: Medium Well
Johnson: Medium
Langenbacher: Well Done
Smith: Medium
Wible: Rare

Fairly balanced, you could say. Anyway, it was absolutely delicious. They stuck us in a room where we couldn't see the players, so no word on how much the team ate as a whole.

Well there you have it. As I type the four of us are sitting upstairs in the Smith's house, typing our stories for you faithful readers. Also, be sure to check out the videos which should be uploaded soon.

I'm Eller, saying have a good night.
***

I think I can see space out the window.
It's Wible here coming at ya from somewhere over the Rockies, at least that's what those giant dark masses of rock look like in the distance.
We three football writers (not to be confused with the three kings), along with our editor, are sitting at the back of a Boeing 737 on our way to Pasadena for the granddaddy of em all.
When we left Dulles Airport in Washington the mercury in the thermometer was hovering around 38 degrees, according to the pilot, it's 55 in L.A. right now. 55, I thought this was California, oh well, I digress.
Anywho, this is a pretty friggin' long flight, so I've had plenty of time to upload the pictures of my nephew from Christmas, get a couple games of chess in, take a nap and enjoy a Heiniken (which, contrary to popular belief, always tastes better when it's $6).
Also came up with a few revelations during our nice like five-and-a-half our sojourn across this great country of ours.

Revelation 1 -- Pilots are lying when they say "please turn your cellphones off" before a plane takes off.
In case you've never flown before, pilots are required to direct passengers to turn off all cellphones and electrical devices as the plane taxis onto the runway. Once you reach cruising altitude, then passengers are allowed to turn them on, provided the transmission function is turned off (i.e. the phone can't receive nor send texts or calls).
Since I have a couple pictures and videos on my phone I wanted to put on my laptop, I turned it on once we were allowed, and low and behold midway through uploading a video of the world's loudest concert played by a non-musical instrument, my phone vibrates and it's a text from my mom saying "great. Let us know when you arrive, dad just walked in the door,"
This was a response to the text I sent her (yes I text my mom, she's kinda hip) as we boarded the plane.
So I proceeded to test this whole thing out, what kind of cell service is there at 15,000 feet?
Well apparently it's pretty good because I sent and received roughly 10 texts during the flight. Granted, the service was very spotty, but I mean for being in a plane a couple miles in the air, it sure beats the pretty friggin ridiculous charges for the airphone.
And besides, what are these planes made of? There's gotta be a couple million dollars worth of computer technology in this thing and you're telling me the cell phone I got for free because my mom got the same one is going to bring it down? Puhlease, if planes can get hit at high speeds by frozen chickens, surly they can withstand a couple measly texts.
So lesson No. 1, next time you're on a plane, feel free to text, I did, and we're still sailing.

Revelation No. 2 -- The people at United Airlines must
Quick interruption, the time on my phones just jumped back an hour, we're in the Pacific time zone ladies and gentlemen.
Anyway, back to my original thought, the people at United Airlines must be so desperate for customers that they're trying to encourage the mile-high club.
(Warning, everything contained in Revelation No. 2, save for the actual play list is totally tongue-in-cheek, so relax and laugh).
Here's the actual playlist, in order, from one of the in-air radio channels.
Rocky Mountain High - John Denver - No really that hot and heavy in nature, but Denver is the mile-high city and it's a good song for cuddling, really sets the mood.
Afternoon Delight - Starland Vocal Band - Here we go. (Writer's note: this is a personal favorite of mine and I've been known to sing it to standing ovations on karaoke nights.) Made famous by the hairy, yet sensual Ron Burgandy and the Channel 5 NEwsteam in Anchorman, this song just screams, well, I'm not really comfortable repeating what it screams.
But the lyrics go a little like this "please be waiting for me baby when I come around, we can make a lot of love before the sun goes down, thinking of you's working up my appetite, looking forward to a little afternoon delight, rubbing sticks and stones together makes the sparks ignite and the thought of loving you is getting so exciting, sky rockets in flight, afternoon delight."
What might be even more scary is that I can sing every single word of the song by heart.
Let's Get it On - Marvin Gaye - A true classic and friend of heart-shaped, velvet-sheet lined beds everywhere, the title says it all. Gaye's voice is one of the most recognizable of all-time and the way he sings the line "Giving yourself to me can never be wrong if the love is true," makes women everywhere melt.
Ticks - Brad Paisley - Aight, so I'm from a rural area, so for your city slickers out there, this may not sound appealing, but for those of us who hunt and grew up surrounded by cornfields, this song is pretty gosh darn heavy.
"I'd like to see you out in the moonlight, I'd like to kiss you way back in the sticks, I'd like to walk you through a field of wild flowers, and I'd like to check you for ticks."
See, ticks, for you city slickers again, are little bugs that like to suck blood. They live in the weeds and woods and are tiny, so they stick on like Velcro and never let go. They have a nack for getting anywhere, and I mean anywhere, on a person, so you never know where one might be. So checking for ticks involves hands in pretty much every nook and cranny imaginable.
Personally, I've never fully checked anyone for ticks, but ff you've never kissed someone under the stars in the woods or an open field, you wouldn't understand, but from somebody that has, it don't get much better than that.

OK, well we gotta land and the flight attendant keeps yelling at me to turn off my computer, guess I shouldn't tell her about the texts, eh?
But we'll be keeping you updated on all our journeys in and around Pasadena, and keep checking the homepage for the latest and greatest when it comes to news about Penn State football.
Now I just gotta find a place to get a fish taco, catch yall on the flipside.

-- Wible

***

MARTINSBURG, Pa. -- Welcome to what might be the world's smallest and slowest airport, also known as the Altoona/Blair County Airport.

The airport -- located beyond cornfields and cow pastures in the middle of nowhere in a town with not much more than two traffic lights -- has three flights a day from here to Dulles in Washington, D.C., and my 10:30 a.m. flight was delayed until 11:45 a.m.
One positive about the wait: The layover in Dulles won't be as long. The flight from Dulles to Los Angeles is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., so I'll have a wait of about an hour and a half instead of three hours.

Service at the counter crawled, mostly because a woman with a Yorkie Terrier in her carry-on bag held up one of the two workers for at least 30 minutes while the other 20 or so passengers impatiently waited for boarding passes and baggage check-ins.
Some of those passengers, myself included, are flying free from Altoona to Dulles because the airport is giving away flights as it tries to reach 10,000 passengers, which it hasn't done for several years. By reaching 10,000 in a year, the airport is eligible for $1 million in federal aid instead of $150,000. At last check, the airport was projected to be a couple hundred short.

The airport is so remote and services are so limited there isn't any type of wireless signal, so I'll check back in Dulles after I meet up with the rest of the crew.

-- JL

***

Good afternoon, readers and welcome to the Daily Collegian football staff's travel log/blog for the 2009 Rose Bowl. I'm football editor Brian Eller here, and along with the three writers, we'll be taking you through our journey out to Pasadena, California.

It's a little before 1:30 on Friday the 26th, and I'm sitting here in Dulles International Airport waiting for our flight. Unfortunately the flight has been delayed until 430, on account of a lack of pilots. Merry Christmas.

Travis just arrived, looking like he hasn't slept in two days. He's sipping his Starbucks Turtle Mocha, a blend of coffee, caramel and pieces Snickers. I'm enjoying my cheese pizza from Subway.

Plans for the filght include a nap for Travis, and a James Bond film fest for myself. Thanks, Santa. Well, for now, we're gonna walk around and get some food. We'll update when we get in the air, if we ever do...