It's one thing that I've been in New Orleans all week, it's quite another that I seem to have encountered the perfect storm - the upgrade I'm doing isn't going bad, it's going nasty horrible, the place I'm working Internet access is as inconsistent as our offensive line,

On top of that I figured out that their web proxy is breaking my ability to publish something on the site so hence nothing has been showing up here. 

It's a good thing I don't live here. I love the food, love the town, love the idea that there are no rules here but everyone just gets along in their own (very) dysfunctional way. If I lived here I'd be a 450 pound alcoholic in about a year.

I'll try to get some stuff up later, but there's some boiled shrimp calling and that is one call that I never refuse.

All week I thought I was missing something, and I was -  an update on the Corn Nation Pick ‘Em game. This past week, CN member swanee80 won with 13-4 record. Flat out luck that is, but swanee gets to pick

I finished second, blatant proof that it was blind luck.

Here are our current top five leaders on the season:

Each week for the rest of the season, we will be giving away something from sponsor Asgard Press. The weekly winner may choose an Asgard's calendar, note card set or poster.

I need the winner to contact me, so swanee, please email me with your contact information and your selection from Asgard and I will make sure your award is sent.

An update on the Corn Nation College Pick 'Em game. This past week was won by Ebers110, who went 18-1, gathering 180 points for his picks.

Here are our current top five leaders on the season:

Each week for the rest of the season, we will be giving away something from sponsor Asgard Press. The weekly winner may choose an Asgard's calendar, note card set or poster.

I do need the winner to contact me, so Ebers110, please email me with your contact information and your selection from Asgard and I will make sure your award is sent.

The previous week we had a problem with the award which has since been resolved. I need MissouriRed, Troubleman, and p_s_xpress to email me their contact information so they may receive a copy of Jason Peter's most excellent book, "Hero of the Underground".

An upate on the CN College Pick 'Em Game.

Following are our Week 2 Winners. They will be receiving a copy of "A Sea of Red 2008", the Nebraska preview book.

Congratulations to the week two winners.

Following are our current overall leaders:

We'll be switching it up next week. Next week's winners will be getting a copy of the Jason Peter's book "Hero of the Underground".

It's not too late to join and win a week. I hope to be giving away stuff throughout the season. If you'd like to sponsor a week, please let me know!

At Corn Nation, we like to support all things Husker, not just the football team. I'd like to consider myself passionate about all Husker sports, so if you have a group or event that's Husker-related, please let us know about it.

The Husker Soccer Ultras are a new fan group that is trying to increase support for the Husker Soccer team. They are intent on generating a more European-oriented rowdy environment with chants, banners and songs - as the group's flyer states, they are "dedicated to bringing the fanatic back to the Husker soccer program."

They're looking for fans who are Loud, Red, Proud and Passionate to sing Nebraska to victory. The Ultras have pre- and post-game parties at "The Bar", located at 17th and P and they will be giving away free tickets to the soccer games. If you're on Facebook, you can find more information about them in the "Husker Soccer Ultras" group.

The next soccer home game is 12:30 PM Sunday (note the time change) against UAB. The Husker soccer team has started the season 0-3, so they could use the support!

It may not be Europe, but it sounds like a helluva lot of fun to me. I'll be bringing my family down to the New Mexico State game next weekend and attending a soccer game the next day. All three of my kids play soccer, so if the football doesn't indoctrinate them enough, maybe the Ultras can help.

I'd like to introduce the newest member of Corn Nation's staff, our new mascot Cobby.

Cobby will be assisting in articles, such as in the upcoming San Jose State preview. If Cobby had a theme song, it would be the Bluegrass song "Keep on the Sunny Side", which all y'all might remember from the movie "Brother, Where Are Thou". You know, the one where Bo Pelini thought Lil Red had turned into a toad.

Keep on the sunny side - always on the sunny side
Keep on the sunny side of life
It will help us every day it will brighten all our way
If we keep on the sunny side of life

FanShots have been used only sparingly by our community, with the majority coming from me. Since the 2008 season is fast approaching, I thought a tutorial would be helpful.

I encourage you to use them as it's a way that you can enjoy a higher level of participation, and if your fanshot is good, we'll promote it to the front page. Fanshots are also a method of quickly getting information out, whether you want to share something for comment, or just want to call attention to a Husker-related event.

There are 6 different types of FanShots:

Links - Link to a page and your own description of the page you are linking
Quotes - Sharing a Quote and the link to the page
Images - Sharing an Image and the link where you found the image
Videos -Sharing a Video and the link/description
Lists - Sharing a list you created or found (max 5 things) and the link/description of where you found it
Chats - Sharing a portion of an online chat and a link/description

There are two ways to create FanShots. The first is the easiest and one that we highly recommend.

1. Go to the Fanshot page and drag the "Share on SB Nation" button to your Bookmarks Bar from the top of the page .

Links - When you find an interesting article. Just click the "Share on SB Nation" button from your browser bookmark bar and it’ll automatically make a Link Fanshot and give you a place to add your own description.

Quotes - If you want to make a Quote FanShot, highlight a portion of the article and then click the "Share on SB Nation" button from your browser bookmark bar.  It will automatically populate the fields of your FanShot.

Images - Right click and "view image" so that the the image is on it's own page.  Then click your button. Some image sites like Flickr you don't need to get the picture on it's own page, you just click the button.

Video - On YouTube just click the button and it'll take care of the rest.  Otherwise you'll have to copy and paste the embed code.

When in doubt hit the button.

2. The second way to post a fan shot is to click on New FanShot below the list of FanShots on the right hand side of the home page. You then choose the type in the menu bar and create your own HTML or use the toolbar buttons to add images, descriptions and links.

If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments section.

So last night I'm assuming the proper blogger position (in my underwear in my mom's basement ) - sitting down in my big comfy chair and preparing to finish a couple articles, one for this site, one for another.

My laptop bag is open in front of the end table, with my beloved Macbook Pro inside, and as I reach for the bag, some jackass (me) has left a huge glass of water right in front of it, which I tip over and the entire contents go into the top of the bag, at which point I went: (G-rated version):

AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I might as well flooded the laptop bag. Needless to say it didn't fire up. I immediately shut it down and removed the battery, made no attempt to attach it to power as I know better than that.

So, we'll see what happens in a couple days as it dries out. In the mean time I'll feel naked and alone. Sad that I have that big a connection to a piece of electronics.

All of the fabulous links I've collected for the CWS are on that laptop. I've started on the book review cycle again and have a couple ready to go -  on that laptop. Snarky follow ups to previously dead issues that I'd like to resurrect - all on that laptop.

Poo (not really what I'm thinking, but it's family friendly)

I have a loaner I'll carry from work - a lenovo Thinkpad R61e (okay laptop, but a POS compared to a Macbook Pro) with clacky keys.

Crap baskets (insert your favorite talk like a sailor phrase here). I hope the thing comes back to life. Until then... well, I'll do my best (with a lot of bitterness that I'll take out on everyone and everything around me).

CWS starts Saturday, remember. Not Friday. That's really confusing, isn't it?

A bunch of good teams (not including Arizona State) play each other in an exciting example of collegiate sports at its finest.

Argh. I say again. Argh.

Here’s hoping this Memorial Day holiday finds you happy and healthy. I’ll be heading down to our local service with my youngest and marching in the parade with the Cub Scouts like I have for the past several years now. It’s important to me that my kids understand that the day is more than just a day off from school.  On top of that, a couple of years ago one of the older vets said to me that it feels good to see the younger kids participate, that it gave him hope for the future.

Even if you don’t attend a Memorial Day Service, take a moment to reflect on the meaning of the day. Whether it was a long time ago or just last week, some gave away all of their tomorrows so that we could have today’s trip to the mall.

Say a prayer for the safety and well-being of those currently serving in our armed services. Be sure to include your local firefighters and police force. It’s the least we can do.