However, we were forbidden (by the General Contractor) from wearing clothes with slogans on them at the work site. In my last week, I went to a shirt store, asked them to make a shirt that said "Texas Sucks" in big white letters. The guy looked at me, and said "you want that in Texas colors" and of course, I said yes. So, there it was, this burnt orange shirt with a big white "Texas Sucks" spelled out on the front.

Little did I know that the day I wore it to the job site that they'd be giving a tour to a bunch of suit-wearing Texas A&M VIP's. One of them spotted me on a ladder... mentioned to the General that "they're really getting in the spirit of things here" and the General asked me to come down.

I expected him to yell at me in front of all these guys in suits. Instead, all of the VIP's shook my hand and thanked me.

The ultimate joke was on me. At that time, being some teen-age kid from a small town in western Nebraska, I was completely unaware of the Texas and Aggie rivalry. I had meant the shirt as an insult to the state, and in the end turned out to be some kind of hero. Even the General thanked me for my "initiative" and told me I'd go far.

I still have fond memories of College Station and my time at A&M, despite nearly being killed there a few times (that's another story).