This Is Your Bay Of Pigs

Today was a pretty good day overall. For some reason my professors were all about life lessons and giving advice for all of us. So the day starts off with my Journalism 101 lecture and my prof talking about books and reading and how impacting it can be in your life. Keep in mind that there are about 200+ students in class and he goes on about how we should search for someone who reads, if we take anything from the class he told us to look for a mate that reads. Here are the following quotes:
"There is nothing sexier than a well-read woman (or man)." "Find someone that is a reader and you will find youself an intellectually stimulating person."

Simply put, amazing. He was telling us to go out there and look for a person who reads, who can carry on a conversation, be knowledgeable...it was one of the best lectures I've been a part of during my collegiate career. Then there was my dance class with my instructor giving us an oath that we shall "spread the message and dance about freely" or something to that extent. She also made some mention of life lessons and how to cope with some stuff. Overall, it was a pretty good day.

So I'm notoriously behind on my schoolwork but the rest is going well. Working out is really going well, I'm feeling stronger and better every day. I went to the gym to shoot some basketball and found that my body was pretty sore and movement was limited. Good thing our game isn't till Thursday night, I should be rested up by then. I missed the State of the U tonight by our Prez, I was stuck in my 3 hour Middle East class. It was worth it though because the professor said that some of my analysis were dead-on with what's going on in the world. I left a little bit early so I could catch The Shield. I'm telling you the 5th Season is jam-packed with action, plot-twists, and everything in between.

I have been chattin' up the phone line a lot the past couple of nights. I will have to thank my good ol' buddy Jon (and our immense overanalyzations) and the coolest person I know. Too bad she's way over in California :) Of course I'm talking about Desiree and I don't know how but somehow our conversations just last a long time. It's pretty fun though since we talk about almost everything going on in life and apparently I am suave guy. I dunno about that but I'll definitely take the props :) I am definitely glad that I went to KC for the costume ball this past year. It opened up the line of communication with people that I had not talked to extensively before. It's pretty cool to be able to do that although I am stuck with too many classes and too much work to be able to call everybody I want.

Anyways, that's all for tonight. I hope tomorrow is just as good of a day and that I learn more than just textbook material :)

Wise morning words

"For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness."

1 Thessalonians 4:7

Best Game Of My Intramural Career

It's been the typical time in between posts so I figured since I had something to talk about I would go ahead and give an update on the week's events. It hasn't been too bad of a week. The only problems come because of my own lack of discipline and self-control rather than anything or anyone out to do me wrong.

I had a pretty bad night the other night though. I could not figure out why it happened the way it did but it was just not good at all. I could not fall asleep because these images kept spinning inside of my head. That is not a bad thing most of the time but it was just plain horrible that specific night because of WHAT was inside of my head. All my indiscretions from the past 4-5 years of my life were being replayed constantly in my mind. I was not thinking about them at all. They just popped in and I could not stop what was going on. I think it went on for about two hours and I noticed how in every situation there was an escape route that I did not take. Possible things that could have been said or done to avoid the scenarios or events but the carnal self took over. I know I've been forgiven for those actions, but there's something inside of me that still feels certain failure because of it. I did know better, I was raised a certain way, I have firm conviction in what I believe and what I have been taught, but why was it that I did not do the critical thinking when it was happening? Another thing to ponder in this life of mine...

I would say more on that, but I'll save it for tomorrow when I have some more time to write. I have some astronomy homeword due on Friday by 5pm that I have yet to start. Way to procrastinate Martin...you sure know how to get your school act together. Three weeks into school and I have read a total of 2 chapters for all my classes combined. And that was for my political science course! Agh, I'll definitely catch up this weekend since there's no sports on TV to keep me distracted, but it seems like there's ALWAYS some sort of distraction. You know what I am talking about. It is God's way of showing His sense of humor on us guys and they are called girls :) Not a bad problem to have though, they keep you humble ;)

So we had our second basketball intramural game on Thursday night and it was a good game. I got to Beyer Hall at around 10:30pm and started shooting around so I could get ALL my bad shots out of the way before the game :) When I play basketball it seems like the first five minutes of the game I have some sort of nervousness or anxious energy and I do not play under control. It was not like that at all this time around and it showed.

We start the game and the other team was much better than the first team we played last week. They were taller, quicker, better shooters, and they set some good screens. Nonetheless, I come out of the gates on fire making the first 10 points for our team. It didn't matter where I was shooting from. I hit a couple of threes and a couple of jumpers and kept the team close since we came out of the gates a bit slow. It was by far the best I had played in an intramural game at ISU in my 4 years of playing.

Even though I was making my shots (and they weren't easy ones either, some of them were right in the defender's face), I knew that it was going to be a problem if I was the one doing the only scoring for our team. It would have helped too if the refs called a foul on my defender once in a while since he was hitting my arm on almost every three-pointer I took. Grrrr, I don't shoot line drives on purpose...it's probably because I got fouled. Our defense was pretty good for the most part, the help defense was solid but the other team was bigger and basically grabbed every rebound because of our inability to box out. It was a team-wide thing too, we were just not as quick to the ball as they were in the first half.

We got down by about 15 points at one point in the game, but we were able to fight back and we actually cut it down to about 4 or 6 points at one instance. We started to lock down on defense, forced some turnovers, rebounded, hit a couple of key shots and made a good run. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and ended up losing by 6 I think. Considering that we did not play our best game collectively and lost by only 6 points, that's not too bad. The way the game was called though would have maybe resulted in a different score at the end although I still have doubts about that.

Something I did not appreciate at all during the game was how some of the guys on the other team were talking smack. It usually was the people who have the least game to back it up that were talking the most and it made me enjoy it even more when I would hit a jumper or a three right in their face. It gave me a sense of satisfaction that I could just nail a clutch shot right over them and shut their cocky mouth. The problem with games like that though is that since I am an expressive person and I wear my emotions on my sleeves, I don't always say the "correct" thing. I mean, if there's somebody cocky on their team or they are grabbing my jersey when they screen or there's a bad call, I'll usually say something (mutter it to myself) in a politically-incorrect manner. Apparenly I say it loud enough that other people could hear me but that's because I am harder on myself when I play than anybody else.

So I ended up with 17 points, a block or two, a couple of steals, a couple of assists...overall it was the best game I have played since I got to college. It was not flawless though because even though I scored a good amount of points I was not aggressive enough. I know I forced some shots instead of driving to the hoop and passing it to one of our big men. I could have worked harder for the ball at times, I could have driven more to the basket instead of settling for the long distance shots, I could have helped out rebounding more, I could have made better passes...little intricacies of the game that have to be done in order to consider it a great all-around game. I know I am getting better though and part of it is because I am working out this semester. My legs feel a lot stronger and durable during the games, my shot has improved and now I just have to put everything together: offense, defense, rebounding, passing, play-making, ball-handling, blocking, communicate...put everything together into one game so I could be happy :) So if I play like I am capable of playing and Jake does his thing as well and we get the ball to our big guys down by the basket we should be ok. It's a good start though, and even though there's no such thing as a "good" loss, it's not something to hang our heads on.

There is my great sport story for the week. It's still very fresh on my mind so I figure I should post it and then tomorrow I'll give a more well rounded update. I love basketball though, it is what makes the physical part of life simple for me. God keeps the spiritual stuff in order, basketball does the same for the physical aspect.

God, girls, and basketball (or whatever sport you are into)...life as it should be. It's simple, straight-to-the point, and purposeful. Although I am still debating on whether the girl aspect is simple. Track record and 6,000 years of human history suggest that it is not very simple but we shall see.

How I wished I saw this

Wow! This was one of those times when I wished I had NBA TV so that I could have flipped on this game and seen this amazing performance. Ridiculous! Kobe scored almost DOUBLE what his teammates scored. I hope they show this game on ESPN Classic sometime soon so I could tape it and watch it over and over again...simply amazing.

Midnight ramblings

It's after midnight and I'm sweaty, tired, sore...all wonderful qualities that I want to be feeling at this time of the night....

We had our first intramural game on Thursday night at 11pm. It's a late start to the game but there's no conflict of class or work schedules to worry about. We played pretty well, Jake had the hot hand from outside and we had our big guys down low playing big time. Our defense was pretty good and once we built the big lead early on we controlled the game. I played ok, my shots were touching every part of the rim except the bottom of it, but I played some pretty good defense. A couple of steals, a block, a handful of rebounds...I like doing the dirty work. I have to be able to make my shots go in though, it'll help fulfill the purpose of the game :) All in all, a good night and winning always makes the soreness feel a whole lot better. Oh and good refs too, they were pretty good for the most part.

Hmmmm, I took almost a three hour nap after dinner tonight because I was dead tired and even though I am tired from playing basketball, I am not tired in the sense of getting some sleep. I have also fallen behind on my class readings (which is notorious of me) and I feel like I can maybe do some Bible study and then do some school reading for the next couple of hours. Of course a shower would help and would make me feel better too...

Ahhhh, the midnight ramblings which lead to nowhere...How I have missed thee. Just as I left Beyer Hall I realized that I left my basketball at the gym. Of course I had just gotten out the door and with the time being close to midnight it meant that the doors were locked and I could not get back in. I hope they put it somewhere safe and I can reclaim it tomorrow morning when I go there for weightlifting tomorrow.

That reminds me I have to make a logbook of all the exercises we have done so far. I don't think I remember them all, but since I know everybody in the class is in the same predicament I'll get there early so we could all help each other out :)

Curiousity killed the cat

*Disclaimer: Only those whom I've talked to very recently know the reasoning behind the subject and the following post. It is also a federal crime to interpret the title and the following post in a disingenuous manner.

There are a couple of people I have talked to about a certain situation and I was told how they would be too curious to let many days go by without wondering what was going on. So on Monday night after work I actually made the call and it was...passable, not great or good or bad but it is done and over with.

"If you're having girl problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but a..."

*Disclaimer: Although I do not approve of the lyrics used by Jay-Z, some of you might find it quite descriptive :)

Anyways, today was my very, very long school day which was supposed to start at 9:30am and ends at 9:30pm. So basically I'm in class all day and it was ok. My China & Cold War class is actually pretty interesting and I've been asking questions in class that the professor has actually appreciated. I got to play some basketball too, although I expected more from my play. I did actually read the chapters I needed to read for my Middle East Politics class (increased knowledge from the readings is close to zero).

I wanted to actually post something deep and reflective but I will save it for tomorrow since I am tired and need to get to bed so I could wake up and do some lifting tomorrow :)

Blunder Of The Day

So I thought I had set my laptop alarm to sound off at 8:15am right before I went to bed. I forgot that during the weekends I disable the alarm and apparently forgot to enable it again for the school week. That means I slept through my 9:30am Journalism class and I broke my own promise of not skipping any classes this semester except for Holy Days. Well that lasted all but a week :)

A good way to end the week

I didn't want to take so long between posts since I want to be able to update my blog more than I usually do. I've been in the blogging mood lately with a lot of things in my mind and I've contemplated either writing it down somewhere or putting it on here. I'll figure out what I want to do later once I'm able to put down in written form what is on my mind.

I'll start out with today and the beautiful Sabbath day that it was. It began of course with me sleeping in until 10:45am and allowing the radio to continue playing some tasteless pop song that has no place in the "good music column." I took a shower and then did my reading and praying, taking my sweet precious time the same way I did last Sabbath. I figure I could do that, leave Ames at about 12:40 and still get to Church in Des Moines with 5 minutes to spare :) I think I should wake up earlier though so I could have some more fellowship time before services but I'm liking the idea of sleeping in ;)

The services today were really inspiring, very much needed. The sermonette was a telecast titled, "The Lessons of History" by Mr. Ames with the focus being on the fact that the nations have yet to learn from the lessons of the past. Those who do not heed the warnings or lessons of the past are doomed to repeating the same mistakes. Of course being the history major that I am I very much appreciated the message since it is something that I have always believed in.

The sermon was titled, "The Power of Meditation" and it was given by Mr. Meredith. It was an AMAZING sermon, something that I had been thinking for a while. He also mentioned something that I was thinking about this exact morning too. I was thinking about how amazing it is that we are able to wake up in the morning and know what our purpose on this earth is and where we're headed. It's something that I hope we never take for granted, even in the darkest of moments. That's when we should reflect even more on the Truth and the understanding that God has given us and know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Hmmm, I shall now proceed to step out of my soapbox :)

The rest of the day went well. It was good catching up with a few people and joke around a bit as well. I came back and watched some of the NFL games and watched as the Patriots reign sadly came to an end. Turnovers killed them but they should be able to reload for next year. Jeremy called and we were able to catch up on each other's busy lives and talk for a good while. I was able to talk to a couple of people online and catch up with them for a good while. I also got some "Jon time" for about 10-15 minutes since he was busy with his Milwaukee crew and his cell phone was about to die too. All in all a pretty good night overall :)

I guess I would like to end this by mentioning one of the best pieces of Scripture in the Bible. I was reading it this morning and it just plainly makes sense to me and how things are SUPPOSED to be. I think it's just plain simple. We are told in the chapter how we should relate to each other as brethren (with love, with understanding, etc), exhorted to redeem the time, and then commanded on how to ask as spouses. It's a very simple formula: strong marriages lead to strong families, strong families lead to a strong and united Church, and a strong Church leads to a wonderful relationship with Christ and His bride. I know I have talked to some of you about this and you know how passionate and dead-set I am to live by this particular part of Scripture. It just makes plain sense but like with everything in life it seems that even if things are simple we find a way to make it difficult. Let's hope we can overcome with each passing day.

Anyways, that's it for tonight. Yay for a long weekend!

P.s. Oh Annette I'm really sorry about having you guys wake up earlier than you wanted you in KC. I was SUPPOSED to be there at the Ostroms at 10 but the night before didn't go exactly according to plan. Yep, slept in the car, froze most of the night, had a long, long talk...all in all, I could not get there until I finally did get there. Sorry about that, it's a funky story that I could tell later.

Teach me how to rewind time

Wow.

That's the only way to describe my first day of my last semester of classes at the fine higher learning institution of Iowa State University. The day was long yet wonderful overall since it seems like everything is clicking for me :)

I start off the day at 7am along with Mike because we were going to shuffle our schedules around, add some classes, drop some classes, and figure out exactly how the semester was going to consist of. So after about an hour of adding, dropping, switching, writing down, erasing, concentrating too hard early in the morning...my schedule worked out perfectly!

I have 8 classes this semester, but it is not as bad as it sounds. I have 5 actual classes: U.S. Immigration History, China & the Cold War, Journalism & Mass Communication, Astronomy, and Politics of the Middle East. Pretty loaded schedule in and of itself but I needed 2 more history classes, a social science class (Journalism), a natural science class (Astronomy), and I'm taking another political science class just for the fun of it (and because Middle East politics should be thoroughly interesting).

The other 3 classes I have are: Weight lifting, soccer, and jazz dance. Yep, I decided to venture out and become culturized. Actually, I have upper division credits up the wazoo and I was able to take 3 easy classes that I really wanted to take. Weight lifting and soccer so I could get back into sports playing shape, and jazz dance so I could add something to the Hispanic repertoire (plus, my Mom would be proud :)) So things are looking on the up and up.

Today was a bit hectic though because of the whole early morning wake up/class scheduling scenario. After finally figuring out my schedule, I headed off to weight training, which lasted for only about 30 mins as the teacher was mentioning what we'd be doing, etc. I headed out to talk to my academic advisor to see if my schedule could allow me to graduate this May if I wanted to. She was all for it and liked my taking jazz dance idea :) Then I headed out to the hall where I was supposed to take Astronomy but found out that there was no recitation today and that lecture would be held tomorrow. Oh well, I went back to my room and decided to do my Bible Study and Prayer since I had plenty of time between classes (my Immigration History class doesn't start till 3pm. So I read, prayed, and then began my daily workout routine.

I recently started running as part of my "getting back in amazing shape" routine. I figured I came into college toned and in great shape and I should get out of school in the same condition. That is why I'm taking weight lifting (start doing weights again after a long layoff), soccer (great cardio workout, builds discipline, great team sport), and I'm running by myself as well. I ran about 3.5 miles in 30 minutes on Thursday, upped it 4 miles on Friday in 35 minutes, and I've been consistently doing 4 miles the past 2 days as well. I think I'm gonna be sticking at 4 miles for now. That I'm playing basketball too so I could get ready for intramurals in the next month. I think I might be pushing it a bit but it's what I have to do.

The only bad thing about my schedule is that on Tuesdays I have class at 9:30am (not bad at all) but because I added that Politics of the Middle East course it means that my last class ends at 9:30pm. The political science course is once a week for 3 hours. It will really test how loyal I can be to going to class and not giving in to the temptation of skipping out :)

Overall, not a bad first day. I end with a modification of Kanye West's "Golddigger" line: "18 credits, 18 credits and after 18 credits he finds out that he graduates!"

P.s. Annette, I'm incredibly jealous of you only taking 10 hours of class this semester. You've worked hard though so you deserve it. Don't slack off like I would :)

Best 3 weeks of my life

Due to popular demand (mostly by Rachael) and my own desire to update my lifeless blog I now write with the hope that it won't be deleted by a bad Internet connection. I actually tried to write this up on Thursday but as always with my dear school network connection it starts acting up at the worst opportune times :)

The usual customary winter trip to Puerto Rico was the best I've ever had. There was something about it that made this trip way more special than any before it. I think the fact that the whole family came together and we all hung out, laughed, and were together for the first time in about 6-7 years was also a key factor.

According to my last post I think I mentioned that I arrived in Puerto Rico with no problems whatsoever and my luggage actually arrived on time and everything. Beautiful stuff I tell you :) The first couple of days consisted of going to the chiropractor to get my routine checkup and try and fix the annoying pain I've had on my left hip since LYC '05. Also on the agenda was to get my dental checkup and cleaning of the pearly whites and check for cavities. Apparently I do a pretty good job and I've yet to have a cavity. Yay for good hygiene :)

The trip to Puerto Rico was shorter than usual because I wanted to make it to KC for the costume ball/dance/sports weekend. With the short amount of time in the Island of Enchantement I had to do as many things as possible in a 2 week span. The first Friday night I stayed up really late hoping to talk to one of my good friends from high school but alas it was midnight and I was heading off to bed. Although the phone rings and it's my friend Coral and we end up talking till about 5am. Good thing Church services are at 2pm in PR because I was working on fumes. It was a great all around conversation though. I know it's ridiculous to talk for that long but we covered a lot of subjects, although if I had known originally that it was going to be that long I probably would have cut it short sometime around 2 or 3am :P

Sabbath services were great in PR! I joke around that in PR I make sure that I pray longer and harder in the morning before heading out to services because the crazy driving involved by the population can cause some major wreckage. It's a short and beautiful drive to services in the town of Cidras (in the mountains). There's a lot of green, mountains, beautiful sights...everything that doesn't exist in the Midwest. Services are held in the elder's house and it was great to see the Church growing from the last time I was there. Most of the people are ex-WCG people that used to attend with us and it is comforting to see them again after so many years. The sermon was on being a good neighbor and the importance and meaning it entails. It used the examples of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (although the latter a bit of an sharp edge) and how they handled disputes with their neighbors.

That first Saturday night was supposed to be clubbin' night but it ended up being the night we walked all around old San Juan and played some pool. Coral was wearing high heels for some unknown reason and could not walk back to the car (the streets in old San Juan are Spaniard brick old school streets which take a toll on your feet). So I offered a piggy back ride back to the car, about 3 miles worth but since she's a lightweight it was possible without breaking my back, lol :P Overall, a tiring but fun night. The fun part is getting back into the house at 5am with all the gates and locks in the house without making too much noise that would wake up the parents.

The first Sunday meant sleeping in until 1pm and receiving a surprise phone call from my best buddy Jonny G! So Jon and I talk for about 2 hours and my Mom is like, "you guys talk a lot on the phone!" I proceed to explain to my mother that Jon and I give each other the weekly update on each other's life, after which we proceed to analyze what we just told each other, finalizing with the overanalyzation of what we just analyzed. It's a beautiful thing we do, although my Mom we're getting nowhere with the overanalyzations...I don't know, I think we've made some inroads :)

After about a 2 hour conversation I decide to lift weights for about an hour and then I wash and vaccuum my Mom and Dad's cars so that they can be clean, sparkly, and smelling nice for the rest of the trip. House chores to keep myself busy and push my weight around since I don't like to slack and be lazy when I'm at home. Listened to some tunes while washing the cars, had a blast, and then got ready to pick up a friend at the airport. After much delay and waiting, the person came in safe and sound.

The next 10 days in PR were an amazing combination of fun, family, excitement, joy, spontaneous activities...everything a trip home should be :) Apparently since none of us planned to have a family get-together my older brother and his family (with my Mom's precious granddaughter) decides to surprise Mom and pay a visit! Along with that was the fact that my uncle Joe decides to move back and we have the entire family (except my neocon Aunt, lol) together for some great times and food. The great thing about Puerto Rican families getting together after a long time apart is the fact that it makes for an awesome eating festival bonanza! :) Wonderful times and conversations!

For those who know me or know about my thoughts and opinions, you guys would say I'm pretty 'hawkish' or 'neocon' about many things. Some wonder where does it all come from? Can someone be that crazy? I have tried to explain things before but I conclude the explanations by saying that you would have to meet my family. A week or ten days with the crew would provide enough evidence as to why the Martinez Moran clan is full of conservatism...I would go as far to say that my Grandma, Mom, and my Aunt are the founding members of conservatism :)

That quite a digression. Anyways, if any of you are willing to step out on a limb and do something completely spontaneous then you should head out to Puerto Rico sometime. My house is pretty big, there's always something different to do every day and night. I can guarantee great food, great times, great conversation but I can't promise you'll get any sleep. It seems like I never get any sleep when I'm back home but that's exactly how I like it I guess. There's not a whole lot of time to do everything so I always try to fit in as much as possible and it renders me as a very tired person :)

After a wonderful 2 weeks in PR, I proceeded to pack my things and head out for another grueling semester of school. It's my last semester so I feel a bit overwhelmed, nervous, and anxious about what the next phase of my life is. But before the torture of another academic semester, the KC weekend was first and it lived up to the hype.

So I got to the Bible Study with about 2 hours to spare so I proceeded to nap in my car :) I went in about an hour before it was supposed to start so I got to see all the wonderful people come in as the place soon became packed to full capacity. I have to say that it was great seeing everybody coming together for a joyous occassion. I had the feeling that it was a mini-Feast. Actually it felt like a Feast but shortened to a weekend. The Bible Study was wonderfully done by Mr. Millich; it centered on Proverbs and also included one of the most hilarious Scriptures that had Jon, Jeremy, Emily, and me laughing it up (I think Annette realized why we were laughing and I saw her smiling as well).

The Scripture we were all laughing at was found in Ezekiel 16:44, "Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you: 'Like mother, like daughter'!" If any of you know of my previous relationship and some of the problems surrounding it, you would know why we were all laughing. My mom always said you have to laugh so you don't cry. That's what I've learned in the past 6 months, laugh about it because I shouldn't waste time in dwelling on the negatives of it. Move on, and let the past be the past. Learn from it, don't do it again, apply what was right, don't repeat what was wrong.

Hmmm, I should seriously consider being a professor. It seems like I am able to go on tangents as they willingly and willfully do during lecture. Back to the KC weekend though. I was glad to see people I hadn't seen in so long such, especially people like Rachael whom I hadn't seen in more than 2 and a half years!! The conversations were pretty awesome as well. I was able to talk to Rachael, Ginger, Mariah, Courtney, Desiree, Gina M, Kristen about a lot of things. Wide range of topics and I got some insight on life, women, relationships, etc from talking to all these people. Of course the guy talk with Jonny G, Juan, Jason was awesome as well.

Sabbath services in KC were pretty awesome! I was in the overflow with about 10 other people. Quite fun if I do say so myself :) When the children's choir started singing something to the tune of, "if you're happy and you know it..." I led the pack in the overflow room in stomping the foot, clapping hands, doing a nerrdy dance move :) Yep, acting my age during services.

The dance was an ok one. I don't know if it was just me but I just was not feeling it on Saturday night. I went as Alvin from chipmunks with Jon and Jeremy as Simon and Theodore respectively. The music selection was great though, a lot of songs that I hadn't heard yet being played at a Church dance. Apparently someone is hearing my advice about there being other kinds of music other than country that can be played at a church dance (yay for playing Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together"!) As Josh and Desiree have mentioned in their respective blogs, people left in groups to two main locations. I went to the Wilson's where I proceeded to drink a lot of water and play pool. I made some of my best pool shots in a while but I scratched on the 8-ball...good shots gone to waste :( Oh well, Jon and I decided to head out with Evan, Chris, Kyle, and Peder and play some poker. Here here for 2am poker and going to bed at 4am!

Sunday was an awesome day in KC! Sports day was awesome and I apologize to my team for getting there late. I blame my driver Jon for thinking that he could get anywhere on time, lol. Josh gave the rundown on how the games went. We had a pretty good team, once we warmed up we made our shots and developed some good chemistry. I wish we could have played the Moluf team though, I was up to the challenge :) After about 3 hours of basketball, I decided to play frisbee for a bit and experience massive leg cramps that I loosened up by running more :) Overall, sports day was the best Church sports day I've ever experienced. It was the perfect balance of competitive fire and 'churchy' aspect that I never saw in sports before. It was great!

Sunday night a bunch of us stayed around and went to Fox & Hound...an pretty neat bar & billiards place. Pretty nice looking place and it wasn't smokey, only in a certain area. They had the best Long Island's Ice Tea I've ever had, I highly recommend the place. The pool was great but it was even better to have meaningful conversation with Mariah, Courtney, and Sophia...although the latter was almost hustling me at pool until I made the best shot of my life and then proceeded to drink the rest of my Long Island's :)

After pool, we all went to Lanna and Richard's place (they live right across the street) and had some more convo and were able to partake of Jonny Scarboroughs musical talent! The guy is amazing and it provided a great attitude to the environment and the whole night. Pretty much an amazing weekend all around.

I think this is getting a bit long so I will sum up the rest of the weekend. On Monday I took Kristen to the airport so she could catch her flight. Quite an interesting day, full of long lines, delays, and great conversation in between. After dropping her off I proceeded to go back to the Routh's home and get all my stuff and Jon and I left to spend the next couple of nights at the Millich's. It was great hanging out with Tiffani, Daral, and Heather...they make for some awesome conversation. We watched the Florida State-Penn State game and the madness of its triple overtime/botched kicking festival. Great stuff. Jon, Mike Diekmeier, Missy, and I left on Wednesday afternoon and headed up north. I got to school at about 6pm and proceeded to order pizza and get ready for the ultra-hyped championship game between Texas and USC! Awesome game, great athletes, excitement, changing leads, game changing plays...everything that made for one of the greatest championship games in college football history.

I think that's about it for now...I've got some good blogging material on the way but I go now to run and play ball for a while. Take care all and to those who start school again, good luck.

P.s. Oh and congrats Annette, glad to have you in the family :)