NorCal

So my friend Caroline couldn't come on the trip because her friends had to work. I left at about 9:20 and got into Vallejo at 3:30. I did the trip in 6 hours and ten minutes which is a new record for me haha. I hung out with my sister and her boyfriend Rob for about 24 hours. We bought Rock Band 2, which is awesome, and played a bunch of other games too. We also watched Pick Of Destiny, which was pretty funny. I came up north about 2:30 on saturday and went over to Steve and Matt's house. Steve, our friend Mike, and I went out and lets just say it was a crazy night. I drank a little too much but it was a really fun time. I got to see a bunch of people that happened to be there which was weird lol. It was fun even though I felt sick until about 1 this afternoon. Tonight Im meeting with some friends for dinner and probably going to try to see a few other people.

Merry Christmas

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with friends and family and that everyone receives and gives everything they want. Happy Holidays to all.

Merry Christmas Eve!

So I saw Seven Pounds last night with my friend Caroline. It was pretty good and really sad, so if you don't like sad movies it might not be for you. It had a pretty confusing plot, we were trying to figure out what was going on throughout the whole movie and didn't really figure it out haha. Anyways it was a good night though and a lot of fun.

I spent yesterday downloading a ton of music; got some new akon and some xmas music that I have been meaning to download. I ran a mile and a half, after running 4 miles two days ago. Its nice to get back into running. I've been doing a little lifting too and its always nice to wake up and have that sore feeling in your chest. I'm suppose to play tennis today at noon with a friend, but it looks like it might rain hmm. It would be nice to play once before I leave for Northern California, but I'm feeling a little lazy too. It feels like this December has gone by too fast and I haven't really been able to enjoy the holiday season as much as I would like. Tomorrow should be a good day though, get to hang out with my dad and stuff. I hope you all have a great holiday.

Uconn basketball and grades

I finally got to watch my beloved Uconn Huskies basketball team play today. Their men's team is ranked #2 in the nation and their women are ranked #1. Since they are from back east, I rarely get to see them unless they are on national tv. Today was such a day when they played the #7 ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs. It was one of the best regular season college basketball games I've seen in a long time. Uconn started off hot and led by 11 early but Gonzaga came back and led by 11 with about 11 minutes left in the game. Uconn fought and crawled back and A.J. Price, their senior guard, hit a huge three with about 8 seconds left to tie the game and force overtime. Uconn pulled away in OT and won the game. It was awesome to watch, and different from many Uconn teams in 2 respects. First, they were excellent from the free throw line, something that traditionally is a bad area of the game for the Huskies. Secondly, they fought back when they were down and pulled out a win against a potential final four team. I think Uconn has a legitimate shot at the Nat'l championship for both Men's and Women's this year; exciting times. They play Buffalo in football for a bowl game coming up too, so Uconn's major sports are doing well.

Grades... My final grade was posted this morning. Proseminar for Poli Sci: A, Central Asian comparative politics: A, Terrorism in Africa: A- = 3.9 GPA. I'm so happy and surprised to do so well in my first quarter of grad school. My first four teaching credential classes have been 3 a-'s and 1 a; so in all my classes so far i have gotten all a's and a-'s. Pretty awesome and I just finished my 5th teaching class and will get either an A or A- in it too. Hopefully I can keep it up. Im really happy. Hope everyone else had such a happy day too, talk to you later.

How Sweet it is

Well I finished my online teaching class today, so I am officially and completely done with school until January 5th, which is when my next online class starts. My next quarter of graduate school starts on January 12, so I have a nice 2-3 week period coming up here. I went for a quick run today only 2.5 miles, I'm slowly getting back into running more now that school is over. I didn't run for like 3 weeks at the end of the quarter and it sucked. Its nice to get back into it for sure.

Oh! a totally cool thing happened. To park at my school is 85$ a quarter, not the end of the year but still a nice chunk of money. Well on Monday I went for a run before my buddy came down and I saw a parking permit on the sidewalk in my neighborhood. Well I picked it up and took a few steps before realizing it might belong to the house in which the side walk was in front of. So I took it and tossed it in their yard next to the truck parked there. Well when I went running today it was still sitting there so I snatched it. First, if it belonged to someone who lived there why would they let it sit outside for almost a week when it has been raining, windy and cold? Second, its worth 85$. So that was a stroke of good luck I guess, I'm definitely happy about it.

My last grade still hasn't been posted yet so I'm waiting on that. I did get a check for 3,000$ in the mail today, too bad its from my loan to pay for my teaching classes haha. Oh well its nice to have anyways in case something crazy happened. I have been talking with my friend Caroline and we finally have hammered out the details for our trip which is awesome. We are going to leave next friday (day after xmas) around 2pm after she gets off work and then we will be coming home probably around midnight or 1am monday night/tues morning. It should be a nice little trip to see a few more people even though I was just up there a month ago. Once again, there is too many people I would like to see and not enough time, but I'll try my best. Anyways hope everyone has a great weekend.

One week to Christmas!

I really just realized today how close to christmas it is. I normally am obsessed with christmas all through December, but I have been so busy that besides decorating the tree I haven't really thought about it too much. Well, I had a great visit with my friend Steve. He got down about 10:00pm on monday night and we talked until about 4:30am. We slept in and headed to San Diego in the late afternoon. We met up with our buddy Mike and went out to dinner down in Pacific Beach (picture above). After we went back to his house and starting to drink a little and play some ping pong, which was fun. Somehow I managed to beat my friend Mike who I am like 0-15 against lifetime haha. I had some really lucky shots. Anyways, we headed over to this Irish pub called the Blarney Stone in Clairmont, which was totally fun because they had some good drink deals and had Rock Band going. It was the best idea, instead of having a live band or music playing you just have Rock Band set up and have people at the bar take turns playing. It was pretty awesome, I played one song on guitar and another on drums so that was fun. Then, we headed down to Pacific Beach and went to the Pacific Beach Bar and Grill after checking out a few other spots. It had started to rain so there wasn't a ton of people out, but PB bar and grill was pretty packed. We hung out until about 1:30am and then headed back to Mike's house and went to bed.

The next morning, we got up around 10:00am and played a little Tiger Woods 09. We just hung out for a few hours trying to decide what we wanted to do. About 4am, it started to absolutely pour rain. I felt like I was back in Northern California, it was raining so hard. It was still raining after we got up, so instead of going to the mall like we were planning, we went to the movies and saw the new James Bond. "Quantom of Solace" was good, I liked it more than Daniel Craig's first Bond movie Casino Royale. After the movie, Steve and I blew out and came back to Moreno Valley. The rain had stopped while we were in the movies, but as soon as we left to drive home it started pouring again so it was a bummer he had to come down to crappy weather. We got home and watched some basketball for a while. Then we went to Bj's for dessert and drinks for a little which was fun. Bj's pizookies are legit for anyone who likes dessert. There is nothing like a huge cookie with vanilla ice cream on it. We came back home, talked with my dad for a bit, and then watched the new Indiana Jones movie since Steve had never seen it. After that we went to bed.

I woke up this morning at about 9:30am and Steve had already left. So we had a fun little jaunt down to San Diego. Two of my three grades for school have already been posted, but I'm going to wait out on posting the grades because I want to wait until I get the third one (There might be a small celebration haha). Today, I just have been hanging out - I watched Prince Caspian (Awesome Movie) and now I'm watching Survivorman, which is about Les Stroud (the guy in the picture above) surviving in different environments. I'm going up north again in about 8 days so I just have work this weekend, then just x-mas and hanging out next week before I leave. Hope everyone is having a great week.

Monday monday

Saturday night was a fun night. My dad and I went to my uncle's x-mas party and it was a blast. They had a keg, like 30-40 people, food, beer pong, and a white elephant. I got a medieval knight's helmet which is pretty sweet. My dad got crown royal glasses and a 60$ bottle of wine. So it was fun especially since I had worked 9 hours that day. Yesterday I worked 6 hours and then i played xbox with two old buddies - Garrett Kern and Randy Avalos. It was a good time. Today, I was going to go riding quads with my dad (we have 2), but it is raining down here so its a no go. My friend Steve is probably leaving right about now to come down, so hopefully the rain will lighten up for his ride. Anyways thats about it for now, Ill blog a little later.

Nice day

Well I have to say it has been nice for the last two days not having to worry about school assignments (besides my credential class). Just been relaxing, ran for the first time in 3 weeks (I almost died because im so out of shape), and played tennis with a buddy last night. I'm at work right now until 4 and I am almost done with this week's assignments for my teaching class. Then next week, I just have to take these 2 tests and do like one assignment; so im pretty much done with this class. The good thing is too I think they give us like 12 days off, the next class starts after x-mas sometime, so i'll have a couple weeks with no school period. I have to go schedule another elective class I keep forgetting to do that. I think i'll do that after I finish blogging here.

I had a nice unexpected call from a certain Jason Stowers today. It was good to talk to him and we spend about 20 minutes on the phone together. When I go up north around x-mas we are going to get together and go over some football stuff, which is something I always enjoy. I had another unexpected call from a certain Laura Inman too, which is always nice and we talked for a bit about John Legend. John Legend is the man people I don't know how many times I need to say it but go check him out. Thats about it for now, my friend Steve will be down monday sometime so i'm looking forward to hanging out with him. Sayonara for now.

DONE!!!

My first quarter of graduate school is officially over. I turned in my group's Africa compilation tonight so I have turned in everything! It feels good to be done, and now its time for the waiting game... What kind of grades will I get? Theres a possibility of getting straight A's but I think I will get either two A's and one B, or one A and two B's. Either way its a good first quarter start. I have one A guarenteed and the other two classes could go either A or B since my grade is based off like 2 assignments in each class. I wrapped and sent off all my x-mas presents so im done with that too, except for finding some thing for my mom. I might just send her a card. Oh! I won 70$ last weekend in a football pool. My dad's work has a football pool each week and I won so that was a nice little boost, helped my get my little sister a gift, and pay my dad the $20 I kept "forgetting" to give him.

In other news, I started reading a fiction book from the Roman times that is good so far; Ill write more on that as I get into it, im only 100 pages in. My friend Steve is coming done in 5 days for 3-4 days. We are going to SD to hang out with our buddy Mike for 2 days and spend the rest here. Sorry if I already wrote about this I didn't look at the blog before I posted. Also, I am going back up north again the weekend after xmas which i have off from work. I plan on leaving friday the 26th, and probably driving home monday the 29th. I have to talk to my friend Caroline, who is going to ride up with me, and see what her schedule looks like.

I think thats about it. One of my professors is having a going away party on friday at the school and then i guess a bunch of students and faculty are going out after. It starts at 4 and I get off at 4 but Ill probably shoot up anyways and just be a little late. Oh yeah, on Saturday night my Uncle is having an xmas party at his house in Palm Desert. Should be fun, with a white elephant and all that jazz. Anyways, thats all for now, Take care.

Why do good days have to have bad turns to them?

So this is about how I felt earlier. The day started off great, was pretty much done with school, getting ready for my interview with National. So I get to National and I find out that I actually can't student teach until I have finished my coursework, which won't be until June. Hmm... I wonder why my advisor would: 1. schedule my classes in a way that I didn't get all of the requisites out of the way first and 2. tell me that after completing my first 3 classes I would be eligible to student teach. So I tried really hard not to get too angry because I still had to do my interview which I did a pretty good job on the lady seemed to like me enough. The next wonderful thing to happen was that I was suppose to submit my group's compilation for my terrorism in africa class. I had finished my portion, incorporated one group member's work, and then I never heard from the other group member. Now im not really mad at him because he is usually nails, but coupled with what had happened earlier I was just like come on you can't do this to me. I never even heard from him either, I hope he is okay, I just called him to check. I talked to the professor too and he said it was cool to turn it in tomorrow. Its not actually due until wednesday really so its not a big deal I just want to get it in and over with.

So, that pretty much sucked. The good news is that I really will be done with school tomorrow. I have one more quiz to take in my comparative politics class, turn in my final paper for that class tomorrow, email my analytical book review and final exam essay for another class, and turn in my Africa compilation. So I will be legitimately done. The silver living too I guess is that I can really load up on classes next quarter and the spring quarter. That way, when I student teach in the fall I will just have to student teach and take my core classes. If I can swing it right, ill be completely done with my electives after the spring quarter. That way I'll only have two courses left to take which are the core ones ill take in the fall and then the winter quarter. That way I can focus on my thesis, student teaching and only one class. So maybe it happened for a reason. It just really pissed me off that my advisor gave me false information. Its been my experience in college that advisors and counselors really just jerk you around and never give you the information you need. Maybe I should be a college counselor or write a book on it, or something haha. Anyways sorry to vent, but I don't get worked up to often and this was just one of those days. I did get 40$ back from selling my books to school, go Coyote bookstore haha. Oh man alright Im gone, hopefully my next post will be a little more pleasant.

The Craziness is coming to an end!

Wow, sorry I haven't written on here in a few days. I have been insanely busy. First, on friday, I edited and finished my 25 page paper for my comparitive politics class. Then, I spent most of the day doing the work for my online teaching class. I had to do discussion board posts, a power point, and create a lesson plan using a program called Inspiration which I had never used before. Then I called and set up my interview for student teaching (you have to interview with the placement coordinator before you can get placed), so that interview is today. Then late friday night I got a email from my comparitive politics professor with the take home final. I thought it was not going to be assigned until tuesday of this week but apparently not. So Saturday I had to answer two essay questions with my answers needing to be between 7-10 pages each. So i finished that on saturday. Then sunday, I edited those, printed them out, and printed out my 25 page paper. Then I spent a good amount of time on my Sudan compilation yesterday. So all I have to do is turn all those papers into class tonight. Then I have to finish doing my sources for my Sudan compilation and then compile my other two group members work into mine and then turn that in tonight too. Its been a crazy week, I have written about 50 pages this week (I wrote 9 in another class on monday); but it feels good to be about done with the quarter. I have to take a small quiz tonight and another tomorrow night but that is nothing.

Anyways, my buddy is coming down in a week for 3 days so that will be fun. We are going to go to San Diego for a night or 2 and then just hang out. I'm also going to go back up to Auburn for a few days at some point over christmas break. Oh yeah I decorated my x-mas tree on saturday night too so im definately in the holiday spirit. Thats all I have for now, hope everyone is doing good.

808s and Heartbreak

So I know a lot of people don't like Kanye West, personally I think he is way misunderstood. However, you can't argue that this guy doesn't make fire and work harder than almost anyone in the music industry. I saw him live at the Glow In The Dark Tour and I can tell you that I have never seen a better performance in my entire life. Anyways, his new cd 808s and Heartbreak is not a rap cd, its a r&b cd that he uses auto-tune on to sing. Auto-tune is like the cher thing from a few years back where you computerize your voice. The Cd is about his mom Dr. Donda West passing on earlier this year and him breaking up with his long-time fiance. Anyways if you like good music with a lot of emotion, you will absolutely love this cd. Its been on repeat on my computer as I work on school work and in my car all week long since I got it.

School update: I finished my 25 page paper today, what a relief. For my Africa class, the teacher gave me an example of the compilation and its going to be a lot easier than I thought. My group definately made the right choice when we chose to do this project instead of the regular class. Not only is it a lot easier, but it is something that is actually going to be used by the NSA, which is awesome. Anyways, thats all I got but go check out 808s and Heartbreak with an open mind and you might find a new artist that you respect and can connect with a little. Oh, and go donate to the Jimmy V fund! http://www.jimmyv.org. Much love to you all

Jimmy V Foundation

To Do List:

1. Write 25 page paper - Progress: 17 pages

2. Take Home final - Program: starts on 12/10

3. Terrorism Complilation - Progress: Have information and maps, just need to compile

Sorry just doing a quick to do list for school, which ends in about a week :). The quarter system is wonderful for all of you semester students. I had never done quarters before I got into Grad School, its only 10 weeks so its a little compact, but it goes by so fast, its really nice!

Anyways on to the really important stuff: The man above is Jimmy Valvano, former head coach of the North Carolina State Mens Basketball team. He died of cancer when he was in his 50s, which is much too young for anyone to die. Anyone remotely a fan of college basketball should know who this man is as Dick Vitale talks about him often as they were good friends and they have a week called the Jimmy V Classic each year. Oh... what a coincidence... that is this week! December 3-10. He also has a cancer foundation in his name called the Jimmy V fund. They take 100% of the money they receive and put it towards research and treatment. This is the second straight year that I have donated and I plan on doing it until I die. If you need inspiration for anything in life go watch on youtube "Jim Valvano Espy Acceptance Speech". It is from 1993 and is what that picture above is from. I wear a blue band on my left wrist that says "Don't give up, Don't ever give up". Well that is from that speech and he was just an amazing man. My papa (dad's dad) died of colon cancer a little over 8 years ago at the age of 68, which is still too young. I guess you can say that I have a passing interest in solving the cancer issue as I'm sure many people do.

Go do something special for the holidays and donate to this fund. They take 1 dollar and they take 1,000,000 dollars. You will be making a difference in someone's life and it always feels good to contribute in some way since most of us are too busy or not in a position to do so. Especially in the holiday spirit. God bless you all and I wish you all wonderful health for yourself, friends, and family. Talk to you soon.

What a Good Day

Hey Everyone!

So I had a great day yesterday. First, I got the results back from my CSET and I passed all 3 sections. This means that I can student teach and get my teaching credential now. I'm really happy that I passed all 3 because each section is like 70$ so its a really expensive test. Then, class got out last night 2 hours early and that was the last time I have that class because we are turning our final in over the internet. So I was home at like 8:30pm and I figured "I should finish my last essay since its still early". So I finished my last essay for that class last night. Then, when I woke up this morning I did my Final exam essay. So basically, I'm completely down with one class which is nice, because I have a lot of work left in my other two classes.

What else.. I started putting up those posters I bought. I put up the Vitruvian Man and the Great Wave. I'll probably put the rest up later today or tomorrow maybe. I have 2 quizzes to take in my Comparative Politics class tonight, so I already studied for those. In that class, the big assignment is a 25 page paper. I already have written about 11 and a half pages so Im probably going to work on that for a little bit today before class. Hmm, thats about it; thought I had more to talk about. See ya later.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I hope everyone had a great time with family and friends. My dad and I went up north for like 5 days and it was a blast. I got to see a ton of my friends.. some I hadn't seen since I graduated and I got to reconnect with some of the people that are the most important to me so that was amazing. I even made a new friend, so it was really nice. I just really love that area, I feel the most comfortable and in my element there. Lets see, ate some food of course, played some board games (Scattergories is legit thats all I'm saying), watched some football, played golf for the first time in 3 months (lets just say the first 3 holes were unbelievably bad). It was a really good time though, unfortunately I wasn't able to meet up with everyone I had plans with or wanted to see; but for the most part it worked out pretty good. Hopefully I'll head back up there again in a month or so, at least that is the plan.

Its back to reality now. I have two weeks before my quarter is up and a lot of unfinished business left to go as far as writing papers. I need to really crunch this week and try to knock out as much of it as possible. That way next week (finals week) ill be able to just coast. I know I can do it I just have to maintain this state of concentration and motivation that I have right now. Oh yeah, tomorrow I find out whether I passed the CSET or not... big day. If I passed I might be able to student teacher this upcoming spring and get it over with, otherwise I'll have to wait until the fall. Either way its not really a big deal, but I hope I passed it just so I don't have to deal with it again. Plus, its hella expensive (70$ for each subtest and there were 3), but the good news is that if you pass one section you don't have to take it again.

Other than that, I finished my Grandpa's book. It has a a really good story/plot, but the syntax is a little weird and the character development feels rushed. I liked it though. I guess thats really all I have to update on, traffic was a nightmare getting up north but coming home it wasn't bad. I feel really good after that trip, Im always really happy around the holidays. Theres just something about it, I don't know what, but I like it. I think I'm going to leave off on that note. Have a great night world.

Resolvement

Haha, like so often in life people over worry about things. My dad is going to finance the remaining money my little sister needs for her car, so her problem is solved. My dad is a great guy and is willing to do just about anything for his kids that he can. In fact, he has almost always put his children first; which in itself has made him a great parent.

Anyways, I'm watching "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" right now. I love these movies, these along with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, are some of the best movies that have been released in this decade. I can't wait for the next Harry Potter, it comes out sometime in July. I should really read the books, I've heard that they are much better than the movies, which is amazing considering how good the movies are.

My dad and I are leaving tomorrow for Auburn, I'm really excited to visit friends and family. I have class tonight and then I'm pretty much done with school for the week. My quarter ends during the second week of December. So its coming up fast. I'll probably post later tonight or tomorrow before I leave so talk to you all then.

Family

So I have a mom and day.. like most of you. I also have two sisters: Shannon, 24, who lives in Vallejo with her boyfriend. Meghan, 18, lives in Illinois with my mom. My little sister is pregnant and is due on New Years Day. Shes trying to buy a car right now.. its hard not to be able to help. My parents both have most of their money tied up in home improvements and/or paying off bills so unfortunately Meghan is in a tough spot. I wish I was working full-time and I could just lend her the money to bail her out. Oh well, at least she doesn't need the car right this minute, otherwise she would be screwed. She is going to community college and is going to take online classes next semester, when she has her daughter that way she won't have to miss any school. I'm very proud of her and excited to be a uncle. I bought her a baby monitor today on one of her online baby registries, its something she needed and I hope it will get good use out of it for the next few years. I just need to figure out what I'm going to get her for Xmas, not just some crap she doesn't need but hopefully something she wants and can use. I really miss her and I hope her boyfriend steps up and becomes a man. I don't want her to have to go through a terrible situation because some immature guy isn't willing to take care of something he helped cause. I don't really know him so I'm trying to keep an open mind; but when I hear conflicting things from other people in the family... ay ay ay. I guess this is life though isn't it? Full of unexpected twists and turns (like pregnancies). I just really needed to get this out, I got pretty upset thinking about it earlier. I just hate feeling helpless.

Anyways, on to something a little more cheerful, not that my sister being pregnant is not, but my worriness. I received my Grandpa's latest book in the mail a few days ago. My grandpa is a really intelligent man and is trying to get his hand involved in writing fiction novels. I've read his first book which is a military story about the Baja California peninsula. This book, The Society of Traders, is about a Celtic tribe living in ancient England.. It's an action/adventure with a love story intertwined in. I'm excited to read it... I'm also reading a book for school called Bowling Alone. It basically talks about how Americans don't talk, visit, volunteer, join organizations, host dinner parties, or do anything social as much anymore. He has a really extensive amount of evidence to prove his point and its really disturbing to read. TV is the biggest culprit of this trend according to him. It really made me think about TV in my life and how much time I spend in front of it, when I could be visiting with family and friends. Also, do I want my children to be exposed to as much TV as I was growing up or still am? Do I even have the strength to say no to TV, something that has become so ingrained in most of our lives? I don't know... I mainly watch sports, history, discovery, national geographic.. is this as bad as the regular bullshit shows or soap operas? I'm not sure; maybe I'll know when I finish the book.

Haha well I'm sorry this turned into such a deep post, well actually I'm not. The art of intellectual communication and conversation seems a rare thing these days. Even if it is a conversation with yourself. Anyways, I'm going to leave you with a quote from one of my favorite musicians Lupe Fiasco: "Close your eyes, see with your heart." Have a wonderful night and a wonderful weekend everyone.

Busy busy...

Hello all,

Well, well its been a few days so lets see what has happened... First, I had a huge presentation on Sudan on Wednesday night. I spent pretty much all day Tuesday and Wednesday putting that together, I've done a lot of research throughout the quarter it was just a matter of putting it all together. My group and I spoke about them for an hour and 15 minutes! Oops, we were only suppose to talk for about 45 minutes haha oh well, its a large country (one and a half times the size of Alaska, which is the continental U.S. west of the Mississippi River) and there is a lot going on there regarding terrorism. The class is terrorism in Africa and its one of the coolest classes I've ever taken. Lets see, I beat Fable 2 for the second time on Tuesday (yes I'm a gamer: I have an xbox 360 and a nintendo wii). So I took Fable 2, Gears of War 1, Ncaa football 08, Gun, Call of Duty 2, Mass Effect, and Wii play to Game stop and traded them in. Fable 2 is an awesome game as is Mass Effect: both are RPG/adventure type games with lots of side quests and exploring to do. I highly recommend them to anyone with an xbox. Anyways, Game stop has this deal right now that they add 30% of the value to whatever your trading in on top so I got like 65$ for all those games. So, I bought the new Animal Crossing with the Wii Speak thing. Its pretty cool so far, I have only played it for like an hour and a half. It starts off kind of slow, but it is getting a lot better.

My posters arrived yesterday as well, but I haven't even opened them. I was suppose to play tennis last night with my buddy John, but my other friend Omar texted me and invited me to the Los Angeles Kings game (Hockey for those of you confused). It was awesome, he had great seats he got from one of his student's dads (hes a sixth grade teacher). I have never been to the Staples Center and I have to say its pretty awesome; way better than Arco Arena in Sacramento which is what I am used too. Anyways, they played the Washington Capitals so I got to see Alex Ovechkin play, which was awesome because he was the MVP of the NHL last year. The Kings won 5-2, so it was a really good game. I also bought the book I need for one of my classes next quarter and the books I need for my January teaching class, so it was good to get that out of the way. I try to buy all my books on either Amazon or half.com, which is run by ebay. I seriously have saved thousands of dollars by doing this and I usually can sell them back to the school for alm0st as much as I pay for them.

I'm at work right now and just about to start working on some school work. I need to go running today, I slacked big time this week because of my presentation. I'm going to play tennis tomorrow with John too, so that will be good to get out two days in a row. I feel like something else happened that I wanted to write about, but I can't really remember... hm. Oh yeah, I watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special this morning. Man, talk about memories.. I have been watching those Peanuts specials since I can remember. In fact, I bought all of them on DVD last year, that way I can always watch them during the holidays. Thats pretty funny isn't it? I guess I am kind of weird ha oh well. I hope everyone has a great Friday. Αντίο!

Posters

So I finally broke down and did it for the first time... I bought my dad a Christmas present. No I'm just teasing, but I did buy him something. I have to say buying x-mas gifts for dad have to be one of the hardest things ever. I usually get him something dumb that I know he will like, but is impersonal like planters peanuts or something like that. However, this year I have out done myself. I bought him a New England Patriots blanket and being the huge Pats fan that he is, it is a perfect gift! I have already bought one sister her gift (don't want to put it up in case she reads this), so I need to get something for my other sister and her incoming baby(I still can't believe I'm going to be an uncle) and my mom I guess hmm. At least I got myself out of the way ha. I just ordered some posters that I have been wanting for a long time: Vitruvian man by Leonardo Da Vinci, A world map, The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali, and The Great Wave at Kanagawa by Hokusai. I already have a Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. I love good art as you can probably tell, and I feel like it goes well with my star wars and george lucas posters haha. I found out some great news for school last night, I won't get into the boring details but my final for one class just got a whole lot easier like the teacher is automatically giving us 100 out of the 200 points, which means he is giving us 10% of our final grade. Pretty awesome, and we can turn our final in electronically and he already told us the essay prompt so its pretty sweet. Anyways, I have a big presentation tomorrow night in my terrorism in Africa class... my group is presenting on Sudan. Yeah I am pretty much a Sudan and Darfur expert now from this class, so if you have any questions ask away. Well I am going to call it so I can finish preparing for my presentation tomorrow. Night all.

Who is Ryan Riley?

So I promised a bio post so here it is. Well my name is Ryan Riley and I'm 22 years old. I'm a graduate student at CSU- San Bernardino and I'm studying Social Sciences. I'm also working on getting my single subject teaching credential through National University. I live with my old man and my dog Will. Lets see.. the things I love most are (in no particular order): sports, friends, family, anime, movies, music, running, reading, learning, writing, and a bunch of other stuff. Sports are a big part of my life, I seriously think I love every sport and will play/watch anything. Friends are obviously important and are usually the replacement for family for many of us. Family of course is family, some of us hate our family, some love them; but they are who they are and we don't choose them. Anime is just awesome. I'm a pretty big movie guy, kind of like a visual book, that is how i look at it at least. Oh yeah I love ice cream too (just popped in my head since I'm eating some). Music is way, way up there for me; I don't think I could survive without it. Seriously, I listen to music when I drive, run, read, hang out with people, write my papers, etc. Running has become a huge part of my life. I didn't start running until after high school, but it is probably one of the single most important adjustments I have ever made. Healthy and happy are the way to be and runners usually are. Reading is something I have done since I can remember and its probably good I like it since I have to read in school so much haha. I love sci-fi/fantasy, but I will read just about anything. I am a life long learner, as I am still in school and plan on teaching. Writing, well I don't think I would be doing this little blog if I did not like it.

In a nutshell, that is me. I try to be a nice, respectful, and fair guy that treats others as I would like to be treated (The golden rule). Pretty calm, don't lose my temper easily, passionate, haha I feel like I'm filling out a survey for a dating site or something. This is kind of like a broad, general overview of who I am so I guess I will give you more of my current passions or trends in my life. I'm really into tennis right now as you could tell from a previous post. I'm actually pretty much obsessed with it and i'm sad that the season just ended. I have a huge thing for travel right now too, I was lucky enough to go to Europe and February and it really changed my life. I really care about Africa too and what happens there. That may seem kind of silly or intuitive, but I actually really wish I could go there and help the people in need there. They don't deserve our pity or sympathy, but they do need help. Sigh... anyways, I really want to keep writing, but this could go on forever. Not that anyone knows about this yet.. I'm debating whether I will post the link on my facebook :D. If someone does read it eventually, I want them to be able to without having to spend an hour. Anyways, if you do read this and you care or are interested send me an email or leave me a comment. Assalamo Aleikum!

Tennis

Hello all!

I'm just watching Survivorman and surfing the internet. Les Miles and Bear Grylls (from Man vs. Wild) are my heroes, it is amazing what those guys can do out in the wild. I worked for 6 hours today and then played tennis for 4. Tennis is really a difficult game, and the professionals on TV make it look so easy. Its ridiculously fun and addicting though, I only get to play maybe once every two weeks right now, hopefully that will go up. Roger Federer is my favorite player as you can tell from the picture above and arguably the best player of all time. I'm not going to get into that though. Anyways about my job, it is probably the best setup ever. I work from 10am to 4pm on friday, saturday, and sunday. Its at a condominium complex in their clubhouse and no one even comes in. I have my own office with a computer, printer and access to the internet. There is a theatre room, pool table, foosball, darts, kitchen, poker room, etc. Its a really cool setup. I get almost all of my homework done there each weekend including writing my papers and reading. I also get to watch college football on saturdays and professional on sundays. I only make minimum wage, but hey I live at home now so I don't really need a lot. I just realized that I haven't exactly posted about who I am and all that jazz... maybe I'll do like a biography post tomorrow. Its about midnight so I think I'm going to call it... Have a great night!

Football

I love this picture... Haha I don't want any of you to think this is going to be like a Barack Obama love fest blog or anything. I just remembered running across this picture about 6-9 months ago and there is just something about it. Anyways, Thanksgiving is in a little less than two weeks and I'm going back up north to Auburn for a few days. It should be a lot of fun, get to see some family and friends. School is going good, I'm almost done with my fourth teaching class and I have about three more weeks of my first quarter of graduate school. I really miss coaching football right now. Theres something about the month of November that really makes me miss it. Its crazy to think that besides my freshman year of high school, this is really the first year I haven't either been playing football or coaching it since I was 7 years old. I think i'm going through withdrawals haha no joke either. I miss coaching it a lot right now.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog

I don't know if anyone will ever see this, but if you do you will get a good idea of who I am. You know those moments where you just feel like you should be doing and get inspired? Thats what happened to me when I created this blog earlier tonight. Writing really is therapeutic, not that I need therapy, but you know what I'm saying. Its always nice to know that your leaving a mark in some way each day, even if it through just a blog. I love to write and besides school work I haven't written much lately. So I guess this is just going to be a compilation of thoughts, ideas, passions, complaints, raves.. hmm who knows what else? This could be exciting haha or dull or boring. I've always liked to read things I write and reflect on what I was feeling during that time so that is probably a big reason for this. By the way, I had the privilege of voting for the 44th President of the United States, a certain Barack Obama, who was elected. Its one of the proudest moments of my life I would have to say, just to know that in some small way I helped make history. Something you can tell your kids and grandkids... Does anyone like John Legend? He is amazing and is one of my favorite artists, but listen to "If you're out there" off his new CD Evolver. Go buy the CD first if you don't have it because it is a great all-around CD. Anyways, he actually performed this song at the Democratic National Convention and it really sums up how I feel about the election and how proud it makes me feel. Anyways health and wishes to you all, por vida (for life for you non-spanish speakers out there haha).