Merry Xmas and here comes New Years!

Hey everyone!

Hope you all had a great xmas, I sure did. I got: A vest (grandma), 50$ (mom), 25$ itunes card, 100$ jcpenneys card, a tomtom, axe stuff, a new racket (which i returned and got some other tennis stuff since I already have 2 rackets), and some little stuff. The rest was all from my dad, who always hooks me up on christmas. My older sister and her boyfriend got me something too, but I wont get it until the end of January... pretty sure it is Mass Effect 2 though which is rad because that game will be epic. My dad and I went and saw Sherlock Holmes on xmas too, which was pretty good I thought, I haven't read the books but I know it was a lot different from them. Santa brought my dad a bunch of movies which is always good for me since I am a pretty big movie buff.

I had a quick 2.5 day trip up to Norcal last sunday through wednesday. Monday night we had a huge party of like 25 at Chevys, which was fun because one of my best buddies Brett was in california from florida with his girlfriend and I havent seen him in forever. I got to see some other friends I hadn't seen in a while either which was good. Afterwards, we went to Club Car and Pistol Petes (2 auburn bars). My other friend Matt and I shot some pool and then my friend Stacy met us there and we played for a bit. The next day I got to visit my friend Kyle and see my cousins Kari and Kelsi, who were in town from Minnesota and Oregon. They were both home from college. That night, I went out with Stacy and had a blast at the Auburn Alehouse and Petes again. Then, early wednesday morning, I left and drove straight to San Diego and watched Cal play Utah in the Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcolm; shoutout to Ernie for hooking me up with tickets. Mike went with me and afterwards we got some pizza and I drove home. I was pretty tired given I had only slept 4 hours the previous night.. just a whirlwind few days.

Im really excited for New Years; Stacy is coming down to spend a few days and we are going to have a great time. We will be going out to Palm Springs to kick it with my Uncle and his gf and some of their friends. It will definitely be a good time. Hope everyone else is enjoying the holidays and speak soon.

Its beginning to look alot like christmas..

Hello all,

Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful holiday season. Where to start? Well I got A's in both of my classes, which is awesome. My independant study will be done by january 1 (my self-imposed date for finishing my essays). So basically, I am 3 essays, 1 class, and 1 thesis away from my master's degree. Exciting stuff huh? What else.. oh yeah I now officially have 7 of my 10 applications submitted. The next one is for Leeds Uni on January 1st as well. Today I submitted my arms control paper to be published and accepted at a conference at the end of February at Syracuse Uni, so I hope it gets accepted.

I had a great trip to the east coast: 2 days in NYC, 1.5 days in Boston (got to see the patriots live WOOO), and 2 days in Manchester, CT (my former old town). The picture above is of Grand Central Station on Manhatten, then the patriots game (our seats were 7 rows back from the endzone!), then me and kaat at the game, the old north church in boston, and finally my old house in manchester. Got to spend some time with Kaat, a friend I met in Spain, who is studying in NYC and we had fun going to the patriots and walking around Boston in the rain. Then in Manchester, I spent most of my time with Jon Phelps, who is an old football buddy. I also got to see my friend Mike Goldstein for a few hours and my last relative in Connecticut, a cousin named Val. All in all, great trip! I had some transportation issues in the form of delayed flights, missed buses, and missed trains haha. It all worked out good though, except for my patriot ticket fiasco but I don't even want to get into it.

It was a short trip, but a good length althought I forgot how amazing boston is. If I ever move back to the east coast, I will definitely be moving there. What a great city... it just felt like home. Id like to take a trip back and spend 3-4 days in Boston and another 3-4 in Connecticut. Got some good reading done on the trip too: Superfreakonomics, The boy who harnessed the wind, and Open (andre agassis biography). All 3 books were really well done and I enjoyed and recommend them all. Tomorrow night, I am heading back up to Norcal for a few days to see some people. Then wednesday I am suppose to go to the Cal vs. Utah bowl game, but my friend hasn't let me know if he was able to get tickets yet or not.

Things are going pretty good, I really need to stay focused on school and I completely failed at that today haha oh well. Playing tennis tonight which is a plus! Oh yeah, saw Avatar last night.. really cool movie with the best CGI effects I have ever seen. Pretty soon they won't even need actors. Anyways, take care and speak soon.

End of the Quarter is so close!

I submitted my app to UC San Diego last night, so I'm officially done with 4 out of the 10 apps. The next 3 (Harvard, Yale, UCLA) are due on 12/15/09. I need to finish these by thursday night, because that is when I am flying back east for 5 days and I don't want to worry about it while I am out there. I also submitted my paper for Geography 600 tonight, so I am officially done with Geography. I should easily get an A in the class I only needed a 70 out of 100 on the final paper to do so. I finished my paper for Poli Sci 622 completely too, so I will just do one final readthrough and edit tomorrow or thursday and submit it on thursday. That class I have an A in, so if I get an A on the paper I should get an A in the class. My goal is to finish one of my three essays for my econ independant study. Even though my professor said he would extend it into the next quarter, its probably a good idea to get one of them done. Then, I can finish the other 2 over break and focus on my thesis.
Today was pretty productive, I edited 2 papers for a friend for his classes. Also, I saw slumdog millionaire.. GREAT movie I highly recommend it. Really powerful and just the flow and style of the movie were great. Also, my buddy Garrett and I beat the new Halo ODST campaign woohoo it only took us like 2 nights lol its pretty short, but fun. I bought my patriots tickets today, booked the hostel in Boston, and got things cleared up with Kaat. Really excited to go back east for a few days. Speaking of that, I got a surprise call from my buddy Jon who I will be hanging out with. I played football with him in Connecticut and have not seen him in like 10 years!!

I finished fast food nation yesterday, pretty good book. The author's writing style is a little repetitive, but the message and information were really sound. On the flight over to NYC, im planning on reading SuperFreakonomics, the sequel to Freakonomics. The first one was really good, so Im excited to read this.

My dad brought home the Xmas tree today and I decorated it.. always good times and memories. Ill have to take some pictures and post them. Anyways, happy holidays to everyone and god bless....

PS: Oh yeah! It is Jimmy V classic Week on ESPN for College basketball. This is my favorite charity and supports cancer research. PLEASE go donate something, anything!! It is the best charity ever!!!!!

Crunch Time

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving! I sure did; spent a week in northern california with friends and family. Played some tennis, met with some old friends, made a few new ones.. always a good time. Oh yeah, I bought a few books before I left: Fast Food Nation, The Gathering Storm, Open, and SuperFreakonomics. I'm about halfway through Fast Food Nation so far and it is really good; its about how the fast food industry develped, does business, and spread across the country. My Aunt Nasty gave me a book too called "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind", which looks really good too.

So I am done with 3 of my 10 applications. I submitted to Cambridge, Stanford, and Berkeley. The next group are due in about a week. School-wise Im done for the semester except for my 25 page paper which I havent started yet.. Yikes! Other exciting news is I got Netflix today and LOVE IT. All Ive done today is watched movies: Nick + Norah's Infinite playlist, 10 things I hate about you, Mall Cop, Phenomenon, and now im watching the Never Ending Story. Its 9$ a month, I get 1 disc for free at anytime, plus through my xbox there is 100's of movies you can stream instantly.

When I was up north I played some tennis with my buddy who works for Berkeley's football program.. it was so cool I got to tour the football facilities and even met some coaches. I have definitely been missing football lately.

Tomorrow I need to mail some writing samples, and work on my paper. Oh yeah my East Coast trip is coming up in like 10 days super excited for that too! Hope everyone is well!

Happy 1 year blogging anniversary!

Well its been about a year of blogging! So I decided, Hey! Im going to mess with the blog, change the layout, the colors, the font.. ya know jazz it up a bit. Well I spent an hour messing around with it just to realize that there really isn't much I can do and I already like the way it looks haha.

Finally slogging through the end of my application process. Let me tell you, it is a royal pain to apply to graduate school, much less 10 of them. Essays, Letters of rec, GRE scores, filling-in-the-blanks, research proposals. Im glad this is almost done, because its definitely taken a lot of my time and energy. This quarter is quickly coming to a close. Im pretty much done with my classes besides 1 powerpoint presentation this Tuesday and then some papers.

I finally bought the Roger Federer racket this past week.. so stoked about that. I played with it for a couple hours but I have shin splints so couldn't do much. Got some greaty poly strings on it, I also bought new shoes (K-swiss) and an actual tennis backpack for my racket. Hopefully later this week my shin splints will be gone and I can play.

Thats about it... Still playing Dragon Age a bunch.. great game. Still thinking about buying some winter clothes and some books. Take care all.

Hi All

How is everyone? Good hopefully. Im doing well, starting to get very busy though. Halloween was low-key although I did win 100 bucks playing black jack at a casino. I got a new video game to be my distraction about a week ago after beating bioshock (excellent game by the way), called Dragon Age Origins. This game is utterly massive, Im already 32 hours in and maybe a third of the way through. I love fantasy RPG games sigh... I literally played all day today.. its all I did.. really... Anyways, everything school-wise is coming together quite nicely. I got my Letters of recommendation all lined up, so pretty much im done with my US applications, I need to upload transcipts and write my research proposal for the UK schools and I will be done with those as well. Tomorrow I'm hoping to be productive since I was utterly unproductive today. Playing a bit of tennis lately which has been nice, although my legs killed when I played yesterday, must be time for new shoes.

Biggest news is that Im going to NYC, Boston, and CT in December, Ill be gone from 12/11 to 12/16 visiting friends and doing some stuff. I might make it up to a Patriots game, which would be glorious. Im starting to get excited for Thanksgiving as well since I will be going to Northern California for a few days and that is always a good time. School-wise I am down to a presentation, a 10 page paper, and a 25 pager. Then I have my independant study papers, which hopefully Ill finish 2 of those before the end of the quarter.

For some reason, I have had an urge lately to go clothing shopping. I can't really afford it, but I want some new WINTER clothes... problem is.. not much of a winter in southern california. I really do need a peacoat/coat thing though, so I might just go ahead and get one. I have a jacket and plenty of sweaters and long sleeves. My shoes are getting a bit beat up.. I don't think I will go with airwalks again.. I've had these a year but they just seem weird I don't know. I've also had a strong urge to do some recreational reading, but between playing Dragon Age and school work, I have plenty to read.. hmm...

Ive been thinking a lot lately... just about the future and what I want. I think im really excited about pursuing a PhD and its coming quick. I hope that I get in somewhere, and also I think I really would be ready and prepared to move to England. Something about that just feels right to me... I don't know how to explain it. Also, have been thinking about Africa a lot... I really feel like I made the right decision in choosing to specialize in it. Its just such a massive, diverse place that is super important. It almost has a magical aura to it, although Im pretty sure its just because I haven't been there. Also, I get this charity magazine and it had a bunch of articles on it.. I don't know just excited and anxious to do more research on it. I really feel like I am ready to move on and advance myself academically. I just hope I get the opportunity.

Anyways, like usual, missing my friends a bit. Its been tough not having a lot of friends around. Just got to suck it up a little longer. Well, I guess thats it.. Don't want to ramble on too much haha. ^_^

U2 Woohoo!

So I have had a fun and busy 10 days. Last week on Monday, I saw the Yankees and Angels play in Game 3 of the playoffs for baseball! The above picture is one of Alex Rodriguez from our seats. It was my first postseason baseball game and even though the Yankees lost I had a really good time. Then on tuesday, I went down to San Diego for a couple nights. I spent the first night with my buddy Mike and went hiking at La Jolla. The picture above is from our hike right next to Torrey Pines golf course.. it is so beautiful there.The next day I met up with my old friend Andrea and hung out with her in Ocean Beach. It was really nice to catch up with her and get back in touch. Then, the next day I had lunch with one last friend who happened to be in town as well which was nice. Then, the night I got home after school; my friend Matt drove out from USC to hang out. He hung out for the night and then drove home the next day after I got off work. His brother Steve drove out from USC friday night like right after he left and we played tennis which was a lot of fun. Then, we went and picked up my buddy Matt Christopher who I haven't seen in about a month. The 3 of us went to Fridays and had dinner and a few drinks it was a good time. Steve drove home that night and Matt went to work with me the next day.

We invented the best darts game in the history of the world. We came up with a darts football game including scoring, kickoffs, and everything. It was so much fun we pretty much played all day long. Then, that night we decided to go down to hollywood and hang out with a couple friends from high school. It was a blast, we hit up some really cool bars, and didn't get back home until 5:30am lol. Well I had to wake up at 9am for work which wasn't much fun, but no worries. Luckily for Matt, he got to sleep all day. Well Sunday night, we went and saw that man right above there.. thats right Bono. We saw U2 perform live at the Rose Bowl!!! It was such an epic show, the Black eyed Peas opened for them. My dad went with us, and I sold the extra ticket I had to make some of my money back. The picture of the top is a picture of the "claw" or massive structure that U2 hauls around on their tour acting as a stage. It was truly one of the best concerts I've been too.. BEP played for an hour and U2 for 2 and a half hours. It was such a trip to see 100,000 people rocking out to the same U2 songs. They even streamed it live on Youtube and are making the show into a DVD; ahh it was amazing!!!

Anyways, so I slept another 3.5 hours on sunday night since I had to take matt to the airport at like 6am. I went home and slept for another 6 hours and just kinda hung out all day. Yesterday though I slept in and got recharged. Most importantly, I FINALLY FOUND MY MOTIVATION. I finally got my school grind back together again, I have been struggling so hard to find it. I worked on my thesis prospectus yesterday and today I pretty much finished all of my statement of purposes for my applications. Im nearly done with US ones since I already got transcripts and GRE scores. I just need to get my letters of recommendation in order now.

Anyways, played some tennis this morning, it was super windy not a lot of fun and I got my ass kicked by John. Going to finish the SOP's tomorow and maybe start of my research proposal for the UK school's apps. Things are going good though, Steve is coming out friday night to play some tennis and chill for halloween on sat night. I think we are just going to hit up a bar, I dont feel like getting crazy. Hasta Luego everyone.

Fall Quarter 2009

Hey everyone,

How is everyone doing? I'm doing well, but things are starting to get busy. I have 2 classes (which I am not really enjoying, but hoping they get better) and an independent study. For the study, I have to read 3 economics book and write an essay about each one. I have also started my college apps (I'm applying to 6 schools in the US and 5 in the UK). Im in the process of writing the statement of purpose and research proposals for those. I need to order my GRE scores, transcripts, and contact my professors for letters of recommendation. I also need to keep working on my thesis, which I have failed to do so... definitely a lot of stuff to do.

I started back to work, in fact this is my third weekend back and it is going well. I have been running and playing tennis again, so its nice to be getting back into shape. My body feels pretty healthy, and I have been trying to eat healthier too. I have also started playing my xbox a lot lately, which I am sure is detrimental to my studies but oh well. I bought assassins' creed and beat that in a week. Its a great game, lots of fun, and im looking forward to the second one which comes out in a month. I also bought Bioshock, which is a really unique first person shooter. I am about 4 hours into it and it is a great game about an underwater city. I also bought the new Halo and have only played the firefight mode but it is just a blast. After beating assassins' creed, I took it back and reserved Dragon Age. Dragon Age is like a massive RPG set in the medieval/fantasy realm and is suppose to have 80 hours of gameplay. Im sure my life will truly shut down after that.

I have some exciting events coming up too. Tomorrow, my dad and I are going to watch the Yankees vs. Angels in Anaheim in game 3 of the conference series. Im really stoked about this as NY is up 2-0 after winning a marathon game in the bottom of the 13th inning last night. I have never been to a baseball playoff game so it should be exciting. Then, next sunday, Im going to see Black eyed peas and U2 live in concert WOO! I bought these tickets like 6 months ago and I can't believe the concert is finally here.

I think I might be going up to Santa Barbara or San Diego for halloween. I haven't completely decided, but I want to do something fun. Anyways, thats about it from my own. Take care everyone.

What a great second half to the summer!

Well, the two pictures above are the beach in Barcelona and Picasso's Guernica in Madrid. Just a small example of the amazingness that is Spain. I'm not going to write about my trip, I did that on my travel blog, which you can read at http://worldswerver.livejournal.com.

Read a few good books since I last posted: Freakonomics and I hope they serve beer in hell. Freakonomics is about the economics of everyday life and situations. Really interesting, I highly recommend it. The latter is probably the funniest thing I have ever read and is about the exploits with women and drinking that a former Duke law student has gone through. Very offensive to women and digusting, but unbelievably funny. Kinda stalled on Milton about 45 pages in, somewhat difficult reading, but I will get into it.

I had my first class on Thursday night, Im excited to get back into school I think. It will be nice just to have some interaction. I also start work next weekend which will be good as well. I have also bought a reverse blade sword like Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin so Im really excited for that to get here.

Overall, life is pretty good. Im definitely missing the traveling and the new friends I made already; but such is life. Oh yeah, I spent 2 days in auburn and saw the Killers live. They put on an awesome show, and got to hang with some friends. Hope everyone is well.

Its been a great month!

So, I just got back 2 nights ago from my fortnight on the big island of Hawaii. I put up a few pictures I thought really highlighted the trip. The first picture is the view from my friend's house that he is building. He is at about 1,200 feet of elevation and I worked construction there for him for 10 days while I was there. The second photo is Hapuna Beach, which is constantly ranked in the top 10 in the entire world. This was about 40 minutes north of where they live. The third picture is me on Hapuna Beach. The fourth and fifth pictures were from about 100 feet away of the lava that is going into the ocean. This was on the southwest part of the island and was absolutely stunning to see. All in all, the trip was amazing. I got spoiled rotten with my own condo, not having to buy food or drink, getting to snorkel and do other amazing activities. The Morrisons were the perfect host and they even paid me for my time. I hope I can repay them for their hospitality someday. The money I made will pretty much pay for me entire trip to spain, which is wonderful.

Not much besides that. Yesterday, my first day home, I went to Magic Mountain with my buddy Mike. He had never been and I hadn't in 3 years. It was perfect, we zipped through every ride in about 2 hours until the last one which was about a 1.5 hour wait. It was worth it though, we were able to blaze through the park and it was a lot of fun. Then, we went and saw inglorious basterds, which was a true Quentin Tarantino masterpiece at its finest. I highly recommend it, especially if you hate the Nazis and Hitler, than I REALLY recommend it.

I haven't worked on my thesis at all, Im hoping to organize it a bit before I leave for Spain. I bought my books today for the quarter, I only needed four and got them all for a little under 100 dollars. Still waiting on Professor Toruno to email me the reading list for my independent study, I sure hope he hasn't forgotten. I also had a really good phone call from my boss today and touched base. He is looking forward to me coming back to work so its nice they are still missing me. Another good thing is that I haven't run or played tennis in 17 days or so, and I won't for at least another 17 so I am hoping that a month will be enough time to completely heal my left knee.

Well, I am probably going to take the train back to USC on saturday again and stay with the Ragusano brothers for 2 nights before I leave. Then, im gone for 2 weeks in Spain and 3 days in Auburn. Its going to be really hectic. I booked my train from Madrid to Barcelona today and about half my hostels. Im staying close to the nightlife in some "fun/party" hostels. It should be a really good time and I should meet a lot of people hopefully. I haven't talked to Irene (my friend in Spain), I need to write her and see if we are going to be able to meet up.

Started reading Milton's Paradise Lost, really good so far. The flow is very different and the content is heavily biblical but I am enjoying it so far. I think I will leave you with that, I have some more to say; but this is long enough ha. Good night!

Whew... Good week!

Well, here are some pictures of me playing tennis, my buddy was nice enough to resend them to me in jpeg format.

All in all, this was a damn good week. I worked out twice, and Im going to work out for a third time here in a bit. The Yankees have won the first two games over the Red Sox in their 4 game series. I checked my financial aid crap on my school website and found out the disbursement is September 14; right in the middle of my Spain trip. So, when I get home I will be ballin' haha. This is good because I can start planning a few little trips I have up my sleeve for the fall and winter. Also, I learned a few new songs on the keyboard. Parts of the Speed of Sound and The Hardest Part by Coldplay. And........ the Harry Potter theme song! Ta-Da haha. Its really easy, so it was cool to learn it.

Most importantly, I was SO productive on my thesis. As my last post stated I started this week off at 20 pages or so. Then, I proceeded to write each day this week: Monday= 5.5 pages, Tuesday= 5 pages, Wednesday= 2.5 pages, Thursday= 4 pages, Friday= 2 pages, and today=4.5 pages! So basically in 6 days I went from 20 pages to around 42. So unbelieable what you can do when you really set your mind, not too mentioned I worked through about 6 of the 13 books I had; so I've completely gone through half of my initial sources which is good. I've also started making chapter titles and somewhat moving things into place. My goal now is to have over 60 by the time I leave for Hawaii in 9 days, which I think I can really do! 60 pages of body will be really good and will probably be most of it minus the transitions and polishing up.

So, my dad and I are going to Pismo Beach super early tomorrow morning to go ride and camp for a night. Im pretty excited, Ive never been to the Central California coast and you get to ride right on the beach! It should be a lot of fun. We are coming back monday late afternoon, so I won't get to work on my thesis that day but I wasn't really planning on it anyways. The only thing is that one of my books is due back that day so Im not really sure what im going to do lol I guess it will just have to be a day late.. oops!

Life is really good right now.. I definitely have no complaints. Hawaii coming up, thesis is trucking along, Spain after. Not too mention 2 of my best buddies just moved down to USC and are only an hour away. Its been really nice too because of Nicole. That is my new friend who I connected with that I wrote about in my last post. Pretty much amazing, definitely makes life better when you have someone you look forward to talking about on the daily.

Anywaysssssssssss, Ill probably post again mid- next week unless something crazy goes down. Hope everyone is doing good.

Time to be productive!

Well after not doing much the past few weeks as far as thesis writing, I am definitely trying to put in some work. I wrote 5 pages today to bring me up to roughly 25.. so worst case scenario I am like a quarter of the way done. Its exciting because I'm getting to the point where my sources are referencing each other in their work and starting to overlap meaning: 1. Im actually learning this stuff and 2. Im working my way through the material and 3. My topic has finally become specialized on democratic consolidation. My goal was to write another 20 before I left for Hawaii which is in TWO WEEKS oh boy! Hopefully I can stay motivated and somehow write 5 a day mon-fri which would bring me up to 70 before I left haha. Fat chance but its nice to dream yes?

Been playing a bit of tennis too which has been good. Actually my tennis buddy is gone for the week in Vancouver so it will allow me to focus on my thesis more. We went out and set up his camera on a tripod and got some pretty cool actions shots of us playing. I was trying to upload a few but since he has a mac, they are in the PICT format which is recognized by nothing. I need to find a way to convert them and then I will upload a few in my next post.

I went quad riding with my dad yesterday which was a ton of fun! I haven't been riding since we went to Ocotillo Wells on Easter I think. It was definitely good times and my back is a little sore since its not used to the vibration of riding. It would be nice to go more often but its pretty hot now so no dice I think.

The other big news is that I have been playing my keyboard everyday for the past, oh I don't know, 8 or 9 days. I hadn't realized how much I miss playing music. I listen to music pretty much all day nonstop but I haven't played my keyboard since last summer :S. Its been a lot of fun though, Im learning a lot of Coldplay songs seeing how I have been listening to them so much lately. Also, I am learning the first movement of Moonlight Sonata which is just a gorgeous piece. Anyways, it has been really relaxing and soothing. Maybe if I get a few songs down pat.. I only have like one or two right now, but if I get a few more I will make a video and upload it. Would be kinda fun.

And of course, there really is nothing like meeting someone you didn't know before and realizing how awesome they are. I recently reconnected, well really connected for the first time a girl I went to high school with and she is really cool. Its so nice to meet someone that you share so much in common with and connect with.

Anyways, on the whole, life is pretty good right now except for the fact that Im super broke haha. I just need to wait for school to starts because Ill be working again and get my living expenses loan I took out (just a small one). A bit of a long post, but I had a lot to say. Hope everyone is doing well and take care =).

Fun times with the family!

Well the house is super quiet now, I guess that is what happens when it goes from 7 people being here to 2. I had a great time with all the family. Played lots of ping pong and video games with Rob and Shannon. My niece Madi is absolutely adorable and a joy to be around. She is always smiling and laughing, when she isn't crying or sleeping haha. It was awesome to see my mom and little sister too since I hadn't seen them in a little over a year. Cleaned up today, did laundry, and the house is pretty much back to normal. Played tennis the last 2 days and worked out today; trying to get back in the groove of things. I also wrote 2 pages for my master's thesis, so I'm up to 14. I got 3 new books via Interlibrary loan(ILL) that should really help me. The ILL system is brilliant as it lets you borrow books, articles, and other things for free(usually) from almost any library in the country/world. Its very helpful.

When everyone was here we went to Palm Springs, Huntington Beach, LA, bowling, saw the new Harry Potter movie which rocked! It was weird knowing the story beforehand since in the past I had never read the books, but its cool to see how they translate it to the big screen. Also, last Sat. night I took my friends Jessica and Amanda to see Coldplay and oh man did we have a good time. They put on such a brilliant show, they definately rank up their with the best bands I have ever seen. It was by far the biggest concert I have ever been to, there was so many people there.

Well the big news for me is that I am definitely going to Hawaii! I bought my ticket yesterday from August 17- September 1. The cheapest listed price to Kona from LA right now is 550$, so I gave priceline a go and got one for 450$! 100 bucks cheaper! I guess priceline does work (this was my first time); its good for last minute and really expensive trips. Good connections and it is on United so good deal all the way around. The Morrisons are kind enough to split the cost with me and then they are going to pay me to do work out there for them. Sounds glorious.

Well the pictures above are of my cute niece and the coldplay concert. I guess this is all for now, hope everyone is good.

Viva Las Vegas

Well,

I had a pretty fun-filled weekend in Las Vegas. It was super packed because they had a UFC championship fight over the weekend too. It so hot too, we couldn't really walk around during the day since it was like 108 degrees. I had a lot of fun gambling and checking out some of the clubs though. I lost 150$ the first night, but won 100$ the second night; so I only lost 50 for the trip. Not too bad I think.

I bought and read the last Harry Potter book last week. I have to say that J.K. Rowling was able to do what few others can. She made each book progressively longer and better, and she did a really good job of tying everything together in the last book. I'm really excited for the Half-Blood Prince to come out on Wednesday.

In family news, Meghan (sister) and Maddy (niece) fly in tonight. This should be really fun, a lot of family is going to be coming here in the next week and it should make for quite a merry household.

I need to get working on my thesis here, Im going to go on Worldcat and order some books today. Worldcat is a wonderful thing, through the school library I can borrow books from universities all over the world. Its either free or for a small fee. Pretty helpful stuff eh? UCLA will definitely have a lot of good books, they have a huge African studies program. It should be free too since they are so close.

Have a good one.

Fate will not be denied

Congratulations to Roger Federer on winning his 15th Grand Slam! He outlasted Andy Roddick in an epic 5 setter at Wimbledone: 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14! For those of you who know tennis; Wimbledon does not do tiebreaks in the 5th set, which means the two players had to go for an eternity with Roger finally prevailing.

Well, I have the fortune of having a very active family member who I have yet to meet on my mother's side of the family, who decided to set up a family blog so everyone can post and keep up on each other's news. I think this is a brilliant idea and have been actually contemplating doing this for my dad's side of the family. So depending on the success of this new blog, I might do it as well. I might also have some people visiting my blog now. This has served as my own personal journal for the last 8-9 months, but I definitely wouldn't find if people were reading it and keeping up on me and my life.

In any case, I think I will go blog over there in a minute and introduce myself to some extended family. Its crazy how you can be related to people, but never have met them or even know they exist. Family is truly a wonderful thing.

Heres to a beautiful day and a beautiful life.

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone had a great day enjoying our country's freedom. I celebrated on thursday by going down to Huntington Beach. I met up with a friend and we went hiking with another of her friends. Then we hung out drank, went to the beach, and went into the hot tub. All in all it was a really good time. They might come up next week and come spend a night with me out in Palm Springs, which will be fun. Tomorrow is my last day of work for the rest of the summer. Pretty crazy but Im looking forward to it, I have a lot of fun stuff going on this summer so it will be nice to get away from work for a few months.

Im going up to Las Vegas this weekend which will be awesome. I have a few friends from high school that are going to be there as well so it should be fun to meet up with them in Sin City. My little sister and niece fly in the day after I get back from Vegas, so the fun will be beginning really soon here. I've written about 10 pages on my masters thesis so far. 10 down and 90 to go haha. Its kinda discombulated and all over the place, but Im gradually narrowing down the topic. I just need to keep chipping away, 2 pages at a time and it will be done before I know it.

Most importantly, tomorrow is the Men's Final for Wimbledon. Roger Federer will be facing Andy Roddick for the 3rd time in the Wimbledon final (they met in the 04 and 05 finals). Im really proud of Roddick for making it and if it was anyone but Roger I would definitely root for him. However, Roger is chasing history. This is his 7th straight Wimby final and if he wins it will be his 15th Grand Slam, breaking his tie with Sampras and push him into Tennis immortality. Anyways, I hope everyone is doing great. Take care!

Ny Ny

OMG I GOT A 4.0!!!! Wow, what a relief, surprise, and happiness. I had two grades posted as A's already.. my History and Poli Science class. My Econ grade was like a 91% going into the final paper and final. I had to get high A's on both to even have a shot at getting an A. I got a 96 on both assignments and finished with a 93.1 %. I have a 3.968 cumulative now. Whew, now I really just need to dominate this Master's thesis this summer and everything will be okay.

Anyways, I got home from NYC last night and had an amazing time. Did all of the touristy stuff: The met, central park, empire state building, took a cab, rode the subway, walked down wall st, went to ground zero, rode the staten island ferry, saw the statue of liberty, and so much more. Steve, Mike, and I had a blast and took a ton of great pictures so I'll be uploading those to my facebook.

Everything else is good, exited for the summer and for life in general. Hope everything is good for everyone else too. Take care.

Wowzers..

So two weeks flies by pretty quickly doesn't it? Man oh man; well lots of new news here. First of all, I bought a plane ticket roundtrip from LA to Madrid for 299$! So excited! Im going for 2 weeks in september. Also, Hawaii is for sure happening and Im going for like 3.5 weeks in the beginning of August to the beginning of September. I just finished school last night. I know I have 2 A's already and I am just waiting on my econ grade which could be either an A or A- depending on how well I did on my paper and the final. Our new couch arrives tomorrow and I leave tomorrow night for New York City for 4 days, which should be awesome.

Been reading a lot lately, read the 6th Harry Potter book, Read the book of 5 rings, and now im reading Dreams from My Father which are Obama's memoirs. I put my 2 weeks in to my job yesterday and they like me so much they offered to hold my job for me until I get back at the end of september! So i won't have to work all summer and I'll still have employment when school starts back up which is awesome. My new laptop has been awesome too I love it. Im almost finished with the rurouni kenshin anime series I only have like 10 more episodes, it has been awesome. Also, I bought the new tiger woods game and man is it addicting. The graphics are beautiful and it is a lot of fun.

Quick Tennis update: Nadal pulled out of wimbledon, which means that as long as Federer makes the final again he will take over the #1 ranking again. Only Ivan Lendl has regained this spot after losing it, so Fed could be the 2nd guy ever to do it. Im sure he would like to win though, it would be his 6th Wimby and 15th Grand slam making him the all time leader in slam wins.

Hmm what else.. Oh yeah my mom is coming out while my sisters are in town, so it will be good to see her again and have the whole family together. Thats about the main points, its going to be a fun and hectic summer between traveling and writing my master's thesis. Hope everything is good with everyone else. Ciao.

Big things this last week!

First and foremost. CONGRATULATIONS ROGER FEDERER!!! Today, Roger won his first French Open, completing the career grand slam. Also, it was his 14th major tying him with Pete Sampras of all time. It is hard to argue against him being the greatest player of all time. That is the scene of him after the final shot. I am so happy for Roger after all the trouble he had last year. Wimbledon is next and if he can win that not only will he have his 15th major but will probably be ranked #1 in the world again. Which would make me quite happy. Speaking of my own tennis, I took a set off John last night on the Clay. I think i have won a total of 6 sets now. Not much but its progress. Also, Congrats to Tiger Woods who came back from 4 shots down to win the memorial tournament, the final warmup before the US open.

I bought a Toshiba Satellite A305-S6916 Special Edition laptop this week too. My old one finally died and Im tired of messing with it. This thing is fully loaded and was on sale from best buy so I got a good deal. Its nice to have a new cpu. I saw changeling last night at caroline's house, what a great movie; angeline jolie was superb. My friend Matt got into USC and is driving down right now to come stay with me for a few nights. We are going to check out the campus and UCLA too which will be cool because I have never been to either campus.

One more week of school and then finals. Here is the to-do list:

PSCI 540: Final presentation (paper is done just needs to be edited: both due June 10)

Hist 600: Final paper and presentation (due June 19)

Econ 500: Final draft of paper and Final (Paper is due June 10th I think and final next week sometime)

Hopefully I can pull off 2 a's and an a-. I have an A and 2 a-'s right now. The potential to get all A's is there but I would have to get nearly 100% in econ on the last 2 assignments. I can deal with a 3.9.

Dad is buying a new couch today and maybe a new laptop for himself. Good for him. Still waiting to hear on whether I am going to Hawaii or not. Anyways take care and talk to you soon.

God Im getting bad at this

So I havent posted in a millenia right? Im a terrible person. Well there has been way too much that has happened since I last posted so Ill just give some highlights. My trip up north was awesome, I got to see a lot of friends I normally don't see which was super nice. I saw the friends I always do too which was good. I turned in a rough draft for my term paper in econ today, its getting down to the nitty gritty: only 2 more weeks and then finals. Here is a layout of what is due in each class:

Econ 500- Final Paper and Final
PSCI 540- Final Paper and Final Presentation
Hist 600- Final Paper

I have an A- in econ and PSCI right now and a high A in history. Econ I think ill get an A-; I would have to get like 100% from here on out to get an A. Hist is almost a guarenteed A and for PSCI I need to do a good job on the last 2 assignments. I can handle a 3.9 but if i get a 3.8 im going to be pissed.

Been reading a lot too, read a few books and im working on the last one in the sword of truth fantasy series which I have been reading for years. Oh yeah Roger Federer beat Nadal ON CLAY in the Masters Madrid final, I was so happy. The French Open is going on right now so hopefully Roger can win it since it is the only grand slam he doesnt have. Speaking of Clay, I won my first set on clay ever tonight against John! I shouldve won one a few weeks ago, I had a few set points but blew it. Not tonight though, im playing much better, serving better, my backhand is clean, and im starting to get some topspin on my forehand.

Well I guess the big news is that Meghan, Madi, Shannon and Rob will be here for like 10 days in July which will be sweet. Also, I might live in Hawaii for the month of august and first 2 weeks of september since the Morrisons live there and are building a house. He wants me to come out, said he would buy my ticket, free room and board, and pay me. Sounds like a pretty awesome deal.

Well thats it for now, Ill post again soon, unless I get enveloped by school. Bye

Blah de da blah blah

Ah, Im just sitting here relaxing at work right now. I feel kind of tired, but I haven't been doing much lately. Maybe that is why. School is moving on nicely; only 5 more weeks including finals. Going up to Auburn in 2 weeks which will be fun. Hmm, just had my first round of midterms and papers which went well. Oh yeah, I met with the third member of my thesis committee which went really well. Monday night, Im going down to San Diego until wednesday afternoon, which will be fun. Oh yeah, I just watched Donnie Darko last night for the first time, talk about a freaky movie. It was really good though. Lets see, fixed my laptop so that works again thankfully.

Im SUPER excited for summer. Trip to New York, few trips to Vegas, also im taking french over the summer so I will hopefully be trilingual here in a few months. Oh yeah my dad bought a ping pong table which is awesome and we have played twice in the last few days so much fun. Going to play on a clay court (tennis) on monday which will be my first time so im really stoked about that.

All in all, I dont really have anything to update, havent been doing much. Little running/working out/tennis here and there. Spent Cinco De Mayo with my uncle in Palm Desert which is always a good time. We even had a pinata haha. Anyways take care.

Oops!

Well, I had been doing better about posting. It seems like I average about one a week which isn't too bad I guess. Hit some tennis for a little the other night, my shoulder is completely healed. Thank god! I hate having a bum shoulder. I seem to have developed a cough as well, which is actually more fun than usual given all the panic about the "swine" flu. Oh lord, pandemic my ass.. it will be gone in a month. Well, been watching a lot of movies lately: Sweeney Todd, and the Pirates trilogy. Hmm, read the fourth Harry Potter book (The Goblet of Fire). Oh my laptop has been having one issue after another. First, the power cord broke; so I ordered a new one. Then, a day later, the cooling fan broke. I ordered another one and am waiting on it. I guess 3.5 years is getting up there in laptop age. So lets see, my sister got engaged! Yay congrats Shannon and Rob. Exciting stuff. Trying to get back into an active mindset: worked out this morning and ran twice last week. I don't know why but its been hard to stay motivated with that.

Spent yesterday doing a bunch of random school stuff. I have my thesis comittee locked in and I had to submit a graduate check for next winter. Revised a big paper thats due monday and turned another paper in last wednesday. I have a midterm in my econ class on wednesday, so I'll probably study for that tomorrow. Thinking about going to San Diego next week for a night, I'll have to see if Mike is free. Oh yeah! bought a webcam and a flash drive. The flash drive has already come in super handy and the webcam is sweet too. Also, there is new tennis center opening near my house that has 10 courts (9 hard and 1 clay!!!). Clay courts are really hard to find in the US and usually expensive. Its 50$ a month and it has a pro shop, tourneys and all kinds of cool stuff. Im really excited.

Going up north for memorial day weekend. Im really excited about that. It will be nice to get away and see some friends. Caroline might ride up north with me too which will be nice to have some company. See my sister, go out a little, be a nice change from sitting around all the time. Oh yeah, I need to call Uncle Brendan and see if he is doing anything for cinco de mayo. Well im sure there is some other stuff, but I cant think of it for now. See ya later.

Harry Potter and U2

Now, I know most of you are thinking... What does Harry Potter and Bono have to do with each other? Well nothing, except they are the two most prevalent things on my mind. I read the first harry potter book about 10 days ago in 4 hours. It was awesome, so today I borrowed the second one (Chamber of Secrets) from a friend and finished it in probably 4.5 hours. The thing with me and reading that I have always known, but have really only become self-aware of in the last few months is that I have to balance my reading. By reading all these heavy, deep-thought, political, and philosophical works by some of the great minds in our history, it really pushes and stretches my mind. Most people would respond to this by not reading at all. However, I have found that my mind best responds and internalizes this by reading a story, for the pure joy of it. These first two books have done a marvelous job of that for me this quarter. Not too mention, they are just great stories and I love reading them.

Now to Bono, I have just been listening to U2 a lot and I figured I would throw a picture of him up there for you all. If you haven't listened to U2, I STRONGLY suggest it. In fact, I would demand it.. They are truly one of those bands that can touch you through their music, and I feel that I am a better person just for having heard it.

Other than that, got some sources for my thesis today at school. The library actually had a fairly large amount of information on Senegal and is going to be a great help. Im beginning to develop some ideas of why Senegal is so stable, and I think it is more based on the political history/actions and the religious aspects of the society versus the social or economic factors of the country. Ill have to continue to look into that though.

Worked out today for the first time in about a month. Kicked my butt a little, but its good. Now that my tattoo is pretty much healed, I can work out, run and play tennis again. Im planning on going on like a 2 mile job tomorrow since I havent run in like a month too, and hopefully play some tennis on thursday. Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday and talk to you soon.

Wowzers..

Oops! I did not realize so much time had gone by since I had posted on here. I have been a bit busy, so I guess its not a bad thing. Lets see... School is going good so far. I really like all 3 of my classes. I've done most of my reading for my history class already, so that is paying some good dividends. I need to buckle down here tho because in the next 2-3 weeks I have a few papers and tests coming up. Um, I played tennis like 5 times in an 8 day period and something is clearly wrong with my right shoulder. Ever since coming back from cancun, it has been killing me and it has not gotten better. It doesnt affect my groundstrokes, but my serving is definitely a lot worse than it was. Which is really frustrating.. My new strings are nice though.

Oh yeah, I got my second tattoo last tuesday =). Its a greek proverb written in ancient greek which says "wonder is the beginning of wisdom". Its on my right side in a single vertical line. The tattoo guy was really cool and it only took like 45 minutes. Oh yeah for anyone who says the side/ribs hurt, its really not that bad. There was only like 2 parts that hurt a little, I thought the one of my chest hurt way more. That same night was Brendan's (uncle) 31st birthday so it was fun to go out there and hang out.

What else.. Work is good, im there now actually. Never saw Fast n Furious, but I watched a few new movies that my pops bought. Eagle Eye was pretty good. Also, I have been watching a lot of older movies: Stand by me, Sandlot, Harry Potter, so I have actually been watching a lot of movies lately. Oh yeah, bought my tickets and hotel to New York, Im going from June 21-24, should be a lot of fun. Also, going to see the Killers in concert in September, so I have quite the concert line up for the end of summer/ beginning of fall.

Took my dad and Brendan to the airport yesterday, so just hanging out alone for the weekend. Can't play tennis until maybe Tuesday, have to give the tattoo at least a week to heal before I stretch it out. I know there is some other stuff that has gone on, but I think that is all of the main points. Overall, everything is going pretty well and I can't complain too much. Oh yeah, for Easter, my dad and I went camping at Ocotillo Wells, which is by the Salton Sea. It was fun, we camped and rode our quads. I hadn't been riding in months so it was nice to get out. Im 2/3 of the way through my Grandpa's last published book too so. Also, been playing a little Xbox too which is always fun.

Alright alright, thats it for now. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Sunday sunday

Not sure why, but that song just popped in my head (The one in my title). Well its been an up and down few days since wednesday. My alternator was bad so I had to spend another 150 to replace it. Then, Roger Federer lost to Novak Djokovic on friday and played really poorly. He got so frustrated he smashed his racket, which is something you never see from him. I think his back is injured more than he is letting on, hopefully switching to the clay season will help him out. Then, last night, Uconn lost in the final four to Michigan State. Mich St. didn't really do anything special, Uconn just played poorly. They couldn't make shots, free throws, rebound, or play good transition defense. Oh well, was still a great year for them, their women play tonight in the final four and should win comfortably.

I just finished reading Reason in History by Hegel, A german philosopher from the 19th century. It was one of the most intense reads ever for me maybe. Only 95 pages but it took me like 5 hours to get through, just so much information and weird lingo going on. Im starting on the Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which should be a bit easier of a read. Ive read 3 books for my History Proseminar class which starts monday, its good too because there is seriously like 10 books; so its good im getting a jump on it.

Played tennis last night. Oh yeah I didn't write this down, but I actually beat my friend before I left for Cancun. I took a set off of him 6-3, I was up 5-1 but he won a few more games before I closed it out. I don't know what it was about watching the professionals live, but something clicked for me. All facets of my gave have gotten significantly better in just a month. I probably had 10 aces in 5 sets last night. He beat me pretty easily, but one set was 6-4. It seems like there is always one set where it is close like 6-4 now, which is nice. Its nice to be getting considerably better in something, always a good feeling. I have new strings and overgrip on the way because my strings are dead, Ive been playing with them for like 6 months now. I need to get some balls too.

Talked to my uncle Pat last night for like 30 minutes, it was really nice. My dad and uncle brendan are going up there in 2 weekends for a late 50th celebration for my dad. I wish I could go but I have to work, my uncle joel from washington is even flying down so its going to be all 6 brothers again. They are going to go to reno and do some other fun stuff. Oh yeah, I bought two tickets for the coldplay concert in July that is going to be in LA so im really pumped about that I love Coldplay. Also, Im buying my tickets to see U2 at the Rose Bowl tomorrow. They go on sale at 10am and its in October. Im so pumped these are like my 2 fave bands.

Im excited for school tomorrow, hopefully I have some cool people or good looking women in some of my classes haha. I know my graduate will be blah cause I know the people in it, but hopefully the class itself is good. The other two we will see, one of them is with my thesis mentor so that will be sweet. Should be a fairly easy quarter, each class only has like 2 papers and a test so not too much work. Oh yeah, I might be going to see fast and furious tonight with my friend Caroline, which would be cool I want to see it. If that falls through, then who knows. Talk to you later

IM BACK

Well, I dont want to write a super long post about the trip since I blogged while I was there. If your interested in reading all the details of the trip check out http://worldswerver.livejournal.com. Bottom line is: I have new friends now from Maine, Canada, Colarado, and two local girls that live in Cancun. The first three nights we partied extremely hard and the last few we took it easy with the girls. I saw the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza which were awesome, got fried from the sun, enjoyed the crystal blue carribean water. I got to do everything i wanted except for go to "the city", one of the clubs, and go to isla mujeres. Other than that, I got to do everything I wanted. What a great trip. I definitely want to head back sometime, see the things I missed.

Last night coming home sucked. Long story short, My car broke down and I had to get towed to paramount, a city next to compton, and spend the night in the hotel there. Good news is I got home this morning and uncle Brendan had found my lost wallet.

Watching Roger Federer right now in a tight match against Andy Roddick, its 5-4 in the third set with Roger up. My shoulders feel like I tore muscles in them, I think its from sleeping weird on the plane yesterday. YES! Roger just broke for the win 6-3 4-6 6-4. Thats a big win, hes in the semis for the third straight tournament. Anyways I just took a motrin which I can already feel taking the pain away.

Tomorrow, Im just going to rest and take it easy like today. Oh, I have my grades from last quarter.. I got a 4.0 =). So I got a 3.9 and then a 4.0. I hope I can keep this up, and get into a kick ass PhD program. Anyways, have a great night everyone. Ciao!

Cancun!

I leave early tomorrow morning for Cancun and will get home super late on March 31, Ill blog about my trip when I get back; take care!

Bittersweet

Well, Im afraid I have some bad news. My Grandpa Bryner (mom's dad) who was 74 passed away two days ago. I hear that he went peacefully in his sleep, something I am grateful for. Its never easy to lose someone you have met once, much less a family member. My grandfather was a very special, intelligent man. He graduated from the University of Miami, was a Staff Seargeant who served out of Germany during the Korean War. He met my grandmother there on a blind date actually, which I think is a wonderful story. He had four kids including my mom, owned several businesses and began publishing a few books in the last few years. He has 3 published (Ive read two and have the third just havent read it yet) and supposedly has 9 more manuscripts finished on his computer ready to be published. He has had some health issues for years, so its not completely unexpected but still weird. I hadn't seem him in like 9 years, but we had recently been emailing fairly often about his books and some other things. I don't know if it has really sunk in or not. I just seem to get the most sad when talking to my mom because she is the connection to him I guess. Ugh, I don't know. I know I owe him a lot though, I really think that a lot of my ability as far as school and my intelligence comes from him...


On a happier note, Roger Federer plays Andy Murray in 15 minutes for a spot in the final. If Roger wins, I will get to see him live in the final tomorrow which Im really excited about. Murray has beat him the last few times, but I really have a feeling Roger is going to win today. March Madness: I picked 24 out of 32 first round games right and im 1 for 1 in second round games so far. I lost one of my final four teams but I still have a shot of winning if the other teams make it through. Uconn looked good, so I like their chances. Im probably going to head out to Indian Wells tonight and stay at my uncles.. the gates open at 10am tomorrow for the final and it will be the last chance I get to get Rogers autograph if he makes it to the final.


I need to get a hair cut from Jennie while Im out there, its starting to get shaggy and I want to be all trimmed up for Cancun. 5 days now.. im pretty excited, but I wont be like estatic until I get there im sure. Ordered new bank cards, canceled the old ones, and ordered my new license from the DMV (PITA= Pain in the ass). My Senegal books came so im looking forward to beginning my research for my masters thesis. Thats about it... There was something else but I can't think of it right now. Talk to you soon

Post- St. Pattys Day

Well well, the Moscow deal was only up for one day so I missed out on that. Hm, I had an epic St. Pattys Day. Got pretty drunk before class with Brittany and Stephanie and then went out with my uncle and Jennie. It was so epic, I broke a Urinal, lost my wallet, and lost my cell phone holster. I was pretty sick all day yesterday, just felt like I had a bubble of gas stuck in my chest and then last night I had to do my final presentation for my graduate class oh man. It went pretty well though, Im definitely getting an A in the class. Here is a quick school update:

SSCI 600: Done
Hist 360: Done (Just need to edit my final paper and email it in)
Hist 370: Final on Tuesday


School is pretty much wrapped up, I have a few more assignments for my last online credential class, but I think im just going to recycle a few papers from other classes because they are similar assignments. Called my bank and cancelled my cards and ordered new ones. I have to go to the DMV later and get a new license. Other than that I only had like random business cards and a best buy reward zone card in my wallet. The wallet was hella nice black leather from buckle which cost me like 30$ its only like 2 years old too oh well. I have a backup wallet from last x-mas that I haven't used. Also, I had like 45$ in the wallet, thats what sucks the most. Oh well, I guess its good I spent so much of the money I had on St. Pattys day haha otherwise there would have been more left.

Sunday I get to see the men's and women's finals at the Indian Wells tournament. Roger is still alive so hopefully there is a good chance Ill see him. He plays Fernando Verdasco today though which is going to be a tough match. I leave for Cancun in a week too which is insane.. Im totally not ready for it but its coming fast. Thats all I have for now.. Oh yeah March Madness started, which is my favorite and Im in a bracket pool which is sweet. See ya later.

Indian Wells

Yesterday was so awesome. I have like 60 pictures and probably 15 videos.. all I can say is tennis tournaments rock. If you want an opportunity to meet, talk to a little, get pictures of, and autographs of famous athletes, this is as good a place to do it as there is. I got James Blake, Marat Safin, and Fernando Verdascos autographs. I saw and took pictures of all the top players in the world minus Andy Roddick and Andy Murray, but Fed, Nadal, everyone it was so sweet. Im going back for the night session tonight and the final on March 22. Its the 1st round and even tho the best players dont play, its actually better because you get like courtside seats to watch them practice and most of them are scrimmaging with other top players anyways so its like your own private match.

In other news, all I have left for my three classes is this Hist 360: final paper (5 pages), Hist 370: final test, and SSCI 600: Final presentation. I have 100% in the last 2 classes and a 96% in the first one so the chances of getting a 4.0 are looking good. I decided to drop out of my teaching credential program too and fully pursue a PhD (Can't remember if I posted this already or not). If I decide to go back im almost done with the program anyways so it wouldnt take me long to finish... just two classes.

Uconn lost to Syracuse yesterday in 6 OT's.... 6! Second longest game in college basketball history. So we are out of the Quarterfinals of the big east tourney. Im guessing we will be a #2 seed, but since Pitt and Oklahoma also lost who knows. Louisville and UNC will def by 1 seeds and the only 2 are in the air. Im guessing Memphis gets one, with either Uconn/Pitt getting the last one and the other one being the top #2 seed. Since Pitt has beat us twice, Im guessing we will be the two. I guess ill find out Sunday.

Been out in the desert/hanging out with my uncle all week... good times. Lets do a quick recap: Tues night we went to two bars and partied back at the house and was up until 5am, Weds night we went out to two bars and went to a little house party afterwards and was up until 4am. All day yesterday I was at the tennis tourney and went back to uncs and crashed at midnight I was exhausted. Oh yeah, on tuesday me and these two girls from my class went to a bar during our break and had drinks haha probably the funnest thing ever. Next week we are going to meet up an hour before class and drink before we go... Lots of fun and crazy stuff in the desert never a dull moment for sure.

I leave for Cancun in 13 days... Im so god damn excited. Trying to plan the NY trip too, dates are locked in and just waiting for a good deal on flights. Saw a crazy deal to Moscow too so who knows I might use my tax return money and take a little weekend trip to Russia. Haha, see you all later

Big Shit Poppin'

Im going to keep this short, simple, and sweet since I tend to write so damn much when I post. First, Im dropping my high school teaching credential program after this class. As of right now, I dont plan on teaching high school anymore and continuing the program is just a waste of time and money. Its sapping energy and thought that I could be using towards my thesis or other useful venues. Second, I have a new business venture that Im going to keep under wraps until it unveils in about 6 months or so, but just know something is in the works and I will be working very hard on it. Third, Indian Wells in four days which I am freaking out about . Fourth, Im going to Cancun in less than THREE WEEKS HOLY SHIT! Its going to be so nice to leave the country and get away. Anyways that it is, oh I played tennis yesterday and for 2 of the 4 sets served the best I ever have. So some exciting news for sure. Peace to everyone

I don't have a good title to put here

Today was a good day. I met with my professor from last quarter Dr. Chau and he agreed to be my Master's thesis mentor. This is a huge relief, I wrote about my topic earlier (Senegal for those of you who dont rememeber... wait who am I kidding? No one reads this hahaha). Anyways, he really liked the idea and was super excited about it. I also talked to him about pursuing Phd's, and some other stuff. Im glad he liked the idea, I was worried it might be crap but he said Senegal is different an interesting case regarding African nations. He said I probably have a good shot at getting published if I can write a good thesis too, which would be sweet.

What else is new lately.. level 40 in Halo, been running and working out quite a bit. Oh yeah, been getting some great music thanks to Kenzie. She knows so many Indie bands that my library is growing hella fast haha. So thats been good, plus U2 realeased their new cd so I need to get that. Im hoping to play some tennis tomorrow, played last sunday and my serve has improved a lot so im getting really excited. Oh yeah! Indian wells is next week so Ill get to watch some professional tennis live which I am completely stoked about.

School is good, quarter is wrapping up just 3 more weeks including finals. Im going to try to knock out some papers this weekend. My third to last class for my single subject credential just started and it is retarded. I am seriously considering either stopping after this class or just finishing my course work and skipping student teaching. First of all, the chances of me starting off my teaching career in high school are looking slimmer by the day. Second, if I have my masters or PhD and I decide to teach high school , all I would have to do is student teach and I can intern and basically skip the student teaching. Plus, its just time that would take away from focusion on my grad studies and my thesis. The money has already been spent as far as loans for the program but i dont know if there is any point in student teaching if I might not do it.

The only thing is I still really want to coach and I dont know how that will all work out if I decided to become a professor or not. Eh... might have to suck it up for a few more years and not coach as weird as that is. Who knows.. I still have time to think about it, this class will go until April and if I decided to just finish the classes Ill be done in June and I wouldnt student teach until next fall so.

Thats about it, need to get some books on Senegal and begin my literature review. If I can finish most of my reading by summer, knock out my paper over summer, and then just touch it up in the fall it would be ideal.

And another trip!

Well, I finally pulled the trigger and made the 3 hour drive to Las Vegas. My friend Matt was in town for his job and he got us a room comped at the Mandalay Bay shown above. It was the nicest hotel Ive ever stayed in and huge! We could have spent the whole time in their and not gotten bored. I was only up there for 2 nights and a day, but it seemed like we packed a lot in. We walked the strip a few times, gambled a little, drank a little too much on wednesday night at least, saw a burlesque show at one of the night clubs in the Mandalay Bay, went and saw Hoover Dam which is about 25 minutes southeast of the city. All in all it was a pretty cool experience, definitely something you should check out if you have the opportunity. A few words of advice however... first, make sure you have plenty of money as it is very expensive there; second, don't plan on sleeping a lot, the city doesn't really wake up until 9 or 10pm and goes all night. The weather was perfect when we were there, in the 60's and 70's; in the summer it is constantly around 100 so it gets super hot being that it is hot in the middle of a desert. I can see how people get trapped into Vegas and obsessed with it, but its not really me. Fun to visit once in a while, but there are a lot of other places I would rather go.

Its been a really busy 9 or 10 days for me. 3 papers, a midterm, and two trips. I think I've driven about 1,600 miles or so in 10 days.. which is a healthy amount. I don't mind that, I love driving and its been great. I was pretty exhausted yesterday though, I had to leave Vegas at 6am in order to get back home for work at 10am. So i was pretty tired, I went to bed at like 11:30pm last night and woke up at 8:30am for work so I got a good 9 hours which is like an eternity for me. I think that is what has made me the most tired, ive had alternating nights of 2-4 hours of sleep a night with 7-8 hours the next night, which will really screw up your sleeping schedule. Not too mention I probably drank 4 nights in the last 10 days, by far the most I ever have. So those things combined had worked me over a little. I feel good today though, my diet has been wacked out too (not diet like im on one or something but just the food I have been eating in general). So that is getting back to normal as well.

Im trying really hard to find some work I can do during the week. I love my job its so easy and I just do homework and read and stuff, but Im tired of working weekends. I dont make enough money (minimum wage) to make it worth my time anymore. I never hang out with my dad who goes quad riding like every other weekend but I always work. Also, I have to take off work to take all these little trips which I dont mind but it is just a pain. Im going to try to start subbing I think, also I have an interview tonight to assist a senior citizen just like 5 hours a week but 10$ an hour. I applied to a few writing things on craigslist to so we will see. If i can get 2 or 3 little things going that add up to how much I make right now, Ill quit here pretty soon I think.

School is finally winding down for the quarter, I only have 3 more regular weeks and then finals week. I have all 100%'s in my classes right now.. so I think I have a pretty good shot at getting a 4.0. I only have one more test left in any of my classes, its all papers and activities so its easy. As far as activities go.. The Indian Wells Tennis tourney will be here soon and im going March 12,13, and 22 I think. And then I leave for Cancun on March 26(my bday!) until March 31. Pretty busy month starting with the first trip up north last week, but I like that.

Sorry this post is so long, just had a lot to talk about I guess. Also, Im considering trying to create some kind of advice website.. I don't know just something I have always wanted to do, I think i have a lot of good advice to give on stuff and I like helping people so. We will see. Anyways take care and see you soon.

What a Trip!

Well I had quite the good time up north. I don't want to get into all the details because I could write for the next 6 hours about it. There are a few key points I want to point out however:

1. I made the 504 mile drive from Palm Desert to Vallejo in 6 hours and 15 minutes. This is an hour and 45 minutes less than Mapquest's estimated travel time.

2. The Bay was awesome as always; got to see my sis and Rob and see some friends in the city.

3. Reno was amazing. Im so happy I got to see Kenzie I had such a great time and was so bummed to leave. I hopefully will make it up there again soon...

4. Auburn area was good, got to see some family which I skipped last time I was up (X-mas/New years). Two uncles and two cousins. Got to see some of my best buddies too which is always fun.

5. The drive home was pretty good, saw Kyle Stowers before I left and made it from Roseville to Mo Val in about 7.5 hours or so. Not burning like I did going up, but there wasnt much of a rush.

Well thats it in a nut shell, I could write about Reno in particular for quite a while. Those thoughts however I shall keep to myself haha. My dad and I got like a weight machine tower today so i have something to work out now besides my little free weights. Ran today for the first time in over a week, which was good. Finished my paper turned it in and scheduled my classes for next quarter. Take care everyone.

Calm before the storm

Well I am about 7 hours away from beginning my drive to the bay area. I already did laundry and packed. I finished both of my papers for my online class and submitted them. I finished half of my analytical paper that is due next monday, so ill just finish that sunday when I get home. I put together a study guide for my midterm tonight and I have studied a little so I just need to finish studying it and Im all set. I watched 300 earlier and Im just about to finish Super Bad, both are great movies. Ive just had them going in the background while I finished everything. I got my directions ready to get to my sisters, even tho ive been there a few times from this direction, I always forget one exit. Im hoping to be leaving my midterm at like 9pm and its going to take me around 7 hours and 15 minutes to get up there so im gonna get there around 4 in the morning. Im going to get a coffee right before class and have a few energy drinks in reserve. Got my music ready.. should be all good.

I dont know if Ill post while im up north so if not hope everyone has a good week and Ill post again when I get home. Bye

The Grind

Well, it has been a busy few days and its not going to get any slower. I took my dad thursday night to see Robin Williams perform standup comedy live in San Diego. He was awesome, completely funny. The guy has so much energy for a 57 year old, he is just like non-stop go go go. He made jokes about bush, obama, the human body, all kinds of stuff I loved it.

Then last night I took my friend Andrea to see John Legend live out in Indio. Oh man he was legit! His voice is so good live, plays the piano and just entertains. He played about 20 songs from all 3 of his cds. The night started out kind of stressful with traffic and we thought we were going to be late. The show was suppose to start at 8pm, we got there at 8:30 and he walked in right by us so it was perfect timing. What a great concert. Afterwards, we stopped by my uncles for a bit before heading back home.

The rest of this weekend I need to try to do all my homework for my next week in my teaching class because Im leaving tuesday night and I do not want to have to worry about doing homework up north. I also have my midterm tuesday night that I need to study for and I have an analytical essay that will be due the day after I get home from up north. Busy busy, but its good I like having stuff to do.

Played tennis thursday, it was the first time ive played in probably a month that I actually felt like I had improved. My serve is slowly working itself out and I was a lot more steady on both the forehand and backhand sides. John and I played four sets and it was good, somewhat competitive tennis.

Today is Valentine's Day, so I guess I should say a little something about it. Ive only ever had a girlfriend on two valentine's days, so it has never been a huge holiday for me. I spent last year's in Athens and there was no mention of it anywhere - apparently it barely exists in Europe. I did do something special for someone, we will see if they can figure it out and I get a phone call from them later today. Ill have to post in the next few days and disclose my plan to everyone haha.

Oh yeah.. Finished the Obama biography. It was a really good and insightful book, from an outside perspective. I am about halfway through a book called "Life of Pi", which is a really cool, magical, cute kind of story. Haha that sounds weird, but I don't know any other way to describe it. Its good though and I highly recommend it. I hope everyone has a wonderful valentine's day and weekend. See you soon.