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.