Maui

We woke up Saturday morning to a nice view.










The first day we kinda just drove around the northwest side of the island and found some place to go surfing. No pictures of my surfing attempts, sorry. Then we just hung out around the hotel and watched the sunset from the beach.






On Sunday Katie went scuba diving and my mom and I went snorkeling. We went to Molokini, a sunken crater off the coast, and Turtle town, an area know for its turtles. There were only 6 people diving/snorkeling on the boat, so it was really cool. On the way out to Molokini we saw 2 whales. That was awesome. Katie took some cool underwater pictures from her dives.










On Monday we went scuba diving again. This time I got to go as well. The three of us did an itro thingy in the pool at the hotel for fun. Then in the afternoon we had signed up for an intro dive at Coral Gardens. We were fortunate again and there were only 2 intro divers (me and some other guy). Katie dove as well, and of course the instructor. We saw 2 eels and lots of coral/fish. It was soo much fun!

Monday night was a bit hectic. Katie's ear really hurt and she was in pain. My mom took her to a physician. It turns out she had a perforated left ear drum. It probably happened sometime during our dive. Anyways it kinda put a hold on our parasailing planned for the following day. We couldnt travel anywhere high in altitude. Instead we went to Iao Needle, a state park. It was relaxing. And as we were leaving I pointed out this gigantic spider. This thing was huge.




Wednesday was our 'chill' day, which included no planned activities. We stopped by some shops, went out to lunch, and just hung out at the beach all day. My mom and I drove to Makena Beach. It was pretty. Then we drove along some road that headed to the south end of the island. We drove through some lava field. It looked cool. We concluded our night with a nice dinner, then watched a movie at the hotel. Thursday morning we woke up early and just looked out off the balcony. We then packed up, went out to breakfast, and went to the airport to catch our flight home.

The Holidays

Merry Christmas!! Merry Christmas!!

Blogger is being retarded and not letting me post pictures. So my Maui post is being delayed still. In the meantime here are some videos of stuff:

Skateboarding
Ski Jump
Animated Frog Thing

I'm Back

Maui was great!! I'll write about it later.

Finals

Well, we won our first playoff game in an exciting manner. It was tied 2-2 and the end of 3 periods, then we had a 10 minute OT, then we won in the shootout. We have this sunday off, and the finals are on the 18th. If you're in town, you should go. It might be fun.

Playoffs

Hey... we won last night. The score was 2-1. It was a really good game. Lets see, we finished the season (before playoffs) in 1st. Our record is 9-3. We have a week off to eat turkey and get fat, then our first playoff game is Dec. 4th against the last place team. IF we win that game, our next game would be on the 18th.

Home Stretch

I went to a Condors game last night with one of my teammates. It was great. One of my other teammates gave us his tickets for the game. The seat were right behind the away teams bench, in the first row. The guy has season tickets. It was cool. You can yell stuff between the crack in the glass, or over the glass. The Condors won in a shootout. I had fun.

My hockey game is at 5 tonight. It is going to be intense. We are 8-3, and so are our opponents. Only difference is our best player is out with a broken collar bone. So we have our work cut out. If we win, we go into playoffs in 1st, if we lose we're 2nd.

The semester is over in 3 weeks. I can't wait...

It's a Start

Well, Mammoth got 11" of snow which is nice seeing that they open on thursday. Some snow is better than no snow. Maybe it will be a very snowy December.

School... eh. The semester is over in 4 weeks. I have 2 bio tests and a chem test next week. Then it's basically finals.

We won our hockey game 6-2 on Sunday night. We are now 8-2 on the season and have upped our win streak to 8.

BOO!!

We won our game last night 3-2. However, the reffing sucked. One ref in particular, who missed a good 3-5 offsides calls on the other team, and didn't call a penalty until the third periond, where he called 2 (both against our team). So with about 5 minutes left in the game, with us up 3-2, we had 2 guys in the penalty box. Apparently the refs didn't see the opponent crosscheck my teammate after the whistle. But I guess that shouldn't surprise us. Andrew got taken out in the third period, ended up breaking his shoulder/colar bone, and there was no call there either. Our team has mentioned a few times that this ref needs to be fired. But other than that, it was a close game. I think there's a trend whenver we play the black team. They don't like us, and we don't let them push us around. So it can get fiesty out there... just like last night. Good news is we won't play them anymore this season, unless we meet up in the playoffs. Our record is 7-2. 7 game win streak. I'd talk about other stuff, except there isn't really anything else worth mentioning. I have a stats test in an hour (that's my bit of other info).

The Big 2 2

Happy Birthday Robert!

... and Mammoth got 3" of snow last night. It's a start!

A late addition: So a while back it was a rabbit in my room, last night it was a different animal. Yep, as I was turning off my computer I saw a small field mouse run out and under my bed. And the rabbit night when through my head, except the mouse isn't as fast. I got the flashlight and started to take everything out from under my bed. Once everything was moved, I saw no mouse. So I just looked as if it might appear. It didn't. It was off to plan B. I called for kitten. She never showed up. So I got a backup, Ugly (one of our cats). I took ugly from the sofa and put her in my room. Sure enough, she could smell the scent of the mouse. Ugly, being stupid though, didn't find the mouse and left my room. I went to sleep, and throughout the night I heard kitten in my room looking for it (or just making noise which she does quite often). When I woke up I didn't know if a cat had found it or not. When I came home today from class, my mom let me know that my plan B worked. In her bathroom, 4 cats surrounded the mouse (after kitten dropped it from her mouth). Then the mouse ran for its life, and ended up running into the pool. Stupid mouse. So my mom got it and put in in the neighbors yard. It's probably on the verge of being eaten by now.

It Needs To Snow

First: My fantasy football team. Before today, there was no hope for me and I was going to have a winless season. However, with half of my team on a bye week, my choices of who to play were rather simple. And I won. And Dom lost, so now he has to cope with losing to the team that was 0-6.

Second: My hockey game tonight was great. And by great I mean our win streak is now up to 6 games (it's the uniforms). We slaughtered the blue team tonight. The final score was 10-1. Yeah... we had 3 goals in the first four minutes. I didn't have any goals, but I had one hell of a game. I don't think I lost a face off until the third period. And I had an assist or two. We had seven or eight different people score a goal though, which was cool. We are now 6-2 on the season. Go White Team!!

Third: This is kind of delayed, but I am able to write about to now. So I went to a wedding a few weekends ago. For the wedding gift, I bought a clock. Robert was with me, and when I bought it I told him that it was a clock. Who gives a clock?? Anyways, while I was at the reception I was talking to Brandon, and he mentions how he got them a basketball. A freaking basketball! (apparently it was on the list) That was basically my reaction. So afterwards, I didn't feel so bad about giving them a clock.

And of course:

The Big 2 0

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

More Rain Please

Everyone should have been to last night's hockey game. We played the other team that was 4-2 as well. So it was 2 good teams playing. We played a full 3 periods and took it to a shootout. And we won that. So now we have a 5 game win streak going! Last night I got our 3rd goal (final score was 4-3 SO). Also last night, I blocked a shot with my arm, and it hurt. But the funny thing is I completely forgot about it until last night around 11 when I was doing homework. It wasn't even purple this morning... well maybe just a tad. There's a red line where the puck hit though. So ya... the game this Sunday is at 9:30 for anyone who cares. In other news, 2/4 tests are over with. And because I feel like it, here's another picture.

(I am soo going to try that this season, or at least I like to think I will.)

Almost Time...

I have decided to take a break from talking about hockey after seeing my last 3 posts were about it. Well... our team won 2-0 on Sunday, and we have a 4 game win streak going. OK, now I'll venture off to a new topic. I have 4 tests next week. Chem, stats, and 2 in biology. Two tests monday and two on thursday. However, it should be smooth sailing for at least a few weeks following the tests. And other than that, school is boring, especially chem and bio lectures. We are dissecting in bio lab tomorrow... yay! I don't know what though, it varies for each group. So far my experience in dissecting has been: squid, frog, rat, sheep brain, and 2 cow eyes. Hopefully this weeks dissection is a good one.

Now off the topic of school, Mammoth is scheduled to open November 10th. Chances are I won't be there opening day, but hopefully this season will have as much snow as last season. So that means it needs to start snowing in Mammoth, a lot. This is just a picture from off the top last season.

Win Streak

My hockey team has won our past 3 games. Last night's game was cool. We all had our team uniforms (jersey and socks). If we have nothing else going for us, we at least look good. Anyways, we won last night 5-3. I scored 2 goals. I was going for the hat trick. I had an audience of 1 person for the game. Thanks Robert. Also this weekend I went to Tyler and Jenna's wedding. It was fun. School is... school. And that's all I have to tell for now.

Summer Weekend

This weekend was awesome. I don't know why, but for whatever reason it seemed like a summer weekend, not a school weekend. I think it might have been because I did pretty much nothin all weekend. I golfed friday, watched college football saturday, and wandered around the house sunday while waiting for it to be 8:45 pm so I could leave for my hockey game.

Yep, a 9:30 hockey game. And to make things even better we only had 7 guys there (and one of the guys left in the 3rd period because he was really sick). We played the black team, which were 3-0, and have many good players who have a lot of goals. We had 7 players and our goalie. So...we had 5 on the ice and 2 on the bench. Our opponents had 2 full lines (10 people). Simply put: we were really tired come the 3rd period. And we lost a skater too (in the 3rd) meaning we could only bench 1 guy at a time. I think I skated the last 8 minutes of the 3rd period, no breaks. However, depsite being oober tired we won the game 6-3. The game was close in the first period, and we opened it up in the second, and just tried to hold on to it in the third after scoring an empty netter. We played really well. We passed the puck well, especially in the offensive zone which created opportunities. Next week will hopefully be just as good.

Another Game in Another Season

For all of you out there who contemplated going to my game yesterday, you missed out. Yesterday's hockey game was awesome. The other team scored within the first 8 minutes of the game. And that's how it stayed for the next 2 periods. There was only 1 penalty during the game. And it was on our team with 3 minutes left in the game. Not to mention, we were down 0-1 too. And for the thrid period instead of having 2 lines of forwards and rotating 3 D, we had to drop someone back to defense so we only had 5 forwards. We were winded to say the least. So this is how it played out: We were on the penalty kill, so we have 4 guys on the ice and about halfway through the penatly we use our timeout. We rest for 1 minute or however long it is, and then we put our 4 best guys on the ice with full intentions of scoring. So basically 3 forwards and a defenseman. With the face off in their zone, all I wanted to do was win the draw (I was playing center) which I did. I got the puck to the point-ish area, we got a shot on goal, the rebound came out to the right, and we were able to score on the rebound. It was a great play. And we were shorthanded. And there was only 1:20 left in the game. So it was even better. We were able to close out the final minute tied at 1-1 and took it to a shootout. Our first shooter scored, and our goalie saved all 3 shots from the opposing team. And that's how it ended. We got an exciting win.

Another Season

That's right! Summer hockey ended and Fall season has begun. It actually started last weekend. Our team is mostly the same as last season. We lost a few guys but got some new people too. Our roster has, I think, 13 guys. This season is cool though because we actually have jerseyes and socks. So we look like a team. Right now we are 0-2 on the season. Our game 2 days ago was really good. Except for the fact that we had 18 minutes worth of penalties. The refs sucked...bigtime. They called us basically anytime someone on the other team fell down... even when they didn't fall we got called. I think one of the refs doesn't like our team because of last season. Oh well. Hopefully we will get a win this weekend and we won't have the same refs.

How To...

I had fun this weekend. Robert and I went up to Cal's season opener against Sacramento State. Cal won 41-3. Go figure. Cal has quarterback issues, but other than that they're not too bad. The halftime show was good too.

Now for the quality part of the post. I got an ivitation to a wedding. Anyone want to to go crash it with me? No no, just kidding! So anyways, as I mentioned to Robert, I don't even know how to do this...attend a wedding. It sounds so difficult. I mean, c'mon ...it's me we are talking about. I actually have to get dressed up. And then there's the whole gift thing... yeah. And then there's probably more stuff that I am not aware of. This is gonna be fun.

Back to School

My summer ended Monday, which happens to be the same day that school started back up again. This semester I am taking bio (pre-med), an intro chem class, behavioral statistics, and physical anthropology. Bio is going to be tough. Chem....might he interesting. Stats has been a waste of 5 hours so far. And anthro should be good. I also made an unplanned visit to San Diego this weekend. Katie and I figured that since we were already half way there (we were at USC) that we might as well drive down and visit our aunt. So we did. We went to the Cheesecake Factory...mmmm. Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake: Flourless Godiva chocolate cake topped with a layer of Godiva chocolate cheesecake loaded with chunks of Godiva milk chocolate and topped with a layer of Godiva chocolate mousse.


Yep...it was tasty.

My 2nd Vacation

Just when I thought summer was winding up I find more fun and exciting things to do. This time I went up north near San Francisco. I had so much fun that instead of coming home Saturday I postponed my stay until Monday. A group of us played a movie trivia game. And as it turns out I know just about nothing when it comes to movies. I got a single answer correct and it was the winning answer (Breaking Away was the title). I also golfed a few (3) times. It was soo much fun, and I learned some new stuff, and I got better. Lets just say, we kept score of everything...took the extra stroke if I had to drop, took all shanks and miss-hits...everything. So the first round, with a bet on the line, I shot a 130. Yeah I know, that's not very good. I think I lost a good 8ish golf balls. However, I did get better because by the last round of golf I shot a 112 (still counting everything) and only lost 3 balls. Also in the course of this trip I came up with a putter and no sand wedge, but come the start of the third round I had a new putter and a SW. Yay for spending money on golf. That's not all I did up there though. We had some down time to just hang out and talk, watch movies, play some ps2, and of course play a little cs. Overall I had a great time. And in case you wonder, the pictures are the 3 courses I played.

My Vacation

For most of you who dont know, last weekend I went down to Anaheim for a 24-hour computer lan, then stayed a few extra days to hangout with friends and golf. I drove up Friday afternoon after work. Now I knew there would be traffic. It took me nearly 2 1/2 hours to get from Burbank to Anaheim with a top speed of 35 mph. Good thing I had great music to listen to.

Friday night when I arrived at the Mariott and got to my room I was greeted by a 5-speaker Logitech surround sound with the sub and a reciever (and we were told not to bring speakers). The guy was playing the DJ role for our lan. Friday night we had a little get togther at someone's house so we could all meet before the lan. We weren't supposed to get the conference room until Saturday at noon, however they let us in Friday and so those who were there had already setup computers and began to play cs. I joined in around 2am. The plan for all Saturday and until noon on Sunday was to be in the conference room. That almost happened. We played some cs, and when we got bored we found other things to do, like have a putting contest in the hallway outside the room that eventually turned into an 11 person tourney. That was fun.

Sunday we had to be out by noon and we were. Some people left but quite a few stayed as well. So after all was cleaned up, a few of us went to play a round of golf. But we only played 9 because the course sucked. Then a group of us went out to dinner and walked around this outdoor mall-ish thing. We stumbled across a Dave & Busters. It's an adult arcade, meaning a normal arcade with a bar in it. I got in cause everyone I was with were over 21. We got back to the hotel around 1 and I didn't go to sleeup until 4.

Monday was Disneyland. Monday was also chaotic. Our 9:30 breakfast meeting time was delayed an hour. And although both Chris and I were awake and could have been in the lobby, neither of us had planned to go to breakfast. Instead, we were more worried about finding a roo to stay in for Monday night. After a "play it by ear" morning we finally got to Disneyland around 1. Just in time to not do any rides before our lunch reservation. Club 33 was pretty cool considering the fact I didn't know it existed until this weekend. After lunch the group did a few rides then we split up. The Buzz Lightyear ride was fun. We eventually got tired of the park and just went back to the hotel, hung out, and crashed.

Tuesday morning we had to eat breakfast, pack, leave the hotel, and get to Strawberry Farms Golf Club before our reserved tee times. We made it...barely. Golfing was a lot of fun. Just playing better courses than the few I have hear is cool too. We teed off around 11 and finished around 3. Then the 6 of us got lunch and headed home. I drove Dan to Burbank which was cool 'cause I didn't have to sit in traffic and listen to music the whole time. I had someone to talk to instead. I got home around 9 Tuesday night.

And that was my vacation for the summer.

The Latest

What have I done in the past 2 weeks?

- worked (which includes friday's water fight)
- played frisbee
- golfed three times
- played cs
- talked to Ernest(o)
- saw Wedding Crashers
- went swimming
- won 2 hockey games
- spent 6 minutes in the penalty box

So there you have it. That's all I've got for now.

Summer Spending

Well having a job is nice because I have money to spend. Having 2 weeks off is good because there's plenty of time to spend all that I have made so far. Last week I golf 3 times in 5 days. I played 18 holes once and 9 holes twice. And then I factor in food and movie money...good thing I start working again next week. Golf is addicting. I was looking at my classes for next fall and all of my TBA instructors turned out to be alright. I didn't get the horrible stats prof. that Brandon had. Yay!

I had an excellent 4th of July weekend. I basically lived at Patrick's that weekend. I met this guy Brian, Patrick's roommate back in Iowa. We saw Batman, played golf...basically hung out. On the 4th I was at Patrick's for the night and it was fun. I got roughed up in pool basketball (only beccause I can shoot). The fireworks were nice, both the Seven Oaks CC show and the little one we had in the street. Who would have thought side commentary during fireworks could be soo entertaining. And to share what Bastille Day is in my own terms- it's when some people fought some other people at a castle thingy in France.

No Comment

I'm a "straight male equivalent of a gay bar."
- No I did not say that to myself. It was a compliment....? Apparently it's a good thing too.
(Random enough Becca?)

New Stuff

For those who want to know what's new in my life: Golf Clubs. Yep, I got some lefty golf clubs. I am waiting on my putter, which is supposed to come tomorrow or Wednesday, but I have everything else. There's something new. Hmm...what else..new in my life... I think that's all really. I guess there isn't much new in my life.

On to the what's happening part of summer, this weekend was fun. I went up to Berkeley on Friday to help Robert move all his stuff back home. That took most of the afternoon on Saturday, then we went to CPK for dinner. Mmm...tiramisu. Then we drove home Sunday, actually we drove to my cousin's for her bday party, and I went straight from there to my hockey game. We won 6-2. It was a rough game, lots of penalties. Then I came home and went to sleep.

Summer Job

Apparently it has been a while since I last posted. I wouldn't say too much has happened since then. I started teaching at the summer camps at BCC. Last week was the first week, and the weather was great. This week is hotter, but not too bad. Camps are usually about the same: you get some good kids and some bad ones, you get some complete beginners and some who can actually hit the ball, it varies. Other than teaching, I've been to the driving range a few times to practice left handed. I bought some left handed clubs. Now I just have to get better. Let's see...what else...I am going to Berkeley this weekend and hockey is still going good.

Good Week

This week has been fun. I have: played ultimate frisbee twice, gone swimming, played Apples to Apples a few times (that is one fun game), hung out with friends, relaxed, watched the first season of Scrubs, almost bought a set of golf clubs, saw my grandparents, went to CPK and Katie's graduation (though the graduation itself was boring), and decided to learn to play golf left-handed. I think that's most of what has happened. Work starts Tuesday...and I'm looking forward to it because I need money.

Take That

Hey, it's a hockey update. I have no idea when I last posted about hockey. Last night's game was good. We played really well. Actually we probably spent what seemed to be almost half the game in our opponents zone. We won 8-5 (and we are now 4-1 for the season). The only reason they got 5 goals was last night was our goalie's third time in net. He was just a little new to the position. I had a goal and an assist in the game. I also took a spill and slid into the boards directly following my assist. I got tripped, caught some air, and landed hard on my thigh and elbow. Now my thigh hurts a little. However, I saved the best for last. In the second periond, in our opponents zone, we win the face off and the puck goes straight back to our defenseman, who then takes the one-timer, the shot has a good amount of power to it, and hell I'm sure the goalie would have felt it if it had made it to him. But NO! That one-timer hits me directly in the back of my leg, right above my calf. OW!! I kept playing and all, it's not like it took me out of the game. But it did hurt. So to sum it up: a goal, an assist, a slide into the boards, a fall after being tripped, and blocked a one-timer with my leg. Yep, it was a good game.

Fore!

I was in Burbank the past two days visiting my friend Dan. I went golfing with him and two other guys. I wouldn't say I am anywhere near good, but it was a lot of fun. We also played some cs and ps2...just hung out basically. I drove home at 6 AM this morning, got home at 7:30 and slept till noon. Since then, my day has been uneventful.

Success

Today was awesome! Taylor took me wakeboarding. It was an early morning, but they always are when we go to the lake. I set three alarms just in case...I only needed one though. I was able to get a good ride in this morning on the lake before it got choppy. Not to mention that fact that I actually got up. It only took 5 tries (for me, that's good). Then Brandon rode a little, making me look not to great, and Taylor rode the sky ski. It was a tons of fun. Then we went back to shore for lunch and to relax some. We went back out later in the afternoon when the water was rough. I got up 2 more times, so that really made my day a lot more fun. Now, as Taylor and Randy both warned me, I am going to be sore tomorrow and I can already start to feel it. But I don't care, it's definitely worth it. It's been a long, fun day. Enough said.

Early Morning Madness

Robert and I just caught a small rabbit, yes a rabbit, that was in my room. I have no freaking idea how it got there since my dorr was shut all day. I thought I heard something around midnight or a little after. It sounded like a cat was trapped behind my dresser. I had Robert go in my room to hear it, but it stopped making noise when he came. So he says "don't worry about it, it's nothing." I heard the noise again! but ignored it and fell asleep. Then about 2:05 AM I woke up because I thought I heard something move by my window. And when I looked at my window, I thought I saw something move. Now since it's 2 AM my eyes could have been lying to me, and so I double checked simply by staring at the window. Sure enough, It moves again! So I watch this thing move across my window sill and back. Its ears gave it away, that and the small hopping movement it had. I went in Robert's room assuming he was still awake and told him. He looked puzzled when I told him there was a rabbit on my window sill (and he thought I meant it was outside not inside). So yeah, we caught the rabbit...gave it some carrots and lettuce and put it in a box with a little towel to sleep on. That's my adventure for the night. Now it's off to sleep for the second time tonight.

Free Egg

"Want and extra egg? Just ask, it's free."

So much has happened since Thursday. On Friday I went to Berkeley for Robert's graduation, which was Saturday morning. The graduation was a long 4 hours. And I was about the last person to be hit by the sun that morning. But I'm glad I went. Congrats to Robert! Then I helped move some of his stuff, and I ended up carrying his microwave stand from his old apartment to his current one because Lauren's car is too small. And then we went a nice resturant for dinner called The Townhouse. There were 9 of us...it was a fun night to say the least. And not to mention the food was really good. Then it was back to Robert's apartment and then sleep, only to wake up early Sunday and drive home. OH MAN!! (I just remembered something cool) Robert and I went back in Lauren's car, but for breakfast my parents and the 3 of us went to this really cool place for breakfast called the Red Tractor Cafe. It was a soo cool. Then the long drive home began. Sunday night I had a hockey game. We won in a shootout, although we were up 4-1. A win is a win. Then today Roebrt and I played tennis. Robert hadn't hit since...about 2 years ago. It was fun though. And Sonic has the orange cool breeze back for the summer. Yay!

Done!

Wow. It's about time this semester is over. My finals weren't too bad, though I did study for them a little more than usual. But ya, I'm glad it's summer!

Finals

Ya I know, it has been a while since I last updated. Not too much has happened. I've been busy with school and tests and stuff. I guess the newest thing would be I signed up for hockey again and got 2 more hockey sticks. Yesterday was our 3rd game of the season. We won 2-1 last night and actually, that's our record on the season too. Oh! and I got a goalie interferrence penalty with 10 seconds left in the game. Finals are this week. I had my logic final this morning...logic proofs are slightly better than pre-calc proofs, but I still don't like them! Hmm...I think that's everything for now.

Costa Rica

Warning: This is a long post.

Where do I start on this one?? I guess it would have to be with the 1:00 AM flight out of LAX early Friday morning that was delayed until 2:00 AM. I slept the entire flight. And when I woke up, we were over Costa Rica. We got there around 7:30-8:00 in the morning. And straight from the airport we found out taxi driver, Victor, and we to Jacó. Now this drive was about 2 hours, but nothing like what I expected. Costa Rica drivers are crazy, and all their roads are 2 lanes and windy. I'm not used to passing people on blind corners and stuff. It was a bit scary the first time, but I got used to it. The drive was awesome though, just seeing everything. We stopped at the little restaurant for breakfast. That was the best rice I have ever had. And still on the drive to Jacó we stopped at this bridge where there are a bunch of crocodiles. They were huge. The scenic view was also really nice.



Sometime Friday morning around 11 or so we got to Jacó. And basically from there, we jumped in the pool to cool off, got a drink at the bar (I had iced tea, not beer) and then hopped in a taxi and went to the marina (in Los Sueños) to go fishing. We met Rob the captain and Dañello (I'm sure I spelled it wrong) who was the deckhand. Then we went out for some in-shore fishing. Basically fishing for fun fish. Then that evening we went back to Jacó. We cleaned up, went out to dinner, then basically went to sleep. That was ALL on Friday. From the flight to the drive to fishing. It was a long day.

So then Saturday morning we woke up nice and early go get to the boat by 7:30-8. We ate on the boat. Now, this boat, named Lightspeed, was super nice. It is a fishing boat, and like I said, very nice. This thing was fast. To put in comparison, the previous fishing boats I have been on cruise at about 10-12 knots. This boat: about 30 knots. Fast. Anyways, Saturday we went fishing for the big stuff, mainly sailfish. The weather in Costa Rica is hot and humid. It wasn't much different on the boat either. So Saturday was spent catching sailfish. We caught 13. I caught the first one and it was the largest. The fish was 100-110 pounds. By far the largest fish I have ever caught (the picture at the end of the post). I don't know how long it took to reel in, but I do know I felt exhausted after I got it in. Lets just say when I was holding the rod I stood there wondering when the line was going to run out. Seriously, I wondered. The fish took the bait and ran with it. It took more than 300 yards of line. And the whole time the line was going out I was aware that I had to reel it all back in. It was a blast. That was one experience I will never forget. That night we went back to Jaco, cleaned up, went to dinner, and walked around the town. It was like a nightly rhythm we had.

Sunday we decided to go fishing again because we all loved it. We woke up a little bit earlier so we could get to the boat earlier. Sunday the fishing was good too. It started out a little slow, but once it picked up it was great. By then end of Sunday we caught 14 sailfish. The two day total was 27 fish. We let all the fish go. Both days we were 30-35 miles off shore. And 550-600 miles from the equator. The way back to the marina was fun. We, as in me, my dad, and my two uncles were all up top talking and listening to music. Watching the sunset with just ocean in the background was a sight to see. When we got back to the marina we went to the bar to just relax and soak up the weekend. There I had my first beer. I'm 19, I'm allowed to in Costa Rica.

Here's a little more in detail about how awesome the boat was. On Friday when we first got to the marina there were already fishing rods set up all over the place, and Rob had the music playing. It was cool. The inside was really nice too. The kitchen had two pull-out refrigerators and at least one pull-out freezer. And in the room with the kitchen, the two sofas, a table, and a tv was a 5-speaker Bose surround sound system. Wow, just wow. The cockpit was decked out for fishing. It even had one of those fishing chairs bolted down. The helm was incredible. Just to mention a few of the things it had: a large screen GPS (ran by the laptop stored beneath it), sonar, water temp, a cd player (with two speakers outside), and an mp3 player (also with mp3's from the laptop). Here's a picture of the boat.


Sunday night we hit the town for dinner and walked around. Monday was out day for touring before the flight back at 6:00 pm. We had Victor for our taxi driver again. He was cool, and helpful. We left the hotel at 7 am and went to a rainforest. It was freaking humid, but it didn't bother me much cause I was enjoying the rainforest so much. The rainforest was...really green to say the least.

After the rainforest hike we went to a volcano. I kind of wanted to go to another rainforest, but after seeing the volcano it was just as spectacular. And besides, there was a rainforest at the volcano too, which I did walk through. It was cool because this one wasn't quiet as green. It was a high altitude rainforest. The volcano was about 8,000 feet in elevation. The rainforest was dryer, and had more trees, but I still liked it.


Then after the volcano, Victor drove us to a waterfall. It was so cool, not just the waterfall, but driving around the country. Just being able to see all the fields and mountains and counrtysides.

After the waterfall we went to the airport. And from there we flew back to LAX. The flight back was not as great. Primarily because a group of people who had too much to drink, were being loud and annoying. We got back to Bakersfield around 3 AM Tuesday morning. And that was my vacation in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica was beautiful. Everything I did and saw was awesome. I can't describe the overall level of fun and enjoyment I got from this vacation To sum up the it up, this picture says it all. (This is that 100-110 pound sailfish)

Quick Post

I'm back. Costa Rica was awsome. I'll write a post about it later, when I have more time. And I will try to post some pictures too.

Work for Play

Today I forced myself to work on research papers. Well it was just one research paper, but it wasn't easy. It's for sociology, with a minimum of 15 sociology sources. Finding them was not fun. However, after about 8 hours of work, I am just about finished. I'll write the bibliography and make a title page next week sometime. And just when I wish the work load is over, it comes back. Tomorrow I have a sociology test, ugh...and sometime in the next two days I have to write another research paper for anthropology. This one only needs 5 sources, so it will be much easier. I think that's the majority of work for me. Now there's a good reason as to why all of a sudden I decided to write two research papers in 3 days. I was planning on having next weekend to do some of this work, but instead I decided to go on vaction next weekend (and for once it isn't Mammoth). I lost a weekend of homework and replaced it with a weekend of fun. COSTA RICA here I come!! It's going to be so awsome! I'll write all about it next week sometime.

Stupid Cat

I learned something a few nights ago: Don't put a small handful of multi-flavored jelly beans in your mouth at once instead of setting them down. The mixture of flavors can be rather nasty tasting.

So with that advice out of the way I can continue with the many events of my life. I didn't do much this weekend. I watched two movies and some golf, but that's about all. This morning was kind of bad. I woke up at 9:15 for a 9:35 class, and then I couldn't find my wallet. It turns out Kitten knocked it off my dresser and it went under my bed, stupid cat. I made it to class at 9:35. Don't ask how, because I'm not sure how I managed it myself. Lately I have wanted to do so many things, most of which I can't do here in town.
Here's the list:
- go snowboarding
- surf (or try to)
- go snowboarding again
- go deep sea fishing
- golf (I'm not good, but it's fun)

And that's about all I have to say right now.

Nothing New

Well, hockey season is over. We lost tonight's playoff game (7-1) so we're out. It was a fun season even though we lost a lot. Our record was 4-9. Spring season starts in a few weeks, but I don't know if I am going to play. I want to, but I don't really want to fork out $250, so we'll see. In other news...well there hasn't been much other news. Classes are still mostly boring and procrastination bites.

Spring Break

Wow, so much happened this last week. My family went to Mammoth last weekend. Katie and my dad left Sunday morning, and my mom, Robert, and I stayed till Monday. Saturday and Sunday were both wicked days.



Anyone up for a blizzard? I think somewhere around 2-3 feet of snow dropped on Sat. and Sun. making most of Sunday and all of Monday powder days. Monday's weather was a lot better. Clear skies with a little bit of a chilly breeze, but still great. There were so many awsome powder runs. I even convinced Robert to take a few runs through the trees. And for those of you who know the mountain, the Face of 5 was all ungroomed powder. I am talking knee deep the entire time. It was so much fun. I fell so many times this trip. Possibly because even though I couldn't see/read the snow half the time, I didn't let up too much. So every now and then the mountain got the better of me. Falling couldn't have been better though. Only one fall really got the best of me, and that's because I fell hard, and lost my goggles, and got a lot of snow in my jacket and all over my face, making me a bit numb. With the exception of that one, falling in powder is fun. I had a blast the entire time, including the time spent in the car. We boarded Monday morning, and got back in town Monday night.

When we got home Monday night I unpacked then we to Patrick's house. We killed time while waiting for Brandon to get off work, but we ran out of ideas, so I left. Then Tuesday my mom and Katie went to Vegas. Robert and I basically had the house to ourselves until Thursday. We went to Best Buy so I could get headphones and the Incredibles soundtrack and then to Starbucks. Robert doesn't drink coffee yet, but I'll get him to one of these days. And then that night we went to Chili's for dinner with family. Then it was off to Patrick's afterwards. We played xbox until around 1:00 am. Wednesday and Thursday we relaxing days. I got kinda sick Thursday afternoon, but it didn't last long. Friday I didn't do much either, just stayed at home. And today, Robert is going back to school, and then I think I am going to hang out with friends before they go back to school. So there you have it. That was my fun-filled spring break which unfortunately comes to an end Monday morning.

On a side note, Robert just showed me how to post and edit pictures today. So now I hope to provide visuals for really cool things, like my new hockey sticks, or more pictures of Mammoth, or anything else I find appealing.

My Wonderful Weekend

Wow, so much great stuff has happened since my last update. Where to start...on Thursday Kristen and I studied for 3 hours for our sociology test. We even skipped out on child psych. Not going to psych, that was nice. It turns out I am really glad I studied the extra hour and a half, because it made the test a lot easier. On to my weekend, Friday night around midnight I was playing CS and Dan told me I should go down to his place this weekend since he wasn't working. And so at 8:00 am Saturday morning I drove down there. I had so much fun. We went out to lunch, played some cs, watched Southpark and Dodgeball, played a little ps2. We also went to the driving range. All in all, it was just a really fun weekend. Then I drove home Sunday afternoon so that I would make it home in time to rest a little before my hockey game sunday night.

Sunday Hockey- Game 10: We played the black team. They're good. I was really wanting to play though, so I didn't care that they were good. Oh, I got another hockey stick, this time it was the Koho Revolution, 1-piece stick. I'd post a picture, but I don't know how to, and I haven't really bothered to find out how to. We lost our game 7-4. The refs were horrible, and I mean h o r r i b l e. Holding the stick penalty with 1 second left in the period...bs. Tripping because the guy dives for the puck and someone does a good acting job as he falls...it was just bad. OH! To add to my pretty bruise that I got last week (which is almost gone), I got a new one. This one is worse though. I blocked a rocket of a slap shot maybe 6-7 feet from the shooter. It hit my leg on the side just missing the top of my shin guard and going right under the bottom of my hockey pants. Needless to say I have another pretty purple-ish bruise once again. The ice was really bad too, meaning there were lots a divots and stuff. It wasn't smooth and tough to skate on. I will be gone for this weeks game, but then we have one the following week, on Easter Sunday.

This week I had a midterm tonight but that's about all. I went out to lunch today with Matt and Kristen, then we hung out for a while. That was fun. I'm just excited for spring break. Robert is coming home, and then we are going to Mammoth for a few days. I haven't been to Mammoth since I think February. I can't wait! And Patrick is coming home, so we'll get to hang out, maybe golf, and do other stuff. A week to relax, have fun, and not worry about school is just what I need right now.

Ow?

I didn't mention this in my previous post, but at my hockey game Sunday, I blocked a shot with the back of my leg (where there are no pads). Yeah it stung and hurt a little, but I didn't think it was going to be that bad. It turns out, Monday morning when I woke up my leg hurt a little more than I thought it was going to. I think part of the reason is because the puck hit the joint on the back of my leg, so whenever I stand up or sit down my leg bends right where the puck hit me. Anyways, this morning I didn't feel it at all. However, when I looked at my leg, I noticed I have a wicked bruise there. It's kinda big too. No big deal for me though...I think I have had my fair share of nasty looking bruises. Let's see: getting hit with a tennis racket senior year, yeah that sucked, wakeboarding...that was bad, constantly being hit in the shins with a puck playing inline hockey, not wearing shin guards...no comment. So yeah, I thought I would bring that up because now I have this rather attractive bruise on the back of my left leg.

As for other things that have happened in the last 2 days: My philosophy test was really easy for me, mainly because I used last semesters test to study from. And the test I took was nearly identical to last semesters...it's not cheating. Child psych is still really boring and super easy. Sociology is so-so. It's not bad, I'm just not as interested in the class. And as for my cultural anthro class...all I have to say is meh.

Also today, I went to lunch with Matt and Kristen, and then went to Borders afterwards. I think one of these days I am going to compile a list of movies that I need to see because I have noticed that compared to a lot of people, except for Robert (I don't think I am too far behind him in my lack of movie knowledge), I don't know nearly enough random movie stuff.

Sunday Hockey- Game 9

Hey, we finally won a game. Woohoo! We held our losing streak to only 4 games. As for the game itself, we played really well. Going into the third period the score was 3-1 us, so we were confident. I scored the first goal in the third period to make it 4-1. It was a wrist shot from the top of the left circle. It felt great to finally score after having so many opportunities. The final score was 7-2. It was a clean game for the most part. I almost leveled a guy in the last minute. He shoved me kinda hard in the back, and so I turned around, contemplated laying him out, but decided to just put my stick between his legs and give him a shoulder. He wasn't too happy about it. I know this cause he yelled something at me. Other than that though, I think there were maybe one or two other hits. To sum it up: we won, it feels great, and we have some momentum going into next week.

What to Wear

Just a few weeks ago I started to think about what I wear, and how I come to my decision on that. What got me thinking is, I woke up one morning a couple weeks ago, looked outside and noticed it was sunny, so I put on a shirt, shorts, sandals, then left for class. I walk outside, get in my car, and leave. As I am driving down the freeway it starts to rain. Sure enough, by the time I got to school it was cloudy and rainy...so much for a sunny day. Now there have been many more occasions, especially during the "cold" months like December, January, February, and I guess you could throw November in there too, when I would go through the same thought process in the morning. Wake up, see that it's sunny, and put on "summer" clothes. Now when I had my golf class last semester I would suffer more. Sure it was sunny outside, but it wasn't even semi-warm. It was more like frikkin cold or something along those lines. And not to mention that I wore sandals, and the grass was wet and cold, and so my feet weren't particulary warm.

Off on a tangent now. I have a good reason for wearing sandals almost every day last semester. Typical me, I only have 1 pair of shoes. So last summer when I went deep sea fishing I wore shoes (beacuse I didn't want a fish hook or other sharp obeject to stab my toes). It turned out, not to my surprise, that by the end of the trip my shoes had a fishy smell to them. Not to mention the tuna blood stain that was left when one of the deckhands drug a tuna along the deck and over the toe of of my shoe. The tuna was bleeding because once it was brought onboard it had to be knocked out, so it was clubbed or something, and the blood was from that... or maybe from where it was gaffed.

Where was I....oh yeah, 1 pair of shoes. There you have it, my reason for always wearing sandals when it was cold outside. Eventually I decided to wear my tennis shoes, the ones I bought for playing tennis. I really have no explanation for not wearing long-sleeves or a sweatshirt more often though. I guess that's just me. Anyways to conlcude my point about what I wear, I have come up with this: I base my judgement on what it looks like outside. I don't bother to acutally step outside and see if it's sunny-warm or sunny-cold. And I go from that first obersvation. I don't get dressed, then look outside to make sure it still looks about the same as it did whenever I got dressed. The funny thing about this is I am aware of it, and that the weather decieves me more often than not, but I still haven't changed much. I have noticed I tend to wear long-sleeves a little more often now because I don't trust the weather as much as I used to. Oh well...such is life. I think this post is long enough, maybe some other time I will enlighten you as to why I don't wear pants unless required to or that occasional social event where pants would be more appropriate.

Sunday Hockey- Game 8

Take a guess what happened last night...that's right, we lost again. The score was 7-5. Now our losing streak is up to 4 games. I don't really mind the losing because I'm still having a great time out there. I think we are saving the good stuff for the playoffs. Last night was really cool though. One of my teammates works at Centennial Gardens, so after the Condor's game he was cleaning up. He happened to be taking out the trash when he noticed a left-handed 1-piece composite hockey stick that wasn't cracked anywhere. So he took it and gave it to me last night. He also found a full composite stick (not broken) for himeslf too. It's a really nice stick. I played with it most of the game and liked it almost more than the one I already have. It was kinda funny when he gave it to me because ealier in the week I was looking at all of last years model's (for hockey sticks) and the one's I wanted were on sale for $110ish. So when I got home last night I looked online for the price of what I just got, and next to where the price is listed it read: "Call for price." Looks like I won't be needing a new hockey stick anytime soon.

Maybe Someday

We lost our game again last night. We made it to a shootout, but lost. It was still a good game though. I had so many shots (like 8) and scored none. I had some really close ones though. Our losing streak is up to three games now. We'll shoot for a win next week. On to the more important part of life: friends and humor. This morning's topic:

TaylorML217: so are there any girls in your near future tim?
Planet TSA: no
TaylorML217: just no
Planet TSA: i highly doubt it
TaylorML217: lol
Planet TSA: are you implying i need one?
Planet TSA: = )
TaylorML217: no.. need wouldn't be the correct word
TaylorML217: maybe desperately need

Could that possibly be true?? Let's see, in the past 6ish months, Robert has told me I need a girlfriend, Patrick told me once, Robert told me again, Lauren has probably said it too, Taylor just implied it.....yet I am still single. You'd think I would have gotten the hint by now.

Sunday Hockey- Game 6

I skipped game 5...we lost 'cause have our team was gone due to the superbowl. This week we had plenty of people...and we still lost. We lost 4-2. The ref's were horrible tonight. The other team scored, and they were offsides, and no call (so the goal counted). Yet when I score, they blow the whistle for offsides and don't count the goal. The worst thing about was it is my teammate wasn't even offsides. So we had many bad offsides calls, and bad penalties too. I got elbowed in the chin (thats why I wear a face mask), so it didn't hurt at all. In the last minute of the game, I took a guy into the boards with me. He had the puck so it wasn't roughing or anything, but the ref did yell at me since I had him pinned against the boards long after the puck was gone. I got a little steam out and avoided a call. Maybe next week we can win, I know our opponents aren't the greatest, so there's hope.

Awsomeness

Mammoth was awsome. We got up there Thursday night. Friday was all sun and no wind. It wasn't crowded at all either. Chair 25 was nice, as well as 9. Chair 5 was really good, Dry Creek was groomed and full of powder. After lunch I tried hitting some short rails...it was kinda fun. Basically there wasn't a bad spot on the mountain Friday. And Saturday, was really good too. It was sunny all day, with a light breeze in the afternoon. And once again, 25 was nice in the morning, 12 was nice, 3 was nice....and on and on. I think I had a few good spills on friday, especially the one where I fell on a flat part, slid a little ways, and got a bunch on snow down my pants...that kinda sucked. I boarded half day today. It was windy, nothing too bad, just a little cold. There was a little bit of powder that had blown onto the slopes, which made it nice. Overall, it was a great trip, and there's definitely more of them to come this season.

Week 2

"If snow is white, then it is white. Wow...that's deep." -my philosophy prof.

This week went by fast. Class was canceled Monday. Tuesday's lectures weren't too boring, Wednesday was interesting, and today, well today was just fun. Next week is going to be a little bit tougher, but I'm not going to worry about that until monday morning. As for now, I am just waiting for Katie to get home and pack so we can leave for Mammoth.

Sunday Hockey- Game 4

Time for the Sunday hockey update: I was gone for the game last weekend, but aparrently our top three skaters were gone, so there were only five skaters and a goalie....needless to say we lost. Tonight's game was good though. We had seven skaters (4 forwards and 3 defense). I had 2 assists. One of them was really good, and both of them were on 2-on-1 breakaways. The final score was 4-1. And for the season we are 3-1. Next weekend we play on Superbowl Sunday...hopefully enough people will show up.

It's About Time

Well, it took a little longer than I thought it would, but the rain is finally here. yay! Other than the rain, nothing much has happened lately. Yesterday I was so close to arguing with my child psych prof.. This is my third psych class, so I have a firm grasp on the three basic types of learning. Anyways, we were talking about operant conditioning (which is learning through positive and negative reinforcement, and for those non-psych people, its rewards and punishment). Anyways, my psych prof said that spanking a child is not negative reinforcement when asked about it. Her reasoning was kinda confusing. However, the way I see it, by spanking a kid, you are trying to prevent the kid from repeating whatever act caused the spanking in the first place. That could be considered negative reinforcement. But I kept my thoughts to myself sat there, saying nothing. Then we watched a movie about brain development in children....nothing I hadn't already seen. The class went by quickly anyways. As for the rest of the day, nothing exciting happened. And back to the point of this post: I'm glad it's raining outside.

Day 2 of the Semester

Let's just say yesterday was better. Today I had child psychology, sociology, and anthropology. I guess you could say today was my "ology" day. Child psych is a joke. Apparently we do a lot of group work, which kinda sucks, and the lectures (all 30 minuts of them) will most likely be rather dull. The one person in the class that I know, Kristen, seems to think it'll be easy as well. (Maybe because we both had bio-psych last semester, and that was much harder with interesting lectures). Then I was off to sociology. I found out Kristen and Matt are in the class too, which is cool. That class should be a little more interesting now at least. Sociology ended early, for the only time this semester, and so I went home to relax before my night class. It turns out cultural anthropology will most likely be boring and having it at night doesn't make it any better. So I am thinking this semester is going to be fairly boring, and the one class I may look forward to is going to be my philosophy (intro to logic) class. That's how the semester looks after two days...hopefully it gets better.

Day 1

Well, I'll start out with yesterday. I went down to Thousand Oaks last night for Patrick's choir concert. I must say it was the best choir concert I have been to (not like I go to many in the first place). But anyways, the Luther College Nordic Choir is really good. After the concert we went to get food since everyone was starving. I got home around 2:15 am. Yeah...classes started this morning. I had philosophy: intro to logic. Umm....we'll see how it's going to be. That is my only class today, so I'm gonna catch up on the sleep I didn't get last night.

Sunday Hockey

Well, I have decided that I will at least write an update following my hockey games on Sunday (for anyone who cares). So here it goes: We won 2-1. It was a close one. I played basically the entire game seeing that we only had 7 players and a goalie this week, 4 forwards and 3 defense. Needless to say, I was a bit tired after the game. During the game however, I had a few good shots. I had a two-on-zero breakaway, but the guy with the pucked sucked and didnt pass or shoot. And late in the third I had a breakaway and hit the inside of the post....oh so close. No goals or assists this week (for me anyways). But a win is a win, and we are 2-0 on the season. Other than the game...nothing much has happened since Sunday.

New Experiences

The past few days have consisted of basically sleep and cs. However, today (as in Saturday), was something different. I actually did stuff. My hockey gloves came in the mail today, which surprised me seeing that they weren't spupposed to come until monday or tuesday. Anyways, they're really cool and way better than my old ones. On to what I did today....I saw Spanglish tonight with Randy, Taylor, and Brandon. It was a fairly good movie. I liked it anyways. And just when I thought the night was over, we all decided to go to Taylor's to hang out. Brandon followed me there, but he pulled out to park on one side of the street and I kept going to make a u-turn around the island. Thats when the CHP decided to pull me over as well. Let me say...I was freakin' nervous, especially since I wasn't speeding or anything. So ya...liscense and registration, no I hadn't had anything to drink, blah blah blah.....it turns out my tail light was out. What a nice officer, no ticket or anything, he just told me to get it fixed so I don't get a ticket later on. So my first encouter with a CHP turned out alright. Sunday my plan is to fix tail light. Anyways, that was my fun-filled and exciting night.

So Cal

I went to Dana Point and LA on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was so much fun. On Tuesday Robert and I set out to go shopping. Let me clarify that: we went shopping to buy stuff using xmas presents, because as you know, other than a few exceptions, I am not really the "lets-go-shopping-for-fun" kinda guy. Anyways, after the Glendale Galleria had nothing for me and plenty for Robert, we went to the hockey store, where I would make up for the lack of stuff to buy at the mall. But No....the hockey store didnt have what I wanted, well they sorta did, just not the right size. They had 13 and 15 inch gloves, but I wear 14's. They didn't have the elbow pads I wanted either. So basically our drive to Dana Point was for Robert. We had a lot of fun though. It seems as though we have some of the best times just talking during road trips. So we got to Dana Point Tuesday night, then went out to dinner. That and I met Lauren's family.

Wednesday was even better. We (me, Robert, Lauren, and Lauren's dad) went to the LA Auto Show. It was awsome!! Robert and I spent a lot of time looking around on our own there. Robert knows less about cars than I do, but it didnt really matter since we both tend to like the nice, expensive car's (and that's about all you need to know about them). The Porsche room was the coolest...not that the others were bad or anything. Towards the end of the day we got to the bmw area, where I got to sit in the car I'd like to have someday (bmw x5). It's such a sweet car. I must say, I could see Robert in a z4 too...yellow, not red. So then we went somewhere for lunch and headed back to Lauren's. And that was most all of Wednesday, then I drove home that night.

As for what's on my mind right now...I am thinkin' about snowboarding and hockey. But then again, I tend to think about snowboarding a lot during the winter, especially when there's a lot of snow at mammoth.

New Day

I'll start out with yesterday: I had a hockey game. It was great. We won 5-1. I was close on 2 shots, but no goals this week, only an assist. My team this season is....good and bad. There are a few bad people (I am not one of them). Gimme a week to get conditioned and I'll last the entire game instead of only 2 periods. That's about all that really happened yesterday.

Today, I dont think I did much. I went out to dinner since it's Robert's last night home for a while. Red Lobster was good. I had shrimp for dinner which was awkward considering I don't really like it. Then we went to starbucks and best buy, and I got Collateral...good movie. And since then, I haven't done much else.

I think I will make an effort to keep this thing semi-updated, but I can't guarantee anything.

Welcome

I finally got around to creating this thing. Being that this is my first post, I have nothing interesting to say and I will leave it at that.