Too Much Fun

I’m sitting at the Raleigh/Durham airport right now.  It’s 5am.  I just had the best weekend I’ve had in a long time.  I almost didn’t want to come out here because I knew it would suck too much to leave…so now I’m at the sucky part of the trip. 

Thursday I got here fairly early and Jeff gave me a tour of the Duke campus.  It’s very hard to describe other than the fact it’s the most beautiful campus I’ve ever seen.  Duke is in the middle of a semi-scummy town, but it is basically it’s own world.  The University lies inside of Duke Forest; a person could drive all of the way around the campus and not even see it.  Anyway, Jeff took me to the Sarah Duke Gardens.  It was an endless garden with trails, streams, and ponds.  If I had a perfect GPA….and a LOT of money, I would totally have gone to school there.  Later, I got to meet the other pole vaulters from Duke.  What a cool group of people!!! 

Day 2 we did a whole lot of nothing all morning then went to see Star Wars Episode II.  All I can say is WOW.  It was such a great movie.  Plus, I have a new crush.  Maybe a slight crush on Jeff….but a HARDCORE one on Hayden Christianson (Anakin Skywalker). 

Day 3 again consisted of a whole lot of nothing (which was great!) then we went to a baseball game.  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this great American pastime.  I was especially fond of the Dippin’ Dots.

Day 4 I was rudely awoken nice and early to go hiking.  We drove out to Pilot Mountain and hiked around there for quite a while.  It was very beautiful…especially when we were on the trail and not fearing for our lives in the woods.  That night Jeff cooked us all a nice dinner and we pigged out on ice cream. 

Now I’m at home, wishing I were back at Duke.  I’m getting a bunch of last minute jobs done before summer school and my internship start tomorrow.  I’ll get some pics up here once they are developed.  Bye!

 

 

Go Duke!

Yeah, yeah...so no posts in a while. I've been doing a whole lot of nothing since I finished track. I ended up placing sixth with a vault of 12 feet. I was pretty happy; it would always be nice to go higher, but a good end to a fun career. (Yes, I'll admit it was kind of fun.) The Women's team did much better than they were expected to, and the men ended up winning. Jabari finished them up on top...way to go dude. So now I'm a UW Track Alumni. What to do with myself? Time to HAVE FUN WAHOO!!!

Right now at Duke University in North Carolina doing just that. Taking Memorial Day weekend to hang with some great people before my internship at UW Sports Med starts. The diet DEFINITLY doesn't start this week. :) Well, I'm outtie now...I'll write more and post some pics of my sweet ass time out here soon.
Oh yeah, Mike is going to help me put together an entirely new website...it will be the same address. Okay, so maybe nobody is quite as excited as I am about all of this...but I'm pretty pumped.

Big Tens

BIG TEN OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP IN MADISON, WI

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Pole Vault is at 1:30 Friday.

My last track meet ever.

Be there or be square.

Finals Suck

It's 8:30am on Mother's Day, and I have my first final in a few hours.  Yes, I have a final on Mother's Day.  To make things worse, I have another one tomorrow morning, so when I do spend time with my mom today, I will be studying!  I cannot WAIT until school is over.  You can probably tell how great my study ethic is right now...seeing as I am posting on the website, rather than getting ready for the exam. 

Just the pole vaulters went to a small track meet in La Crosse on Friday.  It was fairly windy, but I still cleared 12 feet.  One more track meet ever.  Wow.  If anybody is interested in going, I will be vaulting at 1:30pm this Friday at the UW Outdoor (McCliman) track.  Big Ten Outdoors is free to watch on Friday, but you need to purchase tickets for the other days. 

Alright, back to studying.  Don't forget to give your mommies a big hug and kiss!

My Family is in the Paper!

For some reason newspapers always like to pick out the WORST pictures to put in the paper, so I'm warning you now, I'm not super hot in those pictures, but that wasn't really the point of the story anyway.  This story covered the entire front page of the sports section, as well as a good chunk of the third page.  Oh yeah...the link: http://www.jsonline.com/badger/other/may02/41400.asp

If anybody is interested in getting more information on Huntington's Disease, please feel free to e-mail me.  Thanks for reading the article.

Page/Picture Update

Any day now J.R......  http://www.geocities.com/hdsayouth/fitnesspics

Thought of the Day...

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.

That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Potty Talk

We left Dallas/Ft Worth heading to the Gulf Coast, when I needed to stop at a comfort station. The first stall was occupied,  so I went into the second one. I was no sooner seated than  I heard a voice from the next stall: 
 
"Hi, how are you doing?"

 Well, I am not the type to chat with strangers in highway  comfort stations, and I really don't know quite what possessed me, but anyway, I answered, a little embarrassed:

 "Not bad."

 And the stranger said: "And, what are you up to?"

 Talk about your dumb questions! I was really beginning to  think this was too weird! So I said:

 "Well, just like you I'm driving west."

 Then, I heard the stranger, all upset, say, "Look, I'll call  you back, there's some idiot in the next stall answering all  the questions I am asking you."

Live Everyday Like You're Gonna Get Your First Kiss...

So things did get better on Saturday night.  I met up with Brian...we wandered around for a while downtown and finally decided to watch a movie at my place.  Turns out my house was already infested with Doug's high school friends...so we all ended up watching the movie Ali together.  Will Smith is an incredible actor, plain and simple.  What is there that he does not do?  Rap, TV, movies, children's books....yikes!  What a guy.  After I took Brian home, I tried to watch the rest of the movie, but totally conked out. 

Sunday was filled with doing birthday parties at Madtown Twisters.  I had some good groups of kids, but still ended up exhausted.  Last night I basically came home, did nothing for a while, and went to sleep.  It sure did feel nice to do nothing for once. 

Today I just signed up for an open water swimming class.  It's three days a week, 6:30-8:30am, for a month this summer.  I think I can pull it off.  Plus I now have a place to keep my logs this summer, so I will for sure be able to roll everyday.

Alright, I'd better go do something productive, but first, I'd like to leave you all with a wonderful quote from Aaron Carter's new CD:

"So have fun that's my point of view, I always kick it just
the way I want to.  Gotta roll with the changes, I keep it real with a smile on my face.
To yourself make a promise, live everyday like you're gonna get your first kiss...and if you do
you'll never lose...the kid in you." - Aaron Carter

I Want To Cry...But I Have to be More Mature Than That.

Ever have that awful feeling in the pit of your stomach...the kind where you just want something else to happen to cheer you up?  So I had a home meet today.  I have one more meet left in my entire track career.  What did I do?  I blew it.  I mean, I can't exactly say that.  I skied over 11 feet.  Today was supposed to be the day I cleared 12' 7'' to provisionally qualify for nationals.  I moved my grip up on my pole last week, and things were going great in practice. The wind was at my back, I felt great, and I didn't get on a big enough pole.  I had enough height to clear 12' 7'' (at least I felt like I did) but the poles I was on at 11'7 were too soft, and I bumped the bar down on all three tries.  Tara almost cleared 13'1'', but did provisionally qualify at 12'7''.  So not only did I not do well in front of all of the people I knew, she showed them how bad I REALLY did.  I am very proud of her.  I'm normally a very good sport about things...it's just the fact that I don't have another year, heck, I don't even have another WEEK, to redeem myself.  The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was doing a story on my mom, and I wanted to do really well for them and my mom.  I hate it how when I go to work, everybody asks how I did, or ask why I'm not clearing 13 feet yet, or why I'm not vaulting as well as that Tara girl.  I just for once want to be REALLY GOOD at something, not mediocre like I always am.  I just want to win one title, have my name on the headline, before I'm done.  Now I only have one more chance to do that.  I know I'm totally feeling sorry for myself right now, which I shouldn't be doing....it's just so hard not to.  I look back at all of the work I've put into this sport...all I have given up to be a UW Track Athlete.  I know what happened today, I know why I didn't go higher, I just wish it didn't happen.  I wish I was on the right poles, I wish I had the right mindset, and I wish I could just win something.  Pole vault is a very frustrating sport.  First of all, if you are off just a little bit, you knock the bar down; it's all or nothing.  In the 100 meter, if you are off a little bit, your time is a little slower, but it is not over for you.  Today I had so much height, but I was off....and now I feel like crap.  Another thing about the vault is you always have to end on a bad note.  Even if I did clear 13 feet today, I would still miss three attempts at 13'6.  Anyway, don't get me wrong.  I'm usually not a sore loser, I am just very frustrated that I have only one meet left in my entire life, so if I blow it again, I leave the sport with a sour taste in my mouth.  Sorry, every sentence in this post was very random.  I just had to write stuff down somewhere, and it sort of came out here.  I'm going to go take a shower, I smell.

Hair Dye    

Yesterday my roommate Doug decided to re-dye his hair Blue...AT HOME rather than at the salon.  Let's just say the whole house is a faint shade of blue now...and it looks like a smurf was slaughtered in the bathroom.  Way to go Doug.

Blah

I just found this picture of me and one of my best friends Tiffanie.  This was taken last summer...I was totally sitting down, that's why I look so much shorter.  :)  She's having some tough times recently, so keep her in your thoughts.  But she does have a BEAUTIFIUL son that always makes me smile.

So...why the absence?  This is yet another week from hell, and today was the breaking point of it all.  Maybe I should back up...the meet on Saturday.  I skyed 12 feet!  It felt great!  Things have been going really well in practice this week as well...so expect great things this weekend at the HOME TRACK MEET IN MADISON THIS SATURDAY.  I vault at 3:30pm.  The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal is doing a story on my family this Saturday as well, I'm very excited!
Okay, I was going somewhere with this.  The meet in LaCrosse had to be moved inside due to snow/sleet/freezing rain, so Tara's provisional qualifying mark didn't count.  Hopefully we can both make it soon! 
Saturday night was fairly interesting...I will just leave it at that.  Cheerleading anyone?  :)

Then this week I have just been working my butt off in school.  I won't waste all of this blog complaining about today, but it was not a good day.  It's great to be at home and relaxing.  In fact, I am so relaxed I think I am going to go to bed.  Goodnight!   

Funny Times

 

A group of kindergartners were trying to become accustomed to the first
grade. The biggest hurdle they faced was that the teacher insisted on no
baby talk. "You need to use 'big people' words, she'd always remind them.

She asked Chris what he had done over the weekend.  "I went to visit my
Nana."  "No, you went to visit your grandmother. Use big people words!"

She then asked Mitchell what he had done. "I took a ride on a choo-choo."
She said No, you took a ride on a TRAIN. Use big people words."

She then asked Bobby what he had done. "I read a book," he replied.  That's
WONDERFUL!" the teacher said. "What book did you read? "  Bobby thought
about it, then puffed out his little chest with great  pride  and  said,

"Winnie the SHIT."