Life between last post and now.

Wow. I don't even know where to begin. How about with today. I am on crutches. Ugh. Yesterday I was skiing at Silver and crashed and sprained my ankle pretty bad. That's the newest news so now I want to start where I left off.
So my blog archive is trying to convince me that the last time I was here writing to you it was thanksgiving time. I was sharing how quickly the time had passed between the beginning of the year and thanksgiving. That seems like crawling now considering it is March 1. After thanksgiving I came back to Moscow from Boise and prepared to wrap up the semester and take finals. In the midst of that, I made one of my favorite people my girlfriends and we haven't looked back. Finals went pretty well and then I headed home for break. While at home I got to catch up with friends, hang out with the family, and get in a bit of skiing. I had a great time at home as I always do. After the first of the year it was back to the grind, I headed back out to Boise to go to ski camp for ten days before the semester began. Camp was a lot of fun and I think I magically became a better skier this year. After camp I was seeded as our number 6 guy on the team and I was pretty happy with that. When I got back to Moscow it was full steam ahead into the new semester. Strangely enough there was no snow in Moscow and there hasn't been since. The race season went really well for me and due to some various circumstances I ended up as the fourth seed on the team. My season was very consistent and I was finishing about the middle of the pack at all the races. These results were good enough to qualify me for the regional championship team headed to Snowbasin Utah. I had a great week down there skiing and hanging out with friends and other teams. I even ended up skiing against/with some of my old competitors from western new york. After taking a week off school I had o return to Moscow and work really hard to get caught up. I am now caught up and can catch my breath. I am still with Kelcie and I am so happy with her. I have found a house to move into for next year. I am starting to get myself into a groove and am really happy. Coming up next is spring break during which I will be headed to Phoenix to watch some spring training baseball with dad. Until next time, play hard and work harder.

Thanksgiving... ALREADY!?

Wow. It seems like every time I get on here I am soooo far behind. I am. I am currently in Boise on break from school(thankfully). I can not believe that in three short weeks from the upcoming holiday I will be on my way home for the Christmas break. This semester has absolutely flown past and I have experienced soo much. I would love to sit and chat for a much longer time than this but currently I am not abke. I do make a sincere promise to come back and write some very lengthy pieces. Play hard, work harder. -DUB

Summer relfections and other happenings.

Ok, a little later than I had hoped, but nonetheless here I am, back again to let it flow. This summer... where to begin. So many awesome memories were had that, when balled into 4 months, made for the best summer I have had yet. My summer started off with about 24 hrs of my own time. Almost exactly 24 hrs after i got off the plane I was reporting back to work at Lowe's. As many have experienced this past year time are a bit tougher and it showed through our customer numbers as well as the number of hours offered to work. At the beginning of the summer I was able and fortunate to reconnect with one of my really good friends form grade school. We spent a of time together this summer and continue to remain close while we are both back at school. Also this summer, I spent a lot of time with my number one partner in crime, the one Anthony Natale. We spent the majority of our summer creating mischief and drinking our favorite Arnold Palmer ice tea. Before I left school for the summer last year , I was asked if i would like to take a trip to Germany for my birthday. I respectfully declined.... NOT!!! I was overcome with excitement. I departed from Cleveland on June 16th in the late morning and arrived in the early morning on the 17th, in Germany. When I arrived, I was met by the sisters and father of our German exchange student, Katharina. They all gave me a warm welcome and asked about the flight and our family in the states. The following story is just me being a guy. When we left the airport we almost immediately got onto the autobahn. We were riding in a next to new Audi A6 and Ludwig continued to accelrate beyond the normal comfort level I was used to at home. When I was able to catch a glimpse of the speedometer I noticed that it read 255 kph. Now, for all you imperialists out there this converts too... 158.5 MPH!!!!!! It was crazy. From the fast lane we went to some country roads and finally to the village where all of the girls went to school. There we were planning to surprise Katharina because she was not told about my trip. When we got to the school she was not there so we called one of her friedns to find out where she was. When we were informed that she was at the local McDonalds(figures) with some of her friends celebrating their last day of school. When we got to the McDonalds we came up with a game plan that involved me walking into the restaurant by myself, right up to her with a camera in my hand to record her surprise reaction. It worked flawlessly. I walked right in, right up to her and stood there for a second with the camera. It took her approximately 30 seconds to realize what was going on, then.... she lost it. She broke down and was saying are you kidding me repeatedly. She was in tears before I could give her a hug. Her family soon followed and was also in tears at her sheer excitement. Her friends were very confused until one of them, Dani, who had been in the states with Katharina and had come to my house previously, jumped up and started yelling in German. She reacted as if everything ahd snapped into her head at once and she could do everything but keep to herself. When the rest of the friends in attendance realized what was happening they also began to become excited. to be continued...

Changes

Wow. I have not been here in so long. As I write this second sentence I am reminded of how good it feels to just sit back and free write. I am sitting in my apartment listening to some good music feeling the breeze and reflecting. I arrived here two weeks ago on Tuesday after a three day drive with my dad out here. I will let him express his own opinions but I felt that the trip was a success. When we arrived I moved into my room and began the settling process which has just finished today. The second year here at The University of Idaho has, so far(three weeks), has been great. I am enjoying and succeeding in all of my classes. I have also taken on some extracurricular responsibilities as the Treasurer of the UI ski team along with Ski team representative to the Sports Club Federation on which I also hold the Executive Board Chairman position. As a result I can not wait for the ski season to arrive. Football season has started, classes are in full swing, new gear is being released, next step is for the snow to fly. I realize this is a short post considering the time I had to cover but when I get another chance I will be back to reflect on the summer. For now, play safe and work hard. -DUB

These are the days!

In no way is this post meant to make anyone jealous. The past two days in Moscow have been some of if not the best days I have had here. The weather has been amazing with temperatures flirting with 65 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. On Monday I spent the morning laying in the sun on my bed until my first class. After words I played some basketball with the guys from my floor and then played some disc golf. Monday was a good day but it lead to the greatest day I have experienced, Tuesday. Tuesday morning I woke up at about 8:30 to meet with my adviser and discuss my plans for next semester. After words I went to the cafeteria and had a great waffle for breakfast followed by some work on a project. Following breakfast I went to my three hour class an found out that the final two hours were canceled. I then spent an hour and forty-five minutes laying on the hill outside with some of my friends from my hall doing nothing but layign and talking, with a bit of dozing off. After layign outside in the sun we decided to play some more basketball which was fun but fairly exhausting. I then layed on the grass some more before coming inside to take a shower and eat dinner. After dinner, about 6 or 6:15 a group of us decided that we needed to be outside more so we decided to play some disc golf. We played two rounds and it was dark by the time we made it back to the dorms. Disc golf has become one of my favorite acivities becasue it is relaxing and I get to be outside. Today has been almost the same but just a touch windier which is keeping the temp down a bit. I am really happy with where things are right now and am excited to finish out the year and head home for the summer. As always play hard and work harder.

Two months and many stories later.

Wow! Here I sit at the desk that has seen many a beautiful sentence right alongside the just as plentiful sleepless nights. The desk that has witnessed numerous late Sunday night, or rather early Monday morning, returns by myself, with numerous articles of clothing and ski equipment in tired, worn out hand. It has been one day short of two months since I have had time to reflect on the events of my whirlwind roller coaster (to the lay person this would be LIFE) and to recap what a great two months it has been. In the past two months the collegiate ski racing season has come and gone- for myself anyways(nationals are this week)- and alongside it, the first half of my second semester. In attempt to keep you, the reader, less confused than I, the writer and person who lived it, I will do my best to keep theses events in chronological order. Again I say that I will do my best - no guarantees of this piece being free of side stories. As you may recall or may want to read in the above post, I went straight form the Spokane airport directly to a house in Smelterville, ID (please hold laughter until all towns have been named) where I spent 9 days with a group that are now some of my closest friends. We had a blast and I think we lived the dream of a lot of kids in college that have a burning passion for the snow. For 9 glorious days we skied a gorgeous run that Silver Mountain prepared for us each day, slept right through the late afternoon hours, ate some of the best food a partial college education(or 25 of them) ever made, danced into the early morning hours and proceeded to remain in this "rut" for the entire experience. Each day our fearless leader, a one Jerry McMurtry, led us up a 22 minute ride on the world's longest gondola to have us run a training course every day. Why you might ask. Well i'll give you some facts and let you figure it out. This years incoming freshman class to the UI Ski Team boasted 5 new racers to the male team and an additional 5 to the team that assisted in race prep and operation. Two of the 5 new freshman racers went on to represent the university at Steamboat Springs for regionals and form there one went on to nationals in Winter Park Colorado. Is that good enough? Anyways, I think in the next couple years the Idaho ski team will be a force to be reconed with in the Northwest Division. After a productive week in good old Smelterville we returned to campus to the regular humdrum but only five days later were we up at 5 am and on our way to Mt. Hood Oregon for the onset of our race season. Personally I did not ski well and didn't finish a single race run that weekend. The team was off to a good start, one that would give them the momentum needed for the rest of the season. Our second stop was to Willamette Pass. This was also a race in Oregon but twice the distance form Moscow that Mt. Hood was. This race was the first slalom race of the year and also where I began to settle in to the team atmosphere. The weekend following we came "home" to Silver Mtn., in Kellog, ID for a GS race. Here was a good race for our team at our home mountain and probably the best I will ever do in a GS race ending up 21st and 18th. The next weekend we had an off weekend for racing but most of the team went to Silver for a training/fun day. Following our weekend off we capped of the season with a weekend of fun at Bogus Basin resort in Boise(BOI-ZE) ID. The theme of the race on Sunday was costumes and o what a show it was. For your sake im going to leave out some of the more fine details. I will say that the U of I had a great showing of variety with the tooth fairy and a dinosaur. This was my best finish of the season as I finished 15th on Sunday. Overall I was very happy with my season becasue I now know how I need to improve for the future.
For a change of pace, and to keep the parentals happIER, I thought i would discuss the school side of things a bit more. How are things going... GREAT! I am totally happy with my choice in what I want to study becasue already this semester we have been assigned real clients and get to coordinate a design with them. I am so thankful for this opportunity becasue it allows us to realize if we have gotten into something we dont enjoy. I have had a blast putting together conceptual designs and planting plans for different kinds of outdoor spaces. One of the newest trends in the industry is to create themed outdoor living spaces and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff, namely Jil and Mr. ED, at Lowes Greenhouse for giving the handtools to map out where I am going to dig with the big machinery in my future.
If you have not been able to tell form the energy I intended to pass throuhg this writing, I am very happy with every situation and every opportunity I have involved myself in thus far. At this point I am looking toward spring break when I get to visit home for a couple days. For now I pause on my thoughts only to be continued another day. Play hard, work harder.

Catching up

Ok. I have not been here in a long while and I wrote a short piece on the airplane on the way out here after Christmas so I decided i would share it until I have some time to get some other thoughts on paper. Enjoy!

Saturday 1.3.09

Well its back to the west coast as I am now on my second plane of the day from Detroit to Minneapolis. I have already completed the half hour jaunt form Akron to Detroit. After this current pane I board my final aircraft to Spokane. It was a good break could have been better could have been a lot worse also. I was grateful for the opportunity to see my family and my friends. I was also grateful to be able to work for a couple days and to ski for a few more. The sum of all the events over my break equals one more event that has again succeeded to remind me of just how lucky I am to have a family that cares about and supports me. For now I sit and wait and then hurry up to sit and wait and when I land in Spokane I will turn another page in my life and begin my career as a collegiate athlete. As I begin ski camp later this afternoon I will step into a lifestyle and work load that only the most finely tune mind can handle. This next semester will test how prepared I am for life as I will have to use time and priority management effectively. I will be pursuing 19 credit hours as well as participating in two sports for the university this semester. I am aware that this seems like a hefty work (and play) load but I view it as a challenge to see where my maximum capacity is. I will attack this challenge head on and hope that when I am through I have learned not only all of my academic material but something personal as well. Well for now it’s up in the air what the future holds and I would like to add a favorite quote from Jim Tressel. “If the game of life were to end tonight, would you be a winner?” Only we can determine if when the game does end, we are winners or still in second place.