Sunday, March 30, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Before I Die: Art Exhibit
This idea might be a little off the wall, but I think it would be awesome to be able to display my photography hobby in a gallery for other people to appreciate. Not all of my photographs turn out the way that I want them to, but I feel like I get some good shots that other people might enjoy viewing as well.
I plan to develop my photographic eye more this spring while I'm here in Santa Barbara. If I get some good ones I will try to share them with you all. The one downside is that I do not have a digital camera and often times the digital compact discs that I get are not of the best quality, so I ask that you just bear with me.
I plan to develop my photographic eye more this spring while I'm here in Santa Barbara. If I get some good ones I will try to share them with you all. The one downside is that I do not have a digital camera and often times the digital compact discs that I get are not of the best quality, so I ask that you just bear with me.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Whale Watching: Santa Barbara Part 2
As many of you know, my first whale watching trip in Santa Barbara was a total wash. We didn't see any whales which entitled me to a "whale check." A "whale check" allows me to go on another whale watching trip during the same season for free. Well with my first full weekend off from Basketball I took them up on their offer and went again.
The weather was phenomenal; mostly sunny skies and warm. It was still a little chilly out on the water, but not bad. I was more than comfortable in my jeans and sweatshirt. The trip started out good as soon as we left the harbor we were on our way to catch up with two grey whales. We watched them from afar for about half an hour and then headed out farther into the channel for what turned out to be amazing.
On our way out into the channel our boat came across a sun fish laying at the surface. After circling the sun fish we were back out in pursuit of catching up with a group of Humpback whales that had been feeding in the channel since Monday. As we got closer to the Humpbacks I'm pretty sure I saw one off in the distance breach (jump out of the water). As we settled down in the area we followed two groups of two watching them surface for air and then diving down again showing us their tail flukes. I was on the ball that day and got some great pictures.
It was an amazing day of whale watching. My friend David and I agreed the Grey Whales were kind of boring, but the Humpbacks had it going on. Unfortunately, David did not have a very good experience. During much of our Humpback watching he was in the bathroom vomiting. He managed to settle his stomach enough for the best part though as right before we headed back to harbor one the humpbacks surfaced maybe thirty feet from the boat gave us one last tail fluke and then dove under the waves.
The weather was phenomenal; mostly sunny skies and warm. It was still a little chilly out on the water, but not bad. I was more than comfortable in my jeans and sweatshirt. The trip started out good as soon as we left the harbor we were on our way to catch up with two grey whales. We watched them from afar for about half an hour and then headed out farther into the channel for what turned out to be amazing.
On our way out into the channel our boat came across a sun fish laying at the surface. After circling the sun fish we were back out in pursuit of catching up with a group of Humpback whales that had been feeding in the channel since Monday. As we got closer to the Humpbacks I'm pretty sure I saw one off in the distance breach (jump out of the water). As we settled down in the area we followed two groups of two watching them surface for air and then diving down again showing us their tail flukes. I was on the ball that day and got some great pictures.
It was an amazing day of whale watching. My friend David and I agreed the Grey Whales were kind of boring, but the Humpbacks had it going on. Unfortunately, David did not have a very good experience. During much of our Humpback watching he was in the bathroom vomiting. He managed to settle his stomach enough for the best part though as right before we headed back to harbor one the humpbacks surfaced maybe thirty feet from the boat gave us one last tail fluke and then dove under the waves.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
The Joys of Traveling
Who knew flying could be so complicated? As most of you have probably read already the Men's basketball team made it to the NIT this year and our first round game was against the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS. We departed early Tuesday morning on a flight that departed at 6 am. Normally this is no problem, but one of the guys slept through his alarm. This caused us to be late and three of us were not able to check in. Our head coach managed to negotiate with a gate agent to allow the player and myself onto the flight, but our checked bags had to go with the assistant coach who was left behind.
Our travel party was split into two groups. The group that I was in connected through Phoenix and then onto Memphis while the other group connected through Dallas and then onto Memphis. Everything went according to plan for the Phoenix group. The trip was rather turbulent leaving the majority of us feeling nauseous upon landing in Memphis. The group going through Dallas however was not so lucky. The Dallas group got redirected to Abilene, TX where they were stuck for four and a half hours while the Dallas airport was shut down due to severe weather. They finally made it to Dallas later that night, but were unable to get a flight out to Memphis till Wednesday morning.
The game was played on Wednesday evening with us playing well for the first ten to twelve minutes before Ole Miss started pouring it on. The plan after the game was for us to catch a chartered flight out of the Oxford airport at 11 am. Initially we were to have two fuel stops and arrive in Santa Barbara around 4:30 pm. Our flight didn't end up taking off till around 12-12:30 pm CT. We made our first refueling stop in Norman, Oklahoma. We then made a stop in Las Vegas, New Mexico where we were supposed to have lunch provided for us. When we arrived however, there was no food to be seen that was not encased in a vending machine. Apparently the charter company cancelled the order because the food would have arrived late. We ended up spending about two and a half hours in the lobby area. This actually turned into a golden opportunity when the Mayor of Roswell, NM walked through and told us all kinds of fun facts about the infamous Roswell, NM.
Roswell, NM Facts:
There is a UFO Museum
A burgeoning Dairy Industry
The World's Largest Mozzarella Cheese Factory
Numerous Carnivals and Festivals
After our wonderful meeting with the Mayor we got back on the plane and made our way to Kingmen, AZ on the famous Route 66. We had pizzas delivered here, so everyone pigged out on Papa Johns and then back on to the plane for the final leg into Santa Barbara.
Total travel time: 10 am till 8:45 pm PT. It was a full day of travel that left us all happy to be back and to not have travel on a plane again for a long time!
Our travel party was split into two groups. The group that I was in connected through Phoenix and then onto Memphis while the other group connected through Dallas and then onto Memphis. Everything went according to plan for the Phoenix group. The trip was rather turbulent leaving the majority of us feeling nauseous upon landing in Memphis. The group going through Dallas however was not so lucky. The Dallas group got redirected to Abilene, TX where they were stuck for four and a half hours while the Dallas airport was shut down due to severe weather. They finally made it to Dallas later that night, but were unable to get a flight out to Memphis till Wednesday morning.
The game was played on Wednesday evening with us playing well for the first ten to twelve minutes before Ole Miss started pouring it on. The plan after the game was for us to catch a chartered flight out of the Oxford airport at 11 am. Initially we were to have two fuel stops and arrive in Santa Barbara around 4:30 pm. Our flight didn't end up taking off till around 12-12:30 pm CT. We made our first refueling stop in Norman, Oklahoma. We then made a stop in Las Vegas, New Mexico where we were supposed to have lunch provided for us. When we arrived however, there was no food to be seen that was not encased in a vending machine. Apparently the charter company cancelled the order because the food would have arrived late. We ended up spending about two and a half hours in the lobby area. This actually turned into a golden opportunity when the Mayor of Roswell, NM walked through and told us all kinds of fun facts about the infamous Roswell, NM.
Roswell, NM Facts:
There is a UFO Museum
A burgeoning Dairy Industry
The World's Largest Mozzarella Cheese Factory
Numerous Carnivals and Festivals
After our wonderful meeting with the Mayor we got back on the plane and made our way to Kingmen, AZ on the famous Route 66. We had pizzas delivered here, so everyone pigged out on Papa Johns and then back on to the plane for the final leg into Santa Barbara.
Total travel time: 10 am till 8:45 pm PT. It was a full day of travel that left us all happy to be back and to not have travel on a plane again for a long time!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Deja Vu
Sitting on the end of the bench of our game on Friday "Deja Vu" was the only phrase that came to mind. The conference tournament has not been very kind to us the past two years. Everything went as expected in the early rounds and we got a rematch with UC Irvine. Irvine beat us badly in the Quarters of last years tournament and then swept the season series against us this year. So the third times the charm right?
Not so much folks. They had played two games in two days leading up to our game. We were coming in rested and as the number one seed. Irvine lead from wire to wire with a fairly comfortable seven point lead throughout the game. We made a run at them in the final three minutes but were not able to get over the hump losing 55-50.
Although our NCAA tournament dreams are over we are still in Post season play by virtue of our bid to the NIT. We find out who play when the NIT bracket is announced at 9 pm EST.
Not so much folks. They had played two games in two days leading up to our game. We were coming in rested and as the number one seed. Irvine lead from wire to wire with a fairly comfortable seven point lead throughout the game. We made a run at them in the final three minutes but were not able to get over the hump losing 55-50.
Although our NCAA tournament dreams are over we are still in Post season play by virtue of our bid to the NIT. We find out who play when the NIT bracket is announced at 9 pm EST.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Championship Week
It's that time of the year; it's conference tournament time. This time last year we were already in Anaheim prepping for our quarterfinal game. What a difference a year makes! Last year we ended up in a three way tie for second place and ending up as the number four seed in the tournament. In our quarterfinal game we ended up losing to the number five seed in a very disappointing eighteen point loss.Now fast forward to this year. We finished the season strong winning our final four league games to finish in a three way tie for first place. This year the tie breakers worked in our favor and we are the number one seed for the tournament. The number one seed is huge. By virtue of being the number one seed we get a bye till the semifinals on Friday and will play the lowest remaining seed after the quarterfinals on Thursday.
We leave for Anaheim tomorrow morning and play at 5:30pm on Friday. If we win on Friday we will play for the tournament championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament at 8:00pm PST on Saturday. The championship game will be televised live on ESPN2.
Go Gauchos!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Not the brightest crayon in the box...
Apparently streaking through a cricket match is not the best idea in the world after all:
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
No More Eating Before Bed
Ever since I was a kid I have been able to remember my dreams quite vividly and on occasion have had very strong senses of deja vu! Last night was no exception. I woke up this morning thinking what in the world is going on in my head! I really should invest in a dream book, so I can figure out what in my subconscious is so crazy.
I distinctly remember having a dream in the Fall of last year eerily similar to the one I had last night. The previous dream had me riding a bike at night along a lake with nothing more than the moon to light the way. I also remember staking out my grandparents old house but was not quite sure what I was on the lookout for. I remember having a very anxious feeling on the bike ride back as though I was afraid something was either following me or waiting to attack me along the way.
Anyway, flash forward to last nights dream where myself and two other people enter my grandparents house which is dilapidated and ransacked. I feel like I've known my two companions extremely well and for a long time but I can't make out their faces. When we enter the house and start looking around we are confronted by a banshee like woman with glowing red eyes. After what seems like an hour she disappears and being a little frightened we go up stairs stepping over debris and finding little momentos that remind me of my childhood. That's when I woke up.
The glowing red eyes seems to be a running theme as I have very strong memory of a dream I had in high school. In that dream the only thing I remember clearly is walking through a heavily wooded area when I come across a car from the 1950's with it's headlights on facing the woods with the drivers side door open. As I approach I do not see anybody near or around the car and then out of nowhere appears a woman with glowing bright red eyes coming at me from the woods. It was at that point that I woke up with that same anxious feeling I had while bike riding in the dream that I had in the Fall.
I'm really not sure what's going on in my head while I sleep, but it's some crazy stuff.
I distinctly remember having a dream in the Fall of last year eerily similar to the one I had last night. The previous dream had me riding a bike at night along a lake with nothing more than the moon to light the way. I also remember staking out my grandparents old house but was not quite sure what I was on the lookout for. I remember having a very anxious feeling on the bike ride back as though I was afraid something was either following me or waiting to attack me along the way.
Anyway, flash forward to last nights dream where myself and two other people enter my grandparents house which is dilapidated and ransacked. I feel like I've known my two companions extremely well and for a long time but I can't make out their faces. When we enter the house and start looking around we are confronted by a banshee like woman with glowing red eyes. After what seems like an hour she disappears and being a little frightened we go up stairs stepping over debris and finding little momentos that remind me of my childhood. That's when I woke up.
The glowing red eyes seems to be a running theme as I have very strong memory of a dream I had in high school. In that dream the only thing I remember clearly is walking through a heavily wooded area when I come across a car from the 1950's with it's headlights on facing the woods with the drivers side door open. As I approach I do not see anybody near or around the car and then out of nowhere appears a woman with glowing bright red eyes coming at me from the woods. It was at that point that I woke up with that same anxious feeling I had while bike riding in the dream that I had in the Fall.
I'm really not sure what's going on in my head while I sleep, but it's some crazy stuff.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Flag Football
Now this one is a doozie so buckle up folks!
The plan this year was for my co-workers and I to play intramural flag football. We were all set and ready when aghast the only times offered interfered directly with our work hours. Instead of giving up one of my co-workers had a brilliant idea; lets start our own league, and thus the ICA Flag Football League was born. Our team has been practicing for about two months and tonight was our first game. So much for all the practicing!
We scored maybe two touchdowns to the other teams five or six. In addition to being routed we had a partially dislocated shoulder to deal with and I strained my hip flexor. Good thing we have a week before the next game. I anticipate being better by then. It was a fun night of competition. I think we got the jitters out, and should be ready to roll next week.
In case you were wondering here are my stats:
I threw 3 completions one for a touchdown and 2 interceptions.
A less than stellar outing for sure.
Look for updates on the season every Monday night for the next 7 weeks!
The plan this year was for my co-workers and I to play intramural flag football. We were all set and ready when aghast the only times offered interfered directly with our work hours. Instead of giving up one of my co-workers had a brilliant idea; lets start our own league, and thus the ICA Flag Football League was born. Our team has been practicing for about two months and tonight was our first game. So much for all the practicing!
We scored maybe two touchdowns to the other teams five or six. In addition to being routed we had a partially dislocated shoulder to deal with and I strained my hip flexor. Good thing we have a week before the next game. I anticipate being better by then. It was a fun night of competition. I think we got the jitters out, and should be ready to roll next week.
In case you were wondering here are my stats:
I threw 3 completions one for a touchdown and 2 interceptions.
A less than stellar outing for sure.
Look for updates on the season every Monday night for the next 7 weeks!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Ready! Set! Mush!
Here's to the beginning of the Iditarod! The race begins in Anchorage, Alaska and covers 1,100 miles of dense forest, frozen tundra, two mountain ranges, and sea ice to the finish line in Nome!
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