Once again I have fallen slightly behind on my writting. Hopefully it doesn't show. We'll give it a try though.
I believe I left off somewhere in the middle of my Nebraska trip. There have been a couple developments in my life since mid July. My summer in Nebraska finished off pretty uneventfully, big surprise right? Sam left early to go home so for the last week I was there by myself and it ended up being alright because I got to drive Jim and Sharon's Mitsubishi Spyder Convertable, which was a slight upgrade from the Toyota Camry Sam and I had been driving. Despite the new ride, I was done with the mid west and ready to come home. I do miss the friends I made in Nebraska. Jim and Sharon who were nice enough to welcome me into their home and call me one of their own for the summer. Scott who gave me the job and his hilarious co-workers Chad and Tyler. Ryan and Laurie (Jim and Sharon's son and girlfriend), for showing me around Omaha. I made some memories on the trip that wont soon be forgotten. Yet, I don't think I will be going back next summer. The days were long, the work was brutal, and I didn't make as much money as I had anticipated, I'm still trying to work out a financial dilemma with my work. I am going to miss that sun though, it was really hot but it was there everyday, and you get used to the heat and humidity. It was nice being able to go to work then come home and lay and take a nap by the pool. When I got back to school this fall everyone was asking me if I had gone tanning this summer. "Nope, just spent the summer in Nebraska."
So next summer I'm off on another wild adventure to another region of the country. It is looking like I am going to be spending my time in the wilderness of Alaska. One of my good family friends has a relative that is a VP for a major fishing company so I am going to be working in a cannery. Listen to how fun it sounds. The towns attractions, as listed on a website, include a thrift store, a restaurant, a post office, and internet access. How have I never heard of Naknek, Alaska before (www.naknekfish.com)? I will be living in a dorm and the work hours are from 4 o'clock in the morning to whenever they say I am done, 7 days a week. So why am I going? This is from a second hand source but I am going to make anywhere between $5,000-$10,000, which is slightly better than the $2,000 I hauled in this summer. On top of that Chelsea is going with me and possibly AJ. So I will have at least one friend to suffer along side with me. I don't however think I will come home next summer with the same tan I brought back this summer. For that paycheck, I'll take that loss.
I've been at school for over a month now and there have definitely been the times where I questioned why I was excited to be back? Case and point, right now. I have so much homework this weekend it's scary. I'm going to try to get motivated and go the library after practice tonight and try to take a chunk out of the load. Having homework on the weekend ruins the football watching experience. When you are loafing around on Sunday morning it's hard to not think about all the homework you have to do once the game is over. Even worse, while you am doing homework on Saturday or Sunday, football is on the brain. It's hard not to think about how the game is going, how your fantasy guy are playing. But back to the school part, my classes are ridiculous this semester. I'm not sure if I just had an easy schedule last year or what but this semester is on a level of its own. Every night I have at least an hour and a half of reading and writting to do. And I pay thousands of dollars a year for this torture? Oh just kidding, not torture, it's school.
Fall ball is on its last week and I am relatively pleased with how I have thrown. My velocity is up from high 70's last year to sitting around 83-84 mph this fall. This has to be a result of my running this summer. I ran nearly 4 miles, 3 times a week. This increase has me excited for what a winter of hard work can do for me. There is a new pitching coach this year who already gave me more coaching then I had all of last year, I love it! After my first inning of the fall, which I struggled in, walking a couple guys, he came to me and just told me to relax, he could see I was tense, which was completly true. I know it's weird but it sometimes is as simple as someone else saying what you know but aren't necessarily aware of to make a change. My next few times on the bump on focused on relaxing and the results showed. I don't want to jump to any conclusions but I feel like as long as I have a strong winter where I stay focused, I can play a much more significant role as a sophomore than I did as a freshman.
Now off to my most exciting class, Philosophy of Science. What does that even mean you may ask? Thats a great question.
Nathan...out
Friday, October 8, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Drumroll Please
Ok to all me beloved fans I am so sorry for the wait, but the suspense of when my next post is going to come out is over. I know how much you all love hearing about my exciting adventures and the wait has been killing you, so I am here to end your pain and suffering. To shorten a long story, I love Nebraska! It is hard to believe that I have already been here for over a month, only 24 more days and I am Washington bound. The drive out here was so fun I can hardly wait to drive back, I guess that's where I will start.
On June 19 Sam and I started our trek east at 7 in the morning. There was a GPS in the car but Sam's dad said that we "needed an adventure" so he pulled the GPS and the only that got Sam and I halfway across the country was an old, beaten atlas. Once we crossed a state boarder we flipped a couple pages and got to our new state. Driving for 5 hours and seeing that we only moved 4 inches got pretty depressing during the trip. By the time Sam and I got to Spokane we were already tired of having to change radio stations so we stopped and got a radio transmitter for our ipods, and that seriously saved my life. I was lucky enough to drive the 1 to 8 in the morning shift, Sam slept the whole time. So a couple monster energy drinks, sorry mom, and bumping my ipod was my friend that kept me up. There were a couple times along the way I got a little nervous about gas because I90 gets pretty bare in spots, the gas needle kept dropping and there weren't a whole lot of gas stations popping up in nowhere land. Somewhere in Eastern Washington I got on the freeway going the wrong way and the next exit wasn't probably for 20 miles so, well, thank god for police turn outs on the freeway. In Billings, MT Sam got on the completely wrong freeway and lucky me noticed within the first 10 minutes so we didn't lose a whole lot of time. That night before I took over I took a little nap and I woke up and Sam was driving down a gravel road and I went off, are you kidding me Sam! So I had to get us back to the road. I am seriously that kids dad out here!
We finally got to Omaha at around 11 I want to say. We went straight to Jim and Sharon's, the people we live with, restaurant. It was so funny because after hardly any sleep and 27 straight hours of driving Heartland Cafe always has Sunday brunch, so Sam and I went to go eat and Sam looks at me and says something like breakfast for dinner? So I go yeah I don't know either, ah well. We didn't realize until we sat down that it was actually breakfast time. It took a couple days to get the biological clock back in order. I pretty much slept the rest of that day, which was also my birthday. We were supposed to be at Rosenblatt Stadium at 8 the next day to hand out newspapers but we didn't get up to til 930, I wasn't very happy. Fortunately for us it wasn't a big deal.
Before coming out here I was told I was going to be cleaning pools and valeting. Apparently that is code for doing physical labor, pulling weeds, pressure washing, and painting, because that is all that we have been doing, and in the Nebraska sun it is exhausting! There is still no sign of a valeting gig and supposedly that is where the money is. This past week we had to paint a pool at a retirement home so it was a pretty good sized pool. The pool was in a glass case so it was a sauna in there. The thermostat read 103 at the highest I think I remember and it was humid just from leaving the door open trying to get a breeze. We would walk outside and the 90 degree heat would actually feel good.
It has pretty much been everyday 8 to 4 which is really good hours but I will never be able to wake up at 730 excited to go to work. Sam and I both are definitely not morning people so the ride to work is pretty quiet. I always have to drive to work because Sam sleeps and I have to wake him up because "his alarm doesn't wake him up." Are you starting to see why I tell him to call me dad? I feel like I'm babysitting, except he's 17.
A couple weeks ago I pulled off a first, I dropped my phone in the lake. Sam's uncle's mother-in-law owns a cabin on a lake in Iowa so I was falling in and out of sleep on the dock and my phone was sitting on my lap. It fell off my leg and of course went straight through a crack in the dock, plunk. I was dumbfounded, I had no idea what to do. Lucky for me lakes out here are very shallow, like 8 feet at the deepest. So I found some shorts, the owners aren't exactly in their youth so the shorts I had to use were for a 5'8" 230 pound man, I'll let you picture me in those shorts. I jumped into the lake and went under the dock which was not fun at all. There were nails sticking out everywhere. Oh and lakes out here are really dirty because the water isn't really moving so that made it even better. Under the dock was probably close to 8 feet so my first dive down I was feeling around and it was so muddy and nasty, I tried opening my eyes but the water was so muddy that at only 8 feet it was pitch black. After my first dive I thought there was no way I was going to find. Two dives later I was feeling around and I found it, I was shocked. The keyboard was still lit up but the screen was out. So I pulled everything out and I guess the trick is to throw your phone in a bag of rice when it gets wet. I let it sit in the rice for a couple days and nothing. I was able to find the phone I wanted on craigslist for way cheap in Portland so trying to get my mom to meet this guy in downtown Portland while I was in Omaha was fun. I was probably a lot more excited than I should have been when my phone got here but who cares. You trying going a week without a phone, it's tough. I did lose all my contacts and stuff so that is still a bummer but I'll survive.
Last week Megan drove down from Fargo to come pick me up to spend the weekend in Minneapolis with her friends. She came down Thursday and we left Friday after I worked for a couple hours. We ate at the restaurant, it's so nice having the hook up at a restaurant, free food! I found 20 bucks on the sidewalk on the way back to the car and I was way too excited! Because I had it for about 20 minutes then it went into the gas tank. It was about a 6 hour drive to Minneapolis, remember that. Saturday we went and did the Mall of America and that was awesome! We met up with Tina from school and her friend Molly, you PLU people better laugh at that. We also met up with Ashley from school so it was one giant PLU reunion in the middle of the Mall of America. That place is so huge, I was definitely tired after that day. We had to wait in downtown until 10 to wait to meet Ben to take us to a house where there was "a large gathering of people." That was a fun night. Waiting until 10 though Megan and I were sitting in a sports bar right across the street from Target Field. We were getting ready to leave the bar at about 8 when Ben texts us and says there is a massive tornado heading for downtown Minneapolis, then the weather got crazy. It was raining sideways for probably close to 2 hours and we were parked 10 blocks away so we weren't about to go out in that, so we had to sit it out.
The next day Megan, Paige, Ben, and I all went to the Twins game and that was awesome! Target Field is gorgeous, after that weekend I am kind of a Twins fan now. The Twins plated 4 in the bottom of the 9th to win it, it was off of my fantasy closer so it was a bittersweet feeling but oh well, it was awesome! Before I left I was planning it with this guy who lived in Omaha but was buying a van in Fargo that I was going to drive his van down from Fargo for him and he was going to pay me. Sunday night he sends me an email "oh yeah sorry I didn't get the van." So I was stranded. I looked everywhere for carpools or maybe a cheap plane ticket just trying to avoid greyhound. At 11:45 in the morning Monday morning I found myself getting on the greyhound, it was very depressing to me. The people on those buses are, I don't even know what to say about them, they are characters. I met way too many drug addicts and ex-cons, or current cons for one day. The second bus from Des Moines to Omaha had to get pulled over so some guy could get arrested. I guess there was a knife threat and they were asking us all questions and searching the bus, wow. Nine and a half hours later I was finally in Omaha, remember how I said to take notice to how it only took 6 to drive there? It was a fun weekend and I guess the whole greyhound thing just adds to the adventure.
So it's not all work out here, were having some fun too. Last week Sam, Ryan the son, Laurie his girlfriend, and I had a couple beers by the pool and Sam showed his age. He was passed out after maybe 5 and so Ryan and I drew all over him. Waking up the next day at work I was hoping he wouldn't notice and would just go to work that way so I was trying to shove him out the door but I failed. It was so funny he goes into the bathroom and shuts the door, it's quiet for a couple seconds then he goes "I hate you Nathan." I'm usually not laughing at 7:30 in the morning but this time I was. So he got all the writing off.
Well I have to go finish doing the laundry and try to find something to eat. There is no food in this house, I swear it's a curse. I promise I will do my best to make sure my next post isn't in a month. To everyone back home, I love you and miss you!
Nathan...out
On June 19 Sam and I started our trek east at 7 in the morning. There was a GPS in the car but Sam's dad said that we "needed an adventure" so he pulled the GPS and the only that got Sam and I halfway across the country was an old, beaten atlas. Once we crossed a state boarder we flipped a couple pages and got to our new state. Driving for 5 hours and seeing that we only moved 4 inches got pretty depressing during the trip. By the time Sam and I got to Spokane we were already tired of having to change radio stations so we stopped and got a radio transmitter for our ipods, and that seriously saved my life. I was lucky enough to drive the 1 to 8 in the morning shift, Sam slept the whole time. So a couple monster energy drinks, sorry mom, and bumping my ipod was my friend that kept me up. There were a couple times along the way I got a little nervous about gas because I90 gets pretty bare in spots, the gas needle kept dropping and there weren't a whole lot of gas stations popping up in nowhere land. Somewhere in Eastern Washington I got on the freeway going the wrong way and the next exit wasn't probably for 20 miles so, well, thank god for police turn outs on the freeway. In Billings, MT Sam got on the completely wrong freeway and lucky me noticed within the first 10 minutes so we didn't lose a whole lot of time. That night before I took over I took a little nap and I woke up and Sam was driving down a gravel road and I went off, are you kidding me Sam! So I had to get us back to the road. I am seriously that kids dad out here!
We finally got to Omaha at around 11 I want to say. We went straight to Jim and Sharon's, the people we live with, restaurant. It was so funny because after hardly any sleep and 27 straight hours of driving Heartland Cafe always has Sunday brunch, so Sam and I went to go eat and Sam looks at me and says something like breakfast for dinner? So I go yeah I don't know either, ah well. We didn't realize until we sat down that it was actually breakfast time. It took a couple days to get the biological clock back in order. I pretty much slept the rest of that day, which was also my birthday. We were supposed to be at Rosenblatt Stadium at 8 the next day to hand out newspapers but we didn't get up to til 930, I wasn't very happy. Fortunately for us it wasn't a big deal.
Before coming out here I was told I was going to be cleaning pools and valeting. Apparently that is code for doing physical labor, pulling weeds, pressure washing, and painting, because that is all that we have been doing, and in the Nebraska sun it is exhausting! There is still no sign of a valeting gig and supposedly that is where the money is. This past week we had to paint a pool at a retirement home so it was a pretty good sized pool. The pool was in a glass case so it was a sauna in there. The thermostat read 103 at the highest I think I remember and it was humid just from leaving the door open trying to get a breeze. We would walk outside and the 90 degree heat would actually feel good.
It has pretty much been everyday 8 to 4 which is really good hours but I will never be able to wake up at 730 excited to go to work. Sam and I both are definitely not morning people so the ride to work is pretty quiet. I always have to drive to work because Sam sleeps and I have to wake him up because "his alarm doesn't wake him up." Are you starting to see why I tell him to call me dad? I feel like I'm babysitting, except he's 17.
A couple weeks ago I pulled off a first, I dropped my phone in the lake. Sam's uncle's mother-in-law owns a cabin on a lake in Iowa so I was falling in and out of sleep on the dock and my phone was sitting on my lap. It fell off my leg and of course went straight through a crack in the dock, plunk. I was dumbfounded, I had no idea what to do. Lucky for me lakes out here are very shallow, like 8 feet at the deepest. So I found some shorts, the owners aren't exactly in their youth so the shorts I had to use were for a 5'8" 230 pound man, I'll let you picture me in those shorts. I jumped into the lake and went under the dock which was not fun at all. There were nails sticking out everywhere. Oh and lakes out here are really dirty because the water isn't really moving so that made it even better. Under the dock was probably close to 8 feet so my first dive down I was feeling around and it was so muddy and nasty, I tried opening my eyes but the water was so muddy that at only 8 feet it was pitch black. After my first dive I thought there was no way I was going to find. Two dives later I was feeling around and I found it, I was shocked. The keyboard was still lit up but the screen was out. So I pulled everything out and I guess the trick is to throw your phone in a bag of rice when it gets wet. I let it sit in the rice for a couple days and nothing. I was able to find the phone I wanted on craigslist for way cheap in Portland so trying to get my mom to meet this guy in downtown Portland while I was in Omaha was fun. I was probably a lot more excited than I should have been when my phone got here but who cares. You trying going a week without a phone, it's tough. I did lose all my contacts and stuff so that is still a bummer but I'll survive.
Last week Megan drove down from Fargo to come pick me up to spend the weekend in Minneapolis with her friends. She came down Thursday and we left Friday after I worked for a couple hours. We ate at the restaurant, it's so nice having the hook up at a restaurant, free food! I found 20 bucks on the sidewalk on the way back to the car and I was way too excited! Because I had it for about 20 minutes then it went into the gas tank. It was about a 6 hour drive to Minneapolis, remember that. Saturday we went and did the Mall of America and that was awesome! We met up with Tina from school and her friend Molly, you PLU people better laugh at that. We also met up with Ashley from school so it was one giant PLU reunion in the middle of the Mall of America. That place is so huge, I was definitely tired after that day. We had to wait in downtown until 10 to wait to meet Ben to take us to a house where there was "a large gathering of people." That was a fun night. Waiting until 10 though Megan and I were sitting in a sports bar right across the street from Target Field. We were getting ready to leave the bar at about 8 when Ben texts us and says there is a massive tornado heading for downtown Minneapolis, then the weather got crazy. It was raining sideways for probably close to 2 hours and we were parked 10 blocks away so we weren't about to go out in that, so we had to sit it out.
The next day Megan, Paige, Ben, and I all went to the Twins game and that was awesome! Target Field is gorgeous, after that weekend I am kind of a Twins fan now. The Twins plated 4 in the bottom of the 9th to win it, it was off of my fantasy closer so it was a bittersweet feeling but oh well, it was awesome! Before I left I was planning it with this guy who lived in Omaha but was buying a van in Fargo that I was going to drive his van down from Fargo for him and he was going to pay me. Sunday night he sends me an email "oh yeah sorry I didn't get the van." So I was stranded. I looked everywhere for carpools or maybe a cheap plane ticket just trying to avoid greyhound. At 11:45 in the morning Monday morning I found myself getting on the greyhound, it was very depressing to me. The people on those buses are, I don't even know what to say about them, they are characters. I met way too many drug addicts and ex-cons, or current cons for one day. The second bus from Des Moines to Omaha had to get pulled over so some guy could get arrested. I guess there was a knife threat and they were asking us all questions and searching the bus, wow. Nine and a half hours later I was finally in Omaha, remember how I said to take notice to how it only took 6 to drive there? It was a fun weekend and I guess the whole greyhound thing just adds to the adventure.
So it's not all work out here, were having some fun too. Last week Sam, Ryan the son, Laurie his girlfriend, and I had a couple beers by the pool and Sam showed his age. He was passed out after maybe 5 and so Ryan and I drew all over him. Waking up the next day at work I was hoping he wouldn't notice and would just go to work that way so I was trying to shove him out the door but I failed. It was so funny he goes into the bathroom and shuts the door, it's quiet for a couple seconds then he goes "I hate you Nathan." I'm usually not laughing at 7:30 in the morning but this time I was. So he got all the writing off.
Well I have to go finish doing the laundry and try to find something to eat. There is no food in this house, I swear it's a curse. I promise I will do my best to make sure my next post isn't in a month. To everyone back home, I love you and miss you!
Nathan...out
Friday, June 11, 2010
Sweet Summer
Last time I wrote I was sitting out in the sun with my puppy, listening to my music, looking over the gorgeous view my house has to offer. I had just gotten home from my three trip back up to PLU and it was just one of those days where everything seems right. I was talking to my friend about the Nebraska trip and how close it was getting, I leave a week from tomorrow. I was so at peace that I forgot to pay attention to the battery on my laptop, fail. I was puting the last touches on my work and my screen went black. By that time clouds had overtaken my sun and the wind was starting to pick up. To say the least I was upset. However, when the greatest of my problems are my blog being deleted and the sun going into hiding for a bit, life is good, I love summer.
Last Saturday Max and I went back up to PLU to see everyone that was staying on campus for the summer. I've been home for less than two weeks but it had already felt like I'd been away from school forever. It's amazing how much PLU is starting to feel like home, and home is just, I don't even know how to describe it, it's just different. Seeing everyone's houses was pretty fun. We saw Sam's house, the new baseball house, Nikki and Melissa's house, the Brown House, Scotty and Luis's house, and Robby's house. And of course I met a lot of roommates that weekend. The best part about all those houses is how close they all are. All of the houses except for Robby's and Scotty's are on Wheeler Street. I'm trying to get people to call it Bourbon Street next year but we will see. Robby and Scotty's isn't far though, it's a short walk and they live in a brand new duplex so they were super nice. With all the houses being so close it's gonna be dorm life all over again. Three of the houses are in a row, is it September yet?
Last night the Celtics tied the NBA finals 2-2 in a must win game at home, unfortunately. Watching the series, I can't help but notice how after every foul call, the guilty party almost always complains the ref. As I have become aware of this, it is becoming annoying. Playing sports my whole life, I have always been told to keep my opinions on calls made by referee's or umpires to myself. I feel pretty confident in saying that all of the players on the Lakers and Celtics were told the same thing. Being role models, what kind of example are these players being? Everyone in arena and everyone on TV saw you foul. Crying about it does no good unless you are trying to embarrass yourself. So to you Lakers and Celtics, quit your complaining, it's getting old.
I intentionally said that the Celtics tied the series "unfortunately," for a couple reasons. First, being a West Coast man, why would I not pull for the Western Conference? Second, I strongly dislike the Celtics. Nate Robinson, a UW product, in his 5 minutes a game he gets, acts like he just hit a game winning shot after he hits a 10 foot jumper, I can understand enthusiasm but really Nate Rob? Kevin Garnett in an interview started crying out of nowhere when talking about why he plays basketball and how much he hates losing. Well Congrats KG, you didn't lose the crying over nothing contest. Your teammate is giving you tough competition though, Paul Pierce. During the Celtics 2008 title run, Paul Pierce was injured and he layed motionless on the court for an extended period of time and was taken off the court in a stretcher. Not 5 minutes later he ran back onto the court. Are you kidding me Paul Pierce, faker! Go play soccer. It is for these reasons I say, Go Lakers! If LA can take game 5 the series is over. They would have to win only one of two games that would both be played in the Staples Center.
Since I've been home I have been particularly lazy. The great shape I was in during baseball season is in the rear view mirror and I'm back to my out of shape ways. So today I went down the school with the intention to run two easy miles so I can get back into. The goal is to run three days a week. However, the graduating seniors were practicing for graduation tonight so I was forced to improvise, I chose to run the lake. I believe the lake is a little over 3 miles but do not quote me on that. I could tell it had been awhile since I last ran, or really worked out for that matter but it felt good to get going again. It was the first time I ran with my ipod, I used one of those armbands that hold it for you so it's not in the way. That was awesome! Running is much more enjoyable when you can listen to your music.
It is probably going to be a couple more days before I get my first paycheck of the summer. I have been working for Monica, who works with my mom. One of her side jobs is for USADA which drug tests Olympic and other athletes. My official title was a "chaperone" so we would show up unexpected at these people's houses and have to collect a blood and urine sample. It is obviously my more complex than that but I'm just making a long story short. I went to 3 peoples houses and got paid $100 per athlete we tested. So children how much did I make? I'm not really supposed to say who we tested, I only recognized one of the athletes, but it was still cool nonetheless to meet those guys, and get paid well on top of it. The only downside was that we were showing up at these houses at 6 am, apparently that time exists, I was unaware. These houses were in Portland too so I was leaving my house at 4:45 am. Had it not been the paycheck no way would have been able to get up for that. It's actually possible the paycheck is in the mail now, I don't want to drive up to the mailbox to get it though. Don't judge me.
Like I said it is graduation tonight for the Woodland Class of 2010. They are a little smaller than my class was so my class continues its reign of biggest class ever to graduate from Woodland high! It means so much I know. I will be there to watch though. Ashley is speaking and I have some good friends from that class. It's been fun talking to them about how weird it feels right now. The bittersweet feeling of being done with high school and starting the next chapter of your life. It means saying a lot of goodbyes though, a lot of memories to reflect upon. Congratulations class of 2010!
I'm going to give a quick shout out to Taylor. You got on my case to get this post up. Hopefully you are able to read this before you are off to camp.
My next post will very likely be from Omaha, I will have a lot to talk about, so until then.
Nathan...out
Last Saturday Max and I went back up to PLU to see everyone that was staying on campus for the summer. I've been home for less than two weeks but it had already felt like I'd been away from school forever. It's amazing how much PLU is starting to feel like home, and home is just, I don't even know how to describe it, it's just different. Seeing everyone's houses was pretty fun. We saw Sam's house, the new baseball house, Nikki and Melissa's house, the Brown House, Scotty and Luis's house, and Robby's house. And of course I met a lot of roommates that weekend. The best part about all those houses is how close they all are. All of the houses except for Robby's and Scotty's are on Wheeler Street. I'm trying to get people to call it Bourbon Street next year but we will see. Robby and Scotty's isn't far though, it's a short walk and they live in a brand new duplex so they were super nice. With all the houses being so close it's gonna be dorm life all over again. Three of the houses are in a row, is it September yet?
Last night the Celtics tied the NBA finals 2-2 in a must win game at home, unfortunately. Watching the series, I can't help but notice how after every foul call, the guilty party almost always complains the ref. As I have become aware of this, it is becoming annoying. Playing sports my whole life, I have always been told to keep my opinions on calls made by referee's or umpires to myself. I feel pretty confident in saying that all of the players on the Lakers and Celtics were told the same thing. Being role models, what kind of example are these players being? Everyone in arena and everyone on TV saw you foul. Crying about it does no good unless you are trying to embarrass yourself. So to you Lakers and Celtics, quit your complaining, it's getting old.
I intentionally said that the Celtics tied the series "unfortunately," for a couple reasons. First, being a West Coast man, why would I not pull for the Western Conference? Second, I strongly dislike the Celtics. Nate Robinson, a UW product, in his 5 minutes a game he gets, acts like he just hit a game winning shot after he hits a 10 foot jumper, I can understand enthusiasm but really Nate Rob? Kevin Garnett in an interview started crying out of nowhere when talking about why he plays basketball and how much he hates losing. Well Congrats KG, you didn't lose the crying over nothing contest. Your teammate is giving you tough competition though, Paul Pierce. During the Celtics 2008 title run, Paul Pierce was injured and he layed motionless on the court for an extended period of time and was taken off the court in a stretcher. Not 5 minutes later he ran back onto the court. Are you kidding me Paul Pierce, faker! Go play soccer. It is for these reasons I say, Go Lakers! If LA can take game 5 the series is over. They would have to win only one of two games that would both be played in the Staples Center.
Since I've been home I have been particularly lazy. The great shape I was in during baseball season is in the rear view mirror and I'm back to my out of shape ways. So today I went down the school with the intention to run two easy miles so I can get back into. The goal is to run three days a week. However, the graduating seniors were practicing for graduation tonight so I was forced to improvise, I chose to run the lake. I believe the lake is a little over 3 miles but do not quote me on that. I could tell it had been awhile since I last ran, or really worked out for that matter but it felt good to get going again. It was the first time I ran with my ipod, I used one of those armbands that hold it for you so it's not in the way. That was awesome! Running is much more enjoyable when you can listen to your music.
It is probably going to be a couple more days before I get my first paycheck of the summer. I have been working for Monica, who works with my mom. One of her side jobs is for USADA which drug tests Olympic and other athletes. My official title was a "chaperone" so we would show up unexpected at these people's houses and have to collect a blood and urine sample. It is obviously my more complex than that but I'm just making a long story short. I went to 3 peoples houses and got paid $100 per athlete we tested. So children how much did I make? I'm not really supposed to say who we tested, I only recognized one of the athletes, but it was still cool nonetheless to meet those guys, and get paid well on top of it. The only downside was that we were showing up at these houses at 6 am, apparently that time exists, I was unaware. These houses were in Portland too so I was leaving my house at 4:45 am. Had it not been the paycheck no way would have been able to get up for that. It's actually possible the paycheck is in the mail now, I don't want to drive up to the mailbox to get it though. Don't judge me.
Like I said it is graduation tonight for the Woodland Class of 2010. They are a little smaller than my class was so my class continues its reign of biggest class ever to graduate from Woodland high! It means so much I know. I will be there to watch though. Ashley is speaking and I have some good friends from that class. It's been fun talking to them about how weird it feels right now. The bittersweet feeling of being done with high school and starting the next chapter of your life. It means saying a lot of goodbyes though, a lot of memories to reflect upon. Congratulations class of 2010!
I'm going to give a quick shout out to Taylor. You got on my case to get this post up. Hopefully you are able to read this before you are off to camp.
My next post will very likely be from Omaha, I will have a lot to talk about, so until then.
Nathan...out
Sunday, May 30, 2010
It's Not Goodbye, It's See You Later
Friday morning at 10 o'clock I was signed out of my room, all of my stuff was already packed, and I was ready to be back in Woodland. I went up to Max's room to see if he was ready. I was the one who woke him up and none of his stuff was packed. Long story short, we didn't leave PLU until 1230. It was raining, hard, so we couldn't put his belongings in the back of the truck so we had to go out and get industrial garbage bags to put all the stuff in so we could put it in the back. It was the morning so Max, Sam, his brother, and I were all not in the best moods already then having to pack for 2 and a half hours on top of that made for a pretty heated morning.
When we finally got on the road we got Taco Bell and that definitely helped turn around the grumpiness. When you're young, Taco Bell solves a lot of problems. Between the 3 of us we spent $25.
As this week went on and people started leaving, it was still hard to believe that my freshman year of college was over. It still doesn't feel real. Saying goodbye to people was hard. The first person I really had to say goodbye to was Craig and that was actually pretty difficult. You go from seeing someone everyday for a year to not being able to see them for a summer. I am going to try to go down to the Salem area and see him and McKenzie before I leave for Nebraska but we will see what ends up happening.
This may sound mean but I'm not a huge fan of saying goodbye. I almost left for school in the fall without saying goodbye to a lot of my friends but ended up having them come over late the last night so we could hang out one last time before I left. So I actually didn't end up saying goodbye to a lot of people at school. It was pretty sad saying goodbye to Luis and Scotty too. It's a little different for them though because I am going up to PLU before I leave for sure. Scotty and Luis have a house they move into next week and people move into the clubhouse (baseball house) in 2 days. Some of my other friends are getting houses too so it's going to be a lot of fun to see all my friends in the dorms in houses. I can't help but think of when I get to move off campus after next year. It is going to be so nice, especially having my own room. I don't even have a room to myself at home anymore, I feel missed.
The first night back, Friday night, I went out with Sam and Ashley and we saw the Saturday Night Live spin off McGruber. That was one of the weirdest movies I've seen in a long time. There were some scenes however that were hilarious. So many people told me it was hilarious, and they were right, they failed to mention how weird the movie was. So if you are going to see this movie, don't go in expecting too much. That is the cardinal rule about going to the theater. Also remember this is a movie review coming from an 18 year old now sophomore in college. Yeah that's right, a sophomore, feels good to say.
Some of the girls from school, the brown house girls, were on their way down to Portland yesterday afternoon. Amber texted me seeing what I was doing because they knew I'm from Woodland and that it's on the way. Every time someone is driving through Woodland they let me know that they said hi for me. Anyways, I told her I would want to do go eat or something but I was stranded, both cars were gone, I literally have $12 to my name right now, and I am a ways off the freeway if they wanted to come get me, so that wasn't going to work. Then she said OK well we are going to Max's for a little bit so we could pick you up and you could go hang out with him. I missed Max so much already, I hadn't seen him in almost a full day so I was all over it. So they dropped me off at Max's and we hung out for a little bit then we met up with them in Portland and just walked around. The sun ended up coming out and it was Memorial Day Weekend so it was pretty fun. We started out people watching on Pioneer Square then walked down on the waterfront and just hung out the whole day. Audra had never been to Portland, or Oregon for that matter so it was time for her first.
While we were out Max and I found out that we already got our futon for next year. His parents were at Costco and called us and told us about this dream futon, it is seriously a dream futon. It was a $400 futon on sale for $200 so they asked if we wanted it, it took us about half a second to say, Hell yeah! We are going to split it, so we are paying $100 each for a futon that will easily be the best in T-Stad next year. It is leather and seriously as comfortable as a couch. It is very likely that I am going to be sleeping on the futon more next year that I am in my own bed. Our room is going to be so ridiculous next year. We have the heaven futon, my sexy carpet, and Max's giant T.V. that we got the HD cables for yesterday. I know it's summer but I'm already excited for next year.
But I need to live in the now. And right now I'm sitting the house, alone, with an open schedule for the next 3 weeks. I love summer.
Nathan...out
When we finally got on the road we got Taco Bell and that definitely helped turn around the grumpiness. When you're young, Taco Bell solves a lot of problems. Between the 3 of us we spent $25.
As this week went on and people started leaving, it was still hard to believe that my freshman year of college was over. It still doesn't feel real. Saying goodbye to people was hard. The first person I really had to say goodbye to was Craig and that was actually pretty difficult. You go from seeing someone everyday for a year to not being able to see them for a summer. I am going to try to go down to the Salem area and see him and McKenzie before I leave for Nebraska but we will see what ends up happening.
This may sound mean but I'm not a huge fan of saying goodbye. I almost left for school in the fall without saying goodbye to a lot of my friends but ended up having them come over late the last night so we could hang out one last time before I left. So I actually didn't end up saying goodbye to a lot of people at school. It was pretty sad saying goodbye to Luis and Scotty too. It's a little different for them though because I am going up to PLU before I leave for sure. Scotty and Luis have a house they move into next week and people move into the clubhouse (baseball house) in 2 days. Some of my other friends are getting houses too so it's going to be a lot of fun to see all my friends in the dorms in houses. I can't help but think of when I get to move off campus after next year. It is going to be so nice, especially having my own room. I don't even have a room to myself at home anymore, I feel missed.
The first night back, Friday night, I went out with Sam and Ashley and we saw the Saturday Night Live spin off McGruber. That was one of the weirdest movies I've seen in a long time. There were some scenes however that were hilarious. So many people told me it was hilarious, and they were right, they failed to mention how weird the movie was. So if you are going to see this movie, don't go in expecting too much. That is the cardinal rule about going to the theater. Also remember this is a movie review coming from an 18 year old now sophomore in college. Yeah that's right, a sophomore, feels good to say.
Some of the girls from school, the brown house girls, were on their way down to Portland yesterday afternoon. Amber texted me seeing what I was doing because they knew I'm from Woodland and that it's on the way. Every time someone is driving through Woodland they let me know that they said hi for me. Anyways, I told her I would want to do go eat or something but I was stranded, both cars were gone, I literally have $12 to my name right now, and I am a ways off the freeway if they wanted to come get me, so that wasn't going to work. Then she said OK well we are going to Max's for a little bit so we could pick you up and you could go hang out with him. I missed Max so much already, I hadn't seen him in almost a full day so I was all over it. So they dropped me off at Max's and we hung out for a little bit then we met up with them in Portland and just walked around. The sun ended up coming out and it was Memorial Day Weekend so it was pretty fun. We started out people watching on Pioneer Square then walked down on the waterfront and just hung out the whole day. Audra had never been to Portland, or Oregon for that matter so it was time for her first.
While we were out Max and I found out that we already got our futon for next year. His parents were at Costco and called us and told us about this dream futon, it is seriously a dream futon. It was a $400 futon on sale for $200 so they asked if we wanted it, it took us about half a second to say, Hell yeah! We are going to split it, so we are paying $100 each for a futon that will easily be the best in T-Stad next year. It is leather and seriously as comfortable as a couch. It is very likely that I am going to be sleeping on the futon more next year that I am in my own bed. Our room is going to be so ridiculous next year. We have the heaven futon, my sexy carpet, and Max's giant T.V. that we got the HD cables for yesterday. I know it's summer but I'm already excited for next year.
But I need to live in the now. And right now I'm sitting the house, alone, with an open schedule for the next 3 weeks. I love summer.
Nathan...out
Friday, May 21, 2010
Where's Wilbon?
Being free at 2:30 in the afternoon feels as good now as it did during the first day off. Well it sucks that we aren't playing still, we would be in Linfield right now. But I love PTI too much. Just as I started writing this blog it comes on and Wilbon is gone, replaced by Bob Ryan.It is a little upsetting but a minor speed bump in my life right now. I just took my first final and finished another presentation. I have 6 days until my little brother is gonna be here to pick me up, and the baseball end of the year "get together" is tonight. I have to write the last two pages of a history paper and take my last final Wednesday. Life is good.
Well my Mariners pulled out a win last night. Griffey woke up from his slumber and hit a walk off pinch hit single. I'm not sure which depresses me more, that I missed it, or that when I heard that I didn't care. It's only the 4th week in May and I already have given up. Having a baseball team to care about during the summer makes life so much better, and once again, I am going to miss out on that. I did hear a rumor however that may spark some interest again. With Cliff Lee under the last year of his contract, there is some assumption that the Mariners will trade him. Especially seeing that Cliff Lee is going to be asking for a massive contract. "Z" man better get some bats out of Lee. Our offense is embarrassing.
At the rate the mariners are winning games, it looks like I might have to become a twins fan this summer being in Nebraska. I would like to get to Target Field, that would be pretty tight. I would definitely chose the twins over the royals. If I wanted to root for a losing team I would, or wait, I do. I came into this year with far too much optimism. I can't come in thinking about the playoffs. Next year, regardless of what we do in the off season, my mindset is middle of the road. If we start winning then I can "adjust" my goals.
People are starting to pack up their rooms. I've seen a couple cars backed up to T-Stad and people coming down with boxes. I am thinking I am going to try to start packing up a little bit this summer. That is going to be a surreal experience.
Okay random, they are talking about Griffey on PTI, and they are bashing him. The sad part it is true. He is our left handed "power hitter," however he has 2 extra base hits in 94 at bats. His role as a mariner has been reduced to putting butts in the seats.
Alright I am going to try to finish my history paper or take a nap. No I am going to nap. I have all weekend to write that paper. And I could use the rest, might be a long night. Yes everyone, I am being safe, I promise.
Nathan...out
Well my Mariners pulled out a win last night. Griffey woke up from his slumber and hit a walk off pinch hit single. I'm not sure which depresses me more, that I missed it, or that when I heard that I didn't care. It's only the 4th week in May and I already have given up. Having a baseball team to care about during the summer makes life so much better, and once again, I am going to miss out on that. I did hear a rumor however that may spark some interest again. With Cliff Lee under the last year of his contract, there is some assumption that the Mariners will trade him. Especially seeing that Cliff Lee is going to be asking for a massive contract. "Z" man better get some bats out of Lee. Our offense is embarrassing.
At the rate the mariners are winning games, it looks like I might have to become a twins fan this summer being in Nebraska. I would like to get to Target Field, that would be pretty tight. I would definitely chose the twins over the royals. If I wanted to root for a losing team I would, or wait, I do. I came into this year with far too much optimism. I can't come in thinking about the playoffs. Next year, regardless of what we do in the off season, my mindset is middle of the road. If we start winning then I can "adjust" my goals.
People are starting to pack up their rooms. I've seen a couple cars backed up to T-Stad and people coming down with boxes. I am thinking I am going to try to start packing up a little bit this summer. That is going to be a surreal experience.
Okay random, they are talking about Griffey on PTI, and they are bashing him. The sad part it is true. He is our left handed "power hitter," however he has 2 extra base hits in 94 at bats. His role as a mariner has been reduced to putting butts in the seats.
Alright I am going to try to finish my history paper or take a nap. No I am going to nap. I have all weekend to write that paper. And I could use the rest, might be a long night. Yes everyone, I am being safe, I promise.
Nathan...out
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
I got a feeling
I don't know what it is but I am pumping these posts out left and right now that summer is around the corner. Probably because it is an excuse for me to talk about summer, or because it is something to pass time so I don't have to just sit and think about summer, or it is simply because I love my blog. I noticed I'm getting pretty close to 1,000 page views, I will probably break that with this post. I feel like that's an achievement.
Last night I gave my culminating presentation for my Sports Psych class and it went well. I'm curious to see what my final grade in that class will be, I'm feeling a solid B. Can't complain about that with my first high level class, it was a 390. So I am done with that class, all the work at least. I have to sit in next Tuesday and listen to presentations but that is actually pretty interesting. One class down.
I had my 8 o'clock history class today, I woke up at 8:02, oops. I feel asleep in Scotty's room watching Friday Night Lights, man I love that movie. Anyway, I got to admin around 8:10 and people from my class were already walking out and were like you better hurry. So I started running but right when I got inside Professor Carp was right there. The only thing we did today was get our take home finals. So he handed me the final and that was that. He was an extremely boring professor but I loved his tardy policy, there was none. Two classes down. Well I still have to do the take home final but I have to answer two essay questions in only 5 pages, that will be easy. I'm thinking about going to the library and getting it done tonight. Scotty wants me to go home with him though, if so, the final can wait.
I have exactly $3.00 left on my lute bucks, just enough to get one load of laundry left so I'm waiting as long as I possibly can to do my last load of laundry. I've been waiting for awhile now, I'm probably getting into the safe zone. Freshman year coming to a close is getting pretty real. In my next post I think I'm going to try to put the highlights of this year, the most memorable moments, that will definitely be fun. At the pace I am pumping these babies out you all shouldn't have to wait long.
Nathan...out
Last night I gave my culminating presentation for my Sports Psych class and it went well. I'm curious to see what my final grade in that class will be, I'm feeling a solid B. Can't complain about that with my first high level class, it was a 390. So I am done with that class, all the work at least. I have to sit in next Tuesday and listen to presentations but that is actually pretty interesting. One class down.
I had my 8 o'clock history class today, I woke up at 8:02, oops. I feel asleep in Scotty's room watching Friday Night Lights, man I love that movie. Anyway, I got to admin around 8:10 and people from my class were already walking out and were like you better hurry. So I started running but right when I got inside Professor Carp was right there. The only thing we did today was get our take home finals. So he handed me the final and that was that. He was an extremely boring professor but I loved his tardy policy, there was none. Two classes down. Well I still have to do the take home final but I have to answer two essay questions in only 5 pages, that will be easy. I'm thinking about going to the library and getting it done tonight. Scotty wants me to go home with him though, if so, the final can wait.
I have exactly $3.00 left on my lute bucks, just enough to get one load of laundry left so I'm waiting as long as I possibly can to do my last load of laundry. I've been waiting for awhile now, I'm probably getting into the safe zone. Freshman year coming to a close is getting pretty real. In my next post I think I'm going to try to put the highlights of this year, the most memorable moments, that will definitely be fun. At the pace I am pumping these babies out you all shouldn't have to wait long.
Nathan...out
Monday, May 17, 2010
Are we there yet?
Alright well last night was the d3 baseball version of selection Sunday and for the second year in a row, PLU was left on the bubble. out of the 58 teams that made the tournament, we had a better record than 28 teams. It was our weak strength of schedule that ended up being our undoing, along with obviously getting swept the last series of the year to Linfield. Linfield got the #2 spot in the West region. Next year we will be right there again however. We lose our #1 and #2 starting pitchers but we definently have guys to fill those spots. And assuming I play my cards right I will have a contributing role coming out of the bullpen next year, at least thats where I would like to be.
It is now officially dead week and it is getting really hard to stay focused. The sun is out and summer is on the mind. I have my country playlist going on my itunes, just getting ready for Woodland. I got my first sunburn of the year this weekend and baseball. It's turning into a tan now and I got the serious baseball tan so I have the sleeve lines and the line around my neck, awesome. I was supposed to have a presentation today but the class got cancelled so it's getting pushed to Wednesday. I was looking forward to getting that one done and over with, ah well. I have another huge presentation tomorrow night, the culmination project for my Sports Psychology class. I am going to go the library today after PTI, which I get to watch again after a week of practice, to put the final touches on the presentation.
This last week or so is going to be tough. I can only think about packing up and going home, and playing wiffle ball! I need to get back to dominating. Max is talking crap thinking he will be able to hit my slider and my knuck, I'm looking forward to embarrassing him as well as my dad who all of a sudden thinks he is good at wiffle ball. He plays one game without me pitching and thinks he's Albert Pujols. Along with the grey hair though comes memory loss so I guess I can't really blame him.
Man I just want it to be summer, are we there yet?
Nathan...out
It is now officially dead week and it is getting really hard to stay focused. The sun is out and summer is on the mind. I have my country playlist going on my itunes, just getting ready for Woodland. I got my first sunburn of the year this weekend and baseball. It's turning into a tan now and I got the serious baseball tan so I have the sleeve lines and the line around my neck, awesome. I was supposed to have a presentation today but the class got cancelled so it's getting pushed to Wednesday. I was looking forward to getting that one done and over with, ah well. I have another huge presentation tomorrow night, the culmination project for my Sports Psychology class. I am going to go the library today after PTI, which I get to watch again after a week of practice, to put the final touches on the presentation.
This last week or so is going to be tough. I can only think about packing up and going home, and playing wiffle ball! I need to get back to dominating. Max is talking crap thinking he will be able to hit my slider and my knuck, I'm looking forward to embarrassing him as well as my dad who all of a sudden thinks he is good at wiffle ball. He plays one game without me pitching and thinks he's Albert Pujols. Along with the grey hair though comes memory loss so I guess I can't really blame him.
Man I just want it to be summer, are we there yet?
Nathan...out
Friday, May 14, 2010
Here comes the sun
From right now, I have 12 days, 2 hours, and 6 minutes until I finished my last final. Actually, I only have one real final. In my sports psych class I have that monster project which I am pretty much finished with. I just have to put the finishing touches on it and present it on Tuesday. Professor Hacker let us vote if we wanted a final or not, the final was shot down by the class with a unanimous decision, no surprise there. I just found out on Monday that our final in our history class is going to be take home because Professor Carp said this semester has been tough, which it has. My only legitimate final is going to be communications which is Wednesday, that will be a tough one. In a week I have my PE 100 final but that shouldn't be too bad.
Speaking of history though, that is the class I just got back from. I was up Sunday night until 4:30 writting a history paper. That day I spent 13 hours doing homework, that was fun. I just got that paper back, B+. I'll take that.
We have started practing again. It is complex situation and I'm not even sure I understand it completly. Here is my understanding. Because of what happened last weekend, we moved up to #7 in the region, the top 6 teams advance to regionals. Currently there are 3 teams in our region that are from Texas. Loomy was telling us that it is unlikely that the NCAA is going to want to fly 3 Texas teams out to McMinville, OR so there is a chance that one of those Texas teams gets shipped to another region. If that happens, we would move up to the #6 spot and qualify for the regional tournament.
As far as traveling, I am not positive but I am pretty sure that I would travel with the team. The NCAA allows 24 to be eligible to play, so I would be in uniform just I would be inelligible to pitch. The tournament is next Wednesday through Sunday depending on how well you do. So I have to tell all my professors that there is a chance that I will be gone in the middle of dead week, which is going to be a bummer but I'll take that bullet.
We will find out Sunday at midnight if we advance to regionals or not. My gut feeling, the Lutes are going to be playing in McMinville next week. Knock on wood though.
This would be the part where I talk about my Mariners but there is no need, there is nothing to say. After so much preseason hype, I am about to give up already, there are a bad baseball team. So boring that Grif is sleeping in the clubhouse, during the game.
Craig went home for the weekend. He took some of his stuff home with him. We no longer have the ghetto blasters or the stereo. It was a sad/happy feeling seeing some of the room getting packed up. It's been a hell of a year.
Nathan...out
Speaking of history though, that is the class I just got back from. I was up Sunday night until 4:30 writting a history paper. That day I spent 13 hours doing homework, that was fun. I just got that paper back, B+. I'll take that.
We have started practing again. It is complex situation and I'm not even sure I understand it completly. Here is my understanding. Because of what happened last weekend, we moved up to #7 in the region, the top 6 teams advance to regionals. Currently there are 3 teams in our region that are from Texas. Loomy was telling us that it is unlikely that the NCAA is going to want to fly 3 Texas teams out to McMinville, OR so there is a chance that one of those Texas teams gets shipped to another region. If that happens, we would move up to the #6 spot and qualify for the regional tournament.
As far as traveling, I am not positive but I am pretty sure that I would travel with the team. The NCAA allows 24 to be eligible to play, so I would be in uniform just I would be inelligible to pitch. The tournament is next Wednesday through Sunday depending on how well you do. So I have to tell all my professors that there is a chance that I will be gone in the middle of dead week, which is going to be a bummer but I'll take that bullet.
We will find out Sunday at midnight if we advance to regionals or not. My gut feeling, the Lutes are going to be playing in McMinville next week. Knock on wood though.
This would be the part where I talk about my Mariners but there is no need, there is nothing to say. After so much preseason hype, I am about to give up already, there are a bad baseball team. So boring that Grif is sleeping in the clubhouse, during the game.
Craig went home for the weekend. He took some of his stuff home with him. We no longer have the ghetto blasters or the stereo. It was a sad/happy feeling seeing some of the room getting packed up. It's been a hell of a year.
Nathan...out
Friday, May 7, 2010
The world is a small place
PLU is a school with around 3,500 undergraduate students, but somehow every other person ever in history has a connection to the school I call home. Last weekend we went down to Linfield to play for the conference championship and, well we didn't play well. Linfield took all 3 from us which basically eliminated us from getting an at large bid to the regional tournament. It was tough to lose like that of course but my heart went out to all the seniors on the team. The winningest class in PLU baseball history saw their season and careers end in the hands of our rival despite pre-season aspirations of winning the regional tournament and advancing the The College World Series. Sitting there as Linfield dog piled on the mound on Sunday, knowing for the seniors that it was their last baseball game ever, was a very humbling experience. Next year, we are going to dog pile on our mound as they get to look on, that's the plan.
Since that weekend we had our end of the season meeting and I have my individual meeting with coach on Monday. Right after my meeting we have our team bbq and annual golf tournament, the group of freshman I am playing with has talked so much trash and we are not that good. It should be interesting. I think we have honestly scared some the upperclassmen, who are actually decent golfers, that we are going to challenge them. It's gonna be a scramble tournament with 5 people per team, out of us 5 one of us have to hit a good a shot right?
The team actually left for Linfield Friday afternoon before practice and we practiced at West Linn High School. When I heard that I texted my mom right away. I thought it was pretty funny that we were going to be practicing at her old high school. We practiced there because their field was turf, like Linfield's, so coach wanted everyone to be able to take ground balls and try and get accustomed to the turf hops. Even more humorous though was the one of the baseball coaches played baseball at PLU back in his day. He gave us a funny little pep talk before practice. He was getting pretty old and possibly senile, that's what made it funny. Who lives on 7th floor in Tinglestad? A lot of the guys on the team stayed there. I had no idea I was continuing a tradition by getting all of the other sophomore guys to be on 7 next year. The world is a small place.
All this week I have been working on a sports psychology video. I have been finding clips of games that show pitchers showing focus and re-focusing. I put this project off for so long but now that I've got going I really enjoy it. When I'm done I will see if I can put it up on here. I have all the footage and clips that I need, now I get to do the fun stuff, the editing. It's gonna be a legit video once I'm done. Dad or grandpa, I'm sorry, but I can tell you right now you're probably not gonna like the music behind it. There is always the volume control on your computer.
Last night was college night at Safeco so all of lower campus went to the game. They gave us free tickets so I was all over that. For my Marines losing 8-0, it was actually a really fun night. For starters, I had Jeff Neiman on my fantasy team and he, like every other pitcher who has thrown against Seattle this year, threw a gem. But that had nothing to do really with why last night was awesome. There was not a lot of people there last night, at all, so the section ushers didn't care if you walked down into their section. So for the first part of the game I sat like 3 rows up from the left field line, I could almost hear Carl Crawford breathing. Then I moved into right field and sat with some other friends. There was so many PLU people there last night I would just walk around and run into someone else and would hangout with them for awhile. I eventually worked my way back the left field line by the 7th inning. It was mostly the baseball guys so I hung out with them. If you watched the game and can remember, in the bottom of the 7th Chone Figgins flew out to left to end the inning. Carl Crawford looked at our group of people and tossed the ball, guess who caught it? Everyone was so jealous! That was the first game ball I've gotten at a Mariner game, usually it's just a batting practice ball. I didn't let that ball leave my sight, I carried it the rest of the night. It was a sexy catch too. Hands in my face, and it was a lefty one-handed stick, so sick.
That was after I bought nachos because I was starving and Jaron, a sophomore on the team, punched me in the arm and of course the nachos went everywhere after I got 2 chips. Luckily a Safeco employee saw and walked me back to the stand and got me free nachos. So in about 30 minutes I got my nachos replaced and a Carl Crawford ball, it was a good 30 minutes. Still though, that wasn't the best part of the night. Sitting down by the bullpen watching one of Tampa's relievers warm up, I saw a kid walking down the stairs in a Mark Morris sweatshirt. So of course I asked him if he goes to Morris, he says yeah. So I asked him if he knew Colton Carpenter, a Morris senior who I got pretty tight with a couple summers ago, we played summer ball together on Pacific Tech. Right behind the kid in the Morris sweatshirt, there was Carp. The first thing I said was "dude are you serious?" So funny running into him randomly like that. The first thing I did was give him crap because my boys swept Morris in a double header a couple weeks ago, he's the one still playing though so I guess he got the final laugh. He goes dude I heard your playing college ball so I told him about it a little bit. Then he says oh and I heard your throwing ched (hard) now. I have no idea where he heard that but I just said not really but I am throwing harder. So as we got caught up, another kid from our team that summer walked down the stairs. None of us knew that we were at the game, so at the same time, we all are at the same part of Safeco without planning it at all. The kid was Eli Pesio, our catcher. So we caught up a little too then we all went our ways. That was one of the most I don't even know what to call it, surprising maybe, situations ever. The world is a small place.
After the game we were walking on Occidental St. We all were excited about the post game special one of the stands had. Two hot dogs for $5. Max and Spenc got one and I got one too and let Luis get the other one. Of course they guy would just randomly put two hot dogs in Luis's while I was stuck with the solo. Anyways, Luis and I were wearing our PLU sweatshirts and the guy asked us if we went to PLU. The guy said he started out at Linfield and ended up at PLU and graduated from the business program here. And now he is working a hot dog stand outside Safeco? I'm not sure what that really says for the PLU business program. Just proving my point though that every other person ever went to PLU or has some connection to PLU. The world is a small place.
Oh yeah at the baseball meeting I asked coach if there were any spots open to work the football games. The baseball team works at all the home games. He said yeah do you want it? So I said yes of course, alright it's yours. Ok best job interview ever. In case I don't make as much money as I want to this summer, I have a back up plan now.
Max is going home this weekend and was pushing me pretty bad to come down with him. I wanted to go home too so bad. It's Mother's Day weekend and I haven't been home in forever it seems, again. But this was honestly the worst possible weekend for me, I have a monster history paper and a communications paper both due Monday morning and I am going to try to finish the sports psych project this weekend. Once I'm done with that and give the presentation I am done with that class. I am getting so stoked for summer! I'm not sure if I'm more excited for summer or just to be done with school. The weather is getting really nice, sitting in class is getting tougher and tougher. So I have class at 11:15 and 12:30 but after that it's straight the library, again, until tonight. It's probably over the baseball apartments for me tonight.
Being a valet this summer I'm going to need to know how to drive a stick. I learned how to the summer before my senior year but I drove around for a couple hours one day that was all the training I got. So I talked to Ashley and she is way too excited about re-teaching me how to drive a stick. She says just because it is going to be fun, but knowing her, the only reason she is excited for it is so she can laugh at me, ah well, whats new? My last final is in 19 days, May 26th, I seriously just want to take that final now and be done, unfortunately for me that's not possible. Which reminds me, hey dad, are you guys going to be able to come up and help pack up and bring me home? Or what is the plan there?
Alright well there are my amazing thoughts of the week. Back the futon and ESPN, which has been happening way too much since I have free time now that baseball is over. I can't say how nice it has been being able to watch PTI again. I have missed that show so much. Usually I am walking out the door for practice right when it comes on. So mom, dad, adam, and aaron you better get ready to start watching that show again when I get home.
Nathan...out
Since that weekend we had our end of the season meeting and I have my individual meeting with coach on Monday. Right after my meeting we have our team bbq and annual golf tournament, the group of freshman I am playing with has talked so much trash and we are not that good. It should be interesting. I think we have honestly scared some the upperclassmen, who are actually decent golfers, that we are going to challenge them. It's gonna be a scramble tournament with 5 people per team, out of us 5 one of us have to hit a good a shot right?
The team actually left for Linfield Friday afternoon before practice and we practiced at West Linn High School. When I heard that I texted my mom right away. I thought it was pretty funny that we were going to be practicing at her old high school. We practiced there because their field was turf, like Linfield's, so coach wanted everyone to be able to take ground balls and try and get accustomed to the turf hops. Even more humorous though was the one of the baseball coaches played baseball at PLU back in his day. He gave us a funny little pep talk before practice. He was getting pretty old and possibly senile, that's what made it funny. Who lives on 7th floor in Tinglestad? A lot of the guys on the team stayed there. I had no idea I was continuing a tradition by getting all of the other sophomore guys to be on 7 next year. The world is a small place.
All this week I have been working on a sports psychology video. I have been finding clips of games that show pitchers showing focus and re-focusing. I put this project off for so long but now that I've got going I really enjoy it. When I'm done I will see if I can put it up on here. I have all the footage and clips that I need, now I get to do the fun stuff, the editing. It's gonna be a legit video once I'm done. Dad or grandpa, I'm sorry, but I can tell you right now you're probably not gonna like the music behind it. There is always the volume control on your computer.
Last night was college night at Safeco so all of lower campus went to the game. They gave us free tickets so I was all over that. For my Marines losing 8-0, it was actually a really fun night. For starters, I had Jeff Neiman on my fantasy team and he, like every other pitcher who has thrown against Seattle this year, threw a gem. But that had nothing to do really with why last night was awesome. There was not a lot of people there last night, at all, so the section ushers didn't care if you walked down into their section. So for the first part of the game I sat like 3 rows up from the left field line, I could almost hear Carl Crawford breathing. Then I moved into right field and sat with some other friends. There was so many PLU people there last night I would just walk around and run into someone else and would hangout with them for awhile. I eventually worked my way back the left field line by the 7th inning. It was mostly the baseball guys so I hung out with them. If you watched the game and can remember, in the bottom of the 7th Chone Figgins flew out to left to end the inning. Carl Crawford looked at our group of people and tossed the ball, guess who caught it? Everyone was so jealous! That was the first game ball I've gotten at a Mariner game, usually it's just a batting practice ball. I didn't let that ball leave my sight, I carried it the rest of the night. It was a sexy catch too. Hands in my face, and it was a lefty one-handed stick, so sick.
That was after I bought nachos because I was starving and Jaron, a sophomore on the team, punched me in the arm and of course the nachos went everywhere after I got 2 chips. Luckily a Safeco employee saw and walked me back to the stand and got me free nachos. So in about 30 minutes I got my nachos replaced and a Carl Crawford ball, it was a good 30 minutes. Still though, that wasn't the best part of the night. Sitting down by the bullpen watching one of Tampa's relievers warm up, I saw a kid walking down the stairs in a Mark Morris sweatshirt. So of course I asked him if he goes to Morris, he says yeah. So I asked him if he knew Colton Carpenter, a Morris senior who I got pretty tight with a couple summers ago, we played summer ball together on Pacific Tech. Right behind the kid in the Morris sweatshirt, there was Carp. The first thing I said was "dude are you serious?" So funny running into him randomly like that. The first thing I did was give him crap because my boys swept Morris in a double header a couple weeks ago, he's the one still playing though so I guess he got the final laugh. He goes dude I heard your playing college ball so I told him about it a little bit. Then he says oh and I heard your throwing ched (hard) now. I have no idea where he heard that but I just said not really but I am throwing harder. So as we got caught up, another kid from our team that summer walked down the stairs. None of us knew that we were at the game, so at the same time, we all are at the same part of Safeco without planning it at all. The kid was Eli Pesio, our catcher. So we caught up a little too then we all went our ways. That was one of the most I don't even know what to call it, surprising maybe, situations ever. The world is a small place.
After the game we were walking on Occidental St. We all were excited about the post game special one of the stands had. Two hot dogs for $5. Max and Spenc got one and I got one too and let Luis get the other one. Of course they guy would just randomly put two hot dogs in Luis's while I was stuck with the solo. Anyways, Luis and I were wearing our PLU sweatshirts and the guy asked us if we went to PLU. The guy said he started out at Linfield and ended up at PLU and graduated from the business program here. And now he is working a hot dog stand outside Safeco? I'm not sure what that really says for the PLU business program. Just proving my point though that every other person ever went to PLU or has some connection to PLU. The world is a small place.
Oh yeah at the baseball meeting I asked coach if there were any spots open to work the football games. The baseball team works at all the home games. He said yeah do you want it? So I said yes of course, alright it's yours. Ok best job interview ever. In case I don't make as much money as I want to this summer, I have a back up plan now.
Max is going home this weekend and was pushing me pretty bad to come down with him. I wanted to go home too so bad. It's Mother's Day weekend and I haven't been home in forever it seems, again. But this was honestly the worst possible weekend for me, I have a monster history paper and a communications paper both due Monday morning and I am going to try to finish the sports psych project this weekend. Once I'm done with that and give the presentation I am done with that class. I am getting so stoked for summer! I'm not sure if I'm more excited for summer or just to be done with school. The weather is getting really nice, sitting in class is getting tougher and tougher. So I have class at 11:15 and 12:30 but after that it's straight the library, again, until tonight. It's probably over the baseball apartments for me tonight.
Being a valet this summer I'm going to need to know how to drive a stick. I learned how to the summer before my senior year but I drove around for a couple hours one day that was all the training I got. So I talked to Ashley and she is way too excited about re-teaching me how to drive a stick. She says just because it is going to be fun, but knowing her, the only reason she is excited for it is so she can laugh at me, ah well, whats new? My last final is in 19 days, May 26th, I seriously just want to take that final now and be done, unfortunately for me that's not possible. Which reminds me, hey dad, are you guys going to be able to come up and help pack up and bring me home? Or what is the plan there?
Alright well there are my amazing thoughts of the week. Back the futon and ESPN, which has been happening way too much since I have free time now that baseball is over. I can't say how nice it has been being able to watch PTI again. I have missed that show so much. Usually I am walking out the door for practice right when it comes on. So mom, dad, adam, and aaron you better get ready to start watching that show again when I get home.
Nathan...out
Monday, April 26, 2010
Long time no see
It's been awhile since I had a post, I'm getting too good at procrastinating. A lot has been going on as of late. My Mariners caught fire, then they left Safeco and they have crashed and burned so far on the road trip, Tessa came to visit this weekend, and we swept Lewis and Clark this weekend to improve to 30-7 this year on our last home games of the year.
I'm going to talk about my boys first. On their homestand they went an impressive 2-7 following a 2-5 start. They were able to pull off a sweep the in the final against the stellar now 3-16 Baltimore Orioles. Their bats came alive that homestand and their pitching was phenomenal. Unfortunately they don't get to play all 162 games in Seattle. They went out to Chicago this weekend to play the White Sox and the Mariners showed the text book way how not to win a game. they played pretty well but the pitching could not pull through in the end of games. The first two games were lost on walk off bombs, the second game we were up 2 and gave the ball to Aardsma in the 9th and he gave up two round trippers, a solo shot and a two run shot that won it for Chicago. Then last night we gave up a homerun in the bottom of the 8th to give the White Sox a one run lead. We went 0-3 in Chicago losing by a combined 3 runs. Just a little fun fact, Chone Figgins one of our big off season acquisitions is batting a solid .190 so far this year. We got Kansas City tonight and the King is on the bump so hopefully that can get things going for us. We are now 9-10. Go M's!
The other week I was talking to Tessa and was like how come we have not once seen each other when we live 45 minutes from another. So I got my best friend Mckenzie to take me to Seattle to go get Tessa. We got a little lost on the way there but thanks to the G.P.S. we found our way to Seattle Pacific University. SPU has a really nice campus but I could never see myself going there. That school was a little too "artsy" for my taste, and they don't have a baseball team. I had a feeling that Tessa was going to get along well with my girlfriends here at school, and I was right. They all hung out together more than they hung out with me. Of course the fact that I had baseball all weekend contributed. I guess they got it all figured out that Tessa is going to come back and hang out with the girls, I had no say in that, what else is new? She left after the game on Sunday but it was good to see her. It made me think about all my high school friends and got me pumped for this summer to see all my old buddies. It feels a little weird saying all my "old" friends.
So I went to dinner and I left mid-blog so the Mariner is over. I don't know what to say anymore, their offense sometimes amazes me. Felix throws 7 innings giving up 3 runs and we can manage a single run until the 9th inning against the Royals. We were a stellar 1-9 with runners in scoring position, that's not going to work.
Like I said though this was a big weekend for us. We got to the 30 win mark with a sweep of Lewis and Clark. The thing is Linfield swept George Fox so this weekend is going to be huge. Whoever wins that series will be conference champs and will advance to regionals. There is going to be so many people there, for the people who are making the trip to Mckminville, make sure you get there early. Both Linfield and us are nationally ranked. In the last poll we were #16 and Linfield was #20, the new poll comes out tomorrow though, we will both probably move up a couple spots. Only 27 guys will travel and I am crossing my fingers I'm going to be on the travel roster. If not I might go down with Luis and Megan to watch the games and stay with Luis but we will see, I find out tomorrow if I'm going to be traveling. It's the last week of regular season baseball, that's so weird.
Other than that not a whole lot to report. I'm counting down the days until summer. I'm tired of school. It's going to be really weird packing up the room after finals are all over. Megan and I have been talking a lot about WE Fest this summer. It is a 3 day country concert in Minnesota that you camp out on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday in early August. So I am really hoping I can get those 3 days off of work and go to that. Megan has gone for a few years now and it sounds ridiculous. She even might be able to hook it up with free tickets because she works at a country radio station in North Dakota. Is it summer yet?
I'm going to finish up watching the Blazers, they are down 49-42 in the 2nd quarter of game 5 then I have to head to the library, my favorite place in the world!
Nathan...out
I'm going to talk about my boys first. On their homestand they went an impressive 2-7 following a 2-5 start. They were able to pull off a sweep the in the final against the stellar now 3-16 Baltimore Orioles. Their bats came alive that homestand and their pitching was phenomenal. Unfortunately they don't get to play all 162 games in Seattle. They went out to Chicago this weekend to play the White Sox and the Mariners showed the text book way how not to win a game. they played pretty well but the pitching could not pull through in the end of games. The first two games were lost on walk off bombs, the second game we were up 2 and gave the ball to Aardsma in the 9th and he gave up two round trippers, a solo shot and a two run shot that won it for Chicago. Then last night we gave up a homerun in the bottom of the 8th to give the White Sox a one run lead. We went 0-3 in Chicago losing by a combined 3 runs. Just a little fun fact, Chone Figgins one of our big off season acquisitions is batting a solid .190 so far this year. We got Kansas City tonight and the King is on the bump so hopefully that can get things going for us. We are now 9-10. Go M's!
The other week I was talking to Tessa and was like how come we have not once seen each other when we live 45 minutes from another. So I got my best friend Mckenzie to take me to Seattle to go get Tessa. We got a little lost on the way there but thanks to the G.P.S. we found our way to Seattle Pacific University. SPU has a really nice campus but I could never see myself going there. That school was a little too "artsy" for my taste, and they don't have a baseball team. I had a feeling that Tessa was going to get along well with my girlfriends here at school, and I was right. They all hung out together more than they hung out with me. Of course the fact that I had baseball all weekend contributed. I guess they got it all figured out that Tessa is going to come back and hang out with the girls, I had no say in that, what else is new? She left after the game on Sunday but it was good to see her. It made me think about all my high school friends and got me pumped for this summer to see all my old buddies. It feels a little weird saying all my "old" friends.
So I went to dinner and I left mid-blog so the Mariner is over. I don't know what to say anymore, their offense sometimes amazes me. Felix throws 7 innings giving up 3 runs and we can manage a single run until the 9th inning against the Royals. We were a stellar 1-9 with runners in scoring position, that's not going to work.
Like I said though this was a big weekend for us. We got to the 30 win mark with a sweep of Lewis and Clark. The thing is Linfield swept George Fox so this weekend is going to be huge. Whoever wins that series will be conference champs and will advance to regionals. There is going to be so many people there, for the people who are making the trip to Mckminville, make sure you get there early. Both Linfield and us are nationally ranked. In the last poll we were #16 and Linfield was #20, the new poll comes out tomorrow though, we will both probably move up a couple spots. Only 27 guys will travel and I am crossing my fingers I'm going to be on the travel roster. If not I might go down with Luis and Megan to watch the games and stay with Luis but we will see, I find out tomorrow if I'm going to be traveling. It's the last week of regular season baseball, that's so weird.
Other than that not a whole lot to report. I'm counting down the days until summer. I'm tired of school. It's going to be really weird packing up the room after finals are all over. Megan and I have been talking a lot about WE Fest this summer. It is a 3 day country concert in Minnesota that you camp out on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday in early August. So I am really hoping I can get those 3 days off of work and go to that. Megan has gone for a few years now and it sounds ridiculous. She even might be able to hook it up with free tickets because she works at a country radio station in North Dakota. Is it summer yet?
I'm going to finish up watching the Blazers, they are down 49-42 in the 2nd quarter of game 5 then I have to head to the library, my favorite place in the world!
Nathan...out
Scotty, Max, Me, and Spenc after the last home game. My black top is way too big for me, I like the white tops better.
Oh yeah and I'm trying to get some sort of feeling for who all is reading these, let me know. I know you are dad and grandpa.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Khelo Thomas
Like I said I got a picture with Zero from Holes :)
He answered a few questions. Definitely a down to earth guy. He talked about Shia Lebouf for awhile, said they are still friends. PLU doing it big.Wednesday, April 14, 2010
My oh my
Last time I was here I vented about how my Mariners were struggling. However, their first 7 games were on the road so there was reason to be optimistic about them coming home for their home opener, starting the season over. Max and Megan got to go the game, it was Max's first Mariner game. Being the awesome friend I am, I let Max borrow my Felix jersey and my hat. I definitely let him know how important it was that my jersey come back stainless. Watching the game knowing that they were there with the sold out Safeco was very depressing for me. Even more depressing was the Mariners showing. On their home opener, with so much buzz and enthusiasm they got blanked 4-0. Rowland-Smith pitched well and the defense was there minus one play by one of my least favorite Mariners Milton Bradley. So that I can be alright with. What I am not ok with, getting 3 hits of off someone who throws mid 80's. Yes he kept the ball down and changed speeds. In that situation I don't care though. You are playing in front of your home crowd for the first time that year in a year full of expectations and promise. You are all professional baseball players, make a damn adjustment.
That game aside they pulled a "W" last night. Doug Fister for Cy Young anybody? He was incredible and the offense was again lackluster. Going over 20 innings without scoring and finally putting up a 3 spot in the bottom of the 8th off of a Milton Bradley homerun. He is now a stellar 2- 28 or something along those lines, with two homeruns though. Hopefully we can see some offense tonight and get the first series win of the year, a good start to the home stand.
Because I couldn't go to opening day I went to my first Tacoma Rainier's game. I had no idea how close they play to PLU. It was less than a 10 minute drive. There were not very many people there at all but it was still cool taking a look at the future. There were several guys on the team that I recognized from fall call ups last year. We were playing the A's AAA team so Jack Cust was down there too. None of the pitchers that threw that game touched 90, some of the guys again were in the mid 80's. Its kind of fun to think about, they are professionals throwing in the mid 80's and I am throwing low 80's. Oakland's closer did throw smoke however. He hit 101 twice, I got a picture of it. I'm pretty happy about that. Seeing someone throw that hard was crazy.
After my 8 o'clock today I went to the library and printed off my Mariner tickets for Monday, I'm excited to go. Hopefully they have the ship righted before then. I am not trying to go see a game where they get 2 hit or something like that.
Last night was the night where we signed up for living situations next year. I slacked, dangit, and had to scramble last second to sign up for me because I had class when my registration time was. It actually got pretty nerve racking thinking that I might have to move out tstad and into pfluegar or even worse, upper campus. But I got a text during class saying "you better love me" from Mckenzie, I do. She is the best. I called her last second and asked her and she stood in line for me and got me a room. Max and I are going to be on 7th floor next year, so far all of my close friends are on 7th floor. We find out later today if the other people who are trying to move into tstad will get in, crossing our fingers. I meet with my academic advisor next week to talk about classes next fall then sign up in two weeks. Freshman year is almost over, only 42 calendar days left, I'm not sure I want it to be over.
Anyways I got class.
That game aside they pulled a "W" last night. Doug Fister for Cy Young anybody? He was incredible and the offense was again lackluster. Going over 20 innings without scoring and finally putting up a 3 spot in the bottom of the 8th off of a Milton Bradley homerun. He is now a stellar 2- 28 or something along those lines, with two homeruns though. Hopefully we can see some offense tonight and get the first series win of the year, a good start to the home stand.
Because I couldn't go to opening day I went to my first Tacoma Rainier's game. I had no idea how close they play to PLU. It was less than a 10 minute drive. There were not very many people there at all but it was still cool taking a look at the future. There were several guys on the team that I recognized from fall call ups last year. We were playing the A's AAA team so Jack Cust was down there too. None of the pitchers that threw that game touched 90, some of the guys again were in the mid 80's. Its kind of fun to think about, they are professionals throwing in the mid 80's and I am throwing low 80's. Oakland's closer did throw smoke however. He hit 101 twice, I got a picture of it. I'm pretty happy about that. Seeing someone throw that hard was crazy.
After my 8 o'clock today I went to the library and printed off my Mariner tickets for Monday, I'm excited to go. Hopefully they have the ship righted before then. I am not trying to go see a game where they get 2 hit or something like that.
Last night was the night where we signed up for living situations next year. I slacked, dangit, and had to scramble last second to sign up for me because I had class when my registration time was. It actually got pretty nerve racking thinking that I might have to move out tstad and into pfluegar or even worse, upper campus. But I got a text during class saying "you better love me" from Mckenzie, I do. She is the best. I called her last second and asked her and she stood in line for me and got me a room. Max and I are going to be on 7th floor next year, so far all of my close friends are on 7th floor. We find out later today if the other people who are trying to move into tstad will get in, crossing our fingers. I meet with my academic advisor next week to talk about classes next fall then sign up in two weeks. Freshman year is almost over, only 42 calendar days left, I'm not sure I want it to be over.
Anyways I got class.
Another cool fact. I just got a picture with Zero from Holes, Khelo Thomas. He's a pretty chill guy. He was here at PLU doing a meet and greet deal. I'll put that picture up here in a bit.
Nathan...out
Nathan...out
Friday, April 9, 2010
7 Months Waiting
I read countless blogs and articles in excitement for the 2010 Mariners season. I went online and bought tickets during the Mariners first home stand when the have Baltimore. So we get to see what we gave up when Bavasi gave up the soon to be perennial all-star Adam Jones for Erik Bedard, who has spent more time on the dl while he has been in Seattle than he has in uniform. Good move Bavasi, it's no mystery why you got fired. I like what the Z man has done so far though, particulary with the pitching staff. Lee should be an awesome pickup and Bedard will hopefully pan out and put together a solid 1, 2, 3 in the pitching rotation. However, if I were him I would have tried to sign a big bat. I'm not too sure how well Milton Bradley is going to turn out. He's off to a scoulding hot 1-17 start, great. More evidence that we need another bat. Seattle in its first five games is averaging less then 4 runs a game, and thats tough when your giving up 6 or 7, which explains much of the reason why my Mariners are off to a 1-4 start.
Watching the Oakland series I didn't understand why Wakamatsu threw in the rookie pitcher in the 9th inning in 1-1 game. We still had Aardsma waiting in the 'pen. When he got out of a bases loaded jam after walking two, Wakamatsu threw him back out for the 10th, why? Of course Oakland won it. In an inning and a third for the rook, Oakland had 5 hits. In the first 8 innings they had 4, I dont get it. We have a closer for this reason, to pitch in tight games. The next night we lost again in the last at bat, and again Aardsma was sitting in the bullpen. I love my Mariners but they break my heart, I really hope we don't have another train wreck of a season after an offseason full of hope. I'm not sure if I will be able to take it. The Mariners bullpen which has been known for being one of the best in the bigs has looken very mediocre so far. Then again 2 of the bullpen guys have been forced into the starting rotation because Cliff Lee and Erik Bedard are hurt right now.
I'm going to the Mariner game next Monday, the 19th, I'm stoked. All 8 of the freshman guys on the team are going. A little good 'ol team bonding. We're going to try to figure out how to take the bus to Safeco, should definently be an adventure. There will be pictures to come, I am going to take a lot of them I am sure. It doesn't get a whole let better than Safeco. Plus it gives me another reason to wear my King Felix jersey. Even though I've worn it everynight during each game.
But alright enough about my Mariners, you are all lucky they didn't start out 5-0 or else I would have written a lot more. Somewhere in there I'm sure playoffs, or World Series may have been mentioned. Might have been getting a little ahead of myself, but what's new?
We have a big weekend starting tomorrow with Witworth, who I think is sitting at 5th or 6th in the conference. A sweep this weekend would be huge, but it's not necessary. Linfield played UPS on tuesday and lost so that gives us a two game cushon in the Northwest Conference. I get chills when thinking about the possibility of dog piling on the mound after getting that last out to win conference. With the two game cushon it is possible that we will get to clinch on our home field the second to last weekend before we head down to Oregon to play Linfield.
Adam and Sam are on their way to PLU right now. Sam is looking into college baseball either here or at Linfield. I wanted him to see what college baseball is like and show him that he really can play college baseball. I didn't think I could play either until I went and saw a PLU game. Looking back, deciding to walk on and tryout was one of the best decisions I ever made. I have already gotten so much better and I went from playing on a .500 high school baseball team to playing on a nationally ranked college team.
We beat Seattle U. yesterday 6-0. The first division 1 team the PLU has beaten during the 6 years Loomis has been here. It was pretty cool beating up on a d1 team. I went and looked at their team site last night and saw that they beat Oregon, and we stomped them. What we decided on the ride home was that going d1 in baseball, is mostly luck. A lot of kids on that team were not that good, I could play for that team. I will give you that they are like 3-20 and it is the first year of their program, but still a d1 team. Their starting pitcher was 6'10'' and probably 190 pounds, one goofy looking dude.
But alright Shrek 2 is on and I have nothing to do so I'm going to watch. Craig is at the softball house with our neighbor Ben, who's dating one of the softball players. Since I got the room to myself I'm going to watch the movie and take a nap, I guess it's no different from what I would do if Craig were here, it just gives me more of a reason to. And any reason I have to nap, I'm going to take it, ah college.
Nathan...out
Watching the Oakland series I didn't understand why Wakamatsu threw in the rookie pitcher in the 9th inning in 1-1 game. We still had Aardsma waiting in the 'pen. When he got out of a bases loaded jam after walking two, Wakamatsu threw him back out for the 10th, why? Of course Oakland won it. In an inning and a third for the rook, Oakland had 5 hits. In the first 8 innings they had 4, I dont get it. We have a closer for this reason, to pitch in tight games. The next night we lost again in the last at bat, and again Aardsma was sitting in the bullpen. I love my Mariners but they break my heart, I really hope we don't have another train wreck of a season after an offseason full of hope. I'm not sure if I will be able to take it. The Mariners bullpen which has been known for being one of the best in the bigs has looken very mediocre so far. Then again 2 of the bullpen guys have been forced into the starting rotation because Cliff Lee and Erik Bedard are hurt right now.
I'm going to the Mariner game next Monday, the 19th, I'm stoked. All 8 of the freshman guys on the team are going. A little good 'ol team bonding. We're going to try to figure out how to take the bus to Safeco, should definently be an adventure. There will be pictures to come, I am going to take a lot of them I am sure. It doesn't get a whole let better than Safeco. Plus it gives me another reason to wear my King Felix jersey. Even though I've worn it everynight during each game.
But alright enough about my Mariners, you are all lucky they didn't start out 5-0 or else I would have written a lot more. Somewhere in there I'm sure playoffs, or World Series may have been mentioned. Might have been getting a little ahead of myself, but what's new?
We have a big weekend starting tomorrow with Witworth, who I think is sitting at 5th or 6th in the conference. A sweep this weekend would be huge, but it's not necessary. Linfield played UPS on tuesday and lost so that gives us a two game cushon in the Northwest Conference. I get chills when thinking about the possibility of dog piling on the mound after getting that last out to win conference. With the two game cushon it is possible that we will get to clinch on our home field the second to last weekend before we head down to Oregon to play Linfield.
Adam and Sam are on their way to PLU right now. Sam is looking into college baseball either here or at Linfield. I wanted him to see what college baseball is like and show him that he really can play college baseball. I didn't think I could play either until I went and saw a PLU game. Looking back, deciding to walk on and tryout was one of the best decisions I ever made. I have already gotten so much better and I went from playing on a .500 high school baseball team to playing on a nationally ranked college team.
We beat Seattle U. yesterday 6-0. The first division 1 team the PLU has beaten during the 6 years Loomis has been here. It was pretty cool beating up on a d1 team. I went and looked at their team site last night and saw that they beat Oregon, and we stomped them. What we decided on the ride home was that going d1 in baseball, is mostly luck. A lot of kids on that team were not that good, I could play for that team. I will give you that they are like 3-20 and it is the first year of their program, but still a d1 team. Their starting pitcher was 6'10'' and probably 190 pounds, one goofy looking dude.
But alright Shrek 2 is on and I have nothing to do so I'm going to watch. Craig is at the softball house with our neighbor Ben, who's dating one of the softball players. Since I got the room to myself I'm going to watch the movie and take a nap, I guess it's no different from what I would do if Craig were here, it just gives me more of a reason to. And any reason I have to nap, I'm going to take it, ah college.
Nathan...out
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Weekend in Walla Walla
I just got into the hotel in Walla Walla, nothing like a 5 hour bus ride after a 2 and half hour practice. The first thing I realized when I unpacked all of my stuff, I forgot my wallet, awesome. There's one of the benefits to being a freshman though, if anything I am only going to get one inning and I can borrow a fellow freshman's. Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful over here on the east side, low 40's with rain and a wind chill around 30, perfect baseball weather? It's a good thing I remembered my thermal pants, how did I forget my belt then? I amaze myself sometimes.
Spring break is pretty much going to be over when we get back to campus Saturday night. We're just going to have Easter Sunday off then it's back to class 8 o'clock on Monday. I'm probably going to get my midterm back and I'm excited to see that big fat A on the top of it. But then again it is Professor Carp so I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't even started grading them. He might have been to busy working on his thrilling novel about business and economics in the constitution. I am definitely going to make sure and get me a copy of that. New York Best seller for sure.
It is going to be nice once break is over to have people back on campus. It is a ghost town right now. The UC has been closed all week and the market closed at 5 every night and didn't serve breakfast at all so this week has really sucked food wise. All of you know how much I like my food.
I was talking with some of the crew yesterday and it's tough to believe that theres only 2 months left of school before our freshman year is over. It's really hard to believe considering I just got to school last week, thats what it feels like at least.
This is a big weekend for our team. If we sweep then we are im position to win our conference, it would be the third time in the past four years that PLU has won the Northwest Conference. After falling out of the rankings we are back up to #19 in that nation after this weeks rankings. This is our last road trip for four weeks until Linfield the last regular season weekend of the year, its looking like that is going to be a huge weekend. Coach said I was going to start that last game, that would be crazy.
Most of the team is out getting pizza right now. I ate a lot on the bus ride so I'm not hungry. It is so bare over here that they had to take the bus to the closest restaurant. And I thought Woodland was small. At least we can walk to restaurants in Woodland.
Quick shout out to Taylor for reminding me to update my blog, it has been awhile. Also to Megan, I feel like I gave you something to do in boring 'ol North Dakota, have fun!
Nathan...out
Spring break is pretty much going to be over when we get back to campus Saturday night. We're just going to have Easter Sunday off then it's back to class 8 o'clock on Monday. I'm probably going to get my midterm back and I'm excited to see that big fat A on the top of it. But then again it is Professor Carp so I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't even started grading them. He might have been to busy working on his thrilling novel about business and economics in the constitution. I am definitely going to make sure and get me a copy of that. New York Best seller for sure.
It is going to be nice once break is over to have people back on campus. It is a ghost town right now. The UC has been closed all week and the market closed at 5 every night and didn't serve breakfast at all so this week has really sucked food wise. All of you know how much I like my food.
I was talking with some of the crew yesterday and it's tough to believe that theres only 2 months left of school before our freshman year is over. It's really hard to believe considering I just got to school last week, thats what it feels like at least.
This is a big weekend for our team. If we sweep then we are im position to win our conference, it would be the third time in the past four years that PLU has won the Northwest Conference. After falling out of the rankings we are back up to #19 in that nation after this weeks rankings. This is our last road trip for four weeks until Linfield the last regular season weekend of the year, its looking like that is going to be a huge weekend. Coach said I was going to start that last game, that would be crazy.
Most of the team is out getting pizza right now. I ate a lot on the bus ride so I'm not hungry. It is so bare over here that they had to take the bus to the closest restaurant. And I thought Woodland was small. At least we can walk to restaurants in Woodland.
Quick shout out to Taylor for reminding me to update my blog, it has been awhile. Also to Megan, I feel like I gave you something to do in boring 'ol North Dakota, have fun!
Nathan...out
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Weekend back in Woodland
This weekend my baseball team traveled down to Forest Grove for a 3 game set with Pacific. I, unfortunately was not on the travel squad this weekend, so I made the most of my weekend. Yes I would have liked to go with the team but it just gives me something to build off of. So I decided I would go home since I haven't been since Christmas break. Three girlfriends of guys on the team were driving down for the games so I caught a ride with them on the way down.
On Friday night I just hung out. Stayed up way too late with Adam watching TV and playin' Call of Duty. Saturday I woke up and went to the high school baseball practice. It was weird being with my old high school team and not practicing. I did throw live to them because they were running short on arms. After practice was over I gave a little insight into what I have learned playing college baseball and told some of they guys what I wish I would have done differently while I was there. If felt good to help out my old team, that feels weird to say. I spent the rest of my day just hanging out watching college basketball, just like I have been since Thursday. My bracket started out solid but there is a lot of red on it now, dangit. So my only hope for the bracket now is UW surprising everyone and winning a couple more games.
Sunday I went to breakfast with AJ and Jared at Rosies. As usual I ran into like 20 people I knew, ah the joys of Woodland. Once I got home I resumed my post in my chair watching basketball. The Michigan State, Maryland game was on. I had Maryland in my bracket and they lost on a buzzer beater. So far there have been 3 buzzer beaters in the tournament, my picks are 0-3 in those games. Someone of higher power wants me to lose it feels like.
All in all it was a good weekend. Pulling out of the driveway on my way back to campus really made me realize how much I enjoy being home. Most of the credit is due to just the fact of being around family, getting warm home cooked it meals. I would be lieing if I said it isn't nice getting away for awhile though. My next time going home isn't going to be until I'm done with school. Which actually isn't that far off. I counted really quick and its 63 calender days.
This is the last week of school before spring break, the break from classes is going to be nice. I only have 1 midterm but it is going to be brutal, American Business and Economic History, not so fun.
We have a home series this weekend with Willamette. I'm feeling it, going to make my college debut this weekend. I can't wait!
On Friday night I just hung out. Stayed up way too late with Adam watching TV and playin' Call of Duty. Saturday I woke up and went to the high school baseball practice. It was weird being with my old high school team and not practicing. I did throw live to them because they were running short on arms. After practice was over I gave a little insight into what I have learned playing college baseball and told some of they guys what I wish I would have done differently while I was there. If felt good to help out my old team, that feels weird to say. I spent the rest of my day just hanging out watching college basketball, just like I have been since Thursday. My bracket started out solid but there is a lot of red on it now, dangit. So my only hope for the bracket now is UW surprising everyone and winning a couple more games.
Sunday I went to breakfast with AJ and Jared at Rosies. As usual I ran into like 20 people I knew, ah the joys of Woodland. Once I got home I resumed my post in my chair watching basketball. The Michigan State, Maryland game was on. I had Maryland in my bracket and they lost on a buzzer beater. So far there have been 3 buzzer beaters in the tournament, my picks are 0-3 in those games. Someone of higher power wants me to lose it feels like.
All in all it was a good weekend. Pulling out of the driveway on my way back to campus really made me realize how much I enjoy being home. Most of the credit is due to just the fact of being around family, getting warm home cooked it meals. I would be lieing if I said it isn't nice getting away for awhile though. My next time going home isn't going to be until I'm done with school. Which actually isn't that far off. I counted really quick and its 63 calender days.
This is the last week of school before spring break, the break from classes is going to be nice. I only have 1 midterm but it is going to be brutal, American Business and Economic History, not so fun.
We have a home series this weekend with Willamette. I'm feeling it, going to make my college debut this weekend. I can't wait!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
No figure skating insight but it'll do
I love girl scout cookies! Thank you grandpa and grandma. I have been munching on these things since I got them. A world without girl scout cookies is a world worse off. I weighed myself the other day for the first time since baseball has started and I've put on 8 pounds of muscle. I'm not up to bulky 183, I'm getting a little worried though that I'm about to put on a couple more in girl scout cookies. Whatever I do put on I'm sure to lose right away though, Coach Gryce, our pitching coach, is pretty good about working us until I question why it is that I'm playing baseball. I had to miss the post practice conditioning yesterday because I had my 6 o'clock class. So today I "get" to make up for my "missed opportunity to get better." That's how you have to look at it, when you want to stop or slow down, you have to think about what it does for you. All the hard work before college, in high school, got me on the now #14 team in teh country and to date I've added 2-3 mph to my fastball and put on 8 pounds so obviously its working out for me.
Dad you will like this, throwing live yesterday I had the best control of my changeup that I've had in a long time. There was one hitter that I was down 2-0 to and came back with two changeups right on the outside corner, beautiful.
I have my first exam of the semester on Friday. I am definitely not looking forward to it. Its in my Communication 101 class and this prof is notorious for his brutally hard tests. He went over what the test was going to be on during the last 20 seconds of class today. "The test is on everything we've gone over in class and anything out of the book so far." Why cant prof's just give us study guides, that would help so much! My psych prof first semester did that and what do you know I got an A and my test average was definitely in the A range. So hopefully this test goes alright.
Opening day for my mariners is in 26 days and the home opener in 33. Single game tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 am so guess who is going to be online at 10 on saturday trying to get tickets for opening day, this guy! Especially with the Mariners hopefully going to be in contention this year I can't wait to watch games in my King Felix jersey. I might just live in that thing, for the spring at least. I saw the Lee threw 3 innings today and gave up one run on 5 hits. Not exactly Cy Young numbers, but its Spring training. Besides, the Cy Young is going to Felix this year anyways. There's my two cents.
Nathan...out
Dad you will like this, throwing live yesterday I had the best control of my changeup that I've had in a long time. There was one hitter that I was down 2-0 to and came back with two changeups right on the outside corner, beautiful.
I have my first exam of the semester on Friday. I am definitely not looking forward to it. Its in my Communication 101 class and this prof is notorious for his brutally hard tests. He went over what the test was going to be on during the last 20 seconds of class today. "The test is on everything we've gone over in class and anything out of the book so far." Why cant prof's just give us study guides, that would help so much! My psych prof first semester did that and what do you know I got an A and my test average was definitely in the A range. So hopefully this test goes alright.
Opening day for my mariners is in 26 days and the home opener in 33. Single game tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 am so guess who is going to be online at 10 on saturday trying to get tickets for opening day, this guy! Especially with the Mariners hopefully going to be in contention this year I can't wait to watch games in my King Felix jersey. I might just live in that thing, for the spring at least. I saw the Lee threw 3 innings today and gave up one run on 5 hits. Not exactly Cy Young numbers, but its Spring training. Besides, the Cy Young is going to Felix this year anyways. There's my two cents.
Nathan...out
Friday, March 5, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
There it goes
Because all of you are checking my blog so often and clicking on the PLU baseball link I'm sure that you have seen that we lost this weekend, ending our 8 game winning streak out of the gate. We lost to UPS or (oops) in the 9th in
ning. We played flat the whole game and blew a 5-3 lead losing 8-5. We had Corban in the second half of our double header. Coming into that game we were all aware of the possible letdown. Coming into that day 8-0, and leaving 8-2 was not an option we had. However, we just lost a heartbreaking game to a team we are better than, the second game didn't start til 630 Sunday night and several of us had class at 8 Monday morning. The game was very long and long story short we were down early in the game and came back and won 12-11. We didn't get back to campus until 130 in the morning. I am still waiting to make my debut and I'm getting more and more anxious to finally get in. I can understand where coach is coming from but we have a live scrimmage today so I'm looking forward to continuing to show coach I can play.
The past two nights I've watched 3 movies, my life is so exciting I know. The first one was Fargo, it's a classic. Then we watched District 9, which wasn't anything I expected. We got to know the aliens on a personal level and even grew empathy for them. This movie made the humans look bad but it was a pretty good movie. The last one was Law Abiding Citizen, one of the best movies I've seen a long time, WATCH IT!
This is going to be a short post because I have class in 15 minutes and I have to get going. I may still have to do a little studying for my quiz, ah college! I love it but I would be lieing if I said I haven't looked at the calender a couple times and seen how far away May 28th (last day of finals) is. I'm starting to miss little ol' Woodland a little bit. Even though I'm not gonna be there for all but 3 weeks before its off to Nebraska.
Nathan...out
ning. We played flat the whole game and blew a 5-3 lead losing 8-5. We had Corban in the second half of our double header. Coming into that game we were all aware of the possible letdown. Coming into that day 8-0, and leaving 8-2 was not an option we had. However, we just lost a heartbreaking game to a team we are better than, the second game didn't start til 630 Sunday night and several of us had class at 8 Monday morning. The game was very long and long story short we were down early in the game and came back and won 12-11. We didn't get back to campus until 130 in the morning. I am still waiting to make my debut and I'm getting more and more anxious to finally get in. I can understand where coach is coming from but we have a live scrimmage today so I'm looking forward to continuing to show coach I can play.The past two nights I've watched 3 movies, my life is so exciting I know. The first one was Fargo, it's a classic. Then we watched District 9, which wasn't anything I expected. We got to know the aliens on a personal level and even grew empathy for them. This movie made the humans look bad but it was a pretty good movie. The last one was Law Abiding Citizen, one of the best movies I've seen a long time, WATCH IT!
This is going to be a short post because I have class in 15 minutes and I have to get going. I may still have to do a little studying for my quiz, ah college! I love it but I would be lieing if I said I haven't looked at the calender a couple times and seen how far away May 28th (last day of finals) is. I'm starting to miss little ol' Woodland a little bit. Even though I'm not gonna be there for all but 3 weeks before its off to Nebraska.
Nathan...out
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Figure skating, baseball, all you need to know
Alright so its been almost two weeks since my last post. The reason stems more from the lack of excitement in my life than anything else. The highlights of the past two weeks were probably figuring out that my ipod is completely fried, I can get maybe an hour out of it now, and sitting around watching the Olympics. Why do they show so much figure skating? It is all the same. I've gotten into the debate more than once about wither or not figure skating is a sport. Just because something is a competition doesn't make it a sport. Figuring skating is an art. The scoring is flawed, the average age is 16 years old, and when your "outfit" or "song choice" is as big of a deal as your actual performance, there is something wrong. This is the Olympics, not American Idol. Maybe that is why they show so much figure skating though.
Baseball is clicking along as well. We are all still waiting for the next poll to come up to see what we have moved up to. We were #25 in the nation in the preseason poll. We've since gone 7-0 beating #18 Cal Lutheran. We play #20 George Fox and Linfield this weekend in the Jugs tournament so if we can come back Sunday 11-0 it will be pretty exciting to see where the polls will have us. I threw live the other day and was at 80-82 mph which is definently up from my 76-78 in high school. Major Leagues anyone? With the first overall pick in the 2013 draft the Seattle Mariners select Nathan Shoup out of Pacific Lutheran University. Ok I know what you are thinking, there is no way, what are the Mariners doing at #1? So I am assuming the Mariners trade up that year to get me. I'm working on my smile and handshake with the commissioner after I get called up to the stage. Oh crap, I think I woke up, nevermind then. That would be cool though. Are you seeing airplanes? Is your name tattoo? Because I swear your living on fantasy island. I saw Night at the Roxbury the other night, I love that movie!
We leave tomorrow night for McMinville and I am looking forward to getting away from school again for a while. My life right now is just eat, sleep, baseball, and class. So I drop the class part and add a little more eating and sleeping, sounds good to me.
Nathan...out
Baseball is clicking along as well. We are all still waiting for the next poll to come up to see what we have moved up to. We were #25 in the nation in the preseason poll. We've since gone 7-0 beating #18 Cal Lutheran. We play #20 George Fox and Linfield this weekend in the Jugs tournament so if we can come back Sunday 11-0 it will be pretty exciting to see where the polls will have us. I threw live the other day and was at 80-82 mph which is definently up from my 76-78 in high school. Major Leagues anyone? With the first overall pick in the 2013 draft the Seattle Mariners select Nathan Shoup out of Pacific Lutheran University. Ok I know what you are thinking, there is no way, what are the Mariners doing at #1? So I am assuming the Mariners trade up that year to get me. I'm working on my smile and handshake with the commissioner after I get called up to the stage. Oh crap, I think I woke up, nevermind then. That would be cool though. Are you seeing airplanes? Is your name tattoo? Because I swear your living on fantasy island. I saw Night at the Roxbury the other night, I love that movie!
We leave tomorrow night for McMinville and I am looking forward to getting away from school again for a while. My life right now is just eat, sleep, baseball, and class. So I drop the class part and add a little more eating and sleeping, sounds good to me.
Nathan...out
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Back at PLU
Alright so we got back from Arizona tonight, I'm not sure I am ready to be back but I guess all good things must come to an end eventually. It is going to be nice to be back with everyone. I have managed to unpack already though and that's one of the worst things about coming back home from somewhere.
I did bring a couple things back with me from Arizona. None of which happened to be any pictures, I literally had no room at all to even pack my camera. One of the things I brought back with me is a mean sunburn. Spending all day in the desert sun when I have been hiding under the Pacific Northwest clouds for 4 months didnt fare too well for my paper white skin. If I didn't notice in the mirror I got burnt I did have my awesome friends and teammates there to remind me about 500 times that my face and neck were red. I also probably brought back a couple extra pounds with me. Being my first road trip I didn't really know what to expect. I found out soon enough though that you aren't exactly eating nutritional food when your on the road. I think the manager of the ampm across the street from our hotel was pretty happy we chose that hotel. There were a few ampm runs.
We flew into Phoenix Wednesday night and Paul, Tani, and I stayed up way too late listening to slow jams on tani's ipod, were soo cool. Our first game was at 10 the next morning, our batting practice was at 8 so we had to leave the hotel at 730. That meant a 630 wake-up to get breakfast and shower and get dressed. We played Occidental the first game and coasted through most of the game before exploding late and we ended up winning 14-3 or something like that. Articles about all of the games are up on the team website, I have the link on the top right corner of the page under team roster. We have two weeks before our next game though so coach gave us Monday and Tuesday off which is going to be really nice after having a long weekend.
On the trip I became very familiar with "two-ball." It's how us pitchers pass time when the hitters are taking batting practice. I sucked at first but I definently started to get the hang of it. The older guys were scared of the freshman beating them so they were all gunning for me. I could only hold them off for so long though.
When we got to Sea-tac Wednesday afternoon there was another charter bus right behind us when we pulled up to check-in, it was the U-Dub softball team. It was funny because Spenc and I are big Husky fans so when we were checking in our luggage Danielle Lowry was right behind us and we were like holy crap thats Danielle Lowry. They ended up being on the same plane as us. They had a tourney in Tempe.
It took me a long time to check in just because I somehow found a way to pick the slowest line so I ended up having to walk to the terminal by my lonesome. Then I got a text from a girl who went to R.A. Long and I remembered her saying she was going to play softball for the purple and gold. She says hey this might sound weird but are you at Sea-tac? So I talked to her for awhile until we boarded the plane. Baily, the girl I was talking to, is a pitcher and said she is Danielle Lowry's understudy, she said she would have brought her over and introduced me but I decided not to embarrass myself.
On the way home tonight at the Phoenix airport, walking to the terminal we passed the U of O softball team. Next time were flying I'm expecting to run into the Seattle Mariners.
Im back home though, back to reality, and the cold and wet.
Nathan...out
I did bring a couple things back with me from Arizona. None of which happened to be any pictures, I literally had no room at all to even pack my camera. One of the things I brought back with me is a mean sunburn. Spending all day in the desert sun when I have been hiding under the Pacific Northwest clouds for 4 months didnt fare too well for my paper white skin. If I didn't notice in the mirror I got burnt I did have my awesome friends and teammates there to remind me about 500 times that my face and neck were red. I also probably brought back a couple extra pounds with me. Being my first road trip I didn't really know what to expect. I found out soon enough though that you aren't exactly eating nutritional food when your on the road. I think the manager of the ampm across the street from our hotel was pretty happy we chose that hotel. There were a few ampm runs.
We flew into Phoenix Wednesday night and Paul, Tani, and I stayed up way too late listening to slow jams on tani's ipod, were soo cool. Our first game was at 10 the next morning, our batting practice was at 8 so we had to leave the hotel at 730. That meant a 630 wake-up to get breakfast and shower and get dressed. We played Occidental the first game and coasted through most of the game before exploding late and we ended up winning 14-3 or something like that. Articles about all of the games are up on the team website, I have the link on the top right corner of the page under team roster. We have two weeks before our next game though so coach gave us Monday and Tuesday off which is going to be really nice after having a long weekend.
On the trip I became very familiar with "two-ball." It's how us pitchers pass time when the hitters are taking batting practice. I sucked at first but I definently started to get the hang of it. The older guys were scared of the freshman beating them so they were all gunning for me. I could only hold them off for so long though.
When we got to Sea-tac Wednesday afternoon there was another charter bus right behind us when we pulled up to check-in, it was the U-Dub softball team. It was funny because Spenc and I are big Husky fans so when we were checking in our luggage Danielle Lowry was right behind us and we were like holy crap thats Danielle Lowry. They ended up being on the same plane as us. They had a tourney in Tempe.
It took me a long time to check in just because I somehow found a way to pick the slowest line so I ended up having to walk to the terminal by my lonesome. Then I got a text from a girl who went to R.A. Long and I remembered her saying she was going to play softball for the purple and gold. She says hey this might sound weird but are you at Sea-tac? So I talked to her for awhile until we boarded the plane. Baily, the girl I was talking to, is a pitcher and said she is Danielle Lowry's understudy, she said she would have brought her over and introduced me but I decided not to embarrass myself.
On the way home tonight at the Phoenix airport, walking to the terminal we passed the U of O softball team. Next time were flying I'm expecting to run into the Seattle Mariners.
Im back home though, back to reality, and the cold and wet.
Nathan...out
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
For the Fans
Alright so I have been receiving complaints from some of my fan base about my "loose grammar" in my writing. In a normal situation I would just say don't read it then, but because I'm feeling generous I will make the change. Especially when the portion of my fan base that is complaining can't even focus on the road and runs into other cars, you know who you are T.H. and A.O. Don't worry everyone, it was a minor fender bender, nobody was hurt. I love my fans!
Today is the first day of second semester, lucky for me though I don't have class on Tuesdays or Thursdays, which will be nice for doing homework and studying with baseball season now in full swing. I woke up a little nervous this morning though because I never did actually check me schedule and I just trusted Max, we have the same schedule, that we didn't have class on Tuesdays or Thursdays, Max, like myself, can be kind of spacey. So I jumped down from my bed and looked at my schedule, Max was right.
I checked to see if J-term grade was up yet, it was. I got an A. Even I am surprised by my excellence from time to time. Max is betting me that he will get better grades than me during the spring semester, I don't think he knows what he is getting himself into. But seriously, my J-term class was probably the easiest class offered here on campus. I worked for maybe an hour out of class, and that was writing the reflection paper and doing the journal entries the night before they were due. Granted the prof did have a bum knee but I honestly don't think he cared at all about that class. But hey, who am I to complain? What am I going to say? I feel like I've lost a truly valuable educational experience. Nah, I'm happy with my A.
Craig is now back. It's a funny story because I just mentioned on my last post about how messy our room was and how clean Craig is. So twenty minutes before I left for the lockeroom on Sunday for our game, I decided to text him and see when he was coming back so I could clean up a little bit. He didn't text back so I just assumed he would be back Monday. But as I was walking out the door he texted and said he was leaving in 10 minutes, so I had to hurry to clean up real fast.
Nathan...out
Today is the first day of second semester, lucky for me though I don't have class on Tuesdays or Thursdays, which will be nice for doing homework and studying with baseball season now in full swing. I woke up a little nervous this morning though because I never did actually check me schedule and I just trusted Max, we have the same schedule, that we didn't have class on Tuesdays or Thursdays, Max, like myself, can be kind of spacey. So I jumped down from my bed and looked at my schedule, Max was right.
I checked to see if J-term grade was up yet, it was. I got an A. Even I am surprised by my excellence from time to time. Max is betting me that he will get better grades than me during the spring semester, I don't think he knows what he is getting himself into. But seriously, my J-term class was probably the easiest class offered here on campus. I worked for maybe an hour out of class, and that was writing the reflection paper and doing the journal entries the night before they were due. Granted the prof did have a bum knee but I honestly don't think he cared at all about that class. But hey, who am I to complain? What am I going to say? I feel like I've lost a truly valuable educational experience. Nah, I'm happy with my A.
Craig is now back. It's a funny story because I just mentioned on my last post about how messy our room was and how clean Craig is. So twenty minutes before I left for the lockeroom on Sunday for our game, I decided to text him and see when he was coming back so I could clean up a little bit. He didn't text back so I just assumed he would be back Monday. But as I was walking out the door he texted and said he was leaving in 10 minutes, so I had to hurry to clean up real fast.
Nathan...out
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Strugglin'
Alright so Joey is back on campus, and of course with Joey comes the typical struggling. Craig has been gone for break so I've had the room to myself. I guess having that advantage told Joey it was alright for him to move into my room. Its actually kind of nice mixing up roommates, only I have come to respect Craig's cleanliness. Due to a little of my actions and a lot of Joey's my room is "strugglin." This is what my room looks like now
Thanks a lot Joey.haha. It could definitely be worse though, my room could look like Max and Spencer's.
I tried to get our Fargonian friend, Megan, to watch Fargo tonight, fail. Everyone wanted to watch Stepbrothers instead. I can't really blame them. Stepbrothers is a classic!
My collegiate baseball career started today, sort of. We played the Saint Martins Saints, how creative. I pointed that out to Scotty during the first game then he pointed out to me that we were the Pacific Lutheran Lutes... touche. Of the 16 innings we played today, I sat in the dugout for 16 of them. That was expected though, being a freshman I still have work to do.
We won the first game 12-5 and won the second 8-3, National Championship what? Alright maybe a little to early for that but it's fun to think about.lol.
Second Semester starts on Tuesday, not looking forward to it at all! Just means more work for me and it means I'm over half way done with my freshman year at college. Time is going by way to fast, baseball has been going for almost a month now and in only 4 more months I will be done with baseball and starting to pack up for Nebraska. Freshman orientation was last week I'm pretty sure.
There was a couple more of my random thoughts.
Nathan...out
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