Last Game. Biggest Game.

Big game tomorrow (actually, later today). I'm heading down to Muncie, Ind. for the Ball State-Western Michigan game. BSU sits at 11-0 and is ranked No. 15 in the nation. WMU is 9-2 and should they win, they could crack the Top-25 for the first time in school history. It would also be the first time in school history that a Bronco team earned 10 wins in a season. The game is being televised on ESPN2 and it should prove to be one of the better MAC games this season. I know the team is jacked up. I'm equally ready for this one.

Here are some of the recent articles:
Preview of Ball State game - http://www.westernherald.com/?p=2564
Matchup Breakdown - http://www.westernherald.com/?p=2569
Pritchard Feature story - http://www.westernherald.com/?p=2515
Article on Sumney - http://www.westernherald.com/?p=2428
Recap of Toledo game - http://www.westernherald.com/?p=2249
Blog of Hockey game - http://www.westernherald.com/?p=2219

Have a good Thanksgiving everyone and go Broncos!

Recent Articles

Last home game for Bronco football this weekend against Toledo. Should be fun.

Articles:
Preview of Toledo game: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=2157
Feature on Bronco Freshman: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=2099
Column on Football Season: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=2085

This weekend should be pretty busy. My dad is coming down tomorrow for the weekend (Mom is in Florida) and I'm covering the football and hockey game on Saturday. Weekend should fly by.

Bronco Football Article Updates

Haven't posted any of my articles in awhile. Sorry.

Here are some of the most recent ones:

Preview of WMU vs. EMU Game - http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1770
Live Blog of WMU/EMU Game - http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1804
Feature Article of Bronco Receiving Trio - http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1887
Preview of WMU vs. Illinois Game - http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1948
Recap of WMU/Illinois Game - http://www.westernherald.com/?p=2056

Should have some more articles this week, so be sure to check back. Hope everyone is staying warm... I'm not ready for this.

Head-Clearer

If anyone is having a bad day and needs a little something-something... I recommend listening to this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMEE9AW94Hs

Cheers me up everytime I listen to it. Even when I'm not in a sour mood. Personal guarantee.

Bronco football game tomorrow at 2. Excited for another home game... it's been almost one month.

Week off... sort of

Well, I had a week off from football because the team was on a bye. However, I stayed busy at the Herald, covering hockey this past weekend. It gave me a glimpse of the future, as that is what I'll be doing once the football season is over.

It was a great game on Friday (our only home game this weekend), as we played in and won our first ever shootout. It was truly an electrifying experience for everyone there and I'm glad I got the chance to cover the event. Hopefully there will be more of those for me to cover this season. The hockey team probably isn't due for the kind of season the football team is having, but they should play hard this season and maybe climb up a few spots in the CCHA. Many picked them to finish last this season in our conference, but I believe we'll do better than that.

Here are a few of my articles from the past week:

World Series predictions: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1534
Hockey weekend preview: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1569
Hockey weekend recap versus FSU: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1644

Too bad the Rays are playing poorly right now. I was rooting for them and it almost looks like they are done. If the Phillies hold onto the 10-2 lead right now, they'll be up 3-1 in the series and have Cole Hamels pitching for the clincher tomorrow. Not looking good. The Rays will have to win the rest of the games and that is very unlikely. You never know though. Hope they can at least get the series back to Tampa Bay or make it to a Game 7.

Broncos fall short

The Broncos fell short this weekend against the Chippewas and lost the game 38-28. WMU QB Tim Hiller set a school record with 471 passing yards, but it wasn't enough. The defense couldn't get off the field on third down and that seemed to be the underlining story. The whole game was an experience however and I was glad that I was apart of it, even though it was on the losing end. Let me tell you, I've never seen so many disappointed faces then when I watched the Bronco players walk out of that locker room. Hope I don't have to witness that again. The Broncos are now on a bye week this week and are 6-2 heading into it (not bad at all). This gives me a chance to cover hockey this weekend for the Herald, which I am looking forward to. It sounds like that is what I'll be covering after the football season is over.

CMU-WMU Recap article: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1455

By the way, I'm extremely glad the Tampa Bay Rays held off the Red Sox in the AL. I don't think I could stand watching the Red Sox win again. Whoever wins the World Series, it will be a fresh scene for baseball and the sporting world. I'll be happy with whoever takes it, but secretly I'm rooting for Evan Longoria and the Rays. Side note: Does anyone else wonder why nobody gets hurt in the mayhem of the pileup that unfolds after a team wins? I always wonder how players hurt themselves with flukey injuries (sleeping or lifting your groceries wrong) and then hurl themselves into a massive pile but don't come out with a scratch. Interesting. You wait - it'll happen one day and it will totally change how teams celebrate. Watch.

Central-Western Weekend

This weekend is a big one for WMU students and alumni. The annual WMU-CMU game is this Saturday in Mount Pleasant. I'm heading up there for the game on Saturday and making a stop at Matt's place on Friday. Hopefully there is good weather this weekend. This series the last couple of years has had some lousy weather. Hopefully the game is a good one as well. The game last season had several questionable calls down the stretch that ultimately doomed Western Michigan. We'll see what happens this year though. Both teams are undefeated in MAC play and if WMU wins, they'll be heading into their bye week 7-1 (5-0 MAC). Go Broncos!

Preview Article for the game: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1365
Predictions for the CMU-WMU game: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1371
Hiller, Cubit Feature Article: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1309

The good and the bad

Well WMU won this past weekend in a thriller over Buffalo. They were down and out and came back to tie the game and then win it in overtime. Wish I had been there. This weekend is a big one - Western vs. Central. Rival game. Hopefully the refs won't give the game to Central like they have been the last few seasons. And I hope Dan LeFevour gets devoured by our defense. Looking at the media packet this morning, he is the only CMU player that doesn't do player interviews past Monday. Some team player they have over there in Mount Pleasant. Can't wait to take them out and claim supremacy over the defending MAC champs.

Buffalo recap article: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1254

This week has been rough so far and it's a little after noon on Monday... Sheesh. My prof in two of my classes (he teaches both my journalism classes) has just been a cancer to have this year and I'm going to be real glad when I'm out of his classes. No fun at all. Just having one of those blah kind of days. Just ready for this week to be over... already. At least I don't have class at all Wednesday or Friday as the esteemed professor I spoke of earlier is traveling to London. I'm thankful for that at least... Hopefully this weekend will more than make up for a subpar week so far.

Check back later this week as there should be a feature story on Tim Hiller and his relationship with QB Coach Ryan Cubit as well as the preview for the Central-Western game this weekend.

Just a regular post

So, I've been writing a lot of posts about the Bronco football team and I decied to write a normal one today. Most of the past month and a half has revolved around the football team, but this weekend they are away, so I can take a semi-break from bending my brain around random stats and the hometown of our back-up kicker. That is until Saturday evening.

I'm also going to try and put some pictures up in this post and this is a semi-reminder to myself.

This semester has gone by extrememly fast so far. We are already six weeks through the semester. Six weeks! I had an exam today in my Journalism class and it wasn't too bad. My instructor for the class I have in two classes and I failed his first test (as did just about everyone else in the class). I think it's safe to say that I at least passed this one. The instructor in this class has been about the worst thing in a pretty good semester so far. I think he is trying to whittle us down so that only "the best" are left in the journalism school. Even if he doesn't accomplish that, he is making most of us doubt whether or not we're in the right profession. I'm not doubting myself though. I know I belong here, but it's never fun to hear disapproving remarks from your prof or receive countless papers with a big red rewrite on the top of it.

Other than that, the semester is going well. I like my other classes and they're pretty easy (they should be - I've only been a undergrad college student for six years). I actually enjoy going to class and look forward to walking onto campus. Being on Western's campus is like an addiction. Kalamazoo has been my home for six and a half years and I've had my best years here. I know I'll have to leave here eventually, but for now, I'm having a blast. Just wish I had a few more people around here to enjoy it with.

The football team and working for the Herald has definitely made the experience that much better. It's still exciting every time I walk into Waldo Stadium to interview a player or sit in the press box for a game. I'm not sure if that will ever get old. It's just cool too because I know many of these players can relate with me because they are students too. I feel as though we have that connection and I think it shows in the interviews. They have more fun with me than with someone of a bigger publication. Hopefully I can carry that excitement down the road when I do work for one of those larger papers or radio stations.

Speaking of which, I'm thinking it's going to be terribly hard to find a job next summer. I will most likely have to leave Michigan, which I'm ready to do and hopefully I can just find a full-time job somewhere. I've applied for an internship at the Kalamazoo Gazette (biggest paper we have around here), but they only take two interns a semester, so the likelihood of that happening is slim. You never know though.

I'm looking forward to the next few months however. I'm traveling to Mount Pleasant next weekend for the all-important CMU-WMU football game, which should be a good game. Then we have three straight home games to begin November with the second home game at Ford Field in Detroit (it's technically a home game, but we aren't at home). That game should be cool cause I'll get to function out of the Ford Field press box (very nice - I've been there once briefly). Side note: Western could be at Ford Field three times this year. The MAC Championship is played there and if Western goes to that and wins that, they would play in the Motor City Bowl at Ford Field again. I wouldn't mind doing that at all.

I'm just excited for the last regular season game when WMU plays Ball State (who are ranked number 25 in the country right now). I'm going to get excused for class and probably even miss my next day's classes as well. It's a Tuesday night game. Hopefully WMU is still undefeated or close to it in the MAC. Potentially a very big game in the MAC and nationally. I can see Ball State still being undefeated heading into that game.

There I go again. Getting back into the football frame of mind. In all seriousness however, this semester needs to slow down! I'm really enjoying it and wish that it could just slow down. Because most likely, this is my last few months of college. Yeah, we've all heard that before.

Broncos look to tackle second half of season

Here are my articles from the past couple of days...

10 Q's with Austin Pritchard: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1184

Preview article of Buffalo Game: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1215

One thing that sucks about working so much for the Herald is that I really haven't been able to work as much at the hospital. And since I get so much for each article (can you feel the sarcasm?), I've been left eating PB & J a lot. Strawberry jam never tasted so good.

Oh well, I'm getting some very good experience that hopefully will help me down the road and I feel like each article is getting better. It's hard to tell with me writing them, but I feel like they sound better. Hopefully I'm developing my writing style a bit more. Let me know what you think in the comments box below or you can email me. Thanks dedicated readers.

Go Broncos this weekend. Another win and we'll be 6-1 (4-0 in the MAC)!

Homecoming game recap

Great game this past weekend. The Broncos won their fifth straight and also earned their 500th school victory on Homecoming 2008. Had a lot of fun and wish that the weekend was still around as it is Monday... haha.

Here is my recap article of the game: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1139

It actually made the front page which was a surprise to me. Pretty cool though. Hopefully we can continue our win streak on the road this next weekend. Buffalo will be a tough test.

Homecoming at WMU

This weekend is homecoming. I'm looking forward to it as are so many other people around Western's campus. Should be a good weekend for our school. I've got quite a number of friends coming in, so it should be a pretty crazy time. Just hope I can survive the 3.1 mile run I'm doing Saturday morning... my body isn't liking me as much as I get older...

Here is my article for the Herald previewing the upcoming Homecoming game against Ohio:
http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1038

Hopefully we'll have a good weather day Saturday for the game. It's supposed to be cold and possibly rainy, but hopefullt that will hold until after the game. It will be fun nonetheless. Catch everyone next week!

Go Broncos!

Yikes Offense...

The WMU Broncos won this weekend yes. Was it because of their offense? No. They won just 7-3, marking their lowest point total in a win since 1995. Hopefully the offense won't disappear now that we are playing some meaningful MAC games. We need the offense to carry us like it has throughout the season so far. It's going to be a real long season if we can only muster 36 yards rushing and only convert on 4 of 16 third downs.

On the plus side, the defense looked very solid after being touted as one of the best before the season started. I was wondering when the team was going to pick it up and it picked the right time to step up. Hopefully the defense will hold and the offense will pick it back up for the remaining games.

Here is my game recap article on the Herald website: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=878

Homecoming this coming weekend. Sounds like a good crowd is coming over for the weekend and the game. Should be fun.

Broncos head to Temple

Well after the Bronco slaughter against Tennessee Tech (41-7 win), they now head out East to face-off against Temple University. This is the first game of a five-game stretch against Mid-American Conference opponents. Actually, this is the first of tough games that will likely shadow the WMU schedule for the rest of the season. Should be a tough road the rest of the season. Hopefully the momentum the Broncos (3-1, 1-0 MAC) have developed in the last three weeks will guide them the rest of the season. Temple is coming off a loss against Penn St. and also lost their starting QB in that game. Hopefully the Broncos can take advantage of this and take care of business this weekend. Game-time is set for 2 p.m. Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philly.

Western Preview Article: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=824

Football team comes home and I hit the road

Well, the Broncos are playing at home for just the second time this season and I suddenly leave Kalamazoo. This will be the only game I miss this season and it's for a good cause. I'm heading to NYC to visit Yankee Stadium before it closes and visit my friends that live there. I've been to New York City once before and I hope that this time will be as good as the last. Hopefully warmer too. Sunday, I'm also golfing with a lot of my family and I'm looking forward to that. Should be a pretty crazy and fun weekend.

The football team is coming home to play against Division I-AA opponent Tennessee Tech. They should win the game, but I'm not completely sold yet. This could by a challenging game for the Broncos. Definitely a hand-cuff game for the team. Hopefully they can pull out the victory while I am gone. With the win, they have the possibility to head into the tough conference schedule with a 3-1 record. Three wins would look mighty good this early in the season and they need all the momentum they can get. Go Broncos!

Here is my preview article for the game at the Herald website: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=615

Article on Bronco Secondary

We've had a very good secondary for a few years now and it doesn't seem to be a coincidence. All four of the players we have right now are four-year starters and real close with each other. It was fun writing the article and getting to know some of the players that I interviewed. This is the second time that I've interviewed Delmas and he's just a real down-to-earth nice guy. Real complimentary and thanking me sincerely on what I'm doing. It's fun to write the articles when the subjects are cool and really appreciate what your doing. It makes everything more rewarding. That has been one of the biggest surprises so far. Everyone, including coach Cubit, has been real great to talk to and it's only helped me in terms of getting used to interviewing.

Here is the article: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=580

Broncos 51, Vandals 28

The Broncos took it to the Idaho Vandals this past Saturday, defeating them on the road 51-28. I wrote a game recap article for the game and the article is now posted online.

You can see it here: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=517

This weekend will be the only WMU game I miss this season, as I will be in New York City with my buddy Drew to witness the second to last game at Yankee Stadium ever. I've never been to the Bronx and I'm looking forward to it. I can only imagine some of the emotions that will be running through that stadium and I'm not even a Yankees fan. It will be fun to be in the same place that housed Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and of course, Babe Ruth. Should be fun.

Herald Articles

There seems to be quite a bit of confusion surrounding which articles are mine on the Western Herald website, or so I am told. I will attempt to make things much easier for everyone then and just post them on this website, so that everyone will know which ones are mine. I'm going to post articles or the links to them every time they add one of mine to the Herald page, so everyone can continue to visit this location.

They've been keeping me very busy at the beginning of the semester. The football team is probably one of the bigger sports WMU has and the job takes up quite a bit of time each week (going to practices, the Tuesday press conference, writing the articles, etc.). Each week, I tackle a game recap and game preview article and starting this week, I started doing a feature story on the football team (this week I wrote an article on running back Brandon West and his new role in the offense).

The writing seems to be getting easier and easier everytime I write an article and I find myself taking much less time as well. I've started a nice system when writing and it has been beneficial. It's much easier when you get good quotes from coach Cubit and the players. They've been pretty good so far this season about giving me time to ask them questions. I'm thankful for that.

Another cool perk about working for the team is I get to sit in the press box during the games. Our stadium, although small, is very modern and new (or so it seems) and even though I had the sun in my face for most of the first home game, it was pretty neat to be up top with all of the other sports dudes. I don't travel with the team for away games, however I will be traveling to some of the closer road games including Central Michigan, Ball St. (?) and our "home" game at Ford Field against Illinois. I'm still bummed about missing next week's home game against Tennessee Tech., but that should be the only game I miss this season.

Here are the articles as posted on the Herald website (most recent first):
http://www.westernherald.com/?p=450 - Game Preview of WMU vs. Idaho
http://www.westernherald.com/?p=384 - Feature story on Brandon West
http://www.westernherald.com/?p=206 - Game Preview of WMU vs. Northern Illinois
http://www.westernherald.com/?p=124 - Game recap of WMU vs. Nebraska

They didn't post my game recap of the Northern Illinois game, but I've got it in case anyone wants to read it. No biggie.

The semester is going pretty well. We're already almost through the second week already. There has been a lot of news in Kalamazoo concerning the Professors strike on campus and right now they are actually working without a contract. Both WMU and the Union are trying to work something out soon so that this doesn't get uglier than it already is. There have been some picketing going on around campus and they even showed up at the football game last week (they were right across from where I sat most of the game). At least classes haven't been cancelled yet - many of the students are worried about how that would affect their graduation date if something serious happened and the university closed for an extended period of time.

Next weekend I'm traveling with Drew to NYC to witness first-hand the second to last game at Yankee Stadium ever. Should be a crazy time. I've been to NYC once before for a few days and it will be cool to go back, even if just for one day. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures.

This weekend should prove to be uneventful. I think I'm working a couple days and then I'm going to listen to the WMU football game on Saturday (they play in Idaho). And I may switch on the TV for the Lions game Sunday... I haven't decided yet. Not sure if I want to depress myself again after last week...

Eat. Breathe. Live. Football.

This is my motto right now. As of today and actually a couple weeks ago I am all things Western Michigan University Football. That's pretty much my job this fall for the Western Herald newspaper. The season started today against Nebraska of all opponents and I was listening to every snap over the radio (I wasn't sent to Lincoln with the team - I'll probably only be headed to close away games). Western had a full plate in front of them and it showed in the first half as they were down 34-10 at halftime. However, they caused a few turnovers in the second half and even outscored the Cornhuskers 14-13 in the second half. They pulled to within 20, but that was as close as they got and they ended up losing 47-24. Our offense and more specifically our passing game was very good and QB Tim Hiller finished with around 350 yards throwing in the air. TE Branden Ledbetter also showed up big catching 9 balls for 120+ yards. It'll be interesting to see if this game will give the O-Line and the passing attack some added confidence heading into this MAC schedule. The run game was non-existant, but that was expected and WMU was playing catch-up the whole game. Well, those are my thoughts on the game for now. If you want to check out my game recap, it should be up on the website on Tuesday (if the website is ready, which it should be). I'm excited for this season and my experience with the football team. Can't wait for the home opener next Saturday versus Northern Illinois. Should be a good time.

Mid-June Update

I'm avoiding blogger. No, not really. Just haven't had the time or drive to write a post until now - 1:30 in the morning on a Thursday morning. I've finally got some time off (the next 4 days) from class and work.

I've been actually very busy this summer thus far. Taking one class (which is done next week), working pretty steadily at Borgess and then also writing articles for the Herald. I wasn't sure if I'd get much work this summer with the Herald, but I've wrote about two a week for about a month at least now. The type of articles and sports have been different which is good because it gives me some experience with everything. I've had the most fun talking and interviewing the different players and coaches from around WMU. I also was able to go to a Kalamazoo Xplosion (indoor football team) game two weekends ago and actually finally cover a live event. I'm glad that I'm finally able to get some experience writing and I'm gearing up for the fall and spring semeters coming up.

Tigers are looking good. They've been on a roll as of late and it doesn't look like they'll let up anytime soon. The pitching is finally coming around and the offense seems as though it's starting to click on all cylinders. If the bullpen shapes up with the return of Zumaya and Rodney, it could be a dangerous summer for the other teams in the AL.

Looking forward to taking it easy this weekend. My next two weekends are filled with Robbie's bachelor party and the big trip home to Harbor for the 4th of July and Robin's wedding. Robin got a dog named Achilles. Awesome name for a dog.

Anyways, tomorrow is a big day of videogames, hanging out with friends and general laziness so I best be making my way to the other side of the room and my bed.

Goodnight.

May?

It's already almost over, but I don't even recall having a month of May. Seriously. I've been traveling a lot this month all over Michigan, making two trips (three once you count tomorrow) to Detroit and one up north to Harbor Springs. I've also been pretty busy while here in Kalamazoo working a lot at the hospital, writing articles for the Herald finally and I'm also taking a class this summer. In short, this summer should fly by.

Since the Herald sports section graduated a lot of seniors following the spring semester and as a result, I've taken one of the lead spots on the team - I think. So far this summer I've done various articles and actually conducted a few face-to-face interviews with WMU coaches. This is still all new to me, but so far its been fun and I'm looking forward to writing even more when all the fall sports begin in August/September. It sounds as though everything is going to slow down now with the paper and it's only going to run once a week starting July. The only real sport we have going right now is Track and Field and my editor said he might start doing columns later on this summer. That could be interesting.

Getting pretty jacked up for the month of July. My sister has the countdown on until her wedding. I'm just looking forward to having everyone at my house for a couple days and seeing many people that I haven't seen in years. Not everyone will be there and there are a few people that I will miss, but it's going to be a fun time no matter what. I think that I'll probably head home for at least a couple weeks to be around and help out my mom and dad in that crazy time and that will probably be the longest I've been there since I stayed home after sophmore year - long time ago. Robbie's wedding is also at the end of that month and I'm moving into my new apartment in July too. That month will be gone in a flash as well.

Heading over to Detroit to see the Red Bull Air Race tomorrow. We're going to the qualifying session on Saturday. I've seen these guys on TV before and they're pretty nuts - should be fun. I'm doubtful many people read this because it's been awhile since I posted, but to those of you who still are reading this, I'll make a more concerted effort to post. However, promise is too strong of a word.

To those of you who want to read the Herald articles, they aren't posting any online issues this summer due to most of Western being away from Kalamazoo and the internet world. Plus, we only do two smaller issues a week now, so it seems kind of rediculous. I've saved some of the issues, so if anyone wants to read them, let me know.

Back to the Books

I have three exams this week - it's finals week here at Western. They should be fairly easy and even though I missed a whole week of class because of the trip, my professors have been pretty good to me and allowed me to make up most of the work. I should be good to go for this week and then I'll be done for the summer - excellent. Next semester is almost locked down for classes - I'm taking three communications classes next semester and I'm trying to get into two journalism classes. Five classes, working at the Herald and working at Borgess should keep me very busy this fall.

It already feels like summer and that's probably because, it is. Today we went to the IM Fields and tossed the frisbee around. The weather here in Kalamazoo was great - 60's, sunny with a light breeze. It felt good to run around in my bare feet and actually take a cold shower afterwards. Today was a glimpse that this is probably going to be a pretty good summer.

Not sure if anyone follows racing out there but Danica Patrick won her first IRL race. Pretty sweet. She's got a lot of talent and I believe that one of these years she could challenge for the Indy 500 or the IRL Championship.

Pistons lost their first game of the playoffs today - that was kind of a shocker. I am fairly confident that they'll be able to take at least one game in Philadelphia however. The Red Wings moved on to the second round (finally) and the Tigers are still struggling losing another series, this time to the Blue Jays. They have some major problems in their rotation - problems that hopefully will end soon. Pretty exciting times for Detroit sports fans right now.

Trip Analysis

Hey all! Back from my travels out west and I'm going to declare that it was one of the best weeks of my life. I'm happy and sad to be home, but am thankful that I was able to take this kind of trip (especially during the school year). I'm not sure how much sleep I had throughout the trip, but I can tell you the first few nights we maybe had a couple hours at best. Vegas was the big culprit, as was our early flights to and from Portland. Drew and I estimated that we traveled over 6,000 miles (1,500 driving, the rest by plane or train) during our trip and we hit a total of 10 states (most of them ones I had never been to or through. All this in only 7 days - ahh the joys of being young.

I'm going to try and break this down by city and day and just write a summary about each.

Day One - Las Vegas
I flew into Los Angeles by myself and had the daunting task of picking up the car and driving like mad through the rush hour traffic in LA on a Saturday. I survived and picked up Drew's sister, Andrea at the other L.A. airport and then we made our way along highway 15 to Las Vegas. Our Ford Focus was amazing and we made pretty good time. I can't say enough about the weather and the view around us while we were out there - just awesome. We made it into Vegas while the sun set and found our hotel ok. We stayed at the Mirage which is right on the strip. I somehow got myself a penthouse suite and we supposedly stayed on the same floor as Jay Leno (he was preforming at our hotel that night). We never saw him though - too bad. Once Drew flew in, the three of us walked the strip and stopped at various places. We didn't gamble too much - I think I maybe spent 20 dollars total and of course, lost it all. We did get to see the fountain in front of the Bellagio, which was cool at night. We stayed up very late (2 am in Vegas - but 5 am to our bodies) and since we had been up since a little before 5 the morning before, I was exhausted by the end of the day. One thing about Vegas and this can be said about Portland as well - very clean. Everything was clean.

Day Two - Portland, Oregon
We flew up to Portland for leg two of our journey. We got in fairly early and got downtown via train (very cheap) by noon or a little after. Drew and I met up with our friend Rob (buddy from WMU) and his two friends and we spent the afternoon with them. We had lunch at Rock Bottom Brewery (some tasty beer by the way) and then made our way to a nickel arcade (in an old movie theatre) and some local stores. It was very different from our day in Vegas, but Portland altogether is a very different place. Very reserved, but very cool too. Kind of like a gentle giant. Just a beautiful city with lots of unique characteristics to it. It didn't remind me of any place I've ever been to. I can see why lots of people like to live in the area. The weather was crazy too - rained periodically three or four times with no clouds and sunshine in-between (I'm told this is the norm out there). Welcome to the Pacific Northwest. It was neat just walking around the city and not necessarily going a lot of places, but experiencing everything.

Day Three - Big Sur, California
Today was a big travel day and our last long car ride. We flew back to Las Vegas (past the mountains which was awesome) and picked up our Focus. From there - we traveled all the back across the desert and up the California coast - a grand total trip of about eight hours. The Focus drove excellent (really great on the gas too). I had fun again watching the scene around me change as we went from the city, to the desert, to the green mountains of California and finally to the Pacific (my first time seeing it). Our drive on highway one was very cool. We were driving along the highway while the sun set and it was a very cool to experience. We didn't reach Big Sur until after dark and our campground was closed. They left us the key however (so graciously) and we stayed in a little log cabin that night. Ate some food at the Big Sur Roadhouse - excellent place - and finished the night with a campfire (can't beat that). Driving on the rocky cliffs of that coast was unlike anything (there were a lot of firsts this trip) I've ever done. Drew referred it to like driving in a videogame. I quickly reminded him that if you fall of the edge though, you can't hit the reset button. Great weather while there. Just awesome.

Day Four - San Francisco, CA
We departed Big Sur the next morning having a better look at our surroundings now that it was daylight. Continued on highway one again (my turn this time) and made our way towards Frisco. Our GPS system (saved us countless times) guided us to our hotel in downtown San Fran and luckily we were able to park in a safe place for the day/night. We walked pretty much the rest of the day (if I would do it again - I might rethink this strategy) climbing and running down the hills of San Fran. We passed the famous zig-zag street called Lombard St. Pretty neat. We toured Alcatrez Island and took a tour of the island - pretty sweet. Very cool place with an almost eerie feeling (I would've hated to be there at night). Fisherman's Wharf was also cool. We ate some seafood and walked around, doing some shopping, etc. - just taking it all in once again. We also saw the protestors as the olympic torch was in the city the day we left for Santa Barbara (but we didn't see Richard Gere - darn!). Crazy that we were there at the same time. San Fran very different from the cities we had been to so far - lots of homeless and very dirty. Drew and I commented numerous times about these facts. All and all though, very neat city and we even caught a Giants-Padres game that night - not bad for a day.

Day Five - Santa Barbara, CA
We made our way back down the coast (but avoiding highway one this time) towards Santa Barbara. We originally were thinking San Diego, but by the time we would have got there, it would have been night and we would have missed out on everything and wasted a day on travel. We made it to S.B. in the afternoon, after of course my speeding ticket - ugh (didn't see a cop all day until the guy in my rear-view mirror). We acutally found a pretty good deal for the kind of city it is (very nice). The city is set on the coast with the mountains in the backdrop. There were tons of stores in the city itself, but no skyscrapers or anything. Just a very big Harbor Springs perhaps, but with more variety and more glitzy. We ate at the Santa Barbara Brewing Co. that night and walked around the town a lot (bought some wine!). The next morning before we left we even went to a winery to taste some wine (very good). Drew wouldn't let us leave California without going to at least one winery and I agreed. We went down by the harbor and the Wharf as well and went through some of the shops. Very good place to stay at - I'm glad we stopped there that night.

Day Six - Los Angeles, Union Station
After a lot of hassle between getting to the train station, dropping off the car, and getting to the train station we made it with an hour to spare before our train departed that afternoon/evening. We both checked one bag and had two bags with us on board - we had to each buy one bag to put the stuff we had collected/bought on the trip in it. We had coach seats (no sleeper car) next to each other and sat in the very last car of our amtrak train. The first night we made it as far as eastern California before the sun went down. We spent that night trying to find a good way to sleep in those uncomfortable seats. What a battle that was. Cool looking out the window and just taking it all in after having to do everything ourselves over the previous five days.

Day Seven - Cross-Country Travel
Today was our continued travel onboard the train. We passed through New Mexico and by nightfall, Colorado. We were going at a pretty slow pace through N.M. because of the turns and the mountains. We actually got some snow while on the train and for me, it was a sign that we were returning home and our trip was close to its end. Took a lot of neat pictures that day and saw a lot of cool things that people don't normally see driving through Michigan or other areas of the country. Just neat taking it all in. Drew and I watched DVD's on his laptop when we weren't stareing out the window and just having a good time relaxing. Let me tell you - there were some kind of different people in the seats all around us, so there was always someone watching our bags (we never both left the seats at the same time).

Day Eight - Chicago & Kalamazoo
Today we arrived in Chicago. Our friend Mel was there to meet us as we got to the train station. The train was actually on-time, almost exactly on-time (3:20 pm). We did some more Drew and Adam running around to get a rental car and made in back to Kalamazoo around 10 pm our time. Whew. What a trip.

I'm sure I made a bunch of typos in here, so please forgive me. But I got pretty much most of the trip on here, so be thankful for that. I'm just glad I didn't try and copy my trip log onto here - that would have taken hours. I'm going to try and put some pictures on here soon, but it's sometimes hard to get them on here. Hope everyone enjoyed the entry.

161-1?

Game 1
Today was Opening Day for Baseball around the country and most importantly in Detroit. The Tigers have a new-look team this year with some off-season additions and should make a solid run at the pennant and the World Series this year. They opened at Comerica today against the Royals and while they fought pretty hard, they fell to the Royals in extras, 5-4. Miguel Cabrera hit his first official Tiger homer deep to left field and Justin Verlander pitched a very solid game, but it wasn't enough to hold off a pesky Kansas City team, who showcased a play til the last pitch attitude. Can't win 'em all, but it always is nice to win the first one in a long season. We'll try again on Wednesday. Kenny Rogers takes the ball for the Tigers.

We're staying at a different hotel in Vegas now. We'll be on the strip after we moved from the Hilton to the Mirage. Hopefully this will enhance the trip and the visit to Vegas even more. The trip is fast approaching and I'm very excited about leaving this Friday. I'm pretty sure I have everything all squared away and am set to leave for a week. Just 4 Days until my train leaves for Detroit and the beginning of my tour of 9 states in just 7 days.

Check out the Herald tomorrow (Tuesday) if you get a chance. Nothing big, but some of the staff, including myself, made predicitions for the upcoming MLB season. There could be some surprises on who I picked to win the different divisions, but probably not surprise on who I picked to win it all!

I'll probably post once more before I leave Friday, so see you then.

Two Week Itch

In light of my recent purchase for the trip, http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=257315 I am asking everyone for some good songs to have on my Ipod for the West Coast trip. So I am asking you - what songs need to be listened to while driving up and down the coast of California? I've got a bunch of songs on my Ipod rearing and ready to go, but am probably missing some of the most worthy ones. Let me know if you get a chance.

March Madness begins today. I'm feeling fairly confident in my bracket this year, but I say that every year and usually end up broken-hearted. My teams this year are Pittsburgh and Purdue. I think they are going to make some lengthy runs, considering their seeding.

Two weeks from tomorrow I head out West to the Pacific Ocean. There is no word to describe the excitement I have built up for this trip. We currently have a winter storm watch in Kalamazoo and the further I can get away from this kind of stuff, the better.

Happy Green Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone.

Had a pretty good weekend. Sunday we went out to Flint for Steph's sisters visitation. I think she enjoyed us being there for a couple hours and it was definitely worth going out for. I hope that it got her mind off things, even if just for a bit and I know that having friends there would definitely help in a situation like that. The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxing. Just took it pretty easy and went out on Saturday night to celebrate the "first" St. Patrick's Day with some friends.

There are some trip updates. Tomorrow I'm going to purchase the last hotel (or in this case Cabin) that we are scheduled to stay at. It's in Big Sur and it's a pretty neat log cabin in the woods near the Pacific Ocean. Here is the website: http://www.bigsurcamp.com/index.html
After that our trip we be pretty much complete. We're also for sure going to see a San Francisco Giants - San Diego Padres baseball game in San Fran on that Tuesday when we are staying in SF. Only eighteen more days until we head out to California and the West Coast on the 5th of April. Wow - until I just counted, I didn't even know it was that close!

Thanks to everyone who has read my first article in the Western Herald and since given me some positive feedback. It was a pretty big deal for me and I'm very excited to be published in the paper. Hopefully you'll see more from me in there soon.

Opening Day is in exactly two weeks. I'm almost as excited for this as I am the trip.

Hope everyone has a good week. You'll most likely hear from me again later this week.

First Article for Herald

I'm up real late tonight - first time I've done this in a long time. And I wasn't doing homework. Suddenly I don't feel so old anymore. Reminds me of some of the all-nighters we had on Bouton nights. Just thought I would post that my first article is being published by the Western Herald for the Thursday, March 13, 2008 edition.

The Herald has a website - www.westernherald.com and the Thursday edition is our last edition for the week, so my article should be there all weekend. You can find it in the sports section and it's entitled, "Lacrosse earning more than wins." There really aren't many changes that the editor put in except for a few word changes here and there and seperating some of the paragraphs that I had to help the article flow better.

Let me know what you guys think about the article. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out and I'm hoping to get some more feature stories soon. They might have me follow some of the matches being played by the lacrosse team this year which would be cool.

Anyways, it's pushing 4 am and I have class in 7 hours. Goodnight... errr, Good Morning.

Spring Sports

Really looking forward to a couple of things this month. First, the Western Michigan Broncos Basketball team is having a pretty solid season again this year and have clinched the MAC West Title with an 11-4 recond in MAC play (they lost last night to Central - ugh). I'm pretty sure they have locked up a bye for the MAC Tournament and if they can put a real good stretch together, they just might come away with a MAC Tourney Title and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. They have to beat a couple of good teams (Akron, Kent State, Ohio) along the way, but it can be done. Would love to see them play in the national spotlight again.

Also, the Tigers are in the beginning stages of spring training down in Lakeland Florida playing and tuning up for the season to start. They have a load of talent under their command this year and are expected to do well. There are a few key pieces that still have to be figured out like what to do with Brandon Inge and how to set up the bullpen behind Todd Jones and Rodney. As long as there are no major injuries so far though, then spring training can be considered a success.

Starting to get excited (even more so than before) for the season and there is actually a spring training game on TV today, so I'm going to go watch. Check everyone later.

Harbor is Where the Heart Is

Making my way home to Harbor tomorrow afternoon. The students (me - yay!) here at Western are on a Spring Break (never thought I'd have one of those again) and I'm going home for a couple days. My sister will be up as well, so it will kind of be like a shortened Christmas break - and with the weather the way it is, I'm sure everyone will agree. Sounds like a relaxing, movie-watching weekend (not much of a shift from my normal weekend) that we have on tap, but in a different place with some different faces.

Not sure if I mentioned this in any previous entries, but I am going to begin writing articles for the Herald after Spring Break. The sports editor told me a little about what I'll be writing about for the rest of the semester and it seems promising. Since I have little experience and I can't really pick up any beats right now (middle of the winter sports season), he said I'll probably be writing about some of the club teams and do some feature articles to get my feet wet. His goal is to have me write about 6-7 articles (probably one a week) before the end of the semester and then I would have some good experience going into next year. Most of the sports staff is graduating this spring (including the editor), so he said I have a real good opportunity for next year. This leaves me at a crossroads. I wasn't exactly planning on staying into next year, but this opportunity forces me to re-think about my plans now.

Well, I'm off to sleep. The extra day of February (and thus an extra day of winter - ugh!) is going to be a long one with me working 8 hours and then traveling 4 plus hours home. Hope everyone has a good weekend and we'll catch ya in the hopefully much warmer March.

Good Riddance?

I haven't much time to blog tonight because I'm studying for two evil exams tomorrow, but I'd just like to point out that Miguel Cabrera's first AB as a Tiger was a 420-foot homerun over the Centerfield fence. The Tigers were playing a college team today, however, I think it bodes well for the year to come. Real Spring training games begin tomorrow.

Herald

I finally got an email back from the Sports Editor at the Western Herald. He told me to come in and we'll discuss some of the articles and sports that I will be writing about. I'm going to try and get Monday off from work so that I can go visit him at the office. Hopefully I can get some steady work here before the semester is over. I'm really going to push writing articles about the baseball team and/or the Tigers - although I'm really not going to be picky 'cause I'm the new guy.

This job opportunity comes at a perfect time because I'm really starting to get tired of Borgess. On most days it's really not a bad job (get paid to do homework and watch TV), but other days I really wonder why I'm working in a hospital when I'm not sick or even going into any medical profession. This Herald job is right up my alley.

Waiting patiently for the next few weeks to go by before:
1) Spring Break
2) More Wii Games coming out (Smash Brothers & Mario Kart)
3) It gets warmer
4) Getting even closer to "the trip" in April

Man-Crush

Throughout this whole political process this 2008 election year, I have developed one large man crush... and it's not John McCain. Yes, I'm not going to lie - my heart started beating a little faster when I saw Senator Barack Obama walk across the stage tonight at the University of Texas. I'm even going to go ahead and say that it's probably weird that I've declared a man-crush on Barack, but I'm ok with that. Maybe it's for the fact that I can't stand Hillary or for the fact that he struck a heisman pose today with a heisman trophy. Maybe it's because he reminds me of JFK or because he's being compared to FDR - who knows? All I know is that he's my man and after watching the debate tonight, I am certain on one thing... the man's got style.

GObama!!! (thanks AOTS)

In other news: I'm ready for baseball season and the weather that it brings.

WHY?

I was very saddened by the news regarding the shooting at Northern Illinois University yesterday. Hearing that it took place in a large lecture hall was a little eerie because I have a lecture every single day of the week in 250+ seat classrooms. I didn't think it was possible for something like Virginia Tech to happen again (at least not for awhile) and it happened within a year and this time even closer. Northern Illinois, like Western, is in the Mid-American Conference and has roughly the same amount enrollment. Western was supposed to travel to DeKolb this weekend to face the Huskies in basketball, but that is an afterthough right now.

Something is going to have to change at colleges and universities across the nation because this is starting to get a little scary. The first thing I thought about today walking into my lecture was, should I start sitting a little closer to the front in case that one person walks through the door and decides that it's his or her turn to make national headlines. I'm not sure if metal detectors are necessary, but campuses need plans for emergency situations. All it takes is one little thing to snap inside someone's head and dozens of innocent people are put in danger. All I know is, that everytime someone walks through the door during my lectures in the weeks to come, I'll be more aware and alert about who it is.

Trip Update

It's official. I've began a countdown. Exactly 50 Days until Drew and I depart on our epic quest of the West Coast. Things are going to be a little different at the beginning of the trip. Drew has a class that weekend that will keep him in the classroom on Friday night and Saturday morning. He had to switch his plane ticket from flying out with me Saturday morning and instead is going to meet Andrea and I in Las Vegas that evening. I'm in charge of getting to Los Angeles, picking up the rental car, picking up Andrea (who will fly in to L.A. at a different airport) and then we'll meet Drew in Las Vegas that evening. Hope my incompetence when it comes to being responsible doesn't hurt me on this one. Other than that, everything else on the trip is the same as planned, so no worries there.

I'm really being careful with my money these days in awareness for this trip. I've got some money saved and I'm trying my best to not use up all those funds on useless stuff before the trip. Buying the camera and getting all that settled ahead of time was good and the fact that we have almost all the hotel rooms, plane tickets and car rental taken care of is huge.

Was thinking about heading over to Detroit this weekend to bum around but I really don't have the cash to do this and my cold is still winning battles, so I will most likely stay put this weekend. I'm going to probably be over there during Sprink Break anyways.

I'm going to try and get some more pictures in here soon, although I really don't have too many that are blog-worthy right now.

Oh, and it's Valentine's Day. I'm currently in hiding.

Lies, Lies and More Lies...

As I have previously stated, Wednesday's are perhaps my favorite day of the week this semester. Not only do I get a 7+ hour break between classes, but I get to enjoy my only journalism class on this day. Today, I was also able to watch just about all of the Clemens-McNamee hearing today on ESPN. There were no shockers in what they said to Congress today and I'm actually somewhat disappointed that watching almost 5 hours worth of hearing really led nowhere. Nothing was decided although I found myself rooting for Clemens more than McNamee (Clemens' former personal trainer). McNamee seems like he is more believable as he's got nothing to lose and Clemen's has his reputation on the line, but I am rooting for Clemen's for the mere fact that I'm worried about what might happen to the game of baseball if he's found he lied today. I really don't want to see the game tarnished by any means and it seems that these never ending steroid hearings involving the United States government are starting to give our national pastime a black eye (if it already hasn't). Lou Pinella, manager of the Cubs, said today that he didn't mind what they were doing but didn't want to see it upstage the game and spring training. I think it would be a shame if this kept going into the season because the game doesn't deserve this. So here's to hoping that the next five years aren't overshadowed with steroid talk and accusations about famous ballplayers using banned substances. We've all got the right to hope, correct?

Valentine's Day tomorrow. Brace yourself.

Worst Holiday Ever

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, I find myself in the same mood I'm in every year around this holiday - annoyed. I've always had disdain for V-Day and this year is no different. Every time it's brought up by my friends or I see a "cute" commercial on TV adversitising various gifts, I find myself overcome by feelings of anger, sadness and disgust. I'm not sure when this all started, but I can tell you that I'm not normally taken with these kinds of emotions. I guess maybe it's for the fact that I'm not usually participating in this holiday, but I really don't think that's the whole reason. I just flat-out dislike a holiday to me - is pointless. A real waste of money if you ask me. So come next Thursday, you won't find me wearing red and handing out cards like their candy. Instead, you'll probably find me rejoicing the end of the terrible holiday and dreading the fact that there is still another one to come next year.

"Super" Bowl & Tuesday

Until the fourth quarter last night, the game between the Patriots and Giants wasn't much of a game at all. The commercials were more entertaining and I actually got up to get food and beverages during the gameplay. Realizing that the game was actually going to be in the ballpark of Plaxico Burress' prediction, it was gametime in the fourth. There was some very good defense throughout the game, which isn't appealing to your outside fan but was riveting in the fourth quarter. Everyone expected the game to come down to the last couple of minutes and that always makes for a good Super Bowl. Blowouts mean loss in interest, but these teams kept everyone tuned to the TV for the mere fact that the Patriots weren't blowing anyone out of the water. Tom Brady looked human. The Patriots looked panicked for the first time all season and could have even lost that edge they had over the Giants - confidence. I had a hard time rooting for the Patriots because most of those players have rings already at home. I had an easier time rooting for Eli Manning in getting his first ring than Randy Moss receiving his first. I just read somewhere that it is most likely the highest game ever rated, which is expected. Maybe one of these years the Lions can put together some momentum leading into the playoffs like the Giants this year (funny, right). The Giants showcased that anyone can win the Super Bowl - who cares what anyone else says? Very good game in my opinion.

Tomorrow is one of the bigger days politically, as well. I'm interested to see who pulls ahead on the Democratic side (Obama or Hillary). It seems that John McCain has the Republican nomination in the bag, unless Romney comes out of nowhere. I'm kind of new to all this politic stuff, but Super Tuesday is apparently a pretty large day so I'm going to take it all in tomorrow. Where was I four years ago? I'm hoping that John Edwards finds it somewhere in himself to support Obama rather than Hillary because I think he has a much better chance at winning the presidency than Hillary over the Republican front-runner.

And now that football season is officially over, it's time to turn to baseball. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in less than two weeks and my favorite Tiger, Brandon Inge is reporting with them. Once sworn off from ever having to play catcher again, he now finds himself right back where he started. There is still a chance that the Tigers will trade him, but as of now, he's the third catcher/back-up infielder/possibly outfielder on a suddenly very-dangerous and playoff contending Detroit Tigers squad.

My Playlist

Yes, music is good. I like music. I have a hard time believing that there is anyone who doesn't like some kind of music or artist. There have been several songs and artists that have influenced me during my still young life (some in middle school, others more recently). If I was forced to create a playlist of songs that embodies my life so far, this is what it would look like. If I was famous, you'd be able to see this on itunes.

There really is no particular order.
1. Snow Patrol - "Run"
2. Moby - "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters"
3. Coldplay - "Clocks"
4. U2 - "Beautiful Day"
5. Linkin Park - "Numb"
6. Explosions in the Sky - "Your Hand in Mind"
7. Eric Clapton - "Cocaine"
8. Sigur Ros - "Samskeyti"
9. Boston - "Livin' for You"
10. Lostprophets - "Last Train Home"
11. Moby - "Porcelain"
12. Metallica S&M - "No Leaf Clover"
13. Death Cab for Cutie - "Marching Bands of Manhattan"
14. Aerosmith - "Dream On"
15. The Verve - "Bittersweet Symphony"
16. Thrice - "Stare at the Sun"
17. Straylight Run - "Existentialism on Prom Night"
18. Incubus - "Dig"
19. Guns n Roses - "November Rain"
20. Smash Mouth - "All-Star"

I'm sure I'll look at this list in five years and feel completely embarassed by it, but these are a few of the songs and bands that have filled my ears from when buying cds was cool to the current age of the ipods.

C-C-Cold

Seeing how my fingers were too cold to even type yesterday, I had to wait until today to write this entry. Yesterday was one of those winter days where all you want to do is stay inside under the covers. I knew it was going to be a rough day when even poking my head out from underneath my blankets made me shiver. Go away outside world.

Just about every college, university and school system was out in this region except of course for Western and Kalamazoo College. I drove to class with my window down because my windshield was frozen on the inside as well as outside - don't try this... your head then abruptly freezes as well. It's scary watching all of these southern Michigan drivers try and manuever in the snow. One strong push on the breaks and you could end up looking into the headlights of someone else.

Still no word from the Western Herald guy. Although I'm going to email today to see what's up. Hopefully I can get a response and a job soon. I've started writing beat articles for my journalism class, so I have some work to showcase for him.

Locked down a few more hotels for the West Coast trip. I purchased a hotel in Portland which is fairly close to the airport - which is good because we're only there one night. I believe sometime soon Drew is going to get a real neat one in downtown San Francisco for when we spend a night there. We're going to leave the last part of the trip open just in case we get behind or find something we hadn't anticipated before going out there.

This weekend is going to be pretty laid back. No work. No school-work. No money. The last of these limits me of doing pretty much anything, so I'll most likely be hitting the rec center, hanging out at home and gearing up for the Super Bowl.

So I now realize that I've been complaining a lot (no money, it's cold) so I'm going to try and not complain as much on my next entry, but of course no promises. This is me in my mid-winter rut.

Pictures Aplenty

Well, today I became even poorer by telling myself that I had enough money to buy a camera. It was something that needed to be done, however. With the trip creeping up and my older Canon in shambles, I purchased a smaller, cheaper PowerShot. I've read good things about it online with one customer even claiming he lost it in the snow for 3 weeks before finding it and is still using it to this day. Even the Best Buy guy liked my purchase. He didn't even try to offer me something more expensive - thank god. The memory card holds about 1200 pictures which should suffice for the upcoming trip - I would hope so!

The costs should be pretty fair from here on out. We need to reserve a few more one-night stays at different hotels and I need to make sure that I have enough cash to cover other random costs - like taxis, food, gas and other random stuff. But the large costs are done and over with. My wallet is barely recognizeable.

Still no word from the Sport Editor dude at the Western Herald. He's probably a busy man. If I don't hear from him soon, I'm going to pay him a visit on campus to further push my interest in writing articles. It's only been one week though, so I can't get overly-aggressive.

My camera ---> http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8266164&type=product&id=1170290185654

Well, I'm Officially Pumped

I reserved today at the Hilton in Las Vegas for just 104 dollars - not bad. It's right on the strip and is only a few miles from the airport. Just a few more hotels to reserve and we should be all set for this trip. I don't know if I've ever been more pumped for anything more in my life. Experiencing the west coast like this with my best bud and seeing all of the major cities in one trip is going to be one for the memories. Here's to hoping that the money situation holds up.

I'm going to predict some of tomorrow's games. I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm fairly excited for these championship games and that I'm not so excited about going boarding tomorrow in single-digit weather. So instead, I think I will sit at home and watch Green Bay and New England hopefully own and meet up in the Super Bowl. I would love to see a Brett Favre and Tom Brady match up. Pack is going to win 33-14 and New England will win 31-16. Those are my predictions and I'm sticking to them.

Alright, what a late night for me. More good news to come hopefully and may my extended weekend (we at WMU get Martin Luther King Jr. Day off) give me oodles of rest for the upcoming haul until spring break.

Closer...

Finalizing! We have purchased the plane tickets from Las Vegas to Portland and back and Drew last night made reservations for the car rental which was real cheap because we bought the plane tickets through Southwest. Pretty much the only thing left to do is to check into some hotels in the spots where we're staying. Drew said that he found some pretty cheap and neat hotels in Big Sur that are right on the ocean and I'm going to make it my duty to find an affordable and awesome place to stay in Las Vegas. But everything is falling into place for sure, which is definitely cool...

Western Herald

As of the other day, I will most likely be working for the Western Herald - which is the student-run newspaper here on WMU's campus. I spoke with the Sports Editor during a tour of the Western Herald that we took for my journalism class. He sounded pretty confident that he would be offering me a job because they always need writers. What I will be writing and how much is yet to be determined, but I am pretty pumped about actually producing some polished work for other's eyes to look at. This is the direction my life is heading in these days and I'm excited to get this opportunity which should definitely give me a leg-up for the future. It's going to be cool to speak with the Western coaches and players and get an inside look at college sports. If you want to take a look at the Western Herald's website, click on the link below.

www.westernherald.com

Ahh... the Joys

The joys of being a college student again are many. There are some parts I wish would remain hidden. One of those is feeling so poor that you cringe when you drop quarters into the washing machine. I thought I was smarter than Western this time around and could beat the system. I thought wrong. After two parking tickets in less than two weeks, I have folded and purchased a parking sticker. Apparently, they even figure out when your a student without a parking sticker just based on your license plate number. So instead of dropping quarters into the meters this year, I'll take the 180 dollar hit and park in the student lots. No more parking tickets at least.

And when did books get so expensive? I just paid 225 dollars, for ONE class. The books were all used too which made me wonder how much they would have been had they been new. Yikes. Looks like I'll resort to dinners of Easy-Mac and Peanut Butter Sandwiches this year. Just hoping I'll be able to save a few dimes for my trip this spring. In the meantime, you'll find me shivering in the coldness of this dark apartment (heat=money) and wondering what I'll be able to sell on ebay for 5 dollars.

The Trip: Enhanced Version

Drew and I did some pretty insane planning this weekend and we came out with a very awesome trip. To say the least, I'm stoked. We pretty much ironed every detail for what we should be doing each day. Here is what the awesomeness appears as of now:

Friday - I take the train from Kalamazoo to Lapeer. Drew and Emily pick me up (it's about 20 miles from Lake Orion). Stay night at Drew's.

Saturday - Fly out of Flint Airport early in the morning. Arrive in Los Angeles after a stop in Minneapolis. After picking up rental car, drive to Las Vegas - barely escaping the traffic. Hopefully get there late-afternoon, early-evening. Visit multiple Casinos, buffett bars, lose all money and then return home. Naw, just kidding. Stay night at hotel somewhere on strip.

Sunday - Fly out of Las Vegas airport with destination Portland in sights. Spend day in Portland visiting sights, including Voodoo Doughnuts. I'd really like to take some sort of memorial to the place where my friend Mike passed away as well. Hopefully meet up with Drew's sister Andrea and Rob.

Monday - Wake up early again to fly back to Las Vegas where we pick up car and head for Big Sur, California (small town on coast, about two hours south of San Francisco). Reach Big Sur, chill and relax.

Tuesday - Head for San Francisco. We would really like to visit Alcatraz Island and there is also a San Francisco Giants-San Diego Padres game that night and that is a good possibility. Stay night somewhere in San Francisco.

Wednesday - Make our way back south towards San Diego. Stop either there or somewhere else - we're trying to give ourselves some lee-way in case we get behind on some of there other days.

Thursday - Travel to Los Angeles (we pushed our train departure date back a day). We are to board our train and depart at 6:45 at night. Sleep a ridiculous amount of hours.

Friday-Saturday - Enjoy views aboard the train as we pass through Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois. We even pass parts of the Grand Canyon. Relax and recharge our inner batteries all the while. Reach Chicago Saturday afternoon after 42 hour train trip. Travel with Emily (who will be in Chicago) back towards Kalamazoo and Lake Orion.

Sunday - Sleep, sleep and more sleep. Upload a very high amount of pictures. Attempt to amount for a week's worth of missing class. Mentally tare myself away from the Pacific Ocean and to the dreary thought of finals in a couple weeks.

http://voodoodoughnut.com/ - here is the site for Voodoo Doughnuts, a store that sells very unique and odd doughnuts in Portland.

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Route/Horizontal_Route_Page&c=am2Route&cid=1081442673827&ssid=132 - Our Amtrak route.

Our road routes - not as bad as if we drove all the way to Portland and back (1,000 miles each way).

10 States (not including Michigan), 7 Days, 5 Big-time West Coast cities. Excellent.

I Am Old: Part Two

I saw someone on campus I knew today. I was really excited. Turned out I had no idea who this person was or where I had seen her before, but the idea that I recognized someone's face was uplifting. It was the first time all week I had seen someone I at least recognized (disregarding seeing Geoff at the rec). Wow.

Heading to Detroit this weekend to partake in lots of craziness - and mostly with the man, Drew. We have the U of M (#1 in nation) vs. WMU Hockey game tomorrow in Ann Arbor. We have a Saturday filled with absolutely nothing - awesome! Trip planning. And I'm overjoyed at the thought of meeting up with Robbie, Matt and maybe Don Saturday night for some drinks and/or general hanging out (remember we are old and the bar scene might be a bit much). Just hoping the snow... excuse me, rain doesn't hold us back.

Want further proof that I'm old. Here ya go. I actually care about politics now. I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm a superfan of Obama's. Actually, I do like Edwards too, but Barack is the man. I was giddy when I head Kerry supported or "endorsed" him today.

Well, I better shore this up. Seeing how I'm old now and it's 11:57 pm, I better rush into bed because Conan's coming on and I'm never awake for that anymore and for the reason that my body pretty much completely shuts down on me at midnight. And I actually finished all my school-work before midnight. There is no way I even started homework for another hour three years ago. So proud.

I Am Old

Long gone are those days when I dreaded Mondays and was gung-ho for Fridays. Long gone are the days when I feared I would oversleep my 9 am class. Long gone are the days when I disliked going to class and once in class, nodded off on more than one occasion. Long gone are the days when I would stay up until 4 am the night before a test. Diagnosis: I'm Old. Yes, I realize that I'm 23 years old and for many of you reading this it might seem juvenile for me to be calling myself old, however I beg to differ.

I entered back into a scene where college "kids" live for the weekends, party on Wednesday nights and can't even picture waking up before noon. Out of place, ancient... name it what you want but no matter what, I'm an old man. I find it hard anymore to even keep my eyes open past midnight. I think my body is telling me that yes, you used up all your college-type days awhile back and you must conform to being an adult. A grown-up college-student? Hrmmm... I'm at a loss for words to describe my situation because most people go back to college to get a masters and not ANOTHER bachelor's degree. In no way, shape or form am I knocking what I am doing. I'm just citing several reasons for my feeling aged.

Wednesdays are going to be days I live for this year. Class at 9 and Class at 5:30 which means about 7 hours of either rec center craziness or homework busyness. Either way, I like the huge break and have always been a big fan of the once-a-week night classes. I could also hit the rec for a couple hours after my class ends at 8. Options, options... I feel like I've never had so much freedom in college even though I did (and usually spent it playing videogames, sleeping or lounging).

No more all-nighters for this guy. Well... at least not yet. It's only the first week.

When Affliction Becomes More...

There are many problems in this world that are under-appreciated. Kids starving in nations we've never heard of. People dying every minute for the wrong reasons. For many living in the United States, they are oblivious to these problems. It seems as citizens of this nation we are becoming increasingly more aware of these issues and problems, but there is some work to be done.

I'm guilty of being an oblivious member of our society for the fact that I could do a lot more to prevent some of these problems that plague us today. For part of my life, I struggled deeply with depression and was actually diagnosed in high school. It even carried into my college years and I believed that I had some symptoms of bi-polar disorder. I know first-hand how hard life can be and how depression greatly affects someone's life. Through aging and support from many people in my life, I have mostly overcome this affliction but it remains a thought in my mind always.

I've really wanted to participate in Out of the Darkness Overnight for awhile now. This suicide prevention walk is supported by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and I found out about it through a friend in college. I've talked about doing it for awhile now and think that this year might be the appropriate time to do it - because it seems to be my year of traveling. The only thing is, I need some help. When you register for one of these walks (the spots this year are Seattle and New York City) you need support through donations. I'm real interested in doing the Seattle one - enhancing my West Coast experience even further. I promised myself I'd do this one year and this year seems like the right year for some reason. If you're interested, check out the website below.

http://www.theovernight.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=742C7D2A-FEAB-2DA6-FE0972E0264CC80E

Student Again

Today was my first day back as a student at WMU. Ironically, my first class was in the College of Education building. The same building I thought I would probably never set foot in again. When the professor remarked this morning something about being old, I was overcome with the feeling that I probably belonged more in front of these students than with them. I definitely wasn't the oldest in the class (some 280 strong), but it was close.

It's going to be a weird semester, but I'm sure the initial feeling of being old and out of my element will pass soon and I'll move through the semester smoothly - we can all hope. I only have three classes and the fact that I'm taking a break from these in April to road-trip relaxes things even further.

Also, I can now start using the rec center on a regular basis which I'm extremely thrilled about. New Years resolution of course - isn't it everyone's? Seems so until people give up halfway through January because of the combination of cold weather, being busy and being lazy. Hopefully none of these attribute to my quitting on working out this year and I've got Corey to push me as well. Plus, we just lost all of our snow due to extremely warm temperatures - bummer. I might even be able to start running outside in the middle of January... crazy.

Twenty-08

There are several things I'm looking forward to and many of them are coming soon. I'm returning to school to start working on another degree. Where this will lead me I have no idea, but I'm hopefull these classes will lead me in the right direction. This is also the year when my younger sister gets married. This has certainly been a different and special time for my family and I'm anxious for this summer when the wedding is set to take place. It will be different not seeing her as often around holidays and on trips, but in all seriousness I'm happy to be gaining a member to our family, in Steve.

Perhaps the thing I'm most excited about this year, is the trip I'm taking out west this spring. I'm traveling by plane, car and train across the country to Califonia and back again, soaking in as much as I can in-between. Going with Drew will definitely be awesome and I'm now counting down the days until we depart to the Pacific Ocean and all the lays in its boundaries.

I hope everyone had a relaxing and family-filled holiday. Mine was relaxing and went by way too fast, but I'm excited for some of the reasons I listed above. Happy 2008!