So my internship has been going well. We just completed the main task of my 6-month internship, the PAC-10 Cross Country Championships. It was a huge success, leading several coaches to tell me it was the best championship race they've seen in a long time. That gives me a huge sense of pride, and makes me realize at least part of what goes into putting on a large-scale, high-caliber event like that. You can go to www.flotrack.com and see the race video, results, and photos. Here are some of my own.
My next major event at UW is the NCAA Women's Volleyball Regional hosted by Washington. I am currently creating a participant manual for teams traveling to Seattle to compete. Should be some amazing volleyball, as it has been all season watching one of the best teams in the country play week in and week out. My duty at the games is to organize and instruct the ball girls, who make sure the server has a ball exactly when they need it. It takes 6 girls to run in smoothly and anyone that has worked with, or raised, a 7th grader knows that there are other things on their minds than performing delicate and precise tasks!
Officiating has gone well this fall. I worked some of my first varsity games and had good revues from other, more experienced officials. I learned two new positions on the field (umpire and back judge) which should help me diversify my abilities. My first varsity game in week two of the season was the Seattle local television station's "game of the week" and I managed to get on tv for the game-winning field goal with 1.7 seconds on the clock! Hopefully there will be more opportunities like this in the future!
The season is winding down and believe this is my final weekend officiating this year. I have a full day Saturday and Sunday working the smallest kids in the area (1st grade-8th grade). It's fun to officiate (and coach) these guys, but the coaches and parents are especially rough at that level. Imagine people that know NOTHING about your field of work and are yelling in your ear about how to do it. Yeah, like that.
I've been managing to run 3 or more times per week, which is a positive since I tore the meniscus in my right knee at the end of the summer. What was I doing? Playing, of all things, backyard football. It's taken all this time to heal, but now that I'm doing some physical therapy it's really taking a turn toward recovery. Slightly considering, once in a while, maybe, kinda-sorta, trying to do a couple triathlons next year. We'll see how the rest of this master's program goes, but it's on the brain.
At the end of the summer my roommate from Colorado came out to Seattle and we drove up to Canada for an off-road triathlon in Whistler. It was a beautiful weekend, and outside of race-preparation and meals we decided to sneak in a little trip to Whistler Bungee. One hundred and sixty feet above a river we leaped off a shaky bridge for a fabulous 5 seconds!
A month or so after the trip to Whistler I took a quick trip to Arizona with my friend Stefanie to see the Raiders play the Cardinals. Stefanie's family has season tickets to sit in box seats and it was one of the best football experiences I've had! You feel like royalty for 3 hours, unless you have to see one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history miss a 30-yard field goal with no time on the clock, and be on the losing end!
Several days after that trip my mother and father came to Seattle and we had a fantastic visit. We hiked in many of the local parks, took Linus to all of his favorite spots, had some great meals, visited the space needle, and generally enjoyed Seattle. Here is a picture of the sunset at Gasworks Park on a fine evening with mom and dad.
I'm moving to Berkeley, CA at the beginning of January for the second of two internships. I will be working at the University of California in their Olympic Sports Dept. (essentially every sport except football and basketball). I'm looking forward to it as I have several friends and classmates that are currently working at Cal. Not to mention I've introduced myself to some pretty important people down there and am going to make darn sure I re-introduce myself upon my arrival!
Socially I have been lame. I made a conscious decision after the summer session ended to not worry about making friends and just concentrate on my school work and internship. Now I'm paying for it by not having friends! There are a few classmates still in town, but they are very busy and we only get a chance to socialize once in a while. My housemates are very busy, and I spend a lot of my spare time walking Linus or playing video games and listening to internet radio. I joined two local running groups.... only went to one run..... a rock climbing group.... haven't gone to any..... and a french bulldog social group..... none. I sound like a huge dork, but that's been my life for a while now.
Thanks for reading. Sorry it's so long, but that's what happens when I drag my feet on updating this badboy.
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