1500 miles in 27 hours

I love blueberries. I didn't when I was little, but with the maturing of my palette came an extreme fondness for the blueberry (affectionately called "bluebs" in our household). It is common knowledge, or maybe not so common, that some of the best bluebs are grown in a often-forgotten state called Indiana. Nestled between Illinois and Ohio, this surprisingly long state (almost as long as Nebraska is wide) produces DD sized bluebs that are sweet and succulent. Who wouldn't want to experience such a tasty little Indiana fruit? I know I do. So on Tuesday morning, Keilani, Sars, and I got in a 2004 (or 2006) Jetta, hopped on I-80 East, and continued to press the gas pedal (with the help of cruise control) until Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois were behind us. We discovered many things along the way-- Purdum, NE (probably the name that Purdue's opponents give the school), What Cheer, Iowa, and perhaps most importantly, we found that if you pile everything that's in the trunk into the front passenger's seat and fold the entire back seat down, a person about 5'4'' can sleep rather comfortably with their legs in the now-empty trunk cavity and save money on a hotel. It was a magnificent experience, this drive across the country. One I would readily do again for some Indiana bluebs.

Now, if you're thinking I'm ridiculously crazy to drive 1500 miles in 27 hours just for food, don't worry. Sars' friend April lives in Lafayette as well as my friend Lexy so we are visiting them for a few weeks. But don't tell them the real reason we came out...

Wasatch My Back

One of the big events this summer was the Wasatch Back Relay which was yesterday and today. It's 188 miles from Logan to Park City divided by 12 team members. And no, we weren't driving. We were RUNNING. Our team (Wasatch My Back) was a fantastic group of people-- 6 moms (which I find totally inspiring), 2 of my rugby teammates, 3 boys, and myself. It was definitely difficult, but without a doubt one of the coolest things I've done in my 22 years. My body hurts: 14.7 miles (3 of those being the hardest hill of my life) in 30 hours on 2 hours sleep will do that to you. In fact, we all hurt so badly that not 10 minutes after we finished, we registered for next year.

Pictures to come...

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Today I ran into one of my teachers from high school at the grocery store. The first thing he said to me was "Stop looking so angry!" Ha, whoops. I wasn't angry, I was just focused. Anyway, as we were catching up, asking about each others families, work, and school, I couldn't help but be impressed at how he genuinely seemed to care about me and my life, even though I was in his class 5 years ago. Should I ever go into teaching, I hope I can be as interested in the well-being of my students as this particular teacher is.

Running into him made me reminisce on my high school days. They are tearing down my high school in the next few days and I can't help but be a tiny bit sad when I look at the nice, new buildings that will replace it. Despite the leaky roofs, worn out gyms, and general ghetto-ness, OHS was a place of many a fond memory. May it rest in peace.

It certainly has been a while, and lots of things have happened in the interim. Final exams finished up a couple weeks ago and while I did not do very well on any of my finals thanks to a trip to Florida, my grades for the semester turned out better than expected-- no doubt from a little help from the man upstairs. I was planning on taking spring classes and even went to each class once before deciding to drop all of them and just work this summer. Spontaneous? Yes. Regrettable decision? Not yet. Because I'm not taking spring classes, my days will be filled with the following activities:

1. Training for the Wasatch Back (I would have done this anyway)
2. Working in my parents' garden
3. A river trip down the San Juan in a couple weeks
4. More hiking than originally planned
5. Checking books off my summer reading list

When a decision results in the above opportunities, how can you not do it? Does life get any better? I submit it cannot.

This past weekend, I went to the rugby Collegiate National Championship tournament (a.k.a. the Final Four). Many asked me if it would be salt in the wounds to go to the tourny just to watch. I knew it probably would... and it was, and then some. But I was glad I went. Penn St. ended up winning the entire tournament for the girls as they beat Stanford in the championship game. The BYU boys lost to Cal in the final game, which was a bit disappointing. But the weekend was still fantastic. We went to the beach, I got sunburned, and I spent time with some great teammates and friends. No complaints here....

Greatest girls eveR

R-L: Lexy, Bex (cousin), and Me

http://www.rugbymag.com/news/colleges/womencollege/byu-women-win-and-lose.aspx


http://www.fanhouse.com/2010/04/18/to-pray-or-play-that-is-not-a-question/#cmtForm

Injustices

Tomorrow I leave for Florida to play in the Sweet 16 tournament. But we won't be playing as many games as we anticipated. Due to broken promises on the part of USARugby, the Sweet 16 is scheduled for Saturday/Sunday rather than the promised Friday/Saturday format. Even though we are not associated with BYU, we still maintain their standards and refuse to play on Sunday. So, assuming we win our game on Saturday (which we will), we will be forced to forfeit our game on Sunday, effectively disqualifying ourselves from the national tournament.

To say I am disappointed would be a gross understatement. As it is my last semester of eligibility, I will go out with a forfeit-- not ideal. However, I am confident that blessings will follow our decision maintain our integrity. But that certainly doesn't mean we shouldn't make a fuss about it. If you would like to contact someone about the incredibly injustice that USARugby dealt to us, contact me and I will give you more details on the story. If you already know what you would like to say, contact the media or the following USA Rugby officials:

Competitions Committee (those responsible for scheduling)

lan Sharpley, Chair	sharpley(at)dynastat.com
John Coppinger	john(at)donahue.com
Adrian Gannon	rugbyteacher(at)sbcglobal.net
Lee Kelly	lee(at)whgmag.com
Keith MacNeal	kmacneal(at)aol.com
Chris Nelson	chris(at)rugbyactionphoto.com
Peter Steyn Meredith Ottens Dan Payne	petersteyn(at)msn.com mottens(at)austin.utexas.edu dan.payne(at)life.edu

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The semester is winding down (praise the heavens) and once again, the rugby team is going to the Sweet 16! We play the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee next Friday in Sanford, Florida and I am really quite thrilled.

Today I wrote my first letter to the editor of the Daily Universe (which is probably the WORST newspaper in print). Anyway, they reported on how much the Student-Athletes get paid to play and it really irked me. According to the article, they football teams travels first-class, charters planes, and has police escorts. I mean, really. Police escorts?! Are they some sort of terrorist target? And a baseball player complained that he only got $75 instead of the normal $250 one semester for clothes. Boo-hoo. Um... remember that one time there were athletic teams who didn't get the tutors, food/clothing stipends, and gear? Who actually had to pay out of pocket to play? Oh yeah, I do..... Grr..... So anyway... I hope they publish my letter in the newspaper tomorrow. I think I'm going to start writing letters to the editor more often. They are an excellent place to unleash pent up frustrations.