Gregorous Maximus

2009-12-25T01:02:00.000-08:00

It is the evening prior to Christmas and in my parent's house, it is pretty quiet for even a grouse.

Grandma Uffda is here for the holidays from Lewistown Montana. Unfortunately her time here has been less than ideal as she has been on the brink of pneumonia. Poor gramma. I also feel kinda bad because I have not been spending a whole lot of time with her while she has been here. I have been helping Judy, Willie, and Anna move in to their new house. It's really hard to move during the holidays because it's hard to get the christmas boxes located and then allocate the time necessary to decorate, and put up Christmas lights on the house, and get a Christmas three, and decorate the Christmas tree, and find the stockings, and find the Christmas gift wrapping paper...

I kinda feel bad about not spending most of my time with gramma, but it has been so incredibly rewarding to bring Christmas into the new Ekstrom house.

I have a Christmas miracle story:
I sent in a form for the six month food stamp checkup (to make sure I was still eligible), and I was sure that I would have my food stamp privileges revoked because I hadn't been working 20 hour weeks (which I perceived to be a requirement). Instead of taking away my benefits, THEY INCREASED MY MONTHLY BUDGET! This is such great news. I can still eat and pay rent at the same time!

I also got a jury summons for January 14th.

21st

2009-09-28T22:36:00.000-07:00

I feel like 21 is the final birthday that one would look forward to in their entire lifetime. Scary. For months I have been super pumped for what is going to happen in less than an hour. I wonder if I will feel older? The thing I am most excited about is being able to have a beer with dinner outside of home.

Classes started today. I was 20 minutes late to one and skipped another for an ultimate event. Perhaps tomorrow will be more academic...

Summer shiz

2009-06-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Before

After

Worked on my tan in Anna's vineyard yesterday.

This summer, I'm living in Corvallis and working in the computer lab on campus. Unfortunately there were some budget cuts right before summer and we lost all but one of the labs cutting our hours from 300ish to 150ish. I was one of the more fortunate employees and managed to get 12 hours a week (a couple people only got 4). I need to start looking for more employment. I might even see if Pierce Steel would consider hiring me back. That would be grunt work from 6 to 4 five days a week. It would bring in the green, but that would be the end of my summer fun.

I made Rhino this year. I played in my first tournament a couple weekends ago at Summer Solstice in beautiful Eugene. I caught a goal in my first game with them which was more than I had hoped for. I went on to score once in the second game against Revolver and three times in our last game against Invictus. I didn't score on Sunday, but we beat Blackfish and Furious George to put us in the semi finals with Sockeye. We went point for point with them until the end and they beat us 11-15. The whole weekend was a lot of fun.

So, last term I pulled off a huge upset. For some reason I didn't put in the time I usually do to prepare for my midterms, and my grades showed it. I was getting 50%'s and freaking myself out. I had applied to Pro-school, which is required to take the junior level classes, and my acceptance was contingent on my performance last term. I was retaking one class and the other four were required for acceptance. Thanks to sugary treats from Circle K, I studied my balls off all weekend and all week to prepare for the finals that were all essentially "do or die." I don't know my exact score for each final, but I walked away with A's and B's in all five courses.

Sophomore conclusion

2009-05-06T02:33:00.000-07:00

My sophomore season of college ultimate concluded two days ago at the Northwest Regional Tournament. It was a very good ending to a good season. You can see our results here. We went into the tournament seeded 8th and came out ranked 7th. Boo ya! haha

Unfortunately I should have been studying my balls off last weekend, but the tournament kept me from being studious. I had two midterms on Monday and one on Tuesday. I did not do well on any of them. I probably passed them and maybe did okay with the curve, but it was not a good performance. Now that I don't have ultimate practices during the week, hopefully I can stay on top of my homework a little better (probably wont happen, but it's a nice thought).

I'm going to try to apply for food stamps. Apparently as a student, if you work 20 hours a week, you are eligible for them. My roommate is on them. Getting that would be great help in my desire to get a motorcycle this summer. I want to be able to travel from Corvallis to Eugene without borrowing someones car, and if I had a bike, I would pay a fraction of the gas costs. I would also be doing my part to stop that global warming thing.

I'm trying out for Rhino again this year, but if I make it, I'm actually going to play (I tried out last year and made it, but couldn't make the commitment). I really want to be a part of the highest level that ultimate has to offer. It's almost like going pro. haha

This Friday I'm going to try to go down to Eugene to see the Blue Scholars at the UO. Might ride my bicycle with a friend. Not sure if that'll work.

I'm running out of things to talk about.

Out.

Workin' Hard

2009-02-22T10:25:00.000-08:00

I don't really have any exciting news to blog about, but I thought I should put something on here. This is one of the labs I work in. I took this picture at 10:15am on a Sunday morning. I picked up two consecutive shifts from 8am-12pm, then my boss is taking me out to lunch. I get a free lunch because no one wanted to work this morning at 8:00am. Boo ya!

School is going a lot better this term than it went last term. I am trying to study for a physics midterm, but facebook, blogger, and skype are hard to get away from. I spend a lot of time in the library and I'm picking up shifts left and right to make myself study.

Ultimate is going awesome. I am an officer of the team since the fall of this year, so I've been involved in planning practices and selecting who will be on the A and B team. I feel kind of strange about it at times because I'm only a sophomore, and 75% of the team is older than me, but as far as skill and knowledge of the game, I'm probably in the top 5. I have a hard time telling people when they've messed up or giving them pointers, because I'm afraid they will take offense to it. Fortunately we have acquired a coach (well two actually). They have both competed on the national level. One of them won club mixed nationals, and the other won masters nationals just this past year, so they know a thing or two about ultimate and competing on a very high level. We went to Vegas a couple weekends ago, but I might have to blog about that another time (or maybe not).

In the Blue School, Class is in Session

2009-01-13T01:24:00.000-08:00

Immediately following the first week of classes I had an abundance of friends come up from Eugene to hang out at my townhouse. I think over 25 people showed up. It was really nice to have that many awesome people just chill at my house. There was games, Mario Kart and Super Smash Brothers on the N64, but I ended the night by saving the world with Collin on Gears of War 2. Several of my bestest friends spent the night and I didn't end up going to bed till 5:30am. It was pretty friggin sweet. I didn't wake up till about noon the next day, but when I went upstairs the guys that spent the night had already cleaned up most of the place. All I had to do was start the dishwasher! I was amazed and bragged to all of my roommates about how awesome my friends were.

The very next night, one of my four roommates, Hanky, returned from a four week long trip to Thailand. He happened to be returning on his birthday, which lasted around 35 hours with the flight across the dateline thing. Naturally there was a birthday/welcome home party for him. I was not really feeling hanging out at my house. I was still coming off of the high from all of my childhood friends visiting. I wanted to escape. Fortunately another one of my roommates, Timmy, had been asked to DJ his first party. I hopped on my bike and rode across campus to the appartment he was scratchin' in. He was going nuts with his turntables and having a good time by himself in the corner of this small appartment. I hung around for a while, but didn't know anyone, so I left. Not wanting to go home, I started biking a long way home. It was so nice and peaceful riding around campus at night. I rode nowhere for probably almost an hour in the brisk misty night. I was diggin it.

Out With The Old, In With The New

2009-01-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

I have never gotten a grade lower than a B in my life. Last term I got a D+ and a C+. I now have to retake the worst class of all time, "Matrix and Power Series Methods." Fortunately I don't have to reschedule anything for next term because of it. This year, I'm going to have to put in a lot more work than I am used to, because none of my professors are going to make anything easy for me.

The End is Near

2008-12-02T20:35:00.000-08:00

I have not done very well on midterms this term, but the worst part is that I am still not very motivated to study hard for those finals. I work in a computer lab and have really nothing to do, so instead of using that time to study, I waste hours upon hours doing nothing on facebook or other websites. Even if I manage to get my work out in front of me, that computer screen is so alluring. On Monday nights, I work from 10:00-2:00am, but I'll get through maybe two problems of my math that is due the next morning at 10:00am. I end up waking up at 6:00am to try to figure out the crazy math that is involved with Matrix and Power Series Methods. This is a new thing for me, because I have always been fluent in numbers and equations. I don't know if I can't learn from my professor with the accent, or if it's because I can't find the connection to reality with these mathematical processes. My statics class is the only one that is going well. I really enjoy it because it is all real situations and I have to solve for real measurements. I am barely keeping my head above the surface in my other two classes. The weirdest part is that I don't feel like this stuff is to hard for me if I just put in a little effort. I just can't ever bring myself to sit down and work very long.

Finals are in a week...

2008-11-27T13:35:00.001-08:00

veto

2008-10-31T02:30:00.000-07:00

2008-10-30T01:18:00.001-07:00

If you were a booger, I'd pick you first.

Huge Upset! OSU 27 USC 21

2008-09-25T23:44:00.000-07:00

Best first Beaver game to attend ever! Talk about AMAZING! Second consecutive time to beat the #1 ranked USC in Corvallis.

'scuse me, I gotta go celebrate on this Thursday night! ;-)

Sad Days in Eugene

2008-09-17T22:57:00.000-07:00

I quit my job at Essig Entertainment last week, which was a relief. Scott Essig, the owner, was crazy. He would curse up a storm whenever the littlest thing went wrong. I've never met a person so highstrung and intense. He would always impose on what you are doing if you are not doing it the way he has been doing it for decades, even if you find it a little easier. When I started working there I was working with Andrew and a dude named Joe who plays on the Oregon ultimate team. Everything was pretty good until then Andrew went off up north somewhere and Joe flat out quit. I was left with a couple cool people, a couple neutral people, and a couple annoying people. I can't believe anyone who would work there for more than 6 months without a substantial raise. Glad that's over.

Once again, I am left with few after the mass exodus that is college. Even Anna left this time. My days are pretty lame. I roll out of bed around 11:00 when my mom yells at me. I eat breakfast and brush my choppers and an hour later I lazily start doing some sort of work until it gets dark. Then I eat dinner with the 'rents, then we watch some crappy TV show, then I go to bed/call Anna, then I dink around on the internet till 1:00 or 2:00 when I realize it's super late, and fall asleep. I got bored just writing that.

I've been working with my dad to build a shed in the back yard, but that is going extremely slow because we don't really know what we are doing. We have a plan and everything for what boards go where, but neither of us have done this before, so we are mostly making it up as we go. Naturally my parents are trying to milk all of the work they can get out of me before I leave for college THIS WEEKEND!

I'm so incredibly ready to leave. I want to live in my new townhouse with my new roomies and play ultimate all the time and learn some shit. I feel bad for the people left in Eugene. I guess they will just have to come spend time at mi casa. The couch is always open, or the floor of my room, or my bed (authorized personnel only).

From one to the next...

2008-07-29T17:30:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was my last day working at Pierce Corporation. I had been working there for over a month and the guy that trained me and worked next to me on getting different pieces of equipment ready for shipment. Halfway through last week, that dude was really close to getting fired due to his whining problem. He was moved to a different section of the plant, and I was left on my own. They gave me a quick run through with the forklift and set me loose to do both of our jobs alone. I got it done without much trouble, but the next day I was getting the next shipment ready, when an organization called OSHA came through. They are inspectors. I was interviewed about my more than brief training for the forklift. Right after the interview, I wasn't in any sort of trouble, but I was told that I couldn't drive the forklift anymore. My supervisor was really nice the whole time I worked there. She and I shared a dislike for most of the management decisions. There was always a steady flow of employees. I saw two people walk off the job, one person get fired (I took his place), one person get injured (David), and three people quit. Instead of trying to keep the people that currently worked there and knew what they were doing, Pierce would just hire new temps who had no level of commitment to staying very long. It amazed me that the company had no problem with wasting countless man hours to training new employees.

Anyway, right before I left I felt like I was in a place where they really needed me because no one really knew how to do my job. I asked for an outrageous raise. I already had my next job lined up, so I had nothing to loose. I asked to go from $8.50 to $11.00 an hour. They said that the most they could do was $9.50, so I told them to keep that $9.50 and get something nice with it.

Tomorrow I make my way over to Conger St, where I start my new job partying! That's right I now work for Essig, a party company. Thanks to Andrew Sheridan, I have a much nicer job that pays better. I don't even have to wear jeans anymore (you don't know how excited I am about that)!

I do have a problem though. I said that I was going to play at Kleinman, an ultimate tourny in Portland this weekend, but I'm scheduled to work on Saturday and Sunday. I'm not sure how easy it will be to get that time off, and I'm a little afraid to ask for it, but the ultimate player inside me is going to compel me to ask on my first day of work.

Forklifts and Hard Hats

2008-06-27T22:39:00.000-07:00

I started work this Tuesday at Pierce Irrigation. David told me that I should go through Select Temp to work there with him.

My main job has been to find specific lengths and quantities of angle iron and put them together in a bundle. This requires walking 15 yards with what I would guess to be around 100 lbs of metal. It's a real bitch. Each bundle that I make nearly weighs 1000 lbs. That's half a ton!

I have two blisters on each of my thumbs and the rest of my body is hella sore. Oh yeah, and I got a good sized laceration on my palm today. I was stacking control boxes on a pallet and one on the other end started falling off, so I jumped around it and snagged it out of the air. I was super proud of myself for not letting it touch the ground in a matrix-esque manner. After I put it back on top, I looked at the hand that caught it and I had two round little cuts. One of the upper dudes saw it all go down (pun), and took me to the head boss's office. The head boss, Steve, is an asshole to say the least. He has been a jerk to David for no reason on multiple occasions and I have seen him be a douche a few other times.

First scoffs at the fact that I got a cut. Then, he asks me how bad it is. I tell him I don't think it's that deep and make like I'm going to show him. He puts his hands up and says, "I don't want to see it." Then, he asks me if I washed it. I tell him that I had just came straight to see him. He condescendingly tells me that I should have already washed it and sends me packing. I went to the bathroom and put it under the water. More pain than I have felt in a very long time. I went back and got a gauze bandage taped on. The moral of this story is that if you are a figure of authority anywhere, don't be a demeaning bastard.

I forgot to mention that this work starts at 6am. That part is also killing me. I'm not real good at the whole going to bed early thing. Except today, I fell asleep on the couch at 6pm and woke up at 10. I will go to bed right after this blog because I have Rhino tomorrow in Portland.

I have found out that my ultimate skills are awful after 10 hours of work at Pierce and they will be even worse with this gash in my right palm.

Victory Dance that puts the NFL to shame

2008-06-06T01:42:00.000-07:00

One of my friends has a clip of the day on his website and today's is this.

Be afraid. I'M OLD GREG...

2008-05-26T20:28:00.000-07:00

I'm tired of coming up with titles

2008-05-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

I am not sure if I'm on Rhino or not. I made it through the first tryout and the second tryout and now I'm going to practices, but have not been told I'm on the team. Four of my friends from OSU Ultimate have recieved emails stating that they are garrunteed a spot on the team. My email said that there are 14 guys on the bubble and only 5-7 of them will stay. Unfortunately I played terribly last weekend at practice. It was hella hot and I played 5 hours of intense ultimate on a bowl of Frosted Flakes. I was doggin it in the scrimmage at the end. Not good for me.

Life at skool is way different without ultimate practice to occupy my evenings. I've been working as much as I can. I picked up six shifts in the second week of the month (on top of my 4 shifts). I went over the 20 hour limit and had to add a couple hours to the week before. Oh yeah, I haven't said what the heck I do...well, I quit the poopy job at the burger joint in the food court. Now I am a "Lab Consultant" in the engineering labs. I get paid to sit in front of a computer and do whatever the hell I want. Like right now, for instance, I'm at work. My responsibilities include checking people in and out of the lab, pushing in the chairs and straightening the keyboards every so often, and helping people who ask questions. It's a pretty baller job. My hours are a little less than desirable though. My shifts are from 12-2am on Wednesday night, and 10-4am on Thursday night (not a very fun Thursday). One time, I watched Cloverfield at work...by myself...at 3:00am...I nearly went crazy. It wasn't really that scary of a movie, but I was loosing it by the end.

Well, I'm off to do nothing but facebook, email, youtube, and maybe some venture brothers later.

Ultimate is my life

2008-04-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

I have been to an ultimate event every weekend since the beginning of April. It might turn into five consecutive weekends of ultimate. Best month EVER!

April 5-6th: I went down to UC Davis to play at DUI with a team my coach was playing on. The team consisted of 50% MIT alum, 25% Wisconsin alum, and 25% current OSU players. It was hella fun. Most of us had never played together, but we were still good. I got to play with some incredible players including one of the leading handlers for Bravo, Hector Valdiva. The best part of the weekend was when we were leaving after the last game, Hector called after me and asked my last name, then said that he expects to hear about me in the future. WOW! What a compliment.

April 12-19th: Sectionals in Eugene. We went 5 and 0 on Saturday scoring 55-18 total. At noon o'clock on Sunday we played Oregon in the championship game. We lost 15-4...it sucked. I called the worst travel call ever and it is still haunting me. It wasn't a game changer, but it was just embarrassing. After that loss we had to play Humbolt again for second place. They had scored the most against us on Saturday at 7, and they played one hell of a game ending in a 15-13 win for us. We took second overall and got the bid to Regionals.

April 19-20: I went up to Portland with two buddies from the team to try out for the Portland club team, Rhino. It was a great experience overall and even though I made some mistakes here and there, I feel really good about how I played. I will be getting an email sometime this week saying whether or not they want me to come back May 3-4 for the second round of tryouts.

April 26-27: I'm going back down to UC Davis for Regionals. The seeding was just put online and OSU is 10th (two behind Collin and two ahead of David). There is no pool play, just a huge bracket. If you want to see the seeding and the back bracket click this sentence.

May 3-4: Potentially the second round of Rhino tryouts...or a tournament called Cramp Up in Ashland. If I am not going to Rhino, I doubt I'll have the energy to go to Cramp Up.

Returning to Earth

2008-04-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

The beginning of the term is super lax. I'm really digging this no homework thing. I've been reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, napping, rocktubbing (rock climbing followed immediately by hot tubbing), throwing a disc in the sunshine, and watching House. It's been saweet! This is really the best way I can slide back into skool after the BEST spring break ever.

I was fortunate enough to get to go on vacation to Hawaii with the Ekstrom family and Page. It was the greatest. The first day in the sun, I got the worst of the worst sunburns on the backs of my knees which hurt like all hell for the next couple days...in fact they are almost done peeling over a week later. I was really good about sunscreen after that catastrophe. Anyway, the rest of the trip was comprised of hella good food, snorkling with the more colorful fish than you see at the dentist, swimming about six feet away from a sea turtle, basking in the sun, reading Harry Potter, eating more dope food (not food with dope in it), hot tubbing, boogie boarding, lighthousing, watching wales get jiggy with it, tourist shopping, boobie watching (see picture), and counting the vast amount of Ford Mustangs that were on the island. All in all, it was the best spring break ever! (sorry Ginny, but it beat the pants off of caving)

Semana de muertos

2008-03-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

So much to do, so little motivation to get started on it. I have a Chem lab and a final essay and I have started neither. I did manage to finish our Vegas highlight reel yesterday though. The thing that had the least priority was the only thing I could focus on. I need to get some little dude on my shoulder that tells me that I need to get started on the homework that is swelling up over me, because I just don't seem to get it.

On the brighter side of things, skiing was phenomenal on Sunday. I must go a few more times before this season is over. I need to go to bachelor, take the highest lift, hike the rest of the way to the peak, and bomb it down off the top. I need the speed.

PS: Here is the video

Second best sport ever!

2008-03-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

I am super syked for the day after today when I get to go up to where the snow is and buckle my feet into two long sticks and travel as fast as I possibly can using only the force of gravity. I use a massive chairlift to build up potential energy and then I try to release it as kinetic energy in as little time as possible. I haven't been up to the slopes a all this season and it's killing me. I get to use my new awesome boots that I practically stole from REI (long story).

Friends in Nevada

2008-03-05T12:51:00.000-08:00

The hat is my favorite part.

Jamesiswaycool

2008-03-04T19:43:00.000-08:00

Everyone should go comment on James' (James's?) blog until he makes a new post.

http://jamesiswaycool.blogspot.com

Like a loaded baked potatoe

2008-02-26T00:06:00.000-08:00

My very kind neighbor, Jaclyn, who I just found out went to South and apparently knows James and Kaylee, took me to Fred Meyer yesterday. I hadn't gotten groceries since the start of the term and I will place all of the blame for this on Kate, because it's fun to tag things on her. I had my little list of things I needed and everything as I walked into the Mr. Meyers' store. I came out with everything on my list, but in quantities that would usually come from Costco. Jaclyn questioned my ability to drink a gallon of milk before it expired. I laughed out loud like Rod when that girl asked him on a date, and said that I drink milk like a fish. (which kinda ruins the expression, but whatever)...

...and then I found two dollars...

...this post doesn't really have a point except that I have a lot of food and I really could survive in my room for the duration of the lunar year if need be.

2008-02-25T02:10:00.000-08:00

I really didn't do enough swimming toward the next wave and I feel like it's going to sneak up on me.

Staying Afloat

2008-02-20T22:30:00.000-08:00

Here I sit, in between swells of homework. Just barely staying above the surface as the last one passed, I'm on the downhill side, enjoying the ride. Unfortunately, the next wave of homework slowly coming closer and growing in magnitude. If I swim towards it, I can get through it before it gets too large. But I just got over the last one. I'm going to sit in the calm and wait for the next one to get a little closer before I tackle it. After all, it looks so far away.

all...moosst...there...

2008-02-19T20:02:00.000-08:00

After my weekend in Vegas, my skoolwork finally caught up to me last weekend. I had to write a five page research paper by Monday morning, and since I decided to change my topic at the last moment, I needed to get all new sources. We were supposed to have eight credible sources, but I turned in my rough draft with only half of that. Right after I turned that in, I needed to get cracking on either my Chemistry lab write up, or my two weeks worth of math problems. When I first looked at my chem lab data from last weeks lab, I was at a loss. I attempted to do some of the calculations, but they just weren't going anywhere promising. After emailing a few people for help I gave up. I worked on my math homework, but that was stumping me too.

Moral low, I went to work at 5 and got off at 8.

Then I tried the chem some more and did a bunch more calculations that were giving me incredibly odd answers and ended up going to bed, defeated, at 2am.

On my way to the chem lecture this morning, I met a kid in the class going the other way who told me that it had been canceled. I asked him about his calculations and he offered to help me with it when we got back to the dorms since we lived on the same floor. Long story short, I had been doing the calculations right, but was just getting outrageous answers from my data.

The rest of the day was spent doing/attempting math homework. I skipped my ENGR 248 lecture and only showed up the ENGR 248 recitation to get my name on the role sheet, then I skooted off to try to finish the math. I was working with my neighbor, Jacklyn Marcotte, and we both ran into completely dead ends, more than a few times. At 5:45 we headed off to our doom with the weather verifying this. The dreary night bestowed upon us a math test that would play a big role in our final grade.

I can only describe the test itself as iffy. There where two problems that I ran into completely dead ends on and each of the problems were 19 points, so if you fudge one problem, your effed. I'm pretty sure I nailed the five points of extra credit though, so that helps.

Now that I have put that behind me, I must get cracking on that chem lab that has already gone horribly wrong.

I bid you adieu.

Goodnight Vegas

2008-02-11T00:23:00.000-08:00

As I sit in the San Fransisco Airport I lament returning from this endeavor. There were so many great aspects of this weekend!

I ran into my former teammate Eli Janin who now plays for UO. I was telling him that I felt like a celebrity at the tournament because I knew so many people on different teams. It was great. I ran into Sam Barber, Chris Bronson, Chris Norton, and Julia from South, Jackson Kelsay, and Eli Janin from Churchill, and most importantly, Collin and David were there. I wish I had more time to hang out with all of them...oh well

My plane ride put me in Vegas on Wednesday night and there were only Chris Hancock, and Aaron Hursey were going to be there that early. We got a room at the Tropicana right on The Strip. We checked into our room around 11:30pm, and left to meander The Strip at 1:00am. We got back to the hotel around 3:00am and went hot tubbing in one of the three hot tubs at the hotel. It was pretty bliss. I hung out with more of the team last night at the frisbee party and made some "memories." Good times!

Now, it's almost 10:00pm and I will be getting to Eugene, where none other than James will be picking me up. My back is about the color of a ripe tomato, or perhaps a firetruck...maybe a strawberry, I don't really know the exact shade it is, but I do know that its probably going to hurt like a mother tonight in bed. (that's what she said)

My flight is about to start boarding, so I'm going to bid you all adieu.

(the time stamp is going to be way off because I don't have the internet here in the airport, so I'm going to have to wait until I get back to my dorm to post it. It is currently 9:58pm February 10, 2008)

Vegas baby

2008-02-07T23:59:00.000-08:00

Hey to all who still read this thing. Sorry I haven't been updating this more often, but now that I have given up Facebook for lent, I will probably be posting a little more often.

I am currently in Las Vegas, Nevada with the OSU ultimate team. There are some 80 teams here this weekend for the three day tournament. OSU is coming in as the 28th seed and I think that we will go up quite a few seeds, but we're not going to be doing well enough to call attention to ourselves. I hope I'm proven wrong and we do incredible.

I flew into the Las Vegas airport last night around 8:30 and two of my teammates showed up around 45 minutes later. We got a rental car and drove to the strip where we checked into the Tropicana Hotel. We went out on the town around 1am and before we even got off the property of the hotel a guy offered us coke as we walked by. The rest of the night consisted of walking around and observing how incredibly disgusting the culture is here. There are more adult shops on the strip than there are in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana combined. It's legal to drink in public, gamble, and prostitute oneself. It made me sick to see the people who looked really comfortable in front of their slot machine with their drink and their cigarettes.

I have to go to bed now, but more will come soon.

Roommateless

2008-01-17T17:18:00.000-08:00

I was going through my old posts and I never posted this for some reason. hahaha This is a very emo moment for me.

Here I sit, alone in the dorm. With no one to talk on the phone behind me, or talk to me about his girlfriend back home, who kept asking for a ring (which she got). I am to myself, with the sounds of the street below, and the voices of floor-mates walking down the hall outside my door. I enjoy the solitude. Me and Harry Potter on the tapes my lady friend so kindly lent me. The first draft of my first essay in college looms over me. I am unable to focus very long, for I find myself checking things online; Facebook, Yahoo mail, everyone's blog, and anything else I can find.

Finals...

2007-12-06T00:36:00.002-08:00

Oh, it's final week
Time to study hard and cram

Oh the lack of sleep

Finals. The time where you find out whether or not your really learned everything you were supposed to learn over the course of the term. If you don't think you learned it, you can put it on a half sheet of paper, front and back, and bring it to the test. I managed to fit everything I don't feel confident about (and the tables of crap I didn't bother memorizing) onto a 8.5" by 5.5" piece of paper. One side is completely covered in size 5 font, and the other side has the rest of the size 5 text and some things that would be too hard to type and some things I added last minute.

I took my first final on Sunday, starting at 9:20pm and finishing at 12:10am. It was online and I feel pretty good about my performance on that one. My second final was at 2:00 on Monday, and it was for my intro to mechanical engineering class. I also felt fairly confident with that test. My third final did not go so well. I took my calculus final on Tuesday at 7:30am (terrible time!) and did really well on the first 7 problems. Then i got my but kicked bby the last three. Two of which I didn't even put an answer so the highest score I can get is 80%, and that is if I aced the rest (very unlikely). After the test I went on a run to the far edge of town to clear my head and get away. Today, my legs hurt like a bitch! I'm taking my last final tomorrow morning at 7:30. After that I am finished with college until January 7th.

It's past 1am and I'm getting up at 5:30am to allow plenty of time to wake up and get my brain in the zone for Chemistry, so I'm going to sleep.

Goodnight.

100% !@#$ YEAH!!!

2007-11-08T23:26:00.000-08:00

The last several days have been extraordinary! This week started with coming home from
my first college tourney which was in Santa Clara. That was a stellar experience overall.
I played very well, and found myself being put on the opposing team's star player in multiple games. I got a hand-block on universe point against Stanford X! Then I had a calculus midterm at 8:00am on Monday morning, which I felt pretty good about. Tuesday was spent doing my chem homework that I hadn't touched over the weekend. Then, I borrowed Daniel's car and drove down to see my lady friend Tuesday night, because I missed seeing her while I was in Santa Clara and I wouldn't see her this weekend because she is in Minnesota. Missing two consecutive weekends delays me seeing her almost three weeks. She thought I was going to come on Wednesday if I was going to come at all, so I thought I would skip my one class on Wednesday and go down on Thursday to surprise her. I got her pretty good.
I would just like to take a moment to brag on what a fine girl I have. Anna is the smartest person ever. She beat Jay's first SAT with her first SAT. I don't think I need to say anymore about her intelligence...she is always selfless and doing what she can to make other people's lives easier. She is also one tough cookie! And to top it all off, she is hot! (Eyes off, gentlemen) Most of my happiness is derived from her being in my life. Boo ya!
I got back to Corvallis this morning and got my test results back from my Monday midterm.

(like my third grader handwriting?)

HELL YEAH!!!

I was so pumped. My first midterm was not so glimmering at 57%. But now I am back on top of my best subject. I spent the rest of today studying for my chem test which I feel pretty good about. All in all, I'm feeling pretty good about life. I'm also really pumped to see some friends over Thanksgiving break.

Skool and Ultimate

2007-10-09T07:30:00.001-07:00

I'm starting my third week of college on a Tuesday because I extended my weekend to hang out with friends that I wish I could see more often. I skipped my Calculus lecture yesterday, but I don't feel any remorse because those 250 person classes seem like a waste of time. The disconnect I feel in those classes is a little overwhelming. I want to go back to IHS where everyone respects everyone else and you don't feel like you are putting your life on the line to raise your hand and ask a question. My online course is even worse, It's so hard for me to believe that I am paying Oregon State University for this class. I read the book and answer a few questions online. I shouldn't be paying anything for it.

Ultimate is going way better than I anticipated. I was expecting an experience that wouldn't come close to my time with Churchill Ultimate, although it hasn't matched that, it has come pretty close. I don't want to be conceited butI'm one of the better players on the team. Yesterday at practice I got three hand blocks, which might have doubled the number of hand blocks I've gotten in my life. Last week I did a "greatest" in the endzone. I have acquired a lot of respect and disdain at the same time. I sense that some of the veteran players feel threatened by me and the level of play I'm bringing my first year of college ultimate. There are still quite a few players on the team that I feel are better than me, but most of the players, including some veterans are below my skill level. I don't really know how to handle that. I want to be their friends, but I don't want to be friendly while they are threatened because I wouldn't want that if I were in their shoes. So, I will remain as humble as possible on the field while still playing to my full potential. Oh yeah, I'm going to be a handler for the team, which is strange for me, who used to play under Daniel, Collin, Andrew, Peter QB, Jay, and the underclassmen who could control the disc better than me. We'll see how this goes. I'm kinda excited for my role on the team in the next several years.

Oh, yeah...

2007-09-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

My address

Greg Meshnik
Oregon State University
2096 McNary Complex
Corvallis, OR 97331

Coasting Numb

2007-09-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

Life is kinda weird right now. I feel like I'm on a short vacation and I will be going back home in a few weeks or something. It hasn't really dawned on me that I will be living here for the next 4-5 years. I feel like I'm coasting downhill in a wagon, just kinda lookin' to the sides and not really in front of me. I'm doing less looking back at some things but more at new things.

...sigh...

I hope I know what I'm doing.

Inibility to think clearly

2007-09-03T19:36:00.000-07:00

I was hit on the head with the realization of how many friends I have, and how fortunate I have been with them in my life. Unfortunately this came to me after I was hit by the bus of realization that there are very few of them left in the E-U-gene. I got access to some tickets for the Ems game today and called a few people who had other plans. Then my list petered off and I went into a minor state of depression. I was supposed to move a wood pile from our driveway to the lower part of our back yard, but it was hot and I was working at the same speed as our city road construction workers. I went to my room with the intentions of a nap, but ended up watching the movie Snatch on my computer. During the movie my slave driver parents got home from their weekend camping trip, so I went outside immediately after the movie was over to finish my job. This has not been a very premium day. I could not call most of my friends because they are in other states. I'm very ready to move out of this town! I'm ready to do what almost everyone else has done already...go to college. Tonight, I must get our of my house or I will flip a walnut. I am going to go disc golfing with some friends that are still here. Wish me luck...

I need some serious pain killers!!!

2007-08-25T10:44:00.000-07:00

I am currently going through the hardest transition I hope I ever have to take. All of my friends that I have know my whole life are leaving and I am left here in the wake of it all. Collin was the first to go, and I don't think it had really hit me yet what was really happening. Last Tuesday I woke up around 5:30am to say goodbye to Luke one last time before he went halfway across the country for seminary. I was starting to realize it when I found out that he might not even come back for Christmas. I knew I was going to see the rest of my buddies on Thanksgiving, if not that then winter break. Not seeing the man who has been possibly the single most important influence in my high skool career for more than a few months is something that is very hard to cope with. After that knocked me to the ground, my co-twin tower said goodbye to me on Wednesday. I was then kicked in the gut after being knocked down on Tuesday. Then to put salt in the wounds I realized that Collin had left already and Jay was going to leave the next week. After tears came out of my face I had to say goodbye to Andrew and Kaylee, who I have known since preskool. My happiness and joy is leaving me one person at a time. I have never cried this much. I tear up even as I write this.

My dream world consists of staying with all of my friends and having them no farther than a few minutes away so that we could be together on a whim. I wouldn't care if we stayed in Eugene or if we moved to Russia. As long as I had my friends with me, I would always be fine. Alas, that is just a fantasy. Life must go on and ties must be loosened. I'm already getting excited for Thanksgiving and Winter Break when I get to see my hombres once more. I'm already starting to make plans in my head for what we are going to do. And thanks to Al Gore, we have the world wide web, and keeping in touch with the people that mean so much to me isn't a hard task at all. Boo ya!!!

Westerns recap

2007-05-14T23:26:00.000-07:00

I'll tell you flat out
It hurts so much to think of this
So from my thoughts i will exclude
The very thing that
I hate more than everything is
The way I'm powerless
To dictate my own moods

I've thrown away
So many things that could've been much more
And I just pray
My problems go away if they're ignored
But that's not the way it works
No that's not the way it works

(Chorus)
When I go down
I go down hard
And i take everything I've learned
And teach myself some disregard
When I go down
It hurts to hit the bottom
And of the things that got me there
I think, if only I had fought them

If and when I can
Clear myself of this clouded mind
I'll watch myself settle down
Into a place where Peace can search me out and find
That I'm *so* ready to be found

I've thrown away
The hope I had in friendships
I've thrown away
So many things that could have been much more
I've thrown away
The secret to find *an* end *to* this
And i just pray
My problems go away if they're ignored
But that's not the way it works
No that's not that way it works

chorus

Any control I thought I had just slips right through my hands
While my ever-present conscience shakes its head and reprimands me
Reprimands me
Then and there
I confess
I'll blame all this on my selfishness
Yet you love me
And that consumes me
And I'll stand up again
And do so willingly
You give me hope, and hope it gives me life
You touch my heavy heart, and when you do you make it light
As I exhale I hear your voice
And I answer you, though I hardly make a noise
And from my lips the words I choose to say
Seem pathetic, but it's a fallen man's praise
Because I love you
Oh God, I love you
And life is now worth living
If only because of you
And when they say that I am dead and gone
It won't be further from the truth

When I go down
I lift my eyes to you
I won't look very far
Cause you'll be there
With open arms
To lift me up again
To lift me up again

"When I Go Down" Relient K

FM Static "Hey Now"

2007-03-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

I met you at the club that night
where i was spinning records
and my heart said
hey now
hey now
hey now
hey now
yaaaow

you said you were pleased to meet me
through the sweet smell of your perfume and
blew me
away now
away now
away now
away now
yaaaow

later on that week we went out,
talked under the stars until the next
day now
day now
day now
day now
yaaaow

you drank your fruitopia
and we never ran out of things to
say now
say now
say now
say now
yaaow

every minute im not with you
i hope ill see you soon
theres just something that happens
when you walk into the room

and instantly i feel so completed
it hits me right about the time you kiss my cheek
and you give me this feeling
its like no other feeling
but it knocks me off my feet

please dont ask me what i like about you
cause its every little thing you do
and thats just the way you make me feel

and i dont think
that there are any others out there like you
and i wont blink cause that would mean
i would miss a second beside you

and maybe you know what i mean
or maybe this is just a dream
i pinch myself just to make sure
but im still here and there you are
i wonder why we just met now
it just kind of happened somehow
but here we are together and
thats all that matters in the end

and instantly i feel so completed
it hits me right about the time you kiss my cheek
and you give me this feeling
its like no other feeling
but it knocks me off my feet

please dont ask me what i like about you
cause its every little thing you do
and thats just the way you make me feel

you can never ask for too much
cause I'd travel the world just to feel your touch and
thats just the way you make me feel

What's happening?!

2007-01-03T23:01:00.000-08:00

I don't know what kind of stage of my life I'm in right now. I feel like I'm skiing through thick heavy powder that's not very steep. Just when I think I'm getting the hang of it, I face plant. I then get up, brush off the snow, trek back up the hill to get my ski, snap it back onto my boot, and try to pick up speed again. Ugh!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2006-12-24T00:14:00.000-08:00

Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.

Luke 6:38 NLT

Ski Bum

2006-12-10T18:59:00.000-08:00

What a rush!!! Bombing down the mountain at (or very close to) light speed. Flying through the air for miles. Getting from the top to the bottom in record times. Skiing alone was a new experience and I really liked it but there were somethings that were missing. I could get off the lift and just go without debating where to go. I didn't have to stop randomly on the way down. I didn't have to wait for anyone or feel like I was putting on a show. I didn't have to worry about anyone but me.

There was no one to laugh with on the ski lift on the way up. No one to race. No one to spray with immense ammounts of snow. Just me, my music, infinite whiteness, and God. I would do it again in a heart beat.

2006-11-27T15:43:00.000-08:00

What do I do now? My eagle project is done, my senior paper is turned in, I lost a friend, and I'm single. So much change in such a short time... I can barely take all of this in at one time, let alone focus on my homework. I need to start from scratch, straighten things out, and above all re-connect with God.

The thing that is helping me the most right now is my friends. I don't think that you all realize how much you lift me up by just being nice to me and including me in this time of change in my life.

Thank You!!!

2006-11-08T17:27:00.000-08:00

Guard your heart above all else,

for it determines the course of your life.

Proverbs 4:23

Stalling

2006-10-21T14:44:00.000-07:00

Once again I shouldn't be updating this but I'm stalling on working on my senior paper. I just broke 2000 words and decided to take a break, so here I am.
A few days ago I went to the Boy Scout HQ across from Autzen Stadium and sat before three men to discuss my boyscouting career. I left there with the rank of Eagle under my belt and a grin on my face. This was a huge relief after all of the stress that was involved in finishing my Eagle Project, merit badges, and paperwork before I turned 18. In the words of God, "It is finished."
My topic for my senior paper is "sex in advertising" and it's been very interesting to dig up information about it, but this paper unfortunatly is not going to write itself so I should go.

Anyone out there?

2006-09-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

This is the Greg who has no time for silly little blog sites... just an update... This summer first I went to Breakaway camp for middle skoolers on the coast, then I went to Switzerland with the boyscouts, then I went to Tennessee for CHIC with my youth group, then I went to Montana with my family to visit family and celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday, then I got home and had to get crackin' on my eagle project of building a play structure at my church. I'm currently wrapping up my eagle project very quickly and becoming overwhelmed with skool already. it's only the second week (*whimper*). Frisbee been going for a while now and that feels really good to be a part of, because I was used to the skool sports where you only practice to win and there is practically no fun involved or I just never discovered it in the three years I played. Don't get me wrong I have learned a lot of good lessons from my basketball and football experiences (such as give it 120% at practice and don't give the coach any reason to bench you and then and only then can you get mad for not getting a chance). When I go to frisbee I rarely feel like I'm going to a practice, it feels more like I'm going to hang out and without the pressure of skool sports it's so much more enjoyable. Another bonus is the people at frisbee. I know it's a little sappy but I feel like everyone on the team is part of my family, and I've never felt that in any other sport. Wow I just wrote a lot...
well take it easy...
keep it real... don't eat yellow snow... katch you on the flip side... why am I still writing?...
peace

P.S. Check this out... it's the best experiment i've ever seen.

Colored People

2005-04-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

Dear white fella,
Couple things you should know
When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in sun, I black
When I cold, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And When I die, I still black.

You white fella,
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you grey.
And you have the nerve to call me colored?

Here goes nothing

2005-04-22T22:04:00.000-07:00

Hey all,
I felt a little left out without my own so here it is...