Hope's Arrival

So I want to recap the an amazing Thanksgiving week!!! My fiance Hope came out to visit me. We hadn't seen each other in 3 months so it was much anticipated to see her. She left Saturday morning for her and got her Sunday night. The most difficult part of her flight from South Bend to Detroit was security in South Bend.....what?!! Yeah, somehow the security in South Bend took her quite a while to get through because some lady there was trying to make sure there were no terrorists coming out of the South Bend Airport evidently.

Her flight from Detroit to Tokyo was about 14 hours and on this flight there is nothing more important than the seat you are in. Her seat was good, but the people next to her were well ok. She said the one lady to her left was really nice and sweet. Then there was the stereotypical worst guy to sit next to on a plane. He had on a huge coat that took up a seat and a half. It sounded like something an eskimo would wear on an Antarctic excursion. The plane wasn't cold, but he fell asleep with it on and my little 5'3 fiance was feeling crammed in her seat because of this man's coat. This wouldn't be that big of a deal, but on a 14 hour flight the littlest things will bug you to no end and test your patience. I completely understand and feel for her.

Then she had to switch terminals in Tokyo, Japan for her flight from Tokyo to Osaka. She said this was actually the worst flight because the girl next to her fell asleep on her. After traveling for that long that is the last thing anyone wants!!!

She finally got to Osaka and then she had to go through customs again. The problem here is that in Tokyo they made her go through customs and had taken her entry papers. She had to fill them out again and get escorted into an office to talk with someone. The pilot from her flight came up and asked her if everything was ok. She explained and he said well you do look suspicious as sarcastic as possible. She is a beautiful 5'3 cheerleader with a couple of huge bags of surprises for her lonely fiance in Japan (more on that later)

Finally, she made it to her fiance who was waiting outside of the baggage claim for her. Now as for me, I had my own story of events that day to get to that point.

I found out that the closest place she could fly in was the same place I came in - Kansai Airport in Osaka - an hour away from my apartment in Otsu. Our Assistant GM/player personnel coordinator/travel agent/translator/assistant coach...sort of/anything else was going to go with me on the train to pick her up. Well, she was coming in on an off weekend and evidently he had more important people and places to see. He printed out a sheet of train schedules and told me that it was easy. That was comical to me - a guy whose train experiences had not boded well in the past. In Taiwan I rode my first train/subway to go to the Zoo on the only off day that we had there. We went with our translator and at one stop he panicked and said, "get out get out get out!!!" I got out with my catlike quickness (a 14 year old cat that is). Then as soon as the doors were closing my translator Max told me that I should get back on because it was the wrong one. There I was in Taiwan stuck with no idea what to do. I waited and then took the next train that got there - thankfully it worked out and I made it to the zoo. The other train experience I had was in New York City. I was with my friend from Colombia's football team Jon Rocholl. Surprisingly, I didn't get lose this time, but I did hit my head so incredibly hard twice walking down to the subway.

So with just a sheet of directions and most of it in Japanese for the train schedule. I was a little worried, so I went to the Kyoto game the night before to practice. I felt much better then. I got to the train two hours before. I decided since Hope would have to go back on her own on Saturday morning I would take copious notes on each and every detail of the trip. I had my ipod in and was so excited to see my fiance!! I had cleaned the room up the best that I could. I had down laundry and bought some air fresheners to make it not smell like a locker room. I was on the train writing down each stop. I knew where I was supposed to stop and we weren't there yet. A lot of people were getting off in Kyoto. I knew that I was supposed to continue going. People were saying something to me in Japanese as they got off. I just kept on saying Shin-Osaka because that was my stop and I was sure that train had about 40 minutes to still get there. Finally I was the only one on the train car. Someone came back on and said train break. It was not good at all. I got off the train and then waited 30 minutes at customer service. I tried writing down where I was going and tried talking slowly, but it was difficult. Finally I got the station number of another train to Shin-Osaka and took that train to get there. I enjoyed that ride. I noticed a guy that was looking at the train schedule on the wall and he looked American. I asked him if I could help him. He said yes and I helped him the best that a directionally challenged man like myself could. We began to talk and he was from the University of Portland. He was with a program through the University of Virginia called semester at sea. He had been at sea since the beginning of the school year. Japan was his 12th country he had been to. He was meeting up with his cruise ship in Kobe, Japan to head back. He had been so many places it was really cool to talk to him and helped to pass time on the train. It was very refreshing to have an English speaking person here to have a casual conversation with.

Finally I got to Shin-Osaka and then got on another train to go to Kansai. It was about a 45 minute ride and I saved 500 yen (about 5 dollars) by getting unreserved instead of reserved. I didn't pay as much attention as I should have as to which cars were reserved and which were unreserved and after getting on the train I had to move about 4 trains forward. That was interesting, but not traumatic. I sat next to a sweet older lady. Well, she seemed sweet. I never actually talked to her. Then I finally got to the airport and it was about an hour before Hope was supposed to get there. I ate a panini right outside of where Hope was going to come out just in case she got there early. It was a great panini and reminded me of the ones I used to eat at the Barnes and Noble in South Bend.

Finally - Hope got there carrying her two huge carry-ons and two checked bags looking beautiful even after traveling for over 24 hours!! It was so great for her to finally get there! The anticipation and anxiety over missing the one person that I want to spend the rest of my life with was tough, but to see her reminded me very quickly of how worth it she is to be waiting on. I love her so much and can't wait to spend the rest of my life with her. She is worth waiting every moment for her. No matter how tough it gets, how lonely I get here, how monotonous life might be here, or how small my apartment feels to me, she is so incredibly worth enduring all of that because I know that spending the rest of my life with her will be to spend my life in pure happiness and joy - no matter what we endure and how tough things get.

The train ride home was much smoother. If she would have take about 30 minutes more it would have gotten interesting once again, but we caught the last train to Kyoto and then switched to the train to Otsu. It was so great to have her here!!! It was an interesting journey here both to Japan and to use being in love and engaged. We know that both were watched over and guided by our Creator and that is the reason that no matter how many bumps and crossroads we meet, we always find the right way and enjoy it together. I love you so much Hope and can't wait til the day we finally get married!! August 14, 2010 can't come soon enough!

Sorry for the Delay

Sorry for the delay in the posts. I have a bunch of them written down and will be posting them all soon. My beautiful fiance Hope was here to visit me last week for Thanksgiving and brought me a new computer. I can now post them. I am headed to do a radio interview here in Japan. It will be interesting as the radio is all in Japanese and I know very little Japanese. We will see how it goes. Thanks for all the messages and for all of you that have been asking my family when I will be posting again. Thank you!!

Family Videos

I had an off day today and some youtube videos that I can relate to:

This describes my parents dieting....my dad used to do this with cookies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGWUswIQ020

this is my mom and dad on vacation in Hawaii at the Maui Invitation last year. They stayed an extra day without us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=469GeeqVumY

I have heat!!!!!

Shige our trainer just knocked on my door and came in to translate my air conditioning/heat unit. The only thing I understand on it is the temperature. It is a number that is in Celsius. I just push up on down on it to set the temperature and thought this was all I had to do. It got rather chilly this weekend here and I put the temperature up quite a bit, but it didn't seem to get warmer. I now know why, but this weekend I had to fill the bathtub with warm water and let the humid warm air circulate throughout my apartment to warm up. It worked quite well and worked as a humidifier, but it only worked for a short while.

I am excited that I now have heat as it is starting to get colder over here now. Of course getting colder the first of November is a lot better than how early it gets cold in South Bend and compared to South Bend - I doubt it will ever get cold like that here!!

My computer is broke

My computer is broke. I am borrowing my teammate Chris'. Things have been good here. We are currently number one in the league at 7-3. We leave tomorrow for Fukouka. It sounds funny and is an 8 hour bus trip away. Bus leaves at 7:45, so that will be exciting.

Speaking of exciting. Right now I am looking at Honeymoon spots (Hope has left this task to me with only a few paramaters. The paramaters are a lot easier than her dream engagement so I should be alright) While I am checking out honeymoon spots, I am talking to Hope on skype as she gets ready for work. We talk every morning as she gets ready for work. It is always night for me 14 hours difference now with the time change. So I talk to her from 8 to 10 my time.

She has a lot of things to do in the mornings. It's like watching a behind the scenes episode of an American Businesswoman as she has a fantastic job at Bayer Healthcare in South Bend. (Yes, she turns off the camera for all the parts rated more than PG....guess I'll hafta wait until I'm married for that version) Many mornings she gets up even earlier and does P-90x!! She works really hard at everything she does and I really admire her for that. I help her in the mornings with her makeup and everything (haha...yeah right!!).

I will get a computer soon. Hope is coming out on November 21 and I am pumped!!! It will be our first Thanksgiving together and it just so happens to be in Japan. We are going to try and cook a Thanksgiving meal with what we've got here. It will be tough with a toaster oven, a foreman and two burners on a grill, but I think we can do it. I will let you know how it goes. I am really excited to see her though as it has been 2 months since we have seen each other, even if we see each other on Skype every day and it is tough to be away from someone you love like that for that long. I definitely look forward to her coming out!!! She is staying for about 5 days and it will be quick, but fantastic. We will probably celebrate Christmas in there as well.

So right now I am talking to Hope on Skype, researching Honeymoon spots (it's a surprise and I will be the only one that knows until I tell Hope at Brunch the day after the wedding...so don't ask....but advice is welcome!!), and watching Barnyard (such a great movie...one of Cody and I's favorites!!!) What a life I live...haha.

Will update soon. We were 1-1 this weekend. Here are some pictures.

http://topics.shiga-saku.net/

First Road Trip

We had a two game preseason road trip. We started out on Monday morning and got onto our team bus that is painted out and decal ed so that anyone within a one mile radius knows the Shiga Lakestars are on that bus! It's pretty sweet. It's a nice charter bus and good thing because we spent a lot of time on it.

Evidently it is Silver week here which is a vacation week for all of Japan. They have National holidays a lot here because otherwise people will not take days off. They work incredibly hard here. The front office of our team works incredibly hard and almost lives there. Our promotional manager Buchi had actually been at the office 5 days straight before we had our press conference last week.

Anyway, everyone took vacation. I mean everyone. Our 4 hour bus ride took us about 5 and a half. We got to the gym 45 minutes before the game started. We played like we had just gotten off the bus 45 minutes before. We didn't hit many outside shots and they hit all of theirs. We lost by about 15. Then we had what was supposed to be about a 4 hour bus ride to the hotel for the night. It was about a 5 hour ride. We got into the hotel at about 12:30.

It was a really nice hotel. It had a big bed, but not much else to the room. Then, it had a toilet that looked like the air force one of toilet. You could warm the seat and use the spray that would clean you instead of wiping. That had different pressure settings and everything for it. I opted out of all of them and tried to guess left or right flush for #1 of #2. So I went to sleep that night and then had to get up at 8:30 for breakfast before shootaround.

Then after shootaround we came back to the hotel for a little while before heading to the game. The game didn't go real well. I didn't play well, but ended up with 17 points. We lost by about 20. We are still in preseason form for sure and have a lot of things that we need to work on, but that is what the preseason is for. Then after the game we supposedly had a 6 hour bus ride. The ride ended up being much longer than that. I'm not sure how long but I'm going to guess about 9. It was a long time. I read an entire book on the way up on the bus trip and on the way back watched Braveheart and the Bourne Supremacy so I was very productive just in different ways.

Thanks to everyone for the emails and messages on facebook!!! It has been so good to keep in touch with you and I appreciate it so much!!

Who Wants to be a Millionaire In Japanese

So I've been busy with practice and everything here, but I just wanted to write a quick story. We had our first practice game against KCC - the best team in Korea and lost by about 15. They are very good. Their center Ha played for the Trailblazers for quite a while - he is 7"3. He dunked once and he lowered the goal in our gym. (Our gym that we have to tape down the lines to be able to play in it. I always go around and look for where the shortest spot of the 3 point line is. It's like finidng the dead spots on your home court)

We play them again on Thursday. They are good, but we should be able to do better. So my main reason for writing tonight. As I write I am talking to Hope as she gets ready for work and watching Who wants to be a millionaire in Japanese. It is hilarious. I thought it was slum dog millionaire the first time I saw it. Then I realized that the answers were in Japanese and it wasn't. (I was kind of upset - thats a great movie!!)

Here is the highlight of this episode so far. The guy went and took a 50/50. The crowd cheered. I have no idea why. Then he said one thing in English - he said final answer. The Japanese Regis Philbin took a 500,000 yen check ($5,000) and ripped it up very dramatically. I waited and waited to see this guy's crushed reaction - and then...it went to commercial. America has influenced everywhere!!!! Then they came back and he had gotten it right. All that drama for a correct answer - some Japanese millionaire torture for you there.

Preseason Training Camp

Our training camp is somewhere about an hour away from where we stay. We are staying at a bed and breakfast that literally looks like just another house along an offroad, but it is nice. We had weightlifting this morning for about 2 hours because we had orientation with our strength coach for a long time. The weightlifting isn't really anything too strange. It is not as tough as the St. Vincent's workouts I was doing with Greg all summer, but they're good enough. Then we had lunch.

Today at lunch I decided that if I eat outside of my apartment the rest of the time I am here I am going to use chopsticks. It has been pretty interesting so far. I am not that good. Not good at all. All the Japanese players laugh at me when I try to pick up something like a piece of lettuce and right as I am about to eat it it drops to my plate again. Hunger is the best motivation for learning though. I am nearly always hungry and so it motivates me to learn quicker how to use chopsticks. For someone that wanted to go on a diet but didn't want to stop eating. Buy them chopsticks. Take away everything else and they will take a long time to eat or just get frustrated and stop eating. I will get better at it.

Then we hung out in our little bed and breakfast here. I am rooming with Bobby Nash and he speaks good Japanese because his mom used to so it is interesting when he actually know how to talk with people here. After we went to practice.

Today's practice was just over 2 hours. I finally made it all the way through practice. My ankle hurt like crazy and I am still not at full speed, but I finally made it all the way through. The trainer here is really good and has been giving me ultrasound, stem and massage between every workout. He also has me doing about an hour of rehab everyday to get the strangth back in my calf and ankle.

Tonight's dinner was really good. We had fish, chicken, salad, meatballs, rice (of course), green beans with sesame, lots of different fruit (oranges were the only thing I knew but I ate all the different kinds), and miso soup. After dinner I had treatment again.

Now I am in the room with Bobby and there is some Japanese game show on. It is not like you would think of a Japanese game show (not wipeout). Here is my guess at what it is - except its in Japanese so I don't know for sure. It is these kids that are in asked academic bowl type format. It is a tournament to get there and it is so serious. The losers cry. The winners cry from being happy. The highlights of the kids as they get introduced are of them putting library books away and studying in school. It is unreal. I have no idea what is going on, but I can't turn away.

Well, I'm going to watch one more episode of this Japanese game show and go to sleep. Hope all of you have a great Friday. It's been great for me as I am finishing Friday here.

Photo Shoot

Today was a very, very long day. We started out and got picked up at our apartment at 9. We had to be in our suits and we drove about 40 minutes to get to the place. Then we took pictures for about an hour in our suits.

Then we waited for a long time. After, we got into our jerseys and took more pictures. Then we had lunch at noon in their company cafeteria. The lunch was good. It was noodles, rice, soup, and some chicken type stuff. It was all pretty good.

Then we went back and took more pictures. Then we waited. Then we took pictures walking. Then they changed the backdrop to black. We took more pictures. Then we waited....and took more pictures. It was a long boring day. I smiled and I stared at the camera. We were there for 9 til 5 just taking pictures. I guess I should wait to get a 9 to 5 job since I am not cut out for that.

Tomorrow we leave for training camp. It is about an hour away and we will be there for 2 a days for 4 days. I will try to blog while there, but I'm not sure if I will have internet. Thanks for following.

First Day of Conditioning and Practice

I woke up this morning and via skype had a premarital counseling session with Hope and our mentors - John and Diane Diendu. They both go to our house church and John was a pastor for a long time. It was a good session and thanks to technology that we are able to continue moving our relationship forward from many miles apart.

This morning we went back over to the weight room and had conditioning with our assistant coach Big Bashi as we call him. Big Bashi is a mammoth of a man. For those of you that have seen the movie Troy. The big champion that Brad Pitt fights in the beginning. A Japanese version of that man is Big Bashi. For those of you that haven't seen it - he is a Japanese Shaq.

I still can't do sprinting yet, so I had to do bike sprints. I went down with two of the other Japanese players to do bike sprints. I got to the bike put the seat as high as possible...let's just say it was close to fitting. The bike sprints were pretty tough and if you were under the 120 rpms it made a loud warning sound. It was kind of annoying, so I tried to avoid it as much as possible. Mine went off only once or twice. The other players...well a couple more times than that. Little Bashi as he told me to call him is 35 years old, so I guess he has an excuse. Coach told me that he tried to talk him into retiring and becoming an assistant coach, but he wouldn't. In my mind he is like the Brett Favre of Japanese basketball.

After bike sprints I headed upstairs to join the rest of the guys for the rest of the conditioning workout. We had to do some drills and then Bashi (whose English is very limited) told us to go to the baseline and sit down. I thought we were done because we had going a little over an hour and had a 2.5 hour practice later that day. We sit down and Bashi tells us we can't move our upper body. We have to put our legs out straight in front of us and then lift our butt and our hip and move it forward. Then do same to the other leg. I didn't move very far after doing this and guessed we would do 10 reps a piece. Bashi says go to half-court and back. It was crazy. Try it at home. It is very difficult and your hips will burn if you do it right. Don't use your upper body, just your hip and buttocks and go a good distance and then back.

Later today we had another practice. It was at a different gym. On the other court in the gym there were about 3 ping pong tables set up and some very intense ping pong games happening. They looked like something that would be on the Olympics. So after that we got practice started and I felt a lot better today. I practice quite a bit more but didn't do any of the live 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 drills yet. My ankle was much better today. Afterwards I went to the store and got some food to cook up for dinner. I had egg sandwich and some cereal tonight for dinner and then later had some ramen noodles (which are way better here).

Weights in Japan and First Practice

Today I woke up and made some breakfast. I had eggs and some cereal. It's a good thing I learned how to cook a little bit this past year or else I would be going hungry. At about 8:40 Mike and I met coach downstairs and followed him to the weight room. We went through some back alleys and it was about a 10 or 15 minute bike ride.

We got there and I still haven't gotten used to the custom of having to take your shoes off everywhere you go. Even in the gyms you have to take your shoes off when you get there, put them on a shelf and then change into your basketball shoes. I didn't realize this and just took my shoes off and put them back on.

The weight room isn't much but it gets the job done. It is a public weight room so there is everyone from middle aged women to professional athletes to old guys just trying to make sure they can move. After we started lifting for a while they told us we had to do some orientation.

For orientation I had to stand on a machine with metal on the bottom and then hold a couple of metal handles. I felt like I was going to get shocked or something. After about a minute I stepped off and they had the most detailed analysis of my body I have ever seen. I couldn't read it but my translator told me what all it said. It had measurements of details like the size of my right calf, left calf, the balance from my right side and left side. It had details about my muscle mass, my body fat (at a lean 5.6%), and the number of nutrients I have in my body. It was impressive. Then he taught us a few things about positioning your arms different ways to have more effective strength while playing. He was very good. Then we lifted for a little while and just headed back.

After we got back I saw Martin, who lives in our building. He manages some of it, but also runs a small English school close by. He lives here with his wife and two kids. Martin let me into storage because one of my friends that I played with in Australia with the Athletes in Action team, Ray Schafer had stuff in storage. Ray played here last year. Ray and his wife Sara left a lot of stuff in storage. I got into it and it was just like Christmas. I now have many, many things I thought I was going to have to live without. Things like big bowls and an iron skillet. Very valuable things. So I carted some of those up to my room and by the time I was done unpacking it was time to head off to practice.

Mike, Gary and I got on our bikes and took off for practice. The ride to practice is all along the lake and was absolutely beautiful. Our practice gym for the day is on the second floor of the building and when in there we open a bunch of the big doors to let air in. It opens up right to the lake and it is absolutely beautiful - still very hot, but beautiful. Practice went well. My ankle is still sore. I've been doing anywhere for 1-2 hours of rehab everyday on it and it is getting better. I still can't go full for practice yet. I made it through a lot of practice though and then we walked through plays at the end. It is definitely going to be a fun year. I'm excited to get back into playing 100%. My ankle really needs to hurry up because I hate sitting out.

Well, I made a decent dinner and I talked to Hope while she got ready this morning like I always do and now I think I'm gonna call it a night.

National Health Insurance and Physical

This morning I woke up early. I still haven't adjusted entirely to time difference here so I still wake up at about 3 every morning and then it takes me anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to fall back asleep. Once back asleep I can usually sleep until 7 or 8. I woke up and made some breakfast. I was videochatting with Hope on Skype as I was eating breakfast and I heard a sound. The best way to describe this sound is if you took an ice cream truck and put a Japanese accent on it. I assumed that was what it was and ignored it. About 5 minutes later I heard it again. I finally started looking around and eventually realized it was my cell phone. Moto had texted me that he would be at the Michigan House (where I live) at 9 to meet us and go register for health insurance. It was 9:10. I hurried to throw on some clothes and ran downstairs.

Once downstairs Mike Hall (2 time defensive player of the year in his conference from BYU) walked with Moto to the train station which is about a 15 minute walk up the hill from where we live. We took the train and went to register for our health insurance. I got the paper and had no idea what the characters said. Moto translated it and told me what to write down. We got done and then had to wait for about 40 minutes until they were done. We sat in these benches that had to be half the height of benches in America. Mike impressed Moto showing off his skills of being able to count to 100. (He took a Japanese class in high school because his high school coach was the teacher, but still better than I can do as of right now.) Finally I got my health insurance card and we were on our way back to the apartment.

I now have national health insurance. For all of you wondering about how health care reform will end up I'm going to try it out and get back to you.

Shortly after our trainer, Shige, came and picked Mike and I up to go to the hospital for our physicals. He picked us up in our Shiga Lakestars Car. It is bright orange with blue painted decals all over. I will take a picture of it because it is pretty sweet. There are two seats in the back and they have lots of room. For such a small looking car the seats in the back are very roomy.

So we went to our physicals and it was an incredibly detailed physical. I had a bone bruise on my ankle about a month and a half ago. I had to be in a boot for about 3 weeks and then had a very sore sprained ankle basically after I was out of the boot. I haven't been able to play for awhile. The trainer wanted to get an MRI on my ankle and calf because my calf has some atrophy from being in the boot so long.

So I go in for the MRI and I ask the doctor who speaks no english how long it will be. He says 50 minutes. I try to explain to him that I do not want my head to go into the tunnel by hand signals and everything. The tunnel of the MRI here looks a whole lot smaller than the ones at home. After about 20 minutes he comes in and pulls me out of the tunnel (I was in to about my shoulders, thankfully). I try to figure out what is going on but he obviously messed something up. It ended up taking about an hour and 15 minutes. Afterwards I got into the rest of the physical.

There was in order - a bloodtest, ultrasound of my heart and my calf and ankle, ekg of my heart, chest x-ray of my heart, inspection of my knee by an orthopedic surgeon, took my blood pressure 3 times, met with a heart specialist about my results (she said that I'm normal and also that I eat very well), and then I had an eye exam where I had to take my contacts out(I have no idea why - I have my contacts for a reason...I am blind without them).

After all that we started driving home. On the way home I saw a giant ferris wheel on the side of the road. I realized it was the same one I went by on my bike ride yesterday before I got into the small Japanese town and got lost. The ride there took about 30 minutes. I traveled up the lake and then down and around the opposite side of the lake. The rough estimation of my ride distance is at about 25-30 miles. No wonder my butt is sore today - that seat doesn't work well for me.

Perspective

This monring I couldn't sleep real well so I woke up made some eggs and decided to go for a bike ride. It was about 5:30. I still have some jet lag and just overwhelmed still with living in an apartment I hit my head everytime I turn around. My bike is awesome....it is a 21 speed bike with a basket on the front - what more could a guy ask for? I went for quite a while just enjoying riding around the lake I live right next to. As I was riding around the lake for about 20 minutes I turned around to look at where my place was because I am directionally challenged and didn't want to get lost. When I looked back the view I saw was amazing. My apartment has one block between it and the lake. Looking back on the lake though are these buildings overshadowed by huge mountains behind them. It is really quite impressive.

So today I learned a lot about perspective. First I learned about the perspective of being in my apartment in Japan and being discouraged at the close view and the way it smells awful in my apartment. When I rode my bike just 15 minutes and looked back it was an impressive sight. The apartment and hotel next to it were right behind the lake and then the mountains painted the landscape behind them.

Then I looked across the lake and it was foggy that morning so I couldn't see the buildings all the way across but they seemed to look pretty sweet. I decided I was going to do a bike sprint workout up this side of the lake until I found a way to get across. I was doing bike sprints for about 45 minutes. I had crossed the bridge and started down the other side of the lake. What I learned about perspective is that "fog" that caused me not to be able to see the buildings on the other side was not "fog." I think the scientific term for it is a long friggin way away. I had been riding for about an hour down the other side of the lake and already passed where my apartment was and the hotel that has a bright blue-green roof. I was traveling further down and figured there had to be a bridge eventually to get across and it would be quicker than going back. I travelled for quite a while and then finally found a bridge.

This is where I found another problem. The bridge was a toll. I didn't have any money with me. Just my camera, my ipod, and my Japanese cell phone that I still can't quite figure out. I rode up to the bridge and decided that I will just try to make it through. Luckily I just drove around the toll on the left that didn't have a gate down and went over the bridge anyway. The bridge ended up being a huge incline and tough to get around. I was 1 of 3 bikers and the only one still riding when I got to the top. At the top I tried to find my landmark hotel and had no luck whatsoever. The "fog" was in the way again. (Note to self - when you are not good with directions, exploring in a foreign country is a bad idea...it was about here that I realized that)

So I decide now that I am on the correct side of the lake I will return back up that side. It worked well....for about 2 minutes. I tried to stay close to the water because it was my only landmark on which direction I was heading. I ended up in some small, small town. I tried everything. I tried to turn left to stay close to the water. Then I tried to turn right to get to a main road. Then I went straight and ended up going down an alley that I had to keep my knees closer to my back to miss hitting the houses on each side. This is when I realized. I have been riding for nearly 2 hours now and am officially lost in Japan.

Well, now I should suck up my pride and ask for directions. O yeah that's right I'm in Japan and only know hello and thank you in Japanese. Ok well maybe I can just say where I live and ask which direction for them to point. Nevermind, I don't know the name of where I live other than the Michigan House and I don't think that means anything to anyone. Ok, well I have my phone and could call Coach. That'll go well. Hey coach, I'm lost. Where are you at. Well I'm between the rice field and the bamboo house on the street that has a character like a child scribbled on the sign. So I decide my only option is to go all the way back on the road I came on. Luckily I was really taking in the scenes and was able to navigate my way back (I did have to get my camera out a couple of times to look at pictures and make sure I was going the right way). So finally I made it back. I drank 2 liters of some sports drink when I got back. I ended up riding for almost 4 hours and not sure of the mileage yet, but I was moving for sure. I think I am going to stay in the rest of the day. Tomorrow I go get my health insurance. I should've gotten that first before exploring Japan.

Thanks for reading and thanks for all of you that have sent messages via facebook or email of encouragement for being here or the engagement to my princess Hope!!!! I really really appreciate it and your friendship!!

Japan?!?!

So I haven't blogged since graduation basically. A lot has happened. I will update with where I'm at now and then as I go I will pick up with what happened throughout my busy, exciting summer.

Yesterday after an emotional trip to the airport with my fiance (yes I am engaged to Hope...more on that in a later blog, but she is amazing and perfect for me and we're getting married August 14, 2010) I flew from South Bend to Detroit. Detroit to Tokyo. Tokyo to Osaka.

There my Assistant GM/player personnel/translator/anything else, Moto picked me up. Yes folks his name is Moto, get your laughs out now, but he is a wonderful person and incredibly helpful. He serves people very, very well. So Moto got my bags took them to a place to send them to my apartment and we hopped on the train. The train was very nice. The seats were similar to that of a charter bus with each person having their own. Not exactly the South Shore Train that JP would take home every weekend from Notre Dame. Then we got off the train in Kyoto (the old capital about 15 minutes from where I am at) and rode into Otsu City.

So I am in Japan. I live in an apartment in Otsu City in the Shiga prefecture. I am in a small town it seems. We walked from the train station to my apartment and at 11 on a Friday night we ran into a total of 1 person. I didn't know there were places smaller than Washington or Montgomery, but I would compare the level of activity on my first night here to that of Cornettsville. Anyone who is reading this and seen Cornettsville knows what I am talking about and didn't blink on their way by.

Today there is a lot more action and I actually live a block away from the third largest lake in the world(so I am told). It is a nice lake, but not like touristy lakes at home. It is no Lake James. There were a lot of people fishing at it yesterday. I have a bicycle with a basket on it and every time I ride it two images pop into my head - the bike from the Wizard of Oz and my mom's bike that is at grandpa's farm in Iowa. Dang, I hope he didn't sell that with the house, the duct taped tires always get such good traction.

As I write there are vans driving around the town yelling and screaming the names of people. There is an election tomorrow and the candidates drive around all day with loudspeakers saying the candidates names. I only know that is what it is because someone told me. I have not picked up Japanese...yet. I did by an immersion program. I fell for the marketing ploy hook, line and sinker. It said it was a cheaper version of Rosetta Stone because they don't advertise so much. We'll see what happens.

It is 2:45 in the afternoon and I am absolutely exhausted, but since I have done some overseas travel I know the trick is to stay up all day your first full day there. I don't think I'm going to make it, but I'm trying. My bags were supposed to get to the room at 2 and they aren't here yet. I am excited to get my stuff and get settled in. It will be nice to make it feel like home because it is going to be home for the next 9 months.

Well, lots more to write, but for now I am going to try to figure out my DVD player and TV (the screen is smaller than my laptop screen...no one said overseas basketball is luxurious). It is a little difficult as the Japanese characters are tougher to read than a woman. Ok, maybe not that tough, but heading that direction.

Full Column for the Washington Times Herald

I was a guest columnist for the Washington Times Herald - here is what I wrote:

I am officially now a Notre Dame University Alum. Over the last four years there were times I thought a title like that would never come. Other times, it was a title that I thought I didn’t want. Just as my four years at Notre Dame didn’t pass by without any hiccups in the plan, the three day graduation weekend didn’t either.

On Friday, the #2 ranked business school in the country, Mendoza College of Business, had a recognition ceremony for all of the students graduating in Business. I graduated with a degree in Business Management, in the Entrepreneurship area of study. The ceremony was held in the Joyce Center. For the first time, alphabetically, I wasn’t the last name to be announced, not because “Zeller” wasn’t the last name in alphabetical order but because the students from the marketing division were announced after the management students. It was a nice ceremony but didn’t start without the H1N1 virus (swine flu) announcement. We were told if we didn’t want to shake the hands of the leaders of the business school, we could cross our arms. I felt like I was back at one of hundreds of pre-game masses that I attended while at Notre Dame. Hand sanitizer was also available before and after going across the stage. Despite the announcement, everyone chose to accept their degree by shaking hands, and refused the offer of sanitizer and crossing of the arms.

In the beginning of our ceremony, our Dean, Carolyn Woo, delivered the commencement speech and then shook our hands while receiving our degree. We each had a card with the pronunciation of our names and any awards that we had received listed below. I didn’t win any awards, but if I had a marker I would have written “almost cum laude,” seeing that I missed cum laude honors by just .03%. When I shook the Dean’s hand there was a good rolling laugh because of the height difference between her (just over 5’) and me (6’ 11”). When I returned to my seat, a friend on the football team asked, “Did you feel like Godzilla when you shook her hand?” We received a golden canister that some thought had our diploma in it, but it was actually just a glorified baton with a sketch of the campus inside of it. I told mom I got bored during the ceremony and drew it myself. Afterwards, the Business school provided an informal reception where I celebrated with my parents and girlfriend, Hope. We also met with my teammates, Ryan Ayers and Zach Hillesland and their families to take pictures and relive the memories of the last four years.

When I woke up Saturday, I knew it was going to be a busy day. Eric Lane graciously drove all the way to Middlebury to pick up a 25 foot trailer and then to South Bend to load up all of my things from my house and drive it back to Washington. Eric was a lifesaver because without his help, the next option was volunteering Dad to drive Tom Boyd’s semi-truck from the 2005 State Championship. From what I’ve heard the last time Dad drove an 18-wheeler, he forgot to release the parking brake in his excitement. So, you’re welcome, Tom! That afternoon we had an open house to celebrate my graduation. As always, Mom had a wonderful display and presentation of my life and accomplishments at ND. The party lasted throughout the evening as we had a steady flow of people throughout the house. It worked out great and allowed us to spend some quality time with everyone that came. When I finally laid down for bed, I felt flooded with emotions about my last home appearance on the Joyce Center floor coming up the next day at graduation. I chose to quickly fall asleep so that I didn’t think too much about it.

By the way, at our open house that evening, we talked about security for the weekend. My roommate’s dad was in the FBI for over 20 years and he was telling me about all the retired FBI, Secret Service, DEA, and state policemen that were called in for the weekend for the President’s arrival. There were a lot of uniformed officers with probably many more in street clothes.

Sunday morning I woke up and packed up what was left of my things in the house I called “home” for the past year. I rented out a room in the upstairs of one of my best friends’ house. I got all moved out and had to collect my diploma (or my $240,000 placemat, as my roommate called it) at the Joyce Center around noon but the ceremony wasn’t set to start till 2:00. Because of the protestors and high security for the President, there were two checkpoints to get to the entrance of the Joyce Center. By this time, the protestors were already active near the entrance and some ND parents were seen arguing with them. While waiting to enter, my girlfriend, Hope witnessed parents accusing the protestors of ruining their children’s graduation. In response, the protestors accused the parents of supporting Obama and his pro-abortion policies. The arguments soon ended when the parents simply said they were trying to celebrate a great accomplishment with their kids. While the hour wait to get in through the Secret Service security checkpoint seemed tedious, in hindsight, it was worth it to see “Air Force One” fly over campus. Since the airport is not far from Notre Dame, it was flying low enough for us to see it. Once we finally got through security, diplomas were distributed and the class of 2009 assembled to process onto the Joyce Center floor. I stood by teammates Ryan Ayers and Zach Hillesland, as we are all business majors. Kyle McAlarney tried to switch tassel colors with someone in the business school so he could sit with us, but it was to no avail. (However, Kyle ended up sitting directly in front of Obama and definitely was excited about that). Ryan, Zach, and I (all over 6’7) stood out like sore thumbs in the middle of the sea of students but at 6’0 Kyle blended in much better.

The processional was filled with anxious anticipation as everyone knew that President Barack Obama would soon walk in. When he finally did everyone erupted with applause and a standing ovation. Applause occurred each time his name was even mentioned in the ceremony. The Valedictorian gave a very good speech about “to whom much is given, much is expected.” She spoke about how we had all been given much and we were expected to do much. She had a long list of accomplishments--so long I would venture to say that it is longer than mom’s “TO DO” list for dad on Saturday’s that he doesn’t work. It was impressive and I was proud to be a part of a class that had a valedictorian with such accomplishments.

Notre Dame’s President, Father John Jenkins then made comments and introduced President Obama. He talked about how, as a Christian institution, we should extend our invitation to people who are our leaders even if their beliefs are different from our own. I appreciated his comments, especially when he spoke of the church’s stance on supporting leaders and respecting people of authority. I was reminded of the wonderful people Jesus surrounded himself with and what some people said about them as he spoke. I was proud of Father Jenkins for remaining firm in his invitation to President Obama and ensuring that the attention was directed at the graduating class rather than him. I’m sure he had plenty of opportunities for statements and public appearances, but he refused. Thank you, Father Jenkins, for being a strong leader of a Christian institution.

When President Obama received his honorary degree, in silent protest, some students chose to remain seated without applauding. While I stood to watch, I chose not to clap. President Obama’s stance on abortion differs from the moral standing of Notre Dame and the Catholic Church. Personally, I did not agree with Obama receiving an honorary degree, either, and did not support Notre Dame’s decision to give it to President Obama. I believe the Catholic Church and Catholic University should uphold their catholic mission of not giving honorary degrees to those who do not line up with their moral stance. Arizona State invited President Obama and made a statement by not giving an honorary degree. This was the only issue that left me unsettled about the ceremony and the President’s presence.

When President Obama began his speech we were all reminded that he is a great orator. I greatly enjoyed hearing him speak, as he had me on the edge of my seat. However, his wasn’t without interruptions. During his speech, three different people stood up and yelled anti abortion slogans. The police quickly escorted each of them out. The first time was shocking but expected, but the second and third times were quite annoying. While I may have agreed with what they were yelling, rudely interrupting Notre Dame’s graduation in such a way is not a positive production towards pro-life legislation. Truly protesting would have been to not attend the ceremony at all or other more civil and respectable means of sharing their beliefs. I’m not sure what result the protestors were aiming for but regardless those types of interruptions were unnecessary and disrespectful. I was very proud to be a part of the Class of 2009 and even got chills when the second protestor started during the President’s speech, the students started the “We are N.D!” chant. Our class was not going to let the protestors ruin our day that we had worked so hard for. If I had a chance to sit down with Obama at a coffee shop, I would listen to his stance on abortion and then tell him I disagree, but then buy his cup of coffee. Afterwards, I would then extend the proposition that should solve all great political debates. I would challenge President Obama to a game of one-on-one to solve the issue once and for all.

After the graduation, my parents had to get back home, but Hope and I went to a celebration dinner at Hacienda, which is not near as good as Mi Pueblo, but it has had to suffice since Mi Pueblo doesn’t yet deliver to South Bend. After dinner, I drove to my “home” for the next couple of weeks – the Marten House Hotel in Indianapolis. I am working out with Coach Ed Schilling of Champions Academy every morning and Ralph Reiff and his trainers of St. Vincent’s Sports Performance Center training to pursue a professional career. As of yet, I don’t know where I will be. I work out about 5 hours a day and my agent takes care of where I will be.

Overall, I am proud to be a Notre Dame graduate from Washington, Indiana. I know that without living and growing up in Washington, I would not be where I am at today. Whether it be the support of people in the Hatchet House, struggling through memorizing the Gettysburg Address in Don Spillman’s Class (I heard a rumor that he is making his class next year memorize President Obama’s recent Notre Dame address – good luck with that!!!), or the guidance and support of my first bus driver and amazing woman that was Coach Omer’s wife Wilda. I appreciate everything that has been given to me and since the day I graduated from Washington High School, I have been trying to live by our valedictorian’s mantra – to whom much is given much is expected. I am trying to do the best I can to everyday make Washington proud.

Workouts

So I've been working out hard in Indy.  It's been really good.  Workouts have been tough.  My lunch yesterday was baked cod, lima beans, and baby spinach salad.  I thought that was questionable at best, but then I got dressing....I think it was dressing.  I smelled it and it was quite pungent.  It stung the nostrils.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be though.  It made the baby spinach salad taste better than eating plain leaves off a tree because that's what it looked like.  The planned meals are really good and have been helping, but sometimes things just don't taste that good.  After both of my workouts, I get snacks that total at least 700 calories.   There is a window of 30-60 minutes after the workout that your cells are more open to receiving recovery nutrition and it is a very important part of getting the most out of the workout.  700 Calories may sound like a lot, but I did a bodpod test and they figured out that I burn 2500 calories a day.  This is by doing absolutely nothing, just because of my metabolism being that high.   

All of my working out really hard and I'm still not sure what the future entails for me.  I am working out and trying to play well in front of the right people.  I have learned a lot from books in college, but probably the two most valuable lessons came from a combination of on and off the court.  I learned that there are many things in life you can't control - don't worry about it.  There are two things you can control - your attitude and how hard you work.  These are the two most important things, not only in basketball, but in the classroom and I find myself reminding myself of the same thing everyday in my relationship with Hope as well.  There are many situations and circumstances that aren't possible to control, but those two things can make your life better.  

Training

So I've been working out for the last two weeks in Indianapolis.  I am training with Champions Academy for basketball and St. Vincent's Sports Performance Center for everything else.  I have a dietician that has me on a strict eating schedule.  She has breakfast, lunch, and dinner planned out for me as well of my post workout snacks.  I did a bod pod test to find out my weight and my metabolism.  I found out that if I do absolutely nothing all day I burn 2500 Calories, so based on that and the calories I burn during my workouts as well as everyday living, my diet is at about 5500 calories a day.  I'll give you an idea of a typical day for me.  I wake up about 8:45 or 9 and go get breakfast.  Then I drive to Trader's Point Christian Church to work out with Coach Ed Schilling and Champions Academy (championsacademy.org).  We start out with 2 ball dribbling for a warm up.  To watch what this looks like check out Mike Conley's dribbling on youtube.  It is from Coach Schilling's warmup.  Then we do what is called the chill drill.  There are not words to describe the chill drill.  There is nothing chill about it.  It is tough.   From there it differs from day to day, but Coach Schilling is very good at what he does.  He used to work out guys for the New Jersey Nets and I heard that he worked out Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter when they were coming into the draft.  We do most of what the NBA teams do in the pre draft workouts.  Workouts usually last atleast 2 hours, sometimes more.  I get my post workout snack and then head back to the hotel for lunch.  After lunch I go to the room for about 10 minutes just to sit down and then I drive over to my workout at St. Vincent's.  St. Vincent's workouts go from about 2:30 - 4 and then we get our post workout nutrition.  I have to get 600 calories in after my workout.  There is a 30-60 minute glycogen window after workouts where your energy can be replenished and recovered more efficiently, so that's why we get the stuff after workouts.  A typical post-nutrition workout supply for me would include a myoplex drink (you're welcome Brady Quinn), string cheese, a myoplex bar (Now I'm done), and a Kashi TLC bar.  And then I go back to the hotel, take a shower, and relax for a bit before dinner at about 6 or so.  After dinner is when I go to Panera for a little free WiFi action.  Then I go back and have to eat 2nd dinner of atleast 700 calories.  Then I'm usually in bed by about 11 and I do it all over again.  It's been really good and workouts have been great.  

On another note I am going to Andrew Johnson's wedding this weekend and am very excited to be able to celebrate this with him, but I am mostly excited to see Hope because I haven't seen her since Sunday and it will be a lot of fun to show off our dance moves on Saturday - better watch out!!!

Dylan - A kid that I miss dearly

So I just finished writing a column for the Washington Times Herald about graduation.  I will post it on here when it comes out.  It's definitely way too long for the newspaper unless they're doing a couple page insert and I'm most definitley not that special.  I will post all of it on here though. 

I am currently sitting in a Panera just down the road from my hotel in Indianapolis.  They kick me out of here at 9 o clock each night, but I refuse to pay the 6 dollars a day to get wireless internet in the hotel.  I am excited to get back for the Lakers - Nuggets game tonight anyway.  No internet will keep me free from distractions.  

So here's a story about a young man that had a big impact on me.  In the fall, when we played Ohio State at Lucas Oil Stadium, as part of the schedule for that game, we went and visited Peyton Manning's Children Hospital.  I've always been a big Peyton fan, but even more now after seeing where his money has gone.  This place is impressive and cool for the kids.  We split up into two groups and visited many kids.  Some kids were preemie, others in for surgeries, but there was also an oncology section.  

It was in the oncology section of the hospital that I met Dylan.  In our tall group of basketball players come towering in.  Dylan had a tube in his throat and his talk sounded very mechanical because of it.  It added to his mystique in the same way a person's accent does the first time you meet them.  Dylan was a little shy on this day, but he warmed up when I asked him if he liked the movie Cars because I saw a sticker of the movie on his wall.  Tory asked him who his favorite character was and he wouldn't say.  When I did my best impersonation of Lightning McQueen and said "Kachow!" his face lit up and that was the moment Dylan held a special place in my heart.  Here is a kid with cancer at 6, but he's still a kid.  Lightning McQueen lights him up the same way it would any other kid.  We got to talking and the nurse asked him do you like basketball Dylan and he boldly said, "No."  We all laughed and instantly fell for him because Dylan was very mature for his age and he knew what he wanted.  He liked us because we were visiting him and cared enough to spedn some time with him.  It didn't matter that we played basketball.  Afterwards all the guys were talking about how much we all liked Dylan and we all wished we could do more for him.  I grabbed the nurse before we left and talked to her about Dylan and possibly a Christmas list or something because we would all like to help out.  She got excited and said that Dylan had a Christmas list all written out, but probably wouldn't be able to get everything on it.  I told her to email me the list and I would be driving by Indianapolis on my way home for Christmas so I would stop in.  

We got back to school and I have some great teammates.  All of the guys that were in with my Dylan pitched in something.  Kyle bought Transformers for him because that was what Kyle talked to him about.  Tim Andree went out and bought the semi from cars that turned into an entire racetrack so he could play with it in his bed.  Tyler was in town, so Tyler, Mom, Hope, and I went shopping for Dylan.  We found him some neat shirts and a huge Lightning McQueen pillow along with some Lightning McQueen crocs.  

We delivered them all to Dylan on our way home.  It was pretty early that chilly morning in December, and Dylan wasn't feeling good.  He had just had chemo and radiation treatments that morning and wasn't real excited about seeing us.  He pulled the sheet over his head and didn't want to talk to us.  We said that's fine we just wanted to bring him the gifts.  Molly, the nurse then took the Lightning McQueen shaped oversized pillow and slid it it under the covers.  That got him excited!!!  He had so much fun unwrapping the gifts and seeing what he had for Christmas.   He said thanks, but not much else beyond that.  Dylan may have been the one that got the gifts, but his smile gave me the best present that I received this past Christmas.  Afterwards I told Molly that sometimes I work out in Indy and might be here again this summer.  Last week I found out the hotel I am staying out is a 5 minute walk from Peyton Manning's Children's Hospital, so first thing I thought was Dylan!!!  I was excited to see my little partner again!  

On Thursday before heading to Notre Dame for graduation, I moved my workout to the morning so that I could have time in the afternoon to visit my man Dylan.  I went over and Molly was on vacation, so I stopped at the front desk and tried to find someone else to take me to him.  I asked the front desk and she asked well who are you here to see.  I told her I was there to see Dylan.  The look on her face worried me and what she said broke my heart.  She told me Dylan had passed away last Thursday (May 7).  I couldn't believe it.  The guy that had brought me so much joy and done so much for me was no longer here.  Cancer had taken his life.  It is a cruel disease that knows no boundaries not even for an innocent little kid that loved Cars and didn't like basketball at all.  I met with one of the other nurses that had grown close to Dylan and went to his funeral the day before.  She said that he was great the day that he had died.  He ate biscuits and gravy in the morning and she had brought him a happy meal for lunch because he loved the toy in it as any kid would.  She talked about how late at night there were a couple of radiologists that would make his life brighter.  They used to take him and race him in his wheelchair down the ramps outside of the hospital.  They took him to the helicopter pad on night and even did an easter egg hunt with him.  When they asked him about an easter egg hunt, he pulled the nurse in real close and said, "I can't walk."  She replied you don't need to walk to be a kid and find eggs.  You can hunt in your wheelchair.  They said he really liked that.  I just can't believe that he is really gone.  This is my tribute to you Dylan.  Thanks for touching my life and I will try to remember you as I move forward from here.  I will remember your smile, but mostly your joy while going through the situation you were in.  Thanks for being an inspiration to me.     

Beach Adventures

I am still working on getting the pictures of the two seven footers building sand castles. The pictures are on Hope's camera and she is holding them ransom evidently. Speaking of castles, Tyler and I built a wonderful sand castle...sort of. The castle had five levels to it with a sweet room on the top. By the time we got done, we decided it looked more like a prison and joked that not even Sean Connery (in The Rock) could escape our prison. Especially after the amazing moat that we dug out around it. Our girlfriends were sitting up a ways on the beach and so we decided to change the sandcastle. We customized it and made it so that it was a luxurious hotel with one single room on the top overlooking the ocean. We added huge doors on the front and some nice beautiful windows. We then made a road to the ladies so that they could easily get to the beautiful Ritz of a sandcastle we had just built for them. We made a road all the way to their towels and then took them on a tour to their place.

Later on Tyler and Abby went for a walk on the beach. (Yes tall men are more romantic). As Hope and I were now alone I did what any guy would do...I took pictures of the sandcastle as the waves began to overtake it. As I was taking pictures of this huge wave about the crash down on the south, west, and east wall of the sandcastle, Hope started tapping me on the shoulder saying Luke, Luke. I said, "Yeah, I see it. This is going to be the greatest picture in the history of pictures." She kept tapping me more urgently and making sounds louder and louder, but not really entirely words. I then turned to right to see something I have only seen in movies. Well one movie - Twister. There was a giant umbrella about the size of an umbrella that would sit on a back patio table flying through the air and it was about 10 feet from me. I turned to my side to protect Hope...and maybe dodge it. No luck. The pole of this umbrella jabbed me right in my right hip and then rolled on down the beach. Wow, what are the chances.

Speaking of being on the beach. I play an indoor sport and like this year I was on the beach about two days this summer and that will probably be about it. I am tan, but not dark. I burn easily. This year was not as bad as the vacation that Tyler, Cody and I took last summer. We went to Charleston, South Carolina and had to check out of our room that day. So we went out to the beach real early and just stayed - all day. We had a blast, whether it was Cody doing the Heisman to an oncoming wave or it was Tyler and I trying to see who could jump over a wave and stay standing. Mom sent some sunscreen with us. We decided we would help each other put the sunscreen on after we got out to the beach because we didn't want to waste any of our time. Mom is a wise woman. I say that honestly. Now for this instance it is sarcastic. Mom in all her great wisdom sent spray sunscreen because we are big guys and she figured we didn't want to rub that much sunscreen on each other. We have played basketball outside many times. You always have to play the wind. Well, we tried to play the wind with the sunscreen. Cody would shoot it up in the air and I would judge where to run under it and then we would switch. Since Cody decided for the first 5 hours that the sun couldn't touch him and he didn't need sunscreen he was the worst. We had spots on us from the places we had sprayed sunscreen. Cody looked like a diseased cow. It was hilarious, until Tyler and I ended up burnt and eventually blistered a day after him.

So this time on the beach, I had learned my lesson. Hope brought SPF 15 and 30 to the beach. She brought negative 15 I think for her frequent tanning bed self. I was putting tons of lotion on my legs and got comments like that would take of an entire normal person....for a week. I told her I needed good sunscreen. She told me to add 15 and add 30 together and that would make SPF 45, so I would be fine. It's amazing the things you learn when you graduate from college...sort of. It didn't work. She did my back and yep my back was burnt. It's alright though, no blisters and next time we will just buy SPF 45.

Mother's Day

So as it's late and I am very tired. This will be short, but don't let the longevity of the message be representative in your eyes to the gratitude of the amazing woman that is in my life - my mom. She is awesome and deserves much more than just this, so I will stop here and do justice to her amazingness blogging about her later.

Sorry about the week away from the Blog. My girlfriend Hope and I traveled to Chapel Hill and Wilmington, North Carolina to see and visit Tyler. The trip was amazing and I have tons of stories which I will be posting soon. Just a preview - these entail entertaining stories such as flying umbrellas, sunscreen math that doesn't work on very white men, meeting of many, many people - such as the man who played basketball for Pittsburgh in 1942, many people that thought I was Tyler and sometimes I let it slide because it was fun, and other stories. The stories will be coming soon. I am currently in Indianapolis getting ready to start working out with Coach Ed Schilling of Champions Academy in the morning and as the "chill" drill has nothing chill about it I am going to hit the hay. The stories will be coming to you soon and believe me they will not disappoint. While you are waiting here is a scenario you can play out in your mind that will keep you entertained. Two seven foot division 1 basketball players building a sandcastle on the beach. That's all I'm saying....if pictures work I will share those images with you and see how close they are to what you imagined. Thanks for following and once again sorry for the delay of a week.

Graduation

Today, my girlfriend Hope graduated from Bethel College.  I am incredibly proud of her and have to brag on her 3.94 gpa in 2 majors and 2 concentrations that I always get mixed up.  In that list is business, early childhood development, youth ministry, and psychology or something like that.  Anyway she's amazing and I'm very proud of her.  I went to the graduation ceremony, which is always something that people look very forward to....just kidding.  I went because I try to be a good guy like that.  The commencement speaker for the graduation was Chris Fuller in place of his father who passed away in February.  Chris is the son of Millard Fuller, who founded Habitat for Humanity until as I understand it he was forced to leave the organization in a messy string of events.  It was an interesting talk about the story of Habitat for Humanity, then being forced out of the organization he founded.  Chris said his father was never bitter about it, but rather took the perspective that it was God's organization from the beginning and he was just watching over it for a while.  He founded the Fuller Center for Housing after and began to impact the world that way.  Chris said in Fuller's fourth year it is where Habitat was at after 10 years.  Impressive.  It was a good talk and a fun day of family pictures, and many kodak moments afterwards.  

I am looking forward to my graduation in two weeks and will be writing about that soon.  Yes, I will be addressing how I feel about Barack Obama speaking.  Tomorrow morning Hope and I are driving to visit my good friend Christian Moody in Asheville, North Carolina on our way to the see Tyler and his girlfriend before heading to the beach!!!!   I have been training about 4-5 hours a day preparing for NBA tryouts to try and pursue a professional career.  I am looking forward to moving my training from South Bend to Chapel Hill and then the beach for a couple of days.  It won't stop my training, it will just be a little bit different.  I will be running in the mornings like David Hasselhoff and then doing the deck of doom as my strength coach T-Ro calls it as often as I can.  There are always basketball courts to be found.  I can sniff out a basketball court like many women can sniff out shopping malls!!!!  That's why I almost always wear a pair of gym shorts underneath my pants.  Like prom - I had basketball shorts on underneath.  You never know when a basketball game could break out and I wanted to be ready.  

Finishing one chapter, beginning another

As I put the finishing touches on my last assignment of my educational career to this point, I realized that I have been in school for over 17 years now.  I have been doing assignments for teachers, professors, priests, and parents for basically my whole life.  As I finish this take home final for my religion and autobiography class I have decided to begin a new chapter.  This chapter I am the boss and I review the work.  I apologize now for my grammar.  I write the way I talk which is random and sometimes not well structured (sorry all old english teachers....and mom).  

This is the beginning of my new chapter of life.  As I finish college, and begin the journey that everyone has deemed the "real world" I hope that you will follow with me whether it be laughing at me or laughing with me.  Either way I want to thank you for your time as I know time is an incredibly valuable resource in this day and age. 

Today my time was used and it was a very busy day.  I helped my girlfriend, Hope, move out of her dorm as she graduates tomorrow from Bethel College here in South Bend.  I was glad that I could help out, but I am built much more for carrying large boxes.  I thrive on the sheer challenge of carrying nine shopping bags, 3 duffel bags, and one laundry basket all in one trip.   (Which I did successfully in case you were wondering).  I am a lot better at carrying bags upon bags like a packhorse than wrapping fragile, breakable bowls, plates, cups and vases in newspaper and then stacking them individually into a plastic box.   I really, really hope those don't break...although I'm not giving any promises.  Sorry Hope.   There was also a box that I might have broke a little bit when I tried to fit a comforter, 3 sheets, and two blankets into.  I found the only way I could get the lid on was to sit on the box and then quickly put the lid on.  It seemed a brilliant idea until I realized why it wasn't working.  The whole box was deformed from me sitting on it.  ooops.  So after I got her partially moved out I had to move onto the next two events for my day.

Both events were for great causes, but in much different ways.  One was in workout clothes and sunglasses, the other was in a tuxedo, tennis shoes and cuff links.  I helped work a basketball clinic at the college football Hall of Fame today.  It was an event for kids and it was sponsored by the center for the homeless and five star (fivestarlife.org).  Both are great causes and I was glad to be able to help out.  We had players from Bethel and Goshen college as well helping out.  I was helping out with the shooting station and was definitely inspired today by my new friend I met - Elizabeth.  

Elizabeth is a sweet little girl that was definitely younger and smaller than the rest of the kids that ranged from junior high to freshman in high school.  That didn't stop her or slow her down....something else did.  We were doing a shooting competition first team to make it to ten.  As we were playing a ball came across from another station and rocked her in the head.  It hit her square in the head and quite hard.  She was crying for a bit and as someone helped her with some ice to put on her head I went over to check on her.  She seemed to be doing well and I told her that I had had a concussion before and she looked better than me.  I would like to think that the little laugh from making fun of me was the thing that helped her, but I think it was the score called out by Robbie Lightfoot of 9-8.  Her team was down.  She put that bag of ice down stepped into line.  The girl in front of her hit her shot passed it back to her and she squinted a little from the sun put it up and in!!  She hit the game winner.  Michael Jordan may have won a bigtime playoff game with the flu, but on this day it was sweet little Elizabeth that hit the game winner there on a standalone goal outside of the College Football Hall of Fame that I think was just as special.  I was sold.  I was Elizabeth's fan.  I cheered hard for her against the kids twice her size and 3-4 years older and was impressed by her will to come back from a setback.

I have to say though, I was more impressed by the 15 year old girl that spoke tonight at the Coach's vs. Cancer BasketBall.  She is 15 and has had cancer in her leg and her left lung on two different occasions.  She had surgery on her leg.  They took out 3/4 of her femur and replaced it with a metal rod.  Then, they took her knee out and replaced it with a replacement knee.  She has beat it all three times.  It was amazing to me to hear her story.  I was humbled when her dad came to me and told me that he was impressed with me on the basketball court.  I told him I will never be able to do anything on the basketball court as impressive or courageous as your daughter has done with her life.  It was very impressive.  

Coach Brey does a great job with the Coaches vs. Cancer Event.  I would have to say this is where my dad would say behind ever great man there is a woman who is making it all happen.  Tish Brey is amazing with all she does, especially with Coaches vs. Cancer and I definitely think she wills the program together every year.   I always enjoy going to an event in a tux and tennis shoes anyway.  The battle with cancer is very close to me in my life and my prayers are with anyone battling or has lost someone to cancer.  

My high school coach's wife, Wilda, had breast cancer my sophomore year in high school.  She was also my first school bus driver and always told the story about how this rather tall, lanky first grader had to have his mom walk him to the end of the driveway to get on the bus.  It always sounded like the first bus scene from Forrest Gump when she told it.  Wilda's cancer went into remission and was gone until my senior year.  It came back and she battled courageously.  She would always be at our games supporting us.  There are two pictures of Wilda I will never forget and look at often.  The picture of her walking on the platform with Coach Omer receiving the state champion medal with Coach and her raising her arm in victory.  Also, the picture of our team at my senior banquet and for some reason she grabbed my hand right in the middle of the picture.  I went off the college and the next time I would hold her hand would be in the fall as she was close to the end with her battle with cancer.  I know that I held her hand, but a week later she moved on and I know that Jesus held her hand and took her home.  I love you and miss you Wilda.