NBA draft

The NBA draft is tomorrow. I've been waiting for this since the end of Bradley's basketball season. Bradley's own Patrick O'Bryant is probably going to go in the top 10, which makes me really excited to watch and see where he goes...especially since I've talked to him on 3 separate occasions. Not only that, but Marcellus Sommerville of Bradley has a legitimate shot of being drafted. Also, Dee Brown and James Augustine will both be drafted so I'm excited to see where they go. Finally, the Bulls have the second and sixteenth overall picks, so I can't wait to see what they do with those.

Sorry if you're not interested in this type of thing...I'm running out of things to blog about.

Magic

Ever since I was little, I've loved magic. My grandpa used to do card tricks for me, and he taught me some of them and ever since then I've love to get the stupified response from the audience when doing a magic trick. The other day I was watching Criss Angel's show on TV and it sort of rekindled me interest in magic. (to watch some of his amazing tricks go to http://youtube.com/results?search=criss+angel&search_type=search_videos ). I've recently been working on some new tricks, I'll have to show you sometime, just ask. I think I'll keep practicing and get really good. Wish me luck.

see ya,
Ryan

Going, Going, Ghana

Well, the USA once again falls short of expectations when competing in sports at the world level, much like they did at this winter's Olympics. This time it was the World Cup. Something I care much more about than the Winter Olympics. This was supposed to be the best team that USA soccer has had in the history of the program, yet they failed to make it to the second round. In their first game, they got slaughtered 3-0 by the Czech Republic, which ended up being the only game that Czech won all tournament. In the second game, the US put up a good fight and came away with a tie with Italy, which was pretty good, except for the only goal they got actually came when an Italian player put the ball in his own net. Finally, today the US played Ghana, and they still could have made it to the second round with a win, but they lost 2-1 in a heartbreaker.

I don't understand how the US can basically dominate in all sports when competing at the world level, except when it comes to soccer, the one sport I'd love them to be good at, they suck. I was looking forward to watching them make a run into at least the quarterfinals. Disappointing since the World Cup only comes around every four years. Oh well, theres always 2010.

I have a softball game tonight at 6:30, I can't wait.

See ya,
Ryan

attempt no. 2

Well, I already wrote a long post about my weekend and my extended family and Father's day...but for some reason it didn't post and I lost it all and I'm much too annoyed to write it all out again.

Here's a quick summary:

1. My extended family including my aunt and uncle and cousins and grandma and grandpa are really fun to hang out with.

2. It was great to spend the weekend with my mom and brothers.

3. I didn't get to see my dad on father's day, and I really would have liked to. He is great.

sorry you didn't get to read the entire post... the picture is of me and my two brothers and my two step sisters

Its been a while

Sorry for not posting in about a week, I've been busy and I've had no motivation to write anything. I've been looking for a new job all week since I can't take CAT anymore.

Tonight I have a softball game at 7:30 so I'm really excited about that. I've been looking forward to it all week. Our team is undefeated, and honestly I don't see us losing all season long.

I have been watching the World Cup all week long. I love how many games are on during the day. Any other time you can find about one MLS game on per week, but now theres three games a day. The World Cup is by far the greatest sporting event in the world. Better than the Super Bowl, World Series, and Olympics...the fans and the stadiums and the emotion is on such a greater scale than anything else I've ever seen. I would absolutely love to go to a World Cup game in real life. It would be insane.

Finally, Alyssa Yoder is moving to New York today. It sucks because she just got back from Finland like two weeks ago and now she's leaving again. She is such a fun and happy person all the time, I feel blessed to have gotten to know her. She's usually the life of the party so I'm afraid it could get boring if she's not here to coordinate social activities. Come back soon Alyssa.

See Ya,
Ryan

The days really are packed

Lately life has been incredibly hectic. With work starting up, I've been very busy and I've just had a lot going on. It doesn't help that I really hate my job. It hasn't just been the job either. I've had some drama with some friends which couldn't possibly come at a worse time. I'm sure everything will turn out fine, but its just been another burden I've had to deal with. Another thing thats been bumming me out is that next week is Camp Castaway for Young Life. For the first time since I've been a leader, I won't be going. Everyone else is. I'm so disappointed that everyone will be having the best week of their life, while I'm here suffering through a hard 40 hour work week. Basically I'm in a slump right now...I just have to have a good attitude about it and I'll get out of it shortly. I don't know where I heard this quote... but it always keeps me going.

"Behind the clouds, there's the sun....still shining"

See ya,
Ryan

Another Day, Another Dollar

Today was my third day of work at my new job for Caterpillar. I have to get up at 5:45 to make it to work in Morton at 6:45. I don't know how much more of it I can take. All we've done for the last three days is sit in a class room and do 'training' which isn't actual training, its just learning about sexual harassment and the history of CAT the first day and the last two days have been doing random puzzles and word games to stall until the end of the week when 'training' is over. It is really the most boring eight hours of my life. I hate it a lot at this point, I think because I am not seeing any reward for what I'm doing...I'm sure that once I start getting paid I'll find the work less unbearable.

See ya,
Ryan

A wedding, a whoopin', and work

The Wedding-

This Saturday was a day I've been looking forward to for a year and a half. Me and a bunch of fellow Washington leaders and the senior girls went down to St. Louis for Emily's wedding. The wedding itself was actually really cool. The place was called the Jewel Box and it was basically a big glass building that was an awesome indoor garden with all sorts of awesome plants, including banana trees, which I've never seen before. It was a perfect day for a wedding too. I haven't been to a wedding since I was really young, so I've never been old enough to appreciate how cool they actually are. This one basically changed my views on marriage from "i wanna wait til I'm at least a few years out of college" to "I'd like to get married as soon as a graduate." We'll see how that works out...After the wedding was the reception which was also very cool. It was in this awesome, swanky, high class reception hall which made me feel like I was eating with the president or something. When dinner was over, we hit the dance floor and basically partied the night away. After the reception me, Brandon, Gary, and Dan all went to downtown STL and hung out and had an awesome time.

The Whoopin'-

We spent the night in a hotel and planned on going home the next morning by noon. On the way home I found out that the Cubs vs. Cardinals game was at one and it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. We decided to get some scalped tickets and watch the game. It was an awesome time because I got to hang out with the guys and because I've been wanting to see the new Busch stadium, which I must say is very nice. Unfortunately, the Cubs got beat pretty badly in the ball game. Overall it was an awesome weekend.

and Work-

The only bad part of the weekend is that I knew that Monday morning I would be starting my new job at CAT. I had to get to bed early to wake up at 5:45. The first day went fine. I spent the entire time in a classroom learning a bunch of crap like how to not sexual harass people. I have this all week long...its not gonna be a fun week. At least I'm getting the big bucks and I really can't wait to get my first paycheck. I gotta get up in less than six hours, so I'm out like a fat kid in dodgeball.

See ya,
Ryan

oh yeah...shout out to Leslie because she has to be in every post or else she cries

Pool Party!

Many of the last few days have been incredibly nice and hot enough to go swimming. Monday I went to Splashdown waterpark with some friends, I got really burnt in the process...now its turning into a decent tan. Alyssa in gracious enough to let us swim in her pool basically whenever we want, so we've done that the past few days. Its so relaxing to be able to just lay on a raft and soak up the rays. Kristin has also extended a similar invitation which I'm sure we'll take advantage of. Swimming is easily one of the best parts of summer.

Tomorrow I'm going to Emily's wedding in St. Louis...its going to be fun. I'll keep you posted.

See ya,
Ryan

Spoons

Tonight I hung out with a bunch of friends of mine. First I met up with Gary and Leslie and Blinkie and we all played tennis for a while. After that, a bunch of people showed up at my house and we went to Old Chicago to eat. From there we came back to my place and we decided to have a big game of spoons. For those of you who don't know, spoons is a card game that tests your speed and reflexes. I was looking forward to this because I love this game, and, somehow or another I have gone my entire life without losing a game of spoons. I dont know how many times I've played, but I'm sure its well over twenty. Somehow, every game of spoons has gone my way. Tonight was a different story...

I made it through the first few rounds without a problem, but then came about the fourth round. I was using my usual strategy, not worrying about my cards and only paying attention to the spoons when all of a sudden I saw someone grab one. I reached out to grab the nearest spoon but when I tried to clinch it, I felt it slide through my fingertips. Someone had beat me to it. It was over. The streak was over. I can no longer say I am undefeated at spoons. I apologize for my outburst of excuses and insults after the reality of the moment hit me. After all, it was just spoons.

see ya,
ryan