I was able to sleep two and a half hours later than usual this morning!
It being the first day of fall break, and since we did not have classes to worry about getting back to campus for, practice was moved back to eight o'clock (and actually, as it worked out, we did not even get on the water in the eight until 8:45!). However, most everyone must have taken that relaxed practice time and used it to sleep even later, because people were drifting in for over a half hour after that supposed start time. We finally did get enough rowers to man the Helluva Engineer, and Alison took us out to row a 5000m time trial. We posted a 16:49 over the distance, which, as with my four's time, was respectable, but possibly slightly inaccurate because the distance was not a full five kilometers. As soon as we pulled the boat out of the water and set in the stretchers on the concrete pad to be derigged and placed on the trailer, Drew, Person, Kyle, and I took The Heart of Dixie out for some light work down to the McFarland bridge and back. Kyle had to get off the water in time to clean up and drive to Birmingham for lunch with his girlfriend, so we had a fairly short work time in the four, but it was plenty after just rowing close to 10,000m in the eight. After we got that boat off the water, we derigged it and the Two Fast, our double, and loaded them on the women's trailer for the trip to Chattanooga. We wrapped up a little after 11:30, so it was a pretty drawn out morning. The rest of the day was quiet, low-key, and fairly relaxed. I cleaned up a clutter pile on my floor that had been there since the beginning of the semester, the contents of a sling bag I had received from Chad, the crew club's former treasurer, that I had dumped there and never done anything further with. And I cleaned off my desk...had a couple quiet meals...showered...gathered up gear for the regatta (at which point I realized something somewhat crucial that I had left at home: a sleeping bag or just sleeping gear in general)...and since I am meeting at five o'clock tomorrow morning to depart, I am going to bed.
Goodnight!

Yes, I realize that this past week has been the longest span of non-posting I have had in quite some time, but I hope to fill you all in on what has been going on in the lovely South. :-)
Let me see...last Tuesday, after I posted, I got ready to depart with the Castos to Atlanta to pick up Stephanie. We left shortly after 10 o'clock, and after a stop for lunch in Centre, we continued into Georgia and Eastern Standard Time once more. We were about 15 minutes from the airport when my cell phone rang; I have a specific ring tone set for Stephanie, and as soon as I heard it going off, I knew she was back on the ground! That was a few minutes after three o'clock; she had originally been scheduled to land at 3:20, but the jet made very good time during the flight, and just before they entered the landing pattern, they were supposed to land at 3:03, but there was a plane taking too much time on the runway, so they did not actually touch down until 3:10 or so. We arrived just before 3:30, but it was over an hour before we saw Stephanie, as she had to go through a visa check, customs, security, the first baggage claim, rechecking her baggage to send it to the terminal, and then board the subway to take her from the E concourse to the main terminal, at extreme opposite ends of the enormous structure that is the Atlanta airport.
When she finally emerged from the subway, we spotted each other, and then walked into the long-awaited welcome-home hug. Mr. and Mrs. Casto were dutifully filming and capturing photos of the reunion as everyone greeted her and welcomed her back to the states. By five o'clock, we had finally emerged from the terminal with Stephanie and her luggage, and were on our way to the Clark's once more (Stephanie's mom's family). A delicious welcome home meal, with the menu picked by Stephanie, had been prepared for the gathering, and we sat down to tasty spaghetti, salad, rolls, and a sweet, fluffy, mandarin orange ambrosia. After Stephanie and I had finished eating, we went to the living room to begin displaying her souvenirs and trinkets from her four weeks in the British Isles and five days in Paris, and then the rest of the company came in for a brief “show and tell” session to wrap up the evening.
Wednesday morning, Mr. Casto wanted to get on the road by nine, but it was closer to 10 in the morning before we were really ready to head back to Alabama. The afternoon at the Casto's home was pretty quiet and relaxing, especially on Stephanie's part as she was recuperating from a seven hour time change. However, we did go to Books-A-Million that evening for about an hour to spend some time with a great bunch of guys and gals that make up the “baby house church”/Bible study/hangout/ADD convention group. The conversation rambled until about 8:30, and then Stephanie and I headed home to talk with her parents for a while.
On Thursday, Stephanie had several appointments and errands to take care of, so after a yummy breakfast of strawberry-blueberry muffins, we spent the day cruising around Huntsville, visiting orthodontists, dentists, chiropractors, Mr. Casto (for lunch), Publix, and Blockbuster. When we finally returned, it was about three o'clock, and we had to get ready for a big welcome home/heading to school party for Stephanie. The guests began arriving close to five o'clock, and they were coming and going until after midnight, when her close friend Fabiani finally headed home before he was too tired to drive.
Friday morning, we gathered up Stephanie's belongings and arranged them in the three vehicles heading down to Tuscaloosa: my car, her car, and her mom's van. Ten o'clock was the hopeful departure time, but we did not actually get everything wrapped up until about three hours later than planned! Despite the delay, we still made good time on the interstate, and once Stephanie had checked in, the five of us (her parents and younger brother in addition to us) were able to move her paraphernalia in quite speedily with the assistance of a very large cart. After saying goodbye to their daughter and I, the Castos left a little after six o'clock, and then Stephanie and I walked up to the new Lakeside dining hall to meet up with Matt and Keri, who were already in town for their RA duties in Paty and Burke, respectively. I enjoyed being back in the all-you-can-eat setting once more, and found some tasty sandwiches, rice and beans, and some sort of Mongolian chicken and vegetable sauce from the wok bar.
Saturday was another rather hectic day; Stephanie did some more settling in in the morning, and we had breakfast at Einstein's Bagels in the Riverside Community Center with my roommate Matt (different from the Matt previously mentioned in this post, but the same Matt that I went to City Cafe with), and then that afternoon, we drove back up to Huntsville. We had dinner at Olive Garden with Mr. and Mrs. Casto that evening, and the next morning, we went to Mayfair for the morning worship. After the service, we went to Logan's for lunch, which adds yet another “new” restaurant to my “Never eaten at before arriving in the South” list! We got back home, and over some homemade ice cream we watched “little Stephanie” home videos before making some picture transfers between multiple computers so that some pictures were all in the same place for something. We read a chapter from Joshua Harris's Boy Meets Girl together, and by that time, it was time to get ready and head over to Ben's, which is the home of the aforementioned baby house church. We spent a pleasant evening there in fellowship and fun with the group, and we actually got back fairly early compared to the last time we were over there, which was nice, considering Stephanie had a few more appointments the following morning before we headed back to school once more.
So on Monday, we had French toast for breakfast, and then with Chris in tow, we went to the chiropractor's once more, as well as the orthodontist, and after a stop at Cold Stone for a cold treat, we went back to the house and Stephanie gathered several more small items and decorations to bring back to her dorm room, and then we drove back down to Tuscaloosa around two o'clock. Once back, we brought the rest of her stuff in, and finally got to see a few more people, like Steph, Casey, and Amanda, as well as Stephen at a later point in the evening. We grabbed Matt (my roommate) again and went to Lakeside for dinner, and then Stephanie and I went to UCC for the first Campus View of the year (University Church of Christ's Monday night college ministry) and saw many familiar faces and friends. Afterward, we headed back to the dorms (which is when we finally both saw Stephen) and hung out until the wee hours of the morning (no classes yet to worry about...or crew practice for that matter!).
Today, Tuesday, the last day of no classes on campus, has been a fairly low-key day. Stephanie had an Arts and Science Ambassadors event to help host, and I met up with Chad to procure the information and equipment to take over my officer's position of treasurer for the crew club. She and I and her roommate Amanda walked up to the Ferg, assuming that Fresh Food would be open for dinner, but to our chagrin and disgust, that was another thing to be changed in our absence, and Fresh Food is no longer open for dinner or on Sundays, but it is open for breakfast now. With that idea shot down, we resigned ourselves to the non-meal plan food court, and after we had finished eating we went downstairs to check our mail and get some supplies at the SUPe store. I looked at my watch at 5:26, and all three of us had floor meetings at 5:30, so we checked out quickly and strolled back to the buildings...and that is where I am now.
The end.

Earlier this afternoon, while I was waiting for customers to serve and orders to make, I reached a milestone in my goal to read through the Bible: I finished the entire Old Testament! With 39 books down and more than two-thirds of the length completed, I should be able to finish the New Testament relatively quickly. Mom and Laurrel stopped in earlier today to request that I come home for longer than I have the past couple days between my two jobs. That way we could go over a few details regarding vacation next week. They are leaving tomorrow morning, but I am working all day--almost literally--at HeBrews and Wal-Mart, and then I shall be departing with Grandpa Allison on Sunday at some point in the early-middle of the day. I have a vague idea of where I am going (the beach in Delaware) and how to get there (by driving a white Honda Accord east-southeast on roads) but I have not seen specific directions (except for a glance at a Google Map magneted to the refrigerator at one o'clock this morning) and I have nothing packed! So...sometime in the next 45 hours I need to find time to figure out what I am bringing, pack, go over directions and detail about the trip...oh, and sleep would be a good thing, too, since I am driving for five hours. However, as I just typed that, I was thinking about my drive back from school and the frequent drives I made during the school year to Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and other parts of Alabama. Five hours is not going to be too bad of a drive at all, considering the length of the trips I made with the crew team, but still, that is not to say I will not need sleep. I definitely will.

Ben has been in town for the last week, following the ceremony of his graduation last Saturday in Harrisburg, so I have been able to reconnect with him a couple times during his visit. Last Sunday, we had a big volleyball and poker party out at Kyle's for the afternoon. Seth even made an appearance for one of the volleyball games! That was the closest we had been to having the entire Quick and the Dead group together since last Christmas. Alas, Greg, Jamin, TJ, and Chris were still absent, but Jonathan, Jared, Kyle, Seth, and I comprised the majority remnant at the party.
As Jared, Ben's brother Josh, Jono, and Kyle worked on setting up the volleyball court boundaries, Ben, Connor and I juggled and passed a soccer ball around, teasing and joking with each other as we would miss a shot or send the ball flying off in a random direction from a rusty touch. Finally, we started up the volleyball game, remaining in the aforementioned groups. My team was down for the entire game, but we made a long comeback towards the end, closing the gap to one point at 18-19! Alas, our efforts were for naught, as they put away two more points for the win. By that time, Seth had arrived, so he joined my team, making it an even 4v4 matchup. Then we trounced the other guys, beating them 21-10. By the time we had dragged out our victory with a couple missed serves and bad shots, Seth had to leave us once more, to get back to his home to share dinner with his family and his fiance.
We were all volleyballed out by that point, so as Seth pulled out, a cloud of gravel dust following his red Subaru Outback wagon, we collected the volleyball, soccer ball, and badminton rackets and shuttlecocks--for that had been an option as well--and headed back inside to begin the poker tournament. We pulled out the chips (for playing with), the chips (for eating), the cards, and the soda, and began dividing the chips amongst the seven of us that still remained. Kyle had rented a nice poker table from True Value, so we were playing in style. :-P I sat on the side nearest the door, with Ben to my right, next to him sat Josh, with Kyle around to his right. Jared, Connor, and then Jono to my left wrapped up the seating. The experience in the game lay with Ben, Josh, and Jared, and in our occasional games, those three--and Seth, when he was around--usually did the best. However, on this particular occasion, “luck,” as Kyle attributed it to, was at then end of the table where Jonathan and I sat. I play very very little poker, and I am teasingly branded with the reputation of having gone in on an “almost straight,” meaning I had absolutely nothing worthwhile in my hand. I played much, much better though, and before long, I had cleaned out Josh, Kyle, and Jared, and even Ben had to buy back in after he lost it all. Jono was doing very well, too, and by the end of the night, the table was “leaning” heavily in our direction from our large chip count. I think the two of us finished nearly even, but we shook hands and congratulated each other on some poker well-played.
That pretty much wrapped up the evening.
Thursday night, I was back at Kyle's, this time for an Axis & Allies game. The global-battle, World War II based game has become a favorite among the group--it probably helps that we are typical Conservative, military-friendly, Pennsylvanians, but nevertheless, it is a very fun, albeit very long, game.
TJ was able to make it this time around, and even Seth finally showed up--an hour late--after dropping off his fiance in Baltimore for her flight home. Kyle and I played Japan and Germany, respectively; Jared took Russia, TJ was the United States, and the two of them shared control of the United Kingdom. From the onset of the game, it was looking bad for the Axis; on Jared's opening turn as Russia, he charged in and took a chunk out of the side of Germany, something I was unable to recover from for the remainder of the game. Even so, we played the course of the game out for several hours, finally wrapping up shortly before 11 o'clock as the shadows of defeat enveloped Japan's and Germany's forces. It had been a hard fought battle, but all was in vain as the United States was slowly devouring Japan's Pacific outposts and was on the doorstep of the home island, and Russia and the United Kingdom squeezed the last gasps of fight out of hard-pressed Germany. As in the war, the Axis was defeated yet again, and we cleared off the board from the numerous plastic infantry, tanks, artillery, and aircraft.
Yesterday, after waking up and doing a fast deep-clean of the kitchen, I met up with Ben at his grandparent's house by the Bedford Springs golf course. He gave me a tour of their grand new home, and, fast-forwarding to a conversation we had with his grandmother before I had to leave for work, his grandma said that “every man's home should be his castle,” to which I said, “But some men's homes resemble castles more than others!” We then stood and talked for a bit, and decided what to do for the short time I had. I did not have a big window of time, so we did not have a great hos of options, and it was pretty warm outside, and while I hardly mind getting soaking-wet-sweaty, that was not high on my “To Do” list before going to work! :-P We considered a movie, and then checked the listings online; Transformers was showing at noon, so we decided to head up and catch that. We did not actually leave until a quarter or 10 till noon, but we got there just as the last preview and the requisite pre-movie advertisements from the theater were showing, which was excellent timing.
The movie was a fun watch, with some good elements and character traits, some unneeded innuendos and off-color humor, and lots of action and explosions. It was hardly a deep, thought-provoking film, but it was alright. We headed back to his grandparents right after the movie, and when we arrived, I utilized their facilities to change into my work clothes. When I emerged, Ben's mom asked if I would be willing to help them with something: namely, finishing off lunch meat for them. I “reluctantly” agreed, and Ben and I headed to the kitchen as his mom pulled out the fixings for some tasty sandwiches. I had not eaten yet that day...save for a few cookies in the morning, but that was hardly substantial...and so I eagerly spread mayo on one sandwich and Grey Poupon on the other, delicately folding generous slices of smoked turkey onto the bread, and topping off the conglomeration with a slice of white American cheese. As Ben and I demolished our respective sandwiches, we remarked on the likeness to “the old times” when they still lived in town, a few steps from the high school, and I would spend many similar days with them through the summer and soccer season, hanging out in the kitchen, enjoying good food and conversation, kicking the soccer ball around in the backyard, and playing on his PS2.
The memories were short-lived though, as I had to scoot quickly out the door as the time approached four o'clock. I bid the family farewell, and then slid into my car and drove to work...

For four months this spring--well, just under four months--I was up five days a week by five o'clock in the morning, rain or shine (as much shine as there can be at that hour), cold or heat, with the exception of a thunderstorm or extremely torrential rain, to go out with a handful of other guys to get into a tiny little boat and row up and down the Black Warrior River for a couple hours. Now, despite running cross country and playing soccer in high school, two sports that require more endurance than most, I was still surprised by how demanding crew was on a body! Heh, what we did every day, every week down there made soccer preseason camp look like a piece of delicious two-layer chocolate cake with decadent fudge icing on a plate with a heaping scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream nestled alongside. Anyway, so I was able to get up consistently (with a couple days that I did accidentally “sleep in” until 5:30, if not a little later) all semester to go out and work hard, sweat, and strain with effort as we went for long rows, or short, all-out bursts.
Perhaps I only had delusions of grandeur, I was expecting too much of myself without giving myself a little time to rest and recover from the semester. By the end there, I was consistently running 18-hour days every day, going to practice, class, working out, and studying. I wanted to come home and keep on a similar schedule, running and/or lifting a few days a week, catching up on a lot of reading, and getting a jump-start on my fall semester Spanish course. I had hoped to be getting up around six--at least by seven--every day to go run, to be getting the above stated goals completed, and working.
Well, for month number one, I was only doing some oddjobbing, despite extensive job-seeking, and running...that has only happened a handful of times. However, I providentially did finally get a job, and a full-time one at that, for which I have been very thankful. The shift I am working has not helped my early rising, but at least it provides near-constant strength training as I am moving, pulling, and lifting heavy boxes and heavier skids. But sleeping until nine...10...even 11 o'clock each morning leaves me feeling extremely unproductive in my day, even if I am working a full eight-hour shift. I have definitely had to learn to optimize the few waking hours I have that I am not at work. And I am still learning...

So...does that mean I can drop it this side down? Package labels can be an interesting source of amusement if one only pays attention to them. Unloading anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 pieces of freight a night, not to mention stocking the shelves, I get to see a lot of labels. Another good one is “FRAGILE GLASS.” I guess that means the contents are not constructed from Plexiglas, eh? :-P Then there are the plethora of boxes that are perpetually upside down, even though the boxes explicitly say “THIS SIDE UP” with arrows to help the person with exactly which direction is up. There are other places that labels may be useful for occupation, such as when one is in a dentist's chair, mouth agape, feeling little stainless steel implements scraping one's teeth and poking one's gums. The light that the hygienist--and later, the dentist--uses to illuminate one's mouth is made by Belmont, as a part of Dental System Lighting, DSL (or, at least that's the way it was at my dentist's office). I would do anagrams with the letters from Belmont, Dental System Lighting, and DSL; I allowed myself to make any length of word (a, I, my, an, am, etc. went quickly) with any of the letters provided, as long as I did not use them more times than they appeared in the base words. Of course, since I only go every six months or so, I cannot remember everything that I picked out the last time, so once I get past the one, two, and three letter words, I have to be a little more creative.
Another label that tripped me up a few times while unloading was on a brand of cat food. I was convinced that the brand name was “Olives.” Olives. “What cat likes olives,” was my thought...until I saw the entire label: 9 Lives. The nine is big and loopy, making it look like a capital “O” at a glance. :-P And speaking of loopy, I had no idea that the colorful, fruity cereal Os are called “Froot Loops” and not “Fruit Loops!”

One-quarter of 2007 is already behind us! I will be completing my freshman year of college at the University of Alabama in just over a month. In about a week and a half I will be celebrating my first birthday away from home. In a matter of a few weeks, I will complete my two semesters as a novice rower and officially be a varsity member of the club. Yesterday I got to drive a Bobcat for the first time! :-P Today I'm still puzzled as to how I managed to get a blister on the pad of my pinkie finger while pulling up stumps at the boathouse yesterday. It rained for the first time in two and a half weeks last night. Everything is getting incredibly green and lush--especially to this Northern boy who rarely sees an abundance of green leaves until late May! The weather is getting quite warm as well, with days easily hitting high 70s and low 80s, and even up into the high 80s, low 90s at times; once again, 'tis been highly unusual for me, considering that we rarely enjoy such balmy weather on a regular basis in Pennsylvania until we're well into June. M&M's are excellent snack items; I purchased a 48oz bag of peanut M&M's and a smaller (12oz? 20oz? I'm not sure...) bag of dark chocolate M&M's and combined the two to create a wonderful snacking experience! :-) The pool is open at the rec center now, but I haven't been able to enjoy a dip in the water yet because crew has monopolized my Saturdays as of late, and through the week I don't have many large windows of time to head to the east side of campus and take advantage of the facilities over there. I haven't played soccer in weeks! I was able to kick around the ball a little bit on my own in the indoor court earlier in the semester, and I had really looked forward to playing indoor intramural soccer this semester, but sadly, that did not work out. :-( I purchased those cleats towards the end of last semester, but I've only been able to use them once or twice...hopefully I'll be able to use them a good deal over the summer. I have my fall schedule pretty much nailed down, and it's very nice to have that taken care of so I don't have to worry about it later in the year. I will be taking Spanish 101, Accounting 289, Accounting 310, Accounting 371, Management 300, and Intermediate Swimming (had to get that “fun class” in for the semester, y'know?). Unfortunately for my hoped-for morning/early afternoon schedule, a few of my classes were only offered in the afternoon after 3:30. However, my first class every day will be at 10 o'clock instead of eight, and I'm hoping to use that to my advantage with crew: go to practice each morning, and then go directly to the aquatic center to work out before Spanish, and that way I'll be completely done with workouts and such before classes and assignments start eating up my day--especially the afternoon sessions, because I won't feel like doing much high-intensity productive work after them! :-P Mondays and Wednesdays I'll be in one class or another from 10 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. with a one hour lunch break from 12 to one and another break after my accounting lab at one until management at 3:30. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Wednesdays I have the possibility of being finished by two o'clock, but for the first two, that depends on whether or not I have any presentations to go to during my 5-6:15 time slot. My adviser said that there aren't always events scheduled to attend, but the class comes with that time slot taken as well, just to make sure that no one taking those classes will have time conflicts when there are presentations. My latest project is my 10-page final for English Lit, which I started researching this afternoon. I need 10 references minimum, with at least five of those being recent (within the past five years) critical literary journal articles. Yay. No, not really. Otherwise, my classes have been progressing quite well, and I'm looking forward to the last few tests.