Three Days until Christmas...

I'm finished with finals and now back in Fort Worth. Its nice to be home and I'm enjoying the time off from school. I am still training throughout the break and I have been working out at the TCU track. My cousin Shannon recently got engaged so everyone is really excited. He's a cool guy and he's from Texas. My cousin Lindsay who is at school in Australia is coming home for Christmas, which was a a surprise since she originally was not going to be able to come until mid January. All my family is here for the Christmas so I am very thankful for that. My brother is going to the Cotton Bowl (LSU vs. A&M) Jan. 7th and my mom is starting her new job with a travel company. Surprisingly a good amount of new news since the break has started.

Happy Holidays!
I hope you are around the people who mean the most to you.

Start of Christmas Break

I finished finals on Wednesday and I will be going back to Fort Worth on Tuesday. I love Christmas break and its finally here! I have been keeping up with training during finals and now that’s pretty much all I am doing right now. I have also watched a couple episodes of Modern Family. If you have not seen the show, you have to check it out. It’s by far one the funniest shows I have ever seen. Texas A&M is playing LSU in the cotton bowl and my little brother will want to go so I may go to that game. Other than that I will keep up with my training over the Christmas break and spend some time with family. Looking forward to some down time.

Thanksgiving Break

The Thanksgiving break was great. My flight got in right on time and I was home! Thanksgiving day consisted of being with almost all of my family. Nana prepared most of the lunch and set everything up for everyone. It does not get much better than family, food, and football. My mom and I met my little brother, who goes to Texas A&M, at the UT-A&M game in Austin later that night. We listened to the Cowboy game (or Saints game depending on who you talk to) on the radio for most of the trip there. Unfortunately the Cowboys lost but I was happy for the Saints. The Texas game was a lot of fun and it was actually a pretty close game. Texas A&M ending up pulling out with the victory though it was not pretty. I ended up staying at one of my mom’s goods friends and it was my first time at her new house. The next day I had a party back in Fort Worth where I was able to connect with a bunch of friends who I had not seen in awhile. It was great catching up and it ended up being a really fun time. I ran on Saturday to maintain my training and some family friends from Arkansas came over. Later that night we were able to see some more family friends at an engagement party where my brother left early and ended calling to tell me that he locked his keys in the car while pumping gas. It was a great Thanksgiving break and after these next couple of weeks of tests I’ll be ready for the Christmas break.

Gearing up for Thanksgiving...

Tulane football beat Rice in a shootout beating Rice in the final minutes 54-49. They play UCF this Saturday and will hopefully get their 5^th win for the season. Tulane Basketball has been doing well. The women crushed Mississippi State last night and the Men will have their first home game this Friday under the new coach. This past weekend, I hung out with one of my friends from Chicago who is also on the track team for most of it. We tossed the ball around, watched some college football, and as he would say “posted”. Everyone is anxious about Thanksgiving break and I am right there with them. I am looking forward to being with my family and catching up. It is my littlest cousin’s birthday today; he is 18 and it’s hard to believe. My grandmother’s birthday is tomorrow, too. As for track, I started practicing for my throwing events last week and practice has been going well. Today I worked on the discus and the pole vault. I also worked on my 1500 race by running a 400, 800, and a 300 with a minute rest in between. It was a busy day, but it was good. The weather in New Orleans has been great and reinforces many of the reasons why I chose to come to Tulane.

October and more...

I went to the Arkansas - Ole Miss game on October 23rd with some friends. It was an 11 hour drive to Fayetville but it was worth the trip and it went by fast. I was able to go to the game with some family friends and it was fun to see a packed stadium. It has also been a crazy month for baseball and I've been watching every Ranger game with great anticipation. The Rangers were able to make it to the World Series but lost in 5 games. I still could not be more excited about how well they did this year. Here at Tulane the weather has started to get a little cooler and its starting to rain a little more. The weather though has been pretty good and the campus looks great as usual. Track practice and morning workouts are getting better and better. Everyone is anxious to start the season. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I cannot wait to see my family. It was also daylight savings today so it will be an adjustment now that the sun will set much earlier. The head of my high school was in New Orleans for a conference so I was able to grab dinner with him this week, which was a nice surprise. Here are some pictures from my Arkansas trip...

Another great two weeks...

Another great two weeks of college football and school. Ole Miss came to Tulane on September 11^th and there was a good size crowd at the game. Tulane played well, but had some mistakes that put the game out of reach. Michigan and Notre Dame also played that day and it was a phenomenal game that came down to the final seconds. Denard Robinson for Heisman; I have already read articles about kids imitating him by not tying their shoes. Tulane was off this past weekend and their next game is against Houston, which lost their starting quarterback for the rest of the season. I was able to watch the Texas vs. Texas Tech game and it was quite the first half. Fortunately Texas came away with the win, but it was an up and down game overall. I am not happy to report that the Cowboys are 0-2. I hope they can bounce back quickly, but good news is the Saints are 2-0. Classes are going well and I have done a pretty good job spreading out my time. I have a couple of quizzes and tests this week, but I know the material pretty well. Track has morning lifts 4 days a week and the workouts have been going really well. I am excited about working on my events and blessed to be around some great coaches. My little cousin, who goes to my old high school, actually gets to play in Cowboys stadium on the 30^th and the team is 3-0 right now. I love the fact that it is football season and its always fun to see so many great games especially college football. A good friend of mine is about to come out with an album. Check out this link to here some of his stuff: http://www.myspace.com/hudsonmooremusic

And my check out my friend Jared ballin' on some girls from SFA...

Start of College Football

It has been a great September so far. Last Thursday Tulane had their first football game against Southeastern and Tulane won 27-21. On Saturday I went to the driving range with my roommates to hit some golf balls. TCU and Oregon State played that night and it was a great game. TCU was able to win late in the 4th quarter. Ole Miss also lost in double overtime and Tulane actually plays Ole Miss this Saturday, which will be exciting. I met two engineers from Clemson and Virginia Tech that are working in New Orleans this fall semester on Sunday. We went to church then grabbed lunch at McAlister's Deli. I played 18 holes on Monday at Audubon Golf course with my roommates. We had a good time and I played decently. My putting was good, but I just couldn't get consistent with my tee shot. I caught the Maryland vs. Navy game afterwards and it came down to Maryland stopping Navy at the one-yard line with around 20 seconds left. It was a great game, but I really wanted Navy to win. The Boise St. vs. Virginia Tech game was on later that night and was the best game of them all. Boise State was impressive and definitely convinced me that they are for real. Overall it was a great weekend, I was able to get some work done, play some golf and watch some really good college football. It doesn't get much better than that.

August

August has been a good month. I left Kanankuk on July 31^st and stayed at one of our family friend’s house in Fayetteville where we did a little bit of swimming, riding go carts and catching up. I then went back to Fort Worth and watched a lot of Ranger games and kept up with my training. I learned how to ride a dirt bike in Utah so when I got back home, I learned how to ride my mom’s motorcycle. Yes, I did say my motorcycle. I visited my little brother at Pine Cove in Tyler, TX for a day and saw where he worked for most of the summer. The Rangers didn’t have many home games while I was home, but I did go to the Rangers-Boston game where the Rangers won 7 -3. It was a great game and I am excited to see how far they can go thsi year. I am now back at Tulane and I am excited about the upcoming year. Its great to see familiar faces and see how everyone is doing.

I did unfortunately receive some bad news that a friend from High School passed away, after being in a tragic motorcycle accident. He was a special guy, who never took a day for granted and I will always remember how he carried himself day in and day out.

R.I.P Andrew Holloway, you will be missed.

Kanakuk

Kamp has been going great so far. I am about to be here for almost four weeks. The kids have been great and I have enjoyed sharing Christ's story with them. The activity at kamp is amazing and spending time with the kids is a lot of fun. Saying goodbye to my first cabin was tough, but it was good. I am a boat driver, too; so I have been out on the lake a lot and I love being on the water. I love the driving message behind Kanakuk, which is I'm Third (God first, Others second, and I'm third). Its simple but so true. I'm on my time off right now so I have been catching up on some sports news and I'm pumped about the Texas Rangers getting Cliff Lee. I'll be getting my third cabin on Monday and I will be finished at the end of July. It has been a great summer thus far and I am looking forward to the rest of it. 

Sweet Summer Time

So far it has been a great summer. I was home for a day after conference championships then went to Missouri for staff training at Kanakuk where I am going to be a kamp counselor. I met so many great people and I am excited to work there this summer. I am actually driving up to Missouri on Wednesday and will be there until the end of July! Kanakuk is a great place and has such phenomenal leaders that run the kamp (Kanakuk loves to spell anything with a K that’s why I am spelling kamp with a K.) I have been home for a little bit and keeping up with my training for track and I am looking forward to really build off of this past season. My family and I went a on a little to trip to Utah this past week and we had a blast. One of my mom's best friends lives in Moab and we stayed with her for the weekend then went to Park City for a little bit as well. Moab was a ton of fun. We rented a jeep and went off-roading then went canyonering the next day. I am now convinced I want to get a jeep wrangler. My brother and I also learned how to ride a dirt bike. After that we did some sight seeing and hiking when we got to Park City. For Father's day most of our family got together for dinner and watched the U.S. Open. I'm going to check out my littlest cousins 7 on 7 game tomorrow and get ready for kamp. I am looking forward to getting my cabin. The kamp I am working at has 12-14 olds and I am looking forward to forge some great friendships over the summer. Its amazing what God can do when you set your eyes upon Him. Oh and I got to spend a little time with my little brother Jacori and we have now been brothers for 3 years. He will be 13 years old in July. He is now 5'2" and looks better than ever. Here are some pictures from Utah...

End of Year Post

Concluding the conference championships in Orlando was a lot of fun. The Men's team scored 9 points, which was an improvement from 4 points last year. I finished 6th in the Decathlon and our 4x4 squad finished 6th as well. It was a good meet and I was fortunate enough to improve on a lot of my events in the decathlon. I have been in Lampe, MO for the past two weeks for staff training for Kanakuk Kamps where I am going to be a counselor for the summer. I am extremely excited to work for Kanakuk and help kids strengthen their relationships with Christ. I met a a lot a neat people during staff training and it is definitely going to be a great summer.

Year winding down

There has been a lot going on these past couple of weeks. Our team drove down to Tallahassee, FL to compete in the Seminole Invite and competed in Baton Rouge the following week for the LSU Alumni Gold meet. FSU has some phenomenal facilities and they served as a great host. The LSU meet is always a fun one because there is always such good competition. Our team is getting better and you can see the steady progress we are making at each meet. Our next meet is in Hattiesburg, MS where we are going to put together our first 4x1 relay team together for the men. In addition to traveling to different meets, the NBA playoffs are just starting up. There have been some exciting games so far and I'm looking forward to more. The NFL draft was also yesterday and the Cowboys traded up to get Oklahoma State's Dez Bryant. Hopefully, this doesn't mean the end for my man Roy Williams. I think he will have a much better season this year. Tim Tebow was also drafted 25th, which to me was exciting and I was happy for him. For all you haters out there, stop hating on the guy. The second and third rounds are today. I am praying the Colt McCoy will go somewhere that wants him. We have a couple of Tulane guys that could be drafted as well. It’s also that time of year for finals to start up again and I feel pretty confident that they will go well. I'm grateful to be here at Tulane; I continue to build friendships and learn more about self-everyday. This Sunday we are having our student athlete banquet, which is always a fun event. I'm looking forward to finishing the year strong and getting to see my mom at our conference meet in Orlando, FL.

Here are some pictures from some habitat builds here in Nola:

Start of Spring

This past weekend was the beginning of the outdoor track season. The meet was in Lafayette, LA and I competed in my first decathlon. It was a good experience and I am looking forward to our next meet this weekend in Mobile, AL. After that it will officially be spring break. It is also that time of year for NCAA March Madness and New Orleans actually hosted the first two rounds of the tournament. I was unable to watch the end of the Wake Forest v. Texas game because of my competition the next morning, but I was crushed to find out that Texas lost by a point in OT. As usual there have been a number of upsets and they are always fun to watch, unless it happens to your team. The Tulane Women’s team made the Tournament as a 12 seed and played 5 seeded Georgia. It was an exciting game to watch for a while until Georgia started to pull a way with it in the last few minutes of the game. I recently gave a presentation to my management communication course about the importance of mentors. It was a short presentation, but I was glad to present it on something that I was passionate about. I am looking forward to going home next Thursday for Easter break to see my family and just be back home for a bit.

Believe Dat!

Of course I am going to blog about the Super Bowl. What a game! I do not think there could have been a more excited city than New Orleans. The game was amazing and in typical New Orleans fashion it was a comeback victory. When the game finally ended, you could pretty much hear the whole city just erupting. It was very cool to be in New Orleans at this special time. Honestly how could you root against the Saints? Classes were stopped at 1pm on Tuesday so that students could make it to the Saints' parade, which had about 800,000 people in attendance. Our girls’ track team had a meet in Pennsylvania the weekend of the Super Bowl and they were snowed in so they could not take any flights back. They actually stayed in Pennsylvania until Friday and went to Arkansas from there for the next meet. It is also Mardi Gras weekend, but the Super Bowl really started Mardi Gras early. School is going well and I am looking forward to competing in about a month. Classes are going well and I still feel that I learn more about the university each day. A lot of people are hurting these days, but I love how the Super Bowl victory boosted so many people's morale and not just in New Orleans. It has been an exciting week and I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester. Who dat!

Start of 2nd semester

Christmas break was great. Fort Worth actually received snow on Christmas Eve; it was the first time we had received snow on Christmas Eve since the 1920’s. It was great to spend time with my family and see everyone at Christmas. I am blessed to have a great family that I enjoy spending time with. School started on the 10^th and though it was tough to say good-bye to my family, I was ready to get back to school to do my work and prepare for the upcoming track season. Since I have been back on campus I have tried to get know more people on campus in order to strengthen the Tulane community. The women’s track team has just started their indoor season and a few of my teammates and myself went to LSU last weekend to watch them compete. The city of New Orleans is also crazy right now about the Saints especially since they are now going to the Super Bowl. I have never seen a city like New Orleans so invested in a Pro Team. It was very cool to see, plus there are a few Texas guys on the Saints roster as well! I have been training for multiple events right now and its fun to learn all of them. I am especially enjoying the throws; however, the pole vault is definitely somewhat challenging. I also recently came down with a dry cough, which eventually lead to a cold. The Australian Open was also this past week and I stayed up until 2:30 watching Andy Roddick play. He was down two sets and then won the next two, only to loose the final set. It was a close, intense match and probably didn’t make my cold any better. Its been a good couple of weeks to start off the semester and I am excited to see how I can learn how to apply what I learn from my classes and see what God will do with this campus and myself.