G's Blog

First week back

2012-01-22T20:07:00.001-08:00

With a week of school under way I am officially in theprocess of finishing my last semester of school at Tulane. First week went welland happy with my classes. One of my teammates turned 21 this past week and hesome people over to the Columns Hotel on Saturday. Sunday I finished somereading for school then went right to watching the AFC and NFC championshipgames. Glad the patriots won but was hoping the 49ers could pull out a win too. In other news glad the TexasRangers signed Darvish and excited to see how that develops. Looking also toapply for summer internships with Nike and Under Armour. Good start to thesemester and anxious to get back to training this week.

Fun break and New semester

2012-01-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

A lot has been going since I last wrote. The Christmas breakwent really well. Finished well in my classes and finished strong in myworkouts. My break consisted of a lot of football, ping-pong, applications,workouts, and some modern family episodes. At the beginning of the break I wentto some friends Deb ball, which was really fun and I got to visit with somepeople I hadn’t seen in awhile. Then all my mom’s side of the family wastogether on Christmas Eve like we always do. White Elephant exchange was funand it was good be around everyone. My grandmother cooked a great dinner too.Also went to Billy Bobs to see one of my buddies play.

I also went to a conference in downtown Fort Worth. Saw andmet some great people. A group went to South Dallas to help reach out to kidsby just playing sports with them. We started with a football game as soon as wegot there and after a little bit I definitely started getting competitive, butwe had a great time. Every one has a platform to make and impact, its how youuse it that matters. Came back to Nola to help out with the Saint BernardProject that helps victims of the hurricane get back into homes. Fun to be backin New Orleans and Boston College has come down the past three years to helpout specifically with the project. We had dinner as a group and then got tohang a little bit afterwards. After that I came back to Fort Worth for myfriends wedding. I had a good time and got meet some neat people who knew someof my other friends. Always fun to make those connections.

I also finished my application to UT Austin for my masters.Very excited about that and some of the other options I am working on. Now I am back in Nola and I startclasses and practice tomorrow. Can’t wait to get rolling and looking forward toa great semester and seeing what God has planned.

My buddy Lance

Certified through TEMS

St. Bernard Project Home Site

Adding my name to the house

Family receiving their home

Packaging Food to send to Ethiopia

Lines to prepare the food

Beautiful Day in NOLA

2011-12-14T13:54:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about New Orleans is the greatweather. Anytime I can get warm weather, I’ll take it. Now I do like seeingseasonal changes throughout the year but its extremely nice not practicing outin the cold. Today it is a cool 70 degrees and makes for a pretty niceday. Fortunately I had practiced today so I was not confined to my room studyingall day. Finals week is always a hectic time for college students though I havea good schedule this week. My last exam is on Saturday then I’m heading back toFort Worth. After the break we have are first outdoor meet in March so until then trainingeveryday to get better. Days like these allow you to do anything you want andcombine the weather with New Orleans culture; it makes for something unique.

Front of Tulane Campus

Another tough loss

2011-12-12T14:27:00.000-08:00

Man oh man its tough to be a Cowboys fan these days. I was able to watch the game since it was on NBC and it was rough. First Demarco Murray left the game with a ankle injury and then they give up a 12 point lead in the end of the fourth quarter. Cowboys missed another game winning field goal for the second straight week. However, there is a small consolation that the Tebow and the Broncos won again. I'm not a huge fan for how the media covers the Tebow thing way too much, but I am a big fan of the guy. I love his style because its refreshing and I hope they make a run if they get into the playoffs. Here at Tulane its finals week and I have two more. One on Thursday and another one on Saturday, I feel pretty good about them and I've had a pretty good semester. Training has gone well and looking forward to keep that momentum into the Christmas break. I'm heading back to Fort Worth on Saturday so I'll get in the day after my Grandpa's birthday. Tulane Basketball is also off to a great start having only lost one game and their next game is at Syracuse. During the break I'll finish my application to UT at Austin for my masters in Sports Management. Also side note on the Rangers, hate to see C.J. go wish he could've stayed in Texas but he's in a pretty good spot in LA.

Big Day for Tulane

2011-12-08T20:54:00.001-08:00

Today Tulane announced its plans for an on-campus football stadium. Its going to hold 30,000 fans and create a much needed home field for the Tulane football. Two days ago Tulane named Curtis Johnson its new head coach who recently was the Saints' Wide Receivers Coach. It seems to be a great fit and has everybody excited. If there is one thing that I wish I had during my time as a Tulane student I would most definitely say an on-campus stadium. It is not only great news for Tulane but also for the city of New Orleans. The new stadium will add a great dynamic to Tulane as well as New Orleans. More students can develop a passion for their university and New Orleans schools can also use the new venue. However, I do have one nag any promotional tool for the stadium needs to get rid of the color lime green. Lime green is not intimidating, at least the last time I checked. This is a exciting time for Tulane and hopefully a catalyst of support for Tulane athletics. I recommend visiting tulanestadium.com to read more about it especially the history behind the whole process.

President Cowen with Head Coach Curtis Johnson

Checkerboard Endzones

Night Vision

Grand finale

2011-11-30T10:49:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving went well as usual. Before that I was able tomeet up with some friends that I had not seen in awhile. Thanksgiving is alwaysa great time for football and I got to go to the last Texas-Texas A&M gamesince the Aggies are going to the SEC. My little brother goes to Texas A&M andhe was able to get us tickets for the game. Hopefully the rivalry will pick upsometime soon and if not the matchup will make for a great bowl game. The gamewas crazy and it was my first time to go to a game at Kyle Field. Texas endedup winning on a last second field goal making for an exciting finish to therivalry. The Cowboys also ended up winning that day by a field goal. It wasnice to spend some quality time back home and about to be on break again. Wehave two more weeks of school then we start finals. Took some pictures of thegame…

Thanksgiving and why Tim Tebow is the man...

2011-11-22T17:34:00.001-08:00

Here in the New Orleans Airport right now getting ready tohead back to Texas for the Thanksgiving break. Excited to be home and relax abit. Have a lot going on over the break one of them being the last footballgames between Texas and Texas A&M. Track practice has been going well; Ihad a 350m time trial yesterday and it went well. Excited about using this timeto get my legs underneath me to build on it going into the Christmas break. Sawan interview with Tim Tebow on First Take, love what he stands for andappreciate his refreshing perspective on life! His interview definitely put mein a good mood. Definitely pulling for the Broncos.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Time for Thanks

2011-11-16T18:47:00.001-08:00

Hard to believe that Thanksgiving is almost here, I alwayslove this time of year because it’s the start of my favorite two holidays:Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is always a great time to be around family aswell as time to watch football. But before the break begins I have apresentation and a paper due on Monday where my team is analyzing theprofessional sports industry. You might be thinking does this guy ever talkabout anything but sports? Yes Ido, but there is no doubt sports are a huge passion of mine. I am lookingforward to being at home and catching up with friends and family. Right afterThanksgiving is pretty much finals time and crazy to think that I am almost onesemester away from graduating college. Looking forward to using some of my timeoff to wrap up my applications for grad school. Definitely feel blessed to beable to spend my Thanksgiving at home. I hope that you will be spending it withthe people that mean the most to you.

Semester Flying by...

2011-11-06T19:30:00.001-08:00

With the Fall Semester comes football season so if you arenot a big fan of football I’m sure many of my post do not really interest you.This past weekend featured one of the biggest match ups in college footballwith LSU (1) vs. Alabama (2) squared off in Tuscaloosa, AL. I watched the gamewith some track guys and next week plan on watching the Stanford-Oregon gamethis weekend. LSU won by a fieldgoal and Alabama had some missed opportunities on turnovers. Anyone who blamesthe game on Cade Foster is crazy and should be ashamed for mentioning it as thereason for losing the game. School has gone well and I am almost finished withthe semester. I’m looking forward to being home for Thanksgiving and being backin Texas. Training has gone well and I definitely feel that things are comingalong. I will most likely being in College Station for Thanksgiving and it iscrazy to think that this will be the last time for Texas and Texas A&M willplay each other for awhile. Looking forward to the next couple of weeks beforeI am back at home.

Don't count the last out...

2011-10-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

There’s a lot going on in the sports world well at least formy sports world there is. Rangers are in the World Series and play a historicgame 7 tonight in St. Louis. There division series between the Tigers was greatto watch and the games have gotten even better in the World Series. Game 6 lastnight was extremely intense and the Rangers had two opportunities where theywere one out away from winning it all. On top of that I had a 6:30am workoutthis morning. Another solid week of classes and I have a second round of tests comingup next week. Looking forward to a great sports weekend: Rangers, Horns, andCowboys. I took the GRE last weekend and it went fairly well considering I didn’thave too much time to prep for it. Hoping to get my masters in SportsManagement and hopefully I will be in Austin.

Go Rangers!!!

Making History Tonight.

Dallas for the Weekend

2011-10-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to go back to Texas for the Texas-Oklahoma game in Dallas. It was a last minute effort to get to the game and it worked out. The Red River Rivalry had both UT and OU undefeated entering the weekend and College Gameday was covering the game. The game started out competitive then OU started to run away with it in the second quarter. Texas ended up losing the game and it was rough to watch, but they have another great game to recover from that lose by playing Oklahoma State this weekend. The State Fair is also that weekend, which is always a fun atmosphere to be apart of and the cotton bowl is still one of my favorite stadiums to watch games. Tulane also had a great game against Syracuse losing in the final seconds by a field goal. This week they play UTEP and looking to get back another win for the season. During my trip, I was able to catch up with family and be back in Texas for a bit. It also worked out that my high school had a football game that Saturday night as well but it ended up being rescheduled due to weather. I also was busy watching the first game of the ALCS. That game showing the Rangers vs. Tigers was postponed twice due to rain. Rangers came away with a crucial win against one of the best pitchers in baseball. Since then the Rangers have been nothing but exciting to watch with game two ending in a grand slam walk-off by Nelson Cruz in the 11th inning, first ever in postseason history. Game four was just as epic with Cruz hitting a 3-run homer in the top of the 11th inning. Rangers have put themselves in a great position not only to get back to the World Series but to win it all, which is exciting for everyone in Texas especially in the DFW area. Its Fall break for us so I am visiting my brother at Texas A&M this weekend. They play Baylor and its Parents weekend.

Beginning of the game...feeling great at this point

Priest Holmes and Joey Harrington for the LHN

Split of Texas and OU

"Don't count the days, make the days count"...

2011-10-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

Been working hard on and off the track the past couple ofweeks. First round of tests went well and now gearing up for fall break. Training has been going well and we are already seeing results in the weightroom and on the track. Today was a long day: warm-up, hurdle mobility, runningdrills, hurdle drills, 200s and abs, being a decathlete isn’t for the faint ofheart. I was also elected to serve as Co-President along with a buddy from thetennis team for our SAAC group, which represents all of our student-athletes.As for outside of Tulane, college football is still exciting as always. Texasis 4-0 and plays OU in the Red River Rivalry this weekend, going to be intense.Big news for my hometown Fort Worth, TX with TCU being invited into the Big XIItoday, going to be a great move for both sides. Also as a side note I'm not one to watch much TV except when it comes to sports but I do watch Modern Family and its gets me laughing every time. Great start to season three.

Another week in Nola

2011-09-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

Another great week in New Orleans. I love this time of year because its football season and right now its all about where are all these schools going to end up in all this conference realignment. Tulane had a big victory for their team winning 49-10 against UAB, which will hopefully create some momentum for the team. Texas also played UCLA this past weekend though not on many people games to watch list, its was no doubt on mine. Texas took care of business and really excited to see how the do this year and love what the new offensive coordinator from Boise State has already been able to do with the team. We had another great week of practice and have been hitting the weights as much as we can. School is starting to pick up and I'm about to enter my first round of tests.

ACL was this past weekend and a buddy of mine was one of the featured artists. If you're interested in some creative and original sound check out his website... hudsonmoore.net. Trust me he's good.

Sunday Morning Fishin

2011-09-11T22:19:00.000-07:00

My Uncle was in town for the weekend with his company so I got to spend some time with him. In addition to that my grandparents also came in on Saturday and we all went to lunch. Watched the Texas-BYU game, which was exciting and nerve racking. Definitely glad its Football season again. I went fishing with my uncle this morning so got up around 4:30am but it was well worth it. The weather was great, caught some fish, and it was relaxing. We had a meeting for the Athletic department on Sports Nutrition and the speaker had some great points. Thankfully I had already started some of the habits she spoke about. After that caught the end of the Cowboy game, which was sad to watch.

My Biggest Catch of the Day

Marsh Lands

Keepin' the Fish Cool

Big Pile of Fish

Being the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, I am thankful for the U.S. and for everyone that protects our freedoms. That day will never be forgotten and it is great to see the resiliency of our nation

Start of Round 4...

2011-09-04T18:53:00.000-07:00

Well Senior year hard to believe its already here. Its off to a pretty good start. Drove down to New Orleans for the first time in my new Wrangler so it will be nice having a car. Start practice tomorrow and getting ready for our off-season. Yesterday was the first Saturday of College Football!! It went well Tulane won and Texas won their opener as well. Preparing to take the GRE sometime this semester so wish me luck. We had some rain in Nola this weekend but not much else so luckily no real damage. I wish we could send some of that rain to Texas.

Colorado Pics

2011-09-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

Summer 2011

2011-08-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well a lot has been going on since I last wrote. For the first part of the summer I came back to Fort Worth and saw my cousin, the baby of the family, graduate High School! Soon after that I went to Missouri to work at Kanakuk. It brought back a lot of memories when I first got there. We had a lot of new staff and I loved getting to know everyone. It's amazing to see how God can bring people together, made some great new friends. I was a counselor again and I was with the older cabins. I'm not sure what I did to get the three cabins I got, but I absolutely loved every minute of it. It was neat to not only be able to grow, but also witness growth. My co-counselor was also from Texas and goes to the University of Oklahoma--great guy and it was a lot of fun hanging out with him. After Kamp I started working for an oil and gas firm in Downtown Fort Worth. I've enjoyed being back home getting to spend time with my family. I've also been able to go out the lake a couple of times as well as some of my friends from Kanakuk. In the midst of all that been training for track getting ready for the upcoming year. I have a new events coach so I am excited to getting back to work. Getting to got to Colorado with my mom and my brother here in a couple of weeks!

Finishing the Semester

2011-05-10T15:52:00.000-07:00

We had a good time in California and our flight did not get rerouted anywhere either. I finished my finals this past Friday, which is definitely a good feeling. My roommates’ mom and his brother came down that Saturday so I got to spend some time with them as well as help my roommate pack up some stuff. Then on Sunday my mom and my brother came down to New Orleans to help me pack up. It was great seeing them. We went to Parkway Bakery for lunch and it’s probably the one of the best po-boys I’ve had in New Orleans. We have our conference meet this weekend in Houston at Rice. I’m leaving tomorrow and I’ll be competing in the decathlon on Thursday and Friday. Excited for the meet and then afterwards I will have a week before I go to Kanakuk for the first half of the summer. Looking forward to being a boat driver and spending time with everyone there.

Easter

2011-04-24T16:46:00.000-07:00

Its Easter Weekend and it was my first Easter here in New Orleans. We had a meet at LSU on Saturday where I competed in the long jump, 100m and the 4x100m relay. I had a personal record in the 100 running 11.06, which was good. We are traveling to California later this week to compete at UC-Irvine on Saturday and Sunday. The church that I have been going to here in New Orleans also held an Easter service at Tulane in the Dixon Hall Auditorium. I got there a couple hours early to help out by passing out doughnuts to people on campus telling them about the service. The service went really well and the music was awesome. As for classes I am finished. We have a reading week and then final exams will start. I have 2 finals and a presentation then I will be done with junior year…that’s hard to believe. I just got back from a bike ride and there was some crawfest going on at the fly by Audubon Park. I rode my bike through it and I saw some pretty interesting cars around there. After that I just rode around Audubon and stopped to check out the pond then right as I was about to get back on my bike a couple of ducks were right next to me. Hoping for a good end to the semester and a safe trip to California.

Knoxville, TN

2011-04-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

We had a track meet in Knoxville, TN this weekend. My cousin is also on the Tennessee football team and they had their spring game this weekend as well. The team got into Tennessee on Thursday and I got to visit with my cousin for a little bit at the track after warm ups. My grandparents, aunt, uncle and my cousin’s grandparents saw me run the 100m on Friday. The meet was also streaming live online, but I forgot about the time change so my mom didn’t get to watch it. One of my aunts though did get to see it said she saw my grandma and my aunt in the background. I was able to spend the rest of the day with them and we went around the campus and into a couple of the athletic facilities. One of my aunt’s big sisters from her sorority lives in Tennessee so we met them for dinner. I had a blast and they were a lot of fun. It was a buffet and it had some great shrimp. I competed in long jump on Saturday and I had some great jumps but I barely missed the minimum measure mark, which was still a PR. It was unfortunate that they didn’t measure it, but I’m excited to take that momentum into the LSU meet this weekend. The spring game was that afternoon and I was able to watch most of it. My cousin is a quarterback and he got in for a series and we got to hear his name over the loudspeaker, which was cool. It was a good weekend and I am thankful I was able to be around family for a little while. Knoxville is a neat place. Our flight back from Knoxville was scheduled to leave at 6:45am but it was delayed until 1:00pm so we flew all the way to Minneapolis, Minnesota from Knoxville then flew from Minnesota to New Orleans. It was an interesting path back to Nola, but I got my boots shined during the lay over.

Home stretch...

2011-04-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

We have a little over two weeks of classes left in the semester. We had a meet at South Alabama this past weekend and it went pretty well. We had a handful of personal records and came away with some good memories. I noticed that one my coaches had on two different shoes so I got a kick out of being the first one to notice that and my grandfather that lives in Pensacola also came to the meet. I threw the javelin, long jumped and ran the 100m. I did well in the long jump and missed the finals by a tenth of a meter. It was my best jump this year (6.5m) and a good improvement. Going to hit the 7-meter mark here sometime soon. We have a meet at UT-Knoxville this weekend and we are only taking a handful of competitors. My cousin also has his spring game this weekend so my grandparents will be in Knoxville. We have our last SAAC meeting tonight and we’ll probably be finish up planning for our banquet that is in a couple of weeks.

Rangers off to a great start 9-1!!!

LSU Relays

2011-03-27T19:30:00.001-07:00

I have not been able to practice all week and we had a relay meet at LSU on Friday and Saturday. It was tough not being able to train like I have been but it was a good week. I got my stitches out on Thursday. My coaches didn’t think I was going to compete so they didn’t enter me into any individual events. All I know is that God answers prayers and I was able to run this weekend. We went to Baton Rouge on Friday early afternoon and my relay wasn’t until 7pm. Thanks to a friend, I went to Inga’s a local sandwich shop with a teammate…so good. I even went there on Saturday, too. I had never run in a sprint medley relay (200, 200, 400, 800) before so it was fun to do one. I ran the second 200 and it was nice to run again though we were in a pretty fast heat. Second day in Baton Rouge I ran in the 4x4 relay, which was the last event of the meet. I was the anchor and I got out really well, but still have to work on finishing stronger. We ran our best 4x4 time of the season, which was good. We are excited to work with it and see how we can improve. My knee also didn’t spilt open and I’m thankful for that. Unfortunately we are not competing at LSU this week like originally scheduled but a few girls are going to the Florida Relays. As far as school goes I had two tests last week that went well. I have a few presentations to give this week and I’m looking forward to it.

Start of the Outdoor Track Season

2011-03-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

Outdoor season has finally started and we were able to have our meet at Tad Gormley. It went well and we had great weather. Tulane won the 4x1 and my friend Koplan won the 400 with a personal record time of 48.6. We had spring break that week and I went to Baton Rouge for the weekend. I had a good time visiting some friends and went to the LSU-Cal St, Fullerton game, which was a lot of fun. I went to Rice on Tuesday to compete in my first decathlon of the season. Drove down there with my coach and was excited about competing. My mom came to watch on Wednesday, which was really great of her to make the trip. I did well in the long jump and had a good first 400m of the season. Thursday my brother came to watch me compete and the first event was the 110 hurdles. After the race I noticed I had cut my knee. I’m not sure which hurdle did it, but man I need to work on my technique. I thought I would be able to just get it cleaned up and go back to competing. The trainer said that I needed to get stitches so I was finished competing for the day. Luckily the hospital was across the street but it took forever to get checked out and finally get my knee stitched up. I ended up with seven stitches and hopefully I will be back running shortly. The best part about the day was hanging out with my little brother so maybe God was just giving me some time with him. This week I have a couple of tests and then we have a meet at LSU. I’d love to compete at the meet but only time will tell…

Nola...
7 stitches...
Amazing Pecan Waffle...
LSU baseball game...
Mississippi River...
My two buddies back home.

Mardi Gras

2011-03-06T18:43:00.000-08:00

Its Mardi Gras time here in Nola so it gets pretty crowded this time of year. It rained pretty hard on Saturday that a couple of parades were moved to Sunday. One of my buddies on the track and I were about to start a round of Tiger Woods Golf when the power suddenly went out during the rain on Saturday. Luckily it didn’t last long and the power turned back on. Tulane has the whole week off for Mardi Gras. My mom is coming in town for our track meet at Tad Gormely. It looks like there is a good chance of some storms on Tuesday and Wednesday, but hopefully they will pass through. My cousin and her fiancé are also in town for a wedding so I will get to spend some time with them on Thursday, which will be fun and then I think I’m going to Baton Rouge for the rest of the week. I’m definitely looking forward to the week ahead…

Beautiful weather in Nola

2011-02-24T19:54:00.000-08:00

These past couple of weeks have been phenomenal. I went to see some friends in Baton Rouge this past weekend and I stayed with my friends from High School. It was fun to catch up and see how things were going with them. The weather has also been amazing and training in it has been great, too. Classes are going pretty well and my tests seem to be fairly spread out this semester, which is good for me. Tulane is hosting is first track meet since Katrina at City Park here in New Orleans on March 9th. It should be a fun meet and I’m looking forward to kicking off the outdoor season here in New Orleans. Hopefully I’ll fun fast…

Past couple of weeks

2011-02-13T19:19:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was the Super Bowl and it was played in Dallas/Fort Worth where I am from. It was cool to see all the ESPN preview shows in downtown Fort Worth and it was crazy to see how cold it was. It’s hard to believe the DFW was making news about the amount of snow they were getting because we hardly ever get it. The game itself was a pretty good game and even though my coach is a big stealers fan, I’m glad the packers came out with the win. I had a couple of tests and I think I did pretty well, but we’ll find out this week. I also started my stock trak assignment for my equities class and my portfolio has stayed in the top five of the class. On the athletic side, I submitted a form to be the Division I Conference-USA Representative and our girl’s team has had meets in Nebraska and Arkansas the past two weekends then they have another one at LSU on Friday. I’m thinking about running unattached at LSU since Tulane does not sponsor men’s indoor track, but I’m not sure if my coach wants me to compete yet.

4/30/11

2011-01-30T19:00:00.001-08:00

It was my brother’s birthday this past Sunday so I had my one my friends on the Track team call my brother from his phone wishing him Happy Birthday from a random number. It was funny and we had a pretty good laugh at my brother’s expense. I’m about to start an investment in equities assignment where we have $1,000,000 in a mock stock trading account and I have to invest in at least 10 different companies then make at least one trade a week until April 15th. It should be a fun project so I contacted my inside sources (my grandmother) to see where I should potentially invest my money. Tulane has also started to have a department wide dinner every month for the student-athletes and tonight we had a few people speak to us about proper etiquette for a job interview. They fed us some great food and I enjoyed spending time with the different teams. I also had a minor calf injury at the beginning of the week so I did some rehab during the week and I’m now fully recovered and thankful that God led me to a successful and speedy recovery. Plus the Super Bowl is a week way...

Another week in the books

2011-01-23T19:17:00.000-08:00

Another good week of classes have gone by and I have managed to stay on top of things. One of my assignments this week was to read an article about Disney’s Pixar Animation Studios, which was cool. I love Pixar movies so it was neat to do a homework assignment about it. Track practice went well, I had a long sprint workout on Wednesday and it was kind of rough, but I survived and hopefully stronger as a result. I had a pretty relaxing weekend. I did some schoolwork and read 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper on my nook. It was really good and other than talking about his experience in Heaven, he wrote an important message about pride and allowing God to work through a person’s life.

1st week of class and Baton Rouge

2011-01-18T16:23:00.000-08:00

Last week was my first week of classes and they went pretty well. My schedule looks good this semester and I’m lifting at 9AM Monday, Wednesday, Friday; which is way better than the fall semester. The women’s track team started the indoor season with a meet at LSU. I went up to Baton Rouge with a couple of guys from the team to watch the girls compete and it was a good first meet. A few girls had their personal bests and all the new girls have now competed in a college track meet. I ended up staying in Baton Rouge with some friends that go to LSU. We had a good time hanging out and I met some new people, too. One of the girls I met that hung out with us on Saturday kept thinking I looked a lot like someone she knew. Later that night my brother’s name came up in conversation and she asked if I knew him and I replied, “Yeah sort of…he’s my brother.” She thought I looked exactly like Gaines, but had no idea we were brothers so that was entertaining. Sunday night I went to Refuge at the Chapel and it was great. The worship was amazing and the service was good, too. I’m starting a lot of my event training this week so I’m sure I will be exhausted, but it will be another great week. I’m glad the semester is off to a good start and I’m looking forward to learning more and more like every other semester.

End of the break

2011-01-06T18:15:00.001-08:00

The past week has been great. All of my family was able to get together for Christmas and we had a great time. I got a Nook (B&N e-reader) for Christmas and I am really excited about having so many books in one place. Another one of my cousins got engaged over the break so we had a little engagement party at my Grandparent’s for both of my cousins. I had not met my other cousin's fiancé so it was nice to meet her. It was a fun time and nice to see some people I had not seen in awhile. I also went to a Campus Crusade Conference here in Fort Worth called the Winter Conference. It was a great time and I was able to spend some quality time with Lord, in addition to meeting some new people. My brother and I have also had a lot of fun watching season 1 of Modern Family, laughing hysterically at almost every episode. Overall I have had a great Christmas break. I have been able to hang out with some friends I have not seen in awhile and i was able to hang out with my family. Looking forward to going back to Tulane and starting back up again.

Three Days until Christmas...

2010-12-22T16:30:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-10T09:36:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-29T21:45:00.001-08:00

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...

2010-11-17T21:31:00.001-08:00

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...

2010-11-07T20:27:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-09-21T17:05:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-21T22:35:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-03T18:52:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-22T11:35:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-02-13T14:03:00.001-08:00

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

2010-01-31T14:36:00.000-08:00

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.

Thanksgiving, Cowboys, and back to school...

2009-12-03T21:13:00.000-08:00

This past week was Thanksgiving and I went back to Fort Worth, TX for the break. It was the first time I had been home this whole semester. It was great to see all of my family and friends. We had Thanksgiving at my Aunt’s house instead of my grandparent’s house this year. My Aunt Brenda did a great job and had some great food prepared for everyone. My Aunt Karen also made some (and by some, I mean a lot) of good desserts and I actually made a chocolate/pumpkin bundt cake myself; it was pretty good, too. I was fortunate enough to go to the Cowboy game in the new stadium with my cousin Brain, which was a ton of fun. I had a great time seeing the new Cowboys Stadium and spending some quality time with my cousin. The Cowboys Stadium is one sight to see. Some family friends were actually sitting a couple rows behind us at the game, too. Overall, I had a great Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for and I have to give God the glory for my wonderful family because I am truly blessed. This is the last week of classes before finals begin next week and I am actually traveling back to Texas on Saturday to go back for the Big XII title game. It is going to be at the new Cowboys Stadium, too. It has been a great semester and it feels like I just started it yesterday. The other day myself and some other student-athletes went to a USG meeting to help gather support for priority scheduling for student-athletes. It went well and I was glad to be apart of it.

Wave Days and football games

2009-11-16T20:42:00.000-08:00

The weather recently could not be any more perfect these past couple of weeks especially for November. Training in this weather has been really nice as well. Last week the athletic department had one of its wave days at the Tulane vs. UTEP game. There were about seven different schools and a number of athletes spent time with the kids before and during the game. It went well and the kids had a great time going to a game in the Superdome. The game itself was extremely close. Tulane drove down the field with a minute 1:20 left in the game and no timeouts to score a touchdown in the last seconds of the game. We were able to score on our first overtime drive and stop UTEP on their drive. Tulane won 45-38. This past weekend I went up to Baton Rouge for the LA Tech/LSU game to see my cousin who plays for LA Tech. He is redshirting this year, but was on the travel team for the LSU game. My brother flew in for the game and I met up with some friends too. It was a lot of fun. I received a call the morning of the game from my other cousin who lives in Dallas saying that she was in Baton Rouge for the game with one of roommates that went to LSU. It was great to see her and I definitely was surprised to see her. LA Tech was actually leading LSU at halftime but in the end, LSU was able to pull out with the victory. Thanksgiving is about a week away and I am looking forward to spending time with all my family and seeing friends.

October...

2009-10-25T20:38:00.000-07:00

These past couple of weeks I have definitely been watching a lot of good football games. Luckily, Texas pulled it off against OU last weekend (close 16-13) and there have been a ton of other close games as well. Last weekend Tulane had fall break so we did not have school on Thursday or Friday. It was a good weekend. I mostly spent it working on a paper and catching up on some much needed rest. Practice has been going great; I love being able to have the opportunity to get better each day. God has truly blessed me with so much. I helped work on the chapel house behind the Chapel of Holy Spirit this past Saturday, which was a lot of fun. I have not been able to get over there as much as I would like this semester so it was nice to have chance to help out. I mostly worked on help putting up sheet rock. Then on Sunday, a number of the student-athletes volunteered at Boo at the Zoo. I wore a harness then a cable raised me up. I pretty much pretended to be a prop then I would scare the people as they drove by. It worked pretty well and I had have fun doing it, though it did get a little uncomfortable at times.

Oh this is what my little brother is doing at A&M

2009-10-25T20:36:00.001-07:00

so proud...

Homecoming and Destin, FL

2009-10-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

A lot has been going the past few weeks. This past week was Homecoming week and parents weekend. My mom flew into New Orleans Friday night and we grabbed dinner on Magazine Street. Saturday we drove to Destin, FL for my cousin’s wedding. Though we missed many of the homecoming activities, it was nice to take a break in Florida. Destin is gorgeous, the sand was white and the ocean was green. The wedding went great and I was able to spend some quality time with the family. I have also definitely been watching as much college football games as I can; it has been a great season so far. I am excited for the big game this weekend with the Red River Shootout (Texas v. OU). Tulane also has fall break this week so there will be no classes on Thursday or Friday. The Track & Field team also received two new assistant coaches, a sprints/hurdles/relays and a thrower’s coach. The semester has been challenging on many different levels, but as far as school, it is a little tough. Overall, it has gone well and I am grateful for what God has been able to show me this semester.

New beginings

2009-09-25T20:57:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of our new coach's first week. It has been a good week of practice and our team definitely has a lot of potential to grow. I have had a couple of tests this week and lasts. I think they went pretty well, but I still have not received two of them. Tulane plays McNeese St. tomorrow so hopefully the team can get on a roll and build some momentum with a win. I have really enjoyed Tulane so far and I have been able to really get a feel for my surroundings much more so than my first semester. Tulane is a beautiful campus minus some of the construction we have going on here and there. I have also been able to take advantage of eating at some local restaurants, which have been good. We have a three-day weekend because of the Yom Kippur on Monday. I am looking forward to some good college football tomorrow and hopefully I will be able to get some rest along with some work. I feel that I learn more and more about Tulane each day which is nice because I think that is an important characteristic for a university to have. I was also fortuante enough to help out at the New Orleans Mission this past Saturday where a group of people and myself built flower beds for the homeless. Here are some pictures...

Where to begin...

2009-09-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

Well I have been doing a lot lately and it is now midway through the third week of school. Things are going really well. Moving into my dorm was pretty easy. I am on the second floor and right by the stairs so I was moved in no time. Before I moved into my dorm, my family went to Ruston, LA to visit my cousin who is playing football at Louisiana Tech. After that, we headed down south to NOLA and on the way stopped at LSU to see a good friend. These first couples of weeks have gone well and it had been great to be back on campus. Yesterday was our first official track practice and we are currently in the process of getting a new coach. I am ready to get back in the swing of things so I can learn how to manage my schedule again with track and school. My brother is actually starting his first year of college at Texas A&M so there has been a lot going on lately. Tulane also plays BYU this Saturday, which should be pretty exciting considering they are coming off a big win against OU.

It came and went...

2009-08-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

Well its already August and school is about to start up again. I am pretty excited about the upcoming school year because it should be a lot of fun and I will be a lot more familiar with everything. It has been a nice summer and I have been able to relax, but I've been working for the most part and staying on top of my workouts so I'm pretty beat during the week. I went to lake with my family last weekend. The lake was gorgeous and the water was smooth. I've tried to read some books lately before school reading starts up again.

The Fourth of July & more

2009-07-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

So far summer has gone pretty well. I have been working as a landman and have been able to do my workouts afterwards, though its been fairly hot here in Texas. I went to Amelia Island, Florida with my mom and my brother for a family reunion. We had a good time and we were there for about five days. I saw some family that I had not seen in ahwile so it was a nice to get to see them. I went to my grandparent's lakehouse for July 4th. We went on the boat, watched a good fire work show, shot off some fireworks and then saw a depressing Wimbeldon match on Sunday (Roddick should've won). I have enjoyed being home, but I know in a month I will be ready to go back to school.

Summa's Here

2009-05-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

Conference Championships was a lot of fun. I had my best jump of the season on my first attempt and we were 6th in the 4x1. I had a great time in Tulsa and my mom, grandmother, and brother even came up to see me run. We were fortunate enough to have some great weather and none of the events was postponed. I have now been back in Fort Worth for two weeks. My brother and my cousin graduated this past Saturday. We all then went to lunch afterwards and had a good time. It seems just yesterday I was the one graduating. My cousin is going to Louisiana Tech to play football and my brother is going to Texas A&M. Why he is going to A&M, I will never know; but I guess there are stranger things. These past couple of weeks have been good. I saw my grandfather who I had not seen in awhile. I saw a ton of people at graduation, which I really enjoyed. I am also working as a landman for an Oil & Gas Company and hopefully I will be getting a waiting job as well, but we will see. I am definitely ready for another productive summer and I want to accomplish many things especially getting stronger and faster for next year. I am trying to gain at least 15 pounds, wish me luck. I will need it.

more photos...

End of the Year

2009-05-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe, but my freshman year at Tulane is practically finished. I finished all of my finals last Thursday. I am now preparing for the Conference USA track championships on May 15 and 16. I am doing the long jump, 4x1 relay, and possibly the 4x4 relay. I have had a great year, but it will be exciting to spend time with all my family again for a while. My mom flew into New Orleans on Mother’s Day to load all my stuff into the rental car; it was good to see her especially since it was Mother’s Day. We then ate lunch at this random breakfast spot a couple minutes from Tulane. I have met a lot of good people this year and I have fortunately been able to experience many things this year, which have contributed to my growth as both a student and a person. I hope that I will be working part time somewhere this summer, but you never know. I will continue to train during the summer for next year. Other than that, it has been a great year and I am looking forward to seeing old friends and seeing how all my new friends are doing back home.

Ole Miss and LSU

2009-04-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

These past few weeks I have been fortunate enough to go to some really fun and competitive meets at Ole Miss and LSU. Ole Miss fell on Easter weekend and our team left at about 12 on Friday to head down to Batesville where we stayed at a nice Holiday Inn. My friends Jared and Koplan and myself ate at Café Ole and we had some nice Mexican food. I participated in long jump and triple jump at Ole Miss. I had a personal best in the long jump, but fouled in the triple jump. Ole Miss has some phenomenal athletic facilities, plus I saw Jevan Sneed a fellow Texas native while I was warming up for my event in their indoor football facility. Our team did very well; we had a lot of team personal bests and one NCAA regional qualifying mark. For the LSU meet, I did the long jump, 100, 200, and the 4x4 relay. This was by far one of the most competitive and fun meets I have ever been to in my life. I did not do as well as I wanted in my first three events, but I made up for it with a decent 4x4 split. Richard Thompson who won the silver medal in 100 at Beijing ran the 100 later that afternoon, which was his first race of the spring. It was very cool to see all the many different talents at the meet. After the meet was over I was ready to get to my bed and I definitely had one if not my best nights sleep of the semester. Now I am focusing on finishing strong for the semester and doing well on finals then getting ready for conference.

The tail end of freshman year

2009-04-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

The pictures above are from a community service project I went to today. We went to Langston Hughes Academy to help build picnic tables, benches, wrap library books, and paint murals. My job along with some others was to build benches. It was a lot of fun, they gave us the pieces, nails, instructions and a drill then we did the rest. A friend of mine on my floor helped build it with me. As for the past couple weeks, I went home to Texas for Spring Break and enjoyed being back home. It was nice having the leisure to wake up whenever I wanted. I trained at my high school and caught up with some friends. Here at Tulane, we had crawfest yesterday, which was cool then I caught some final four basketball and worked on a Spanish paper. I have meet this upcoming Easter weekend at Ole Miss and on top of that some major writing and studying to do. I am eager to finish strong this semester and rely on God to lead me through it.

Another day in the life...

2009-03-20T11:10:00.001-07:00

Ok well it has been awhile since I have last written. I have been doing a lot of things lately with midterms, papers, and track; but everything has been going pretty well. I have been busy with TUknow, which was on Wednesdays for four weeks where anybody was welcome to have phenomenal meal and learn more about Christ. I also went to the Hornets and Mavericks game with a couple of friends, sadly the Mavericks didn’t really show up to play that night. I had my first collegiate track meet this past weekend at Southern Miss. It was a lot of fun and I did the Long Jump, Triple Jump, and 200m dash. I didn’t do as well as I wanted, but there is always room for improvement and I am excited for my next meet at Lafayette tomorrow. Today is the last day of classes and it is spring break next week. I think we are one of the few schools that have spring break on the last week of March. My brother and my mom are actually on Spring Break right now in Costa Rica and they get back Sunday. I am looking forward to going back to Texas and just hanging with the family so I am going to leave Sunday after the track meet. The weather recently in New Orleans has been great and I almost forgot what it was like to wear pants for awhile. Though I have a couple of assignments over the break, I am excited to just relax and unwind for a bit.

Mardi Gras

2009-02-24T09:07:00.000-08:00

Well it is officially Mardi Gras here in New Orleans though I am sure in many people’s eyes Mardi Gras started on Thursday. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it; I was not here for the Mardi Gras festivities. I went home to see my family back in Fort Worth and since the Track season is fast approaching, there would not be a time for me to see my family until the end of the semester. It was a lot of fun to go back home see my family. These next two weeks there will lots of working and studying to be done, but I definitely believe it will go very well. It is hard to believe that the first track meet is only nineteen days away. The season should be a lot of fun and I am ready to start competing. There have been many exciting things going on around campus, these past two weeks I have been going to TUKnow and so far; the turn out has been good. TUKnow is a forum for non-believers to ask questions about Christ in a relaxed setting. We start classes back up again tomorrow so I am ready to get back in the swing of things and get back to work.

Back to School!

2009-01-17T15:13:00.000-08:00

X-Ray ^

<-- lil bro laying in the hospital bed

It definitely feels like I have been at school for longer than a

week though I have not. My break was a lot fun but I wish it

were longer, ha-ha; but I am sure everyone wishes

it were. It was an eventful break. I went to the zoo with my 'little' brother Jacori and he came over to play some rock band before I left for school, which was a lot of fun. Interestingly enough the last Friday of my break my brother broke his tibia (shin) playing in a soccer game and I was the only one of my family to be there. He was a trooper even though he was in a lot of pain. He was able to come home after we had been in the hospital practically the whole night. His friends came over and even made him some lunch and later brought him dinner, too. I think everyone catering to him started to spoil him. I left Sunday to go back to Tulane so I said my goodbyes to my family and wished them luck with the new gimp. Gaines later went to the doctor on Monday and found out that he was going to have surgery and they were going to stick a rod in his leg to support his shin...ouch! He took a little longer than expected in recovery but he is now at home, which is a relief. With that said the first week of school has been an adjustment, fun but an adjustment after being a free to do whatever during the Christmas break. My classes are looking good for this semester and it looks like they will be a lot of fun. This morning I woke up and went to practice early so I could eat lunch with a prospective student; but immediately after that I took a look nap, which was probably indicative of the long week that I had.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T09:49:00.000-08:00

So far, my break has been phenomenal and I have enjoyed the much-needed free time! Christmas was a blast as usual and I was able to spend quality time with the family on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, our family opened gifts and later went to a movie with my grandparents. We saw Marley & Me, which was a surprisingly good movie. I enjoyed it much more than I though I would. One of my gifts was Rock Band and at first, I was not too excited about it; but my brother and I have been playing it a lot lately and it is a sweet game. I have also been watching many Bowl games, I watched the TCU/Boise St. game with some of my High School friends who go to TCU. However, I am definitely ready for the Texas/Ohio State game. The National Championship game should be exciting, too. I am looking forward to Florida taking it to that school in Oklahoma. I spent New Years Eve at a friend's house with some friends from High School and we had a good time. I am excited about 2009 and I hope a lot of good will come of the New Year. Second semester should be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to going back to Tulane, though right now I am glad I still have a little over a week left of my break!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

2008-12-14T14:15:00.000-08:00

Thursday morning NOLA received a little surprise! I woke up and I did my usual routine in getting ready for practice when my roommate asked if I had looked outside the window yet, it was snowing! As much fun as it would have been to practice in the snow, I was hoping practice would be inside that day, thankfully it was. The last time New Orleans had seen snow was four years ago; it was definitely a sight to see. This week has also been finals week. I have had three finals so far, and I only have one more to go! I am anxious to get back to Fort Worth. I leave on Wednesday so it is almost time for me to go back home for Christmas. My first semester of college has been a lot of fun though it was challenging at first. I was able to learn a lot about time management and responsibility, while still having fun at the same time. Right now, it feels a little weird because the majority of students have already left to go home and the campus is a little deserted. Anyways I am extremely excited about the break and I am eager to spend time with all of my family!

P.S.

I hope you have wonderful Holiday!

Thanksgiving and more...

2008-12-07T08:48:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving went extremely well and I was able to see all of my family minus two cousins, who were at football games. It was great to be back with my family again. We had our usual tradition of everyone coming over at about two and then everybody goes around to say why we are thankful. I was just happy to be there. Then we got into the good stuff. We had our Thanksgiving feast and after that, it was time for some football! Thankfully, both the Cowboys and Longhorns took care of business. Since I was back in town for a couple days, I was able to hang out with some high school friends I had not seen in awhile. Shortly thereafter it was time to go back to school for the last week of classes! The last week went pretty well, but I ended having to take a couple of tests and some quizzes on Friday. Oh, I was also able to be apart of Deuce McAlister’s shopping spree and I helped two kids shop for their Christmas list. The event was a lot of fun we had 35 minutes to shop then they ate for 30 min and later they went to a build-a-bear shop. I went to the Chi Alpha Christmas party on Friday and we had a white elephant gift exchange, which is always fun. Now its time for FINALS, but I am not too worried about them. I will be glad to get them over with so I can get back home, but I am just taking it one day at a time.

FTW Football...

2008-11-17T15:53:00.000-08:00

The Whole Crew

SPC Champs!

These past two weeks have been great! First I went home last weekend to go to my little brother's championship football game back in Fort Worth. My two cousins are also on the team, which made it even more fun for me. My cousin also committed to play football at LA Tech, which is only about 5 hours away from Tulane! Anyways they won the game 41-34, it was intense and they pulled out with the win in the 4th quarter. Our family didn't even get home until about 3am because we were watching video of the game at a family's house right after we won. The next day my brother received his acceptance letter to Georgia Tech so I think he was on cloud nine that weekend. When I got back from FTW I had lost my voice from Friday's game and I could barely talk. Though as always I enjoyed being back in Fort Worth and seeing all my family again! School has also been going pretty well. I have done well on a couple tests and I have been able to balance my time with track practice and school. I have two tests coming up this week. So far I have done a good job preparing for them; however, I can't help but think that Thanksgiving is only a little over a week away! My littlest cousin Drew also turns 16 today, which makes feel kind of old. It makes me think how fast time goes by too, but it's exciting at the same time to see everybody grow.

Good week, but an interesting weekend

2008-11-02T20:38:00.000-08:00

I did not have a single test this week, which was nice. It was also our rest week for Track & Field so I did not have practice on Wednesday or Saturday. I also meet with my academic coordinator to get a feel for what classes I will be taking in the spring and when exactly I will be taking them. Halloween was on Friday and a lot of people were excited about it, though I didn't really care too much for it. There were a number of things going on that night, but I went to the BCM's Halloween party and played some games for a little while then went back my room. Everyone was dressed up and my roommate went as Michael Jackson so I wasn’t sure if should be concerned or not being his roommate in all, ha-ha.

I ended up leaving pretty early because I had habitat for humanity the next morning. My brother also had a football game that night and if they won they would go on to the championship, I received a text late that night that they had won, which was exciting. I then immediately bought my plane ticket for Friday so I am pumped about the game and going home to see my family. I woke up at about 6:30 for H4H and we left at about 7:00 to go to the site. One of my good friends, Stephen K., was working on the site with me so we had a good time working together on the house. I met some new people that were in our group as well. There was also this eight-year-old kid named Corey who was pretty cool and he made us all laugh a lot. We ended up finishing around 3:00 so I went back to my room to take a nap. That night was also the Texas-Texas Tech game so I woke up at around 6 to grab dinner before the game. The game was amazing and though Texas had not performed as well as they should have in the first half, I knew they would put it together in the second half, which they did. Anyways-long story short, the 4th quarter Texas is up by 1 and Tech has the ball with about 1:38 left in the game. The last three plays of the game were insane: 1st the ball is tipped in the air off the Tech receiver and it seem as if the Texas Safety has intercepted the ball to end the game, which at this point I was going crazy. However, the ball went through his legs and hits the ground making it an incomplete pass. The 2nd play the Tech QB throws it the wide receiver at about the 10 yard line right on the sideline and he manages to stay inbounds to score the touchdown. Unbelievable! The 3rd play Tech has to kickoff from its own end zone, but it didn't really matter because they intercepted the Texas lateral. It was a well-played football game and it definitely had my heart racing the whole time. Immediately after the game I went straight to bed. I didn't even want to think about what just happened, ha-ha. The next morning I met Stephen to go to his Church, which I had never been before. I enjoyed it and we all went to lunch afterwards, which was fun. Overall, this weekend was strange but it was without doubt good one.

Who knew October would be so busy...

2008-10-18T20:40:00.001-07:00

So far the month of October has been an eventful one. First it was homecoming, which was a lot of fun. My mom came in for the football game and we made our way around New Orleans. It was good to spend some time with mom. This past week I have been pretty busy with exams. I am pretty confident I did well, but who knows. I have a lot of exams this week as well. It has been good learning experience though to learn how to prepare for college exams. Though I can't complain because I am enjoying my time here at Tulane and it seems I getting more acclimated each day. I am also now officially a Green Wave Ambassador, which leads tours to prospective students and parents around Tulane. It should be a lot of fun. October has been a good month, busy but good! So overall Life is good or shall I say Life is Beautiful...

P.S. The Texas Longhorns are #1 baby!

Cowboys game and everything else...

2008-09-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

Well I am fresh off the cowboys loss yesterday so I am still trying to figure out how the heck that happened, especially to the Redskins (I mean come on)!! Other than that I am enjoying learning more and more about college life. I am starting figure it out, I think? Though I am struggling at times to get my laundry done. I am also really enjoying the people on my floor, I feel blessed that the people who surround me are people I really like, which makes a world of difference. Homecoming is this week and I am really excited about that. Army here we come! My mom is also coming down for the game so I am extremely excited to get see my mama, ha-ha! These past few weeks I have been able to get plugged into some neat groups around campus and I have kind of figured out which ones best suit my abilities, which is cool. It has been a challenge to manage everything and I still don't think there is enough time in the day to get everything done; but overall things couldn't be going better and I am learning more and more about Tulane everyday!

Back in Business...

2008-09-11T21:22:00.000-07:00

By tomorrow I will have officially been in school for a week, Hoorah! It has been a very productive yet busy week. I have been going to class early in the morning (8 AM!) then going to track practice in the afternoon. College is very different from High School. I find myself always trying to balance my free time and constantly checking my calendar on my phone to see what need to get done. I have also tried to see how many times I can eat at Bruff in one day, so far the most I have been able to go is 5 so we'll see if I can beat that, ha-ha. Anyways, the campus looks great though one of business school buildings received some cracked windows, but other than that everything looks just as it did before. My flight back was a funny story because my dorm neighbor, Tim, and I were on the same flight back to New Orleans and he had purchased a shuttle ticket to get back Tulane from the airport in advanced and I was going to just get a ticket at the airport. So we are in the shuttle line after getting our bags when a man comes up to now three of us asking if we were Tulane students. He then directs Tim to his shuttle line since he already purchased a ticket and takes myself and the other student to his stretch suburban that already had some other Tulane students back to Tulane. Now on campus, I unpack all my stuff to organize my room again and by the time I am finished; Tim is just now getting into his room. Oh and his shuttle that took forever and my stretch suburban were the same ticket price.

Gustav

2008-09-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

Well I got to experience my first evacuation this week and I have to say it was kind of cool. I was originally going to drive with my roomate to his home in Covington. However, I got out of class even earlier than I expected on Friday so I started to look at flights. I went ahead and booked a flight back to Fort Worth because I would be able to see my little brother and cousins' football game that night. I ended up taking a cab to the airport and luckily three other girls asked to share it with me so I didn't have to pay for a whole cab ride myself, which was nice! As I watched more news coverage I was feeling pretty good about being back in FTW, though when I got in town it almost felt as if I had never left. My brother's football game was exciting to watch and they won 26-20. My little cousin who is a sophomore had a huge sack, which was well worth my trip alone. Then on Monday I watched all the news coverage of Gustav and I was glad to see it was only a category 2 and not worse. It was definitely crazy, but I was pleased to see how well New Orleans was prepared, especially Tulane, for the storm. I am excited to get back on campus on Sunday and I am glad we only had minimal damage to the school! Thankfully God was watching over Tulane and the people overseeing the campus. Now I am just enjoying the rest of my time here in Fort Worth until I fly back, I will also get to see another one of my brother's games so I am pumped about that. I hope that all of you are safe wherever you may be and you're enjoying your unexpected vacation.

Move In-Day...Its finally here!

2008-08-25T12:55:00.001-07:00

I left Fort Worth Friday the 22nd and got to New Orleans late that night, yet I still had time to eat at Red Fish with my family. Move-in day was about three days ago and it went surprisingly well. I got all my stuff organized and I sadly didn't do a lot of the moving myself, my mom and my grandmother actually did most of the moving...I was getting my room key, ha-ha. I am not sure where my grandfather went. Anyways it was fun organizing my room and getting everything together. I also finally met my roommate, Rob Russell; I was relieved to find out that he was real good guy so thank God! Lately I have been doing a lot of orientation stuff, which has been fun a lot of fun but some of it can be monotonous. I got all my books for class and they were pretty easy to get. It was good to meet new people again and I also got see a lot of people from orientation as well. Though when I was actually standing in line for my room key, I was talking to girl from Virgina who knew my cousin's girlfriend...small world, huh? I thought so. Other than that everything went well except I had to say good-bye to mom and the grandparents that was a little rough, but it was all good. I guess classes are about to start, I am hoping that is when the fun really begins, ha-ha.

Books!! Driving Down

"Nana" TEXAS!! Mom

I will post some other pictures later....

Guatemala

2008-07-27T22:06:00.001-07:00

I haven't written in awhile, but I just got back from Guatemala on Saturday. I went with my church, Christ Chapel. It was a lot a fun and I got learn a lot about the Guatemalan culture, it is extremely beautiful there. My brother went on the trip as well so that was neat. I also met a lot of new people on the trip and developed some new friendships, which was cool. It was really cool to see God working through people outside of America. I also was able to finally use some of my Spanish in a real conversation, which was exciting to do. Overall the trip could not have gone better and I thank God for why it went as well as it did. I hope you enjoy the pics...

cool view from the boat

mountains

Andres and Pedro

Things to do...

2008-07-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

Things to do before Move-in Day

-Read The Reluctant Fundamentalist

-Make last minute accomodations with the roomate

-Start packing...I have heard it takes atleast a month to do!

-Give Tulane any improtant documents for school

-Get some rest

-Make a check list so nothing important gets left behind

-Possibily read the Reluctant Fundamentalist for a 2nd time

Just a start...I will think of some other ones later

Grad. Pics

2008-06-17T22:03:00.001-07:00

Family Friends
my football coach

< Coolest Minster ever
high school teammate

< my cuz
graduation cap

< cuz, grandpa & uncle
coaches & friends

Orientation

2008-06-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I just got back from orientation yesterday and I had a great time. I met a lot of neat people, which made me even more excited about Tulane. My roommate for the weekend was a guy named Ian from Nashville, TN, so I was lucky that he was a pretty cool guy. I definitely feel that I made the right choice picking Tulane. The campus was beautiful as always and figuring my schedule for the 1st semester was painless thanks to my advisers. I also got a lot my questions answered and I learned about some new things I need to do before August like summer reading, though I thought I was done with that when I left high school, but the book looks like it should be a good read and I'm not too worried about it. The first day of orientation was fun with check-in and meeting new people, but I enjoyed the 2nd day even more because I think I felt more comfortable, plus I had more sleep. After leaving on Monday, I am anxious to come back in August for move in day on the 23rd. Tulane is going to be great and I couldn't be more excited.

I'm Garrett...

2008-06-09T16:40:00.000-07:00

Hey guys welcome to my blog. I just finished with High School graduation a few weeks ago. It was a strange feeling leaving the school I had been going to for 12 years, but I am really excited about Tulane. Summer has been going pretty well, I have a job as a waiter and I'm trying to prepare for track all the while trying to maintain some down time to relax before college. Orientation is a week away and I am looking forward to it, it should be a lot of fun.

2008-06-09T14:14:00.001-07:00

Coming Soon!