I know I like food... but seriously?

Mere weeks after I claimed that I would start my first diet , I had my 22nd birthday.

Now, I know I like food, and everyone else knows this, but my birthday presents this year were a little over the top (to say the least). Let's recount all that I received on April 25th.

I wake up at 6:30 am to find what appears to be a chocolate cake. My oh my that frosting looks thick... just a quick taste of it... oh my god it's a NUTELLA Cake!!! Looks like the work of Rachelle Hobson. Only later do I find out that it was actually my roommate, Ben Vermillion, who made the cake. Thanks Ben!

Courtesy of Benjamin Vermillion

Alright, time to head to work. And what's this on the front table? Cinnamon Rolls? A Grad Student in my lab had his wife make me these the morning of my birthday. They were, in fact, delicious.

Thanks to Jim Davis (and his wife, Michelle Davis) for preparing hand made cinnamon rolls

But the day is far from over. I told my co-lab tech (Julia Kern) to NOT MAKE ME A CAKE ON MY BIRTHDAY. I figured I'd have cinnamon rolls and maybe something else coming, but what did she do? Make a Funfetti Cake? Fine. I'll eat that, too.

Funfetti, prepared by Julia Kern.

 Alright. FINALLY escaped the workplace at 7:00 pm. Time to get away from that gooey goodness that was funfetti and cinnamon rolls. Only to go to Frozen Yogurt with Dan Mahoney, Ali Davis and Ben Vermillion.

Ali gave me a Chocolate Bunny, while Dan provided gluten free brownies (pictured left) and paid for my yogurt (front and center), while reminding me of one of my favorite players on the volleyball team. Ben has already provided an entire cake at this point.

Yogurt and Brownies courtesy of DJ FLAVA, Bunny from Ali Davis.

Oh god. Make these sweets end. During yogurt, I received a phone call from a friend, Lauren Hawkins. Turns out she's at my apartment waiting to give me something. Time to head home....

Once home from yogurt, I notice it's not just Lauren there, but also her roommates; Carrie Frickman and Hannah Maurer... with a bag of groceries. WHAT IS GOING ON?

Lauren presents a tray (with oven mitts still on, this baby is fresh out of the oven). Turns out it's BANANA BREAD/NUTELLA CRUMBLE. HOLLLYYYYY FUCK. This is, by far, the tastiest of all the gifts.

Banana Bread swirled with Nutella/crumble on le top. L Hawk coming through.

 But let us not forget that both Carrie and Hannah work in a high-end Cafe, bringing an individual cake, a loaf of bread, AND 3 or 4 pastries.

Individual cake

Bread and pastries (pastries in the bag behind the bread).

FINALLY. it's 9:30 p.m. and the day is over. All gifts came in food form, and my diet was temporarily obliterated. If anyone is reading this blog, please come help and eat some of this. I am drowning in a sea of sugar and flour. Have as much or as little of anything you'd like. Except for the Banana/nutella bread. You stay the fuck away from that.

2 days later, Jason Thomas bought a Subway Cookie for me. Bonus points for him.

A recount of my 21st year of life

Well, I'm still alive after 21 years of life, and I've actually managed to do some really cool things so far. A lot has happened in this past year that has had a major impact on my choices and perspective; this post will aim to recount a few of the life altering events that have occurred, such as...

1. Learning how the Real World works

The Lab

In June of 2011 I accepted a full time job as a lab technician with a super awesome crew, starting immediately after I graduated (I did that in this past year too). Once detached from the floaty wings that was parental funding, I took the deep, dark, frigid plunge in to what most consider to be the Real World.


After 5 months of swimming on my own, life isn't too rough. I've learned a lot of things along the way, but the the main thing I've learned is that the general population is neither intelligent nor helpful. Well, I've always known this, but dealing with adults rather than college aged kids, I've drastically changed my tone from more optimistic and patient to demanding and stern. Things never get done by using a passive tone. It usually takes a metaphorical (and sometimes literal) backhand to a face to get things moving, which I'm becoming surprisingly efficient at delivering. And although that learning to hit people is the only thing I have in common with Chris Brown, it certainly isn't the only thing that I've learned this past year. I've also been...

2. Hanging out with Dan Mahoney too much

Unfortunately, I've let him in to my mind.  We both know how much of an impact he's had on my thoughts and perspective. I've learned when to yield a point of argument, my humor has become a bit more judgmental and "politically incorrect," and I've really stopped talking to the people that I get along with on the superficial level. For the first time in my 4 years of riding, I have a training partner that is now equally as fast and fit as I am. Only with Dan can I yell "AWWWW SKEET SKEET GOD DAMN" While tempo'ing at a heart rate of 194.  He also introduced me to something wonderful, which has led me to...

3. The development of my love for Volleyball and other non-traditional UO sports.

 Well, volleyball became my favorite sport to watch in person. The team is straight up awesome. One of my very few regrets in college is that I found out about them in my 4th year here. This left me thinking; what other non-traditional sports here are fun to watch? Of course, I enjoy football and basketball, but I also started to attend tennis matches, softball games, track and field events (although I've always gone to those) and the occasional women's basketball game. This has definitely redefined my love for sports, as I take in much more than just the sport itself, but rather the personality and enthusiasm of individual athletes.  

Other events that happened when I was 21:

• I went to Collegiate Nationals for Cycling (although we all know that I was just a little undeserving)
• Got some pretty sweet tan lines going 

• I've made over $150 and had 100k views on a youtube video 
• Co-authored my first soon-to-be-published academic paper on Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia.
• I've been a subject with Esophageal temperature probes, arterial line catheters, had my veins stuck over 100 times, and lots of other invasive/not fun things for science

• Received lots of benefits and prizes, including t-shirts, free meals and being on ESPN for signs I've made

Overall, I'd say I've had a pretty solid 21st year of life. Here's to hoping that the 22nd is even better.

D1 Athletes

In my 4th year here at Oregon, I've learned quite a bit about the different D1 teams on campus and the type of people associated with them. Everyone knows Volleyball is my favorite sport to watch, and why shouldn't it be? The girls are athletes. They have swag, they have 4.0's, and they have size (all of which don't define them, but it really does help). My true passion for the sport came after I made a sign on one fateful day, just stating a fact that I thought people should know... I really didn't think it was a big deal.

Well, it turns out the team actually appreciated it. They appreciate that I'm a big fan of what they do, and I appreciate that they appreciate it. Eventually, more signs were made and the rest is history.

Of course, not all teams on campus are like the volleyball team. Take football, for example. They're douche bags. Everyone knows it except for them (maybe even they know it), but because they get so much attention from fans, they really do think they're the best things that exist in Eugene. Same can be said for Men's basketball and baseball. Too much attention goes to their heads. Don't get me wrong, they are extremely athletic and fun to watch, most are just really terrible people.  Sports like volleyball and track and field combine the athleticism with great people to make the overall watching experience so much more enjoyable, and they really respect their fans. 

However, in my 4 years watching sports here, today was much different than any other day. Dan, seen here on the right with a death grip on Alaina's arm, and I decide to go to the Women's tennis match. Tennis is a great sport, and I've had fun watching some good matches here at UO before. But something is different from any other UO event...I notice the "bench" players are running the show. They're organizing the cameras, announcing on the microphone of what's happening, running raffles, sitting next to us to talk to some fans, really keeping up the atmosphere. That's cool. Dan and I settle to watch Rabea Stuckfajskfdj on the far court, and cheer her on to her 6-2, 6-2 win. We were the only 2 to cheer her on the whole time, and after her win she does something no other athlete ever has; approached us. 

We talked about her match, she thanked us, asked why were there (as if we need a reason)... we just talked. It took an extra 3 minutes of her day to show what it really meant that we came out to cheer, which of course gives us more incentive to go to the matches next year. Overall, a very classy act by the ladies of the Tennis Team, as we were also thanked by multiple players after we left (they had to clean the event up themselves, too). 

Rabea has earned the title of favorite player on my other favorite team.

Wait... I weigh how much?

136 pounds.

Why am I telling you this and why is it significant? Well, let's start with a little backstory:

I entered high school weighing 76 lbs, 4'10 maybe 4'11 and I was desperately trying to gain weight. I'd bike to the local McDonalds, my parents got me on protein shakes, and tried me to ingest plenty of calories. But if I ever overate, my body would reject it and force me to stop eating. I chose wrestling as my sport, and unfortunately for me at the time, the lowest weight class was 103 lbs.

First varsity match sophomore year (86 lbs)

Fast forward to junior year of high school now. I start growing. I'm still in the 103 class for wrestling, but need only to cut a few pounds per match. At 17 years old (in May of 2007), I go from 105 lbs to 98 in the span of 15 hours, the last time I'm under 100 lbs.

My size didn't define me. Victory defined me.

After my senior year ended in the 112 lbs class, I eat normally and settle in the 130lbs range immediately, where I've coasted for the past 4 years without giving a care to the world of what I eat. 

Fast forward to today: 136. That's not good. Now, I understand that 136 in the eyes of many would be considered healthy, maybe even underweight, but it's not how much I should weigh for the sport I'm in. A friend I know on the track team is 5'10 and 135... although he is world class... I'm 5'6 and 136? No no no. I should be 130-132... maybe high 120s if I want to be really fast on the bike. So for the first time ever (outside of "wrestling losing weight") I'm going to have to start selectively eating healthier. More veggies, less calories, no more eating after 9:00 pm. Very standard, common sense things that I've been ignoring for 4 years. 

Far too many people have said "This will happen to you someday" or "Oh you'll be 150 lbs soon enough."  No I will not. If there's one thing I will continue to care about, it's my health. If I stop paying attention to it when I'm 21, there's no telling where I'll end up when I'm 45. I'm lucky enough to get away with how much I eat, and thankfully my genetics aren't as bad as Dan Mahoney's. So for the time being, I will remain conscious of what I actually ingest... right after I finish this cookie.