Michigan Trip Pt. 1

So I got up at 4. Yea, dawg, it was early. I took a shower and ate a peanut butter jeally sandwitch and took off with mama. I had luckly my addidas michigan bag and my michgian pack pack that I use with the motorcycle. We got to the airport and I had to take out my bottles and give them to mama, even my hair stuff. THis was the first time a trip with American worked, alothough I was only 20 minutes late it was amazing. THe first flight sucked cause I was in a crammed old properller plane on the endge and seriously no position was comfortable to sleep in, none at all. I tried the all, trust me. Hardly slept at all. Stopped in Dallas and took my time changing terminals and getting food and magazines. Then in Detroit I landed super excited. I wastched part of the soloist on the flight and it was weird. I got to Detroit and I texted Rina and then walked outside to wait for the next 20m as they kept getting lost. Finally after forever they came up and it was Rina and Mark. Mark looks like an elf with his hair and his chin beard and patch under his mouth and his earls and nose and brownish look. They was so excited to see me. They kept like buzzing. Mark made a comment about "well, I guess no bike after all"..and I was like what? And he said no money fo the bike. And I said, no; I already have one. And then what commenced was a series of "WHATTT!!!" by Rina and no way and why didnt you tell me and ahhhh and a bike? and shut up! and Tell me more! and all the above. Hahaha. I was like...so you dont read my blog?? Hhahaha. The Lesson of the Day: Read DP´s Blog...or else... or else you will be oblivious to the awesomeness adventures of DP the Great.

Tuesday was a lot of fun. M first real day. I had fun with all the kids especially jake and luke and little jordan. Then I got to run some of the small 3 on the games and that was wow what a challenge but how funny. THen I got to reff some of the older games. My first game was Indiana with Ben, which was my team,a gainst Novak. I was getting accomsoed to reffing beause it was my first one ever. I had to adjust what I was watching and how I was blowing the wiste and everything.Sure I let a lot slip in the beggining and I didnt know who was on whoes team,s o often I would blow the wistle and look for either ben or ovak to give me a direction. There was no pressing on defence and so a lot of times I would shout to the kid to back off instead of blowing the wistle. One time I had to yell like 6 times and Ben was like blow your wistle already. I think the most famous part of that first game was definatly when I lew the wistle near the half court line and yelled "You kids need to have more discernment!"...and all the kids looked up to me with big eyes in a completely confused manner and Novak turned to me and said, "Pinedo, what the corn is that? How do you expect the kids to know what that means when I dont even know." I was like, um, good point. So I gave them a quick run down and it was all good and I kept going and Indian lost by 1 point at the end. That loss killed Ben and my reputation for discernment might never lave the face of the earth. Later I had to do 50 pushups of redemtion for my Iniana team so that they would elt me stand on the sideline again; it was hillarious.

And for all out you out there who DONT know what discernment is, here you go...
discernment |diˈsərnmənt| noun 1 the ability to judge well : an astonishing lack of discernment. 2 (in Christian contexts) perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual direction and understanding : without providing for a time of healing and discernment, there will be no hope of living through this present moment without a shattering of our common life.

Camp was cool Weds. Busy and full again. Today we had a lot of competitions. I was having with Jake and Luke and Jordan Vergollo and the kids were loving me. We would play knock out and they would all go against me. It was so much fun. They all know me by nae and love to talk to me. They also didnt want me to reff their games, team Indiana didnt at least. The camp ended and then I was told by will to talk to the new strength and conditionaing coach, Jon Sanderson about babysitting for him tonight. I rebounded for Novak for an hour and then I went back to the appartment and waited for Sanderson´s call but I got none. So I finally left and hung out with the bros at the cathern house at the diag and with Bethie and Rina too and Elfie. It was cool.

Thursday worked all day. Camp ended at 11:30. Indiana was coached by me and we had a heartreaker loosing tot he number one team by 1 point, 23-25. At the very end with 3 seconds left our chubby tall kid dribbled down the court and shot up a trhee and got destroyed and no foul as the buser went off. If we would have gotten the foul he would have gone tot he line for 3 shots in an attempt to tie or even win the game. But no. Bull.I had like 4 kids cry it was sad but they played really good and they played liek champs and I did excellent coaching I wont lie and I was calling plays and speciall double team help side with one of their good players and we were getting boards and some good ball rotation it was great. Camp was over and I had to sign all the kids shirts just like I was a player, it was hilarious. All the players an me had a sharpie hahaha and LLP and Ant were all like, DP, we see your signature everywhere hahaha.

Friday I worked all day at teh freakin office getting the next big camp ready. Then I got out at 5 and ran to borrow Alex´s car to go to pick up Carlito Tostido and I was excited to show him the ropes in this great city.




Saturday we woke up and we were supposed to leave at 7:30 to go to Lake Michigan but it was raining and I was unsure what to do. The weather were mid 70s all day botht there and here and I was unsure if we should go all the way over there. SO I called it off and instead we would get together and make some breakfast and then figure it out. So we went and made a massive breakfast that took like an hour to make and took almost as long to clean as it did to make hahaha. And then we descided to take off to lake mihcigan anyways cause it cleared up but then Rina was called to work unexpected. Carlos took a nap for a while. Then I took carlos and mark and bethie to Crisler to check it out and thenw e picked up Rina and went to Marks house...because unbeknown to us the ENTIRE time that Mark had a freakin River run through his back yard. Yea, what the heck?? Why didnt I know this earlier? But I tell you what...it was chill tubing down that river. It was awesome, aweosme aweosme. And we are only half way done on the trip! Camp starts again tomorrow!

Part of our breakfast

Carlos taking his siesta

Carlos trying to show Bethie how to play ball

Me infront of Mark´s house

Campint Trip!!!

So I got up early again, like at 7. I made some french toast and then me and Marissa and Ana drove all the way to San Antonio. It was actually a pretty quick trip. Ana is going to Eaurope as a graduation pressent. She studied speach therapy and plans to go to one year of grad school to get her degree in costa rica...lucky. Then me and Marissa drove home and that was fun.

Once I got back I put everything in a higher gear. Started to get my stuff ready for the camping trip. I started to pack and get everything ready. I am going to gardner state park and apparently its a really nice place. Then I went ot pick up Edy and Jake came over after work to shower. We ate dinner and then took offWe drove a long ways all the way to pfluversville, Texas, but not before getting lost and going in the middle of no where. If we would have found a little kid walking with a doll or something we would have crapped in our pants and died of a heart attack, it was that scarry out there. There were only dry corn fields and bushes that were encroaching the woods. There was absolutely nothing out there and we knew were were going the wrong way, especially when we found out we were at "Fuchs Grove"...yea, it was that weird. But we crashed and slept good at Edy´s Uncle, Derik´s house. Its a nice house in the middle of no where, a little subdevision. We slept hard but short cause we had to get up again soon haha

So we took off int he morning and had to use old school maps. We ate a little breakfast and that was fun. And then we had to drive through Austin again and we descided to round off san antonio and then we got closer and closer and then we got lost in this one small town because edy said to go strait and we went off the map into this guetto village place and he said keep going trust me and then we got through this bridge over water into a dead end. Thanks. But Jake found it. we finally found gardner state park and then we descided to get some food. Edy said he knew of this place that was a little off. Well Edy gave us another huge detuer with him saying, tust me guys its over here I swear, when I thought we should have gone in the other road that was approaching a small town. Well we finally do turn around and we find th eplace. What do you know.

Then we have tog et in line to get our reservations and we made it to the camp ground. Pretty modest little spot with a fire spot, a bench, a trash pole and a water faucet. Yea. So we first piched tent which turned out to be pretty easy and then we went to the lake.

We were dying to see this sign
...especialy with Edy directing

THen we went to the lake. We were there for about four hours and it was a bunch of fun. THe water was vey low because there was no rain in like forever. The water was warm and it was shallow enough that you could touch the rocks at most places with your feet. Me and Ed had fun witht his really high rope swing. Edy coudlnt get enough. Then we watched some guys climb these trees super high and then jump down. Two kids did back flips off of them. Tjhere was this one guy who went up there and then sat there at the top for a while. THen he turned around to moon everyone and then let go after everyone started to laugh at his white butt and he landed hard on his back. It was pretty entertaining I must admit. THen we met some girls that lived in Sheperd, Texas and most of them were ging to A&M and that was cool talking to their fun experiences at the park. THen we took off ourselves back to our palce. Edy made a fire becuase he was persistant that he needed to make one. We said wait till alter, but he said he rather have the hot embers so when we came back we could just wiff them up and have a blaz. That was until some random dude told us to put out the fire because park people were making their rounds looking for fires. So Edy had to put it out...so much for that.

Our Tent

Dont tell me you didnt want to see random trees

We ate a little and we had a good time talking. Then we dressed to go dancing. And this is where it got fun. We left at 9:15ish and got there and went in at 9:30. There were a lot of people, a LOT OF PEAOPLE. We wer elucky to find a quick place to park. We went in and took a few scans of the place. Tons of girls. I ran into this one girl who was all out texan. Started to talk to her and I told her things about Michigan and bla bla bla and then she was like, so you dont know the two-step? No I dont...well, let me show you! Ok! Haha, so she took me out and she showed it to me and it was a lot of fun. The next thing you know I was all over the dance floor nailing that Two-Step down. It was awesome.

About to get our groove goin

The rest of the night we just hung out at the tent and talked about good times. It was already really late by this time so we were exausted. But the weather was much nicer and dang it was a good bonding time. The next morning had to get up at 8 and get ready to leave. We cleaned up everything and tore down the tent and then we left for Corpus. The ride back was a lot smoother and then I went to work. it was great considering the last time I had a ligit shower not inculding the river was 2 days ago. But it was awesome and so was the game. Yea, it was great, great trip. about 800 miles in two days. Want to go again.

Too early to get up...and who´s fault is that??

Federer and Wimbledon 2009

Well Wimbleton was here again and it was awesome. It was really exciting to see. Venus and her sister Serena went at it and unfortunately Venus broke down int he end and Serena took it to the end. I felt like Venus could have competed soi much better but it happens. It was still fun to watch, but left little of an impression compared to the men's final.


You can check out the video and article of the match here


Then the men´s finalys...oh what a game. The significance was huge too. Pete Sampras is a legend, he is the one who defined all odds at 19 in the US Open and along the way, he defeated sixth-ranked Thomas Muster in the fourth round and third-ranked Ivan Lendl in a five-set quarterfinal, breaking Lendl's streak of eight consecutive US Open finals. He then defeated 20th-ranked McEnroe in a four-set semifinal to set up a final with fourth-ranked Agassi. Sampras beat Agassi in straight sets to become the US Open's youngest-ever male singles champion at the age of 19 years and 28 days. What else does Sampras have for him?...14 Grand Slam champions, which is the record that has been unreachable...until Federer started his all-star career. Federer has just tied Sampras at 14 a peice and if he wins this game, not only will his combeack be official and not only wil be he chiziled in history for one of the best ever, but if he wins this and takes the lead at 15, he will become the best Grand Slam Tennis player in Men´s History.
I started to watch at the third set and Roderick was holding his own. I was really impressed and kept waching and watching as the two would battle it out. It was amazing to me to see that Federer, in all his glory, could not break Rodderick´s serve, at all! He couldnt and didnt all game long. And I kept wathcing and watching and we got to the first set, oh that dear 5th set. But they kept at it, 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, no one could break the other´s set. Then 5-5, 6-6, 7-7! But Alas, I had work! I had to go to freakin work! I left at 7-8 and arrived and they were sitll playing! It was 8-9 when I got here but since I was opening up I had to run aroun and get the window open and then I turned on the tv but that was at the front and I had all these people calling and comming to the window for some reason. I set up the interent radio for it but the one by the window didnt have speakers so I was watching the scoreboard live and its going and its going 13-13, 14-14...and I am ust waiting for someone to break the other´s serve. Now Federer had his serve first, so he would go up a lot by one game, but then Roderick would win his serve and tie it up. So it gets to 15-14 Federer, and there were so many close calls, and I am helping this large guy at the window and he gives me these stupid vouchers to redeem for tickets, and right then the score changed...16-14...and I was like NO!!!! And I slammed on the table really hard. I was like "Sorry, sir, it has nothing to do with you." And then I was like NOOO!!!! again and slammed on the table again as I pulled out the tickets. "History has just been made and I missed it. I had to watch it on the freakin screen." He looked at me and walked off. Looser. Hahaha Dangit I missed one of the biggest moments in history and had to wach it on the freakin screen. I couldnt even watch it or even hear it! Ahhh!

Video and Article here

But yea, Federer won and it was glorious. Sampras was there to witness it and yea, summer 2009 at Wimbledon will be talked about for ages, and I was stuck at the freakin ticket window. Kinda cool, right?

Independence weekend and a rocket bike

This saturday is independence day, so when I went to work at the ticket office pretty much everything for friday and saturday was sold out. Kinda nice. Worked ont he window all day and then the game was pretty packed. Tonight was 80s night so I used papa´s tennis stuff and looked like a doof, and of course, I was stuck at prise wheel all night, and that sucked. Hahaha. I knew that the night we had to dress up and that I would be only one of the few to dress up, I would be stuck behind prise wheel...it happens



Saturday was busy again. Worked all day at the ticket office. Serina Williams beat her older sister in two sets. I was hoping that it would havegone longer and that Venus would ahve won, but whatever. THe next post will be on Wimbleton Tonight was the 4th of July game, and we have been sold out of this game for about 2 weeks. I had to teel so many people that all we had left were the general admission berm seats, and dang did we sell a lot of them! My family even came,a nd that was the first time all year that they come to a game together. The game was packed but it was fun. Kind of relaxing really. We lost the game but that was fine, because the ending was the best part. At 9:30pm, when we were at the top of the 9th inning, the city fireworks start going off on the other side of the bridge. The launch them there by the USS Lexington, a retired air craft carrier. So they had to stop play on the firld because of the distraction to the players. The fireworks were allright, same old lame corpus stuff: slow, big and boring. THen the game ended and I went downt o the bleachers to watch these ones. And then they go off, and they were so much better! So so so much better, dang it was cool! I love our fireworks; I jsut stair up at amazment, I love it! And then the flocks of people left and there was so much traffic outiside after I got out, well, I had to sit around for half an hour before I was able to take off and I was still bumper to bumper traffic on my bike for another 20 minutes before I was free again. What a night. I am still puzzled why we celebrate July the 4th as Independence day, as the Declaration of Independence was ssigned the 2nd. Hmmm. Anyhow, it feel on a Saturday this year and it worked out perfectly. Maybe they should switch it to the 2nd next year like it should be and it would be on a Friday. Pretty good idea, eh?


LETS HAVE SOME FUN

Ok, people, lets not get so serious all the time. Lets go for some news. Anyone ever wanted a sweat bike, like a motorcycle? Like my motorcycle? What about a bike that was fast, like a real bicycle but that just had like a motor on it, say, like Edy´s CC MotoBike? What about something more misterious, like a rocket, like something that could launch you into oblivion?...

...well, now you can, this the new Jet Bike that just became avaliable for a cool $1200, and you know thats cool considering how cool it will make you feel when you launch by cars at extrodinary speeds while being on the sidewalk. Not talking about how cool it would be to drive up to that next party with two giant thrusters on either side of your weels...now all you need is a second seat to cary that girl with you and your all set!