First Post!

Hello there! I have been meaning to set up this blog for the longest time to journal my travels and keep family and friends up to date with my life. I was supposed to have created it after I graduated from Cal in the Fall of 2008, as school was my convenient excuse for delaying everything, but I really have no explanation for this delay. Anyway, I will get you up to date on how my 2009 has gone thus far. It’s going to be a little lengthy, so bear with me…
For starters, I finally graduated from Cal Berkeley with a degree in Political Science. I know, it took me long enough (5.5 years, including the 1.5 year break), but what matters is I finally got that piece of paper … well not yet, but I’m sure it will be in the mail very shortly(and yes, for those of you who will not believe me until you see that diploma, I assure you I DID, in fact, graduate!) I really do not regret the decision I made to take some time off of school to pursue my dreams and take advantage of an incredible opportunity of living and training at the Olympic Training Centers in Chula Vista and Colorado Springs in 2006 and 2007. It was an amazing time and I really did learn quite a bit about myself in that period. I really have no regrets.
In terms of training for the 2009 season, it started off pretty much as bad as you could draw up. I caught a cold after my last final exam at Cal and after getting over that, I managed to have a date with a car while I was descending down Westborough Avenue near my house. The driver claimed she did not see me as she made the left hand turn and I slammed into the side of her car popping her passenger window and cracking two on my ribs. Luckily, my bike was ok(and that’s all that mattered since I would eventually heal up;). Otherwise, training has been going really well since then.
In other news, I just started coaching my high school swim team at Saint Ignatius College Preparatory. It’s pretty funny since I ran track at SI instead of swimming, but in retrospect, it would have been a much wiser decision to swim rather than run at SI. Anyway, it has really been a pleasure coaching this group of young men. It is really refreshing to see the camaraderie within the group. Honestly, they get me all fired up to work out harder myself. It was really funny before our first league meet versus St. Francis, I actually had a hard time sleeping the night before their meet. I guess I am living vicariously through them what would have been my high school swimming career. P.S. They are super fast as well! After winning only one league meet all of last year, they already toppled a very reputable team in Saint Francis with a rich tradition in swimming in their very first meet. That meet came down to the 400 relay. Bradley Kline, a stud freshman, pulled out one of the most impressive third legs of any relay I have ever seen going 47.8. Did I mention he’s just a freshman? The place was going bananas! Bradley has already shattered the SI’s men’s swim record for the 500 free going 4:44 and change as well with a pr of 4:40! This was the first new team record posted since my graduating class in 2003 with John Landefeld in the 100 fly(his little bro is on the team as well, so watch out!) I expect some big things out of SI swimming this year! Big thanks to Diane Davis - the pool supervisor (and a super star athlete in her own right) and Bob Vergara - the Athletic Director for giving me the opportunity to coach at SI.