Empty Apartment

From last Thursday-Tuesday, I drove approximately 1, 378 miles, all in the state of Washington.

By the way, photos from the conference tennis championships can be found here, here, and here.

The move went okay. Stressful. Here's the timeline:

Monday
12:00 PM - rent a van from downtown Seattle enterprise (closest one with a cargo van for rent). They did NOT pick me up.
12:45 - Start packing the van with help from Matt, a Whitman friend who graduated with me.
1:45 - Leave for Walla Walla
6:30  - arrive in Walla Walla and get my apartment keys
7:15 - unpack the van with Ryan, a friend from town that I know through a Whitman friend
8:15 - finish unpacking the van.
8:30 - Leave for Seattle
1:30am - Arrive back at the enterprise in Seattle (stopped for a healthy Taco Bell dinner along the way in Prosser)
2:00am - Finally find a cab since parts of downtown Seattle are a ghost town at night
2:15am - Get home
2:30am - Sleep on our living room couch, since my bed is now in Walla Walla.

Tuesday
7:00 - Wake up and start packing the rest of my stuff to bring out to my car
11:00 - Finally start to bring stuff out to my car
1:00 - Finish packing my car to the absolute seems (not everything fit, had to leave a few awkward pieces of furniture)
2:00 - Leave for Walla Walla
6:30 - Arrive in Walla Walla and start unpacking
8:30 - Finish unpacking
9:30 - Finish building my bed after fighting with it out of frustration
10:00 - Sleep forever

It was a fun 2 days (not). Today is Saturday and I finally am somewhat settled down. I have a decent amount of food in my fridge and cabinets, the appliances I'll need in the kitchen, internet and cable finally installed. As far as furniture goes: 1 large TV and one large desk. I had bought a small portable table to eat on, but that got used to put the cable box, modem and wireless router on, so now I'm back to eating on my desk, or if I want to watch TV, on the carpet. One of these days I'll get a table/chairs and a couch. Even still the place will be pretty empty. Its not a huge place, but it is a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment, and I'm only 1 person.

Off now to the Walla Walla HS boys soccer game, where Mike (Whitman's head coach) is the head coach and I get to BS with the guys on the bench (talk strategy throughout the game). I'll take some pictures of my new place and post them later on.

Crazy weekend

Let's start at the beginning. My friend Trygve came back to Seattle after living in Utah being a ski bum for a while and to celebrate we went to a Mariners game along with Phil (another fellow Yankees fan from Whitman), Matt and Mike Shull (both Whitman kids). Let me run down the list of expenses:
Bleacher seats (view below): $8
1 beer at the Pyramid Brewery beer garden: $5.50
1 Dozen amazing, breathtaking, insanely delicious donuts from Krispy Kreme (my first experience): $5.69
Pitcher at a bar afterwards because I won a bet with Matt: free

Overall, not a bad night.

So, then I went out to Yakima, WA to shoot the Northwest Conference tennis championships, which our men won (again) and our women lost in the finals (oh so close). I took...about 1,000 shots over the 2 days, but my hands down favorite and only one that I'm going to post was this one: Our mens #1 Doubles team demolishing their opponents and getting pumped up...because that is what they do.

Maybe I like it so much because because Matt (a different Matt), on the left, never gets pumped like that, but ET (on the right..full name Etienne) always does...so it is rare to see them both so pumped.

In other news, hopefully tomorrow is the big day, moving back to Walla Walla. I will post again when that is complete and everything (internet) is set up...

Okay, I'm serious this time.

Okay, no more 2-month delays. No more 'only-posting-to-the-blog-when-watching-Wedding-Crashers-at-10PM-on-a-Sunday-with-a-screwed-up-leg' sessions...kind of like this one. A few things I wanted to share, first about my life: I'm moving back to Walla Walla soon, sooner than expected. I'm just tired of being in Seattle when I really just want to be in WW and (most) of my work is there anyway. Hopefully I'll housesit for a prof. going on sabbatical, but if not I have an apartment lined up. Now, to important things:


This is a video of Stephen assisting Todd's first Puma's goal. Atta boy Toddy. Its kind of a crappy video. The goal is at the end, feel free to skip to it.


This is an article on how NOT set your password.


And finally...this was the highlight of my week..Thank you Kev.


Until next time...

The Return

I haven't posted on this for a while. In fact I debated over deleting it. Obviously, I decided not to. Here is the short of what has been going on and what will be happening:

I'm living in Seattle doing photography for a few volleyball clubs as the company, The Northwest Sports Photographers. I'm living in a house with 3 people who graduated form college with me and one that went to BU and studied abroad with another of my housemates. I ended up going out to Walla Walla once a week for a few days during the fall and keeper coaching, and I'm going to be moving back to Walla Walla to continue with that, on a volunteer basis. The nice thing is Whitman will cover all of my coaching license costs, and those are expensive.

One day while I was out there the athletic director, Dean Snider, came down to the AV room that I was in watching film with Mike Washington and in a really excited manner told me that he had "something for me", knowing that I was looking for any kind of work. Fast forward a few months and I'm well into developing the website for the Walla Walla Sweets, a new, amateur, wood-bat summer league baseball team that plays at the historic stadium that Whitman's baseball team plays at. Their ownership group is some Whitman alums and a few others, all of which have done well for themselves and are looking to invest in something they love but also give back to Whitman and Walla Walla. They're doing this by renovating Borleske Stadium, which was...pathetic. It was embarrassing to keep something like that named after someone of such historic and athletic importance in Walla Walla. Anyway, I'm also going to try and do some work with Whitman in the same capacity, with their athletics website. But that is for the future and hasn't happened yet. I'm going to talk with Dean the next time I'm back in town. Also, I'm moving back to Walla Walla, probably in May, to be there for the baseball season and over the summer for summer soccer camps.

That is what has been happening, and I'll try to keep this updated more often...

Well, the season ended and I've been a lot happier I guess. On one hand, I don;t have to go out to Bremerton 4-5 days a week. On the other, I'm still jobless. I've been working out a lot playing some pickup, but mostly on my own doing a lot of plyos and kicking. I seemed to have solved my kicking woes, practicing a new long kick technique that when done right puts the ball (from my 18) a few yards short of the other 18 without putting a whole lot of strength into it. So that's how they do it in the pros. Not that it will come in handy any time soon.

I was talking to my friend Michelle (yeah, you Krall) the other day and said something that seemed to chock her and myself later on. I was explaining trying to find a job in Seattle and how its not going well and I told her that if I was able to find a job, that might be it for soccer. Considering its not like specialized jobs are everywhere, so if I would be able to find something that I liked that payed well, that would have to take precedence over soccer (if I was unable to be flexible with my schedule) in what would ultimately add up to being taking a chance on being picked up by a USL 1 or 2 team, having to move cities, and playing for part-time pay in a full-time position. Hmm. I mean, I don;t really want to be broke with only a Bachelor's degree (yes, only a Bachelor's degree) when I'm 25. That would suck. I mean, I'd still love to have a shot at playing real pro, not PDL pro, but its becoming increasingly difficult when I don't have access to consistent, high-level training (hey thanks a lot Richmond Kickers).

On a positive note, I signed a lease for a house in the U-District with a crew of four others, three from Whitman and one that my Whitman friend met while studying abroad. At least I'll have a place to settle into come September. Now, about that job...

That was Fast, Part II

The first part of ‘That Was Fast’ was about how quickly I went back out to Seattle to play for the Pumas. This edition focuses on how quickly they’ve made my time out here playing soccer miserable and have all but ensured that I won’t be back for them next year. A large combination of exclusions, half-truths, and circumlocutions have made it so only specific circumstances next year would bring me back to Bremerton, most I haven’t even decided upon. I just know that it would take some extremes. Anyway, this is the list of how they’ve treated me poorly in the three weeks since I arrived. Most aren’t a huge deal individually, but when you add them all up…

I was asked to come out here with the understanding that there would be two keepers: the starter and me. When I got out here, my first two practices there were 5, and ever since then there have been 4. It’s their decision to have this many keepers out there. I don’t care. But don’t lead me to believe that there will be 2 and my training will be much more individualized than it would be.

Pissed off scale (1-10): 6

I had multiple conversations with the head coach about wages before I came out here. I told me – and he concurred – that I didn’t need a whole contract, but at least a partial one of what every other player had. I knew I was coming out mid way through the season and wasn’t going to get much playing time, but still, I was moving across the country to play for them because they asked me to, so some compensation would be nice. When I was offered my contract, the amount I was offered was 0$/month. Really? I had to go to Bremerton one day and have a meeting with the owner and chief exec and convince them to pay me something. Again, if you want to offer me nothing, fine. But don’t lead me to believe that I’d be offered something and then give me nothing.

Pissed off scale: 8

The email list. Despite signing 4 weeks ago and asking to be put on it as well, I’m still not on the team email list. I have to continuously call people on the team to find out about meetings/practices and don’t get any messages from the head coach, assistant, keeper coach, secretary, owner, chief exec, or anyone else that might have something important to say to the team.

Pissed off scale: 3

General exclusions. Whenever it gets brought up about people coming from Seattle or havng to travel distance to practice, I’m not included. It’s a 90 minute drive each way if I drive, including gas money and the toll for the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. If I take the ferry it takes even longer since I can’t make the ferry leave whenever I want to go. I’ve got to get there on time, wait for it to leave, wait for practice once I’m there, wait for the ferry after practice, and then get home (including practice, generally a 6 hour commitment). Also, this costs 7 dollars for the ferry and a total of 5 for the light rail train. For someone who doesn’t really have an income, these costs add up. I’ve also been excluded when “team fine” talks and am excluded from receiving the same sponsor perks as the rest of the team.

Pissed off scale: 2

Apparel. I don’t have the same uniforms as the other the other keepers. My uniform really makes me look like an absolute muppet. I actually only have one jersey, whereas the others have two (different colors): one to warm up in and one to play in. In addition, I don’t have any of the practice gear, warm-ups, rain coat, or team bag. I look like a fool most times when the team is together. What’s more, these things have never even been discussed with me.

Pissed off scale: 5

The final straw. So I haven’t been playing. Fine, I haven’t been rostered (they can only roster 2 keepers per game) but I’m getting paid. The team (they? We?) won their 2^nd round national playoff game the other day, so they go to Texas to play the quarters/semis. I knew that I probably wasn’t going to go, however, just when the assistant coach has everyone gathered around to tell everyone logistics, the head coach and keeper coach interrupts him “Andrew, hold on a sec. Brett? Can we have a word over here please…” Wow. Really? Cool, thanks for the world-class humiliation. Everyone in the complex knew what they were going to say to me, you could have been deaf and knew what they were saying to me. They couldn’t have told me before or after the team meeting about logistics? They had to call me out in front of the entire team and get all of the attention on me so everyone was focused on me getting told like a child that I wasn’t going to go on the trip. Sweet guys.

Pissed off scale: 10

So, it would probably take something along the lines of this bring me back (however form the treatment I’ve received, it doesn’t seem like they want me back, oddly enough.): a much higher pay, paid for gear (including gloves and cleats), paid for transportation, and normal treatment for a player on the team. I’d rather not get paid and enjoy myself than get paid and have a shitty time doing it.

Other than that, everyone’s been great. The house hunt is…continuing for some friends from college. We’re looking for a place up near Green Lake, kind of the Central Park of Seattle. Job search continues as well. So really, nothing is new, just a long rant for today.

Just a quick update on what's going on: The Pumas clinched the NW division and a first round playoff bye last Saturday. Then we got killed by the Sounders' reserves and I ot my first playing time, completely embarrassing myself having trouble making kicks that a 12 year old could have made, with ease. Practice yesterday and the awful field (actually, Fredericksburg's field is a bit more manageable) and today on a turf field. I guess their game this Friday is on turf. Friday night in Victoria, BC and Sunday in Tacoma are the last two regular season games, then the playoffs start.

Also, I jut wanted to post this photo that I took last night. Obviously, a view of downtown Seattle from near the top of the Beacon Hill neighborhood. I live lower down in the Beacon Hill neighborhood right now.