Well as I mentioned, I played in a volleyball tournament in Flagstaff today. Here is how the day went down...

I wake up in the morning and feel refreshed. That's odd, I think, as I should have been dead tired. I turn over and look at the clock. Ah, 7:30 AM... WHAT!!! It was one of those moments where time stops, your brain explodes, and you have no clue what to do. I was supposed to wake up at like 5:45 AM. I had a 2+ hour drive, the tournament started at 9 AM, and I hadn't gotten everything ready to go. Needless to say, panic ensued. I managed to leave in about 20 minutes and thought I did a pretty decent job of not forgetting anything. Only later did I realize I forgot one, SLIGHTLY important thing - glasses. My eyes hated me for that...

Anyways, I drove up as fast as I could, and listened to the Dark Tower Book 7, and had a blast hearing about Roland and the ka-tet nearing the end of their journey. I managed to get to the tournament by 9:45AM, and jumped in during the 2nd game. I had high hopes for the day, until I jacked up my ankle like a moron that is. I ran down a hill for a ball and hit a hidden rock and twisted my ankle. It didn't stop me from playing, but I sure couldn't jump at first. I taped it later, but it bothered me all day. Right after that game, thinking about my ankle, I walk back, and my good friend Julia had twisted her ankle badly. She was not only unable to play anymore, but in a great deal of pain all day. I felt horrible for her. In the end, we got 2nd place in the lower division after a long battle - we had to defeat the winning team twice in a row in the tournament as they were undefeated( double elimination ), but was only able to beat them once. After the volleyball ended, there was a barbecue, but I felt tired, disgusting from the sunscreen/sweating, and I wanted to head home before it got dark, so I just left.

So you are probably wondering, where was the irony in all that? Well the prizes we got for getting 2nd, were...drum roll...travel alarm clocks! Perfect for the guy who oversleeps and shows up late

Time for some movies/anime/games/writing music. Gotta enjoy the weekend while it lasts. If you want to see pictures of where I played volleyball in Flagstaff, click the link below.

Volleyball pics

Well the pictures of the house are up as promised. Most of the wiring pictures are pretty boring. The structured wiring is pretty cool though( look for the picture with all the wires going into this panel near the garage door ). I also stopped by the house today, and got pictures of the insulation. I had expected them to do more, but I guess I've gotten kind of used to them working at an insane pace. I also got a couple of pictures of John's house, because his is really moving along. I can't until I have walls inside too

In other news, I'm going to play in a reverse coed tournament in Flagstaff tomorrow. The weather should be a relief, as its been like insanely hot here( highs around 110-115 ). The only sucky part is the driving - it will cost like 40 bucks to drive there and back, and I get around 30 mpg. I wanted to carpool, but I'm not sure I really want to camp overnight. I guess we will see... Stay tuned for tournament results and pictures...

Oh, and on a side note, Lars and the Real Girl is an interesting movie... My family said it was funny, but I found it hard to watch. It just seemed really awkward and embarrassing, even though it truly was sad at its core. I definitely wouldn't call it a comedy...

Well I've got a demo version of Maybe that everyone can listen to. Check it out on the music page. I really like this song, and I think it's going to become something great. I can't wait for Todd to figure out some drumming for it, as that will really bring it to life. Unfortunately, almost every night this week I've had to stay up until about 2am to work on the song and get stuff accomplished. I think I'm about ready to pass out...

In other news, I have a bunch of pictures of the wiring of the house. They aren't very exciting, but they are extremely important to have around. I will at least post some of them soon, but the majority I will probably just archive. I'm heading back to the house tomorrow, so hopefully I will have sheet rock on the inner walls and maybe stucco on the outside. That will at least be a little more interesting.

On a side note, everyone with a DS should go look up the CycloDS. This device is about the coolest extension you can get for your DS. Thanks to Todd for showing me and others about it.

Well it was another three day weekend( I get every other Friday off ), and I had a great time. On Friday, I got some normal mundane stuff accomplished, and then began working on both my movie database and the song I'm going to release next called Maybe. I'm hoping to get Todd Jeffreys to do the drums for the song once I get a little further in( I only have vocals and acoustic guitar at the moment - need electric, perhaps bass as well, and backup vocals ). He is very good, and I know getting him to do the drumming would sound way better than something I could cook up. Hopefully the song will agree with him. Anyways, the track is sounding pretty good so far, and I really like what I did with the modified melody/lyrics( I originally wrote it a year and a half ago ).

After the relaxing day on Friday, I had a lot to do on Saturday. I first took my car in early to get serviced at the Avondale Toyota Dealership, which I've never been to before. The Camelback dealership screwed me over, so I'm never going there again( and I advise other people not to as well ). The Avondale dealership was a breath of fresh air - they have excellent service, they are really friendly, and the waiting lounge is really awesome. They will continue to get my business as long as they stay like that. Next, I prepared to go down to Tucson. On the way, I needed to pick up my volleyball, which a fellow player was nice enough to grab for me when I left it behind at the Gold Medal Squared grass tournament at ASU. Well I had to go out to Scottsdale, and get it, which was a little out of the way, but not horrible. However, getting back to the I-10 was a NIGHTMARE. Every exit I tried was closed off, and I was doing circles for 20 minutes. I was ready to kill someone when I finally found my way. I continued listening to book 6 of the Dark Tower series( which rocks and I will post on the forum about that series sometime ), and made my way down to get a haircut. While getting my haircut, I saw the news about Cedar Falls, the flooding, and the 350 million dollars of damage. I also heard about the horrible earthquake in Japan. All of these horrible things happening back to back... It really sucks.

After the haircut, I prepared for the evening benefit volleyball tournament. We managed to get 5 teams together, and there was a lot of great talent out there. It started out windy, which really made it challenging, but the day ended with some great weather. My sister Jody worked really hard to put it together, and did an awesome job. Please check out the pictures at the link below, as well as some random videos if you are interested in downloading them( I didn't compress them, so they are somewhat large ).

Volleyball Pictures
Volleyball Clip #1
Volleyball Clip #2

On Sunday, I managed to work on the Movie Database some more, watched Ninja Warrior #20( so awesome, I LOVE this show ), played with my nephew Tyler, worked out, celebrated Father's Day with my dad before he left for a flight for work( so messed up to have to leave like that on a Sunday ), saw my beautiful new niece some more, and then watched Jumper with everyone. I then headed back up to Phoenix, having to double back once for my cell phone, which had fallen out in my parent's car when we carpooled to the volleyball tournament. Fun times...

Went to see the house today, and they've accomplished a lot in 3 days. They've finished my framing, put in some piping, put windows up, put in the ac ducts, put in my bathtubs and shower bottom, and started preparing for the wiring. I've uploaded a bunch of pictures to the gallery, so check it out if you are interested( follow the link below ). I go again on Monday to do a walk-through inspection with the super. Time for a run and then I'll watch Crank...

Link URL: New House Pictures