Huskies in San Francisco

Time for another travel blog update! This time I am in San Francisco for a few days before heading to Spokane and then back to Seattle—all before I take off for Europe again on July 26th.

I arrived yesterday and got to spend a great weekend hanging out with my aunt. After arriving at SFO, I rode the BART for the first time. Reminded me of the wonderful U-Bahn in Berlin, so I had no problem buying my ticket or finding my train. Some folks ahead of me in the ticket line seemed to have a more frustrating experience as they had no clue how to work the automatic ticket machine...

Anyway, I met up with my aunt and ate some delicious ramen and other yummy Japanese food around Union Square. On our way back, we saw a very random person in a black gorilla suit. Must've been hot!

Nice quiet evening last night with more delectable food that my aunt made. The highlight so far though was going to the San Francisco Giants vs. Boston Red Sox baseball game at AT&T Park. One of my goals in life is to see a game at all 30 MLB ballparks, and before today, I'd only been to Safeco Field in Seattle and Coors Field in Denver.

Today's weather made for a perfect baseball game, and to top it all off, the pitching matchup today was one of the best in baseball this season—Tim Lincecum for the Giants and Jon Lester for the Red Sox.

I was particularly excited not only because these are two of the top pitchers in all of baseball but also because Tim Lincecum was drafted out of the University of Washington and Jon Lester is also a fellow Washingtonian who was born in Tacoma. I wore my UW Alum shirt just for this special occasion. I also wore my Mariners jacket, although it was almost 50-50 Red Sox and Giants fans. Red Sox Nation is nuts...

Although I've only been to three MLB ballparks now, I've always heard that AT&T Park is one of the nicest in baseball. I now know why. The weather was plenty warm, the views of the Bay were beautiful, the fans filled out the park, the food was good (cheaper than Safeco!), etc. Here are some pictures...

The Red Sox won. All the fans were happy, except the hardcore Giants fans. We came home and saw the sunset from my aunt's house. Very nice view!

That's all for now. I'm done blogging for now. More next time!

Sam

24 Hours in DC

It's been a while...but I'm back on the road, so blog time again. I arrived in DC almost two hours ago and fly out in less than 24 hours. I'm here for a one-day education symposium sponsored by McGraw-Hill Education and the Center for Digital Education.

After my trip to New York, I met someone from McGraw-Hill who connected me with the Center for Digital Education, and I was invited to come speak on a panel about "College and Career Readiness: Are Our Students Prepared?" Should be fascinating. I'm looking forward to sharing about the UW Dream Project and Scholarship Junkies as well as connecting with other people.

Tonight, though, I get to hang out in DC. The event folks put me up in a really nice hotel (I took pictures but I don't have my cable to upload pictures). It's pretty ridiculous, but hey, I'm not complaining.

I'm heading out in a bit to grab dinner with my friend and then probably come back to do some work. I was quite productive on the five-hour plane ride today...I finished my reading for the week AND wrote both my papers that are due on Friday. Surprising how much I can get done when I don't have email and ESPN.com to distract me...

I am trying to get the feel of blogging back so I can be ready for my Fulbright, but it's rather difficult. I only like blogs with lots of pictures, but I no longer have the urge to take pictures of everything like I used to. I imagine that won't change much when I head back to Berlin since I felt like that in Berlin the past two times I've been there as well. We shall see.

Until next time,

Sam

Wandering Around Wenatchee

It's been a while since my last post, and I've had a few chances to do so on several trips but failed. So I'm making up for that in wonderful Wenatchee, WA.

I'm here for a UW State GEAR UP outreach trip with my co-workers Michael, Danyel, and Jon. We're visiting three high schools on this two day trip and staying one night in Wenatchee. It's my first time out here in Danyel's hometown, and I kind of like it.

We drove early this morning, and right away, I fell asleep in the car. So did Danyel, I guess. Jon and Michael were kind enough to take a picture of us. What are friends for, eh?

We had lunch in Cashmere at the Country Boys BBQ restaurant. I had a delicious pulled pork sandwich, a root beer, and a bunch of crispy chips. Yum.

We arrived at Eastmont HS first (Danyel's school), and we got a tour of the school. I thought it was pretty large! They had areas of the school marked by the area of study (language arts, sciences, etc.). It was fun to see some of our students from the summer institutes we worked at last June and July, but many of them had sports games after school. So sadly, we only hung out with 6 or 7 students, but it was fun nonetheless. Plus we were able to have discussions about their plans for education beyond their junior year of high school.

After Eastmont, we headed back across the river to Wenatchee HS (Eastmont's rival). Again, we got to spend time with the students we worked with this past summer. Fun to catch up and meet new students as well. After a game of "common ground," we had spaghetti for dinner and then did a short presentation about GEAR UP to the students and their families then answered questions about college. 'Twas fun.

Now, we're at our hotel and enjoying a night at a pretty sweet hotel. Jon and I are sharing a room, while Michael and Danyel get rooms to themselves.

I think I'm about to go work out and then eat a snack before bed. Tomorrow we head to Quincy for our last stop at Quincy HS and then it'll be back to UW.

Until next time,

Sam

Following Lewis and Clark Along the Columbia

It's been a while since my last blog about a Scholarship Junkies trip, but today I drove down I-5 from Seattle toward Portland and then headed west at Kelso to finally arrive at the historic town of Cathlamet, WA.

Driving west in the dark along the WA-4, I arrived in Cathlamet under a sign that read "Cathlamet 1846." This small town of a few hundred people sits along the Columbia River about an hour and a half north of Portland.

After eating too much McDonald's, I arrived at the only lodging available in Cathlamet—the Bradley House Inn. This Victorian-style house dates all the way back to 1907 and offers a view of the Columbia River. I can't see anything right now though since I arrived after the sun had already gone down.

So, instead, I took pictures of the inside of the house. I have a pretty nice room.

I watched the Huskies lose on a last second shot after taking the lead with 3 seconds left. Sad.

Anyway, tomorrow, I am speaking at Wahkiakum High School to share my scholarship secrets with the student body. I am very much looking forward to it. Should be a great time.

Time to hit the sack soon. Toodles.

Sam

Another Visit to Portland

It's been a while since my last blog, but I'll try and keep this short and sweet (knowing me, yeah right...). After spending the past few weeks with my family in Spokane for the holidays, I flew to Portland this morning to spend a day with my old buddy, Roland.

Roland's mom and he picked me up from PDX and went to Pho for lunch. Yum. Portland has changed a bit since I was last here, and it looks really quite nice.

My goal for this visit, besides saying hello and catching up, was to attend the Portland Trail Blazers vs. Golden State Warriors game tonight. Since we had a few hours before the game though, we played a few rounds of NBA 2K10 on Roland's Xbox 360. Just like old days. : )

Then we actually went to a park and shot hoops for a bit. I'm quite rusty after hitting the gym a total of one time this past quarter.

After a quick stop at the grocery store, we got ready to head downtown for dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and then on to the Rose Garden. I've only ever seen their commercials on TV, but I'd never been before. 'Twas pretty cool. I had a Honey BBQ Bacon Burger. Deeelicious.

We hopped back on the MAX (love light rail and public transportation) and headed for the Rose Garden in perfect time for the starting lineups and introductions. Man, the Rose Garden was full tonight and the atmosphere was quite electric.

Just like old times, we sat up in the nosebleed sections, but it was still fun. Pretty amazing that nearly 20,000 people are watching the same thing in the same building all together.

The game started off horribly. The Blazers trailed 11-1 and 17-3 in the first quarter. The officiating seemed very inconsistent, and the Warriors ended up dumping 41 points on the Blazers in the first quarter. That's about as far as their good luck carried them though.

Brandon Roy carved up the Golden State defense the rest of the night, finishing with 37 points along with 5+ rebounds and assists. Simply amazing. With his furious shooting and huge games from Andre Miller (23 points) and Martell Webster (21 points, 11 rebounds) as well as solid defense and hustle from the rookie, Dante Cunningham, (10 rebounds), the Blazers ended up winning fairly soundly 105-89. Chalupas!

After the game, I went and bought myself a LaMarcus Aldridge t-shirt. They didn't have Roy's shirt in my size, so I went with an equally good option with the Aldridge jersey t-shirt. The ride back on the MAX was tiring. I fell asleep.

Roland and I decided to go to Sonic for some popcorn chicken and slushies. Good late night snacks. After we headed home, we played two more rounds of NBA 2K10. I lost both times by one possession. Argh!

The graphics are ridiculous though, and the details even more so. I tried taking a picture. Didn't turn out all that great, but here it is anyway.

Tomorrow, I fly back to Seattle a bit after noon. Then it's right back to work to finish a great deal of school work as well as a lot for Dream Project. A few more trips coming up this month that I might have a chance to blog on again, including a weeklong trip to Guatemala. Can't wait!

Until then, toodles.

Sam