Easter, Sping Fling, and My Victory Lap

(GEORGE)

I had to wait until some interesting stuff in my life happened before I posted this. Usually life in Lubbock, TX is quite dull and nothing eventful ever really happens. Luckily, I had to opportunity to spend 2 back-to-back weekends out of town! I got to go home for Easter for once and then went to Philadelphia to experience the legendary Spring Fling. Both weekends were quite excellent and I'll provide a brief summary of the events.

EASTER:
I haven't been home for Easter for the last 3 years because the members of the Texas Tech administration are a bunch of heathens. This year was no different, but my lack of class on Friday allowed me to finally go home and spend a much needed visit there. I hadn't been home since Christmas and I know I was missed dearly, especially by my father. The weekend was pretty much as I expected. I spent a great deal of time at my father's new restaurant "The Richmond Coffee Station: Flintoni and Ricardo Cafe". Long name, good food. The break was short but much needed.

SPRING FLING:
The following weekend was spent with Noelle for Spring Fling. It has to be the biggest party I've ever seen. Tons of drunk people walking up and down the street with drink in hand. Stuff like this would have never gone down in Lubbock.The flight getting to Philly was about the scariest ride I've ever been on. We went straight through a bad thunderstorm and I about crapped my pants. Apparently, on a different flight, a lady was in the bathroom and was the plane went through the turbulence, she slammed against the ceiling and broke her back and neck. Pretty messed up stuff... So I landed in Philly a day late and scared for my life, but that definitely didn't ruin my time. Noelle and I spent the afternoon at the "Quad" watching bands and hanging out. The main event was yet to come.

(The Quad was awesome)

AKON CONCERT!!!
We were first in line for the concert and had front row/middle seats. Our persistence paid off big time because the concert was incredible! The opening band, Guster, was actually really good and put on a great show. They were definitely the polar opposite of Akon though. Once Akon reached the stage, the stadium went nuts! His DJ spent about 15 minutes trying to hype us up, but we were already maxed out on hype. Akon got on stage and put on an amazing show. He sang about every song he's ever had popular and a bunch of songs he was a part of. The grind-fest ended with him taking off his shirt and crowdsurfing while doing a kind of situp motion. Let's just say he's in good shape. After the show was over, we went back and crashed. I had been up since 4AM.

(Excellent pictures taken by Toby Hicks... He's a pro)

With the concert over, we spent the rest of the weekend relaxing. Nothing too exciting compared to the concert, but we had a great time. I feel that I didn't get to spend enough time there, but her graduation is just around the corner so we will see eachother soon.

The (Half) Victory Lap
I have one more semester after this one. I spent two years "finding myself" aka wasting my parents money... So my graduation will be delayed but only a semester. I think that my run here at Texas Tech has been great. There has been some great ups and some not-so-great downs but overall, the expierence has been great. I don't get to completely reflect on my time here because I still got a bit to go.

Countdown to Graduation

As I'm nearing my graduation date, I've been reminiscing over my past 4 years at Penn and realized how fast time went and despite many hard classes...I've really had a blast.

Top memories of my undergraduate years (in no particular order)

1) Doing Penn-in-Tours with Anna--spending 7 weeks of summer in France wasn't bad and I had an awesome host family.

2) Watching Sean run and do a full on face plant with the concrete for Spring Fling 2007. Also, his explanation for why he was running was that I had apparently challenged him to a race--and he stopped when he realized I wasn't running behind him then he hit the concrete.

3) Studying abroad for a semester in England my junior year especially going a weekend trips and meeting up with other friends abroad. My favorite weekend trip was meeting up with Ishii and Sean at Oktoberfest: Munich, Germany.

4) Spring break 2008 with my favorites in Hawaii. Sunset catamarans with dolphins and whales, swimming with sting rays, jumping of cliffs in North Shore---an experience I will never forget and with some of my best friends.

5) Bros and Brahs Beach Party--crazy weekend for old friends to catch up and enjoy some fun in the sun. I learned the lesson of sunblock and not to trust native american Kyle when it comes to advice about sun protection...tan people burn too!

6) Melissa has been a great friend and roommate to me for two years in college. One of my favorite memories of us is when Melissa convinced me to buy a Halloween costume to go to Wachovia Center's Haunted House. Melissa, who is from LA, told me that all the people in LA dress up in their costumes to go to haunted houses. So, Melissa and I rode the subway in our costumes (her as a vampire, me as a sexy cop). When we got to the Wachovia Center, NO ONE was in costumes; everyone looked at us like we were crazy and it was freezing outside and had to wait in the longest line in order to get into the Haunted House. I will never go to a haunted house in my costume every again---or trust what LA people do according to Melissa because philly people don't do it =)

7) Finally, I've had a great senior year (despite the sucky classes) because of George. We've done a lot of fun things like dressing up like Ron and Hermoine for Halloween, going to a haunted prison, seeing Wicked on Broadway, running the Schuykill to the Rocky steps, the Philadelphia Zoo, etc. I am so lucky to have found him and know "this is only the beginning for us" as he always says.

P90X: Day 8

I started the P90X Program a week ago and it is truly brutal. I plan on updating this almost every day I do the program. I sometimes cut out one of the days to do a run instead of their cardio so I can continue my marathon training.

Day 8: Chest and Back/AbRipperX

The first week was pretty much a trial run. I recorded all my reps last week so I can continue to progress through the program. I managed to do at least 1 more rep each time and added 5-10 lbs on the weights. The chest and back workout is push ups, pull ups, and some weight work with your back. This workout is the most important to me and I need to push it every single time. Since I don't own any weights, I save that part for the gym at my apartment complex. I finish the workout with the AbRipperX which is the definition of hardcore. It leaves a ton of room for improvement and I might be able to do all 349 exercises by the end of the summer. I am very week in the lower abdominal so those exercises are absolutely brutal. Time to shower!!

The Other Half

I (George) will use white text to signify it's me doing an update. Signs of the end of the end of the semester are everywhere. Talks of final exams, plans for the summer, and graduation are the theme of most peoples' conversations. This semester has easily been the best I've had here at Tech... and it has nothing to do with the school. I had an amazing Spring Break with Noelle and I've turned my life around in the area of health and fitness. Since December 2008, I've lost over 15 lbs and training for a marathon. I have also started the famous P90X routine and seeing great results. My weight and self-image have been problems of mine my entire life. Noelle has been an amazing influence on my life and has helped me lose the weight and get into shape. I've still got a long way to go to get into the condition I desire, but I have the tools and the skills to get it done. In the next month, I'll post a picture of a before and after to really show that P90X works.

The Philadelphia Zoo

Two weekends ago, George and I went to the America's First Zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo. We both hadn't been to a zoo in a very long time. It was fun to act like a kid again and see all the animals. We really enjoyed the monkeys, gorillas, and lions.

New York City!

For Spring Break, George and I went to New York City for a weekend. We decided to try to get Broadway lottery tickets for the show Wicked (lottery tickets are 28 front row seats sold at 26.25 per tickets--your name goes in a drawing). By the time of the drawing, there was about 500 people hoping to be one of the 14 names chosen (each name drawn gets 2 tickets). We never actually thought we would win tickets, but we did! George's name was 11th name called, and it was really exciting. We were both in shock. Sitting front row for the #1 rated Broadway show was an unbelievably amazing experience. I'll never forget it.

We've decided to make a blog about our lives . Stay tuned!