Welcome, Nastia!

Today Twisters had the pleasure of welcoming 2008 Olympic all-around champion, Nastia Liukin, to the Bay Area.  She is here to help promote the Olympic Trials which start on June 28th at HP Pavilion.  It's really exciting that the trials are in California once again and Nastia commented on how honored she is to be a part of the process.

We had a very short practice for the girls today and then stopped them so they could help us clean up the gym.  We spent two hours getting everything ready and with all of the help we were able to get it all set up without any major issues.  There were streamers, balloons, banners, and even a couple of video presentations.  It was all very well done and I have to say that Allan's hard work and preparation really paid off.

It ended up that Nastia's flight from LA was delayed due to the weather, so she arrived about 15 minutes late.  Then tension in the gym was palpable and everyone was on edge waiting for her to arrive.  She finally got there and was escorted in, the video tribute was played, and a little speech was made before the mic was handed over to her.  She gave a very inspirational talk before answering some questions from the girls and signing autographs.  Unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot of time because she had another gym to visit before the evening was over, but all of the girls were excited to have the chance to meet her and get a picture with her.  I'm hoping her words will serve as encouragement for our girls to set goals and dream big.

Happy Birthday, T-Dub!

Shout out to my classmate, Tenaya West!!  It's her birthday today and she is 24...a magic number!  Last night we went out to San Francisco to celebrate with some of our friends and this morning we got up and made a nice breakfast in her honor.  We had belgian waffles, handed out some small gifts, and watched a movie a couple of friends and I made for her.  It was a nice morning but I'm afraid our afternoon plans of going to the beach may be spoiled due to the not-so-hot weather.  Oh well, I think her parents are coming in from Davis to see her so that will make for a nice, lazy Sunday before we all kick off another week of work.

Happy birthday, T!  I hope you not only have an amazing day, but an amazing year full of fun and surprises :)

March Already?

It's hard for me to believe that I've been working for Twisters for almost two months now.  It's even harder to think about the fact that I've been home for that long and I'm finally settling into a daily routine.  I'm still hunting for engineering positions, but enjoying the mornings and early afternoons I have to get things taken care of.

Yesterday I was finally able to get my car back up to Sacramento for what will hopefully be it's last repair.  It needs a damper installed in the passenger side door and then after that it should be good as new (let's hope it stays that way for some time).  It was a fun but quick trip...there and back in one day.  I left with Alex after I was done working and we got to my house around 4pm.  I gave Alex the "grand tour" and then we played darts in the garage (fun but he totally killed me, as usual).  While doing that I was able to get Annie to come over which was great because I haven't seen her since before I left for Australia.  She was up in the area because her girls were competing at the Byers meet, so it was perfect timing!  Alex and Annie were introduced and then we spent some time watching the live broadcast of SMG competing at Oklahoma before jetting off to La Placita for dinner.  It was a very yummy but interesting meal because my grandparents were also in town.  On a very happy note, my dad looks amazing!  I can't believe how much he was up and about, walking around as if nothing had happened.  His scar is healing nicely and he was even able to give me a hug, yay!  After dinner Alex and I got back in the car (the Maxima this time) and drove back to Stanford.  We arrived around 9:30pm and were both exhausted.  We passed the time by playing a letter game and dancing and singing to some awesome music.  Even though it felt long, it could have been worse.

This afternoon, SWG had their final home meet, which also served as Senior Day for Brownie, JP, and Peach.  It's really hard for me to believe that these three girls are already seniors!!  It seems like yesterday...I won't get into that now.  All of the girls performed well, with bars being the highlight event, and there were some nice senior tribute videos at the end.  I also saw a bunch of the Twisters level 6's that I coach and they got really excited and sat with me when I came down to watch the videos.  SWG came away with the win and had a 196.575 score that will hopefully boost them in the rankings.  It's always nice to get a win over rival Cal and we were also able to tally one over Arizona.  It's now into the home stretch as they get ready for the Pac-12 competition and post-season.

The weather here has been fantastic this weekend and I look forward to the week ahead.  It's T-Dub's birthday next week so there should be some good times had by all and hopefully some fun things to report!

Rose And Crown

Yesterday was nice because after work I was able to take advantage of some of my down time.  Carly and I went to the Menlo Park library to replenish our reading material and then I went off to the Target in Mountain View.  I didn't really have purchases in mind, but I came away with two DVDs for $5, a new game to play, and a water bottle...success!  I spent a lot more time at the store than I had originally anticipated, so when I got home there wasn't much time before a group of us were off to the movies.  We went to see Wanderlust and I'm telling you it wasn't worth the money.  It was still nice to get out with some of the girls, but the movie itself was horrible.  Afterwards we went to boba which almost made up for it, but not quite.  We spent some time there and then Carly, Dani, and I came back home.

Later I went to the Rose and Crown (a small pub/bar off of University Ave in downtown Palo Alto) for the first time.  Alex, Ryan, and Tim were there playing darts and I was invited to crash the party.  I got there, an intense competition was going on, and Ryan ended up coming out with the win.  In the downtime between rounds, Alex convinced me to give it a try and after some pointers from Tim, I was invited to join in on the next game.  I was really proud of how close I came at the very end; I got three bulls-eyes and came within two shots of the winner (Tim)!!  I actually surprised myself and had a lot of fun.  We decided that that was enough for one night and I was home by midnight, which was perfect.  I'm not cut out to be up so late anymore and I think a lot of my friends are beginning to feel the same way.  It's crazy how things change when you're done with college :)

This afternoon the men have their last home meet of the season and it's senior night against Michigan.  It should be a really good and rather intense competition; Michigan won NCAAs in 2010 and we did in 2011.  I'm hoping the boys can put together a complete meet, but either way it will be fun.

In other news, some of the kids at UniMelb will be starting school today!  I can't believe that it's that time of the year again and I distinctly remember walking into my first class scared out of my mind.  I don't think I walked away feeling any better because it was Medical Imaging and we were introduced to Fourier transforms and I had no idea what the professor was talking about.  It was definitely a crazy way to start and hard for me to believe that I actually got through it.

So Very Thankful

This past week has been a little difficult with my dad's heart surgery looming over my head.  I can't say that I handled it with much grace, but I got through it with the encouragement of my friends and knowing that so many people were thinking about my family.

The surgery itself was bumped up from tomorrow to yesterday.  He went in at 5am and then was in surgery by 7am.  My mom stayed at the hospital through the entire procedure and did a good job at sending out updates, but I was still very anxious.  I had faith in the surgeon but it's all up in the air until the final word is out.  In the morning I cleaned the house and my car to try and pass the time, I read a little bit, and then met Alex before he went off to practice.  I was close to dropping him off when he got a text from my mom saying my dad came out with a new bovine heart valve...what the heck, how did he know before me!?  Apparently my mom tried to call me but it didn't go through.  Hmmm, suspicious :)

Allan gave me the day off of work and so I came home to relax and try to de-stress.  I still had to wait to hear about the final stages of the procedure, but the hardest part was over and that allowed me to steady my heart rate a little bit.  I tried to read but couldn't really concentrate so kind of just occupied myself with random activities.  It wasn't until 10pm that my mom was able to get the message to me that he was extubated (but still sleeping) and she actually sent me a picture, which made my day.  He tried to wave to me and I definitely give him an A for effort.

I know I speak for my entire family when I say thanks to all of you who had us in your thoughts and prayers over the past couple of days.  I'm excited to see what this does for my dad and so happy to know that he'll be feeling better soon.  According to my mom he's STILL sleeping (going on 24 hours!) but for now it's ok because that's the best opportunity for his body to heal.  I'm hoping I'll get to talk to him tomorrow and I might be able to get home this weekend or next to see him...all new and improved, yay!!

Also worth noting:  Last year at this time I had just arrived in Australia and was trying to get all of the pieces of the puzzle to fall into place.  Crazy to think about all that can happen in one short year!

To Home And Back

It's crazy to think about the fact that one year ago I only had a couple of entries written on this blog.  There was so much going on, from packing to ordering foreign currency, to freaking out about moving to another continent.  I'm still waking up every day feeling thankful to be where I am right now and it is really hard for me to believe that at one point I had the courage to pick up my life and start over somewhere far, far away.

On Thursday Dani and I drove up to the city because she had a work project she needed some help with; we had to measure some wall space.  It ended up being in this fancy office on the 23rd floor of a high rise with amazing views.  It didn't take us too long to get everything done so we decided to go shopping before getting back to Palo Alto.  We both did well at H&M and then enjoyed some people watching while eating lunch.  The weather was amazing so we were really lucky.

Work-wise, it was another great week in the gym...I was able to get many of my girls to do new skills on beam, which was super exciting.  I like the way Allan has split up my time because it allows me to work with both optionals and compulsories.  The optionals are in season right now but are still training some new skills to help keep things interesting.  The compulsories are trying to get their skills for the next level so that they can compete in the summer.  I like to make deals with the little ones and they tend to take advantage of them.  Last week I had to do a tumbling pass on the tumble trak and not only was it fun for me because I hadn't done it in awhile, but the girls were loving it.  The other coach and I also decided to take them out to the running trail on Saturday just for a change of pace and scenery.  We ran about two miles and they did great.

After practice yesterday I decided to go home for the night.  I drove up and arrived around 4pm to the open arms of my parents and grandparents.  We spent some time looking over pictures from Australia (because I hadn't seen my grandpa since I left) and then went to dinner at Pasquel's (it was on my to-do list).  When we got back we watched a movie before we all went to bed.  I woke up at a decent time this morning, ate breakfast at home, and then hit the road.  I drove down to Berkeley to watch both SWG and SMG compete at Cal.  It was really fun to have both teams on the floor at the same time but there was a lot going on and it was kind of hard to keep up.  SWG looked fantastic on beam and bars and they ended up with the win.  SMG hit a rough patch and are down a couple of guys but I'm still proud of their efforts.  After the meet I went to get crêpes with some of the guys and then Alex was nice enough to drive the rest of the way back with me.  It made the time go by quickly and after I dropped him off I went back to shower and get settled in for the week.  While I was home I measured my bedroom furniture and I'm hoping to find out that it will fit in my new room if I manipulate the layout.  It's going to take some creativity but I think we can make it work.  I at least want to get my dresser down here so I feel like I have some of my own space.

Viva Las Winter Cup

If I start rambling on and begin to veer off track, don't blame me.  I am working with just over an hour of sleep and I can't say that I have the sharpest mind at the moment.  I came back this morning after a whirlwind trip to Las Vegas, Nevada.  It was a somewhat last-minute decision to go,  but I'm very glad I took the opportunity to do it.

One of my good friends, Cale, asked me if I wanted to accompany him to Vegas to watch Winter Cup (an annual national competition for the elite men that determines the national team for the following six months or so).  I'd followed coverage of the meet online in years prior to this one, but I decided that it would be fun to go and see all the action in person.  Since Cale had practice yesterday morning I was able to go to work before we jumped in the car and jetted off to the airport.  Our flight to Vegas was easy and went by quickly because we talked for the entire 90 minutes.  Once we arrived we took a cab to our hotel and dropped some stuff off.  At that point it was already time to head over to the competition venue and we did the best we could to calm our nerves on the way over.  I should mention that Alex was competing, along with a number of his fellow Stanford Men's Gymnastics alum.  Cale is used to competing here as well but is currently coming back from an injury and didn't want to rush trying to get back into things.

Many seats were already taken when we arrived but Alex thought ahead and got us tickets earlier in the week.  We picked them up at will call and then had to find enough room for the both of us somewhere in the mass of open seating.  We ended up next to other Stanford supporters but didn't stay there the entire time; we only made it through three events before we decided that we needed to move.  I have to take a second to say that Cale is an amazing meet-buddy...we were totally in sync the entire time and we were able to help each other through the roller coaster of emotions we experienced throughout the evening.  The competition ended late but Alex was able to come up to see us almost right as everything was finishing up.  We were happy to see him and gave him a big hug before we gathered together to head to dinner with one of his close family friends.  It ended up that the entire Stanford contingency was there but the five of us took our own table and were able to enjoy some entertaining conversation.  We were all starving because no one had eaten since the early afternoon so we gobbled down our food and a couple of drinks right as they came out of the kitchen.  Afterwards Cale and I went back to the hotel with Alex and Ryan so that we could change and get ready to take advantage of a little of what Vegas has to offer.  Over the course of the week, Alex discovered a new love:  craps.  He was very patient and taught those of us who didn't know how to play the game.  We eventually joined in and we stayed at the craps tables for hours, fluctuating between being broke and having some winnings.  It was a lot of fun but before we knew it it was late and we all really needed to get some sleep.  By the time we got back to where we were staying, Cale and I really only slept for an hour or so.  Then it was off to the airport and back to the bay...home sweet home.

I must say that I'm ready to go back and spend some more time at the craps tables.  As disappointing as it might be to my mom, I really like it better than slots.  There is always something going on and I feel more involved than I do when I'm just staring at a monitor with lots of crazy lights.  I don't think it would take a lot of convincing to get Alex to go back with me, so I might try to work on that.

As far as work goes, I'm picking up more privates and now I'm up to four per week.  That's an extra $200/week which is really great.  I got my first paycheck which was exciting and set a little aside for a new camera.  I've been using my iPhone and it's been pretty good, but I miss the quality of my DSL.  I'm hoping to have enough money after the next couple of weeks and then I can start looking around for a good deal.  I never heard back from the French lost and found so I'm going to assume that no one turned in my missing bag.  I guess that means it's time to move on and find something new :)