Who ever said, "Nothing in life is certain" must have been a professional volleyball player. This perspective could not be more true for me. Since November I thought i was going to play in places like Greece or Poland, at one point I was considering a job in Iran, I was even hours away from getting on a plane to Italy and soon after had a chance to go to the Canary Islands. Of all these places and all the places in the world I never thought i would end up on a small island in the Persian Gulf. Truth be [View Full Entry]

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With little time to digest the full experience of the rainforest it was on to our next adventure. In my life I have very few memories of horses. I remember going with Mom to pick up Birka from riding lessons but at that time I was more interested in making the fences my playground. I also remember being extremely uncomfortable behind my father as the whole family went for a trail ride on the beach. I would love to tell the story of big sis Birka and Salty the horse but that is another story for another time. If you have [View Full Entry]

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With only a week left here in Puerto Rico i have been trying to do as much as possible. Being limited by day trips because of practices and games both Gusatvo and i have been surprised at the number of things there are to do around the island. one of the more interesting things we found was the only rainforest in the US national park system. We were told that "El Yunque" rainforest is a must for anyone visiting the island, and since it was only an hour away we packed our bags and headed out. Having never been to a [View Full Entry]

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As if coming to Puerto Rico was not enough, a little over a week ago I decided to head to one of the biggest tournaments of the year, USA Volleyball Nationals. I had never been to this tournament before but I had heard many times about how great it is and how much fun it is to participate in. Most of my information came from one of my roommates in Switzerland, a one Ty Tramblie. Ty has been a part of the tournament for the past two years and is a member of "Team Paul Mitchell." According to Ty this team [View Full Entry]

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WARNING TO THE READER: The following blog contains some material unsuitable for all persons. It is strongly advised that children read this blog first and use discretion before allowing their mothers, or other persons prone to worry, to read this material. About two weeks ago Gustavo Meyer (the other foreigner and my roommate) and I received a car so that no one else on the team would have us as a responsibility. Up until my return from Louisiana (more on that later) I was the designated co-pilot and navigator, a position I was more than happy with. Now that Gustavo is [View Full Entry]

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Puerto Rico has been amaizing!! When i got here three weeks ago it was on a contract that guaranteed my stay for seven games. pretty much since day one i have been trying to figure out a way to prolong my stay. i finished up my contract last thursday and, since im writting this on Monday, you can all see that i have found a way to stay. I was unable to play in a game we had last Saturday because of league rules but this allowed me to take a few pictures of the game and even some video. i [View Full Entry]

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Ok so due to things beyond my control i have been unable to post anything for some time. maybe if i find the time i will go back through my pictures and post some from my last few months in Switzerland but until then i will have to start the next chapter in my travels. As most of you know, i am now in Puerto Rico. for those of you who dont know the full story of how i got here, here it is; I had been home for about one month and had yet to find a job. I was [View Full Entry]

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So unfourtunatly the day Birka and i returned to Lugano i had to leave for a friendly game. this gave Birka about a day and a half on her own to relax and recuperate. She tried to make my roomies and me brownies for when we got back but the directions we not in english and Betty Crocker was no where to be found. it was a nice thought and sometimes thats the most important thing. One of the coolest things to happen was a huge snow storm dumping about 6 or 7 inches of snow which made for perfect snow-ball-fight [View Full Entry]

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As if three days in Florence and two day trips to Venice and Siena were not enough Birka and i wanted to see the leaning tower of Pisa. I had been there once before and i knew it could be done with full satisfaction in a few hours time. The plan was to check out the tower and be on our way back home in time to catch the last train from Milan. Catching that final train had been on my mind from day one of the trip because if there is one place you do not want to get stuck, [View Full Entry]

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So Birka is on her way home and I pretty much slept all day today and I figure i better post the rest of the blogs from our trip before Joes friends arrive. When they get here we are going to head south and spend our final days of 2005 Roaming around Rome(no pun intended). As you have all seen so far Florence was our home base and we took a few day trips durring our stay. She went a little out of order because the day before we went to Venice we headed to the little town of Siena. This [View Full Entry]

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