Pretender

It was really neat to see Lake Shasta for the first time yesterday. It was not so neat to see just how low it is.



And of course, Mt. Shasta.



Last night I went to the movies with Rachel. I'm not staying with them this time around in Eugene. Instead, I'm staying at the Red Lion Hotel - the one that was right on the way to the grocery store from my apartment. Anyway, I thought the truck in the foggy lit parking lot was worth a picture. When I parked, it was surrounded by cars. When I came back, it was looking a little lonely. And cold.



Then we dropped off the truck and went to Dough Co, a Eugene late night staple. Their calzones and cookies can always be relied upon for some delicious nourishment.



Today, instead of seeing anyone or doing anything, I've stayed in. I left the hotel briefly for some Hawaiian Time for lunch (scrumptious!), and then again at dinner for a brief stroll to Borders and Cafe Yummm (toothsome!), but other than that it's been a day at the hotel. Sounds lazy huh? WRONG! I applied for 4 more jobs, updated my iPhone software, found several more jobs to apply for, followed up on two jobs I've already applied for, listened to some new music, worked out, and blogged!

My computer screen has looked like this much of the day.



I definitely agree with my mom that far too many of these applications require you to send a resume and cover letter and then also an application that basically includes a good chunk of the stuff found in the resume and cover letter. Just look at the resume! I've put far more time into that than into your application. Mine is really attractive looking anyway. Much more so than your clunky online application that tries and miserably fails to extract information from my resume.

Don't knock the blog!

That's right Mr. Joseph "The Cat" Mucha. Sure, blogs may be SO 2004, but really I'm writing a book - a travel journal - more than anything. I'm doing it for me. And only me. Any pleasure you get out of reading it... well good on you. Sure, I have a certain appreciation and understanding of Web 2.0 (and could even see myself working in tech), but I have no use for videos and embedded objects when eventually I'm going to store it to look back on.

As for blog humor, I crack myself up. If I'm not smiling or at least feeling introspective when I blog, I'm doing it wrong. The humor is in the subtle references, the ironic moments, the inside jokes, and hopefully in my prose if I'm writing well. Read deep. You'll find it.

I love you Broseph. Here's your shout-out. Go suck a widget. And find me a job while you're at it!

Work Day

Today has been all about jobs, and the pursuit thereof. I spent a good chunk of time revamping my resume and now have what I feel is nearly a fresh, polished working version. Or five. I have so many slight variations on my resume it almost becomes confusing to remember which is the most recent. It ends up changing slightly for nearly every job I apply for anyway, so close to finished is about as good as it ever gets.

I then proceeded to search for jobs to apply for. One thing is for sure - there are less jobs than there were in June. There are less than there were a month ago. Another trend I'm noticing is hiring freezes... career site listings for large companies with zero open positions. I'm coming into this search expecting it to be anything but easy, but I have decided on a strategy. I'm not going to settle. Not yet at least. Instead, I'm focusing on a slightly longer-term goal of a top school MBA and will look for positions that can get me closer to that goal. This job has allowed me to save enough to stay afloat for a while, so at least for now, I'm aiming high.

I also spent a while on the Businessweek website, which prompted me to put into words a thought I've had for a while but haven't really thought out regarding Obama. Part of what impressed me so greatly about him and his campaign was the marketing that went into it. Obama has become a brand, and a great one at that. To supporters and even some people that opposed him, he has a very symbolic element that embodies hope and change - an element reinforced vigourously by his campaign's ads and his speeches. Of course, Obama also ran the best internet campaign of a presidential candidate in history (though I suppose there haven't been that many since the internet's coming of age). His campaign seamlessly merged social marketing and voter-pull strategies to fully engage younger voters, and younger voters responded by, believe it or not, voting! As a whole, Obama's brand stayed extremely clear for the entire duration of the campaign. He never went off-brand, and a big part of what helped that was his refusal to go negative.

Here's a link to the Businessweek article.

Now for some time away from the computer screen.

Are you speaking whale?

Last night I went out for a slightly more tame evening than the previous two, and I made the rounds between campus and downtown. The Eugene bar scene is still pretty much the Eugene bar scene (not to say that's a bad thing).



Today I went to lunch with relatives, and then did my duty as a cycling team alum and helped with their Mac Court cleanup fundraiser after the basketball game. It's not the most interesting nor fun task, but given my past experience as team president and the difficulty of getting people to show up to help out, I figured I'd sign up to help Ivar out.



Then I went for dinner at Chris and Karey's house. Lots of good conversation, including Chris describing an "Olympic sandwich" he had in a bike race this summer where he found himself between Levi Leipheimer and Santiago Botero, both of whom placed well at this year's Olympics.

After dinner Chris and I went on a run. It was my final semi-long run before I'll hopefully be doing the race next weekend. Most of the run was at a fairly easy pace, but I did push it for a mile or so and like to think I made Chris hurt a bit, in spite of how ridiculously athletic he is on a bike.

After the run, Leeann came over and I was treated to a bassoon/flute duet.



That's about it in this neck of the woods. Another day in Eugene, and it's back to life on tour.

It (almost) never rains at Autzen Stadium!

Yesterday I managed to get myself a ticket for the Oregon Stanford football game. Thanks Dick!



I took time to stop by Life Cycle, Club Sports, the B School, and other campus hangouts.



While retracing my steps through my undergrad degree, the feeling I thought might hit me while in Eugene definitely did. I went and watched On The Rocks (a capella group) with relatives and felt like everyone around me was much, much younger and in a completely different situation than myself. School already feels like a long time ago. Looking backwards made me ponder forwards and what exactly my path might be. I've been feeling recently that while the whole find a career, get married, have kids, retire, die thing is all good, I don't always feel necessarily has to be for me (especially the dying part). I've been feeling rather entrepreneurial as of late, and I think I just need to refine my passions. I definitely want to get an MBA, but I also feel like traveling, exploring, and potentially doing some sort of something humanitarian (Peace Corps-esque?)

Anyway, back to yesterday. I had some great stew and dessert with relatives, and tried some Apple-flavored alcohol Rachel brought back from Germany.



Next up it was off to bowling with a trio of cycling team couples (I played seventh wheel). We had a great time, even as they proceeded to be gossip-mongers (the guys especially). Apparently people can read into my blog easier than I think.



We had a close battle the second game, with everyone doing equally badly. The quote of the night had to be an exchange with Mike - one that would only happen with a group of cyclists. Somehow the fact that I haven't been shaving my legs came up, and Mike said (with much emphasis), "You have hairy legs? Ooh, let me see!" (I show a calf) "Wow, Nice!"



After bowling I met up with Rhett and we went to Rennies, where the cheesy bacon fries complement alcohol very nicely.



And if that wasn't enough, we made the 3AM Burrito Boy run as well.



This morning I lounged around before going to the football game. I was debating whether to sit at the 50 yard line since that's where the ticket was or sneak my way into the student section because it's more raucaus and I had friends there. I decided on the student section option. Standing up sounded better anyway - less surface area to get rained on. The new online student ticket system makes it even easier than before for non-students to get into the student section. Students get an arm stamp, so after I went through the gate, I found some random person with a fresh stamp and had them transfer it across onto my arm. It comes out backwards and a little smeared, but given the fact that it was rainy I just had to pick a moment where the stamp-checker was busy and he barely looked at it.



I met up with Karl and saw a few other friends. Karl immediately pointed out the new big-screen in the stadium. I was really impressed with the way they've managed to make it much more versitile than the old one. And I'm a nerd.



The game itself was good, mostly because it was close. The play was sloppy on both sides, and there were too many turnovers to count, but the scores remained close the entire game. It rained hard for much of the beginning of the game and most of the second half, and part of me wished it was a blowout so I could go get warm, but the game was only decided with 6 seconds left when Oregon went ahead 35-28 with a touchdown. Definitely an exciting ending. The game was only the fourth time in the last 16 years that it has rained during a game at Autzen.



After the game I went and jumped in the hot tub to get warm. Then I went with the cousins for some shopping, which randomly turned into cologne smelling because I made a comment about wanting to get some at some point. Right now is not the most opportune time, however, because I don't want to carry a glass bottle around with me on tour.



We had Cafe Yummm for dinner, and now I'm about to go out again for the night.

P.S. Stephen says that I'm selfish with my responses and that I should tell everyone that. I'm not even sure what he means, so I'll let him elaborate.

R-R-R-Random

Yesterday, Lyndsay and I spent a good chunk of the day shopping in San Antonio.

It's amazing to see how the iMac has evolved from a clunky large plastic box.

And ladies, Sawyer has his own fragrance line! Now you too can smell like... dirt, and not showering, and...

And of course, Under Armor does a fabulous job of stating the obvious. Coldgear: for when it's cold.

This morning we dropped off the truck for service before heading to the airport. I couldn't help but notice that this is almost exactly what our truck would look like were it not for the large box on the back.

Also of note, how ironic is it that California Pizza Kitchen's express airport kiosks don't serve pizza?

Today I read Three Cups of Tea cover to cover during my various flights. I had no idea what I was in for and was amazed at Greg Mortensen's life story and his impact on children and villages across the globe. Thanks for the lend, Molly. It made me feel like I could certainly be doing a lot more than selling plastic shoes to runners.

Upon arriving for a longer-than-need-be layover in Portland, I definitely felt a little more at home.

And somehow or another, due to the massive number of people I want to see this weekend, I found myself drinking with Rhett two hours after I stepped off the plane in Eugene.

Also visited the old stomping grounds a bit, and I expect I'll be back again throughout the course of the weekend. Burrito Boy at 3AM is an absolute must.

Seen so far in my first 4 hours in Eugene:

Rachel
Kat
Leonor
Ivar
Rhett
Matt
Aaron
Benton

Still to see:

too many to list

I think my anxiety for coming back to Eugene fearing I'd find myself out of place is gone. I have a lot more left here than I thought, even if school here is starting to feel like a distant memory.

Toast

Today got off to a slow start, and I took the time to get my bike fully tuned up.



After Chris got back into town, Mike and I joined him for the Coburg Hills loop. The entire ride length ended up being over 85 miles, and Chris and Mike are both in good race shape, so I was hard-pressed to keep up. We did some tempo work pushing speeds between 25 and 30, and I managed to somehow hold the wheel in front of me. Felt really good considering the complete lack of race intensity I've had in the last several months. After the ride, my legs were toast.



After the ride we regrouped and met up at Mike's place for some BBQ chicken and grilled veggies (and beans, and salad, and sweet peas, and chips with salsa, and roasted garlic, and...). Here is Chris trying to figure out how to work the pepper grinder.



And here's Karey playing grill-master.



After dinner I watched some Olympic gymnastics and swimming. The men's 400 freestyle relay was absolutely insane, and when the announcer is screaming it's hard not to get into it.

The last 24

I started off yesterday running some errards with my brother and putting the finishing touches on packing his car. "Packed" is a good way to put it. Somehow we managed to keep good views of all the mirrors.



My brother was actually rather excited about two days of doing nothing but driving his car. Note the smile and everything. From a text message this morning, it sounds like he'll be at my parents' place early this afternoon.



After he took off, I went over and checked in on all my stuff in storage. Kind of odd to have pretty much everything I own packed up and sitting in a corner.



While there, I picked up a tennis racket and built up one of my bikes to take with in the truck hopefully for the duration of the trip.



Later in the afternoon, I met up with Laura to do some clothes shopping. I found a couple polos at Old Navy and then ended up at Valley River Center looking at something like 5 different stores before finally finding a swimsuit. I kind of ended up with board shorts, but considering it's all I could find, I'll live. While in the mall, I stopped in Journeys and chatted with the employees there about their Crocs line for a while. We discussed the merits of the Soles United program (Crocs recycling) and found that they have the same difficulties making use of it that we do on the road. Everyone raves about the idea, but no one actually brings in shoes to be recycled.



I parked the truck for the night and hopped on my commuter bike. It felt good to cruise around Eugene again. For dinner, Mike and I hit up McMenamins on 19th and caught up on life in the past couple months. After that, we headed over to Rennies to play pool (we played 8-9 games and never even got challenged for the table. Slow night). We drank gin and tonics and watched Mr. Phelps win gold number 1. We also talked fencing for a while (the medal ceremony for the women's sabre was on - the gold medal winner was incredibly annoying during the round). Somehow in that conversation we decided there should be a broadsword competition at the Olympics.



I ended up crashing on Mike's couch, and he cooked pancakes this morning while we watched a cheesy infomercial for the LandRider autoshifting bike. Comes with a seat post shock absorber and everything. I'm sold.



Today Chris, Mike and I are going to ride for approximately 4 hours, and then grab dinner and maybe catch a movie or something.

Jack had some input on this one

My day:

Playing Phase 10 in Sunriver with the distantly related family...


Followed by digging through bags of shoes (don't worry Stephen, I kept the tags)



A really tasty half crab cake half turkey club sandwich (shared with Molly) in Bend



Arriving in Eugene to see the brother, and the new window tint on the brother's car ->



Went to Cornucopia with the brother.

Also checked out the brother's pimpin' bathrobe



And finally watched the Smoglymic opening ceremonies after throwing together some cords to make the TV work.

(They just said "Marco - Polo" during the broadcast!)

Oh, and I helped the brother pack the small car with an amazingly large amount of stuff for his journey. Dad would be proud of the packing job. We fit more in there than should be humanly possible. Pictures to follow in the morning when lighting is decent.