Playing with Penguins!

PENGUINS!!!

Such a great day at the Florida Aquarium!

High Ropes

Today, we participated in the 2nd annual high ropes course retreat for Multicultural Affairs and Programming at USF- St. Petersburg. We headed to USF Riverfront Park in Tampa

The day consisted of 2 sets of activities:

One half of the day, everyone participated in ice breakers, team builders, and different activities and games. These were designed to get students to think critically and work together to achieve some sort of result.

The other half of the day, everyone had the opportunity to conquer the high ropes course. To start, everyone put on harnesses and grabbed all the equipment they would need. Then, we went through a practice session to learn how to use the equipment and how to stay safe while on the course. After that was completed, then it was go time!

Poles, ladders, nets, ropes, and a million challenges while suspended high in the air.

For me, a cool part was seeing my progression from last year to this year. This year, it took a lot less time, and I think that is because of the confidence gained by repeating it. High ropes courses are more mental challenges than anything- even though you know you're not going to fall 50 feet, you still have to convince yourself that. And when you're staring straight down at the ground, jumping and climbing across obstacles, sometimes rationalizing gets thrown out the window.

The most rewarding part of this is seeing everyone's sense of accomplishment when they finish. The end of the course is a zipline ride down to the ground, and seeing the excitement as people jump off the ledge and glide down the line is the best! The reaction is usually the same: when you pull up in front of it, it looks so intimidating. "There is NO WAY I am doing this!" Then, while you're on it, it's very challenging. But at the very top, when you can ring the bell, and you're standing on top of the world looking out for miles, you realize that 1. Florida is flaaattttt and 2. I can do anything!

Helping the students at USFSP get that feeling 2 years in a row has been incredible, and I hope they continue to have the retreat in the years to come, even after I leave...

Bolt Run

5K #3. Tampa Bay Bolt Run. 31:14.

Not too bad after one of the most terrible nights of sleep ever and starting to get sick.

I reached my goal of not having to stop, and I had a bonus great sprint to the finish line.

I think I'm at the point where I can start working on time & pacing.

Things that made the race amazing:

-The guy with bubbles. When I saw the cape, I knew he wasn't taking the race too seriously. But let me tell you, I've never seen a more passionate display of motivational bubbling.

-The sun rising over the bay as I was running along Bayshore. The water glistening, the sky waking up and growing brighter with every moment. I don't think I could imagine a more beautiful start to my day.

-Not being toward the back of the pack. Last race, I was about 2/3 of the way back. It was awesome rounding the halfway point and seeing LOTS of people behind me. AND the feeling of not having to stop as so many people started to tire out was awesome!

-The sprint through the tunnel to the finish line. Normally, at about 2.5-3 I am dead. I am sluggish. I have zero energy. But at about 2.5 I was able to pick up the pace a bit. Then I took the final turn into the tunnel and saw the finish line, and I took off into a dead sprint. Everyone else was practically crawling, but I blew by them.

-Feeling AMAZING after the race. No soreness, not too tired. I could have kept going. THAT is exciting :)

-Lastly, and by far, the COOLEST moment: There was a military group running in formation, carrying their flags and doing their chants. When we crossed paths the first time, it was no big deal. But after I finished, I went above the tunnel to watch people finish and the next race start. That's when I heard them. So softly at first. Then louder. Louder. LOUDER. As they came through the tunnel, they were deafening. Chanting, clapping, yelling, cheering. Such an inspirational end to the race.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Spread the love!

Disney Birthday

For the 2nd year in a row, I got to spend my birthday (or at least birthday eve) at the most magical place on earth.

In honor of the special occasion, I'll share a few of the better moments from the day at Disney:

This is when I realized that Mary Poppins is contributing to childhood obesity.

No kids, spoonfuls of sugar are not healthy.

Joke of the day came from Belle:

"And how's Lumiere doing?" "He's very hot headed right now."

Everything you do - celebrate you!

Move it! Shake it! Celebrate it!

A magical end to a magical day

HAPPY 26!

Run With The Nuns

The name itself was enough to get me to sign up!

This morning, I ran my 2nd 5K. It was at beautiful War Memorial Park in Bay Pines, which is about 20 minutes away from my apartment in St. Petersburg.

Such a beautiful setting for a run. Roughly 2 miles of it was paved, while a section went through a trail through the woods. As the name indicates, the park was made to honor war veterans, so flags, plaques, and other things were there dedicated to former soldiers.

The run itself was fairly solid. I felt great for a mile, but when I heard my time at mile 1, I knew I had come out too strong. By mile 2 I was just about done. I had to take 2 quick walk breaks at about 2.2-2.3 and 2.7-2.8. But by the end, I was able to push it and had a strong finish.

Time : 32:12

I think it's a good thing that I'm slightly disappointed with this. It will continue to motivate me to keep going. The time is somewhat decent, but the fact I had to stop running a couple times is a little frustrating. Now I'm thinking I shouldn't have taken that month off after the last race and over the holidays. Oh well - at least that won't happen this time around - my friend found a recreational running club in Tampa that I will be starting with, and my next race is Feb. 19th, so I can't really afford to take a long break after this one. Plus, with intramural basketball, volleyball, and badminton, I should be staying pretty active.

The coolest part about the race is the NUN! There is a woman dressed in a nun outfit that rides around on a bike cheering people on. And not just cheering. Singing! The first time we crossed paths, she was belting out "You Raise Me Up!" She made the experience amazing! It was fun talking to her for a few minutes after the race.

My last thought is about how close the running community is. I realized it as I was watching the little award ceremony at the end, but the majority of the people that ran stayed about an hour after the finish to cheer on those that did exceptionally well. There were so many conversations happening. I talked to a couple people and we exchanged brief recollections of our race. Everyone celebrated each other's PR's. It was so refreshing! Even as someone who is new to running in races, I instantly felt connected to all these other people. From the old man who said he trained half of the people that won their age groups even though he had no idea who they were. To the 10 year old kid that beat my time by 8 minutes. To the 70ish old lady that kept pace with me for most of the race. To the hot girl that I passed toward the end. To the badass tattooed guy that finished top 3 overall.

Such a close-knit and inspirational community that I am glad to now say I am a part of.

Such an inspiring group - this old man was top 3 for 70-74. The tattooed man first place overall. Woman in the pink with the visor's 2 kids won top 3 for their age group. Man in yellow's 2 kids were 2nd & 3rd in 10 & under. Surrounded by awesomeness.

Half A World Away

I got some exciting news over the past week!

In January 2009, I went to Uganda to help build a school through UWRF and it's involvement with Building Tomorrow. Through the experience, I met some amazing people!

We spent 2 weeks digging, moving bricks, hoeing, wheelbarrowing, doing some pretty intense and dirty work in the hot African sun. It seemed like this little building that was sprouting out of the ground was going nowhere...

Then, after completion in August 2010, the doors were set to open. And over the weekend, pictures were posted of the finished building.

Building Tomorrow Academy of Gita

supported by the University of Virginia

For the past several years, we did fundraisers at UWRF. We tried everything. Everything from reaching out to the high school to benefit concerts with Shawn Mullins to pancake breakfasts to biking the distance to Uganda to carnivals to selling Amy's amazing book purses. Everything.

Finally, we raised enough funds (along with the city of Indianapolis) to support a school. As of January 16, that school is now OPEN! Here are some pictures from the grand opening, which even featured the Vice President of Uganda.

Building Tomorrow Academy of Jomba

Supported by the University of Wisconsin - River Falls and the city of Indianapolis

"Thank you the City of Indianapolis and the University of Wisconsin-River Falls"

This feeling is unbelievable.

I find it so hard to imagine that after all these years, this process is complete.

The money. The events. The meetings. The ideas. The phone calls. All of our work from thousands of miles away.

The dirt we dug helped lay the floor that the kids will learn on.

The bricks we carried are now the walls of a school that they never had before.

My sweat. My soreness. My blisters. My blood (I'm accident prone). My heart and soul are in those buildings.

I am so proud of all the people that were involved, everyone that supported our efforts, and for all of us that were able to travel to Uganda (or attempted to) during UWRF's trips there.

Everything has made a world of difference, and for that I say

WEBALE!!

(thank you)

Our work is done.

But for these kids, the impact will last a lifetime.

To donate to Building Tomorrow,

please visit the website

Surreal

Today, I went to the grand opening of the new Salvador Dali museum.

Salvador Dali is my favorite artist. Most known for his surrealist style and being a complete weirdo, he has been one of the most influential artists of the past century.

So, when I moved to St. Petersburg and found out that they had a museum with the largest collection of his work outside of Spain, I instantly fell in love with it. Better yet, it was on the USF-St. Petersburg campus where I work.

For the past year and a half, I have been waiting for January 11, 2011 - when the museum would be moving down the road to a new location. I watched the building being constructed. I waited. And waited.

Today, it finally came.

The day's events started with a parade. It marched right by my building, so I was able to join in the march to the museum. Everyone in the parade had some of the craziest costumes you will ever see - all in Dali's surreal style.

We walked to the new location, where they did all of the ceremonial ribbon cutting and all the boring stuff. So I went back to work, but I got a wristband that would let me into the museum later in the day.

A few hours later, I returned.

I was lucky enough to be one of the people let into the collection on the day the museum opened.

By this point, I'm sure you're thinking... wow Jeff, you're such a nerd.

Don't judge me!

The inside of the building is amazing. Aside from all of the chaos of the other people inside, it was amazing! The staircase and the windows are the coolest parts. The gallery space is large enough to hold many of his paintings, as well as a lot of sketches that he has done. It also featured a local middle & high school surrealist project. And although I've seen it several times and heard the stories, I still got chills when the docent was explaining my favorite painting there, The Hallucinogenic Toreador (upper right painting- in real life, it's about 20 feet tall, and everything that Dali has hidden and the meaning behind what he included will make your jaw drop.)

Ok, so I scored major nerd points today, but it was so cool!

"There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad."

"Each morning when I awake, I experience again a supreme pleasure - that of being Salvador Dali."

"I don't do drugs. I am drugs."

-Salvador Dali

Less is More

As I begin my last semester of grad school, I realize that there's a few things that I hope for. Accomplishing certain things will simply come down to how I spend my time.

Here's what I want:

Less time sitting on my couch in my apartment.

More time for running, gym, volleyball, badminton, kayaking, etc.

Less time alone.

More time with friends.

Less time worrying about the future.

More time focusing on the present.

Less time on facebook.

More time reading and writing.

Less time settling for routine.

More time making each moment special.

Finding a balance to life...

Essentially, it's less time for ordinary. More time for extraordinary.

More moments like this.

(1/7 - first day back in FL)

A Moment

This is something I've heard a few times over the past few years:

"You should start a blog."

"Why? I don't have a baby..."

"(Insert some other smartass comment here)"

"I want to know what you're up to"

"You do some cool stuff. People would love to see it"

"I'm not that interesting"

"Nobody would read it."

Ever since I started this, I have been apprehensive. Who would read this? Does anything I do really matter?

Last night, I had one of those moments that helped provide some clarity.

Rewind to Dec. 10th when this message came to me online from one of my friends:

i dont have a lot of time to talk, or to explain it, but i want you to know that you´ve helped me a lot in the last week. (even though you probably didnt even notice) i love you and am glad that after over 10 years that we are still friends.

This message came from one of the best friends I have ever had. I've known her since middle school, and she's always been such a big part of my life. Unfortunately, I don't get to see her very much because she moved away. Then I moved away. So every year or two, we usually get to see each other.

Twice, while home on break, I saw her.

And I asked her about it.

She just spent the past few month in Peru having the most amazing experiences you can imagine. But as she was getting closer to coming back, things were a little off. A recent breakup, readjusting to what life would be back home, going back to school full time, minor apartment dilemma... things were a little out of whack. She told me that reading my blog was the perfect thing for her. There were so many doubts, so many questions, and as she read, it struck something in her. It reminded her that she is not stuck in any situation- there is so much out there. It reminded her to never settle and to always keep looking for amazing opportunities. She told me she was proud of me for all of the things that I have accomplished. She told me that it inspired her to stay motivated so she can accomplish the things she wants in her life.

(Side note- I am horrible at receiving compliments, recognition, praise, etc. so although this was one of the most beautiful moments I've ever shared with a friend, it was torture!)

I was in shock.

I told her (and I've told her before) that she is one of the most amazing people I have ever met, and that her ability to move away, start over, her sense of adventure, and her love for living life is one of the things that has always inspired me.

A truly touching moment between two people who make each other jealous because of all the amazing experience and opportunities we've had.

I had no idea that me writing down random things could have any impact, but I'm glad it did.

That conversation inspired and motivated me even more.

So this is my promise. For me, for her, for everyone that stumbles across my site. I will continue to look for experiences and opportunities that will help me grow. I will keep challenging myself to accomplish my dreams, reach my goals, and live MY life. I will not stop living life to the fullest. I will make the most of this thing called life.

More importantly, I hope you'll promise to do the same.

And to my friend that I shared this moment with:

You should start a blog, and I love you