Well, I got back Tuesday morning around 11:00am. I was running on no sleep (I went two days without sleep!) so I was understandably tired. I went to bed at 6:00pm and didn't wake up until 7:00 the next morning. Then Wednesday night I was exhausted from the return to work and still recuperating from the whole trip so I didn't feel like posting. You all are lucky I'm doing this right now, as I could sleep in an instant.

The flight left the Tuesday before last at like six in the morning. We were all supposed to meet up at the curb at 4:45am. Well, we woke up at 4:15am. My mom's alarm clock didn't work and I didn't set mine. So we got sorta of lucky by waking up randomly. We rushed to get to the airport, but my mom drove like a maniac and we were only five minutes late. No biggie. I wasn't even the worst. At the time I arrived, one kid was just waking up. He essentially ran onto the plane right as they were closing the door.

I didn't really know anyone there, a few sorta, but nobody real well. I got paired with cool roommates though and got along real good with them. I'm glad I wasn't in the other boy's room... not that I don't like them personally, I just don't get along with those types of personalties well. Funny how they seem to pair people alike even though they don't try.

That Tuesday we arrived in Orlando at like five something, so we all settled in and went out to eat at Bahama Breeze. It was decent, we went there on my trip to Las Vegas as well, but not worth the twenty bucks. Very spendy. Also, the server spilled my "Lemon Breeze" and then proceeded to spill two people's cokes all over them while trying to clean up my spill which I was able to avoid. Quite the fun time.

Wednesday we just spent all day going around to the various theme parks. We hit MGM first, not really doing anything, then Animal Kindgom, hitting their rapids ride. It was fun and I got a little wet but not too bad. We then went on a really lame ass roller coaster. One of those mouse track ones, but with a spinny cart. It was pretty jerky but still sorta fun. We then went to Epcot, not finding much there (at this point we weren't willing to wait for more than about two minutes). We then went to the Magic Kingdom and rode the Indy Speedway. It's a bunch of cars with a top speed of about 10mph on a track. Weeeeee... anyways that was lame so we went to Space Mountain. The line was out of the building so we got FastPasses, thinking we would return but never did.

We got back to the hotel room and ordered pizza from Sal's. We had been in the hotel room when all of a sudden a piece of paper flies from under the door. Sal's seemed to know we were hungry. Anyways, we got two large pizzas and some hot wings. It was good. We'd tap the Sal's faucet two more times before the trip was up.

The next day was spent entirely in the Magic Kingdom. We left at about eleven in the morning, myself sleeping in, the other's going to some Chinese food buffet across the street. At the Magic Kindgom we got some FastPasses, waited in some lines, and accepted that DisneyWorld isn't a thrill ride type of place. We did have to wait about two hours for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, as thunderstorms shut it down. I convinced everybody to wait it out though, and I guess it was worth it.

We also rode on Space Mountain three times. Our last time took too long and we missed the Western Regional Meeting. Oh no! We were happy to get out of that one.

Friday we all spent the day in the hotel, watching HBO and consuming cans of pop. We basically did nothing. Seriously. Dale did build a tower of pop cans that was quite impressive. You can see that in the pictures.

Saturday was competition day. We all left our hotel at eleven (we were in the "overflow hotel") to get to the official hotel to take our test. I took Accounting II, and I thought it was pretty easy. Not that I was going to place or anything, but I felt pretty good with the way I did. The rest of the day we didn't do much, checked out a few campaign booths of people running for office, etc.

Sunday we layed around again. I slept in quite a while. Nothing exciting happened. I was going to go swimming but it started to thunder and they had to close the pool down. I think we ordered Sal's again, quite delicious once more.

Monday we were originally going to go to Universal Studios. I had to talk them out of this, it would be about eighty bucks per person (transportation included) for just a few rides we really cared about. We had a freakin Disney Park pass that could get us into all four of their parks for free. So after some convincin' it was decided we stay at DisneyWorld. We went to Epcot for the whole day and discovered it had a lot to offer. TestTrack, Mission: Space, and one other thing I forgot. It was fun anywho.

We had to leave at 4:00 because we had the award's ceremony at seven. We got all dressed up and went as a group. Two people in my room got awards. Dan got 10th place in Accounting I, while Dale ("Date" according to the announcer/graphics) got a remarkable 2nd in Technology Concepts. With all his ramblings about computers/technology throughout the week it wasn't a surprise. Jessica Ice from Oregon won the position as National Treasuer, so Oregon has another officer again (Hilary Neidermeyer, the National President for this year was from Oregon).

The ceremony lasted three hours and was pretty boring. We cheered for Oregon people but that was about all you could do. Bradford Williams, a black kid from Chicago, was running for President. He should have won, his qualifications were out of this world and the competition wasn't very good. I met him at his booth and he seemed down to earth. He's been active in getting the public schools funded in Chicago, got a $11,000 grant for FBLA in Chicago, was on Obama's election team, etc. Somehow another guy won and it was a disgrace. I think the bloody South had a hand in that one.

Anyways after the Awards Ceremony we went back to the hotel. Our plane left at 5:00am so we had to leave the hotel at 3:00am. It was already 11:00pm, so there was no point in sleeping. We stayed up until the bus came and I didn't get to sleep on the plane (thus the two days without sleep).

All in all, the trip was really fun and much better than I expected. DisneyWorld was a blast and the experience was really cool.

Florida was too humid though. It's really disgusting. You're covered with moisture when you first step outside and it's like breathing in a suana. I don't know why anybody would want to live there.

HERE ARE THE PICTURES

Well, I'm having a good time here at FBLA Nationals in Orlando. The first two days we just explored the theme parks, the third we kinda sat around and just went to the opening ceremony. Today I took my test, Accounting II, and I think I did okay. Not top 10 material, but good for me. Tomorrow is another free day, so I dunno what I'll do. Monday is the closing ceremony, and then Tuesday at the crack of dawn we leave.

Well, I'm off to FBLA Nationals in Orlando for a week. I'll be back next Tuesday with a full report.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/pcworld/20050618/tc_pcworld/121416

Is it me or should cities be able to provide internet service? Sounds good to me. It's absolutly ridiculous that you have to pay mega-giant Comcast Corportation $49.95/mo to get cable internet (plus the "modem rent" charge). Although DSL has gotten cheaper, down to about $29.95/mo, it should still probably be lower. Broadband in Canada is the price of normal dial-up here in the United States (about twenty a month). I don't know what they are doing different, but I have to think lack of huge mega-corporations controlling everything has something to do with it. Let the city compete. Maybe they're ten bucks a month cheaper, but they don't have as good as customer service (Comcast has quite possibly the worst customer service I've ever seen despite those commercials). Let the consumer decide. The city would SUCK at a lot of services, but this... this I think is something they could do pretty well.

BEAVERS WIN SUPER REGIONAL!
Advance to College World Series for the first time since 1952.

The Beavers beat USC 10-8 this afternoon to win the third and final game of the super regional in Corvallis. They won 10-4 on Saturday, but blew a 8-3 lead yesterday in a 9-8 loss. That set up today's third game, with the winner advancing to Omaha. Oregon State lead this game 7-3 only to give up 4 runs in the sixth and be tied at 7. Kinda looked like a repeat of yesterday until they scored three more to make it 10-7 and were able to hold on. They'll play tournament #1 seed Tulane Saturday.

In other news, I started working longer today. I only stayed three hours today, mostly because I wanted to watch the baseball game, and the fact it was already nearly 3 since I got in late (sleep is good). Tomorrow I hope to get in there at 8 and stay until 1. That worked good last summer (see blog archives for desperate posts of boredom from work).

Well, I just got back and I'm soaked. It was a true Oregonian's graduation, thunder rumbling in the background, huge rain drops slamming down on everyone except those few hundred lucky to be under the stadium roof. But, let's start with Thursday.

It was my last day of school. It really felt like any other, I went to accounting, worked on the simulation and turned it in. In English we watched a groups final presentation on their book. In Physics we had a slidehow and awards to recap our two years in there. When I left the school to begin that final trek down the hill, I was happy, but I wasn't freaking out. It was more of a "yaymeh."

Friday we had the Senior Breakfast at 8:15am. There they present the senior awards (most likely to... that bullshit) and you get a free breakfast. Then they trap us and make us go through a rehersal of the graduation. We went ALL the way through, all the names, and it took probably 90 minutes. After that we were free for the day. I went to work and then a big graduation party that was for like five people.

I woke up this morning, ate some food, then headed off to my graduation. I had to be there at noon, but it didn't start until one. We, as a class, decided we were going to do it outside no matter what. Well, about 10 minutes before it starts we are told it is raining hard and that our chairs are soaked. Great. We get outside and it's only a light drizzle but our chairs are pretty wet. We shake them off and then sit down.

This year 412 people graduated, by far a record. Looking at how many damn freshmen there are, I'm sure that will probably be broken, if not next year, the year or so after. The principal spoke, the NINE valevictorians spoke, the chior sang, a person played the piano, yada yada yada. Some people smuggled beach balls in their robes and were trying to blow them up without calling attention to themselves. So we were hitting the balls around before security came and took them away.

Then they started reading names. On and on they went. Finally they got to the G's and my row stood up and approached the podium. Luckily it was under a tent, and the very moment I crossed into the dryness it started to pour like I've never seen it. We had a five minute delay were people were ducking for cover and the sound of the rain was defeaning. All the graduates, except me and about ten other people, soaked that all up. I was already soaked from head to toe though, so I don't think it would matter. Finally they read my name, I got my diploma, I didn't trip going down the stairs and went back to my seat.

Anywho, after a while everyone received their diploma and we stood up and went through the "gauntlet of teachers." After that we roamed around the field until we found our families, mingled a little, then left.

Some pictures for your enjoyment:



I'm somewhere in there.


No more high school. Wohoo!

Well, in 70 minutes my graduation ceremony will commence. I'll have a report Sunday Night, because I have the all-night Grad Party then my own party on Sunday.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050609/ap_on_re_us/army_recruiting_woes

I wonder why? :

In other news, tonight was the Senior Awards and Desert presentation. Basically they tempt you with a piece of cake and then lock you in the gym for two hours. I got the National Merit Scholar Candiate Award, Honors School Award, and the Presidential Education Award. I loved the applause after reading the letter from the President. Many people abstaining and a bunch of half-assed claps.

Anywho, that was fun and all. Tomorrow is my last day of school. The high school era will end... yay. Can't wait to get into summer and eventually, OSU.

BEAVERS ROUT ST. JOHN'S 19-3; ADVANCE TO SUPER REGIONAL.

The Beavers put on a hitting exhibition Sunday against the hapless St. John's Red Storm in a 19-3 pounding. It was 19-0 before Beavers manager Pat Casey decided to put in the reserves. With the win, the Beavers advance to the super regional against either Pepperdine or USC. They should host, since they are a higher seed than either one of those schools.

In other news, I went to Max's graduation party thing today. It was fun, they had some good food, and I brought old movies. So we yucked it up, watching such masterpieces as Home Alone 4, Trust Your Eyes, and Survivor 2: The Umpqua Wild (mind you this is before the second Survivor even came out).

This is my last week of high school. Thursday will be my last day, then on Friday we have the senior breakfast and graduation practice. I can't wait for it all to be over and start my four month summer. I'm going to be working 5 hours a day starting next week, so I will be rolling in the bling once more. With all the money I'm spending on going to FBLA Nationals in Orlando and this new computer and stuff, it will be good to bring that account balance back up.

Hmmmm, what else? I think that's it. Yeah, I should go to bed anyways. It's after 1:00am and I have school tommorrow. Not that it really matters, I could probably not show up all of next week and still graduate, but meh.

BEAVERS WIN AGAIN!

The Oregon State Beavers defeated St. John's University 11-1 Saturday night. They now move into the championship game, where if they win, they advance to the Super Regionals. If they lose, there will be one more game played to decide it, since Oregon State would have only one loss.

In other news, I went to a friend's graduation party today. It was fun... there was lots of food and lots of people I knew. Tomorrow I'm going to Max's party, but its really early in the morning (aka 11:30am) so I should get to bed.

BEAVERS BEAT OHIO STATE IN REGIONAL FIRST ROUND!

Shane McFeely hits a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th inning as the #2 Oregon State Beavers beat the Ohio State Buckeyes 4-3. Beavers will now play St. John's University in the winners bracket of the double elimination tournament. Gametime is set for 6:00pm tomorrow (Saturday June 4th).

Well today at work my department (Inventory) won the "Clean Sweep" award, which is giving to the cleanest department. I think the company is just trying to cut back on expenses (winning department gets a free lunch) because we only have two people. When someone like coiling wins it, that's 40 people to feed. Our department is pretty messy and hasn't had a wet mop to it in years probably, so I dunno.

Wish I had more to post, but my life is boring right now. Should pick up next week when I finally graduate.