VETERANS DAY 2008

College

Go Whitworth! This is Brittany, me and Sam at Manito park in Spokane after Church.

Well, my apologies for the fact that I have not posted since I left. College has been incredibly busy and maybe for the first time I really haven't had much time to post.

Anyway, things are going really well! Classes are good... a lot of work, but good. I finish the first half of the semester this week. On the one hand, it's crazy because weeks just blow by here; on the other hand, I feel like I've been here forever. I am visiting home in a little over a week. I am really excited about that; I will also be going to Westminster while I'm there.

I would write more, but I was thinking it would maybe be better if I just posted some pictures to give you an idea. If any of you have facebook, there are more up there.

The intramural frisbee team I'm on. We got mohawks, and we play skins every time, just for the intimidation factor...

Me, Laura, Hannah, and Steph in the backseat going to Bryce's kidnapping / birthday party.

Trevor, Sarah, Kristin, Kayla, me, and Andrew at an orchard in Green Bluff, just outside of Spokane.

Sara, me, Danny, Shane, Meghan and Sam taking a break from swing dancing.

I will post more when I have a chance. I hope everyone is doing well!

All the best,

--Kristoff

Here I go...

Well, my bags are packed and I've said most of my goodbyes. I had my last Taekwondo class today, it was awesome... sparring with Mr. Day and breaking boards at the end. I gave that board all I had, it broke into three pieces when I hit it. I guess that means I'm ready... :-P

Anyway, it's going to be really weird leaving. I'm sure I will miss my family, my church, and all my friends back here. I'm starting to miss everyone already. But I'm also really excited for this. I'm sure it's what I'm supposed to do next, and it's time to dive in.

My flight leaves tomorrow at 12:50 PM... starting something new.

All the best to everyone.

--Kristoff

"Everyday is a new day

I'm thankful for
Every breath I take
I won't take You for granted (I won't take You for granted)
So I learn from my mistakes
It's beyond my control
Sometimes it's best to let go
Whatever happens
In this lifetime
So I trust in love (so I trust in love)
You have given me
Peace of mind"

--Alive by P.O.D.

Cliff jumping...

Hmm, well, I've described myself as a closet adrenaline junkie before... and I've found something new to give me a rush.



This is a jump off of the cliffs at Koberg beach on the Columbia just east of Hood River. I only picked up on jumping within the last month; the highest jump I've done was at Dougan Falls in Skamania County, which was a 40 foot jump into the Washougal river. It is really fun and if the jump is high you definitely get some adrenaline from the free fall!


--Kristoff

Whew, this summer is going by quickly. I am working two jobs right now, although it still comes out to less than 40 hours a week, so I have nothing to complain about... I coach gymnastics four days a week and then work construction on Wednesdays, as well as Friday afternoons. All in all, I'm having a pretty good time of it... and the money will not hurt, although I will certainly see it disappear soon... college is coming up quickly! I have about a month left. I found out my dorm and roommate assignments... things are all starting to come together. I ended up in the freshman dorm, which was not my first choice, but that's fine, it's going to be good. It is starting to feel a little surreal to think that I'm going to be gone so soon. Don't get me wrong, I am really excited and not the least bit hesitant about it. But it is still a little strange.

Being busier than I thought I would be this summer, I have only done one ride-along so far. I'm hoping to do at least one more before I leave. This last one was a largely uneventful night shift. A stolen car turned up during the shift, but it was unoccupied. Other than that, it was mostly traffic stops and checking out suspicious vehicles. There was one unfortunate incident where dispatch checked a name and it came back with warrants; it turned out the dispatcher had incorrectly entered the name, which was confirmed after we'd made contact with the woman. Anyway, she screamed a bunch of obscenities and claimed that they were harassing her (she had a pretty lengthy prior arrest record) and filed complaints against both of the deputies there. Once we were back in the cruiser, the deputy I was riding with summed the situation up as: "well, that was kind of a clusterf*ck". Other than that, we pulled a dead deer off of a road, but not much else happened. I enjoyed the time on patrol anyway, and it's good to experience the more mundane side of law enforcement, I'm sure there will be plenty of it. I had one red bull and it did a good job of keeping me awake for the night. I actually enjoyed riding night shift. Coming home at 4:45 in the morning makes falling asleep really easy, and I woke up at about 11:30 feeling pretty refreshed and ready for what was left of the day.

In other news, I'm enjoying Relient K's new CD so far, I just bought it today. It's a steal on iTunes, 26 songs for ten bucks. The music is great, which is, of course, characteristic of Relient K.

Well, I should get going... me and my brother started a swing club for this summer, and I need to get ready to teach there.

All the best,

--Kristoff

P.S. "Support the police, beat yourself up."

P.P.S. I thought it was funny...

This does not paint a pretty picture of our society...

Hit and Run Video

The man hit by the cars is 78. None of the bystanders called 911. The police car that arrived was on routine patrol when he noticed the man down in the street.

--Kristoff

Indiana Jones

Well, I went to see Indiana Jones last night around midnight. It was pretty entertaining. If you're a fan of the other movies, I think you'll probably thoroughly enjoy it. It has its fair share of the cheesiness like the other movies, but it's a lot of fun and pretty hilarious at times. Harison Ford did a great job reprising the role, especially considering he's 65. Anyway, I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.


In other news, I've been writing up evaluations of all 50 of my gymnastics students. It's more work than I expected it would be... Honestly, I don't feel like moving some of them up into the next level. But it's also a business, and you want people to come back. I guess I'm also going to college, so it won't exactly be my problem.

I'm working on my class schedule for college this fall. I'm trying to balance a desire to get difficult core classes out of the way early and also take a course load that I'll be able to keep up with. The unfortunate thing about getting a good scholarship is that I have to keep up a 3.5 GPA. I'm pretty confident I can do it, but it probably won't be easy.

Oh yeah, and I've been reading some novels by Tim Powers lately. They are really good. I finished Anubis Gates and am now reading Declare. Anybody read any of his books?

Well, I need to go finish those evaluations before my class this afternoon.

All the best,

--Kristoff