A quick update after a whirlwind weekend for me. Friday night I was at friend's Steve Weinrich and Rachel's house for a really fun party they threw. Everyone was supposed to dress in old formal wear from prom or bridesmaid fashion-style. Janelle went in a stunning green number complete with fake rhinestone at the waist on a large bow. I had a green jacket, plaid pants, suspenders and a very nice brown tie. Good times with good people as we were able to see Jesse Paulson, Mark Kadlec, Tim Hamman, Kiera Bholes, and many others. Saturday was spent getting final details ready for my turkey event for Sunday. I also managed to watch the disappointing Cougar game at a friends house (Thanks for hosting Jason Nap!!) with many sympathetic cougar faithful. Good times despite the loss to the hated Dawgs!! That's what you get for playing so sloppy I guess. Sunday was my 1st annual coed 6's Turkey-ball tournament at Sammamish High school in Bellevue. We packed 15 eager teams into the 3 courts and had a blast. I surprised my team with a set of personalized jerseys for everyone and had a really nice time with all the faces, new and old. A ton of people came out of the woodwork that I have not seen in ages or ever before, which was one of the main objectives for the event and something I am really proud of. For the most part it ran just right on time with some great competition by the end for all with really close games all the way around. All but one of the 15 teams won at least one game!! Pretty rare when that happens and it goes to show you how close things were across the board. I was a little bummed as my team did not fair quite as well. We did finish 4-4 on the day which was nice and were probably right in the middle play-wise. I continue to struggle running and playing in the same tournaments, I overwhelm myself which leads to a pretty short fuse on my end of things and some outbursts that I am always trying to limit. In any case, I managed to raise ~$1000 for the volleyball program at my Alma mater and get 5 packed boxes worth of non-perishable food items as donation for the local food bank charity Northwest Harvest for the holiday season. Not to shabby for a days worth of work I guess. I can use ALL the karma I can get these days it seems like. All for now, I will try and post some pictures from the events when I have the chance.

Well we are now in the throes of my favorite season!!! Why you ask? Hard to say if it is the gorgeous turning of colors, the fact that my B-day (#33) is this month (29th), the turkey and goodies on the horizen, or just the middle of the football season. In any case I love it all. My walks to work in the morning are some of the best with that crisp feel in the air. The Madman/Moxie Turkey-tournament is just around the corner. We have had a HUGE response, forcing us to expand the field with still almost a month left. Now with it being only a week away plans are in full gear. I am also wrapping up all of my league play for this round in the Seattle area. I had a dissappointing finish in the reverse 4's league as we finished the season #1 and then managed to drop our first playoff match in a 1-2 heartbreaker. Oh well. I can take solice in the fact that with 2 weeks remaining my men's league has us in the lead and looking like we will repeat as champions. In addition my coed 6's squad came out on top last night for a big league championship. We went all out for this one with headbands and gear abounding. I of course would not allow myself to be topped and appeared with special facial tatoos for one night only!! Amy McKenna was unable to play due to some eye work that day but showed up and supported the team and managed to get in the picture as "Pirate Amy". Check it out, yeeaaaarrrggg!!! I also had a chance to see the Seahawks take on the dreaded Raiders on Monday Night Football at Qwest Field. Here is a picture from the kickoff after the final score in the 4th quarter by the Seachickens. I had a blast and have my bro to thank for all of the tix. On that note we plan to head to the all-important divisional game versus the Rams on Sunday, go Hawks!!! I also recently attended the B-day/housewarming party for good friend Stacey Dozono, she is on the coed 6's team with me. Her apartment looked great and many familiar faces were there, I even got to hold Chantelle and Mark's new baby Landon!! Good times abound and I am sure they will continue as we hit stride in what is my favorite time of the year!!

Well the holiday season is officially arrived as it is now Halloween. I must admit this is one of my favorite times of the year with the Fall season, football on TV, grown women wearing sexy schoolgirl outfits...what can be better for a 30 something male? Janelle and I carved some sweet pumpkins on the weekend with a cat from Janelle and a glasses-wearing dude from me. Not sure how the lit-picture will come across but I thought we did a good job nonetheless. I played in a reverse coed 4's volleyball event as well this last weekend and had a blast with Stacey Terry, Christina Hengtgen, and my baby bro. We placed 4th and played tough to the very end. We were dressed as the "Service Industry" with the TGI Friday's waitress (Christina), the Pizza Delivery Guy (Myself), the Starbucks Barista (Stacey) and the all-important Hooter's Girl (John). Great time was had by all. Perhaps the best moment was realizing that one of the teams was dressed up as myself!! That is right, they were the official "Matt Weaver Tribute Team". Great shirts, shorts, socks, sweatbands, headbands, and tattoos adorned them all. Great laughs for all and I felt really honored to have made such a mark on the Northwest Volleyball Community with my goofiness and antics on and off the court. Who knows what really the future might bring but I do know that we will be having good times with those we love and care about with planned trips to Seattle, Denver, and beyond. Hope you and yours enjoy a great holiday season!!

Has it really been over a month since my last post?!? Man I am bad at this message thing. Oh well. Life has been the usual hectic fun here in the lovely Northwest. Volleyball continues to be the usual big part of my life. Currently between my 4's league (2nd place at 14-4), Coed 6's league (1st place at 18-3), and 6's men's league (1st place at 21-3) and 6 reverse 4's tournaments in the last 8 weeks or so (2nd, 3rdx2, 5thx3). I have pictured here one of the fun tournaments I played in, I am the goofy one with all of the temporary tattoos, wristbands, and the team all got funky socks from me as a little present for the event, they were all well received. I have been on the court a lot as you can tell and with pretty good success I would say all things considered. Janelle has had some good news as well as she is moving to a new job that is closer, pays more, and has better benefits. She gets a nice week break before the start of the new event in her life. We are busy getting ready to attend some sort of Halloween party and coming up with some fun costume ideas. I have a costume tournament scheduled for the 28th with my brother that should also be a a fun one. I plan to do pumpkins and fun as usual, pics to come of all the costumes and fun!! I am also in the process of planning a "turkey-tournament" for the holiday season and currently have 7 slots filled of the 12 we were hoping for with almost a month left to plan....that is a huge success so far based on the northwest scene and how late teams seem to like to sign up, should be a fun one and we plan to raise some money for a local highschool program and food for a local foodbank. Work has been hectic as I aim to finish up the loose ends here at the lab before my next career move, your guess is as good as mine!! ;-) In the meantime I am working on no less then 3 separate manuscripts as we speak to round out my time as a postdoc at BRI. I have had what I felt was a great run here and look forward to some new challenges. Hope all is well with you out there.