Now it has REALLY been too long since the last post for me. I have had a great time over the last several weeks though. Here are some of the highlights....We started on Memorial Day weekend as Janelle and I joined the rest o the Parker clan (Bruce and Lisa) to hit up their friends cabin in the glorious Methow Valley in Mazama, WA. I would say this is some of the most gorgeous mountain scenery I have seen in quite a while. From the high mountain meadows, to the groves of aspen trees near the river, and the wonderful views from all angles. We really had a chance to detox, enjoy the outdoors, take one heck of a hike (raised our elevation ~1,700 feet over the duration), and enjoy what seemed like a flock of hummingbirds around their house. Huge thanks to the Parkers and friends for allowing me to partake in their family plans as usual, they have made me feel extremely welcome. This was followed by one day or rest back at the condo and then off to the airport as we head to Austin for the USAV volleyball Nationals!! A really fun trip with some great, warm weather in Texas and some much improved Nationals play from the boys of Madman Volleyball as we took 13th in the Men's "A" bracket for the nation. More then halfway to the top from where we finished last year and the play to prove it!! A great it to a really successful season where we saw a lot of player really develop their games as we went through the tournament schedule. Janelle and I were able to wander the town to see the sites including the impressive capitol building and some cool art in this eclectic city. This adventure included seeing a HUGE annual biker rally called ROT that happen in Austin each year. Thousands of bikes with all of the streets closed off to allow them to cruise, very fun. We also ate great, so much good food to be had!! This last week I have finished up several of my indoor v-ball leagues for the summer. My coed 6's teams won both the Monday league in Renton and the Thursday league in North Seattle. The North Seattle crew won without half of the team at nationals, great job Amy and Mike Repka in holding down the fort for team "Happy Fun Ball" in the Jet City League. My indoor men's 6's league is down to 2 weeks as we had a double-header last night. We went 8-0 to extend our lead in the league as we look for another championship. Indoor soccer continues to roll along and we are 4-0, I think my keeper skills might actually be improving as I go, we will see as the season continues. I have also started on the outdoor volleyball for the summer as I played with buddy Chantelle Kadlec in a rainy tournament last Saturday. We looked pretty rusty but still went 5-3 and finished 4th behind 3 very solid open teams, not too bad to start. We will see how many different players I am able to play with this summer, I usually have quite a mix which is fun. I have plans to play this next weekend with another buddy Jen McIntosh, should be a good time. Next on the schedule is also some serious house-hunting with Jesse and Janelle as we look for the price-range in the area and what we might be able to get into for what we can afford, I am really looking forward to it. More to come as the adventures this summer!!

Sports Update:

Indoor Soccer: 4-0 (First Place)
Men's Indoor 6's: 29-3 (First Place)
Monday Coed 6's: League Champs (See pic above)
Thurs. Coed 6's: League Champs

Summer Tournaments:
June 9th: Reverse Coed with Chantelle Kadlec 4th Place (5-3 overall)

WAY too long in between posts for me. Just have not been able to find the time for some reason. Oh well, that happens I guess. Busy times as Janelle and I start the process of looking for a house to purchase in the Seattle area. I think this will be a great adventure and I am really looking forward to it this summer. The job continues to roll along as I had one of my manuscripts accepted to be published in the near future and am working on the next in the series that I hope to have submitted near the end of the month. Things just seem to be really rolling along right now. The sports continue to roll along as I currently have 3 v-ball leagues and an indoor soccer league that I am participating in. In addition the end of this month brings the indoor national tournament in Austin, TX that my team will be attending, I am looking forward to it quite a bit. Janelle is also going to travel with us, her first vacation in quite a while, I hope we can make it a great trip for her as well. We finished up the regular men's indoor season with a trip to the Oregon Men's regionals with a make-shift group of our usual players. We did not play the best ever but improved every match and took a very tough Oregon team to 3 in our elimination round. We are quite a bit ahead of where we were last year heading to nationals in how we play as a squad. I expect we will be even more competitive this year in the A bracket of the national tournament. 2 of the v-ball leagues are in the final weeks and will finish up be the end of the month, the men's league runs through June and the soccer through July. As I finish these up I will be excited to get outdoors for a little camping, BBQing, outdoor v-ball, and general appreciation of the great nature-related activites we have access to here in the Northwest. I will run my usual 3-4 v-ball tournaments this summer culminating in our finale of the 10th annual JWI charity event I run each year. Tough to believe I have been doing this for so long, sure seems to have flown by when looking back on the events. It is always a fun process to work out the details of the event with friends and family as we continue to add crazy extras every year to the gifts and perks of the tournament. Good times for all, and planning seems to be at least half of the fun.

Sports Standings:
Renton Coed 6's V-ball: 14-4 (2nd Place)
Jet City Coed 6's V-ball: 12-6 (2nd Place)
Bellevue Men's V-ball: 14-2 (1st Place)
Indoor Soccer: 1-0-0 (Tied or 1st)

Recently we had a joint celebration of both the Easter Holiday along with Amy and Janelle's B-day. As is obvious the girls had a good time opening some fun gifts from the whole family crew. Amy sure does love candy!! This was followed by a couple of good weeks of the usual athletic events and associated fun. I subbed in a few times for the coed 6's team in Renton that my friends the Naps play for. We went 8-1 during my 3 weeks there which felt great and had quite a good time playing with all of them. A silly bunch, we spent much of the time on the court laughing it up at each other's antics during the play. We started the coed 6's league in North Seattle and have my brother back from the knee injury to play a little ball. We have started the first 3 weeks with 2-1 wins in each of the matches to date. I think we stand at 1st or second in the league at this early point. In the men's 6's league we are now into a new season and started with a 4-0 sweep in our first week. We have a bye this week and continue next Sunday. The soccer has wound down with a few tough games but a nice 12-8 win in the finale. There is a final game this coming week for 2 other teams that will decide our fate. A loss or tie by one of the teams puts us in the top 2 of the league a places us in the finale versus the number 1 team in the league for the right to play the champion from the Eastside league. It would be a nice rematch as previously we are 1-1-1 versus the top team in some great games. I am signed up for next season as well and look forward to more fun with some old friends on the team. The men's USAV volleyball season is also winding down. With our recent 3rd place finish once again in Portland we now have a regional event this weekend in Issaquah. We do not have available most of our big guns so it will be interesting to see how we do on the whole, should be a fun one either way. My bro plans to play and it will be great to have him there for the day, we always have a good time. We have then been invited to the Oregon men's regionals on May 5th. We plan to attend that and see if we can get over the hump versus those Oregon punks. It felt great to be asked and to have performed so well on our last 3 travel tournaments. Then at the end of May we have Nationals in Austin, TX to finish the season, it has been a great one. Check out all the updates for my team at: www.madmanvolleyball.com. Recently my friend at work got me a GREAT pair of tickets for a Mariner's game at Safeco Field. Jesse Paulson and I were able to go and enjoy some great sunny Seattle weather and had a really nice time. This weekend I look forward to seeing friend Ryan Nickols as we celebrate his upcoming nuptials this summer at his parent's house which should be quite fun. I also have the volleyball tournament and then next week is Janelle's birthday on April 25th. Fun for all!! The work front has also been going well. I have accelerated my application output and feel confident I will have some options. In the meantime my current projects have been running quite well as I just found out I have a new paper accepted and hope to put out another one in a few weeks. Additionally there is now an option to extend my time here with a slight raise into the next year which might well be a great fit for my current goals of house-hunting in the Seattle area by the end of the year. More to come as all of this develops!!

Another few busy weeks have flown by here in the Northwest as the sun has continued to make some extended visits to the Seattle skies and the flowers/trees are coming into full bloom. It sure has made the walks to work spectacular with all of the color and fresh smells which I have been able to enjoy. Nature is good for the soul my friends!! I do feel like there are times when I run on solar power and really become energized by having a little more exposure to that big halogen flame in the sky once in awhile. The job continues at a good clip as I eagerly await the results of my current manuscript submission, I am hoping for an acceptance on this one which will allow me to focus on the final paper planned before I leave the lab. It also appears that in the meantime I might get some authorship credit in a couple of journal papers that are being done with reagents from our lab that I was crucial in the development of. In addition I have been able to provide technical help to the producing lab. All of this would of course help in beefing up the old resume for the continued job search here in the Emerald City. This last weekend I had a very nice time as Janelle and I were able to host my brother John and his fiancee Amy for our first event in our new condo for a dinner followed some traditional egg dying. Silly fun to be sure but fun nonetheless. We had a great time and produced some pretty good eggs in my estimation. I have posted some pics here so that you can judge our products for yourself. The volleyball has just started up again for the next round of my coed 6's and Sunday night men's 6's for the region. We had a great night of fun with coed last Thursday as we ended 2-1 versus the team that beat us in the final last tournament round. Looks to be another fun round of play with some good buddies. We won the men's league and now seek to defend the title once again as we start those matches this coming Sunday. The indoor soccer is also winding down as we played last Wednesday to a great 11-4 victory and have 2 games remaining. We are still in the hunt to be one of the top 2 teams in the league but will most likely need some help to move up past our current 3rd place position. In any event I had another great attitude experience and almost feel like I have turned another big corner in being okay at sports events with my temper and attitude, only time will tell of course but it is nice to see improvement even in myself. This month we have a final trip for V-ball in Portland to look forward to as well as a tournament near us to finish the month. In addition I hope to visit Trish and Craig in Issaquah, celebrate Amy's birthday on the 14th/Janelle's Birthday on the 25th, and continue to get manuscripts and resumes out the door. Looking forward to the summer months, nationals in Austin, and a trip to Denver to see all the Weaver crew along with my adorable nieces!! More to come!!