I found a new hobby!

LONGBOARDING! Elliott, my friend and fellow classmate, and I tried our hand at longboarding this evening around west campus' parking lots. We spent an hour tooling around and made significant progress with our balance, turning, and speed! It was so much fun, we want to start a club. Once we can get our hands on our own boards (could be a while...I'm taking donations), we'll find an additional board to borrow and invite people to ride around with us. If they like it, they can join our club...all they will have to do then is buy a board.

This is turning out to be a great week. Emily and I had a great late night dinner followed by some Mad Men (great show...we are slowly catching up to the current season). I've also continued to make progress with my newest project at work (pre-departure meetings for all our students studying abroad in the spring...I think we have around 175 students +/- heading abroad internationally and domestically this spring semester!!).

Tomorrow after work I will be heading up to Sierra Madre for our first year cohort retreat. All I know is I need to bring some clothes, water bottle, paper, and a writing utensil. We will have our own private rooms and bathrooms. I believe the purpose of the trip is to provide a time for team building and personal reflection. I wish Mari hadn't told us that our retreat would have been in Malibu, had they been able to book it :( We will return from the retreat on Friday.

Friday evening Emily and I are planning on heading downtown Claremont for some frozen yogurt at Yogurt Land and maybe a drink before we go to the movie theater. We are going to see Precious, I'm looking forward to seeing this and spending some q-time with Em (I am also looking forward to seeing 2012 next weekend!). Then on Saturday we will be going to Pasadena for a concert in which one of Emily's kiddos is performing!

Sunday we will head to Mosaic. This is the new church Emily and I have been attending, we really like it! Afterwards Financial Peace University starts in Chino Hills.

At some point this weekend I also have to write two papers...they shouldn't be too difficult, I hope. That's the run down...keeping you all in my thoughts.

Here is a shout out to Uncle Mark Fredericks. Thank you for serving our country! Much love and appreciation.

I love you.

Maybe it's the full moon...

*WARNING....RAMBLINGS OF HAPPENINGS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER TO FOLLOW:**

I used to associate the full moon with happenings at the restaurants I managed. Inevitably, every time the full moon had shown it's face upon the earth with flittering stars surrounding...the crazies would come out. I always thought upon interacting and dealing with these hidden gems (trouble makers, riff-raff, etc.) that, "It must be that full moon again." A day or two ago, in the morning, I awoke around 4:30am to the loud and overwhelming sound of howling. This was not the howling of the MANY neighborhood dogs, but something much more primal, much more WILD. I didn't get out of bed to look out the window, but I later recalled how very loud & CLOSE this ominous sound was.

Howling is a way coyotes communicate. It has several functions. One is to call the pack—really a family group—back together again after a period of individual hunting. A second reason that coyotes howl is to advertise their presence to other packs, essentially warning those other family groups against trespassing across territorial boundaries.

SO, I was walking into the apartment on Friday whilst talking with Emily on the phone. I had just began describing my strange wake up call when all of a sudden..."Wait, what was that," I said.

I heard a strange *YIP* in the distance. Before I could get in the apartment I was savagely

attacked by a pack of COYOTES!~!~ Well, not really... but in my mind I felt that was a definite possibility because at that moment the loud howling began again and I realized through the silhouette of the moonlit trees, there was a pack of coyotes howling to the heavens, right there on the fairway. I haven't seen or heard them since, but just another reminder of how close I live to the mountains.

On Friday I went on my first Angeles National Forest hike at Chantry Flat, about halfway between Azusa and Pasadena. A simple and relaxing trek down into the canyon only about a

mile or so, give or take. It was amazing to find

some natural beauty so very close to the suburbs

of the big city of Los Angeles. It was a nice time

to just be quiet and hike, while also talking

with a few friends from the CCSD program that came along. The end of this particular trail is a beautiful little waterfall of ice-cold and pure water. It was also the first sight of any sort of fall foliage dropping that I'd seen.

Did you hear about this "Thrill the World" tribute to MJ? Well, Emily and I were in Pasadena not this weekend, but last. We went to this GREAT restaurant with James and Camry (James is in my cohort and Camry is his fiancé). Towards the end of our time together we noticed a zombie walk in...and then another, and another. Before we knew it, we were amongst about 20 or so zombies, one dressed as regular MJ and another in zombie form. I am assuming that they were practicing for the actual world-wide event, either way the entire restaurant was delighted to watch their performance..."Cause this is thriller! Thriller night.." Followed by creme brulee for dessert, it was a great evening.

I am almost finished with the first of three final papers to complete my first quarter of grad school. I am so excited for next quarter to begin! This week I will be heading up to San Jose for the Western Regional NASPA conference (my new professional organization). It should be fun, I volunteered and will be working registration for the event. This will create a great venue to network, something I definitely will need! I also signed up for the pre-conference which is a seminar for new student affairs professionals including mock interviews and resume critique etc. I will be matched up with a senior level professional who will be my mentor for the weekend. It will also be great to attend the different workshops offered during the actual conference, especially because there are no assignments attached to this conference!

Last ramble...tonight I am making lasagne for Emily's roommate who is having some friends over from her cohort of med students. She wanted to pick up a pre-made lasagne from Cosco, and though I am sure that would probably be great, I felt that I could bring a little cheer to Julia and her friends with some home cookin! Gotta run and start getting that stuff ready...I miss you all and can't wait to come visit in December! If you have a car I could borrow from time to time during my visit, uh that'd be awesome!

Love,

Christian