Blog post I wrote for the ASUI website on 10/20/09

Good Morning Fellow Vandals,

This is the first of many more blog post to come. I hope you all survived midterms and are set up for success the rest of the semester. I must admit I did quite horribly on one of my midterms and will have to pick it up here in the second half to even have a chance of pulling off a “B.”

Remember to meet with your advisor this week or next. I still need to schedule my advising appointment as well. Registration for spring semester opens on Monday, November 9. If you are like me and have stopped attending a class and have not yet officially withdrawn the last day to do so is Friday, October 30.

Moving on; as fall continues to advance towards winter and despite mid-year budget holdbacks, the sun continues to shine on THE University of Idaho! From the accomplishments of our athletic programs to the inauguration of our 17th President, there are many positives on this campus.

I can’t put into words how much I have enjoyed watching our Vandal’s play this fall and how well they are doing, in all their sports. Football draws the most attention and has had the greatest turnout. With a 6-2 record and looking to keep adding on the wins, we will be playing in bowl game. Now, it’s just a matter of which bowl game it will be. I could talk about athletics all day, but I need to stay focused. But first I want to say thank you to everyone who is helping to make tailgating a safe, fun and clean place to enjoy Vandal Game Days together. The atmosphere is exciting, people are going into the game and the recycling and cleanup crews are doing an amazing job!

ASUI has been busily working on your behalf these first 8 weeks of the semester. We created a Communications Board; it is chaired by Nicole Strunks. This blog is one of the many new mechanisms the Communications Board will be using to reach out and supply you with information. In addition we have the following web-based tools:

ASUI Website: http://www.asui.uidaho.edu

ASUI Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Moscow-ID/ASUI/167054208435

ASUI Twitter Page: http://twitter.com/ASUIVandals

Another initiative we are working on is to develop a Campus Community Hour. I have presented a draft proposal to just about everyone on campus and will be taking a formal proposal to the Faculty Senate soon. I will be asking them to adapt a Campus Community Hour for the Fall 2010 semester as a pilot program. The idea of the Campus Community Hour is to provide an hour once a week, in the middle of a day, that will be free from academic instruction and available to build a more connected Vandal Family on campus. Events, guest lectures, mentoring, pep rallies and numerous other campus events could take place turning this hour. Most of these events already occur but would have far greater attendance if they were in the middle of the day, at a common time.

I could go on and on about many other things as well but I am coming up on a page of text right and now and don’t want to take up too much of your time.

I really do hope you are having a great semester and hope that as student leaders we are making life better for you all here at THE University of Idaho. I am excited to have Dr. Nellis officially inaugurated as our President and look forward to the progress this great institution will make under his lead.

Have a wonderful week and look for a new blog post next week from someone inside the ASUI leadership.

Thank you and GO VANDALS!

Kelby

I am the worlds WORST blogger!

In an effort to climb a few positions from last place in the blog rankings I am writing this now and will try my best to have more regular post. Because I am such an infrequent blogger, I really doubt many, if any, will read this. So basically its just for. It looks like the last time I blogged was the beginning of March so this may end up being an extremely long post or I may decide to split it up into segments.

I first significant undertaking since then was my Spring Break trip to Washington DC with my little bro and sis. Dakota was invited to be part of the People to People Youth Leadership Conference/Tour (not exactly sure what the title was) and Christa and I just hung out. Big thanks to Mark F. for putting a roof over our heads and hooking us up with a tour of House Chamber. Christa and I managed to hit most of the key sites (Memorials/Monuments, Capitol, etc.) and then a few of the ones I have been wanting to see but had not been in yet (American Art/Port. Gallery, Kennedy Center, Ford's Theater, Natural History, Nat'l Archives, Hirshhorn, American Indian and I am sure I am missing some). To wrap up the trip I decided I would run the DC National Marathon. I didn't even know about the race until we were back there (saw signs at the Metro stops saying they would open two hours early on Saturday for the Marathoners), hit up the website on Thursday (they only had open spots for the Full, none for the half), went out to RFK on Friday to register, ran a sub 3:30 on Saturday before meeting back up with Christa and Dakota at Dulles to fly home. Not bad considering I hadn't ran for the two weeks prior and had never ran anything over 13.1. But I must admit I trained religiously for 16 weeks up to the Snake River Half (which was exactly two weeks prior to the DC National).

Ok so that is about all the further I am going to make it tonight. My body is exhausted. Finished my first ever Olympic Distance Tri today in Coeur d' Alene. Wanted to go sub 3 hours, fairly modest goal, but I figured it match my habit of not trying hard this summer. Went 2:45, under perfect conditions. I was pretty pumped.

Spring 2009 Update

Well I have been horrible about blogging this semester. Time seem to be flying by at an ever increasing pace and I simply havn't made time for blogging. I am swamped with everything I do but loving it. As you saw in my last blog the service trip I participated in to Romania was absolutely amazing. I was all set up for a great semester and going down the path to a wonderful semester. When, out of no where I slipped up BIG time and turned my life upside down. I am still picking up the pieces and getting back on track. I was arrested early in the morning on February 21st. Not sure yet what all the consequences of my poor decisions that night are going to be or even when I will find out. But I am trying my best to move and keep on doing what I do. I have had a lot of family time since then, thanks mom and dad!

The Lionel Hampton Jazz Fest was amazing here in Moscow. I made it to the show two different nights (Garrett thanks for the tickets). I can't believe I hadn't taken advantage of this world class event in my back yard before this year. I finished the UI Triathlon Club's "Tri-Challenge" (an Ironman on your own time over the course of 3 weeks). I briefed the entire Det 905 Cadet Wing on my mistake and the dangerous/consequences of driving after drinking.

Then, yesterday I ran the Snake River Canyon 1/2 Marathon yesterday and dominated it (well at least for me and my non-runner body). My goal was to be under an hour and half and I have been training fairly religiously for the last 16 weeks to accomplish that goal. I ended up crossing in 1:28:44 (according to the official results, my race photo shows me crossing at 1:28:39) Either way, it was a definite a well needed confidence boost!!! The fam came and watched and hung out for a while afterwards. Got to take my lil bro, Dakota, to Around the World while my sis and mom went shopping. The cultural diversity present here in Moscow is way larger than I knew. Plus, it was good to just have some bro time with the little guy!

I am getting geared up to run a campaign for ASUI President (contingent on my possible running mate committing to run with me, I am pretty sure she will!!!!) Also, just preparing for midterms this coming Friday and my AFROTC physical fitness test Wednesday morning. And then its off to Washington DC with my lil bro and sis!!!!!!

Until next time,
Kelby

ROMANIA

I received an email yesterday asking me to answer a few questions about my Alternative Service Break trip to Romania. My reply is the first time I have written down my thoughts from the trip since we have been home and I thought I would post them here. There is so much more to say about the trip and I plan to blog more on it in the future but for now here's a sampler.


I understand that you went to Romania. What were your first impressions?
When we landed in Bucharest and de-boarded our plane, I was excited to get to the orphanage where we were going to be staying for the three weeks. It was my first time in an eastern European airport and was surprised by all the cigarette smoke in the air and how dirty it first appeared. I thought, "what in the world have I gotten myself into?" We were met outside of baggage claim by our hosts, after easily clearing passport control and not having our baggage claim slips checked. All 15 of us and our luggage piled into a mini-bus and a mini-van. When they first showed us these relatively small vehicles I thought, "how in the hell are we going to fit?"

I was amazed by the broad mix of other vehicles in the parking lot, they ranged from new Mercede's and BMW's to old, eastern European brands I had never heard of before. As we left the airport, I definitely felt like I was in former communist country. The power poles were made of concrete and all the apartment buildings were gray, drab and seemingly identically. Even on the major roadways, horses and carts traveled along side autos. After driving about two and half hours we arrived at our destination, Valea Screzii, a small town of about 600 people located in a valley of the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. We turned off the pavement and headed down the lone dirt road that runs through the town. After passing a few farm fields we came to the first few houses and stopped at the house we would be staying in. The valley was absolutely gorgeous, rolling farm fields, mixed with hardwood forests extended as far as the eye could see. I felt much less like I was in former communist territory and more like I was at home on the Palouse. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly and excited to have us. At that point I knew we were going to have an amazing stay!!!

Do you think this is something that changed the way you look at the world?
I spent my sophomore year of high school in Germany and have traveled to Europe a couple other times, but never learned as much as I did on this trip. After staying for three weeks and interacting with a broad age group of people (from the very young to the elderly) I learned that no matter our differences in views, culture, and way of life people are people. A friendly smile will go a long way even when no spoken words are understood between to people. Communication is much more non-verbal than verbal.

Would you recommend others to volunteer for Alternative Service Break?
This was my third ASB trip, I had been to New Orleans during Spring 2007 and Pikeville, KY during Spring 2008. All three have been life changing trips. I feel that every university student should make time for volunteering and that ASB is one of the best ways to volunteer. It provides an experience that is larger than yourself, something I feel we all are looking for whether or not we realize it.

Now that your back home in the States, what did you take away from this experience?
Every time I have volunteered I have had that rewarding feeling afterwards. Often times I have also wondered if I volunteer to help others or simply to have something to pat myself on the back for. After this trip I am not worried about that feeling anymore. I know I gained more from the trip than the people I helped in Romania and I am OK with that. I know it was a give and take. I helped them some and they taught me so much about myself and life. I didn't realize how stressed I had been these passed few semesters until I finally slowed down and truly enjoyed life. Being back I see a huge change in my attitude. I am not sure if others see it or not, and I don't care, because I feel it. I am still motivated to do well in school and all other activities I am involved but I am doing it with a smile and without stressing out. I have finally learned life is what I make of it. I learned this from the children I met on the trip. The difficulties they have faced are unimaginable. They all have been through more than I ever will, yet they wake up every morning with a smile on their face and grateful for what have. I have slowed down, am making more time for the people that matter. I am a much happier person.


I hope to have some pictures posted sometime soonish.

I miss Valea Screzii, Marian, Adrian, Alex, George, Eugene, the little twins, all the childern, Mihail, Melanie, Dillon, Chrissy, all the other volunteers, toilets that don't flush, doors that close so loud you can hear them miles away, breakfast-lunch-dinner as a team, boiled wine, hot tea, cinnamon in my coffee....