One in a million (Or thousand or even hundred.)

You always hear about those stories where people find a fifty or hundred dollar bill just laying around. You never think that it will happen to you, but you never know.

I had something somewhat similar happen to me. My bank, TLC Federal Credit Union, has a program for teens that use the bank called Free 2BU. What it basically entails is that every time you deposit money into your savings account you get entered into a drawing. The prize of the drawing used to be an iPod, but recently they switched it to a $100 VISA gift card, good to use anywhere that VISA is accepted. Since the bank covers three different counties, (Tillamook, Lincoln, and Clatsop), the chances of winning aren’t too great, unless you make quite a few deposits.

Imagine my surprise when I got a call from the bank saying that I had won the card. I didn’t even know then that the prize was a card, but I was excited to hear about it.

I picked up the card when I made another deposit. It looks just like a normal card, and while I haven’t rushed out to spend the money already, it will be nice to have some more spending money for whatever I decide to spend it on.

 

Summer Job

I was able to get a summer job recently, as a way to have a little extra spending cash and some money to save for future things like college and a mission.

I was able to get hired at one of the local Subways in my area about a week ago. I am working part-time, about three to four days a week, which allows for me to still have time for other summer activities. While my shifts including closing the restaurant and leaving around midnight, it still isn’t too bad of a job. It pays decently, especially since Oregon has the second highest minimum wage in the country. I also get a free six inch sub each sub, so I don’t go hungry.

It looks like it will be a pretty decent job, and while I probably don’t want to become a professional sandwich maker as my career, it will be nice to be receiving pay checks.

4A Baseball State Champions

My high school has been at it again with the athletics, only this time it has been with the baseball team. It seems that our school has had all the success in the world lately. We have several athletes that are going to compete in the Pac-10 next year, and it has shown in our achievements.

This year going into the baseball season we were ranked number one in state at the 4A level, and one of the best in state at all levels. Only one loss occurred during the whole entire season, and it was at the last second to a 6A team.

We reached the championship game without to much difficulty. The baseball team as made it to the finals three out of the four past years after only have one playoff win in school history all previous years. This big leap has been in part from the arrival of coach Dave Gasser, who won the state championship the first year he was here. He is the most career wins as a baseball coach in the state of Oregon.

The Astoria Fishermen showed why they have been so dominate this season, and had control of the game for the most part. A late rally made it close for a little while, until we sent in our ace pitcher to close out the game. Below is links to stories, videos, and pictures from the game.

Astoria's Jordan Poyer closes career by closing out Baker in 4A title game

Fishermen reel in a title

Oregon Track and Field Championships

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the OSAA (Oregon) State Track and Field Championships at the historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene. The reason for me going was that my 4x400 relay team qualified at the district meet, and since I was an alternate for that team, I went along as well. However, I wasn’t supposed to run, unless any of the starting runners got injured. It was a pretty exciting event to look forward to.

We left on Thursday in the afternoon, because the drive to Eugene is about four hours from Astoria. It was a tight squeeze into the school district Suburban that the six of us guys and two coaches rode in. There was leg space, and we were able to get down there without any problem.

Once we arrived at Eugene, the first thing we did was pay a visit to Hayward Field. Our head coach needed to pick up information for the meet the next day, and it was also a good chance for the team to take a tour of the track and get a feel for what we were going to be racing on. That night we were treated with visiting the Home Town Buffet, where we filled up on food for the next day. After that it was to the hotel for a nights sleep. We stayed at the La Quinta Inn, along with several other schools including La Grande, Sisters, and Hidden Valley. It really did feel like I was on vacation.

  

The next morning we woke up, ate a continental breakfast, and drove to the meet. It was the preliminaries day, so the races were to get into finals, and not to win medals. The girls on our team did fairly well, even if there was only two races they were in. Our relay team didn’t do to well though, as we didn’t make finals. The weather was great and was around 70 degrees. It was still fun to watch all the athletes compete, and we went to a Chinese buffet for dinner that evening.

 

Saturday was finals day. It was a great day with good weather and I was looking forward to watching some of the best athletes in the nation competing. Most of them are headed to the University of Oregon next year too, so they should be competing on that track for a long time.

We got there that day, and I purchased a sweatshirt as a souvenir. I then went over to the discus ring and watched Laura Bobek, a senior from my school set a state meet record at all levels in the discus. She is headed to Oregon next year and is ranked second nationally in her throwing events.

The rest of the day was spent watching the athletes compete for state titles. I watched the Crouser cousins win all of the throwing events. Sam Crouser threw the javelin the second farthest in the nation this year. I also watched Elijah Greer of Lake Oswego run. He won the 1500 M and the 800 M. Although he didn’t run his best times, he still blew away the competition and showed why he is the best middle distance runner in the nation.

The girls team from my school were able to acquire enough points to win third place at the 4A level. It may be the last time that they place that high for awhile. I also watched some fast sprinters, which was fun to see the amount of speed the possess, especially Matt Anthony of La Grande.

After the meet the girls team accepted their trophy, and then the team went to dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate the meet accomplishments and the end of the season. The 2009 track season has officially come to a close. I can’t wait for next years season already. It should be another exciting season when it comes around.

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COWAPA District Track Championships

Track and Field season for my high school has almost come to a close. The past few days I had my district track meet. I was able to gain a new personal record in the 400 M, and enjoy the sunshine. On the second day too, our 4x400 M relay team made second place, which called qualified them for the state meet. Since I am an alternate for that team, it means I am headed for state. Next stop, Hayward Field, Eugene, Oregon. It should be pretty exciting.

Max.

We got a new addition to the family almost two months ago now in the form of a puppy. We decided to call him Max. We don’t know his age or breed, but he is definitely a mutt. His mom was supposedly a husky/shepherd mix. We also think he has Labrador retriever in him but who knows. We like him so we’ll probably keep him for a while, whatever he is. :-)

  He’s about 45 pounds and hasn’t stopped growing!

Sea Lion Caves

My family’s Spring Break trip featured several visitations, including a car ride to go see the Sea Lion Caves in Florence, Oregon. Located south of Newport, this is home of the largest sea cave in the world, as can be seen from the picture below. I think I also remember reading that the Sea Lion Caves feature the largest sea lion habitat for the creatures off sure.

The visitors building itself was a pretty cool sight do to the fact that it is built on a cliff right next to the ocean. I also learned that whale sightings are common to see from this location, when the whales are migrating up to Alaska from Mexico.

The actual journey down to the caves is taken by an elevator in which you plummet over 200 feet. The actual caves we weren’t able to go into, due to the fact that it would disturb the hundreds of sea lions that lounge there. It was still a cool sight though, and is something worth visiting if you ever get the chance.

Once we pulled up to the center, this was the sign that greeted us, letting us know of our arrival.

Although the lighting wasn’t good, and the photo quality is poor, you can make out the many sea lions that were laying against the rocks. This picture doesn’t even show how big the cave was either. Imagine each of those animals are 500 pounds, and it will give you an idea of size. 

It was a nice dry day, and the coast line looked great from our view point.

This was the entrance to the cave–-at least I think it was.

Another shot of the cave. We were behind a wire fence to let the sea lions have privacy.

Before the elevator was built and the shaft excavated, people had to take a long set of stairs to see the wonder. Talk about a long walk.