Ben Collins

It’s been a challenge to find internet access, and to be honest, spending time on my computer

has been low on my priorities.  I am staying with my Coach, Dr. Mike in Kailua, which is on the windward side (rainy side, East side) of Oahu.  It is beautiful here, and I couldn’t ask for a better location to aid in my focus.

The house to the right is where I’m staying.  It’s amazing.  There is no furniture besides a futon that I’m sleeping on, two couches, and Mike’s bed.  All this in a gigantic house, with hard wood floors that cause our voices to echo through the halls of time.

Tonight I’m heading to a party with my friend Adam, who has been in Shanghai since the last time we saw each other in March.  I’ll try to write more, and even post some pictures once I find a camera.

I got my first gift of the season today.  It’s a picture CD from the World Championships.   

It’s funny, these pictures make it look quite a bit harder than I remember.

Speaking of walks in the park, (and poor transitions). I took my Organic Chemsitry final today. I killed it. I actually have no idea how I did, and I’m usually wrong when I try to predict, but I feel really good about it, which is a great note to leave Seattle on.  Next stop Honolulu. I’m really excited to test out my new sunscreen from Hawaiian Island Creations.

I have a nasty habit of making a total mess of my bedroom, while constantly telling myself that as soon as I’m done with my [quarter, race, project at work, etc.] I’ll clean it up.  It’s just that for the past six months I’ve planned travel for immediately after I finish my exams.  Today I found a stack of graded quizzes from a class I took in January.  There’s nothing like going through a pile of paper to remember the year by. It brings back memories like: "Oh look, the receipt for the pants I wanted to take back!" or "Hey there’s that Bio quiz I bombed after Hy-Vee!"  Oh the times I’ve had…

I’m not sure what to take with me to Hawaii, but for sure it will not include goose down or wool socks. Hurray for that!

Oh yeah, Loren has to move in February, which is sad because I really like his house.  From the sound of it though, he’s getting a much sweeter deal, and if I happen to visit on the same weekend as Greta’s mom, sister, best friend or 8th cousin thrice removed, there may be enough spare bedrooms that I’ll have to beg to stay with Piper.

Check out Jillian Petersen’s web site as well. She just started blogging, but her first post is all about the nightmare of a World Cup in Israel. I’m never taking a bike there.

Look at this picture.  Click on it to see it better.  My sister is 27 and still torturing animals (that’s his tail she’s grabbing.).  Troy is the first pet I’ve ever had that had a tail (Manx - born without, Spaniel - docked, gerbils - pulled off), which is still a novelty to most of my family.  Poor cat.

Today was my last day of class for the quarter. I have an exam on Monday, then I leave for Honolulu, where I’m going to be for the next four weeks! I’m really excited. I’ll stay with my coach in Kailua, right on the beach. I can’t believe a year ago I lived there full time. I really miss it.

I’m trying out a new sunscreen by Hawaiian Island Creations.  I met with the scientist that’s developing the lotion. He and two other guys started a company called Outside Labs, and they’re making some really cool stuff.  All their products are marketed toward active lifestyles.  The sunscreen is designed to protect a surfer in the sun on the water, all-day long, without running.  It’s also supposed to allow you to sweat and feel like you have nothing on your skin at all.  That sounds ideal to somebody as light colored as me.

This is what happens In Seattle when I make Banana bread. It gets demolished.

I visited a place today called Herriot Sports Performance. I’m not sure why it took me so long to discover this place.  It’s awesome.  I’ll write about it more later. right now I’m gonna watch a movie with my mom. Then go to bed so I can go ride with Brian in the morning.

Yesterday after swimming for the first time in a week (and kicking Aaron’s butt), I drove through ice and snow to Redmond, where Peter Reid (3-time IM World Champ) was giving a talk at East Side Multisport (ESM). (Chris Tremonte was dueling with excitement, Left)The talk was mostly about Trigger Point (it’s a self massage system), which I have and frequently use. I actually had to leave before they finished because I was worried about getting across the floating bridge if the weather got any worse.  While I was there I did get to talk to Ben Bigglestone from Blue Seventy (he and his wife Cindy run ESM), who told me  about some of the improvements they’ve made for 2008 to the already awesome Helix wetsuit.  Blue Seventy has a lot of good things going for them.  They have the best wetsuit on the market, and with the recent FINA approval of the pointzero3 Kona Sensation, we could be seeing the Blue Seventy Logo on the pool deck in Beijing. That’s cool.

[left: Peter Reid and the creator of Trigger Point Pefromance Therapy]

After ESMS I drove carefully back to Seattle and met up with some friends to watch football.  Berkeley got served by Stanford, which greatly upset my friend Peter.  I left after dinner with the intent of going home to change then head downtown for my first party night of off-season. Three hours later I was half asleep on the floor watching Sopranos with ice on my ankle.  So far, this off-season sucks.

Aaron asked Peter what team he was rooting for, to which Peter responded by pointing to his sweatshirt (text is not very effective in communicating to a blind person.). That’s Sarah on the left, they’re both lawyers (I’d make a lawyer joke here, but lawyers find them offensive and everyone else thinks they’re true.).

Tonight I’m making spinach tofu marsala. It’s a recipe I learned while working as a chef at an Indian restaurant. mmm..good…