Marci Klimek

Loss Aversion

2010-04-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

(A.) You have been given $1,000.00. Now select one of the following;

Guarenteed gain of $500.00.
Take a coin flip. You call it right you get $1,000.00. You call it wrong and you get nothing.

Which do you choose? (Write it down. Just keeping you honest!)

(B.) You have just been given $2,000.00. Now select one of the following;

Gaurenteed loss of $500.00.
Take a coin flip. You call right you lose nothing. You call it wrong you lose $1,000.00.

Which do you choose? (You wrote down the first one. Write down your answer for B too!)

Typical Answer (A.) Option A: Sure gain of $500.00.
Typical Answer (B.) Option B: Even chance to lose or gain.

Why is this interesting?

The outcomes are identical for option A (you end up with $1,500.00)

The outcomes are identical for option B (you end up with either $1,000.00 or $2,000.00)

Yet your selection is different...

We are more willing to take a risk to avoid a loss.

We are more conservative in order to lock in a gain.

This is said to be because we feel the pain of a loss much more strongly than the please of an equivalent gain...

... we feel the pain of an equivalent loss twice as strongly as the pleasure of an equivalent gain.

Bend, OR

2010-04-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I got to spend Easter outside of the rain shadow of McMinnville and over the pass in the high dessert of Bend. The drive over was clear of snow and the mountains and lakes were beautiful. We got to see a good pack of Elk coming back down the pass as well. We arrived late afternoon, but in tme to hit the trails near the Old Mill district for a shake out fun. It was a very nice change from the same roads we run every day back at school. Dry snow was even a nice change from the persistent soppiness that is the October-to-April rain of the Willamette Valley.

The juniper, pine and sage made for a wide open space very different than the surrounding mountains and forested mountain sides of the Rogue Valley. I am told that the mountains around Bend can be seen on most clear days and are pretty darn impressive, but unfortunately the snow was falling on the mountains and the clouds wouldn't clear enough for us to get a good view in the 48 hours I was there. An additional visit is in order to appreciated the skyline and the transition from rolling grey to green that apparently occurs in the summer months.

The area was really nice and clean and active. Saw really pretty, large homes most everywhere I went and there were lots of shops and nice restraunts all over the place. There were many parks and paths along the river and throughout town. Although Bend is hurting economically, possibly even worse than a majority of the state, store space was pretty much all filled and there was not an large number of for sale signs or empty homes that i noticed, which is encouraging and promising to see.

Besides the change of scenery I was also able to enjoy a huge amount of hospitality and share in a family easter weekend in Bend since I didn't make it down to my own home and family for their festivies. You know that Easter just isn't the same without a hurd of small children under the influence of a large amount of sugar.

I miss my big family holidays a lot so it was really nice to be surrounded by that comfortable and familar experience that is only exists when the familiy comes together. Lots of good company and good food. Made me think about what everyone was doing back home and how much fun Ashley, Hunter, Jayden, Austin and Robby must all be having running around looking for eggs. It made me think about Easter at Belindas and how there would always be the eggs that were hidden way out of our searching capabilities or at our home when we would be finding the tough eggs for weeks after. Funny what you remember.

All in all, it was a really fun trip and a really great weekend. I am very thankful for the hospitality and feeling so welcome in Bend. I am deffinately excited to make another trip to the area, especially if I can work in some time in at the surrounding lakes and mountain trails as it starts to warm up this spring (... it has to get warm eventually right?)

Boulder, CO

2010-03-24T21:32:00.000-07:00

As I am packing up my things and makin sure that everything is together for my long day of traveling tomorrow I wanted to take some notes on what happened over the past few days before all of it melds together into one distorted collection of experiences.

Things I learned/saw/noted in Boulder, Co.:

A. - Boulder, CO is a lot like Ashland, OR. It is tucked right up against the mountain and it is gorgeous. However, the mountains are much larger and less green and forested. The mountains are breathtaking, huge and completely distinctive with their jagged rocks and massive size bolting up from the ground. Boulder is so much like Ashland in it's comfortable liberal feel though, it made me homesick to walk down the plaza and through lithia park. Walking on Pearl St. (the equivalent of the Ashland plaza, only much larger and more commercial) you feel like you are right at the base of the towering mountains (the equivalent of mt. Ashland, only the flat irons are much larger and covered with snow and rugged rock formations.)By traveling up Canyon Rd for only 10 or 15 minutes you can climb a 1000s of feet to a plethora of mountain trails and scenic views

B. - A lot of snow can gather even if the ground is wet after it rains, when the sun was out 30 minutes ago and it can accumulate up to a foot deep within several hours time. Additionally, you can get sunburnt from lounging on the warm track and then you can be stuck in a foot of snow the following day and then be doing a tempo workout out in shorts and t-shirt again less than 24 hours later. It can even be 65 and sunny out and there can still be 6 inches of snow piled up on the sidewalk. Additionally, Coloradians don't carry chains although they are forced to drive their compact cars through the snow frequently... for some reason I was laughed at when i asked why not... I still don't see the humor. Also, of interest... Coloradians get excited about rain like Oregonians get excited about snow... it's something unusual and exciting.

C - Altitude isn't that bad... on the track, but the lack of oxygen really hits you hard over an extended tempo workout. I could still hit my 12 x 400's in 80s without too much duress, but trying to hold an up-tempo for 30 minute was a great big challenge. After the first 10 minutes I was in oxygen debt and without the abundance of it surrounding me was forced to force my way through an ugly 20 minutes more. However, at the turn around point when I headed back West, the skyline and the high mountains which stand even higher and stark white just pass the immediate Flat Irons brought my crawl to a shocked stand still... I never really had a true chance of catching my breath anyway with a scene like that. The Rockies are truely gorgeous and are unlike anything I have ever seen... I imagine that the "jaw-drop"/"mind-stop" effect of the Rockies was very similar to that of the Swiss Alps for my dad when he was traveling Europe.

A couple spots worth seeing in Boulder;

Boulder Creek Path - pretty (and promptly cleared of snow) paved bike/walk running through Boulder West from Canyon Rd and the Flat Irons out East away from the Rockies along the creek. Very Scenic and well kept.
Pearl Street Walking Mall - large walking mall with lots of good eating and shoppings. Some commercial and some unique little "hippie" shops. Very friendly. Lots of people. Lots to see.
Illegal Pete's - Very tasty burritos on the cheap. Nice location on Pearl Street.
The Rib House - Near downtown. Slow smoked ribs, chicken, brisket, turkey, yum! I got a nice dinner sald and a quarter of a pound of moist and delicious smoked turkey for $7.00!! Near downtown.
The Sink - Neat bar/restraunt on "the hill" (near University of Colorado"). Lots of good beers on tap and a funky feel with graffitied walls and low ceilings. Even packed on a Monday night.

2009-04-09T10:57:00.000-07:00

After spending weeks trying to sell ad spaces to B&Bs with little to no interest (nearly 300 emails and 100 phone calls) I was really suprised by the instant and effective feedback to a short and simple email and an effective attachment.

Today Holly gave me a task to send a short email requesting clients to take a look at the attached video and consider their budgeting strategy during this economic "repression". The email was only a few lines. There wasn't any large proposition for success or a "you-can't-afford-to-miss-this" offering. The email simply stated,

Hi All,
Here’s a slide show presentation about “Branding in a Recession” that speaks directly to the point being made about advertising even when things are tight.

A major point in that script: Companies that aggressively increased their media advertising expenditures in the last recession had a post-recession market share gain of 2.5 times the average for all businesses. This makes it an important time to consider your advertising budget, your market and your message.

I hope you find this useful.

Just an honest extension of useful information. With no strings or sales pitch attached.

I recently learned in my marketin class that consumers move through a psychological thought process on the way to a sale.

Awareness (gain attention) -->

Interest (persuade to investigate) -->

Desire (from "I like" to "I want" -->

Action (pursue purchase)

From my understanding this should be a highly complex and intriquetly constructed model to manipulate and motivate consumers deliberately along a premeditated path to make a sale. Every step and every aspect must be considered and taylored in order to create a sale.

Within 15 minutes of sending this email we recieved 6 responses with interest in full-priced advertising at the Oregon Wine Press.

How do you explain that? The return rate on cold calls averages around 3%. I have found that my average is much lower. The interest this email generated was huge.

Maybe people just want some honest and genuine information and support?

Maybe this is the "hot-topic" of the time?

Maybe people just wanted proof and a quantified reason to buy?

It could be any one of these or other things, and certainly some combination of many interwoven reasons. I think what this says to me is that there is a lot of value in a personal communication and a personally felt connection.

Below is the attached slide-show. Enjoy.

Branding In A Recession

View more presentations from belkins.

2009-04-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

For my mangement process class we were asked to create a list of things we enjoyed doing during a week so that we could translate these things into natural talents that we possess. It was proposed to us that generally people spend so much time trying to improve their weaknesses that they miss out on their areas for the greatest potential improvement; their strengths. We were not asked to forget of disregard our weaknesses but rather to improve them and work on them and also to realize that we can only go so far in trying to force something that really isn't there for us. If we can find a positions that fits our strengths then it isn't really letting our weakness get the best of us, but rather simply positioning ourselves for a happier and more prosperous career and life.

This is an idea proposed by Marcus Buckingham in his book "Now Discover Your Strengths." Below is a youtube video clip of Marcus Buckingham speaking on the Today Show about his ideas, the power of strengths, and how they apply to the recent economy.

The following is the essay that I wrote for this assignment;

Upon logging a list over the last week of acts that created positive feelings of accomplishment and worth that left me feeling motivated and energized I achieved a new awareness of my strengths. This amounted to not simply a checklist of duties and tasks successfully completed, but rather a resume of feats performed with a
feeling of interest and wellbeing. Upon further analysis, these acts were translated as representations of talents that I possess. Next I used these talents to piece together a larger picture from the collection of individual examples. Ultimately, with these newly realized strengths in hand I am prepared to develop and utilize these tools to first discover and then reach my unique and appropriate career and life goals.

When I considered my list of enjoyable tasks it quickly becomes evident that I favor structure. There is a lot of happiness for me in planning, budgeting, and scheduling. I like to log my workouts, do grocery shopping for the week, take orderly and detailed notes from assigned readings, and create an agenda, set a budget, and neatly pack supplies for my weekend trip to the coast. I like to cook a well balanced dinner for my boyfriend, write letters complete with article clippings to my grandma, and give directions to confused campus visitors. I enjoy creating power point slides to explain my position, excel spreadsheets to record my contacts, and design color coordinated to do lists to prepare for the next day. These may sound like boring events to most people. In fact, they sound pretty boring as I reread them as they are listed right here, but when I consider these small acts I also begin to derive a pattern.

I like planning for the future. I like to collect the facts, consider what is possible based on past experience and future projection. I like to feel prepared and confident in my choices by developing a calculated outline that will challenge me, but that I can believe in based on hard work and focus. I take great pride in reaching self defined checkpoints and crave goals to focus my aim on and to provide a feeling of progression and growth.

To make the strengths even more evident lets take the generalization a step further. I am future focused and self motivated. I am able to decisively choose a desired outcome, create a structured plan and outline a method to achieve it. I am fueled to confirm improvements consistently through progressive checkpoints. I like to feel capable, prepared, flourishing, and justify myself through concrete examples of my successful pursuits. I like to get things done and present them as proof of the value of my time and the power of my efficient expenditure of energy.

Ultimately I think that I am best suited for a position managing, directing, promoting, or developing projects and strategies. I would take a lot of pride and gladly invest myself personally in the success of a project. I would be able to focus and motivate others along with me in my drive for completion. I think being in a position that I can feel the impact of my work is vital to my happiness at work and could be achieved in a variety of directing positions.

2009-03-30T10:15:00.001-07:00

Today in my finance class we were talking about the New York Stock Exchange and how it's function is completely symbolic in nature. Only 10 years ago around 3,000 brokers and specialists populated the exchange floor, today that number is down around 1,000 brokers.

This is mostly due to the fact that technology allows trades that used to made physically (then by telegraph and later by phone) to now be done instantly via internet.

What is boils down to now is the New York Stock Exchange being the crumbling and chaotic symbol of American capitalism as our ecomony's health careens, jumping and diving uncontrollably from moment to moment. This spastic nature is reflected and projected further by enormous fluctuations in stock prices that we can no longer trust to relate to our financial future and safety. A pattern can no longer be derived in this tormoil and we are left without a link to predict what could possibly be coming next.

American's budget $50 million a year in security alone for the New York Stock Exchage to remain as a nostalgic image flowing live on the morning news and as a symbol of the hegemonic prosperity of American capitalism that we wish to portray to the world. Nearly $1 million a week of government money for a space on Wallstreet that may be more functional and profitable as the newest sight for the next Subway or KFC.

Nothing that is done at the exchange can not be done via internet, from absolutely anywhere. So why do we keep the physical location of the exchange and continue a practice which has been outdated and has thus been proven useless? Nearly every other country has shut down their exchange floors in the realization that they were costly, no longer necissary, and the ideal sight for a terrorist attack.

Why does ours remain? Is the image so powerful that we truely need it? Is this symbol of capatilsm so innate to the American way that we can not do without?

Update

2009-03-29T17:05:00.001-07:00

Track season has been going pretty well. We are 4 meets in (Frank Haskin's Invite ~ Steeple 11:14, NWC Preview ~ 1500 5:57/800 2:28, L&C Invite steeple 11:07, Linfield Icebreaker ~ 10k 36:20) The link below is a video of the bell lap of the icebreaker 10k. A 1:30 PR and a :50 school record... hopefully also a nationals qualifying time. (fingers crossed!!) Please enjoy the shot of my assistant coaches month old baby girl Phoebe Joy at the end of the clip. Greg's wife Stephanie was kind enough to take some filmage of the races and the link is from her collection. I have also included a photo taken during the Frank Haskin's duel meet with George Fox during the 3k steeple. The water was cold.

School has also been going well. I am anxious to get my midterm grades back this week and see how they turned out. We will be registering for next fall in 2 weeks already! Signing up for my senior year classes! That is crazy! I need to take one more biology class to complete my minor and then I believe the rest will all be business classes towards my major from here on out. It will be nice to be completely through with all of more core liberal arts credit requirements. The other thing that has got me a little bit concerned for next year it housing. It sounds like my friend who is currently doing a study abroud in Mexico may also be in a solo situation so we might be getting a little apartment off campus or something, which sounds awfully nice and peacefull after sharing this big ol' house with 9 people all year. I am really hoping that will come through!

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/0ee4016f8e9ab1e89e951b3b9042e0c5/video/3392572

I have also been lucky enough to have a couple of interviews for summer internship possibilities. During spring break I got to meet with Taylor Cropper of BioSkin Inc (the 9th biggest employer in Ashland). It was a really fun experience. While I was in I had the chance to watch a couple of the employees work on a proto-type backbrace. The three of them really feed off of eachother and showed a lot of creativity and ingenuinity in trying to piece together the project before they were to fly it out for a early showing later that day. While speaking with Taylor he mentioned to me a blog by Seth Godin, a "marketing guru", (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/)... I had been speaking with Jen about different marketing ideas for their business and thought that his blog might be an interesting place to read about. He had mentioned that from reading the blog earlier recently Seth discusses your "presense" on the internet. Something interesting to consider... what kind of reputation do you have following you based on advertisements or interactions or publications that are associated with your name? Even for example what to people associated about a Phoenix High grad? or what about a runner?

Well, it's back to school/work/intern/training for me. Spring break was restful. It was great to see my family and I had a nice couple days in Newport with Chris. But, I am feeling ready to get back to work... which is a nice feeling to have. Looking FORWARD to training and learning instead of dying for a rest. Let's hope this feeling lasts til summer... or at the very least a couple of weeks. :)

Enjoy your day!

Managerial Class Paper

2009-02-22T18:11:00.000-08:00

What Makes Me Tick

Merriam-Webster online defines conscious as an adjective originating from the Latin conscius, meaning “to know.” I am not saying that I know anything, in fact I feel quite the opposite. From what I have seen of life nothing truly exists in such a constant state as to be 100% establish, 100% of the time. Not time, not mater, not space, and certainly not people. Knowing is unimportant and unnecessary to success. If you wait until you know, then you have waited too long. As opportunities arise chances must be decisively taken and we must allow hope to guide us, devotion to sustain us, and faith to pull us through. Triumph only provides contentment equal to the investment, risk, and loyalty required to achieve the outcome.
Consciousness as a motive is best explained by the following definitions;

“Done or acting with critical awareness.”
In order to see life as simple and clear as possible receive all possibilities and clues. Do not be misguided by hopeful projection or dismissive rejection. See what is, not what you expect or want to see it. Don’t beat yourself down or puff others up by augmenting reality. Find the truth by being aware of your reactions, perceptions, influence, and beliefs. By coming to an understanding you develop trust, align your efforts, and empower your positioning for success.

“Marked by strong feelings or notions.”
Act with passion, pursue with enthusiasm, question everything, consider with empathy, and appreciate all efforts. Invest yourself truly in a worthy cause and fear not. You get out what you put in and through sincere attempt boundaries will expand, barriers will be defied, perspectives will be refined, and you will find yourself become part of something greater than yourself.

“Capable of or marked by thought, will, design, or perception.”
I greatly value ambition, but more so I value active pursuit of ambition. A goal half realized and undefined is still reason enough to take action. There is always better or more than what is. Failed attempts are still a step forward when achievement is accepted as a cycle not a point, a stairway not a finish-line. Not only is purpose essential, but also a sense of control, power, progress, and accomplishment as we pour endless efforts and hours into a task.

For me, as a “conscious” being, what makes me tick is;
- Trusting basic truths as a base from which I can move forward.
- Being part of a noble and worthy cause.
- Making headway and gaining on a chosen outcome.

2009-02-05T16:24:00.000-08:00

So I made it back to McMinnville after a lot of driving back and forth and doing a lot of different things. Chris and I left Friday for Olympia, enjoyed some tasty home cooked steaks and played some cards with his family. We spent most of Saturday driving up to and hanging around Seattle with some of his family friends to watch an indoor meet at University of Washington. We did the workout early and then enjoyed a GIANT fluffy walnut pancake before heading north. The racing was really good and we were able to watch the fastest women's 3k in the world this year. (8:56!!!!) It was deffinately motivating for our own young track seasons. The long workout and the trip made for a short night, followed by another morning run and then an afternoon watching the superbowl and spent evening wandering around Olympia.

Olympia is a beautiful area with all the water and tons of nice little coffee shops and bars and shopping because of the focus on supporting local business. Since I am but a poor college student I only had the opportunity to partake in the previously mentioned glorious walnut pancake and a shared pitcher of wheat beer. Chris's house is outside of Olympia about 30 minutes off on it's own in the trees. It is so dark out there because there aren't many houses around and it is so quiet and peaceful. It is a really nice spot with his grandparents on both sides very near by. All of his family were extremely friendly and it was nice to finally meet Chris's mom. I had only meet his dad and sister once before and so it was nice to get all the embarrasing stories about Chris hating to shower and breaking his arm and all sorts of fun little facts about when he was little. :)

Monday I headed back South and dropped Chris off in McMinnville because he had work all this week at a private accounting firm here in McMinnville. He is processing paperwork that I know nothing about and has been working quite a bit for them. Just perfecting that resume' i suppose. After the 8 hours of driving I was ready to pass out and spent the rest of my break visiting with Grandma and my mom and dad. Doing some running and getting some antibiotics to kick this killer cough I have had for a couple of weeks. I hope that with the cough gone and with being able to breathe again in a few days I can potentially run a personal best in the 5k this weekend at our meet in Moscow, ID.

I will be sure to update after the race. Tyler (my friend from home) and Shawn and Chris (my roommates) will all be running the 5k also on Saturday morning, along with Arian, a freshman on the team.

Wish us luck! :)

2009-01-29T23:24:00.000-08:00

Oh man, it has been a really long time since i posted. I must have just been really busy and tied up the last couple weeks because i don't even know where they went...

The Job: I have been working for my coach's company AQx the last month trying to sell aquatic training gear and do various projects for him. It has been a very interesting experience. I have all the freedom in the world to approach the sales however I like. I have been doing a lot of sales calls and a lot of emailing to aquatic directors all over portland and the surrounding areas. It's fairly discouraging though since the economy is so poor right now and even if I am able to generate interest there is very little money availble to spend. However, learning is best done by doing, right? And I am able to do a lot.

I was able to arrange a meeting with Portland Parks & Rec at which Garry spoke yesterday and he was able to spark negotiations for a big sell with them, which is especially exciting because the 10 pools or so within the system must all be standardized. So if they buy for one, then they buy for all, or if the plan to train their persons using our system then they must all be trained and we charge to put on clinics, so that is more income as well.

Garry has asked if I will be able to help him during spring term as well so at least that makes me feel like I am accomplishing enough so that he feels like he is getting something for the company's money.

The Sport: We had our first indoor meet last weekend at Washington State U in Pullman which is about 10 miles from the border of Idaho. It was something like 23 degrees outside and it dumped an inch or so of snow during the day so I was sure glad to be racing indoors, even if it was just a 200 meter track (so twice the laps) and only 3 other girls in my 3000 m race (two of which from Gonzaga and one from Whitman College). I lead the race against the 3 freshman and finished in 10:24 (about 10 seconds off the meet record. This is only the 3rd year they have put on this meet). It was a good start to the season. The 10:24 relates to around an 18:00 5k. Or about what I was running when I was peaking in cross. I have only dipped under 18 once and that was last track season in my breakout at Willamette in a time of 17:47. The next meet will be the first weekend in Feb in Moscow, ID. It is sounding like I will most likely double in 3k again with the mile before hand in the same day. It would make for a good day of training and more worth the 7 hour of driving through the snow.

The big one is in 3 weeks at University of Washington. Their DI women's team is one of the very best in the nation, which most of their top 5 around 16:00 for the 5k. I would really like to run the 5k at their meet but you must run a 17:35 to qualify. Garry is going to try to talk to the director and squeeze me in some how... keep your fingers crossed.

But the legs are doing pretty good. The achilles is feeling much better, my knee is bothering me marginally. I am up to running 5 days a week and back around 40 miles a week or so... a huge improvement from the 10 miles a week I was stuck at for nearly 2 months at the end of cross and into the off season.

The Break: We have a week off after Jan-Term and before Spring term starts. I am leaving tomorrow afternoon for Olympia to stay with Chris until Monday and then I will be coming home until Thursday so that I can be ready to leave on Friday for the Meet on Saturday and then back late Saturday and get ready to start class on Monday..... WHOOO... it's going to be crazy! But it will be fun and free of work and class and just a little break before everything gets going again.

I have never been to Olympia. So it will be fun to see what it's like and to meet his family and see his home. An adventure for sure. :)

So that's about where I am at for now. Hopefully I will have a chance to write in the next crazy week about the semester coming up and also about the Sports & Entertainment fair that I went to last night at the Rose Quarter. Quite the experience that was. Ah, the real world is sneaking up on me. Not a nice trick at all.

Enjoy your night. All love.

Sacrifice

2009-01-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

Sacrifice: a loss entailed by giving up or selling something at
less than its value.

I have really been thinking about the idea of sacrifice. It is a commonly accepted idea that in order to get what you want you must give something away at a loss. The more I think about this idea, the more unsure of it I grow. To get a new pair of shoes you must pay $70.00, to keep friends you must spend time communicating and staying in touch, to loss that extra 5 pounds you have to go without that chocolate donut, there is always a trade off. There is a decision to be made... you can go one of 2 ways.

(A.) Do what gets you closer to your ultimate goal (ex. new
shoes, life-long friendship, lost weight)

(B.) Do something else (save the $70.00, read a book instead,
enjoy the chocolotey goodness)

What is the difference between a decision and a sacrifice? I realize that a sacrifice usually has a negative association with it... it is a loss. A decision is not necisarrily good or bad, it is simply a crossroad.

Decision: a position or opinion or judgment reached after
consideration.

The other thing to consider about a sacrifice, if you accept it more simply as a decision, is that you really aren't forced to give something up. It is impossible to have both, you can not have your cake and eat it too. There for what you feel like you are "giving up" you are just going without... and it is impossible to avoid this in any decision. You can not keep your $70.00 and get the shoes. You can not talk to your friend and read your book at the same time (at least not very effectively). You can not eat the donut and loss the weight. There for you are not really giving one or the other up, since you didn't ever have it to start with.

It's not so much a sacrifice because without making a decision, and taking one, you essentially have niether. By making a sacrifice you are actually gaining something either way, although it is also true that you have therefor forgone something else, but you aren't giving it up, you are going without.

Every day of our life we make thousands and millions of small decisions and with every decision a door closes and our possibilities diminish, but also with every decision we are directing our life and moving forward, rather than standing still. You have to let go of the things you can't have or don't have any longer, try not to base your decisions on what you stand to loss and not think of it as a risk, but an opportunity and consider what you have to gain. You can't go back and change what has happened, and even if you find a source of blame or failure or mistake it won't lessen the wrong... all you can do is build and grow and develop into something greater... you can only add and never take away from your life. You can paint over and build on top of, but it is always there, there for you to make something beautiful and grand out of.

Maybe I have this all wrong, but isn't it easier to accept a sacrifice if you can look at it this way?

2009-01-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

This has been my first week back on campus after the holiday break. I have been working for my coach helping him do marketing and various projects for his business AQx sports. (http://www.aqxsports.com/) He has developed under water shoes for increased efficiency while doing aquatic excercise. I have learned a lot about his products and also it has been interesting to compare the structure of his marketing aprroach to that of the Oregon Wine Press. Basically I have total freedom to work on what I want and do what I think will be the most useful. I basically spent this whole first week coming up with some lists of contacts and now I will use this next week to start making the contacts and generating some sales and interest. It should be a learning experience fore sure since I don't have a whole lot of guidance. It's nice to have so much responsibility and ownership in a project though. :)

Running has been going pretty well. I did a 30 minute tempo run on land on Tuesday after running both Monday and Sunday before that and re-injuried myself again. Just got a little too greedy and thought I was feeling better than I actually was. So I did the workout in the pool on Thursday with the AQx shoes and was able to do an 80 minute workout yesterday with relatively little issues. I will deffinately be cross training today and tomorrow in hopes of feeling 100% for the workout on Tuesday... We get to do some work on the track then so it will be fun to finally get to that.

On Saturday we have our time trial. We are doing a 3000 meter time trail, or about 7 laps. I haven't ran a 3k since high school, in which I had my highest finish at state (4th) so it will be really interesting to see how my time will compare to when i ran it then. The steeple chase is also a 3k but that is a little different with 4 barriers to take on a lap.

The time trail is at noon and then I am heading home to work for my dad Sunday and Monday and probably driving back on Tuesday. I have to get this passed by Garry L, but it will be fun to see some of the fam and the friends in between cleaning the house next weekend.

I also got tickets for the Blazers vs. Cleavland game on the 21st!! So I am really excited to go with a couple of friends (Tyler Davis and his lady friend will be going with me!) and see as much of Lebron James as can be seen from $10.00 300-level tickets. (We are against the back wall again. ha!)

Well, that is all the excitement I have had here as of late... not so much. It's been kinda nice to just work and train and not have homework though.

Hope all is well.

New Year

2009-01-01T16:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year All!

I know that it has been a very long time since I have posted. Since November and I entirely skipped over the Holidays and December and now it is January... 1st 2009! Now that is crazy. 2009.

A year ago today I was considering and searching for the right school and what I wanted to do I didn't really have a good idea about what I would be doing in a month not to mention a year. At this point I was enrolled in classes at SOU and ready to make the switch. Since then I attended a couple classes, decided it wasn't the right fit, travelled to New Mexico and decided that wasn't the right fit either and then finally came to realize that I was at Linfield because it was the best choice, the right choice, and it was something I wanted to do not something I had to do. I feel like the results that followed and the outcome from making this decision have really taught me an important lesson

It's not so much in whether you able to determine which option is the
absolute best or the right choice, it's more about making a good decison and
commiting completely and being content with your best effort.

There is no use in regretting or doubting or going half way so that you always maintain a safe emergency exit. It is simply better off just to buy in and give it everything you have. It's not so much what the decision is but in making the decision what you do with it. You will never reach you potential if you are always holding back or if you do everything while holding your fears in mind. You must trust yourself and the good intention of others and the world that everything will work out.

Always be willing to change.

I was talking to a friend at school about good advice that we had recieved and tried to carry with us. My friend had been talking to his Grandpa about his life and asked him from all the living what he had learned and his Grandpa said that we must always be willing to change. It is incredibly difficult to stay flexible in life, but it is necissary to success and happiness. Few things in life are constant and things are always changing with time to resist change is to fight time and life. We must always be able to keep perspective about the world around us, and certainly about our role within the world and in relation to others. Being honest with yourself is one of the hardest things to do. To be able to examine what you are without bias or ambitions or this feeling that we control what we do not. A simple, honest perspective is golden.

Past decisions are irrelevent.

Do not let your future be determined by your past. We learned in Managerial Accounting that one should never consider sunk costs. They are gone and can not be recovered. So you can only more forward and look at what you can gain and not what you have already lost. Allow yourself the ability to let go of where you have been and what you have done and know that you are capable of extended past all of those previous barriers and accomplishments and failures and just because you have been there before doesn't mean you automatically will be there again. Whether this means that you have instant access or unavoidable direction, niether is true. You can be who ever you want to be, and that is all you really can trust or control is yourself. I learned this during cross when I knew I should be a shoe-in for Nationals and it turned out I had to run my heart and legs out to snatch that last spot. I ran this way because of the way I trained and treated my body and the state of my mind, not because of what the coaches told me or the cheers of my teammates or my injuries or diet. This also was became apparent when I was able to come back a week later and stabalize my mentality and run the way I should have at the national meet, because I decided that was what I expected of myself.

There are a lot of things that I learned in 2009 and I don't really believe in waiting for some magical moment or time to put into motion the work and actions to get the things you want. Any time is the perfect time to start, but since the New Year is here I might as well start a long drive to a better life.

"Every morningis a fresh beginning. Every day is the world made new. Today is a new day. Today is my world made new. I have lived all my life up to this moment, to come tothis day. This moment--this day--is as good as any moment in all eternity. I shall make of this day--each moment of this day--a heaven on earth. This is my day of opportunity."
Dan Custer

May the new year bless you and yours and bring you happiness, health, and prosperity. Love you all.

2008-11-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

Election Follow Up

I wanted to add one more thing for your consideration and in addition to the blog about the presidential election. My Aunt Belinda forwarded me an really interesting email that she recieved from our Czech Family in which the husband of Marcela who lives in the Czech Republic felt the immediate need to congradulate her on the selection of our next president. Isn't it interesting that the rest of the world has taken such huge notice? In fact, Kenya declared our election day as a national holiday. Crazy how the world works! Below is a bit from that email:

"At television trace just President electionin USA. I believ, that you elect good President. To me is likable BarakObama. I think, that the it'll be correct option. At our place is evening22:40 o'clock and all night will direct transmission President election. Teleview has title American night and begins in 24 o'clock. I wonder, how so will go against..I'm sorry, my English is very bad."
Yours truly,
Jarek Molák.

2008-11-06T08:24:00.001-08:00

2008 North-West Conference Championship

Walla Walla, Washington

Video Highlights of the Mens and Womens Races

This last weekend we had our Conference Race which went well. The weather was good and the course was amazing! It is the first time I have got to run on a smooth, fast, hilly golf course for a race. This is what the DI school get to do, it creates good times, but it also cost the hosting school $4,000 for the day... which in my opinong is rediculous!

The night before was halloween so our team dressed up for dinner once we got back to Pendelton, where we stayed, from seeing the course in Walla Walla. This is a picture of Frances, my roommate from last year and one of my best friends, and I in out Nun outfits. Heck yes we look good!

The picture above is of the 3 Linfield Wildcats that placed at conference on the left is my roommate Shawn, who also finished 3rd in his race, and on my right is Tyler, who went to highschool with me and finished 2nd team all conference and ran the race of his life. It was awesome to see how far he has come with all his training since High School. I am really proud of him.

Above is a picture of the Women's All Confernce Team in order of finishing place from right to left. I was closer to the 2 willamette girls this time than last time. Maddie Coffmen, the conference champ is the #5 returner from last years national meet, so hopefully I will keep sneaking up on her in regionals and onto nationals. Right now I am dealing with an achilles injury and I have not been able to run since Sunday, but, hopefully things will come around and I will be ready to roll in Salem next weekend.

2008-11-05T11:41:00.000-08:00

Electoral Vote Count: Obama 349 / McCain 163
Popular Vote Count: Obama 52% = 63,423,689 / McCain 46% - 56,079,786

Age
18-29: (18% of total vote) Obama 66% / McCain 32%
30-44: (29% of total vote) Obama 52% / McCain 46%
45-64: (37% of total vote) Obama 50% / McCain 49%
65 and Older: (16% of total vote) Obama 45% / McCain 53%

Highest Voter Turnout Since 1964.

Jessie Jacson Video Interview

This has been my first time voting. Or at least the first time I have been interested enough and inspired enough to take the time to become more educated and vote. I feel like my concern for the future of my country has increased because of this election and this is certainly the first time I have sat anxiously waiting for polls to come in and the states to be determined blue or red. I was encouraged to vote and become educated by my class-mates, my teachers, my parents, my family, complete strangers, everyone realized what an important election this was because this election stood, at the very least, as a hope or opportunity for change and diversion from the ineffective “politics-as-usual.”

Ironically, or due to sweet serendipity, as I was attempting to simultaneously watch the live online news feed of the election and catch up on reading for my American Lit class I passed a line in “Black Boy”, an autobiography of Richard Wright’s life in the racist south, in which he recalled an political cartoon placed in a local newspaper by a white-women’s group of a drawing of a gaudy Blackman sitting in the white house with a portrait of Abraham Lincoln and a heading that stated something along the lines “All the Blackman wants is to sit in the white house and ruin our women”. This book was written only about 50 years ago. As I read through this story of hatred and racism I have an extremely hard time believing that such awful things were ever permitted by anyone, they seem like exaggerations and impossibilities. This has got me thinking.

I think it is very interesting how race has been downplayed and minimized throughout this election. We are all trying to convince ourselves that we are not tied to stereotypes and prejudice. We try to convince ourselves that Americans are voting based on policies and beliefs of the parties and unaffected by age, gender, and color. I believed this, as I am to some degree naïve to the fact that many voters grew up in a time when racism and sexism and other isms were the norm and accepted. I was deeply surprised and some what disappointed by the post election media focus on Obama’s election as the first black president. I do not thing that is what this election was about. It was not about America proving that they could elect a black president, it was about Americans voting for who they thought the best candidate regardless of color, age, or gender. Obama acknowledged the race issue in his acceptance speech but did not dwell on it, Obama really focused on Americans coming together from all sorts of backgrounds so that WE can all work together and be defined as Americans not African-Americans or Latino-Americans. After all, if your think about it, America could not have avoided in this election either the first "black" president, or the first women in the white house as either Palin as the VP or Hillary Clinton as the president if she would have beaten Obama in the Democratic race.

I think that defining people within stereotypes is becoming a more and more foreign concept over time with each passing generation. The generation that was born in the 20s grew up and the peak and surronded by racism, but then attempted to minimized it to their children of the 40s, who minimized if further to their children of the 80s, until we have reached the current generation in which it will further decrease and eventually become a modern non-issue, but rather an always existent and remembered failure of our past to learn from. At least this is what we hope for, that people will not be made uncomfortable by these characteristics which make one person black and one white, one female and one male, one gay and one straight, but that we will be able to acknowledge such differences and accept them simply as what they are, without expanded insinuation or additional associations. There is nothing wrong with differences and as Americans we can accept and celebrate differences rather than try and make everyone conform to a single model citizen.

I recognize the significance of this election, but still was very surprised by the medias Black-pride over-kill of a moment that could have just as easily been more about American-Pride and hope for a better future. I hope that Obama was elected based on his policies, personality, qualifications, inspiration, and potential to be the best candidate in this election, not because of his color and definitely not to prove that American is capable of electing a black president.

I know my reasons for voting and I hope that Obama will live up to all of our hopes for change and improvement and growth for America and that we will come together for the sake of our country and for the sake our future behind the leadership of such an inspirational leader.

2008-10-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

This week was not too exciting. A couple of hardwork outs, a history midterm, that's really about it. Kinda a filler week. Highlights including a salmon steak brought from home to our very own kitchen thanks to a teammates father. It was so dang good! Also a chicken sausage, spinach, olive, mushroom quiche via a team effort from Frances and I. It was also quite tasty.

I still don't have my grade back from the History Mid-term that I took on Monday. I am supposed to be getting it back tomorrow though. I have been picking out my classes for the spring semester and am supposed to meet with my academic advisor on Tuesday to get my plan OKed. As of now I will likely be taking 15 credits.

- M/W/F 9:10 to 10:00 Financial Managment
- M/W/F 11:20 to 12:20 American Lit (1960 to present)
- M/W 12:25 to 1:55 Marketing
- T/TH 11:00 to 12:30 Management Process
- T/TH 8:30 to 11:00 Internship?

Hopefully that will work out. I need to talk to my internship lady about what willwork best for her. It was Holly's birthday this last week and so I got a good slice of cake at my internship last wednesday. That was nice.

Practice has been good. Just trying to sharped up for conference in Walla Walla next weekend. We don't race until noon next Saturday so the weather has been forcasted to be around 65 degrees and pouring rain!!! As long as it's not too cold the ran and the hills on the course will just take it outa those quick girls and even the playing field. YES!! We leave on Friday, which is Halloween as you all know I am sure, so the team has decided that we will all pack costumes to suprise our coaches with at dinner the night before. Frances and I are going to be nuns! I will be sure to post some pictures of the rediculousness after next weekend.

The house has been really empty this weekend. Chris went home up to Olympia to make some rent money digging clams with his dad and successfully returned with enough to make it through the rest of the school year. He had to work with the low tides to dig the clams and so he went out for a couple hours from around 9 to 12 PM and then again mid morning. Very interesting how that works... so he is also bringing back some super fresh clams and his mothers recipe for homemade clam chowder for some bread bowls tomorrow night!! I am excited to give it a try. My mom told me that fresh basil is a must for making clam chowder so we are going to give it a try. Yum Yum!!

This is the post of food apparently, man, I must be hungry or something for a mid-afternoon snack. :).

Some of the guys from home were at Western Oregon University in Monmouth for a party Friday night so I was able to drive down Saturday morning after our 7:30 AM workout and meet with them for breakfast. It was nice to see some familar faces, but it reminds me about what different directions our lives are taking us. They are very focused on very different things than I am, it's hard to relate, and I hate the idea of letting home go. BUT, i remind myself that it's not just me changing, they are changing too, so it's not so much that I am losing my connection with my past memories of home, but more so that they are not an accurate representations of the things that I have kept close. They are not the niave kids from high school that believed that they would be something... they are now near-sighted and disillusioned and believe that they are just without direction or control of their lives. It is actually very discouraging and disheartening... I hope that something will turn them around. Maybe they just need something to reach for. Hopefully they will find something worth working for other than to get through the week, wander across a free drink, or walk into a good time. They just need something they can put themselves into, take pride and ownership in, something to be proud of and something that gives a little back.

WELL... I best get back to history homework, but I hope you all will have a good Halloween and that I might have an inbox full of costume pics when I get home from Walla Walla on Saturday night.

Happy Halloween. Miss you.

2008-10-22T17:48:00.000-07:00

Q&A with Marci Klimek - Oct 21, update

http://www.linfield.edu/sports/release.php?id=2642

2008-10-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

We Won.
http://www.linfield.edu/sports/release.php?id=2633

Yeah, so not all that significant you might think, but, as long as I can remember I have never been part of the winning team in a track or cross country meet. It is really satisfying to see so much success around me. The reason we won yesterday was because of what we did together as a group of individuals. Running and life is funny like that, a game of individuals interacting in alliances, partnerships, and rivalries, in opposition and in cooperation. Ultimately you are alone our there to run the race by yourself. No one can carry you through or hold your hand or whisper in your ear the right thing to do and the right time to make a move. In life we have to make a million decisions a day on our own. And although 99% of these decisions seem insignificant over time you see how the little things pile up and build up into stocks of confidence, knowledge, and experience or barriers of regrets, fears, or hindsight. As a team, in a sport or a business or in a relationship, you always must keep the balance and take care of yourself and your own self interest but there is something to be said about connections between people. As amazing as it is to be out there on your own, mano-a-mano with the world doing battle, there is this whole other layer to the feeling of accomplishment when are able to make all the factors and personalities and facets come together. All of a sudden people you have never liked and will never understand are alright by you because regardless of your disagreements and past emotions you are now swept beyond that by sharing risk, trust, and belief. Recognizing the worth of this joint effort and the common investment of work, sacrafice, and faith that we all individually struggle with is a uniting feeling that we can related to, this link is something that simply can not be obtained individually. I am not trying to lessen the accomplishments of one or the honor of chasing a dream on one's own will. I am just recognizing this entirely different layer that isn't so much about acalades, times, places, but more about appreciating the moment and how good it feels when we can do something together and you can share something even if it is just the accumulation of individual efforts.

Well that was long and winded. But the meet went well, the fall weather was perfect. I got a personal best for the 6k distance. With 2 of our top girls Jasmine Klauder and Michelle Hartaloo having HUGE improvments in their PRs too! Frances is coming around as well.

School has been ok, got Bs on both my tests. So that is fine. Still over the class average by around 5% on both tests so it's fine. Been studying all weekend for a history mid-term tomorrow morning.

My dad visited this weekend and we went and got thia country for dinner and bought some cookies at serendipity's to take back to the hotel to watch game 6 of the red sox and tampa bay baseball game. Now it will be 4 weeks until he comes back up for regionals which are heald in Salem this year.

The deadline for the Oregon Wine Press November Issue was last wednesdays. I was able to get 8 placements for the B&B spread, my goal was 6... so Holly and I were happy about that. I will probably be backto sourcing wine festivles next week. Some of them sounds pretty fun and since I am old now, maybe i will try a couple myself.

Well I hope you are all well and enjoying the wonderful colors of the season.

Miss you. Love you.

2008-10-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

This last week wasn't too exciting. We had an off week from meets and so we got a full weekend. I had 2 midterms and I feel like they went pretty well. I had both of them on Thursday though which made for a long day. I had one 90 minute test starting at 9:15, then a second 90 minute test 15 mins after I got done with the first, then 3 hours of work 30 minutes after i got out of that class, and then a hard workout 15 minutes after work.... I was ready for bed. The two tests were in Managerial Accounting and Business law and then I have another midterm next Monday in my History of World Civ class so I will be spending this weekend trying to get ready for that!

Today in my Literature class we had a guest come to speak and discuss with us, his name is Al Young and he is the California Poet Laureate. The role of the California Poet Laureate is to spread the art of poetry from classrooms to boardrooms across the state, to inspire an emerging generation of literary artists and to educate all Californians about the many poets and authors who have influenced our great state through creative literary expression. He read some of his works and spoke to us in general about American cultural and the power of language. One really interesting insight he made was about the medias and the governments use of complex and cliche termonalogy which has no meaning to the general public or the average person. This kinda of "prepackaged" language is unclear and confusing to most of us and if you think about it this is realy true. Terms like "pre-emptive strike" or "power grab" are virtually meaningless, there is no guide-book or reference to look to, we can only assume meanings. Additionally there are secondary meanings to so many frequently used words, for example, conservative is defined as someone who is resisting change or perfers a traditional role, recently we see a societal view of conservatives as aggressive and seeking power and expansion rather than maintenance of personal issues. There is terrible loss of simple and useful language that all people can related to the use of senses; a lemon is sour, we all know sour, it is what it is, it is clear and straight forward, it is not created to bring out an image or an emotion or pull you one way or another... let us speak with clarity and honesty and be provided with simple information not stories and headlines and opinions. Allow us our due right to facts and let us form our own thoughts on things. What channel can I turn to for that? Anyhow, the website is alyoung.org if you would like to read some of his work. My favorite that he read to us and his favorite also is titled, "a note on the future of love." I can't find it on Google, but it is really good and about American Culture. He also spoke about how America is the largest market place in the world for drugs, largely due to the high stress, go, go, go, american lifestyle. I think we can all relate to the rush of life and the demand in America to keep up in order to pursuit happiness and success. I am glad that we all have our families, dreams, and sanity to overcome this trials... I am sure glad I have my running as well.

The weather has been good here, this weekend was warm and the colors were amazing. Some friends and I played a few games of horse shoes in the backyard and tossed the baseball around. It was really relaxing once we warmed up and got in a hot breakfast after the 7:00 practice on Saturday morning. It was deffinately still dark out and looking a little frosty white like christmas at a nippy 28 degrees.

For Halloween we will be in Walla Walla getting ready for our Conference meet the next day. We all decided to dress up for dinner that night and suprise the coaches so I am trying to think of a really good costume idea... if any one has any suggestions please let me know. I can't wait to see all the pictures of the little cousins in their outfits for Halloween. They are always adorable. It will be tough to top Hunters little Einstein outfit from last year though!! SO CUTE!!! I am including a pic so you can start to get excited for all the little trick-or-treaters coming to your door soon!

We have our final meet before conference this weekend at McIver Park near Portland and my dad is coming up again to watch! I am really excited to see him again! It is a shame that Thanksgiving is so far away and is our only break all semester... dang it! Atleast we have the full week off and only 2 weeks of class after that!

Well, I best get back to the homework. This week won't be too bad, just keeping caught up with everything and getting ready for that History test!

Hope all are healthy and happy and enjoying the crunchy leafs, the crisp air, and the wonderful colors... If anyone has the time take a walk thru Lithia Park for me... I sure to miss getting to see that park this time of year... nothing like it!

Love you and Miss you all!

2008-10-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

No end in sight for Klimek
October 5th, 2008

http://www.linfield.edu/linfield-review/?p=658#more-658

I had a good week this week. Above is the link to an article in the school news paper "The Linfield Review" that was published on Friday.

For my internship I was able to fill 3 of the 6 advertising B&B placements. The deadline is October 15th, but, I have a couple more people considering so... I think I can make it work. It's been fun learning how to take to people and business owners and what works and what doesn't. The more you make it to be a conversation and personable the better off you are. Otherwise I sound like a telemarketer and get hung-up on. :( boo!

I have 2 midterms coming up this Thursday. One in my Business Law class and the other in my Managerial Accounting class. I think it will go well though. I have been studying hard and am getting the info down. The nice thing about business classes is the usefulness of commonsense and the ability to think things through and have them make sense. It's nice to be able to talk yourself through a jam.

Our team had the Willamette Meet and it went pretty well. I finished 7th, but the first mile went out in 5:30 which is faster than I have even been able to run in practice yet this season. Most of the other meets first miles have gone out in around 6 minutes. I felt good though and smooth and got through the 300+ crowd at the start and then the quick bottle neck about 400 meters later to 2nd or 3rd coming through the first mile. From there I dropped and came back, passed and got passed, and with around 600 meters to go I was in 5th with 2 other girls from my conference. I really had a pretty bad mental lapse after all that battling and lost the 2 girls and dropped back about 5 to 10 seconds from them in that last 600 meters. So that was a little disappointing. BUT... over all... a 30 second PR in a XC 5k and a 40 place improvement from last year can't be too disappointing. Plus the best time a Linfield Women has clocked at that race. And I learned what I need to work on in the next 4 weeks to be ready for conference, the next 5 weeks for regionals, and the next6 weeks for the big important meet in Hanover, IND on November 22nd... OH! AND top 15 were given nike backpacks! So that was also a plus!

My dad was also up for the weekend which was SOOOOOO nice. I was really really happy to see someone from home and get some good perspective on the Linfield bubble. You can't beat family! He was there to watch the race and the weather was even good enough that he didn't have to use his search and rescue grade rain-gear! He them took me out to dinner and for a drink at the roof top bar. We both had gin and tonics. My dad told the bartender that I had just turned 21 and that he was taking his daught out for her first drink. I think he was a little disappointed that I only had one drink for my 21st celebration... But after such a good dinner and desert I had no room for anything else anyway. He also brought me up some packages and my fridge and cupboards are looking exceptionally tasty due to everyones thoughtfullness and baking and cooking skills. I can't tell you how thankful I am for everything that my family is to me. I have pictures of the kids and family all overy my room because you all remind me of my roots and the amazing influences you have all been on me.

Thank you Belinda so much for the jam! I lathered a big spoonfull on some of Jennifer's toasted zuchinni bread and had to go back for about 3 more slices. My dad ate a couple as well, and we made the event into a full-out mid-day tea time just for grandma. The homemade spaghetti sauce looks amazing and is just waiting for me to heat up those meatballs I made last week and froze for such an occasion. Now THAT is going to be a good meal! Plus the pesto and the applesauce look SO GOOD! I am having to fight off all the roomies! I have the pictures of the kids up next to my desk and all the smiling faces make me miss home and very thankful that I have such a wonderful family and home waiting for me come Thanksgiving...and any time I want it. :) My mom sent me a HUGE box of apples that are going to be put to good use in pies and probably some more applesauce... and more stuffing too! (Chris's favorite)THANK YOU EVERYONE!

I also thought I would include a photo of one more birthday gift i got this HUGE road sign my teammates drove 30 miles to tear down in the night and bring home for my birthday... illegal? Yes. But isn't it cool! How many Klimek Lns are there around?

I went for a good long run in the rain this morning and did a lot of thinking. I got re-focused and amped for the last big run at training. I thought about how I only had one more chance to run at the Willamette Invite. I thought about all that I am missing back home. I thought about how the next birthday worth celebrating is the big 30 and that it is only 9 years away. I thought about taking it all one thing at a time and enjoying the moment, not making things bigger or smaller than they truely are, appreciating what I have, what I've done, and what I have the opportunity to do. I thought about my goals and I thought about my roots. If you can, please take a moment today to think about where you are, where you've been, and where you are going... and think about all the amazing people, experiences, and moments in your life.

It's a good day.

2008-09-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

So, I hit the big 21. It was a pretty relaxing birthday... I know, non-typical of such a momentus day. I got up and did a nice 80 min run with the girls in the sun and then Chris took me out to breakfast at this AMAZING place in town. It's called Wildwood and for $8 you can get your self a sweet little set up of a 3 egg omlette (sausage, olives, green peppers, and onions), home fried potatoes, homebaked bread, fresh raspberry jam, and a side of salsa known as a Calamity Jane. We split one and with a hot cup of coffee the day had already lived up to all that I could have wished for. I did homework for most of the day with chris and my friend Arian. Then hit the pool for a second workout before a group of 9 of us went out for a big dinner at thai country including pineapple fried rice, pad thai, curry with beef, and cashew nut chicken. Frances had also baked me a delicious carrot cake. I went to bed early so I could get up and do my workout this morning at 6:00. So nothing to exciting but my Dad will be up next weekend to take me out for my first drink. Any good suggestions? I am thinking I would like to try either an Tom Collins or if I am feeling real frisky maybe a long island iced tea? Or maybe one of those trendy mint drinks? Or one of the ba-zillion flavored martinis? Maybe I will just drink whatever my dad buys me. :)

We raced on Friday so on Saturday it was one of the girls from the team, Shanna's 19th birthday! We had a suprise birthday party for her over at our house with a big cake (pictured above) and Nelly bought her a twister board! That was SOOOO funny to see big college kids trying to play on a twister board built for 12 and under! I had to include a picture of it it was so funny!

The meet went well last weekend. There was a very small turn out. Only 20 people in each race, but Frances made a successful come back which is essential to our teams success come the end of season. I am SO EXCITED about the Willamette meet next weekend! 300 people or more in our race alone! It is going to be a big test for the team and i. The conference is looking to be very close this year with 4 teams shuffling amongst ourselves. Willamette, Whitworth, Whitman, and Linfield are all in the running for a women's team title... but we want it more!

I made my first sale at my internship today. A 3'' by 2.5'' full color placement in the november issue to The Midsummers Night Bed & Breakfast in good 'ol Ashland Oregon. I was really excited to have made one, and I have 3 other B&Bs I have been talking to that are looking like they have strong potential. My Internship Mentor was really excited for me. Again, they little things right?

My Cousin Alan and wife Shanna have 3 kids Ashlee, Robby, and Hunter. Recently Ashlee has taken up cross country and is doing really well. Finished 4th on the team at the last race! I am so excited that she has taken up running. You have to be a little crazy to give running a try and I am so proud of her for trying it and I really hope that she continues to enjoy it. It's nice to watch others be involved in something you feel really passionately about. It was so nice to see some of the recent pictures of the kids that Shanna sent to me in an email for my birthday so I thought I would share them on here too because I liked them so much! Above is a picture of Ashlee, Robby, and Hunter and below is a picture of Ashlee running in a recent mud run in Klamath Falls!

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes, the cards, the emails, the calls i missed and the calls i recieved. I wish I had more time to catch up, but I can barely stay on top of my life as is. I love you all and miss you very much!

CAN'T WAIT TO POST AFTER WILLAMETTE AND LET YOU ALL KNOW JUST HOW IT GOES! Only 5 days!

2008-09-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

We had this weekend off, so new running news other than I was voted Northwest conference athlete of the week for last week and the second week in a row, and my roommate and teammate Shawn Fisher was nominated as male athlete of the week. Here is the press release;

Women’s Cross Country – Marci Klimek (Linfield, Jr. Phoenix, Ore./Phoenix) continued her fine start to the 2008 season, winning her third consecutive competition, this time by the widest margin of 25 seconds.
Honorable Mention – Kristen Balleninger (Whitman, So.)

Men’s Cross Country - Shawn Fisher (Linfield, Jr. Boring, Ore./Barlow) finished tenth with time of 26:13.40 in a race that featured competitors from Portland State and Concordia.

Also, on Friday we have our first home meet since I have been in the program at Joe Dancer Park here in McMinnville! OSU is going to be there, so it will be interesting to run against some of the DI girls... even if they are one of the worst DI programs around. Also, Chris is scheaduled to make his season debut at the meet this Friday and is really pretty anxious to get those spikes on an do battle! I just keep hearing "I Can't Wait Til Friday!"

Classes and everything have been going good around here. We found a 7th roommate finally so that rent is down another $50 a month and re get a refund of $50 on the first months rent! It finally is starting to look like rain and cool off... just in time for the first day of fall!

For American lit we just wrapped up The Great Gatsby, which I didn't particularly enjoy, and now we are on to The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, which is much better... more matter-of-fact and much easier to relate to. I also got to write an analysis of an Robert Frost poem (Something like a Star) which I really enjoyed. I had a presentation in Business Law on a case and got a good score as well.

I have been having fun hanging out with the team this weekend since we didn't have a meet and got a lot of homework done. I have started analyzing Nike Inc for my HUGE managerial account project which will take all semester. It has a long way to go... all this talk about inventory turnover and return on dividends... Little by little...I will figure it out.

This morning Chris and I went grocery shopping and came home and made orange zest/current/cashew/dried cherry scones and then touched them up with yogurt, fresh fruit, and granola straight from the oven... I love having my own kitchen... we are eating a million times better this year than from the cafateria. I feel much better.

I am very excited about my big 21st birthday on SUNDAY! I feel so old, and all the freshman love to tell me so. Such Brats! They think I am pretty elderly with my 10:30 bed time and my pre-race baked sweet potatoe... they just need to wait... they will be old and responsible when the freshman bliss runs out and the midterms start to settle in....

Well, I better finish up some stuff and get ready for the week. In case you don't have my address and would like to send me a letter or some chocolate chip cookies at any time I have posted it below. I was reminded that I haven't posted that info yet... so here it is.

I hope you are all well and that I will continue to recieve little updates from everyone on there doings, it's nice to feel connected to my family back home even when i'm all wrapped up in work and study and play up here.

Love and Miss you All!

Marci Klimek
Linfield College
SW Brumback St Unit #4822
McMinnville, OR 97128

2008-09-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

So this was only the first full week of school with all my classes and my workstudy job and my internship. It was deffinately an eye opener about just how focused I am going to have to be this semester to do all the things I want to do.

We had a hard week of training and I was feeling a little nervous about the Lewis and Clark invite this weekend. We had really hard workouts on both Tuesday and Thursday and also a long run last Sunday. So I was feeling pretty beat up as far as my legs were concerned and I had a little bit of a heat issue during the workout on Thursday since I only had time to do my workout at 4:00 in the afternoon.

but the race went really well yesterday there were 12 teams there. We finished 4th but were only 10 points of so out of first or second so it was really close. They only score the top 5 finishers and our 5th girl was 27th. All the ladies were really excited and packed up togeter and supported eachother through out the race. It was exctra exciting since that was the freshmans first time running a 6k, and our longest race of the season. As they run more they will figure out the distance better and better. I finished 1st and ran the 7th fastest time ran by a female on the course. The race went thru the first mile really slow (6:15 or so) which i didn't mind because my legs were fatigued... so the slower the better for me. After 2 miles or so I got a good break and then pushed it in and won by a pretty good distance. Now we have next weekend off and will just be working hard all through the week. I took my run easy today and look forward to refreshing in the pool later this afternoon.

I also had my first couple days with the Oregon Wine Press. I have my own desk and computer and company email and phone. It's the little things that sometimes seem like a big deal, isn't it?
This was the first week of my actual internship even though I have been in communication with Jeb, the publisher of the news register, as well as Holly Goodman, the director of advertising for the Oregon Wine Press and also my internship advisor, for a good deal of the summer. It was really fun to actually get the internship going and do some hands on work after talking about it and planning it for such a long time now.

On Monday I got some introductions and found that many of the employees were Linfield College Grads. One of which, Chris, actually was on the track team with me a couple years ago. Holly had me work on updating the master list that the Oregon Wine Press uses for all it's contacts about advertising and distribution and events and related info. Some of the e-mails weren't functioning so I got to call various wineries and businesses that were potentially, formerly, or currently associated with the Wine Press and update there info as well as try and pitch them as distribution points or a media kit or more info about advertising.I was assigned later in the week, on Wednesday, to start sourcing festivals for a large section that the Wine Press will be doing starting next year.

I am really excited about being responsible for the souring for the list of festivals and as my list grows what I will be able to do with all those contacts. I already made a pitch to MarshAnne Winery in Oakland and sent them some info about advertising and becoming a distribution point.

The Anatomy lab went well too...it was funny to see how uncomfortable people were with the idea of dealing with the cadavers and disecting the cats and thinking about how I was just like that a year ago. I really feel like I have changed and grown a lot in the last year. My coach actually mentioned the same thing to me the other day at practice as well.

Hopefully it is for the best.

2008-09-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

We made it back safe and sound last night from Walla Walla, Washington after the meet at Whitman college. It was a fun meet since it was only a 4k rather than our usual 6k and it went by quickly and we got to run a little faster than usual. The girls team came in 4th again over all and the freshman are coming right along. Our guys team did great too with my roommate Shawn being the top male finisher on out team and getting 4th place! Go Wildcats! Below is a copy of the bit on the homepage for Linfield athletics. Every couple days or so they pick an standout athlete to be the Wildcat Spotlight and get that little big posted first thing on the athletics homepage. I have never been picked before so I was excited to see that I was picked... minus the picture.... which isn't too cute. I also put a picture that my assistant coach took from the first meet at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR. The picture was taken at around the one mile mark.

WILDCAT SPOTLIGHT

Marci Klimek
Cross Country
Marci, a junior from Phoenix, Ore., won her
second cross country race of the young season
at the Whitman Invitational. Her time of 14:30.49
outdistanced the runner-up by nearly 10 seconds.

So besides racing the homework has already began. I had to finish my first book for my American Lit class by tomorrow so I quickly read the 250 pagge "O Pioneers" by Willa Cather in the van, as well as 40 pages for history of world civ, and 30 pages for business law, and 20 pages for managerial accounting. I am not very used to having this much assigned reading and more used to all the note taking and studying figures for the science classes i used to be taking before I switched my major... BUT... I am actually really enjoying it. Especially the material for the American Lit class since it is such an interesting era to look back on. "O Pioneers" was written in 1913 by Willa Cather and is about a family struggling in Nebraska to make some fortune or atleast some stability by way of their land. It is interesting to hear about how the French and the Bohemians and the Swedish and even the Czechs all had there communities and customes and lifestyles and how the differed and interacted. It makes me wish I had a time machine and could experience things that are so real and so eye opening as the hardships they faced.

Besides all the homework and running there really hasn't been much time for anything... I experience little social time in my college experience. I feel lucky I have practice to get me out of the house and my head out of the books! I get to go grocery shopping too now... which is another excuse/opportunity to take a break from the studying. Chris and I are going to back a big chicken tonight and we have stuffing and cranberry sauce planned as well... nothing like a home-cooked meal just like my Dad makes at home!! I just love the comfort foods that I have gotten so used to at home. Hopefully I will do a good enough job I can trick myself into thinking I am at home for the night.

One Meet Down

2008-09-02T12:06:00.000-07:00

Western Oregon Summer's End Invite Article

We had our first meet last Friday and it went pretty well. We didn't have a real strong showing as a team, but, the team we fielded was entirely freshman minus myself and one senior who had taken the last year off running to live in Germany for a study abroad. I had a pretty good individual race with an 18:39 which was a pretty good time in the wind and since I was pretty much on my own for the last half of the race. I did end up winning a large marion berry pie... which was tasty and i shared with my room-mates, team-mates, and coaches.

That was Friday and then Saturday morning the team minus the freshman (who had required orientation on campus) left for our annual team camp in Warrenton on the coast. Warrenton is about 10 minutes south of Astoria (if I have my directions correct). The sun was out although it was kinda chilly. We got to run on some really nice trails and on the beach, as well as jump in the duck-weed filled pond in camp and do some deep-water running to help recover from the soreness of the race the day before. That's me in the pic below loving the ice cold pond and above is some of the team on the beach. Frances is next to me on the far right and she was my roommate last year. Down below the 3 handsome men are from left to right my roommate Shawn, my coach Dr. Garry L Killgore, and my long time running partner and friend/senior high school prom date Tyler Davis. It's very strange to think that I only have one more cross country camp left and a reminder that you got to enjoy things while you can because very soon I will be working full time and a real adult... crazy how that happens.

Class starts tomorrow and so everyone is finally moving back in and filling up campus. There is a free welcome back BBQ this afternoon after practice and then our assistand coach is having the team over to watch the golden league meet that he recorded from friday and his wife stephanie is going to make her amazing chocolate chip cookies. It will be a good send off to summer one last time.

Then class Weds and Thurs, as well as a brief work study session Thursday night and we leave Friday morning for our next meet in Walla Walla, Washington and I will allready be missing class. Hopefully I will be ready for the 4k on Saturday, which is 2k shorter than our normal race and most likely a lot quickier... better strap on those spikes and get ready to roll!

Day Trip

2008-08-25T08:04:00.001-07:00

Yesterday the whole team packed our 3 vans and made the 3 hour drive down to the McKenzie River area about 45 minutes before Sisters and an hour outside Salem. It is really a quite beutiful area with an epic running trail that we got to explore! We also got to experience the spring of the McKenzie river which comes from the ground and a volcanic vent into Clear Water lake which really is pretty darn clear and also pretty darn cold. I think the official reading was 48 degrees.

Some of us jumped in and let me tell you it was cold enough to shut down my brain! We only have 4 days left until our frist official meet and the team seems really nice and everything has been going really well! Our team has pretty much doubled in size since we had 8 freshman girls come out and 7 freshman boys. It's nice to have such a large team for the first time ever. We had our time trial on Saturday and it was a good start!

We have our first real hard workout tomorrow and today I am just giving the legs a little rest after running 4 days in a row by biking and running in the pool. I also meet with Holly Goodman at 11:00 to talk to her about my internship with the Oregon Wine Press. It will be exciting to hear what she has in mind and get to finally meet her.

New House

2008-08-23T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I just got moved in a couple of days ago to the house we are renting here in McMinnville. I thought I would post some pics and show you what I got.

First thing to notice is why hasn't the landlord cut our dead grass? BUT... once you can see past the dead grass you will see a 9 bedroom, 3 bath house, fully equiped with 2 fridges, washer and drying, foosball table, and a trampoline (which you can kind of see in this second picture of our backyard.

You can also see th big porch. The house is still pretty dirty it was full of frat boys last year and was a big party house... or atleast that is what the neighbor lady has told us. But the kitchen has cleaned up really well and so has my room. I wish we had a vacuum and I wish I would have brought some old towels to wash the floors. I did some of the floorboards and walls and the counters and such So it is coming along.

It still feels really empty since it is such a large house and we don't have a surplus of pictures to hang on the wall or anything like that. But I'm sure that will improve with time. I am sharing a bathroom with 2 boys that have decided since there are 2 of them and one of me it is my responsibility to lower the toilet lid and so that is something I guess I will have to deal with but atleast the bathroom has a stall around the toilet so that it is more functional for 3 hyper-hydrated cross country athletes to use.

All in all it has been really fun and really nice living just off campus. It feels a lot more private even though we are only 100 meters or so from campus because people are wandering around the house at all hours like the dorms and because the house is so much like a maze and is just a collection of additions the house is really broken up and I don't even see anyone really since I am way off at the very end of all the additions around a bend in the road. I think it will work really well. We had already had some team get togethers here and baked some cake the first night here for one of the freshman boy's since it was his birthday. We have our team time trial in about an hour and a half so I should go get ready for that. It will be really interesting and fun to see the fitness level of all the athletes after a summer of training. I will keep you poseted.

Preview

2008-08-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

Hello All.

I just thought that this would be a nice way to keep everyone updated on what has been going on in my life recently and also through out the year. I am going to do my best to post a little bit atleast once a week and so if you are ever sitting there wondering to yourself, "I wonder what in the world that crazy girl has been up to.." you will now have a resource... if that is something you are interested in.

So first of all to catch up...

This is my Junior year in college. I have decided to finish up my last 2 years here at Linfield rather than transfering after all. I did attend several classes at SOU last winter and made the trip down to New Mexico State to check out their programs but in the end I am finally content and happy to be stay where I already was. SOU was too familar and New Mexico was too foreign being only half an hour from the border and I just plain missed the color green after only 3 days. SOU is however the right school for Cory who graduated this last June and has since been accepted to the honors program for pre-pharmacy this coming fall. He is all registered with 17 credits for his first semester featuring biology and chemistry! He has a full load ahead of him, but I know he is going to do wonderfully!

This summer has been full of searching for a job but only coming up with work, atleast I have managed to pay the deposit and first months rent on my house and still have some money in the bank. I have just been saving from working for my family and friends and whomever else will offer me a couple dollars to weed their yard or vaccum their living room. It's been good though, lots of variety and I got to work for people i enjoyed being around.

Also I have successfully come off my injury and am back to running most days of the week and workouts and even a couple of races this summer! The injury came down to tendonosis in the arch of my left foot, a tear in the sheath around the muscle belly of that tendon (the posterior tibialis tendon), and some kind of stress reaction within my left shin bone. After 2 months of strictly running in the pool with my floatation belt I got to move on to another month or biking and more pool running before I got to start ever so slowly running again. I have learned that my conective tissue is not designed for too much pounding and so I get to utalize a lot more cross training and weight lifting, which I actually enjoy and really compliments all the mileage and produces a more well rounded athlete anyhow. So I am happy to make the adjustments.

Well, some things I am really excited about this coming school year and will keep you all updated on as I get more involved with are...

- Internship with the Oregon Wine Press.
- A big group of talented freshman coming out for XC.
- Our big 9 bedroom house and my 5 roommates.
- My work study job as an Anatomy Lab Teacher's Aid.
- Taking classes for my Marketing Major.

I will be posting pictures of the house as soon as I get to see it the first time when I move in Next Wednesday!! Until then try and enjoy the summer sun and the growing heat. Love!