Well it is time to get ready for another international trip. This time the destination is Istanbul, Turkey. I have been to Turkey a couple of other times, and I have to admit that I have enjoyed both of those trips. I am hoping that I have a good experience this time around. I leave on Saturday morning and will be gone for nine days. I haven’t started packing, but tonight my wife and I will get the laundry up and rolling so I will have some clean gear for while I am gone.

These last two weeks we have had training camp here in Colorado Springs. We have had some very intense training, but it is just what we need for this time of year to get ready for the upcoming pan am championships, which by the way are an olympic qualifier for us. We still have three weight classes to get qualified, and one of them is mine. I am confident that I will get the job done. I am just doing all that I can right now to make sure that I am prepared for the tournament come the end of February.

In other news, I guess there isn’t a whole lot of other news. I hope everyone is doing well.

Well it is a new year and like everyone I am making some new goals and strengthening my resolve to follow through on other goals that I haven’t quite accomplished yet. My main goal is to win an Olympic gold medal. I know that it is a lofty goal, but I am doing all I can to be properly prepared to achieve my goal. I really am excited about this year and all of the possibilities that out there. My family is doing well and I am healthy so I feel like I am already off to a great start. I am very blessed to be doing what I love and being able to meet and associate with so many interesting and wonderful people. Even at this stage in the game, I am still learning more about wrestling and about myself and what I need to do to be my very best.

This holiday season has been a lot of fun, a lot of work, and I am looking forward to getting back to Colorado to get back in my regular routine, with the exception of implementing my strategies to accomplish my goals. I have been on the road these last three weeks, and I am definitely looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. I was in Reno coaching, in Alamosa spending Christmas with my in-laws, and I was in Utah spending the new year with my family. Tomorrow we have a long drive back home. Hopefully I will get to see some more animals on the way back home. On the way out here I saw some huge bucks with huge sets of antlers. I was hoping to be able to see a bighorn sheep or a mountain goat, but didn’t see any at all. Hopefully I will have some more luck on the way home.

This last year was a great one. THanks for all of your help and support and for following my career. I wish you well on this year 2008.