My Last Entry

My flight from Bellingham International into Oakland will leave here in about 6 hours, so sadly, this is the end of the bullpen blog :/ well at least for now. It has been an interesting summer, full of memories and good people. Going away to college and then going away for 2 more months of summer, I learned a lot about myself. I think they say that you learn a lot about yourself and gain a lot of knowledge and wisdom when you step away from your comfort zone, and being 20 hours from home, I am definitely away from that comfort zone. It is an experience that I will never forgot, nor ever regret. The journey wasn't always smooth, but it seemed that God never put me in a situation that I couldn't handle, which is what scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13. So not just for you baseball players or athletes alike, but for everyone out there, my advice: never be afraid to try a new experience. Now I don't mean to abandon your morals and do something crazy like fleeing the country with stolen goods, but if an opportunity knocks, and you are unsure about it, go for it. Leave your comfort zone and TITL, Trust In The Lord. There is an old saying that goes, "you can never get to second base without taking your foot off of first." So next time an opportunity is there to get to that second base in your life, go for the steal. Love you guys.

-Johnny Volk

El Dia de Las Actividades

August 5th, 2010 has been dubbed the day of the activity. It started with a 90 minute racquetball tournament where the #1 Chase Brewer took home the trophy. Then we picked up Junior Dishmey-Perez and hiked Mt. Baker. Junior, who is from the Dominican Republic, and goes to school in Texas, has never walked in snow, and since there was a ton of it still on the mountain, we all got to experience a first with Junior. After a 2 hour hike, we went home, and Chase, Ben Ruff, and I drove 50 minutes up to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for dinner. Vancouver is a neat city, and the downtown area actually reminds me a lot of San Francisco. It's not everyday that you can drive across and international border just for dinner.

Our most important autograph ever...

We had a couple of days off this week, and on Tuesday, a couple of us got to visit the St. Joseph's Adult Day Center in downtown Bellingham and we got to talk about our experiences this summer. It was a blessing to get to talk to some older folk, as they had some really good stories. Also whenever Charlie Markson or Chase Brewer is around, there is bound to be a good laugh. A gentleman by the name of Don showed us a picture that he himself took of Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Jimmie Fox, while at the 1934 All-Star game where Carl Hubbell struck out 5 straight batters, 3 of which where the aforementioned players. So here is this picture of 3 of the games best players, framed, and after he told us the story of how he took the picture himself, he asked the 5 of us players to sign it!! It was the most important autograph I have ever made. It was amazing. Then I was talking to a gentleman by the name of Bob, and he was very happy to see us. He shook my hand, looked me straight in the eyes, and with some tears in his eyes said,"You are great, don't let anyone tell you otherwise." I will never forgot that.