Happy Holidays!

At the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge this Fall.
Dear former students,

It has been a great school year so far for me, and I certainly hope for you as well. I have thoroughly enjoyed the e-mails that some of you have sent my way as well as the comments on here. I must say that I have thought about updating this blog roughly 100 times in the past few months, but kept putting it off due to having way too much to say and do (plus not knowing where to start). So, here are the highlights:

- I ended the JetBlue "All-You-Can-Jet" Pass having flown 27 flights, 36,452 miles, 5 countries, 11 airports, seeing many great friends, and making priceless memories in one month - while working four days a week. It was the most amazing experience of my life.

- Came out to Westview for the Beaverton football game. Saw Jaye, Brandon, Russel, Nathan, Mary, and CJ (on the sidelines after the game). I also got to catch up with Mrs. DeFrance and her husband, as well as see Mr. Chamberlain and most of the football coaches. Good times!

- Was hired on for extra time at Marshall High School in Portland, where I am now tutoring in a Freshman English class in addition to the after school job there. It totals about 22 hours a week, which is obviously not a ton, but it is nice that I don't have a ridiculous amount of duties. I really love my job and working with the kids at Marshall - they are great people.

- Went to all of the Oregon Ducks football home games (after missing most of the start of the season due to flying). Saw former student Carson Kelly at one game - on an official visit for the baseball team, no less! The USC and Oregon State games in particular were INSANE. After we beat OSU, I booked my flights for the Rose Bowl, where I will be at on Jan. 1st with my brother. Yeah, I know that I am lucky.

- Saw the Blazers lose to Denver on the second night of the season in person. By the way, what the heck is happening to our boys this year? It is like the injury plague! Seems like they are battling through for the most part.

- Went up to Paine Field in Washington (a little North of Seattle, where the Boeing plant is), for a free tour that I won with my dad. I also ended up winning a $250 Alaska Airlines Gift Certificate as well!


At the "Future of Flight" museum at Paine Field, Washington. This is the entry point for the Boeing factory tour.
- Started a Twitter page (yes, I know... what is the world coming to?) You can find that here: http://twitter.com/LukeFritz64.

- Watched my Philadelphia Eagles clinch an NFL playoff spot this afternoon on TV (more specifically, watching the NFL Red Zone channel - if that channel had existed when I was in high school I am fairly certain I would not have graduated).
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There is roughly a thousand other events in there (retreats, trips, events, etc) but I will spare you the details. Just know that I think of you all often and hope that all is well!

Period 1, can you believe that a little more than a year ago, I took over teaching your class and we had the snowed out week that pushed back the Rwanda speeches until after Winter Break? Hehe. I will always remember that.

The next year promises to be a busy one as well. In addition to finishing out the year strong with my group at Marshall, I will be looking for full time teaching work next year. I also have a trip to England for my Grandma's 80th birthday in February planned, as well as a trip to Princeton, New Jersey to see my brother graduate on the 1st of June. Throw in a possible trip to Washington DC over Spring Break, and it is possible that it will top 2009 as my most traveled year ever. It all starts off in Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl - look for me in Section 9, Row 16 on TV! :-)

I am not sure how many people still read this, but I promise to come back and keep updating in the future. For now, let me know that you visited and tell me what is going on with everyone! Have a great Winter Break! :-)

Welcome Back to School!

In the canyon at Zion National Park in Utah, 2007.
Hello everyone!

Welcome back to the grind of the school year! I hope that I am not the only one who is very excited to finally be going back! The time off was fantastic, but it is absolutely time to teach and learn some more.

Just so everyone knows, camp last week was absolutely fantastic. I already have my group of 10 incoming Freshman at Marshall who I will be tutoring this year. We became a really tight knit group at camp! That is what climbing 135 feet high trees with your team holding on to you will do! We did all sorts of other fun activities as well, but most of all, I think I really developed a great connection with all of my kids. I am very much looking forward to school starting tomorrow (though I don't actually start seeing my students after school until Thursday).

In other news, I am definitely incredibly excited to be going to New York City for 9/11 this Friday! You can be sure that I will be updating this blog after every weekend of my JetBlue pass, letting you know about where I have been.

Anyway, what I am most interested in is how all of you are doing in your sophomore year of classes! Be sure to e-mail me or post on the blog if you need any help or guidance with anything going on. I am sure it will be a great year for all of you! :-)

I also want to congratulate Westview Football on their gigantic win at Barlow last Friday. A great way to start off the season! I will definitely try to make it out to at least one game, probably in the middle of October.

Along those lines, I am also really hoping to come out to Westview for a few hours on a Friday a little later in the year, just to see Mrs. DeFrance and everyone else, as well as possible partake in a little lunch hoops? Let me know if there is a good day for that.

If anyone is going to the Ducks game this Saturday, 9/12 against Purdue (I am really glad that I didn't have to witness the debacle of last week on TV, because I was at camp), let me know, as I will be down in Eugene for it (after tons of traveling).

Also, The Office Season 5 DVD comes out today (Tuesday). Woo hoo! Super excited! The new season starts in a few weeks too. Everything is starting up again! Soon it will be the Blazers as well!

That's about all I have for you - just wishing everyone that reads this a fantastic first day and week! You guys are all amazing and I know you will have a great year!

Unitl next time...

Out Camping This Week

A photo of mine from Arches National Park in Utah, which I visited in the summer of 2007.
Hello all,

I wanted to give everyone a heads up: I will be away from all forms of electronic contact this week (it will be a good change of pace for me!) because I will be out at Camp Tillikum, near Newberg, with the rest of the Step Up crew and students from Marshall. It is our big week to get to know each other and develop some great working relationships for when we get back to school and start the year. So, I will not be able to respond or post any comments, or reply to e-mails (I love that I still get some from time to time from some of you - it always brightens my day) until Friday around 6:00 PM.

In other news, here's the deal with the JetBlue pass: Steven, my old roommate, had to drop out of getting one, but Ryan, with literally 5 minutes left, did end up buying it. Hurrah!

I just booked the last weekend of flights today: I will be heading to Bogota, Colombia from Oct. 2nd through the 4th! Even though he isn't going, Steve was able to get in touch with his Uncle down there, who was willing to host us for a couple of nights! So sweet.

I also booked the first weekend of flights, again. Get this: Portland to New York City on 9/10, getting in at 6:30 AM on 9/11. Day in NYC and Ground Zero in Manhattan, then 6:00 PM flight to Boston, followed by a 8:30 PM flight to Washington DC, where I will sleep in the airport for the night. On 9/12, fly from Washington DC (IAD) to Long Beach, California, departing at 7:40 AM and arriving at 10:00 AM PST. Then, Long Beach to Portland at 11:15, getting in at 1:35, in time to get home, shower up, then head down to the Ducks game at 7:15 PM in Eugene against Purdue!

The next day, I will get up super early again, and fly from Portland to Long Beach to San Jose, CA back to Long Beach, then back to Portland, all in one day, getting back home around 7:30.

So far, the total cost of all of these flights (two out the the available four weekends) would have been $2495.10. Because I have the pass, it is all for $600. Seriously, so sweet. Here's a map of where I have flights to booked so far:

Great Circle Mapper: Weekends #1 and #4.

Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying the last few days of summer! I have seen an increase in the blog traffic around here, so I know people are beginning to check back in!

Until Friday... :-)

I have a job! And, I'm flying all over the place!

The best tuna melt I have ever had, and some delicious watermelon. Photo by Ryan Bowen.
Dear students,

Wow, that came together fast. As you may know by looking at my last post, I was up in Washington with Ryan for a while, until August 12th, when I drove back to Portland (because my birthday was August 13th). Now, once I got home, I saw this deal that JetBlue Airways is offering:

http://www.jetblue.com/deals/all-you-can-jet/?intcmp=HPHero1Eng_All-You-Can-JetPass

Basically, for $600, you can fly to anywhere they fly, and unlimited amount of times between September 8th and October 8th. You don't even have to pay taxes in the United States (though you do if you choose to fly internationally). 56 destinations, including many places that I would LOVE to go. Also, I know all of you know how much I love flying. So I figured that would be the perfect graduation/birthday present from my parents. I was jumping up and down excited, and still can't really believe it! Can you imagine all the possibilities? Here's everywhere that JetBlue flies (from Portland, they have non-stops to Long Beach, CA and New York City):

http://www.jetblue.com/wherewejet/

I am currently trying to get other people to come with me too. I talked with Ryan, who might be able to, but understandably has some finance issues with it. I also met with Mrs. DeFrance for lunch on Friday (so good to see her!), who was beyond excited about it as well - though I haven't heard back from her yet. Finally, one of my old college roommates, Steven, is pretty much committed to coming. He has family in Bogota, Columbia, who we could stay with. Isn't that just amazing?

Anyway, that is cool. However, this is cooler: on my birthday (the day after we bought the JetBlue pass), my friend Alexis from Lewis and Clark called me because she really wanted me to apply for a job that she was doing. Do any of you remember Mrs. Woicke, who came to supervise me? Basically, she is helping run this really awesome after-school program called Step Up for some Portland Public High Schools. Here's some more information:

http://www.openmeadow.org/open/meadow/schools/C11/

The job is part time, from 1:45 to 5:30, Monday through Thursday. I had an interview today with one of the guys that runs it, and he hired me on the spot! Woo hoo! I will be working with Alexis at Marshall High School this next year - I have other Lewis and Clark friends that are working at other high schools too!

Basically, I will be an after school mentor/tutor for at-risk youth. I'll have 10 students total - 5 on Monday/Wednesday, and 5 on Tuesday/Thursday. I'm still not sure about the specifics, but I think I will be basically teaching and helping them with whatever they are given in their classes at Marshall. I'll also be meeting with their parents frequently and making sure they know what is going on - since the population is about 65% white and 35% latino, it should be a good opportunity for me to brush up on my Spanish!

So, put the two together, and that means that from Sept. 8 to Oct. 8, I will be working part time during the week (getting to sleep in, woo hoo!) and then flying off to all sorts of exotic destinations on the weekend. Could it get any better?

I've already booked the first trip: I will be flying out to New York City on a red eye after work on Thursday, getting in at 6:30 AM on September 11. I'm hoping to go to Ground Zero and take in all of the rememberances and then jet back to Portland later that night - because I really cannot miss the opening Oregon Duck home football game of the season on Saturday 9/12 vs. Purdue - if any of you are going, let me know! :-)

The next day, Sunday, I'm thinking about using the pass to fly down to Long Beach, CA for the day and then come back. Oh wow. This is going to be SO awesome!

Anyway, where do you think I should go? Take a look at the route map and suggest places! For right now, I am thinking that 2 of the other 3 weekends will be Bogota (with Steve) and Cancun, Mexico, where I can go check out the Mayan pyramids of Chichen Itza and Coba.

Seriously, it all came together that fast! It really was an incredible birthday and last few days. I am so excited for school!

Finally, here are some aforementioned photos of what I have been up to lately:


Cliff face off of Cape Kiwanda

Check out what the wind and waves did to this rock over time!


Standing on Canadian ground, at the Peace Arch, where Interstate 5 meets the border.


Gorgeous sunset over Birch Bay, Washington. Ryan's parents get this view every night!

Ryan playing pool in Bellingham, Washington. He beat me, two games to one.

LOVE this picture. It is of an alley in Bellingham. The light was just incredible.

The view of beautiful downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. As seen from Stanley Park, to the north of the city.


Ryan and I went to a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, Vancouver BC. This was his fortune...

... and this was mine. I love it - it is on the inside of my wallet to remind me, haha.

Finally, here's me looking out over the bay towards Canada. Taken by Ryan. Good times. It has been a fantastic summer. Looking forward to getting back to work!
There you have it! Please let me know what you all are up to, and where I should fly to! Have a great day! :-)