Someone once told me that "We only live once, but if we do it right..once is enough", this site tracks my journey as I set out to experience more in an afternoon then most do in a lifetime. To tell the full story I have to back track from 2004 to the present so bare with me as I post the HIGHLIGHTS of the past 8 incredible years....Lets get started!
You always hear that you should do New Years in New York City at least once before you die...I agree. However, most people think of that corny out-of-towner yelling and screaming their brains out wearing 7 Under-Armor layers (because its 13 degrees and a brisk 24 mph wind coming out of the east) and drinking hot chocolate (that was nice and warm about 3 hours ago but is now taste like a mocha ice coffee). I still agree you should do NYC but I have a different take on it. I say you grab about 13 of your best friends, buy a 1-night open bar package at a semi-classy NYC establishment, and 'live-the-dream' for about 4-5 hours. The evening started with 6 of us (mind you 3 of us had never been to NYC) taking the metro-north to from Brewster to Grand Centrel Station. From there we took the 7-line to Queens to meet the rest of the group at E. Simone's place just off the campus of St. Johns University. After a solid pre-game, we made our way back to Manhattan to the venue. I wish remember the name of the place but from about 8pm until the 'Ball-Dropped' we lived it up while ensuring we got money's worth. After the ball dropped we took it to the next level and sealed the deal as we made the 2007 New Years the best New Years Eve ever. Some of the highlights of the night included McGreevy getting temporarily kicked out of the bar for slapping Bud in the face for being 'real tired,' a member of the group being temporarily kicked out for relieving himself in a flower-vase because the bathroom line was a 20 minute wait, the DJ playing Love Generation (the single most joyous song which we had only heard in Acapulco) right after the ball dropped and the 15 of us climbing on 2 tables and dancing through the entire song, a member of the group getting permanently kick out for punching the biggest man any of us have ever seen (he made 6'3 315 pound BIG Zach look like cabbage patch kid) and finally walking half of Manhattan looking for a cab to drive us to Queens (needless to say it took us hours to find a guy, on New Years, who would take us, what it seemed like across the country, don't worry when we found one -- he charged us just under million dollars) The amazing night was topped off by the 4am shenanigans (definition - Silly or high-spirited behavior; mischief) and a couple of us sleeping in positions that could not have been good for the neck. See Below.
Any excuse to make a trip north to see Tina I took full advantage, this excuse came during a mid-season bye week. The weekend gave Tina and I an opportunity to spend some much needed quality time, so we met at about the half-way point between Davidson and UConn -- Washington D.C.. We stayed in a great hotel and hit all the tourist spots in the city. It was the first time I had been in D.C. since I was real young and really enjoyed it. We made trips to all the Government buildings, the Museum of Natural History, the Holocaust Museum, Arlington National Cemetery and some awesome bar that had a 100 beers on tap. It was a typical Tina and Zach trip as we jammed as much as we could into a couple days. I would say the highlight of the weekend would be visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Soldier, pictured on the right, is guarding the sacred tomb of unknown Soldiers from WWI through the Korean War. Its an absolutely unbelievable ceremony and I hope everyone has an opportunity to experience it. Recently I asked Tina what her best memory of this weekend was she stated "I had the absolutely best Caramel Macchiato from the Starbucks in the hotel....everrrr." That figures but either way we had a great weekend and were sad to see it end.
My Junior year at Davidson was one for the books. I was still living off-campus with Beaux, Fitz and the wildcard of the Spring Semester Aaron Baila. Aaron was a senior Phi-Delt that graduated early and instead of starting his job at Dell in the winter he decided that he, and the rest of the campus, would be better suited if he stayed to live it up for a 'class-less' spring semester. Aaron staying at Davidson for the spring meant more Monday-Thursday parties at the apartment and more chicken parmesan at the dinning facility (he worked as a 'lunch lady' to make extra beer money hahah, I wish I was making it up, hairnet and all). The year was filled with epic Phi-Delt originals like, Airband, Christmas Cocktails, Blackout Beach Party, The Uniform Party (picture on top) and Ladies Night. Along with these, the fraternity runs the Bench-press for Breast Cancer fundraiser where all the football players get paid by participating students based on how many reps of 225 lbs they could do. (The bench-press racks are placed in the middle of campus to draw the biggest crowd and all money is donated to Breast Cancer research) -Pictures Below!
The great times kept rolling as we followed our Men's Basketball team to a Southern Conference Championship and pilled into our Student Union to watch them play Maryland in the first round of the '07 NCAA tournament. Although we took at 10 point lose, it gave the team the experience it was going to need for the next years run. Picture below is my buddy Thomas Sander getting embarrassed...he will never live down this photo. The next sports in-line was baseball, in which we supported many of our fellow Phi-Delts as they took the field for the 2007 season. We cheered, berated, sang, laughed and had a drink or two for every Davidson home game. The videos below will paint a pretty clear picture of what right field was all about and why opposing teams/players still tell me how much they looked forward to or hated playing us.
Along with baseball season, we participated in Spring Formals, like the Connor Formal (picture top right), and our own Phi-Delt Spring Formal. Our Spring Formals were legendary at the fan favorite Rock Quarry and deserve there own post...I will produce one in good time. Another Davidson tradition is Spring Frolics which is a campus sponsored party that stretches from Thursday through Sunday in late April. Walking through campus you will see carnival rides, games, HUGE slip & slides, bands playing on fraternity porches (Nappy Roots in '07) and 'on-by-the-way' about 5 kidi-pools full of beer / horse shoe games / beach volleyball / corn-hole tournaments and a peluthra of shenanigans in the Phi-Delt hosted party. Its called Spring Frolics and FROLIC we did!!!
When it was all said and done, 2006-07 at Davidson College was an unreal experience and was worth every all-nighter, 15 page paper and absurdly boring lecture by ten-fold. Each year was getting better and I couldn't imagine what my senior year would bring.
I have been going to Lake Almanor, California every summer since I could walk and have loved every minute of it. My grandparents (Glenn & Monte - picture below) built a house there after they retired in the late 80's which gave my sister, my Dad and I a place to spend the month of July. From '88 to 2006 I only missed one or two summers on the lake but I sure made up for them during the other 16!! It was a great location to spend quality time with my family and to get into some serious recreational activities. My Dad had me on water-skis since I was eight years old and made it mandatory that my sister and I get up at O'Dark-30 to "get some good turns in while the water is smooth and the wake-borders aren't screwing everything up." Either way my sister and I became pretty damn good and really enjoyed slalom skiing (even if we had to wake up early during our summer break). The Lake Almanor Country Club is also where I learned how to play golf, my all-time favorite pastime, and realized that I would be dedicating my life to be above average at the game (it looks like it will, in fact, take a lifetime). Other summer activities at the lake included fishing, jet skiing, hiking Mount Lassen (an extinct volcano - picture above), craw-daddy (crawfish) hunting, barbeques, whiffle ball - home run derby, legal /
illegal fire works and getting a phenomenal sun tan.
