Minutes away from death.

Apparently, I'd have to be in below freezing water roughly 20 minutes until hypothermia is irreversible. So family, start sending you love and sympathies now, cause I was 19 minutes away from death!!! hahaha. So you wanna hear the story? yeah, I thought you did.

Early Wednesday morning of last week, I went to row on the East Harlem River. Mind you, its 30 degrees outside with wind chill, a dead man was found in this very river, AND its sooo cold that ice has formed beneath the dock--lifting it up, AND it's soo cold that ice is forming on the oars. IN THIS VERY WATER my fellow crew-mate, Tiffany, and I were rowing in the double. (four oars--two people--and cold freakn' water). We were doing great--minus the frost bite on my hands (we can't wear gloves). Finally, we get to the point where we both row--together (before we were taking turns). And before I know it, we both loose control of our Port oars and tip....we both go for a little swim in the below freezing water. AWESOME!!! luckily we were both smart and kept our heads dry and above water... but I was rushed back in the launch, and had to strip down... of course the warm water wasn't working at the boat house... so i had to strip down, change clothes and stay in the warm van.

Needless to say, I'm OK :) It was a rough day, but I lived through it. Just remember the next time you get mad at me---I almost DIED. 19 minutes away from death, anyway. And luckily for Mom and Dad, they weren't there to witness the near death experience, but they were back at my shoebox ready for hugs and coa coa. :) So---here is a picture of me sculling a few days after, on the single--this is an ocean boat---so flipping is pretty difficult--thank goodness :)

Kill the mice.

In addition to my pet roommate--chicken--a papillon dog... aka rat... aka football with legs...--I've gained some new friends, mice. So Crhis and I caught one, put him in a plastic box and kept him hostage for a while---feeding him jalapeno cheese, and bbq pringles. (We figured he was a hispanic rat--so we spiced things up a bit). But despite our kindness...hombre decided to make run for the border...he moved the top off, and jumped out. It was quite the spectacle.

Round TWO: we caught yet ANOTHER mouse, this time putting him in a vase with a paper towel over it for breathing purposes. This homeboy chewed his way through the paper towel and hid in the closet. SO TWICE we've been duped.

And I'm sure you're asking yourself, why Brittany? Why would you hold your furry little friends hostage, and not just KILL them on the spot? Well... we wanted to hang glide our friends out the window. We were thinking...paper airplanes... a parachute of sorts...you know... having a good time with our friends.. as they fly down to their death. Unless the parachute proved to be successful, then the hombres would live, and continue to mass produce.

SO--ANGERED by being duped twice.. we ditched the cool hang glide plans, and decided that if we were lucky enough... we'd just chuck the next one right out the window. Needless to say.. we caught ONE... and gave him 2 minutes of last words... "meep meep"...and...."whooosh" out the window of the 11 story building. Hombre is dead. Now....if we can catch his girlfriend....we'll be in business.

PS... sorry mousey.. but you had to go.

East Harlem CSI

So... I saw my first "in-person-real-life" dead person. We were at the boat house near Harlem, and right before we were about to leave, all these police cars and police boats come rushing to the boat house. Turns out they were there to collect a dead guy floating in the water---yeah, pretty gross. So yes, it was quite the eventful day. What was even weirder was that they were so nonchalant about it.... and they were making jokes and didn't care if we were close. They "kind of" cleared us away, but they didn't make us leave. It was strange and very unreal.

In a nutshell...that's New York. And that's the river I row on everyday. The dirty river with dead bodies floating in it. Gross.

Here's a little something something... to remember the event. Those khaki pants is the said "dead-guy" I wonder if I could get money for these shots? ha. gross.

Crash-B Race photos

HEY fam.. if you want to check out some photos of me and my crew team at the Boston race.. I've uploaded ALL of them at Picasa. Here is the link :) ----->

http://picasaweb.google.com/bmmaughan/CRASHBRace

Kinda hurt... kinda sad...

So...with tons of crew practice, it's finally taken it's toll on my body. Specifically my back and my knees...which means I can't practice. I go to practice, but I can't do anything affecting those areas. Which ALSO means, I probably wont be able to participate in my first regatta on March 25. (sorry mama and papa :(...) I'm sad too. But I've been the to dr. I'm taking a high dosage anti-inflammatory, and I'm s-l-o-w-l-y making a recovery, and I'm STILL showing up for practice TWICE a day! No spring break for me :( But I can't wait to see mom and dad and show them NY and my little ol' shoebox. I love you fam. I miss you. AND I LOVE BABY WILLEM!!! yay!

I LOVE NY!

Saturday morning...if only I could sleep in...but...I am off to practice. With a hurt back and knee--maybe I'll get sent home? hehehe....probably not.

I wish all of you were here with me in NY. It would be SO cool to show you around, plus it is so gorgeous outside right now. It's nearly 50 degrees out, and not a cloud in the sky, and its bright blue! Amazing....so....come out to NY already! :) I can't wait for Mom and Dad to come to NY...OR should I say... Grammie and Grandpa! Yay! :)

Well I'm off to practice....and I've decided that in addition to studying today--I'm going to do something FUN in NY.... maybe even add a trip to Brooklyn to go to Target! Oh yes. I love you all. And Weston----get Grammie and Grandpa using their blog.

All because of Weston....

So...after Weston sent his oh-so-beautiful-oh-so-perfect-magazine-esque blog....we talked, and decided that as a family, the Maughan's should each have a blog--interconnecting us, and letting each other know whats going on in our lives..all across the country--babies, school, sports, and the like. So this is my new blog. We'll see how it goes, I've been told its better than the myspace crap..so here is my blog from NYC :)