Now in his fourth NBA season, seven-footer Chris Kaman has established himself as a fixture in Los Angeles, where he nearly posted a double-double for the Clippers last season. Kaman averaged 11.9 points and 9.6 rebounds in 78 games (all as starting center) for a Clippers team making its first postseason appearance since 1996-97. Kaman will blog on NBA.com throughout the 2006-07 season.

Sorry it’s been so long. It’s been crazy. Crazy.

We were on the road for 10 days. We played San Antonio and lost. It was the first game we played well in a while. We played hard. It was a good thing and we were hoping it was going to carry over into the next game. We played Houston next in the back-to-back, and it did carry over. We played well against Houston. We were up with 20-some seconds to go and Tracy McGrady made a nice pass for the game-winner or basically the game winner because it was the last shot of the game. It was disappointing because we did play hard again and we lost.

Then we played at Charlotte and we beat them. Then we went to New Jersey and lost to the Nets. Then we went to Chicago.

We were coming toward the end of the trip and, for the games in Chicago and Milwaukee, my family came to see me. I had lunch with them and stuff. It was good to be able to see them for a while; I haven’t seen them in a bit. My brother comes out to Los Angeles every once in a while because he runs my trucking company. So I see him a little bit more than anybody else. It was good to see my mom, dad and sister – I haven’t seen her in a while. And my nephews came too; I haven’t seen them in a little bit.

So, we played Chicago and beat them and we finished the back-to-back in Milwaukee. We played them Tuesday and Wednesday on the road. We were up 22, I think, against Milwaukee, but we let them come back and we almost lost the game. We were fortunately lucky enough to finish the game and pull it out. So, we’ve been playing well.

Then we got home Thursday and got a day off. We came in and walked through some plays before another back-to-back. We played Utah and Washington on Friday and Saturday.

So, that was four games in five days.

THE HOME STRETCH

We’re right on the edge with Golden State. It sucks having to fight this year these last 12 games. It just sucks to fight this and have the pressure on. We really have to play well. We have to win games because Golden State is breathing down our necks. But, it’s a lot of fun, man. It’s a great time.

You’re always playing to win and you want to put the people you’re playing against into the ground. You want to kill ‘em. That’s the kind of mentality you’ve got to have. You want to be able to beat them by 30 if you can, but we haven’t played that way. So, unfortunately we’re behind now and trying to catch back up and we’re fighting to hold that last spot.

Golden State has been playing really well this year and they have a solid team. I think they have some tough games. I think our schedule from here on out – knock on wood or whatever they say – should be a little easier than their schedule. They play Phoenix, San Antonio, Dallas – they have a pretty tough schedule. So, knock on wood or whatever you want to say – I’m not really a superstitious person. Hopefully we can come out and play hard and get the win. If we can’t, I think the Warriors are going to be right there to clean up the mess if we fall down. But hopefully everything stays good.

RELAXING ON MY BOAT

We had Sunday off, so I went fishing on my boat on Sunday. We had practice Monday, in the morning, and Tuesday morning. I went fishing Monday after practice, as well, and caught a bunch of fish. Then yesterday, Tuesday, I was here just hanging out in the boat and relaxing. It’s a good place to go where it’s quite. It’s nice to hang out and get away from stuff some times.

I got my boat a couple weeks ago. My brother was out here and my uncle is out here now. Some other friends are here, too. It’s kind of crazy right now. I’ve been taking them out on the boat just a little bit. It’s expensive. It’s a big boat so it takes a lot of gas, a lot of fuel just to pleasure around, but I went fishing a couple times. The first day we didn’t catch anything and the second day we caught a lot of cod, lots of different kinds of cod fish.

BUSY OFF THE COURT

I have a trucking company, it’s called Kaman Transportation. We truck mostly produce and stuff in a refrigerated unit. We ship stuff all over: to Detroit, Michigan to Chicago, Michigan to Alabama, Michigan to Florida, Michigan to California, Michigan to Utah and pretty much anywhere you need except up to Alaska. I just wanted to try something else.

I know a guy who is really good in the trucking industry; he’s been in it for like 30 years. I had talked to him to see if he wanted to – he wasn’t doing anything in trucking at all – so I was like, “Hey, do you want to start something going?” So, we bought a small company and expanded and chose the name.

I try to keep my brother on hand as much as possible and my buddy helps me with my financial stuff. He kind of helps me take care of it too so I don’t have to be so busy into that and I can focus on basketball.

MARCH MADNESS

The tournament this year is pretty evenly matched. There aren’t a whole lot of underdogs in the thing. There’s some, but it’s not like there’s a George Mason.

Obviously, Central Michigan hasn’t been good enough to get into the NCAA tournament since I played there. It was the first year we were in the tournament since 1987. Their team just went down hill. The coach that I had, Jay Smith, resigned. They have a new coach. Ernie Zeigler, who was one of the assistants on the UCLA men’s basketball team last year, is their new head coach. I haven’t met him and don’t know much about him, but they’re down and have to do some recruiting, which will be a big point for them.

Four years ago we beat Creighton in the first round and then lost to Duke in the second round by 20-something. It’s unfortunate because you go into the games thinking you’re going to beat the team you’re playing, but you have to play your best. Duke had a solid team that year. It sucks to lose, but I know what it’s about. We played well that year, so we had no regrets.

I still talk to a lot of guys from that team, frequently over the phone and by e-mail.

On a long road trip like this, I always bring some movies with me. I try to bring movies that I haven't seen. I have a lot of them in my collection but I don't have a lot that I haven't seen. I try to bring the new releases with me. If I'm on the road and some come out – they come out every Tuesday – I'll go to the store and buy them if I'm able to do that.

Today I'll probably pick some stuff up, but I brought with me One Night with the King, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Lady in the Water, Little Miss Sunshine and a few others. I can't remember all of them.

On the road, I'll watch the DVDs on my computer. I have an Apple laptop and I use that with my headphones. I'll plug those in when I'm on the road, otherwise I'll just leave them out when I'm in my room.

I like watching everything: love stories, comedy, action, there's a lot of different genres that I like. I like horror movies. It just depends on who's in it, who directed it, the style and what mood I'm in. All the movies interest me; it just depends what they are. Some hold my attention better than others, but it just depends on what mood I'm in.

I follow the lead up to the Oscars a little bit, but basketball keeps you pretty busy. It really does. I try to just keep focused on what I'm doing. So, there are some movies that I haven't seen that are up for the Academy Awards.

For best picture, I haven't seen The Queen yet, but I've seen the others – Babel, The Departed, Letters From Iwo Jima and Little Miss Sunshine. I like The Departed. It's really good, the way it was made, and the people that were in it did a great job. It was unique. You hadn't seen a movie like that in a while and it was well done.

Maybe this could be the time Martin Scorsese gets his Oscar. We'll see. He does a lot of good stuff, but I think there were a lot of other movies out there during the years that have been better or just as good.

For best actor, I like Forrest Whitaker over Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, Peter O'Toole and Will Smith. I saw the movie and it was really good. I think it was probably a hard role for him to play and he did a good job. I haven't seen the Pursuit of Happyness yet, but I heard it's pretty good. I don't know about that, but I really like Forrest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland.

Best actress: I didn't see Little Children (Kate Winslet) or The Queen (Helen Mirren), but I saw Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal. I think maybe Meryl Streep will win for The Devil Wears Prada. She did a pretty good job in that; I liked that movie.

It's difficult when you're on a long road trip because you have to be away from home for so long and you sleep in all these different beds. It sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm not. It just sometimes can be difficult, for anybody, to be on the road that long, away from their house. It's not fun, but you try to make the most of it.

These are important games that we need to play well and try to win, so we just have to play well and try to come home with some victories.

Sunday's game at Toronto was like a 9 a.m. game for us because we were on West Coast time – a noon start feels like 9 a.m. It was tough. We lost, obviously, as everybody knows, but it was different. We hadn't played that early in a while. Most of our games are at 7:00, 7:30 and sometimes as early as 6:00 p.m. When we're here in the east, a 7:30 start is 4:30 at home. We don't have those early games often; that was the first one we had all year. Sometimes it becomes difficult, but, for the most part, I thought we had a rough start. We had them there, six to eight points the whole game, but we just couldn't finish it.

Coming up we have games at Philly, Indiana, Cleveland, Detroit and tonight's game in New York. We're just focused on tonight, though. They play well here at Madison Square Garden. We played them well the last game at our place. Eddy Curry is always going to be a load for whoever is going to be guarding him. Then they have Marbury, Crawford, and a lot of guys who play hard and play well. David Lee plays really hard and does a great job on the boards. You have to pay attention to everybody. You can't really cheat this game. They have a lot of talent on this team.

Things are going better.

We’ve been playing harder. Basically, in the beginning of the season, it was just kind of like we weren’t putting forth the effort. We were out there kind of just going through the motions.

Now, the last few games, we’ve been able to go out there and play hard and just give the effort that’s been needed.

I just think the effort has been better.

They’re games that we can win.

They’re games that are winnable games and we just got to come out and give the energy again.

New Jersey does a lot of different things than most teams with their offense. They got a lot of offensive powers in Jason Kidd, and plus Mikki Moore has been playing well.

We have a tough match-up with them but if we just come out and play hard and give the effort, I think we’ll be OK.

I’m still kind of recovering. My knees a little messed up a little bit. I’m having a little trouble with that but besides that, everything’s cool.

My ankle is getting there and everything else is going pretty good.

I just try to take the time and rest when we get the time off and then when we play, take advantage of the opportunities and just go out there and play hard.

It might be the hair, it might not be. Who knows?

I think it’s just the change of the new ball.

I’m just so much more comfortable with the old basketball that they brought back.

Just the feel of the ball … getting adjusted to a new feel and the way it comes off your hand … it’s a little bit lighter … it feels different.

I was used to the other one for the last three years and they want to go and change it, so, it’s better that they changed it back. It’s more comfortable for me.

The boat should be here in the middle of February.

Hopefully after that gets here, in the summer, I want to do some fishing down in Mexico and some other places.

For the West I’d go Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Kobe, Tony Parker maybe and Ray Allen.

There are so many good guys. It’s tough to leave anybody out.

T-Mac’s been hurt all year, but he’s pretty good at what he does.

There’s a lot of guys out there that are playing well.

There’s some guys in the East too.

Obviously LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Jermaine O’Neal always is pretty good, Chris Bosh is having a good year…its tough. There’s some guys who have been playing pretty well this year. I like those guys though.

I’m looking forward to this little home stretch we got here and when we go on the road in February I want to get some wins. On the road we’ve been struggling a little bit so we just got to go out there and get some more wins.

Oh yeah, oh yeah. The truth of the story is that I just went to get a little trimmed off and the person who was trimming it off cut a little too much off and it looked like a girl’s haircut. I just looked at it and thought, “This just looks terrible; you’ve got to cut it.” So I had to have her cut the rest of it off. I’m not going to say the name of the person – she knows who she is and I don’t want to put her out there.

Right away all my teammates liked the new look. They couldn’t believe I cut my hair because I had that cut for so long.

It’s not true. Not true at all. They did try to make that up to make it seem that way, but it’s not true. One of the coaches tried to do that and I told him that it’s not happening.

I was in practice earlier this week and I went to block a shot. I got my finger caught on the bottom of the backboard and flexed it back really far. It felt like I messed it up pretty good, so I got an X-ray just to make sure. Everything’s good. It’s not broke; just sprained a little bit. Everything’s good.

We just had a solid road trip. We went 3-3. We let go of the Orlando game and, in the Atlanta game, we just didn’t play well. We could have went 4-2 or 5-1 even. I’m glad the trip’s over, though, because the trips are long and you get tired and your body breaks down. It’s tough.

Coming back home with a win helps us because we were struggling. We’re coming in tomorrow and playing Cleveland. They’re a good team and that win helps get us on a roll a little bit.

We just want to get these wins because we’re a little bit behind right now. We haven’t played the way we played last year, but we’ve had some tough games against some tough teams. We lost some games that we should have won and won some games that we didn’t win last year. So, we just have to come out and try to get some wins on the board because we’re struggling a little bit this season. We haven’t been playing hard as a team. Together, we haven’t played hard. So we just want to make sure, even if we’re not going to win the game, we want to come out and play hard. That’s going to be our thing.

A buddy of mine knew about (the situation at the Boys & Girls Club of Harbor Gateway). I was looking for a place to help out and he talked to me about it, so I had him take care of it for me. This year I had a little bit of extra money to help out with, so I bought a bunch of toys and gave them to this Boys & Girls Club in Los Angeles to help out kids who are underprivileged. I just tried to help out where I could. I’m glad I was able to help out those kids.

Otherwise, I’m just still working on my house to get everything finished up. It’s a long season and there’s a lot of time. I also ended up buying a boat that will be coming soon; they’re shipping it from Florida. It’s a 65-foot Hatteras. I love the water. I grew up in Michigan and we have Lake Michigan and a lot of small lakes. I love fishing and hunting and all that stuff. I just don’t have a lot of time to do all that until the summer.

I just got out of practice and we're getting ready to head to San Antonio. We take off on the plane at 2:00.

We just won three-of-four at home; I think we're 9-2 right now at home, but we can't seem to get a road win. We've been struggling on the road, but we're going to try to get one. We're going into two tough places to try to get a win.

San Antonio's always tough at home, so we're going to have a tough matchup there. Memphis is struggling a little bit this year, but they're still playing decent. That's another place that's tough play. Anytime you're away from home, it becomes more difficult, obviously, and we just want to come out and try to get a win. We just need one on the road.

We just can't get one. It's frustrating. We're a good team, we just haven't been able to perform the way we're supposed to. We haven't really played well this year.

Yesterday, the coaches gave us the day off because we had played Saturday and Sunday, then we played Tuesday. We didn't really get a day off; We had practice Monday because we played Tuesday. So Coach Dunleavy gave us a day off to rest.

Obviously, Tim Duncan is a tough matchup. They also have Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili. They're playing well, they're shooting the ball well from outside. If you have a matchup inside to try to stop Tim Duncan, he finds people, he's a good passer and he does a great job of leading the team. It's going to be tough to win there Friday or at our place Monday.

My ankle is getting there. It's sore and it bugs me every day, and slowly but surely it'll come around and will be 100 percent.

I came back against the Lakers and it's always fun to play against them. They're a good team with Kobe and the matchup and the city of L.A. The fans are great. I wasn't planning on playing, but I talked to coach and I ended up playing. It worked out well. He limited my minutes and it just so happens we lost. I think the first game of the season vs. the Lakers was their home game and then it was our home game on Saturday. I think the fans were great when it was our game and I think we had some fans when it was their home game. No matter what you're going to have some fans, but there's a strong following for the Lakers. This city is overwhelmed with Lakers fans.

Basically, I was at practice in Minnesota and just came down wrong and rolled my ankle. I missed the last three games and we lost all three of them. Hopefully I won’t be out more than another week, but we’ll see how it goes though. Hopefully I can play this weekend, against the Lakers or Magic, but I don’t know how that looks. I wish I can be ready for this weekend, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen. It’s just what I’m saying. I’m not sure how long it’s going to be to be honest with you.

With an ankle injury, the ankle’s just weak. You can’t put any weight on it. You can’t cut and jump. There are a lot of things you’ve got to be able to put weight on the ankle to do, and you can’t do it. So, it’s just disappointing and I have to wait until it heals; that’s all I can do.

I’m doing some strengthening stuff and trying to get it right. Right now I’m just doing some elevation, ice, compression wraps and just trying to stay on top of everything. The trainer’s been doing a great job of trying to get me ready to play again.

It’s been a rough season. I just started to play decent and then I get hit with an ankle injury. I had a good game against the Lakers last Tuesday and then the next night I had another good game against the SuperSonics. It’s just frustrating a little bit to start playing well and get the bugs out and then you get hurt again.

I got playing well again by just working on my stuff. I knew the shots were going to go down; I was just struggling for a little bit. Now it was finally starting to kick in a little bit and I was making shots, the rebounds were coming, my defense was getting better. At the end of the game, my energy was there. Everything just seemed a lot better than earlier in the season.

As for the team, we haven’t been able to win a road game. I don’t know what it is, if it’s a mental lapse or we just haven’t really had the great games on the road. We just haven’t played well this year. We’re just fortunate to get the home wins that we got, but the road’s killing us because we haven’t won one yet. We’ve got to get those home wins under out belt and protect our home court because we haven’t been playing well.

Thanksgiving just passed. It was good. I had my family – my mom, my dad and my sister – out here. We had Thanksgiving dinner and they came to some games and stuff. It was good to see them. It was nice for me to spend time with them because I don’t see them very much. The day off gave us some time to hang out.

My family didn’t see the Sports Illustrated article yet. My brother saw it. He said it’s kind of crazy, but other than that I haven’t heard from my parents yet. My mom and sister flew back home, but my dad drove back; he drove our family’s motor home back. He went to visit his sister and then he’s driving back.

My house is slowly coming along. We’ve been remodeling it. It’ll be done in about another month here. It’s coming along. Other than that, Christmas is coming up. It’s always a fun time of the year. My family’s probably going to come back out for Christmas. I don’t really have anything on my wish list; I’m trying to buy a boat right now, so that’ll probably be my little Christmas present to myself.

Today we had a regular practice. We had a few games this week and we’re 4-1 right now. Everything is going pretty good right now, so we have to stay on top of our game and continue to try and improve our record. Your body always needs to rest after the long stretch of games, so you give your body a day off and then get back to work.

Playing in Phoenix is a tough thing to do and they’re a tough team to beat – especially in a home opener. Then, coming back home, we knew we had to play them again. We ended up getting the win against Denver by one point. Then we played Phoenix again, at home, and we got a second win. We’ve been pretty successful. The scoring’s been spread around the floor really well and everybody’s been playing pretty well. We have to continue to play well.

Dallas is a great team; everybody knows that. They just can’t click right now. I think sooner or later they’re going to come together. They’re still a tough team. They gave us a run in the first half. We came back out and fought to a 10-point lead and ended up winning the game.

I played limited minutes because sometimes Coach Dunleavy doesn’t like a matchup. Dirk Nowitzki is a tough matchup for me to guard – for anybody to guard, for that matter, but for me especially. So, I’m not going to play over Elton. That’s just how the game goes. You just have to bide your time and continue to play hard when you get the opportunity and take advantage of the chances you get when you’re out there.

Lately, I’ve been playing a lot of video games and relaxing because games take a toll on your body and you have to relax. You have to make sure you’re rested and ready to play the next day. I started playing a new game called Gears of War. It just came out Wednesday and it’s pretty good. I play Xbox Live and play online a lot, so I enjoy that. But I haven’t been on in a while. I was playing Halo 2 a lot, but I just haven’t been able to get to that. I’m remodeling my house, so it’s been kind of crazy right now around my house. So, I have my own little corner in my room and just play. Sometimes I get distracted.

Some of the demolition stuff on my house I’m doing myself to save a little money. I’ve got a lot of guys that work for me, so when I tell them to tear something up they tear it up. They get the hammer and the chisel out and tear stuff up. Now I’m slowly putting it back together. It takes some time, but we’re just trying to get everything right, the way it’s supposed to go. It’s going to take a couple more months.

Thanksgiving is coming up. I’m excited because my family is going to come out. I don’t get to see my family very often so I’m excited I’m getting to see them.

It's been a crazy few days. We had games Wednesday and Thursday and we have a game tomorrow (Saturday), too, so we've got to rest up today. We had a little practice this morning. Now I'm going home to relax the rest of the day because we have a big game against Phoenix tomorrow. They just beat us, so we've got to try to get a W if we can.

They beat us in the first game of the regular season. We didn't play very well. Our rotations weren't very good. What we wanted to get done we didn't get done. We had another game the next night -- a back-to-back -- and we played Denver. We won by one, I think. I can't remember the score, but I think we won by one. It was kind of crazy last night.

Playing Phoenix twice in only four days makes it a little easier to understand what they want to do and accomplish in the game, but it's still a tough matchup for us -- the way they play and their style of play. They're a tough matchup for any team.

I'm still a little rusty. I missed the whole preseason with that hamstring injury, so I've got to get my legs back and I need to be feeling the right way. I'm still a little uncomfortable in certain situations right now. The game goes really fast and it takes a little while to get adjusted back to the speed of the game -- I say slow it down, but it's just getting adjusted to the speed and making it more usual.

We've been doing a lot of practicing and games and it's exciting to get the season started off and I'm glad we're starting roll now a little bit. I'm glad we've got it going. You play against your own teammates in preseason, in practices and you want to play somebody else. Now we're able to do it. Different guys have tendencies and you're playing against different guys now and they all have different tendencies that you're not used to. So, it's a whole new person you're guarding out there and you've just got to play the way you play. So it's new and each game brings a new experience for you.

I signed my contract extension with the Clippers last week. I'm pretty happy to get it done. There was a deadline to have it done by Oct. 31. I'm glad to have it done. Now we're just kind of waiting on Coach Dunleavy to get his deal done. I don't really want to play for another coach at this point so I'm hoping that he's able to stay here and get everything done that he needs. I just prefer to play for him.

We’re shooting promos today. I don’t really know what’s going on yet, I’m just here. Practice just got over and you have to wait in line to shoot your promo. I don’t get to go until like 2:45 p.m. (PT). So, I’m sitting around. I can see the setup and everything, but I haven’t seen how it’s going to go yet. We’ll see.

The hamstring’s doing good. I just practiced a little bit today; I haven’t got a full practice under my belt yet. It feels good, everything’s going good and I’m just excited to get back to be able to play. I’m a little upset about having to miss these preseason games because they’re great for improving on your season and your skills and helping you get ready.

In Russia, I was playing and my hamstring was bothering me a little bit. I just kind of let it go and thought it was no big deal. We got back to the States and went to Santa Barbara for training camp and were there for about five or six days and it was still nagging me a little bit. I told the trainers about it and we kind of addressed it a little bit and stretched it and kept it warm. It got to the point where I didn’t want to keep playing. I thought it was getting worse so I stopped and now I’m just trying to recover from it.

I’ve been with the team the whole time. I come in and the trainers take care of me. As far as the rest of it, I’ve just been working with the strength and conditioning coach Richard Williams. I’ve just been preparing myself, keeping in good shape and trying to strengthen that area as well as stretch it out and get a lot of treatment on it. I’m starting to run a little bit more and starting to get loose, do some slides and lateral movement to make sure everything’s okay. I don’t want to go back and have a nagging injury.

I would like to play in the first regular season game Wednesday at Phoenix. We have one exhibition game left, against Denver tomorrow and that’s not going to happen. Then we have four days until our first game and I would like to get back for that Phoenix game.

I’m just honestly looking forward to get back playing and get in the groove of basketball and just seeing how everything goes. I’m excited for our team and what we’ve accomplished in the last year and we’ve just got to keep building on that. I’m just looking forward to the season. I want to get going.

I would honestly say we’re a little behind where we were last year at this point, but I think we have more skill and talent on the team than last year.

Our rookie, Paul Davis, from Michigan State, has been playing really well. He’s been playing pretty good. James Singleton’s been playing better. Your regular guys are going to come and bring it every night, but some guys are stepping up a little bit and playing a little bit better. So it’s exciting to see.

About my contract situation, basically, I’m not going to mention numbers, but I’m trying to get a deal done and the Clippers offered me a deal. I just think I’m worth a little bit more than that, so we’re working on it. We’re negotiating and I’m trying to get it done before the 31st. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen and I’ll wait until next year. But we are trying to get something done. I’m looking forward to the season more than anything and I’m trying not to worry about all that stuff right now.

Other than basketball, I’m remodeling my house right now, so there’s a lot of crazy stuff going on at my house. Just making it look better and a little newer style. It’s like half torn apart. I’m trying to get this taken care of at my house, so it’s kind of hectic with everything going on.

Hello NBA.com fans.

It's been a busy few weeks for me and I haven't had a lot of time to do much other than basketball. I haven't been able to go to the movies or anything. I'm really big into the movies and there are some movies I want to see, but I've been so busy I just haven't had time to do anything else.

The trip to Russia earlier this month was cool. I'd never been there before. I'd never really been to Europe before. I've been to Mexico and Canada, but never Russia. It was a cool experience. Everywhere you went you had to have security or a translator. The fans were really cool. It was almost like a college-type environment more so than a pro environment. They had cowbells, whistles, air horns. It was pretty incredible really to see the support of the fans there. They really grabbed my attention. Fans here in the U.S. are loud and there are a few crazy fans, but all of their fans are excited. It's almost like going to a college basketball game where they are on top of you and in your face. Obviously, they speak a different language in Russia, but they're so excited for their players and their team; they have this great support. The fans all wear the team's colors and have their shirts and their scarves. It's different and it's something that I'm not really used to.

When I was in Russia I took a tour of the museum they have there at the Kremlin. It was interesting to see a lot of the Russian history. I was just able to see things I haven't seen before and could never really imagine was out there. There's so much going on in other cultures that's really interesting.

I came back from Russia and, to tell you the truth, I went to bed at six o'clock in the evening and woke up at five a.m. The next night I went to bed at 7:30 and woke up at 3:30 a.m. It took me all last week and the rest of this week to get adjusted to the time difference. It killed me. I was getting up in the middle of the night and going to bed in the middle of the day. It's terrible. The problem was we got back and had two days before we went to Santa Barbara for our other part of training camp. So, in the middle of practice I was falling asleep. As soon as practice was over, I'd go to bed. I still get tired a little bit earlier than usual and am trying to get my stamina back up, but it's been a struggle. I never thought jet lag would be that difficult, but it is.

After spending nine days in Russia, we had a day or two off before going to Santa Barbara for five or six days. We had another day off and had to fly out to Phoenix the next day. So, I haven't been home in a while. I'm looking forward to my own bed. I've been sleeping in all these different beds -- not that I have a hard time sleeping, but my bed is comfortable.