Things have come together swimmingly over the past few months. Here’s a look into what’s been occupying my time:

• I was awarded the National Bureau of Asian Research Next Generation fellowship for 2010-11. I’ll be working alongside some absolutely brilliant people, assembling projects that concern foreign policy. I’ll also be pursuing independent scholarship for potential publication.

• In December 2009, I graduated from the University of Washington’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and earned my Master of Arts. I met some great people along the way, wrote a number of papers with the guidance of a superb set of mentors, and found myself as a writer and thinker. I couldn’t ask for more.

• I’m now writing for WannaBeBig.com, a fitness and bodybuilding website. Daniel Clough is a fantastic guy to work with. I have free reign over what I cover and I couldn’t be happier. I’ll be using WannaBeBig as the platform for my fitness writing, hence the change in content here on the blog. You can read here my first article for WBB titled Elemental Fat Loss: Six Weeks to Grecian Proportions. - Note: photos have been included by the editorial staff that may be inappropriate for work. No nudity, but the article contains your typical fitness mag shirtless guy with abs/girl in a bikini shots.

• Thanks to Nick Bromberg for hosting the JP Fitness Summit. I spoke on body transformation and had the chance to meet up again with one of my close friends, Alan Aragon. The other presenters–Lou Schuler, Nick Tumminello, and Bret Contreras–gave great talks. The JP Fitness Summit also brought out my colleagues in the fitness world; JC Deen, Roger Lawson II, and Michael Miller. Folks seemed to really enjoy the event, and I had a great time getting to know everyone in attendance.

• I’ve been reading. A lot. Some of my favorite deep-thought provoking tomes right now include The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War by Robert Coram, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick, and Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer.

And with that, have a fantastic weekend!

The guy most responsible for my weight-lifting career is blogging again. Lou was Fitness Editor for Men’s Health back in its ‘hey-day.’

Okay, at least in my mind five to ten years ago was its hey-day.

I had the pleasure to speak with Lou at the 2009 JP Fitness Summit, and worked with him on this article you can read at T-Muscle.com entitled The Tao of the Iron.

I learned a lot from the early 2000s iteration of Men’s Health, and it’s super-cool to see Lou back in the public blogging arena. Click here to check out some of his new stuff.