The perfect holiday gift!!!

For those of you who are last-minute shoppers, here is the perfect gift to show how much you care.

Make sure you have the sound turned on.

Trying to pick up the pace

Things have been incredibly busy and wonderful at the same time over the last two months. My contributions have dropped off dramatically and some of you have probably given up. But that's alright, I still have my loyal audience clammoring for more. Okay, that last part is not true at all.

But life is good these days and I have some very important things I will post here shortly. It just has to be on hold for a few more days.


I want to point out one thing that made me very sad a couple of days ago. I had the TV on and I heard one of my favorite songs, "God Only Knows", come across. I watched the commercial intently as a group of people with s@&t-eating grins across their face stared emptily into the camera. The weirdness continued for 30 seconds. This beautiful song drawing me in more and more...the whole time I'm wondering "this must be big for Brian Wilson to sell songs from Pet Sounds." Then the final ten seconds reveal that the commercial annouces that Sam's Club (owned by you guessed it, Wal-mart) now accepts MasterCard. UNBELIEVABLE!!!! I cannot begin to express my disappointment. I could understand if the commercial meant something, but for this profoundly important pop song (the first mainstream hit to have the word "God" in it) to talk about MasterCard and Sam's Club joining forces, it would be like "Imagine" being used by the administration to talk about the greatness that will be as a result of the war in Iraq. Well, maybe not that blasphemous, but you get my drift.

Anyways, stay tuned for more. I am done with school for the next month so time is my friend.

On my iPod these days

Today I found myself completely immersed in an album that I haven't visited in about six months: Willie Nelson's Teatro.

There is something incredibly beautiful about this album. The spookiness of the music conjures up images of a desolated and dusty, southwestern town haunted by its past. I am just enthralled with the Latin flare of the guitars, the thoughtful lyrics and soulful harmonies with Emmylou Harris.

Overall, it's a great listen from beginning to end. It's a smart, interesting album and one I historically find myself listening to much more than Stardust, which is widely considered Shotgun Willie's best.

I highly recommend getting this album.

Everybody's working for the weekend

I'm so glad it's Friday...I got a haircut, perhaps found a new daycare for Lewis and overall just feel great.

I went over to my buddy Pete's blog and he wrote this really interesting piece on Cory Lidle's accident this week in NYC. If you have five minutes and are wondering how the hell someone crashes a plane into a skyscraper, take a gander at this.

Speaking of Pete, Kristin and I will be heading to Colo-raddy for his wedding in a few weeks. We're excited about it and looking forward to seeing the a little bit of Denver, and catching up with some RU alum to boast about Scarlet Knights football. In actuality, we'll probably just bitch about witnessing 1-10 and 0-11 seasons under our watch as the Daily Targum sports editors.

Overall, things are going well. I just bought a ticket to attend Peterson Brother Reunion 2007 in Phoenix. Kris and I will be hanging out in the desert for some quality time, perhaps catch a Suns game and do some golfing. Should make for a great weekend.

I must admit that I really kick myself for being so obsessed with Lost. I have been utterly disappointed with the season thus far. I can only retain so many character backstories and unanswered questions. I'm full. None of it sticks. I need to make a new commitment to quality television. And here is a show I just discovered. It's got everything you need...action, love, music (albeit terrible music) and most importantly family. Click here to see my new inspirado.

That's about it for now. Things were busy the last couple of weeks with school now in full swing. Only two more terms and I'm done. It will be so nice to just watch football on Sunday and not think about what I need to be doing.

We are the Champions!!!

After months of servitude to the asphalt, I am thrilled to finally say Kristin and I completed the Portland marathon!

It was indeed—as one might expect— a difficult race. Yet, despite our collective aches and pains, we pulled through and crossed the finish line together at 4 hours 13 minutes. We finished pretty much right where we thought we would so I'm incredibly proud of our effort. I can't begin to express the euphoric joy that overwhelmed my entire body once we finished. The crowd and ambience of a marathon is by far one of the greatest things I've experienced. Hearing words of encouragement during the last 6-8 miles was inspiring and one of the factors that helped us get through it all. Today, day after the race, I am still so proud of our accomplishment, and most importantly, proud of the fact that we did it together. We trained together and stuck through all the fatigue that builds up over 26.2 miles. Kristin is tough, and I have developed a deeper appreciation of her determinism and indomitable spirit.

The marathon was by far the most difficult physical task I have ever endured. It's not just the day of the race that's grueling, but the three months of training runs leading up to it. That's what makes it so sweet once it's over.

At the risk of boring everyone with details of the race, I thought I'd share things I liked and disliked

Good
Ultima Replenisher--tasty and refreshing sports drink
Drum cadences--got me fired up at the beginning
Energy Gels--great shot of energy when blood sugar and electrolytes drop
Gummi Bears--fun to eat out of a Dixie Cup
Bananas--tasted so good at Mile 18
Crowd--lifted my spirits when the race seemed to never end
Weather--in the 60s with no wind

Bad
Live music--great because it was everywhere but there was too much jazz, folk, classical and random bands playing unrecognizable music through most of the course
Energy Gels--absolutely horrible taste but a neccessity
Finishing Shirts--Kristin's long-sleeve shirt looks like Princess Leah's robe in Star Wars (credit: Kevin)


Kevin (Kristin's bro) finished in 3:26. He's fast and made us looked bad. Our sister-in-law, Jen, also kicked some ass in the five mile race.

Here's the collective photo, post race of course.

Weather forecast incorrect....Hell has actually frozen over

For the handful of Scarlet Knights faithful out there, it's a great day.

After a 56-7 thrashing of Howard, Rutgers has moved into the Top 25.

See the story after the jump.

Conversations with Lewis

This weekend got off to a rough start for Kristin and I.

When I went to pick up Lewis from his new doggie day care this past Friday, I was informed that he was not a good fit for their facility and therefore would not be invited back. We were going through a probationary period where he would go to the place for two half-day visits. His first visit went well and I was not under the impression that anything was amiss. On Friday, the owner informed me that he was overstimulated and too much to handle for the employees. He would not quiet down when they put him in a crate (how many dogs do when every other dog is running around and one sits in a crate and watches). I guess between his barking and excitement, they were looking for him to be more mellow. This conversation went on for 10 minutes (the whole time Lewis is laying at my feet) and I went through stages of anger, disappointment, guilt and sadness. I did not feel as if the day care owner was giving me any practical solutions nor any great reason why he was not a good fit. But they have the right to do as they please so here we are back at square one.

It really sucks because the whole time we're there, Lewis had his tail tucked between his legs and was just watching me. I don't know if dogs have much emotional depth, but he could obviously sense something was wrong. It made me very sad.

So that was our fun Friday night.

On Saturday, Kristin and I did a 12 mile run as part of our tapering portion of training for the marathon. It's two weeks away and I'm getting a little nervous, but excited as well. This running four days a week is brutal, particularly because the runs were getting so long and time consuming. Later that day, Kelly and Nick came up from Medford. They were going to a wedding and needed a place to stay so they hunkered down with us for a night. Then on Sunday Kristin and I got up early to run in Race for the Cure-- a fundraiser for breast cancer. We've done it together four years in a row and it's become a tradition of sorts, particularly because we know people who have battled the disease. So that was fun. I guess there were about 50,000 participants. After that, we went to Equinox for breakfast which was tasty. No spinach in the meals because of all the E. coli. Mmm, tasty E. coli.

Later that day, we went out and got Lewis a Gentle Leader head collar. He took to it pretty well, but he still doesn't love it. We had been entertaining the idea of getting one for months now, as a co-worker of mine (who also had a border collie) loved it. It's not cruel, but watching Lewis pout once it goes on is kind of entertaining in a twisted kind of way. He does frequent face plants into the ground to try and push it off, but his efforts are futile. However, the change in how he walks is immediate. He does not pull or it cranks on his neck. So we've been trying that out for a couple days and it seems to be going well. He's adjusting and our arms are thanking us.

So that's about it. Oh yeah, that UO-OU game on Saturday was ridiculous. With a little luck from the refs, the Ducks staged an amazing comeback after scoring, "recovering" an onside kick, scoring with under a minute remaining, then blocking the game-winning field goal. Crazy stuff. But I see this article and I smirk.

5 years ago today...

Today feels pretty empty.

I wondered how I would feel today. Honestly, I can say I don't feel much of anything. I tried my best to ignore most of the coverage. So many events and remembrances peppering the country. I guess it's a good thing but these gatherings seem incredibly polarizing. They're great for people who watch from a distance and feel a deep empathy for those who had to experience first hand such a spectacular and devastating sequence of events. It's a way to demonstrate support. And they're comforting for people who were right in the thick of it, exposed and vulnerable.

But there's a lot of people out there like me who are just, well, in between. It's awkward to talk about what my experience was like because by all means I was incredibly fortunate. I was not in as much danger as the thousands stranded in the WTC. We were two blocks away, scared as hell and unable to leave our residence in lower Manhattan. But we were right there, watching the events unfold in front of our eyes. The scene was simply devastating. But I think back on how strong my group of friends and I were. Along with a group of about 8 people, we stuck together and helped get each other through the fear and uncertainty. The images cannot escape my memory and it is something I will remember the rest of my life.

Being here in Portland, it's easy to not talk about it. We're so far removed from New York. Most people have no idea I was even near the WTC on 9/11/01. I can easily slip through this day each year without speaking about it to anyone. Kristin always checks in on me and I appreciate that greatly. She does a wonderful job of keeping it all in perspective. She called me at work today and that really touched me. I also had great conversations with Kris--who was in midtown that day until we lost communication--and my buddy Anish, who was with me in his building that day. For the last five years, he and I have always connected on this day. My other buddy, Scott, also gave me a call even though we haven't talked since last year. I miss those guys and am grateful they were with me during that day (even if I had no shirt on and only one flip-flop).

It's just so crazy looking back on it all. I am so fortunate for everything this day five years ago made me. Today, I am a better person with a much more complete life. I have great friends, an incredible family and an amazing wife. So despite all the emptiness I feel at this moment, I know that it will soon pass.

I wish all of those who lost family and friends comfort on this day.

Weekend's over

So it was a pretty straightforward weekend, which is great considering we have not had a down weekend for about a month. On Saturday Kristin and I had our longest training run for the Marathon. We went for three hours and covered around 19.5 miles. We actually did really well during the run and Kristin's knee problems were not an issue this time around. So she's really happy and I'm excited that we should be able to get through this race. We start tapering off for the next three weeks. 12 miles sounds like nothing now!

I stained our deck today and it looks a lot nicer, kind of a new glow about it. I have some small touch up stuff to do but it should be finished tomorrow. I ran out of sunlight.

We went and watched the University of Portland women's soccer team against North Carolina today. I have never been to a game but considering UP is the reigning national champ and UNC is always a contender, it made for some good footballing (is that word). So we sat in the hot sun with a bunch of old people and youth soccer teams and watched the Tarheels beat the Pilots 1-0. It really wasn't that great of a game and the goal was a total fluke. But there weren't many opps at all for either team.








I'm quite the handy man--our beloved front door which is a pain in the ass to open and close, finally fell off the hinge tonight. So with my freshly stained deck and now a front door hanging half off, we were trapped in the house. But I went and got a few long screws and mounted the thing back in there. She's real solid now. I don't care how simple it was, when your door literally falls off, you take a lot of pride when it works better than it has since you've owned the house.

That's about it for now. My fantasy football team was atrocious so I'm pissed about that. And I really don't feel like going to work tomorrow.

Oh well...

This one's for you Dave!

It's been about 8-9 months since I've had time, well actually it's more motivation, to write something here. But an email from my buddy Dave inspired me. So much is actually going on these days that I should try to capture some of it.

Rather than trying to catch up, let's just start with now. Kristin and I have been spending a lot of our free time training for the Portland Marathon. It's on Oct. 1 and tomorrow we have our biggest training run thus far--about 18-19 miles. I'm feeling pretty good about my progress so far but damn this training is time consuming. We expect to go for about 3 hours tomorrow. Thankfully I just got a nice hydration bottle from my brother/sister-in-law Kevin and Jen.

Here it is:
sports bottle


In addition to Kristin's fuel belt, we are all hydrated up and look like real runners.

Work and school are going well. School is not as busy and I am only working on my business project for this wonderful company with an amazing product. The company is called Evo and we are working on a marketing plan (among a handful of other deliverables) for them. This is one of their products.

Lewis started a new day care today...he's still a handful and likes to jump on people and bark for attention. These are really desirable traits for a pet. I recommend staying away from a low maintenance, easy going, quiet dog and try to find the most difficult runt of the litter. Hey that's what we did and we're thrilled! Actually, it's not that bad. He annoys other people more than us, but we need to get some more behavioral work with him. I think he would be happy if he lived here and could herd sheep all day. We actually are entertaining driving 2 hours to take him there to find out if his border collie heritage is calling him for greater things.

Football really gets started this weekend and I'm incredibly excited about that. The Beavs got smoked 42-14 last night on national tv by Boise State so that sucks, but I'm still confident the season will be a good one. I've got tickets with my buddies Jeff and Nate for a few games, including the Civil War.

Plus #1 Ohio State squares off against #2 Texas. I'm going with Ohio State by 6 because Texas has a freshman quarterback. Kristin and I will definitely watch this one.

That's all for now. More to come, I promise.

Happy Holidays

I'm really excited for this holiday season, mainly because so many amazing things have happened over the last year which have made me a better person. Here's a short list of things I'm grateful for:

First and foremost is my beautiful wife Kristin, who I think about and smile at every single day. I'm so glad to be married and spend time together.

L-Dawg, aka Lewis. I'm really happy we rescued this little guy from the Humane Society back when he weighed 10 lbs and was 9 weeks old. Now he's nearly 8 months and weighs over 40. He's so smart and goofy at the same time, and just a fantastic addition to our household.

My family. My brother Kris is in town this week and it will be nice to spend Christmas with him and my parents. I really wish he would live closer so we could spend more time together, but I will pledge to do all I can in the time we have together.

My new family, the Lairs. I'm thrilled to have such generous and loving in-laws. I enjoy all the time I spend with them and it's nice to know that they also like having me around.

Work. I love my job. The work we do here makes a lot of difference in this state, country and even over seas. I'm always learning yet having a lot of fun in the process. It's great to be surrounded by such incredibly smart people who can also make total clowns of themselves when necessary.

There are plenty of others such as my friends and acquaintances and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and an exciting New Year.

I'm back!!!

So I took a month long sabbatical and now I'm refreshed. A lot has happened since my last post but I found myself incredibly caught up with both work and school, so there's too much to scribe here for now. Throw in a little holiday action and it's over a month since I've done anything. I will strive to be more diligent.

I finished my corporate finance and managing information technology finals on Wednesday and boarded a red-eye flight to NYC for a surprise b-day bash for Kris.

Kristin, myself, Matt & Jasmine and my parents flew in for a long weekend. Kris was totally surprised when we showed up at lunch for him. It was a great weekend full of tons of touristy action and family shenanigans.

I'm also happy I got to see a couple great friends, Anish and Meg. I told them I'd put pics up so here they are. Congrats to Anish by the way, whose film, "Old Joy," will be shown at Sundance this year. How about getting some information up on IMDB, Anish?

Was fortunate to see a bunch of lunatic Santas strolling through NYC as well for this year's Santacon...

Got to eat some world famous raspberry cheesecake from Junior's as well.

Saw a nice crowd of fans gather at Strawberry Fields in Central Park 25 years to the day that John Lennon was murdered.






Overall, it was an excellent trip, albeit a short one. Check out the sky from 1,050 feet above the NYC streets. That's about it for now. I'm going to be a blogging fiend during this break. I have to keep up with Biggs and his blog, Squaking VFR.

A quick history lesson on why the Beach Boys never became the Beatles

With John and Paul, their well documented rivalry spawned some of the Beatles' best music— White album, Abby Road, etc.

But with Mike Love and Brian Wilson, the former's ego and insecurity about his "rightful" place in the Beach Boys' legacy and rock n' roll history, helped push and already fragile man over the edge.

This story just reinforces how cold Mike Love is... Love Sues Wilson

Anyone who knows about the Beach Boys understood the group's dynamic. Mike came up with the concepts behind many of the BB's hits. He was the cars and surfing guy, and he wrote most of the memorable hooks that helped propel the group to stardom. However, Brian wrote 90% of the lyrics, the more reflective and introspective pieces. He was able to make the music simple, in many ways. In addition, he composed nearly all of the music himself. Most notably, he created Pet Sounds, in essence, by himself. And he did this when he was 23 years old. What did you do when you were 23?

This album according to Paul McCartney was the key influencer behind Sgt. Pepper's. That album forced Brian to focus all his time and energy into creating an album better than Sgt. Pepper's. That album was to be Smile. However, Mike hated the material and said it was not the Beach Boys sound. Perhaps he was correct, but many people still wanted it. Like the Beatles, the BBs were maturing into adults. But pressure from Mike as well as substance abuse issues, forced Brian to abandon the project— giving fans only bootleg snippets of what could have been.

But in 2004, Brian revisted his notes, music and whatever tracks could be found (apparently he burned all he could find in 1967) and teamed up with Smile collaborator Van Dyke Parks to release the album, nearly 40 years after its original release date. It was not the Beach Boys Smile, it was Brian Wilson Smile. But for a man haunted by this project for four decades, this was closure...but it also opened many doors. The critically and commercially acclaimed album motivated Brian to take the show to the road to perform the incredibly complex project. I was fortunate enough to see him live in August, and while he wasn't as great as he was 40 years ago, it was still great to see him try new things and experiment. Unlike Mike Love who wanted to recycle the hits and never change the formula that worked so well in the early years.

Anyway, I was just pissed to read this. I picture Mike on his way to Casino gig in South Dakota wondering why he can't sell out the Hollywood Bowl like Brian. Then he decided he needed to get in on the money. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Why the Blazers organization sucks

Kristin and I went to all exciting Blazers/Raptors game last night and watched some pretty terrible basketball. They were down 20 points most of the game and I don't even know what the final score was.

Anyway, the start of the 3rd quarter we moved from our nosebleed seats down to a lower level with one of Kristin's co-workers and a buddy of his. We were about 15 rows from the floor and the sections was about 35-40% full, at best. We sat down in what was clearly open seats. About 15 minutes later, a worker started ticket checking people and asking them to move. She did this to us (at the request of two 20-something girls behind) us. How we were bothering them is a mystery to me. Anyway, I asked why we had to move. She said because we didn't purchase those tickets. Obviously, no one bought the tickets! So I cannot truly understand why a more loathed franchise like the Blazers would continue to alienate fans. To make matters worse, the girls behind use heckled us with "some of us actually paid for our seats." What kind of person cares about that shit? I bet these girls, who by the way were quite unattractive, are they type who go to a bar, get drunk and start dancing on tables, drawing attention to themselves in a thinly veiled attempt to bolster their self-confidence. They know their ugly, but if they act cheap or like assholes, they feel good about themselves.

So bravo frontline Blazer employees for continuing to give me more reasons not to support your piss-poor organization.