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.