rain beats lakers

I am not sure the Lakers have ever won a game in the city that I am living in, while I live there. I went to two Laker games in Indiana where the Lakers got rolled by terrible Pacer teams and now in the time I lived in Portland the Lakers look terrible when ever they come here. I don't know if it's the rain, if it's the manic fans, or if there is some sort of curse but it's getting old. How can this team dominate the rest of the league and not win in Portland? I'm hoping that when I read The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons as soon as Kyle sends it to me I will learn the answer. I'm sure in that 700 page monstrosity there has to be something on the Lakers atrocious showing in the Rose City

back home

After three long days of driving we woke up in our own beds this morning. Some woke up earlier then others but for the most part we are adjusted to the time difference. Driving across the country helps with that I think since we spent one night in each time zone. The boys did fantastic in the car considering they are 3 and 18 months. They watched a couple movies each day, took naps, read books, and played with cars. Finn would barrage us with questions every couple of hours but that would happen where ever we were. We drove from Indy to Sioux City the first day and spent a great night and morning with Kate's grandma Weezie. The boys got some Ginger cookies that were favorites of Tom Tom's so by default they loved them. They also got to play with some of Tom Tom's old toys. Kate added four bags of fabric and sewing goodies to an already over full car and after 3 solid meals in 12 hours we headed out for Billings, MT. In Billings we got a nice deal on a hotel through priceline and it was nice to sleep in soft beds and watch Sports Center in the morning. THe last day took us from Billings to Portland and we got home at 9:45 PM. The boys were asleep by 8 so they were right on track for being back on West Coast time. It was a great trip but we are glad to be home. The boys are missing grammie today something fierce, Henry pointed at a picture of her and shook his head up and down and said a long list of words that I couldn't decipher. I asked if he missed grammie and he said "Grammie!" Finn has been really whiny and needy and we asked what was wrong he said I miss grammie. It is funny that when they are there they really are all about Tom Tom but when they are not they miss Grammie. I don't know if that makes you feel better or worse Kris but the boys love you very much and miss you already. Kate and I do too!

The Fantasy is gone

At the end of the last Fantasy Basketball year I was pretty bummed. I got really upset about a comment by one of the other guys in the league and responded poorly. Then this new guy ran his mouth for the rest of the year while I sat passively buy not wanting to do anything dumb again. This whole league is made up of guys that I have known for 10 years or more except for this one clown. I didn't want to play any more even though we have been doing this for 15 years with pretty much the same core of guys. The off season went and I watched the national team play well for the first time in years and as we approached the start of the season I was feeling better then I did at the end of the season but not that much better. Since I was so terrible last year I had the best chance of getting one of the first picks and so I talked myself into playing any way. No sooner does everyone get signed up then Mr. New Guy starts running his mouth again and I immediately regret signing up. I have no idea how I am going to go the whole year putting up with this no talent ass clown and his comments like we grew up together. We didn't grow up together, you don't even know me. Then I find out that even though I had the worst team I don't get the first pick, or even one of the top three. I was pissed, I hung up on my brother when he told me. That's the thing about all of this, it isn't some passing thing. I love this Fantasy Basketball league as is testament by all the post I have made about it. It's changed though, or I have, either way it is no longer something I look forward too but it is still something I have passion for. Those are not sane bedfellows it would seem. I can't quit now but I don't think I will be as involved as I have been and that makes me really sad. I kinda want to cry right now and yes I know that is silly. But Carole King said it best: Something inside has died and I can't hide and I just can't fake it.

Unscheduled sleeping time

We have house guests and pregnant ones at that so we did the honorable thing and gave up the bed for the blow up mattress in the boy's room. We put Finn down at his regular time and Henry went down when we did but getting set for bed Finn woke up and wanted to talk about the whole operation. He called the action like a young Vin Scully while Kate and I tried to ignore him, hoping our inattention would lead to going back to sleep. It worked, or would of I think if we were better at following through with our parenting ideas and didn't both tell him to lay down and go to sleep. Henry woke up early early with a hankering for some milk and his impatience with Kate's speed in delivering that Milk woke up Finn. He picked up his narrating of the events "Daddy Sleeping?" Mommy feed Henry?" as if he had been interrupted mid stream and was just getting back on track. We tried to get him to go back to sleep but being in his room proved to entertaining for him so I got up with him and brought him downstairs. I didn't realize how loud my son was until trying to keep him quiet at 6 in the morning. He wanted to hold his uncle Jesse and sit on the counter and do any number of things that sleepy daddy was keeping him from doing. I got Finn some Milk, a bowl of strawberries and sat him at the table trying to sleep a little more on the couch. I would drift in and out of sleep seeing Finn first at the table, then inches from my face with a bull-truck, then looking out the window at the early commuters. He kept crawling up and laying down with me for three seconds and then climbing down to get something and coming back. He asked me to play trucks with him, go outside with him, go into the kitchen with him, do anything with him instead of just lay there but I was so tired. i finally said "Finn I need you to play by your self for a little bit" not thinking that he would ever do it or even understand what I meant. I was wrong, he did understand and as he dropped his head and dejectedly said "OK daddy" in the saddest toddler voice you can imagine my heart dropped. He didn't know it was too early to get up, he just knew that him and daddy had a chance to play and daddy wouldn't play with him. He walked over and grabbed his truck and walked to the foot of the stairs to call for Mommy. Maybe she would come and play with him. I got up and turned the lights on, grabbed my boy and sat him on the kitchen counter. I told him I loved him and he smiled up at me, all was forgiven.

Friday Night Lights to Sunday night lows

This past Friday night I went to the local high school football game with my dad. It was really great being in the crowd watching the people who loved the game and the great majority who were just there because everyone else was. It was small town football at it's best and the home team dominated from opening kick off to the final ear drum shattering horn. I was told how great my dad was when he played ball for the Tigers and chastised for not having enough spirit by the biggest fan there Calvin. We walked over to the game, through the woods, down the hill and into the field that wasn't there when my dad played. His games were in the park in the middle of town. There are about as many people in the town of Clatskanie as went to my high school so things were on a much smaller scale but the same Friday night Football dynamics endure just as strong in the northwest as they do in Southern California. The little kids are playing in the grass behind the goal posts, the middle schoolers are watching the high schoolers and the high schoolers are fighting the mostly losing battle to be cool. The game was not good, but since the hated rivals Rainer blew out this team Clatskanie was obligated to do the same and they obliged.

Saturday morning I went to breakfast and then a short garage sale seesion with my lovely cousin Crystal and then parked my self in front of the TV for a long day of college football. Having a TV that gets those extra channels and being back in the Pacific time zone allowed me to watch the 9 AM ESPN game all the way through to the Hawaii game that ended around 11 PM. There was a lot of great football in there and one terrible car wreck of a game. My parents worked feverishly all day to get the house ready for Kate and Finn while I pinned for them in front of the TV with a bag of chips and a fantastic channel that should all the games in tiny little screens so you could flip around at will. We all have our own way of preparing!

I would like to say that I got more done on Sunday but really how could I with all those pro games on. I had to watch the Indy game so I could text Nathan, something I am afraid is going to be a tradition for me for years to come. Then the Raiders came on and it's been years since I have seen them play. The Raiders didn't disappoint either snatching defeat from the claws of victory in typical Raider fashion. I did get a bunch done to get Finn's room set up and all of Kate's clothes up in the closet so it wasn't all vegging. It has been a great weekend of football watching at almost every level but it really isn't the treat that it once was for me. I would have traded all those games, well maybe not the high school game, for a chance to be in the Aalsma's backyard with all of these beautiful people.

From plans to reality

Writing this I am sitting in a coffee-tanning-ice cream place in Clatskanie, OR tweaking my resume and scouring the online job posting while trying not to think about how much I miss Kate, Finn, John, Tonya, Cosi, Carrie, ......... My brother Mark, and friend Jesse flew out to Indy to drive with me cross country to Oregon last week and we made the trip in 38 hours. We left Indy at 11 AM and made it to my parent's house at 10:30 PM the next day. It was an epic road trip that we dominated from start to finish. Three iPods full of music and a mix CD that encapsulated the mood of the trip perfectly, moving from excitement and hope to sadness searching and then back really helped the time go by. We had a rotation of 2-4 hours of driving with the other two taking the bulk of the midnight to sunrise driving time.

Now that Mark and Jesse are back home and I am left here to start the job search it's hard not to think back to what I have left behind. There are great pictures up on Flickr of Sunday night dinners and Labor Day beach outings that left tears on my keyboard. There was this line in a book I recently read where the woman was looking back at a time in her life where she was having some minor problems compared to the hell her life had become and she says "How were we supposed to know we were happy then?" There is a big part of me that fears we will do the same. This move to Portland seems like the right decision but I don't have any certainty to it, it very well could be the worse decision we have made and I would be lying if I said I didn't worry about that. Worry is no good here though, I am here, Kate and Finn are coming and so I look for a job. Then we look for a place to live. Then we look for all the other things we will need to make it in our new home.

In Loving Memory

This past weekend my parents dog Scout had to be put down due to advanced cancer in his stomach. He was not looking well the past couple of days and when they took him into the vet they found out about the cancer. It was a shock to all of us who suspected it was something he ate. My parents had Scout for a year and it was here in Indianapolis last year, shortly after Finn was born, that my dad answered an ad in his local paper for a free boxer. He called and set up a meeting when they got back home and from that meeting they took Scout home. For a year Scout was a part of the family, well loved and capable of giving such love as well. When Finn and I visited in January Scout took it upon himself to guard Finn's room while he slept. Finn would shake his lips and pull the bones Scout was chewing on right out of his mouth without Scout coming close to biting him. Scout would lay while Finn crawled all over him and it was incredibly sweet to see. He was a great dog with such a fantastic disposition and my parents are heart broken. Please remember them in your prayers and your thoughts as they go through this sad time. And if you ever met Scout and have a story please share it in the comments, I think they would like that.