Steeplechase3k's random thoughts

Am I an acloholic?

2008-03-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

I just realized that my last two posts are both about beer, and about me drinking for a long time. The reality is that I've been drinking very little over the past few months. I decided a few months ago to limit my drinking to once a week. In the past I try to go two months in the winter with no drinking. However I never get past about 4 weeks, so this year I decided to be realistic and allow some drinking. I've haven't violated my rule of once a week yet and I don't think I will. I'm going to give up the limits once the Timbers season starts April 17 (wow, only 5 weeks away).

Anyway, I'm probably going to be posting here some more. I just got a new computer. I had an old Mac. It is a G4 which isn't a horrible machine, but I hadn't upgraded from OS9.2 so it ran like crap on most web sites with anything but simple HTML, as a result it was difficult to post because my browser would crash once or twice while trying to post and I'd lose everything. Plus uploading pictures to flickr or video to youtube was all but impossible. I now have a Toshiba Satellite laptop. So far (about 3 hours) I really like it, one of the great things is that it has a SD card reader so when I take pictures I can transfer them directly to the computer.

This summer I have 3 trips planned for which I plan to do some blogging.
May 26-28: Red Sox in Seattle. I'm making my yearly trip to Seattle to watch my beloved Red Sox. I'll be posting pictures to Sons Of Sam Horn.
July 18-19: Timbers in Atlanta and Charleston. I regularly travel to Seattle to see the Timbers (I haven't missed a game in Seattle since I joined the Timbers Army) and made 1 trip to Vancouver, but this will be my first trip that isn't by car/bus. I'll also be in Greenville on the 20th to see family and go to a Greenville Drive game.
August 14-19: I'm going to be in New Hampshire with family and won't be able to post much from there, but I'm going to go to a Red Sox game while I'm east. I haven't been to Fenway Park since 2001, so I'm excited to be going again and will surely take a lot of pictures.

Lucky Labrador Barleywine fest

2008-03-08T19:17:00.000-08:00

The Lucky Lab Barleywine fest was today. It was held at the NW Lucky Lab location on NW Quinby. As is my norm for brewfests, I showed up as they opened (noon). Over the next 5 plus hours I samples 28 different brews. I'm not about to mention them all, but here are a few highlights:

--Roots 2006 Oak Aged Epic Ale: Great nose. It was quite sweet, almost too sweet, I wouldn't be able to drink this regularly or in large amounts. 6.5/10

--Caldera Russian Imperial Stout: The nose on this beer was amazing and complex. The flavor was the similar. 9/10

--Golden Valley Barrel Aged Black Panther: Similar to the Caldera, but not quite as good flavor. 8.5/10

--BJ's Barrel Aged Imperial Stout: Sweeter than the Caldera and Golden Valley, and an slightly odd nose. 7/10

--Widmer KGB Imperial Stout: very little nose, the initial taste is a bit sour with a nice coffee after taste. Not as good as the other stouts I have mentioned, but typical Widmer beer, solid and flavorful, but nothing outstanding. 8/10

--Tuck's Glutius Maximus: Complex, nutty nose. Somewhat sweet flavor, reminded me of New Belgum's Abbey. 7/10

Beer:

The Fest at the NW Lucky Lab location

Beer:

Hillsdale Brewfest!

2008-02-16T17:43:00.000-08:00

I spent 6 hours today at the McMenamins Hillsdale Brewfest, also known at the Battle of the Belt. Every year McMenamins brewers from all over the Kingdom compete against each other for the honor of providing the McMenamins beer for the Oregon Brewers Festival the following summer.

Past winners were:
1995: Old Bushwacker Barley Wine - Bart Hance - Westlinn
1996: Chewbaccan Strout - Mike Hougan - Lighthouse
1997: Brahmamama Pale - Clay P. Riley - LSD
1998: Jabba the Porter - Jon Greene -Hillsdale
1999: Reincarnation Pale - A. Collins & C. Culla - Crystal Brewery
2000: Armadillo IPA - Vince Howell - Highland
2001: Beltfester Lager - B. Hance & A. Gonzalez - CPR Brewery
2002: Stronghold Imperial Stout - Jason McAdam - Hillsdale
2003: Hoot to the head - Organic Oatmeal Stout - Greg Balch - Hillsdale
2004: Big Bully - Organic IPA - Greg Balch - Hillsdale
2005: Royal Oil Oatmeal Stout - Mike White - Fulton
2006: White Lighting Whiskey Stout - T. Proctor & B. Riely - Concordia
2007: No Mas Lento IPA - Chris Haslett - Fulton

There wer 20 different brews, ranging from fantastic, to ones I could barely get down (but hey, beer is beer).

Although I don't really like IPAs I am hoping that an IPA wins theis year. that brew is Rose City 'Til I DiePA, a brewed by a fellow TA.

Some pictures:
First 10 brews:

Sectons 10 brews:

The belts:

Obi also did some live blogging : http://hesaidwhatagain.blogspot.com/2008/02/strange-brew-live.html

Edit:
The Winner will be anounced at 4pm at the Back Stage Bar at the Bagdad Theater and Pub, on Wednesday Feburary 12. I plan to be there and will post the results.

Josh Wicks returns!

2008-02-12T16:40:00.000-08:00

The Portland Timbers announced today that goalkeeper Josh Wicks will return for a second season. Wicks was the USL-1 Goalkeeper of the year last year, with a fantastic 0.60 GAA and 14 shutouts in 27 matches.

As I'm sure Wicks would say a lot of the credit goes to the defenders in front of him, but he still made a number of fantastic saves last year.

Portlandlandtimbers.com link

Only 65 days until the Timbers season starts!

New Turf update (again)

2008-02-09T20:47:00.000-08:00

Work continues at PGE
I swung buy the park again today and they were still working on the new turf. Since they are on a deadline (the OSU baseball games) I guess they are working whenever they can. I read somewhere (I think on the Timbers site) that they need it to be relatively dry weather to put down the sand and rubber infill, and since it is dry this weekend, they are working.

They were spreading what appeared to be the sand part of the infil on the northern end of the stadium. I got a few pictures of the work.

Spreading the sand:

And using a giant brush to get it down into the turf:

They also were opening up the huge (about 4 feet square, and 6 feet tall) bags of the rubber infill. There were stuck together in chunks so they had to be broken up (I guess this is why it needs to be dry to do the work). Here is a video of the work.

Red Sox and baseball stuff...

Yesterday was "Truck Day" for the Boston Red Sox. This is a very strange phenomenon, that I have never heard f for other baseball teams. It was the day the a giant moving truck left Fenway park to drive to Ft. Myers for spring training. There are some great pictures taken by a few Red Sox fans shown in this Sons of Sam Horn thread

Also the Roger Clemens (AKA: Texas Con-Man, Fat Billy from Ohio) 'Roids/HGH saga continues. The
New York Daily News reported that Brian McNamee injected Clemen's WIFE with HGH in addiiton to her husband. This just gets better and better. McNamee already turned over physical evidence that he injected Clemens, including vial and bloody syringes. Fat Billy may end up in jail over this.

Red Sox: Is Coco gone?

2008-02-05T17:18:00.000-08:00

The Red Sox announced today that they have resigned Bobby Kielty. Kielty is a solid defensive 4th outfielder, and not to bad with the bat (remember his pinch-hit HR in the 8th inning of game 4 of the World Series). According to Gordon Edes from the Boston Globe "It's a non-guaranteed contract that will pay Kielty $800,000 if he makes the big-league roster, with an additional $300,000 in incentives." I find it hard to believe that Kielty would accept a position as a 5th outfielder (behind Manny, Drew, Coco and Jacoby), so it seems logical that Coco is on his way out. However there are no rumors out there now about any pending trade.

Only 9 days 'til Pitchers and Catcher's report!

Also a quick New Turf Update:
I stopped by Piggy Park today to check out the work on the new turf. They were putting in some thing around the pitchers mound, I couldn't really see from that far away, but it looked like something to keep the infill in the "grass" around the mound in place when they pull out the mound for other events. The first use of the park is not that far away as Oregon State plys a baseball tournament in the park starting on Feburary 29.

Sports Upadate!

2008-02-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

A bit about what's going on in my non-Timbers sports world...

--Blazers: Brandon Roy was named as a reserve to the NBA All-Star team. I'm really happy for Roy, he has shown again and again this season that he is a rising star. Twice the conference player of the month, leading numerous amazing comebacks. Plus he's really humble. He said "It's extremely humbling," Roy said. "To be an All-Star in my second season; I still haven't found the words to explain how I feel right now. I'm nervous about being around all those guys on the same team. Just sitting there with Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan and Dirk; these are guys that I've watched playing the NBA Finals, and guys I've cheered for. And now I'm going to be sitting in the same locker room as a teammate for a day. It's humbling. I'm nervous. . . . I might not speak." (link) It is very refreshing to see a star that is so down to earth and humble.

--Red Sox: The Red Sox did not land the biggest prize of the off-season trade market in Johan Santana, as the Mets reached a deal with the Twins for the left-hander. As wonderful as it would have been to have a starting rotation of Beckett, Santana, Matsuzaka, and Schilling in 2008, and then Beckett, Santana, Matsuzaka, Buchholz, in years to come, I think it would have cost too much in terms of both prospects, and future salary. The word it Santana is going to cost over $20 million a year, and even for a team with as large a payroll as the Red Sox that could still limit flexibility in a few years. Plus, because he's from Oregon I didn't want the Red Sox to trade away Jacoby Ellsburry, I think he's going to really surprise some people this year.

--Patriots: the Patriots are in the Super Bowl again. I fully admit to being somewhat of a fair-weather Pats fan (but they are the only NFL team I'll ever root for), but the weather has been pretty darn fair lately. The Patriots put perfection on the line on Sunday, and aim to be the only team to go 19-0 in a season.

Happy Birthday!

2008-01-31T07:31:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I saw many of my former teachers, and it was quite a walk down memory lane.

My friend Bruce had asked that I help out at his father’s birthday party at Catlin Gabel. I went to Catlin for 13 years, from 1st grade (twice) through senior year. Since Sid taught at Catlin for a number of years, there were a lot of teachers and other people connected to the school there. It was also an excuse to hang out with a few of my fellow TA that were also helping out.

I saw and caught up with:
--Sid (the birthday boy): My 7th grade English teacher, and C&C advisor for Middle School
--George: My 8th grade English teacher, now the councilor for the Upper School
--Patty: 1st grade teacher (the second time). I think she was the one the suggested to my parents that I get checked for Attention Deficit Disorder which helped me throughout school.
--Andrew: who held many different positions in the 13 years I was at Catlin, from soccer coach, to Interim Head of school, to maintenance manager.
--Robert: theater tech teacher for 4 years in high school.
--Shoe: 6th grade teacher
--Dale: Middle school art teacher, and boss one summer.
--Robin: 8th grade Global Studies teacher
--Lowell: Physics teacher senior year, whose passion for the subject was a big part of the reason I majored in Physics in college.

All of these people are fantastic teachers, and were a big part of forming me into the person I am today (for better or worse :) ). So to all of you (and any I may have forgotten), THANK YOU.

New turf work continues

2008-01-25T15:20:00.000-08:00

Workers have started to install the new turf at PGE Park, and it looks really nice. They have started at the north end of the park. As I watched the worker sewed two of the long pieces of turf together.

One interesting thing I noticed after watching this work and the removal of the old turf was that the old turf was run diagonally to the pitch. The new turf is laid down straight across the pitch. I'm wondering if that is because the old turf had more noticeable seams and they didn't want them running across the pitch, and if the lines run with the direction of a baseball that has been hit there is less chance of a bad bounce, but with the new turn the seams are hidden under the rubber infill. Who knows...

Workers lay out the next strip of turf:

Rolls of turf, and bags of the infill mixture:

Workers sew the strips together:

With the news of Timber Jim retiring, I hope a banner is added here for him.

Timber Jim

2008-01-24T19:04:00.000-08:00

Today Timber Jim announced his retirement as mascot of the Portland Timbers. Jim was more than just a mascot, he was a friend of the club, and it's fans.

This was a day I knew was coming, but I have to admit I still teared up a little bit when I read the news while at work. It's really sad to think that we'll never see this again:

There have been games where Jim wasn't around, like the match against Sunderland, but it will still be very different to be in the park and not hear the roar of Jim's chainsaw.

It's hard for me to really put into words what Jim means to me. Timber Jim has been a constant as long as I have been part of the Timbers Army. I remember the first time I was with the TA outside of PGE Park. There was a Timbers road game on FSC and we met at McFaddens. Jim was there shaking hands and handing out copies of the Timbers magazine.

Since then it has been a pleasure to get to know a wonderful man who loves his family and friends deeply. In 2004 we mourned with Jim the loss of his daughter.
I still get tears in my eyes most of the times that we sing "You are my Sunshine." Jim saw my love for Habitat for Humanity, and has responded by giving his own money, and donating money that we had raised for his granddaughter's trust.

There will be a celebration of Jim's dedication to the PTFC on April 17, at the home opener. Be there.

Also a quick note about the new turf: I swung by the park on Wednesday night and the rolls of new turf were neatly stacked on the south end of the stadium along with several large bags of what I assume was the rubber infill. I'll see if I can stop by in the next few days to get some pictures of the continuing work.

Timbers release schedule

2008-01-15T11:10:00.000-08:00

The Timbers finally release their schedule, it it looks like there are going to be a lot of hangover Fridays this year (there are a lot of Thirsty Thursdays).

The schedule is as follows:

APRIL
Thursday, April 17 PUERTO RICO 7 p.m.
Thursday, April 24 MINNESOTA 7 p.m.
Saturday, April 26 SEATTLE 7 p.m.

MAY
Thursday, May 8 ROCHESTER 7 p.m.
Saturday, May 10 @Seattle 7 p.m.
Friday, May 16 @ Puerto Rico 5 p.m.
Sunday, May 18 @ Miami 4 p.m.
Saturday, May 24 VANCOUVER 7 p.m.
Monday, May 26 MIAMI 2 p.m.
Friday, May 30 @ Montreal 5 p.m. (FSC)

JUNE
Sunday, June 1 @Rochester 5 p.m.
Thursday, June 5 MINNESOTA 7 p.m..
Saturday, June 7 @ Vancouver 7 p.m.
Thursday, June 12 ATLANTA 7 p.m.
Friday, June 27 @ Carolina 4.30 p.m. (FSC)
Saturday, June 28 @ Atlanta 5 p.m.

JULY
Thursday, July 10 PUERTO RICO 7 p.m.
Friday, July 18 @ Atlanta 5 p.m.
Saturday, July 19 @ Charleston 3 p.m.
Thursday July 24 CAROLINA 7 p.m.

AUGUST
Saturday, Aug. 2 @ Minnesota 5 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 7 SEATTLE 8 p.m. (FSC)
Saturday, Aug. 9 CHARLESTON 7 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 16 MONTREAL 7 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 22 @ Vancouver 7 p.m. (FSC)
Wednesday, Aug. 27 @ Montreal 5 p.m.

SEPTEMBER
Thursday, Sept. 4 MIAMI 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 6 @Rochester 5 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 11 CHARLESTON 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 20 @Carolina 4:30 p.m.

The Schedule is pretty good in my mind, only 2 back-to-backs, and no long road trips.

I am disappointed to miss 2 home games this year. I'll be in New Hampshire on August 16th, and was planning to go to Seattle to see the Red Sox on May 26th and spending most of the week there.

However I do plan to go to every game in Seattle (particularly the one on my birthday), and most probably will make one trip to Vancouver again. My big trip will be to Atlanta and Charleston in July.

What matches are you most looking forward to?

New Turf at PGE!!!

2008-01-11T09:57:00.000-08:00

It's time for celebration among everyone that plays in, or goes to games in PGE park.

Kerry Eggers with the note (see the last paragraph): Tribune Article

The craptacular turf is finally getting replaced! NeXturf wasn't a bad surface when it was first installed, but it had long since been worn out.

My guess is that the Timbers will have to play with some brown patches of turf. I believe that the OSU Beavers field is all FieldTurf, with the baselines in brown. However the problem for the Timbers is that the pitchers mound and home plate area have to be dirt. I think that they will continue to remove the mound (as they have in the past), and that one or both of the fields will be slightly re positioned to make sure that the home plate circle is not on the football pitch. Again, this is just a guess...

Edit:

Old turf is on it's way out!

I watched for about half an hour as they removed the old turf. As I got there they were most of the way through rolling up one long stip of turf. All the old lines were clearly visable under the turf. I guess that's whay they say that most cleanings only push the dirt down into a carpet pad.

Wokers duct tape the roll closed:

They had made good progress, it looks to me like they will be finished pulling up the turf tomorrow, however with the lights they could work all night:

They pulled a pole of somesort along under the stip of turf pealing it off like those wire cheese slicers.

Bigger versions of the pictures are available on my photobucket page.

Also some from Donald (DB)

6 years, 60 homes

2008-01-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

I've been volunteering with Portland Habitat for Humanity since early January of 2002, since it is now early January; I took a look back at my time with Habitat.

I was curious about the number of homes I had helped build (every time I counted in my head, I got a different number) so I made a google map on the locations in approximately the order they were built. It turns out this past weekend I worked on my 59th and 60th homes (a duplex).

6 years is a long time to be volunteering with one organization, all of the staff that I interact with have not been around the entire time that I have (one did leave and come back).

Some approximate numbers:
--1700 hours
--4500 miles driven
--175-200 children housed
--15,000 nails driven
--100 cuts and scrapes
--1 electrocution
And
--2 trips to the ER (more on that later)

For those of you that don't know, Habitat doesn't give away homes, the families buy the homes. Here is some more information. Also Here.

I didn't start volunteering with Habitat for the best of reasons. In July of 2001 I was at the beach with a friend and we (well I) caused a large beach grass fire. We got arrested.

I hired a lawyer who got me a deal where I paid restitution, and had to do 80 hours of community service. I asked if it would be possible to do the service with Habitat since I didn't really like the idea of raking leaves in the park or the other stuff I would have had to do with the Corrections Department. He said that was fine, if they could verify hours (which they can).

After I had completed the 80 required hours, a letter was sent to my lawyer who passed in on the court, and the charges were dropped. I was having so much fun that I continued to come out every Saturday to work with Habitat. Sure getting up early on my Saturdays’ wasn't that much fun, and working in the rain isn't really that much fun, but it just felt good.

I've had my share, and probably more, of injuries (as I mentioned above), most due to my own clumsiness.

The first and by far most severe was when I slipped and fell off a second floor roof. It was November, so naturally it was raining (it is Portland after all). The framing had been almost completed, the roof had just a few more pieces of sheeting to put on, and then it had to be covered in tar paper so the inside would begin to dry. I climbed right up onto the roof to help with the work. I had to make one cut of a sheet of plywood and to do so squatted down. About half way through the cut I started to slip, the lace of traction from the well worn soled of my boot, the fact that I was squatting so I only had the balls of my feet on the roof, the rain and the pressure I was exerting to cut the wood was just too much, and I slipped. You sometimes hear stores about people who say they fell in slow-motion and they saw it all happen. This wasn't the case with me. I vaguely remember seeing the edge of the roof in front of my face, but other than that from the time I started to slip to when people were holding me down on the ground (as I was trying to move) the only thing I remember thinking was "Oh, shit." The ironic (and funny in hindsight) part was that the other volunteers were in the middle of the safety talk for the day when I went flying by the window. I don't think the people doing the talk thought to say "Please don't do that."

As I lay on the ground waiting for the ambulance to arrive I started trying to figure out where I was hurt. I know enough first said to know what I should have hurt. I started by tapping my finger to my hips, I could feel that so I knew I wasn't paralyzed, then I wiggled my toes, and gently rotated my ankles, and moved my hips a little bit. All this time there was just one place the hurt: my lower back. I was pretty sure I was going to be ok. I was strapped to a backboard and whisked away to the ER. I lifeguarded for 2 summers in high school so I have practiced putting people on a backboard. I was amazed at how much I moved on the backboard, it really doesn't stabilize your spine that much. As they were cutting off all my clothes at the ER (which is a really uncomfortable feeling, by the way) a nurse (or something) leaned over me and said she wanted to introduce me to someone. She introduced the Hospital Chaplain. Yes, the guy that would read you your last rites if you were about to die. I had a few seconds of panic as I'm thinking "Am I that badly hurt?" He just wanted to say "I think Habitat for Humanity is a wonderful organization, and I'm sorry you got hurt working with them."

My other trip to the ER was far less exciting, but it did result in a fun picture. I got staples in my scalp!

I had taken a week off work to take part in a Blitz build of 4 duplexes, it was about the third day and we had put most of the second floor deck on, and were getting ready to start building walls. I had been on the second floor, so I hadn't bothered to put on a hard hat, but after lunch I was explaining how to go about building the back porch, when I suddenly got dizzy and my neck hurt. I stumbled forward a few steps and then realized my head hurt. I took off the baseball hat I had on and rubbed my head, only to discover I had blood on my hand. Around this time I head the people on the second floor asking if I was ok. A piece of sub floor about 2 feet square had been knocked off and the corner had hit me on the top of the head. My neck hurt from the compressing. I tired for about 30 minutes to get to bleeding to stop, but it wouldn't, so off to the ER.

Since i wasn't dying they sent me to the Urgent Care part where I waited about 30 more minutes. Eventually I went into a room, and they shot up the spot with novacane, and left me along to let it work. After the nurse came back, they started to put the staples in, it feels really weird. Yes, I know, I shouldn’t have been able to feet the staples, but they had left me alone too long, so the novacaine had worn off. I felt the prongs of the staple going through my scalp, and pulling the sides of the cut together. I got back to site about 2pm, put on a hard hat (I may be an idiot, but I'm not dumb), and proceeded to continue working until about 7pm as the sun was setting, I worked the rest of the week, from 7am to 7 pm, and we got 4 large duplex completely framed, and the siding started on several of them.

All in all, working with Habitat for Humanity is an amazing, rewarding experience. I have since organized 4 Timbers Army days working with Habitat for Humanity.

There are several ways that you can make a difference in people's lives through Habitat.
--You can donate cash or stock
--You can work on site
--You can donate to, or work at the Re-Store

January Timbers Army Gathering!

2008-01-03T20:53:00.000-08:00

For the past several season the Timbers Army has met once a month (on the first Thursday of the month) to hang out, catch up and have fun. For the past two years we have done the vast majority of these gatherings at the Bullpen Tavern (1730 SW Taylor St) just 1/2 a block from PGE park, home of the Mighty Portland Timbers. These are a casual affair just a bunch of frined getting together to hang out.

These gatherings have become an important part of my life as a Timbers Fan. I see several of my fellow TA during the off season when I go bowling, and play indoor soccer, but there are a number of great people that I almost never see outside of these gatherings, and it is alwasy fun catching up with them.

The TrailBlazer game was also on, and most of the crowd was very into the game, it's really amazing (and hard to put into words) how muc this team has improved in the past 2 years, they have a legit shot at the playoffs, and this without theri number 1 pick in the raft last year, one Greg Oden.

I'll update this post tomorrow with more about the gathering, including links to other people's pictures...

More TAIFC Fun!

2008-01-02T23:31:00.000-08:00

I had another TAIFC match tonight, we only had 4 regulars show up, so we had to recruit some help from the teams that had just finished playing, we picked up three people, including a keeper (which is rather important). We ended up winning something like 13-5, but the two field players we picked up did most of the scoring.

I should have scored at least twice. In the first half I received a perfect cross, but couldn't get a solid foot on it. Then a few minutes later I took a hard shot off my face. My teammate was clearing the ball and my face got in the way. It hurt. A lot. Thankfully it didn't knock out my contact lens. I got hit in the right cheek-eye-nose area. In the second half I had an even easier chance on goal, but managed to miss then too. The ball bounced free to me about 10 feet from goal, and I managed to put it 12 feet over the goal. Yea me!

We have some really late games coming up, its really frustrating that they have scheduled games so late. We have two games that start at 11:35pm which means they don't end until about 12:20. An if I'm on my normal work schedule that means I have to get up at about 4:30 or 4:45 at the latest. That isn't really enough sleep to function.

I also hit the weights hard at the gym after work, lifting weights is really enjoyable to me. Don't laugh.

I did hard upper body weights, I wish lifting with my legs was more fun, but I get much more satisfaction from upper body weights. I did bench press and curls at an increasing weight, and decreasing reps. I also just increased the weight that I was lifting for several other lifts. It is really satisfying to increase the weight I am lifting, I just wish it would translate better to weight loss, but I guess that's mostly a function on me eating too much...

So Hungover!

2008-01-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

Last night was obviously New Years, and is the custom, I drank too much.

I went over to my good friend groundskeeper and girl's house. They had a kid friendly party until about 8pm, and then the booze was brought out.

I really don't remember much about the night after that... :)

I did bring some awesome food, a recipe that I got from my housemate.

Fruit Pizza!

Thanks To Donald for the better picture...

It is pretty easy to make, if a bit time consuming.

You will need:
--Sugar cookie dough
--flavored cream cheese (whatever flavor you want)
--Fruit (like strawberries, kiwi, raspberries, blueberries etc)

Take the tube of sugar cookie dough and press it out onto a cookie sheet. Cook it at the recommended temperature until the edges begin to get golden brown. Once it has cooled spread the cream cheese on the "pizza". Cut up the fruit into thin slices, and spread it out in a nice pattern.

Timbers Army Frapper map

2007-12-31T11:35:00.000-08:00

I didn't set this up, my friend dublix did.

Also check out his blog: timbers107.blogspot.com lots of pictures!

It is called "The Beautiful game"...

2007-12-26T23:00:00.000-08:00

but that doesn't really apply to me...

The Timbers Army Indoor Football Club (TAIFC) had a match tonight, at 9:55pm at Indoor Goals (www.indoorgoals.com). We play in the Mens Rec League which is not very competitive. This was the first match of a new season. We lost 6-4.

I was not very happy with my play, however I didn't have any major fuck-ups the lead directly to goals so I've got that going for me, which is nice. I also didn't really get any chance on goal. I've been fighting a cold (with a cough) for a few days so that didn't make playing any easier (plus I'm not in very good shape). The game was closer than the score indicates, it was tied at 4 with about 2 minutes left when they put one in, our keeper car out of the box to try to even it up, got tackled and hurt, but the ref didn't stop play as they normally do when a player is injured, so they put one in on an empty net.

One of the teams that was supposed to play in the game after us didn't show, so I stuck around and played in a much more casual game. The ref sat down because he wasn't being paid (the teams pay the ref in cash). This game was even worse, I had no touch, and was exhausted. I let several players go right past me because I didn't have the strength to run after them. I'm probably going to be sore tomorrow, but it was good to really get the blood flowing.

I really love playing soccer despite not being very good. It keeps me in shape (or from getting into worse shape), and is a great way to keep in touch with my fellow Timbers Army in the off season. It gets tough to play during the Timbers season, however the Timbers almost never play on Wednesdays so if our league stays with Wednesdays we could continue to play.

2007-12-26T12:10:00.000-08:00

I decided to try to revive my blog from my trip to England and Scotland, and think about trying to keep it updated.

I'll be posting random thoughts about my life.

My life generally is about:

following my favorite sports teams (Timbers, Red Sox, Blazers and Patriots)
the things I do with my friends from the Timbers Army (bowling, indoor soccer, drinking)
living life in the greatest city in the world (Portland, Oregon)

2006-04-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

I finally have some pictures on line. I took over 1000 pictures (I love my new digital camera) and have pulled out 54 of the best ones. I'm going to probably repeat some of what I said before...

They are all available here: http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b93/steeplechase3k/Sunderland%20Trip/

The pictures did end up backwards, that is the first one on the page is from the very end of the trip, and the ones of page 3 are from the beginning of the trip. I could re upload all of them, but I don't feel like taking the time.

I'll post some more detailed descriptions of them here (in the order of the trip).

The Timbers Army watches Timbers games from section 107 in PGE park so whenever I see a "107" I like to get a picture, this one is from the Newark Airport, sadly we didn't use this gate.

This is the view out of my window at the Harbor View Hotel is Seaham, County Durham, England. That is the North Sea, looking toward Denmark (I think).

By the time I got there one of the earlier arrival has already given the pub a Timbers feel by giving them a Timbers Army scarf. On the tip I alone gave away 10 Timbers Army scarves and 12 or 13 of the Special ones we made for this trip. In total I think we left about 175-200 scarves around Northern England.

The next several are of the tour of Sunderland Stadium, the Stadium of Light.

Driving up to the stadium...

The Crest on the outside of the stadium

The Crest in the seats

The ends zone seats. Ha'way the Lads is a Sunderland chant.

They even have the Crest on tiles in the Home locker room.

The Stadium was build on a site that used to have a coal mine. The coal they were mining was 8 miles off the coast under the North Sea. There are some people in the world that don't commute more than 8 miles to work, and these people did that UNDERGROUND. This is a picture of that mine and processing plant.

A banner that hands in one of the many stairwells inside the stadium honoring the Coal workers.

A description of the meaning of the Sunderland crest. I can post a slightly larger copy is people want to be able to read the text more easily.

This is the Harbor View Hotel, in Seaham. I stayed here for 5 days. The hospitality of the inn keeper (Ian) and his wife was amazing. Normally bar in England have to close at midnight (I think), but private clubs are allowed to stay open later. Since we were guests of the hotel he was allowed to serve up whenever he felt like it. After the Manchester United match we got back to the hotel at about 1:30pm, and were up until he finally closed the bar at about 3:30am.

This is the seawall that protects the Seaham Harbor.

Before the match in Manchester we were given special permission from the local Football Constable and the home team (Manchester United) to be allowed to be within the 10 mile limit earlier than the 2 hours before match time. We were at the Duke of York pub in Eccles.

This is the sign outside the pub.

We left a scarf there too...

There are Manchester fans arriving for the match. I am still amazed that 3,000 people could be louder than 70,000. The Manchester fan, while great in numbers, didn't make any noise except when they had a scoring chance. The 3,000 Sunderland fans were singing and chanting the entire match.

the police guard the visiting fans entrance. Every one of us was patted down before being allowed to enter the stadium. I wish I had a picture of the actually stadium entrance, because it is something that would never be allowed here is the US. After getting patted down and Okayed I walked forward and into a slot about 2 feet wide. After about 6 inches it was a space 3 feet wide with a heavy wire mesh on one side with the ticket taker behind it. Instead of the normal turnstile that is a single bar like we have here in the states, this has a 2 foot tall wall that you had to push so that it rotated and you could pass through. Once past that it opened up like a normal stadium, except that the visitors concourse is totally separate from the rest of the stadium. On one end there were doors that were guarded by about 6-8 police, the other side was just a solid wall. This way they can be moved depending on the number of fans that are traveling to the match. Once indie the seating bowl there were police on both sides of the visitors section, but not nearly as many as were guarding the visiting fans at the Newcastle match (see below).

We even hung a Timbers banner at the match. In the lower right of picture you can see a camera pointed straight at me, this was a photo that ended up getting printed in the local paper (The Football Echo, Sunderland's weekly sports paper).

Allison and Bruce show no pity for the (silent) ManU fans.

After the match the Sunderland players thanks the fans for their support. Sunderland is, to be honest, one of the worst teams (points wise) in the history of the EPL. Manchester United is one of the richest teams. Stretching back to early last season ManU has scored a gaol in every home game. Sunderland was the first team to hold them scoreless at home. This was a really amazing game to be at. Sunderland was getting relegated the day of the match. In England all of the leagues combine together and send the best teams in one level up, and the worst teams down. Sunderland was getting relegated to the second level, but their fans were still going crazy the entire match.

The next day we went 25 minutes down to coast to Hartlepool. We had no real connection to this team, but they are close by and had a match we could make. We had a little contact with some of their fans, but no official contact with the club. We showed up on match day and were given a stadium tour.

People from Hartlepool are referred to as Monkey hangers. This was originally a derogatory term meaning that they were stupid. The story behind the nickname is that during the Napoleonic wars there was a shipwreck of the coast of Hartlepool. A monkey is a sailor suit was washed up on the shore. The people of Hartlepool had never seen a monkey before (or a Frenchman) so they assumed he was a French spy. They gave him a fair trial, and put the monkey on the stand, and he didn't deny being a French spy. So he was sentenced to death, and he was hung from the gallows. This obviously isn't the most flattering way for your town the be know, but the people turned it into a compliment by embracing the term Money Hanger, so much so that 2 guys proudly showed us their monkey hanger tattoos:

The people love their football club so much that a few years ago the mascot (Hangus the Monkey) ran for Mayor of the town, and won. Since a guy in a big furry costume can't be mayor, it was decided that the guy in the costume was the mayor (and had to quit his job as the mascot).

The outside of the Hartlepool grounds.

The ceiling of the season ticket holders pub (another place were were allowed simply because we had traveled 6000 miles) has football scarves. These are all European (mostly English I think), and we left a Timbers Army scarf and an official Timbers scarf for them to hang up. I need to remember to contact the fans we talked to and see if we can get a picture of our scarves in a football pub in England.

The main grandstand.

The Town End, where we watched the match.

In the top 2 levels of professional football in England seats are requires, and fans are supposed to use them. Hartlepool plays in the third level where seats are not required so were sere allowed to stand, which is what the TA does at Timbers games

Hangus the monkey!

The next day we were the guests of the Mayor of Seaham at a brunch.

The Mayor talking to the crowd.

The Timbers Army looks on.

Hoss presents the mayor with a Trip Scarf.

The Mayor proudly wears that scarf.

One of the stars of the Portland Timbers is Byron Alvarez, so I took a shot of The Lord Byron for him.

Here is the picture of me taking a picture of the Timbers Banner.

And then a picture of the article about the reception we had with the mayor. I am (mis)quoted in the article. here is the text of the article The first thing they have me saying is very close, I said something bout Old Tratford, but it wasn't anything like what they had.

The next day was the main reason for the trip, the match against Newcastle.

The TA outside the stadium.

If bringing any of these item into the stadium makes you a hooligan, then I guess I am, I took in my camera.

The Black Cat logo is everywhere...

The first of close to 100 buses arrive with opposing supporters.

In England it is illegal to serve alcohol where at football match can be seen live and in person. They stop serving alcohol 5 minutes into the match and then start up again 5 minutes before halftime, then stop again 5 minutes into the second half.

To avoid the lines, in the Black Cat's bar where we were, you can preorder a drink to be ready at halftime.

We had good seats, this was our view of the pitch.

Across the way this was the line between the opposing supporters and the home supporters. The other side had more space, about 20-30 seats were kept empty in an entire section.

Strange signs for bathrooms seemed to be the norm in Northern England, here are the signs in the Harbor View.

Then on to Moffat, Scotland!

We stayed in the Narrowest free standing hotel in the world, at 20 feet wide. The Famous Star Hotel

This picture (of a picture) give an idea to how long the hotel is, I think it is 165 feet long.

In Moffat there was a church that was being renovated apparently into condos. i forgot to get a picture of the sign that said this, but...

Here is the church.

A small side street in Moffat

The town of Moffat as seen from the road up to the Golf course.

As we were teeing off on the first hole we were buzzed by a pair of fighter jets of some kind (I assume from the RAF). They were no more than 400 feet of the ground. We all thought it was cool, except fro Kip who was about to hit his ball when the sound hit us.

This is the 9th hole on the course. The blown-up part shows the pin marker in front of the green.

The view from the 18th tee was amazing too, it looked back towards the town.

An article about the famous star hotel explains why the hotel is so narrow...

Enjoy!

2006-04-25T05:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm back at work now.

Scotland was beautiful. I didn't get very many pictures while golfing because we wanted to keep moving because there were people right behind us. As we were standing by the 1st tee waiting for the pair (friends of mine) to tee off 2 fighter jets of some kind (probably RAF) flew over head no more than 400 feet off the ground. They were almost overhead before we even heard them and then were out of sight over the next hill and we could still hear the roar of the engines.

My golf game was about what I expected, horrible. However I can see why people play because the few good shots I hit felt really good. I only played the front 9 holes, and unlike American cources the 9th hole doesn't end at the club house. So one other and I played 17 that was headed back toward the club house (at the urging of the groundskeepers) who we had talked to. Then I took a drive on 18 and shanked it badly and because I had purchased a box of 15 balls with no intention of taking them home on the plane, I didn't even look for it.

the 9th hole is one of the strangest holes I have seen, and according to the gentleman running the snack bar (where we paid for our round) in the club house it is in a few books as one of the oddest holes in the world. I have a picture that I'll post later, but the tee is about 90 feet BELOW the green and about 150 yards away (on a horizantal line). The "fairway" it bumpy enought that if you don't reach the green and get lucky (as I did) the ball will stop and not roll back to your feet, but that did happen to one of my friends.

We were staying in The Famous Star Hotel, which is the narrowest freestanding hotel in hte world, at 20 feet wide (and 16f feet long). I have a few pictures of the outside, but I forgot to take any of the inside whihc is too bad because it was amazingly tight, but well laid out. The hotel was built on a narrow lot because at the time taxes were based on the frontage on the main road. The exact date it was built it unknown, but it was already a hotel in the early 1700s.

After Scotland we had an uneventful drive back to Manchester, and relaxed after meeting up with some other people that had been in Seaham with us, but took other side trips.

Ok, I need to start working now, so I'll post about the trip to Vancouver later...

2006-04-18T01:33:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I'm sorry that I haven't up dated yet, but I just wanted to let you all know that I'm still alive.

So far everything has gone off without a hitch.

The day we arrived we were given a complete tour of Sunderland's stadium, The Stadium of Light. It is a really amazing place, and I have over 100 pictures that I'll post when I get home.

The match the next day in Mantchester was amazing. Sunderland was relagated at the match. Because of the result there and other results it ment they got sent down to the lower leauge. However the fans that we were with in the road section were amazing. They carried on long after the match as if they had won the game.

At the match there was a photo taken of me that appeared in one of the local papers. I'll post it here when I get home. That night when we got back to our hotel the owner was still up and opened up the bar for us, and we staryed up late celebrating (this will become a common theme).

The next day we traveled a short trip down the coast to Hartlepool and were given a tour of their grounds. This was particularly amazing because we hadn't contactetd the club in advance. The match was a disapointment, but it was still a very good day.

That night we were at a party with a raffle where we learned that all the money we and the Sunderland fans were rasing was going to Timber Jim's granddaughter. Timber Jim#s Daughter was killed in a car accident leaving behind Jim's 2 year old daughter. The Portland Timbers had set up a trust fund, and Sunderland fans were rasing money for her. When the story was told there wasn't a dry eye in the house (mine included).

The next day we were the guests of the Seaham mayor at a reception. I was in a picture in the local paper again there, and was even interviewed (and mis-quoted). We also played New-age Kurling, whihc is just like Curling, but there is no ice and the stones have ballberrings on the bottom. I was horrible.

The next day we were guests at Sunderland legend Bobby Kerr's pub. Much more money was raised for the trust. Seveal of the supportes branches here donated £100. I also won a very nice Sunderland training jacket.

The 17th was the reason for the trip. On the 107th day of the year Sunderland played Newcastle. Sunderland and Newcastle fans absolutely hate each other. Judging by the number of fouls, it seemed that the players had simmialr feelings. The first 60 minutes of the match were wonderful. Sunderrland was up 1-0 and was dominating the run of play. Then Malcom Davis the sunderland keepr made a mistake and dropped the ball right infront of the goal and Newcastle scored. Moments later a player was fouled in the pentalty box and Newcastle converterd the PK. Then they scored AGAIN. In just a few short minutes the Stadium of Light had gone from crazy and happy to a very depressing place as the momentum of the match turned. Newcastle scored again later on in the match to pour more salt on the wound. It was a very depressing night.

Anyway, I'm off to Scotland today to play a round of golf. I don't know if I'll be able to post again for there, but I'll try. I won't have any pictures up until I get home...

2006-04-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

I'm on my way!

Not literally NOW, but I will be shortly. There won't be much to report the next little while. Today (in about 2 hours!) Obiwan is our chauffeur up to Seattle (well Seatac) where we'll try to sleep (I'll be too excited). Then we'll be on airplanes for far too long, but at least we'll meet up with several other TA in Newark for the flight on to Manchester. Then Hoss will chauffeur us up to Seaham. I should be able to make another entry then…

I am really nervous that I'm going to forget something important. However, I guess as long as I have my Passport (which I've checked for about 10 times), my wallet with Debit card (which I check for every time I leave the house) and my camera I'll be ok because anything else can be purchased on the trip.

It is really amazing how little I did at work today. But I guess that is par for the course on the last day before a vacation that you first started planning close to 6 months ago.

2006-04-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

Two days? Can I make it two more days?

Fist a quick word about the URL for this blog. The phrase "mental and barmy" comes from one of the many songs that the Timbers Army sings, and it is one of my favorite. The term are somewhat synonymous, both meaning crazed or daft. In this case these terms are compliments, we are crazy about our team.

I have two more days of work before I leave on this wonderful trip to England. I'm so excited that I can't think about anything else.

I'm going to be driving to Seattle then flying to Manchester, England (via Newark). We'll then get in a van and drive to Seaham which is just south of Sunderland. Both towns are right on the North Sea. We'll have a few days there with a day trip back to Manchester to see the Black Cats of Sunderland take on Manchester United. This game will be on live TV on this side of the pond. The game will be on at 11:30 am Pacific time on FOX Sports World Canada. It will also be replayed on Fox Soccer Channel at 8pm Pacific time on the 14th of April.

After that I'll be heading down the coast to Hartlepool to see them take on Bristol City. Contact has been made with their fans and they has assured us that we will be welcome in their supporters section and more importantly pub.

Then the main reason for the trip. Sunderland take on their most hated rival Newcastle at the stadium of Light.

Then I'll be headed to Scotland to play a round of golf and a little course in Moffat.

Then it's back to the states (for one night) before driving up to Vancouver, BC to see the Timbers take on the Vancouver Whitecaps in the season opener for both clubs.