Mindful Meanderings

I'm a tourist, with my sister today!

2009-01-31T15:20:00.000-08:00

my view from parking at pier 39...

SanDiego bound!

2008-12-28T10:02:00.000-08:00

Lets go DUCKS!

my 2nd SFO brewers guild event

2008-12-16T19:12:00.000-08:00

Karl hasn't liked any yet!

its done....

2008-12-09T20:24:00.000-08:00

tasty enough!

who got the big beer @ the co party?

2008-12-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

ME!

I survived in just over 26 minutes!

2008-11-27T09:46:00.000-08:00

I feel great!

Getting ready for the 5k T Day race!

2008-11-27T07:59:00.000-08:00

We're in Weed!

2008-11-26T10:54:00.000-08:00

253 miles to go!

On the road to Eugene!

2008-11-26T08:09:00.000-08:00

The speedometer 'may' not be accurate....

in game action!

2008-11-18T20:02:00.000-08:00

Blazers up, 22-15!

At the warriors/blazers game

2008-11-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

a view from our seats!

this monkey just threw poo at us!

2008-11-16T15:59:00.000-08:00

GIRAFFES!!!!!

2008-11-16T15:50:00.000-08:00

Anyone see SNL a couple weeks ago?

Finished Sampler anyone?

2008-11-15T18:23:00.000-08:00

16 3oz beers...

Sampler anyone?

2008-11-15T17:32:00.000-08:00

Bear Republic Brewing-Healdsburg Ca

2008-11-15T17:29:00.000-08:00

Dutcher Crossing Winery tasting area

2008-11-15T14:50:00.000-08:00

How about some lunch and wine?

Heading across Golden Gate bridge..

2008-11-15T13:09:00.000-08:00

Heading up for some California beer and wine...mmmm..

seems appropriate for my 1st night....

2008-11-08T21:50:00.000-08:00

only beer and water in the fridge....seems to be missing only condiments....lol.

Nolan's lovin his new bathtub!

2008-11-08T20:27:00.000-08:00

the apartment oddessy is over!

2008-11-07T16:08:00.000-08:00

i have a place now in burlingame! details to follow...

Irony?

2008-11-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

who knew I'd get heart shaped sushi....lol Kana Sushi in Westlake....

My first brewery event in SFO!

2008-10-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

Thirsty Bear in SFO, an SFO brewers guild event....very nice!

nolans done with this ride...

2008-10-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

we're almoat there....on the 505 east of SFO

So absynthe is now legal..goodbye gabe!

2008-10-04T23:28:00.000-07:00

laurelwood at the airport!

2008-09-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

Go figure that my gate to SFO would be virtually right next door to the Laurelwood Brewery at the PDX airport...Too cool! I'm heading down for a job interview in San Mateo with abig online gaming company, wish me luck!

Jaime at Ninkasi brewing

2008-09-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

Free fresh hop beer tasting at the brewery!

There was a funnell cloud here yesterday

2008-09-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

We had ourselves little tornado yesterday out by the airport...exciting stuff. I'll see if I can find a link to the news video when I get back to my apartment...

at the tailgater w/jen eddie and friends

2008-08-30T21:22:00.000-07:00

all the beer and food you can take!

walking in to the stadium...

2008-08-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

its amazing how much its changed!

kicking offf after the duck TD! 21-10.

2008-08-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

its the scoreboard..its HUGE!

2008-08-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

bigger than OSU's at least!

our GA seats from the east end zone!

2008-08-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

is that autzen in the distance?

2008-08-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

I hiked the butte today, partially for exercise, and partially for the distant view of the stadium where I was going to see the ducks CREAM the huskies!

I did the Butte to Butte!

2008-08-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

Hey, isn't this cool? I drove a few miles from the other Butte and took a picture of it! This is the lights of downtown Eugene (I live straight forward and to the right a little bit) with Spencers Butte dominating the skyline...Totally cool!

So, I'm on the Butte again.

2008-08-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

I think I needed to clear my head or something. I have been feeling a little down about work lately I think. It sucks that I didn't get the Symantec job, then I had to go back to my lame existence at my current job. I'd like to get a different job, but there are so few places I'd like to work. It seems that now I should go for a job that makes more money, that will allow me to go back to school in the winter. I certainly can't afford school on my current salary, and can't seem to get a job that has clear career pathing, so if I'm going to go to work feeling like I can't do anything right might as well get paid more for it. Every day I go to work wondering what I did wrong the day before, or what I'm going to do that day that is wrong. My supervisor looks at me like I'm an idiot all the time when I'm very sure that I'm not. She actually laughed at me when I agreed with someone else regarding the use of proper grammer. As if to ay that I should feel stupid (I did and do feel a bit out of place at work) for using corect grammar. How bad is that!

At any rate, its always nice to get up here, but the motivation makes me wonder. I intended to do this last night, but didn't want to get off the couch. Today I felt as if I couldn't NOT do it, like it was for my sanity...lol.

Well, its hard to believe my last post was from the water you can see off in the distance, I was skiing, and it was about 20 degrees warmer!

Its getting chilly, so I'd better sign off.

Pretty nice day at the lake!

2008-08-24T16:59:00.000-07:00

I was walking out the door to hike the butte, when I got a phone call from Joe asking if I wanted to ski instead...duh!

Todds birthday, chugalug dude!

2008-08-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

Mens final at the Seaside VB tourney!

2008-08-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

Met up with Chris, Paulene and Saioa in Seaside to get away for a day...

on top of the butte again!

2008-08-03T15:10:00.001-07:00

hangin' out with Christopher, Paulene and their spanish exchange student Saioa

Gabriel has furniture!

2008-07-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

My friend Don worked out a deal w/his mom and (I think, Karl) so I could FINALLY have something better to sleep on! they're great!

Look, its me up on skis!

2008-07-20T18:09:00.001-07:00

this is deschutes new seasonal brew.

2008-07-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

Black Butte Porter Imperial XX, its a big, complex porter. brewed for their 20th anniversary...delish!

Out at the lake, is been a while!

2008-07-15T20:38:00.001-07:00

Went out to the lake with Joe, Gail, and the kids! I wasn't able to get up on the single ski, but I've never been able to either. got up on the doubles though!

Goals...changes.

2008-07-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

Its about seeing something you want to change, making the decision to change, and seeing a positive effect of the change.

On Friday the 4th of July, I ran the Butte to Butte here in Eugene. My finish time was pretty slow for my age group, and I was in the middle of the pack as far as overall runners go.

Last year I ran the race, and it was quite painful, both physically and mentally. I was overweight, virtually depressed, and overly stressed from work. Every time my feet hit the pavement it reminded me of where my life was, and how unhealthy I had become. It was hard to breathe, hard to force my legs to keep going. I had to walk alot, and I finished in 1 hour and 20 minutes, my slowest time in 5 Butte to Butte races. At the end of that race, set a goal: I would run in the race next year, and I would finish in under an hour.

I was living in Beaverton, and was about to move back down to Eugene at the end of July. This was a decision that I made in February, but gave myself plenty of outs until mid-June. I wasn't sure if the move was the right thing. I had a job making decent money, lots of friends, and a few good friends I would be leaving behind. Again though, I was gaining weight, stressing more and more, and missing my family terribly.

I felt terrible about not seeing them enough. My neices and nephews were growing up while I was away, and my siblings were experiencing life changing events without my support. So I moved.

Back to the Fourth of July race. This year, I had planned to run during the year, get in good running shape (I was a distance runner in middle school, and ran well in high school). Unfortunately in January I tweaked my knee somehow, and was afraid to run on it since I didn't have medical coverage. I did start walking, however, and gained a new respect for the positive effect simply walking can have on a body. I also started playing basketball league again in September of 07, at the same time I triaged my diet. I was broke anyway, so I had to slow down on the beer no matter what.

My diet was pretty much sandwiches, rice, noodles, vegetables and fresh fruit. It's not much different now, but I have been able to add some more variety.

I added hiking up Spencers Butte to my list of ways to get exercise, and then put the pressure on to get up the hill as fast as I can when I'm hiking by myself. Over the last 9 months with the walking, basketball, and hiking, along with cutting out about 3/4ths of the junk food I was eating, I find myself in good shape (physically and mentally) and about 25lbs lighter.

Last year my prep for the race was a couple of beers at the Eugene City Brewery with Christian. Why that seemed like a good idea I don't know, but I think I knew I was going to have a slow race anyway, so I didn't really care to prepare.

This year, I was up a little later than I planned, and I did have a beer while I was getting my things together that I would need for the race, but I ate a decent small dinner, and drank plenty of water. I got up around 6:30, took a shower and dressed for the race. Christian called to let me know he was on his way over, then we took my car over to the finish line to drop it off.

I'm totally psyched at this point. I know I feel good, I'm well rested, 25lbs lighter, and I'm ready to achieve the goal I set out to achieve one year before.

We get to the starting line and there are TONS of people (a full1300 more than the 4600 that raced last year). I stretched a little more, try to convince Christian that the hill we start out on is not as big and bad as he keeps making it out to be, its just a little bump in the road.

Starting gun goes off! Of course there was a ton of people in front of us, so it took us nearly 2 minutes to get to the actual starting line. My pace is a little slow at the beginning, it takes a while to find a pace and rhythm, its also difficult to move amongst the people who are all running different paces. I'm heading up the hill, and I'm thinking "this hill isn't so bad!". Of course, then I get to the steep part and remember "oh, it does get steep....lol." I speed walked, slow jogged that portion.

Every mile marker made me feel better. I was constantly thinking of how I felt, measuring my breathing, making sure I wasn't pushing my legs too hard (also taking it easy on my knee). I was annoyed at the 2 mile marker when I noticed my shoe was untied, and I had to stop to tie it.

I remember last year and in years past getting upset by people passing me, but this year it didn't matter as much to me, I was totally focused on myself. As a matter of fact, I had intended on writing motivating words on the back of my hands so I could read them while I was running. I forgot to do it, and remembered as we were driving up to the start area. Rather than beat myself up for forgetting to do it, I actually saw it as a positive. I would be able to change the messages as needed, as the race progressed.

It did actually work too. If I felt the urge to stop, my left hand had 'don't' and my right hand had 'stop' written on it. Sometimes they said 'keep' and 'going', other times they said 'don't' and 'forget'. Many motivating phrases magically appeared on my hands during the race, and I credit that to my determination to reach a goal, and to prove to myself that I'm NOT mentally weaker. I felt that way last year, and even in the months leading up to this race I wondered if I was going to be determined enough to run and finish strong.

Back to the race though. As I passed each mile marker, I took stock of where I was physically and mentally. I wasn't breathing hard at all, my legs felt good, and my knee didn't hurt yet. I somehow missed the 4 mile marker, which made the race go a little faster for me, since I thought I was running slow I picked up the pace a little bit. I got to the 5 mile marker and mentally prepared myself for the last 1/2 mile or so, and at this point, I did start feeling it in my knee and legs. If you've run at all, you know that the last portion of your race should be your fastest and strongest. I was able to start pushing myself harder, looking ahead to where I was on the course (I know it pretty well), and started focusing on people I wanted to pass before the finish. There is actually a video HERE of me crossing the finish line. Unfortunately you can't fast forward the video, you have to wait till the finish line clock reads my finish time of 1:02:49 to see me cross in my white tank top and blue hat.

My legs were a little giggly, but not too bad, and I was a little winded at this point, but again, not bad at all. The finish line was the BEST! Its just great to wander around with a few thousand other people who just did the same race you did. They provide drinks and small snacks at the end, so I had two pieces of watermelon, a half a banana, two bottles of water and a glass of water. I'm not sure its ever tasted so good.

My finish this year was a full17 minutes faster than last year, with an average mile improvement of 2 minutes and 30 seconds (I ran 10 minute miles). Its actually my second fastest finish out of the 5 times I've raced the Butte to Butte, the fastest being the first time I ran it (and actually trained for it). I ran it in 56 minutes that year.

I guess, in summary I've proven to myself that my will and determination are, in fact, intact. My life is not in a quandry, I'm not wandering aimlessly, I am maturing and growing, and the goals I have in life are something that I can and will achieve. Even if they change, it is important to have goals. It was a great weekend, a great race, and revealing of my character.

Saturday Market in Eugene!

2008-07-05T13:43:00.001-07:00

Hanging with Christian and Audra at the Saturday Market.

getting ready to start!

2008-07-05T09:21:00.001-07:00

so, this was supposed to send YESTERDAY at the beginning of the butte to butte here in Eugene.....damn phone!

We finished!

2008-07-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

I reached my goal of under a hour(sort of). it took me 1:02 by the finish line clock, but it took about 2 minutes to get to the starting line....christian finished at 56 minutes with the same 2 minute differential...yipee!

greetings from the top o the butte

2008-07-02T20:28:00.001-07:00

got up in 20 minutes again...what a workout!

its a cheater pint!

2008-06-22T23:18:00.001-07:00

do a google search for cheater pints...its a real thing!

Hopworks Urban Brewery in PDX!

2008-06-15T12:44:00.001-07:00

Awesome 'Organic Survival Seven Grain Stout'. my first time here!

The Three Sisters Mountains

2008-06-08T16:57:00.001-07:00

Yes, another hike up the butte, this time with Anastasia and Zane...too nice a day not o do it.

My nephew won!

2008-06-07T20:24:00.001-07:00

A walk off home run by a teammate wins their last game for them!

chad kennedy, head brewer at laurelwood!

2008-06-07T14:41:00.000-07:00

This is where.......

2008-05-29T19:10:00.001-07:00

My senior year of high school, I as at band camp....that baseball backstop is where I was asked to meet a girl in our 'free time'. she propositioned me! WOW!

it looks much different in the evening..

2008-05-27T19:43:00.001-07:00

The shadows cast with the sun setting give a whole different perspective. topping it off with the clouds in the east makes me glad I didn't heed the thunderstorm warnings (not to mention my fatigue from the workday).

I guess its somewhere between 1 mile and 2 miles of winding trails, but don't remember for sure. at any rate I got from the trailhead at spencers butte park to the summit in roughly 20 minutes. I say roughly for two reasons...lol. I started out on a quick jog pace then worked my way down to a slow walk. the trail does get steeper with ascent, but I was pretty burned by the top....guess its time to head back down...not before a few more pics though...

A message from 2000ft up!

2008-05-17T11:54:00.000-07:00

At least the weather is nice...

2008-05-12T16:12:00.001-07:00

So here is an update from Nancy Negative over here. Work is really sucking more today than it has in a while. The difference with today is that its not really my boss. I've had very little contact with her today (which is good, to be honest) but its been miserable. The only thing i can think of is the end of the day and leaving. I've been looking through the online classifieds for a new job, but have been unwilling to go for something that is close to this job wage-wise, and think I'm going to shift that strategy . I have no patience today, and that can be dangerous since tend to have a few things loaded up to say. I know they shouldn't be said, since I'm better than that, but it seems like it would make me feel better to just go off sometimes.....not good, really. Oh guess what? Time to get back to my LOVELY job! Later!

The best kind of leftovers........

2008-05-03T22:00:00.001-07:00

Because we haven't had enough beer....

2008-05-03T20:30:00.001-07:00

So we stopped at Gravity Beer Market in Lacey and picked up some beers....then went to Fish Tales Organic Brewery for dinner....

Prometheus IPA....

2008-05-03T18:06:00.001-07:00

Elysian Brewing Co in Seattle..

2008-05-03T16:58:00.001-07:00

We left the brewfest after using our 6 tastings and having the scotch flight...it was pretty cool. I've had the immortal IPA from this place in the bottle...lets see what the sampler has in it!

At the Hopscotch Brewfest!

2008-05-03T14:38:00.001-07:00

Fw:Wait....how did I get here?

2008-05-02T22:50:00.001-07:00

arg.....I sent this earlier this afternoon...........

More beer? Walking Man Brewery

2008-05-02T20:22:00.001-07:00

This is the Walking Man brewery in Stevenson Washington...

On the road!

2008-05-02T12:42:00.001-07:00

Heading down to Portland for pinball and beer!

pints and quarts, QUARTS!

2008-05-01T23:42:00.001-07:00

hangin at pints and quarts in Lacey washington with karl and christian.

my nephew drew is pitching!

2008-04-26T15:39:00.001-07:00

another nice day here in eugene! hard to believe it almost snowed last weekend!

Pre-death cab...getting warmed up!

2008-04-19T21:46:00.001-07:00

Prefunking for the DeathCab show at ECB

2008-04-19T20:29:00.001-07:00

havin a beer with my ol work buddy before the show!

Is this my future employer?

2008-04-16T11:58:00.001-07:00

I just left the Symantec job fair out here in Springfield, feeling wishy washy about how it went....ugh. We'll see I guess....

I've done a couple hundred of my own performance based interviews, and when this gentleman started asking me the questions that I was used to asking, I kinda blanked. I new it wasn't going well when he only asked me the one question, and began to move on to small talk.

Thankfully I did catch his attention by bringing up a current project I am working on at Peterson-Arne (documenting processes, and developing training procedures). I was then able to touch on my experience in management, and it piqued his interest. He asked me what I was applying for (he was steering me in the direction of routing customers to the proper queue, something like a customer support role) and I told him I was looking for a position in Technical Management. I pointed to that part of my resume and explained that my most recent management experience at Stream was pretty intense and encompassed all facets of management.

He then made additional notes at the top of my paper, and said that the woman who directed my resume to customer support may have misunderstood something when she placed me with him for the interview, and let me know that hiring managers in both the customer support role and the management role would be looking at my application (he also told me that he wrote 'management qualified' at the top of my interview sheet).

I'm in a bit of a quandary about working with Symantec. On one hand, they are typically a strong performer financially, but a goal of mine was to work for a smaller and more locally focused company.

If I had three hands....lol...

On the other hand, I have goals beyond employment that require an augmented wage. In addition, Symantec offers tuition reimbursement, which is a really big deal for me, since another primary focus for me is finishing school. Ahh...once again, we'll see.

G~

nice 70 degree day @ the ballpark!

2008-04-12T11:21:00.001-07:00

Hard to believe it was 40 degrees and drizzly last week. Drews team is playing Willamette, and I jokingly told my sister that I would sit on the Willamette side....lol.

Drew's team got a little crushed by Willamette this game (something like 12-0), but it was alot of fun going to the game, and getting out in the sun. So we went out the next day to his game against South Eugene, and they absolutely crushed them. I was sure there was some sort of mercy rule, but they didn't stop the game. Drew's team just kept scoring runs, they looked like a different team than played the day before. They were stealing bases, crushing hits into the outfield, and catching the ball when it was hit/thrown to them. One kid even got a home run, it didn't go over the fence, but it went far enough passed the kid in the outfield that the runner was at home before the ball got back to the infield. It was a really fun day, and great for Drew's team after the game on Saturday.

I also hung out with Sabrina and the kids more Saturday. Drew, Mike and I went over to the park near their house and played some basketball. I wanted to work with Mike on some passing and shooting since he's playing YMCA ball right now, and I think it helped, he played better in his game that afternoon! Then we played some more Rock Band on the XBOX 360, a couple of Mike's friends came over too, and we rocked for a little while. I was pretty tuckered out by the end of the day....lol.

Almost done with another week..

2008-04-10T22:04:00.000-07:00

Well, its Thursday night, and I've nearly survived another week at work. This is a great accomplishment considering that I've spent the whole week on our most complicated machine, the collator (its funny, its made by a company called Borg, so I call it the borg, and tell the paper 'its been collated'. Lame I know, but makes me giggle sometimes).

I did my taxes yesterday, and unbelievably, I actually owe in state taxes. I'm getting a large return from the feds, but I owe 23 dollars to state. Bastards.

I did something fun today, I rode my bike to work! Its about 4 miles each way, and this morning it was a bit drizzly, but the evening ride was beautiful! It was sunny and probably in the 50's.

I got a neat visit on Tuesday too, my friend Susana was in town. We went over to The Wandering Goat coffee shop and chatted for a little while. She seems to be doing well. She graduated from Southern Oregon with a degree in Education (I think) in June, and is trying to get into a masters program. She's also engaged, and has been for a while now. She seems pretty happy about it all, and thats great. It was really good to see her!

Well, we'll see if I survive Friday!

Bye!

First Saturday Market of the year!

2008-04-05T12:35:00.001-07:00

It was pretty full, considering the weather. I was a bit disappointed in the Farmers Market portion of the deal, since I went there to get some fresh veggies and fruits, there pretty much weren't any. I did get some Mexican food with Brina though, and we had fun walking around, even though we were, once again, freezing our arses off.

Drew's opening baseball ceremony.

2008-04-05T11:16:00.001-07:00

We had lots of fun here, even though it was FREEZING cold. I can't believe its less than 40 degrees in APRIL! The Oregon Duck mascot was there, our former mayor and current mayoral candidate Jim Torrey was there, along with the new U of O pitching coach was there as well. The big treat for the kids was Mel Krouse, the last coach for the Oregon Ducks baseball team (1971-1981).

Dinner w/Brina and others

2008-04-04T21:07:00.001-07:00

Were having dinner at Ring of Fire! This is one of the restaurants on my 'list' of places to visit and eat...we'll see how it goes!

Update!

Dinner was great, the food was delish, and we had fun! I'd definitely go back to this place with other friends, it had a good atmosphere, great food, and I've heard it has fantastic drinks. My sister had some kind of foofie martini style drink and she loved it (she had two....lol). You may be surprised to hear I had a beer, not a mixed drink (4.50 vs 8.50 for one thing), but they had Terminal Gravity IPA on tap, which is a pretty good IPA to have. Its also probably about 3/4 of a mile from my place, so I could walk it if I wanted to. I hung out with my sister half the weekend and it was lots of fun! We had dinner tonight with her girlfriend Tiana (upper left of the pic) and her friend from work Elizabeth (to my left).

Did I say I was going to bed??

2008-04-01T23:42:00.000-07:00

I just remembered something I read about on CNN.com yesterday. Its a website called Hulu.com.

Pretty cool stuff, they have tons of free hi-res clips, whole episodes, and whole movies you can view for free online. I just quickly found one of my all time favorite TV characters on the site:

It rocks, and I'm definitely going to be searching for more videos soon...for now, I'm really going to bed...really.

Gabriel

Broke..but not desperate!

2008-04-01T21:24:00.000-07:00

So I checked my mail this morning, the mail was from yesterday. There was one letter in my box. It was from a company called Brookwood Loans, and its funny, I've seen a letter like this before.

Of course, at first I'm thinking this letter is simply a phishing expedition by mail (the letter refers me to a website). Before I visit questionable website, I usually google search it. Here is what I found on the search results page, sounds like it was just about what I expected. This person is absolutely correct about the decimal points. The loan they are offering is 96% apr for the year. 96 PERCENT!!

Like I said, broke, but not desperate. I can't imagine the pressure to apply for this offer if you are in more desperate financial straits. I've contemplated getting a loan before, to pay off some of my debt. The paradox is that my credit is not good enough to get a loan to pay off my debt (so my credit can get better). WOW...I still can't get over it, 96%. Its really hard to believe that loans like that are legal. This is in a similar line with banks fees that they charge for overdrawing a checking account. Imagine that you overdraw your account by $10 (sure its more sometimes, and less other times, but 10 bucks seems like a good average number), and you are charged the $27 my bank would charge, that seems like its about a 270% fee for 'loaning' you the extra $10 dollars (now change that $10 to $1, 2700%). I think most of us might be better off just having that charge denied, know what I mean?

When I said that I had seen a letter like this before, I got one in the mail in Beaverton, but it was for more money, up to $5000. I actually tossed that one without reading it much, but I do wonder what the percentage rate was on it.

Well, enough about the vultures taking money from people who already don't have enough...

I've had a rough couple of days at work, more due to my inability to deal with my direct supervisor (I hesitate to call her that, as she is much more like a floor lead than a manager). She's the type of person who is never wrong, always assumes that you are doing something incorrectly, doesn't understand that her opinion is only that (and that other people's could possibly be correct), only grudgingly lets you make autonomous decisions (I can virtually guarantee you will have done it wrong when you're finished), and tends to see everything in black and white.

Well, normally I can just blow her attitude and behavior off, but these last two days have been difficult. Keep in mind that I don't get rattled much, but I've been pretty close to popping off at her...better for me to just keep quiet. It really isn't worth it to let my emotions get the best of me. To tell you the truth, she really means well.

I'm beginning a month of no coffee and very little beer in order to save money up for the Hopscotch Brewfest and Scotch Tasting in Seattle. Also likely going back down to SFO for Cassie's 1st birthday around Memorial Day, we'll see how this goes....lol

Ahhh well....its almost HUMP day!

Well, its off to beddie-bye, I need to try to get to work early tomorrow.

Walk through the Rose Garden and Skinner's Butte Park

2008-03-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

My sister Reb, my niece and nephew Anastasia and Zane (respectively) went for a little walk through the Eugene Rose garden today, and walked down the bike path to Skinner's Butte park. It was pretty cold for a March day, especially late in March (it really felt like it was going to snow while we were out there). Its been snowing in the foothills around Eugene, and just a few miles north and south of here in the slightly higher elevations. CRAZY!!

Here is a picture of just one of the 400 varieties of roses they have there:

I've posted the rest of the pictures (and a couple that Anastasia took) in my Picasa web album here .

Another good time!

While I'm at it...

2008-03-30T10:54:00.000-07:00

I suppose I can pass a link to my Trips n Places blog I started in January. I intended to post more before I made it public, but what the heck Here it is...

Gabriel

Thought a discussion blog would be interesting..

2008-03-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

So I started one!

Here is a link to my Topics of the Time blog. I'd like to just blab about current events, past events, or something that may be coming on the horizon.

Feel free to join up!

Gabriel

Even my Jack in the Box.....

2008-03-22T11:35:00.001-07:00

Antennae balls got wasted last night....LOL!

Dogs and Cats getting along??

2008-03-22T10:37:00.001-07:00

Whats next? I did snap a few pictures of them (notice that Nolan is always near the dogs tail). The first thing they did, which I didn't get a pic of, was go nose to nose, peacefully. It was a pretty docile interaction. If you know anything about Nolan, he tends to be aggressive with me at times, often has his ears back, and is highly sensitive to loud noises or quick movements. With the dog (who's name I'm forgetting right now) he was just curious, sniffing around and watching. It was really fun to have a playmate for Nolan (the dog was really well behaved too) since he's always in the apartment with not much to do. He was actually chasing the dogs tail when it was laying down and wagging it, pretty funny stuff...

Got to know 1 of my neighbors last nite

2008-03-22T10:34:00.001-07:00

My neighbor Michael and I began chatting about beers....then started watching b-ball and drinking the combo of Stone Brewing's ruination IPA and smoked porter...then went from there...it was a good time! (I had him bring his dog over and Nolan was able to socialize a bit, wich was cool too)

Alton Baker Park

2008-03-09T14:59:00.001-07:00

We went to Alton Baker Park today to check out the ducks, and see the walk-over bridge that was built a few years back. I have more pictures of that day here.

Ducks Win!

2008-03-08T21:37:00.001-08:00

In the first Duck Mens game I've seen in a while, I got to see them beat Arizona on their way to the NCAA tournament.

Right on!

Aaaahhhhh! Go Ducks!

2008-03-08T20:39:00.001-08:00

At the ducks game against Arizona

2008-03-08T20:36:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Don for the tix. Karl, Don, Danny and I went to the U of O mens game vs Arizona. Fun to be had by all!

Eugene Generals Home Finale w/Mike, Drew and Tyas

2008-02-24T14:37:00.001-08:00

Last night, as a belated gift to my nephews for Christmas, I took them to the home finale of our local semi-pro hockey team the Eugene Generals. I hadn't been to a hockey game for several years, maybe even 10 years (when they were the Eugene Blues) and my nephews had never been to one at all. It was great fun, and I would say I handled the boys pretty well (for not having kids of my own). I have several pictures I'll upload soon,
Here it is!
but wanted to post the one of me and the boys that I had the security guard take.

Unfortunately the Generals lost the game, but it was all tied up 4-4 in the 3rd period, and the boys were excited enough to stay. They were getting kinda bored when the team was down 3 goals in the 2nd period and we discussed leaving after the 'puck throwing' contest at the 2nd intermission. So we went down by the plexiglass walls right on the ice and stood there to watch the last 20 minutes of the game. Several times the players smashed into the wall right where we were standing (the first time had us all falling backwards with surprise to avoid getting hit!). We waited around after the game, and since it was 'fan appreciation' night, the boys all got in line and got autographed posters. I was glad to see how excited they were, and it turned out so well. Even my nephew Michael who is 13 (and an adult if you ask him) told me multiple times how much fun he was having and thanked me for taking them out.

This is one of the many reasons I'm back here with my family, and it SO rocks!

With that, here is a great picture of my nephews and I (right to left: Tyas (my brother Tim's boy, myself, then Michael with Drew in front(my sister Sabrina's boys)).

At 'Ring of Fire' show w/Anastasia

2008-02-23T08:37:00.000-08:00

Took Anastasia to see the musical made from the music of Johnny Cash. It was a great time!

I wasn't sure how this event would come off, since I've never been to the Actors Cabaret here in Eugene, and I really didn't know how the show would go. Turns out it was great!

Anastasia was by far the youngest Johnny Cash lover there, and we did get several looks from folks in attendance. She was excited because we were able to see the show, AND get waited on for desserts and drinks. I had cheesecake w/chocolate syrup (of course, chocolate...lol) and she had a very rich slice of chocolate cake.

The show was great, even though I've never really considered myself a musical fan, and I don't really know many Johnny Cash songs. They pretty much sang the whole time, while kinda narrating his life story at the same time. I was really entertained the whole time.

I personally was excited to not only be able to do something with my niece that I knew she would really appreciate, but also get involved with the local culture in Eugene, a dual benefit! I just read in this week's Eugene Weekly that the Ring of Fire was so popular that there is going to be a run of the show at a much bigger Eugene venue, the Hult Center! Nicely Done!

In closing, it was a great time for Anastasia and I!

Laters!

G~

Beautiful Saturday and coffee

2008-02-16T18:34:00.001-08:00

I walked down to Full City on 13th, grabbed a coffee, then went down to the court house park blocks to read the Eugene Weekly. ....very nice!

yeppers...time to head home

2008-02-11T09:18:00.001-08:00

Once again I made it, I was late to the BART station, didn't take two trains I probably could have, then accidentally got on a Pittsburg/Bay City train. My check-in was clumsy, but security was fast. I boarded less than 5 minutes after I arrived at the terminal...Nice! See you on the other side!

sitting down to sushi!

2008-02-10T19:30:00.001-08:00

First toast at the brewfest!

2008-02-09T12:19:00.000-08:00

21st amendment 'Hop Crisis?'

Chris and Karl's in the morning!

2008-02-08T15:04:00.001-08:00

Golden Gate Bridge!

2008-02-07T15:36:00.001-08:00

Karl and I checking out the Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Miley.

Karl and Janines place in Daly City

2008-02-07T11:05:00.001-08:00

Its a beautiful day here, and I'm going for a walk!

Well, its a new year and I've decided...

2008-01-06T19:56:00.000-08:00

So I don't really care much for New Year's resolutions myself. I really prefer the ever changing, always analyzing mind I have to constantly evaluate and re-evaluate where I am and what I'm doing. Sometimes people can get stuck on the fact that a new year is a good time to make changes, forgetting that we wake up each day with the opportunity to make changes.

On that note, here are some opportunities I see for myself to continue working on in the new year.

I will continue to look for my motivation. I want to know what inspires me to do the things I do, and what keeps me from doing other things I want to do.

I will be healthy. What this means to me is that I will continue to eat better (and lose weight if its healthy weight), get outside more, I won't work too much, and will watch my stress level.

I will try to make a difference in my community. There are ample ways to do this here in Eugene.

I will be better to my friends. I feel like I could appreciate them more.

I will be better to my family. Family is precious, and shouldn't be taken advantage of while they are with us.

I will watch less tv, and read more. I live 4 blocks from a huge public library, this should really go without saying. I checked out 5 books in December and I'm 15 pages into the first one.

This is kind of a weird one, but I want to improve my memory in 2008. It seems that I've been ok with forgetting things that I really should remember. This will not serve me well in the future. I've realized that when you are talking to someone, and you don't remember certain facts or events, it makes them seem like they were not significant to you. With me, thats absolutely untrue, at least on a conscience level.

Does this seem like too much for one year? The truth is, I know there are things I want to do that I can't remember right now (I guess to the point of my previous paragraph, I'm offending myself? lol) I don't think its too much, its 365 chances to get it right. I like my odds.

Apartment Update...so much as it is.

2007-12-10T22:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm still digesting the TOOL concert. It was great fun, but I was disappointed about the end. More on that later, with some more pics I took during the show.

Here are some new pics of my apartment. I did some cleaning and rearranging this weekend and today (I called in sick to work today, as I was not feeling well in my tummy). Now my apartment is cleaner and more organized, but it looks totally empty.

You might ask, where's all the furniture? Well, I'm working on that. I planned on starting over with my furniture when I moved back down, I just thought I'd have a better job before now to afford furnishing an apartment. Its not bad, and I'm comfortable by myself, but if I have company I just have to hope they understand my situation...lol.

I hope to have a real bed/futon soon, and maybe some sort of chair or other sitting apparatus, but as for now, its a work in process and I'm ok with that.

One of the funnier things that I realized when I unpacked (I unpacked 2 boxes of clothes and one suitcase more of clothes, keeping in mind that I took several bags of clothes to Goodwill) my clothes and hats....I have a RIDICULOUS amount of hats. I made a hat rack out of plastic garden lattice a few years back, but it 'only' holds 28 hats. I have this 'little' box of hats, but when I unpacked it, I had FAR to many to fit on the rack. I haven't even been able to sort out the 28 hats I want to put on the rack yet, or how to put the other hats out to see. CRAZY right? I just thought it was funny.

Anyhow, hopefully I'll have something to write about with regards to the TOOL concert soon.

G~

damn..finally the real sound check!

2007-12-05T20:55:00.001-08:00