Like I said earlier, I went down to Seattle. It was a good time. The weather was great. I didn’t go into the game, didn’t feel like paying 80 dollars to see two below average teams. If I want that, I’ll go to KC and pay less, but I suppose the quality of football is even worse…well, anyhow, I didn’t want to pay.

I’ve since been to Eugene again for a football game. They played UCLA, and again the weather was great. I just went yesterday to watch the Oregon hoops team play against Southern Oregon. We were in the 100 level, close up. It was neat to see college basketball somewhere other than Lawrence, Kansas. But, I would never trade that experience for anything. Not a chance.

I have also been to a few more concerts, and I’m headed to see the Cold Ward Kids again. I saw Ray Lamontagne, great show. Awesome singer. My mom will be in town soon, and we’re headed to the Trailblazers game against  the Miami Heat. So we’ll get to see Mario Chalmers and Michael Beasley, some guys with Kansas connections. And also later in Dec. I am headed to watch the Ducks play against Kansas State in basketball.

As you can see, I’ve been doing quite a bit, and in between all of that, I’ve managed to watch more than my share of college football. Oh those Jayhawks, couldn’t quite pull out the win in Nebraska. They are just giving up a lot of points. But, with two wins to close the season, 8-4??? Here’s to hoping.

Thanksgiving is around the corner. We’ll be playing a touch football game, sort of replacing the one that I normally participate in back home. It should be fun, but it certainly won’t be the same.

I ran, and then after about an hour or so, the walk took place, and I hopped in on that.  Our group, when all was said and done, topped out about 56 people. Race time, not bad, 19:04. Considering I put in 20 workouts to prepare, I’ll take it. Haven’t run since, other than once blip, and I don’t plan on running, or doing anything athletic, for a long time.

The Blazers are back in action, and if I heard the rumor correctly, they are in KC playing at the Sprint Center? You folks better get out there! The city is excited, and so am I. I hope to make a few games this year. The weather hit a dip mid week, but the sun is back out, and the word is that it will be in the 60/7o range for another week, lots of sun.

I’m headed to Seattle on Sunday, going to tailgate and hopefully find a ticket for the game. A group of us are headed out around 8am. Hopefully the forecast stays as is, 50/60 range, with sun, which really is the key.

I haven’t been reading as much as I was this summer, heading down to Powell’s bookstore. I need to get back into that groove. KU game on ESPN2 Sat. The OU-Texas game as well. I pick the KU game.

Recently headed out to a trivia contest, teams of 4-6. We won last week, finished next to last this week. The questions are wide ranging, from music to movies, to history to science and everything in between. The cost is  0, and the prize is a $100 credit to the restaurant. Not bad in my mind.

Tomorrow is Race for the Cure Portland. 40,000 plus downtown. Our group has grown to about 56 roughly. Quite a turn out. It should be ok, the weather will be cool for sure, 50’s, and let’s hope that the rain holds off, for just one more day.

I’m settling into my new location, I do like the new view of the city. It’s nice to look out at the brights lights, or catch the moon rising. It looks like the jayhawks are doing ok right now, better than last week it seems. It’s going to be an interesting Big 12 season. I hope that they can pull out a few upsets, the schedule looks to be a bit tougher this year.

Some places I’ve been the past few weeks, and things I’ve done:

Gone to two concerts, Vampire Weekend(they were on SNL a while back), and recently saw Floater, a local band with big time talent. They are great, check em out.

I ate at Elephant’s Delicatessan, a place that has about a million different food options, its great. About a 2 minute walk from my place.

 Put in several track workouts, which I haven’t done in a LONG time. Yeah, I have been confined to the track for my longer runs recently, but I decided since I prefer sprinting, why not just change my workouts. So I did. By track workouts, I mean sprinting. I did do one trail run, which I loved, but my body can’t handle the downhills.

And of course, I’ve been watching plenty of college football. Which, by the way, I need to get back to, since there are about 3 great games on right now, and I need to listen to the KU game. Can anyone tell me why they aren’t on 105.9 anymore????

Oh yeah, I watched a couple of movies, The Passion of the Christ, and on the opposite end, The School of Rock, which I laughed through pretty much the entire time.

These, among other places that I generally frequent, are what keep my going out here. It’s easy to find fun things to do.

Take care, have a great rest of the month of September. I suppose I need to get into baseball playoff mode, but that, along with NFL, just isn’t doing it for me right now.

I recently went to the Portland State versus Western Oregon football game at PGE park downtown. Perhaps, no, it was, the longest game I’ve ever watched that I didn’t see all 4 quarters. No commercials, yet it still took over 3 hoours just for 3 quarters. Easily over 25 penalties from what I saw. I thought my boy Jerry Glanville could spark that offense, but it hasn’t worked yet. I still am rooting the boys on. I wonder if he still saves a seat for Elvis like he used to in Atlanta and Houston? He loves Elvis in case you don’t know.

I’m going to sit out the bowling season again. I think that I may have peaked, I’ll have to wait a while to try to break the 200 mark. Race for the Cure Portland is coming on Sep. 21st. I have rallied a group of 45 for the cause. Should be fun, hopefully the rain will cooperate.

KU plays on TV this week, so hopefully I’ll be able to find time to watch. Next week, they are on ESPN friday night. Out here, that means getting to a TV by 5pm.

 But for now, at least out on the west coast, I’m hanging on to the last week of summer. Should be nice weather, near the 70’s and sunny. I’m hanging in town, bbq in Monday, but that’s about it. Of course, lot’s of college football on Sat. Enjoy the weekend, don’t let it get by you.

There’s something about being back home, around family and friends, and then you take yourself away from that environment, from those occassions and individuals, and realize that you cannot duplicate them elsewhere. No other amount of activity, or stimulus can replace that of family and friends. So my return to Portland has been somewhat of a slow transition.

The amount of fun that I had far exceeded my expectations. Several gatherings with family and friends, birthday celebrations, lunches, dinners, rounds of golf, and even some wiffle ball. Time stands still when you want it to. I’m not too big into saying times flies by too fast. It generally does so if you are idle. If some deadline arrives, or a certain amount of time has passed, people often say that the time just got away. Because in those instances, most likely you weren’t doing anything. At least that’s how it goes for me.

So this time, it certainly did not go too fast. Time often, it seemed, stood still. I was able to see many people, and partake in several different activities. If I could change a couple of items, I would have spent more time at home, with my mom. I would have told those around me how much I care about them. Rarely do I say those things, but I always think them.

I recently competed in the Cascade Lakes Relay (you should google this, it was fun). It’s unlike anything that I had heard of before. There is a bigger relay type race, called Hood to Coast (from Mt. Hood in Oregon to the coast). The CLR however, is the longest race of its type in the country. I was glad to be a part of that.

How it works is that you have 12 people on a team, male and female mix. Generally you have 2 vans, with 6 in each. The first van runs, while the other rests. For example, person one runs 5 miles while van 1 checks on him/her during the run, giving water, encouragement, etc.. They drive up to the 5 mile marker, and the second person is waiting for a “handoff”, which consists of passing on a bracelet. This goes on for 1 and 1/2 days. I think it totaled over 200 miles.

Now, I am headed home, with plans to play two rounds of golf, and participate in the annual wiffle ball tourney. After this period, I am going to give my back some MUCH needed rest, in the ballpark of 8-12 months. This was what I was supposed to do when I moved here last Aug. Just one year behind schedule. I did have fun with basketball and the relay race, so it was worth it.

 On a traveling side note, I have seen quite a bit of Central and Eastern Oregon over the past 2 weekends. It is nice, rather arid. But there are still lots of hills and mountains. Oregon is a nice place for sure.