Becca and Brian's Grand Adventure

NYC Marathon Report

2011-11-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

Big City Blowout
NYC Marathon 2011

Pertinent Stats:

3:00:34
Half Splits: 1:27:14/1:33:20

Overall: 1179/46795 (2.5%)
Gender: 1128 / 29867 (3.8%)
Age Group (35-39): 232 / 4849 (4.8%)

Oregonians: 9/141 (6.4%)
Brian's: 10/240 (4.2%)
Davises: 3/47 (6.4%)

Short Version: Fantastic course, amazing crowds and my second favorite marathon (I have a HUGE soft spot for Boston). I decided 5k in to see how long I could keep my 2:55 pace. The answer was about 22 miles before cramping in my left quad and toes(?!) led to me run/walking the rest of the way in. Not how I wanted the race to go but I came away happy with going for broke and learning lessons along the way. Like that a Cuban Cigar & Rye Whiskey make for a nice post-race meal when you’re sitting on your friend’s roof overlooking Manhattan, Brooklyn & Staten Island. Now time to focus on some shorter stuff for a while.

Now, for the MUCH, MUCH longer version:

New York is a story of revenge (of sorts). I'd qualified for NYC via the Vancouver Lake Half Marathon in January '10 and in an effort to build upon my successful Boston trip last year I decided to train hard for New York last year. I was in fantastic shape and two weeks away from taking on the course in the best shape of my life when my body broke down. A bad SI joint left me no choice but to scrap the trip. No less than a month later I was in a nasty car accident having been rear ended and my car totaled. I thankfully walked away but was left with a concussion and a jacked up lower back for my troubles.

As I eventually started to feel healthy again, I started up running. It wasn't pretty but I eventually got back into a groove but not without a few injury related bumps in the road. As I got stronger, my thoughts again migrated towards NY. I was guaranteed entry for one more year so I decided to sign up and give it another go. When it was time to start the training cycle, it was all about managing expectations. I hoped to be in good enough shape to requalify for Boston and felt confident in doing that but was also just excited about the opportunity to experience the race and let the cards fall where they may.

Of course, as the OTC folks can attest I'm usually not one to sit back and enjoy the view. Training continued to improve as I both got faster and learned how to manage my previous injuries while upping mileage. The other side of training though was this was my third cycle in less than two years; there were plenty of times during training where I just felt burned out and wanted to scrap the effort and be done with it (never mind the exhausting fact of navigating life with two kids under 2 ½). However by the time the last few weeks of training came about and boasting a new 10k PR, my thinking had shifted and I felt a 2:55 (a 2:30 min potential PR) was a possibility despite the difficulty of the NYC course. With that I packed my bags, said goodbye to the family (logistics and finances made sending the whole family a no-go) and jumped on a 5am flight to NYC.

I enjoyed my time in NYC pre-race, potentially to the detriment of my race performance. In the first 48 hours, I got to see Feist at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, run through Brooklyn Park and over the Brooklyn Bridge, do the race expo, walk around NYC, go to the Varsity Letters series (readings of sports books by famous authors) and just really walk around and embrace the city. Of course, by Friday night my legs were shot and my muscles were screaming for rest. Saturday turned into a day of total sloth and while I’d felt confident on the flight out, my nerves and general mind set was such that I had no idea what Sunday would bring.

Race Day:

5am isn’t TOO early to wake up for a marathon. However it is when you’re not racing for another 5 hours. No matter; a PBJ sandwich and a quick check of all the necessary equipment left me walking to the subway and arriving at the Staten Island Ferry 20 minutes ahead of schedule. It was great walking up in the dark and just hearing the worldly feel of the race; all the languages flowed over us as the volunteers tried their hardest to get people out on the earliest boat possible.

The ferry was fantastic. Found a nice seat towards the front and was able to get a few nice pics of sunrise in the city. The one thing I didn’t realize pre-race that I know now; once off the Ferry it’s a good 20-25 min bus ride to the Fort. I got shoved on a bus and ended up standing for the entire trip. All in all between the walks to and from subways, standing time getting to the race and the death march at the finish (more on that later) I probably did an additional 4-5 miles and was on my feet a good 90+ during the day. Definitely something to keep in mind for people making the trip in the future.

The marathon village was pretty low key for me. I found a place to camp under the tents (despite the beautiful weather I was all about conserving energy and just staying off my feet as much as I could), read the WSJ and laid low until it was time to go the corrals. I made my first mistake there. Once they started moving us to the start line, I decided to ditch my clothes at the last available donation point. This tactical error left me a) underdressed for hanging out on the bridge for 40 minutes and b) pushed me further into my original corral. When I finally found a place to settle, I realized I was by the 3:15 pace guy. Not exactly what I was hoping for but reminded myself it was a marathon not a sprint.

The start itself was jarring. Mary Wittenberg asks “are you ready?” then BAM! the cannon goes off and we’re out of the gates.

5k: 20:54
10k: 20:38

I just settled into a groove and enjoyed the view over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. The crystal clear skies made for great views of Brooklyn & Manhattan. Once in Brooklyn, it was a pure focus on the blue line while also enjoying the crazy Brooklyn crowds. Only two minor incidents through this point: one was watching a four person pileup in front of me and a fifth person pointing out the perp (who’d evidently shoved his way through the other runners). The other was the one pre-race tactical error I’d made coming to fruition around mile 5. I was in dire need of a porta potty. I spotted some just past 5 miles and quickly darted off the course into the PP when I heard the following:

Little Kid: “But Dad, a runner just ran in there! I know it’s unlocked but he beat me to it!”

I quickly shot back out with a “thanks!” to the little kid. As I was running away, I hear three guys in their best NY accents yell “I bet you feel better now!!!” I gave them a thumbs up and beelined back towards the blue line in an effort to conserve energy and run the course smart. Feeling great at this point and just watching the miles clip along.

15k: 20:28
20k: 20:44

Mainly just banging away through Brooklyn. Seamlessly integrated with the other two corrals at mile 8, enjoyed seeing BAM in daylight and mainly just focused on continuing to run smart and take on plenty of fluids. At this point I definitely enjoyed having just the constant noise; the Brooklyn crowds are great and that coupled with the entertainment made for an enjoyable experience early on. It also led to me reminding myself to be smart about not overdoing it early on. Somewhere in the back of my mind Tim’s warning of “beware the last 5 miles” sat waiting to be used. The only other bit to note here for me was that I was excited in a way to run through the Hasidic Jewish neighborhood. Just to experience a completely different part of NYC was something I was looking forward to as part of the run. However, I was so focused/dialed in/spaced that I didn’t realize I was in their ‘hood until a man ran in front of me to cross the street!

25k: 21:17

Transition time or better known as Queens. The crowds definitely drop down a little bit here both in terms of numbers & volume. This part might also be the quietest part of the course. Queens is quieter, the Pulaski bridge is very quiet (minus the solo bagpiper) and reminds me more of a generic city overpass (much like the first of the Newton hills in Boston). I was really happy to hit the half @ 1:27 at the bottom of the Pulaski and at that point I felt in control and comfortable. Little did I know that the hills ahead were going to make me potentially rue the pace.

30k: 20:43

The 25k mark is at the base of the Queensboro Bridge and is the entryway into Manhattan and the insane crowds that await. In looking at the map & the altitude chart before the race, I knew this would be my last major hill but wasn’t too worried about it thanks to the running I do throughout Portland. In retrospect, I should have been more worried. The combination of the hill and the silence left me alone with a body that was starting to suffer, if only slightly climbing up over the bridge. This was definitely the first time my legs started to tighten up. The turn onto first avenue was as promised though; a wall of sound and a total motivation to attack first avenue and enjoy the fact that you had the opportunity to run through Manhattan without anyone chasing you! Thankfully I didn’t pull a Ramalaa and instead just kept clipping out 6:40s and pointing myself towards the final borough.

35k: 21:22

I’d been warned about this part of the course; where the crowds thin out and people’s PR’s go to die. As I made my way into the Bronx I was feeling great. I was starting to bleed a little bit of time at mile 20 & 21 as I moved from a 6:40 pace into the 6:50s. However, I still felt strong and enjoyed the passionate crowds in the Bronx. I’m pretty sure there was a huge church choir at one point which was a lot of fun to hear and the folks made up for the lesser numbers with louder voices. My only major issue during this stretch was Matt (his name was on his arms so I can be confident that it isn’t a pseudonym). Matt was a fellow runner who kept accelerating and decelerating around me in the Bronx. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem except every time he accelerated into a curve, he’d cut me off at a 45 degree angle. On the third strike we had the following exchange:

Me: “Oy!”
Matt: “What?”
Me: “Quit cutting me off, you f**knut!”

As someone pointed out afterwards, leave it to the Bronx to channel my inner temper on some poor unsuspecting (but well deserving) runner. With that we crossed the Madison bridge (I’d left him behind but suspect he caught me later) and reentered Manhattan for the homestretch and the 5 miles Tim had previously worried me about.

40k: 24:02
42.2k: 10:27

This is where things went a bit “pear shaped.” Mile 22 brought another 6:50 and with it real hopes of PR’ing if not being close to that coveted 2:55 mark. At the start of mile 23 bad luck struck. The muscle connecting the inside of my left quad and knee cramped up and my toes in both feet followed quickly thereafter. This was completely new territory for me. I’ve never cramped in any athletic endeavor before and while I’ve had toes cramp in “real life” I’d never had that issue during a race. I tried to run through both and only made it another 400m before having to walk. After a 7:20ish 23rd mile, I started up the huge climb in Central Park that is mile 24. Staring at the incline combined with increased frequency of the cramps left me feeling suddenly both physically and emotionally vulnerable. In an effort to try to minimize the damage, I looked along the crowd until I found two people from the Central Park Track Club, peeled off and asked for their help. 90 seconds later with no real relief, I realized I needed to get going again or this was only going to get worse. They wished me luck and about then I realized I at least still had my humor: I mentioned that I had 38 minutes (or so) to complete the last 3 miles and requalify for Boston so hopefully that was still in range :-)

From there it was just a slog. I want to say I enjoyed the beauty of Central Park, was motivated my the amazing crowds and powered my way to a PR. The reality was me just managing the pain, running a half mile at a time (amazingly at close to race pace) then being overcome with cramps/pain and having to walk 50-100m before having enough strength to get going again. Somewhere in this stretch I also realized I’d stopped my watch. So it wasn’t until the end of mile 24 that I realized I’d logged an almost 9 minute mile and 2:55, a PR and likely 3:00 were all out the window. Thankfully I knew the difference between the race clock and my original clock so at least I knew where I really stood.

I’ve never been in this much pain during a race but in a very different fashion than normal. 95% percent of me was still strong and wanting to attack the rolling hills and bring it in strong. However that 5% made sure that was nothing but a dream. It was really, really hard to watch the hordes of people pass me over the last few miles (est. about 400 over the last 3.2 miles) knowing that there was nothing I could do. In fact, with 800m to go (and where the NYRR starts counting down the finish by 100m intervals) I had to stop again. Someone in the crowd yelled “you’ve got 800m to go! Get running!” I simply replied “I know I have 800m to go. This is the only way I’m getting there in one piece.”

As I approached the finish, I took off my hat and charged through the finish line. Just over 3 hours. A good time but not nearly where I was hoping goal wise. Normally a result like this would have left me frustrated with being so close, especially since had I not stopped to try to work out the cramp I would have been nearly guaranteed a sub 3 hour time (though as people have pointed out something much worse could have happened to the muscles...). However, this was the first race since I can remember where I went for “broke” from the start and let the chips fall where they may. In the end I was happy to be over the line and despite things having gone nowhere near how I expected to have finished NYC and finished my “revenge” mission of sorts. Of course, the marathon itself exacted some revenge on me and gave me a humbling reminder of what a hard event this is both physically and psychologically.

Finish Line & Beyond:

As people have pointed out in previous years, the finish line is nothing short of a death march. It was easily another mile of walking before finding my bag. Combine that with a stop at the medical tent to make sure everything was kosher (and find someplace to toss my NY apple; I mean who eats an apple after a marathon?) and it was almost a hour and a half after the race before I had my bag and was able to call Becca. The good news is the logistics gurus that are UPS had my bag lined up and ready to pick up, change and head into civilization. A mocha and two subway stops later, I was back in Brooklyn exhausted but with a medal around my neck and an experience I’d never forget. I’m not sure I’d run NYC again, but I’m really glad I’ve done it!

Alexander Stefan Davis

2011-04-20T09:45:00.001-07:00

8 days after he was due and 22 hours after Mom started the process in the hospital Alexander Stefan Davis was born April 19th @ 10:57pm. Weighing in at 8 lbs, 11oz and 22.5in high he's a TALL drink of water. He doesn't quite have Kai's head size but you can tell he's a Davis. Mom, Dad & Alex are all happy, healthy and looking forward to heading home soon.

More pics & info to follow as we get some rest and get settled into life playing man to man with two kids!

B&B (&K&A)

RIP Subaru

2010-12-09T22:40:00.001-08:00

RIP Brian's Subaru. 2004-2010. Rear ended and totaled by some old man tonight. I'm ok but will have one hell of a headache in the morning. Good news is neither Becca nor Kai were with me (though amazingly Kai's car seat was unscathed. Yes, I know I need to replace it). First, some food and a scotch.

Wicked Pissah Fast - Brian's 2010 Boston Marathon Epic

2010-05-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

The bucket list. Not just a sappy movie, people definitely have them. The things they want to do and goals they want to accomplish before they leave the earth. Qualifying for and racing Boston was very high up on my list. So after qualifying in December of 2008, I knew that the next 16 months of running were all leading up to the 2010 Boston Marathon. This training cycle was my hardest on record. Running 6 days/week for 18 weeks was a level of training I'd never seen before, even in high school. But I knew deep down that I wanted to put an effort level into this race that I'd never done before. It meant a lot to me to do well in Boston. So... here's the story broken into three parts: Pre-race, the race itself and my post-race thoughts. Enjoy one part or the whole thing. I know I did!

Brian

Before the story starts though I have one thing to add. Becca and Kai are the most amazing family I could ever hope for. Their support and Becca's understanding and sacrifice over the past 18 weeks were THE reason I had such a great race and Boston experience. Having someone who understands or at the very least supports my long distance running habit is immeasurable.

Pre-Race

5am Friday comes awfully early. Why are we up this early again? Oh right, it’s either this or a ticket that costs us another $300/each. Hmm. Becca's brother picks us up and off we head to the airport. Jon half-jokes that he refuses to touch my race bag (which I was taking as a carry on like any good paranoid athlete would do) for fear of one of my shoes randomly flying out and making a break for it. A relatively painless flight to Long Beach (the only downfall of taking Jet Blue is having to route about 1500 miles out of the way) delivers us into a sea of what Becca describes as "really fit looking people." Jet Blue was nice enough to have a 90 minute delay, ensuring that we had plenty of time to discuss the question of the day: is it bad karma to be wearing a 2010 Boston jacket before the race? There were plenty of runners already sporting them in the airport. While I appreciated people's pre-race enthusiasm I'm definitely in the "bad karma" camp. No need to temp fate three days before the race.

Our delay got us into Boston about 8pm local time. My college friend Lara picked us up and showed off the awesome Boston driving skills she's picked up over the last 12 years. We settled into her place in Newton, ordered Chinese takeout (including the awesomely named Mystery Sauce Chicken) and made it a short night. After dinner I got the following fortune: "Even the toughest of days have bright spots, just do your best". What does that mean? Is this a good sign or a prophecy of things to come?

Saturday brings the Marathon Expo. We quickly picked up my race number and moved to the more important stuff: the adidas schwag area. Using Kai's stroller as a battering ram within the crowds (without Kai in it of course) I ended up picking one of the previously mentioned jackets, a sweatshirt and a running shirt before the crowds became too much and Becca got me to checkout before I could do any more damage. The rest of the expo was pretty low key for me as I'm a running luddite and don't get too excited about the latest energy bars, drinks, horse tranquilizers, blood doping etc. The two expo highlights though were a Bill Rodgers sighting (he was signing autographs for Runner’s World) and getting to watch the video of the last half of the course. As I soaked in Newton Hills and the last five miles, it really hit me that I was here and ready for this. I have to admit the room might have gotten a little dusty for me as it moved towards Boylston Street and the finish. Definitely time to exit stage right.

The rest of the pre-race weekend was pretty low key. Due to wet weather, instead of hiking around Boston on Saturday we drove up to Marblehead and enjoyed the shore. In the end this was likely the best strategy as I still got some tourist activities in without being on my feet too much. Sunday meant sleeping in, picking up some sweet sweats at the second hand shop for race day, hitting the grocery store to get my pre-race meal of peanut butter and matzoh and driving part of the course. Starting at Wellesley we drove miles 12-23, including Cleveland Circle from where you see the famous CITGO sign for the first time. Since my original understanding was that you could see it 4 miles away on Heartbreak my thought was "that's not TOO bad!" I guess it’s all about perspective and expectations.

Race Day

For many, Boston is the culmination of years of hard work and putting everything together for a great qualifying time. This combined with the timing of the race (training during winter can be hard depending on locale) and the hard course can lead to many people just running the race for the experience. When I got into Boston, my original goal was to requalify. Then as I rounded into shape to start training, the target moved to running under 3 hours. As training went progressively better and better, I set myself one final summa cum laude from Harvard goal: 2:55. Becca and a few other people were the only ones who knew about this and for good reason. To meet it I’d need to run 6:40/mile for 26.2 miles. A tall order.

These goals and expectations were the last thing I was thinking of with the alarm went off at 5am. 5am is WAY too early for this reformed night owl though I did take a moment to appreciate Boston’s later than usual 10am start time. At CIM in 2008 I was already on a bus to Folsom by 5am. After a good luck kiss from Becca, Lara drove me down to Cambridge to pick up Duke’s Bus. During this time I soaked in the beautiful morning and watched the crew teams work their way up and down the Charles. For anyone who has the chance to run Boston, Duke’s Bus is an awesome bus service provided by the Cambridge Sports Union. They deliver you to Hopkinton and stick around until race time ensuring you of two very important things: cover from the elements and a bathroom.

I ran into fellow Portland and Red Lizard Louis at the bus drop off and we hopped on and headed towards Hopkinton. It was really cool to see the wall of buses on the interstate, all delivering a group of very focused runners towards the beginning of something bigger than all of them. The pre-race time ended up being pretty low key. I left the bus once to check out the athlete’s village. I got as far as the entrance, saw that it looked like a cross between a refugee camp and a outdoor concert and decided to retreat to the bus to relax. Of course, the one drawback of having the bathroom on the bus is that there is only one of them. So with 30 minutes before the race and at least ¾ of a mile between me and the start, I found myself using the “I’m in Wave 1!” card to sneak to the front of the line for one final pit stop. I tried to run from there to the start but the masses were just too much. It was really impressive to see approx. 25,000 runners walk through this little town of 15,000 towards whatever fate had in store.

With a bib number in the 3000s, I was guaranteed a corral fairly close to the start (close enough to hear the starter’s pistol but not close enough to see the elites. It was a very cool moment to hear them list the vets that live in Hopkinton followed my two jets doing a flyby of the start. With that and a shot of the starter’s pistol, we were off!

5k: 0:20:58

Everyone I’d talked to warned me to take it easy for the first mile as it includes the steepest downhill of the course. In fact most people had told me to really stay reserved for the first 16 miles and start cranking up the effort level in the hills. It was not hard to take it easy; there was way too much people watching to be had over the first 5k as I settled into a solid effort without going out control. There was my favorite sign on the course: “Real Gingers run Marathons.” There was the Boy Scoutmaster running in full uniform (though thankfully for him in running shoes and not boots). As a former Eagle Scout myself I came up, introduced myself gave him a quick fist bump and headed off. Then there were the “Beer Me” guys. Wearing matching shirts, I watched them stay true to their word when the motorcycle posse @ mile two offered them beers. I’m assuming they made it to the finish but would have love to seen their BAC at Boylston.

10k: 0:20:49
15k: 0:20:46

Miles 3-9 just seemed to be a blur. Ashland, Framingham and Natick all passed by with nothing terribly of note. I chuck my favorite running gloves @ mile 6 because it's already getting warmer than I like it. At that point, I wonder how much money gets burned in clothing chucked at the start line and throughout the course. On a positive note some little kid in Framingham just scored some sweet Asics gloves.

During this time, I’m also starting to notice that there are really no flat areas on this course. It’s all up or down and actually many more uphills than advertised. The good news is my body still feels good and relaxed as I start to get closer and closer to Wellesley and the half way mark.

20k: 0:20:48
Half (21.1k): 1:27:50

As I mentioned previously, I’ve been warned that it's all about the 2nd half of the race. As a result, I’m just trying to enjoy the festive atmosphere of the race in the first half as much as possible. This cumulates in my visit to Wellesley. The women of Wellesley are known for two things on marathon day: the scream tunnel they create that you can either on either side for a long ways and their signs that say “kiss me.” As I approach Wellesley I decide I can use all the good luck I can get on the day, run up along the fence and plant a quick peck on the cheek to one of the ladies. This leads to a huge uproar in my immediate area and sends me off like a rocket towards the halfway mark. I hit the half feeling strong and within 20 seconds of the summa cum laude goal.

25k: 0:20:48

I spend the next three miles just preparing for the start of the famed Newton hills. These four hills come in miles 16-21. Each one on it’s face isn’t a killer but put the four together and they’re famous for a reason. For me, I think the first one might be the worst because you've just come off the second steepest downhill of the course and it's so friggin' long. It was at this point that I realized that my hill work might not have been the most appropriate for the course.

But before the gory part of the course, two funny barefoot stories. The first was about 4-5 miles in when as a barefoot runner was passing by, a young spectator suddenly blurts, "he's running and he doesn't have any shoes on! Did he forget his shoes?" This led to laughter by everyone in our little running blob of 20 at that point. The second was at the mile 16 or 17 aid station. Another barefoot runner was coming through the aid station at the same time as some of us and one of the volunteers, in her best Bahston accent yelled at us "watch out for him, he doesn't have any shoes on!" Can't decide if she thought his feet were WMDs or whether she was keeping us mean, shoe wearing runners from doing any damage on him.

30k: 0:21:22

At about mile 18, with two of the Newton hills behind me, my quads have joined the party. They start to feel like ground beef put into a blender. I think to myself “I could have sworn I took it easy on the first half of the course. What the hell?” I start channeling Ryan Hall and glance at my watch occasionally to make sure I'm still close to being on pace. At mile 18, I also start trending heavily left to make sure I don't miss my posse and aid station (my friend Erin from NY had done up signs and balloons and Becca, Kai and Lara were planning on seeing me there and handing some extra supplies to me). While I'm doing that, I have a long legged man name Ron come up to me and start quizzing me about the Lizards (turns out he's from CA and had met a few @ the CIM race I qualified at). We then have the following conversation:

Ron: "Do you know Louis?"
Me (huffing and puffing): "Yes"
Ron: "Just passed him walking about a mile back. Said he was cramping."
Me: “Really? Crap!”

At this point I A) Feel horrible for Louis and hope he's putting it back together on the course (I eventually found out he had Achilles problems and had to drop out) and B) suddenly get very worried about my own survival skills as Louis is in a LOT better shape than me...

Mile 19: After much meandering along the left side of the course I finally hit “Davis Square” @ the famed Johnny Kelly statue. I see Becca with Kai strapped in and make a beeline for her. With my “business face” on, I proceed to do the following:

1) Chuck the Gu I’d picked up at mile 17 (why did I carry this thing for two miles when I had no intention of actually consuming it? Damn it!) into the crowd. Evidently though I chucked it right at Lara’s friends. Oops!

2) Grabbing the Gatorade and Mojo Bar from Becca without so much as eye contact. I disputed this later on but the photographic evidence was damming. This on its face wasn’t horrible but when coupled with my later story of giving the Wellesley girls a kiss? Well, let’s just say I’m lucky I have a very understanding wife ☺

3) Becca had been nice enough to hand me a banana as well for fear of me cramping late in the race. What was my reaction? A look of utter confusion followed by me chucking the banana onto the road about 20m down the road.

So despite all that drama, it was really nice to see familiar faces even if just for a few seconds. I was really starting to hurt going into the last two Newton hills and it showed. I really didn’t have any extra drive at this point. Despite grabbing fluids at every water stop during the race, I was still starting to feel a little off. As a result I held onto my bottle for most of the next two miles, despite my hatred for carrying things while I run, eventually finishing it off. While my watch showed that I was starting to slip off my overall goal pace it did end up feeling like I was gaining ground on people but also having people pass me as well. Suddenly my hill training seems inconsequential as I'm just slogging up the third of the Newton Hills at whatever pace my body is willing to do.

35k: 0:21:19

As I hit the top of the famed Heartbreak Hill I catch a break of sorts. I am suddenly by myself with a short stocky runner in front of me. As we reach BC, I quickly figure out he's got a Boston College singlet on leading to an insane level of cheers by the drunken BC faithful. I somehow gain strength not from the crowds cheering, but from imagining myself as being the "heel" whose job is to ruin the hometown boy's day by defeating him on the homestretch of Boston. I’d like to say that the shift to downhill running was a welcome respite but at that point my legs just wanted a flat piece of land. And my mind wanted a good stiff drink.

Miles 22-24 become very interesting. I stop looking at my watch so much I realize I’m going as fast as my body will let me. I feel like I'm making up ground but also feel my quads punish my on every foot strike. At this point I hit the mental wall: I'm no longer caring about what pace I'm running or who I'm keeping up with/passing/getting passed by. A large chunk of the course at this point turns into a blur only brought into clarity by mile markers and aid stations. I remember crossing the tracks near Cleveland Circle only because my friend Lara had warned me the day before that many a person had been their victim during the race. I then see the Citgo sign and in a complete turnaround from Sunday, I look at it thinking, "I still have THAT far to go?" I hit Kenmore Square remembering my friend Lincoln’s advice to soak in the crowd but not remembering a damn thing other than finally passing the taunting piece of Boston skyline that is the Citgo sign.

40k: 0:21:05
42.2k: 2:57:26

Everything is anything at this point (ok, I have no idea what I meant when I wrote this originally but for some reason it works). I'm focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and hoping I don't randomly cramp up or crash or do something equally idiotic. The dip under Mass Ave feels like climbing Everest. Once I turn onto Boylston, I actually hit my watch @ 26.2 so see how close I really was to my original pace goal (2:55:33 so just over a second a mile off) My official marathon ends up being 26.5 miles, most of which I tacked on in the last 10 miles of the race. After hitting my watch I look up for the first time to see the finish. It's strangely soothing to see it so close yet still a ways away. It's then that the whole thing has hit me; I'm finishing the race I've always wanted to run and I'm doing it in record (for me at least) time. I take off my hat (which I never do while running), start pumping my arms and have this idiot grin on my face as I cross the finish line. I've done it. I've finished Boston. Hell, I’ve PR’d at Boston.

Finish area:

The finish area is so damn long. I guess it's a good way to keep people on their feet and moving. About 50m after the finish I help a volunteer get someone to the medical tent as I guess with two semi-functional legs I qualify as extra help. I watch another person go down ahead of me like they've been shot and be immediately taken care of by the crack medical staff. Get the mylar blanket (btw, a nice touch having the people tape it together), get the medal, get the lunch and go to get my bag. During this process I continue to move along though I stop every 50m as well. No physical problems, just overcome by the emotion of the moment. I keep starting to cry, then hold it back, compose myself and move ahead.

After it taking 10-15 minutes for the volunteer to find my bag, I take advantage of the awesome Boston infrastructure to get a massage. I somehow enjoy the cruel irony of having to walk down two flights of stairs to get into the massage/chiro area. From there I head to the University Club (many thanks to Len!), catch up with Len/Dan/Sarah/Clover and then head to the Gardens to meet Becca & Kai, where we find out Kai is scared of metal ducks... After a little bit of touristing around the Gardens, we hit the Green Dragon bar for Guinness & fried food. Seems like a fitting start to the post-race recovery process!

Final Results

2:57:26
6:46/mile
PR of 7:28

1021/22645 Overall
957/13112 Men's
737/4656 18-39 AG
16th ranked Oregonian
Half Splits: 1:27:50/1:29:36

Post Race Thoughts

Boston is quite simply an amazing race. I'm not quite sure how quickly I'm going to be able to get back but I'm hell bent on doing so. The crowds just fire you up, even if your brain can't process them the last few miles. They are 4-5 people deep in the early miles, ebb and flow for a while, get loud again @ Wellesley and then after that it's just a solid wall of people topped off with the chaos from Kenmore Square to the finish. To run a personal best on one of the most famous marathon courses in the world surpassed any performance goal I had. However, if the day had gone less well time wise I still would have been happy having the experience of running that course with that crowd.

The most deceptive part of the course itself is the lack of any consistent flat parts in the race. I trained for the hills but I don't think I realized that you spend almost the entire time moving up or down (or at least that's how it felt to me). This led to...

My hitting the wall psychologically for the first time in a race. Any time I had struggles in previous races, it was always physical and I usually got through it with my stubborn demeanor. However Boston, whether it was the course, the crowds or the occasion took more out of me mentally than any other race. I really didn't realize how much so until I hit those last few miles and stopped looking at my watch, had my game plan mentally float out of my head and contemplated walking at one point. Over the last three miles I just have these brief memories of the race and most of that has to do with the course itself, not the crowds at Kenmore or along Boylston. Regrettable in some ways but also tells me I pushed myself to another level and points to things to work on in future Boston races.

It was awesome to see the blue jackets swarm the town after the race. And even those who weren't wearing jackets wore their badge of honor (the non-functioning quads) with pride. Though I did feel bad for the guy on our Fenway tour the day after who at 6'4" realized he was going to try to be wedging himself into the old school seats at that night's game.

A post race recovery snack of Dunkin Donuts has never tasted so good. :-)

I tend to be a fairly self-critical person. Becca and I were talking on our flight back to Portland and given her knowledge of summa cum laude goal of 2:55, she asked "are you proud of your performance? Because you should be..." And for the first time since the birth of Kai, with no reservations the answer was yes. I was happy with my experience with no reservations. The way it should be I know but for me that short conversation really drove the whole experience home for me.

A final note: I was really amazed by the pride the city's citizens take in the event. I have had friends who have lived in Boston and watched the marathon and heard their stories but I lost count the number of times I had a random Bostonian stop me on Monday/Tuesday to either congratulate me or ask me how I did. This also included this awesome exchange at one of the downtown T stations:

T ticket guy: "So what did you run?"
Me: "2:57"
Random disheveled older man who scared the crap out of the family by appearing out of nowhere: "Do you know that's four times the normal speed of humans? You're wicked pissah fast!"
Me: "Thanks?"

On that note, thank you Boston. I’ll be back.

Happy Birthday!

2010-02-09T00:01:00.000-08:00

I have all sorts of things I kinda, sorta want to write about on the blog but for now, a simple Haiku for my wife on her birthday:

Partner, Lover, Friend

What else could a man ask for?

Amazing Mother.

Happy 10 Months Kai!

2010-01-31T15:29:00.001-08:00

Ready to face Oregon's 'liquid sunshine'

"Whassup??" Strutting her stuff in the 'Death Star'

The Blog: Behind the Scenes

2010-01-23T20:50:00.000-08:00

Here at the Blog we specialize in the posting of cute pictures, especially of the little girl variety.

As an example, here's Kai modeling the new hat that Mom just knit for her.

However, it's not as easy as it seems. Kai in particular has started to make it a bit of a challenge so we thought we'd give you a little peek behind the curtain.

At first the only challenge was the fact that she LOVES posing for the camera. It's almost impossible to take a candid shot catching her in the middle of some action, because the second she sees a camera she'll stop whatever she is doing and just look at the lens and smile.

However recently we've encountered another issue. Because we currently are using a digital point and shoot instead of an SLR, the camera doesn't do well with low light indoors and pretty much uses a flash all the time. Not surprisingly, Kai doesn't appreciate the light being flashed in her face. She has now learned to associate the little orange light sensor light with the flash and squints or closes her eyes whenever she sees that light, even if (like with this series) I've got the flash turned off, leading to pictures like this:

and this:

And when she really wants to make her point, we get this:

Still, it's all worthwhile when we end up with one of these:

Come back later for the director's cut and more DVD commentary extras.

:-)

Our Gangster Baby

2010-01-19T10:52:00.001-08:00

"Whassup??"

Grandkid Therapy

2010-01-17T21:57:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about moving back to Portland has been being close to family, especially given the health challenges we've been dealing with.

We firmly believe that frequent doses of Kai and Dash therapy have played a role in Mom's success in beating back her cancer

And as Red moves towards his last days, it's been wonderful to watch his face light up when he spends time with Kai. Since the very beginning she has shared special smiles with him and this weekend when we went down to visit, she was particularly expressive with him.

Baby therapy. You can't beat it.

Becca

New Year's Eve Adventures

2010-01-08T11:55:00.001-08:00

We knew that our New Year's Eve activities would likely change as parents, though to be fair we weren't exactly known for hitting the clubs drenched in bubbly even before Kai came along. However we weren't quite expecting Kai to make such an impact on our plans.

Caroline and Luigi had come up from Philomath mid-afternoon and Kai and Gino were having fun cooing at and reaching for each other. Kai was also enjoying the fact that unlike her cousins Dash and Finn, Gino isn't able to steal toys from her yet or protest as much when she steals them from him. So she was able to maximize her evil machinations on the play mat.

Though I think she may have been a little intimidated by the fact that he already outweighs her.

All was looking good for an afternoon/evening of baby play and then nice dinner and drinks and board games for the adults, when Kai decided to throw a wrench in things. She woke up crying and distressed from her nap about 4 pm, and when Brian went in to get her she was wheezing and struggling a little to breathe. When this didn't improve right away we got in touch with her pediatrician's office, where a nurse let us know that it sounded like croup, that we needed to get her looked at, but that there weren't any doctors left in the office so we'd have to head to the ER. Luckily we live about 15 minutes from a great children's hospital.

After a bit of a Keystone Kops routine (the high school students who had pulled the New Year's Eve volunteer shift at the info desk didn't know what 'urgent care' was or how to get to the ER), we were able to quickly confirm that yes, Kai was coming down with croup, but she seemed to have a just a mild case of it. They gave her some steroids to hopefully lessen the impact on her over the next two days and watched her for a couple of hours before sending us home a little after 7. For a holiday ER trip, it was about as painless as can be. While we were there Kai modeled the latest in peds hospital gown fashion and had a great time playing with the remote control (even if she did somehow turn the TV on to Twilight, the Movie) and (when we weren't looking) the nurse call button...ooops!

I never get to play with this at home.....

And a terrific volunteer came by to blow bubbles with her for awhile and to entertain her with a whirrly light wand thingy. She thought it was pretty cool.

Sadly...the camera in the cell phone seems unable to capture a bubble...

They must have been super slow that night, because not only did he stay for awhile, but he left her with the magic wand and came back and gave her a stuffed dog and a knit cap to take home with her. Score!

Meanwhile, our house guests had been not only been amusing themselves in our absence, they had actually gone through our kitchen and pantry and whipped us all up a delicious - and fairly gourmet - dinner. Not only that, but when we opened our fridge, we saw that we were minus a shelf but plus a death cake of goodness.

Caroline had baked up an amazing treat to welcome in the new year: a 6-layered chocolate cake, with raspberry and a marscapone/nut/whipped cream fillings. It was pretty much Death by Cake. But worth it.

Chocolate cake, raspberry filling, marscapone/cream/nut filling
Rinse and repeat.

Don't mess with the cake lady...

So despite it all, in the end we were able to celebrate the new year in our preferred fashion after all: with two relatively healthy babies, good food, fun games, and some of our best friends. If that's an omen for 2010, I'll take it.

9 Months Old!

2010-01-05T23:44:00.000-08:00

Yes, we realize that means it's been 3 months since our last post. Yikes. Not good. But as we got more active on Facebook, we've ended up posting our updates and pictures there, and not getting around to putting them up here too. We've realized though that a) some of you aren't on FB and b) this is a better way for us to look back and remember what's been going on in our lives. So one of our new year's resolution was to become much more disciplined and regular about posting here.

That means we've got a backlog of pics and stories. But for now, enjoy a couple of pics of the 9 months old. We can't believe how quickly time has flown!

(thanks to our friend Marlynn for the amazing pics she took during lunch this weekend)

Daddy's little girl...sportin' the colors early on

Still a little rosy cheeked/glassy-eyed from her cold/croup

yeah, she's going to be trouble. :-)

Happy 6 Months!!!

2009-10-01T00:24:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Kai's half-birthday last night with her Danish family complete with a flag-decorated table (a danish tradition) and Danish bday songs. Video and pics to follow, but we look forward to being able to tell her that her first celebration was held here.

Meanwhile, we're just enjoying this wonderful ride we're on. We can't wait to see what the next 6 months bring.

Off Adventuring!

2009-09-24T01:24:00.001-07:00

Kai's first castle

We are currently in the middle of a 3 week trip in Europe introducing Kai to several sets of good friends and meeting their new children. We had hoped to be posting as we went along, but our time has been filled with actual doing things and we haven't been able to download many pics.

So when we get home we'll put up pics and stories from each of the countries Kai has gotten to experience for the first time. It's been fun to watch.

More soon.

Becca

Farewell Nana...

2009-08-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

It's fitting, somehow, that after 91 years Nana would choose her son's yarhtzeit to decide that she was done. She lived the most amazing life and was a inspiration to me in many ways, especially in how you can reinvent yourself at any age and what an adventurous spirit looks like.

I'm so sorry to lose her but thankful that the pains and frustration of daily living are no longer with her. And I'm deeply grateful that we were able to get down with Kai last month to visit her. She had a great time meeting her great-granddaughter and we had a wonderful time introducing them.

We'll miss you Nana....

Ruth Segal Bloomfield
March 21, 1918 - August 15, 2009

In memory.....

2009-08-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

Stefan David Bloomfield
May 2, 1944 - August 15, 2004

Miss you, Dad. So much.

Wish you were here to enjoy Kai

Book Worm

2009-08-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

Just like Mom & Dad :-)

Kai's Bathing Adventure

2009-07-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

A little video from Kai's first bath w/o her sling. Needless to say she's taking to the bath like a Duck to water.

Of course, this means that all future baths are going likely be located in the bathroom. Gone are the days of multitasking by cooking dinner and cleaning Kai! :-)

Brian

PS Hopefully more posts soon. So far our travel this summer has included the Oregon Coast, Corvallis, California and by October will include Minnesota and Europe. Needless to say we're not giving Kai a taste of travel; we're forcing it down her throat!

We'll be right back....

2009-07-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

Off to the coast for a few days...

Mom & Dad -centric post when we get back.

Kai

Daddy time pics

2009-07-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

while I work on a non-baby entry.

"now Kai....the double play is a moment of pure beauty...."

Barnyard Dance is a real page turner

an avid reader, just like her parents

Life lesson #309

2009-07-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of our neighbors: how to keep a campsite/campground to yourself on a busy holiday week.

Our neighbors decided to take their kids camping over the holiday weekend and headed out towards Mt Hood. Not surprisingly, the first couple places they got to were already full. Finally they found a campground that was empty except for a camper in one campsite.

They pulled up to another campsite and started to unload. While the kids and the Dad were starting to set up the tent, the mom started to walk around with their dog. He was running in circles around her and getting a little far. At one point he ran over maybe 40 feet from the camper. Now, while he is an absolutely sweet dog, it must be said that he can look a little scary (slightly reminiscent of a pit bull or other similar dog). But still.

Just as our neighbor started to call him back over to her, a man came out of the camper with a handgun and without saying anything to her, pointed it at the dog and cocked the hammer.

At which point our friends grabbed the dog and their kids and high tailed it to a more crowded, but hopefully small arms-free place to camp for the weekend.

Needless to say, I think the man was probably successful at keeping his camping solitude.

Good lord.

Lookout World....

2009-07-02T10:08:00.001-07:00

.....she's ready to come get you. :-)

Happy 1st Father's Day Daddy!!!

2009-06-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Introducing Finn.....

2009-06-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were thrilled to meet Kai's new cousin.

Finn Beecher Varble Davis
Born June 13th

Taking after Kai, Finn was a healthy 8 lbs, 9 oz and 21 inches. We're so looking forward to watching the two of the grow up together.

Congratulations Sarah and Kevin!!

Between Finn and Dashiell, Kai is going to have some rough and tumble boys to keep up with. Somehow, we're not worried about her holding her own. :-)

"you want a piece of this??"

b&b

The many faces of Miss Kai

2009-06-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

"Hi Daddy!"

"you want some of this??"

"oh the humanity!"

"Yeah, I know I'm cute..."

"Damn young punks! Get off my lawn!"

"this is so cool! I should poop more often!"

"I'm so over this...."

"whee!!!"

"I'll show you!"

Just like the weather...ever changing....

Look who's getting bigger!

2009-06-11T16:01:00.000-07:00

So yeah....we're WAY behind. Promise to fix that in the coming days/week. In the meantime, a comparison of sorts:

wow...they grow quick. 5 days vs. 10 weeks

The first of many....

2009-05-10T13:12:00.001-07:00

Happy mother's day to all...

Beware the girly-girl....

2009-04-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

Looks like somebody got dressed by Dad before Mom had a chance to notice or object. So much for not putting her in dresses.....

Still, I've got to admit that it's pretty darn cute. (And at least it's not pink!!)

Daddy's little girl....

2009-04-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

Getting to know each other right after birth

There is little that makes me melt so much as watching Brian and Kai together...

Enjoying one of her favorite places

Getting in some tummy time with Daddy

Sharing secrets

Heading out for her first walk

Who's my little girl?

First Playdate

2009-04-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

Rockin' the Bobby Socks look...

A couple of pics while I sort through the last two weeks and figure out what to post about. We had a very nice family baby shower, some fantastic meals provided by friends, the world's best shower cake, some wonderful gifts from my FanAp friends, the tyranny of baby acne...really it was chock full of goodness.

Here are Kai and cousin Dash (8.5 months) enjoying their first one-on-one time. Given that they live only a few houses about from each other I foresee many more sessions like this in the future. :-)

Hey! Who is this over here that I see?

Awww...Come on Mom, I only want to say hi...

...and maybe just have a taste or two

Growing like a sprout...

2009-04-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

Kai continues to do well. She's a growing baby (last week's doctor's appointment had her in the 50th percentile for weight, 95th for head size and 100th percentile for height) and amazingly awake, aware and agile. As I described her after our last appointment, she's a "tall drink of water."

Unfortunately, to be a tall drink you have to be full. A lot. Becca's feeling a bit tethered as Kai is embracing the breastfeeding thing and eating like a champ. Seemingly all of the time. The offshoot of this is that when Kai wakes up from sleeping, she usually wants to eat. Now. Like NOW!!!

(Feed Me Woman!)

So the cute pics of Kai are fewer and far between for now. This is more of what we see when she's awake. That's not a bad thing; she's continuing to grow and is just getting used to pesky things like a digestive track. It is good practice though for having to understand the various screams and determining which you can do anything about. I've been fortunate; in an effort to give Becca some more sleep, I've been taking Kai for some bonding time in the mornings. I can't even begin to describe the feelings around having this thing that you helped create curled up on you. Plus it's nice to have some time with Kai early on since most of her time is spent within a 5-10 foot radius of mom. Someone has to teach her the finer points of baseball :-)

Brian

What's in a name?

2009-04-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

Given the number of questions we have received about Kai’s name, I thought I’d write up a little something explaining where it came from.

KAI
Pronounced: “Kai”. (sorry….couldn’t resist)
Think of it like the “-ky” in “Sky”.

The first time Brian mentioned that as a potential name, I assumed it was in honor of Kai Ryssdal, the host of NPR's Market Place and the object of a serious man-crush of Brian's.

That might indeed have been where the idea of the name came from, but Brian said he much preferred it as a girl’s name instead. A little bit of research showed that not only was it also a girl’s name, but that it was much more commonly used that way.

It has multiple meanings across several cultures and languages but the one that spoke to us the most was that Kai means ‘Sea’ or ‘Ocean’ in Hawaiian and Japanese. The ocean, especially the Oregon Coast, is a special place for us and we have celebrated a number of special moments and milestones there in our 9 years together.

And as it turns out, the ocean connotation also works particularly well with her middle name....

NIDA

Pronounced: “NEE – DUH”

Nida is not a name per se, but rather the name of a place. Nida is a small village in Lithuania located on the Curonian Spit, a tiny stretch of land 98 km long and only 3 km wide between a lagoon and the Baltic Sea.

Nida was one of our favorite places during our around the world trip. Some of that was because of the place itself: forests surrounded by huge dunes on one side and rough coastline on the other, gingerbread houses, fishing boats, etc.

But it was an extremely meaningful place to us because it was the place on our journey where we first exhaled and let go of a lot of the type A-ness that we carried and thought about how we'd like to live the rest of our lives and the type of people we'd rather try to be.

And we thought that that discovery and wakening was a neat moment to pass on to her.

(see here for a slide show of pics from Nida and here and here for Nida blog entries)

NICKNAMES (so far)

Short-stuff/Shorty
(less applicable now that we found out she at the 100th percentile for height for her age)

Fuss-budget/Fidget/Squirmy McSquirm
Usually used when she’s fussy/squirmy/crying etc

Puddle
Cuz she’s a really small ocean

Houdini
Cuz she breaks out of any swaddle we put her in and refuses to have her arms shackled at all.

Spike
Just cuz (ed. this JUST might be because Becca is a Joss Whedon fan. Just sayin')

Becca

Happy Opening Day!

2009-04-06T15:26:00.000-07:00

For most folks, March 20th was the start of spring. For me, as a lifelong baseball fan spring doesn't start until Opening Day. While I was a bit bummed that the Red Sox were rained out of their opener, that doesn't mean Kai and I weren't ready for the occasion.

How do we say "Youk!" again daddy?

To answer the obvious questions:

1) No, I don't care that she's a girl. She's going to learn to love baseball (despite her mom's eventual efforts to the contrary).
2) Yes, I'm starting her VERY young on the path towards Sox fandom. However, no pink hats allowed :-)
3) Yes, the onesie is a bit large; the only ones I could find were 3-6 months so Kai is wearing it more as a nightshirt/dress look for now.

Kai says go Sox!

Brian

Chapter one...

2009-04-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

Home from the hospital for 24 hours and just starting to have the whole 'oh my god we have a baby now' sink in. Actually, to be fair, I'm still just trying to adjust to the fact that we have a little girl...for some reason I had been sure it would be a boy. But now that I'm getting used to it, it's pretty cool...she's pretty cute. :-)

We'll be trying to do a lot more posting now that we actually have something to post about and we'll try and put pics up here or on flickr (or Facebook) for those who are looking for a baby fix. (link to be updated soon...)

Mostly I just wanted to thank all all family, friends, and Felbernauts who sent us such wonderful words of congratulations over the past few days. It's really nice to know that Kai already has such a great group of folks looking out for her.

And finally, a Kai Burrito:

So I've been totally grumpy about the whole dressing girls in pink thing
but I have to admit...that's pretty adorable. :-)

Becca

Kai's First Day

2009-04-01T08:10:00.001-07:00

We're thrilled to announce the arrival of our daughter Kai Nida Davis to the world. Born March 31, 2009 @ 10:58pm, weighing 8 lbs and 21 3/4 inches in length, Kai is a baby ready to tackle the world. Kai and Becca are resting and doing well. Dad on the other hand is a nervy mess :-)

For the record, Kai got Becca's hair, her good looks and her propensity to talk. She got my head and shoe size. If she gets Becca's brains we're all doomed!

We'll let people know once we're home and settled in enough to start having visitors. In the meantime, keep positive healthy, sleep filled thoughts heading our way!

B&B

Waiting....

2009-03-27T15:36:00.001-07:00

So due date day has come and is on its way to being gone, and baby is showing no inclination to being in any hurry to come join us. (It's increasingly looking like no one but baby will win the birth pool!)

You start to wonder if the belly has its own time zone...

Mostly I'm pretty good with that. Though today just seemed to increase a step function in uncomfortableness, I'm still not that bad...certainly no where near as miserable as many, many of the other very preggers ladies I see or know. And there is certainly more work to get wrapped up before I hand it off, so having extra days for that is very nice.

And finally, I sort of feel like once the baby comes there is that whole 'your whole life has changed' thing going on. Given that it will be changed for the rest of our lives, I don't mind putting it off for another week or two.

Is it time to set the egg timer yet?

Will let folks know once there's any news.

Becca

Brian's Crazy Emails #1

2009-03-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

Being fortunate enough to be an early adopter to gmail, I had my choice of email addresses. Despite the obvious move of just using my first and last name (it was available), I chose to use my first initial and last name. I think this was mainly because it was what my work email was at the time but in retrospect, not the best move. Having a generic email address has led to me being signed up for all sorts of newsletters and offers as well as being the recipient of well... let's just say emails that aren't meant for me. On the suggestion of my friend wadE, I've chosen to start posting some of these for the entertainment value of all. All names have been deleted to protect the innocent, innoculous and idiotic.

So with that overly explanative introduction, here's the first Brian's Crazy Emails. It's no This Is Why You're Fat, but hopefully it will add some humor to your day.

Crazy Email #1:

I am freakin almost 12 & I still don’t have my ears pierced!!!!!!!!!!! Ugh the unfairness is unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Uhuhuhuhuuuh! Cant breathe!!

I'm not quite sure where to start here. My friend wadE pointed out that she must not be Italian; evidently it's commonplace for Italian girls to get their ears pierced at 6 months (or so says his Italian-American wife). I just enjoyed the quality teen angst. She does get credit for not using texting English in the email though. Nice to have it completely devoid of OMGs and LOLs. However, the angry Pac-Man? I did a cursory glance of Google image but didn't have any luck finding the equivalent. Perhaps an original creation? Either way it seems to be speaking in Pac-ese. Perhaps "Let teen angst free?"

BD

Penultimate Twosome Post

2009-03-10T22:10:00.001-07:00

Or in other words.... not much else to add until the baby comes so maybe one more almost there post.

We know that we've been beyond remiss in updating the blog, but really....how often do you need to read "Becca is keeping busy with BSC freelance, Brian is keeping busy finishing the house and pre-baby projects, and the pregnancy is going along fine". Yawn.

I'm currently between 38 and 39 weeks along. Our assumption is that once baby arrives (which should be sometime in the next couple of days to 3 weeks) we'll have all sorts of new things to talk about and stories and pictures to share.

In the meantime, here's a few views of the amazing expanding belly. :-)

Becca

barely showing, week 25

starting to creep out there, 30 weeks

and a little bit more, week 32

Now let's contrast those to the more recent shots:

this shirt looks slightly different at 37 weeks, eh?

"Oh my god..You've swallowed a basketball!" 37 weeks at the beach

37 week silhouette in Waldport

Getting Prepped for Baby

2009-03-05T13:28:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this from the lovely Oregon coast, where Becca and I are taking the time to load up on some R&R in preparation of the impending addition to the Davis family. We're inside of four weeks and as of Friday, Becca will officially be term. There are plenty of other things going on in our life (the biggest being battling parental health issues on both sides) but the baby is taking full focus.

As a friend of ours pointed out, we're never going to be truly prepared but we have what we need to come home from the hospital: A car seat (legally obligated in Oregon), diapers and well... boobs :-)

More once we're back in Portland.

Brian

The Narcissistic 25

2009-01-27T21:22:00.001-08:00

Since it took me forever to write, I thought I'd repost something that I posted up on Facebook. A little (or lot) more about what makes me tick.

BD

Yeah, yeah. 25 things about me. 25 people to pass it along to. You know the drill by now. Let's clog the intertubes some more... For the record, these are in the order they popped into my head. Therefore they'll likely be very nonsensical.

1. I've only been in one fight (outside of sibling duels) in my life. Sixth grade and I settled it with one swing of my saxophone case. Since I no longer play the sax, I'll stick to my one fight per lifetime rule.

2. I have chronic sinusitis. It sucks. If I could stop it I would, trust me. I am not sniffling/snorfiling to annoy you. I have many other ways I can accomplish that. Three separate surgeries provided temporary relief but no real cure.

3. My favorite band is Wilco. Unhealthily so. I'd like to think my musical tastes are diverse (a glance @ my iTunes listing would back that up) but in reality I listen to these guys 60% of the time, much to Becca's chagrin. Favorite Wilco songs? Casino Queen (brings back memories of too many nights on the waterfront in college) & Handshake Drugs (don't know why, just always puts me in the right mood).

4. I'm equal parts scared and excited about my impending fatherhood. While people around me swear I'll make a good father, I'm of the belief that you never know until it is truly thrust upon you.

5. Becca and I essentially moved in together three weeks after we met. While she swears it was b/c she had internet and HBO, I like to think of it as a sign of true love. Still kind of amazing for someone who's previous longest relationship was 4.5 months.

6. I am a sports geek, although this has tempered itself and evolved over the years. I do seem to obsess on sports that either move slowly (cricket, baseball) or have limited scoring (baseball, soccer).

7. I am a fantasy baseball dork. The Portland Hoods have a sweet eight year streak of one year great, one year bad going strong. Though winning our league two years ago did score me the cash for a sweet new Garmin running watch.

8. I am a bit obsessive compulsive about my running. I used said Garmin to track every mile I ran during my last marathon training. Additionally, I will run around the block an extra time or two to meet a certain mileage goal but won't stop early if I'm already past a certain mile marker.

9. I've run a whopping two marathons, both in state capitols (St. Paul, Sacramento). Unfortunately qualifying for Boston in 2010 has stopped that streak cold. :-) While I always thought marathons were a perfect distance for my body, I think I've found over the past few years that half-marathons are more my thing. And yes, I do realize this still qualifies me as a freak.

10. I have seen my baseball team (the Red Sox) win the World Series in person (2004 in St. Louis), have been in the locker rooms in Fenway, touched the Green Monster yet have never been to a live game in Fenway.

11. I am a proud Eagle Scout. While the Boy Scouts themselves are not exactly a popular organization to associate with nowadays, I still believe it was (and is) a great way for kids to get into the outdoors and spend time with kids their own age.

12. I skipped the third grade. Technically since our school district ran on the track system, I never finished second grade either. I literally went from second grade on a Friday to the start of fourth grade on a Monday. Explains why my grade school skills are always a little hit and miss.

13. I am left handed throwing a ball, playing darts, playing pool, etc. I am right handed hitting a tennis racket, throwing a frisbee and playing golf. I write right handed. I eat ambidextrously.

14. My sports affiliations (in order of importance): Red Sox, University of Oregon, Portland Trail Blazers, Minnesota Vikings, US Men's National Soccer Team, Olympique Lyonnais (French Soccer), Portland Timbers (US Soccer), Australian National Team Cricket, Hereford United (English League Two Soccer). Out of these the only one I typically find the time to consistently watch is the Sox.

15. I've had the fortune to spend 15 months traveling around the world. I highly recommend it to everyone. We wrote about it on our blog and it was interesting to see how much I was able to write, keep a journal, etc. during the trip. Once we got home? Both have suffered tremendously.

16. That being said, I still have a life goal of either putting some of our travels into a group of essays or working with my dad to do a children's book based on some of our experiences. Not sure which (or either) will ever happen but they stay on my life goal list.

17. Yes, I have a life goal list. Dorky I know but it does keep in perspective the things and situations you want out of life. It helps to have as well to serve as an anchor when things start to get out of control and you lose sight of the important things, whatever you've defined those as for yourself.

18. I've eaten a pound of Boston baked beans (the candy kind) in one sitting. For dinner. No, it wasn't to win a bet. Yes, I felt ill the next day.

19. After traveling for 15 months, it is amazing how little you can live with. While the equation changes slightly once you're living in one place again I've been very proud with the fact that we've been able to downscale what we need and learn to live a simpler lifestyle. It's great to be able to get by with less, walk to just about everything we need and just live simpler.

20. That being said, having just recently acquired a new TV and HD coverage having the occasional treat is nice :-)

21. I had both dogs and cats when I was a kid. I can safely say that now I'm mainly a cat person if only for the simple fact that you can leave them with the litter box for a weekend. That being said, I have a permanent soft spot for the Welsh Corgis in our neighborhood and secretly wish for one on occasion. Not enough to actually go through though.

22. This is the busiest time of year for the Davis family. From January 5 to February 18th, I have birthdays for my entire immediate family, Becca, my sister in law, my mom & dad's anniversary, and the birthdays of multiple friends. Needless to say I'm committed to deficit spending (both in $ and time) from mid-December through February.

23. I love living in Portland again. It's fantastic to be in such an outdoor wonderland and so close to family. However if circumstances led to us moving, my short list would be Melbourne, New Zealand (south island), Southern France, Minneapolis, Seattle (under certain conditions) & Vancouver BC.

24. I'm looking forward to the challenge of becoming a stay at home dad. At least in the short term Becca and I decided we wanted to have one of us home and focused on the baby full time and given her current successful consulting gig and me just finishing school, it seemed like a no brainer. Plus I have to admit that it's something I've thought about for a long time. I'm not sure if I'm going to be a natural at it but I'm really looking forward to having the opportunity to bond with my child in a way that so few dads get to do. Guess I have to get used to looking sexy with a baby bjorn!

25. I consider myself the luckiest man in the world to be married to Becca. The second smartest person I have ever met (for the record, I'm about #531), she has an amazing combination of brains, determination and adventurous spirit that has allowed us to tackle everything from family illness to getting married to traveling around the world to going to Babies R Us. Though I think that last one scared us the most :)

Product Ideas Run Amuck

2009-01-26T14:40:00.000-08:00

In my daily wanderings, I'm always intrigued by what motivates people to buy and sell certain products. Was it something created from someone's own personal need? Is it an extravagance? Where is the market for this?

It's this final question that brought me to posting about two products in the TLA (tobacco, liquor and firearms) market. The first is courtesy of my friend Alex: Crystal Head Vodka. Ok, the video is long (about 10 min) but worth it when you have a few minutes to spare.

Dan Aykroyd's Crystal Head Vodka

The video can easily be mistaken for a viral SNL campaign. In fact, when the video came out it was evidently thought to be a viral effort for a new Ghostbusters or Indiana Jones movie. However, it's all true. Evidently Aykroyd, in addition to being a huge UFO buff/believer, is also the Canadian distributor of Patron and partially owns four wineries.

However, the high entertainment value lies in the making of the vodka: QUADRUPLED distilled over precious crystals called Herkimer diamonds leading to a "distinct flavor." Also adding to its taste is it creation in scenic Newfoundland, a place so rugged it has it's own time zone. I have to admit, after listening to the video, I was torn between mocking the vodka and buying it.

The second item though I can guarantee will NOT be going on the 2010 birthday list, baby registry, etc. As I was walking through one of our local mega-malls, I came upon a kiosk selling the e-cigarette. The creators were seeking to "create a smoke free environment by offering an option to smoke without tobacco, tar and all the other chemicals found in traditional cigarettes."

Yes, evidently someone has found a way to create a mechanical device that gives you a nicotine hit without the smell, tar and other chemicals. While I commend anything that helps get rid of the stank of cigarettes, this product seems targeting the "desperate to still look like a social outcast" market. However, this guy does his best to make it look cool.

So Crystal Head Vodka and the e-cigarette. Representatives are standing by.

Happy Monday everyone!

BD

The Yin & Yang of Politics

2009-01-20T16:11:00.000-08:00

With today being inauguration day for our 44th president, a lot of friends and family are excited about President Obama officially taking office. With his campaign based on hope and change and the electorate choosing this message, one could hope that politics is headed in the right direction.

However, with one positive thing come news to balance it out. Portland's new mayor Sam Adams, has admitted to having a relationship with a legislative intern named Beau Breedlove when he was 18. Adams, who was 42 at the time lied about the relationship when asked about it in October 2007 as part of a Willamette Week investigation in the heart of the mayoral race. Additionally, Adams convinced Breedlove to stay quiet and lie about their relationship at the time. Despite Adams and Breedlove both stating he was of legal age at the time of their relationship, there are some questions as to whether Breedlove was 18 when their relationship started, thus bringing into question whether Adams could be criminally prosecuted for the relationship.

This sort of relationship and the lying behind it is wrong no matter who does it and what their orientation is. For someone who stands for all Portlanders, it is inexcusable. On a day of hope and change on a national level, we Portlanders got a local reminder of the lies and deceit that come hand in hand with politics on any level. Personally, as someone who voted for Adams I get another reminder why my political science degree continues to garner dust and another layer of "scar tissue" that has be hopeful but doubtful about the true change any politician can bring.

Brian

Original Willamette Week Article

California International Recap

2008-12-17T23:47:00.000-08:00

My marathon experience is coming in two parts: the first is race day itself and the second is the long and winding road I took to get there. CIM Pictures for those interested.

Part I now; Part II hopefully sometime around the New Year.
BD

Part I

Through 18 weeks of training, I was very regimented in my miles, how I ran them, when I ran them etc. Structure was my middle name. However leading up to race day, I had what could best be charitably described as a "framework" of a strategy going into the race. My training left me confident that I could qualify for Boston but with no idea as to how fast I could go without crashing late in the race. As a result, I came up with the following plan:

1. Take the first 10 comfortably, preferably between 7-7:15/mi (thereby "banking time" towards a BQ).
2. Keep a strong tempo throughout the next 10, hopefully right around the pace established in the first 10 miles.
3. Empty the tank in the last 10k.

I wasn't completely sure what these parts would consist of time-wise but knew it would likely land somewhere between 7-7:15 pace. At least that was the hope going into race day itself.

Before that, I had to get to lovely California. I flew down Friday night and stayed with a friend of mine from college, her boyfriend and their two year old daughter. They always tell you to get the best night sleep two nights before the race. I decided to put that to the test via a two year old, a brand new aero bed and three cats. Saturday brought a few realizations: their daughter sleeps really well, cats can be fended off via squirt gun and I'm a bit neurotic in the days leading up to a race. After a leisurely morning and a great Mexican lunch, they took me to my hotel. I hit the lottery of hotel rooms; evidently I'd been upgraded to a suite, complete with HD TV, fridge, etc. Perfect for my plan on laying low and getting a good final night's sleep. The 4:15 wakeup call was going to come way too soon.

My only trip out on the town was to swing by the race expo, confirm my transportation options and grab a bite to eat for dinner. Since I was flying solo at this point, I really didn't feel like waiting for a table and eating a meal out with crowds of people. As a result, I stopped into a local deli and picked up a turkey sandwich for dinner. Not quite a bowl of pre-race pasta but I was fairly harmless and would do. As I made my way back to my room I had the following exchange in the elevator:

Very Fast looking Female Marathoner (VFFM): Is that your pre-race meal?
Me: Yep.
VFFM: What are you having?
Me: Turkey Sandwich.
VFFM: (incredulous look) Is that your normal pre-race meal?
Me: I don't really have a NORMAL meal per se. How about you?
VFFM: Pasta feed with my team. Gotta carb up you know!

Yes, that was the extent of the conversation. But nothing like having someone question your culinary choices 12 hours before you're running a race. Thanks for the support! :)

After a restless night, race day was here. A 4:15 wakeup call was met with me awaking at 4:14 and quickly answering the phone. I got dressed, had my peanut butter and matzoh (pre race meals of HMOTs everywhere) bundled up and headed downstairs. I must have been one of the last people to show up downstairs; that didn't stop me from running into the lady from the night before who asked "how's the turkey sandwich treating you?" Just fine thank you! With that bit of inspiration I was on the bus and headed towards Folsom and the starting line.

The weather on race morning was pretty ideal. Overcast skies and cooler temps made body temperature regulation a given. As a Johnny Cash fan, it was a nice bonus to be standing in the line at the port-a-potties, look up and realize I was looking at Folsom Prison. I got warmed up, had a last bit of gatorade, stretched and was ready to go. However, with this only being my second marathon (the other being 2004 Twin Cities), I once again made the mistake of waiting too late to ditch my clothes and get into the crowd. Subsequently I was stuck around the 3:50 pace group; an improvement of being back with the 4:30 group 4 years ago but still not ideal.

From there though things went surprisingly to plan. I ran comfortably, taking the uphills with equal effort over the first 10 and came through at a 7:04 pace. At about 3 miles I'd caught up to and passed the 3:10 pace group. For a split second I thought about just running with them and then decided that I felt comfortable at my current pace and was better suited to just keep the rhythm I had going. With that feeling pretty good I just kept trucking around that pace for the next 10 (I was only 14 seconds slower over the 2nd 10 miles).

Unlike my training runs (where I was notorious for not carrying water and scrambling for it whenever I could) I took on quite a bit of fluid; in fact for the majority of the race I felt a bit bloated as I'd drank a decent amount before the race itself. (the 19 water stops were definitely helpful as I could just take a cup a stop and not have to power walk/slow down to grab water knowing the next one was just around the corner) However by 20 I was starting to feel a bit "normal" again physically. The most notable part of the race through 20 was the man in his 50s who was doing what could only be charitably described as a "white man dance" to "Whoomp, There It Is" right at Mile 20. Disturbing and not what one needs when one might be trying to confirm the lack of hallucinations to that point!

The last 10k was a great challenge. In large part due to the one 24 mile run I'd done with a local group of runners who were shooting for sub 3:00, I wasn't worried about the mental aspects of the distance, I was more worried about whether I'd physically hold up. Instead I was able to ratchet up my pace 5-10 sec a mile over the last 10k. This included a final burst in the last mile created by someone walking across the street in front of me with their Schitzu, causing me to swerve, let off an internal wtf! and run just that little bit harder. It was a great feeling though in the last 10k to keep doing the math as I got closer and closer as to what the slowest time I could run to still get in under 3:10. When I hit 24 or 25 (can't remember which) and realized I could walk in, it really started to feel real. Finally, with the 0.2 to go I looked at my watch and realized I had a chance to break 3:05 so let it fly down the homestretch @6:19 pace to get in 6 seconds under the wire. I was able to negative split the race (in large part due to the advice gained from the Louis, Bill, Tim & Steve, the sub 3:00 guys I ran with) by almost 2 minutes (1:33:25-1:31:29).

Qualifying for Boston has been one of those life goals of mine so to achieve it feels really, really good. I can't wait to run Boston in 2010 and fulfill the other half of that goal. I told Becca that I split my motivations for the race into three parts: I spent the first 10 thinking about the baby to be, the next 10 thinking about her and the final 10k was a challenge/gift to myself for the ups and downs for the past two years. However at the end of the day, Becca was at the top of my mind the entire race. She has given me the support I needed to make this happen. I'm sure she's looking forward to having me back around the house a little more and to finally get working on that nursery that we're going to need by late March.

For the race geeks, below are my splits. As Becca said, I could always audition to be a metronome at some point :)

Brian

My splits:

Here's the short version:

Final Chip Time: 3:04:54
1st Half: 1:33:25
2nd Half: 1:31:29

Place: 321/5189

The down and dirty data:

1-7:23
2-7:04
3-6:56
4-6:53
5-6:59
6-6:57
7-7:04
8-7:02
9-7:10
10-7:01
11-7:04
12-7:07
13-7:03
14-7:00
15-7:04
16-7:08
17-6:57
18-7:08
19-7:04
20-7:08
21-6:59
22-6:59
23-6:52
24-6:56
25-6:58
26-6:57
0.2-6:19 pace for last 0.2 (or by garmin's estimation 0.33... doh!)

Ode to Brouwer's

2008-12-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

Becca and I took advantage of a work trip last week to go up to Seattle, visit friends and hang out downtown. It was a great opportunity for both of us to decompress and celebrate a good 2008 and hope for a fantastic 2009. As part of the fun, Sunday we took the bus and headed up into the artistic Fremont neighborhood. We'd been given a recommendation to visit Brouwer's. It's a Flemish-inspired cafe that promoted its wide selection of Belgian beers and tasty food.

Needless to say from the picture above, it did not disappoint. The leather bound bottled beer list included SIX pages of Belgian beers. With these many choices, paralysis was bound to take hold so I left the choice in the hands of my handy waiter. A St. Bernardus Abt 12 and St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, coupled with a Croque Monsieur and Belgian frites (with mayo, naturally) left me very happy. The third seasonal ale I had though left me ruing the 10.5% alcohol content of all three beers. Dude. However nothing a few more frites couldn't take care of.

In short it was a fantastic place to enjoy top notch beer and frites and heaven for someone like me currently taking a break from the training bandwagon. The added bonus is that I found out it is located less than a mile from my friend Mark's place.

With that, I'd like to honor Brouwer's with a Davis Haiku:

Seattle's Fremont
Brings Belgian Beers and Pommes Frites
Too Much Temptation

Brian

Becca found her Seattle nirvana via a slightly different indulgence:

I actually considered getting the 5 kg(!) jar of Nutella for her (look at those puppy dog eyes) but in the end was too afraid of emerging one morning to find her passed out in chocolate-hazelnut coma, spoon still in her hand....

Good God

2008-12-15T22:17:00.000-08:00

And here I thought Portland was beyond hokey people in horrible holiday sweaters telling me the weather.

Monday's weather forecast

I stand corrected. Thankfully the Storm of the Century (i.e. a normal Minnesota winter day) is coming by Wednesday to increase the entertainment level.

Brian

It ends with a whimper...

2008-12-10T00:38:00.001-08:00

With a four hour final that left me feeling a bit flustered, unsatisfied and disappointed in my performance, my MBA education is complete. A few of us went out for a quick drink after class and I found myself a bit melancholy about the program finishing. It's been two years of my life that has exposed me to many new ideas, professors both fantastic and horrible and 14 other people who I've gotten to know pretty well. And suddenly it is done.

I know there are plenty of new things on the horizon and I'll stay in touch with folks but next Monday is going to seem awfully strange.

More about the successful marathon experience soon.

Brian

Peaking at just the right time

2008-12-05T09:35:00.001-08:00

Back to writing. Hoping to have a lot more time to write as a lot of things in my life reach a peak.

First and foremost, my MBA education is two classes and one final away from its conclusion. This past Monday I (hopefully) successfully presented and defended my final project. As Becca can attest, this project took up an inordinate amount of time over the past 14 weeks but 41 pages, 20 PowerPoint slides and a 15 minute presentation later, my primary research on customer satisfaction for a local Portland firm is complete and if do say so myself, not half bad. I'm not the greatest public speaker by any stretch of the imagination but my final presentation was one of the first times I've felt truly comfortable up speaking in front of a group. Heck, I even transitioned to the wrong slide and was comfortable enough to quickly shift the topic, address the "new" slide and continue to move right along (the issue with shifting the order the day before the final presentation). I can definitely point towards this as one of the things that my MBA program has helped me the most with. Doing group projects and having to get up in front of people to present findings has definitely helped me become more comfortable with speaking outside of my more comfortable areas of 1-1 or small groups.

I'll likely have more to reflect on once I'm done with the program but getting my MBA has been a bit of a mixed bag. My classmates have been great; while some have put a greater effort than others into the program everyone is there to learn and when push comes to shove are willing to put in the time and effort to be successful. Now the amount of time or effort largely depends on how challenging our professors are. With Willamette's Portland program being a relatively new program, teaching quality has been a bit of a mixed bag. As a result, unless properly challenged the class as a whole tended to step up (or down) to the quality of professor. Additionally, with the program being new our class have had to deal with the program not always being well organized from certain perspectives. For example, as a student I should not have to be proactively asking for information regarding our final project in the weeks before we're supposed to start.

There's a part of me that wishes I'd tried to apply to the upper echelon business schools. But life is about choices; Becca and I had made ours to live in Portland and haven't regretted it one bit. With a new nephew here, another on the way plus our own baby 16 weeks away from joining us we're very happy to be here and within spitting distance of the family. And the program has allowed me to learn quite a bit, challenge myself in places, learn across a number of fields what constitutes good customer service, meet some very great people who I plan on staying in touch with and potentially even help me come up with a business idea or two. So with a slight tinge of what could have been, I finish my MBA program this Tuesday. Exciting stuff.

With one major mental milestone comes an accompanying physical one. I leave in about 7 hours to fly down to Sacramento and run the California International Marathon. Late in the summer during my effort to get in shape for Hood to Coast, I decided that now was as good a time as any to train for a marathon. Unlike my effort in the 2004 Twin Cities Marathon, my goal this time is not simply to finish. My primary goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon (since I'd be running it in 2010, my qualifying time is 3:15). My 20 mile training runs have been around this pace so I feel good about my chances of hitting this number. However, come race day it can be a completely different story. With a net downhill course however, I wouldn't be surprised if I make it well under the 3:15 number. For now I get to settle for being edgy physically due my tapering my mileage, neurotically mentally as i check and recheck my packing list and just generally ready to be done so I can start drinking beer and eating fried foods again.

The one constant through all of this? The support of Becca. She's been my absolute rock providing me everything from in depth counsel on my MBA work to chocolate milk and bagels after my Sunday long runs. Come Wednesday morning, I'm all hers again. And sweetie? I promise to start working on the nursery on Wednesday :)

Off to go catch a flight and run fast. More from the other side.

BD

A look back: Taishan, China

2008-11-19T20:28:00.000-08:00

We told this anecdote a couple years ago as part of a longer story about a whirlwind trip from Beijing to Taishan that provided us with several "cultural moments." You can check out the longer story in context here. Meanwhile, Brian had captured the moment from his perspective for a class assignment last night and we figured we'd share it again.

Life teaches many lessons. 10 minutes in a Chinese train station taught me that sometimes, you have to embrace the local culture and dive in headfirst.

My wife and I had arrived at Taishan station after a long 24 hours; a night train followed by a nine-mile hike that had a 9000-foot total altitude change. Our reward? Dead legs, and another night train complete with rice bags in the aisle, unfiltered cigarettes in the air and about 100 of our closest Chinese friends to every side.

We stood in a line at the departure gate, waiting to board. Yes, a line. My personal need for order was fulfilled for the first time during our Chinese travels. I was skeptical but feeling positive that for the first time in our time there, I might be rewarded with an American sense of order.

A second later… it was gone. So was anybody whose ticket had been checked, sprinting down the platform. With legs like jello and resigned to our fate, we limped to the platform. Amoebas were forming on the platform, waiting for the train.

Bam. The train is here. The amoebas turn to anarchy as 50+ people frantically try to push and shove their way onto our train car. We suddenly were worried about not being able to get on the train at all. Becca noticed the opposite side of the carriage opening up and ran down to tackle the smaller crowd. I saw her disappear at the door and with the hope she was on the train, I went to work.

Now I consider myself a gentleman. I may not always have the most refined of tastes but I was raised in a midwestern family. I still hold the door for women, say please and thank you and in general behave like the Boy Scout I used to be.

It was tough being in China to that point. Cultural difference in behavior had left me with an opinion of people as rude. However, as I looked up at the crowd in front of me, I knew I had to get on that train.

I tightened my pack straps, and charged into the crowd. I started plowing through people and was towards the front of the line when I got knocked off balance. I look to my left and there is an 80-year-old grandmother blowing by me.

My first thought? It’s go time. I got right behind her and grabbed the rails on both sides of the train. I lifted myself up and over the grandmother, and onto the top step of the train.

You know what? No one even flinched. I may be a Boy Scout but sometimes it’s more important to be a local.

Brian

Yes We DID!!!

2008-11-04T20:40:00.001-08:00

The start of a new chapter.....what an amazing moment.

Few Quotes for Election Day...

2008-11-04T07:26:00.001-08:00

Regardless of your political affiliations, beliefs, etc. I hope you're voting today. Here are a few quotes to keep everyone entertained in between hour long stints watching CNN, Fox News, NPR or whatever floats your boat.

Brian

"Voting is one of the few things where boycotting in protest clearly makes the problem worse rather than better." - Jane Auer

"A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election." -Bill Vaughan

"The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support the rights of people you don't agree with." -Eleanor Holmes Northon

"Vote early and vote often" - Al Capone

Our Turn

2008-11-02T17:40:00.000-08:00

After many years of being the cool friends who enjoy everybody else’s kids (and after a couple of months of practice being the new aunt and uncle) it’s really nice to be able to share the news that it’s our turn now.

The little bundle of chaos arrives the end of March, 2009.

We’re happy.

B&B

Brian hopes the little one will hang around long enough to be an April Fool’s baby, thereby fulfilling the prophecy (which led to much back pedaling and apologizing and subsequent exile)

An American's Duty

2008-10-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

As a former political science and political economy major, I've done my best to educate myself while also staying away from the contentious nature of this year's campaign. On both the national and local levels, it is an understatement that it has not been the most harmonious of elections. The campaign ads I've seen for both the Presidential and Senate campaigns here in OR have been... well let's just say they're not representative of the qualifications these people have obtained to run for higher office.

People are, not surprisingly, angry. The stock market is at its lowest point in almost 10 years. People who had overstretched financially to buy a house are now paying a very dear price. Jobs are being lost and those being kept are being done so at a lower wage. The war in Afghanistan and Iraq is in its 6th year. We're at potentially our lowest point on international standing since we elected to tell the Brits to bugger off 232 years ago. Needless to say, the US is feeling blooded and battered; no one can currently say that this country is in a good place. As a result, this election is being pointed to by many, many people as a tipping point for the country.

So the question I keep asking myself is "what should I do about it?" The people I know have committed to various levels of involvement. Some volunteer door to door. Some make phone calls. Some write treatises about why their presidential candidate is the right one. Some read endless articles and analysis to educate themselves in every way possible. Some ignore it all and focus on being a good person, spouse, parent, employee, student, etc. Some even do nothing at all. These people's opinions span the entire spectrum as well; some are voting Obama, some McCain and others are ignoring the person entirely and voting for the party they feel best represents their values.

Do any of these hold a greater value than the other? For this election, many people would say yes. That its the "future of America" at stake, etc. That either this country can't handle four more years of Bushian policies or that Obama is too inexperienced to be President (some of the nicer things being said by both sides). However, I would argue no. This country was built and has continued to succeed based on people "doing their part." That doesn't always mean the same thing for everyone and it changes for people as they go through both good times and bad. However it does at its heart mean a basic level of interaction and involvement with your fellow man and a desire to do well and want more. I believe this is at the core of every person; a desire to want more and do well. And for most of America, people are willing to put in the effort to do just that; it is just that this effort takes different forms.

Friends of ours from Australia recently visited and they discussed that before they left the country that had to vote for the local elections. They HAD to vote; voting is mandatory in Australia. Those who fail to do so risk a fine or in extreme cases jail time. While an argument can be made that required voting in a free election is a bit contradictory, it really struck a cord with with me.

This brought me back to the question I'd asked previously: "what should I do about it?" This country is built on equal representation. While we always have done the best job of fulfilling that promise, it is still one of many bricks the US is built on. One Person, One Vote. Make yourself represented on November 4th no matter what your vote is. No matter what your view on abortion, the economy, social issues, our foreign policy, etc., vote. If the first time you've heard of McCain or Obama is reading this blog entry, vote. I know that wanting people to vote regardless of their educational level on the issues isn't the most popular opinion to take (I've got friends on both sides of the issues making the argument that only those who've taken the time to read up on the issues "deserve" to vote) but this country is all of us. Good or bad. Red or Blue. North or South. McCain or Obama. So on November 4th, have your say in where this country is headed. Be an American and take the time to vote.

Brian

Happy Political Musing of the day (not an oxymoron)

2008-10-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

At this point in the election cycle, with all of the awful nastiness in the news and the finger pointing and the obsessing over minute changes in polls, sometimes we lose sight of the larger context.

Thanks to Ben Smith at Politico for blogging a report about the following scene at a early voting location.

For me the most moving moment came when the family in front of me, comprising probably 4 generations of voters (including an 18 year old girl voting for her first time and a 90-something hunched-over grandmother), got their turn to vote.
When the old woman left the voting booth she made it about halfway to the door before collapsing in a nearby chair, where she began weeping uncontrollably. When we rushed over to help we realized that she wasn't in trouble at all but she had not truly believed, until she left the booth, that she would ever live long enough to cast a vote for an African-American for president.

No matter which candidate you're rooting for to win in the end (and we all know I have very strong feelings about that) you have to celebrate that our country has reached a place where this scene could occur and that this woman and millions more will be able to have that experience.

Becca

The Things You Do For Love...

2008-10-16T23:04:00.001-07:00

In an effort to get out of the house a little more often and away from our computers and the TV, Becca and I have been starting a weekly date night. Tonight, we had dinner downtown and caught a movie (Burn After Reading... Two cent reviews: disappointing effort from the Coen Bros.. Very disjointed though JK Simmons was awesome in his cameo). In the middle of the movie, my phone started vibrating away and wouldn't stop for a good few minutes.

The reason why?

The Cardiac Sox

Granted, when we left the restaurant, I poked my head into the bar and saw it was 5-0 Rays in the 7th. Having watched the rest of the series and saw the lack of life in the team, I presumed they were DONE. And as someone who a) saw the Red Sox win the 2004 World Series in person and b) can't believe the team has won two World Series in four years I kind of figured as a fan I'm playing with house money at this point.

Instead, Boston lives to see another day. As Becca so astutely pointed out, we got a date night and I get to watch the Sox play at least one more time this year :)

Brian

An interview with a not so hideous man

2008-10-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

With the recent loss of one of my favorite authors, David Foster Wallace and my recent reemergence on the blog, I thought I'd give a personal update in the method of one of his most interesting essays, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. As a result, I'm giving the answers. You get to guess the questions.

Q:
A: December 9, 2008 is my last day. Graduation is in January.
Q:
A: PR is interesting and my project is a challenge but is going well.
Q:
A: I'm not sure what is next. Some potential ideas include doing tax preparation work, getting into mediation, working for a nonprofit, financial advising, etc. Needless to say a lot of options are still on the table.
Q:
A: I quit working for Anvil in June. I still get along very well with the team there but personal issues were such that I couldn't be providing quality work for the team. However, the relationship is great and I'm doing my final project on their behalf.
Q:
A: Getting better, thanks for asking.
Q:
A: A mastectomy, a ray resection and a knee replacement with rotator cuff surgery still on the docket. I know Good Sam Hospital quite well.
Q:
A: A new nephew named Dashiell. He's two months old and is as cute as a troll :)
Q:
A: I ran a successful Hood to Coast, with our team finishing just over 26 hours. Now my spare time is spent training for the California International Marathon on December 7th.
Q:
A: Qualify for Boston (3:10 or less). I've got other goals but those are top secret. If I make them, you'll be sure to know.
Q:
A: That's all the news that's fit to print.

2008 ORRC 15k Champion!

2008-10-11T18:50:00.001-07:00

Well... for the 30-34 age group that is.

In an effort to make my marathon training more interesting than just running down empty roads by myself, I decided to sign up for the ORRC 15k Championships out in scenic Blue Lake Park. The last time I was at the park in any capacity was watching my HS cross country career end on bittersweet note as I floundered the last mile and helped my team end up one place short of making state. I returned older, wiser and with a refined competitive streak and a definite desire to avoid "short" races like the 5k on offer. The plan was to run 15k (9.3m) @ something slightly faster than my marathon pace. So "comfortable fast" as it were.

The race was smaller in size so I got to start near the front (I tend to like to start towards the back of the group of people I should be running with so I can pick more people off :)). I took off in what felt like a comfortable pace, only to find myself... with no one in front of me. The following thoughts went through my head:

Good Brian: "Where is everyone?"
Bad Brian: "Behind you stupid."
GB: "But why? I'm not running THAT fast. <check watch> Ok, maybe I'm off to a faster start than I need to be. Time to reel it in a bit."
BB: "Do you feel like crap? No! Just keep going. You'll be fine."
GB: "But this is supposed to be a TRAINING run. You know the kind that DOESN'T kill me?"
BB: "Oi! Someone's about to pass you. Less talk, more running."

Someone did eventually pass me. But not until I had to play "guess the turn" a few times on the less than well marked course. After a quick discussion (where he admitted he signed up as Mike Ditka) made him realize I had no intentions of running with him (I mean really, who's going mano a mano with Ditka? Mini-Ditka maybe...), he was off and eventually won the race by over 2 min. I can safely say though that is the only time in my entire running career that I've led a race at the start.

So Ditka was off to the races, leaving three of us to run together for the next 8 miles. Brief discussions were had, especially since I was the only one with a watch giving us accurate splits. Well that and we were all discussing our ages, scouting out whether we had to compete against anyone else in our age group. Of course, one of the guys in the pack was my age. It really helped to have other people pushing me but I continued to beat down the BB by just staying at one pace the entire time. The two other runners ebbed and flowed, but I just moved along like a metronome. Tick, tock.

With about a mile to go, the survival pack finally broke up and the fun started. I stayed with the guy who made a break for it but just couldn't get my body to move much further. Tick, tock. But with 100m+ left, BB reemerged:

BB: "C'mon, he's hurting. Make him work!"
GB: "This was supposed to be a TRAINING run, remember? Plus who's not to say that I'm not hurting as well?"
BB: "Pain is mental, suck it up. I mean seriously. What are you, French? (apologies to our french readers in advance)"
GB: "Well, I guess he is kind of close..."
BB: "Come to the dark side."

So I did, kind of. I WARNED the guy with "I'm going to have to make you work" and I took off. Despite trying to cut him off on the last turn and pushing it hard, he was up for the task and held me off by a body length. I looked up and the time told me all I needed to know: 58:11. So what started out as a training run turned into a 15k, 10k and 5 mile personal record (PR).

My reward? A sweet blue ribbon which reminded me of Becca's horse ribbons she refuses to get rid of and the knowledge that my training for my marathon must be going better than I thought. Unfortunately Bad Brian's antics will likely have me paying a pretty significant price during my 19 mile long run tomorrow. Guess I'll just have to think about the blue ribbon then :)

(Update: so the picture of me sucked, but the results are up. As it shows, Mike Ditka did win the race)

BD

Canucks & Children's Games

2008-10-06T23:19:00.000-07:00

Best Touchdown Celebration Ever. Or at least in the Canadian Football League. I got nothin' else. It is 11:20pm and I'm watching the Tivo'd highlights of the Red Sox game.

BD

A Contribution of Sorts

2008-10-03T14:54:00.001-07:00

I'm back and I promise I'm going to be writing more (more than once every few months is an easy threshold to surpass). In fact, I'm doing a Brian "update" of sorts that should be up soon. In the meantime, enjoy the link below, courtesy of my friend Lincoln:

http://pics.yemii.com/swedish-dance-bands.html

Yes, 70's Swedish Bands in full regalia. You know I'm back!

BD

In their honor.....

2008-09-21T15:41:00.001-07:00

b&b in pink.

Today we proudly joined our In the Pink teammates and 45,000 other participants and did the 5K walk in the 2008 Koman Race for the Cure. We walked for Brian's mom, who just had a mastectomy this summer and is doing great, for Sarah's mom, who bravely fought breast cancer until the end in December 2003, for my dad who gave his colon cancer all it could handle until his death in August 2004, for my Mom who looked metastatic melanoma in the eye and has been cancer free since 2002, for my friend Michael's mother, for Red who won't let chemo slow him down, and for all those who have fought and are still fighting the scourge of cancer.

the davis clan (Earl, Brian, Elaine, Kevin) ready for action

Brian and Elaine, sporting her pink survivor's shirt

Earl in pink curls

my manly man, the pink cowboy :-)

the other 45,000

Elaine with the survivior's flower at the finish

Portland landmarks in the grey

Ode to Oregon, part 10

2008-09-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

So lunch yesterday was a farmer's market special.

An ear of fresh sweet corn
Slices of heirloom tomato
Melange of raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries on cottage cheese.

Yum. Yet another reason why I love summers in Oregon.

becca

HOPE

2008-08-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

So in general I try and stay away from politics and religion in our blog or from promoting any particular view. We all have our own opinions and I respect that some may be different than mine and who really cares that much what I think about these issues anyway?

But I just finished watching Barack Obama's acceptance speech for the presidential nomination and I feel the need to write. Unfortunately, when I get this worked up and emotional about something, it's hard for me to communicate it coherently or in logical bullet points, but I'll try.

I know that politics will make the most naive and optimistic of us cynical and I understand that words are easy; actions are hard. But let me tell you why this candidate makes me feel so full of hope that it hurts.

There are 101 reasons why I happen to be a Democrat rather than a Republican (though I'm not much of a fan of either major party), but this isn't about what Obama had to say about the war in Iraq, or tax cuts, or corporations, or reproductive choice or foreign policy or any of the other areas where I happen to believe that his ideas are better for us as a country than those of John McCain. I get that we can disagree about those things.

But where I hope that we all could be inspired is the vision he has for us as a country and the faith he has as us as a people. (and I can already tell that I'm SO not going to be able to say what I'm trying to say here.....)

Basically when he talks about what his hopes are and belief in the country, it sounds like the country that I knew growing up, the one I liked living in, the one that I was proud to represent whenever I was overseas and one that did serve as an example or inspiration for others in less fortunate situations.

-- He talked about us getting back to looking out for each other and caring about our fellow citizens; that we are all our brothers' and sisters' keepers. It matters if there are those of us left behind by the economy or stuck with out health care. It's not someone else's problem; it affects all of us.
-- He talked about taking personal responsibility; that while government needs to do more to help us, we have to make choices to live more energy efficiently, or encourage our children to turn off the tv and do their homework.
-- He talked about leaving the country and the world a better place for all of our children, that that is the promise and the debt we owe to our parents.
-- He talked the need for all children to have access to strong education, and to invest in science and higher learning.
-- He talked about the need to return to the idea that we can all in this country, even if we disagree, work together toward common purposes. He rejected this increasingly virulent notion that anybody that disagrees with you is a bad person or doesn't have the best interests of the country at heart.
-- He rejected the idea of leading or speaking for a 'red' america or a 'blue' america and spoke of the commonality of the dreams of the people of a united states of america
-- He spoke of regaining our stature in the world and beginning of the hard work of rebuilding our alliances and friendships.
-- He disavowed the torture and systematic disregard for the constitution and individual rights of the past 8 years

Basically he called on the country and said, aren't we tired of playing to each other's fears and inciting divisiveness and bringing out the worst in each other? The country...our history...all of our potential is better than that. We are better than that. And the problems we face are big enough that the only way to overcome them is if we move beyond name calling and isolation and realize how much we all share and work together. But if we do move beyond the politics as usual and red state/blue state paralysis and the recriminations and distrust, we can make a change.

I want to believe in that sort of world and country again. I want to live in a place where we take care of our poor and old and sick, where everybody has an opportunity for education and for making something of themselves no matter where they start, where we celebrate science and learning at the same time as we honor blue collar workers and farmers, where we are respectful of each other's differences while celebrating our commonalities, where we actually try to work together to make something better in the future, instead of fighting to get the best advantage in the present, where we try and actually live up to the ideals in the constitution and bill of rights, and where we are responsible and respected members of the international community again.

Okay....at this point I'm blathering on and I know I sound like a pollyannish ninny. It's not like I think all that is easy. It's not like I think that if we elect Barack Obama all that will just *poof* happen with a snap of the fingers. We may never totally get there. And if we do, it will take years and years. But if we don't elect leaders who believe in that sort of a vision for our country and that sort of change , and who are willing to talk to us like grownups about what it's going to take to get there, then we'll never even get started down the road.

becca

And they're OFF!

2008-08-22T14:36:00.001-07:00

Van 1 crew at the finish of last year's race

Matt, Karl (not running this year), Brian, Sarah, Joe, Dave

Brian and his comrades in Slow Code's Van 1 just took off for Timberline Lodge and the start of the 2008 Hood to Coast Relay. Sarah will start running down the hill at the team's official start time of 5:15 pm. And I do mean DOWN the hill. Her leg drops 2000 feet over the course of a little more than 5.5 miles. BRUTAL. In contrast, Brian's first leg (leg 3) drops only 900 feet over 4 miles. (he makes up the distance in his second and third legs, which are 7.25 miles and 6 miles long).

I should see them about 2 or 3 in the morning when they come through exchange 13 which I am in charge of this year. (How I got roped into running an exchange for 14+ hours overnight is a whole other story) and then they should get into Seaside around 5 with the guys in Van 2 finishing the race sometime between 6 and 7 pm on Saturday. In beween they're going to have a blast. Brian may twitter during the race if he decides to be a total geek (so check the sidebar), otherwise we'll share stories sometime next week.

Becca
Entry on last year's race

Introducing Dashiell....

2008-08-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

Or.......entering uncle (and aunt) hood

After a nasty 12 hours of labor, Lori and Jon presented us with our first nephew:

Dashiell Stefan Bloomfield

Mom, Baby, and Dad are doing just fine, though due to Dashiell's small size (5 lbs) they might stick around the hospital an extra day.

We can't wait to watch him grow up.

b&b

Hello from Big Blue!

2008-07-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

Brian welcomes you all from the porch of our new house, Big Blue.

So welcome to the new B&B abode. While this house is actually bigger than what we were looking for, it fit just about all our other criteria:

We stayed in the Sellwood-Westmoreland neighborhood. This means that we can still walk to just about everything (post office, library, bank, grocery stores, coffee shops, food carts, restaurants, etc.), we're by 3 huge parks, we're right off the bike trail that goes up the river all the way into downtown, and we're near Jon & Lori (my brother and his wife). In fact, we're not just near, we're neighbors. We actually ended up buying a house 5 down from theirs!
We wanted a house with lots of light. We liked a lot of things about the town house we rented but the dungeony feel of the main floor was not one of them. In this new house we rarely ever turn on the lights due to the large number (and size) of the windows on both floors
Along with the light we wanted a really open feel where we could watch the kids or socialize with guests while cooking or cleaning up. This was hard to find in an older neighborhood so we knew we’d probably end up with a remodeled place or a teardown. In this case the majority of the first floor is one big room, stretching from the front porch through the living room, dining area, and kitchen out through the back porch

Looking from the edge of the kitchen through the dining area and living room out ot the front porch
(sellers furniture)

Looking past the wall where brian was standing through the kitchen and out the back door

We also really liked the "lodge-y" feel of the place with the pine trim,
and thevaulted ceiling and fireplace in the living room.
(seller's decor)

Speaking of porches we wanted a place that had great outdoor living spaces. This neighborhood (and this street in particular)is one where folks are frequently sitting out on their front porches and catching up with other neighbors walking by with their dogs, etc.. Even more than that we wanted a place with a great back porch for sipping on some wine to relax at the end of the day or hosting barbeques with friends.

We wanted a little grass for kids to play in, but not so much that mowing took hours (like our place in MN). And a patio for some outdoor furniture (which we just picked up...gotta love moving at this time of year for summer clearance sales!) was a bonus

bonus Calla Lilies out front

We also were hoping for a decent sized office (as I work from home and Brian has his graduate studies as well as hoping to work from home in the future), a guest room for all the relatives coming to see J&L’s soon to be born kiddie and for other far-flung friends and family, and a place to read or watch tv separate from the main living room. Check. Check. And Check. Oh…and multiple toilets. :-)

We’ve only been here a week and we’re still working on unpacking boxes and figuring out where to hang artwork, but we’re already happier and more relaxed.

So come visit and check out Big Blue. The B&B B&B is open for business.

Becca

(The genesis of the name is pretty obvious...that might be one of our longer term projects to make the place not such a monolith of blue.)

So we've been a little busy....

2008-07-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the constant disappearances from the blog are getting old, and certainly aren't helping encourage any readership. We get that. We really do. And we'll work on it.

Before we get back to Turkey tales though, I should explain what we've been up to.

Get this:

Since our last post we have

Found out our landlords were returning to Portland and we would need to move out when our lease expired in August

Found a house we liked and made an offer

Had the offer accepted (after much back and forth)

Found out the sewer needed to be replaced and there were a bunch of fix-its to do

Decided to get the house anyway

Closed on the purchase

Packed up the old place

Moved out of our townhouse (and cleaned it)

Unpacked the kitchen, master bed and bath and office to make the new house a functional residence.

Not bad for 6 weeks, eh?

More descriptions and pictures of the house (and Turkey pics) in the coming weeks

Home owners again ... .woo-hoo!

becca

Ruins for everyone!

2008-06-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

While Ephesus (which will get its own detailed post sometime soon), Pergamum and a few others are the best preserved and get all the press, it seems like you could toss a stick randomly along the central Mediterranean coast and hit a Greek or/(and) Roman ruin.

A sampling of our finds:

Atlantis-like feel at the watery ruins of Miletus

The 15,000 seat Great Theater at Miletus

Remains of the Temple of Athena, Priene (beneath Mt. Mykale)

Column graveyard, Priene

Remains of Greek Theater, Priene

Enjoying the power seat, Priene

Imposing steps into the city, Labranda

2,000+ year old wine casks, Labranda

becca

Assorted Turkish Wildflowers

2008-06-05T08:19:00.000-07:00

A little color for your Thursday morning...

After the rains in the ruins of Labranda

The ancient town of Priene scattered amongst the poppies

Scary-ass flower in Herakeleia/Kapikiri. Don’t know what it is but it sure has a “don’t mess with me” vibe to it

The Zen of Turkish Breakfasts

2008-06-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

On the patio of Kilise Alti, Sirince

One of the many cool things about traveling in Turkey is that breakfast is included in almost all but the cheapest and (strangely) most expensive of lodging. And breakfast in Turkey is a cultural experience all of its own.

The food at breakfast, not surprisingly, has a very Mediterranean influence and we found fairly consistent offerings at all the different places we stayed. There was usually some combination of green and black olives, olive oil, fruit jams and compotes, a variety of cheeses, tomatoes, cucumbers, nuts, dried fruits, and an egg of some sort (hard/soft boiled, fried, etc.). These were served with bread, not the pita or flatbread that we had been expecting to find. There was also the ubiquitous tea, cay (pronouced 'chai'), in the distinctive tulip-shaped glasses that we grew to really love.

While some hotels and pensions just had buffets where you could go up and help yourself (and we noticed that those tended to have a few more ‘familiar’ or ‘western’ options) more than half of the places we stayed provided individual ‘spreads’ in lovely dishes.

Breakfast at the Agora Pension, Herakleia/Kapikiri

In the two smallest villages we stayed in the food was all totally fresh and most of it came from in town. It was beyond delicious.

Fresh, homemade breakfast at Kilise Alti, Sirince

Even when the food was much more processed and packaged (such as what we found when we were the first guests of the season at our hotel in a small Mediterranean town), it still was beautifully presented and satisfying to eat.

Breakfast at Beyaz Guvercin, Selimiye

It was a wonderful way to start the day and really got you into the mood of a place in touch with its land and enjoying its bounty. I'm looking forward to making more meals like this for our own breakfasts or brunches.

Becca

Inquiring minds want to know...

2008-06-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

Ephesus Museum, Selcuk

Why is it taking so long to load the Turkey entries? Hmmmmm?

Actual entries on their way soon, we promise

Tesekkür ederim, Turkey!

2008-05-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

Home again and trying to remember what work and real life is like. Though it took 4-5 days into the trip to do so, we were able to shed the stress of work and everyday life and get our minds right back in the traveling mode. It was a great chance to hit the "reset" button and remind ourselves about what we're all about. Now we'll see how well we keep that in mind as we dive back into work, school, and other life.

We have all kinds of stories and pictures to share so expect to see a whole rash of new entries over the next few days/weeks. The high level summary though is that Turkey was a great country to visit. The people were overwhelmingly friendly and kind, the culture was interesting, the food was tasty, and there was tons of history to explore and experience. We especially enjoyed the mix of east and west and had fun hopping back and forth between Asia and Europe. And while we were glad to come home and not be on a year-long jaunt again, we also realized that traveling and exploring new places will always be a part of our lives.

B&B

On the Road Again!!

2008-04-19T14:08:00.000-07:00

Finals are done, work projects are on hold, and we're off!

We'll be in Turkey through May 3rd, checking out a country that we were disappointed to miss on our RTW trip and also trying to rest and rejuvenate after a pretty intense last three months. Our hope is to have a chance to reintroduce ourselves to each other, reach out and experience a new place a little, remember the things we had liked about living that 15 months outside of the traditional work life and rededicate ourselves to finding ways to keep that balance and happiness now that we're back plugged into the day-to-day economy. (Easier said than done when you're balancing full time work with graduate studies....)

Wish us luck!!

B&B

We'll be posting stories and pictures about the trip, though most likely we'll wait until we get home instead of using up vacation time in the internet cafes...

Learning to give myself a break....

2008-04-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

...Or: 12 days is different than 12 months

So our passports have been burning a hole in our pocket pretty much since 6 months after our return from our RTW trip. But we've had a lot of things to take care of first:
- Selling a house in Minnesota
- Moving cross-country
- Finding a place to live in Portland
- Finding jobs in Portland
- Getting half-way through an MBA program
- Etc.

But once we had gotten somewhat settled we realized that we really, really needed another taste of travel before that might involve carting along a diaper bag.

Turkey was one of the countries on our original RTW trip list that got squeezed out when we decided to slow down and spend more time in fewer places and it remained near the top of our want-to-see list. Plus it seems like everyone we spoke with either had just returned from there or knew someone that had and couldn't say enough good things. So the decisions was made in December: come Brian's next semester break we'd be cashing in the last of our NW frequent flier miles (before they mysteriously 'disappear' in the Delta merger) and be Istanbul-bound.

One of the hardest things to get used to though has been the difference in planning this trip versus dealing with seeing new countries on the RTW trip. The very first thing that slapped us in the face was the reality of having to fit a visit into a two-week vacation instead of being able to take as many weeks as we thought we needed to see what we wanted to see. (And we were only able to do 2 weeks because Brian negotiated that as part of accepting his new job in February..otherwise we wouldn't be able to be away nearly that long).

So I was reading guide books and making lists of places to see and kept crying out "what do you MEAN we can't just take a month plus to explore???? How can ANYBODY be expected to go to a new place for only 12 days??? It's almost not even worth going!" Yes, I do realize how ridiculous that sounds; it has helped reinforce how unique an experience we had before and how fortunate we were to have done it. Eventually I narrowed down our destinations to 4 cities/villages in relative close geographic proximity that would allow us both to explore/experience a little bit of Turkey but also have a chance for some sorely needed rest and recovery in between grad school semesters.

Figuring out logistics was the next hurdle. Again, on the RTW trip we would have taken mostly local buses or trains and would have viewed circuitous routes, uncertain timetables or long stop-overs as part of the charm. But with only 12 days (there it is again) it didn't make sense to spend an entire one of them trying to travel 35 miles via tortuous connections. Thus all of sudden we found ourselves planning on an internal flight to get from Istanbul to the west coast and back and renting a car to navigate between west coast cities.

The same sort of rethinking happened with hotels. During the trip we found the best policy (outside of high season in europe/chinese new year in Siem Reap, etc.) was to wait until we arrived in city to choose a place to stay. That usually led to cheaper lodgings and also meant we wouldn't have pre-paid for a place that didn't live up to its advertising. In this case, we are traveling during shoulder season or at the very very beginning of high season. Normally that would be even more reason to use our old strategy. But in some of the small villages we're going to it was unclear how many places would be open yet, and we discovered that our return to Istanbul coincided with a Formula 1 race. And we didn't feel like spending a chunk of our sightseeing/exploring time doing the hostel/hotel shuffle. However when we looked into reserving ahead of time we found that most of the hotels wanted us to transfer money to a bank account to reserve a room (vs just being able to give them a cc number).

Before I knew it, I found myself contacting an Istanbul-based travel agency that had come very highly recommended by a good friend (and by Rick Steves). I presented them with the itinerary I had come up with, asked them to suggest changes if the logistics wouldn't work, and had them make the flight and rental car and hotel (not hostel) reservations and arrange all the payments.

Doing that made me feel guilty and wimpy; basically it felt like a total cop-out. It was like our experience on the RTW trip had brainwashed us into thinking that the only valid method of traveling was on a shoe-string budget with logistics that you manage entirely on your own and with the flexibility to not have set plans. And that certainly is a great way to travel and one that I hope we get to do again in the future. But what gets lost in the haze of nostalgia is how much energy it takes to travel that way, and how tiring it can be to always be planning, and paying attention, and figuring things out and dealing with uncertainty.

After a couple of weeks of flogging myself, I think I've finally convinced myself that it's just as valid to go on a trip where things are planned ahead of time (and yes, even where someone else has done a lot of that work planning for you - travel agents need to earn a living too), so that you can be relaxed and just enjoy and be able to focus all your attention on what you are seeing and experiencing around you instead of having half a brain working on where you'll sleep that night.

So repeat after me: 12 days is different than 12 months. Both are good.

Becca

(and yes, I am fully aware of the irony of my formerly psycho type A+ personality self actually struggling with planning more instead of planning less. Who says traveling around the world for a year doesn't change you? )

Quick clarification...

2008-04-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

(since I didn't have time to finish the real entry I was writing)

So my good friend Wade wrote the following comment on our entry 'I hope this is us in 30 years':

"I think "easier said than done" is quite the understatement. Not everyone is in a position to undertake a four year journey around the world. The world would be a better place if more people had that ability, but that's a discussion for another time."

It's a really good point; we absolutely realize how fortunate we were to be able to take 15 months off from 'real-life' and travel. But it also misses the point.

My blog entry was not suggesting that everyone should take off four years and travel. In fact, I don't think we ourselves would actually enjoy traveling for four years like they did. One of the things we learned about ourselves during our trip was that 12 months was about our limit for constant movement. We missed having roots and feeling like we belonged to a community. Rather, what I was reacting to and admiring so much about Pat and Cat was their willingness to say "why not?" and do something that on the surface sounds crazy. And I really responded to Cat's quote:

"You just have to be open-minded and willing to take chances and risks and not be afraid..."

That doesn't necessarily mean you have to grab bicycles and leave your jobs and homes for four years. It just means taking yourself out of your comfort zone and trying something that would normally make you say "I could never do that". It could be taking an art class or showing up for open mike night or changing jobs or writing that novel or training for a marathon or whatever.

Five years ago I would NEVER have thought I could have done our trip. I was 'too responsible', I had a mortgage, I had worked hard in undergrad to get good grades to get a good job and work tons of hours to do well and then go to a good grad school and get good grades to get another good job where I could work tons of hours and eventually someday it would pay off in traditional 'success'. This was what I believed I was 'supposed' to do, what I thought was expected of me, and what I assumed would make me happy.* When I heard about people doing things like taking months backpacking or quitting the for-profit world for the non-profit world, or even leaving the job they had for another similar one that they thought they'd like better, I was envious and admiring, but I couldn't relate to it and always had lots of reasons why of course I couldn't do something like that.

I would give anything for my eyes to have been opened without such a high personal cost, but I am grateful that they were opened. (Imagine my surprise to discover that the world didn't end when I didn't dress in a suit and go to work and present a powerpoint deck.) And what we found is that once we said that first "why not?" the next one and the next one after that were easier. And now that we're back and finding ourselves starting to get buried in the work routine we try and stop every once in a while and examine and question what we're doing to be sure we're still on a path that makes us happy.

Anyway, this turned out much longer than I expected, but Wade got me thinking. And I didn't want to come off sounding like I thought that only those who were able to go off and spend months/years traveling the world were really living life. Rather, I just wanted to encourage everyone to question their own assumptions and find their own ways (as small or as big as it needs to be) to do something they never thought they could do and experience how freeing that is.

becca

*and the point of this was NOT to say that someone who does well in school and gets a good job and then is very successful professionally is doing something wrong. To the contrary if they are happy and fulfilled doing it that is wonderful (or even if they're not particularly happy but they believe it is getting them to where they need to be). But I was NOT happy and fulfilled and for years I didn't think there was anything I could do about it.

A random update...

2008-03-26T21:00:00.001-07:00

While listening to Public Enemy and trying my best to avoid school commitments during spring break:

Work continues to go well. Lots of work and still a very steep learning curve though I'm starting to realize that may be more of a constant given the ever evolving dynamic in the industry. The people are great, I get to wear jeans and listen to Pandora at work and we have Fridays at 4, what can best be described as an internal happy hour.
As part of work, I'm finally having to embrace the "social media" space. For those of you less tech literate in the reading audience, I'm talking about Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc. I'm jumping in the shallow end and added a Facebook account to the arsenal. I need to go buy our social media guru a beer to have him show me how it works, but it is a start.
On the slightly deeper end, I joined Twitter. What is Twitter? Well, it is either a form of microblogging that allows someone to quickly update their "followers" on what is going on or it could be the biggest waste of time ever. The jury is still out but an article on Twitter's founder Evan Williams is worth the read.
Looking forward to going from Mt. Hood to Palo Alto in approximately 4 hours on Friday as I go from Anvil's quarterly field trip to the airport and then on a plane to celebrate Becca's grandmother's 90th birthday.

Ok, back to work/school. Hope all is well!

BD

Waiting by the phone

2008-03-25T08:03:00.000-07:00

I actually had a couple of musings that I have been wanting to work on and post, but for once real life - or at least work - has gotten in the way. After the success of my last project which involved flying around to speak with electrophysiologists in different cities, I was assigned another similar market researchy type job. This subjects of this one however are the company's regional managers and sales reps and instead of in person interviews, I'm trying to cram 30+ phone interviews into a week.

This in itself would be no big deal, but a) the field force is by the nature of its job very busy and not necessarily able to keep appointments, and b) there have been some some technological challenges. Just like with the physicians, I am taping these interviews so that a transcriber can write up the interview for me resulting in a) better notes, b) more chance for me to focus on the discussion and c) the ability to pull out verbatim quotes. This was easy in person, I just put the digital recorder on the table between us. And theoretically it's easy with a phone too. Radio Shack sells a cheap splitter that allows the feed to go directly to the recorder as well as your hand set.

Unfortunately, here at Davis central we only have cell phones. It made more sense last year when we didn't have a 'for real' home and even now that we're a little more settled we don't see any reason to add a landline. (The few faxes I have to send I can do at the corner UPS shop.) I'm sure once there are children and babysitters etc. involved we'll get one, but for now it's solely cells.

This has led to a rather ridiculous looking technology solution. I have the dig recorder on the desk or up on a stack of books on the desk. Next to it is my cell phone, perched on its side so that the speaker on the back is going straight into the recorder's microphone. Then, because I've found they can't hear me clearly if I don't, I kind of lean/hunch over so that my mouth is down by the cell phone's microphone. I'm sure I look like some sort of demented Igor while doing these interviews, but it gets the result I'm looking for.

Ah....the glamorous life of a consultant.....

Becca

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

Because Jim Henson was taken from us far, far too soon:

(This will make much less sense - and be far less nostalgic - to all our international readers. Sorry, it's a little like our inexplicable devotion to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Bear with us)

Becca

I hope this is us in 30 years....

2008-03-15T08:57:00.000-07:00

Going on our around the world trip has changed our lives in both huge and subtle ways. But one of the most pervasive things it has done is to open up our minds to the possible. Growing up and through my first jobs and grad school, I couldn't imagine myself just walking away from job, career, and societal "responsibilities" to do something entirely for us and to carve out so much time just to live life. I would envy and admire other people who did it, but the idea of me -- 22 going on 40 ME -- doing it was inconceivable.

After having actually made the break and having gone on our trip however I find that there are very few things that are 'inconceivable'. You may have seen the story below on CNN a few days ago. Reading it a few years ago I would have been impressed and admiring, but the experience itself would have seemed as foreign and out of reach as a vaction on Mars. Now I read this and say, "why not?". We've awakened a wander-lust that we will continue to listen to (check this space soon for details of our next trip in April) and I hope that when our kids are settled we would still have the good health and energy to do something like the Patterson's did. Why shouldn't that be us?

Pat and Cat on the coast of Zanzibar

In 2002, at the ages of 62 and 48, Pat and Catherine Patterson decided to leave it all behind. They sold their real estate business and their cars, gave their furniture to their children, and put their home up for rent. Strapping their remaining possessions to two bicycles, the couple set off to bike around the world.
Fifty-seven countries, four continents and almost four years later, the Pattersons look back on their journey as something no less than life-changing. Between 2002 and 2006, the Pattersons biked from California east across the United States to Greenland, through Europe and Russia, down Africa, then from southern Chile all the way back up to California.
They biked about 50 miles every day, which Pat says, "Isn't a lot if that's all you do." They stayed in hotels most of the time, for the sake of safety and comfort, but they biked with camping supplies in case the need arose. They planned their routes using only maps and Lonely Planet travel guides. They assessed the safety of their surroundings by talking with locals. "Gather a consensus of opinion; ask three times. Ask, ask, ask -- we did," Pat says.
The trip wasn't seamless. They were robbed of their computers once, and another time they were held up at gunpoint. In Finland, it was so cold they eventually had to give up biking and fly down to warmer weather in Portugal. "I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would do something like that in my life," Cat confesses. "I think you just have to be open-minded and willing to take chances and risks and not be afraid. ... You just have to open your mind to other cultures and countries and, you know, like Pat says, 98 percent of the people in this world are good people. On a day to-day basis you're meeting the average person in the world and they're just like you." Excerpted from CNN.com. Click here for full story and more pictures and a map.

I think what Cat said is the key to why we are so much happier now than before: "You just have to be open-minded and willing to take chances and risks and not be afraid..."

Easier said than done, but once done, you'll find it's so much easier than how you used to live.

Trying our hand at watering elephants in Laos

Becca

Coinky-dinks

2008-03-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

A little tidbit while I work on writing an actual entry....

Brian hiking above the Lauterbrunner Valley, Swiss Alps

So, we have a new entry for the annals of "what are the chances of that??".

We were out house shopping last weekend at a nice place for sale by owner and spent some time talking with the guy. Turns out he's selling the house because his family is moving back to Switzerland. Further, it turns out that they lived/will live again more or less "just around the corner" from one of our favorite Swiss spots and are well acquainted with the Lauterbrunner valley and the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald (one of the highlights of our whole around-the-world trip).

That was a nice little connection, but not so weird in-of-itself as Gimmelwald has quite a following among the traveling (and rick steves) bunches. But then we got his phone number to follow up with.

Quick aside: Brian and I got our cell phones last September. You know how the process goes: they enter your information and then the system picks out the next available number and assigns it to you. Well, Brian's info went in and his number ended in x598. Then they put mine in and I was assigned the same number, but ending in x601. So they were actually very close to each other, even though the last four digits didn't share many numbers.

Okay, so, back to the main story. So we get his phone number and it's the same as ours, but ends in x600. We do a double take and then tell him our numbers. We all laugh at that, especially when he tells us his wife's number is x599. So basically, he and his wife were at one Verizon store getting cell phone service at the exact same instant last year that Brian and I were at another one doing the same. (and his data entry person was faster than ours!)

While not life-changing or anything like that, it did make us wonder whether we were cosmically fated to buy their house.....

Becca

Psychology of Job Hunting

2008-02-25T21:00:00.000-08:00

With my job hunt now behind me I felt it was a good time to go back and analyze the psychology of looking for a job. As anyone who has ever been unemployed knows, it can be a very difficult thing to stay positive, no matter what is happening. When we moved back to Portland, I told myself that I should focus first and foremost on building relationships. As anyone in business knows, it's the people you know and relationships you develop that allow you to continue to grow both professionally and personally. Thankfully the people in Portland are fantastic in this regard. I never had a time during my search where someone wasn't willing to take 15-30 minutes out of their schedule to meet with me and answer any questions I might have.

As I developed this network, I also did plenty of research into a variety of companies. While this helped me gain a better understanding of the market circa 2007, is also just raised more questions. Where did I want to work? What kind of company did I want to work for? What is inspiring me moving forward? My contract position with Nike helped answer a lot of those questions. For me I realized that while Nike is truly an innovative company, I also determined that I'd rather my next position be with a smaller company (smaller than Nike is obviously a pretty large spectrum) and somewhere where I could utilize my penchant for analytics and new technology. Thankfully I've found that opportunity at Anvil Media.

However, between Nike and Anvil Media was a fair amount of time. And during those 6+ months there were a lot of emotional lows and highs. Some days I'd jump right out of bed, step into the office and get right to work. Other days, I would stay in my pajamas, watch a TV show or do something else equally unproductive for portions of the day. So much of a person's self worth in today's day and age is related to his work (and it's so culturally embedded that even if you personally feel like it doesn't define you, it still defines you). When one doesn't have a job, you feel like you're missing a part of your personality. This is especially evident when you're a member of a professional MBA program. While my previous roles obviously allowed me to bring relevant work experiences to the discussions we had in class, a certain part of me felt that I was cheating my classmates and to a lesser extent myself. At the same time the positive support and counsel I received from those same classmates were a huge help in staying positive during my search.

In the end I realized that the most important part of a job hunt for me was being comfortable in my own skin. Understanding who you are gives you a sense of comfort and additionally allows you to have confidence in your abilities. With this confidence comes a belief that the skills you have are desirable in the market and that finding a job is simply matching the right company with those skills. While my confidence certainly wavered at times, in the end it was being comfortable with who I was and my abilities that got me the opportunity at Anvil Media.

Between 2001 (my previous job search) and 2007, I felt one thing really helped me become more comfortable in who I was and allowed this search to be much different than the last. In fact, it is the reason this blog was started in the first place. Traveling around the world, being put in situations both easy and extremely difficult really helped me mature and made me understand who I was at a level I'd never really imagined. So by surviving 15 months on the road I was able to survive finding a job.

Brian

Ch, ch, ch, ch, ch, ch... changes!

2008-02-20T20:51:00.000-08:00

With the search engine marketing boot camp that I'm currently undergoing at Anvil Media, there is a lot of information coming my way. The learning curve is steep but things are going well. One of the interesting things I'm working on right now is auditing web sites; getting a better idea as to what works and what doesn't from a search engine marketing perspective.

So while I continue to learn how I can improve my clients and their websites, I decided that I should do the same with this little shingle of ours.

We're starting small. As of about 20 minutes ago, we're up and live on our own branded website! Yep, Becca & Brian's Grand Adventure is now available at http://www.beccabrian.com/ Eventually I plan on adding other bells and whistles but with school and work, I figured this was a good start. The redirect should be complete in 3 days so when you have the chance, update your links accordingly!

Brian

Someone had one too many microbrews...

2008-02-19T23:26:00.000-08:00

Despite rumors to the contrary, this was not any of the Davis clan after celebrating my brother's 30th birthday last weekend.

Driver drives car into MAX Westside lightrail tunnel

Thanks to OregonLive.com for the fantastic coverage of someone who decided to try to take the short way home from Goose Hollow, a inner SW Portland neighborhood, through the light rail tunnel at oh... 4:30 in the morning. Methinks alcohol might have been involved. Needless to say, his efforts were met with an arrest and about $20k in damages to the line.

While I applaud his effort to avoid the west hills of Portland, next time catch a cab. Or a nice comfy city bench.

BD

Red Rocks

2008-02-14T20:09:00.000-08:00

In time for Valentine's Day, a photo album from our romantic-ish joint bday trip to Sedona.

I had to be down in Phoenix for work, so I surprised Brian by flying him down to join me for the weekend and heading up to Sedona. Neither of us had been there before, so we were eager to check it out. Because we were there in January (the absolute nadir of the tourist season), the trails were relatively empty, there were restaurant reservations to be had, and (best of all for us), the lodgings were all offering deep, deep discounts. This allowed me to splurge a little (instead of a huge lot) on a wonderful luxury (and gourmet!) lodge. It was a great weekend full of relaxation and hiking and gorgeous views.

Typical street view. Except for mainstreet it's a surprisingly quiet, small, dumpy looking town, but all you have to do is look above the roofs for a great view.

The most important part of our room at the lodge: our own fireplace and comfy chairs where we relaxed and did a bunch of reading.

Comfy and fru-fru/schmancy bed. Funny story: Saturday night was the AFC divisional championships and we really wanted to watch the Patriots/Jaguars game. The only place we could see the tv was from the bed. Thus we found ourselves watching the good old traditional masculine American pasttime while lying in a four poster bed with gauze/lace drapes and sipping red wine. The utter incongruity of it kept making us giggle.

The jacuzzi tub in our room. We actually never used it because we were too busy enjoying our PRIVATE hot tub out on our deck and staring up at the stars. Yeah, we were roughing it.... (Happy birthday to us!!)

This lodge was also famous for having the only labyrinth in Sedona. From the website:

Almost hidden, the Lodge at Sedona's labyrinth offers its guests and the general public a unique on-site amenity. Constructed completely of local riverbed rocks, the labyrinth is classified as a " seven path classical labyrinth." a type represented in many indigenous cultures throughout the world. The design appears in Pima and Hopi Indian traditions in Arizona. The seven rings symbolize the seven sacred planets, the seven days of the week, the seven chakras of the body and the seven principles of the cosmos. The center of the labyrinth is often regarded as a place of meditation and prayer.

Brian and I had kind of pooh-poohed it, but since it was there, we thought we ought to check it out. Saturday morning we went for a walk before breakfast and entered the labyrinth. Now this is a labyrinth, not a maze. That means there's only one way in and out and it's not about finding the right way, but about following the path. I think we both felt a little uncomfortable/silly when we started walking through it. Were we supposed to be really serious? Should we be meditating? Did we look foolish? But an interesting thing happened as we walked back and forth along the curving and intertwining paths: we both got this strong feeling of calm and peace. When we met up in the middle we weren't quite sure what to say to each other. But we liked the experience enough that we made sure to give ourselves time to walk it again Sunday morning.

Typical pretty views....

The man. The fashion plate. My husband. (And more pretty views)

Dorothy, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.

Bell Rock, one of landmarks in Sedona. Many people climb it looking for the mystic energy vortices, but we were happy to do the loop walk around the bases of Bell Rock and Courthouse Rock (below -- not to be confused with Schoolhouse Rock). In addition to enjoying the weather and scenary we couldn't get over how reminiscent it was of walking around Uluru and Kata Tjuta in the middle of the Australian Outback. From the red clay under our feet to the deep red rock silhouetted against the blue sky, we felt transported back down under (we were just missing Jenny, Drew and the gang). At one point on the far side of Courthouse Rock it was perfectly silent and we just sat there and exulted in the peace of the wilderness.

Courthouse Rock

Enjoying the silence by Courthouse Rock

This beats the rain in Portland
(or snow in Minnesota!)

We had been mostly sticking to flat trails to take care of Brian's recently injured knee. However we had heard great things about the view from Cathedral Rock so we decided to check it out. It was supposed to be a pretty short trail; how bad could it be?? Yeah, well, it was pretty much straight up the rock. There was no trail as such, though there were some cairns to follow and mark the occasional carved steps. A lot of the time though we were just crawling up using our hands. Actually up wasn't so bad, it was down that proved to be more tricky. (Let's just say that butts were prominently involved). But the views were more than worth it.

Views from the top of Cathedral Rock

Enjoying the late afternoon light

One of the more well-known attractions in Sedona is the Chapel of the Holy Cross (background info at the link). While obviously churches are not really my thing, I have been to few religious places that have moved me more (even filled with tourists). It seems a much more spiritual than religious place and is all about the wonder and beauty of the world. We both thought it was beautiful (and very photogenic).

Sedona is also famous for its art. While we chose to maximize our time on the trails and so missed out on the gallery-hopping, I couldn't help grab these pics of some fantastic equine sculptures. Maybe Caroline can get something like these for the farm?

All in all it was a great birthday weekend. We only scratched the surface of all the walks, hikes, and activities in the area but we can definitely recommend it (at least in the slow tourist season).

Becca

I'm Surly for Surly

2008-02-12T17:35:00.000-08:00

Back in my Minnesota days, I would bemoan my lot in life from a beer perspective. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a beer snob. Not a "reading the Beer Advocate" snob but after four years of living in St. Louis and drinking more Budweiser products than I could possibly imagine, I prefer the taste of a good beer. Having lived out in Oregon, I was used to a fantastic supply of micro brews all available as close as my grocery store. Imagine my surprise when I reached Minnesota. While micro brews were still available, the diversity of selection and ease of acquisition were both at a much lesser level than in the northwest.

Imagine my surprise then upon my return to Minnesota. Our friends Alex and Seth had turned us on to Surly beer. Led by Omar Ansari, a former ultimate teammate of Becca's, Surly was just getting off the ground and at that point was only available in a few taps in town. Needless to say they've taken the beer world by storm (securing Brewery of the Year from the aforementioned Beer Advocate and even a mention in the WSJ) and while they are still only available in Minneapolis and a few select spots in Chicago, we have been lucky enough to secure a few cans for the Davis household. In short, they make damn good beer and I wish it was here.

So despite being back in Oregon where I can find nearly any beer known to man, I find myself longing for that which I cannot have. I never thought I'd miss drinking Minnesota beers but with the emergence of Surly, I have to add that to the list of things I miss (All of our Friends, the State Fair, tailgating for Vikings games in subzero temps, etc.).

So if you're ever in Minneapolis, look the guys at Surly up. It is worth the trip. And for the native Minnesotans, drink more Surly!

BD

PS Surly's website: http://www.surlybrewing.com/

Car Show Photo Album

2008-02-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

The last two years, my brother, dad and I have gone to the Portland Auto Show for dad's birthday. Here's a few photos from the field trip:

Concept Car whose windows closed up when locked.

The Safe Imagery is completed with this unique back door handle.

Dad contemplating his post-retirement vehicle options...

My Brother's Dream Truck. I think it has actual horses inside.

Me in my brother's second dream vehicle. This one has its own area code.

Ahhh... that's more like it. I'm seriously contemplating one of these to get to/from work. Maybe I just like the idea of having a helmet and goggles.

My Brother-in-Law's main reason for surviving law school :-)

One of the vehicles from the Electric Car section. Unfortunately with a rate of 30 miles/charge we won't see very many of these on the road anytime soon.

And to finish up, the obligatory fast, expensive car...

Brian

2008: The Year of the Gnome

2008-02-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

As the holiday season approached, I was asked what I wanted for the holidays (and subsequently my birthday) . Outside of a job (which I have since been able to get) I really didn't have anything that was on my wish list. However, during our travels I gained a semi-healthy obsession with garden gnomes. After finding our first one in Brugge, we saw them throughout the trip and whenever I had the chance, I took a picture. Evidently Becca, when asked about potential presents for me, mentioned gnomes as an option.

Fast forward to Christmas Day. My Dad had me in the family gift exchange and in addition to a gift certificate for Beer Disneyland, I got a good ol' fashioned Garden Gnome. The jolly little fellow was a welcome xmas present and I was excited about adding him to the office until I could figure out an appropriate outdoor home. A nice surprise present.

Of course, it was nowhere near done. Between Christmas and my birthday, I received two mini-gnomes and a gnome book from my mother in law, a garden "om" (a Buddha gnome) from my brother in law and his wife and the t-shirt pictured above from my lovely wife. So in two weeks I went from gnomeless to gnomelicious.

After receiving all these gifts I, much like the Chinese, elected to give 2008 a proper designation. For the Chinese, 2008 is the Year of the Rat. For me, 2008 is the Year of the Gnome!

Brian

I'm Back

2008-02-05T20:15:00.000-08:00

The first day of work is in the book. No, I didn't just get home (in fact I'm currently in class) but I did have a busy, information filled day. I've already gotten my first client and am off to the races.

Thankfully there are a lot of blog posts backed up in our queue and just begging to be posted. So while I get my feet firmly on the ground, you the reader still get fresh blog posts for the reading.

Brian

Best and Worst Commericals

2008-02-04T11:33:00.000-08:00

As a sports fan, it always drives me nuts that there is more talk about the commercials than the game. However, after yesterday's thriller for once this might not be the case. That being said I did find myself at least having an opinion about a few of the commercials. So without further ado, in one man's opinion the best and worst of "The Big Game*" commercials.

Best:

Somehow watching a person in a really blatant mouse costume (note the space between the head and body of the costume) lay the smack down on the creepy looking guy was really, really fun. Maybe the PBR had more of an effect that I thought. It does go to show you though that in some cases the amateur ads end up being as good as those done by the ad agencies.

Worst (tie):

and

The group I was with was shocked when these ads came up. While I could go off about the racist nature of the ads, I'm equally as disturbed about the business sense of Sales Genie. Sales Genie has been quoted as saying that their goal was to make the worst commercials of 2008. While the "any publicity is good publicity" school of thought is usually appropriate, I can't imagine that getting branded as a trashy, racist organization by a large part of the general populace is where you want to be headed from a branding perspective. The other question to be asked is wouldn't the $4.8 million they spent on securing the ad space be better spent on something with a more discernible return on investment? Do they really think that people who need sales leads are going to call up Sales Genie after that? It will be very interesting to see what the fallout for this is for Sales Genie in the days and weeks ahead.

I'm already serving as an enabler by linking to the ads. So enjoy the Doritos commercial and get back to work!

Brian

* I will stick with The Big Game for fear of having the NFL copyright police knock down our door and force me to watch a 24 hour running loop of NFL pundits talking loud and saying nothing.

Giants Win! Giants Win!

2008-02-03T21:53:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to take a brief moment and congratulate my former grad school roommate Kevin Abrams. He's been with the NY Giants organization for a number of years now and as Assistant General Manager he has certainly had a large hand in helping build the team that prevented the Patriots perfect season. Not bad for a kid from Canada...

Hope everyone had a good time watching a great football game and are home and in one piece. More tomorrow.

BD

How Quickly We Forget...

2008-02-01T08:43:00.000-08:00

So the Northwest has had an active meteorological week, with snow, sleet, rain, wind, hail and more and lots of schools and roads being closed. The damp chill pervades everywhere and leaves us longing for open fireplaces, warm blankets, and steaming mugs of hot chocolate -- or, at the very least, has us lunging for the thermostat.

However whenever the whining gets too much or we start to feel too sorry for ourselves we stop and remind ourselves of where we just moved from. That's right: the frozen tundra of Minnesota. From this week's Star Tribune:

The bitter cold and dangerously low windchills between minus 35 and minus 50 degrees this morning caused scores of schools across Minnesota to call off school or start late. Windchill readings will remain in the teens and 20s below zero this afternoon across the Twin Cities. Even with the improvement in the windchill, exposed skin in today's conditions can still freeze in five to 10 minutes, the National Weather Service said.

Um. Yeah. Right....... what were we complaining about again??

Sorry to run, but I'm off to go for a walk in our envigorating cool wet weather and give thanks for living in Oregon again.

Becca

On the other hand, I'm not quite him:

With windchills well below zero, a Danish man who is known as only as Wimhof walked along the Universityof Minnesota campus on Wednesday while an ABC News crew shot film of him. The network brought the man, who says he’s impervious to cold, to the Twin Cities. (photo Elizabeth Flores)

Where's McGruff when you need him?

2008-01-24T20:11:00.001-08:00

We always joke about living in the 'Hood' in Sellwood. Now granted, being south of Tacoma Street does make us ever-so-slightly on the wrong side of the tracks, but for those who don't know Sellwood is quaintsville: antique shops and boutiques, coffee shops and restaurants and nice old houses on streets lined with stately old trees. South Central it's not. But yesterday we got a reminder that sometimes, it doesn't matter.

In an effort to enjoy my last bit of freedom before rejoining the working world, we elected to get out into our neighborhood (the 'nice' part even) and grab some lunch out at Cha! Cha! Cha!. It was a late lunch; say 1:30 or so. As we were getting out of the car, Becca just froze, then calmly told me "Get that man's license plate. I think he just stole that truck"

Admittingly I was a bit confused; we were staring at the Post Office parking lot across the street. A guy was pulling away in a green pickup. So I went running towards the street he was on and saw he didn't have a license plate in the front. Assuming I'd get it in the back, I took a quick look, saw a very intense "don't mess with me" look, let the truck pass and then realized there was no license plate on the back either. He blew through the intersection and was gone.

What happened? A good ol' fashioned Smash and Grab. The guy (from the sound of the PO employees it wasn't the first time) pulled up to someone's car, opened his door, smashed their window, took her purse (she was in the post office at the time) and took off. My guess? Given the increasing prevalence of meth heads here in Portland, it wouldn't surprise me if that was the reasoning for the crime. Or it could just be an good old run of the mill crook. Either way it stunned us and reminded us that no matter how nice we think our neighborhood is, stuff like this happens all the time. We were just more impressed with the brazen nature of doing it in the middle of broad daylight with little regard to the environment around him. If we'd been there a little sooner or been a little quicker, we might have even made the local news :-)

Brian

From Becca's perspective:

As we got out of the car I heard glass smash in the parking lot. I looked over and saw someone jumping into a pickup truck parked on the other side of a nice SUV and peeled out. I ran toward him and yelled 'hey'. For some reason my brain jumped to the conclusion that someone must have left their keys in the car and this person broke in and drove off, hence my instructions to Brian. He wasn't kidding about the "don't mess with me look". As he glowered at us as Brian ran into the street I thought "dear god, don't get run over (or shot!)" and "what was I thinking heading toward him yelling 'hey'". What was I going to do?? "Say 'stop', or I'll hey again??"

Still convinced that it was the truck that was stolen, I ignored a well dressed lady leaving the post office on her cell phone and heading back towards the SUV. I had just finished querying everyone in the PO to see if they had a truck, when she came running back in saying someone had smashed her window and grabbed her purse. Right. That actually makes much more sense than smashing the window of an old pickup and either finding keys or hot wiring it in like 5 seconds. So much for those jumped-to conclusions.

There followed the classic eye witness issues. (We actually were eyewitnesses for a hit-and-run a few months ago and remembered enough to get the perpetrator tracked down - of course...he had a license plate! - but he looked like we had described). In this case it happened so fast:

"it was a dark blue pick up" says I, while Brian says "it was dark green". He was in his 30's I say as Brian assuredly says "his forties". We did agree on hair color though...

Guess we do need McGruff after all...

Back to Work!

2008-01-22T11:59:00.001-08:00

After a job search that has been an adventure, I am proud to say that I'm formally back in the ranks of the fully employed. As of February 4th, I will be an account executive with Anvil Media, Inc. Anvil Media is a search engine marketing company that specializes in search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) management, social media marketing (SMM) and online reputation management (ORM) services. They are a small firm but one that packs a big punch in town.

In short, I'm excited; the opportunity is an excellent chance for me to put my analytical skills to work in a fast moving, constantly changing space. I've got a 90 day qualifying period but I am confident that my work ethic and ability to take on new things will wow them and win the day :-)

That's it. Just wanted to let everyone know I've found a home to land. Now if you'll excuse me I've got to go catch up with the cool kids and get myself on Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

Brian

Note to Self: People avoid cacti for a reason

2008-01-19T21:55:00.000-08:00

Heard on a trail in the Arizona desert:

"Ouch!"

"What??"

"I have thorns in my thumb"

"??!!? You picked up a cactus!"

"Yeah...but I thought I was holding it between the thorns....."

[Shaking head sadly at spouse's logic]

More adventures from the red rocks coming shortly.

Becca

extra points if you can figure out who is who in dialogue above

Compound Interest is a Beautiful Thing....

2008-01-17T17:26:00.001-08:00

Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, the "Rule of 72":

"As you toy with whether to spend or save, keep in mind the rule of 72. If you divide 72 by the rate of return you expect to earn, that will tell you how long it takes to double your money.
Think you can earn 7% a year? Divide that into 72, and you will learn that doubling your money takes 10.2 years. The implication: If you saved $1,000, rather than spending it, you would have roughly $2,000 after 10 years, $4,000 after 20 years -- and an impressive $8,000 after 30 years."

I know that for most of our friends, the idea of saving money and compound interest is pretty easy to understand. I Just figured I'd help spread helpful information such as this to a country whose national savings rate is...negative. Sigh.

Brian

The frustration of inactivity...

2008-01-15T13:47:00.001-08:00

After spending the last year and a half running on average 4x a week, I feel that I'd gotten myself into pretty good shape. A sub 1:30 half-marathon showed me I was in a lot better shape than I thought. My newfound speediness notwithstanding, I've always found exercising as a means of meditation. Not so much in your classic zen/yoga mat style but instead my running has always given me the opportunity to put on my shoes, hit the road and empty my brain of all the excess thoughts that come living in today's internet age. People are always amazed when I mention I don't wear the requisite iPod (though it's a necessity when I bike) when I run. Even running for 2 hours I don't find the need for any more external stimuli that what Mother Nature brings to the table.

When life conspires to keep me from running, I find myself getting progressively grumpier until I'm finally able to go out, run and get it all out. Unfortunately life has been unkind the past five weeks physically. I first picked up what can only be described as some industrial strength crud right at the end of last semester. This laid me out for about two weeks and the coughing got so bad that I even threw out some muscles in my back. If this wasn't enough, I then was running up in Forest Park and was running down a flat trail and had my knee just give out. Unfortunately I had about a half hour of sunlight and 4 miles back to the car. As a result, I had to keep running on the knee and by the end I was struggling quite a bit. After a week or two of having it give out at random times and struggling with some basic functions, I elected to go to the doctor. Despite a number of injuries over the years, this was the first time I'd actually had my knees x-rayed and MRI'd. The good news was they were "pristine" structurally. The bad news is that I picked up a cartlidge tear in a spot in the near where it's very difficult to fix. The initial diagnosis is physical therapy though the first available appointment is over a month from now (and how is this any different than the socialized health care some Americans like to savage?). The best surgical option is microfracture surgery and with images of Greg Oden dancing in my head, I elected to pass. It's a weird injury though; supposedly I can try to run on it but it's not supposed to heal on its own. I'll have to test it out and hope that I get my meditation back.

In the meantime, I've been doing my best to find other ways to find my zen. Going for walks is ok from the physical perspective but I get bored quickly and find myself wishing I did have my iPod. I haven't quite gone to meditation yet though I do find the bus ride to class strangly soothing. Hopefully my body elects to let me back on the road soon. 33 is way too young of an age to have to think up a second act.

Brian

New Years Resolutions

2008-01-14T16:00:00.001-08:00

As Becca and I took a week or so to take stock of our lives and try to make some goals for 2008 and beyond, one of them for me involved the blog. I know I've been negligent (at best) of updating it with my thoughts. A lot of this has to do with the fact that my writing has picked up a trait from my wife: trying for too much and not getting anything on (virtual) paper. We had a saying at FanBuzz (my previous job): sometimes it's better to get a B+ product up than to be constantly striving for the A. So while I'm not promising you a steady stream of B+ writing, I am promising that the site will be updated more often. Sometimes it may only consist of a brief thought, sometimes it'll be a book and sometimes we may just put up some pictures. But for those 3 of you who still read this, we promise new material!

I hope 2008 is off to a good start for everyone. For us we are simply hoping for your health and good luck in 2008.

See you on the interwebs soon!

Brian

Some holiday thoughts...

2007-12-21T12:53:00.000-08:00

Well, less thoughts than a quote for the holiday weekend. I personally find eggnog quite tasty but can't get over laughing at this quote:

"You know what drink I don't like? Eggnog. Who thought this up? I want to get a little drunk, but I also want some pancakes." - Dave Attell

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Brian

I think I'm officially old...

2007-12-16T16:06:00.001-08:00

Your Merrian-Webster Word of the Year:

1. w00t (interjection)

expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word "yay" w00t! I won the contest! (and yes, those are zeros, not o's)
(used my online games quite a bit evidently)

This, coupled with my learning this week the some current undergrad & MBA students have been corrected on their misspelling of "because" in their papers, makes me think that I've certainly missed the whole texting/shorthand language phenomenon. Not that this makes me sad; I'm quite happy to be the result of a liberal arts degree with the capability to write and sometimes even write well.

I'm a huge fan of technology and the acceleration of certain parts of our life it has created. However, when people don't/can't take the time to spell something correctly, is this really a good thing?

As you can tell, I'm slowly getting better and as a result more ornery. I'll be back soon.

Brian

Feeling a bit like Doc Holliday...

2007-12-12T14:28:00.001-08:00

I know. Three plus weeks between updates on the blog. We might get around to writing about the Davis Cup finals and other subjects soon. No promises during the batty holiday season though.

In the meantime, Becca is in Twin Cities for business and I'm officially half way through my MBA program, having finished finals last night. It feels good to be done and have a four week break before classes get going again. I might even be able to get in some non-school related reading which would be nice. Being done with school would feel better if I haven't been fighting some sort of super-flu for the last week. The majority of the sickness is coming from a cough that just refuses to go away and has left my throat feeling like torn up particle board. Hence the mention of Val Kilmer's best character EVER.

"Nonsense, I have not yet begun to defile myself."

Ok, back to the sick bed...

Brian

Random Odds and Ends

2007-11-20T17:04:00.001-08:00

As we get packed to head down to the Bay Area for food, family and friends (and did we mention food??) a couple of random thoughts:

Crossword Puzzles

I grew up enjoying all kinds of puzzles, especially logic puzzles and crossword puzzles. A love of solving puzzles was something that my Dad and I shared and we had a lot of fun working on them together. And I still feel really close to him when I do them.

I've recently become hooked on crossword puzzles again thanks to encouragement from our friend Seth, a fellow ultimate player and around-the-world traveler. He is a regular solver of the New York Times puzzles and has encouraged me to test my solving skills against them too. So now we both do them online and compete on solving times, though he's so much better than me that there's not much competition. Still, emailing back and forth about clues and working together to figure out the harder days of the week reminds me of solving puzzles together with Dad and that makes me happy.

(Plus, we get to be make jokes about ridiculous freaky talent of puzzle solvers like Orange and Rex Parker)

"Cleaning out the fridge" entrees

When I first started getting into cooking I could make some pretty good meals, but they always required cookbooks and recipes. I could follow directions and learn techniques, but I didn't have any confidence or knowledge about creating my own dishes. One of the fun things about cooking more since our return from the trip has been becoming more comfortable winging it in the kitchen. Recently I've been working on a new specialty on the nights Brian is in class: the cleaning-out-the-fridge-use-up-the-leftovers-and-feed-myself meal.

Two recent successes:

-- Saute-ing whatever veggies are left (usually zucchini and/or yellow squash and red bell pepper) in garlic and olive oil, liberally sprinkling with cumin, then adding in some frozen corn (kept in the freezer for this kind of purpose) or leftover fresh corn (in the summer), baby spinach leaves, and crumbled feta cheese to finish. Tossed over cous cous or pasta, or even wrapped in a wheat tortilla for an impromptu veggie burrito it has been a quick and easy, faithful, and tasty standby and has fed me on a number of occasions.

-- Sauteeing thin slices of prosciutto (left over from making the yummy butternut squash recipe I mentioned before) and shallots and garlic in butter to crisp the prosciuto, then throwing it in an omelet, with a little cream cheese and fresh rosemary (left over from some fancy Italian steak sandwiches)

Still Running

Haven't kicked the running bug yet. Guess Brian was more contageous than I thought. :-) But for the first time I think I can actually say I enjoy running instead of just tolerating it as a necessary evil for staying in shape. I think one of the things I really like about it is that I can see such progress. 3 miles always used to be a LONG run for me. Now it's my basic run and I build up from there.

Yesterday I decided to try a 6 mile run for the first time since the 10-K in September. I ran a loop that was much hillier than the easy Pints-to-Pasta downhill course and yet it felt comfortable and easy and I finished several minutes faster. How cool is that??

While I am still not setting any land speed records, I run at a respectable speed, and I'm really enjoying becoming someone who can just go out and run 5 miles without giving it another thought.

Not sure how interesting anyone will find these tidbits, but we figured it could be an appetizer before a full Thanksgiving meal entry.

Hope everyone has a great weekend full of fun, friends and family.

Becca

Little Housecleaning...

2007-11-06T13:08:00.000-08:00

For our loyal readers, we've finally gotten around to doing some minor housecleaning (beats doing the real thing). The site has a few new links (including our friend Rich's continuing adventures around the world) as well as Flick's Zeitgeist function. Now you can check out our pictures in a size that makes ophthalmologists around the world feel secure in their latest sports car purchase.

Just spent a recharging weekend at the beach and am now back working hard trying to be the Grade A student, find a job and keep myself from putting on the eggnog/pumpkin pie/winter ale pounds already. Hopefully news on all fronts soon!

Brian

Note: currently the Zeitgeist isn't showing the pictures from our trip, but rather some of the more recent ones. We'll see if we can get that fixed.

Feminist Guilt, Or Where is Mia Hamm When You Need Her?

2007-11-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

So Wednesday (a few weeks ago...I'm running a little behind) found us pulling out the all weather gear and heading to PGE Park to watch the US Women's national team play the Mexican women in an exhibition match. ('Us' being myself and Brian, Jon and Lori, and their former soccer teammate Resa). It had been pouring all week off and on and had continued that day including as we were driving up to the stadium. But somehow karma smiled on us and it was nice for the whole match. As we were walking back to the car it started raining again. Unbelievable.

The three game series against Mexico (played in St. Louis, Portland, and Albuquerque) was obviously conceived as a post-world cup victory tour. After the flame out and controversy that marred the tournament for the women, it was more like a reconnect with fans and start mending fences tour. In either case, the soccer-mad group of us were looking forward to seeing some quality soccer.

The popularity of women's sports is a touchy subject for this former female athlete. As someone who went through high school and college playing varsity sports I firmly believe in the importance and value of that opportunity. I believe that women's professional leagues are also important and good both as potential careers for the talented few and more as inspirations and examples for the normal many. (Especially with the obesity epidemic sweeping the country anything that helps get kids (and adults) up and moving is good.) I really want to be enthusiastic and supportive about watching women's leagues, but unfortunately (and embarrassingly) for many sports it just doesn't do it for me.

Soccer, however, has always been an exception (as has tennis). While the women's game is quite different (and slower) than the men's, I have found it in the past to be equally skilled and interesting to watch and in the heyday of the Hamm/Foudy/Milbrett/Lilly/Akers etc. years I really enjoyed watching the US team. Therefore I was really looking forward to this chance to see the next generation of US soccer stars. It would be an opportunity to say thanks and goodbye to Kristine Lilly and hello to Abby Wambach and her crew.

The evening started out well, with the aforementioned break in the rain really raising our spirits. (Especially since our good seats were just past the very edge of the roof and we would have gotten soaked.) Abby was chosen as captain and honored for reaching her 100th cap in the World Cup quarterfinals against England. And the gold uniforms, while not particularly modest, did look pretty flash.

Once the game started, however, the five of us were a little nonplussed. The conditions didn't really help. The temp was in the low 40's and the field was suffering from it having rained most of the day. However the level of soccer on display was not anywhere near where we expected it to be. As I've written about before, we've attended a half-dozen Portland Timbers games at PGE park and really enjoyed them. I wondered how much our experience with those games was impacting our perception. If we were used to the men's game, then it would stand to reason that the women's game would seem slower. However the speed wasn't really the issue. Instead it was the lack of flow between defense and offense, the lack of sustained possession or building of a play, and for many players even the lack of ball trapping skills that surprised us. And these are all things that I would expect the women's national team to do better than a USL (minor league) level men's team. Plus it was very much a boot and run to the tall/fast players sort of strategy.

Many of these critiques were made about the team by more knowledgeable soccer folks than me during the team's world cup run, even before the Hope Solo/Briana Scurry goalkeeper switch fiasco. Greg Ryan's coaching philosophy and belief that creative midfield play was not how the game is won these days was (in my opinion) deservedly criticized as was his reliance on his starting players and reluctance to use his deep bench. (Even in the game we watched, a meaningless exhibition, Abby was kept on the field for the whole game, despite being hobbled and in pain in the second half with an obvious injury).

A week after this US/Mexico match, it was announced that Ryan's contract would not be renewed at the end of the year. As a fan of soccer, women's sports, and our women's national team, I am happy at this news. I'm hoping we can again field a team that plays 'the beautiful game', much like the young team from Brazil did in China this year. Because I want to be proud of the team and the way it plays, I want to enjoy watching them, and I'd like young girls starting out in soccer to see our national team play and be inspired, like I once was.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other notes from the evening:

-- The crowd noise was really different from the games we normally attend there. Instead of the chants and songs from the Timbers' Army (Portland has one of the most European-like supporters' group of any US team, USL, MLS, or US National team) and the occasional loud swear words, we instead had the ear-splitting shrieks from the pre-teen set.

-- PGE park seems to be really into "theme" concessions. We had barely sat down in our seats for this game against the Mexican women before the vendors were walking by and adding churros and tecate beer to their normal cotton candy, crackerjacks, bud light patter. (Though as we all sat there in rain ponchos and multiple flannel layers the "Get yer ice cold Tecate" cry didn't have quite the same allure it normally would.) And when we attended the Timbers match against Preston North End (a Championship League team from England - (Championship is one below the Premier League)), the concessions stands had added 'bangers and mash' to their normal nachos, hamburger, hot dog menu.

-- While there wasn't a huge Mexican fan contingent in the stadium, we did have a mini-one a few rows behind us. About eight kids had their face painted in team colors and were waving Mexican flags and chanting "meHEEco! clap clap clapclapclap. meHEEco! clap clap clapclapclap". It was cute and added a little bit of international flair to the evening.

-- The fans seemed a lot less knowledgeable than those who usually attend the Timbers games. I'm sure there were a lot of non-soccer parents who were there with their kids. But in any case the crowd didn't necessarily seem to respond to big moments on the field, and there were more people up and wandering around during play than I've ever seen at a game. Brian was about ready to go postal on some of the clueless folks just standing and talking in the aisles and blocking everyone's view while shots on goal were being taken.

All in all I'm glad we went, and I'm glad we supported the women's team, but for the near future I'll stick to my Timbers. They're a fun team that really improved over the last year and should be even better next year and we can watch them for minor-league prices.