Grandkid Therapy

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

Life lesson #309

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.

A look back: Taishan, China

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

Happy Political Musing of the day (not an oxymoron)

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

HOPE

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

Learning to give myself a break....

...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...

(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.

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

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

Psychology of Job Hunting

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

Random Odds and Ends

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

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

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.

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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.

Staying true to the plan...

My track record with job searches has been an interesting one. During my first stint in Portland post-college, I really lacked a proper focus: I wasn't sure whether I wanted to stay in Portland, what exactly I wanted to do, etc. After 12 months of odd jobs, living at home and just general floundering I got the job at the Oregon Sports Authority; a great first job that really exposed me to the Portland business community.

Three years later, Becca and I moved to Minnesota for her job. Although I didn't have any leads in moving there, I felt confident that the stronger business community would lead to plenty of opportunities. Approximately 2 weeks after moving to the Twin Cities, 9/11 happened and with it came a definite downturn in hiring. Over the next 14 months I did just about everything; from processing house loans to collecting debts for Best Buy before my job search finally came to a satisfactory conclusion with my position at FanBuzz. Again another good step forward in my professional career.

Upon our return to Oregon I felt confident in my job search. Starting the MBA program gave me an excellent talking point with interviewers, a way to enhance my own job skills as well as a window into the general business community and how my strengths would best provide value to various types of companies. Things were looking up when I got my contract with Nike; however this ended up finishing up sooner than expected and most of the summer was spent looking for work instead of gaining valuable experience.

During my search I found a very interesting Account Manager position with an interactive company that had a diverse client base including Nike Golf, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Xerox, Clif Bar and Smartwool. It was a perfect fit given my skills and where I wanted to head as a professional. The only reason I hesitated to apply for the position was that it was based in Hood River, about 70 miles from Portland. Taking the "nothing ventured, nothing gained" approach in the end I elected to apply, had a phone interview and then was invited to Hood River for two in-person interviews.

The company is a great company; at about 35 people it's a good size, they're doing great work, the people and work environment are hard working yet relaxed and the idea of living in Hood River appealed to both Becca and me at many levels. Additionally the position would have been a step up for me in terms of responsibility, salary, etc.

After about 3 weeks of interviewing, I was offered the position. In both of my previous searches, I took the first position offered to me; partially because the search was so long in both cases and I was afraid that another opportunity would be a long time coming. In this case it was a very difficult decision. On one side was the great professional opportunity being presented to me. On the other side was something we've focused on with our return to Portland: quality of life. With 16 months left of school and telecommuting even a day a week nixed by the company, I would be looking at a minimum of 20 hours a week driving back and forth from Portland to Hood River. Needless to say, this wasn't sounding like a very good quality of life. In addition, one of the biggest drivers in returning to Oregon was being close to our families again. We're loving the easy access of having almost everybody w/in 30 minutes, everybody w/in an hour forty-five and having Jon & Lori w/in 5 minutes. Moving an additional hour away from everybody, especially as we're about to start our family, just seemed like the wrong direction.

In what can only be described as a leap of faith and the first real test of our "new" lives, I chose quality of life and turned down the position. Although I am confident that I will be able to find a job here in Portland, it was very difficult to pass on such a good opportunity; in fact, had it been in Portland I would have accepted it in an instant. For both me and us as a couple it was the right decision. However it did not make it any easier to say no. There is a little part of me that really hopes that by choosing life over work I'm making the right decision.

Brian

Photo: taking time to smell the roses at the Portland International Rose Garden

Reason number 347 why we love Oregon

While there are many things still up in the air in our lives something of which there is no doubt is that we absolutely made the right decision to move back to Portland. Evidence supporting this from the past couple weeks:

We have gone on a couple of great hikes. Within an hour's drive we can get into the Columbia River gorge, up to Timberline Lodge and the shoulders of Mt. Hood, and deep into the national forests along the Sandy River and along the Cascade mountain range. All these areas are chock-a-block full of hiking trails from the easy-peasy to the 'you-gotta-be-kiddin'-me'. Last week we started up the Pacific Coast Trail (the west coast version of the Appalachian Trail) and then veered off to a really pretty loop past two clear reflective lakes on one high scramble up to a viewpoint staring right at Mt. Hood. (Sadly, forgot to bring the camera). Best of all, it was a nice 4 hour 9 mile hike with reasonable ups and downs. Unlike the 6 hour 14 mile WAY up and down death march in the gorge that my brother took us on July 4th…..

We are spending time on the coast. My family built a house in Waldport 20+ years ago. From Corvallis it’s less than 90 minutes and we used to go there often. But from Portland it’s 3 hours or so, which makes it harder to find the time to sneak over to (let alone from Minneapolis or China…). Now that we live here we have been trying to spend time there again. Last week we escaped for 5 wonderfully relaxing days. We tossed a Frisbee on the beach, hiked up peninsulas, visited lighthouses, ate yummy meals, slept in a bunch, and spent a lot of time just gazing out at the ocean. Nice.

We are spending casual time with family. Living so close to all our family is really nice. Instead of just seeing them a couple of times a year in rushed, stress-filled visits, we live down the street, or in the next town, or (at the most) w/in 90 minutes. Over just the past couple of weeks we’ve been able to have casual dinners and lunches with Earl & Elaine and Mom and Red as they pass through the neighborhood, we’ve been able to visit Kevin and Sarah a couple of times on the mountain and help them pack, and we’ve been able to take Jon & Lori to and from the airport and scarf sushi with them, have Jon do some repairs on our bikes, and walk Dizzy with Lori. And just yesterday Lori and Brian snuck off to eat hot dogs (and tofu dogs) and play cribbage. I sense trouble….

We are taking advantage of Portland. We’ve gone to a number of the local USL A league soccer games in a snug outdoor stadium, we’re riding our bikes everywhere (to class, to do errands, for exercise along the Willamette river…), and Brian is running with a team in next week’s Hood-to-Coast relay.

And there’s more... In a few weeks we’re heading down to Ashland to see a couple of plays at the nationally renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Even better, we’re being flown down there by my best friend Caroline. Though she’s had her pilot's license for 20ish years, last week was the first time I’ve ever been up in the air with her. Cair and Luigi flew over to the coast while we were there and took us on a sightseeing flight up and down the shoreline on a beautiful day. Way cool.

Not bad for just a couple of weeks activities, eh? I think we're going to like it here. :-)

Becca

Happy Independence Day!

I wanted to take a moment and wish everyone a happy Independence Day. As the date of our declaration of independence where we told the Brits to take their warm beer and cricket back across the pond, the 4th is obviously an uniquely American holiday. Of course like many of our other holidays, the original meaning of taking time to appreciate the independence our country holds has been co-oped by brats, beers, fireworks and sunburns.

In this particular case (as opposed to Memorial Day, see Becca's earlier post), I think that's a good thing. The 4th is about celebrating the fact that as Americans we have the right (within reason) to do what we please and express ourselves accordingly. For Becca and me, this day will be spent going for a hike with our brother and sister-in-law and then spending time with my family afterwards. For some people, that means having a picnic and watching fireworks; for others having too much to drink and falling asleep at 3pm is their way of expressing independence.

Independence is a touchy subject nowadays. With political bickering at what seems to be an all-time high and the idea of free speech sometimes being dependent on what you're saying, every once in a while people need to take a step back and appreciate what they have. There are countless countries around the world (several of which Becca and I have actually been in) where free speech, independent thought and even something as simple as the right to wear whatever you want is not a given.

So I hope that with this holiday, people take at least a moment to appreciate what we have as a country and the fact that we stuck our necks out to get it 231 years ago. We're by no means perfect but in the grand scheme of things we're a lot better off than most. So appreciate the position you're currently in and take some time to say thank you to the people that help defend our independence around the world on a daily basis. We may not always agree with where they are or what they're doing there, but we should respect the fact that they are willing to put their lives on the line to preserve what we celebrate with beers and sparklers.

Ok, I'm officially off my soapbox. Anyone up for some wiffle ball?

Happy Independence Day to all.

Brian

Mazel Tov, Dad

Another late entry as I'm trying to catch up on my backlog...

Lori, Jon, Mom, Ken Krane, Richard (Dad's brother), Laura, Becca, Brian

As most readers of the blog know, my Dad died almost 3 years ago on August 15th, 2004. His death was in many ways a catalyst for our trip and for trying to find a way to change the way we lived our lives day to day. I think that he would be very proud of the things we've done but I miss so very much being able to share all of this with him.

On May 2, he would have been 63 years old. On May 12th we celebrated what would have been another milestone. It turns out that before his illness Dad and his good friend Ken Krane had been making plans. The Kranes and the Bloomfields have a history of coincidental connections. Both Mom and Dad and Ken and Paula were married on Aug 28, 1966 and both Dad and Ken had their Bar Mitzvahs on May 17th, 1957 (and David and I were born only 9 days apart). A few years ago they started talking about how fun and cool it might be to stage a joint 50th "golden" Bar Mitzvah, aka a Bar Mitzvah Jubilee, aka a "re-Bar". Ken abandoned the idea for a while after Dad died, but then realized that it was still a very meaningful thing for him to do and that he could honor Dad by continuing on with it.

So last Saturday [ed note: accurate when I originally wrote this] we gathered at Corvallis' Beit Am for the first Saturday morning temple services I have been to in years and years. Some thoughts from that emotional day:

Even though the Jewish community in Corvallis has grown and changed a lot since Jon and I lived in town and there are lots of new young families there, for whatever reason most of the people at the service that morning were part of the original community that founded Beit Am. That means they were people who have watched us grow up, and had been at my Bat Mitzvah and Jon's Bar Mitzvah, were there for our weddings, and were there for Dad's memorial services. There was something so comforting and grounding about looking across the room and seeing all these familiar and caring faces. The funniest part Jon and I agreed, is that many of the pillars of the community looked exactly the same to us as they have our whole life, despite the fact that we've known them over a 25-30 year period!

It was definitely different being at a Bar Mitzvah Jubilee instead of a normal one. For one, when the Bar Mitzvah boy gets up to recite (sing) his torah portion you get a whole lot less voice cracking from the 63-year-old. Also, I have to say that his speech/discussion of the reading was a whole lot more thoughtful, insightful, and eloquent than you’d get from your average 13-year-old.

I’d also forgotten how very long Saturday morning services are compared to the Friday night services that we used to attend. Not only are they a lot longer, but there is also considerably more Hebrew used, with lots of standing up/sitting down/singing, and the particular prayer book used had very little transliteration [phonetic spelling of the Hebrew] in it. That means not only do the guests (and those of us who don’t read Hebrew) not understand what is being said, they can’t even follow along with where the congregation is at many points. It’s certainly not the most inclusive of Jewish events. (Unlike the Passover Seder, say). Despite that Brian and Lori were real troopers and participated as best as they could.

As part of the Torah service congregation members are called up to recite certain blessings. It's considered an honor and during a Bar Mitzvah it's often family or close friends of the bar mitzvah boy who get called. For the aliyot Ken split it between his family and Dad's. So Mom had an aliyah of her own, then Jon and I did one together, then Richard (Dad's brother) and his wife Laura did one. There was something really special about doing this with my brother. Neither of us had done one since we were 13 (or since the cousins had gone through their ceremonies), and there was a little bit of panic in relearning how to sing the blessings, but when we were standing up there reciting the traditional words together, I just felt a very strong sense of connection to Jon, to the community, and to Dad. (Even if the way we kept screwing up the last part made me giggle.)

Part of the laughter came from stress relief. I was completely unprepared for how emotional the experience turned out to be. I had known about Ken's plans for a long time, but as it turns out knowing this was something Dad had been going to do and then actually sitting though it imagining how much fun he would have had with Ken preparing for it and putting it on were two completely different things. There were a lot of tears just picturing him up there with the twinkle in his eye that was always there when he would be up in front of a crowd in all of his didactic (but humor-filled) glory. It was really hard; it made us really, really miss him.

In some ways though, he felt closer than ever. It was strange/cool/comforting. (I don't even know the word to use). But in that building that he had been such a part of obtaining, in front of all these people that had watched him raise a family and become a community leader, in a ceremony celebrating the achievement and rededication to the faith of one of his best friends that also very definitely and frequently made mention of him, with his family participating and sharing in the aliyot...with all of that there he was absolutely a tangible presence in the room. And it wasn't just me that felt that. I lost track of the number of people who came up to me during the reception afterwards and made a comment to that effect.

So Mazel Tov, Dad... it was your jubilee too.....

Memorial Day Musings....

Some thoughts after Memorial Day Weekend.

A little bit of background first maybe. I don't consider myself a particularly partisan person. Though I do vehemently despise what the Republican party has come to stand for over the past 10 years (party of intolerance, moral majority, single-issue definitions of "value/faith", etc.), I'm not particularly impressed by the Democrats either. What I'd like to see are reasonable people taking workable ideas from both sides and doing them because it's the best thing for the country and for all our citizens (not just the connected/wealthy ones), even if it's hard, not because it scores the most political points.

Sigh...oh well, back to the real world.

I was against the war in Iraq because I believed it not only was wrong, it wasn't even good tactics/strategy. However I didn't demonstrate or speak out a lot about it; I regret that now. I want our troops home and out of there as soon as possible, but I also understand that we have to be responsible about leaving (even if we weren't about getting over there) and that might mean we have to be there a little longer.

Anyway, growing up I experienced Memorial Day as the holiday that it had become over decades of peace and prosperity: a three day weekend just as the weather was getting nice where you could hang out with family and friends and look forward to the beginning of summer and maybe take a moment to think about the veterans from the past whose sacrifices had gotten us to this kind of a life.

And of course as we all experienced, it also increasingly became about money, money, money. Big retail, big sales, big promotions. I'd certainly noticed it but I guess I'd never really spent a lot of time thinking about it. But this year all of a sudden I couldn't take it anymore.

We were up in Seattle for a wedding and our hotel was located in the middle of an upscale shopping center. So every time we walked out we'd see the signs: "Big Memorial Day Sale" "Don't Miss This Chance for Huge Savings" "Celebrate Memorial Day in Style" etc. I think it was this last one that finally made me lose it. There's just something obscene about glorifying commerce on this day when troops (and Iraqis) are fighting and dying on a daily basis. This isn't just about the sepia photos of the Greatest Generation over in Europe 60+ years ago. It's the sand and blood over in the Middle East yesterday. And tomorrow. Have we as a society forgotten that?

I drove Brian crazy all day muttering things like "There oughta be a law." Actually, that's not a bad idea..... How cool would that be if there were a law that said that as long as we have troops in active organized combat, businesses are not allowed to use Memorial Day for profit?

Okay, so that law will never be enacted.

But I did spend some time wondering what would happen next year (if we're still stuck in morass in Iraq) if some major retailer (and it would have to be one of the REALLY big ones) put out a statement that said something like "Memorial Day sales are really important to our business projections, but some things are more important than the bottom line. So in honor of those who are over in harm's way (no matter what your thoughts are about their being there in the first place), we will be closed on Monday, May 26th." (Or maybe open, but revenues/profits go to veteran's support groups or something). I know it won't happen, but what if it did? Could you imagine the cascade of peer pressure forcing multiple companies into making a similar statement? Hmmmm.....maybe I should start writing some letters. :-)

Anyway, sorry for the preachiness.....Just thought I'd share what was on my mind.

Becca

picture is from the American Cemetary near Omaha Beach in France

.....and we're back!

After some not too subtle emails from a couple of friends reminding us that we do, indeed, have a blog, and a disbelieving look back at the date of our last post (April 1, good grief!), we are back for more tales of quotidian adventures. I'm not quite sure where the time has gone or why we weren't posting. I guess it's just a combination of the normal busyness of everyday life with fully booked weekends and the fact that when we do have a small amount of free time, we tend to try and avoid the computer.

Also, I think there's only probably so much interest out there in reading about my trips to the emissions testing facility, DMV and dealerships with each car (though I did set a new speed record for taking the driver's knowledge test at the East 82nd Ave DMV) and attempts to get all our health insurance paperwork straightened out. But there have been a couple of things worth writing about over the past 6 weeks (again: good grief!) so we'll get those posted hopefully over this weekend.

Thanks for even still being a reader of the blog, given the long downtime. We'll try and keep it updated more going forward.

:-) becca

The one where we don't go for laughs...

After last year's controversial April Fools post (which thanks to time zones got posted March 31st, adding to the controversies), we are understandably a little gun shy about trying again in so public a forum.

Besides, we've got enough going on in our lives right keeping it interesting that we don't need to make anything up. The traveling-to-settling transition continues along its deliberate pace. Somehow I thought this would go faster, but really, I guess there's no reason it needs to. We're getting there step by step. And something I would hope that I'd have learned from the trip is not be looking ahead to the "when we get there" stage, but instead to enjoy (or in the non-enjoyable moments, at least appreciate) the experience of the actual journey.

With a quasi-permanent place to live (at least in the short term), and a quasi-permanent job for Brian (hopefully it becomes fully so this fall), we're well on our way there. And I now have an exit strategy/transition plan for my work with Boston Scientific as well, which will mean an end to the cross-country commuting in the next few weeks. That'll be a real relief and will allow me to start developing a routine here (exercise, grocery shopping, hobbies...all those good things) as well as give me some time to finally begin my job search here.

So we enter into April looking forward all kinds of new adventures, even without the imminent pitter-patter of little feet.

:-) Becca

Thoughts from a big rock

A couple of people have written lately mentioning our lack of output and saying that they missed all the new posts we were putting up when we were traveling. In particular I know I’ve been remiss about writing, so I guess it’s my turn. Besides, I’m in a particularly reflective mood at the moment.

I turned 35 last week and for some reason that milestone wigged me out a lot more than any previous ones did. Maybe because it marks the point where you leave the late-twenties/low-thirties demographic, maybe because at this point pretty much all of my peers are having (or have had) babies, or maybe because there’s really no way of escaping the fact that at 35 you’re pretty much an adult. Like Brian, I had spent so much of my life being the youngest one of the group, the precocious one, the upstart, that I just can’t seem to get my mind around the fact that I’m now one of those older people I used to hang around with.

As Brian mentioned in the previous post, I haven’t really started much in the way of job searching not only because I’m pretty busy doing the consulting and commuting thing, but also because I really have no idea what I am looking for. But one of the things I’ve come around to in all of this birthday pensiveness is that while I may not know what I want to do with my life when I grow up, I’m getting a better fix on who I want to be.

I’ve learned a lot about who I am and what’s important to me and what makes me happy over the past three years. Given all that we've experienced and done that's not surprising. But I've been really happy about the changes I've seen in myself so far. The trick, as ever, is to actually apply that knowledge and make choices based on them. (Stopping commuting every week and working 12+ hours/day would be a good start.) I’ll let you know how that goes…

More news from the luuuv nest once we’re settled….

Becca

Gobble, Gobble!

To the North American contingent we wanted to take the time to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

We have plenty to give thanks to this year. Our health (and the health of our family), having the experience that comes with a trip of a lifetime (and using it), spending the season with our loved ones and hoping that come the holidays, we'll actually be someplace somewhat settled. We hope that every one of you remember to give thanks and remember the positive things going on in your everyday lives.

For the international contingent, we want to give a special thanks for having all of you as our friends. The trip wouldn't have been anywhere near the same experience without the friendship that you provide. So from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

Off to California to visit Becca's relatives for the feasting day proper. More upon our return.

Brian