Happy Birthday!

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

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

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

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

New turf work continues

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

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

Workers lay out the next strip of turf:



Rolls of turf, and bags of the infill mixture:



Workers sew the strips together:





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

Timber Jim

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

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


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

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

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

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






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

Timbers release schedule

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

The schedule is as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

What matches are you most looking forward to?

New Turf at PGE!!!

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

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

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

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

Edit:

Old turf is on it's way out!

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



Wokers duct tape the roll closed:



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





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




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


Also some from Donald (DB)

6 years, 60 homes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

January Timbers Army Gathering!

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

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

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

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

More TAIFC Fun!

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

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

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

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

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

So Hungover!

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

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

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

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

Fruit Pizza!

Thanks To Donald for the better picture...

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

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

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