I pulled this one from the archives to share with all of you. It is a story I wrote a few years back while living in Virginia City. It was a submission to one of the Writer's Weekly quarterly short story contests. I think I made the Top 20 with this one. The prize was a free e-book. Not a Pulitzer, but coming in near the top is always fun. I also used it in my application to P.S.U.
The restaurant mentioned in the story, Pasta Bella, is an actual place. It was my favorite Seattle restaurant, and the meal I describe in the story is legit too. AMAZING! If you're ever in Seattle, I give you my money back guarantee on this meal.
Also, I used the names of a lesbian couple who rented an apartment from me in Seattle. I think my friend Donna will be the only one of you who will remember them [Irish bar on Mercer Street during Bumbershoot, with that actual Irish guy who exclaimed "Aw, That's fuckin' brilliant!" when he saw the tattoo on my forearm]
I know the folks in Reno are wondering what's with me and lesbians named Tamara (another October birthday). Perhaps I'm cursed.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy...
10.09.2007
The Prediction
“You will soon be with child, my dear,” the psychic exclaimed.
She thanked him. As they were leaving, she said to her sister, “Michelle, you’re definitely buying dinner now, since I just blew fifty bucks on that freak show.”
“Come on, Tamara. What are you upset about? You just have to think of it as entertainment. Did you really think that a guy called ‘The Amazing Zorta’ was going to help you solve all your problems and plan your life?”
“No, but to tell me ‘You will soon be with child’? What the HELL does that mean? Seriously, I’ve got a pretty butch haircut, tattoos, and I’m wearing Doc Marten’s. Doesn’t that pretty much tell the guy, ‘This chick’s gayer than gay’? I just don’t get it,” Tamara said. “Where do you want to eat, anyway? I’m getting hungry.”
“Let’s go to Pasta Bella,” said Michelle. “I’ve been craving their spinach gorgonzola walnut ravioli lately, and their crème caramel for dessert is simply orgasmic.”
The women took the #2 bus uptown to the restaurant, but did not speak. Tamara spent the entire ride thinking about what the psychic said, and recounted many conversations she had with her partner, Tracy, about child rearing. During their five-year relationship, Tracy frequently mentioned that having children was not part of her life plan. Tamara had always envisioned becoming a mother some day, but denied these feelings because she didn’t want to make Tracy unhappy.
Tamara was the first to speak after their meal had arrived.
“How do you do it?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” asked Michelle.
“Being a single mom. I mean, how do you do the ‘nurse thing’ all week, and still have time and energy to come home and be such a great mother to Ben?” asked Tamara.
“It isn’t always easy,” Michelle said. “You just have to prioritize what’s important to you, and make it happen. After Ben’s dad bailed, I didn’t think I could do it, but honestly, it hasn’t been too difficult. That’s why I became a nurse. The 12-hour shifts are nice because I only have to work three days a week. Ben’s with a babysitter a lot, but I still have four whole days with him.”
“Yeah, I’m just not sure I could do it,” said Tamara.
“Of course you could. What makes you say that?” asked Michelle.
“Maybe, I suppose. Tracy doesn’t want to have kids, though. What that psychic said has really gotten me thinking. What am I supposed to tell Tracy? That suddenly after all these years I’ve changed my mind? It was one thing when I was in my early 20’s and struggling, but now that I’m pushing 30 and doing OK, the biological clock is ticking a lot louder. Know what I mean?” Tamara asked.
“Personally, I don’t know how you could be with somebody who doesn’t want to have kids, especially since you’ve always talked about having them. Maybe you should just have a conversation with her. Tell her your feelings have grown more intense. Maybe she’d be supportive. If not, maybe it’s time for an ultimatum. I know you love her, but you have to decide what’s more important to you, ultimately. It’s not like life is a dress rehearsal. You only get one shot at it,” said Michelle.
“I suppose you’re right,” Tamara said. “It’s just so hard.”
After dinner, the two exchanged “I love you’s.” Michelle took the #2 back downtown to where her condo was. Tamara decided to take a long walk home. She had plenty to think about. Deep down, she knew what Michelle had said about life not being a dress rehearsal was true. If she really wanted to have children, then she was going to have to make that a priority, even if it meant leaving Tracy. She spent hours walking up and down the streets of her neighborhood trying to figure out how to approach the conversation with Tracy.
She walked through the front door to find Tracy sitting quietly on the couch.
“Hey, we have to talk,” they both muttered simultaneously. Something felt weird.
Tamara let Tracy go first. “What is it?” she asked.
“It’s Michelle,” said Tracy. “The hospital called. They said she was killed by a drunk driver in a crosswalk downtown.”
A wave of shock overcame Tamara, and she began to bawl. “I just had dinner with her tonight. How can this be possible?” she cried.
Tracy held Tamara in her arms until both their tears subsided.
“Oh my God!” realized Tamara. “What about Ben?”
“He’ll live with us,” Tracy said bluntly.
“But I thought you didn’t want to have kids,” Tamara said, still sobbing.
“That’s what families do,” Tracy said. “It wasn’t a priority before, but this is totally different. I love you, and I know you would do the same for me. We’ll do whatever it takes to make it work.”
They cried again, but the tears were of a slightly different variety.
“I guess we better call the babysitter,” Tracy said.
“Yeah,” said Tamara. “The babysitter.”
She thanked him. As they were leaving, she said to her sister, “Michelle, you’re definitely buying dinner now, since I just blew fifty bucks on that freak show.”
“Come on, Tamara. What are you upset about? You just have to think of it as entertainment. Did you really think that a guy called ‘The Amazing Zorta’ was going to help you solve all your problems and plan your life?”
“No, but to tell me ‘You will soon be with child’? What the HELL does that mean? Seriously, I’ve got a pretty butch haircut, tattoos, and I’m wearing Doc Marten’s. Doesn’t that pretty much tell the guy, ‘This chick’s gayer than gay’? I just don’t get it,” Tamara said. “Where do you want to eat, anyway? I’m getting hungry.”
“Let’s go to Pasta Bella,” said Michelle. “I’ve been craving their spinach gorgonzola walnut ravioli lately, and their crème caramel for dessert is simply orgasmic.”
The women took the #2 bus uptown to the restaurant, but did not speak. Tamara spent the entire ride thinking about what the psychic said, and recounted many conversations she had with her partner, Tracy, about child rearing. During their five-year relationship, Tracy frequently mentioned that having children was not part of her life plan. Tamara had always envisioned becoming a mother some day, but denied these feelings because she didn’t want to make Tracy unhappy.
Tamara was the first to speak after their meal had arrived.
“How do you do it?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” asked Michelle.
“Being a single mom. I mean, how do you do the ‘nurse thing’ all week, and still have time and energy to come home and be such a great mother to Ben?” asked Tamara.
“It isn’t always easy,” Michelle said. “You just have to prioritize what’s important to you, and make it happen. After Ben’s dad bailed, I didn’t think I could do it, but honestly, it hasn’t been too difficult. That’s why I became a nurse. The 12-hour shifts are nice because I only have to work three days a week. Ben’s with a babysitter a lot, but I still have four whole days with him.”
“Yeah, I’m just not sure I could do it,” said Tamara.
“Of course you could. What makes you say that?” asked Michelle.
“Maybe, I suppose. Tracy doesn’t want to have kids, though. What that psychic said has really gotten me thinking. What am I supposed to tell Tracy? That suddenly after all these years I’ve changed my mind? It was one thing when I was in my early 20’s and struggling, but now that I’m pushing 30 and doing OK, the biological clock is ticking a lot louder. Know what I mean?” Tamara asked.
“Personally, I don’t know how you could be with somebody who doesn’t want to have kids, especially since you’ve always talked about having them. Maybe you should just have a conversation with her. Tell her your feelings have grown more intense. Maybe she’d be supportive. If not, maybe it’s time for an ultimatum. I know you love her, but you have to decide what’s more important to you, ultimately. It’s not like life is a dress rehearsal. You only get one shot at it,” said Michelle.
“I suppose you’re right,” Tamara said. “It’s just so hard.”
After dinner, the two exchanged “I love you’s.” Michelle took the #2 back downtown to where her condo was. Tamara decided to take a long walk home. She had plenty to think about. Deep down, she knew what Michelle had said about life not being a dress rehearsal was true. If she really wanted to have children, then she was going to have to make that a priority, even if it meant leaving Tracy. She spent hours walking up and down the streets of her neighborhood trying to figure out how to approach the conversation with Tracy.
She walked through the front door to find Tracy sitting quietly on the couch.
“Hey, we have to talk,” they both muttered simultaneously. Something felt weird.
Tamara let Tracy go first. “What is it?” she asked.
“It’s Michelle,” said Tracy. “The hospital called. They said she was killed by a drunk driver in a crosswalk downtown.”
A wave of shock overcame Tamara, and she began to bawl. “I just had dinner with her tonight. How can this be possible?” she cried.
Tracy held Tamara in her arms until both their tears subsided.
“Oh my God!” realized Tamara. “What about Ben?”
“He’ll live with us,” Tracy said bluntly.
“But I thought you didn’t want to have kids,” Tamara said, still sobbing.
“That’s what families do,” Tracy said. “It wasn’t a priority before, but this is totally different. I love you, and I know you would do the same for me. We’ll do whatever it takes to make it work.”
They cried again, but the tears were of a slightly different variety.
“I guess we better call the babysitter,” Tracy said.
“Yeah,” said Tamara. “The babysitter.”
10.08.2007
October Birthdays
I know a lot of people with October birthdays.
When I sent out the mailer for blOgtoberfest, I had this great idea that I could kill about 8 birds with one stone by paying tribute to all of these folks by writing about them on their birthdays. Not thinking two steps ahead, I recently realized that perhaps these fine people don't want their lives to be written about and splattered across the web, so I have decided against that plan. But I thought it would be nice to take this one blog and acknowledge all these folks. So here goes:
October 2:
Stephanie's mom, Phyllis.
October 4:
My grandma, Erma. Age: 84. Simple beginnings. Fun woman. Able to make friends and have conversations with anybody she runs into. The greatest small talker I've ever known besides my wife.
October 6:
Our niece, Sarah. Age: 1. Cutest baby, second only to Elliott.
October 8:
My cousin Melissa. Age: (not going to blow her cover). Looks 10 years younger than she actually is, however. Just had a gorgeous daughter named Olivia in August.
October 12:
Our Man Horn aka Paul. Age: Younger than me. Artist extraordinaire. The only person on the list who has a permanent link on my blog. Gave up working for the man to follow his dream. Much respected in my book. If I had half his talent, I'd be set for life.
October 19:
My brother, Trevor. Age: 36 this year. Good kid. Unfortunate life circumstances. Love him regardless. Fantastic goofball sense of humor.
October 24:
My crazy friend Jessica's baby Ella. Age: 1. Stole my favorite baby girl name. Must be the cutest kid I haven't met or seen pictures of yet. This is a huge hint, Jess.
October 25:
Our gal, Val. Age: (not blowing her cover, either). Still a great friend after all these years. Living the dream in London. Awaiting her long overdue return to Portland.
October 26:
My cousin Jen's fantastic twins Cameron and Andrew. Age: 3 this year. Talk about 2 adorable little boys... this in addition to her other two adorable boys. I just realized if they ever play basketball, their nickname could be "Double team."
Also Stephanie's Aunt Maggie's birthday. Age: timeless. Fantastic woman. Godmother to Elliott. Loves him to death and puts him to sleep like no other.
I think that's it. I hope I didn't leave anybody out. If I did, send me some hate mail and I will gladly print my retribution. In a way, I'm jealous of everybody on this list because their birthday is so close to Halloween that they have a built in excuse to throw a costume party.
When I sent out the mailer for blOgtoberfest, I had this great idea that I could kill about 8 birds with one stone by paying tribute to all of these folks by writing about them on their birthdays. Not thinking two steps ahead, I recently realized that perhaps these fine people don't want their lives to be written about and splattered across the web, so I have decided against that plan. But I thought it would be nice to take this one blog and acknowledge all these folks. So here goes:
October 2:
Stephanie's mom, Phyllis.
October 4:
My grandma, Erma. Age: 84. Simple beginnings. Fun woman. Able to make friends and have conversations with anybody she runs into. The greatest small talker I've ever known besides my wife.
October 6:
Our niece, Sarah. Age: 1. Cutest baby, second only to Elliott.
October 8:
My cousin Melissa. Age: (not going to blow her cover). Looks 10 years younger than she actually is, however. Just had a gorgeous daughter named Olivia in August.
October 12:
Our Man Horn aka Paul. Age: Younger than me. Artist extraordinaire. The only person on the list who has a permanent link on my blog. Gave up working for the man to follow his dream. Much respected in my book. If I had half his talent, I'd be set for life.
October 19:
My brother, Trevor. Age: 36 this year. Good kid. Unfortunate life circumstances. Love him regardless. Fantastic goofball sense of humor.
October 24:
My crazy friend Jessica's baby Ella. Age: 1. Stole my favorite baby girl name. Must be the cutest kid I haven't met or seen pictures of yet. This is a huge hint, Jess.
October 25:
Our gal, Val. Age: (not blowing her cover, either). Still a great friend after all these years. Living the dream in London. Awaiting her long overdue return to Portland.
October 26:
My cousin Jen's fantastic twins Cameron and Andrew. Age: 3 this year. Talk about 2 adorable little boys... this in addition to her other two adorable boys. I just realized if they ever play basketball, their nickname could be "Double team."
Also Stephanie's Aunt Maggie's birthday. Age: timeless. Fantastic woman. Godmother to Elliott. Loves him to death and puts him to sleep like no other.
I think that's it. I hope I didn't leave anybody out. If I did, send me some hate mail and I will gladly print my retribution. In a way, I'm jealous of everybody on this list because their birthday is so close to Halloween that they have a built in excuse to throw a costume party.
10.07.2007
Grey Matters
Today we have a special treat! An actual fan-based blog suggestion. Here's the original request:
"I have an idea for your blog. I have been recently watching a lot of
gray's anatomy and i want to know if there are really that many hospital
romances that go on in real life and if it is surgeons, nurses, orderlies? etc. It seems a little ridiculous to me but i guess it makes for good television :)"
First, I have to forgive Valerie for the typo in her e-mail [Turnabout is fair play]. "Grey's Anatomy" is one of my favorite shows. Stephanie turned me on to it after the first season. I liked it so much, I traded E.R. for it... kind of like skiing after I learned to snowboard... I simply haven't gone back.
GAWDDAMMIT! BLOGGER ATE MY RESPONSE. I HAD JUST POSTED IT AND WAS PROOFREADING IT WHEN IT DELETED MOST OF THE MESSAGE. I COULD NOT GET IT BACK. AAAAARRRGH! I will re-type it after I finish a movie I want to watch while Stephanie is still awake.
OK, I'm back. Don't bother watching "I Think I Love My Wife." Even if you're a Chris Rock fan, this one sucks. Boring from start to finish.
So, back to my response. Before I answer the question directly, I want to say something about two shows in general. First, E.R. does a pretty good job about having the actors look like they know their way around a hospital. The actor's motions are consistent with how we really do things. A lot of their special effects and make up are top notch too. The problem with E.R. [things that would never really happen] is there are so many explosions and gunshots and stabbings etc within the E.R. itself that the hospital should have been shut down or it's security department shut down. Second, about Greys Anatomy: There are a couple of things about the show that really bug me. 1) It's supposed to take place in Seattle, and it's fairly obvious after having lived there that it doesn't. There is no such place as Seattle Grace Medical Center. I suppose for legal reasons, that's a necessary evil. 2) The other thing that really bugs me about the show is that you don't see any nurses anywhere unless they're screwing a doctor in a locker room. Believe it or not, nurses do not hang out in locker rooms waiting to screw doctors. They don't even do that in pornos. 3) On top of all that, they make it seem like residents and interns do all the work, when actually, it's nurses who run the show day to day. I mean, we can't do our job without doctors, but residents and interns (at least where I work) sure do learn an awful lot from us, not the other way around.
Now, on to the meat of your question [pun intended]. The hospital environment (by that, I mean ICUs, E.R.s, etc) lend themselves to complex human interactions. We work side by side for long hours through intense situations. That's a recipe for lots of interpersonal possibilities. Also, people on the outside don't really understand what we ACTUALLY do for a living. It's fast-paced and intense sometimes. I honestly think we see things that people just shouldn't see. So, a lot of times, it seems like nobody gets US but US. I think when you put people in that situation [college and the military are other examples that leap to mind], things are bound to happen eventually, just like if you put bugs in a petrie dish, they will grow.
I've only worked at two hospitals, so I can only speak for what I've seen at both places. Where I worked in Reno, it was kind of crazy like that. There were nurses sleeping with doctors, nurses sleeping with CNAs, nurses with other nurses, not to mention other departments like labarotory, respiratory therapy, etc. I know of two pregnancies out of wedlock, people leaving their S.O.s for other people, sexual harrassment charges being filed. It was kind of ridiculous. As I'm typing this, I am remembering crazy parties, barbecues, trips to the Tahoe nude beaches, insane Halloween parties and much much more. I knew of nurses working as strippers on the side. Orderlies fired for stealing and selling medical supplies (and getting caught and fired). The list goes on. I mean, television writers couldn't make this stuff up.
Where I work now, it's mostly people that are coupled up or have kids. Most of the drama comes from people who are either stupid, immature or single. I think that's the trifecta for drama. Usually, people with high drama in their lives fall into one of those categories. Most of the people I work with now are great. Most of the drama comes from personal differences, not necessarily the kind of drama on Grey's Anatomy.
So, either there isn't as much drama where I work now, or I simply pay less attention to it. But honestly, it's hard to miss when it's happening, so I think it just isn't happening. It's a great bunch, and I'm extremely happy. I've worked places before where people were gossipy and in your business and it sucks to have your reputation be at risk, especially if what's being spread around is far from the truth.
At any rate, there's enough truth in the stories on Grey's Anatomy that it makes for good drama. It may not take place at the pace it does on television, but I think there's enough truth to it that it seems legit (kind of like how stereotypes always have some thread of truth regardless of how ridiculous they are on the whole)
Thanks for the suggestion. Keep 'em coming.
"I have an idea for your blog. I have been recently watching a lot of
gray's anatomy and i want to know if there are really that many hospital
romances that go on in real life and if it is surgeons, nurses, orderlies? etc. It seems a little ridiculous to me but i guess it makes for good television :)"
First, I have to forgive Valerie for the typo in her e-mail [Turnabout is fair play]. "Grey's Anatomy" is one of my favorite shows. Stephanie turned me on to it after the first season. I liked it so much, I traded E.R. for it... kind of like skiing after I learned to snowboard... I simply haven't gone back.
GAWDDAMMIT! BLOGGER ATE MY RESPONSE. I HAD JUST POSTED IT AND WAS PROOFREADING IT WHEN IT DELETED MOST OF THE MESSAGE. I COULD NOT GET IT BACK. AAAAARRRGH! I will re-type it after I finish a movie I want to watch while Stephanie is still awake.
OK, I'm back. Don't bother watching "I Think I Love My Wife." Even if you're a Chris Rock fan, this one sucks. Boring from start to finish.
So, back to my response. Before I answer the question directly, I want to say something about two shows in general. First, E.R. does a pretty good job about having the actors look like they know their way around a hospital. The actor's motions are consistent with how we really do things. A lot of their special effects and make up are top notch too. The problem with E.R. [things that would never really happen] is there are so many explosions and gunshots and stabbings etc within the E.R. itself that the hospital should have been shut down or it's security department shut down. Second, about Greys Anatomy: There are a couple of things about the show that really bug me. 1) It's supposed to take place in Seattle, and it's fairly obvious after having lived there that it doesn't. There is no such place as Seattle Grace Medical Center. I suppose for legal reasons, that's a necessary evil. 2) The other thing that really bugs me about the show is that you don't see any nurses anywhere unless they're screwing a doctor in a locker room. Believe it or not, nurses do not hang out in locker rooms waiting to screw doctors. They don't even do that in pornos. 3) On top of all that, they make it seem like residents and interns do all the work, when actually, it's nurses who run the show day to day. I mean, we can't do our job without doctors, but residents and interns (at least where I work) sure do learn an awful lot from us, not the other way around.
Now, on to the meat of your question [pun intended]. The hospital environment (by that, I mean ICUs, E.R.s, etc) lend themselves to complex human interactions. We work side by side for long hours through intense situations. That's a recipe for lots of interpersonal possibilities. Also, people on the outside don't really understand what we ACTUALLY do for a living. It's fast-paced and intense sometimes. I honestly think we see things that people just shouldn't see. So, a lot of times, it seems like nobody gets US but US. I think when you put people in that situation [college and the military are other examples that leap to mind], things are bound to happen eventually, just like if you put bugs in a petrie dish, they will grow.
I've only worked at two hospitals, so I can only speak for what I've seen at both places. Where I worked in Reno, it was kind of crazy like that. There were nurses sleeping with doctors, nurses sleeping with CNAs, nurses with other nurses, not to mention other departments like labarotory, respiratory therapy, etc. I know of two pregnancies out of wedlock, people leaving their S.O.s for other people, sexual harrassment charges being filed. It was kind of ridiculous. As I'm typing this, I am remembering crazy parties, barbecues, trips to the Tahoe nude beaches, insane Halloween parties and much much more. I knew of nurses working as strippers on the side. Orderlies fired for stealing and selling medical supplies (and getting caught and fired). The list goes on. I mean, television writers couldn't make this stuff up.
Where I work now, it's mostly people that are coupled up or have kids. Most of the drama comes from people who are either stupid, immature or single. I think that's the trifecta for drama. Usually, people with high drama in their lives fall into one of those categories. Most of the people I work with now are great. Most of the drama comes from personal differences, not necessarily the kind of drama on Grey's Anatomy.
So, either there isn't as much drama where I work now, or I simply pay less attention to it. But honestly, it's hard to miss when it's happening, so I think it just isn't happening. It's a great bunch, and I'm extremely happy. I've worked places before where people were gossipy and in your business and it sucks to have your reputation be at risk, especially if what's being spread around is far from the truth.
At any rate, there's enough truth in the stories on Grey's Anatomy that it makes for good drama. It may not take place at the pace it does on television, but I think there's enough truth to it that it seems legit (kind of like how stereotypes always have some thread of truth regardless of how ridiculous they are on the whole)
Thanks for the suggestion. Keep 'em coming.
10.06.2007
A Life In The Moment
I saw this movie recently. Stephanie rented it, but I ended up watching it. It was based true life events from book written by a guy named Dan Millman called "Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book that Changes Lives."
The story is basically about a young male gymnast on the Cal Berkeley team some 30 years ago, although the movie made it seem more modern. The main character is a promising young gymnast, his talent driven by painful personal history. He is injured in a motorcyle accident and is basically told he may never walk, let alone compete, ever again. Fueled by the anger and rage that got him there in the first place, he fights his way back and thinks he is ready to compete again, but is not quite up to his previous performance level. He encounters an odd man, "Socrates" at a gas station at 3 a.m. played by Nick Nolte who becomes his mentor/guru.
Think Mr. Miyagi and Ralph Macchio, but with gymnastics instead of karate. The movie was largely under(or over)acted but the overall message was pretty strong.
Through the course of mentoring the young gymnast, Socrates teaches the young man how to FOCUS and live IN THE MOMENT. The main character regains strength and fights his way back to the competetive level. One of the final scenes shows him in "the zone" at a competition. Each move, although happening at light speed, shows him performing in a sort of time-space continuum where time virtually stands still. The whole process is very Matrix-like on film, and even though it was a little hokey, by the end of it, you're really rooting for the guy, and you seem to fall in love with the characters without noticing. I'm not going to say that I was bawling like a baby by the end of it, but the message to live in the moment was strong, as was the message that if you FOCUS hard enough, you can accomplish anything.
Flash forward to now. After watching this movie, I have felt, that the latter part of September and the beginning of October have felt like time is standing still, yet at the same time moving really fast for me. What I mean is, life is just moving along like normal, but I seem to be going through this process where I am IN each moment with crystal clarity and I feel like I am on the right life path. Sure, I have fleeting thoughts of "What if THIS happens" or "What about THAT", but for the most part, life feels right. It's kind of surreal, in a way I have never experienced before.
I don't think I'm doing a very good job of explaining it. Maybe this will help make it clearer: Elliott is really making big strides, but in little ways, developmentally. His cognition is amazing. Every new task you show him or he learns he gets quickly, and simply adds it to the pile of stuff he has already mastered. Every day, we are able to see these changes, however subtle, where people on the outside may not. Microscope in on that one level further and I feel like he and I have a bond that is so powerful, words cannot describe it. I feel very in tune with him right now and that I understand him in ways that nobody else can, not even Stephanie. She, obviously has her own powerful relationship with him, but I recognize my own with a strength and clarity that is profoundly unique. Maybe other parents have experienced this. Perhaps others with their careers or talents. Whatever it is it's amazing. I liken it to the first time, after being pounded relentlessly by the ground and ice, being able to snowboard flawlessly down a run in fresh powder. There's this sense of confidence and euphoria all balled into one. It's extremely empowering and exciting at the same time. If this is what living in the moment is like, I am on board.
As far as focus goes, I am finding it a little hard to stay on track with the daily writing. BlOgtoberfest is turning out to be more difficult than I had anticipated, and I'm only a week into it. It's been a nice dry run to see what a writing career will feel like. It's a solitary place; an awkward-ish lonely place, but at the same time comfortable and rewarding. I think it is a good indicator of things to come, and I like it, despite it feeling difficult.
I am still toe-tapping at the mailbox, but have not heard from the school.
Anybody else going through anything similar? Or, have you gone through anything similar and have some wisdom to share from the other side? Just curious.
The story is basically about a young male gymnast on the Cal Berkeley team some 30 years ago, although the movie made it seem more modern. The main character is a promising young gymnast, his talent driven by painful personal history. He is injured in a motorcyle accident and is basically told he may never walk, let alone compete, ever again. Fueled by the anger and rage that got him there in the first place, he fights his way back and thinks he is ready to compete again, but is not quite up to his previous performance level. He encounters an odd man, "Socrates" at a gas station at 3 a.m. played by Nick Nolte who becomes his mentor/guru.
Think Mr. Miyagi and Ralph Macchio, but with gymnastics instead of karate. The movie was largely under(or over)acted but the overall message was pretty strong.
Through the course of mentoring the young gymnast, Socrates teaches the young man how to FOCUS and live IN THE MOMENT. The main character regains strength and fights his way back to the competetive level. One of the final scenes shows him in "the zone" at a competition. Each move, although happening at light speed, shows him performing in a sort of time-space continuum where time virtually stands still. The whole process is very Matrix-like on film, and even though it was a little hokey, by the end of it, you're really rooting for the guy, and you seem to fall in love with the characters without noticing. I'm not going to say that I was bawling like a baby by the end of it, but the message to live in the moment was strong, as was the message that if you FOCUS hard enough, you can accomplish anything.
Flash forward to now. After watching this movie, I have felt, that the latter part of September and the beginning of October have felt like time is standing still, yet at the same time moving really fast for me. What I mean is, life is just moving along like normal, but I seem to be going through this process where I am IN each moment with crystal clarity and I feel like I am on the right life path. Sure, I have fleeting thoughts of "What if THIS happens" or "What about THAT", but for the most part, life feels right. It's kind of surreal, in a way I have never experienced before.
I don't think I'm doing a very good job of explaining it. Maybe this will help make it clearer: Elliott is really making big strides, but in little ways, developmentally. His cognition is amazing. Every new task you show him or he learns he gets quickly, and simply adds it to the pile of stuff he has already mastered. Every day, we are able to see these changes, however subtle, where people on the outside may not. Microscope in on that one level further and I feel like he and I have a bond that is so powerful, words cannot describe it. I feel very in tune with him right now and that I understand him in ways that nobody else can, not even Stephanie. She, obviously has her own powerful relationship with him, but I recognize my own with a strength and clarity that is profoundly unique. Maybe other parents have experienced this. Perhaps others with their careers or talents. Whatever it is it's amazing. I liken it to the first time, after being pounded relentlessly by the ground and ice, being able to snowboard flawlessly down a run in fresh powder. There's this sense of confidence and euphoria all balled into one. It's extremely empowering and exciting at the same time. If this is what living in the moment is like, I am on board.
As far as focus goes, I am finding it a little hard to stay on track with the daily writing. BlOgtoberfest is turning out to be more difficult than I had anticipated, and I'm only a week into it. It's been a nice dry run to see what a writing career will feel like. It's a solitary place; an awkward-ish lonely place, but at the same time comfortable and rewarding. I think it is a good indicator of things to come, and I like it, despite it feeling difficult.
I am still toe-tapping at the mailbox, but have not heard from the school.
Anybody else going through anything similar? Or, have you gone through anything similar and have some wisdom to share from the other side? Just curious.
10.05.2007
Animal Behavior
I tell people all the time that (besides Human Sexuality) the best class I ever took in college was Animal Behavior.
It's absolutely amazing to me how animals adapt to whatever environment or niche they occupy. The class I took also had a lab section. We learned about all different kinds of experiments that exploited certain aspects of animal behavior as well as conducting a few of our own. On one of these outings, our class ventured out into the one of the quad areas of UW. First, our instructor handed us all a handful of peanuts. Our task was to break some of the nuts open, while leaving others intact, and scatter them about the quad then wait to see what squirrels would do with them. After a short period of time, it became obvious that squirrels would eat the broken open nuts at the spot where the nut was found, but with intact peanuts, the squirrels would carry the nut 20-30 feet away and bury it. Why? Because squirrels have learned over time that nuts are perishable. That's why they eat the open nuts on the spot, and bury the intact nuts to use later.
Another experiment we conducted involved crows. Our instructor played a tape recording of several crow calls and explained each call as the experiment unfolded. The first recording was a call that supposedly summonsed crows to an area for food (as an example). I never knew crows were a communal bird, but before long, no less than a dozen crows showed up in the canopy of trees surrounding us. Oddly enough, there seemed to be a few more squirrels than usual as well. Many of them flew to ground level, and started gathering some of the nuts we had been tossing around. The next call, was the sound of a crow being murdered (literally, no pun intended). The crows in the canopy stood silent while the crows on the ground took shelter in the trees. The squirrels on the ground stood still as well. The next call was a distress call, and all the crows scattered. Interestingly enough, so did the squirrels. As it turns out, crows have a fairly sophisticated method of communicating over large distances, and squirrels, via evolution, have learned to understand the calls of the crows.
Totally fascinating to me. I have never forgotten this class because of this experiment.
The other day, Stephanie and I were taking our daily walk through the neighborhood, enjoying the brisk fall air and changing trees, when the most splendid thing happened. We were walking under a couple of walnut trees. Some of the nuts were falling from the sky, seeming a little too close for comfort. Looking up in the air, it was obvious that a murder of crows was trying feast on the nuts in the tree. There were crows in the trees, on telephone wires, or any place else they could carry a nut to. They were dropping the nuts from the sky to try to break them open so the nut inside could be easily retrieved. At first, I thought they might be trying to protect the area and were trying to bombard us with the nuts in a quite cartoon-like fashion. Really, they were not after us afterall, just lunch.
We went about our walk, in pretty much the usual fashion... picking up aluminum cans to save the planet and pay for Harvard Medical School, meanwhile observing that the walk seems shorter and shorter each time we walk it, just like we always do. I realized this time, however, that we are all creatures of habit and we are merely one of a series of species that is well-adapted to our environment. As humans, we may be more complicated in our abilities, thought processes, opposable thumbs... or whatever sets us apart from the monkeys or dolphins or crows, but when you get right down to it, we're all just animals trying to survive in our habitats, making the best use of tools and resources we have available to us so that we can propagate for another cycle or eat for another day.
Thank god we're on the end of the continuum that figured out how to grow, grind and drink coffee from beans and drive fancy hybrid cars, and not from the end that has to drop nuts from trees to get lunch. Evolution Rules!
It's absolutely amazing to me how animals adapt to whatever environment or niche they occupy. The class I took also had a lab section. We learned about all different kinds of experiments that exploited certain aspects of animal behavior as well as conducting a few of our own. On one of these outings, our class ventured out into the one of the quad areas of UW. First, our instructor handed us all a handful of peanuts. Our task was to break some of the nuts open, while leaving others intact, and scatter them about the quad then wait to see what squirrels would do with them. After a short period of time, it became obvious that squirrels would eat the broken open nuts at the spot where the nut was found, but with intact peanuts, the squirrels would carry the nut 20-30 feet away and bury it. Why? Because squirrels have learned over time that nuts are perishable. That's why they eat the open nuts on the spot, and bury the intact nuts to use later.
Another experiment we conducted involved crows. Our instructor played a tape recording of several crow calls and explained each call as the experiment unfolded. The first recording was a call that supposedly summonsed crows to an area for food (as an example). I never knew crows were a communal bird, but before long, no less than a dozen crows showed up in the canopy of trees surrounding us. Oddly enough, there seemed to be a few more squirrels than usual as well. Many of them flew to ground level, and started gathering some of the nuts we had been tossing around. The next call, was the sound of a crow being murdered (literally, no pun intended). The crows in the canopy stood silent while the crows on the ground took shelter in the trees. The squirrels on the ground stood still as well. The next call was a distress call, and all the crows scattered. Interestingly enough, so did the squirrels. As it turns out, crows have a fairly sophisticated method of communicating over large distances, and squirrels, via evolution, have learned to understand the calls of the crows.
Totally fascinating to me. I have never forgotten this class because of this experiment.
The other day, Stephanie and I were taking our daily walk through the neighborhood, enjoying the brisk fall air and changing trees, when the most splendid thing happened. We were walking under a couple of walnut trees. Some of the nuts were falling from the sky, seeming a little too close for comfort. Looking up in the air, it was obvious that a murder of crows was trying feast on the nuts in the tree. There were crows in the trees, on telephone wires, or any place else they could carry a nut to. They were dropping the nuts from the sky to try to break them open so the nut inside could be easily retrieved. At first, I thought they might be trying to protect the area and were trying to bombard us with the nuts in a quite cartoon-like fashion. Really, they were not after us afterall, just lunch.
We went about our walk, in pretty much the usual fashion... picking up aluminum cans to save the planet and pay for Harvard Medical School, meanwhile observing that the walk seems shorter and shorter each time we walk it, just like we always do. I realized this time, however, that we are all creatures of habit and we are merely one of a series of species that is well-adapted to our environment. As humans, we may be more complicated in our abilities, thought processes, opposable thumbs... or whatever sets us apart from the monkeys or dolphins or crows, but when you get right down to it, we're all just animals trying to survive in our habitats, making the best use of tools and resources we have available to us so that we can propagate for another cycle or eat for another day.
Thank god we're on the end of the continuum that figured out how to grow, grind and drink coffee from beans and drive fancy hybrid cars, and not from the end that has to drop nuts from trees to get lunch. Evolution Rules!
Connectivity Glitch
I went to sign on last night for my Oct. 4th entry, and my internet connection was down. I will try to figure out how to make it up. Working today. Another late night entry, I suppose. See you later.
10.03.2007
Down to the Wire
The cliffhanger for yesterday's blog promised I would write about Lasik eye surgery today. I was hoping to write a nice, scientifically sound piece with a little fluff and a happy ending [not to be confused with the other kind of "fluff" and "happy ending"]. I wasn't counting on having my test subject decline to participate claiming privacy concerns at the last minute.
I respect my subjects wishes, so I will postpone until further notice. Mental note: Lesson learned about pre-authorization and written releases. That still leaves me in a bit of a quandary... what to write about. BlOgtoberfest wouldn't mean much if I bailed out on the third day. I'd lose all credibility [what little I had to begin with] and the project would basically be rendered meaningless. Alas, I find myself at the 11th hour scrambling for material.
I could write about procrastination. I certainly have mastered it as an art form. I could also write about some things that have been pissing me off lately, but I'm not really in the mood to gripe this late at night. I prefer to get pissed off in the morning when I have more energy for it. It's so much more satisfying to call tech support in India or Apple Computers when I've had two cups of coffee and no breakfast and the last usable shred of blood sugar is depleted as the person on the other end of the phone says, "...and how may I help you today?". Stephanie suggested I write about being impatient. It has been over a month and I still have not heard from PSU about my admission packet despite my toe tapping at the mailbox. Suppressing my urge to pester the school has been difficult, but I know it is wiser to remain anxious than to stalk an English Department. I could talk about the glee I felt when I heard Britney Spears lost custody of her kids, but that would just make me sound spiteful.
So, I think I will keep it light.
Before I met Stephanie, I used to cruise the singles websites pretty regularly. Come on, don't act like you haven't done it. I remember this one post, I think on match.com, where a profile I had been drawn to contained something I have never forgotten. The girl lived in Vancouver, which was automatically a dealbreaker. That will be funny to those who live in Portland or who know I'm an area code snob [i.e. you can't say you live in Seattle if your telephone area code isn't 206. If you're area code is 425, you're and Eastsider, that's the bottom line. Yo, 313, Fuck Free World.(Watch "8 Mile")]. Anyway, the girl's post contained something I thought was utterly hilarious. That was, she wanted prospective suitors to email her with their best SPAM (yes, the lunch meat) Haiku. If she liked it enough, you got a response. That simple.
I think everybody knows what haiku is, but for those who don't, it's a form of poetry [with Japanese origins] written in 17 syllables divided into 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, and employing highly evocative allusions and comparisons, often on the subject of nature or one of the seasons. That's the plagiarized definition, anyway. I believe that in Japan, they have Haiku contests, perhaps parades, and haiku poets hold high honor like samurais and Pokemon. OK, I pulled that part out of my ass.
I always thought haiku about SPAM was just about the most original idea ever. I once considered writing a SPAM Haiku coffee table book complete with photos that would be accompanied by a 365-day desk calendar with the SPAM haiku of the day on each page. For obvious reasons, I gave that dream up.
Here's my crack at SPAM Haiku:
Pink mystery meat,
Juicy aspic and nuggets,
Line my sandwich bags.
Solid blue tin can,
Containing random meat bits
Where can I get some?
What is that pink stuff
Dripping off my lunch plate now?
Have I lost an ear?
See how fun that is? I really could go on all night. Spunky little phrases like these are easy for me to churn out. I don't know what the Japanese find so fascinating about haiku, but throw in a processed meat product, and it gets interesting.
Leave your comments. I can't wait to hear your versions.
[Tomorrow's blog will be a tribute to my grandma, since it's her birthday. She doesn't get the blog, or own a computer for that matter, but hopefully she knows how I feel about her. Tomorrow, you will too.]
C
I respect my subjects wishes, so I will postpone until further notice. Mental note: Lesson learned about pre-authorization and written releases. That still leaves me in a bit of a quandary... what to write about. BlOgtoberfest wouldn't mean much if I bailed out on the third day. I'd lose all credibility [what little I had to begin with] and the project would basically be rendered meaningless. Alas, I find myself at the 11th hour scrambling for material.
I could write about procrastination. I certainly have mastered it as an art form. I could also write about some things that have been pissing me off lately, but I'm not really in the mood to gripe this late at night. I prefer to get pissed off in the morning when I have more energy for it. It's so much more satisfying to call tech support in India or Apple Computers when I've had two cups of coffee and no breakfast and the last usable shred of blood sugar is depleted as the person on the other end of the phone says, "...and how may I help you today?". Stephanie suggested I write about being impatient. It has been over a month and I still have not heard from PSU about my admission packet despite my toe tapping at the mailbox. Suppressing my urge to pester the school has been difficult, but I know it is wiser to remain anxious than to stalk an English Department. I could talk about the glee I felt when I heard Britney Spears lost custody of her kids, but that would just make me sound spiteful.
So, I think I will keep it light.
Before I met Stephanie, I used to cruise the singles websites pretty regularly. Come on, don't act like you haven't done it. I remember this one post, I think on match.com, where a profile I had been drawn to contained something I have never forgotten. The girl lived in Vancouver, which was automatically a dealbreaker. That will be funny to those who live in Portland or who know I'm an area code snob [i.e. you can't say you live in Seattle if your telephone area code isn't 206. If you're area code is 425, you're and Eastsider, that's the bottom line. Yo, 313, Fuck Free World.(Watch "8 Mile")]. Anyway, the girl's post contained something I thought was utterly hilarious. That was, she wanted prospective suitors to email her with their best SPAM (yes, the lunch meat) Haiku. If she liked it enough, you got a response. That simple.
I think everybody knows what haiku is, but for those who don't, it's a form of poetry [with Japanese origins] written in 17 syllables divided into 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, and employing highly evocative allusions and comparisons, often on the subject of nature or one of the seasons. That's the plagiarized definition, anyway. I believe that in Japan, they have Haiku contests, perhaps parades, and haiku poets hold high honor like samurais and Pokemon. OK, I pulled that part out of my ass.
I always thought haiku about SPAM was just about the most original idea ever. I once considered writing a SPAM Haiku coffee table book complete with photos that would be accompanied by a 365-day desk calendar with the SPAM haiku of the day on each page. For obvious reasons, I gave that dream up.
Here's my crack at SPAM Haiku:
Pink mystery meat,
Juicy aspic and nuggets,
Line my sandwich bags.
Solid blue tin can,
Containing random meat bits
Where can I get some?
What is that pink stuff
Dripping off my lunch plate now?
Have I lost an ear?
See how fun that is? I really could go on all night. Spunky little phrases like these are easy for me to churn out. I don't know what the Japanese find so fascinating about haiku, but throw in a processed meat product, and it gets interesting.
Leave your comments. I can't wait to hear your versions.
[Tomorrow's blog will be a tribute to my grandma, since it's her birthday. She doesn't get the blog, or own a computer for that matter, but hopefully she knows how I feel about her. Tomorrow, you will too.]
C
10.02.2007
It's Not Easy Being GREEN
I'm not sure how many of you know this story, but my move to Portland was a fairly spontaneous one. I had moved back to Nevada in 2001 after living in Seattle for nearly 7 years. Whenever I feel like my life is stagnant, I have been known to make big changes with reckless abandon.
That's an entirely different blog.
Toward the end of 2004 I was looking for such a change. In October of '04, I had decided to sell my house in (then) Virginia City to buy a piece of commercial property (also in V.C). It was a very cool old brick building smack dab in the middle of downtown Virginia City. It had a cavernous, I mean massive, open downstairs and a very rundown apartment upstairs that at one point had been a boarding house. The thought was, I would run a cafe downstairs and live upstairs. The building was in pretty good shape for being 130 years old, and I was really excited about it. The offer was in, the appraisal was done ($3,000 for a commercial appraisal-- ouch), and we were set to close escrow December 30th. Everything but the final paperwork was signed.
I had already made plans that year to spend New Year's Eve in Portland. Tickets were purchased. Valerie and I had been coming up with themes for the party we would be co-hosting (That was the year 'school' was the theme-- Good Times). Well, as the story goes, I spoke with my real estate agent the week before I left. We were talking about the deal and my plans for the cafe. He was excited because Virginia City really needed a place that served a decent cup of coffee. He casually mentioned to me that I needed to make sure to carefully screen all potential employees for drugs and backgrounds because there is an element in V.C. that he said, "would either run off your customer base, or rob you blind."
This statement really stuck with me and got me doing a lot of thinking. I thought, "This is not the kind of town I want to raise kids in." I always knew I would eventually find the right someone to start a family with, but it wasn't until that moment that I understood how important a decision it is.
So, here I am in Portland. It's New Year's Eve, and all my friends at the party, specifically Alison asked me, "So when are you moving here?" I had been asked this question before, but never considered it as a serious option. I actually liked being in Nevada, liked my job and loved my house. Things were pretty good, but there was that certain something that was missing. I had missed living in the Northwest since I left Seattle. And, after visiting Portland so often over the years, I used to say to people that if I ever moved back to the Pacific Northwest again, I would move to Portland. On the plane ride home after that trip, I decided to do just that. My house was already sold. My belongings were already packed. All I really needed to do was have a place to go. The next day that I was scheduled to work, I gave notice. My last day was January 12th, 2005. I came to Portland at the end of January and within a week lined up a job and made an offer on a house. By March, it was a done deal. Luckily, the paperwork that would have made my commercial real estate deal official expired on 12/30/04. It was because I was in Portland for New Years that I was able to move here and get out of the deal without any penalties.
That's the backstory, so here's the blog. Portland is a great town. There are many, too many, reasons to live here. First of all, I love the weather and the climate. I like it when things are green. Water makes that happen. I also love the way the city feels. By that, I mean, that because of all the neighborhoods, it still feels like you live in a small town, but have all the conveniences of being in a city. Add to that the public transportation system, more restaurants than you could ever eat at, cultural events, the annual Brewfest, I mean it's just fantastic and keeps getting better. I also love that the community at large votes in a way that is more in line with what I believe than it ever did in Nevada. It's going to take a lot of California overflow to turn Nevada into a blue state, and by then it would suck more than is tolerable. Anyway, the point is, I love that people (and the city itself) are so progressive when it comes to pretty much everything. I love that people are concerned about the environment, and DO something about it. In Virginia City, there was no such thing as curbside recycling. Here, I don't think there's much you can't recycle. What doesn't go in the curbside bin can go to a grocery store for recycling.
I guess the overall point of what I'm trying to get at, is that just feels good to be doing things for the environment, and living in a town where that's supported and sought after. Now, since Elliott has been born, it seems even more important so that he and his kids, and their kids, and so on, respect and care for our planet. I think Portland is a great place to do that.
To date, Stephanie and I have made the following adjustments in our lives, and it just plain feels good, plus it feels like the right thing to do: 1) I personally try to recycle everything they will take. I even take the little cardboard rip cords off of frozen food and recycle them. For some reason, our curbside recyclers only take plastic bottles with "necks". I admit, I haven't been rinsing out the yogurt containers and taking them to where they do recycle, but that's coming. 2) We bought a Prius hybrid in July. We love this car. It averages around 50 miles per gallon. It's much roomier and functional than you might expect and rides really smoothly. We rave about it all the time, so I won't ramble, but we love it. The last time I filled the gas tank of my old truck, it was $75. The first time we filled the Prius, it was $15.65. Basically, we reduced our fuel consumption by about 75 percent. 3) We have started taking daily walks and have been picking up cans and recycling along the way. At first, it started out as a fundraising effort (The 5 cent deposits add up. As Stephanie likes to say, "You wouldn't walk by a nickel without picking it up." So now, we pick up cans on our daily walks. The first day we did it together, we picked up $3.25 worth of cans and bottles. We casually joke that this is how we are going to put Elliott through Harvard Medical School... but we've done such a good job of picking up the section of trail that we walk, that we're lucky if we make a quarter nowadays. 4) We take our own cups when we go out for coffee. This may not seem like a big deal, but with 2 people going for coffee at least once daily, that adds up to over 700 cups we personally keep out of landfills each year. That's an easy one 5) The newest GREEN venture of ours is that we are just now converting our oil furnace to BIODIESEL. We just got the tank filled for the first time today. Supposedly it burns at the same rate as regular heating oil, just much much cleaner. No special equipment is necessary. The only thing we'll have to do is have the furnace serviced in a few weeks to clean out the last of the crud that the oil system will leave behind. It's 20 cents more per gallon, but we feel it's worth it.
I guess the final frontier for us will be politics. Volunteering is tough and being proactive in a practical sense even more so. Anyway, we're doing what we can and hope that everybody else is doing the same. We still have a long way to go. Eventually, I'd like to convert to all organic cleaning solutions, hygiene products, etc. but it's a process. I think we also don't want to be the freaky green people either. I know there are many more people who take it more seriously than we do. I could start commuting by bike or buy a completely electric car. There is a definite end point where you want to do what you can, but it can be taken too far.
Anyway, I didn't intend to be preachy. I just hope to inspire people to do what they can. In a world that feel like it's sliding backwards most of the time, it feels good to be doing what we can to preserve this beautiful world we live in.
Live life. Be green. Peace.
[Tomorrow's topic: Lasik eye surgery... since Stephanie is having it done.]
That's an entirely different blog.
Toward the end of 2004 I was looking for such a change. In October of '04, I had decided to sell my house in (then) Virginia City to buy a piece of commercial property (also in V.C). It was a very cool old brick building smack dab in the middle of downtown Virginia City. It had a cavernous, I mean massive, open downstairs and a very rundown apartment upstairs that at one point had been a boarding house. The thought was, I would run a cafe downstairs and live upstairs. The building was in pretty good shape for being 130 years old, and I was really excited about it. The offer was in, the appraisal was done ($3,000 for a commercial appraisal-- ouch), and we were set to close escrow December 30th. Everything but the final paperwork was signed.
I had already made plans that year to spend New Year's Eve in Portland. Tickets were purchased. Valerie and I had been coming up with themes for the party we would be co-hosting (That was the year 'school' was the theme-- Good Times). Well, as the story goes, I spoke with my real estate agent the week before I left. We were talking about the deal and my plans for the cafe. He was excited because Virginia City really needed a place that served a decent cup of coffee. He casually mentioned to me that I needed to make sure to carefully screen all potential employees for drugs and backgrounds because there is an element in V.C. that he said, "would either run off your customer base, or rob you blind."
This statement really stuck with me and got me doing a lot of thinking. I thought, "This is not the kind of town I want to raise kids in." I always knew I would eventually find the right someone to start a family with, but it wasn't until that moment that I understood how important a decision it is.
So, here I am in Portland. It's New Year's Eve, and all my friends at the party, specifically Alison asked me, "So when are you moving here?" I had been asked this question before, but never considered it as a serious option. I actually liked being in Nevada, liked my job and loved my house. Things were pretty good, but there was that certain something that was missing. I had missed living in the Northwest since I left Seattle. And, after visiting Portland so often over the years, I used to say to people that if I ever moved back to the Pacific Northwest again, I would move to Portland. On the plane ride home after that trip, I decided to do just that. My house was already sold. My belongings were already packed. All I really needed to do was have a place to go. The next day that I was scheduled to work, I gave notice. My last day was January 12th, 2005. I came to Portland at the end of January and within a week lined up a job and made an offer on a house. By March, it was a done deal. Luckily, the paperwork that would have made my commercial real estate deal official expired on 12/30/04. It was because I was in Portland for New Years that I was able to move here and get out of the deal without any penalties.
That's the backstory, so here's the blog. Portland is a great town. There are many, too many, reasons to live here. First of all, I love the weather and the climate. I like it when things are green. Water makes that happen. I also love the way the city feels. By that, I mean, that because of all the neighborhoods, it still feels like you live in a small town, but have all the conveniences of being in a city. Add to that the public transportation system, more restaurants than you could ever eat at, cultural events, the annual Brewfest, I mean it's just fantastic and keeps getting better. I also love that the community at large votes in a way that is more in line with what I believe than it ever did in Nevada. It's going to take a lot of California overflow to turn Nevada into a blue state, and by then it would suck more than is tolerable. Anyway, the point is, I love that people (and the city itself) are so progressive when it comes to pretty much everything. I love that people are concerned about the environment, and DO something about it. In Virginia City, there was no such thing as curbside recycling. Here, I don't think there's much you can't recycle. What doesn't go in the curbside bin can go to a grocery store for recycling.
I guess the overall point of what I'm trying to get at, is that just feels good to be doing things for the environment, and living in a town where that's supported and sought after. Now, since Elliott has been born, it seems even more important so that he and his kids, and their kids, and so on, respect and care for our planet. I think Portland is a great place to do that.
To date, Stephanie and I have made the following adjustments in our lives, and it just plain feels good, plus it feels like the right thing to do: 1) I personally try to recycle everything they will take. I even take the little cardboard rip cords off of frozen food and recycle them. For some reason, our curbside recyclers only take plastic bottles with "necks". I admit, I haven't been rinsing out the yogurt containers and taking them to where they do recycle, but that's coming. 2) We bought a Prius hybrid in July. We love this car. It averages around 50 miles per gallon. It's much roomier and functional than you might expect and rides really smoothly. We rave about it all the time, so I won't ramble, but we love it. The last time I filled the gas tank of my old truck, it was $75. The first time we filled the Prius, it was $15.65. Basically, we reduced our fuel consumption by about 75 percent. 3) We have started taking daily walks and have been picking up cans and recycling along the way. At first, it started out as a fundraising effort (The 5 cent deposits add up. As Stephanie likes to say, "You wouldn't walk by a nickel without picking it up." So now, we pick up cans on our daily walks. The first day we did it together, we picked up $3.25 worth of cans and bottles. We casually joke that this is how we are going to put Elliott through Harvard Medical School... but we've done such a good job of picking up the section of trail that we walk, that we're lucky if we make a quarter nowadays. 4) We take our own cups when we go out for coffee. This may not seem like a big deal, but with 2 people going for coffee at least once daily, that adds up to over 700 cups we personally keep out of landfills each year. That's an easy one 5) The newest GREEN venture of ours is that we are just now converting our oil furnace to BIODIESEL. We just got the tank filled for the first time today. Supposedly it burns at the same rate as regular heating oil, just much much cleaner. No special equipment is necessary. The only thing we'll have to do is have the furnace serviced in a few weeks to clean out the last of the crud that the oil system will leave behind. It's 20 cents more per gallon, but we feel it's worth it.
I guess the final frontier for us will be politics. Volunteering is tough and being proactive in a practical sense even more so. Anyway, we're doing what we can and hope that everybody else is doing the same. We still have a long way to go. Eventually, I'd like to convert to all organic cleaning solutions, hygiene products, etc. but it's a process. I think we also don't want to be the freaky green people either. I know there are many more people who take it more seriously than we do. I could start commuting by bike or buy a completely electric car. There is a definite end point where you want to do what you can, but it can be taken too far.
Anyway, I didn't intend to be preachy. I just hope to inspire people to do what they can. In a world that feel like it's sliding backwards most of the time, it feels good to be doing what we can to preserve this beautiful world we live in.
Live life. Be green. Peace.
[Tomorrow's topic: Lasik eye surgery... since Stephanie is having it done.]
10.01.2007
Welcome to blOgtoberfest !
For a few weeks now, I have been wondering what would happen if I wrote or blogged every day for an entire month.
As of late, I find it extremely challenging to balance work, life, and the pursuit of a dream. I really wish I had the luxury of writing for 4-6 hours a day, but I simply don't at this juncture. Work gets in the way 3 days a week, and the rest is filled with taking family walks, enjoying every cup of coffee and making sure the numbers on the scale go down instead of up... things that in the grand scheme are more important.
That doesn't mean that I don't desire to hole up and lose myself in exploring the craft. I had a really amazing... no, surreal, experience on nitrous during a root canal several weeks ago. I have wanted to write about the experience since it happened, but got sidetracked, which, for me, means the idea dies. I have never found a good way to jot ideas down as they come to me. Note pads never seem to be in the right place, or I'm too busy to stop what I'm doing to write ideas down. Palm pilots seem like a good solution, but really, that's just an expensive note pad. All the same shortcomings apply.
For me, persistence is helpful. Having deadlines even more so. So, in celebration of October and my love for word play, I came up with the idea for blOgtoberfest... a month long celebration of my blog and my writing and any noteworthy random thought that might enter my head, and sharing the results with all of you, my most coveted critics and loyal fans.
I am really excited about taking the month-long journey of daily writing. I fear, as any writer does, that I will come up dry for ideas, and may need your help. If there's anything you're interested in and would like to start a formal discussion on, shoot me an email or respond in the form of a comment to the blog, and I guarantee we'll squeeze them all in. Let's have nothing be off limits.
By the way, for those of you with birthdays in October, consider my blog on your birthday my own personal tribute to you. I don't want to leave anybody out, so if your birthday is anything but October 4th, 12th, or 25th [those are taken, or will need to be amended] let me know and I will make special effort to include your tribute in the fun. The finale will be a special Halloween blog, an original All Hallows Eve tale written by yours truly.
Until tomorrow...
As of late, I find it extremely challenging to balance work, life, and the pursuit of a dream. I really wish I had the luxury of writing for 4-6 hours a day, but I simply don't at this juncture. Work gets in the way 3 days a week, and the rest is filled with taking family walks, enjoying every cup of coffee and making sure the numbers on the scale go down instead of up... things that in the grand scheme are more important.
That doesn't mean that I don't desire to hole up and lose myself in exploring the craft. I had a really amazing... no, surreal, experience on nitrous during a root canal several weeks ago. I have wanted to write about the experience since it happened, but got sidetracked, which, for me, means the idea dies. I have never found a good way to jot ideas down as they come to me. Note pads never seem to be in the right place, or I'm too busy to stop what I'm doing to write ideas down. Palm pilots seem like a good solution, but really, that's just an expensive note pad. All the same shortcomings apply.
For me, persistence is helpful. Having deadlines even more so. So, in celebration of October and my love for word play, I came up with the idea for blOgtoberfest... a month long celebration of my blog and my writing and any noteworthy random thought that might enter my head, and sharing the results with all of you, my most coveted critics and loyal fans.
I am really excited about taking the month-long journey of daily writing. I fear, as any writer does, that I will come up dry for ideas, and may need your help. If there's anything you're interested in and would like to start a formal discussion on, shoot me an email or respond in the form of a comment to the blog, and I guarantee we'll squeeze them all in. Let's have nothing be off limits.
By the way, for those of you with birthdays in October, consider my blog on your birthday my own personal tribute to you. I don't want to leave anybody out, so if your birthday is anything but October 4th, 12th, or 25th [those are taken, or will need to be amended] let me know and I will make special effort to include your tribute in the fun. The finale will be a special Halloween blog, an original All Hallows Eve tale written by yours truly.
Until tomorrow...
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