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Summer Travels, Vacation

December 5, 2007 in Sports, Travel, Website | No comments

As the seasons once again change, with (albeit mild) hurricane force winds blowing the Pacific Northwest headfirst into winter, I turn back to the pages of Saturatedpratt – the silent companion to literally tens of readers throughout the dark months.  Its been a rather fast four months and change since my last update, so as always, a quick re-cap should brings us up to speed. 

August and September were filled with, as has become the norm for summer, work and baseball.  Unlike the first half of the year, the late summer and early fall found me working fairly close to home – the longest work trip being a brief two-day jaunt to Klamath Falls.  This being the case, I had to augment my relatively light work travel with a baseball-centered road trip with Miller to Vancouver, B.C. and all stops in between. 

On this trip, I completed my second complete tour of a professional baseball circuit, adding the last two Northwest League parks I had yet to visit (Vancouver’s Nat Bailey Field and Everett’s Memorial Stadium) to my collection.  The Northwest League now joins the Cactus as the two I have completed with no realistic successor in sight, barring a move to another geographic region.  I will likely focus my efforts next year on seeing the Dodgers’ last spring training in Vero Beach, followed by hopefully being able to get some tickets to the their two-game exhibition series against the Red Sox at the L.A. Coliseum, where they played their first two seasons on the west coast.  The big trip for the year will probably be New York sometime in spring or early summer to see Yankee Stadium in its final season – I think it’s a must for any true baseball fan to see the house that Ruth built before Steinbrenner knocks it down.

But wait – this update isn’t about the future, it’s about the past four months.  After the September trip, the next big event was a quick weekend trip in October to Seattle to see Karen & Emily’s wedding.  I don’t get to see them very often (or anyone who doesn’t live in the Portland area, for that matter) so it was great to catch up them, as it was with Brunner and Megan, and Lauren and Garth, who once again volunteered their extra bedroom for the night.  I always have a great time whenever I see my friends from my Carson days, and I hope to see them a lot more often than the once every two years at someone’s wedding plan I’ve been on of late, especially with all the sports-related travel… (well, except for the Yankee Stadium trip – that is a necessity.)

The rest of the time from October until the present has been spent dividing time between work, Ducks football, Blazers basketball, and going to the gym.  As always, the colder months are bringing with them a lot more work for me, so I’ve been doing more traveling of late.  Last week’s work-related adventuring took me to Aberdeen, Washington, one of the last places in the state of Washington I had not seen on the company dime. 

Between making visits to agents, lining up contractors, and conducting interviews, I found a little time to poke around town.  My findings are as follows: it is very gray and damp, the area is in serious need of an economic kick-start if the vacancy rate downtown is any indication, and I can totally see how the region would rear a kid like Kurt Cobain.  I wandered the downtown and snapped a few pictures, including some of what I am sure was a spectacular electric company building in it’s time – a stocky two level structure speckled with hundreds of sockets that were once filled with lights lining the windows and nearly every other architectural line on the building’s façade.

After taking in civic utility buildings of a bygone era, I went to see the historic bridge crossing the Wishkah river, the same river by which Cobain myth dictates he slept while periodically homeless in Aberdeen.  After being there at high tide, I agree with Krist Novoselic’s assertion that this myth was only that – a myth.

So, that basically catches us up to the present.  Next week I will be taking a week off for a random “use it or lose it” vacation – I will probably spend most of the week wandering around town taking pictures, going to the gym, and just relaxing before what is shaping up to be a very busy next couple of months at work.  If I find enough time, I just may throw a couple updates online, as well as a story or two.  Stay tuned.

Christmas 2003; Acclimating back to McMinnville

December 27, 2003 in Life, Sports, Work | No comments

Hey, what do you know? An update, and within a month of my last update- not too shabby considering that I have been without a sturdy internet connection since moving back home. So what’s new, you ask?

Two weeks in and everything seems to be going well. I still have a job anyway, so that’s good. Actually, I’m not all that sure that I could have done anything to get fired if I had wanted to- all I’ve really had to do is read and observe people doing my eventual job. And for someone who’s quite good at sitting, it isn’t too hard to look stellar doing just that.

The real show starts in about four weeks, but until then I’ve got one more week of reading and participating in conference call classes (ick) before taking off to Seattle (well, Redmond, actually) for three weeks of claims school.

Everyone seems to agree that claims school is typically fun, so that shouldn’t be too bad. Plus, I’ll be able to play in Seattle at night. The only downside is that the Sonics/Cavs game featuring Lebron James appears to be sold out. Guess I’ll have to buy scalped tickets.

My two weeks in McMinnville have actually been pretty good. I’ve gone out to play pool with Bambi and bugged her at work a few times (if I can’t get me fired, I can try to get <i>someone</i> fired) and I’ve seen two Blazer games with Wells. Derek was supposed to join us for both, but was unable due to unforeseen circumstances. As for other activities, I saw the Oregon men play the Portland Pilots at the Chiles Center with my mom and brother, and I enjoyed Christmas with the whole family.

Oh yes… Christmas. I received a book (Moneyball, by Michael Lewis), a bunch of clothes (which is great, since I hate clothes shopping), a Blazer ticket package, a new wallet, a piece of the Joey Harrington billboard, a picture of John Navarre being sacked by Igor Olshansky and several other Ducks, a DVD of all the Beatles’ appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show, and I’m sure any number of things that at the moment I cannot recall. In other words, I did quite well in the area of gift receiving… after all, that’s what Christmas is about, right?

In other news, I probably ate mad-cow disease meat over Christmas break, which means I will die of a brain-wasting ailment in a few years, and I seem to have hit a creative stride of late, which means that eventually more things will be appearing on this site. I’m going to try to think of a way to update this site while I’m in Seattle, which will probably consist of intruding on Lauren’s life in order to commandeer her computer for an hour or so over a couple of days. I don’t know- we’ll see. For now, I’ll leave you all to try to figure out what “go eat a corndog” means.

New Year Summary of 2002

January 1, 2003 in Life, Random, School, Sports, Travel, Work | No comments

It has been brought to my attention that I have not kept my oft-repeated, oft-broken promise of updating my website. For this, I am utterly indifferent. Strangely though, I feel that I should provide an update, if for no other reason than continuing to reinforce my personal belief that throngs of people base their lives on what my website does or does not say. To assist those people on moving forward in their lives, I will provide a concise rundown of the last several months of my life, which will then (maybe) be followed by an update pertaining to the present. So, without further delay, the spring, summer, and subsequent fall of Chris. March 5, 2002- woke up, read for Ken’s class. This pattern continued until the end of the term, which I finished in respectable, if unspectacular fashion. Spring break. Worked as an on-duty RA for a few days, then went to McMinnville. I traveled to the redwoods with my family and looked at several very large trees, as well as the Oregon caves. I angered my mom by wearing shorts in the caves, which were 40 degrees. After the vacation, I returned to Eugene for a day or two, then departed with Lauren on a pilgrimage to the Bay Area. Saw Paul McCartney kick off his US tour in Oakland, wandered around San Francisco, then saw Carlos Pena beat the Rangers in the bottom of the ninth as the A’s squeaked out their second victory of the season. Returned to Eugene following the game, and promptly went to bed. Fell behind in class, then caught up. I Dropped Ken’s other class, but not much else happened in April.

In May I worked, a lot and tried to make it through some tough times with friends, with mixed results. I’m still not sure when I became a villain, seeing as I never really chose a side, but I think that I just tried to please too many people. In the end, I settled on just being Chris, and let the cards lay where they fell. Through silence, I probably made the wrong choice, but that’s what regrets are for. Forgiveness though, is a trait certainly in short supply today- at least in some of my former friends. Worked on my uncle’s campaign for Lt. Governor of Idaho. Found myself writing campaign literature for a Republican, which was an interesting proposition. Made statements about issues often ignored by Republicans and somehow made it through the experience without feeling like a whore. Uncle lost primary, but got over 5 per cent of the vote in a field crowded with people spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. Turned 22 on the 29th of May.

In June I finished spring term, as well as my career as an RA. It was time for a welcome change, and independence gained from being able to live and work at separate locations. The deer to the left are being viewed from my new bedroom window. Hired as a temporary public safety officer at the University of Oregon Department of Public Safety. Issued a badge, uniform, and bulletproof vest. Feel awkward, but hey, everyday is Halloween. Good thing since I would later work on Halloween. Assumed life of 40 hour a week worker for the first time since my detailing days, though now worked at 6:00am. Money good, hours bad.

Not much happened in July- Independence day came and went with little fanfare as I had to work, and my brother turned 14 on the 2nd. Startled by the revelation that my brother was going to be a freshman in high school in September, and suddenly felt old. Classes began for me near the end of the month, and I visited a hot spring with Mary. Fun experience, though some people really should keep their clothes on…

In August classes continued, as did work. It was an uneventful month until about halfway through, when there was suddenly a flurry of activity. First came a hellish five-hour wait for Lauren at PDX to welcome her back from France. I got there at 10:00pm; she got there at around 3:00am. I had to be at work at 6:00am. Obviously, I was more dedicated then than I am now, as I would now call off tired as hell. This didn’t occur to me though, as I somehow made it through the next day at work. A bout a week later, and a week or so shy of our anniversary, Mary and I broke up. This came as an unexpected cap to what had been a pretty good evening- I guess she wanted to get me full of dinner so I couldn’t really defend what was to come. Shortly after the end of one, I witnessed the beginning of another relationship, as my pal Melinda was married.

In September work yet again continued, and the “temporary” position was beginning to feel a bit less so. The first couple of weeks were spent simply working overtime and basking in the warm sun of a deserted pre-term campus. Of course, this “basking” was spent wearing about five layers of colors alternating from black to LAPD blue colored fabric, so broiling can probably be substituted for basking. Football season started and the Ducks won their first several games. Baseball season continued, and a strike was averted, thank God. With about a week to spare before school started, I took off with Lauren to Seattle and spent my “Anniversary with Mary” money on a delightful trip to see sights and baseball. We stayed in an inexpensive but nice hotel downtown and wandered the city for three days. We saw the Experience Music Project and the Pike Street Market (for the second time with Lauren) as well as the zoo, where we were able to look at several young gorillas, including a baby that had been born just two weeks before. The A’s lost to the Mariners that night, thanks to a A’s inconsistent bullpen, but it was fun. The rest of our time was spent eating and drinking in various establishments and visiting with assorted friends (Shannon, Shelby, Josh) of Lauren’s.

Upon my return to Eugene, I learned that I would be needed at work through the next term, though I would now be working graveyard. Money good, hours worse. This began ominously, as there was a large riot one block west of campus on my first night on the shift.

October continued in the same manner as September ended, as my shift made several arrests and was involved in as many physical takedowns in the span of two weeks as are usually expected in about a full year. I was suddenly feeling even more fortunate that I was no longer an RA, as this class of freshman seems especially angry. The A’s were knocked out of the playoffs, something that came as no surprise given the bullpen woes that I had witnessed in Seattle, and the Ducks followed their 6-0 start with several losses. Class continued, sort of, as I only had one class that actually had a regular attendance. I again saw Paul McCartney with Lauren, only this time in Portland. By the end of the month events at work slowed, though I was now completely prepared for the bad stuff. I went through defensive tactics training over the course of a day, allowing me to carry an asp baton and OC spray. Of course, as part of the OC training, I was sprayed in eyes with the stuff and commanded to complete a course using each of the defensive tactics that I had learned throughout the day. By about the second of five stations I was pretty much blind, as well as screaming expletives at a rapid-fire pace. I made it through, though I’m surprised that my lieutenant did, as I hear it was quite dangerous for him to be holding one of the pads that I was forced to attack. The day was successful, though the illusion of mid-mannered Chris Pratt was gone for all who witnessed my rampage.

Work, sleep, school, and repeat. November was a drag. Nothing happened in November. My work schedule caught up with me, and much of my free time was spent sleeping. The Ducks’ collapse culminated in losing six of their last seven, and I had to work on Thanksgiving. School went well though.

December came with the promise of less school, more work, and more money. I could now return to working the 40-hour week that I had enjoyed during the summer, as student employee restrictions are lifted during break. The department took full advantage of this, as I worked the first 14 of 16 days of break. I also found out that I would be working both Christmas and Christmas Eve, as well as New Year’s Eve. In between though, I enjoyed a Blazer game with Wells and my brother, as well as a nice post-Christmas visit to McMinnville. I was quite disappointed with working the holidays, though not as much as I’m sure my mom was. Through it all though, she was pretty cool and didn’t let what I’m sure was a fair amount of anger come to the surface. I did well on Christmas, getting a lot of good clothes, CDs, books, a new watch, and the promise of new brakes for the Mustang, so long as I help my pa with putting brakes on my mom’s bimmer. I did however anger my mom by wearing shorts for the duration of my stay. December ended with my equivalent of the ball dropping in Times Square- the Department of Public Safety’s FCC-required call of “zero hundred hours, Wednesday, January 1, 2003. KVD770.”

Well, that was the last nine or so months, I’ll return shortly with a real update, but this week will be busy as I will be starting classes again and studying for the Praxis test on Saturday for the education program. Stay tuned… there’s more to come.

Another Mass-Update; Break-ups, Reunions

March 4, 2002 in Life, School, Travel, Work | No comments

Happy New Year!!! hehehe… yeah. So I’ve been gone a while… you’ve noticed. You’ve questioned me, harassed me, some of you have even stopped coming to this site. Does the fact that it hasn’t been updated in six months make it any less relevant? I say no!

So here I am again, and as if I never went away, I am once again procrastinating. It just wouldn’t be right any other way. With that statement, many could be asking “Chris, has nothing changed?” The short answer would be no, and being as I am a very lazy man, I would normally be apt to give that answer.

However, as I am currently putting off reading 70 more pages in “Black Mass” for Ken’s class, I will give the more in-depth answer of no. You see, it isn’t that things haven’t changed, it’s just that indeed, the more things change, the more they stay the same. For instance- I am in a relationship with Mary. While this may be no new thing, we also broke up. Now, had I updated on December 7, 2001, this page would have said that I was single until the update of March 4, when in fact, the single period ended on December 18, 2001. This could have had disastrous effects on both my relationship, which was on the mend, as well as the scores of would-be heartbroken women who had been led to believe that I was available. Sally comes to mind.

However, that would not have been the only problem. Perhaps I would have posted an angry reaction to my pal Curtis’ semi-forced removal from staff. I could have written an expletive-laden update directed towards University Housing in regards to both Curtis and the creator of the wonderful picture of my selves above, Chris Wells. Perhaps I would have posted something about my desire to find a way for the RAs at the University of Oregon to organize, a la those at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Oh wait, that update may yet come…

But those are currently cold topics on my mind, waiting to be stoked at a later date.  I’ll have to weigh the amount of trouble I could get in for simply exercising my 1st amendment rights. Anyhow, it should be an interesting update.

As far as other happenings in the life of Chris, yes, me and Mary are once again happily together, and we celebrated our sixth month together just a week ago, on February 26. Don’t bother me about the math, we don’t count the earlier break up. In other news, it is now official, in case you couldn’t tell, that I will not be returning as an RA next year. I have decided to take the high road, and get out while I am still at least as sane as I was when I came in to the job. This will mean that I will be living off campus this summer, as well as next year, in a yet to be determined place with yet to be determined people. I am looking forward to the change, and it should dramatically lower my stress level, although I’ll have to work more.

In more recent news, it looks as though I will be going to Oakland to see Paul McCartney with Lauren on or about April 1. That is, of course, if we can find tickets. It will be a challenge, but it’s probably my last chance to see a Beatle live that’s not Ringo. After all, if my theory is correct, Ringo will never die. (Rest in Peace, George) In addition to the concert, we will be in town at the same time that the Major League Baseball season starts, so I’ll force Lauren to watch the A’s kill the Rangers in the season opening series. It should be an awesome road trip, if it happens.

But it remains to be seen if that will indeed take place. I am also planning on going to the Redwoods and several other attractions in northern California and Southern Oregon with my family over Spring Break. That should be awesome, especially since I’ll actually get to see stuff this time, unlike last summer’s late night/early morning jaunt down to (What’choo talkin’ bout) Willits with Mary and Christina. It’ll be nice to get to spend a period of time longer than an afternoon with my family for once, which is also a plus about not being on staff next year… OK, enough with my work frustrations.

Birthdays, Concerts, and Catch

August 20, 2001 in Life, School, Travel, Work | No comments

Just so you know Vanessa, this update is not being written in response to your request- I genuinely do feel like updating my page. So there.

Now that that is out of the way, I can get started. The last few weeks have been very busy, with nearly every day consisting of either research for my Ted Kennedy/Chappaquiddick paper (now finished, thank you), or working at DPS. In other words, it has been a thrilling month. On the bright side, I did get to browse through about two years worth of New York Times microfilms in search of editorials on Chappaquiddick. Oh wait, that’s not exciting…

I’ll skip over the mundane details of the past few weeks (you know- the ones that have kept me from updating this page) in order for me to talk about things such as Eric Clapton and going home for a few fractions of days. Oh yeah- I spent lots of time working. Damn… did it again. Anyway, the month began very poorly, by getting shut out of the Tool concert at the Hult Center. You see, the EMU ticket office is inept, and managed to get through about twenty people in the course of 45 minutes- the forty five minutes that it took for the show to sell out. I was fairly irate, but so were most of the other 100 or so people left ticketless after waiting in line for more than three hours. However, I opted to go home before a riot broke out, if only to avoid having a run-in with a few of my evening co-workers. Secretly though, I wished that the dude behind me in line would follow through on his threats of looting the place.

A few days after the scheduled concert, Lauren, Brian, Chris Wells and I made our way to the concert that we already had tickets to- Eric Clapton in Portland on the 7th. The show was very good, though the sound could have been better. He played all the songs I wanted to hear, including Layla, Bellbottom Blues, Cocaine, Badge, and Sunshine of Your Love. What was really awesome was the fact that Billy Preston was on keyboards and, as everyone knows, he is amazing. Clapton surrendered the first song of his encore to Preston for his hit “Will It Go Round in Circles.” The crowd was really in to it, and you could tell that the band was having a great time- especially Billy. After the concert, we walked past an array of people selling bootleg concert t-shirts at a much lower price, shouting “T-Shirts, $10! Chris and me, along with occasional help from Brian, began brainstorming what Eric Clapton related items we could sell following the show. I think my favorite was the Official Eric Clapton Tour 2001 Backrub.

As previously stated, the rest of the week was spent working, with the exception of Sunday, which was spent in Portland celebrating the anniversary of Peter Marie Boss’ birth. It was a nice lil’ party, during which Peter and I (with help from Brandi Church) got pizza. It was very good pizza, thus the mention. The rest of the evening was spent lounging with Peter, Mary, Brandi, J. Christ, Jessico, Robin, and a friend of Peter’s whose name I do not recall. We talked a lot, then watched Futurama and the Simpsons. Although Peter maintains that it was a bad party, I had a very enjoyable time. Before arriving in Portland that day, Mary, Brandi and I visited my home, where I said hi to my family and allowed Mary an opportunity to converse with them in an attempt to no longer feel intimidated. I think it worked, but in the process she managed to leave her shoes at my house. This of course went unrealized until we were thirty miles away purchasing Peter’s gift, The Beatles Anthology. We were forced to stop at Mary’s place in Lake Oswego to get a different pair of shoes, as well as wrapping paper. In a way I felt bad for the fact that she worried about ruining whatever impression she had left on my parents by her forgetfulness, and I told her that such a mistake would not make them think poorly of her. Especially since she had already done and said enough earlier in the day to accomplish that feat. =)

The next week went by with little taking place other than work- though I did spend quite a bit of time studying and writing. I spent most of my little free time hanging out with Mary or worrying about my paper (which was due on Friday). This past weekend was spent both recovering from my paper and the sleepless nights involved in it’s making, and driving home again, this time with Vanessa. You see, it’s always good to confuse your parents, so I try to bring a different girl home with me each time I return- the last four have been Lauren, Mary, Vanessa and Wells. I guess that with this lineup, the more confused the parents are, the better. Anyway, the point of this weekend’s trip was to get new shoes, as well as say hi to everyone. Both of these items were accomplished, with me picking up my shoes with my mom, saying hi and talking to dad, and playing catch with Brandon. It was pretty cool- I was wild at first, but I think that I hurt his hand with a couple fastballs. I didn’t really get to spend much time in McMinnville though, as both Vanessa and I needed to work at 8:00. We left at around 5:30, ate dinner at Arby’s, then proceeded to drive until about 7:45, when we arrived in Eugene. It was very fun because I got to spend significant time with Vanessa for the first time in a couple weeks. We talked about people and work, and I got to fling wild accusations in her direction, which is always fun. The only disappointing thing about the trip was the short amount of time that I got to spend at home, but on the bright side, I’ll be back there with Mary this weekend.

That brings me to my next topic- this coming weekend. It starts off with the exciting event of my second and final class of the summer- PS 399, Mafia in Russia. That, while exciting, is not the high point of the weekend. That will come on Saturday, when I drive home to prepare for my date that evening with Mary. We’ll be going to the Newberg Drive In, where we will enjoy an evening of cinema from the comfort of a 1966 Mustang Coupe. I’m looking forward to it, but perhaps what I like most is how excited she seems to be. It should be a great evening, no matter how the movies are, and when it comes down to it, I really don’t care what’s playing- It won’t really matter if I’m with her.

21st Birthday

July 5, 2001 in Life | No comments

Now that the months of summer are upon us, I’m deeming this evening’s update to be the one that finally deals with the world-shaking events otherwise known as Chris’ birthday. After all, as Ham Staff knows, birthdays last but three months of the year. So, in keeping with recent tradition, let us wish Chris a happy birthday, July 5th style!

Hey- it’s not that I’m really intending for people to continue the celebration, it’s really just that I now have time to reflect. Besides, I’ve pretty much been called out by Vanessa. Between pistols at dawn and a website update a month late, I pick the update (primarily because I do not own a pistol.)

The day started as other- with a midnight trip to Albertsons to buy some Weinhards. With this, I was able to exercise my new found responsibility to both buy alcohol, then later consume it. I couldn’t believe the actual transformation that my body went through at precisely 12:01 am, May 29th. It was as though I was suddenly a grownup. I cast aside my childish dreams and immediately grew a mean beard. Most of all though, from 11:59 to 12:01, I officially became responsible enough to be trusted with fire water. I couldn’t even imagine what would have happened had I possessed alcohol before I reached the age of 21. I promptly returned to my room and basked in the moment with Chris Wells. About 30 minutes later I retired to bed. I guess it was my age catching up with me.

In the morning I went to class, like most other days- though I left early. I proceeded to walk to 13th street, where I met Vanessa, as well as DPS Eddy and Joey for lunch at Sy’s. It was very nice and low-key, though Vanessa was pissed since I had received a 35 (out of 35) on my geography midterm (half of which I was not in class for), while she received, well, I can’t remember what she received. Anyway, she was not happy. She did get to laugh at me though, as I proceeded to drop sausage all over the place as it fell off my pizza. Lunch only lasted about a half hour, and following its completion I returned to my room, where I basked in the first day of what I now simply refer to as “birthday.”

The rest of that day was spent more or less relaxing, later traveling to McMenamin’s where Brian and Lauren treated me to a burger and a beer. This was good, and Brian and I were able to talk for about an hour about cars and other miscellaneous things while Lauren looked on. I’m not sure how entertaining it was for her, but hey, this is MY birthday, so there. After dinner, I returned to my room where I waited for an impromptu staff meeting. While waiting for the meeting to commence, I was graced by the appearance of Jessie Kirk and the lovely Josh Christiansen. Wait… I think I reversed those. Anyway, they brought me a Corona and happy birthday wishes, while helping me watch Traffic. After the meeting, I retired to my room, where I eventually went to bed. Nothing much happened on my birthday, but more was to come, with a promise from Vanessa for a full day of birthday celebration.

On Saturday I arrived at Vanessa’s place at roughly noon only to find her laying in bed. This was ok though, as it was my day and she in turn had no right to feel as though her privacy had been invaded by my presence at the foot of her bed. After about a half hour of conversation, she finally rose from her slumber and we were ready to start the day. She proceeded to make breakfast for me, consisting of toast and sausage, which was very good by the way. After doing the dishes, she began working on what was soon to become my birthday cake. While the cake was baking, we worked on cleaning the kitchen and continued talking. When the cake was done, we commenced our day out. The first stop was VRC where Vanessa searched through racks of discount clothes, somehow finding outfit after outfit that looked great on her. I’m not sure that I can count all of the articles of clothing that she pulled off of racks, but the whole trying-on process probably lasted upwards of 20 minutes. It was ok though, as I knew that this was at least in preparation for what was to be our evening out. In all I think she bought something like $100 in clothing, which I think is more than I have spent in all my years in Eugene.

We walked around the mall for a while, but didn’t really buy anything else. From there, we drove to Dairy Queen where we sat in the parking lot and ate hotdogs, which, if it were not with a beautiful woman, would sound very pathetic. We then drove to some cool neighborhood in the area of Coburg Road and looked at big, cool houses and just talked. The day soon took a turn for the serious though, when while shopping at Wal Mart, we found what seemed to be an excellent engagement ring- and for only about $7.00! It seemed perfect, not to mention the fact that I wasn’t all that sure that I had asked for her hand in marriage. However the joy soon turned to sadness when we realized that there were no rings in her size. Disappointed but not defeated, we ventured to Target where our luck was better. Secure with our newly discovered engagement, we separated for a while when she had to make an appearance at work. I used the opportunity to change my clothes and shave, as she had made a vow to “be the most beautiful date” I’d ever had. I decided that I should probably look decent as well. (At least I tried.)

She returned to my room at about 9:30, and we decided to go out shortly after 10:00. Where she had attempted to become the most beautiful date I had ever had, she largely succeeded. In truth, I was pretty surprised that I was going out with this woman for a night (as were my residents, who, as I was told, actually watched us leave the building and continued talking about us quite a while after we had left.) Vanessa wanted to go to a place where we could dance, but I’m not really much a dancer, so we seemed to settle on a sort of middle ground. We went to Diablos, where we sat at the bar for a while and ate, (as well as drank). After eating and watching the bartender spit fire, we went downstairs to the dance floor where I proceeded to watch her and many other people dance. It was actually quite fun, even though I was mainly in an observatory mode. She would come over to me every now and then and talk, but for the most part I was just glad that she was having fun for my birthday. Perhaps the best part was watching all of these guys making passes at her, then looking slightly dejected when they realize that she was in fact with me. In a few cases, guys even came up to me to comment on my “fine” girlfriend. I, of course, nodded and smiled.

We were there until about 2:00am, when we returned to her place and just sort of relaxed for a while. Nothing much was said at this point, but I think that we both were in agreement that it had been a very good day. I guess that perhaps the best part was that she did so much for my birthday, especially when she really didn’t have to. I mean, she baked a cake and took me out to lunch, which is where most people would stop. However, she went head and shoulders above what she needed to, and I really appreciated it. Even now, a month later, I look back to that day and it really means a lot to me. I’m really glad that I’ve grown so close to her, and it is times like that one Saturday that remind me of exactly how good she has been towards me in the year that I have known her. I’m just glad that she’s my fiancé.

Adventure w/ Lauren; Al Gore & Misc. Dems

August 30, 2000 in Life, Politics, Travel | No comments

After working both Saturday and Sunday, I made a trek down to Eugene Sunday night to spend some time with Lauren, and eventually see Al Gore. As usual, I had a great time with her. The first night that I was in town, we hung out with Brian and Charles for a few hours, then went to the Bijou to see “But I’m A Cheerleader”, which was excellent.

The next day was spent at Elijah Bristow State Park on the Willamette. We sat out searching for water and came accross this park just 20 miles from Eugene. That afternoon we walked the trails that ran alongside the river, skipped some rocks and spent a lot of time talking, and for me anyway, thinking. It was a beautiful day and the scenery, coupled with the thoughts in my head will make it unforgettable.

Lauren convinced me to stay an extra day in order to see Al Gore at the Eugene airport as part of an invitation-only rally out on the tarmac. This was actually very exciting, aside from the heat and fatigue of staying up until 4:00ish, but we got to see the next president and Sen. Ron Wyden, Rep. Defazio and Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, as well as former governor Neil Goldschmidt. After waiting for two hours, we finally got to see Gore, who shook many hands and gave a short speech centering around health care. Following the rally, I treated Lauren to dinner at the Olive Garden, where she had to instuct me on the procedure of paying from the table and such intricacies as leaving a tip on the bill. It made her look if not smarter, at least more refined than I- which is ok, I suppose. I eventually made my way back to McMinnville, where I am now readying myself for a trip to Seattle with the family to see the Mariners take on the Yankees. It should be fun, but it will be tough to match the time that I had with Lauren over the past couple days.

Wedding with Lauren

August 21, 2000 in Life, Travel | No comments

On Saturday I went to Roseburg for Vicki’s wedding. Along the way, I acquired a Lauren for company. It was quite fun, as she turned out to be a good conversation partner- something sorely needed following a nearly two and a half hour trip from McMinnville to Eugene.

However, we must not forget the important event of the weekend- Vicky must now obey and serve Ben, as stated in the church-certified contractual agreement to which we bore witness.

It was an overall nice ceremony, though not exactly the type that I would choose for my wedding. But the important thing is that the couple seemed genuinely happy, which in the end is all that you can ask for. Following the reception, Lauren and I took our time travelling up I-5, eventually stopping at a drive-in cafe. There we ordered ice cream and gazed with amazement at the proliferation of gay youth.

It was everywhere, but no amount of school-sanctioned homosexuality could taint the overall pleasant feeling of a sunny day and singing along to songs from “Please Please Me”; nor could it foul the taste of my espresso madness (which was delicious).

That aside, it is days like these that tend to leave a lasting impression on me. For instance, while reflecting on the day’s happenings on my drive home, I couldn’t help but think of my own life and loves both past and present. However, these thoughts were interrupted by what I can only describe as a striking sunset. The sky was filled with a palette of colors, from a rich purple in the east to a glimmering orange in the west, creating a perfect silhouette of the coast range and offering only a glimpse of light to the few clouds that remained above. It was one of those moments in a western where you know that the good guy had won, or that the story was simply over. At the same time, it was a sight that if not seen by eyes that had experience the day, could have easily been mistaken for an equally striking sunrise. At once, everything seemed to be a little more poetic than it had been. What was once known was fading away in the most beautiful way imaginable, and a light was being cast on the unknown in a fashion that I had rarely seen of late.

In a few moments the light was gone and I was once again only one of a myriad of cars moving north at seventy miles an hour, but the feeling remained. I wasn’t quite sure if my car was representative of that proverbial cowboy in the sunset, or if the image had simply faded to signify the end. But it now seemed that the darkness on the horizon could peel back to reveal something wonderful, if only I chose to see it as beginning. It’s funny what a wedding can do to a person- or maybe it’s just a good day.

Trip to Eugene

July 30, 2000 in Life, Politics, Travel | No comments

I got back from Eugene today, driving in 95 degree heat with no a/c. I had both windows and my sunroof open, but it was still well beyond uncomfortable. But I guess it was bearable as this weekend was very fun & complete.

On Friday Lauren, Karen, Emily, Arlie and I watched MST3K & some weird Indian movie until about 1:00am, when I proceeded to keep Lauren up until 2:30 complaining about various things (sorry, and I’ll get to work on that story soon =) Saturday was spent in Florence seeking salvation from the heat of the Willamette Valley. The coast was very fun- the sand was warm and we found a clean beach to play on, so it made the trip even more relaxing. Later Lauren and I went to a College Dems meeting at Coutney’s where we ate pizza and watched “Election”. On the way home from there, we frolicked through the sprinklers at 11:00 in front of Hendricks Hall. My adventure to Eugene came to an end today following lunch at the Glenwood with Vanessa. It was good, and we had fun listening to a guy behind us who was pretending to be a theology expert. His date didn’t seem very impressed though.