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Homecoming; Reaching Goals

August 31, 2010 in Life, Random, Work | 2 comments

My house, purchased August '09

My home, purchased August '09

When we last spoke (discounting the Blazers updates), I was in the midst of a search for housing.  This search took me to four sections of Portland and spanned about six months, during which I am sure Realtor Jen thought several times about firing me as a client.  The search culminated in the purchase of a small, clean, mostly refurbished 98-year old house in Southeast Portland.  The house closed about a year ago now, so it’s not exactly breaking news.  In fact, most of the people who will stumble upon this page have already been over, in many cases multiple times.  So why write about it now?  Well, there’s something about anniversaries that that seems to make it ok to write about things long since passed.  Also, I needed something to bridge the 10 month gap between posts.  If it’s so wrong to pick topics for the sake of utility, sue me.

Actually, this post is about more than that.  The purchase of my home was the fruit of a long term plan I set into motion here about five years ago (I know, another anniversary…  this is becoming column writing 101).   In October 2005, I wrote about the frustration of being stuck in neutral.  I was working in a job that was going nowhere, doing something (bodily injury claim settlements) that I was good at, but hated doing; in an apartment with neighbors who screamed at each other well into the night and where birds lived in the attic above my bedroom; and with the thought  that it seemed my personal and creative peak was achieved somewhere in a radio studio at the age of 17.

Back then, my goals were as follows:

  1. Take control of my career
  2. Find a better home
  3. Go to grad school
  4. Get my finances in order
  5. Take better care of myself

Only a few of these were published, but each was part of a larger plan to essentially get my life on track.  This plan was hatched while sitting in my leather chair in my apartment off of Scholls Ferry Road watching game 5 of the N.L.C.S.  Apparently something about Albert Pujols eviscerating a Brad Lidge pitch served as inspiration for change.

I had originally had my sights on purchasing a home or condo after getting my first real job out of college.  The rapidly inflating housing bubble soon struck, and I was priced out of the market about three months after initially looking in mid 2004.  This led to a revolving door of apartments, landing me in a NW Portland 1 bedroom flat about three blocks from PGE Park and in walking distance to everything.  During that time, I began applying for positions outside of bodily injury claims within my company, as well as a few jobs outside of the insurance industry.  It was during this search that I discovered the goal of grad school would need to wait until finances were in order.  After several months, I landed a desirable spot handling large property claims with my employer.  After a few fortuitous moves within my position, and a few subsequent promotions, I find myself doing well in a comfortable, rewarding job that has allowed me to cross the home ownership and financial goals off my list.

As for my own well-being, while living in Northwest, I began to go to the gym regularly after receiving what was perhaps the most thoughtful gift I’ve ever received from someone - a gym membership from my brother.  In the approximately three years since, I am down a few, but not many pounds (about 25), but am in much better overall health.  While not being within a quick walk of the gym has impacted the frequency of visits, I continue to work out.  This remains the one item on my list that I have not fully achieved.

I know what you’re thinking, “one item?  when did you go to grad school?”

Shut up, smart guy.

Grad school is delayed for now, with no imminent date to be picked up.  Its something I would still like to do down the road, but other priorities knocked it farther down the list, and frankly out of the top five.  As I began advancing in my career, there was less of an incentive to quit and go to grad school - especially considering the bleak job prospects for beginning teachers, which is what I originally had in mind.   For now I am happy being the first Pratt (now one of two, thanks to my bro) to graduate from college.  I still have goals, both personal and professional that would inevitably lead to continuing my education, but this has moved into the “long range” category of things I’d like to do.

A few evenings ago, as I sat on my back patio reading, I was struck with a feeling that can only be described as utter peace.  I realized that while I’ve still got a lot of things I want to do, I really have come a long way in five years.  Moreover, it left me with the thought that I really can achieve almost anything, provided an actual attempt is made.  It’s nice to be reminded of this from time to time, especially when looking back on the serious rut I was in five years ago.

However ambitious or modest your goals may be, it feels pretty damned good once a few of them have been achieved.

Work Travels and Selling the Mustang

September 30, 2006 in Politics, Random, Travel | No comments

Hmm… where to start. Once again, I have taken an extended absence from updating this site… I seem to recognize a pattern forming. Yes, it is the same pattern that has been repeated consistently since the genesis of this website in the summer of 1997. Indeed, I am extremely reliable in the area of my unreliability. Sort of like a Yugo – a used one. I offer no apologies this time, nor any promises to do better in the future – I know better by now, and you should too. What I will offer, however, is a brief synopsis of the last several months, and a nice place to leave off, and hopefully continue in the not too distant future.

When we last left off, I had just been given a new position at work, and was in training – but a sort of on the job training. Nearly seven months later, I am still in that position, very much no longer training, and I am enjoying it. While not necessarily globetrotting in nature, it has taken me to some locales I had not previously seen – such as Wenatchee, Washington and a rural area east of Olympia. Ok, so basically I’ve seen Washington. But the travel has allowed me to check out minor league ballparks in Wenatchee, Tacoma, Spokane, Yakima, Pasco, and Everett. Not bad for one summer… but nowhere near as good as This Guy, whom I met at a Yakima Bears game. “Why so many minor league parks, Chris?” you may ask. Well, painfully, the answer is because I don’t have a girlfriend, and really, what else are you supposed to do when you’re stranded for a few days in eastern Washington?

Aside from tour the countryside, I sold the Mustang while I was away. This was actually a fairly recent development – I had decided that I did not have the time, space, or resources to keep working on or keep storing the car. At the same time, I came to the realization that I didn’t feel comfortable using it as a daily driver, while simultaneously coming the to the realization that I had some bills that I’d really like to eliminate. So, on craigslist she went, then off into the sunset she rode. Actually, it was around 6:00 pm, with the sun directly above, but you get the point.  I took a picture of it as it was driving away, but it turned out blurry, so it’s kind of like a 1966 Mustang Zapruder film still… very creepy. Also, it wasn’t driving itself, despite how this may read. I did however have one last afternoon of extreme frustration spent with it, as I spent about six hours the day before it sold finally repairing the fender damage it received while driving north for the last time from Eugene. Personally, I think I did a bang-up job.

Finally, I used the early portion of September to once again move, seeing as I apparently have issues with getting comfortable somewhere. Oh yeah – I also have issues with paying $850 to live somewhere that’s far from anything I want to be doing outside of work hours. So, in the spirit of saving money, and being able to do stuff every now and then, I have moved to Northwest Portland, to mix among the hipsters. So far, I still stand out like a sore thumb… First, I need to drop about 80 pounds and get some really tight, skinny-guy pants. A lofty goal, but there’s always hope. Actually, the move is going to work out great, especially since I just found out I’ll be able to start working from home soon, so now I won’t even have to worry about a commute. Not to mention the fact that I am nearly done with the plan I laid out on this very site last November… looks like Mr. Pratt may have his shit together after all!

Well, that just about gets us caught up. If you peruse the rest of the site, you’ll find a few updates here and there, and more to come – but again, with no specific timetable. You’ll also find a commentary I wrote on the state of the American Manufacturing Worker, inspired by a barge launch I witnessed in Portland last week. It may or may not be worthwhile reading – that’s your call. I just put it up, and point you to it.

A quick trip to the bay area to see the Ducks play at Cal this Saturday is on the docket, so hopefully I’ll have an adventure to detail, and pictures to show off upon my return. It’ll be great - like an electronic vacation slide reel! ‘Til then, thanks for sticking with me.

Plans, Moving, Etc.

March 8, 2006 in Work | No comments

Another month has gone, and a lot of changes have occurred in the life of Chris, most notably, the presence of a new job. I still work in insurance, and with the same company, but have moved from handling bodily injury claims to large property losses. It may be a small move in the grand scheme of things, but I feel better about the work that I do now, which goes a long way towards helping the psyche. Most importantly, I never again have to know the value of three chiropractic visits, four months after a minor auto accident.

(Unless of course I go to law school and become an ambulance chaser, but then of course I would have a personal stake in the matter, which could possibly wipe out my bad feelings of valuing injuries.) After all, I’d have to do something to earn my money and pay off student loans before doing pro-bono civil liberties cases and work on behalf of non-profits…

Which leads us to point #2 – as part of a long-term effort in self-improvement, I have commenced finishing off my efforts to (eventually) get into grad school. I completed one test a few weeks ago, and still have one more to go before I’ll be done with the tests for colleges of education, and I’ve been reviewing my LSAT study book, as I think I probably will end up taking the LSAT this summer/fall. Depending on its outcome, I’ll decide which path I want to take, and will seriously start looking at grad schools towards the end of this year. When I will enroll, and whether or not I can get in are different subjects entirely, but at least school is on the list.

Another change is in where I am living – in late December I moved to Tigard, in a brand new (and considerably less sketchy) apartment, which is closer to work and farther away from the roving bands of near-feral children who patrolled the parking lots of my old complex. Pleasant as the new place may be, I have a feeling my stay will be a short one. I signed a 6-month lease, and seeing as there is absolutely nothing to do in Tigard, I will likely be moving again in June, hopefully to the city. You see, Giovanni recently acquired my dream apartment – a large one bedroom in a classic building, just two blocks from PGE Park – for about the same amount of rent I am currently paying. With baseball season starting up, I desperately wish I lived within walking distance to a ballpark… and pubs, and Powell’s… and by this summer, I aim to be.

This update does not contain a semi-humorous, self-absorbed story about a quasi-adventure I partook in – for this I apologize… that will be coming soon enough. Rather, this update is sort of a self-congratulatory note on what I’ve been able to do in the past two months. You see, in late November, it became fairly clear to me that my life was not headed in a direction where I wanted it to be – namely, 25+ years of corporate servitude to be eventually interrupted by either downsizing or some creative, public, and quite graphic form of suicide (or what I like to call, societal downsizing). I instituted a 4-part plan to put myself where I want to be, or at least in a position where I would be able to choose among several possibilities. I am happy to say that as of this Friday, half of this plan will have already neared completion, and the other half is dependent upon completing the grad school stuff I’ve already discussed. And it only took 25 years to do! Who knows – in another 25, I just might be married, or perhaps, I will be in grad school.

Moving Out; Death of a Campus Fixture

March 4, 2005 in Life | No comments

The break was long, but at least it was eventful. I finally made good on my threats over the past year or so and moved out. I got my own apartment in Beaverton, and am beginning to realize once again what it is to be an independent person. Basically, it sucks. Yesterday I got to clean the bathroom and kitchen, after first cooking myself dinner (chicken and rice) and subsequently doing the dishes.

Today I had to go out for lunch (chicken and rice) because I forgot to buy lunch meat at the store, and tomorrow I’ll have to have either chicken and rice or pancakes for breakfast, as I broke my toaster for the third time since moving. I’m beginning to see why some people stay at home as long as they possibly can, and why when they move out, they spend more than $8.00 on a toaster.

Really, my place is pretty nice. It’s about 900 square feet, two bedrooms, one bath, with a fireplace, a balcony, and a nice view of Mt. Hood on a clear day. I have vaulted ceilings in the living room and a place to settle into my comfy leather chair and watch the history channel, all with a presto log burning in the fireplace. Oh yes, all the comforts one can get for roughly $600 a month. While I like it, I still hope to be able to afford to buy a place within the next year or so.

In other news… well, there really isn’t a whole lot going on. I’ve been spending time acclimating myself to the Portland area, going to Blazers games, and of course, working. Work is going well- I must be doing something right as I recently got a raise and a nice bonus, which will hopefully go a long ways towards finally getting the Mustang painted, which is tentatively on the docket for late spring-early summer ’05.

No update this week would be complete without mentioning the passing of a legend. The University of Oregon community was rocked on Tuesday by the sudden death of a fixture of the University neighborhood – Hatoon. I, like many UO alum, first knew Hatoon as the woman who lived under a blue tarp in front of the library. Over the past few years, she migrated south on Kincaid to a spot under an oak next the university bookstore, where she slept every night under the familiar blue tarp.

I never really spoke with her, only heard passing comments and a few times simply said hello, but in my time working on campus, I came to know her well – if from a bit of a distance. I knew that she would not speak with me, because I was normally dressed as a cop. I knew that she would always be wearing lipstick, and usually some fashion of bandana or hat. What stood out though were the things that made her different – how she would walk around picking up litter late at night after the local bars had closed, how I never once saw her ask anyone for anything, and how she nearly always had a bouquet of flowers waiting for her on her bench. She will be remembered long after the last people to walk past her have left the University, and there is something about that that is very comforting.

To read more about Hatoon’s life, and death, click on any of the following links:

Campus icon dead after automobile accident - Oregon Daily Emerald

Losing Hatoon - Oregon Daily Emerald

Chris Goes Home; Becomes JFK.

June 1, 2004 in Life, Work | No comments

It’s the end of an era. My move this weekend of the rest of my belongings from Eugene to McMinnville - hopefully a brief stopover before finally reaching their home in Portland, has officially signified the end of college. From now on, when I visit for football games, weddings, and the occasional Ems game, I will truly just be visiting.

I thought that it might be a little more emotional than it was. Really, I was without emotion- save for the pain from my over-exerted back. Then again, I’m not sure pain is an emotion- at least not temporary, mild pain.

It might need to be a little stronger to really gain emotion status. Who knows… for now though, I am through with Eugene – for a while anyway.

It’s been a rather eventful couple of weeks for me – sandwiched between two weekends, three cars and a trailer filled with belongings making the trek 100 miles north was one vehicular disaster, a birthday, and a new job. First, the most important- the Mustang is injured.

My JFK complex has reared its ugly head again, this time in the form of a mysterious object striking my Mustang while I was moving it from Eugene to McMinnville. Whatever it was – thinking logically, I’m assuming it was a rock or a pipe or something flying up from the road, it hit my fender, taking with it a nice-sized gouge of metal and paint, before finding a final resting place on the road behind my car, after of course, destroying my windshield. Of course, this is what I told the insurance woman. I, however, know that there is something far more sinister afoot.

I am convinced someone was taking shots at me. I heard the crash of the impact on my fender, jerked my head back, and to the right, and then heard the shattering of the windshield just before being pelted by chunks of glass about my face and neck. There was no blood, but after I got off to the side of the road, I did have to check. I got out of the car, surveyed the damage, looked around, then quickly sought shelter within the confines of my car, then sped off… I guess the bastard didn’t have another round, or I would have been finished.

For those of you who were not aware, I have long thought that I was in fact John F. Kennedy. Not only am I a liberal, but I share a birthday (May 29), and an affinity for Marilyn Monroe. Oh yeah – and I have been haunted by dreams of being felled in a hail of gunfire since I was about 8. Then, of course, came the really spooky bits… The times when people were taking pictures of me from outside my house (this really did happen – if you can hunt Brian down, he could tell you…) and of course, the time I was eating lunch in the Bimmer, one window down, and the other simply up and shattered – surely a shot that missed only so slightly.

Some of you may view these as simple coincidences, but everything adds up to the fact that someone wants me gone. Perhaps this was the true reason I did not take Anne up on her offer to join Julie and her at the Safeco office in Dallas when the PD unit was “centralized” to Seattle… It was bad enough when I looked up from my Burger King lunch the other day to see that I was in fact eating lunch in front of the Oregon Textbook Depository – do I really need to tempt fate by going to Dallas?

But, I digress… I suppose we’ll all find out when I run for president in 2020.

Moving on, I turned 24 over the weekend - a rather unspectacular number, but a pretty good birthday, aside from the moving bit. The girls at work decorated my cube on Wednesday, took me out for drinks on Thursday, and served me hot wings, cheesecake, and salad Friday at lunch. Saturday, my actual birthday, kind of sucked, as I was moving all day, but Sunday was good, spent hanging out with Miller, Patrick, and Derek in Beaverton. Yesterday was a family get-together, combining barbeque, cake, and presents with the joy of a three day weekend. Technically, the tradition of “birthday,” started three years ago, is alive and well, as I am still receiving gifts. Only time will tell if there will be another May 66th update, as there was all those years ago…

Finally, last but not least, I got a job as a bodily injury adjuster at Safeco. This is good for a few reasons – first, it is a more challenging position and a step up from the bottom of the ladder (though a side-step financially), second, it is relative job security, which is always a good thing, given the developments of the last few months. Hopefully, this will lead to me feeling comfortable enough to actually get a place of my own in the Portland area very soon (I’m hoping by the end of the month.) Then again, I’ve been repeating that refrain since late December, so I’ll probably be saying the same thing this time next year – only then my words will be blurred by a few more tears.

Work Continues; Baseball is Approaching

March 31, 2004 in Sports, Website, Work | No comments

Well, I needed a March update, so I guess you could say that I’ve been under the gun. It’s not that March has been uneventful, it’s just that it’s been tough to string together the time to make a truly good update. So, in lieu of a truly good update, I offer this: an update. (somewhere, someone just pressed the “back” button on their browser…)

March was, in spite of the lack of updates, really pretty good. Work has been going well, and I’m really beginning to feel as though I fit.

I’m getting the hang of my job, and I’m actually starting to feel pretty productive. On top of all that, I get along with my co-workers, despite the playful ribbing and continued “golden boy” taunts.

Life away from work has also been pretty good of late. In the last month we’ve had about ten days of legitimate sunshine, including a couple of days where the temperature was dangerously close to eighty degrees. With the sunshine, the trees have begun to blossom and it growing more and more apparent that we’re only about a week away from days packed with a full MLB schedule- yes, life is indeed good. (how’s that for a positive paragraph?)

Speaking of positive paragraphs, I’ve received some feedback lately critiquing the negativity on this site… in response to that, I guess I could promise to attempt to accentuate the positive a bit more, but I’m not sure that would be very honest. After all, I try to write what is currently on my mind. For instance, at the present time I’m pretty happy, despite a few unneeded developments at work and the continued transition from a comfortable, cozy existence in Eugene to one in my new (old) home where I suddenly know very few people. In all, everything is going well, and it is not lost on me. But at the same time, if something is really bothering me, or something is on my mind, I am likely to write about it whether it is euphoric or as depressing as anything that’s ever graced these pages. With that said, it’s sometimes a lot easier to write a narrative of recent events if I have the freedom to include some of the trials and tribulations of the daily life of pratt… not to the degree that it would be self-pity, but to just enough to make me laugh a little when I read it in a few months.

In other words, any negativity seen on the opening page of this site is there mostly to serve as comic fodder, and is not evidence of any deep-seeded malaise hiding just under my surface. No, my deep-seeded malaise is out there for all to see…

Finally Working; Visiting Eugene

February 23, 2004 in Life, Travel, Work | No comments

After four weeks, the reality of living as a regular working stiff is beginning to set in. Sure, I was going to work daily before I left for Seattle, but I wasn’t really working. Now, I am actually doing something- talking to people on the phone, listening to the various excuses people give in an attempt to let me know that it’s not really their fault for hitting that car that was parked and minding its own business on the side of the street… it’s gone quite well so far- I’ve only been cussed at a few times, been hung up on twice, and heard one lecture on Benny Hinn. Then again, I’m only getting a paltry three claims a day, so I still may crack when I’m upped to unlimited.

Normally I would have started a post with something non-work related, but really my life has been consumed with work of late. I leave the house in McMinnville at 6:40am, arrive in Lake Oswego at about 7:45, work until 4:30pm, hit the road immediately and arrive back at home in McMinnville anywhere between 5:30 and 6:30pm, depending on traffic. In other words, I don’t do a whole lot more than work during the week. As a testament to this, I have gone out precisely six times on weeknights since starting my job on December 15 (not counting the Seattle excursions). This must change- and to facilitate change, I must move out of McMinnville. This would free up the roughly three hours I spend in my car each day for fun stuff, like Blazer games, riding bikes, looking at stuff, and most importantly, NOT cursing at the jackass trying to merge into the right quarter panel of my car on highway 99w east of Dundee every night at 5:15pm. What a life it would be… hopefully it will be a reality by March 1.

Despite my commute, I have managed to have a pretty good time the last couple of weekends. Two weekends ago I traveled to Eugene with Derek and went out with Miller, Wells, Autumn, and last but certainly not least, Gio. We didn’t do too much- hit a few bars, talked a lot, and I lost my requisite three games of pool, but it was great to see Gio again. That Saturday was Valentine’s day, and the evening was spent by first going to ice cream with Vanessa, then picking up my honorary Valentine Leah and going to Sam Bond’s Garage to see one of her co-workers’ bands. It was pretty fun, but I didn’t know anyone so I was a little on the quiet side… but it was live music, and Leah, so I had fun nonetheless.

There have been a few adventures, I guess… traveling to Portland one Sunday with Miller to partake in “Sunday Sportsday,” for instance. We first saw the Blazers beat the Seattle Supersonics at the Rose Garden in what was to be Rasheed Wallace’s last game as a Blazer, then we walked over to Memorial Coliseum where we purchased tickets to the Portland Winterhawks game against Moose Jaw. In other words, we saw two sporting events in the span of six hours, interrupted only by the hour or so we had to kill by walking around the Oregon Convention Center and MLK Boulevard. It was a busy, full day that in turn led to a couple hundred miles of driving over the weekend, but it was really fun, and I got to buy my discounted Bonzi Wells #6 jersey at the Blazer team store.

Aside from that, I’ve really accomplished very little in the last month. I went out with Bambi on Saturday (nothing beats the McMinnville club scene… sigh.) and I saw Neil Young with Wells and Ma and Pa Wells on Friday, but aside from those outings, it’s really been a so-so couple of weeks in the northern Willamette Valley. I guess that’s the reason I’ve chosen the picture that I have for this update. I snapped it out the passenger side window of the Bimmer one morning on my way to work. Really, it’s not all the good of a picture- it’s all blurry, and the colors aren’t quite as brilliant as they were in person. However, it’s a good reminder of what it is to live here. However little a photo of Mt. Hood against a sunrise may mean in the scheme of things, it’s something that you just can’t see in Eugene, and it’s just one little reason why I’m glad to be back in the Portland area.

Sorry- no introspective diatribe on this round of Saturatedpratt… I guess I’ll save that for the next time, although I have appreciated the feedback from the last update. As for the things I am working on for this site- I’ve been gradually adding to three major projects, and I think I’m beginning another… the only question is whether or not I will actually progress far enough in any of them to put anything online. I suspect I will, at least with two of them. So in case you‘re at all interested, feel free to check the writings page for one short story, and possibly a longer story, or series of stories in the near future… I don’t know what it is really, it’s still taking shape. That’s it for now.

The Great White North

January 24, 2004 in Life, Travel, Work | No comments

“I went to Canada and all I got was this headache…”

I’ve seen people wearing shirts with slogans very similar to this in the past. True, in these cases the subject of the slogan is usually the shirt itself, but in my case my shirt reads “Canucks” and has an orca stretched across its front. That has little to do with this post though, and more to do with the fact that I bought a hockey shirt in Canada, which really isn’t news. I also bought a sandwich at Arby’s in Canada, but you don’t see me writing about it. (oh, shut up.)

Back to the headache thing… it’s really only partially true, I suppose. While it cannot be denied that the overarching impression left by my recent jaunt to the great white north is that of incredible drama, there really was much more to the trip than watching the destruction of a beautiful two-week old friendship.

Really, it was a story of unrequited love, jealousy, adventure, monopoly money, illicit consumer goods, depression, alcohol, insurance, laughter, sadness, and an underlying sense of passion and romance known only to those who have truly experienced an entire evening culminating in one single moment of intimacy, the kind known only to those who have been fortunate enough to gaze into a pair of eyes so intently, but for only the briefest of moments, so as to catch a glimpse of a person’s very soul, stay long enough to recognize and absorb it, and then to simply walk away.

Of course, all this is in the eye of the beholder, and all of it is really quite subjective.

For the most part, this was a typical weekend away- atypical only in the detail that the overwhelming majority of those on the trip had never know the other parties before our adventure to Seattle, and after it was all done, it was nearly certain that we would see each other just about as often as before. The typical tourist behavior was experienced- picture taking, slack-jawed stares at architecture, Cuban cigar purchases, the awe experienced in getting an extra thirty cents for every dollar spent and the subsequent math involved in trying to find out if my New York steak was cheaper in British Columbia or New York. (verdict: inconclusive… I’ve never been to New York, though I imagine it costs more there.) Finally, what trip to a foreign land would be complete without copious amounts of alcohol?

In all, the trip to Canada was really a little surreal. In a little under a day, I was able to leave the US for the first time in my life, I made a bank teller laugh by exchanging the paltry sum of ten dollars for Canadian currency, I heard a British waiter speak Spanish with a Manchester accent, I was able to shed all self consciousness and go dancing (technically, I danced more in Seattle, but who’s counting?), and last but not least, I was able to save an entire vacation with the purchase of a hotdog and the reacquisition of a long lost coat. (Well, not really, but it’s nice to pretend.)

For some, the experience of 24 hours across the border was nowhere near what it was supposed to be. It was filled with fighting, awkwardness, and resentment- all on a weekend, on a vacation from a vacation.

For me however, it was a revelation. In one flashing moment, I was bowled over by a vision- not one of those lame-ass visions of Mary that always pop up in the exposed aluminum on the backs of street signs across the southwest, but rather the type that keeps an artist awake at night, wishing only to sleep so that he could dream the images he knows he cannot create.

In many ways, I think that I have always fancied myself as a bit of a romantic, whether hopeless or not. I have always believed that in life, the things most important are not measured in dollars earned or competitors bested, but rather relationships built, loves won and lost, and emotions, good and bad, known to each person throughout a lifetime. What is becoming abundantly clear is that in some ways the life of the romantic is built around disappointment. The victories are not what are measured and counted, rather it is the emotion- the thrill and wanderlust of a single moment, followed by the hope that it inspires. In the end, it is the belief that it all might happen again that reigns supreme, and the notion that if it does, it may even be better than before. If the moment doesn’t repeat itself, it is always remembered, and is appreciated like nothing else.

Any number of events can take place in a persons life, but these images and fleeting occurrences are what are truly remembered- a flash of a smile, the sound of her laughter, a lock of her brown hair, or the sweet awkwardness experienced just before a first kiss. These are the things in life that through all the years and relationships, are always easily recalled, and at the very least bring a smile to our faces and help us to remember how fortunate we are to be able to experience this life. In some cases they consist of a culmination of experiences with a person, and sometimes they are the result of a single moment in time.

Sometimes they are created by the most beautiful pair of eyes I have seen in years.

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 Job

December 11, 2003 in Life, Website, Work | No comments

Well, for only the third time in its seven-year existence, my web page has moved. That’s right, Saturatedpratt.com has launched and left the University of Oregon and its Gladstone server behind with the other cast off servers of the past.

So, what prompted this move you may ask? Well, aside from the burning desire to spend money on something I can get for free (namely, web hosting), I am finally leaving the University of Oregon. That’s right, Mr. Pratt got a job.

This weekend I’ll be moving up north to begin working as an insurance claims representative. I know, it’s a corporate job and seems to be contrary to my previous post’s celebrity guest appearance, but they’re willing to pay me money to work, and do so during the daytime. So, for once and for all, goodbye Officer Pratt, hello Corporate Whore Pratt! (For brevity, you can call me C.W. Pratt, but not C.W- that’s taken.)

Over the next couple months I’ll probably be splitting my time between McMinnville, where I will live with my parents during the workweek, and Eugene, where I will attempt to preserve independent Chris on the weekends. We’ll see how it goes, but if I start asking for permission to drink a beer, I’ll know that it’s really time to get a place of my own. Really, it shouldn’t be too bad… for the short term anyway. It’s definitely going to be weird though.

For now, it looks like I’ll eventually be moving to the Portland area sometime after I get back from my training in Seattle in January or February. Hopefully Derek and I will be able to find some sort of nice, inexpensive shelter. I feel pretty bad for leaving Greg and Wells earlier than I thought I would, but I’m going to continue sending down rent and using the place as much as possible until either my lease runs out or they find a replacement. Then again, who could replace me?

As far as the what happened the rest of the time between now and my last update, the following events occurred in order: A drunk guy on his bike crashed in to my parked car and damaged the left front fender, Simon and Garfunkel were awesome live in Seattle, I met “Jesus” while patrolling the EMU one night, I had my first Krispy Kreme, the Ducks turned their season around, won the Civil War, and will play in the Sun Bowl, Thanksgiving came and brought with it cheesecake and stuffing, the Twins didn’t hire me, and Linfield lost to a team named the Johnnies. That’s about it.

Stay tuned for more frequent updates, as I now have most of the other pages on this site fully functioning, and of course, I now have more incentive in actually updating the page.

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