Summer Photos

In no particular order...

The wedding of Jake and Jen Bakker

Amy's feet at the beach we discovered close to our house

PGE Park

Cycle Oregon

Ruger and myself enjoying the Columbia

Ty!

Twitter

A familiar process:

1. Have No interest in a new technology

2. Judge others who are apparently addicted to new technology (ideally, this is the point where you make an outlandish claim that you will NEVER use this new technology)

3. Divert attention elsewhere when new technology is mentioned in pop culture

4. Get really bored one day

5. Sign up for new technology, under a smug pretense such as "I am just going to see what all THOSE people are talking about"

6. Enjoy new technology, and prepare to consume an expertly prepared crow

So follow me on Twitter! @japes1365

Cycle Oregon 2 - The Revenge of the Bike Seat

My second Cycle Oregon weekend was a minor success! I reached a level of physical preparedness on par with John Kruk reporting to spring training. Amy and I logged somewhere around 75 miles over the weekend. Not bad considering the serious lack of "saddle time" we had before the weekend. When I was younger, I struggled to understand when people said things like "I would love to, but I don't have the time". Now, I get it. With all the things I would like to do more of (or at all), it seems this statement defines reality. This is not a bad thing, but a fact with which we must live.

To say I was physically unprepared is actually not entirely correct. I was thankful for the workout schedule Amy and I have been pretty religious about. The problem, as any bike rider will sympathize with, was that I simply hadn't sat on my bike for that long in many months;meaning I lacked a certain type of preparation. [DISTURBING TERM AHEAD] My friends and I refer to the type of preparation as the "A$$ Callous". For the first few rides of the year your rear end will cause you to question your interest in the sport of bicycle ridery. After that, it gets better. Sometimes it stops ailing you all-together (every time I say that I think of "Airplane!" and a group of people repeating my sentence). There is no explainable reason for the pain going away, but the phenomena has been dubbed the "A$$ Callous".

Recap of day 1:

• Wow, this is beautiful
• Cool, a hill
• Nice, a pit stop
• Wow, this is beautiful
• Man, my wife is looking good
• Great, another pit stop
• Ouch, my rear
• Wow, this is pretty, but Ouch, my rear
• Alright!, all finished, lets drink a beer

Recap of Day 2:

• Ouch, my rear
• Optimism, this will probably go away soon
• OK, I can tough this out
• Calculating distance back to camp
• Yahoo, A$$ Callous achieved!
• Armstrong-ing this hill
• Amy is an animal, going over steep grades like speed-bumps
• Wow, this is beautiful country
• Success!, lets drink a beer and toast the trip!

The area around Monmouth is spectacular and the roads are so smooth. We will be back for more next year, hopefully somewhere new to us in Oregon!

Worky Worky

As I sat here in my office last night at 6:30pm, putting the cap on another 12 hour day, I was thankful that I enjoy engineering. I often talk to people who not only dislike their JOB, but also their WORK. This is what I was born to do: Build... From Lego bricks to structural steel, I have always loved creating things. Cheers to liking your work! (even for those who don't love their job)

Welcome Nephew

My nephew, Ty, was born July 3^rd in Klamath Falls! He was 8lbs 8oz and mom and baby are perfectly healthy! I am so thankful that he came on a weekend and I was able to drive down with Amy and see everyone, especially Ty! It was so hard to leave on Monday, but we will be back as often as possible…

When a new human comes along, it is a display of great potential and promise. It is a reminder of how beautiful it is to be truly objective, notion-less. Adults are called to think about what he could be. Me, I have one hope for him: That he will always be passionate.

Love will come to Ty easily, being surrounded as he will with caring people. He will be strong, courageous, compassionate, and courteous; a true man, as he will have in his company many true men. He will work, when the time comes, with great diligence as his family always has. All of these things and more will be passed on to him to supplement his built-in character by his parents and family. There is one thing, however, which he must learn on his own: passion!

The only constant element of greatness carried on from past generations is passion. The person’s personality deems their passion compass or rudder. Regardless, it is clear that from passion comes direction. The application of passion varies WILDLY. I am, for instance, passionate about family, engineering, music, and playing ball (to name a few). All are part of my greater passion for learning and living. Whatever his passion turns out to be, I know he will do great things and I am thankful to be a part of his life, wherever it goes!

Baseball Season and Travels

Baseball season is underway, and so begins the best time of the year. Vancouver weather is turning, weekend markets are opening, and people have already started wearing insufficient clothing (yes I am talking to you, guy whose shirt didn’t pass the belly test). It has been too long since my last blog post, but I am hoping to get back on track. Work has been very busy for me. Things are ramping up right now and the engineering department has been fighting to keep up. This is great, it just means I spend a lot more time at work and come home not wanting to look at a computer screen.

In Major League Baseball action, my Giants are on a terror and my Red Sox are making it possible for other teams to be on a terror. It seems the success of my favorite teams is inversely proportional. It is great to see San Francisco doing well though, the bay could use some success. Keep an eye on the Giants this year… the only thing they lack is depth in case of injury.

A lot has gone on since my last post. Amy and I visited family in Bellingham, WA for Easter (Glenn and Priya). We attended the farmer’s market up there and sampled some of the local IPA at lunch, along with some sweet potato fries. Good stuff on all counts. The highlight of the trip was being around little kids for Easter. Glenn and Priya have a 2.5 year old and a 7 month old. Also, we got to try some authentic Indian food as prepared by Priya. Delicious lamb curry was served to my delight.

We went home to Merrill for my sister’s baby shower. I still cannot believe that I will be an uncle soon, it is awesome! It was nice to be back and see everyone. I will always love the high desert and the weather was excellent. We visited with family and some great friends that we really miss up North. Shooting trap and some 0.22 blasting always hits the spot. It is so hard to come back to work after a weekend like that.

Amy and I are really enjoying Vancouver, realizing more and more how much we like it here. I have joined a softball league with games on Monday. We have joined a gym up here that we enjoy. Last weekend we went to Ester Shore Park in downtown Vancouver and spent some time perusing the farmer’s market. If you are in town on a Saturday or Sunday you should definitely check this out. The food vendors are diverse and the local products are really high quality. It doesn’t have quite the variety of the Portland Saturday Market, but it has its own flavor. I tried paella at the farmer’s market in Vancouver and I have become a fan!

We have recently met the neighbors up here in the Couve. We were hanging out one night and saw them outside (two sets of neighbors) drinking something in red cups. I, knowing that red cups are the universal sign of good times and never contain non-mischievous liquid, went over to introduce them to my wife and me. We immediately hit it off with them and proceeded to drink McNaughton (yeah, that’s right, just like old times) and BS. It is certainly nice to know people close to you. We really enjoy our neighborhood.

I hope to get back to regularly posting again. I miss blogging and realize that I need to take time, no matter how busy work and life become.

The Gym

I maintain that there is more awkward accidental eye contact at the gym than anywhere else. Someone feel free to tell me of a place that trumps...