The first step to recover starts with. . .

I'll start this post off with an adventure i wasn't even a part of. But since i'm family i can tell the story. While i was "busy" in Southern Oregon winning over the heart of a promicuous cougar, my very own Riley was having an adventure of his own. Uncle Dan being the draft, fresh breeze loving individual that he is, left a window cracked one afternoon. Before he knew it, Riley was out of the house and no where to be found (at least that's the story). I believe his offical escape was on Thursday, time uknown, and returned early Sunday morning. Apparently, Riley sat outside of Dan's bedroom window and screamed until he was let into the house. He ran straight to his food bowl, devoured it's contents and headed to the bedroom for a day long rest. Since his little weekend adventure in the quiet streets of southeast Portland, Riley has been venturing outside daily. He comes home every night for dinner and then again shortly after dark to cuddle up in a nice warm bed. In the morning, he's off again. So far he's managed to keep out of trouble but he's an Everline through and through, it's bound to happen sometime.

The ferocious Riley sneaking back into the house.

I've heard, usually jokingly, that the first step to confronting addction is admitting that you have a problem. Well. . .i'm an addict. I have a problem and i'm not in any rush to turn my back on myself now. Trish, Willy, Shawn and Todd. . .it's all your fault. Ever since i was told to "walk it off," when i broke my leg playing soccer, i've been hooked. The weekend following Memorial Day i was asked to participate in the PSU 5-a-side tournament, a prestigous tournament that brings some of the best Portland has to offer in football. I cautiously accepted, seeing as i've been playing coed and haven't felt a heavy tackle in nearly two years. The tourney started on Saturday at 9.30 with our first game. We walked away with a pretty simple victory and continued winning throughout the day. It has been a long time since i've been involved in a soccer tournament. I forget how much i love being surrounded by soccer. There is always a good vibe and plenty of hooliganism going on. We entered the knockout round top seed for our group. Our first game was pretty easy but the second game of the day looked like it was going to be a blood bath. The team we were set to play had just punished the 2nd place team in Group B 15-2. Anxiously awaiting a challenge we got behind early to start the game. We slowly got our feet under us and by the final whistle we had the advantage 6-2. The team was poised for the finals. Our competition was the Concordia University's Men's team. The kids were no slouches. To start. . .they were kids, quick, fit, physical, kids. Fortunately, the team i was playing for was the Condordia University's Alumni team. In the end youth won out over experience 6-4.

I don't know if anyone is counting here but that's 6 games for the weekend so far. But it's not over. Like a meth addict who just scored a new box of Sudafed, i had more football in front of me. I ran to Pizzacatto to refuel and head off for my coed indoor double header. I thought to myself. . .about the only good thing that can come out if this is me still standing with no sprains, strains, or broken bones. I was just about there, only two more games to go. What i didn't realize is that playing those young bucks make the coed circuit seem like the game was in slow motion. Even though i was exhausted i was still holding my own. We won our first game 17-1, by the end of the game our opponents had two extra players on the field. The second game proved to be a little more of a challenge but we still came out victorious, 9-4. By the time the whistle blew for the second game i had weathered 8 games over the course of two days. I won't throw in the mix the 3 other games i was scheduled to play in before week's end. All-in-all i walked away with nothing more than a great sense of pride that my old, joint creaking body, managed 8 matches in two days, a 2nd place finish in a difficult tournament, my first goal via header (i had two that weekend and another off my boot) and back to back hatricks in indoor. Not bad for a junkie.

Soccer-holics. Finally there is a place to meet.

So back to Memorial Day weekend. I didn't really do too much for my extended weekend. Spring was in the air so Dan and i did some minor "improvements" around the house/yard. Optomisitic (but terribly wrong) that the nice weather would hold, we decided to work on the lighting (or lack there of) situation in the backyard. We settled on large christmas like bulbs to string over the span of our brick patio. After looking over the logistics we opted more for the classic tree stringing effect. After a game of twister in the tree it was time to plant some veggies and herbs. Plenty of tomatoes, some peppers (which i hear don't grow in Oregon) and a few standard herbs. To break away from homely duties, Dan, the Newlyweds, myself and a couple other friends went spectating at the Timbers game. It was a highly contested match but in the end Portland walked away with their first loss of the season. After the game we went out for some drinks at one of the many McMenamin Brother's joints around the city. The McMenamin's have built a an entire empire of funky bars, hotels, and movie theaters all over the Pacific Northwest, including our beloved neighborhood movie theater, the Bagdad. They took a funeral parlour and turned it into a bar and an old elemtary school into several bars, movie theater, resturaunt and hotel. They've done it all. I took a break from drinking, housekeeping and more drinking to take a hike through Portland jewel Forest Park. The trails were essentially empty so Michelle and i enjoyed the quiet wilderness and fog filled treetops.

Here i am playing a game of tree top twister trying to string up some backyard lighting. I know. . .it's not nearly as impressive as topping a dead hickory tree but i'm trying here.

I wish i could say the backyard is always this light and bright all Spring but i'd be lying. I'll take what i can get though.

Here's captain ferocious holding down the fort.

Nothing like a friendly game of snooker after a football match and a flask of whiskey.

This is just and example of some of the quirky artwork the McMenamin Brothers put in their establishments. This was done in chalk on a 12 foot wide chalkboard.

The Timber Army taunting in full effect.

The fog filled canopy of Forest Park.

As we get futher into the "spring" here in the Pacific Northwest the rain continues to fall. We scored a nice day this past Sunday but i was running on two whole hours of sleep so some of it was spent napping. The rest of it i was. . .believe it or not. . .playing soccer. I hope this finds you all in good health, good spirits and good weather. Don't let a little rain scare you, we like it wet here, so should you.

The beautiful thing about Portland is. . .

The easy answer would obviously be the surrounding natural beauty; the 30 minute drive into the Columbia River Gorge, the 60 minute drive to the year-round snow capped Mt Hood, the 90 minute drive to the rocky Oregon coast, or any of the undulating forests in between. But those answer are all to obvious and thus. . .to easy. The real beauty about Portland is. . .it's women. Just to clarify, it's not all the woman in pdx but rather a specific sub group. Not the hipsters on Alberta street, the Pearl girls, or the dreaded, unbathed hippies of the southeast. . .but the lovely footballing chicas of the north. Portland is home of. . .University of Portland. U of P has been known to produce some of the finest women footballers in American women's footballing history. Well. . .guess what. . .i have been fortunate enough to play with several of our local products. I am currently playing on three teams, all of which have superb talent. My Tuesday team, Smut Koala (a name i wished i had come up with myself but apparently there are others just as creative in this city), has the privilege of our goal being tended by one of the best. But seriously, where else would you expect a woman of this caliber to go after returning from training with the US Women's National Team but our very own Smut Koala? To put things in perspective, she's not an indoor keeper and it was obvious in her first game playing with "Smutty." She charged hard out of the area and plowed a few players down in the process. In her second game she took to the new venue and, although we lost, frustrated the opposing team's strikers. All i know is. . .i'm in love with footballing women. Not in the biblical sense because. . .let's be honest, they are a typically a little too "sturdy" for my taste. But damn if i don't love them anyway.

Speaking of love. . .have i mentioned how much i love being able to travel by bike in this city? I must have mentioned this once or twice. I sometimes find myself suffering with bouts of schizophrenia. When driving, i hate all bikers, they are brazen and most of them have a death wish. When i'm biking i hate cars, pedestrians, and even a lot of my fellow bikers (typically just those in spandex, the slow movers in yellow rain gear don't bother me so much). Just today, on my ride home, i had a woman (not a footballer obviously) stop her car and shake her finger at me. That's right mom. . .this woman had the nerve to shake her finger at your baby. Some people. The story goes: I was nearing a traffic circle and per standard biking protocol, rolled through the stop sign (which if you ask me, traffic circles were designed so that you didn't need a stop sign in the first place). Surprisingly, she saw me coming and stopped her car before i ever reached the intersection. I just smiled and waved as i took advantage of her courtesy. Hell. . .she didn't even have a stop sign but she let me go anyway. Maybe she was too busy worrying about that twitching hand of hers.

So while i'm spilling all these loving feelings i get an ache in my stomach. I can only be complimentary for so long. . .right? As many states are diligently enforcing rules about using cell phones while driving (honestly they'd be better off making public places smoke free), Stumptown is a cell phone users paradise. Not only can you chat away while driving but you can text too. Better yet. . .i've seen people riding their bikes and talking on their cell phone. Even better than that (but wait there's more!), in the past week i have passed two (count them, two) people texting and biking at the same time. No hands on the handlebars, no eyes looking ahead for stop sign running cars (because bikers never run stop signs. . .oh wait) but just sheer, mindless texting. Now that's what i call freedom. By the way, Portland has passed a smoking ban this will take effect Jan 1, 2009.

That's it. short (i think) and sweet. I needed to get that all out of my head before i could get some sleep. Sorry i don't have any pics to post but it's hard to ride and shoot at the same time but i'll work on it.