Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome

My parents flew in Thursday morning. This was their first visit to lovely Oregon, and Portland could not have been more welcoming. It rained, hailed, rained, snowed, and rained. Sometimes within a ten minute span. That isn't to say that we never saw the sun. It would come out sometimes while it was hailing, or just long enough to make us think we might be able to catch a glimpse of the mountain only to fall short. Here are some things we did.

We drove out to the gorge...














And looked at waterfalls...




















And walked around under them...












And stood above them... (giving my mother a heart attack)


















got very wet and cold...














..and ran away.


















Unless we were asked to take a picture, of course.






After that we sort of stopped taking pictures. We did a lot of other stuff, mostly involving a lot of food, shopping, and walking in the rain. We also managed to run two red lights, have a hot dog thrown at our car, get drunk off of wine samples at swanky wineries (maybe that was just me), and see a man playing golf in some pants I know none of us will ever forget. Did I mention that we ate a lot? Well, we did.

Our Hearts Weep with Joy. Or is it Fear?

The only ingredient you can't see is mayo. Lots and lots of mayo.

M,M,M,My Sharona

We were invited to a screening of Reality Bites with some of the law students on Thursday. It was playing at the Laurelhurst theater. This is one of the pros we had on our pro/con list for moving to Portland. Movie theaters that serve beer and pizza (and wine, popcorn, candy, and soda), and play whatever movie strikes their fancy. I can't believe it took us nearly seven months to make it to this type of place, but we will be going back often. Can you do better than a $3 movie, a meal you can enjoy while you watch, and a show that the audience knows so well that nobody cares when people get up to buy more beer or speak to the screen. No you can't do better.
Actually of the eight of us that were there, only the three girls had seen the movie. We were appalled that none of the guys had seen this work of art that defined at least some small part of our preteen years. At least now the men know the wonder that is Ethan Hawke delivering cheesy lines in a cloud of chain smoke. I know they were dying to mark that off their life goal list.

Talk Amongst Yourselves

Ok, we are a little slow with this whole blogger thing, but I think we recently figured out that we can allow people to comment without having to get an account. That means if any of you have considered commenting and didn't feel like going through the process, or did it once but forgot your password later, you should be able to comment anytime now. If someone wants to give this a try and let us know for sure, that would be great.

A Jolly Good Game

Sergio decided on Wednesday that he had gone far too long without an injury and joined the undergraduate Rugby team. Today, they had their first match against Reed College. You can see in the pictures that Sergio is on the team without matching uniforms, or even enough players. Despite all of this it was a good match. I think it was anyway. How would I know, having never seen so much as a rugby ball before today. This is one brutal sport. The willingness of these guys to throw themselves full force, without pads, into another human being is astounding. The sound of rugby is something all to itself. Football is marked by the clicking of pads and grunting, but rugby is the horrifying thud of skin smacking against skin. And once in awhile, the scream of agony that comes from a player separating his shoulder. Followed closely by an even louder scream as the ref pops it back into place, whether the guy wants him to or not.
I have to say, as a first time spectator, this might be the greatest sport ever. It is so fast, and rough, and constantly shifting. You can't get bored! As far as I can tell, the game never stops. Actually, it did stop for the shoulder thing and the guy with the bleeding mouth, but that was it.
Sergio seemed to be doing well. He tackled a lot of people, got right into the Rucks and Scrums, and he even had a special job where he got to yank another person up by their shorts so they could tip a ball. Often, I would be looking for him on the field and as a ruck fell apart, he would come crawling out from the bottom of the pile. Needless to say, he is in a lot of pain. His shins are scraped, his knees will be black and blue, something is growing out of his arm, and he can't take deep breaths or turn his head. What a game!
And after the match, both teams got together and gave three cheers to each other and then the ref. In the next moment, Reed (the winners) began a chant and ran in a circle. Inside that circle the two new players that had scored stripped naked and ran all the way down the field. I wish I could say they seemed embarrassed.
Rucks, scrums, body-slamming, and public nudity. What's not to like?

When Good Glands Go Bad

We spent three hours at the Emergency Vet last night after we realized that Eliot's rear-end resembled a baboons and it was about twice it's normal size. Anal Gland Abscess. Already so bad that he had to be put under sedation to cut it out. What follows are pictures of Eliot waking up from the drugs. He is totally fine, so we felt it was okay to laugh and take pictures.