Early Holiday Wishes

Usually I wait until this coming Friday to extend this special holiday wish, but the mood has struck me tonight:

GO

!!!!!

BEAT
ARMY
!!!!!

Did You Get That Memo?

Apparently, not.

I received an e-mail today from a (still bitter, apparently) Sooners fan. I thought I'd share, and respond here:

just found your blog looks good. the reason to
email i wanted to know ifthat phony call against the sooners was worth it seeing
how your seasonended up. at least i hope your a honest duck fan not many of them
you willagree the sooners got screwed. hell the repaly offical quit because he
newthey blew it. keep up the good writing and by the way
BOOMERSOONERS!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, J, thanks for the compliment. Yeah, we had a bit of a let-down in the latter stages of our season, didn't we? I saw it coming, I'm afraid, during the Cal game. As for whether that "Phony" call was worth it, well, since I don't believe in karma, and thus don't believe there's any causal realtionship between the UO-OU game and the rest of our season, It's rather a moot point, isn't it? But if gloating over the Would I prefer we had beaten the Sooners without the controversy? Sure. But that's the way the ball bounces. Teams have lost games due to blown calls by officials forever. What do you propose -- that every bad call ever be reversed retroactively?

As for intentionally insulting all Oregon fans by questioning our "honesty": well, if that's what passes for sportsmanship in Soonerland, I'm afraid you don't have much moral standing to complain about a blown call. Besides, people who root for a team whose nickname historically was synonymous with cheating (at the land grants), really shouldn't throw stones. Glass houses are pricey these days. And, while we're on the subject of being honest, do you expect me to believe that if the situation had been reversed, and Oregon had lost the game on a blown call, the Sooners and their fans would be any more inclined to surrender the victory? Yeah, right.

Do I think Oklahoma got screwed? Absolutely. Do I feel bad that the outcome of the game is tainted by that? Sure. Do I think the Ducks themselves intentionally did the screwing? No -- they played to the best of their ability, they played clean, it was a lousy officiating crew that screwed you guys. Do I think the Ducks should have the voctory stripped from them because of htis? No. If they had intentionally cheated to get the win, yes. But again, these things happen, and the best we can do is to fix what breaks so it doesn't happen again. And finally, do I think you're a crybaby poor sport with no life for feeling the need to email me about this months after my last post on the topic, let alone the game?

Oh, Hell yes.

Musical Geography Question of the Day

In what city is there gonna be a certain party at the station?

(Last Round's winner: Tony of blah blah blog fam... er... notorie... er... of blah blah blog)

Musical Geography Question(s) of the Day

Where did our fathers spend their weekends?

Where are we living?

Conference of Champions

I make no bones about being a fan of the University of Oregon Ducks. However, whenever I can do so without conflict, I also root for the University of Southern California, and have my whole life, because my grandfather and father were, and mother is, lifelong Trojan fans. My Grandfather swore to his dying day that the greatest football player in history was Ambrose Bierce [huh?] Schindler [thanks, mom].

Even when the Pac-10 race is tight, there's one game, fortunately non-conference, in which I ALWAYS root for USC, regardless of the ramifications for the Ducks.

Which is why tonight's outcome gives me some consolation after the Ducks' heartbreaker in the Civil War:

USC 44
Notre Dame 24

Fight On.

One More Reason to Give Thanks

My very first attempt at a merengue pie (lime), cooling before dinner yesterday:

Joey Harrington's Revenge

Suck on it, Detroit.

I Wish I Knew Jack

I wrote the following post two year ago, and can still be found in my archives for this day last year. I really can't add much to it, so I thought I'd update and repost it.

Today marks the forty-second anniversary of the death of, arguably, one of the men who most influenced Western thought in the Twentieth Century. He also happened to be one of the men I admired most greatly, so it seems fitting that I should mark his passing.

Though most of the world recognizes his name when they hear his initials, his friends called him "Jack".

He was a war veteran, and his service influenced much of his later thought.

His romance with his wife was the stuff movies are made about.

He was a thinker, a man of convictions, whose words stir the soul, stimulate the mind, and challenge the will into acts of conviction.

And so I bid him Rest in Peace. He has shaped the way I think, as he has many others I know. Here's looking forward to meeting you on the other side, Jack.



C.S. Lewis
November 29, 1898 - November 22, 1963

UPDATE:

OK, so I felt the need to add a Lewis Quote:

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

--Mere Christianity

Musical Geography Question of the Day

If the local guitar picker got his guitar picking thumb, in what city are you?

A Moment With Mike and the Bots

Tonight The Feared Redhead and I were watching one of our favorite television shows, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which was rebuilding a house in Dundee, Wisconsin. My Minnesota-born wife with the Wisconsinite relatives had never heard of Dundee, so I Googled it.

Hmmmm....

Wisconsin...

UFO's...

I hate to admit it, but the first thought that came to my mind consisted of two words:

Packers! Woooooo!

Musical Geography Question of the Day

If she died of a fever, and no one could save her, where did you first meet her?

Buttermilk Sky

Taken on the campus of Lane Community College:

Growing Up Too Fast

This picture was taken tonight, and while it's a bit blurry, it's significant:



That dark blur at the top of the stairs, entering the slide, is The Lad -- about 7 or 8 feet up, which he ascended by himself, and down which he descended by himself -- at 21 months!

I'm proud, but sad. He's supposed to stay little, dammit!

The Lad: Camera Phone Photoblogging

These pictures cover quite a few months:

The very first picture I took of him with the camera phone, thios time last year:



Last spring, just before he started walking:




Also last spring or winter:



Also back in the spring or summer, before he gave up the bottle. We had a surprisingly easy time making the transition, but this day, not even sleep could rob him of his ba-ba:



Early summer. You buy them toys, they play with the box:



Early summer, a glimpse of things to come *shudder*:



At the same mall -- dream big, little boy:



This past summer, we took him to Lone Pine Farm to see the tractor:

And the goats:







The sheep weren't so thrilled to meet him. Mutton, anyone?:



We bought fresh produce that day. Like any good Oregon boy, he loves berries:



And watermelon:



This summer, at the park:



He liked the sand at the park so much, we had to:



At the Portland Zoo:



This Halloween (he was too sick to wear this outfit trick-or-treating):

So Much for being the Cool Dad

I had a bit of trouble with the stroller the other day:

The Sound of Silence

Sorry for the lack of posting, not much to say these days.

I've Been Everywhere, Man

A tip of the Toque to Maximum Leader at Naked Villainy, who turned me on to this quiz:

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
Boston
North Central
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The South
The Inland North
What American accent do you have?

The results aren't surprising, considering how much I've moved in my life -- Born in Oregon, I moved to California at 4 -- Southern first, then Northern. We moved to Idaho when I was in the 4th grade, and back to Oregon for my high school years. I went to bible college in Indiana, then moved to San Diego, then back to Oregon. Along the way I developed best friendships with Michiganders and Texans and married a Minnesotan. So like my ethnic background, I'm a dialectic mutt.

So what's the Oregon accent? It varies from region, but for the most part it's typically western -- slower, and a bit lazy in our pronunciation.

When You Gonna Wake Up

When you gonna wake up strengthen the things
that remain?

- Bob Dylan, "When You Gonna Wake Up?" Slow
Train Coming

A few political matters to attend to tonight:

OK, there's no way around it, this was a bad night to be a Republican. We've lost control of the House, and at this hour the Senate is still up for grabs. Closer to home, it looks like Oregon is stin unready to face the fact that a generation of Democratic governors has left us in the economic backwaters of America, and thanks to Measure 43 being defeated, teenage girls can't get a tattoo without her parents knowing, but she can get an abortion.

But things could be worse. For one thing, a lot of the Democrats being elected across the country are moderate and conservative Democrats: Anti-Tax, pro-Life, Pro-Sencond Amendment. And while Pelosi may be Speaker, she doesn't have the unanimous support for all of her agenda from all of the House Dems.

So here's my message to fellow Republicans and conservatives: Butch up. Let's not act like the Left did in 2000, 2002, and 2004. No whining, I don't want to hear "they stole it!", no threats to move to Canad... er Australia. Let's look at what went wrong, look at what we did right, and, like the song says, strengthen what remains. It's more important now than ever that we fight the good fight and stand up for our beliefs. Balls, Boys, Balls!

Kitchen Theology

I believe there is a very special Hell reserved for chefs who take without asking from another chef's Mise en Place.

New Blogroll Addition

Today while checking my site traffick, I discovered that I was linked to by a page that listed a whole bunch of Blogs that had blogged on the John F "Not so Swift a Boater" Kerry kerfluffle. While checking out that link, I stumbled across another blog and just had to add it to my blogroll.

Why? Well, for three specific reasons:

1. He's a fellow conservative, and a well-spoken one at that.

2. He's a fellow Oregonian. 'Nuff said.

3. He served in the U.S. Navy, specifically in the amphibious fleet. Now, for this I have a doubly soft spot in my heart for him. I come from a family brimming with sailors, on both sides of the family. My father, my sister's husband, two paternal cousins and a maternal cousin all served or are currently serving in the U.S. Navy, including one who retired after making a career of it. My best friend Vulture Six also served in the modern U.S. Navy. In addition, my maternal grandfather not only served in the Navy, he served on an LSD in Worl War II. My grandad was a real man, the kind of man who made Ernest Hemingway seem like a pansy. He worked during his life as a ranch hand, a ranch foreman, a laborer and later a superintendant of a salt harvesting operation, and a shipfitter in the Navy. During his service, he went aboard a sister ship that had been struck by a kamikaze and rescued several men from a burning compartment. He was a father, a husband, a grandfather, a hunter, an angler, a joketeller extraordinaire, and all around just plain one helluva man. So anyone who has any sort of connection to him, be it personal or via career path, is ok in my book.

For all of those reasons, I hereby commend to you The Bow Ramp. Go read. He seems like a good guy.

For a Beavers fan.