teamweber

2011 Resolution Review

2011-02-24T21:55:00.000-08:00

Only two months into the year and I have made some good progress on my goals. I'm thinking a shorter list is helping. Anyway here are 3 out of my 4 resolutions.

1. Get in Shape. Of course it's on her. Seriously I'm getting up there in age better not add weight to it.

I've been working out steadily for 2.5 weeks and have already ditched 6lbs.

2. Find a new location for Portland Men on Sports. TVCTV will be shutting it's doors in the first half of 2011. We'll still film the show with our own equipment and TVCTV will still broadcast it. We need to find a new location or a few different locations. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

We just reached an agreement with Big Al's of Beaverton to film the show there. They're pretty excited about it as am I. We'll start in late March.

4. Win the Roofball World Championship. If you know me then you know I love to play some Roofball. I've won the US Open and the RFA Cup leaving only the World Championship off my resume. Not only would I complete what I like to refer to as the COW (Cup, Open, Worlds) I'd be the first player to win all three tournaments. Problem is I only get one shot at it a year. Good news is I don't have to wait long it's 1.30.11.

Well the date changed to 2.20.11, but that didn't matter I took it down anyway. Yeah that's right I won it, first ever to win the COW. And I couldn't be happier. I started off slow with a 35 in the first round and had to take a wild card to get to the second round. But I fixed my throwing issue and won the rest of my games, including throwing 19 marks in a row at one point. I was on fire.

2011 Resolutions

2010-12-29T20:22:00.000-08:00

On the heels of my fantastic post 2010 resolutions in review I give you my 2011 resolutions. It's a smaller list this year but I still need to work on my 2010 anyway.

1. Get in Shape. Of course it's on here. Seriously I'm getting up there in age better not add weight to it.

2. Find a new location for Portland Men on Sports. TVCTV will be shutting it's doors in the first half of 2011. We'll still film the show with our own equipment and TVCTV will still broadcast it. We need to find a new location or a few different locations. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

3. Finish writing Private Dics. Private Dics is a webseries that a friend and I have been working on for what seems like 2 years. We have a few episodes written but need to finish the first season story arc. Then of course comes the actually production. I'll settle for having it written.

4. Win the Roofball World Championship. If you know me then you know I love to play some Roofball. I've won the US Open and the RFA Cup leaving only the World Championship off my resume. Not only would I complete what I like to refer to as the COW (Cup, Open, Worlds) I'd be the first player to win all three tournaments. Problem is I only get one shot at it a year. Good news is I don't have to wait long it's 1.30.11.

2010 Resolutions in review

2010-12-27T15:36:00.000-08:00

Before I get to my 2011 resolutions I wanted to review my 2010 items. Good thing keeping up with the blog was not one of them. I've have opportunities to add to it but I'm a lazy lazy person, lets just say I'm busy.

1. Get in shape. Fail! Did I get a new gym membership? Yes. Did I used it more than 20 times during the year? No. Bummer for me. You'll see this on the 2011 list I'm sure. It's getting time I get serious about it. No need to carry around extra poundage.

2. Place in a Roofball Tourney. Win. I wanted to finish in the top 3 of a roofball tournament this season. I lost in the second round of the World Championship and the US Open. BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT I did place in the RFA Cup. Did I say place I meant win. Yeah I won my second Roofball Tournament and need only to win the World Championship to be the first player to win all three tournaments.

3. Finish video projects. Even? Not sure how to grade this one. I finished one project and was very pleased with it. I worked on the Portland Raiders for months. I did not get as much accomplished on the webesode idea as I wanted.

4. Take Portland Men on Sports to a new level. Fail! While PMS is still alive and kicking, it is what it has always been. We did get a short segment from NYC but it's getting stale.

5. Redesign bookieproductions.com. Fail! If you saw the site last year you saw the site this year. Blah!

6. Start Mini-Golf league. Fail! This went no where in a hurry. Mid year I thought about starting a pitch and putt league but we'll have to wait until the weather turns.

7. Start looking for new house. Even? We looked throughout the year, still not ready to buy. Unless you see something...

A Vegas Thanksgiving

2010-12-17T15:18:00.001-08:00

I'll make this short since I haven't updated the blog in a long time. Wait does the make sense? Like I have to ease you back in to it?

Anyway for Thanksgiving we made the trip to Las Vegas to spend the Holiday with Bree's family.

We got in town on Wednesday and checked into our hotel room at the Luxor. We spent most of the evening at Bree's aunt's place. That night Bob and I did some gambling.

On Thursday we went to Bree's aunts house again and hung out for a bit. Of course Thanksgiving means football so Bob, John and I hit up a bar until dinner was done. After dinner and some family time we went back out to the casinos. I played in a 33 person poker tournament and won. A nice $400 profit.

Friday Bob and I spent 12 hours in a sports bar watching college football. GO Ducks!

Saturday we took the kids to the Mandalay Bay Aquarium. They seemed to love it. Riley sprinted from one exhibit to the next.

Resolution Reveiw part 3

2010-08-05T11:23:00.000-07:00

Continuing with my resolution review, we have two updates.

3. Finish video projects. Currently I have four projects that are in various filmed stages and a very ambitious project in the conception stage. I'd like to finish the four and really concentrate on the "yet to be reveled project."

As you can see in a prior post, I have finished the long awaited "Video Wizard." This completed one of my four projects. In fact I've actually added to that number and now have a huge whiteboard in the office detailing all the video related projects I have going on. I'll keep you updated on the next few.

7. Start looking for new house. I guess 1500 square feet and 3 bedrooms are not enough for us. Bree and I are planning on having another kid. We are thinking we need more space. It's a big purchase and the kid is still aways away, but towards the end of the year it's going to be time to look.

While Bree and I have not decided to put our house on the market or talk to Realtors we have been keeping our eye open. We're looking for a place on the west side with a minimum of 4 bedrooms. Newer the better as we don't want to spend much time remodeling.

Yaki-MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

2010-08-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago Bree, Riley and I headed up to Yakima. Our friend John was in a play "Something Funny Happened on the way to the Forum" and we thought we'd check it out. As a bonus Yakima is about half way between Portland and Bree's parents place, so we invited them out so they could have some Riley time.

Riley was a great kid the entire drive. We got to Yakima and found our hotel. Shortly after Bree's parents showed up and we decided to go swimming at the pool. As Bree was walking into the pool with Riley she seemed to slip and fall. I ran over to her and she told me to take Riley. Riley was fine but Bree's back had seemed to go out. A couple of weeks before this her back was acted up but it seemed to have gotten better. Needless to say this put a damper on everything. Bree was able to make it to the hotel room and get dressed for dinner.

We went to Bob's Burgers and Beer. Pretty good burgers, huge portions and Riley liked her grilled cheese. Bree was able to sit through dinner with no problem, but was not able to move much. We took her back to the hotel and she got in bed, and unfortunately was not going to be able to go to the play. I was a bit late getting out of the hotel so I just punched up the theater on the GPS and headed out. I got to the theater and it looked closed. I then realized I had pulled up the wrong theater, I did a search for another one and it was 4 miles away.

Once I got to the theater I went to the box office to get my tickets. Of course I was late and had to sit in the back, luckily there was not a large crowd and I was only in the 12 row or so. The play was great, very funny and John was excellent in it. After the play John and I went out to eat. We tried Abby's but they were closed. One of the only places we found open was Red Robin.

I got back to the hotel and Bree was sleeping. We got up the next morning and had breakfast with the in-laws. Bree was still very stiff and once we got on the road she told me that she might have to go to the emergency room once we got back into town. I was trying to get home as soon as possible and of course a cop caught me for speeding. $113 later we were back on our way. As we approved Portland Bree called the advice nurse and she told us to go to the urgent care. Riley and I dropped her off and we grabbed something to eat. Bree called and we went back to pick her up. The doctor told her that it was a flare up of her syatic nerve, and not a disk.

So while it was nice to see the play, John and the in-laws, it could have been a more relaxing weekend.

Video Wizard

2010-07-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

This past week I finally finished up a short film I've been working on called "Video Wizard." A friend of mine John Beital wrote the script in "5 minutes" according to him. We shot his parts last June, and then I shot the other actors (Loren Wertz, Michelle Powers and Jacob Nixon) in July. But I flaked out after that and didn't do much with it until about a month ago when I got Sam Garr to do the voice over and I created the graphics. Anyway here it is, hope you like it.

bookieproductions Videos from Funny or Die

Continuing my resolution review

2010-06-14T11:59:00.000-07:00

Last month I starting reviewing my resolutions I made at the beginning of the year.

2. Place in a Roofball Tourney. Last year I made three semi's out of three events. One game away from a top three finish each time. This year I'd like to get back on the podium. First chance is 1.31.10.

Sure my first chance was in January but I failed to get out of the second round marking my lowest finish ever. This past weekend I participated in the 2010 RFA Cup. The middle event on the Roofball calendar. This is also the newest tournament. The World Championships and US Open have been played since 1999 while the RFA Cup started in 2007.

I’ve been slammed lately and only had one chance to throw the football around and wasn’t feeling very prepared to play. I drew the 16 spot, meaning I’d throw first in the 6th game of the opening round. Throwing third in my game was Steve Stupey. A relatively new player in the game but his worst finish had been third and he had won the 09 US Open. I knew I was up against a good competitor, but I told myself it doesn’t matter I just need to play my game and I’ll make it to the next round.

I played my game quite well recording a 48 and advancing to the second round as the number 3 seed while Steve took a wild card spot. In the second round I posted a 31 with an over, not great but still good enough to win my game. This put me in the semi-finals, one step away from my goal of a top three finish. Steve Stupey was in my game again so I knew that it’d be tough, I beat him once before, can I do it again? Well we ended up tied at 44. We had a through off and he won, so he got the game and automatically advanced to the Cup round, while my 44 was good enough for the wild card spot. This guaranteed me of a top three finish. At that point I had lot of confidence, which I needed because once again I was going up against Stupey and Buddy Emmons. Emmons was the defending champion and has three titles to his name. Stupey and I raced out to large leads while Buddy got off to a slow start, he knew he need some large points but kept coming up empty. Meanwhile Stupey and I continued increasing our lead. The final score was once again tied with Steve and I at 44 and Buddy at 14. Steve and I advanced to the Championship setting up our fourth game together.

Steve won a throw off to have the right to call the coin flip. He called tails and it came up heads I chose to go second. Both of us got off to a slow start but Steve got an around to take a small lead about half way through. I let the ball fly on my next throw and watched as the ball bounced over the house surely resulting in an over and costing my 5 points. But then a miraculous thing happened, the ball came back on the front side of the roof and went around the poll giving me a huge turnaround. The throw was later called the "Hand of God around" by Roofball Founder Adam Willis. This gave me the lead. I was up by one, I had two throws left and Steve had one. I knew that this was the time to put pressure on Steve. I let the ball sail and hit the post and collected the ball giving me a seven point lead. Steve had to have an around in order to take the lead. He sent a high arching shot up to the roof but it sailed over giving him a minus five. My last throw was of no matter. Final score 38-25.

Yes! I had not only met my goal of a top 3 finish I had won my second Roofball Championship. Bree and Riley were there cheering me on. Riley was sporting a Bree made Roofball shirt that said “Daughter of a Roofball Champion.”

Resolutions in review

2010-05-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

Back on 1.4.10 put down 7 resolutions for this year. I figured that I'd check on these to make sure I'm doing what I need to do. Here begins a 7 -part series in which I'll review each of my resolutions and see where I'm at. Can you believe that a third of the year is already over?

1. Get in shape. Ah yes what I expect is the most common resolution and one I've made many a time before. That being said it's time I get serious about it. Since Bree became pregnant I've been putting on the pounds, she ate and I ate. The thing is she had the kid stopped eating so much and lost it, I on the other had have seemingly increased food consumption and decreased physical exercise. No gym and more, no working out, not even much Wii. Currently I'm playing basketball and volleyball weekly, it helps but for the most part reminds me how out of shape I am. Anyway the plan now is once those sports are done, get back to the gym.

Well I had planned on stopping Basketball and Volleyball in early March, but the teams wanted to keep playing so I kept playing. But the good news I have joined a gym, just over a week ago, I've been going but the best thing I've done is eat better. I've lost 5 lbs in 11 days. Softball is also gearing up and it looks like I should have some physical activity 6 days a week for the next month or so. Once basketball and volleyball are over with I'm going to concentrate on golf. I'm trying to establish a handicap.

The Losers

2010-05-03T09:11:00.000-07:00

Saturday night I watched the new movie "The Losers". The movie is based on a comic book by the same name. The plot is simple and something you've seen before and will see again, shortly in fact as the upcoming "A Team" movie. But that's not really the point here, it's an action comedy movie so the plot is of no concern, it just moves the story forward, giving opportunities for action seances and one liners. And that's where this movie delivers.

The action seances are fun and entertaining. The first part of the movie plays out like Call of Duty Modern Warfare game. While the second part is more like a Mission Impossible...well mission. The comedy is left to one character for the most part and he does a heck of a job with it.

I'll give the movie a 2.

4-See it at the theater at all costs.
3-See it at the theater during a matinee.
2-Rent it.
1-Watch it with the girl/guy your with that really wants to, and you are desperately trying to impress them.
0-Burn the movie (whatever form) if you ever come across it.

Kick-Ass

2010-04-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

Last week Philipp and I went and saw Kick-Ass. Kick-Ass is based on a comic book and centers around a normal everyday high schooler who decides to become a super hero named of course Kick-Ass. Kick-Ass goes from rescuing lost kittens to putting his life on the line protecting people he has never met before. One of his heroic attempts is filmed and he becomes an Internet sensation. This leads him to meet other hero's who are much more adept at crime fighting.

I'll forgo telling the rest of the movie and just let you know what I think. It's a fun movie, heck a blast even. It's nice to see a movie like this come out with an "R" rating and not a PG-13, which it could have easily been dumbed down too. But it would've lost a lot and I mean big time. This movie has tons of violence in it but it is played out like a comic book and gets you laughing and energized. Each fight scene seems to be filmed in a different style. Very creative.

If you're feeling like have some fun check it out. I'll give it a 3 on my scale.

4-See it at the theater at all costs.
3-See it at the theater during a matinee.
2-Rent it.
1-Watch it with the girl/guy your with that really wants to, and you are desperately trying to impress them.
0-Burn the movie (whatever form) if you ever come across it.

Movie day

2010-04-04T21:01:00.000-07:00

Bree's sister was in town this week visiting, and provided a babysitter. On Saturday Bree and I finally saw Avatar. We tried a few months ago to see it in 3D. But we never got around to it until this past weekend. Of course by this time the movie is not in 3D anymore, so we had to see it in 2D.

Now Avatar is a very formulaic movie, and at time it seems to be based on effects alone, but I have to say it hits on a wide range of emotions. Heck Bree even cried through most of it. Can Cameron write? Sure if you mean from a technical aspect. Are their holes? Sure, but this movie goes beyond your normal summer blockbuster. It has a lot more than you would think. Beautifully shot, a new level in film making and effects was achieved and a new high mark was set for the box office. This movie will have a ripple effect both good and bad on movies for years to come. Honestly it reminds me a lot of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Now I saw five out of the ten films for best pictures and while I enjoyed some of the others more than this film, I would say this is the best all around film I saw, just above District 9, and yes that includes The Hurt Locker.

On the Derek's rating system it'd give it a 4. Remember this movie is a game changer, much like Star Wars, Jurassic Park and The Matrix. I'm sure your not familiar with the Derek rating system since I'm just making this up now. But 0-4 is the range.

4-See it at the theater at all costs.
3-See it at the theater during a matinee.
2-Rent it.
1-Watch it with the girl/guy your with that really wants to, and you are desperately trying to impress them.
0-Burn the movie (whatever form) if you ever come across it.

Later Saturday night Shaun and I went to see Hot Tub Time Machine. I had heard nothing but good reviews going in. The funniest comedy since the Hangover is what I heard. While that sounds good, you have to realize that the Hangover hasn't been out that long. So you have to ask yourself what else could have come out between now and then. Well no matter, it is a pretty funny movie, is it as good as The Hangover? No, but it doesn't try to be. Does it take itself seriously? No, and that's why it works.

The movie does not waste time in transporting the main cast back to 1986, and that's a good thing. The set up takes hardly anytime and you get right into the raw good stuff. Raunchy might be the best word. There are some great one-liners and one good running gag involving the bell hop's, played by Crispin Glover, arm.

On the Derek's rating system it'd give it a 2.5. Check it out.

Pendleton, it's a hell of a town!

2010-03-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Bree, Riley and I drove out to Pendleton to see some of the in-laws. We chose Pendleton because it's pretty much int he middle of Portland, Boise and Kooskia.

We were planning on a 4 hour drive, but even with a stop in the middle we got there in about 3 1/2 hours. Riley was good the entire time. We arrived in Pendleton with plans to meet up with the family at a Mongolian Grill for some lunch. However once we arrived we found the grill to be shut down. So we decided to hit up a Mexican joint close by. Bree and I spent our time eating and chasing Riley around the restaurant, luckily they were not busy and she did not cause any mess for anyone.

After lunch my brother-in-law and I went to play some golf at the Casino's course, Wild Horse. Before the game began we decided to place a friendly wager. The loser would have to place a $20 bet on the roulette table for the winner. The bet had to be placed on one of the "third" sections. Bob started kicking my butt from the first hole and did not really let up. Luckily for me we only decided to play 9 holes, however I still lost by 14 strokes, ouch!

After my embarrassing loss we headed to the Casino so I could pay up. I hit the ATM machine for $40, hey if I'm going to gamble I'm going to gamble for me. I got to the table and had to slip in right next to the wheel. there was a rather large lady taken up a couple spaces. The dealer asked me if I'd like to have half chips meaning instead of $1 chips my chips would be worth $.50. This allows me to place more bets. I guess $40 is not what it used to be. I put Bob's $20 on the second third. And put down a few chips of my own. I forget what number came up 5 or 9 I think, anyway Bob lost his money. I had a bet placed on the first third and doubled up that bet. I proceeded to bet for the next 20 mins or so. I got told by the Bit Boss twice not to lean or stretch oer the wheel. Finally after the large lady moved, he made the table slide down so I could sit in a proper position. Before I slide down I asked Bob to pick a number, he picked 24 and I could not reach it so I put it on 14, of course 24 came up, felt bad about that one. The dealer changed out and we kept playing. I was right around $20 win I placed a $2 bet on 29 and a $4 bet on black, and yes I thought about Wesley Snipes as I did it. Anyway, 29 hit and I was up big. My $2 bet turned into $70 and my $4 bet turned into $8. Or at least I thought that's what would happen. Once I won I told the dealer I'd like to cash out. She started with my bet on 29. Remember I was playing with half chips, but this was a new dealer and did not realize that. I knew something was off when the first chip she pulled was black as in a $100 chip. She pushed a total of $144 my way thinking that my $2 bet was a $4. While this is going on I was still trying to figure out how I'd won that much in my head. She then took the chips I had on black and the chips I had left and asked a second dealer to help the second dealer realized they were half chips and corrected the issue but never mentioned anything to me about the $144 I had already gotten. I took the chips walked to the cage and cashed out. I'm now considering myself as one of the few who has taken a casino. Yes I did it for all the little guys!

We met up with the rest of the family at the hotel. They were all in the swimming pool. We marched in told them the news only to have Bree say "Dinners on us!" After everyone got out of the pool and got dressed we headed to Hamleys Steakhouse. It was supposed to be a pretty nice place, of course I spaced on packing any long pants and donned a pair of basketball shorts, t-shirt and slip on shoes. I walked in to find a lot of cowboys, hats, jeans and cowboy boats. Oh well I thought I have Riley and she'll keep the attention off my attire. We waited for about 10 mins and got a table. After ordering we were sitting around and talking. I was playing with the Riley and noticed a familiar looking face behind Bree. This lady had an uncanny resemblance to Julianne Moore. After staring a bit to long I'm sure I decided it was her. I asked Bree is that Julianne Moore sitting behind you? Bree turned and looked, then turned back to me and said "I believe it is." She seemed to be eating with who I assume are her children and husband. Dinner was good and everyone enjoyed their meal. Which was good since we did pay the entire $154 bill. So long house money.

The rest of the weekend went well. We hit the Casino once again, this time I lost $40 and Bree won $8. The next day we played at a park where Riley climbed a bunch of stairs, then we had lunch at Abby's. We took off for home with one extra person my sister-in-law Amber who is spending her spring break with us.

The weekend that was

2010-02-22T12:41:00.000-08:00

Looking back at the past weekend I gotta say we had a good mix of relaxation and productivity.

02.20.10
We started Saturday off by hanging around the house and playing with Riley. Around 11 we went to watch my niece play volleyball. She was in town for a tournament. The place was packed and there was no room to sit. Bree found a place next to my Brother and fam. Riley and I walked around and tried to stay our of peoples way.

That afternoon we went to Hannah's birthday party. Riley had a blast playing on all the foam padded toys and getting to interact with a bunch of kids outside of daycare.

After the party we headed back to the courts to spend some time with my Brother & co. We hung out for a bit and then we headed home.

I got fancied up (long sleeve shirt) and headed downtown to film an award dinner for a work event. Bree and Riley went out to dinner with the visiting relatives.

The work event was pretty nice. We got to award some hard working families some prize money.

02.21.10
I got up, played with the kid and then did some vacuuming, hung some stuff on Riley's walls and put up some new curtains up for her. We then went swimming. Riley did well as normal. Afterwards we went to the Cheesecake Factory with the Welters.

What's happin'

2010-01-29T22:21:00.000-08:00

We're gonna make the update about work short. Nutballs would be a good word to describe it. People at work ask me how I'm doing, and I try not to stare at them or laugh. I just say hanging in there.

Last weekend we had some visitors. Bree's sister Alex and her husband Bob, flew in from Boise for a few days. We hung out around the house and hit some restaurants. Bob and I played some video games and while Bree and Alex did some shopping around town.

Monday I played some basketball and stunk it up but we still won so I didn't feel too bad. Thursday I played a volleyball game, we lost, that's not the worse part though, the team was lost to was a bunch of crybabies. Just irks me losing to a team like that.

My mom was in town for a workshop and spent the night with us. Riley took to her quickly which was nice.

Another week

2010-01-16T22:05:00.000-08:00

Monday 1.12
Played basketball Monday night and won. It was a good game to win too, decent team. I had 11 points and some boards and assists.

Wednesday 1.13
Scott invited me to the Blazers game. He has season tix in section 108. A bit nicer than my normal seat. The game was nice, Blazers beat the Bucks in a route. Something the Blazers needed.

Thursday 1.14
Played in a volleyball double header. We won both games, somehow. We played out best games as a team. It was very exciting to see us play so well.

The weekend

2010-01-12T20:10:00.000-08:00

Saturday 1.9.10

Bob was in town celebrating a birthday. He was going to tour the Man vs. Food Portland version. I met him and some other friends at the Stepping Stone Cafe and got some grub. I had the bacon avocado and cheese omelet.

We then headed to the studio to film the 45th episode of Portland Men on Sports. Loren and I left after we taped the first segment. Martell Webster was signing autographs at the near by Fred Meyers. We got there and got in line only to be told that Webster had to leave at 3 and that we most likely would not get up there in time. We debated weather we should leave or not and while we were still talking about it we were told that we were the cut off point. We got up there and Loren introduced us and told him about the show and reminded him that he follows us on twitter. Loren had him sign some autographs. I was going to get my pic with him but I thought why not ask him to record a small vid for the show. I asked him to say "Hi I'm Martell Webster, and your watching Portland Men on Sports." He said sure and and did it. Check it out here. What a cool guy. After that we went back and finished the shoot.

I headed home and gathered the family. Next we met Bob and co at Salvidor Mollys. It was packed so Bree, Riley, Jake, Barb and I sat together and chowed down. I had the Cuban sandwich. We still got to see Bob eat the Balls of fire. He did it, but had to slow down after a quick first bite.

Bree, Riley and I headed home for the night as the group continued to Voodoo Donuts.

Sunday 1.10.10
Not too much happened on Sunday. Just our normal stuff. I watched some football, we took Riley to swim class and hit the grocery store.

Get with the times

2010-01-09T00:56:00.000-08:00

Wednesday 1.6.10
Work, work, work. After work I picked up the kid and headed to Jake and Barb's. Bill and I helps Jake move some of Barb's office supplies to their place. Bree showed up and help watch Riley and Bills two kids. Afterwards Barb cooked us dinner and we hung out a bit.

Thursday 1.7.10
Thursday night I had my first volleyball game of the year. We played well, and hung in there but lost the deciding game by two points. Bummer man.

Friday 1.8.10
After work I was supposed to film another episode of Portland Men on Sports. However Philipp offered Loren and I two tickets to the Blazers game. We switched the show from Friday to Saturday and headed over to the game. I must say watching the Blazers beat the Lakers in person is a neat experience. Unfortunately the Laker fan sitting two seats away was bit annoying but nothing that a Blazer dominated game can't cure.

Dailyish posts make a comeback.

2010-01-05T22:45:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to get back into the blogging groove. I used to keep a daily blog, but that died in a big way in early 09. I'm not sure I'll be able to put up posts daily, but I'll try to get most my randy exploits down.

Friday 1.1.10
Had the day off but there was no sleeping in for me. Bree still had to work, so I was on Riley duty. Jake and I had plans to go shopping for a new golf putter, Bree's Christmas present to me. I had to keep Riley up so I didn't have to wake her up from a nap to go. She was a bit fussy, until we got to the golf store, when she sat in her stroller and played with some golf balls. Once we were out of the store we realized she still had one. Little thief.

I got back home put the kid to bed and settled into watch the Ducks dominate the Buckeyes. Unfortunately that did not happen.

Barbara and Jake stayed over to play some games and have some dinner once Bree got home.

Saturday 1.2.10
Carla came over to watch Riley so Bree and I could go see Avatar. We got to the theater and the line was out on to the street. By the time we got to the ticket counter we were told there was only a few seats left and that we would most likely not be able to sit together. We decided to watch Sherlock Holmes instead. I'll put up a review of the movie at some point, but my quick ruling, good.

Sunday 1.3.10
We took Riley to her swim lessons. She had a week off and seemed to miss it. Every time I'd set her down on the side of the pool or the steps she'd just dive right back in. She also started blowing bubbles, very cute. She's now a 6 witch means she can go under water up to 6 seconds before signaling to come up. Basically you dive them under water and when they are ready to come up they will kick. She's doing very well.

Sunday afternoon I had some Volleyball practice. We scrimmaged against a team that had not played before and it showed.

Monday 1.4.10
After work I picked up Riley, who saw me and walked to me smiling the whole way, it was very nice.

Bree got home and we had dinner. After witch I went to play a basketball game. We lost in overtime. I played ok 13 points a couple assists and rebounds.

Tuesday 1.5.10
Tuesday was double duty for me, after gig #1 I went to Lake Oswego to film the City Council meeting. Luckily Jake was there and we kept each other entertained. I tried to keep up on the Blazers game on my phone, but it died with four second left the Blazers down by one and Bayless on the line with one free throw to shoot. I had to wait another 20 mins to get to the car and find out he missed and they lost, drag.

2010 Resolutions

2010-01-04T23:14:00.000-08:00

Sure it's a couple days late but hey the blog is being used now. Below are my 2010 resolutions in no particular order.

1. Get in shape. Ah yes what I expect is the most common resolution and one I've made many a time before. That being said it's time I get serious about it. Since Bree became pregnant I've been putting on the pounds, she ate and I ate. The thing is she had the kid stopped eating so much and lost it, I on the other had have seemingly increased food consumption and decreased physical exercise. No gym and more, no working out, not even much Wii. Currently I'm playing basketball and volleyball weekly, it helps but for the most part reminds me how out of shape I am. Anyway the plan now is once those sports are done, get back to the gym.

2. Place in a Roofball Tourney. Last year I made three semi's out of three events. One game away from a top three finish each time. This year I'd like to get back on the podium. First chance is 1.31.10.

3. Finish video projects. Currently I have four projects that are in various filmed stages and a very ambitious project in the conception stage. I'd like to finish the four and really concentrate on the "yet to be reveled project."

4. Take Portland Men on Sports to a new level. I'm not sure what this really means. I just feel that we could be doing so much more with the show. We have some plans for some commercials (dang add more stuff to #3) and our Twitter followers are growing ever so slowly. I'd like to get it to the point where it's something to be admired and not something to do.

5. Redesign bookieprodctions.com. The site is very generic and has no interactivity. I'd like to make it more "showy", looking to take some Flash classes, heck that might help.

6. Start Mini-Golf league. Some friends and I want to start a mini-gold league. Nothing big just us going around to different courses, keeping track and awarding a trophy at the end of the year. Just some organized fun.

7. Start looking for new house. I guess 1500 square feet and 3 bedrooms are not enough for us. Bree and I are planning on having another kid. We are thinking we need more space. It's a big purchase and the kid is still aways away, but towards the end of the year it's going to be time to look.

2009 a year in review

2009-12-31T19:12:00.000-08:00

January
I went back to work after taking two months off because Riley was born. Even though I was back at work most of my time was spent doing things for Riley. Bree and I went to many childcare places trying to find something we felt comfortable with. We finally decided to go with Herman's Peewee's. We couldn't be happier with the choice. Thank you Lisa.

Mid January we traveled to Pullman Washington to visit Bree's Godmother, Janie. Janie was fighting cancer at the time and we wanted to spend has much time with her as possible. Tracking a 2.5 month old across two states was not has bad as expected. She slept most of the time.

Other than that, I played some basketball, lost some money at Philipps poker party and attempted to get back into the flow of work.

February
Bree headed back to work and we had to let go of our little girl for the first time. After work each day I headed to daycare to pick up the little squirt. I only forget her a few times before pulling into the drive way then backing up and heading to daycare.

Work was not going as well as I would hope, a couple of projects were fighting me.

Riley had her first Valentines day. And we made a music video with her. Am I one of those pushy parents making my child do strange things?

I continued to play basketball and started to play volleyball at the urging of my boss. I played in my second roofball event finishing as a semi finalist.

March
Around mid March we traveled back to Pullman Washington for Janie's funeral. We miss you Janie.

Kory and I got tickets to some of the first round games for March Madness.

In late March, Bree's sister Amber payed us a visit for a week or so. She spent her days watching Riley and her nights hanging out with Bree. Like sisters do they talked real loud and enjoyed their time with each other.

I also made a short film for the Salem Film Festivals 72 hour competition. We did OK, I liked some of the shots that came out. Thanks to Bob, Amber, Loren and Jake for helping out.

April
During the first part of April we payed a visit to my family in Roseburg. Unfortunately We all got sick, like pukey sick. Bree, my Dad, Mom, two Grandmas, and a grandpa, luckily Riley was fine.

The second week, Bree had some family stop by. We had Nick, Morgan, Alex and her Parents staying with us. But again we proceeded to get each of them sick. It turns out that Bree had contracted some type of virus from work. I have no idea how Riley never got it but I'm glad she didn't. Nick a fancy pants TV producer from New York, did us the favor of producing an episode of Portland Men on Sports. Thanks Nick.

Other than that I hit a couple of Blazer games.

May
May was all about sports. Spring softball starting I went to some more Blazer games and played some more volleyball.

Other than that Riley was sitting up by herself. And that's about it for the month of May.

June
Softball was in full swing and it was great. John came to stay a weekend with us and we did nothing but veg out in front of the TV. He now knows that he should be watching Spaced and 30 Rock.

Shaun and I helped Joe move. Then forced him to drive us around Wilsonville at Midnight with the top down on his convertible, eventually winding up at Sharies.

I ended the month with a golf tournament on a Saturday and another Roofball event on Sunday. I once again finished as a semifinalist.

July
For the 4th of July we hoped a plane to Boise for the annual Doremus reunion. Riley did quite well just playing on the plane. I tried my hardest to break a jet ski with a rock but it was fixed.

I attended the Triple A all star game in town and it was a pretty cool event. Packed PGE park, don't see that too often.

Throw in some more softball, dunkball, video game parties with the fellas and some BBQ's and you have a very solid month.

August
John stopped by again and we did some more TV watching.

We hit Roseburg again for my Grandmother and Sister-in-law's birthday.

Bree's Sister Morgan came to visit again and watched Riley during the day and hung with us during the night.

And yes I played softball.

September
I started out September on vacation and used it to play golf and that's about it.

We then headed to Tahoe to attend JJ and Tami's wedding. Once again Riley did great on the plane. We all had a great time in Tahoe. JJ and Tami were awesome, plus that's when I scored some Oregon vs. Cal tickets from Jay's dad. Score!

We got to Roseburg again for my and my mothers birthday par T. I got to ride around in a Lambo.

I ended the month playing another Roofball tourney. And yes I finished as a semi-finalist. Oh and of course more softball was played.

October
We saw my folks again in the Burg for my Dads b-day.

Bree and I celebrated our fifth year together. Back when we got married we said we'd go to Hawaii for our fifth, not happening, perhaps later.

In mid October John and I met up in Seattle for a Q&A with Keven Smith. It was freaking awesome. Everyone should go, he'll be in PDX next year.

Bookie Productions started doing some shot video's for oregonsports.com. And softball finally came to an end, and Riley started swim classes.

November
November started out with a bang, my darling girl had her first birthday. We were in Roseburg to celebrate with my family. She had a good time lightly tugging at wrapping papers. Bree also had a birthday and worked right through it.

We had dinner with Jacob and Barb and a few days later we had dinner with Paul and Katie.

We had Thanksgiving with my family in Roseburg.

Basketball started.

December
I started off December at the Civil War with Paul, Katie and Clint. Ducks win! Ducks win!

We attended Lynette's surprise birthday party.

We went to Roseburg to have an early Christmas. Then headed to Boise for Christmas, Christmas. Once again Riley had a good flight. We had a great time and enjoyed all the Doremus fam.

Volleyball practice began and Basketball continued.

Celebrating Roofball

2009-09-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

Last night I was able to attend two Roofball events. First KPTV came to RFA headquarters to film a feature on the game that will air Sunday 9.13 at 11:00 during the sports segment.

After the camera crew left we headed inside for the RFA decade awards to celebrate the first 10 years of Roofball history. In all 17 awards were bestowed on a few select individuals who over the years have had a great influence on the game. The biggest winner of the night was Dan O’Reilly, who recently appeared on Portland Men on Sports, who not only took home a Builder award but also received the Roofball Player of the Decade Award.

All in all it was another great event for Roofball.

Update time too late

2009-08-05T21:04:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile yes? I think I'll just drop a short one here. Work has been busy lately. I've had to rededicate myself to the job. I have become complacent with it and thus got behind on my work. I have an opportunity now to stay out in front, be productive, and most importantly feel like I am creating something.

Of course that's not the only thing going on. Riley is growing by leaps and bounds. She's always been long but has packed on a ton of weight, she used to be skinny, not any more, she's a chunky monkey.

I'm still playing a bunch of sports. I have two softball leagues, with another one scheduled this fall. I've also signed up for a tennis team. I have to get evaluated by a USTA instructor on Monday. I hope that goes well, I have not played tennis since last fall, and my serve will be terrible I'm sure. I plan on getting some swings in on Saturday.

My weekends are packed for the next few weeks, I'm trying to film a new short film, and continuing to record Portland Men on Sports. I'm burnt.

2009 RFA Cup

2009-07-01T13:29:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I played in my third Roofball event, the 2009 RFA Cup. Going into this tourney I wanted to accomplish a few things.
1. Have a score of 60 or higher.
2. Get back to the semi finals.
3. Never score less than 30 points.
4. Increase my average scoring per game to over 44 points, which would give me the record.

I drew the fourth spot, which means I would be throwing first in the second game of the day. Things could not have gotten off to a better start. My first two throws were arounds netting me 22 points with two throws to go. With one throw left I had 55 points I need a ping or better to get to 60 points, I hit the poll collected the ball and walked off the court with a 61 easily winning my game and what would turn out to be the high score of the tournament and the 10 highest score of all time. Goal #1 done.

I breezed through the second round as well netting a 42, not great but I beat my two opponents and got an automatic bid to the semi's. I was set up against a 2 and a 4 time champion and it was nice to beat them. Both are roofball legends and it was nice to win. And yes goal #2 done.

Before the semi's the announcers and I were talking when one of them told me that he was picking me to win the whole thing, right then I knew I was in for a battle. This happened to me last time and as soon as I heard it I lost, in the semi's.

The semi's started out well and I was leading going into the fourth throw. But then it happened, something that has never happened to me in a game before, something that I was very happy/proud that had never happened to me in a game before. I threw the ball it hit the roof once and bounced over...after announcing to the crowd my displeasure I retrieved the ball, but with 5 points taken off my score. I went to the throw the ball again and once again it hit the roof and bounced over. I couldn't believe it, rarely does the ball bounce over, normally an over is when the person sails the ball completely over. I came back for my next throw and only managed one point on a catch. With 4 throws left my time was running out I threw the ball and once again bounce and over. At this time I knew I would have to get arounds and get lucky. I was only able to manage one more ping to my score leaving me with a terrible 17 and of course losing the game.

So once again I lost in the semi's. The semi's seem to be my worst round even when I got past them in the US Open it was my worst round and frankly I was lucky to get out of it when I did. Goal #3 fail.

I totaled 120 points for the day which brought my average score down to 42 per game for my career, which means I did not reach my fourth goal. I was at 44.5 after my first two but that 17 killed me. If I had not thrown the overs I would have had a 32 minimum.

Having had a couple days to think about it, I’m not too disappointed in losing, just disappointed to bet myself. I’m trying to look at it this way I made it to the semi’s with six players left. Including a 6 time champ, 4 time champ, 2 time champ and a 2 time third place finisher.

Oh well. Next time I'm making past the semi finals and into the medal round.

Just another day

2009-05-30T21:29:00.000-07:00

Got up about 8:30 this morning and threw on some crummy clothes and went to fill in at practice for the sand volley ball team. Not has fun as you'd think because the sand was more like dirt. But it was ok, got some exercise which I'm in desperate need of.

Afterwards I drove past the newly opened Pita Pit. I love the Pita Pit, and now there is one on the west side. I stopped in and got one for me and Bree. I came home and hung out with Bree and Riley before Bree had to go to work. She had to take some time off this week because Riley was sick and could not go to daycare. While she was gone Riley and I ate, played around on the floor and had some good rattle shacking time. I put Riley down for her nap, and she slept for about 3 hours, good kid. While she was sleeping I watched some TV including a Sci-Fi movie Ogre, terrible but that's what I was looking for.

She woke up and we played around some more. Bree called and we decided to meet at Costco for some shopping. I put some jeans on Riley and a top that I thought looked good, only later to find out it is a top for pajamas. Anyway while at Costco I found the new release of Punch-Out. One of my all time favorite video games has been updated and rereleased for the Wii. Good times.

We got home and I called in an order to the Olive Garden. I stopped by Target and copied some pictures of Riley, and then picked up the food.

Right now we are watching some Due South episodes (a Bree fav) and digesting our Italian food.

Dereks day off

2009-05-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

With Bree at work it's just me and Riley today. Check out our plans for the day.

1. Nap
2. Play video games
3. Watch disc one of Entourage season 3
4. Go to Annies for a Coney Dog
5. Nap
6. Hook up the 8 bit Nintendo to a 42 inch screen
7. Vacuum
8. Nap

Teeth

2009-05-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

Kid "Uncle Moe this soda is too cold my teefff hurt."
Moe "Oh your teefff hurt, well THAT'S TO FREAKIN' BAD, AND I'LL TELL YOU WERE TO PUT YOUR FREAKIN' SODA AS WELL!"

So Riley if teething right now. Her first one is on the edge of popping through right now. Poor kid, she normally sleeps through the night from 8pm to about 5:30am. The last few nights she'd been getting up at different times. Last night she woke up about 2:30 and we could not get her to go to back to sleep until 5ish.

Film update #4

2009-04-02T23:02:00.000-07:00

Ok so it's been a few days now since the film was turned in. I won't now how we did for another 2 or 3 weeks. I don't expect much, one because I don't want to get my hopes up and two because I know the the flicks I do aren't fantastic works of art. I just hope it's received well and everyone gets it.

If you've seen some of the other films I've done you know that I use very few moving shots and almost everything is locked down. This is for a few reasons, one I have almost zero crew or talent which forces me to be in the film (which I hate) and two it's just plain easy. For those of you who have seen Citadel, you might have noticed that the shot selection is by far above what I normally do, this is mostly due to Sam Garr, my DP (friend who actually does this for a living) on the film. That being said I was happy with the shot selection in this one. We had three dolly shots two that came from me and one that Loren came up with (thank you Loren). Including a shot were we zoomed out and dollied in. It creates a very nice effect. I'm sure you've seen it on TV and in the movies. Basically the characters and the background seem to move in and out.

I'm in the middle of uploading the film but I'm not sure if I'll make it public yet. I'll let you know, and I'll put up another update in a few days.

Film update #3

2009-03-29T15:58:00.000-07:00

Just finished editing. I'll throw it on a DVD and watch it again before I mail it off. I'll have a post up tonight or tomorrow with my thoughts feelings and all that stuff about the competition. Not sure if I'll put the vid up on the Internet until the competition is over.

Film update #2

2009-03-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

Shooting is done. Much faster than I thought it would be. Is that good or bad? Anyway the footage is uploading right now. We worked around the rain, hopefully the audio works, lucky there is not much dialogue.

Film update

2009-03-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

Last night we hammered out the script but the rain to day is putting a major kink in the plan.

Genre: Based on a Novel
Character: Shane/Shana Ledger -
Personality: Repressed, Feared , and a big-shot.
Prop: Ticket Stub
Line of Dialogue: "3 steps beyond, no further."

2009 Salem 72 hour Film Competition Day 1

2009-03-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

So today starts the 72 hour competition for the Salem film festival. At 5 pm today I will receive and email with instructions to make a short film. The email will contain a required genre, character, line of dialogue and a prop. Some of my friends and I will get together and write the script tonight, film tomorrow and I'll edit on Sunday. I'll keep you in the loop.

Fav 80's movie

2009-02-25T20:08:00.000-08:00

So at work we put together this little bracket. What do you think?

2009 Roofball World Championship

2009-02-20T08:33:00.000-08:00

After my fantabulous 2008 US Open Roofball championship I was invited back this past Sunday to play in the 2009 Roofball World Championship. Going into the game I had some goals.

1. Don't make an idiot out of myself.
2. Get past the first round.
3. Get my name in the record books more than it already is.
4. Win

Well I accomplished my first three goals (at least I think I accomplished number 1). I made it to the semi finals. I breezed through the first two rounds scoring 50 and 57 points respectively. The score of 57 is tied for the 10th highest score ever in Roofball history. So that gave me goal #3. I was up by one point half way through the semifinal and that’s when the wheels came off. I recorded no points in the next four throws before getting 6 on my last. Of course I lost by 15. I’m not disappointed in where I finished I am disappointed in my performance in the last few throws. I hate beating myself. Now I have to wait until June when the 2009 RFA Cup will be held.

Last 4 days

2009-01-15T22:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry been tired at night lately.

Monday

Did the work thing. Can't remember any specifics about the work day. At lunch I ran the DVD of Portland Men on Sports to the studio to turn in. I also brought my boss three autographed pictures of my roofball championship, one for him and one each for his kids.

After work I got home to a grumpy wife. She had a bad day with Riley. Riley was not overly fussy or anything she just did not want to sleep. This of course made Bree think A) Riley is sick or B) Bree has done something wrong.

After attempting to calm Bree down I left her with the kid (does that make me a bad dad?) and head to my basketball games, yep two of them. We were slaughtered in both. I did not play particularly well netting 5 points in the first game and 9 in the second.

I got home to the Breezer and I rocked Riley to sleep. I hoped on Facebook and created a new group for Portland Men on Sports. Then Bree and I joined Riley in slumber land.

Tuesday

Worked.

Got home and spent some time with the family. I received an email from Mary at TVCTV going over some future scheduling for my Lake O gig and found out that there was a meeting tonight that she forgot to schedule anyone for. By that time it was too late for me to get to the city council so she had to cancel the recording, I'm sure the LO folks are pissed.

Bree and I spent most of the night in front of Riley or the TV. Riley is starting to sit a bit with support and seems to like to sit forward and look at things.

Wednesday

Worked again, I know surprising. After work I went to Bree's place of business to get a hair cut. It's a strange place for me to be let alone get a hair cut. This is a nursing home where a large number of people have dementia. So as I say there getting my hair cut a lady in a wheelchair seemed to like me so she pulled up next to me and just stared at the side of my face. Strange.

After the haircut I got some grub to eat from Burger King. I'm not a big BK guy but I stuck with the grilled chicken, since I had a soccer game in a bit. I got to the soccer plex and ate my chicken sandwich in the car. I then talked my way past the security guard and into the bathroom area to change (normally they let you in but they had a big ceremony that night and were expecting some protestors and were checking for membership ID).

Bree and Riley showed up to cheer us on. We won the game and thus first place in our division 9-6. I rolled my ankle in the first half and played goalie in the second. After the game I realized how bad my ankle was feeling. I've rolled it plenty (see photos) but this pain was much worse than I have felt before. Usually the pain is on the outside of the foot. This pain was on both sides of my foot including the arch, and above the ankle. I could barley stand the drive home and could hardly move three of my toes. I got home shoveled some Aleve and iced the foot.

I got into bed, wrapped and elevated it but could not go to sleep because of the pain. I envisioned having to go to the ER and wait in that damn place, not to mention forking over $120 for the doc to wrap it and tell me to ice and keep it up. I finally drifted to sleep and then Bree woke me up getting into bed. It took me another hour of laying there before falling asleep.

Thursday

I got up and hobbled to the shower. Got ready and made slow progress down the stairs. Once I got outside I tried to put a bit more wait on my ankle. Surprisingly it felt better not great but better.

Throughout the day at work I walked a bit more and more. By the end of the day I could walk pretty good. I had Quiznoes with Loren and Philipp.

I got home to meet Jake on my front porch, he came over to view the footage of the branches he shot in December. He did not ring the bell for Bree since he thought that Riley might be sleeping. We got in the house and watched the footage. Joe showed up in the middle and unpacked his car for another stay at Weber Inn. Jake left after a bit.

Joe and I then went to mail a B-day package to my brother and pick up some dinner. We settled on Arbys while listening to sports talk radio talk about music. We got home chowed down and then Bree and I gave Riley a bath. I then attempted to feed Riley with the bottle. She did not care for it much so I just rocked her for a bit. Bree came up to feed her, and I came to the office to update this here blog.

Fat kid

2009-01-05T12:23:00.000-08:00

I have always thought that once you have a kid you'd be in and out of the doctors office all the time. However I've learned that is not the case, hopefully. You get a two week appointment and then wait until two months. Well today Bree took Riley in for her two month appointment.

The kid who everyone sees now and says is so little as increased from 6lbs 13oz to 10lbs 9oz, and has grown 4 inches total to 24 inches long. Two feet. Heck that's half of what her uncle Nick is. OK not quite.

Anyway the Doc says she is doing fine and gave her, her second vaccine shots. To which she balled I'm told. According to Bree the needle is far to big for a human that small.

New Year

2009-01-02T22:19:00.000-08:00

Well folks its that time of year, time to tell yourself once again that you can change. Time for resolutions.

I asked Bree what her resolutions were and she simply said "to be less lazy." I asked if that was it and she said she is keeping it simple this year.

I on the other hand have a few. I'm not sure if they are resolutions much less things I want to accomplish as a friend of mine said. Then again I'm not sure if there is much of a difference.

1. To become a good father:
One thing I have noticed since Riley was born is that you can't fix everything. I just want to be able to learn what she needs and be able to give it to her.

2. Continue to be a good husband:
Bree says I am, and I'll take her word. But I obviously want to continue to be there for her and give her everything she needs as well.

3. Re-design my website:
While Bookie Productions has gone through a few website revisions in its time, I feel there is a lot more that can be done. I have a few ideas but need time to do it and to gain a bit more knowledge on how to do it.

4. Make a film for the Salem Film Festival 72 hour event:
Basically they give you 72 hours to write, film, and edit a short movie. I did this competition in 06 and 07, I missed it this last year and would like to get another crack at it.

5. Make a web-esode series:
I've been kicking around an idea for a web TV show. I've recruited a friend, John, to help write it. He would also be acting in it possibly. The first episode is almost done from a writing standpoint. We are very loosely targeting February right now for filming. We hope to do about 10 episode a year. The episodes would be hosting on the bookie site and possibly played on local access TV. So if you know anyone who would like to be in it or help out on it drop me a line or send them the blogs way.

I'll leave you with a video of Riley's first stretch of 2009.

My life out there for anyone?

2008-12-30T23:39:00.000-08:00

Some of you may already know this but I post a blog almost everyday on my Myspace page. Yes Myspace, get over it. It's nothing great just a running diary of my ho-hum day. I'm going to start copying some of those posts over, not all but some. So sit back and enjoy Tuesday 12.30.08.

Got up at 8. Bree fed Riley and we then left to check out a Daycare. Another in home place, but I liked this one. It felt very structured and is pretty dang close.

After that we grabbed some breakfast at McDonald's and went over to Bree's place of work for a visit. Her boss paraded Riley around and then changed her diaper.

We got back home and I went to edit, while Bree made me some soup, I'm not a huge soup fan but potatoes, cheese, and bacon are always good. Soon we got packed up and went to visit another day care. This one was ok. Nothing great nothing fantastic.

We got home and I went back upstairs to edit. Finishing around 4:45. I am missing two still pics I need from Jake. I gave him a call and we found one but looks like the other will have to be redone. Lucky it's in Portland and not another region or state. Jake said he would go over and take it tomorrow. I came down stairs to watch the kid and the Holiday Bowl while Bree went to look at another childcare place.

Bree came home very impressed with the new place. It is a bit out of the way but nothing incredible. She took over Riley duties while I finished watching the Ducks beat the Cowboys. Bree took Riley upstairs to bed while I flipped the channel to the Blazers game. Paul called to chat about the Duck game and to set up a post Christmas present exchange. I finished up the Blazers game (victory versus Boston) and came up stairs. I watched the kiddo while Bree hopped in the shower. Once she was done I tricked her into watching Riley so I could come in here and write this blog.

Thanksgiving and the In-Laws

2008-11-30T00:15:00.000-08:00

So the In-Laws visited for Thanksgiving. This is the first time that Bree and I have hosted any major family event. The guest role included:
Rory: father-in-law
Debbie: mother-in-law
Morgan: sister-in-law
Nick: Morgan's husdband
Amber: sister-in-law
Alex: sister-in-law
Bob: Alex' husdband
Tara: sister-in-law

Luckly my aunt who lives cross town was visiting her daughter in Vermont and loaned us her house for sleeping HQ.

So far so good. We've pretty much stayed close to home, because of Riley. She's been handled by everyone and seems to enjoy it. I did get out with Nick, Alex, and Bob to a Blazers game afterwards we went to Rock Bottom Brewery. We had a good time. Today we all sat around and watched the Civil War, even though I was the only one who cared. What a great game.

Teamweber just got bigger

2008-11-17T20:27:00.000-08:00

As most of you know Riley Shire Weber arrived 11.1.08. She weighed 6lbs and 13oz and was 20 inches long.

Ands that's what I've been doing.

Roofball

2008-10-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

I played some Roofball and won. For those of you who don’t know what Roofball is you can check out the leagues site here. Loren, Philipp and I were invited to play in the 2008 Roofball games by the Roofball founder, after we had him on our TV show, Portland Men on Sports. Loren took third in the time trial event. Then Loren, Philipp and I took first in the team event. Afterwards a head to head time trial event was put on. I took third while Loren took second. Ryan also participated in the time trial event.

We were invited back for Sunday’s 2008 US Open event. However Philipp had to fly out to NYC for work, and Loren had a fence to fix. I decided to play in the invitation only competition. And you guessed it folks I won. Check out the pic.

All in all we walked away with 7 medals out of a possible 10.

A tale of Tuesday

2008-08-27T16:53:00.000-07:00

Last night (yes I’m writing this on Wednesday) Fransico (Rob), Jaun (Shaun), Pedro (Joe), and I went to the Beavers game, Portland Beavers that is. I had gotten four free tickets from the Oregonian. They were good to any game, and since this Thursday is the last home game of the year I figured I should use them. Luckily Tuesday was a double head so we had free tickets to both games, even though they only played seven innings each game which is lame. Joe and I are the only to that have an interest in sports and while we would like to see the home team do well we are not too invested in the outcome. We had a good time, attempting to explain what a force out is to Shaun, getting Rob to dive to head first into the next row and eating $1 hot dogs.

Afterwards Joe, Shaun and I headed over to Voodoo Doughnuts to grab some fat. All the while talking about Wii fit and how it would go about telling me that I’m fat. That and listen to Shaun tell us how horny he is. Fun times.

Logo's

2008-08-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been feeling very busy. I generally have something to do after work everyday, sometimes it's a fun something sometime it's a must do something. Anyway not sure why I started the post that way but I'm mostly here to deliver some good news, well I think it's good or exciting anyway. Perhaps mostly to me than to anyone else. Last week I received my first shipment of Bookie Productions shirts, and today I received our new finished logo for Portland Men on Sports. I've posted it below. Carlyn who I work with designed the logo for me. You can reach her at carlyndesigns@mac.com. I hope you like.

You have to slide

2008-08-09T23:02:00.000-07:00

So I played in a softball game the other day in which the umpire informed us that if there is a close play the runner must slide or would be called out. I guess I still need to work on my sliding technique.

foot longs

2008-08-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

So this losing weight thing is not really going so well. Turns out by eating a Ditka at Wayne’s Chicago Red Hots does not help you lose weight in fact it might have the opposite effect. Oh well where else am I supposed to get my recommend intake of ½lb hotdog, chili, cheese and onions? I’m still holding steady at 197lb somehow. Now the question is what should I have for lunch?

Voice Mail

2008-07-16T09:29:00.000-07:00

One of the most irritating things to me is voice mail. Specifically trying to leave a voice mail on someones phone. For instance say I want to call you, leave a message the says "Hey blog reader, this is Derek call me back." Now that should only take about 2-3 seconds. But lets take a look at the entire process.

Phone must ring 4-5 times before voice mail kicks in: 35 seconds

Listen to the message from the person you are calling: 20-50 seconds (I used to be guilty of this by leaving movie trivia questions on mine, in addition some VM systems will let you hit the pound key to jump right into the message, however if this is a system that does not have this feature you could be jumping to a whole new set of menu options)

Listen to the automated voice telling me how to leave a message: 15 seconds (by far the most annoying part of this process)

Leave your message and hang up: 2-3 seconds.

So we have a total of 1 minute on the low side just to leave a 2 second message. I don't you know about you but I need things down NOW, I'm and American aren't I?

OK back to Weber Weight Watch 08. I have taken a few steps to curb my tummy. I've tried to eat sandwiches instead of burgers or chicken instead of burgers or...well OK I eat a lot of burgers. I've also tried to be more consistent when it comes to exercise. So one week and 4 pounds later I'm at 197.

Really?

2008-07-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

Now I’ve never been one to count carbs, drink lite anything, or really watch what I eat. However ever since Bree became pregnant she has been eating more and that means I have been eating more, and I really have no “portion control” ability. So last week I took out the bathroom scale and weighed myself. You could say I was a bit surprised. Now before I get into the exact number, I debated on whether to let you know or not. But I figure this will give me some accountability. Anyway to make a long story short I need to drop a few pounds, normally I’m not concerned with the actual number but rather if I’m in shape or not. So here we go, my weight as of 7/8 is 201 lbs. Scary I know. But you can be my witness I would like to get down to 175 lbs. That’s 26 pounds. I don’t really have a goal date or anything but the sooner the better, heck soccer season starts in September and I’m not sure I can round around like I am. So keep me in check please.

Teamweber is growing

2008-06-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know Bree is pregnant. She is in her week 18 right now and yesterday we got to have an ultrasound. We found out that we will be having a girl. See some pics below. I must say that this is quite a surreal experience. Thinking that something is being created inside of Bree, it's one thing to hear but when you get to see it actually move and then assigned a gender it blows your mind. Bree and I had a great time, watching her squirm as the ultrasound wand moved around. The tech said that everything looks good and she is within all normal ranges. Bree and I are both very happy and excited.

Strike!

2008-06-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

This past Tuesday I got to through out the first pitch at a Portland Beavers game. It was a pretty cool experiance. Somewhat nerveraking. But hey the pitch sailed in for a perfect strike, of coure if there was hitter out there they would have tagged it.

Seattle trip

2008-06-02T11:12:00.000-07:00

Saturday: I got up around 5. I picked up Paul, Scott and Mike for Paul’s bachelor party and we headed off to Seattle. We got to Seattle checked into the hotel and then headed over to Pyramid brewery for some lunch, afterwards we walked across the street to the stadium and grabbed our seats. Pretty good seats, 13 rows up from the left field line. After the game we grabbed some food and watched Paul get drunk. He gets very talkative when he is drunk. We were sitting by the window looking out at the stadium and got to see all the folks who showed up to a rave at the building next door. There were some very interesting looking folks.

Sunday: We got up had some breakfast and headed to the stadium. This time we were 17 rows back of the right field line. I got my garlic fries. Pretty good game, tied going into the 9^th, the Tigers got 4 runs and the Mariners could only get 2 back. We headed out of town afterwards and got back around 9.

Long Weekend Update

2008-05-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

The long weekend it almost over. Here's a quick rundown of what I did.

Saturday: I got up did some chores around the house and then went to Keizer to do some work for well work. I spent about six hours driving and working. It lasted much longer than I thought. After I got back Bree and I hustled over to Jake's birthday party. Good times. We got to eat on some good grub, and enjoy some friendly company.

Sunday: Philipp and I headed over to Loren's for a BBQ and to play some poker. Unfortunately because of the weather the BBQ was off but we still got our burgers from the stove. Anyway, Jake, Chris, and Ben were there too. Jake finished first, I finished second and Philipp came in third. We spent the rest of the time playing Mario Kart on the Wii. Philipp and I left and went to Circuit City to pick up an external hard drive that was on sale. Of course they only had one. Philipp got it because he was the one that told me about the deal. Don't worry I reserved one and will get it soon, I hope. I came home and Bree and I caught up on some movies. She watched Yours Mine and Ours, then we both watched Walk the Line. I thought the performances where good, but it did not seem like a complete movie. It started out about his struggles and then turned into just his efforts to get June Carter.

Monday: Bree had to work, so I had most of the day to myself. Of course that means I spent hours in front of the computer getting Rob and mine new podcast online, the new Portland Men on Sports podcast online, editing the new episode of Portland Men on Sports, and doing some more editing for work. I was able to get out of the house and have lunch with Bree. Oh well I'll give a podcast update when everything is up and running.

First post and all

2008-05-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

So this is first post of our new blog. I say new because I currently write a blog on my myspace account. But I'm trying to get Bree to be a bit more involved. She is keeping a pregnancy journal, perhaps she will post some stuff on here. I imagine that most of my posts will be normal everyday stuff I do. Anyway I'll update often.