Westmoreland Asays

Aaron played his trombone at the Jesuit-Aloha varsity boys basketball game tonight; his honor band, comprised of elementary and middle school students, played together with the Jesuit pep band. Aaron had to arrive about 90 minutes before tip-off to eat and practice and bond with his band-mates, so after eating my to-go burrito (thanks Meg!) in the courtyard at sunset, I got to walk around the campus and the surrounding neighborhood (i.e., strip malls) and catch the second half of the JV boys game. Even though the kids are only one or two years apart, I was amazed at the separation of skills and athleticism between the two divisions. The varsity game was pretty boring and demonstrated why all other upper divisions have a shot clock: Jesuit held the ball and played keep-away for the last five minutes because they couldn't score and held a slim lead. The game did come down to the final play, but still . . . The video is perhaps kind of boring and might make you sick if you don't...

I'm not sure if this has ever happened before, and I am definitely too lazy to do any research, but 2014 saw me celebrating Valentine's Day, Oregon's birthday, my birthday, and President's day all in the same weekend. Similar to last year, though for different reasons, I was able to take a vacation day and make it an extended stay from work. I committed to attending school functions for both Aaron and Edward; some people might not value taking a day off just to see their kids in school, but it really does refresh me. After riding with the older boys to school, I rode back home to eat a quick breakfast before walking back to the school to accompany Aaron's class on a field trip to the Portland Rock Gym . The day before the teacher had said he had commitments from two parents, so I was surprised that I was one of 10 parents there for the adventure. After a rowdy ride on a Tri-Met bus, the fifth graders spent 90 minutes climbing the 40-foot walls. All of the stud...

The weather reports I consulted said snow wouldn't hit Portland until Saturday morning. Storms would dump snow 50 miles south of us as early as Thursday, but we were supposed to be spared, at least until the weekend. I sit next to a wall of windows at the office, so I saw right away the first flakes falling late Thursday morning. It had snowed briefly earlier in the week, but it gave out after a few minutes. Today proved different, as the flakes never faltered, and within a couple of hours the storm had blanketed the city with a fresh coat of snow, and my manager told me to pack up and head for home. My steel bike, loaded with all of my gear, and wider-than-average tires, made for a slow but mostly stress-free ride home. I walked my bike down the few inclines, as I could feel my tires losing traction immediately, but I was able to ride up the relatively steep hill in Oaks Bottom without dismounting. Riding the city street with cars proved the most difficult, as the bike lanes wer...

While each of my children likes the Trail Blazers in differing amounts, I try to rotate them in equally as my companion so they have a chance to hang out with me at the handful of games I have tickets for. Edward accompanied me to tonight's game against Toronto. We rode the bus to the Lloyd Center then walked to Burgerville for dinner, where Edward experimented with the drink machine and enjoyed his four-flavored Sprite, mixed with Barqs and caffeine-free-diet Coke. We continued our walk to the Rose Garden, passing the usual mix of street musicians, ticket scalpers, and dudes selling Super Bowl t-shirts for five bucks. Edward suddenly said, "Wait, I need to go back and do something," while turning tail and scampering back the way we had just came. When I caught back up to him, he had stopped, opened his big coat, searched for his wallet (which he had just reloaded with money from his jar that Meg keeps as a reward for his good behavior), pulled out a dollar bill, dropp...