Westmoreland Asays

Meg and I escaped the cold and fog of the valley for an extended weekend alone. We dropped off the offspring in Springfield at Meg's brother's house on Friday night. We ate a nice dinner at Napoli, an Italian bakery/cafe/restaurant near downtown Eugene. The we drove west over the Coast Range to Florence, then up north about 35 miles to Waldport. We stayed Friday and Saturday night at my co-worker's Shirley's house. We spent Saturday outside in amazing conditions for the middle of winter: perfectly clear, sunny, warm, and no wind. We walked around the small shops of Seal Rock, finding a Jarret Jack bobblehead on sale for only $5. He's not on the Blazers any more, but I knew Aaron wouldn't care and would appreciate having a working bobblehead after one of his friends broke his Brandon Roy one. We eventually drove back to Waldport and walked around there, eventually stopping at the local ice cream shop. They even served Hawaiian/Japanese style shave ice, so Meg had...

Megan married Jared today (12/30/2008). I'm writing this six months late, so I don't remember anything. Watch the video and enjoy.

The video is when my nieces and nephew from Corvallis came over on Christmas eve to open presents. Christmas was fun. We stayed at our house then traveled north to the snowy regions of Sherwood on Christmas afternoon. We got stuck trying to climb the Booren's driveway, but fortunately we had some help towing us up the hill and safely into a nicely dug-out spot to park.

The middle-to-end of December was crappy weather.That's all I remember. Watch the video and call it good.

After work on Friday, I joined Finishshots.com on a photo-shooting journey to the other side of the mountains and the Columbia River. Most of our journey there transpired in the dark, but fortunately our lone setback was having to put on chains on the 2WD SUV while going through what is essentially a mountain pass in the Columbia Gorge. Since I felt none of the stress of driving through treacherous conditions, I was able to gaze at the trees that the snow had frosted like Christmas cookies. It took about 5.75 hours to get there, which felt like a long time, but which made sleep at the Pasco Motel 6 all that more rewarding. Saturday morning was clear and sunny and about 4 degrees outside. I wore three layers of my best lightweight, heat-retaining clothes, which kept me plenty warm. We were shooting the Cable Bridge Race, a road run that starts on the Kennewick side of the Columbia River, crossess the Cable Bridge to the Pasco side of the Columbia, and finishes at a huge warehouse at th...

Meg's appointment is confirmed for mid-afternoon today, so check back here around 3:30/4:00 p.m. for the unveiling of the sex of our new baby. Shock and impress your friends and family by telling them that you heard it first from Michael (not Meg). Breaking Update : It's a . . . . . . . . 'nother boy. Surprise!

This afternoon Meg will undergo an emergency ultrasound to appease her appetite for knowing the sex of the baby that is growing vigorously inside of her. While in Salt Lake/Park City last week, she was tempted (by her friends, of course) to pay for a vanity ultrasound at a boutique in a mall (apparently this is a popular and trendy thing to do)--she even called to tell me that she had gone through with it (she is very good at telling stories that persuade me to believe in something untrue), knowing she could get a good laugh at my expense. Meg has gone back-and-forth with her personal feeling of what the baby's sex is, but lately she has settled on it being a girl. I've been in the boy camp for most of the pregnancy, mainly because that's what I know, but I think I have crossed the lake to the girl's camp now. Regardless, we'll find out this afternoon. If you are reading before I publish the results, check back again soon for the breaking-news-update. Breaking-Updat...