Brad & Emily's Adventures on the Oregon Trail

Mt. Bachelor Snowboarding 2012

2012-01-29T23:45:00.000-08:00

The recent storms brought some record snowfall (35 inches in 24 hours) to the mountains, so my co-worker, Sean, and I decided this warranted a day off work. I also called my H.S. friend, Chad Staker, to join us....he caught a last minute flight up from Denver. We took Friday off and drove 3.5 hrs down to Bend, Oregon to ride the slopes at Mt. Bachelor. Since Sean's wife, Adrienne, is a freelance writer, it was not hard for her to convince her boss (herself) that it is OK to take a powder day.

on the drive from Portland to Bend, we saw the sunrise over Mt. Jefferson

the snowbank was taller than the truck...I'm glad I splurged for new 31" Toyo M/T tires last year (the deeper the snow, the better they grab, due to lugs on the outer sidewalls)

Mt. Bachelor Resort

Sean and Adrienne's dog, Porter takes a nap after a long day of playing in the snow

Our accommodations for the weekend were at the McMenamins Old St. Francis School. It is an actual school from the 1930's that has been restored and transformed into a hotel, restaurant, movie theatre, and brewery. They did a great job at preserving the charm while incorporating modern amenities.

our rental cottage for the weekend

Adrienne is surprised at how awesome this place is!

the kitchen still harbors the original icebox

the courtyard outside our rental house....the fire pits are clutch after a day in the snow

the soaking pool (warm saltwater) is instrumental in loosening up legs made stiff from snowboarding all day

original water fountain in the hallway of the school....brings me back to memories of grade school

Of course, no trip is complete without finding the best food....we found an amazing brunch spot called "Chow":

banana french toast with almonds

I'm still amazed that we have lived in Portland for over 3 years, and we are just now checking out nearby Bend. This just goes to show you how much Oregon has to offer. We had passed through the town before, but never spent the time to truly discover the charm it holds. This town is a front runner for places I would like to retire....but, until then, I guess I will just have to come visit more often on the weekends. :)

Phoenix 2012

2012-01-24T00:28:00.001-08:00

We went down to Phoenix to visit the Kerseys for a long weekend in mid January. Their recent addition, Aiden, was the prime reason for the trip....however, we didn't mind also getting some nice sunny weather in the middle of winter. It was a little too cold (60-70 degrees) to enjoy their backyard pool, so I guess we will have to visit them again when it gets warmer. :)

a proud new father and his son (Paul and Aiden)

Leeanna with her two favs, Aiden and Miley

On Saturday afternoon, Leeanna watched Aiden while Paul took us for some sight seeing around the Phoenix area.

Superstition Mountain

Goldfield: an old gold mining town

the chapel at Goldfield

no trip to the desert is complete without seeing some cacti

Canyon Lake

On Saturday night, we drove up South Mountain and took the tripod to get some night shots of the city skyline. Here are some slow shutter speed pics:

South Mountain light towers
(photo taken in complete darkness...I'm still amazed at how much light this lens can capture without a flash)

Phoenix (with a couple of planes coming in)

downtown Phoenix (I finally got to use the full 250mm zoom!)

And like it was no big deal, Emily ran yet another half marathon (13.1 miles) while we were in town. She looked online before the trip and noticed that the Phoenix marathon and half marathon were scheduled for the same weekend of our visit. I guess she couldn't pass up the chance to run in nice sunny weather. After Emily's half marathon on Sunday, we met up with her old friend, Sebastien, from Northwestern. It was nice to get caught up, and we even bought a few of his T-shirts (he's an artist).

Well, it was a jam packed weekend, but that is just how we roll. It was great visiting the Kerseys, meeting Aiden for the first time, and catching up with old friends. We will definitely be back to visit them many more times.

NYE 2012 in Utah

2012-01-08T22:19:00.001-08:00

For New Years Eve, I decided to take a roadtrip with a few friends to Utah to do some snowboarding. Unfortunately, Emily's new job required that she work during NYE so she was not able to join us on the trip. Along for the ride in my old 4runner were Sean (a friend from work) and his wife Adrienne. Chad Staker drove out from Denver to meet us there. We left Thursday evening and drove through the night, stopping for only 2.5 hrs sleep, to arrive in Park City, Utah on Friday afternoon. Thanks to Facebook, I learned that cousin Greg Tung was also in town snowboarding that same week, so we got to meet up and ride together for a day at Snowbird.
On NYE night, we were treated to some unexpected excitement. Since we were all tired from the drive and snowboarding, we crashed kind of early in our rental condo. Around 2:30AM we were awoken to a disturbance: there was a random stranger in our living room and he had fallen into a wall!! He was obviously quite intoxicated and not really aware of where he was. From what we could piece together, he knew the person who owned our rental condo so he knew the combination for the door lock. Chad was trying to convince him to leave and threatened to call the cops. Little did we know that minutes earlier, this same guy had been banging on our neighbor's door, so they had already called the cops. The police handcuffed the man, and we all had to write statements at 3AM. What a bizarre way to start the new year!

the crew hanging out in Park City (Sean, Adrienne, Chad)

the mountain view from Solitude Resort

a moose we saw alongside the road on our drive to the mountain

sunset at Park City, Utah (the sky was an unbelievable shade of orange/pink)

Ohio December 2011

2011-12-15T21:19:00.001-08:00

Emily and I flew to Ohio last weekend to visit Mom and Dad. Since Emily just started a new job, we didn't want to take time off work, so we took the Friday night redeye to arrive Saturday morning. The redeye always seems like a good idea when buying the ticket, since it maximizes visiting time and minimizes time away from work. In reality, however, it is always a struggle with the middle of the night change of planes and the 3 hr time zone difference. But nothing that can't be remedied with some good coffee!
We spent the entire weekend hanging out with family and got to spend a lot of time with my 3 nephews. We squeezed in 2 of Logan's basketball games.
Dad is still doing well with his rehab and recovery. He seems to be in better spirits, but still has a long way to go to get his writing and speech back. Since I will be on call and working during Christmas, we did an early gift exchange with my parents. We also got to see the nephews in the Christmas play at church. It was a great weekend, but went by too quickly. We flew back late Sunday night, to face reality (work) again on Monday morning.

ice crystals on our rental car in the morning - the thin needles were almost 1" tall and blanketed the car in a perfect uniform layer, resembling a finely manicured miniature frozen turf

Logan handles the ball under fierce defense

Logan shooting

and part of the fan club at the game:

Chandler

cousin Jill and her little R.J.

San Francisco - December 2011

2011-12-05T23:20:00.000-08:00

I traveled with Emily to San Francisco for her weekend of MBA classes. She went to class while I got to have fun visiting with family. :)

We stayed with our cousins Danny and Renee (and their two adorable girls Naomi and Nina). Emily arrived on Thursday night so that she would be ready for her early classes on Friday. I flew in after work on Friday to join Emily and her classmates just in time for dinner in downtown SF. On Saturday, Emily went to class and Renee had to work, so Danny and I took the girls out for a little walk at Lands End. For being early December, the weather was amazing: 55 degrees and hardly a cloud in the sky! It's nice to be able to walk around in the winter with a mere sweatshirt. Sorry Midwestern people...I just don't miss those winters (if I want to enjoy snow, I can just go to the mountains).

The girls and I at Lands End (with a distant view of the Golden Gate Bridge)

We had lunch at a little bistro on the beach and watched the surfers maneuver the rough waves.

On Sunday, we all went to watch Naomi's dance recital. Afterwards, we grabbed some lunch and hung out at home with the girls. We got them a Play-dough set for Christmas:

the Play-dough set for the, ahem, kids

OK, I admit, that stuff is still awesome to play with. :)

Nina shows off her masterpiece: a multicolor Play-dough ice cream cone

Of course the trip was not complete without some famous San Tung wings, so we ordered take-out and munched them down before having to leave for the airport. Our trip was ever so brief, and we were back home in Portland on Sunday night so that we could face the real world on Monday morning.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-30T18:05:00.000-08:00

We had our 4th Thanksgiving in Portland. Wow, I cannot believe how fast the years are rolling by. Our tradition is to host a Thanksgiving dinner at our home for all of our friends who are stuck in Portland, away from their families. This year we had 12 people to help eat our 26 lb turkey (OK, technically only 11 people since one was vegetarian). Needless to say, we had plenty of leftovers. It was great to spend time with our long-time friends, The Kerns (and Zoe), as well as with our newer friends from Emily's MBA program. It's also rewarding to see our different circles of friends mix and become friends with each other as well.
We were hoping for some potential excitement, since our good friend Courtney was in attendance and due to have her baby anytime (update: she gave birth on 11/28/11 to 8lb 15 oz Owen....congrats C&C!).

starting from L and going CW: Apu, Courtney, Charlie, Susan, Em, Alvin, Trami, Hiep, Deepak, Matt, Kristina

Thanksgiving would not be complete if the guys were not escaping the kitchen to watch football in the living room

Thanks to everyone who joined us for Thanksgiving. It is great to have such a wonderful group of friends!

Dad's Recovery, a visit to Ohio

2011-11-29T21:28:00.000-08:00

I went back home to Ohio to visit my parents. My Dad has been recovering quite well since having his brain hemorrhage and surgery last summer. He has regained most of his motor skills and can do most "everyday" tasks. His speech has come back, but he still struggles with vocabulary and has some memory loss. His main obstacles are reading and writing. It has been tough on my Mom to provide the support he demands for his condition. On top of being primary caregiver, my Mom is also trying to keep the family businesses going. I commend my Dad for all of his efforts to recover, and I commend my Mom for her patience with the process. It is tough being far away from family during times like these. I went home for the weekend to try and provide my Mom just even a little respite. It was great to spend so much 1:1 time with my Dad. I don't think I have ever spent that much time with just him and I together. Usually when I am in town, I am rushing around to see old friends and cramming in as much as I can. This weekend was all about taking it slow and easy, at Dad's pace. A great deal of bonding ensued.

One project Dad has invested a great deal of his time in (before his health issues) has been the Garber Farm. The Garber family was gracious enough to donate their home and 113 acres of land to the county for use as a historical exhibit and park. My Dad was monumental with getting additional funding lined up and organizing the key projects required to turn the donated land into a park. Through collaboration with the local boyscout troops, they cleared brush and constructed a handicap-accessible boardwalk so that all may enjoy the natural beauty of the woods. They even added an ecologically friendly Eloo outhouse. The Eloo is an evaporative system that uses no water, electricity, or chemicals and does not discharge any sewage, chemicals, or odors into the environment. Wow, maybe my parents have been listening to my west-coast green preaching. :)

Dad on the boardwalk he help build, making the park into a handicap-accessible area

the boardwalk trail culminates at a 200-300 year old oak tree

The house itself tells a story of a forgotten past. When it was donated to the Park District, it seemed to be stuck in time. It had not been inhabited for many decades, and harbored some interesting relics. The Park District did a great job at securing donations to help restore not only the home, but the antiques inside.

the old Garber Farm house

an antique wheel chair found in the home

the Edison phonograph caught my eye as it is quite similar to the one that resides in our home
(I inherited an original Edison phonograph from my great-grandmother)

The rest of weekend plans included going to therapy, hanging out at the house, and taking Dad to the music store. One of the most amazing things about Dad's brain injury is that, even though he forgot how to read, write, and do most basic skills, he somehow retained his ability to play the drums. From my rough calculations, I figure he has been playing the drums for almost 50 years. It was great to hear that he did not lose this skill because it is something that he truly enjoys. He often joked when we were growing up that most doctors play golf, while his "golf" is drumming. I think that it is very important that he keeps drumming during his recovery; not only will it help rebuild motor skills and coordination, but I think it is important for his self esteem and morale. He often gets frustrated when he cannot perform daily tasks that used to be commonplace. So maybe drumming can give him an escape where he can immerse himself in a skill in which he is still proficient. Since his current drumset currently resides at the church and he is still not able to drive, we (all of us kids) decided to buy him another drumset to use at home. For Mom's sanity, we got him a practice pad set so that it would not be too loud in the house. From the sound of things, it has already gotten good use.

here's one from the archives: This is my Dad's band, The Blue Royals, from when he was in High School. They performed mostly Beatles and Eagles covers. Although I was not present during that era, I did get a chance to hear them perform live when they got back together to play for their 25th year class reunion.

As we are in the Thanksgiving season, I want to give an extra special thanks to the doctors and nurses who saved my Dad's life. They did a superb job with the surgery. I realize they are probably rewarded with high compensation, but sometimes I think that they do not get the true credit they deserve. To save, repair, and extend a human life has got to be one of the most valuable skills a person could ever obtain. I want to thank my Mom for noticing the early warning signs and taking action (even if it was against Dad's initial will to go the hospital). Mom also deserves an ongoing thanks from all of us for helping him through the long recovery phase. I can't think of a Thanksgiving when I have had so much to be thankful for.

Moscow, Part II

2011-11-27T12:01:00.000-08:00

Our adventure in Moscow continues...

Prior to our trip, our Russian friends advised us to only carry photocopies of our passports while in Russia. Apparently, the local police are known to ask to see your passport, and then they will keep it until you pay them a bribe. So we heeded this tip, with the downfall that we could not get into the Ostankino TV tower (which required original passport documentation to enter). Next time, I will carry both the original (tucked away safely) and a photocopy. :)

Ostankino Tower - the tallest tower in Europe

OK, we all know Emily cannot go too long without shopping. We visited a local street market that sold everything from fresh produce to fur coats; it reminded me of the elaborate bazaars in Cairo, but colder and less touristy.

We also checked out a little more upscale shopping at the GUM, located in the Red Square. Honestly, we usually just went into the GUM to get warm in between visiting the magnificent buildings in the Kremlin and the Red Square. It is also a good place to grab a latte to combat jet lag in the afternoon. The 1890's building itself is nothing short of spectacular. The clothing stores may change with the season, but architecture like this never goes out of style.

inside the GUM

Emily ponders her next purchase at the GUM

the GUM at night (as viewed from the Red Square)

Emily read about a castle that was nestled in a wooden park area, so we took the train across town, got off at a remote stop in the country, and embarked on a trek through the woods to find said castle.

Apoptosis; the leaves had just fallen from the trees. The stark contrast between the barren black and white trunks and the colorful lying leaves, which once produced energy and life, signified the onslaught of the cold Russian winter.

the Russian squirrels look a little different than those native to the U.S.

We came upon a small log cabin surrounded by a wooden gate. Thinking this was the castle we were looking for, I opened the gate and walked inside. A man came out speaking in Russian and gesturing that they were not open for visitors, so we decided not to push our luck and returned on our path back to the remote train station.

"Is this it?"....not exactly the castle we were looking for

While waiting on the train, we realized we had gotten off at the wrong stop, so we got back on the train, rode to the next stop, and disembarked to find the castle we were searching for all along:

this castle is much better than the tiny cabin we found in the woods

a vodka distillery near the castle

Outside of the castle was an open air market selling lots of paintings and WWII memorabilia...I found an authentic old bronze SCUBA helmet that would have made an excellent decoration for the house, except for the fact that the guy wanted $1500 for it, and it probably would not meet the weight requirement for our checked baggage.

Emily bought a set of souvenir Matryoshka dolls at the market. Each one is hand painted and opens to fit the next inside of it. There are 20 in total with the last few so small (only a few mm tall), that you can barely decipher the details of the painting!

Some other random cool buildings we saw as we were walking around:

One destination which particularly piqued my interest was a former underground nuclear bunker that has been turned into a museum and opened to the public....well, sort of. It turned out to be about as welcoming as one would expect the KGB to be. At $40 each for admission, you would think they would be clamoring for customers. However, I could not successfully make a reservation on their website, nor find any real details about when they were open. I had difficulty speaking with them on the phone, so I tried to get our hotel concierge to talk to them to no avail. Finally, we decided to just show up and see what happened. Well, what happened is that we did not get in. There was a "No Trespassing" gate at the entrance, which I pretended to ignore. Then I found a small intercom buzzer at the gate so I pushed the button a received a crackly reply in hasty Russian. I have no clue what he said, but it was not exactly in a friendly tone....so, once again, we decided to cut our losses and leave before anything bad happened. Oh well, I guess it just adds to the mystique of the place.

Here we are, in a foreign land which had been an enemy of our country for most of our childhood, trespassing in the name of tourism. I love it!

Even though we did not get to tour the underground bunker, we did get to frequent the underground subway tunnel system while riding the Moscow Metro. Of all the cities I have been to in the world, I would argue that Moscow has by far the best subway system. It costs less than $1 to ride, the trains come every 2 minutes, the routes span out from the center of the city and include a large circle line to connect the outer extremes, and the stations themselves are historical relics. The stations are lined with marble and many of them house artwork and sculptures. The 1930's era light fixtures, while probably not efficient by today's standards, add a warm glow and distinctive classical feel. The trains themselves are a little old, but feel like they are built out of solid steel and function very well....they are the type of design that would make your grandfather say, "they just don't make 'em like they used to". Every time I rode the train, I could not help from being transported (pun intended) back to my childhood where I used to watch old James Bond films on VHS with my friend, Mark Lindloff.

the infinitely long escalators leading down to the Moscow Metro
(just for fun, I took the stairs up once....and was utterly exhausted at the top)

a typical Moscow Metro station

Despite the Cold War being long over, there was still a strong overtone of military prowess in the air. This feeling culminated at the Central Museum of Armed Forces. Chad and and I enjoyed checking out the tanks and missiles, while Brie and Emily waited patiently after briskly walking through the exhibits.

A quote from Chad (referring to the large missiles in the background), "You know, those probably used to be pointed at us". A sobering thought. I'm glad it never came to that.

my personal favorite - the armored locomotive

On our last evening, we decided to walk around the Red Square at night. Even though we had walked it several times prior, we just could not get enough of it. It is a real beauty at night.

the State Historical Museum (which we toured, but we were not allowed to take pics inside)

the State Historical Museum as viewed from the Red Square

the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin - originally built in 1491

...well, as they say "all good things must come to an end", so does our adventure in Moscow.

Moscow, Part I

2011-11-17T22:00:00.000-08:00

In October, we took a trip to Moscow. Emily studied Russian for several years and used to perform Russian dance, so she had been itching to go for some time now. Of course, it did not take too much to convince me to travel to an interesting land so filled with history. In preparation, I picked up Tolstoy's "War and Peace" about 4 months ago (free download on Kindle)....however, I must admit I am only about a quarter of the way through the book....so I did not get it done before the trip. Oh well, it seems to focus more on St Petersburg anyways. :)
It was a short trip, so we decided to focus our efforts on Moscow and try to see everything we could in this amazing city. It is about the size of New York City, but does not boast skyscrapers. Instead, it has some of the most beautiful architecture and one of the best subway systems I have ever ridden on. The buildings are so iconic, you can feel the history radiating from them. A few months before the trip, we were talking to my High School friend Chad Staker and his wife Brie about our plans. Fortunately, the decided to join us and booked a trip as well. Since they are now living in Denver, we don't get to see them very much....so it was nice to spend time with them, albeit halfway around the world.

Chad, Brie, and Emily just outside of The Kremlin

in front of the Tsar Cannon - the largest cannon in the world, cast in 1586

The Assumption Cathedral
(sorry, no pics allowed inside most of these buildings)

Ivan the Great Belltower

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (WWII)

Lenin's Tomb

Chad and Brie in the Red Square in front of St. Basil's Cathedral

narrow passageway inside St. Basil's

the inside of St. Basil's
(most of the cathedrals had inner walls adorned with elaborate paintings)

As we were walking around the city, we noticed a lot of police and TV news vans. We decided to see what the commotion was about. They had red carpet rolled out leading up to the world famous Bolshoi Theatre. It is one of the oldest opera and ballet theatres in the world. Apparently it had been under a nearly $700 million renovation for the last 6 years, and we were lucky enough to be in town when it had its grand reopening! Unfortunately, we are not A List so we didn't get invited to actually go inside for the premier (but we did catch a little of it on TV in our hotel room after dinner).

the world renowned Bolshoi Theatre

We visited the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, which is located underground, just under the Monument to the Conquerors of Space. It was interesting to see the old Russian space propaganda which acted to poke fun at the USA for being second place to space. We may have put a man on the moon, but they did beat us in sending a person to outer space and in putting a satellite into orbit. You can thank the Russians next time you use your cell phone. :)

Monument to the Conquerors of Space

We wanted to see some Communist era buildings, and we stumbled upon the All Russia Exhibition Centre. It was quite bizarre. Outside was a sort of free-for-all open market where we saw people standing in the cold, holding one or two items for sale. Most were selling handmade clothing, but other items ranged from live pets stuffed into the front of their coats (kittens, puppies, birds, ferrets, you name it) to outdated CDs, to taser guns. As Chad looked closer to see if the random guy was actually selling a taser, the guy hit the trigger to show us how it arced a menacing spark. Uh, OK buddy, no thanks. I can only speculate that this place would get even more shady after dark, but after my near death experience in Israel, I was not about to stick around to find out.

the Exhibition Centre

Well, this post is getting a little long, so I will wrap it up here for now. I'll try to get the rest of the Moscow adventure up soon....

San Fran and half marathon

2011-11-04T17:08:00.000-07:00

I decided to tag along with Em to San Fran for her October MBA classes. It was nice getting to meet her classmates; they are an impressive group of individuals and I am sure most of them will be very successful in their future endeavors. While they were in class, I got to visit with an old friend from grad school, Mark Witschi. Also on the docket that weekend was for Emily to run the Nike Women's half marathon. Personally, I don't know how she could manage running two half marathons in back to back weekends, seeing as how I was still sore from the Portland half marathon the previous weekend. The race was sponsored by Tiffany's, so she received a Tiffany's necklace at the finish line....I think that is the REAL reason why she signed up for this race. :)

Em and her classmate Alice at the race
(Alice was also kind enough to host us for the weekend - much thanks for the amazing place to stay downtown)

Em must have been relaxed during the run, because I found this pic on her phone - she took it during the race

another pic from the race - rounding the last bend toward the finish on the beach

Em at the finish - staying warm in her space blanket

On Sunday, we met up with Renee, Danny, and the girls. I have been getting a little jealous of all the time Em gets to spend with Naomi and Nina....they are awesome kids. Naomi has just started at a Mandarin immersion school, and she was quizzing me on my Chinese. I was amazed at how much she has learned already; it looks like I need to start studying my Rosetta Stone program more aggressively so I can keep up with her!

Naomi and Nina styling Em's hair

Nina plays until she falls asleep....kinda reminds me of myself as a kid:
a pic from the archives - when I was 3, I used to play until I fell asleep...wherever that may be - this time on my turtle sandbox

Portland Half Marathon

2011-11-03T19:15:00.000-07:00

I decided to take my running to the next level this summer and signed up for the Portland Half marathon. OK, it didn't actually happen that way; I'll be honest. Em was running all summer, and I was tagging along on her training runs....call it Quality Time if you will, since she has been so busy with school and work. When one of her teammates for the Hood to Coast race (see earlier blog) got injured weeks before the race, I stepped in as an alternate. After running 16+ miles over the course of 1.5 days during the Hood to Coast relay in August, I decided I might as well run the half marathon during the first week of October. I have a life goal of running a full marathon, but, you know, sometimes you have to lower your expectations. :) Besides, how hard could it be to run 13.1 miles? (I was soon to learn the hard way!) I was quite busy traveling (Israel, St Louis, Chicago - see earlier posts) in the month between the two races so I did not get much training done. On top of that, I had been battling a cold for 2 weeks before the race. But enough about excuses. A week before the Portland half marathon, a friend said she had signed up for the race (which was sold out) but she did not want to run it anymore....so I bought her race bib and ran in her place. The first 10 miles went great and I was running well and keeping on my target pace. Then I hit the proverbial wall that is commonly mentioned by distance runners. I was out of energy and struggling to stay moving. I knew if I started walking I would get cramps in my legs, and it would only get worse from there. I kept going, but my pace slowed to a very slow jog. The last 3 miles were one of the most painful experiences of my life. After the race I could barely walk. I was sore for 2 weeks after the race....the pain is temporary, but the memory will last forever.

Oh yeah, and Em ran the race too.....but it is no big deal for her because she has done several of these before. Case in point, note the differing facial expressions between her and I in these photos.

Em after the race: chipper as always

me after the race: not so chipper and in a world of pain

Chicago Visit, Sept 2011

2011-11-02T20:54:00.001-07:00

During the last weekend of September, Emily and I made a trip back to Chicago for the Northwestern Alumni Annual Leadership Symposium. Since we both serve on the Board for the Portland Chapter (and Em is Regional Director for Portland, Seattle, San Fran), we get invited to come back each year to share ideas with other leaders from around the country. It is a great way to meet fellow NU alumni, learn new recruiting/event ideas, and brainstorm on how to make our clubs even better. It's also a good excuse to visit old friends and familiar places.

Em with two of her former NU roommates, Pauline and Amanda

We were on campus for alumni stuff all day Friday and Saturday then we had to leave on Sunday, but that did not stop us from squeezing in some of our favorite restaurants: Buff Joe's Wings in Evanston, Nookies in Lincoln Park, Chi Cafe in Chinatown, and Giordano's Pizza (we got an extra two deep dish pizzas to bring back to Portland).

Of course no trip to Chicago is complete without visiting my sister Kristy and her husband Pat....especially since we got to see Elliot! He is growing up so fast....

Elliot showing off his scooter skills

Kristy and Elliot at brunch
...sorry Pat, you didn't make the cut...JK, I just didn't get any pics of you ;)

Jon and Stacy's Wedding in St Louis

2011-10-19T21:19:00.000-07:00

After my trip to Israel, I was home just long enough (1.5 days) to unpack, do laundry, then repack to head to St Louis for Emily's brother's wedding. This is why I have been so slow to get these posts up.....things are happening faster than I can write! But I guess it is a good problem to have. :) We had an awesome time in St Louis visiting with family and enjoying all the wedding festivities.

dim sum

the groomsmen hanging out on Friday before the rehearsal

rehearsal in Forest Park

Mom and Dad looking great

Emily's Aunt, Grandma, and Mom

Jon and Stacy toasting at the rehearsal dinner

The rehearsal dinner was a 12 course traditional Chinese meal including lobster....we ate like kings

Emily's Mom's side of the family - Aunts, Uncle, Mom, and Grandma

the wedding party table

traditional Chinese tea ceremony at the house: each couple is served tea from the bride and groom in exchange for gifts and jewelry

Em got emotional at the tea ceremony - so happy for her little brother!

at the ceremony in Forest Park - the lawn in the distance was decorated with a flag commemorating each of those lives lost in 9/11 (the ceremony was on 09/10/11 - a day before the 10 year anniversary)

the ladies looking their best at the wedding

Jon and Stacy's First Dance

Congrats Jon and Stacy - we are so happy for you both and wish you a lifetime of love!

The Dead Sea

2011-10-13T17:38:00.000-07:00

On my last day in Israel, I got off work with just enough time to drive 1.5 hours to the Dead Sea before the sun went down. Driving through the West Bank is akin to being on Mars; it is very desolate, hot, arid, and shows absolutely no signs of life. The only water present is so saturated with salt that nothing can live in it, nor can it even come close to being used as a refreshing respite for a parched traveler. The Dead Sea is aptly named.

the road to the Dead Sea

yours truly at a roadside vista with the Dead Sea in the distance

a resort appears as an oasis

I pulled over near a hotel resort and had some time to take a float in the Dead Sea. It is a feeling that everyone should experience at least once in their life. Put this on your bucket list. I would argue it is worth the plane ticket just to have this experience. Imagine walking out into an oily hot bath only to have your feet float out from under you. You float on top of the hot salt water with zero effort and bask in the sun with a feeling of zero gravity. As you move, the viscous liquid flows around you in ways that make you appreciate all those lectures in fluid mechanics. You suddenly become aware of the differing buoyancy of your different body parts. Lying on my back, if I lift my leg out above the surface, my overall weight stays constant while my displacement lessens....and I sink an extra inch in the water. If I use my muscles to force my legs deeper into the water, my displacement increases so my body floats a little higher on the surface. You simply cannot get this graduated level of buoyancy in regular water nor can you experiment like this because, in regular water, you are usually expending a great deal of effort just to stay afloat. Now I am floating with zero effort. It actually takes effort to attempt to sink. I fail to completely submerge my body. This is fun....I start to laugh....out loud. As other tourists delight in a similar ethereal experience, they too giggle and profess their fascination in their many different languages. You can tell immediately who is a first timer by their giddy expressions. You can soak in the salt water for hours and the skin on your hands does not pucker, it looks the same as when you got in. When you get out of the water, the drops never dry and you do not experience evaporative cooling, despite the fact that it is a very hot and very dry climate. The minuscule amount of water in the drops on your skin is so tightly bound by the salt molecules that they will not let the water release into the air. Eventually, however, evaporation slowly wins and you are left with a thin layer of salt crystals coating your skin.
After a quick rinse, I hit the road for a final trip to the hotel to get my stuff and head to the airport for my return trip home. It was a memorable trip, but hopefully next time I will have more time to see the rest of the country.

Floating on the Dead Sea was a relaxing way to end a trip that was anything but relaxing.

Jerusalem

2011-10-12T22:23:00.000-07:00

My time in Israel was quickly running out, and I had been working so much that I did not have a chance to see any of the other famous historical places. So, I decided to try and squeeze in some sights after work in the evening. Jerusalem was only about a 45 minute departure from my normal route home from Kiryat Gat to Tel Aviv, so I took the scenic detour and arrived at dusk. In all honesty, I think this city looks best at night, as the ancient stone buildings bask in modern artificial light.

The Old City

East Jerusalem

The Western Wall

I ventured to East Jerusalem to take some B&W shots of the stone streets. I did not know at the time that this was not the safest neighborhood to be walking around at night alone. I could sense I was being followed by 3 men. I tried to keep walking to keep my cool. Unfortunately, the street dead ended, and I was forced to turn around and walk towards the 3 men I believed to be watching me. They began speaking to me, however it was either Arabic or Hebrew, so I had no clue what they were saying to me. I ignored them and kept walking. As I passed by them, they grabbed me from either side and attempted to rob me. After a short scuffle, I managed to break free and ran as fast as I could. I held tight on my camera as they were trying to pull it from my possession. I was especially concerned since I had just splurged on a new Cannon DSLR 18MP just days before the trip. Later, someone reminded me that I should have been more afraid for my own safety....however, at the time, I gotta admit I was thinking more about my belongings and somehow knew I would be able to hold my own (although it did not even cross my mind that they may have weapons). I must say that all the martial arts training in grad school was worth it in this brief moment. It's not that I went Chuck Norris on them, but the training gave me great confidence and even better body awareness/presence in difficult situations. A couple swift moves to break their grip was all it took to avoid a potentially dangerous situation. After running to a safer area of town, I found a nice restaurant and sat down to treat myself to an amazing meal. Somehow I felt I deserved it or that I was celebrating getting out of such a situation completely unharmed. I just sat there for awhile after the meal, alone, enjoying the view of the city at night, and thinking, "damn, I am lucky, and I have been through some cool stuff, and I have seen a lot of cool things in my life". As I am always rushing through life to see more and do even more, it sometimes takes something drastic for me to stop and reflect on what I am actually doing here. And then I quickly slipped back into my old self and resumed walking around taking pictures at night like a fool (albeit, now staying in safer parts of town)....I hope you enjoy the pics as much as I did taking them! :)

I saw a car that barely made it up this steep road

a typical street in the Old City

the exterior walls of the Old City of Jerusalem

After exhausting the safe areas of Jerusalem, I ventured towards Bethlehem....however it proved to be a little rougher than Jerusalem. After my encounter in Jerusalem, I thought it would be best just to do a quick drive through Bethlehem and not get out of the car to take pics. Also, I didn't have a GPS, so I was winging it old skool style with a paper map.....which screams tourist....so I didn't venture far. After driving by a burning dumpster (below), I concluded that I had experienced enough adventure for one night and drove straight back to Tel Aviv to the safety of my posh hotel. Sometimes you gotta know when to say when...and quit while you are ahead.

OK, I did actually get out of the car once in Bethlehem at night...but only to capture this dumpster fire

(one more final Israel blog coming soon)

Tel Aviv, Israel

2011-10-11T23:59:00.000-07:00

After finishing the Hood to Coast race (previous post), I jumped on a flight Monday morning to head to Israel for a work trip. Intel has a newly built chip fabrication (fab) facility in the town of Kiryat Gat, located about 1 hour south of Tel Aviv. If you were watching the news around that time, you would know that Kiryat Gat is in the southern region that was getting hit with rockets from Gaza. Luckily, they agreed to a cease fire a few days before my departure.
So I proceeded with my scheduled trip to Israel for an internal company audit to make sure their local fab is setup correctly and running according to spec before they start running production material. Audits are more fun when you are the one on the auditor side of the equation. :) My schedule was hectic, but I did get to squeeze in a few hours of sight seeing during my week long trip.

the Mediterranean Sea near Tel Aviv

the view from my hotel room in Tel Aviv (23rd floor)

walking around Tel Aviv, you will find a mix of old and new buildings:

the city at night

While I was visiting, there was an ongoing protest against the high taxes and high cost of living. For instance, when you buy a car in Israel, you pay over 100% tax on the car. On top of that, gas costs about $8.50 per gallon. Housing prices rival those of the most expensive American cities. Many middle class citizens struggle to make ends meet, despite having well paying jobs. The locals protested by living in tents in public areas of the city.

Finally, on September 3rd, there was an organized protest in which 400,000 people participated. It was the largest protest in the history of Israel. After getting home from work in the evening, I took my camera and hit the streets to immerse myself in the action! I can honestly say that I have never observed so many people concentrated in one area. It was great to be a part of this historic event.

of course I found some drummers to hang out with

It started getting late (the protest did not start until 10PM), so my jet lagged body forced me to retire to my hotel room before seeing the end of the festivities....besides, I had to get up at 6AM for work the next day......I was working through the weekend and I had been working the previous days from 6AM to 1AM and 6AM to 3AM....it's the Intel way ;) Time for some well deserved sleep.

(more Israel blogs to follow)

Hood to Coast

2011-10-04T21:45:00.000-07:00

On August 25-26 Emily and I participated in the 2011 Hood to Coast (HTC) Relay with a team of Emily's co-workers. Emily was team captain, so I was able to weasel my way onto the team at the last minute due to some injuries that forced a teammate to dropout a week before the race. HTC is a 200 mile running relay that starts at the top of Mt Hood and ends at the small Pacific coastal town of Seaside, Oregon. Each team has 12 runners split between two shuttle vans. The runners take turns while the vans leapfrog to the next exchange point. Each runner completes 3 sections and each section varies from 4-8 miles, so you end up running about 16-17 miles over the course of a day. The fun part is that there are no breaks in the race....it goes through the night. We started early Friday morning and finished Saturday afternoon. It was an amazing challenge and a great experience. Running through the pain on a back country road at night with just a headlamp to dimly light the way can take you to some places in your head that you didn't even know existed. If you are a runner (and I don't claim to be), then this is an event that you will look forward to doing again. I think I only slept about 2 hours in the van, yet I logged a pace 30 seconds per mile faster than my usual; I guess those late nights on call for work have prepared my body to function at peak performance no matter what time of day. :) ....or was it the Redbull and an energy bar for breakfast?

gearing up the team van (van #2) at our house before the race...in case you can't read our spoof corporate motivational signs they state "blurring Vision", "wavering Commitment", and my fav "begging for an Execution".....which pretty much sums up how you feel after running 17 miles on hardly any sleep!

looking to the start in the morning

powering through my first leg - a rolling 5.87 miles

exchange to teammate Chris (Emily's former manager)

donning the reflective vest for the night run

night exchange point - somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Oregon

Em running at 3AM

Em hands off the baton after finishing her night run

then we got stuck in traffic from all the vans...sometimes the runner beat the van so we had to get out and run an extra mile or so to make the exchange in time for the next runner

vans waiting at the exchange point

people get creative on where to sleep - this guy had a full matress in the back of his truck

Em heading down the final stretch to the coast to bring us across the finish line!

the AGX12 team

at the finish on the beach - time to party

after the race, we got massages then sat on the beach and just soaked in some sun and the views

Registration just opened up for next year......we just need to find 10 crazy friends to do it with us again.

Extreme Sports

2011-09-14T22:27:00.000-07:00

This summer, we decided to get a little more adventurous with our outdoor activities. Along with the Kerns, we rented some quads to ride in the Tillamook Forest. They have over 200 miles of trails, so we did our best not to get lost in the woods.

looking my best with helmet hair and body armor :)

Em getting technical on some rough trails

we rode to the top of a mountain and had a panoramic view of Tillamook Forest

The next weekend, Emily scored some free tickets through her work for us to go see the Mtn Dew Tour (an invitational event sort of like the X-games). As we drove through the parking lot, I caught a glimpse of Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White hanging out at a makeshift trailer. Unfortunately I could not get my camera ready fast enough to get a pic of Shaun.
My favorite events were the dirt and street bike events:

I only wish I could do a double tail whip off a jump this big!!

we had suite tickets for the indoor events....sweet!

Visit to San Fran in August

2011-09-13T22:20:00.001-07:00

We're finally getting a chance to catch up on blog posts! It looks like we're about a month behind, but we'll get there eventually. I visited San Fran back in August for my weekend of MBA classes. Renee and Danny were great hosts, and my trip happened to coincide with a visit to SF by my Uncle Bill and Aunt Jackie (Renee's parents whom I grew up with in St. Louis). I love my MBA class weekends because they give me an opportunity to get to know my classmates further and they give me a chance to visit with family!

Naomi and Nina are growing up quickly. Naomi started kindergarten and Nina is definitely getting into the chatty stage. I have to say, I'm really impressed at how articulate Nina is...when she says "boot", she really articulates the "t" sound at the end. During this visit, my name was "Boot" ;)

My Uncle Bill kept himself busy during the visit by offering to help plant some of the garden in front of the house. The girls had some fun helping out with their little shovels.

Naomi decided it would be cute if her and Nina decided to wear matching pink dresses. I loved it! They gave me a little fashion show.

Nina singing some karaoke!

Renee has this amazing ice cream attachment for her Kitchenaid mixer and made us all some delicious blackberry ice cream made out of yogurt. It was healthy and tasty!

The girls love it too! I can't wait to visit SF soon to see the girls again...I love being able to spend time with them.

To cap off this post, I want to end with a picture of my group in my MBA program. The Babson MBA is focused around a lot of group work, and I spend a lot of time each week on the phone with these guys. Luckily, I think they're all great to work with, and we have a strong group bond on both a personal and professional level. I only have this group for 7 more weeks (we're already 6 months into the program!), and then we switch to entirely new groups. I've really enjoyed the program and what I've learned from it - I've met some top notch people from the program and feel that I've developed some friendships that will last for the next 40 years and beyond.

Ohio Trip in July

2011-09-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

In July, my brother's wife, Melissa, passed away from her difficult bout with cancer. It is especially difficult for him because he now has 3 young boys to raise on his own. We traveled home for a week to be with the family and attend the funeral. On a positive note, it is the first time all of us siblings have been together in 3 years since we all live in different states (and Karen in a different country). The kids (our 5 nephews and 4 nieces) are all growing up so fast too, so it was great to spend time with them.

hanging out at Mom and Dad's

having lunch at the Tearoom with Anna

The Carpenter kids take lessons on violin, viola, and cello so they played us a little concert out on the deck. It is awesome to see how much poise they have at such a young age!

matching dresses for cousins Anna and Abby...they seemed inseparable

Mom bought a snow cone machine, so you can only imagine how popular this was in the Midwest heat. Emily, Karen, and Kathy serve up the flavor!

snow cones = happy kids (and happy adults)

We went to the Preble County Fair to watch Logan show his cow.

the boys getting the cow ready for the show ring

the crowd

And no trip to the fair is complete without some really greasy food. One of my favorites is the Texas Tenderloin. I haven't had one of these in about 10 years.....and it was as good as I remembered. Sometimes it is the simple things in life that can bring back the most fond memories of childhood.

yes, the Texas Tenderloin is almost as big as a plate and it dwarfs the bun!

Overall the trip was great, but a mixed bag of emotions. It is always good to visit with family, however it is unfortunate that it was under such circumstances.

P.S. - I just had to throw in this pic of Mt Hood that I snapped from the plane window as we descended back home to Portland (still plenty of snow in late July).

Summertime in Portland

2011-08-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

There's no better place to be than Portland in the summer. With low humidity and mild temperatures (70 during day, 55 at night), it really makes you want to spend every possible minute outside. Here are just a few of our favorite moments from this summer (when we have actually been in town):

The roses I planted last summer have been producing some nice blooms.

some have already grown taller than the fence; I guess the neighbors can enjoy them too ;)

I planted this one for its unique shade of red/orange blooms

this one has faint shades of pink on the edges of ivory petals

And what good is summer without some great friends to share it with? We had a BBQ with Em's MBA friends...several of them brought their dogs to enjoy the backyard.

We had a nomad visit us for a few days. His name is Chad Staker (my friend from H.S./college). He currently lives in Denver and is taking the summer off work to tour/camp around the country (and Canada) on his motorcycle. He custom built a bike rack onto his motorcycle so that he could go mountain biking along the way. With this setup, he fit in just fine as a Portland local while he was visiting.

We had another big BBQ this summer, with about 30 people hanging out in the backyard.

Our friends, The Mayas, returned from their trip to France and brought some fine wine, cheeses, and fois gras to share. I took over some fresh Oregon mussels and oysters. Their two young daughters, Eva and Ana, were intrigued by the smooth interior of the oyster shells. They kept playing with the shells. So cute.
Well summer is about half over (by my estimates, since we will have good weather into September), but we still have many more outdoor activities planned. We have to take full advantage of these good months before the winter rain hits again. We hope you are enjoying your summer as much as we are enjoying ours! -Love, Brad and Em

San Fran and NYC

2011-07-10T17:32:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I went down to San Francisco for my MBA class sessions. Jon and Stacy graciously hosted me for the few days I was there. I love hanging out with them because they're foodies, and I enjoy great food! I have really enjoyed my classmates - they have made my MBA experience amazing thus far. It's a great group of intelligent, energetic, and fun people. I always look forward to heading to San Fran to get together with them. After spending 3 days in San Fran, I took off to New York City for a work trip. When I travel for work now, it will mostly be up in the Northeastern part of the U.S. since that's where my territory is for work. I can't complain - I love that part of the U.S! On this trip, I got a good tour of New York driving through all the burroughs and neighboring large cities! We first went to Binghampton, then drove to Long Island, then spent some time in Manhattan, went up to White Plains, and then wrapped up the trip in the city. I enjoyed some amazing food and got to see some great sights and meet up with Thom, one of my oldest friends from Northwestern days.

Jon and Stacy took me to an amazing ramen restaurant - well worth the 1.5 hour wait. It was delicious!
While up in the Yonkers/White Plains area, we went to a fantastic restaurant called X2O Xaviars on the Hudson where the chef is a James Beard award winner. The captain at the restaurant took us on a private tour after our meal, which included getting my hands on a $4,000 bottle of wine and his trophy located in his wine cellar.
There, I shared his award winning dish - the aged and grilled cowboy ribeye with sauce bearaise. It was just as delicious as it looks!
Before we left NYC, we stopped at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where I took in some Van Gogh and Monet.

All in all, New York and San Fran were a great time - I haven't been away from home for a week and half except on international trips, so it was nice to finally arrive home after all the traveling.

Girls' Weekend in Minneapolis

2011-07-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm way behind on posts. Thanks mom for reminding me! Memorial Day Weekend, I used some frequent flyer miles to head to Minneapolis, Minnesota where Christal and Matt live to have a mini (and Minni"eapolis") girls' weekend. Of all places for a girls' weekend, Minneapolis was a great choice with the Mall of America! There was also plenty of good food and good fun. It had been awhile since we had seen Christal and Matt, so it was good to finally catch up and re-live old times. Thanks Christal and Matt for hosting Pauline and me!
The girls pre-sushi dinner :) And Christal, showing off her chopstick skills!
Christal and Matt. We didn't want to leave him out of all of the fun we were having that weekend!
We did a long walk one afternoon around one of the lakes by Christal's house. Minnesota is known for its plethora of lakes throughout the state.
And finally...the infamous juicy lucy burger. I think this was featured on Man vs. Food. Essentially it's american cheese sandwiched between two hamburger patties. It was delicious! The picture doesn't do it justice!

Boston - A Little Taste of History

2011-05-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

About 2 months ago, I was assigned the Northeast territory for work, which includes the part of the U.S between Pennsylvania and Maine. We had a manufacturer training in Boston, MA a few weeks ago, so I took the liberty of spending an extra day there walking around the city. There was just so much to do and see all within walking distance; little bits of history could be found all over the city as well as public parks, markets, Chinatown, and great shopping. Below are some pics of some of the sights in my day tour of the city.
This is the Old State House right in the middle of the city. It was built in 1713 as the seat of the British colonial government and also the site where the Declaration of Independence was first read on July 18, 1776. Also, this is the site where the Boston Massacre occurred.
This is Paul Revere's house in the North End neighborhood (also known as Little Italy). There was some delicious Italian food to be had down the street from here as well as some amazing pastries (see further down in post).
This is Faneuil Hall, which can be found in Quincy Market. Nowadays, you will find a lot of tourist shops and eateries. Back in the 1700s, it was the site of several speeches by Sam Adams, James Otis, and others who encouraged independence from Great Britain.
Though it doesn't look like much now, this is the former site of the Boston Tea Party.
While I was walking around downtown, I came across a farmer's market. Besides the typical fruit and vegetables typically found at a farmer's market, they also had abundant amounts of seafood as well. I love the East Coast and its abundance of fresh seafood!
This is a good transition to food that I enjoyed in Boston. I grabbed a nice lunch of a lobster roll and clam chowder. Lobster rolls are popular in Boston; the lobster roll pictured above was delicious and contained big pieces of lobster.
Our manufacturers like to go all out at these work events. One of the dinners they hosted for us was a clam bake...but along with all the clams and clam chowder, they also served whole lobsters. It was delicious! I need to eat lobster more often...
I had heard one of the must-visit places in Boston was Mike's Pastry in the North End for its cannolis. I got an espresso and a pistachio cannoli as well as a pistachio macaroon to bring back to Brad for us to share. I would highly recommend this place if you visit!

Easter in San Francisco!

2011-05-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to get to spend Easter weekend in San Francisco since my MBA program had a class session that weekend. Danny and Renee graciously opened up their home to me for the weekend and invited me to their Easter get together they had planned with some friends. Renee and I snuck out to hide some eggs while the kids were dyeing some eggs, and then the kids went for an Easter egg hunt! They really had a blast, and I loved watching them running around looking in all the hiding spots for the eggs. Below are some pics from that Easter Sunday.
Nina, showing me one of the eggs she got.
Naomi's best friend Maya came to the party. The girls were so cute together...obviously besties because here we see Maya feeding Naomi a jelly bean from the bunny cake you see in the background.
Nina was so excited to be able to dye some eggs!
In the morning, I couldn't find Naomi. When I searched, I found her in the upstairs hallway working on doing her hair for the party. She's got some talent!

It was tough leaving the girls...I loved hanging out with them. They have this tradition when guests leave to come to the front window and wave goodbye. It was the cutest thing and made me even more sad to leave.

Our last 2 days in China

2011-05-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. After touring Nanjing, we headed back to Shanghai. Our flight back to the US was not until the next day, so we had some more time to explore Shanghai. Besides, we weren't ready to throw in the towel just yet...we still had a couple of items to cross off of our Must See List.

Nanjing Road (pedestrians only, in downtown Shanghai)

Jia Jia Tang Bao - Em had to go see the restaurant that bears her (former) middle name :)

next door to Jia Jia is an amazing dumpling place, Yang's Fried Dumpling, where you can get 4 of these for about 5 yuan (~$0.80, not a bad price for lunch)

OK, being a techie, I really really wanted to ride the Maglev train in China. It is the most technologically advanced train in the world. I remember as a child, I was fascinated to feel the invisible force when bringing two magnets of the same polarity in close proximity. I would try to push the magnets together against their will to get them to touch...but the magnets always won this battle. Well, the Maglev uses this principle to float a train above the tracks. As you can imagine, this brings friction to almost zero, which equates to a VERY fast and VERY smooth ride. Using this technology, the trains can reach speeds of 361 mph. Using this technology, China's public transportation infrastructure will leave the rest of the world in its dust! With the ability to easily use green power (from hydroelectric, solar, windmills, etc) instead of fuel and the use of regenerative braking (in which the energy dissipated from braking is fed back into the system, in a manner akin to what lets the Toyota Prius get great mpg), the Maglev has considerable environmental advantages and is well poised for the future. China has plans to use this system to connect some of the cities we visited, and they already have plans to build even faster trains. With speeds that will soon approach the speed of commercial aircraft, these trains have the potential to revolutionize travel. The best part, however, is the convenience: you can walk up, swipe your card, breeze through a quick security scan, and hop on, all in about 2 minutes. I challenge you to find an airport where you can do that (unless you are a billionaire with a private jet/helicopter, you have to purchase your ticket weeks in advance, pay hundreds of dollars, and then waste about 2 hrs in lines/waiting for each flight, not to mention the inevitable delays). Even just typing about air travel can make my blood pressure rise; it has to be the most inefficient system and worst business model ever, yet we all put up with it because we have no better alternative. A lot of this blame can be put on the US government for ridiculous security measures that rarely catch actual terrorist attacks, while inconveniencing millions everyday...but I digress.
Let's just say that China is moving in the right direction when it comes to public transportation, and the US (and most of the rest of the world) is quickly being left behind....and it seems the respective economies are trending this way too.
Oh, and BTW, the Shanghai Maglev has been in commercial operation since 2004.

the mascot for the China expo by the Maglev station

Cruising at 431 km/h (267 mph) on the Maglev, we went from downtown Shanghai to the airport in only 7 minutes!! A one-way ticket costs 50 yuan (~$7.50), well worth the experience/bragging rights.

At the airport and heading home, our China adventure quickly came to a close. Overall, it was an awesome trip, and I learned a lot more about China in one week than I had learned during the entirety of my schooling. It is safe to say that we will be returning soon to visit other cities (Beijing) and other historical landmarks (The Great Wall). Now if I could just find a way to weasel a few more vacation days from work...

Nanjing, China

2011-04-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

Nanjing used to be the capitol of China, so you can imagine there is a wealth of history here. Our first attraction to visit was the Mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen, considered by many to be the father of modern China. We climbed the 392 stairs to visit the tomb. The 392 stairs represented the 392 million people living in China at that time. I gotta admit I broke a sweat and had to slow down towards the top...I was just glad it wasn't built this year or it would have almost 4 times as many stairs.

Em at the start of our 392 stair climb to the Mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen

the view from the top of the stairs

this (above) is not really a tree....

...it's a cell phone tower
although for all the trouble to make it look convincingly like a tree up top, they could at least recess the base in the ground a little more and bury it in dirt or mulch ;)

The one aspect I remember and liked best about the city was the diverse collection of red lanterns everywhere.

On our way out of Nanjing, we crossed the famous Yangtze River Bridge. It is over 4 miles long, 4 lanes wide, and has an upper level for cars and a lower level for trains. This was a major feat of engineering at the time and still serves as a source of pride amongst the locals.

There were hundreds of barges floating down the Yangtze River, carrying sand and gravel to feed raw supplies to the growing skyline. The barge in the foreground is full of gravel and weighted down low to the waterline while the same ships in the background return empty and ride about 20 feet higher in the water.

The view from atop the Yangtze River Bridge

the support columns of the Yangtze River Bridge that seem to extend to infinity

Here are some other random pics I like from Nanjing, but I failed to tie them into the storyline:

an decorated wall along the Qinhuai River

a jade dragon for sale

Nanjing was the last city of our tour. We returned via bus to Shanghai and had an extra day and a half to kill before boarding our flight home.....so of course we made the most of it and squeezed in a few more things before heading home. (which will be the topic of our next and final blog about the China trip)

Suzhou, China

2011-04-28T22:53:00.000-07:00

The next stop in China was Suzhou. It is famous for its classical gardens, in fact, the Chinese Garden in Portland is modeled after the gardens of Suzhou. The appreciation of the beauty of nature is apparent here and other cultures have much to learn in this department.

this rock formation, carved by a river, resembles a hawk (upper left)
staring down at a dog (lower right)

Suzhou is also known as "The Venice of China" due to its elaborate canal system throughout the city. We took a boat ride down a canal at dusk and enjoyed an enchanting cruise into the night. Many of the houses along the canals are adorned with lights and lanterns.

After the cruise, we had dinner and then went for a walk around town. As with the other cities we visited, there was a robust night life with people dining and shopping into the night.

The next morning, we were back on the road. Driving through the city, a common scene is to see several cranes on each block. I apologize for the glare from the window, but I am still in awe of how fast this economy is growing:

We also visited a silk factory. They feed the silk worms mulberry leaves and let them spin a cocoon. The silk cocoons are harvested by hand and then unraveled onto spools:

workers in a factory unwinding the silk cocoons onto overhead spools

dried cocoons for sale for use as skin treatments

After lunch, we were off to the next city....Nanjing (you know the drill...next blog) :)

Hangzhou, China

2011-04-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

Our next major city to conquer in China was Hangzhou. It is located just a little over a hundred miles southwest of Shanghai, and is home to over 8 million people....making it roughly the size of New York City. It is mind boggling how China has so many large cities in close proximity on its eastern shore. What is even more impressive is that the city of Hangzhou is some 2,200 years old. Needless to say, there is a lot of rich culture to be absorbed.

We took an evening boat cruise on the famous West Lake, renowned for its natural beauty.

boats on the West Lake

mountains on the horizon of the West Lake

a pagoda perched on the shore of the West Lake

Hangzhou and its surrounding areas house many magnificent parks and natural areas that I am sure serve as inspiration for many artists.

We were lucky enough to spot a wild peacock in one of the parks.

the sun setting over the mountains near the West Lake

Later that night, we headed into the city to catch some of the night life. We attended a show that included gymnasts, contortionists, trapeze, martial arts, and other feats of wonder.

the sure bent over backwards to entertain us :)

swinging from a rope with one hand

The next morning, we continued our tours with a visit to a tea farm.

rows of tea bushes

a worker dries the tea leaves by hand in this heated mantle

After the tour of the tea farm with plenty of samples, we hit the road towards our next city...Suzhou (the topic of my next blog....stay tuned).

Wuxi, China

2011-04-26T23:33:00.000-07:00

Our next stop in China was the city of Wuxi. I have to admit, before this trip, I had never heard of this city. At ~4.5 million people, it is roughly twice the size of Chicago. Despite all of our travels, it still amazes me how ignorant we are about the rest of the world. I feel ashamed when watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and I discover there are entire countries that I know nothing about nor could I even find them on the map!
I am glad we spent a day in Wuxi to experience the rich culture, as well as to become more educated about another major city in this rapidly growing country.

Our first stop was to see the largest Buddha statue in China. It is made out of bronze and stands 289 feet tall!

Em standing next to the giant Buddha's big toe

near the statue, thousands of these wooden prayers dangle in the breeze...the wind is said to carry their message

inside the giant Buddha are 10,000 Buddha statues with even more candles burning

lotus sculpture

the lotus opens up to reveal a baby Buddha....accompanied by a water fountain display

Buddhist prayer wheels - the prayer is sculpted on the outside of the wheel and spinning the wheel is akin to reciting the prayer over and over

the newly constructed $200,000,000 Buddhist temple

the entrance inside the temple

inside the Buddhist temple

Other Buddhist temples at Lingshan:

sunset over the Longshan Mountain

Shanghai

2011-04-24T22:00:00.001-07:00

Em, Jack, Nick, Linda, Mom, Dad

The morning after the wedding, we hopped a flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai, China. After settling in to our hotel, we went for a walk on the town. We knew that Uncle Jack, Aunt Linda, and cousin Nick were also visiting Shanghai at this time, but we didn't have the foresight to plan a meeting spot. Since we had new SIM cards in our cell phones (and hence new, temporary numbers), we had no way to get in contact. Facebook is banned in China, so we couldn't use that either. Well, as luck would have it, as we were walking around the city of 22 million people, we happened to run into them on the street!! So we joined forces and went to grab some lunch together.

with streets this crowded, it is a wonder that we even found each other!

fresh made dumplings to order....yum!

Em is enjoying a xialongbao. Shanghai is famous for these....they are dumplings so juicy that you drink the juice with a straw before biting into it.

There are lots of great places to view both the old and the new (on horizon) architecture of Shanghai.

the buildings are so intricate and ornate, that even a pedestrian stroll is anything but
(sometimes these puns just land in my lap...sorry guys)

another great view of old vs. new
(wow, now I am rhyming...hah!)

enjoying a fresh sesame bun for dessert

Here are some random shots of cool buildings:

the financial district of Shanghai as viewed from across the Huangpu River

At night, the neon signs emerge and the city grows even more lively with millions of people out shopping and dining.

The buildings of the financial district take on their own personalities at night....each one changes color and some turn into giant video screen billboards. This place makes NY Times square look like an amateur. Note the color changes in the following pics:

On the other side of the Huangpu River lies The Bund, with the noticeably different, but equally beautiful Art Deco style:

The next morning, we visited the Shanghai Museum. It's exterior is fashioned after a ding (an ancient bronze cooking pot).

even the stairways inside the museum were spectacular

I had to include this pic for Dad (Ulrich) - these are bronze Chinese drums

At roughly a day and a half, our stay in Shanghai was brief. However, we had many more cities to see and only a week left in the trip....so onwards and upwards!!

(more blogs to come, next destination: Wuxi)

Hong Kong, the food

2011-04-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite parts of this trip was the food. Here are some highlights:

whole roasted suckling pig -crispy skin with tender meat

whole steamed fish

crispy chicken

shrimp so big it requires it's own plate!!

hot pot

the street vendors always had something good to eat

....and never forget fresh fruit for desert

Hong Kong, the wedding

2011-04-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

So the real reason for the trip to Hong Kong was to attend the wedding of Emily's brother Jon to Stacy. We had a great time at the wedding, and the food was amazing!

Since we are part of the immediate family, we got to sit at the head table. Nice. :)

12 course dinner!!

Jon and Stacy during the traditional Tea Ceremony, where the family gives gifts to the new couple and shares a cup of tea with them. We were honored to be included in the Tea Ceremony.

cutting the cake

Tea Ceremony with parents

Stacy and Jon
(it is customary for the bride to change into several different dresses throughout the evening)

The happy newlyweds. Congrats Jon and Stacy!!

Hong Kong

2011-04-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

When we first heard the news that Emily's brother, Jon, was getting married to his high school sweetheart Stacy, we were very happy for them. When we heard that they were going to have a ceremony in Hong Kong, we were very happy for them.....and happy for us. :) What better excuse to travel abroad? Emily and I had been discussing the idea of a trip to Asia for several years; now we finally had a reason. We have always wanted to visit China, so we decided to make that part of the trip as well. Luckily, Emily's parents also wanted to do a similar trip and her Mom found an amazing deal for a China tour. So on March 23, we got up at 2AM to catch an early morning flight, by way of Vancouver Canada, to Hong Kong to embark on an 11 day tour of Hong Kong and China. This is the start of our journey...

Mom, Em, Dad, Jon, and Stacy in Hong Kong

incense burning at a Buddhist temple

the sculptures in the background with the red ribbon signify the tying of bonds during marriage

Stacy's aunts, sisters, and Emily try their hand at good fortune: by repeatedly shaking the canister, a randomly numbered stick is bound to jostle loose and fall to the ground. This stick contains a key to your fortune.

near the Buddhist temple, there is a fountain full of turtles...and you know how we are fond of turtles after our engagement story :)

Later we walked around downtown and took a cable car trolley to the top of a mountain to gain a view of the expansive collection of skyscrapers that constitutes the financial district. Hong Kong is the most densely populated area in the world; after visiting, you will not be able to contest this claim.

I took hundreds of pics of the buildings....I'll spare you most of them. The Bank of China building is my favorite both during the day and at night. It's triangular patterns are easy to recognize in the night pics below. During the light show (see video below), it constantly changed patterns to provide a geometric treat.

I could only capture about a third of the skyline from atop the mountain...it was a little too hazy and I would need a wide angle lens to get all of it in one frame.

With plenty of ongoing new construction, I am sure the skyline will look different the next time we visit!

part of the skyline at night

another part of the skyline at night with Mom and Dad
(note my fav Bank of China building just over Mom's right shoulder)

more buildings at night

Walking around downtown at night, there is an endless sea of people out late shopping and eating at restaurants on the street. At times, it was shoulder to shoulder and people would walk in the streets because the sidewalks were full. This city has more energy than any other.

I was thoroughly impressed with the selection at the shoe stores....this is a pic of just the Adidas section! Each store had literally thousands of different shoes.

On the day of the wedding, we decided to squeeze in a ferry ride to nearby Cheung Chau island. It is a very small island inhabited by fishermen, so, naturally, it has some of the best seafood restaurants. We grabbed lunch, walked around a bit, and then jumped back on the ferry to make it back in time for the wedding.

dried fish in a street market

walking down the alleys, we saw old ladies drying shrimp in homemade screens

The wedding was wonderful....which will be the subject of my next blog entry. :)

Mt. Bachelor Snowboarding Trip

2011-02-23T22:06:00.001-08:00

During Valentine's weekend, we took a short roadtrip (~3.5 hrs drive) to Bend, Oregon to spend 3 days snowboarding on Mt Bachelor. We went with Paul and Tori Endres as well as the Kerns. The mountain proved to be much bigger and better than Mt Hood, so we will definitely be making this trip many more times in the future! Bend is also a cool little town that warrants more discovery than our brief foray of the local cuisine and brew.

The "Three Sisters" mountains, as viewed from atop Mt. Bachelor. Mt. Bachelor earned its moniker for being the lone mountain apart from the Three Sisters. That's me downhill, although my white pants and brown jacket act as camouflage in this pic (I just happened to be standing perfectly at the snow/tree horizon).

Matt and Kristina Kern bundled to battle the high winds

Yours truly and my Valentine...I couldn't think of a better way to spend Valentine's Day!!

Before hitting the slopes, we had Valentine's breakfast at the Sunriver Lodge....this is the view from our window seat.

This is the view of Mt. Bachelor from our room at Sunriver Resort

The first hour of the drive back home was a pleasant ride through the Deschutes National Forest
(that is the side slope of Mt. Jefferson on the horizon)

Halfway home, we drove by Detroit Lake; it is worth stopping several times on the side of the road just to soak in the views! I saw some campsites nearby, so we'll have to return to see what it looks like in the summer.

Detroit Dam

We walked about halfway out across the dam, which allowed me the perfect vantage to snap this photo:

Just a few hundred yards past Detroit Dam lies a mountain with lots of tiny waterfalls streaming down every side...only a few are visible at a time, but as you drive around to different angles, more and more appear. The small clearing in the trees only allowed me to capture a few of the waterfalls:

We finished the trip by stopping by the Outlet Malls (Emily's request, of course) on the way home. When I started to protest, she kindly reminded me that she withstood subfreezing temperatures and 94 mph winds to go snowboarding with me. Okay, fair point. I guess I sometimes take for granted how awesome of a wife she is and how she puts up with my crazy ideals of what constitutes the ultimate way to spend Valentine's Day. So we went to the Outlet Mall for Em....and I still owe her a nice formal dinner. But it may have to take a raincheck, Mt Hood is getting tons of fresh powder this weekend! :)

Holidays, again

2011-01-06T23:03:00.001-08:00

We had a low key Christmas and NYE this year. On Christmas Eve, we spent most of the day baking sweets: cookies, peanut brittle, 3 kinds of fudge, caramel popcorn, and puppy chow.

Sensing this was too much to eat ourselves, we packaged some up for our friends then headed over to the Maya house (Brad's coworker) for dinner.

Eva and Ana Maya at the kiddie table

On Christmas, we had dinner with a different group of friends...although, for the record, the Kerns were at both dinners. :)

Dinner at Courtney and Charlie's

Other cooking projects during the holidays involved a group effort with the Kerns to make a couple hundred dumplings by hand (to freeze for easy dinners later). They have pork, shrimp, and Chinese black mushroom inside.

homemade dumplings

For NYE, we kind of dropped the ball (pun intended). But seriously, folks, we really were late to get anything planned. We were hoping someone would invite us to a party, but I guess we are not THAT cool. So we decided on the eve of New Years Eve to have our own party. Of course, most people already had plans so we only had 8 at our party, but it was a fun time nonetheless.

Paul and Tori (Brad went to NU with Paul and they now work together at Intel)

Courtney and Charlie

Em rings in 2011

We hope all of you had a wonderful time during the holidays. We only wish we could have spent it with more family and friends, but this is one of the problems with living so far from home.

We are very excited for what 2011 has in store for us: Em will be starting her MBA in March and we are hoping to squeeze in a trip to Hong Kong for her brother's wedding. Other than that, we will just have to wait and see what adventures we will encounter/create.

Happy New Year!
with love,
Brad and Emily

Work Holiday Party

2010-12-28T21:10:00.000-08:00

My work is known for throwing great Holiday Parties and this year was no exception. They hosted the party at the Portland Art Museum in their Sunken Ballroom, which has a very Grecian feel to it. The Holiday Party is always fun because I really love the people I work with, food is good, drinks are flowing, and there's always great entertainment for the evening. This year, I also won big in the raffle! If you know me, I never win anything...I'm still holding on to my last big raffle win of 4 tickets behind home base for a Cardinals game...in 8th grade. Besides a gift card to Barnes and Noble, I won a prize where I get 5 Starbucks beverages delivered to my desk AND an extra day of paid time off! Maybe this is a sign that I should try my hand at the lottery?
Scott (far left) and Laura (2nd from the right) are my 2 closest friends at work...and their spouses are wonderful too. Laura and Suzette (Scott's wife) both had babies this year...hopefully I'm not next.
Obligatory formal picture - but hey, I got extra raffle tickets just for taking this pic :)
A great picture to give you an idea of how pretty the room was.
We had live entertainment for the evening...they played the music we all love dancing to...
Hence this picture...some of us really got down (note the 2 co-workers laying on the dance floor showing off some of their moves)

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-25T15:22:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a very Happy Holidays from the Ulrich family!

Love,

Brad, Emily, Rolo, and Spot

Thanksgiving, Part II, San Francisco

2010-12-08T22:22:00.000-08:00

Being one of our favorite holidays, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving again (and give it another blog post), but this time with family. Emily's brother Jon lives near San Jose so we jumped a quick flight on Thanksgiving day to join her parents and other brother Chris. It was nice to get a break from the Portland rain and enjoy slightly warmer weather and sunshine. We spent 4 wonderful days hanging out with family (Em's cousin Renee and her family live in nearby San Francisco) and eating some amazing food. I even got to meet up with an old grad school buddy, Mark Witschi, who just started a job in San Fran.

hanging out with the parents in Chinatown, S.F.

the full crew ready for yet another family-style feast

Since we are not sure how long it will be when we can all get together again, Christmas came a little early this year. :)

Naomi opening her gifts...it's always so fun to see kids open presents at this age

all of the girls (minus Nina) pose for a quick pic

Naomi modeling her new Hello Kitty backpack and lunchbox

Nina was just getting over being sick so she needed a little help from mom to rip the paper open

story time

Jon and Stacy did an excellent job showing us all the best restaurants in town. Every meal was great, and it was fun getting to share the experience with family. The best one, however, was a restaurant where the chef was the former chef for the President of Taiwan. Not only did the food taste phenomenal, the presentation was beautiful as well. Here are some of our favorite dishes:

shrimp salad served in lettuce bowl

pork perfectly garnished with tomato and cucumber

Peking duck stuffed with rice

Japanese pumpkin stuffed with pork

On Sunday, we took a short road trip 1.5 hrs south to Monterey. I determined this could be a top retirement spot....someday. It hosts many small shops and restaurants and gets copious amounts of sunshine. We spent the day strolling around town. It was a relaxing way to spend the holidays.

Monterey Bay

Monterey is home to the famous Cannery Row....for all you Steinbeck fans

Sadly, all good things come to an end. We departed for home on Monday night with full bellies and warm hearts.

Also, I just HAD to throw in this random pic from the San Jose airport...it's a trippy rotating sculpture that looks like a figment of Orsen Welles' imagination. As it spins around, you will notice that the mouth contains a screen....with YOU on it! The legs suggest it could walk, while the wings suggest it could fly. Perhaps it is really an alien disguised as art?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T14:45:00.000-08:00

We hosted our 3rd annual Portland Thanksgiving dinner. It has turned out to be a wonderful tradition with some of our closest friends in Portland. A few months ago, we got a new dining table with this event in mind...a table that can seat 10 people comfortably. Hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving and is able to spend it with friends and family!
Table/group shot after round 1 of eating.
The spread. We realized that we're becoming more "mature" lately with how much more sophisticated our food gets each year we host this event.
We had some new additions to our group this year. Laura and David have become really close friends of ours. They recently had a new addition, Aiden William. Glad we could be a part of his first Thanksgiving!

Catching up over the last few weeks

2010-11-25T14:30:00.000-08:00

Not much has been going on over the last few weeks, hence the combined blog post. I have been busy at work transitioning into my new role of Finance Manager, but have been able to squeeze a few things in after work. Last week, one of Brad's co-workers had 2 extra tickets to the Trail Blazers game against the Denver Nuggets. He is a season ticket holder, so the seats were pretty close to the court.

The Trail Blazers battling it out for a win over the Nuggets despite not having Greg Oden or Brandon Roy in the game (due to injuries).

This past Monday evening/Tuesday morning, we got some snow in Portland! It's actually just a light dusting, but nonetheless it was a snow day for schools and some companies on Tuesday. The biggest concern isn't really the snow...it's the black ice that is usually hiding underneath the snow...and Portland drivers who don't know how to drive in snow.
Dean, a friend of ours from Northwestern, came to Portland for work. We went out one evening to the Departure, the top floor of The Nines Hotel. The views were great from up there and it was a perfect night to sit outside on the balcony.

Making our home feel like home

2010-11-05T12:48:00.000-07:00

Over the last year, we've been hanging pictures and decorating around the house to make it feel more like home. One of my favorite projects we've taken on this year is getting all of my grandfather's calligraphy and grandmother's paintings custom framed and hung throughout the house. It took the course of a year to get this accomplished because of the cost of custom framing nowadays, but it was well worth it. Below are some pics of the artwork.

Flowers in the backyard

2010-11-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

Now that Fall is upon us, I figured now would be the time to update our blog with some pics of the flowers that bloomed in our backyard this past Summer.

Our hydrangeas starting to bloom
Brad planted several rose bushes during the Spring. They turned out gorgeous - I love my pinks :)

Frank Lloyd Wright

2010-11-05T12:35:00.001-07:00

Last week, I had my last business trip in my Senior Business Analyst role...I have started the transition at my company to be a Finance Manager! Of course, I had to go off with a bang - so I chose to go on a work trip to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, which is about 40 min. north of Tulsa. On our flight out, we had clear skies and I was able to get a good view of Mt. Hood on the way out. Yes, there's already snow (over 30 inches now!) and one of our ski parks actually opened a few weeks ago.

Also in Bartlesville is the only skyscraper Frank Lloyd Wright ever worked on as an Architect. My coworkers had no clue who he was, but because of my roots in Chicago and an Architect brother-in-law, I was definitely soaking it in.

Part of the building has been converted to a hotel. I opted my group out of the usual Hilton hotel for a piece of history ;)

Mountain Biking in Moab, Utah

2010-10-28T22:18:00.001-07:00

My friend from high school, Chad Staker, emailed me last month inquiring about a possible mountain biking trip to Moab, Utah. I had long dreamed about riding the world famous Slickrock Trail in Moab, so it did not take much convincing for me to say yes.
Flying with a bike and camping gear seemed to be a big hassle, so I decided to make it a road trip. It was pretty easy to get Kern and Sean (a friend from work) to join the trip. We set out on a Wednesday after work and roadtripped 1,100 miles straight through the night from Portland to Moab in my old 4Runner. Chad woke up the next day and left from Denver to meet us there early Thursday afternoon.

We got a short ride in Thursday before the sun went down:

riding the famous Slickrock Trail in Moab

We were lucky to snag the last available campsite (out of over a hundred sites, only one left!)

our campsite, located about 0.25 mile from the trailhead

We woke up early on Friday to ride the full 12 mile Slickrock Loop.

Kern, Sean, Chad, and I

Sean hits an endo for the camera

The trail lies precariously close to the edge of a canyon down to the Colorado River. My Ray Bans broke, so I had to bust out my Old Skool Oakley wraparounds from the 90's. :)

Sean powers up a hill that proved too steep for the Jeep crew below.....we all (barely) made it up this torturous climb, causing the Jeep crowd to actually cheer for us! It is amazing how much traction you can get on the sandstone; you are limited in what you can climb only by endurance and strength.

Sean poses for a panoramic shot

We finished the trail in the early afternoon and were exhausted, but not ready to call it a day. We decided to take Chad's Tacoma out for some 4X4 action. I was too paranoid to take my old 4Runner out....mainly for fear that if it breaks down, it is a LONG ride back to Portland.

the view from the cab as Chad drives up Hell's Revenge...there's not much room for error

driving down a fin at Hell's Revenge

getting vertical - the back tires are barely touching the ground

up to the doors in water....Chad at his best :)

random lizard on our firewood at the campsite

At night, we donned headlamps and did a quick night ride on the Slickrock. It was probably not the smartest or safest thing I have ever done.
I took a break and let the others disappear into the night. I laid alone, with my back on the sandstone, which was still warm from the day's sun. As I stared up at the stars, I had a surreal experience akin to nirvana. Just me and nature...at one....in peace and harmony. Utter silence and indescribable natural beauty all around me. I contemplated spending the entire night there on the rock.

On Saturday, we rode the Porcupine Rim trail for some technical, rocky singletrack. The trail starts with a 4 mile climb, gaining 1000 ft elevation.

This climb reminded me how seriously out of shape I am!!

Chad and Sean enjoying the view at the top of the climb

the view at the top

Our efforts during the long climb were more than rewarded with a 12 mile descent into the canyon. This is definitely the best trail I have ever ridden....it has lots of tough sections and plenty of places to get the adrenaline flowing strong.

Kern cautiously navigates a turn...no worries, the canyon two feet to his right is ONLY a 2000 ft drop straight down to the Colorado River.

this would be your last view if you miss a turn on the Porcupine Rim Trail

Chad found just the right spot to setup for a photo....he figured one of us would biff....and he was right. It was me. This pic is about 0.1 seconds before I went flying over the handlebars.

OK, now I am managing to keep 2 wheels on the ground

The trail dumped us out in the valley below. We had a few miles of light cruising through the valley with stunning views before having to ride back uphill to the campsite.

Kern and I ran out of water and severe fatigue was setting in. The last several miles were a steep uphill climb and we were seriously hurting. We had covered a total of 26 miles of terrain and just wanted to make it back to the campsite. Luckily, Chad was a true friend and picked us up in the 4runner about 0.5 mile from the campsite before I almost had a heat stroke.
We had originally planned to stay another night, but instead decided that Moab had already done enough damage to our bodies so we packed up our gear and started the trip home. We left Moab Saturday evening, drove through the night again, and returned to Portland around noon on Sunday. With 3 days of riding and 4 days without a shower or running water, it felt good to be home.

I think we all agreed the trip was epic; Moab definitely deserves many more visits.

More pics of the kittens

2010-10-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

I wish we had a good camera where we could capture how quickly the kittens are growing - every time we wake up in the morning, they look a little different! Below are some additional pics of them lounging and getting into trouble.

They are lap cats! After playing around, they like to lounge in our laps together (they're hardly apart).
They enjoy sitting on our Lovesac - a BIG memory foam bean bag chair (that can fit 4 people). They've turned it somewhat into their bed. It's funny to see how tiny they are in it.
They're always following us around the house seeing what we're up to. Emptying out the dishwasher and doing laundry takes more time because they like to investigate.
Rolo being a snuggler and giving us a good headshot
After a long day of playing
Brad in the Lovesac with the kittens - this can give you a good idea of how big the Lovesac is and how small the kittens look when they take a cat nap in it

NU Club of the Year

2010-10-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

We finally received the pic of us receiving the Club of the Year award from Northwestern. Left to right we have Charles (President of the Northwestern Alumni Association), Chris (Portland Club President), me (Northwestern Alumni Association Regional Director for Region 8 - Portland, San Fran, and Seattle), Brad (Membership Chair), and Cathy (Executive Director at Northwestern). This is actually the 2nd Club of the Year award that I've been a part of - the Chicago Club won Club of the Year when I was Chair of the Young Alumni. The Portland Club did a great job this year, and I'm proud of what we have been able to accomplish.

Our New Kittens

2010-10-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

With Jas passing away, the house felt really quiet and lonely. She made our house feel like home and truly created a void that was felt after she passed away. We wanted to fill that void and discussed the potential of getting another cat. We have always wanted Bengals (a cross of a domestic cat and the Asian Leopard Cat) and had also decided that if we were to get another cat that we would get a pair of siblings because then they'd have someone to play with. With Jas, we never could get her a play buddy because of her FIV.

We found a breeder in Washington who pretty much had the ideal match for what we were looking for. She had 2 kittens (sisters), one was rosetted and one was marbled. You'll see the difference in the coloring in the following pictures. We wanted one of each coloring to show the beauty of the Bengal breed.

The following 2 pictures were of our kittens at 4 weeks old. The top picture is of our rosetted kitten (markings similar to a leopard) and the bottom one is the marbled. It's interesting to see the transformation of the coloring to what they look like now.

They acclimated in our household pretty quickly - all it took were some standard cat toys! We have never had a cat in the kitten stage before, so it's fun to watch all the energy they have. With that energy, they also wear themselves out really quickly. It's hard to catch a picture of them when they're up since they're running around. We'll post some video soon of them playing. But in the mean time, you can enjoy some pictures of them sleeping. BTW - we named the marbled one Rolo for the caramel and chocolate candy she somewhat resembles. We haven't thought of a name for the rosetted one yet, so if you think of something, please post a comment and let us know!

It's nice that they have both the playful and lap cat side in both of them. With siblings, they also enjoy cuddling with each other when they sleep.
Play time!
And sleep time again :)

NU Alumni, Chicago Visit

2010-10-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

Recently, we both took a 4 day trip to Chicago. We were at Northwestern University on Sept 23 and 24 to attend the NU Alumni Annual Leadership Conference. Since Emily and I are both Board Members (and Em is the Regional Director), they picked up the tab for this trip. Of course they didn't have to twist our arms too hard to accept the offer! The Conference was great; we met lots of new people and gathered some great ideas on how to better run our local clubs. On Friday, we had a nice lunch with the Board of Directors and Morty Shapiro, the President of the University. The best part of the Conference was that the NU Club of Portland won Club of the Year (out of 69 Clubs nationwide). Our claim to fame can be attributed to our increasing membership by 50% as well as a fundraiser and silent auction for Susan G Komen Foundation that netted $58,000! It was nice to be able to be present at the Conference to receive the award in person.
I would be lying if I said this trip was all business. We definitely took advantage of the opportunity to visit family and friends and stayed the weekend to do so. We also had a list of our old favorite Chicago restaurants that we had to hit while we were in town.
Thursday morning, I took a nostalgic walk around campus before our NU Alumni meetings started, and I dropped by the lab to visit my old cronies. It seems like a lot has changed in the two short years that I have been gone. It was great to see old friends and checkout the new lab space in Silverman Hall. The rest of the day Thursday and Friday were booked with NU meetings.....then finally we were able to meet up with Mike, Amanda, and Pauline at Giordano's for some real Chicago style deep dish pizza! I had forgotten how good it is!!

Amanda and Em at the lagoon on the lakefill (NU campus)

Amanda, Pauline, Em at Giordano's

We stayed with Mike and Amanda Friday night; their condo is pretty sweet and made me miss living in the city. Saturday morning, we walked around our old neighborhood in Lincoln Park with Pauline and had brunch at our fav spot, Nookies.

This is why Nookies rules for brunch: you always gotta get the trio special...it never disappoints!

We headed down to the South side Saturday night to spend the rest of our weekend with Kristy, Pat, and Elliot. He just started walking so it was a real treat to see him starting to accomplish this major milestone. He is the happiest baby and lights up the room with his Gerber-baby smile. We had a great time hanging out and convinced them to let a few of our friends come over for dinner too. We ordered takeout from our favorite spot in Chinatown, Chi Cafe.

Liz and Joe - we will be heading back to Chicago in March 2011 for their wedding :)

On Sunday, we took Elliot to the park to play. On our way to the park, there were several other swing sets and play grounds. He gave a little whimper and fuss as we pushed the stroller past each one. It was cute that he knew where every possible playground in the city is! We finally reached the much awaited destination with the cool slide.

Elliot showing off as he goes head-first down the slide!!

We had just enough time before our flight to take a walk out to The Point to see Lake Michigan while waiting on our Giordano's order (yes, second time for Chicago pizza in one weekend).

Em and the Papczuns pose for a shot next to Lake Michigan, with the Chicago skyline on the horizon

Wow, this picture stuff with Elliot doesn't seem too hard. How about Uncle Brad gives it a go with the little guy? The result:

OK, Em is fixing her hair, Kristy is wiping Elliot's nose, and I am looking at Elliot instead of the camera...

Let's try it again:

I guess 3 out of 4 is the best we'll do :)

We want to give a special thanks to Amanda and Mike for letting us stay in their new condo on Friday night. And we need to thank Kristy, Pat, and Elliot for letting us crash on Saturday night and for providing taxi service to the airport. Pauline also gave us a couple clutch rides around town. It was a great weekend, but went by all too fast. We can't wait to do it again soon!!

Kerseys Visit Portland

2010-10-03T22:33:00.000-07:00

My high school friend, Paul Kersey, and his new wife Leeanna came to visit a few weekends back. I had told them to be sure to come before October so that they would miss the rainy season. They came mid-September, but unfortunately it DID rain that weekend (but, by Murphy's Law, it has been sunny ever since). Oh well, they probably get tired of all that sunshine they have been getting since they moved to Phoenix! :)
We took them on a whirlwind tour of the "Best Of" Portland.
On Friday, we started off with Happy Hour at Portland City Grill to catch the skyline view. Then we headed home to get settled in and meet up with Em, who was just returning from a business trip to Carlsbad, CA. We went for dinner at Jake's (Happy Hour, round 2), dessert at VooDoo Doughnut, and some local brew at Kennedy School before calling it a night. The next morning, we hit the Saturday Market downtown then drove out to the Columbia River Gorge to see the waterfalls. We wrapped up the weekend with brunch at home on Sunday and some football. We made one last stop at the Adidas Employee Store (we won 50% off employee prices in a raffle) before heading to the airport to send them on their way back to sunshine. It was a great weekend, but it definitely flew by too fast. We look forward to heading down to visit them for some sunshine and warm weather during the winter months (as soon as we find some cheap tix). :)

Tom McCall Waterfront Park, downtown Portland

Columbia River Gorge

Waterfall Pics:

Multnomah Falls

The Newlyweds at the Vista House (Built 1916-1918)

A Tribute to Jasmine

2010-09-29T22:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a sad day in our house as our beloved cat, Jasmine, passed away right before our eyes. She has been with us for over 7 years. She lived with us in two different apartments in Chicago, made the road trip out west, and welcomed us at our apartment in downtown Portland. When we bought our house last summer, she was very happy to finally have more space and a backyard to roam freely whenever she pleased. While Emily was working from home for her father's company, Jas was there to keep her company while I worked long hours in the lab during grad school.
We adopted Jas from the animal shelter in Chicago. After returning from our honeymoon, we noticed that she had lost considerable weight so we took her to my brother for a vet checkup. She was diagnosed with a thyroid disorder and FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus). Because the potential thyroid treatments contain immunosuppressants, the treatment would only exacerbate her FIV condition. She was given 1 year to live; that was 3 years ago. We took the best care of her as we could and fed her as much as she would eat, however she was slowing losing weight due to her thyroid condition. During the last few months, we could see a decline in her activity, and she could no longer jump up on the couch. Despite her ailing health, she retained her lovable charm and warm compassion.
When we returned from our recent trip to Chicago (we'll post about it later), Jas had taken a turn for the worse and stopped eating. We immediately scheduled a vet appointment, but could not get her in until 5:30PM. As we waited in the exam room for the vet, we opened her carrier such that she could walk around. Her strength was dropping exponentially, and she could not fully stand without falling back down. It was very sad to see her struggle. As she laid in the carrier, I could see her fading away....but I had to continually try to convince Em that everything would be OK and the vet could give her some IVs or something to make her better. Then I saw a tuft of her fur land on her eyeball and she did not even blink to get it off of her eye. I knew at this point that the situation was dire. I kept petting her and trying to stimulate her to keep her alive. The vet was still not in the exam room. I told a teary eyed Em to run to the receptionist and tell them to get a vet into the room immediately. I looked at Jas and saw her breathing becoming shallow with more time elapsing between each breath. And then I could no longer see her breathing. The vet walked into the room and searched for a heartbeat, but none was to be found. It was too late. Based on her declining health and the low probability of success, we agreed that it would not be appropriate to try to resuscitate. We took her home and gave her a proper burial in her favorite sleeping spot in the backyard amongst the flowerbed. We laid a few of her favorite toys with her.

We have both lost loved ones in the past, but this is our first time experiencing loss together. I have always struggled with loss, but this time it hits even harder as she died right before my eyes and I felt helpless to change the situation. It makes me even sadder to see how much this hurts Em. She has a bigger heart than I, and she always has a soft spot for cute furry animals.

We definitely miss her company around the house, and we will never forget her lovable attitude. We sign off today with a few of our favorite pics through the years.......

when we first brought her home from the shelter, she was shy and would hide under furniture

she soon warmed up to us and started exploring our first Chicago apartment...this time getting caught in between the glass and screen door to the balcony. :)

she liked hanging out in the loft at our Clybourn apartment in Chicago (our second place together) as it gave her a birds-eye view of the entire place

During countless visits from the Kern's in Portland, Zoe and Jas would jockey for control of the coveted spot to snuggle on Em's lap. Even though Jas never got along with Zoe (despite Zoe's innocent attempts to play), they would tolerate each other in close proximity only when snuggling with Em.

so vain when she stared at herself in the mirror ;)

....looking comfy in her little bed

The perks of traveling for work

2010-09-20T22:25:00.000-07:00

If you keep up with me on Facebook, you probably have already realized that I travel a lot for work. I enjoy traveling to our clients' offices and being able to observe their day to day activities to ultimately create a 200 page analysis on their entire business (it's what I do!). September has been hectic with a lot of travel - I started off by going to Las Vegas for our annual Fall Summit that we host for our clients and their staff. We host workshops that are geared for every staff member within each Audiology practice. This year, we had 650 attendees at this event, which has now ranked it the 2nd largest event in the Audiology field behind AAA (American Academy of Audiology). After Las Vegas, I headed over to Carlsbad, California for an onsite visit. This week, Brad and I are headed to Chicago for a Northwestern alumni Leadership Symposium (pics to come after the trip).

There are definitely some perks associated with traveling including having gold status with Delta airlines (soon!), virtually unlimited Starbucks, and some expensive and delicious meals. And then there are extra-cool perks associated with my travel, which are shown in the pictures below. Audiologists (and their staff) sure know how to have fun!
We start with my trip to San Diego for AAA's AudiologyNOW! convention back in March (THE largest event in the Audiology space). We stayed in the Gaslamp District, which is the hip area of San Diego. One night, one of our partner manufacturers (Oticon) hosted a party at Stingaree Nightclub with food, open bar, and Cheap Trick playing live! I was wowed by this event...until I attended our other partner manufacturer's (Starkey) party the following evening. They rented out the entire USS Midway ship and had the Beach Boys (or Boy...since I believe only one original member is left in the band) play a live show for us. They ended the show with a large fireworks display!
It was a large crowd in attendance that night, but a coworker and I pushed our way to the front to get a close up of Mike Love, the only original Beach Boy member still in the band. I think I ended up only being a few feet away from him! And of course...no Audiology concert is complete without providing its attendees with ear plugs so as not to hurt our hearing ;)
Now on to more recent travel...here's a pic of the strip in Vegas.
One of the perks of the Vegas trip was staying at the Palazzo, which is part of the Venetian hotel but with all suites. And man were the suites nice! See below pic.
A pic of my suite...I decided not to include a pic of my marble bathroom in the blog, but it was gorgeous and huge!
We were so busy running the Fall Summit that I pretty much had 14-16 hour days the days I was in Vegas. I did squeeze in some free time to walk around the Venetian, and I loved the canal they have in the hotel for gondola rides.
We had a special speaker come speak to our clients and their staff to open the Summit named Michael Gerber. Some of you might recognize the name because he wrote the infamous E-Myth series that has been recognized by INC. He came to visit our corporate office a few months ago because he has recognized my company to follow exactly what the E-Myth states. He believes in my company and its purpose that he actually agreed to do this speaking engagement completely free.
Of course the Fall Summit wasn't all work. We got to see the show Le Reve at the Wynn...it's similar to Cirque du Soleil but with water. Our closing reception consisted of Cirque performers (as pictured above) as well as a live band, seated dinner, and dancing! And man do those Audiologists sure love to dance.
Last week, I traveled to Carlsbad, CA. I had never been to this part of California and everyone kept telling me how pretty it was. It really was gorgeous there...perfect temps in the 70's and sunny. I got a run in along the beach and we had dinner with our clients at a really nice seafood restaurant on the beach. I'm now looking forward to our visit to Chicago in a few days to catch up with some close friends and Kristy, Pat, and Elliot!

Alvin and Susan's Wedding

2010-09-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

On Labor Day weekend, we attended the wedding of Alvin and Susan Chow, part of our NU family in Portland. They had their wedding in the Chinese Garden in downtown Portland. It was an amazing place to have a wedding; so beautiful in its own right.

cocktails with friends between the ceremony and the reception

they had a traditional lion dance after the ceremony

Alvin and Susan

Alvin works at Nike, so it is appropriate that the cake was a shoe :)

Charlie, Courtney, Susan, Alvin, Kristina, Matt, Em, and I

goofin' around after the wedding

we took a short walk down to VooDoo doughnut for photos after the wedding

Congrats to the Chows :)

Another Trip to the Coast

2010-08-30T23:10:00.001-07:00

As the end of summer is quickly approaching, we decided to squeeze in another trip to the coast (yes, two weekends in a row). This time, we chose a little closer destination: Sandbeach near Tillamook....just under 1.5 hour drive from home. Along for the trip were me, Em, Kristina, our friend Javier, and of course, Zoe (Matt was in New York for the weekend for work). We headed out Saturday morning and happened to hit the Tillamook Farmer's Market as we rolled into town. This was a great stop to fuel up on kettle corn and candied pecans before heading to Cape Lookout. Once at the Cape, we parked the truck and took a 1.5 mile hike down to a secluded beach. The trailhead had this sign posted:

OK, we were lucky to not encounter any bears during our hike. The trail spilled out onto a beach enclosed by high cliffs:

There were only a handful of other people out at this beach. We watched a few surfers (yes, they had to carry their boards down the 1.5 mile technical hike as well!) then had a packed lunch on the beach. After lunch, we laid in the sand and let the sound of crashing waves and the warmth of the sun lull us into a deep slumber. After our nap, we decided we had better make our way back up the trail before daylight expired.

The Beach Less Traveled:
miles of remote beach with only a few souls to share it with....THIS is living!!

We headed to our campsite at the dunes near Sandlake. We setup our tents and managed to squeeze in another walk on the beach before dusk.

large pebbles and sand constitute the beach near Sandlake

Kristina's dinner had us so full that we didn't even have room for smores. She made a yellow pound cake which we wrapped in foil with fresh Oregon blueberries. We placed it on the fire until the blueberries got so hot that they popped, leaving the pound cake to soak up their flavorful juice like a sponge. Yum. Thanks Kristina for the gourmet cooking!

On Sunday, we arose to a traditional breakfast (eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, coffee) cooked by yours truly. After packing up our tents and gear, we headed back home. After we got home, we decided to go pick some blackberries at the park near our house. Between the four of us, we harvested 7 quarts and only suffered minor scratches from the thorns. We probably picked much more than 7 quarts, but it seemed Javier's container kept emptying into his mouth faster than it was filling. :)

a portion of our blackberry harvest...we'll eat some and make the rest into jam

Celebrating Our 3 Year Wedding Anniversary

2010-08-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well I cannot believe it has been three years since we got married. I guess time flies when you're having fun. We have traveled far and wide together and continue to try to squeeze in as much fun as our busy careers will allow. I surprised Em with a weekend getaway trip to the Oregon coast to commemorate our 3 years of bliss. Due to our work schedules, we had to celebrate a little early....Em didn't seem to mind. :)

Our accommodations were the Edwin K B&B in Florence (about 3.5 hr drive from home):

our lovely room for the weekend

our room included a jacuzzi

the living room showcased the beautiful Craftsman style

our day started each morning with an amazing 5 course breakfast

the elaborate gardens in front of the B&B

After getting settled in, we walked the small town and ended up at an Italian seafood restaurant for dinner.

the crab-filled mushrooms were a great way to start the meal!

After dinner, we were surprised to learn that a nearby casino was hosting a free fireworks show so we drove over to check it out:

The next morning, we headed south about 40 miles to the Oregon Sand Dunes. There were a few good stops along the way.

The Siuslaw River has many sandy beaches along its shores. This picture pretty much sums up why Oregon is one of the most beautiful states.

an old lighthouse still in operation by the U.S. Coastguard

We finally reached the dunes, and I was in awe with how expansive they were:

the wind shapes the sand in ways that would make an artist jealous

We rented some ATVs to ride on the dunes and then took a trail down to the beach.

Em riding on the beach

Our next adventure on the dunes was to try sandboarding (kinda like snowboarding...which we love, but on the sand). I vowed to myself a few years back that I would try a new sport every year. 2010 new sport, check.

Me prior to my initial summit and descent

I think it took me about 2 runs to get the hang of it

Em took a couple spills on her first trip down...

...but made it to the bottom in good spirits. :)

The only bad part about sandboarding is that there are no ski lifts so you have to walk up each time. :( After about 6 runs, I was exhausted and thoroughly covered in sand.

We went back to the B&B to get cleaned up for dinner. With a few hours to kill until a table was available at our desired restaurant, we took another walk around town. Some boats had just come in from a 5 day tuna excursion. We admired their 120 fish catch, but were even more impressed by their ability to fillet an entire fish in under 1 minute! It's too bad we didn't have a cooler, because it was only $2 a pound to buy an entire tuna fresh off the boat.

fishermen weighing each tuna on the boat

bridge over the Siuslaw River in Florence

Our long awaited candlelight dinner, complete with moonlight glistening off of the water through the window. The food was great, the ambiance was perfect, and the service was impeccable: worthy of being called our 3 year anniversary dinner.

The next day, we enjoyed another phenomenal breakfast at the B&B, then made our way back home with a stop for each of us: one to admire elk grazing and one to hit the Outlet Shopping Malls. Can you guess who chose which? :)

Elk

I gotta admit, I was a little nervous about proposing the idea of riding ATVs on sand dunes to Emily as an idea for our anniversary trip. Fortunately, she was very excited about the prospect......and this confirms why I married her. She is always up for new adventures and willing to try new things to broaden our horizons. We have fun every chance we get. Who knows where the future years will take us or what crazy trips we'll take. I can only say that I am excited for the future, and I cannot think of anyone else that I would more enjoy spending my days with. Thanks Em! I love you. Let's have many more years of fun together. :) -Brad

Courtney and Charlie's Wedding

2010-08-25T01:30:00.001-07:00

On Aug 14, we attended a wedding for some of our Portland friends. Emily knew Courtney from Northwestern and she happened to end up out here on the West Coast as well. In Portland style, they had local food, local wines, and local brew....a trifecta that equates to a great evening. Thanks and congrats to C&C!!

the NU alumni table (Em, Tom, Melissa, Alvin, Susan, Kristina, Matt, yours truly)

Congrats to the happy couple!

this one cut in on my dance :)

a stack of cupcakes....we did our best to help out in this department. Yum!

Portland Adult Soapbox Derby

2010-08-25T01:04:00.000-07:00

I went with some friends to the Portland Adult Soapbox Derby the other day. It's another event that adheres to the slogan of "Keep Portland Weird".....but I mean "weird" in the best possible way. Endless random stuff like this makes me love Portland with all of its quirks. There are two categories: one leaning more towards Engineering and one leaning more towards Art. The latter were definitely more entertaining! Here are a few of my favorites:

All of our Chicago friends should love this tribute to the Bears, complete with helmet. It appeared to be made from an actual bear skin...not very Portland.

a throwback to the old skool BigWheel

this one wrecked right in front of where we were sitting....gonna need some major work before it is rolling again!!

We are considering getting a team together and putting in an entry next year. Our will likely be more on the zany side....let me know if you have any genius ideas for a theme, design, etc. I never really got a chance to do one of these as a kid so I think my time has come....

Midwest Tour, Part II

2010-08-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

Our Midwest Tour resumes on Wednesday with Emily in Lexington for work and me in Ohio visiting family. Karen and I decided to take the kids to the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton. My brother dropped off his three boys for the trip, so my parents decided to come along to help manage the 5 little ones. We met up with my Uncle John, who is very knowledgeable about aviation. He provided a nice perspective and plenty of tidbits of information beyond the standard placards throughout the museum.

Me and the kids outside the museum

The museum is very well laid out and you could easily spend a day or two here. They have 5 huge hangars: early flight and WWI aircraft, WWII, Cold War era, Modern flight and Space, and Presidential aircraft and research aircraft. Best of all, it's free....so if you are ever in the Dayton area, it is worth a visit. Here are some of my favorite items:

early wind tunnel used by the Wright Brothers

torpedo with detachable wings

half helicopter/half airplane: the top rotors provide lift while the front propeller provides propulsion

center turbine flying saucer design that was abandoned for instability....this probably accounts for many of those loony UFO sightings

The highlight of the visit was a bit of history which was shaped by my Grandpa Maxson. During WWII, my Mom's dad worked in a machine shop that produced the Top Secret Norden M-9 Bombsight. For the time, it was extremely advanced and considered one of the most closely guarded secrets. It featured an analog computer which used aircraft speed, wind speed, and altitude to calculate an accurate bomb trajectory. It also included several gyroscopes that served as image stabilization, a valuable feature in a shaky WWII era aircraft.

the kids posing by the Norden bombsight exhibit

zooming in on the bombsight, you can see the Maxson insignia on the serial plate

Fat Man - the type of atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki - the sad reminder of how technology, if not harnessed responsibly, can be extremely destructive

On Thursday, I met up with my old H.S. friend, Matthew Roberts for lunch at the Tearoom. Afterwards, the kids and I donned our swimwear and headed down to visit our good friend, Amy Bilich, to relax in her pool.

Thomas and Anna acting goofy as usual :)

Anna getting ready for a swim in Amy's pool

Thursday evening, I headed to Columbus in preparation for Paul Kersey's wedding. We met up with everyone for some fun times. On Thursday night, we went to Dave and Busters for dinner and games. On Friday night, we had the rehearsal followed by dinner and karaoke.

The soon to be newlyweds, Paul and Leeanna Kersey doing some karoke

Greg and Paul hanging out at the hotel pool

Saturday was the wedding and we all had a great time. It was fun getting to see lots of old friends.

Leeanna getting ready for her big day

Paul and Leeanna's ceremony, with Voge officiating

On Sunday, we headed back down to Cincinnati for our flight home. Fortunately, our flight was within an hour of Karen's trip back to Lebanon, so we got to meet up with them and Mom and Dad for lunch and a final farewell.

Anna loved the kangaroo outside of Outback :)

Our final goodbyes....the kids kept us laughing up until the teary end....we're gonna miss seeing them. Just like on our trip to Beirut, I got so used to being with them for a week that it was sad to see them go. Hopefully, we will get them out to Portland someday.

Midwest Tour, Part I

2010-08-11T21:59:00.001-07:00

With two weddings and a work trip for Emily, we decided to string all of our visits to the Midwest into one large trip. It was nice to get to go to both weddings to visit old high school friends as well as to spend some time with each of our families.
We took the redeye flight Friday night to arrive in Cincinnati Saturday morning. Luckily Emily's frequent travel status got us both upgraded to First Class.....already off to a great start!
Once in Cincinnati, we drove to St. Louis and met up with Emily's parents. We got cleaned up and headed to Blake's (Emily's H.S. friend) wedding.

Dressed to impress for Blake's wedding

the happy new couple, Blake and Colleen

hanging out at the reception with Mike and Andrea

Taking a brief break from dancing for a photo op: Blake, Em, Mike

We had an awesome time at the wedding...I did my best to embarrass myself on the dance floor.
On Sunday morning, we had dim sum with Emily's parents and Uncle Bill and Aunt Jackie; it is always a great time when we are all together. We only wish we had more time to hang out in St. Louis. Thanks Uncle for the cigars!! :)
Just as soon as we came, we left....back on the road, but not without stopping at our favorite coffee shop on the way out of St. Louis. If you are ever in town, Coffee Cartel is a must stop; their Mocha Frappe is made with real ice cream and bold coffee and worth the drive to the Central West End.
Juiced up on caffeine, we set the GPS to Enterprise Road and headed to Ohio. As an added bonus, my sister Karen and her kids were visiting from Beirut so we were lucky to coincide our trips with theirs. Adding to the fun, Kristy and Pat brought little Elliot down from Chicago. Since we had a critical mass of out-of-towners, my Mom decided to have an impromptu cookout and invited some additional family and friends over to the house.

All of the kids - it has been about a year since I have seen each of them - they are growing up too fast!

My cousin Jill and her little R.J.

Kristy and Elliot: he has a full belly after chugging a bottle of milk....I think the next step is nap time.

Pat wrestling with my nephew Grant

Elliot hamming it up for the camera as always!

On Monday, we took the kids to the pool and had a great time. On Tuesday, Emily had to drive down to Lexington, KY for a work trip which would occupy her until Friday. She was melancholy that she was not going to get to eat our favorite strawberry salad at the Tearoom (since they are only open Wed-Sat). Luckily, I know the owner (wink, wink), so I arranged for a special order to be prepared on Tuesday while the rest of the staff was already on site prepping food for the next day.
Em drove to Lexington and I stayed in Ohio to spend additional time with family......

....to be continued....

(Brad's adventures in Ohio, Kersey's wedding in Columbus, and a last supper at Outback will be addressed in Part II.....thanks for reading; more to come!)