March music

March was sort of a slow month for music. Not a lot of new discoveries that I'm really excited about. Here's some stuff that I picked up however

The Church el momento siguiente The Church continue to amaze me with their vast collection of albums. El momento siguiente is their second "unplugged album". One of the things I love about The Church is that their music is amazing electric or acoustic. Electric they create a beautiful ethereal sound that transcends into haunting beautiful soundscapes, but acoustically they create a very intimate feel that is best listened with candlelight. This was actually a rare find. Previously the only way to get this album was through the band's website for $30. This was one those brilliant discoveries I made while looking through a local record store. I saved about $10.


Joy Electric The Otherly Opus I had heard Ronnie Martin stumble through some of these songs a few month's ago in Portland. I'd say they sound much better on the album, but that's because Ronnie wasn't familiar with them live. This is a vast improvement over his last album Ministry of Archers which I never cared for that much. It is along the same lines, but this time it just works better.

Peter Murphy aLive for Love The former led singer of Bauhaus brings a middle eastern feel to his solo catalog. Some of his more recent work has leaned heavy towards lots of middle eastern sound, but in this concert he changes the arrangements of such alternative gems "Indigo Eyes" and "Cuts You Up" to fit his current style. The album comes off as intimate candle light music.

U2 The Rare Collection Even the rabid U2 fan that I am, some tracks eluded me. No more. I have to admit, I didn't not obtain this album through conventional means. To due so, I would have had to spend $140 through itunes to get the 10 new songs I don't already have. Stand out tracks include "I Love You Like Mad" which could have been a decent B-side, "Leviatate" and "Flower Child" both outtakes from "All You Can't Leave Behind". "Beautiful Ghost" apparently didn't fit on the "The Joshua Tree". It's a beautiful opening song that could have taken the place of "Where the Streets Have No Name". It's a organ song with that builds with Bono speaking poetry. The high light for me is their cover of Cole Porter's "Night and Day". Previously this song was impossible to find except on the charity album "Red Hot and Blue". Bono puts so much passion into this song that comes across as pure bittersweet desperation. This song is really special to me since it marked a turn in musical direction for u2 while rumors of their break up floated around.

Innocence Mission Befriended Instead of buying their new album "We Walk in Song", I decided to take a chance on some older stuff. The opening song "Tomorrow On the Runway" is one of those songs that I can't get past. It's such a beautiful song about being left behind while someone else moves on to better things. The album got a lot of subtle keyboards which gives the album more of a organic feel than previous albums.

video games

I don't usually discuss video games that much and I don't believe I have ever blogged on them before, however "Lego Star Wars I & II" are worth a comment or two. I have always had video games in my house but seldom owned more than about 3 or 4 at a time. I have never wanted to be a video game junky who spends hours playing and ignoring his kids. Sometimes I would sneak in a game or two if Woogy was preoccupied with something. About six months ago, he decided he wanted to play with me. I thought it would be cool if we could have a activity we could do together besides play Thomas the Train, and it isn't like I was going to introduce him to "Grand Theft Auto" (which I don't own or will ever own).

Since Woogy likes "Star Wars" as much as I do, I introduced him to "Lego Star Wars". I have to admit that I have played a lot of Star Wars video games, but "Lego Star Wars" is the best of them all. In short, you play though the movies as Lego Star Wars figures. As far as difficulty goes, it's pretty easy and Woogy hasn't had a lot of problems completing the levels. These games however actually have a educational value to them such as problem solving, sequencing, and cooperation. Every level has several puzzles the player has to complete first and figure out what order some things need to be arranged in for the player to move on to the next level. The player must switch characters often since each character has different abilities in helping to complete the puzzle.
The creators also added some humor that any Star Wars fan will appreciate. You've got Storm Troopers relaxing drinking coffee while the Death Star goes unfinished, Darth Vader showing Luke a picture of him and Padme before he was born. There is even Darth Vader spinning out of control in his Tie Fighter not wearing a seat belt.
I think most importantly how ever it has given Woogy and I something to do together when it is rainy outside (like it is nearly everyday). I've had to put limits on it, because Woogy would spend hours playing it if he could. I've also use it as a reward he can earn by doing things for himself like getting dressed and brushing his teeth. It seems to be working too well. Nibbles is wanting to join in now.

eating problems

My wife has had eating problems her whole life. She grew up with eating disorders (balimia and anorexia). Now she believes she has IBS (irritable Bowel Syndrome). For the past few years she has had problems digesting foods causing her stomach to swell up. Her only relief has been when she was pregnant with Nibbles. Last December, she really started having problems.
She insists that there is really nothing the doctors can do. She has tried a few prescriptions, but none of them seem to work for too long. Now, on the advice of her boss, she is trying to cut out milk and wheat out of her diet. The bad news is that it seems to be working, meaning she can't eat those products. I couldn't imagine cutting out all wheat and milk products. No pastas, no cakes, no ice cream, etc.
Wah-Wah is understandably cranky with her new diet. She will make a pizza for the family and then have to eat a salad. That's got to suck! She has resorted to shopping at "Trader Joe's" (Oregon's all organic grocery store) but is struggling to find enough foods that will last the week. She's going to try goat's milk, but is afraid that it will be disgusting. We also have to eat at a lot of Chinese restaurants since they don't use hardly any wheat or dairy products. Luckily, Portland is full of Chinese restaurants , but I miss going to pizza parlors.
I wonder how much of this was brought on by years of having a eating disorder. I've heard they can do real damage to your system. Interesting enough, no one else in her family has this problem.

Public speaking 101

I read somewhere that public speaking is one of the most common fears. This is certainly the case for me. My stuttering has made public speaking a phobia of mine. So it is ironic that I now have to give a three day presentation every couple of months as part of my job.
A few weeks ago my boss said he would like me to be a "Boy's Town Trainer" for Trillium. Brief History : "Boy's Town" is a behavior model based on the program in Omaha that started in the early 1900's by Father Flanagan. He was one of the first people to recognize wayward youth as a societal problem. He believed strongly in that providing guidance, youth could turn their lives around.
Anyway, Boy's Town is a pretty big deal in my field and I thought I would be going into our foster family homes and educating them on the literature of Boy's Town. Turns out, I'm going to be presenting a three day work shop for the entire agency along with various therapists and psychologist every so often.
I spend all of last week in training learning the material. I hate sitting all week listening to a lecture. Last Thursday and Friday I got a crash course in public speaking and using Power Point presentations. It should be noted that I weaseled my way out of public speaking in college by taking a short little "interpersonal communications" class at the community college, so I have no experience. I also used to fake being ill in high school to get out of giving speeches. Now suddenly I'm giving Power Point presentation to people with much more education than me. Anyway, I got some tips such as "reading less from my notes" "answer questions more clearly" "stop looking at the ceiling", etc. Kind of wished I hadn't weaseled out of "public speaking 101".

Worst movies ever

I don't like to gripe much (every one knows that), but sometimes I feel robbed when I sit down and watch a movie that is so awful, I feel like I've lost two hours of my life that I will never get back. These are three of the worst movies I can think of. I'm sure there is more, but these are the ones that I can think of that have no artistic value, horrible acting, a stupid story line, and just plain pointless. These are the ones that I remember being more grumpy at the end of the movie than when it started.

The first one is Van Helsing. Looks like it could be a winner, I mean it's got Hugh Jackman and it's action movie about killing vampires. When you watch the special effects, it's hard to believe that it wasn't made in the 70's. The special effects are that bad. The comic relief wasn't much accept a priest who wasn't funny.



The "Wicker Man" inspired me to write this list last night as I was watching it. What's the point of the opening scene, other than it keeps playing over as a nightmare in the lead characters head? If you haven't seen this movie, it's about a cop who gets a letter from his ex girlfriend asking for help finding her missing child (which is of course his). Anyway, he goes to a island that is a pagan female worshipping society where he ultimately meets his doom as a sacrifice to mother earth. It's bad enough we are watching this poor guy look in vain for his daughter only to be betrayed by everyone and burned alive (after getting a basket of bees on put on his face, followed by a both his legs being broken by a club). I'm sorry if I spoiled it for anyone, but this movie really sucks.


This was the last movie that I actually walked out of the theater because it was so bad. I later tried to watch it on video (I was hoping I might have missed something the first time)when I was working a overnight shift at work and I still couldn't finish it. This came out right around the time of "Batman and Robin" so I decided to boycott Uma Thruman movies for a while. It was pretty disturbing to watch Sean Connery in a kelt, but then to watch him go off on his diabolical plan to destroy the weather (why would he want to do that anyway?) just made me want to hurl. It's too bad because I really liked Sean Connery at one time, but to watch this and "The League of extraordinary Gentlemen" I really have to cast doubt. Anyway, the hero's in this awful movie are based on an old TV show, but these ones tend to be far more annoying the way they drive 100 mph while being chased by bad guys and sipping their hot tea.

blah

Maybe it is the weather, but I've been feeling rather "blah" lately. When I say "blah", I mean that I don't seem to be very excited about anything. I guess I'm not happy with my job. The truth is I'm not feeling very challenged at my job. I really like the people I work with, they seem to be some of the most open minded people I've met. Turn over is very low and the overall moral is very good. Still, I'm not happy.
The opposite was true back with my job in Independence. Moral was low. Even my boss openly bad mouthed her supervisor. Yet I felt challenged and like I was actually doing something. My role as a Foster Care Consultant is pretty minimum and I don't have a lot of say (if any) on how the child's case is going. I see maybe a kid a day and the rest of the time I'm blogging. With one kid, I've been told just take him out for fun and work on "social skills". I'm not even suppose to talk that much to the foster parent. I'm thinking "why did I even need to go to college to do this?" Actually the money is really good when you consider how much I do. My boss says that it will get busier, but he's been saying that for 3 months.
I've called the state and ask that they reactivate my application. Everyone says that the state social workers are over worked, but that sounds like I would at least keep busy. The pay is better too. Maybe I should be careful what I wish for.

Some Good music for Feb

In a effort to keep up with A Forrest, I present my list of some recent purchases this past month. I should note there haven't been a lot of good new releases this year, so I've gone back and picked up some oldies from some great bands.
The Brothers Martin The Brothers Martin
So far this has been my favorite new album this year. It sounds like what you would expect when Joy Electric and Starflyer 59 come together- a great electronic rock album. Not a bad song on the album. The Martins never disappoint.






Teenage Fanclub Howdy!
Back in 1991, these guys beat out Nirvana's Nevermind for Spin's album of the year. Sadly, America never picked up on them. These guys write perfect jangle guitar pop songs. All three sing beautiful harmonies and you can hear the Beach Boys Pet Sounds influence in all their material. Can't say enough good things about this band. Howdy! was not much of a commercial success but songs like "Near You","I Need Direction", and "Cul De Sac" are so catchy that you will sing them all day in your head all day.






The Church Sometime Anywhere
The Church's sound have been described as beautiful, dreamy, mystic, ethereal , and elegant. All of which are apparent on this album. I have nearly all 19 of their albums and I can't understand why they remain a relatively unknown band. Most people would recognize their hit in the 80's "Under the Milky Way", but that was just a taste of what this band is capable of. Steve Kilby's voice is light and airy but very grounded. Marty Wilson Piper is a phenomial guitarist and has perfected the jangle guitar sound. On this album, the duo open with the mystical "Day of the Dead" and then dive into a Middle Eastern sound. "Authority" has a beautiful guitar riff.


Catherine Wheel Ferment
("Catherine Wheel" is the name of a torture device in the middle ages, not a person.)
Another band that never caught on here in the states. This band has been described as "shoegazers" which they rejected. There guitars are out front with Rob Dickenson's vocals just a tempo behind them. Rob's vocals are breathless and they are surrounded by lush and swirling guitars. This is Catherine Wheel's debut and their second album Chrome is equally good. Unfortunately, they would then shift to more of a standard hard rock sound.

Another weekend, another camera

This weekend was an extended weekend for me (since I didn't work on Friday and I have Monday off) so I really wanted to do something different besides stay around the house. So Wah-Wah and I decided to go on a little weekend trip to Seaside Oregon.
Seaside is about an hour and half west of Portland. It's a cozy little tourist town that is suppose to be kid friendly. Unfortunately both kids were getting over colds, so they were pretty fussy.
Seaside has a nice promenade right by the ocean with lots of little cafes, art galleries, and stores. After we walked around a bit, we walked out on the beach were Monty knocked my new camera out of my hand and on to the beach. As luck would have it, sand got on camera and now it is not working. Brand new camera too. I'll try to take it in to the shop, but who knows? (By the way, the pictures are from the internet, not from my camera.) Anyway, that put me in a rotten mood that afternoon and the weather wasn't great either.
Saturday evening, we drove on Sunset beach. This was a pretty cool beach because you could actually drive your car on the beach for miles. The sand was packed enough that, our Impala could drive across it. It was pretty cool watching the sun set on the ocean while your driving across the sand.
Sunday we got up and hit Fort Stevens State Park which was beautiful. The picture above of the ship wreak is from there. After that we went to the Seaside aquarium which wasn't much more than an exotic fish store. They did have an area where you could feed a bunch of seal lions. Woogy really got a kick out of dropping the fish in the seal lions mouth. Unfortunately he smelled like fish for the rest of the day.
On the way back, we stopped at Haystack Beach (several scenes from the "Goonies" was filmed there). Wah-Wah and the kids were tired so Monty and I took a walk on the beach were I briefly thought of throwing the dog in the ocean for breaking my camera. But I guess he didn't mean to do it.

Starting school

Lately I've been struggling with the idea of signing Woogy up for kindergarten this fall. I recently enrolled him in a Preschool and I had to decide if I wanted him in the 4-5 yr class or the 3-4 class. It was a tough decision because Wah-Wah and I have spent a lot of time thinking about what would be best for Woogy. I decided to put him in the 3-4 class. Deep down I just don't feel that Woogy is ready for kindergarten. So far his teachers disagree and say that he is doing fine, but I don't want what happened to me to happen to Woogy.
I had a pretty rough start in school. When I went to preschool, my mom told me I came home crying once because I didn't want to be nailed to a cross like Jesus was. According to my mom, my preschool teachers gave a rather graphic account of Jesus's death. I don't remember a whole lot more. Then there was my kindergarten teacher who use to slap my left hand for writing with it and have me sit in the corner if I still did it. I also remember being locked in the bathroom when I was misbehaved. A few years later, I witnessed this really heavy kid push her down in the hall and break her arm. I was so happy. A few years later, my kindergarten teacher was fired on child abuse charges. Too late for me.
I remember my first grade teacher was a witch too. She used to tear up my pictures when I was trying to draw in class. I hated her for that. By the time I hit second grade, my teacher referred me to therapy. I struggled in school for a while and began to hate it. It wasn't until we moved to California where I was held back in the 6th grade that I began to make passing grades. My experiences make me pretty uneasy about starting Woogy in school. He has made a lot of progress since moving to Portland, but I feel I want him to have every edge possible. In my experience working with kids, it's the older ones in the class which do the best. I guess I feel that I don't want to hold him back later.

Keane in Portland

Last night I attended my first major Portland concert. Keane played last night to a packed small theater in downtown Portland. I went with this guy "AB" and his wife and had a great time. AB and I have similar taste in music with the exception he likes some "old school" rock. I've never got into "Zepplin" or anything like that.
The opening act was pretty bad. I can't even remember the name, but they were pretty blusy with extended guitar solos that I didn't care for. A lot of other people in the audience liked them however.
Keane took the stage shortly after opening with "Put it Behind You". Tom Chaplin, the lead singer, was his usual gracious self and worked the excitement of the crowd well. Tom talked about how he enjoyed traveling up the gorge in Portland on the bands day off. He even broke out a guitar and played an acoustic version of "Open your eyes". The band played a rather long set playing nearly every song off both their albums. They ended their set with "Bedshaped" and thanked the crowd a thousand times.
Afterwards, I bought a reasonably priced T-shirt (only $30). Unfortunately I had to pay another $10 for parking, but after getting such a deal on the T-shirt, what was another $10? Anyway, AB and I will be seeing Snow Patrol later in Feb, so I better start saving for another shirt.

Art weekend at Imago

This weekend was art weekend at Imago. Our church put on a art show at the Urban Grind coffee house. On Friday, Michael Pritzel and Michael Roe did a acoustic show calling it "Roe vs. Pritzel." I almost missed this awesome performance but "A Forest " alerted me that it was in the area. Thank goodness he keeps up on Michael Pritzel better than I do.
I've seen Michael Pritzel perform many times (as the Violet Burning), but never acoustically, so this show was a real treat. This had to be the best performance I've seen. Michael Roe and Pritzel swapped songs off each other and it was great. I was impressed with Michael Roe even though I've never heard of him before. He was in a Christian rock band called the "77's". Both guys were hysterical and took jabs at each other all night. Michael did a great version of "Oceania" using a drum machine with hip-hop beats (I've never heard the song like that before). It was one of those shows that makes you fall in love with music again.
The next evening Imago Dei artist put on a show at the coffee house. I can't believe all the raw talent that Imago has. On the stage, there were musical acts , short films, and poetry readings. The walls were covered with paintings by local artist. They even had a kids play area so the kids didn't get bored. The evening was capped off by a brilliant dance performance of U2's "All I Want is You".
I would show pictures but I haven't figured out how to post pictures with my new camera yet.

Blue Like Jazz in Portland

When I first started going to Imago Dei, I told people I heard of the church through reading "Blue Like Jazz" by Don Miller. A lot of people rolled their eyes. A friend of mine said that "we had a nice little church until that book came out". Now the church is over a thousand people with more people coming every Sunday. All the new people I've talked to say they read the "Blue Like Jazz" and they wanted to see what Imago is all about.
Don't get me wrong, Imago welcomes the new people and is trying to raise money to build a bigger church, but no one is sure how big Imago will get. I'm just amazed how influential a book can get. Don Miller has led so many to Imago Dei.
I have since started rereading "Blue Like Jazz" again and notice that a lot of the locations that Don talks about are in my neighborhood. I first noticed "Stumptown coffee" which Don mentions he frequents often. I then recognized Lauralhurst Park from the book which is right down the street from where I work. It really is a nice big park in the middle of the city. Also I'm right down the street from Reed College where Don writes about being a radical but brilliant college full of liberal ideas. I'll have to check out their naked parade.
I want to drive up Mt.Tabor sometime in the evening to view the city which Don mentions as being beautiful. Mt. Tabor is only a few blocks from my house. Lastly, I briefly met Pastor Rick who Don writes a lot about in the book. He's a big guy. I wanted to tell him how impressed I was that he started Imago is his own living room, but I was too shy. It's pretty cool to read a book and see it all in front of you .

Joy Electric weekend

My year of concerts has officially started. Ronnie Martin (the Joy Electric guy) was in town for a couple of concerts this weekend. Since I don't know anyone else that likes Joy Electric around here, I went to these shows by myself (which I really didn't mind that much). On Friday, Joy Electric was playing in Vancouver (which is right across the bridge) at a small little church coffee house called "the Portal". It was actually pretty crowded and there was no one there to take my money, so I got a free show.
Ronnie opened up with "Sheffield Youth" from his new EP. He joked around about how he still uses these 20 year old tapes for playing his samples when he plays live, when his brother uses his ipod. He was accompanied by a drummer and played a lot of his standard material. Good show.
The next day I took the kids to my gym to go swimming. I swear I have never been in a more chlorinated pool in my life. My swim suit actually changed color after I washed it out. My eyes stung so bad that I washed them out for two hours and they still hurt. I'm not exaggerating either, but I think the water was mostly bleach.
On Sunday, I went to a small church here in Portland to see Joy Electric do an afternoon acoustic show. Despite a low turn out, I really enjoyed that show. Ronnie opened up with "the North Sea" and played a few from his first album "Melody" all on an acoustic guitar. He also played a new one from his forth coming project "the Brothers Martin" and three songs from his next album due out.
After the show, I went up to see him and he said that I looked familiar. I told him that I was at his Vancouver show and that I seen him a dozens of times in KC. He said "welcome to the Pacific Northwest."
A couple more shows are on the horizon that I'll be going with this one guy from my home group. Keane at the end of the month and Snow Patrol next month.

Working with damaged kids

I don't mean to sound like a bleeding heart, but life just isn't fair for a lot of people. I have finally started to get into my job at Trillium more and actually have a larger case load. I've worked with troubled kids for a while and seen a lot of tough cases, but the kids that I work with here are the most difficult I've seen.
I work as a foster care consultant with Trillium. Basically Trillium is a agency that sets up therapeutic foster homes and places kids in them that are in DHS custody. My job is to go out to the foster home and work with the kids. These kids are from all ages and nearly everyone has Reactive Attachment Disorder ( RAD). On the list of mental health disorders, RAD is one of the worst.
A child develops RAD when they are unable to emotionally attach themselves to a parent. The child's basic biological need to be loved and have their basic needs met never happens. Which makes RAD such a tough disorder to treat is that no one really except the biological parent can fill this need. The bond between parent and child needs to be established early in life or it almost never happens and there is no way therapeutically to go back and form that bond.
The kids that I am working with are very damaged kids. All of them have been torn from their parents at some point, often because their parents are unfit. It's interesting that everyone of them wants to return to their parents despite the fact that in most cases, the parents have abandoned them. As their counselor, I have to find ways to explain to them that they are never going home again. These kids are mad, and for good reason.
The other day, I was talking to a girl who was out of control. She said that she didn't care anymore. She didn't care if she ever had friends because she has to move around so much. I could really understand and told her she was right.
I've got another child that is only 4 years old that has been shipped around a lot due to her behavior. My son is 4 and I couldn't image him being shipped around to foster homes.
I've got another girl who yelled at a mother and baby in the mall claiming "it isn't fair!" We of course had to hospitalize her. This afternoon I have to go tell a pair of twins that they have to move again because their current foster mom's health is failing.
I've worked with some tough kids in the past, but they at least had some sort of connection with their parents (even though it wasn't very healthy). I don't have the answers to make some of these issues other than to tell people "stop having kids if you don't want them"

my weekend

This weekend we took the kids to the Portland Children's Home. I would show pictures, but I apparently left my camera there. First off, the kids really enjoyed the museum. They had lots of stuff for the kids to play with (but nothing I haven't seen before). Unfortunately, I got really bored, so bored that I felt like I was walking around in a daze, and apparently that's when I left my camera behind.
I don't know why I was so bored, but I've been really tired lately. I feel like I could sleep all day. I've drank so much coffee, that caffeine has sort of lost it's effect. My brother says that it is probably the weather. It has been raining pretty much nonstop for a week now. It has been a while since we've seen the sun here in Portland.
The Children's museum wasn't a complete bust for me though. When I was walking by the theater, I heard some really good music. It was a local band called "Rye Hollow" was playing before an audience of kids and their parents. The music reminded me of "Over the Rhine", sort of an Americana sound. Most of the kids weren't interested, but some of the parents were. I certainly didn't expect to hear a pretty good concert in the Children's museum.
I did search the museum for my camera, but never found it. It was a older digital camera, but I really liked it because it was easy to use. I guess I'll have to get another one.
After the Children's museum, we went out with my brother to a rather unique restaurant called "PB and Ellie's". Wow, it was like someone made a cafe with my family in mind. First they had big train table in the middle of the restaurant that the kids could play with. The kids could also draw in chalk on the walls. This place had lots of board games you could play while you waited for your food. A large part of the menu was geared towards kids and they even had a baby menu. All the food was organic, nothing fried. I got a hamburger (which was organic) and it was served with Baked Sweet Potato Fries which were really pretty tasty. Even the drinks were made all of natural flavors. I might add that it was the best burger I've had since coming to Portland.

Our first Holidays in Oregon

Our first holiday season in Oregon is over. I'd say that I enjoyed seeing the lights at the Grotto was the most memorable event but the season was enjoyable considering the circumstances of being so far away from family and friends.
As usual, I got sick right before X-mas but was over it soon. Unfortunately everyone else got sick too. We drove to Newport the weekend of Xmas to be with my folks. My uncle from Albany stopped by and we spent the day walking on the beach.
The ocean is much different in the winter than in the summer. It's much rougher and more windy, but awesome to watch.
On Sunday, Wah-Wah and I went to a restaurant on the beach and went for a walk on the harbor 15 mins before a storm came. We had just enough time to see the sea lions that live there eating hand outs from the restaurants. Unfortunately, Wah-Wah was getting sick at this time so we had to head back.
X-mas is always overwhelming on the kids. This year we let them open one gift every hour so they could at least play with their gift before they moved on to their next gift. We bought Woogy a Leapster game system this year. Out of the three games I bought him, he only likes one. Nibbles is into hand bags so we got her a couple of purses that she liked.
Since Wah-Wah and I have no time off yet, we had to head back to be at work on Tuesday. Over the weekend I taught Woogy of to bowl which he seemed to really enjoy. On New Year's Eve, we went to hear Don Miller speak at Imago Dei. Don is sort of a celebrity at Imago. Most of the people that attend are there because they read "Blue Like Jazz". Don hadn't spoken in a while, so he had a full house. He's a great speaker. Very entertaining and humble. Don spoke about playing the script that God has for you in your life. He insists that his life is very dull. Afterwards, we attended one of our home groups party. I had a good time and was introduced to a German card game about bean trading. It's hard to explain, but it was fun.
unfortunately, the kids couldn't last until midnight, so we had to leave a little early under the usual fussing and crying when the kids get tired.

Best of 2006

Here's my list of best albums of 2006. Since they are all so good , it's hard to rank them so they are in no order



Asobi Seksu Citrus
Shoegazing was reborn in 2006 with this near flawless album. It's hard not to draw comparisons to My Bloody Valentine , but loud guitars and a ethereal voice is a perfect formula











Thom Yorke The Eraser
No Radiohead this year, but Thom released a solo album worthy of Radiohead. This album reminds me of Kid A and Amenesic in the way it sounds and really challenges classic song structure








Muse Black Holes and revelations
By now everyone has heard of Muse but this is a great rock album. The sound is bigger than their last album Absolution.













Starflyer 59 My Island
This is Jason Martin's best since Old. I've liked everything that SF59 has done but the last album Talking Vs Singing was just a little to slow and quiet. This is another good rock album. Solid yet SF 59 continues to go unnoticed.









Jarvis Jarvis
The debut solo album from the frontman of Pulp still hasn't hit the US yet. Jarvis Cocker can write great pop songs with a little humor. This album, he really speaks his mind and it is worth listening to










Keane Under the Iron Sea
Kind of what you expect for a follow up to Hopes and Fears. Keane continue to put out catchy pop songs that you can hum along to. They tried to be a little darker on this album, but they are only fooling themselves








Mojave 3 Puzzles Like You
I discovered this year the genius of Mojave 3's stripped down and laid back approach. Their songs are simply beautiful. On this one they add a little pop to this formula









Snow Patrol Eyes Open
Probably the best album of the year. This album proves that Snow Patrol is ready to be the next Coldplay. This album is flawless and concert ready. I can't wait to see them in Feb









Editors The Back Room
The best debut album of a Joy Division sounding band since Interpol. I can't wait to hear where this band goes with their sound next









Richard Ascroft Keys to the World
I have to admit, that after Richard's last album, I kind of gave up on him. But this is the best album he's done since the Verve Urban Hymns

Embrace This New Day
This album has been out since the first of the year and still hasn't hit the US shores yet. Embrace doesn't break new ground here but they continue to do what they do best, and that is Coldplayish style anthems that are catchy and uplifting

X mas parties

This weekend Wah-Wah and I went to both our X-mas parties from work. I noted quit a difference in the parties and believe it is because of the differences between our professions.
The X-mas party my work had was at a coworker's modest size home. My coworker's husband did a lot of the cooking and everyone brought something. There was a lot of beer for everyone as well. This was suppose to be a family friendly party so there were other kids there besides mine. One of my coworkers bought gifts for all the kids.
I spent most of the evening talking to my coworker's husband about music. Turns out he likes a lot of the same stuff I do. I also talked to another coworker about her stories of being a punk in London and going to see bands I could only dream of. The karaoke machine was brought out and everyone thought it was cute when Nibbles and Woogy danced to some of the music. Over all, I'd say it was a fun evening.
On Saturday we went to Wah-Wah's X-mas party. This party was being thrown at the Director of Nerou Sciences house which was in a really exclusive part of Portland. Frankly it was a little too stuffy for me. I was the only guy in jeans there. There was nothing but wine to drink and all the food was Asian. Most of Wah-Wah's co workers are very clicky and the rest don't speak English very well. Wah-Wah's director has a very nice house with lots of art work that took some time to look at. But overall, we didn't really talk to anyone and basically stood in the corner holding our wine glasses. I noticed a big difference from the way that social service people host parties from people in science and research.

Christmas in Portland

Last weekend, we visited the Grotto for their annual Christmas festival. The Grotto is a catholic shrine located near our house. I have to say that I really enjoyed it. They have a path through a forest that you can walk through filled with X-mas lights. People are walking around in Biblical clothes and some were dressed like angels. They had a petting zoo and puppet shows for the kids. People were going around selling coffee and hot chocolate. They had carolers outside and a church choir inside. I think what I really liked about it was their was no Santa Clauses or anything else that represented the commercialism of Christmas. This really puts you in the Christmas spirit.

My House

Here are pictures of my lovely new estate















notice the Xmas tree is a obvious fake

Lost in Portland

I have lived in Portland for almost a month now and I can say I still don't know my way around. This is the most confusing city that I have ever been in. There isn't a lot of landmarks to go buy either. A lot of people around here take public transportation or ride their bikes so the city city apparently invested more on their public transportation system then their roads.
I guess half my problem is that I am relying on Mapquest too much. Mapquest has got to be one of the worse programs I know. It gives the same street three names when all you really need is one.
The other compliant I have is that the streets around Portland are so dimly lit that you can't read the sign until after you passed it. The street signs are also pretty small (or maybe I need glasses). Portland also has more one way streets than most downtowns do. A lot of the streets break up and pick up again a couple blocks later.
The other day I was trying to get to a client's house and some how I ended up in Chinatown (I didn't even know Portland had a Chinatown) . I would have stopped for a visit if I had had the time.
Maybe everyone complains when they move to a new city, but I remember it didn't take hardly anytime to learn KC

Star Wars Muesum

This weekend was our first weekend without my parents around so we decided to explore Portland. I decided to take Woogy to the Star Wars Muesum at the Portland science center. Everything on display was real and used in the movies. Still, I thought the price was a little steep for what you got. I don't think Woogy really liked it honestly. The Stormtrooper greeting everyone at the front door scared him

Adjusting

It seems everyone is having a hard to time adjusting to Oregon, which is what I expected. On Thanksgiving I drove down to Newport to visit everyone. Wah-Wah said she was tired of living with my parents and wanted to leave soon. She had been stuck in my parent's house for over a week and everyone was getting on everyone else's nerves.
We ended up driving into Portland Saturday night and stayed in our house despite the fact we have no furniture or anything else. It was like camping, but indoors. Wah-Wah and I both have noticed that the kids are acting a little different. Woogy is getting more defiant and fighting more with his sister. He is also not listening very well and blocking things out. Nibbles is also not doing too well. She cannot stay in a different room from Wah-Wah without screaming. We went to Imago Dei on Sunday and dropped her off in the 1yr old class. Within 10 mins we were paged to go get her. Apparently she was so upset, that she was upsetting the other babies in the classroom. (Of course Nibbles has never been willing to stay in the classroom in OP either, but this seems worse)
Even the dog seems to be acting odd. Yesterday, Monty ran outside and got in the car when we were leaving to go somewhere. Normally he would get out when we ask him, but this time he wouldn't.
I hope with our things arriving today that life will start to settle in again.

My New House

Since I didn't have much going on at work today, I decided to check out my new house. I wouldn't say that it is much larger than the home I used to live in, but at least it is not a duplex with a neighbor standing outside smoking and bad mouthing the house. In fact, the house is in very good shape. My neighbor is named Oscar and he is retired and lived in the neighborhood a long time. He seems really nice and doesn't swear every other word like my last neighbor.
I don't have much of a backyard either. It's mostly all pebbles with some bushes along the side. There is a lot of storage around the house. First the garage is big enough to hold everything plus our cars. Then there are about 3 storage sheds around the property. Wah-Wah wants to covert one of the sheds to a play house for the kids. Everything else seems good. I'll finally have a bathroom in the master bedroom.
I've driven around the area and scoped out where all the shopping is. Portland is a great place if you don't like Walmart. People around here consider Walmart to be evil and don't allow it around here. Instead, they have Fred Myers which carries everything (The prices are a little inflated too). There is also a large number of ethnic restaurants around here that I will have to check out. We also have a lot of coffee houses and music stores (It's good to see those around).
Portland also has a high number of strip clubs as well. I've heard that Portland has the highest number of strip clubs per any other city it's size. I'm not sure why, it's just the way things are.
We hope to have everything moved in next Monday. I'll be driving down to Newport for Thanksgiving where my family is.
I hope things pick up here at my job. I've never had so little to do. Basically I'm waiting to get a case load going . I've started studying for my Oregon driver's license. It's a pretty thick manual. I've heard the test is hard if you don't read the book.

slow start

Things are moving pretty slow here in Oregon, but I guess that is to be expected. Since my supervisor is gone 2 days of the week, I haven't had a lot to do. I even have time to blog at my work which I never had time to do on my last job. I don't hate my job yet, it's just a little boring. My coworkers seem nice, but I know they don't want me hanging around them all day. Hopefully things will pick up soon.
Speaking of slow starts, it turns out we can't move into our new house until next week. The movers decided to take a early Thanksgiving vacation and stay in KC a few extra days. This means that I'll have to stay at my brother's apartment a few more days and my family will be in Newport another week.
Wah-Wah and the kids flew in last Weds night. My parents got them Thursday morning and showed them the new house. Wah-Wah said she loved everything but the bedroom carpets. Wah Wah has already set up the utilities and we will now be getting cable. I haven't had cable in 5 years and have learned to live without it. I'm afraid the kids and I will turn into coach potatoes now.
Anyway, Wah-Wah met the new babysitter and liked her so hopefully things will work out. Wah-Wah said that there were a lot of little kids Woogy's age around the neighborhood.

Life in Oregon

I've been here in Oregon for almost 5 days and it has rained every one of them. It's called the "Pineapple Express" that brings rain from Hawaii across the Pacific northwest. Everyone tells me to get use to it.
Work is OK. Everyone is pretty friendly and loves my U2 pictures in my office. I can't say I really dig it here, but we do get free lunch from the school program that is on campus.
I attended my first Imago Dei home group last night. It seems a majority of the church's population are young couples with small children. We read through Psalms last night and then everyone starting singing. That was a little awkward. I'm going to a different one tonight. Afterwards, I'm picking up Wah-Wah and the kids at the airport tonight. Wah-Wah reported that we've had some problems with the crazy lady next door bad mouthing our house to the potential buyer. It's a big mess right now, and it could fall through.
Anyway, my parents are picking Wah-Wah up tomorrow and will show her the new house and hopefully meet with the babysitter. She'll stay till next week with them on the coast before we move in next Weds.

imago dei

I think the hardest thing about moving is going to be finding a new church community. No two churches are gonna be the same. I remember it took us a while before we found Overland Park AOG and even longer before we felt connected. I decided to start immediately on this search for a new church and visited Don Miller's Imago Dei which is right down the street from my house.
Imago Dei meets at a local high school for services at 9 and 11. It's a huge congregation of at least about 1,000. Suits and slacks look like they are forbidden since everyone wears jeans. Most of the people there were young adults between 20 to 40. Many looked like they were married with small children.
The church claims it is a post modern church with many booths that are set up for various environmental and social causes. Other booths sell books (Don Miller's complete works) and CD's of musicians that attend the church. I attended Pastor Rick's sermon that I found pretty interesting and relevant. He was a good speaker. The music was pretty good too and they even played a Violet Burning song for worship.
After worship I checked out their children's ministry which is located in the preschool section of the school. The children's minister was very friendly and said they took the security of small children very seriously. In fact, you can't even get into the preschool without a pass and a picture of your child. The minister explained that they strongly emphasize Biblical teachings the whole year round. The preschoolers go into a room with various stations where the teachers interact with them. There is a strong emphasize in arts and crafts there.
Apparently you meet people through Home Communities which are through out the week and are throughout the whole city of Portland. I was given a complete book of these Home Communities and told to call a few that are near where I live.
On top of the Home Communities, there are Connection groups that connect you with people of similar interest. They have a surfing group that get together and surf monthly, a Mars Hill group, automotive group, Outdoor group and even a social worker group.
They also have a Missional communities that work with pregnancy, elderly, homeless, AIDS, and even the Ronald McDonald House.
If you dig the arts, they have communities with songwriters, writers, a film and faith group, literature group, photography, graphic design, film makers, dance, and architecture groups.
It looks like this church has something for everyone, but the size is overwhelming. I think I'll try a few home community groups and see how they go.

Yesterday I decided to see my new home. It is located in an older section of town with a lot of old style homes. In fact, no two houses looked the same. Most of the homes in the area are built on smaller lots than in KC. My house happens to be the only ranch style home around. Most of the homes are two stories with a huge porch. About a block away, I found a babysitter that sounds too good to be true. She quoted me a rate that was cheaper than what I was paying in KC. She was definitely a Christian and said she was praying for a family like us to move in. She said that she currently watches a girl Woogy's age.
The plan now is for Wah-Wah and the kids to fly in Weds night, then on Thursday, my parents will pick them up and take them out to the new house for a tour and meet with the babysitter. Wah Wah will of course check some references out on the babysitter first. Wah-Wah will then go to Newport with my parents for a week until the house is ready to move into.

I made it

After driving 4 days I finally arrived in my new home of Portland Oregon, and guess what? It was raining. In fact, that is all there is in the forecast. But that's ok, I don't mind too badly. I would share my exciting adventures on the road if I had any, but the trip was uneventful. Just me and the dog, who actually behaved very well and was a good traveling companion. Monty didn't complain once
I spent Tuesday night in Sidney Nebraska. Nebraska is every bit as boring as you think it is. There is nothing there.
Weds morning I drove into Wyoming and was attacked by tumble weeds that blew across the highway. Wyoming is pretty dull too. It was almost like driving across the moon. I spent Weds night in Evanston in western Wyoming. I got a call from Wah-Wah that she had finally been offered a job with Legacy. It turns out that this wasn't the big opportunity that we had been hoping for. As I predicted, when Legacy emailed Wah-Wah saying they were "reorganizing" it meant that they cut the job that she was hoping for and offered another one. It's still pays better than what she was making at her old job, but I kind of knew they were gonna screw her over.
On Thursday morning, I drove into a blizzard which really slowed me down. It snowed all the way into Utah (where I was chased out by mormons)(just kidding)). I was only in Utah for an hour or two before I headed into Idaho. Idaho was a whole bunch of nothing. Excitement didn't pick up till I made it to Boise where I hit 5 o'clock traffic. Once I made it out of Boise, I drove into Oregon where I spent the night in Baker City. I'd say that Thursday was the hardest day. I was exhausted by the time I pulled into the hotel.
Friday morning I drove up in the mountains and into the Columbia River gorge which leads to Portland. After getting through the traffic of Portland, I arrived safe and sound at my brother's apartment at around 4 o clock.
The total trip was almost 2000 miles. That is the longest road trip I ever did.
Tomorrow I plan to check out the house that we'll be living in. I also want to check out a few day cares that are suppose to be near by. On Sunday, I'm going to start the process of finding a new church. I'm first going to check out Imago Dei (Don Miller's church) which happens to be right down the street from my house. I was on the church's web site and it looks interesting. They are acquainted with a lot of music talent. There is also the Faith Chapel Assembly of God nearby too that I might visit in the coming weeks

Best Concerts

I'm now in the final day of my last day in KS before I drive nearly 2000 miles to Oregon. I've been thinking of all the concerts that A Forest and I have gone to over the years. I don't know what my concert going life will be like in Portland. Wah-Wah is exactly into music, but she's agreed to try a few. Still, it's not the same going with someone who doesn't appreciate the same music you do. A Forest and I saw a lot of concerts (and hopefully more to come some day) and here's a review of some of the best ones:

1. U2 (obviously) in St.Louis 2005 during the Vertigo Tour. --You can't top a U2 performance. The lights and music are so uplifting. I remember this show was especially bittersweet since my three month's of unemployment last year was about to end

2. U2 in KC during the Elevation tour 2002 . The only U2 concert I didn't have to drive all day to get to. It's U2, what else can I say!

3. Sigur Ros in KC in 2006. Wow this band really blew me away. The show was a perfect blend of how art can relate to music. Abstract images with the music was simply beautiful and emotional too. I remember I never wanted it to stop.

4. Coldplay in KC in 2003 during the Rush of Blood to the Head tour. All the reasons I like Coldplay can be summed up in that night. Chris Martin made Memorial Hall feel like a very intimate place. I saw them again in 2005 at Verizon and it just wasn't the same outside

5. Travis in Lawrence in 2002. With a great album ("the invisible band") to draw from, Travis was great. They sound sensitive and serious, but they could be a lot of fun too. I remember they closed the show with "Back in Black"

6. Starflyer 59 in Lawrence at the Bottleneck in 2002. I remember it was a Sunday Night and the weather was really bad. There weren't even a lot of people there which means we had the place to ourselves. We saw Starflyer a little later (or earlier) that year at the New Earth with Jason on guitar and one other guy on bass. That was pretty cool to hear them stripped down

7. Asobi Sesku at the Record Bar in KC in Oct 2006. I can't believe how small the lead singer is, but she could sing. Asobi Sesku did some fine shoe gazing. They were beautiful. Lots of guitars and distortion. Everything I love about music

8. Keane at the Uptown in KC in 2004. I think they won A Forest over that night. Their songs are so catchy. I was surprised that they mixed imagery and art so well with their music. Wish they had more songs to play that night

9. The Stills at the Bottleneck in Lawrence in 2004. Before they changed their sound and released a horrible second album, the Stills had a lot of promise

10. REM at Starlight in 2003. They were doing there first Best of tour and played a lot of songs I never heard live before. I especially enjoyed hearing "Nightswimming" for the first time live.
11. Joy Electric and Violet Burning. A Forest and I have seen these two bands so many times that I lost count. I always enjoy Violet Burning and Michael Pretzil's sermons half way through the show. He's a real man of God and knows the power of music

Shows that weren't so great
1. Mogwai at Lawrence in 2006. I like Mogwai, but I have to say that I was getting a little bored. No vocals, just music that sort of runs together. Nice light show but no images to go with it

2. Michael Knott at the New Earth in 2004. I hadn't heard a lot of Michael's material, but he's got a very distinctive voice. Unfortunate this night he was intoxicated and a mess. Apparently he was having marriage problems and actually broke down while performing. He didn't even finish any songs

3. Depeche Mode at Starlight in 2006. I've been bitchin about this for a while. First the opening band She Wants Revenge was done playing by the time we got there. We actually arrived when the show was suppose to start. When DM took the stage, it was pretty impressive with the props and lights. Soon however, it was obvious things weren't right. During his first break, Dave Gahan took off and didn't come back. I expected better from them

What I will miss

It's hard to believe, but I am leaving KS. Things are going as planned. My dad is purchasing the house today in Oregon and I am leaning towards driving out to Portland next week. I'm up for a little road trip and adventure. Besides how often do I get a chance to drive cross country. All is preceding except Wah-Wah's job. She did get a email congratulating her but said they don't have a offer until her background check comes back. This has got to be one of the longest job screenings I've ever seen.
I've been thinking a lot about leaving and what the future holds and I've thought of things I will look forward to and things I will miss

What I'm looking forward to about Oregon
1. A new house
2. The weather
3. No sales tax
4. being so near the mountains and ocean
5. More mountain bike trails
6. Never pumping my own gas again
7. Fresh sea food

What I won't miss in KC
1. Living next to rednecks
2. The summer heat and humidity
3. Driving my car into the ground for work

What I will miss in KC
1. Thursday night coffee group (I have a near perfect attendance)
2. Overland Park First Assembly of God (and everyone in it)
3. Concerts with A Forest
4. Logic and wisdom from Shakedust
5. Sci Fi talk with Dash
6. BBQ-- Oklahoma Joe's
7. Walks on the Plaza
8. Papa Keno's Silician Pizza

When last I posted, it was looking like we may not be moving, but that seems to be changing. I was offered a job at Trillium in Portland. The pay isn't great, but better than I expected. We still haven't received an offer from Wah-Wah's future employer. They have checked references twice and said that they are very interested, but no offer. I think I'm starting to lose patience with them. The final decision to move will be based on her offer and how much it is. I'm suppose to start my new job in two weeks, but I haven't decided on how I'm going to get out there. I know I don't want to drive the kids out there since it's over three long days of driving. I'm hoping we can ship both cars and just fly out there.
Things seem to be coming together on finding a place to live. My parents did some house hunting and found a home near my work and in a good school district. It's a three bedroom ranch style house. It's got a two car garage and a fire place. I don't think we could afford it, but my dad said that he'll buy it and rent it out to us with the intend on selling it to us later . It's nice to have rich parents. He said the house was in excellent shape. I do trust his judgment since he seems to have good taste in property. I don't like the idea of my dad owning my house, but realistically we couldn't afford this place. Plus I can get out of the house easier if we decide to move. I like the fact that there is a park across the street and it is in a up and coming neighborhood with lots of shopping near by.
Frankly, it's got to be better than what we have now. Apparently I couldn't dump my house off on the neighbors. That plan sank, so now we are going to try to sell out on the market.
We spent the weekend cleaning it up and Wah-Wah even painted the whole inside. She's pretty efficient when she decides to do something. Still just taking it one day at a time

Two for Two

It is beginning to look like my plan to move to Oregon isn't working out. Today I got my second rejection from one of the 3 companies I interviewed with in Oregon a few weeks ago. That's two down, one to go. The guy from Mid Valley Rehab said that they promoted someone from within the company. It is a little discouraging especially when I went out and bought a new suit and spend a couple hundred on interview coaching. It is good to see that money went to a good cause.
Now my only hope is with Trillium children's services and a really good offer. They called my references last week, but I still hadn't heard anything. I've got a few applications into DFS, but haven't heard back. Wah-Wah hasn't heard from her interviewer yet either, which is really strange. I'd thought they would have an offer when we came back to KC. Unless Wah-Wah gets a really good offer, I'd say that we aren't going to move at this point (which is fine with me). But who knows? We have been back and fourth on moving for so long now, I'd like to see it come to an end and a decision be made. It would be nice to know were you are going to live in a month.

Taking one day at a time

I'm still here and haven't moved yet, but it looks like a good possibility that we may be going to Portland. Last week, I took Woogy and flew out to Portland for some interviews. I ended up staying with my brother (who just moved there the last week) and had my parents drove me around.
My first interview was with Mid Valley Rehab. This is a organization based out about an hour outside Portland. I thought it was a pretty unique company. They find work for MR adults. I interviewed with a bunch of the supervisors and afterwards they took me out to lunch and ice cream (they run a ice cream parlor),. The position was manager of an industrial plant that employed MR adults. Basically, the clients make "widget's" and I would be in charge of the operation. They gave me a tour of one of their facilities to see what they did. We then ran out of time, and I was invited back the next day to see the operation that I would be in charge of and meet with the director.
After that interview, I drove across Portland to Columbia Mental Health. I got caught in traffic and was 15 mins late (I called them to explain the situation. I hope they were forgiving). I met with the supervisor that I was keeping in contact with and was interviewed for a QA position. I thought the interview went well, but I got no tour or anything.
Wah-Wah flew into town the next day and did her interview with Legacy while I met with the director from Mid Valley. I tried everything to sound interested in the job, but he seemed a little skeptical about my lack of business experience. I met with one of the supervisors again, and he drove me out to the site that I would be working in. He seemed like a nice guy and told me all about Oregon.
Following that interview, I drove to downtown Portland and interviewed at trillium Services. Basically this is a position working with foster kids. I pretty much coasted through that interview. I liked the location of trillium, but the pay didn't sound very good.
After all that, I met with Wah-Wah to hear how her interview went. She thought hers went well, but the director seemed skeptical too, however the hiring guy all but told her she got the job.
I am skeptical too about this job Wah-Wah will get. The pay is alright, but she would have to take a train to get to work. Last week we learned just how bad Portland traffic is. Their freeway system is awful, and to get to downtown, you pretty much have to take the train.
We flew back on Sunday, with still no clear idea if we are moving or not. I felt a lot of pressure from my dad this weekend to move. I didn't appreciate it a whole lot and was starting to get a little pissed.
Since we've been back, my boss told me that trillium called her for a reference check, but no one else. I'd say out of the 3 interviews I did, this is the one I'm least excited about. Not because of the work, but it would be a pay cut. They told me during the interview, they take experience into account, but I doubt if they will come close to what I need. The guy who interviewed Wah-Wah already emailed her and said that he would be checking her references too. As of now, no offers, but I think that is going to change.
Wah-Wah believes that the Lord wants us in Oregon. Wah-Wah says she sees signs in her life everywhere. She says that her current boss is unhappy with her. We also have people interested in buying our house. Finally, our babysitter for 4 years announced today that she was returning to work part time. She says that she can watch the kids most of the day, but needs to leave at around 4. If we stay, we will probably need a new babysitter (I'm not looking forward to Nibbles going to a new babysitter). With all the uncertainty in my life, I'm just taking it one day at a time

Big decisions

I haven't posted in a few weeks because things have been pretty crazy at work and at home. However, now I face the real possibility of moving to Oregon in a few weeks. To update everyone, Wah-Wah seems to really want to move, I however am not sure. Things are starting to move along however. Wah-Wah got a call from a professor in Portland at OSHU and is really interested in hiring her. He is even willing to fly her out on Oct 6 for a interview. I figure most companies don't pay to fly you to a interview unless they are serious. The professor said that Wah-Wah is a strong candidate and could almost guarantee a better salary than what she is making now. Her position is working with AIDS and monkey tissue. I'm not sure if there is a moral dilemma here, but Wah-Wah doesn't seem to think so. I guess that's a step up from working with the bird flu. Anyway, Wah-Wah is really excited about this and really wants to move.
I, on the other hand don't think life is that bad here in KC. Sure I don't have the greatest job in the world, but I don't hate it either. We've been here for almost seven years now.
Last week I interviewed with Columbia Mental Health over the phone. It was a second interview with them but the first regarding a QA position. I was pretty sure that I bombed it, however much to my surprise, I received a call today that they would like me to come in for another interview for either a QA position or a crisis CM position. Unfortunately, they didn't offer to pay for my flight (most nonprofit organizations wouldn't). Columbia Mental Health is in St. Helen which is about 20 or 30 miles outside of Portland (that's not too bad considering I drive 3x that working for Comprehensive each day).
I'll be flying to Portland a few days before Wah-Wah. I intend to go get a new suit and maybe get some interview coaching in (since I hate interviewing). This might be a good job opportunity. However being the pessimist I am, I'm looking at all the complications moving across the country means. Honestly, I feel torn. I've been praying about it a lot and wonder if this is what is meant to be

Phone interview

Last Friday I had a phone interview with Columbia Mental Health in Astoria Oregon. I'd like to say that it went well, but it didn't. I've never done a phone interview before, and I hope I don't have to any time soon. I was put on speaker phone and I could barely hear what I was being asked. I must have asked them to repeat each question twice. Come to think of it, I might not have answered the questions that were even asked. Another thing, I learned about phone interviews is that you can't tell when the interviewer is writing or listening. This caused a lot of awkward silences between questions.
I have to say that I hate interviews and I'm not too good at them. This whole experience reminded me of last year when it took me 3 months to find a job. I did a lot of interviews, but I didn't get a lot of offers. I got so tired of being turned down for jobs that I was qualified for. The truth to me is that interviewing is all about being in the right place at the right time.
Anyway, the interview lasted about an hour and I got the usual "we'll call you when we know something" speech. This wasn't my dream job anyway and honestly I didn't want to live in Astoria. My plan for now is to apply at Oregon DHS office and hopefully end up in Portland. If not, then we'll stay here.
It's pretty discouraging being a pessimistic when looking for work.

Oregon Pictures

Here are some pictures of Oregon.





Woogy outside by parents backyard. This was his first look at the Pacfic Ocean in over a year. Water is 60 degrees, yet Woogy didn't seem to mind



















Wah-Wah outside the sand dunes in Florence. For $45 bucks you can ride an ATV for an hour. Wah-Wah rode extra cautious












Coos Bay
We spent the night near this lighthouse. The High Tide Cafe has got some great clam chowder

















AchtungBB on the sand dunes. I love riding ATVs. It's so much freedom till you get stuck in two feet of sand










Oregon's aquarium inside the mammoth shark. We always get our picture taken here when we visit. This is this year's picture





















Wah-Wah at Beaver Creek. Relaxing ride up the creek into the middle of the moutains. Lots of wild life















Drift Creek falls. We do this hike every year. It's three miles down to the falls and another three miles up a steep mountain to get back

Oregon vacation part 4

Things haven't worked out the way I wanted them too. First of all Nibbles is very sick. Last night, we took her to the hospital for the second time. This time, she has been running a fever for 6 days and her mouth was breaking out with little bumps. Turns out she contracted herpes Simplex 1. The doctor explained that this is not the STD (thank God). In fact 99% of the population has been exposed to it. If you have ever gotten a cold swore, that's what herpes Simplex 1 is. The doctor said that occasionally young children get exposed to it and they can become very sick.
Where Nibbles got it from is anyone's guess. She's lost 4lbs already because she can't eat solid foods. In fact her mouth has become very swollen. She's been on a steady dose of tylenhol with codeine. It's hard for a parent to sit while their child suffers from a fever for over a week. Anyway, the doctor said that she should be better by this Tuesday or Weds. That put a damper on my job hunting plans. I had decided to do the interview in Astoria, but that isn't going to happen now. First we need to get Nibbles back home, second I found out that it will cost $600 to change my airline ticket, and frankly, that is just not worth it. So I will be heading home on Sunday as originally planned.
Reflecting on my Oregon vacation, it was a memorable one. Coos Bay was nice, but Nibbles has been so sick, nobody has really been able to relax. I guess things work for a reason

Oregon Vacation PT 3

Wow three blogs in three days! Usually I'm lucky to do one a week. I seem to have a lot of time on my hands in the evening. Tonight I'm writing my blog from the Best Western in Coos Bay. I thought we were going to Pelican Bay, but it is actually Coos bay. I'm somewhere in southern Oregon in what appears to be a small little lumber town.
Today we left Newport and drove two hours south to a town called Florence which has lots of sand dunes. Wah-Wah and I rented a couple of ATVs and went out on the dunes. I'll post pictures when I get home. Anyway, these are really big dunes and I got stuck a few times, but it was a blast. One of the best times we've had as a couple.
The other news is that I actually got a call from one of the resumes I sent out. Colombia Community Mental Health wants to interview me next Tuesday. I'm not sure I know what I want to do. The position is in either Astoria or St. Helens. Astoria is a small town on the coast in on the boarder of Oregon and Washington. They filmed the "Goonies" there. St. Helens is a town about a half hour outside Portland. I'm not feeling too confident about the position because I'm not sure if I'm qualified. Both of the positions I'm interviewing for are in management, and we all remember what happened the last time I was in management. I also thought I wanted to be closer to Portland. I'm not sure I want to leave a big city for a small one. Plus there is the fact I didn't bring any clothes to interview in, which means I'll have to go shopping.
I haven't decided yet if I'll pursue this interview or not. Wah-Wah and the kids will leave this Sunday and I'll end up staying till at least Weds. What to do?

Oregon vacation part 2

Today our vacation turned a little. Nibbles got a high fever of 104.5 this morning. After spending an hour messing with our insurance, we drove her to the local hospital's ER. We waited about 3 hrs and when the doctor (the only doctor on staff) saw her, he ruled out basic things like an ear infection and determined it must be a virus.
This is a little unsettling since the rest of us could catch this virus anytime. It seems odd, but every time we leave home recently someone gets sick ( our trip to St. Louis comes to mind). Nibbles has been acting alright despite her fever. After getting out of the hospital we went to the Oregon aquarium. This was my third visit there and I still enjoy it. There aren't a lot of sharks and jellyfish in KC.
After the aquarium, we walked down to the harbor were all the fishermen and seal lions are. There are lots of small little unique shops down by the harbor. Tomorrow we are heading down to Pelican Bay and plan to stay the night. I have no idea what's down there but it is suppose to be nice.
As I suspected, my phone hasn't been ringing off the hook reponding to those resumes I sent out (of course I only sent them out yesterday) but I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to try to enjoy the rest of my vacation and hopefully not get sick.

Oregon vacation

We've been in Oregon now for a few days and I think I'm finally adjusting to the time change. The trip over to Newport was pretty tough. We left KCI at around 8am on Saturday. We of course needed to get there 2 hours early, but surprisingly KCI wasn't a whole lot different than normal. We were suppose to fly out on America West. Little did I know, that America West was bought out by US Air, so I ended up in the wrong terminal. It would have been nice if KCI posted that info. A few hours after leaving KCI we arrived in Phoenix were we waited a hour before flying into Portland. Woogy did much better on the plane than last year, but Nibbles was all over the place, and made the trip unpleasant
Once we landed in Portland, we realized we forgot Nibbles car seat and the car rentals would not rent us one. My dad picked us up and drove us another 2 hours to Newport. We figured it was 9 hours of traveling by the time we finally got to my parents's house. Everyone was pretty tired.
Yesterday, we walked down the hill to the beach. Woogy and I discovered a cave in the cliffs that he liked exploring. The ocean air here is so invigorating compared to the oppressive heat in KC. For the afternoon, Wah-Wah, my dad, and I hiked down the Drift Creek Falls trail. It's a pretty steep trail coming back, and I carried Nibbles on my back the whole time.
Last evening I spent looking for jobs out in Portland. Wah-Wah and I are warming up to the idea of moving out here. I've been praying about it a lot. Portland is a pretty progressive city with lots of culture and arts. It's a beautiful area with mountains and the ocean. I'm not too hopeful about finding a job out here however, but you never know. I'm just keeping my options open.
This morning, Wah-Wah, my dad and me went kiyaking down Beaver Creek. It's a pretty calm river so it was pretty easy . Our guide took us about 3 miles into the woods were we saw some eagles and beavers. It was really peaceful. We spent the afternoon playing on some sand dunes down on Agate Beach. Woogy had a blast playing in the sand and rolling down the dunes.