Snowboarding at Willamette Pass

Last weekend I went up to Willamette Pass with Charlie, a law school classmate, and Ben, a good friend from Eugene. I hadn't been up to the mountain for quite awhile and besides the good feeling of being back on the slopes, it was just a great time to hang out with those two. The weather was almost picture-perfect, the snow was great, and we found some great terrain to ride. Here are a few pictures:


Ben and I with Diamond Peak in the background.


Charlie and me at the top of the main lift. Diamond Peak is in the background and you can just see Odell Lake behind us.


Going over a little jump.


Charlie coming down the hill.


Charlie hits the jump.

Ben going over the jump.

That's me dropping the cliff at Willamette Pass.

Ben going over the cliff.

We just had to take a picture of Charlie in front of this run called "Goodtime Charlie".

A Cleanserific Meal

So Missi and I are doing a "cleanse," which basically means that we take some herbal supplements and eat very natural foods (lots of fruits and veggies, whole grains, no caffeine or processed foods, etc...) for about 10 days to "rinse out our systems."

To give you an idea of what we eat when we are on the cleanse, here are a few pics from a recent meal.


First, I chopped up a bunch of onions, yellow squash, bell peppers, and garlic and sauteed them in extra virgin olive oil.


I boiled these spelt spaghetti noodles. I have to say, eating brown spelt pasta was a bit of an adjustment for me since I really prefer the white, unenriched durum wheat pasta. But after getting used to it, it isn't that bad and you can't really taste a difference.


We added this organic pasta sauce to the sauteed veggies and poured it over the pasta.


Add in a salad with spinach, mushrooms, carrots, avocado, and cranberries and you've got an awesome, and cleanse-approved, meal!

"The mess that is Oregon State basketball..."

Ouch, Oregon State...ouch.

OSU has a great baseball team, but their basketball team is sort of an embarrassment this year - only four players on the floor (see below)! Of course, I'm saying this well aware of the fact that my Ducks lost last night to the Washington Huskies and have to face the Cougs on Sunday - hopefully they won't lose by quite as much...
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Washington State 69, Oregon State 46
Posted by The Oregonian January 17, 2008 22:18PM

PULLMAN, Wash. -- The mess that is Oregon State basketball was on full display at Friel Court Thursday night. The Beavers were chewed up 69-46 by No. 8 Washington State, their seventh straight loss in a season that seems to grow more precarious by the game.

But it wasn't the uncertainty surrounding head coach Jay John, or terrible shooting that doomed OSU in front of 10,117 fans. It was simple execution at both ends, and the inability to stop the Cougars from doing anything they wanted to on offense.

John has praised the "compete'' in this team, but it appeared not everyone was on the same page here in terms of being ready to play.

"It was just lousy defense,'' said sophomore point guard Josh Tarver, who loudly vented his frustration during the long walk to the dressing room after the Beavers (6-11, 0-5 Pacific 10 Conference) began an already-tough road trip in the worst possible fashion.

"We played terrible tonight,'' said Tarver, the only OSU player who felt like addressing the media.

"There was no help (on defense), nothing ... it was dunk, 3-pointer, dunk, 3-pointer. ... it was like they were just toying with us.''

OSU made its first four shots, and amazingly went 10-for-20 from the floor in the first half to stay within ten points of the Cougars (15-1, 3-1), who were coming off a loss at UCLA.

But it was a rout in the second half.

"They came at us a lot harder,'' said Tarver. "They came out focused and ready to go and beat us in pretty much every category of the game.''

OSU shot 7-for-21 in the second half (.333). And two players who must play well for the Beavers to have a chance on any given night were no-shows.

Senior Marcel Jones took four shots and scored two points. And freshman Omari Johnson, who was averaging 12 points in Pac-10 play, went 1-for-2 from the floor for two points.

"Some guys,'' said Josh Tarver, "just don't understand yet what the Pac-10 is about.''

There was one moment late in the game when Oregon State had four players on the floor.

Then reserve guard Lathen Wallace hustled out to the floor from his seat on the bench.

"That's another example of not being prepared,'' said Josh Tarver. "We've got four players out there, that just makes us look silly out there.''

Said John, "it was ridiculous.''

Please Stand By: Technical Difficulties

UPDATE: Everything should be fixed now...

I've been alerted that the pictures I took on my campus tour have inexplicably turned into small red boxes. I have no idea why, but I'm working on fixing it. I may just have to re-load the pictures on that post...

"Let's take a walk around campus..."

This was originally posted on that "other blog" I post to for the U of O Law School Admissions Office.

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It was a nice, cool, crisp day today so I thought I'd walk around campus and take a few pictures. First, watch this short introduction from yours truly...


Historic Hayward Field. Some say this is the best place in the country to watch a track meet.


The William H. Knight Law Center (named after the father of Nike founder Phil Knight)


This is a view down 13th across the street from the law school. Hayward Field is on the left and dorms are on the right.


The two artificial turf fields behind the Rec Center. Notice the Hayward Field grandstand in the background.


Outside "The Rec"


The view inside The Rec's three basketball courts. This is where the famous (infamous?) Legal Baller's Association (LBA) plays their games. Notice the indoor running track above the courts.


The Oregon Ducks softball team practices on their field right next to McArthur Court.



The outside of venerable old Mac Court. I heard the other day on the CBS broadcast of the Oregon vs. Stanford game that Mac Court is the second oldest basketball stadium being used by a college team today. It was built in 1918.


This is Gerlinger Hall. I like this building because it has a very "stately" appearance to it. Interestingly enough, there is a swimming pool in the ground floor!


This is the outside of the Erb Memorial Union (EMU), one of the most architecturally unique buildings you'll ever see. This building has offices for student organizations, a post office, a food court, and an auditorium for lectures or concerts. If you look closely, you can see the solar panels on the top of the building. In Eugene, we're very concerned about minimizing our impact on the environment!


This is the Living Learning Center (LLC) a new building on campus that has classrooms and eating areas on the ground floor and dorm rooms on the upper floors. Why didn't my dorm look like this when I went to undergrad?!


An exhibit outside Hayward Field honoring the legacy of one of America's greatest runners, Steve Prefontaine.


Yes, that's right...Track Town USA is hosting the 2008 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. It's going to be an exciting July at Hayward Field. This is a banner hanging on the side of the Hayward Field grandstand.

I hope you enjoyed this "mini-tour." I didn't get a chance to show many of the other cool places we have on campus. Maybe I'll have to post a sequel to this entry at some point.

Ducks vs. Cal at Mac Court

A few pictures from last night's Oregon Ducks basketball game against the Cal Bears at venerable Mac Court. The Ducks ended up winning 79-70.


The view inside Mac Court


The Pit Crew. Notice U of O Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny (dressed in the black shirt with an ID badge around his neck) as one of the only people standing up in the front row courtside seats. That's school spirit!

The youngest person in the Student Section

Cal takes a timeout

T.P. for 3! (It didn't go in...he is 3 for his last 27 attempts behind the arc)

C'mon now Associated Press...

What are they teaching in Journalism School these days? The regular readers of this blog (all 5 of you) know that I sort of have a "thing" about misspelled words in public places. Most recently, I posted about an "interesting" sign I found in a local Wal-Mart.

Today, I bring you an instance where the Associated Press misspelled a word and sent it out on the newswire. I'm a big fan of Johnny Cash, so it isn't a surprise that I clicked on a news story about the deceased country legend when it appeared on the front page of Yahoo (the actual story talks about how a benefit concert honoring Cash has been cancelled). However, my eyes couldn't help but notice that the wire reporter wrote: "A concert marking the 40th anniversary of Johnny Cash's famous concert at Folsom State Prison has been scraped, with the prison and the promoter blaming each other for the cancellation."

Now, it's pretty clear that the writer meant "scrapped" rather than "scraped," but don't they have editors who look at these stories before they are published on the front page of one of the Internet's most-visited web pages?

In case they take down the link or change the story, here is a screen shot I grabbed:



UPDATE: If you click on the link to the story, the word has since been changed to "scrapped." Glad I took the screen shot!

This is pretty cool...

Just got this email from my brother-in-law (I added in some links for your viewing pleasure):

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To: Mailing List
From: Brian Salwasser
Subject: how cool Julie is...

So I know that you all already know that the subject line is true. But, I also thought you should know how much of a big-shot Julie is, because she won't tell you. The link below will take you to the Chicago Bears' website where there is a a video of the Bear's wide receiver, Muhsin Muhammed, picking up his new son at the airport (link for the video on the upper right-hand corner). His wife (who calls Julie "hon" and "babe") and a couple of their kids went to pick up their adopted son from Hannah's Hope in Ethiopia. Julie was the one who managed the adoption case for the Muhammed's (and helped to put together the Hannah's Hope transitional home in Ethiopia). She's basically a big-shot now...even though you would have no idea that she had anything to do with the adoption when you watch the video, but whatever.

http://www.chicagobears.com/

Enjoy!

Brian

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Good work Julie!

Day at the Sledding Hill

This past Saturday I took Drew, Sam, and Drew's buddy Griffin to Salt Creek Sno Park for some sledding fun. I was initially intrigued by the idea of going sledding after an article appeared in the R-G describing local sledding hills. The idea of taking the kids sledding also appealed to me because (1) it doesn't specifically require skill or experience - like, say, skiing or snowboarding, and (2) it was free*.

We got everything packed up and were on the road by around 9:00, and we got to the sledding hill by around 10:30. The drive up the pass was substantially slower than I would have liked because we were stuck behind a huge truck going about 10 mph. Around 8 inches of new snow had fallen overnight but it was sunny and clear when we got out of the car, so it was perfect conditions. When I finally got all of the kids bundled up and began pulling Sam in her sled up the hill, the whole experience felt very "Rockwellesque."

We had three different types of snow toys with us: a hard plastic sled with two "brakes," an inflatable snow tube, and some "slick mats" that turned out to be pretty worthless. The best mode of transportation down the hill turned out to be the inflatable tube, although it unfortunately developed a slow leak in it late in the afternoon.

The boys were absolutely thrilled with the experience, but I took Sam down the hill one time and she promptly pronounced that she was cold and wanted to go back to the car. Experience has taught that when Sam makes up her mind about something, it is pretty difficult to change it. I also realized that she really didn't have the proper clothes for staying warm (snow was getting in her boots and gloves), so I ended up taking her back to the car. She basically played inside the car for awhile and changed into several different outfits (see pics below) while I stood outside the car and watched the boys going down the hill.

All in all, it was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to going back up there with just Drew and maybe a few of his friends.

*"Free" actually means around $100 after I went out and bought new snow pants and gloves for Drew, sleds, and an annual sno-park permit.









Outfit #1 - Sweats and long-sleeve shirt.

Outfit #2 - Sam models her ballet skirt. I'm sure the other parents in the parking lot were asking themselves what kind of a crazy parent allows their child to dress like that in 35 degree weather.

Outfit #3 - Her one-piece pajama "jumpsuit" put on over her ballet outfit. Looks like she inherited her father's fashion sense.

Picture by Sam

New Year's Eve 2007

I'm not normally one to go out and "paint the town red," or anything (I usually prefer smaller, more laid-back gatherings with close friends), but this past New Year's Eve we went out with some awesome people and had an absolute blast. We had dinner at Ring of Fire, played craps and roulette with fake money at The Moxie, and danced in 2008 at Davis' in Eugene. It was a great time...