Seaham UK Pictures

Back in The States and Finally Got Pictures Done

I've only been back in the country a week, and feel like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders as I've been able to post some pictures. This isn't everything by any stretch of the means, but it's a good selection of the shots from our various points during our honeymoon.

Girl had started planning this since August of last year, checking out flights and coordinating dates based on EPL schedules, time off from work, cost, and weather. I am truly amazed at how much detail she went through to find the best deal and dates for us. We had talked about different places to go for the honeymoon, but settled on Seaham UK, Rome and London.

London is like a second home to girl, having lived there for almost a year teaching, and she knows her way about town. I had always wanted to see Rome, and she had been there so it was an easy thrown in for a few days. But Seaham? Well, in meeting up with traveling Sunderland fans in 2005 in the States and being shown the red carpet during a trip over there in 2006, we decided that if we were going to be close, we could stop in for a few days. Well, the red carpet certainly came out from the Sunderland fans again, and girl learned quickly about how they do things up north.

This blog will spend the next few weeks documenting each station, and highlights of the trip from each site, including the flight over and back which was an adventure of itself. While I wished I had a computer and could have blogged during the trip, I don't think it would have worked out so well in some areas, especially not knowing if we could get on the Internet, much less having my computer destroyed on the trip. Mind you, not having the Internet for weeks on holiday makes you appreciate having it when you can.

Enjoy the pictures, and be prepared to enjoy the stories of our 3 week odyssey across the pond. I guarantee you there will be some laughs, tears, head scratching moments, but overall it was the most amazing trip I've ever been on. And while honeymoons are really supposed to be that, I would have called this trip utterly amazing without the honeymoon part simply because of what we saw and how many wonderful, crazy things happened while we were there. While I appreciate home a great deal, I can see how the world around us works a bit better.

I don't have a schedule for those releases, so keep checking in for more information. Later!!

Pictures will be posted today in separate blog entries.

-K

It's Finally Done

Ok, the blog has been a rather quiet place lately, not for lack of ideas to talk about. I mean, the thoughts I've pondered about lately were (in no particular order): hearing the most disturbing song remakes (Why remake Eye in the Sky?), bemusing about the lack of originality in television, why steriods aren't just a sports issue, why I like the rain, why coffee is good, and the crazy things men think of before getting married. But as I tried to find time to write, there were more and more wedding tasks that came up to do, and the blog took a back seat.

I know that girl was just as busy as I was, probably more so because she did more of the crafts for the tables. I didn't go into this thinking it would a competition of who was most busy, but the number of decisions about this and that even amazed me and my job daily gives me dozens of times to make decisions. What I was most impressed about was that while we wanted the ceremony to be nice, we were more concerned about making sure people had fun. Honestly, the committment between us was made long before we said our vows on April 5th. Neither of us went into this with blinders on.

People have said they enjoyed our wedding for a multitude of reasons. Maybe it was the free alcohol, maybe it was the amazing speech that Obi gave as my best man, maybe it was seeing Timber Jim speak about lessons of the heart, maybe it was the near destruction of a blown up orca, maybe it was the great pies because we didn't want cake, maybe it was the comic relief during the ceremony, or maybe it was the location. But I think the biggest reason that people enjoyed it was because we made it our own ceremony our own way. There were some traditional elements going on, but let's face it, there were many things that made this ceremony unique.

If I could give advice to anyone getting married, I would start by saying that you should listen to each other about what you want in the ceremony, and then be prepared to discuss things and compromise on some things as well. Assume some things will happen that you aren't expecting, and have back up plans just in case things change. But the biggest thing to remember is to make the ceremony your own with some personal touches. I remember going to a lot of weddings during my 20's and many of them melded together because they were all the same - colors, music, unity candles, songs. Not that I want to fault anyone for their choices, but when you plan a party for people, it's nice to make it somewhat memorable.

There have been a couple of links for pictures from the ceremony. Right now, I'm getting prepared for our overseas honeymoon trip to Sunderland, Rome and London. We get to see a couple of BPL matches, see some friends, see some parts of the world I haven't seen, and generally relax after the ceremony. So the blog will again go dormant only for a short time. I promise to write more when I return next month. In the mean time, avoid lousy remakes, drink coffee, and love everyone.

Links----

oooh yeah's bundle of pictures.

Allison's wedding pictures.

Steve's bundle of pictures

Talk to you all soon.

-K

Only 4 weeks and counting

Ok, the blog hasn't been touched much because I've been very busy preparing for my upcoming wedding. Really, as of this date, I'm only 26 days away from marrying girl and just over 30 days from heading off to a once in a lifetime trip. I've had lots of people ask me if I'm scared about being married, and honestly I've never wanted anything more in my entire life. I'm still scared out of my mind though.

Let's face it, it's hard enough to get to know someone these days with other people playing games or trying to protect themselves, it's easy to find yourself playing the games back. And then when you truly meet someone that's more worth it than anything, the games don't seem as much important unless you are scared, stupid or clueless. More than 50 percent of people that get married end up divorcing, which doesn't lead to a lot of optimism in the sanctity of the ceremony. You have some conservative groups fighting with everything they have to protect marriage between a man and a woman, and gay/lesbian groups fighting to define a marriage as a contract between two people that want to share the rest of their lives together, regardless of gender. And the world today is crazy, busy, stressful, with people going so fast to be everywhere always that it's hard to stop and slow down. Marriage just means a lot of different things to different people.

And yet, being married is something I'm so ready for. As much as we all want to think that our family and friends are important, it's very different when you have a relationship with someone that gets you more than anyone, who finishes your sentences, who puts up with your flatulence, who infuriates you with some quips, who hugs and cries with you when you need it. Girl came along at a time when my life was going through some turmoil, as I'd just lost my mother to cancer and she was a huge foundation in my life. And the more I got to know girl, the more I knew I wanted her in my life.

I've grown a lot, changed a lot about me. My last name is now my birth name, I've shaved off my beard, I have cats, and a lot of new clothes about. I've started to actually be a responsible adult, owning a car and paying to own a house someday. My purpose in life now is to make her as happy as she makes me, and try not to aggravate her as much as I know I do to her at times. I don't live to work at my job for hours upon hours, but rather work to live and do things that I would prefer doing. I've never wanted this more, and had nothing ever in my life challenge me so much as melding two lives together.

I've also come to the realization that as much as I love my mom, she wasn't close to being a perfect parent. When you lose somebody suddenly, I think you can idolize them and not remember the faults and issues as much. I know exactly what my stepfathers did to me over the years, but my mom contributed to some of my personal scars that need to be patched up. We all have baggage from our past, it's how you deal with it now and in the future that's important. I realize that my dad, for all of his faults, is a good guy and I'm happy to have him in my life, even if he loves skunky beer.

I just know that they would want me to be happy, and I'm truly happy with girl around. As I wake up some mornings and see her sleeping, or see her smile at me from across the room, or give me a hug sometimes for no reason, I know I've made the right choice. I may be scared out of my mind, but I don't think it's due to fear or unwillingness to do this. I see glimpses of the future, and I get excited about what the future holds.

I think I'm scared because as much as I think I'm prepared for all of this, I know that I can't be prepared for everything. No matter what, life is going to throw some challenges at you because life isn't all about happy moments and resolving issues after the commercials. Life is real, scary sometimes, and frightening at points. But it can be exhilarating, intoxicating, and joyous, too. You sort of need to jump in with both feet and go for it sometimes. So for me, this is my jump into the deep end. I'm not entirely sure what the future holds, but I know the ride is going to be fun because I have the love of my life at my side. I love you, girl, and always will.

Weird Week in Sports

If you had told me that there would be a weird week like this in sports in our area, I'd have probably said you were nuts. But then again, strange stuff happens in threes and we have three of the more bizarre, sad stories in sports.

A lot of attention was turned towards a recent Molalla - Estacada girls basketball game that turned ugly when a coach wouldn't leave the court after being ejected. The official tried to get the coach to leave the court, but after he wouldn't the crowd erupted into separate brawls and spats. There were accusations of insults leveled at both sides, and accusations of bad sportsmanship, rude behavior, and general disrespect on both sides. Since I wasn't there, I can only take the word of the reports and stories, and say that all parties are sad that this issue blew up so badly. It's as simple as obeying the official, and if you've been ejected, you leave the court. We've all been at games where the officiating is questionable or seeming to favor one side over another, but there's no excuse in attacking a ref or disobeying a direct rule. As much as I love the antics of the Timbers Army of which I am a member, I've never felt that we would physically attack an official or do them harm. Yes, we've called officials all sorts of names that can't be mentioned in family newspapers, but we keep a line at the insults and don't cross it. It may not be sportsmanlike in some respects, but then again I can't think of any reason where assault would be considered acceptable towards an official.

Meanwhile, the Portland Winterhawks have been asked by the WHL to fix their operation. The first WHL American franchise to win a Memorial Cup, the team has a rich history of titles, great players that have had great NHL careers, crazy crowds, and some of the best sports fun in town. Now, the team seems to be a shell of themselves, playing to sparse crowds and losing a record number of games (up to 52 total losses as of this post for this season). The WHL is concerned about the lease and the front office, and have asked the team to address both concerns. The folks owning the arena, the Portland Trail Blazers, have said the lease is fine but you need to get more people to come to the games. However, the team is just struggling with injuries and youth. It's the same cycle the Trail Blazers were in back in 2003, when the team was struggling at the gate with a team that nobody wanted to come watch inside a town that didn't care. Paul Allen put the team up for sale, and tried to find someone to take the team off his hands after his ploy to refinance the Rose Garden financing didn't work and the arena was put into bankruptcy holding. The bad apples were traded away, new leadership was brought in, and new players matching a better attitude came in and the results are obvious. The Trail Blazers are struggling right now, but being the youngest team in the league, they are playing near .500 ball with a full arena, a city falling in love with them all over, and the media drooling over the possibilities. I don't know the Hawks ownership, but if the league calls you out, there's got to be some truth to what is being said about the team. Regardless, it's a bad situation and one that needs to be resolved because this team and the hockey fans deserve better.

Racing fans are feeling out in the cold after the merger of Champ Car and the IRL went through, which in effect cancelled Portland's Champ Car race normally run in June. I'll admit that while I never attended a race personally, I watched the race on TV more than a few times and I paid attention to the results. It's a source of civic pride to see our town host racing's best and put on a great show, which happened for 24 years. The race falls victim to declining attendance plus the issues that first caused the IRL - Champ Car split. Back in the late 80's, Indy Car dominated racing attention and the media, and race drivers were very public figures. But the Indy 500 owners wanted more attention and control over the races, and tried to mandate teams joining a league, the IRL. Some teams and races didn't want to participate, and they formed Champ Car and set up a competing circuit. About that time, NASCAR started gaining popularity and hasn't looked back since while Indy and IRL struggled to keep some attention towards them. The merger will ensure that the best talent hits Indy during Memorial Day weekend and the Indy 500 race, but what you end up having in other areas is cancelled races and hurt feelings. It's hard to compete with the NASCAR marketing machine, they do a great job marketing races that essentially are long races with guys turning left for 3 hours. That being said, Portland's race falls victim, mostly because of struggles to get attendance up and no major corporate sponsorship.

What all three things remind me of is the seriousness of the world of sports, how we take some issues and make them bigger than they are. It's important for folks to follow the rules and be good sports, but at the same time, we've allowed sports to become less of the fun thing we played growing up and more like a business. And the thing about business is that it's all about the bottom line. It doesn't matter about winning, losing, effort, talent, it's simply making the results profitable. In a way it's sad because the innocence and purity of sports suffers, because the game results often don't matter in relation to the bottom line. What I'm hoping we can learn about all of this is that sports mirror real life closely, but ultimately sports needs to put the games and playing first. Maybe it's a simplistic wish of sorts, but at the same time, how a team plays matters more to me than wins and losses any day.