Year: 2021

My parents came up to visit as we came closer to Christmas day.

Keeping busy is a good thing to do when you have so many people inside. We made plans and went to Lightopia (on the west side) which is a drive-through (free) Christmas light display. We also went to Salem and saw the lights they had as well (see the photo of Luca below). It has been pretty cold outside, SO COLD. In fact- they called for snow (well only one forecaster we know of, but we also rely on him more than the others) and sure enough, it started to snow. At first, just Grammy and I were outside in it, and eventually, we got everyone to come out and enjoy it for a little. It was all melted by the next morning.

Grampy has been cooking up some cinnamon rolls with Grammys help – and I must say they turned out well.

Covid? How about Omnicron? There is a new variant out that is causing havoc and getting flights canceled. In response, the CDC said “hey, let’s just cut down the quarantine time for vaccinated employees” – not so sure about the move as they could still be carrying the virus and then pass it on to people who have not been vaccinated, but I suppose this could be another reason to get the vaccine if you haven’t gotten it already.

Christmas is upon us! Luca was able to dress up in Spidey pajamas for Christmas day. The day after Christmas it snowed some more (this is the closest we have gotten to a white Christmas in a long time) and even stuck to the ground longer this time We went outside and took photos (as is typical for us to do).

We also braved some icy roads on Route 30 and went to Multnomah Falls to see her in the snow globe known as Portland.

Crazy to think of, but we have been fortunate enough to see every season that the gorge has to offer. It is a benefit of only being 20 miles away from hundreds of waterfalls.

Work news: I have been allocated 100% on this Microsoft role. I’ll be training my replacement at Bio Marin while also working at Microsoft (so a little double duty for now). I am excited about this role, I have a feeling that maybe something good will come of this.

There was another Blazers game we attended before we went to Peacock Lane. They had it open again for visitors this year (after having been closed in 2020 due to COVID). We also found the Santas that Chris Willis hid in town! It’s the small things. The kids are now looking forward to these events every year.

So how will we end 2021?

We ordered Lou Malnati’s Pizza (from Chicago) and had that as our last meal of the year. Ready or not, here comes 2022!

just Pray

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

We took a trip to the Portland International Raceway and attended the light show as someone in our neighborhood couldn’t go and gave us their tickets. We went to an event in downtown Gresham as well where they had a car show of sorts decorated with Christmas lights – at the same time they lit their trees.

We took a trip to see different views of Mt. Hood now that the snow was making its peaks white again. It is a beautiful mountain.

We attended another Blazers game (Luca is a big fan of going to the games, despite what you may think). The Portland Timbers made it to the Championship game (they lost) but before that, they had this thing set up downtown to take a picture next to. We made the journey and took our photos next to it.

No more than a couple of days later, we had a wind storm that knocked down the fence between our house and the neighbor’s house. That’ll be fun to get fixed. I’m still having fun at home with the kids when I’m not at work (as seen in the photo below). There is a viewpoint we found that has GREAT views of the land leading up to Mt. Hood. Anyway, we went across it the other day and saw the valley had patches of fog, the sky was spotted with clouds and you could make out the mountain. It is really picturesque.

At work, things have taken an interesting turn. I have been working for Bio Marin however one of the P3 executives had me interview with Microsoft. I ended up knowing the guy because he used to work at BPA – small world! He mentioned that I would be a great fit and that they wanted me to start at the end of December or the beginning of January.

So, instead of P3 telling Bio Marin about this- they sat on it for as long as they could. When they finally told them it was a big blow-up. They wanted to keep me on the team and as the project manager and didn’t want to bring someone else on. P3 was given instructions from high up that I would be going to Microsoft regardless, so make it happen.

It burned some bridges that P3 had made but I think they’ll end up being okay in the end. As for me, I’ll be starting with Microsoft at the end of the month and starting the work at the beginning of January. Crazy changes in such a small window of time after having things be so stable for so long.

just Pray

There is a newly updated Oregon plate – the Cultural Trust plate. It used to be an orange/peach color with some art-type look. Now? I think it’s amazing as it has all of these hidden objects on the plate and the colors are vibrant. For me, it is one of the top plates that we have had.

Stinky Pete made another appearance. It doesn’t seem that we will be keeping him though – given that the kids don’t seem to want to play nice with him. I’m a little concerned for the cat and his well-being. He is pretty much too nice to be around them all the time. Also, take into account that we recently got new leather couches from Costco, and yeah like that one Relient K song “This has disaster written all over it.”

We were able to get into a rental car (as our car has damage from Dutch Brothers that is getting fixed). They set us up in a charger – nice but terrible on gas.

Took some photos of the kids including Arabella after she got her Covid shot. Elijah is bummed because he wants his COVID shot now and doesn’t want to have to wait until May. Luca has been coloring lately but doesn’t love to be contained to paper.

We took a trip to get some cotton candy and popcorn from Joe Browns. Fun fact: Micah (who was a friend I had while in college) let me know that her cousin owns this place. Super cool.

We took the family to go see the new “Ghostbusters: After Death” movie. It was wonderfully made and had a nice tribute to one of the main characters who had died before they filmed this movie. The next day we went to Outback for both my wife’s and my dad’s birthday dinner.

Thanksgiving came and passed without much more than a blip in the radar. Next thing you know we were putting up Christmas lights and getting a tree.

The weekend after Thanksgiving also afforded the wife and me some time to have a date night – so that night we also stopped by the tree that downtown Portland put up a few days earlier. I know, stop the madness, a date night?! It was our first date night in a couple of years (as crazy as that is to think about). We went to the cheesecake factory.

Finally, in other news, CNN suspended Chris Cuomo as he was helping his brother Andrew Cuomo.

December is on its way!

just Pray

The Pirates are among us!

We found this lovely community that hosts this thing called “The Pirates of Pinehurst” and they have a show and everything. They go all out and it’s 100% geared towards families and kids which makes it even better. They try and keep with the Pirates of the Caribbean movies that Disney had with Captain Jack Sparrow. We went to it once and then returned a week later to go again. If possible, check it out.

Outside of that, we had our annual invitation to Liepold Farms (thanks to the people we set up our home loan through) which has become a bit of a tradition too.

The above 3 photos here are of this. It is an Oculus Anubis Temple – which has a weird feeling. Driving up to the gates I can say that at least 2 or 3 people stopped what they were doing to just watch us. Odd indeed. An interesting read and if nothing else an oddity that is in the region.

Bio Marin let me know that they wanted to move forward with me, but it isn’t so cut and dry as that. The person in charge of the billing for them told me in not so many words that I would have a role with them but it was something that P3 was providing for free so that I could have a role. Hmmm… that seems odd to me. I also didn’t like that the internal P3 person told me to be everything that I was not. When I mentioned “Yeah, I don’t act that way, or talk to people like that…” she said, “You are going to start doing it now, as this is critical for your chance at continued employment here” What were we talking about? She wants me to be a bubbly personality, all the time. To sell 100% of the time and essentially to “stop being an introvert because that will cost you your job”

Doesn’t leave the best taste in my mouth. It left me wanting to start applying for jobs elsewhere. I have however enjoyed the people at Bio Marin that I’ve been working with– so there is that.

Instead of a pre-season game- this time we went to the season opener. It was good to be back in the arena but wearing a face mask to each game makes it rather hot inside. If you look below you will see the light-up armband – they changed colors and were synced to the starting introductions and events in the game. After the game was over they still were glowing red. The kids wanted to get every single one they could – and since they were going to toss them anyway – we let them do so (see a photo of their loot below).

You may have noticed there is a gray creature on our couch. Yeah, that is Pete. His nickname is Stinky Pete. We are giving him a trial to see if he would be good with the family or not. The wife had a friend who wanted him out of their house a little and was trying to find a home for him anyway, so it seemed to be an easy way to have a trial pet time. We shall see. Thus far, the biggest complaint I have is that the kids are not super nice to him and he doesn’t do anything back to them. I’m talking about Arabella and Elijah. They trap the cat in their room and try to dress him up. It has been a struggle so far. The cat retaliates and will sometimes pee on the kids’ toys that they leave out.

A train ride seemed like it would be a fun thing to do. Elijah loves trains so we booked a 30-minute train ride along the banks of the Willamette River. I asked Elijah if he had fun and he said “No” – why buddy? We did this whole thing for you to enjoy it. “It didn’t go anywhere, it just went up and back, that’s not a real train ride.” I suppose we didn’t think this through enough. Luca and Arabella enjoyed it a lot, but Elijah was mainly sulking throughout the ride.

The leaves continue to change and fall as winter continues to draw near. We also went to our first professional soccer game. The Portland Thorns (WMLS) had an event where if you fill up your car you can get 2 free tickets. We did it twice and got 4 tickets (Luca didn’t need one). It was fun – plus something none of us had ever done before. Finally riding high off of the Pirates of Pinehurst, the kids dressed up as Pirates for Halloween.

just Pray

hey,

October means that it is time for the basketball season to start again. We went to a few games this month and the fan event too. While attending we were able to snag Blaze (the mascot) for a photo. Luca was in awe. We did the normal song and dance of getting the kids the tattoos – this time we even got Luca one too. At first, he wasn’t sure what to think.

Over the weekend we went to a pumpkin patch in Woodland, WA. It was pretty nice – and we will need to come back. I also like that it’s free to attend. See below for photos. Note: Do you see the Tigger outfit that Luca is wearing? Well… now that he has worn it, over the years at some point all 3 kids successfully did so when dressing up. Kinda cool to think of the history.

It was just in August that I was talking about how things were going well at BPA, they had given me my project that I was a PM on and I ran it so well they asked for me to run another project. My manager (Jack) didn’t think that it would be a good fit so instead of giving me the option to do it, he told them it could go to someone else instead. Due to that, I was now without a project. Kind of sitting around and not having a lot to do. I ended up going on the bench.

The bench? What am I some basketball player? Ha. Kind of, except for a bench warmer this time. At P3 I can’t be on the bench for an extended period (as it doesn’t bill against any client) and then I’d be laid off. In light of that, Jack has let the SF hub lead know the situation and they are looking for other opportunities. One is at Bio Marin Pharmacutiecales and a project manager role within their organization. Jack also has talked to Sean who let me know that there is a potential for some work with Microsoft, but he doesn’t see that happening/starting for a couple of months. That timeline doesn’t jive with keeping employment. I set up a meeting with someone from our hub and we had a prep session before my interview with Bio Marin (see below). It went well, so now it’s just a matter of if they want to hire me or someone else they have been considering.

As is typical for our October activities, we have hit up our local pumpkin patches and visited Halloween town. I really like the fall colors that are coming out. This year isn’t like last in that some places that have green leaves, also have half of the trees that lost their leaves or are very red. It’s interesting. We have been getting some cooler weather, but it hasn’t been as gradual as in previous years.

just Pray