2021 – October part 2
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.
[End quote: “Crazy people don’t know they’re crazy. I know I’m crazy, therefore I’m not crazy, isn’t that crazy?” – Jack Sparrow]just Pray