5 Days in Portland

Since I was already heading down to Portland for the show last Wednesday, I thought that I might as well take Thursday and Friday off and make a much needed mini vacation out of the whole trip. The following is a recap of the highs, lows (sadly), and random observations from my 5 day excursion to Portland.

-Saw Nate Moceri for the first time since 7th grade, who is currently living with B-unit. It was great catching up with him and recalling how cool we were back in the day. For the record, if you didn't get a CCS Magazine in the mail every month or didn't own a pair of Vans, you weren't cool.

Note: B-unit still owns a pair of Vans and has a new CCS Magazine sitting on his desk.

-Received was easily the best service by a waiter while down in Portland at a place called The Fat City Cafe. I came inside from being on the phone about 1 minute behind A-Mac and he already had a cup of coffee sitting in front of him. Within seconds of sitting down (keep in mind, the place was pretty busy and he was the only waiter), the waiter had come by again asking me if I would like anything to drink. Orange juice and coffee please.

In no more than a minute, I too had a cup of coffee and a glass of OJ sitting in front of me. Fantastic. And it didn't end there. Our food was brought in a timely fashion and during that time I never once reached empty on my cup of coffee. Talk about being Johnny on the spot. Lastly, we had ordered some lunch for a friend to-go and it was brought out to us in a box right as we finished our food. Quite frankly, I don't think I've ever had a waiter that was even in the same ballpark as this guy.

-Another Fat City related note... Ordering a cinnamon roll, a side of hash browns, a blueberry waffle, a biscuit and a farmer's sizzle (hash browns, eggs, veggies, mixed together with gravy on top) is entirely to much food to eat in one sitting. I am still regretting this.

-Worked out at the 24 Hour Fitness with B-unit on Thursday. Went over some form stuff with deadlift, cleans, and squats. It's always great having someone knowledgeable on hand to critique what you are doing (or not doing). After that he had to work with some of his client's so I went along and did a CrossFit workout to finish up the day.

21-15-9 rep of
Thrusters - 95 lbs
Burpees - w/ OH clap

Time: 7:47

Was planning on doing "Fran" but wasn't able to locate a pull-up bar near the barbells. This ended up being much worse as your legs don't get a rest. Following my WOD, a guy came up to me and asked where I CF'ed at. Apparently he owns a CF gym in Seattle and doing thrusters and burpees makes you stick out like a sore thumb.

-Random quote from someone else who saw me doing my workout:

You have very nice thruster.

Umm... thank you? I think.

-Cat & Bird seemed to enjoy this video immensely (especially the balloon part):



I'm pretty sure all 13,000 views are from them watching it.

-Nate's birthday was on Friday so we took him out to a place called The Good Foot over on the east side of Portland at the advice of B-unit (who had to depart for San Diego earlier that day). Apparently, Fridays are Funk/B Boy night and it ended up being pretty awesome. Some of the B Boyz were pretty impressive and the music was fun to dance to.

Needless to say, we got Nate smashed. On the way home (I was the DD for the night) the five of us rocked out to some Daft Punk in the car, followed by another five dude dance session to Daft Punk once we got home. While that was probably my first (and hopefully last) all dude dance party, it was pretty much the highlight of the entire night.

-Learned that one of CWA's founders passed away last week at the age of 89. Always a sad day when news like that comes along. His love and postive influence well be felt at CWA for generations to come. RIP Sam.

-I'm glad my nickname isn't poo pile.

-Found out that my drivers license expired a few weeks ago. Whoops. Didn't have any problems with it until we tried to get into a bar downtown on Saturday. Luckily, the back door was open. Thanks Poo. I think that is the first time that I've ever snuck into a bar.

-We started out on the east side Saturday night and met up with Cat's roommate there who works for a large athletic apparel company that isn't named Nike and starts with an A. They were having a going away party for one of her bosses and so the place was packed with employees. Around 10:30 we decided to finish our drinks and meet up with some friends in the downtown area.

At that point I sent a text to my friend Fitz to see where he was, and recieved a reply that there was a shooting and that SWAT and the police were swarming the place, but we should still come down to the bar he was at.

We later learned that a gunman had opened up fire outside of one of the bars there and had injured 7 and killed two. Damn...

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/01/portland_police_respond_to_dow.html

Note: learning this was easily the lowlight of the trip.

-While walking to one of the downtown bars we passed a guy playing a guitar on the street. It wasn't until I was a few steps passed him that I recognized that he as playing "Wagon Wheel" by OCMS. I quickly turned around and emptied my pockets into his donation hat. Randomly hearing one of your favorite (and somewhat obscure) songs while drunkely making your way down a city sidewalk late at night? Worth every dollar.

-When you know you will be sleeping on couches and floors for 4 nights in a row, always, always, ALWAYS, bring your foam roller along with you. I didn't and my back hate me for it.

-Lazzeri meat balls are nothing to rave about. The verdict is still out on Paccione and Moceri.

-Also on that food related note, Fitz and Drew opened up my eyes on the cooking possibilites for the Paleo diet. Stay tuned for the results of my first Roast.

-Flooding a second story house is not fun (don't worry Adam, we didn't flood again). Even worse is when it starts leak out of the ceiling below. For the record, this was totally the result of a failed attempt by a landlord to fix this matter and the involved tennants should not be blamed.

If you tell your landlord that your toilets aren't flushing correctly and they send someone by that takes one look at the toilet and tells you "that is how toilets are supposed to work," and then your toilet floods the next day, that is their bad, not yours.

-Made it down to Portland in 2 hours flat and back in 2:10 without having to re-fill my tank. I think I am just going to start makin weekend shopping excursions down there for food and whatever else I need. I'm pretty sure my tax savings could pay for my gas bill at the current gas prices.

In conclusion, Portland is a pretty great place and I'm looking forward to my next visit down there. Maybe next time I'll try filling up my gas tank while I'm there. What happenes if you try to fill up yourself? I guess I'll just have to find out...

-dunkie