Prayer for the bored

(click to enlarge image)

The ‘portrait’ she made at school for father’s day last year adds some insight to this post.

In the last week or so, Moriah has independently decided to include me in her prayers. Without any input from us (that I’m aware of), she has said something similar to this in multiple family prayers recently:

“…and please help dad at his job, because he does boring stuff all day. He sits at a computer and prints out paper and reads and stuff. Help him not be bored.”

The best part about this is that she’s totally sincere. She is concerned that daddy might be getting too bored during the day. Hey, who am I to argue? If she wants to pray for a little excitement at work, an answer to that prayer may or may not turn out to be a good thing!! Hhhmmmn.

Superman is in town

Joel Przybilla is out for the season so somebody else will have to man the critical "Watch Dwight Dunk from Under the Rim" defensive position tonight. Fortunately the Blazers still have the "Touch the Butt" and "Knock Your Knees in Fear" spots manned.

BLAZERSEDGE (best team blog out there) had this photo and caption regarding tonight's game.

When he looked like a girl

Moriah has been really under the weather this weekend. Earaches, fever and general flu symptoms. Poor kid. So, Saturday we were catching some tube together. Since I knew she likes Michael Jackson, I turned on a “Remembering Michael Jackson” special. One of the first videos we saw was the old “Rock With You” video – you know, the one where he’s in a sparkling disco outfit dancing with a single light source behind him. Brilliant song. But 7-yr old Moriah wasn’t having any of it. Her comment: “Dad, Michael Jackson was better when he looked like a girl.”

I presume she was referring to his music.

Happy New Year

The new year is upon us. We had some friends over for a new year’s eve celebration. Fun had by all. On new year’s day we watched the rose parade and I got all geeked up for the Rose Bowl. The ducks started out flat, with the Buckeyes scoring the first 10 points. But Oregon surged back, tying the score at 10 in the 3rd quarter. I had hope…but then it was dashed to pieces in the latter part of the game. Ohio State simply executed well. It is also being reported that their athletes are just plain bigger than Oregon athletes. I noticed this when the Buckeyes walked out on the field. They just looked big compared to our team. In the end: Buckeyes 26, Ducks 17. I was disappointed, but it only took a few hours for me to flush it out of the system and look forward to next year. It was a great year. I think the young team learned a lot from this experience. It’s tough to make it to this game. I want to see them get there again soon.

Blazers 101 - Clippers 99

Emery and I went to the Blazers-Clippers game last night. She is 9 now and is becoming more and more fun to enjoy a game with. I really love taking the kids to games. Especially the 1-on-1 time talking about the game…and whatever. It’s a fun tradition we’ve been enjoying each year.

Portland keeps coming up with scrappy wins. The team is now tied for leading the Pacific Division. Considering injuries and roster depletion, this is shocking. It may have something to do with teams coming in to games thinking they are dealing with an inexperienced team with no true big man in the middle. However, the Blazers are also showing that they have resolve and chemistry previously unknown. I mean, sheesh. We even lost LaMarcus Aldridge in the 1st quarter last night. Yet the team still found a way to confuse the opposition just enough to win. Defensive switching (zone, trapping, man and intensity) proved to be effective against the Clips. Is it enough against elite teams? Probably not. But even with all the frustration of this challenging season, the remaining guys are giving us reasons to be engaged and interested anyway. Go Blazers/

PS: Odd moment: So, now that the girls are growing up, what am I supposed to do when it’s time for me to hit the bathroom? I can’t leave her out there in the concourse with thousands of fans milling around. Seriously, what’s the solution? In this case, she was a trooper and went along with standing in the sink/mirror area while I ventured into the depths of the men’s room. She said she was really embarrassed. But I also recognize it’s awkward for all involved. I think she’ll be fine out in the concourse in a few years from now…but there are definitely a few years of gray area here. One of the many dilemmas of a father.

12/27/2008 – Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Today, Melissa was smitten. Not with another guy, of course, but by a choir. She was able to attend the weekly broadcast of “Music and the Spoken Word” in Salt Lake City. She admits it. She is smitten. The broadcast was so impressive and the choir sounded perfect. Our bro-in-law directed the choir for the final song - an awesome arrangement of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”. The whole experience was particularly impressive to her. And yes, she has re-kindled the notion that, someday, just maybe, she would like to audition for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Just...maybe... I fully support her ambitions there and think it's awesome she wants to be a part of something so special. Of course, we’d probably have to move back to Utah before she can do so….so, we dunno. The "MTC" is awesome. And a lofty goal for her to dream about, too. Someday, right? Someday.

12/25/2009 – Christmas in the Wasatch mountains

We had an amazing Christmas experience in the Utah mountains this year. Melissa’s brother has recently built a cabin there (just outside of Heber, UT). The family gathering there was really fun. The cabin can only be accessed with 4WD or snow chains. It felt like a perfect winter Christmas location. So cool. A few of us enjoyed a day of skiing/boarding at “The Canyons” in Park City (reminded me how bad I am). One bro-in-law and I tackled a tough black diamond run. I am not ashamed to admit I had a few moments thinking “What am I doing here? I can’t do this!” Pure terror. But we muscled through it. Good stuff, man. Of course, Christmas morning was fun with the kids. All the cousins were so pumped to check out what Santa had brought them. On Christmas day I also tried my hand at snowmobiling. First time in my life. We even got to check out a bit of the “back country” in the national forest area. Man, throttling that thing and getting up over 50 MPH is a rush!