A trip around the Bend
I finished up my third McMenamins passport a couple weekends ago in Bend. It was really a very nice weekend. I drove over on Saturday and checked into my room at the Old St. Francis. The room itself was great! And the two new buildings on the property, including several secret rooms, made this terrific property even better. This might have been my favorite overnight at a McMenamins so far.
Mid-afternoon, I went to visit my friend, Angela, and her son, Henry. I’ve known Angela since we were in elementary school. We sat and chatted, took a walk along a scenic river path in town, then had dinner at Jackson’s Corner, a local favorite.
I returned to the hotel and did a bit more wandering around until some other friends were freed up to meet me for drinks. Nori, Nori’s boyfriend, John, Brian, and Amy came out and the five of us enjoyed an evening of conversation, drink, and really just being together. Taking advantage of the fact that I was staying the night at the same location where we were imbibing, I indulged with a White Russian, a beer flight, a pint of cider, and two Old Fashioneds. The Old Fashioneds were made with an apple whiskey which I found to be particularly good.
Sunday morning, I got up to walk across the street for Mass, but I’d gotten my information mixed up and there was not Mass at this location at this time. I returned to the hotel, had breakfast and checked out. I stopped in Sisters on the way home and attended Mass at St Edwards there.
When I got back into my car following Mass, I turned on the Vikings game. Ugh. The trainwreck that would be their first loss of the season was underway. Perhaps mercifully, the trip through the mountains would prevent me from listening to the game.
Finally, that afternoon, I caught a ride with Brit to our gaming session in McMinnville. It was a good session wherein Filibert got to kick much ass and even revivify a fallen comrade.
You know, life after derby might not be so empty after all.
Championships wrap-up
Safe trip home from Minnesota yesterday. I got to chat with Mike Chexx in the Seattle airport between flights. That was nice. I also got to say goodbye to Reed, Tenacious D-Cup, and Mike Hammer as we were all on the same flight from MN to Seattle.
Here are a couple of photos of my crew this weekend.
Score & Timing team
Here’s a photo of the Mississippi River. Not so mighty at this point.
Here’s the State Capitol and a map of the tunnel system between State buildings.
Finally, here’s a shot from the plane on the flight to Seattle.
World Champions
So, the Rose City Rollers, my league, won the world championships. To do so, they defeated Gotham Girls Roller Derby. Gotham had gone unbeaten in their last 67 games and been the world champions for the past 5 years. It was a huge night in the derby world and for Rose City.
I’ve never felt so disconnected from my league.
As an official, I take my commitment to impartiality VERY seriously. I’m not just impartial when I’m working, I’m ALWAYS impartial. (Honestly, does anyone believe that an official who cheers for ‘their’ team/league one minute can be impartial for the hour that it takes them to work a game?) So while the whole damn derby world, including many other officials from my league, are cheering their fool heads off, I’m over here in the corner with my game face on. I felt so dejected that I had to leave the venue before the awards ceremony. As I was leaving, I stopped to shake hands with Agent Meow, the league’s dj who’d been spinning for that final game. He was in tears and when I shook his hand, I came close to breaking too. I feel very alone.
On the upside, I looked snazzy in my new NSO shirts.
St. Paul – Day 3
Yesterday I checked out the Church of the Assumption.
And this morning I attended Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul.
The Cathedral was really beautiful, but as I should have expected, the service was quite sterile and lifeless. A soprano so ‘well-trained’ that I couldn’t understand a word she was singing. And music selections clearly chosen to be artistically beautiful, but not especially singable by the assembly. Why bother, we’re really just an afterthought anyway.
St. Paul – Day 2
Did MUCH better with my position today. Felt like I shook off the cobwebs and remembered how to do this job. Before this weekend, I hadn’t been a scorekeeper for a sanctioned/regulation game since May.
Here’s a photo of the only two officials from Rose City (hell, Oregon) to work Championships this year.
sHellcat and Seán-Quad
Went to breakfast at a tiny little train car diner this morning.
Reed’s crew at breakfast
Finished the day by hitting the treadmill at the hotel. I walked/jogged a bit over 2 miles in about 45 minutes. A TERRIBLE pace, but one has to start (again) somewhere.
St. Paul – Day 1
Arrived in St. Paul yesterday. I met two of my roommates and I went out to dinner with them. We went to Pizza Lucé for dinner and I did my usual, ask the server what I should order. This is quite a hit-and-miss method of selecting my food. Sometimes it pays off, other times it doesn’t. Last night, it didn’t. My waitress suggested the Blue Dog (tomatoes, arugula, roasted asparagus, bacon, red onion, blue cheese, and mozzarella) and yeah, I didn’t really care for it. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. I also had a Surly Furious to drink. It was fine, but I’m hardly a beer connoisseur so what do I know.
Surly Furious
Worked a pair of games today as a scorekeeper. I’m paired up with Professor Murder (jam ref). Honestly, I don’t feel like today was my strongest performance. I got distracted and lost focus a couple of times. I’ll do better tomorrow.
Walked around downtown St. Paul a bit; checked out the Landmark Center and the Schubert Club Museum.
Wrapped up the day by walking to the Liffey Pub with an NSO from my crew, Bear Trap. I enjoyed a great fish & chips.
WFTDA Championships
Today, I am traveling. I am honored and privileged to have been selected to work this year’s WFTDA Championships tournament in St Paul, MN. My crew head is Reed d’Rulz, from Rat City. I really like working with Reed. The crew head referee is Sir Osis, also from Rat. This looks to be a great crew. I’m looking forward to working with a number of people with whom I’ve never before had the opportunity.
Oregon, Day 6
Today was the last full day on the coast. We got up rather late. I did my 5K training along the beach. It was a bit windy but I got through the entire set. Returning to the inn, we made breakfast. Actually, David made breakfast. It was eggs with onions, tomatoes, and avocado along with bacon and toast. After eating and cleaning up, we all went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It was interesting to see how they made cheese. I checked in there using Foursquare and Chris Zimmerman saw the tweet announcing the check-in. He alerted his brother, Aaron who works there and Aaron came and found me. Awesome! That was kind of the highlight of the trip. 🙂 We stuck around and played UNO in the eating area. Rizza won. A sneaky, come-from-behind sort of victory. Possibly illegitimate, but a win.
We returned to Cannon Beach and ate a late lunch at El Mariachi Loco. It was perfectly decent Mexican food. I’m rather proud of myself that I opted not to finish my plate of nachos after I’d gotten full. After returning to the inn, we all sort of went our seprate ways for a couple of hours.
Finally, we finished up the evening by playing some more cards in the girls room.
Tomorrow, back to Portland.
