Recovery

It's been some time since my last post.  This year kicked off with positive thoughts and a good day on the river, then went down hill from there.  Luckily things very recently have hopefully turned for the better.  I've had some major health issues since Sept. of last year and haven't been able to get any answers as to why I've been in such bad shape.  After many doctors and tests an odd bump on my gums eventually appeared and provided the needed clue.  The short story is that I had a root canal that was horribly done, think metal file left in root canal, back in '07 and sometime in the past year my upper jaw developed a horrible infection.  After a few procedures, you really don't want details, I am hopefully now on the road to good health.  There is going to be a period of recovery and hopefully no complications.  There will be a number of years of serious dental work in my future:(

Between all the fun health issues I've been working stupid hard at the Paddle Sports Center at Next Adventure.  Nice weather has kicked the season off early and the shop has been very busy.  Light staffing, a new building to build out, and a full kayak school to oversee have made for some long days at work.  I'm also working hard on pulling my finances together and looking into some exciting new invesments, more info to come soon:)  I have managed to get outside a few days in the past few months, but not nearly enough.  I'll let the pictures below speek for themselves.

Julie is teaching her last day as a student teacher today!  She graduates in about a week and is very happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  She worked with her students to build a set for the high school play of "Oklahoma" and the show turned out great.  (Would post some great pictures, but liability issues with kids preclude me from doing so.)  She has been putting in some time on the water with both Dragon Boating and Outrigger Canoeing, and has her first big race tomorrow.  Julie is looking forward to summer and having some time to play outside.

(Julie at the top of Beacon Rock in the Gorge.)

(Julie at the top of Beacon Rock looking East up the Columbia.)

(This is the amazing "trail" up Beacon Rock.)

(Some more of the Beacon Rock Trail.)

(Me having a great day on the river with friends.  This is Off Ramp on the Farmlands section of the White Salmon River in WA.)

(My good friend Stephen Wright enjoying a spring day of boating in the gorge.)

(Me having a great line off Lava Falls on the Farmlands section of the White Salmon River.)

(Fun sculpture outside of the boathouse where Julie's Dragon Boat and Outrigger teams train out of.)

(Julie excited to be playing outside, even though her boots clash with her jacket.  We had a great 3 day weekend up at Steven's Pass Ski Resort outside of Seattle.)

(Me in my stylish new Mountain Hardware jacket at Steven's Pass.)

(Julie and I stopped by the Seattle Aquarium on our way home from skiing.  Cool place, but not as good as the National Aquarium in Baltimore.)

(Joe styling Double Drop on the Truss section of the White Salmon River at 3.5ft.)

(Bald eagle on Ross Island near downtown PDX on the Willamette River.)

(Bald eagle comming in for a landing.)

(The first Ross Island Tour of the year run through the new Next Adventure Kayaking School. 60 degrees, sunny, and no wind.  An amazing morning on the water in PDX.)

(Most of these shots came from my new Nikon D90.  Looking forward to getting back into photography with this amazing tool.)

A New Year, A New Perspective

Ringing in the new year was a bit on the anti-climatic side this year.  Julie was still back East with her family and Portland was producing rain, not snow.  I ended up watching Avatar in 3D and chilling at home thinking about the year to come.  The conclusions that I came to for 2010:  I need to find a way to get healthy (Improve Diet, Exercise More, & Take Care of My Injured Back), I need to have a more positive attitude (I tend to be a bit o a grouch and this attitude only causes me trouble.), I need to figure out and improve some of my relationships with others (step one: Be More Positive),  I need to find some finacial stability (Both paying off my business loan and finding a way to finance my prefered way of life in the future.), and last but not least I need to take more time to travel and experience new things (as this is how I thrive).  I know these are lofty goals and require big changes, but as 30 years of life approaches in 2010, it is time to step up and make life happen the way I want it to happen.

Julie is back working hard in grad school.  She is teaching full time now at a local High School, teaching both english and theater classes.  Besides a full time teaching job and graduate classes she is also paddling on a dragon boat team, paddling on an OC-6 team, going to Cross-Fit twice a week, and trying to squeeze in time for climbing, skiing, and the rest of life.

I also wanted to take a second and appreciate some good friends.  Congradulations to Justin and Sarah for getting engaged.  Congradulations to Marie for getting married and soon to be a wonderful Mom. Congradulations to Cory and Brook for having twin boys at home with them.  Congradulations to Three and Lauren for getting engaged to be married in July.  Congradulations to Nicole, my sister, for working to improve life for her and her amazing little daughter Victoria.

I also want to send heart felt thoughts to those that will be missed and those that will miss them.  Brianna and Mark, you guys are amazing and have been so strong through these rough times.  Stay strong and keep being you.

I'm looking for new opportuinites and new adventures.  Please pass on all of the above.  Please also stay in touch and have a happy and healthy 2010.  Hopefully we can find some time to spend together this year, on a new adventure, somewhere:)

(This is the "New New" Paddle Sports Center.  A really big wide open space with tons of potential.  We have our own parking and great visability on a high traffic street.  Work has been keeping me VERY busy lately, with only more busy times to come.)

(Check out the story and video of the new space.)

(This is the WW and Used Gear room in the "New New" Paddlesports Center.  It is still under construction, but is going to be a really cool part of the new shop.)

(This is a really fun drop on the North Fork of the Clackamas.  It is pretty intimidating, but is a ton of fun to run.)

(This is how you style the drop!  It was a huge high to hit this line so perfectly and get a huge boof at the bottom.  I can't explain how good it feels to fly through the air, land past the hole in the airated water, and plane away from the drop.)

(I've been getting up to the mountain as often as I can.  I've dedicated myself to skiing this year and getting better with each trip up.  I've snowboarded once this season and skied 9 times, so far.)

(Enjoying PDX: good local live music, quality dark micro brew, and a stylin' hat.) 

Holidays

(Julie and I enjoying a ski day at Mt. Hood Meadows.  The views where great and the sun was shining.)

I know that this post is super overdue, but life has been keeping me busy, sadly in mostly the wrong ways.  The big things lately is the fact that somehow I'm still sick:(  I'm really hoping I shake this thing sometime soon as my fitness goals keep getting pushed back.  The other big news is that the Next Adventure Paddlesports shop is again moving to a new location.  The real estate deal fell through on our current place and we are moving one block up the street.  We are closed this week, for 4 days, and moving EVERYTHING in that period of time.  It's going to be a long week!

I did get to go home for Thanksgiving this year and had a really great time catching up with all the family.  Pretty much everyone was there and it was really good to catch up with everyone back home.  Julie had grad school and couldn't make it back east for Thanksgiving, but is back east now for the Christmas/New Years break.  She is really enjoying her family time and is getting a fun little vacation in NY city with the family right now.

Between bouts of being sick, and while being sick, I've gotten out and played a bit.  I've gotten a few days in at the rock climbing gyms, two days of kayaking, one day of snowboarding, and four days of skiing.  The snow has been good up on Mt. Hood and I'm working hard on my skiing skills this year.  I'm excited to get out on my new skis, that I bought with my Christmas money from my parents, as soon as they arrive.

Julie has been really busy as well.  Her BIG job lately has been keeping up with the work and schedule of grad school.  She managed to get through her first semester with straight As!!!  She has been working hard and I'm so proud of her.  She has also been keeping up with her Crossfit twice a week, offseason dragon boating practice, and a few nights at the climbing gym in between everything else:)

Julie and I both want to wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday.  Please do keep in touch.

(I love taking photos from plane windows.  This shot was taken on the way back to PDX from MD after Thanksgiving.)

(The rivers have been low and/or frozen lately, but I did manage one really good day of boating.  This is my friend Luke boofing the waterfall on Hagen Creek.)

(This is the "old," only been in this space for 3 months, paddlesports center.  Expect some shots from the "new" paddlesports center in the next post.)

(Julie showing me her Christmas cheer by surprising me with this cool hand made tree decorated with cool things from around the house and my presents.  The lighting was really cool with candles, headlamps, and bike flashers!)

(I went for a ski trip in my own on Christmas day.  The bluebird skies and amazing views made for a great morning on the slopes.  Jana, a kayaking friend of mine, hosted an amazing dinner party that evening for "strays and orphans".  Overall a fun day, but I did miss the family.)

So Ill & Life Goes On

It's been a crazy time lately.  Basically I've been sick and not doing much in the way of physical activity. Those of you who know me well know that I'm grumpy when I'm not active.  I've also been really busy at work trying to get the new Paddlesports shop up and running.  Things are coming along and every day there are big improvements.  There have been a few shinning moments over the past three weeks and those can be seen in the photos below.  A 3 day trip up to Seattle with Julie for a fun little vacation was the highlight for sure.  We got to see and do a ton of stuff.  The highlight was probably dinner at Serious Pie, a gourmet wood fired pizza place.  This place is so good that it is probably one of my top 3 meals of all time!  Julie enjoyed the Pikes Place Market, good food, and nice hotels.  Julie has been CRAZY busy with grad school and she is wrapping up her first student teaching placement with the middle school english students.  She has also been keeping up with Crossfit and her Dragonboat training.  I think she is also enjoying her bike commute to school, even in the rain:)

I was also interviewed for a podcast by my good friend from DC Jeff Macintyre.  The interview was about the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show back in August and the state of the paddlesports industry.  Check it out at:  http://inbetweenswims.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=534555

(My good Baltimore, Portland transplant, friend Andy Maser organized an event for the 350.org movement called River of Action.  I brought a trailer load of boats from Next Adventure for the event and ended up putting them all on the water, leaving me to shoot video and photos.  Julie is the long red boat at the top right of the "5".)

(Julie having fun at the Team Huge, dragonboat, wig party.)

(The PDXKayaker film fest this year was a huge event and something that Next Adventure puts on each year.)

(I ended up MCing the raffle at the end of the movie and distributing a ton of good shwag.)

(Julie hangin' with Punch & Judy at the Kennedy School, a cool cheap theater/bar/hotel/restaurant that was converted from an old public school in PDX.)

(Julie enjoying the fashion of PDX, wearing cute boots, and the fall leaves.  She secretly admits to enjoying the change of seasons, even though she wishes it was warm all the time.)

(Julie outside the Glass Museum in Tacoma, WA enjoying a break in the rainy weather.)

(Julie on in front of the Cistene wall full of Chulley glass sculptures in Tacoma.)

(Julie lounging at the Hotel Max in downtown Seattle, WA.  The hotel featured original works of art in every room and each hallway featured a single photographer, displaying the photos on each room's complete door surface.)

(I enjoyed the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field.  The museum had such cool things as a training replica of the science capsule on the International Space Station, an SR71 Blackbird, and the original Boeing factory (The Red Barn).  We also got to walk through the first jet powered Air Force 1 and the last in service Concord.)

(I'm actually happy in this photo:)  Julie and I went for a bike ride on Vashon Island and had to take the ferry with our bikes.  It was a really hilly beautiful ride in the countryside.  This is also probably your first peak at my new full carbon bike.)

(Julie enjoying a hot tea in her robe at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Seattle.  This place was all class and luxury!)

(Doug and Kurt from Next Adventure put on a great Halloween party.  I went as Abe Lincoln and Julie was looking good in a Masquerade Ball costume.  Our friend Catherine from HI was in town visiting and rocked a disco outfit.)

Work, Work, Surf, Work, Sick, Work, Run, Work, Sick...

There are no excuses for not keeping this up.  Life just seems to get in the way of documenting life.  A Skook video will happen, it just hasn't happened yet.  The big news is that the paddlesports dept, my dept, at Next Adventure has now moved into a separate building and will be run a bit more like a full service kayak specialty shop now, instead of a dept. within an outdoor store.  Between the new shop location, preseason order writing, events, and our big biannual sale I've been in the shop over 60 hrs. every week.  It is an exciting time, but there is a lot to get done and little time to do it.  The last few weeks I've been a bit of a mess as well with one of these flu viruses getting me quite good.  Today is actually day 5 of basically not leaving the apartment.  I'm feeling a touch better and will try to get a few hours in at work this afternoon.  Between work and being sick I haven't had much time to work out or recreate too much.  I've been to the coast a few times surf kayaking, which I'm really getting into, and I ran the Portland Marathon on Oct. 4th.  I managed a 3:50:05, a PR, while being sick.  Julie has also been crazy busy with grad school.  Between her classes and her student teaching she is busy most of the day and then she gets home and starts writing papers and lesson plans into the wee hours of the night.  She actually stays up as late as I do:)  She really enjoys school most days, but the piles of work get old fast and "busy" work is never fun, but always seems to be part of school.

(Next booth at the PDX Dragon Boat Races.)

(Julie's team doing quite well at the PDX race.)

(I taught Ross Island Kayak Tours every Sunday all summer and always seemed to have great students and amazing weather.  This was the last class of the summer with another perfect day.)

(This is a photo of my largest Skagen account at Washington Square Mall.  I've done merchandising for Skagen in HI and OR now and this month put in my resignation.  I just ran out of hours in the day to have a second job right now.)

(This is Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City, OR.  I had a fun little kayak surf session here and will be back sometime for sure.)

(This is the front of the new Next Adventure Paddlesports Center, during our big sale.)

(This is the inside of the shop during the sale, after having the building for only about 5 days!!!)

(We closed down a street outside the shop for our big sale and to help benefit the Surfrider Foundation and Portland Mountain Rescue.)

(I call this shot the "Tools of the Trade".  This is Indian Beach and my normal kayak surf beach.  This day was 9.5ft at 11 sec.)

(This shot gives you some perspective.  That paddler is Joe in a Fluid Element on the inside, smaller, break.  We both surfed the outside break for over an hour with some amazing rides.)

(Indian Beach, looking south, showing a serene this place is even with huge surf.)

(This shot is by: byronwillphotography.com, a photographer that just happened to be out shooting the day I went sea kayak cave hopping with my boss, Deek, and a few amazing local sea kayakers. It was truly an amazing day out on the water and a very cool way to experience the Oregon coast.) 

Hopefully work will settle down for both Julie and I and we will get out and enjoy all that Oregon has to offer.  Ski season is upon us and I'm excited for the snow.  The rain has started to fall as well and the rivers and creeks will be back to paddleable levels soon.