Happy New Year!

What a great week! It began last weekend with our weather-delayed company Christmas party. For the second consecutive year, we held it at the Canby Grove Conference Center. Most of our staff was able to attend, and I very much enjoyed seeing everyone away from the store. Of course my favorite part of the night was playing Santa Claus. I always buy lots of toys (e.g., nerf guns, R/C cars, and helicopters) as well as more substantial gifts, like iPods, a laptop, and a plasma screen TV. After ensuring everyone had gift cards to places like Nordstroms, Macys, Sears, REI… I then raffled off the presents. Hopefully everyone left with full tummies and gifts they will enjoy.

My 14-year-old daughter Hannah requested that we visit the Queen Anne Victorian Mansion. This time of year it's decorated with a claimed 2.5 million Christmas lights.

It’s located just south of the Portland International Raceway on the west side of I-5. I’ve seen it from the freeway for years, but Hannah was the one who moved it to the top of our family’s list of things to see this Christmas season. The mansion is beautiful, tastefully constructed with lots of hardwood. The stairs creak – as they should. Even though it’s a large place, especially when you consider that it was first placed on the tax roles back in the 1890s (the current custodians believe it was built much earlier), it’s interesting to note how much larger we are, or maybe how our generation has become accustomed to much larger door frames, bathrooms, and hallways. I haven’t done any research, but I have to believe that the average height and weight for men and women over one hundred years ago was something much less than today.

Although we enjoyed our time at the mansion, we were all a little freaked out when we came across this evil looking snowman who apparently had just committed a heinous crime, taking out one of his fellow snowman brothers. He was trying to act all frosty-like when we snapped this photo, but we're pretty sure we know what happened. We weren't sure who to call, so we ran for it.

On Wednesday, we celebrated my dad’s 76th birthday. We took the whole family up to Janzen Beach to have an early lunch at Shenangans. My dad was greeted at some point during the lunch by the head chef as well as the owner. I have a sneaking suspicion that my parents must eat at this place all the time since they’re on a first-name basis with everyone that works there. At the end of the meal, instead of getting a piece of cake with a candle in it, the staff brought out the entire dessert tray for our family to have. We each took a fork or two of each one, and left quite full and content.

One of the presents that we gave to my dad that day were two tickets to that night’s Blazer vs Celtics game. I stayed home and listened to parts of the broadcast courtesy of Brian Wheeler and Antonio Harvey. I’m glad that my parents got to see such a great victory in the Rose Garden. My only worry was that my mom has heart issues, and according to the rest of my family, they said she was on her feet for most of the game yelling at the pathetic refereeing.

My wife debriefed me when she got home about the game highlights. Her favorite moment was Travis Outlaw dunking on punk supreme Kevin Garnett (I won’t promote him with a link!).

Second on her highlight reel was LaMarcus Aldridge slapping Garnett’s head after Garnett had thrown an elbow at L.A.. I would have posted this YouTube moment, but the title on the clip used language that’s too “exuberant” for my blog… During the radio broadcast on 95.5, Antonio Harvey said his only regret of the game was that LaMarcus hadn't’t punched Garnett hard, rather than a slap…

Next on my wife’s list, was coach Nate McMillan’s playing both Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla (one of our family’s favorite players) at the same time. This is something that hasn’t happened at any time during this season. My wife and I had discussed this option, but thought that it would never be exercised since we thought they’d have a hard time figuring out their respectful roles. Apparently they got it figured out.

Finally, when someone mentions "the sixth man" at the Rose Garden, they're referring to the fans... usually. During this game the Blazers decided that sometimes actually having 6 players taking on the opponents 5 players is the only way to get someone open. It worked!

Here are the game highlights:

One of the only low points of the week, is when I picked up the paper midweek and read the first headline on the front page: “'Nicest guy' dies in fiery I-5 crash near Wilsonville.” I went on to read that just eleven days prior to his fatal accident, the nicest guy's family had lost their home in a fire. The story says that he was still upbeat and positive even though he had just lost everything – which has to be even harder just before Christmas. I then figured out that the crash occurred almost directly across from Wilsonville Honda. Sometimes life sucks. My daughter Caitlin said I shouldn’t mention this, but against her advice I will… She was riding with me to work when I picked up the paper and so she heard my next comment after mulling over what a difficult time for the family involved.... when I said something like this, “Hey Caitlin, if the “nicest guy” died, does that mean that the rest of us that remain just moved up in ranking on the “nice” list?” She just rolled her eyes…

I’m finishing just before rolling into the New Year. My family and I spent the evening listening to Pastor Brett Meador of Athey Creek Christian Fellowship discussing biblical prophecy. I don’t think that many people realize that over 25% of the Bible deals with prophecy (the vast majority of which has already come to pass). It was an interesting way to spend the evening, reviewing the state of the world and where we’re headed as we ihead into 2009.

Of course, I'll leave you with something "unusual." I guess one should have an idea of what one is trying to achieve before braving an attempt to achieve a goal. My family's wish for me is that I don't hit our medical deductible in 2009! I hope your New Year is joyous and that your dreams are realized!