2009 a year in review

January
I went back to work after taking two months off because Riley was born. Even though I was back at work most of my time was spent doing things for Riley. Bree and I went to many childcare places trying to find something we felt comfortable with. We finally decided to go with Herman's Peewee's. We couldn't be happier with the choice. Thank you Lisa.

Mid January we traveled to Pullman Washington to visit Bree's Godmother, Janie. Janie was fighting cancer at the time and we wanted to spend has much time with her as possible. Tracking a 2.5 month old across two states was not has bad as expected. She slept most of the time.

Other than that, I played some basketball, lost some money at Philipps poker party and attempted to get back into the flow of work.

February
Bree headed back to work and we had to let go of our little girl for the first time. After work each day I headed to daycare to pick up the little squirt. I only forget her a few times before pulling into the drive way then backing up and heading to daycare.

Work was not going as well as I would hope, a couple of projects were fighting me.

Riley had her first Valentines day. And we made a music video with her. Am I one of those pushy parents making my child do strange things?

I continued to play basketball and started to play volleyball at the urging of my boss. I played in my second roofball event finishing as a semi finalist.

March
Around mid March we traveled back to Pullman Washington for Janie's funeral. We miss you Janie.

Kory and I got tickets to some of the first round games for March Madness.

In late March, Bree's sister Amber payed us a visit for a week or so. She spent her days watching Riley and her nights hanging out with Bree. Like sisters do they talked real loud and enjoyed their time with each other.

I also made a short film for the Salem Film Festivals 72 hour competition. We did OK, I liked some of the shots that came out. Thanks to Bob, Amber, Loren and Jake for helping out.

April
During the first part of April we payed a visit to my family in Roseburg. Unfortunately We all got sick, like pukey sick. Bree, my Dad, Mom, two Grandmas, and a grandpa, luckily Riley was fine.

The second week, Bree had some family stop by. We had Nick, Morgan, Alex and her Parents staying with us. But again we proceeded to get each of them sick. It turns out that Bree had contracted some type of virus from work. I have no idea how Riley never got it but I'm glad she didn't. Nick a fancy pants TV producer from New York, did us the favor of producing an episode of Portland Men on Sports. Thanks Nick.

Other than that I hit a couple of Blazer games.


May
May was all about sports. Spring softball starting I went to some more Blazer games and played some more volleyball.

Other than that Riley was sitting up by herself. And that's about it for the month of May.


June
Softball was in full swing and it was great. John came to stay a weekend with us and we did nothing but veg out in front of the TV. He now knows that he should be watching Spaced and 30 Rock.

Shaun and I helped Joe move. Then forced him to drive us around Wilsonville at Midnight with the top down on his convertible, eventually winding up at Sharies.

I ended the month with a golf tournament on a Saturday and another Roofball event on Sunday. I once again finished as a semifinalist.



July
For the 4th of July we hoped a plane to Boise for the annual Doremus reunion. Riley did quite well just playing on the plane. I tried my hardest to break a jet ski with a rock but it was fixed.

I attended the Triple A all star game in town and it was a pretty cool event. Packed PGE park, don't see that too often.

Throw in some more softball, dunkball, video game parties with the fellas and some BBQ's and you have a very solid month.

August
John stopped by again and we did some more TV watching.

We hit Roseburg again for my Grandmother and Sister-in-law's birthday.

Bree's Sister Morgan came to visit again and watched Riley during the day and hung with us during the night.

And yes I played softball.

September
I started out September on vacation and used it to play golf and that's about it.

We then headed to Tahoe to attend JJ and Tami's wedding. Once again Riley did great on the plane. We all had a great time in Tahoe. JJ and Tami were awesome, plus that's when I scored some Oregon vs. Cal tickets from Jay's dad. Score!

We got to Roseburg again for my and my mothers birthday par T. I got to ride around in a Lambo.

I ended the month playing another Roofball tourney. And yes I finished as a semi-finalist. Oh and of course more softball was played.

October
We saw my folks again in the Burg for my Dads b-day.

Bree and I celebrated our fifth year together. Back when we got married we said we'd go to Hawaii for our fifth, not happening, perhaps later.

In mid October John and I met up in Seattle for a Q&A with Keven Smith. It was freaking awesome. Everyone should go, he'll be in PDX next year.

Bookie Productions started doing some shot video's for oregonsports.com. And softball finally came to an end, and Riley started swim classes.


November
November started out with a bang, my darling girl had her first birthday. We were in Roseburg to celebrate with my family. She had a good time lightly tugging at wrapping papers. Bree also had a birthday and worked right through it.

We had dinner with Jacob and Barb and a few days later we had dinner with Paul and Katie.

We had Thanksgiving with my family in Roseburg.

Basketball started.



December
I started off December at the Civil War with Paul, Katie and Clint. Ducks win! Ducks win!

We attended Lynette's surprise birthday party.

We went to Roseburg to have an early Christmas. Then headed to Boise for Christmas, Christmas. Once again Riley had a good flight. We had a great time and enjoyed all the Doremus fam.

Volleyball practice began and Basketball continued.

Celebrating Roofball

Last night I was able to attend two Roofball events. First KPTV came to RFA headquarters to film a feature on the game that will air Sunday 9.13 at 11:00 during the sports segment.

After the camera crew left we headed inside for the RFA decade awards to celebrate the first 10 years of Roofball history. In all 17 awards were bestowed on a few select individuals who over the years have had a great influence on the game. The biggest winner of the night was Dan O’Reilly, who recently appeared on Portland Men on Sports, who not only took home a Builder award but also received the Roofball Player of the Decade Award.

All in all it was another great event for Roofball.

Update time too late

It's been awhile yes? I think I'll just drop a short one here. Work has been busy lately. I've had to rededicate myself to the job. I have become complacent with it and thus got behind on my work. I have an opportunity now to stay out in front, be productive, and most importantly feel like I am creating something.

Of course that's not the only thing going on. Riley is growing by leaps and bounds. She's always been long but has packed on a ton of weight, she used to be skinny, not any more, she's a chunky monkey.

I'm still playing a bunch of sports. I have two softball leagues, with another one scheduled this fall. I've also signed up for a tennis team. I have to get evaluated by a USTA instructor on Monday. I hope that goes well, I have not played tennis since last fall, and my serve will be terrible I'm sure. I plan on getting some swings in on Saturday.

My weekends are packed for the next few weeks, I'm trying to film a new short film, and continuing to record Portland Men on Sports. I'm burnt.

2009 RFA Cup

This past weekend I played in my third Roofball event, the 2009 RFA Cup. Going into this tourney I wanted to accomplish a few things.
1. Have a score of 60 or higher.
2. Get back to the semi finals.
3. Never score less than 30 points.
4. Increase my average scoring per game to over 44 points, which would give me the record.

I drew the fourth spot, which means I would be throwing first in the second game of the day. Things could not have gotten off to a better start. My first two throws were arounds netting me 22 points with two throws to go. With one throw left I had 55 points I need a ping or better to get to 60 points, I hit the poll collected the ball and walked off the court with a 61 easily winning my game and what would turn out to be the high score of the tournament and the 10 highest score of all time. Goal #1 done.

I breezed through the second round as well netting a 42, not great but I beat my two opponents and got an automatic bid to the semi's. I was set up against a 2 and a 4 time champion and it was nice to beat them. Both are roofball legends and it was nice to win. And yes goal #2 done.

Before the semi's the announcers and I were talking when one of them told me that he was picking me to win the whole thing, right then I knew I was in for a battle. This happened to me last time and as soon as I heard it I lost, in the semi's.

The semi's started out well and I was leading going into the fourth throw. But then it happened, something that has never happened to me in a game before, something that I was very happy/proud that had never happened to me in a game before. I threw the ball it hit the roof once and bounced over...after announcing to the crowd my displeasure I retrieved the ball, but with 5 points taken off my score. I went to the throw the ball again and once again it hit the roof and bounced over. I couldn't believe it, rarely does the ball bounce over, normally an over is when the person sails the ball completely over. I came back for my next throw and only managed one point on a catch. With 4 throws left my time was running out I threw the ball and once again bounce and over. At this time I knew I would have to get arounds and get lucky. I was only able to manage one more ping to my score leaving me with a terrible 17 and of course losing the game.

So once again I lost in the semi's. The semi's seem to be my worst round even when I got past them in the US Open it was my worst round and frankly I was lucky to get out of it when I did. Goal #3 fail.

I totaled 120 points for the day which brought my average score down to 42 per game for my career, which means I did not reach my fourth goal. I was at 44.5 after my first two but that 17 killed me. If I had not thrown the overs I would have had a 32 minimum.

Having had a couple days to think about it, I’m not too disappointed in losing, just disappointed to bet myself. I’m trying to look at it this way I made it to the semi’s with six players left. Including a 6 time champ, 4 time champ, 2 time champ and a 2 time third place finisher.

Oh well. Next time I'm making past the semi finals and into the medal round.

Just another day

Got up about 8:30 this morning and threw on some crummy clothes and went to fill in at practice for the sand volley ball team. Not has fun as you'd think because the sand was more like dirt. But it was ok, got some exercise which I'm in desperate need of.

Afterwards I drove past the newly opened Pita Pit. I love the Pita Pit, and now there is one on the west side. I stopped in and got one for me and Bree. I came home and hung out with Bree and Riley before Bree had to go to work. She had to take some time off this week because Riley was sick and could not go to daycare. While she was gone Riley and I ate, played around on the floor and had some good rattle shacking time. I put Riley down for her nap, and she slept for about 3 hours, good kid. While she was sleeping I watched some TV including a Sci-Fi movie Ogre, terrible but that's what I was looking for.

She woke up and we played around some more. Bree called and we decided to meet at Costco for some shopping. I put some jeans on Riley and a top that I thought looked good, only later to find out it is a top for pajamas. Anyway while at Costco I found the new release of Punch-Out. One of my all time favorite video games has been updated and rereleased for the Wii. Good times.

We got home and I called in an order to the Olive Garden. I stopped by Target and copied some pictures of Riley, and then picked up the food.

Right now we are watching some Due South episodes (a Bree fav) and digesting our Italian food.

Dereks day off

With Bree at work it's just me and Riley today. Check out our plans for the day.

1. Nap
2. Play video games
3. Watch disc one of Entourage season 3
4. Go to Annies for a Coney Dog
5. Nap
6. Hook up the 8 bit Nintendo to a 42 inch screen
7. Vacuum
8. Nap

Teeth

Kid "Uncle Moe this soda is too cold my teefff hurt."
Moe "Oh your teefff hurt, well THAT'S TO FREAKIN' BAD, AND I'LL TELL YOU WERE TO PUT YOUR FREAKIN' SODA AS WELL!"

So Riley if teething right now. Her first one is on the edge of popping through right now. Poor kid, she normally sleeps through the night from 8pm to about 5:30am. The last few nights she'd been getting up at different times. Last night she woke up about 2:30 and we could not get her to go to back to sleep until 5ish.

Film update #4

Ok so it's been a few days now since the film was turned in. I won't now how we did for another 2 or 3 weeks. I don't expect much, one because I don't want to get my hopes up and two because I know the the flicks I do aren't fantastic works of art. I just hope it's received well and everyone gets it.

If you've seen some of the other films I've done you know that I use very few moving shots and almost everything is locked down. This is for a few reasons, one I have almost zero crew or talent which forces me to be in the film (which I hate) and two it's just plain easy. For those of you who have seen Citadel, you might have noticed that the shot selection is by far above what I normally do, this is mostly due to Sam Garr, my DP (friend who actually does this for a living) on the film. That being said I was happy with the shot selection in this one. We had three dolly shots two that came from me and one that Loren came up with (thank you Loren). Including a shot were we zoomed out and dollied in. It creates a very nice effect. I'm sure you've seen it on TV and in the movies. Basically the characters and the background seem to move in and out.

I'm in the middle of uploading the film but I'm not sure if I'll make it public yet. I'll let you know, and I'll put up another update in a few days.

Film update #3

Just finished editing. I'll throw it on a DVD and watch it again before I mail it off. I'll have a post up tonight or tomorrow with my thoughts feelings and all that stuff about the competition. Not sure if I'll put the vid up on the Internet until the competition is over.

Film update #2

Shooting is done. Much faster than I thought it would be. Is that good or bad? Anyway the footage is uploading right now. We worked around the rain, hopefully the audio works, lucky there is not much dialogue.

Film update

Last night we hammered out the script but the rain to day is putting a major kink in the plan.

Genre: Based on a Novel
Character: Shane/Shana Ledger -
Personality: Repressed, Feared , and a big-shot.
Prop: Ticket Stub
Line of Dialogue: "3 steps beyond, no further."

2009 Salem 72 hour Film Competition Day 1

So today starts the 72 hour competition for the Salem film festival. At 5 pm today I will receive and email with instructions to make a short film. The email will contain a required genre, character, line of dialogue and a prop. Some of my friends and I will get together and write the script tonight, film tomorrow and I'll edit on Sunday. I'll keep you in the loop.

Fav 80's movie

So at work we put together this little bracket. What do you think?

2009 Roofball World Championship

After my fantabulous 2008 US Open Roofball championship I was invited back this past Sunday to play in the 2009 Roofball World Championship. Going into the game I had some goals.

1. Don't make an idiot out of myself.
2. Get past the first round.
3. Get my name in the record books more than it already is.
4. Win

Well I accomplished my first three goals (at least I think I accomplished number 1). I made it to the semi finals. I breezed through the first two rounds scoring 50 and 57 points respectively. The score of 57 is tied for the 10th highest score ever in Roofball history. So that gave me goal #3. I was up by one point half way through the semifinal and that’s when the wheels came off. I recorded no points in the next four throws before getting 6 on my last. Of course I lost by 15. I’m not disappointed in where I finished I am disappointed in my performance in the last few throws. I hate beating myself. Now I have to wait until June when the 2009 RFA Cup will be held.

Last 4 days

Sorry been tired at night lately.

Monday

Did the work thing. Can't remember any specifics about the work day. At lunch I ran the DVD of Portland Men on Sports to the studio to turn in. I also brought my boss three autographed pictures of my roofball championship, one for him and one each for his kids.

After work I got home to a grumpy wife. She had a bad day with Riley. Riley was not overly fussy or anything she just did not want to sleep. This of course made Bree think A) Riley is sick or B) Bree has done something wrong.

After attempting to calm Bree down I left her with the kid (does that make me a bad dad?) and head to my basketball games, yep two of them. We were slaughtered in both. I did not play particularly well netting 5 points in the first game and 9 in the second.

I got home to the Breezer and I rocked Riley to sleep. I hoped on Facebook and created a new group for Portland Men on Sports. Then Bree and I joined Riley in slumber land.

Tuesday

Worked.

Got home and spent some time with the family. I received an email from Mary at TVCTV going over some future scheduling for my Lake O gig and found out that there was a meeting tonight that she forgot to schedule anyone for. By that time it was too late for me to get to the city council so she had to cancel the recording, I'm sure the LO folks are pissed.

Bree and I spent most of the night in front of Riley or the TV. Riley is starting to sit a bit with support and seems to like to sit forward and look at things.

Wednesday

Worked again, I know surprising. After work I went to Bree's place of business to get a hair cut. It's a strange place for me to be let alone get a hair cut. This is a nursing home where a large number of people have dementia. So as I say there getting my hair cut a lady in a wheelchair seemed to like me so she pulled up next to me and just stared at the side of my face. Strange.

After the haircut I got some grub to eat from Burger King. I'm not a big BK guy but I stuck with the grilled chicken, since I had a soccer game in a bit. I got to the soccer plex and ate my chicken sandwich in the car. I then talked my way past the security guard and into the bathroom area to change (normally they let you in but they had a big ceremony that night and were expecting some protestors and were checking for membership ID).

Bree and Riley showed up to cheer us on. We won the game and thus first place in our division 9-6. I rolled my ankle in the first half and played goalie in the second. After the game I realized how bad my ankle was feeling. I've rolled it plenty (see photos) but this pain was much worse than I have felt before. Usually the pain is on the outside of the foot. This pain was on both sides of my foot including the arch, and above the ankle. I could barley stand the drive home and could hardly move three of my toes. I got home shoveled some Aleve and iced the foot.

I got into bed, wrapped and elevated it but could not go to sleep because of the pain. I envisioned having to go to the ER and wait in that damn place, not to mention forking over $120 for the doc to wrap it and tell me to ice and keep it up. I finally drifted to sleep and then Bree woke me up getting into bed. It took me another hour of laying there before falling asleep.

Thursday

I got up and hobbled to the shower. Got ready and made slow progress down the stairs. Once I got outside I tried to put a bit more wait on my ankle. Surprisingly it felt better not great but better.

Throughout the day at work I walked a bit more and more. By the end of the day I could walk pretty good. I had Quiznoes with Loren and Philipp.

I got home to meet Jake on my front porch, he came over to view the footage of the branches he shot in December. He did not ring the bell for Bree since he thought that Riley might be sleeping. We got in the house and watched the footage. Joe showed up in the middle and unpacked his car for another stay at Weber Inn. Jake left after a bit.

Joe and I then went to mail a B-day package to my brother and pick up some dinner. We settled on Arbys while listening to sports talk radio talk about music. We got home chowed down and then Bree and I gave Riley a bath. I then attempted to feed Riley with the bottle. She did not care for it much so I just rocked her for a bit. Bree came up to feed her, and I came to the office to update this here blog.

Fat kid

I have always thought that once you have a kid you'd be in and out of the doctors office all the time. However I've learned that is not the case, hopefully. You get a two week appointment and then wait until two months. Well today Bree took Riley in for her two month appointment.

The kid who everyone sees now and says is so little as increased from 6lbs 13oz to 10lbs 9oz, and has grown 4 inches total to 24 inches long. Two feet. Heck that's half of what her uncle Nick is. OK not quite.

Anyway the Doc says she is doing fine and gave her, her second vaccine shots. To which she balled I'm told. According to Bree the needle is far to big for a human that small.

New Year

Well folks its that time of year, time to tell yourself once again that you can change. Time for resolutions.

I asked Bree what her resolutions were and she simply said "to be less lazy." I asked if that was it and she said she is keeping it simple this year.

I on the other hand have a few. I'm not sure if they are resolutions much less things I want to accomplish as a friend of mine said. Then again I'm not sure if there is much of a difference.

1. To become a good father:
One thing I have noticed since Riley was born is that you can't fix everything. I just want to be able to learn what she needs and be able to give it to her.

2. Continue to be a good husband:
Bree says I am, and I'll take her word. But I obviously want to continue to be there for her and give her everything she needs as well.

3. Re-design my website:
While Bookie Productions has gone through a few website revisions in its time, I feel there is a lot more that can be done. I have a few ideas but need time to do it and to gain a bit more knowledge on how to do it.

4. Make a film for the Salem Film Festival 72 hour event:
Basically they give you 72 hours to write, film, and edit a short movie. I did this competition in 06 and 07, I missed it this last year and would like to get another crack at it.

5. Make a web-esode series:
I've been kicking around an idea for a web TV show. I've recruited a friend, John, to help write it. He would also be acting in it possibly. The first episode is almost done from a writing standpoint. We are very loosely targeting February right now for filming. We hope to do about 10 episode a year. The episodes would be hosting on the bookie site and possibly played on local access TV. So if you know anyone who would like to be in it or help out on it drop me a line or send them the blogs way.

I'll leave you with a video of Riley's first stretch of 2009.