I grew up in Montana so I was used to the snow, ice, and cold. When you live in very wintry conditions for 3-4 months out of the year, you learn that life keeps going, and you just work around the snow. I had a similar experience when I moved to Portland. It rains all the time. You buy a rain coat and umbrella.
Not being one to let the weather get in my way, I have found this past week in Portland almost unbearable. Never in the 10 years I’ve lived in Oregon have I experienced a winter like this. Occasionally there is a day or two of snow and ice but then we go back to our normal temperate rainy season. This year, that is not the case. It started snowing last Sunday and the weather has been miserable ever since.
I don’t mind the snow and can and will drive in it, however the conditions here are a bit extreme. Anything that isn’t an arterial road is not plowed or sanded, sidewalks are not cleared and no one here knows how to drive in the snow. After a week of this insanity, I have cabin fever. I do my best to get out, but everything is so much more difficult than it should be.
For example, this afternoon I decided to make the 10 block trek to the gym. Normally this is a non-event. However there is snow everywhere and trying to get me and my snow boots through a minimum of 6 inches of snow for 10 blocks is exhausting. I felt like I got more exercise walking to and from the gym than I did while I was there for an hour!
Part of the problem is that Portlanders are not prepared for this kind of weather. It happens so rarely, why would most people here have snow gear? When I started thinking about it I realized that people don’t even own snow shovels to clear sidewalks. There are 4000 miles of roads to clear here and only a handful of snow plows. I enjoy a brief snow in Portland, but this is getting ridiculous.
Now of course even getting home for Christmas is becoming an issue. With major interstates shut down, I have purchased a plane ticket home at the last minute. Now even getting out of here on a plane is becoming a challenge, with most flights being canceled. It’s not even that I want to be home in MT for Christmas all that bad, I really just need to get out of Portland!
In my mind, global warming would have actually been warm and included fewer blizzards in Portland. And until this darn snow melts, I am destined to be attached to my pink snow boots. Sigh.
December 21, 2008
December 8, 2008
Oh to be a Beaver Fan
I wore a new orange thermal – not my usual white long sleeve T. As the Beavs were getting killed in the Civil War (the big rivalry football game against Oregon), this is the thought that ran through my head. Having played sports growing up, I understand superstitions as the athlete, but this was the first time it spilled over to me as a fan.
About two years ago, I got sucked into the world of college football – namely Oregon State football. My guy friends all had season tickets, and since they had extras, more often than not I found myself spending my weekends in Corvallis. This year I bought my very own season ticket and joined in the insanity that is being a Beaver fan.
For the most part, being a Beaver fan is like being in an abusive relationship. They have had a number of bad (ok, terrible) seasons, but the last few years have been exciting to watch. This year, after starting the season with three losses on the road, they beat USC in the second most exciting game I’ve seen them play (the first being when they beat USC in ’06). From that point on, the Beavs controlled their own destiny – win out and they would go to the Rose Bowl. This is the part where the abusive spouse is on the wagon. Things are going great, and you really believe that this time, they have changed. In the back of your mind, you’re still expecting the worst, but as your team keeps winning the memory of prior beatings starts to fade.
With dreams of spending New Years in Pasadena, it was finally time for the Civil War. Where against my better judgment, I decided to switch up my usual game gear and added not only an orange thermal, but also an orange vest (instead of the usual black). And then it happened . . . my team fell off the wagon. Hard. It was like a sucker punch to the gut for 3 solid hours. With visions of palm trees quickly fading, fans were quick to blame themselves. All around me I heard fans berating themselves for wearing a different hat or for wearing black instead of orange or for wearing a new t-shirt instead of the one that had brought the team luck earlier in the season.
And thus the cycle begins again. As fans, we’ll cheer for the Beavs during the Sun Bowl, buy more orange clothes as the college football gear goes on sale, and wait anxiously to buy our season tickets once again next spring. When August 2009 rolls around, the memory of Rose Bowl hopes will have faded and we’ll start the caravan back down to Corvallis in hopes that this time, this year, this team will not hurt us as they have in the past. And next year I will not be switching my game outfits.
About two years ago, I got sucked into the world of college football – namely Oregon State football. My guy friends all had season tickets, and since they had extras, more often than not I found myself spending my weekends in Corvallis. This year I bought my very own season ticket and joined in the insanity that is being a Beaver fan.
For the most part, being a Beaver fan is like being in an abusive relationship. They have had a number of bad (ok, terrible) seasons, but the last few years have been exciting to watch. This year, after starting the season with three losses on the road, they beat USC in the second most exciting game I’ve seen them play (the first being when they beat USC in ’06). From that point on, the Beavs controlled their own destiny – win out and they would go to the Rose Bowl. This is the part where the abusive spouse is on the wagon. Things are going great, and you really believe that this time, they have changed. In the back of your mind, you’re still expecting the worst, but as your team keeps winning the memory of prior beatings starts to fade.
With dreams of spending New Years in Pasadena, it was finally time for the Civil War. Where against my better judgment, I decided to switch up my usual game gear and added not only an orange thermal, but also an orange vest (instead of the usual black). And then it happened . . . my team fell off the wagon. Hard. It was like a sucker punch to the gut for 3 solid hours. With visions of palm trees quickly fading, fans were quick to blame themselves. All around me I heard fans berating themselves for wearing a different hat or for wearing black instead of orange or for wearing a new t-shirt instead of the one that had brought the team luck earlier in the season.
And thus the cycle begins again. As fans, we’ll cheer for the Beavs during the Sun Bowl, buy more orange clothes as the college football gear goes on sale, and wait anxiously to buy our season tickets once again next spring. When August 2009 rolls around, the memory of Rose Bowl hopes will have faded and we’ll start the caravan back down to Corvallis in hopes that this time, this year, this team will not hurt us as they have in the past. And next year I will not be switching my game outfits.
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