College Nationals

Hello.

I have not written recently and thought that I should make a new post and throw some fun photos into the mix.

As noted by Lori in previous posts, our trip to Idaho was great. Although it was only a long-weekend, we had fun while we were out west. The landscape and topography is vastly different than ours here in Ohio. There is so much to see in this world. I look forward to a return trip to see Kara and Ethan, and the chance to see more of Idaho.

To catch you, the reader, up to speed.....Lori and I had a fun filled weekend. On Friday, we took a personal day off from work to volunteer at College Nationals (Ultimate). As volunteers, our designated role was as official scorekeepers and statisticians. We used walky-talkies to radio in the scores of games every half-hour, halftime, and final score....which was then updated at HQ and on the WWWeb. The cool thing about volunteering at Nationals is that you get a great view of the games, while being an "official". I also got a chance to chit-chat with lots of nice people. For example, while I kept score during the Colorado / Texas game, I spoke with a number of Colorado parents who had flown out to see the games. Big crowd, nice people. The tournament seemed to be a success and was well organized. Credit to the poeps in Columbus. The fields were great and probably very nice to play on. Lori and I watched games on Friday and Saturday. The games seemed fairly spirited. I enjoyed watching Stanford, Colorado, Carleton for their offense and methodical nature (especially Stanford). Colorado has a great O-line with lots of height and speed. The tournament was won by Madison, WI who played tuff defense and likes to gamble on offense with the quick score big bomb, long game. I was not impressed with their spirit as much as some of the other elite teams that were in the quarterfinals and semis.

For all you frisbee nerds reading this, I encourage you to watch college nationals some time in your life...as well as Open Club Nationals. It is a great learning opportunity...frisbee speaking. College Nats. appears to be dominated by the big schools ie: Big conference schools with large enrollment. The exception would be Carleton college in Minnesota (where they have a huge intramural program of ultimate) and some of the East coast teams. Pitt who qualified again, can boast from benefitting from a great summer league program and high school ultimate leagues. I am guessing that if programs like OU want to get better, than they will likely have to have tryouts, an A squad and a B squad....and a better practice facility/grounds. The quarter system is also a drag and not conducive to the college ultimate schedule. I wonder how many teams at Nationals are on the quarter system. OSU for sure.....I will have to look into that one...



Friday night, Lori and I stayed with Doug and Gina who live in Delaware, Ohio...just a bit north of Columbus. We went out for pizza, which was yummy, and then a stop at UDF for ICE CREAM!

Zoe

This is a post about Zoe. She is one heck of a dog. Growing up I was a huge, huge snoopy fan. Now Zoe looks nothing like snoopy, but she rivals in coolness. When I was 6, I had a Snoopy tshirt that said "Let's face it, I'm cool". Zoe could model for this shirt. Maybe Zoe is the reincarnate of Snoopy. Who knows.

Kent had fun taking pictures of her while we were visiting in Idaho.

Our last day in Idaho

On Monday, Kara and Ethan had to work, so we met up with an ex-Athenian Kris and walked around the University of Idaho campus and Moscow. We enjoyed another beautiful day.
This is the administration building.

A tree lined path on the main campus.

Kris and Kent. We threw frisbee on the practice fields on the football team. The building in the backgroun is the indoor facility where they play football.

Our last evening in Idaho.

Idaho continues

On Sunday, we went for another hike. This time we focused on water. There was the lower, middle and upper falls. We were able to get rather close to the middle falls and it was intense. You did not want to fall in this rushing water. It was a pleasant hike with a lot of tree coverage and nice scenery, here are a few pictures.
Ethan and Kara at the lower falls.

Lori at the top of the middle falls.

After the hike we went a mexican restaurant (whose name escapes me right now). However, it was good. I had the vegetarian fajita and it had mushrooms and spinach along with the usual onions and peppers. mmmm...

Idaho!

Kent and I travelled to Idaho, last weekend to visit Kara. We had a great time as Kara and Ethan showed us the area. We arrived Friday night and still had a long dirve to Moscow, but it was a great chance to meet Ethan and get to know him. What else are you going to do for 2 hours but talk. We got in around midnight (3 AM for us east coasters!) so we didn't waste much time gettin' to bed.


This is the view from their front porch.


Kara showed us around their home Saturday morning.

The next morning (Saturday) we went into the town of Moscow to shop the Moscow Farmers Market. I always enjoy seeing markets of other towns and Moscow has an impressive one. Along with the usual fruits/vegetables and plants, they had arts and crafts. This added a different dimension to the farmer's market, as there was handmade clothing, wood products, photographers and other artists. There was also a band playing at the market. This was an interesting addition because the band was over to the side where there was seating and a mini playground.

After walking around town for a bit, we headed over to the ball fields where Ethan's son, Forest, was having a baseball game. Unfortunately we didn't have the big camera for this game (or Reed's for that matter, either). Kent could have got some good action shots. We watched the game, tossed the "bee" around a bit and then went for a hike when the game was over.

Kara and Ethan took us to Kamiak Butte (I think). It was a great hike. The wildflowers were in bloom and the sky was so blue. The weather was warm with a slight breeze. Perfect for hiking up a pretty big hill. When we reached the top we were treated to gorgeous views of the palouse (sp?) and other buttes. We saw a couple of hawks circling in the wind as we took it all in.

We had Reed's baseball game to go to, so we headed back down. After the game, we went back to house for a home cooked dinner (Yeah Kara!) with Ethan and the boys. Then we all settled in for a movie. An action packed day!

Primary Election Results 2007

The results are in! Kent Butler has won the city council position to represent the first ward of Athens, Ohio. He won with 60% of the vote. Right on! First Athens, then the world!!!
Here's Kent holding the ballot when we went to vote.

Look, it's for real! Kent Butler in black and white.

Thanks to everyone who wished us well in this endeavor. Also, thanks for your support.

Canoe !

Hello all!

Today Lori and I were blessed with wonderful weather and a happy tolerance for each other. Ya! We had a blast today.

Our moring started out with the two of us deciding to partake in a morning run. This is not unusual for Lori, for she often runs in the morning prior to work and chores. Me however, is another story. I hate running in the morning....and reminded Lori about that throughout our run. I need about 2 hours of awake time before I feel capable of accomplishing major goals and athletic adventures. Not Lori. She was pushing the pace, as I was dragging ass. Eventually, my mind felt alive. Then I just wanted the run over with because my body and mind were not synched up together....

After the run, Lori treated us to home-made pancakes. Yum! With good ol Maple syrup. We then decided to go for our inaugural canoe trip on the mighty Hocking River. We inherited my parents 17 foot fiberglass canoe this winter and have been anxious to get it into the water this spring. Lori packed a snack and some water along with our paddles and life-jackets. We threw the canoe on top of the Toyota truck, spotted a place on the map to "put-in" and off we went. Lori and I chose to go up stream first, considering that we might be a little tired on the return trip and would benefit from the downstream current as we became weary. During our upstream trip we spotted waterfowl, butterflies, and some mamal looking creature that was either an otter or a beaver. Lori thought that it was a penguin. I asked her if she had spotted any stingrays as well, but she noted that she had not. We were hoping for river shark, turtles, and catfish. But to no avail... Once we determined a stopping point, we pointed the canoe for land and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, our efforts to find a buried treasure was futile. Although Lori found an old pretty perfume bottle. We ate our snacks, talked politics, and skipped stones.

On our return trip downstream we saw a mama duck and her 10+ ducklings. She must have adopted some baby ducks or ran a Duck-day-care. We were amazed at how many little babies were following her around. As we got closer, they got faster. Those babies can really move when they spot danger.

Politicking

Kent enjoying a laugh with Athens citizen Mike Massey, student at Ohio University and resident on N. Congress St.

The sign to get for the 2007 political year.

Don't forget to vote!

signs, signs, everywhere there's signs...

And we have signs that say "KENT BUTLER for City Council". It's pretty sweet. I walk around town and see them up and it makes me smile. Plus they are green and white. OU baby! We ordered 50 and i think we have 10 left. We'll get those up today or tomorrow. Six days until the primary, so it's full go now. Kent now has 2 endorsements, the Athens News, and The Post. The Post is the student run OU newspaper so it was cool they chose Kent over a college kid. The write was good too. Check out the link here. http://www.thepost.ohiou.edu/articles/2007/05/02/opinion/19622.html

I haven't seen The Athens Messengers endorsement yet. So we'll see. Still it's all going well and we are getting alot of positive feedback from voters.