Ahhh... it feels as if springtime has finally arrived in our fair Pacific Northwest. I mean, yeah... we will are still guaranteed to have wet and rainy weather for the next four months (interspersed with moments of warm sunny clarity), but the flowers are all a bloom, I've put most of my snowboarding gear in the basement, I'm wearing short gloves on my daily bike commute, I've got softball games now on Sunday afternoons, outdoor soccer on Thursday nights... and it seems as if people are finally starting to come out of their winter hibernation.
Speaking of cycling, softball and winter hibernation.. that is one great thing I love about my little Portland community. While I have plenty of friends that I see week in and week out throughout the year, there are some friends that are simply, more often than not..."sporting friends", meaning... you only really "see" them when you are both engaged in the same sporting activity. Be it telling jokes as you both struggle to crest a seven mile hill climb, congratulating them on a nice hit as they round third, or lamenting over a cold beer about what a bitch the goal keeper for the other team was... you enjoy seeing these folks every new sporting season as it shows that while somethings change (teams, gear, sig others), many things stay the same. You can count on seeing their friendly faces and engage in conversations until the weather turns cold, the skies turn a murky grey, and then the snowboard comes back out. The thing is, you may never get into really deep meaningful life spiritual conversations with these friends, but seeing them out there having fun week after week, is sometimes better than a quick conversation. Just seeing them enjoying themselves and smiling, lets you know that things, life... can't be all that bad for them (or you either).
So, needless to say, I feel as if my summer community is back in the swing of things (literally), and on top of games, races and beers, there is a whole summer of backyard barbecues, cornhole, and camping to plan and look forward to. Smell that in the air folks? .... That's the smell of fun!
Anyways, my softball team the Brewhers, is sponsored by local microbrew giant Rogue. And, in return for their generous donations to our program, we've agreed to volunteer our time in events that they also sponsor. Which means, throughout the year, you can find your friendly Brewhers Softball team manning taps at beer fests all over the city. Not only is that in itself a reason to shell out a few pennies... but, there is beer involved!!! It's pretty much a win win for everyone, especially the volunteer pourers! Pretty much after our shifts (as licensed OLCC servers) end... we are given beer. Free beer, lots and lots and lots of it. Take for example this past weekend my teammates and I volunteered at the Firkin Fest, which was held at the Green Dragon. Pretty much, the room was full of 20 or so kegs from various Oregon Breweries; HUB, Double Mountain, Rogue, Lumpoc, Pelican Bay, Bend Brewing, Bridgeport, Nikasi, Deschutes, Laurelwood, etc... to name a few. (Excited about seeing Double Mountain IRA as a keg, I immediately ran over to pour that all afternoon, and let me just say... I was pretty popular!!!)
After my shift was over, we were given our tickets and it was almost as if your eyes glazed over with choices... oh, where to begin? First of all... let me preface by saying I had gone on a nice little bike ride that morning and had a little snack before I ran off to serve at 3pm. We were also promised food during our shift, so I didn't feel the need to really eat prior. However, during our shift they ran out of the "promised food" (hot dogs, make that kobe beef hot dogs)... So, not only were we thirsty for the beer that we had been pouring for the past three hours... we were hungry too. However, the drinking started before the consumption of food did and by the time my half of mac and cheese finally arrived, I think I was already three 8oz servings of room temperature Black Stout/IPA's into the wind (aka... getting drunk).
I had a great night and the warm beers kept flowing for as long as I had free beer tickets (thanks to my friends who kept putting them in my pocket). Somewhere along the way I lost a few games of shuffleboard, met some nice folks from Seattle and talked bikes, ran into one of my Bridgetown Velo teammates, peed in a parking lot after hopping some railing, and left with all intentions on going dancing... but alas... ended up in my nice warm bed some how at the end of the evening. Apologies to my gf for any amount of PDA she had to endure and to my full time friends and teammates who graciously, keep me laughing all the time (and also to the Green Dragon, I'm sorry for not cutting off that guy sooner who ended up knocking over the keg of Pelican).
Let the good times roll ya'll, spring has finally arrived!!!!
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