New Music

Over the break, I have had some time to record and write a little. One of the things I have challenged myself to do is to make recordings of all of the songs that we (the guys in Serus Victoria) never had the chance to get into the studio and record. So here is the first one...Shades of Color. It's definitely a love song that describes how you can love a person so much that you can't think or see straight.

I have also been able to do some work on my drop.io/portermusic site. Hopefully the changes that I have made will make it a little easier to navigate and get songs. On it you'll find new studio and demos of songs and even some of my favorite old SV songs. I'll also be posting lyrics to all of the songs that are on there (for those of you that like to know all of the words, help me make changes to lyrics, or just want to sing along :). Enjoy!

To get to the site, click here.

OCD! ARG!

A while back (I don't know when this all began...probably when I married Alli :) I began to become very meticulous about keeping things organized. First was all of the DVDs. There are "our" DVDs (all alphabetically ordered and numerically ordered by series), and my DVDs (Anime has a section all of it's own and is alphabetical, and there is a kung-fu area that is organized by actor and by release date). Then there are my comics (alphabetical and numerically ordered). And my games (All nice and neat and in their own box or case, which are usually organized by teams). Lastly, with all of this snow and major rearranging for future baby, Alli asked me, "What are all of those binders for?" They happened to be binders full of cards for a game called VS, which were already organized by set and number). And with the simple words of "Can you clean those up?", Alli created a monster. I know, I know. How can you organize them even more if they are already in binders and sets? Leave it to me to turn something easy into something completely difficult. So I proceeded to take out every card, place them in teams, by points, in alphabetical order and then put them back into the card sleeves, leaving no spaces in between to save as much space as possible. Needless to say, I now have this calm feeling just knowing that everything is now in it's right space (and changed from 8 binders to only 4 - Ha!) Here is what it all ended up looking like. I hope you're happy now, Alli.

Christmas Break Comes Early

People who live in other parts of the world, who know how to function during snow, must be laughing their heads off at us Oregonians right now. Today marks the fifth snow day in a row. In my mind, when the word snow day is said, I picture huge piles of snow. But here, all it takes is a little ice and schools close. That's all good with me. That just means that my Christmas Break officially started today. Yipee!

All I want for Christmas is...

Meat smelling body spray! That's right. Burger King has just released it's holiday scent...FLAME by BK. It's a meat scented body spray that's there for you when you think to yourself, "Hey, you know what? I really want to smell like a flame-broiled Whopper right now." (Feel free to insert your own play on words here.) I guess this is good for those men who are dating carnivores, but what about those who have vegetarian girlfriends will be out of luck. All I know is, if I can look as good as the King does in this picture when I'm his age, I won't need any meat-scented mojo-helping body spray to get my wife's attention.

Snow Days and Mixed Feelings

First of all, it's freaking cold up here. On Sunday morning, it began to dump snow on the greater Portland area and dropped down to the twenties over the last few days. Sunday was beautiful, but it came with some problems. Not only did Alli and I miss church, but we also were not able to go see My Name is Bruce on Sunday night. Bruce was even going to be there to talk about the movie. We even had tickets. ARG! Darn you, snow! But shortly after being disappointed with the missing of the movie, I was soon overjoyed to find out the Monday, and also Tuesday, School was canceled. Early spring break! Sweet. The only real problems is that it's still stinking cold. Brrrrr.

Things Sinking In

It's an odd thing to go into a doctor's office and finally get introduced to your child.  Sure, you get to see them in that initial ultrasound, but at that point in time the baby only looks like a little blob.  But when you actually see a little person in there, you can't help but be amazed.  Then there is that moment of shock where your brain actually snaps back into reality and you realize that the little, squirming baby on the screen will be here soon.  That's what this week has been like for me.  I think this is probably how it is for all men.  Since we can't feel the baby moving in the first half of our wife's pregnancy, it's all very abstract and out there.  Also, when you don't know the sex of the baby, the child is in the strange phase of being an it.  

Now "it" has been changed to "he" and everything is sinking in.  We can begin to settle on a name for him.  We can plan what his room will look like.  And now we don't have to take boy and girl hand-me-downs and wait to see what we're going to have.  It's also cool knowing that the family name will be passed down to yet another generation of Porter men.  Sure, life will change because he'll be in our lives, but at this point in time I really can't think of anything more awesome than what life will be like with him in our lives.  To say I'm excited would be an understatement.

Three words...

IT"S A BOY!!!

To see pics, click here.

Fresno Trip: Part Two

So to keep things fresh and fast, here are some pics with four word captions of what happened in Fresno after my grandfathers memorial service. All in all, it was really tiring, fun, and fast.

Mimi got engaged...

I toasted to them...

Met Jamie's dog, Lucy....

Hung with Jamie's kids...

Held Abi and Ethan...

Saw the Rojeski Family.

12:45 A.M. Scott, tacos, doughnuts...

Saw JT, Ash, & Quinn...

and Edo-ya with friends.

Unmet Expectations

Last night I went over to a friends house to watch the big de la Hoya vs Pacquiao fight.  All week long, all I heard was that the fight was going to be spectacular.  So of course one can't help but have high hopes.  Sadly, it didn't pan out how they predicted.  In eight rounds, de la Hoya was pounded and looking pathetic so they threw in the towel.  The more frustrated we all got, the more I began to think, "When was the last time I saw a good boxing match?"  Sadly, I don't think I could think of one in the last ten years where I was dazzled.  Granted, I don't have the means to watch boxing all that much, but on the other hand I've seen plenty of MMA events that have left me speechless. 

So, with that in mind, do you think that the sport of boxing will ever live up to the hype that they try to create through promotions?  Sadly, I don't think boxing will ever be what it used to be... well known fighters or available for the masses to see (not via pay-per-view).  

Arg!  I hate being let down. :(

Red Devils Keep on Winning

It's always a good thing when your team continues to win.  Manchester United not only won in their last home game against Manchester City, but also moved one step closer to the top of the table due to  Liverpool tying and Chelsea being beat by Arsenal.  This is also great for the fans, since this means that there is only a difference of 9 points between the top five teams (and Man U only 6 points away from the leader with a game in hand).  There is nothing better than having a tight run at the top of the tables.

Other Soccer News:

• Even though he brought the Black Cats up to the Premier League over the past few years, "The Skipper," Roy Keane, exits as coach to Sunderland.  The Black Cats have already begun a search for a replacement.  No news as of yet on who they will try to put in his place.  We'll miss you Roy.
• Argentina's golden boy, Carlos Tevez, must be tired of riding the pine.  In his last game he was put in as a starter for the first time in a while and scored 4 goals.  My guess is that he wants to make it a point that he should be a starter for Man U.  On another note, Argentina will definitely have a good squad this upcoming World Cup.
• Arsenal lose in the Carling Cup.  They must not think it's that important to win considering they only put in their scrubs to start.  Oh well.  Man U on the other hand, won and advance to the semifinals.

Pics of the Fresno Trip, Part 1

Grandpa's Memorial Service

All of the cousins were able to finally get together.

Three generations of Porter men.

Mom, Dad, Jamie and the kids and I were all at the service.

Jamie and I.

Later, at Grandma's, I got to try on Grandpa's old uniform. Pretty awesome!

We also dressed up in some of Grandpa's hats and had some fun with Grandma.

All in all, it all adds up to great memories.

Happy Turkey Day!

Hope all of you had as much fun as I did. Happy Thanksgiving!