Once upon a time you wouldn’t catch me dead watching any sort of sporting event, live or televised. (Well, except maybe for figure skating.) Give me the name of a professional team and I couldn’t tell you what sport they played, much less the stats of their star player.
This continued through college. Like many of my liberal arts classmates, I resented the hell out of the sports program because it seemed like they got a lot more money and attention than the rest of the programs. The turning point was my senior year when the men’s basketball team made it to the NCAA finals. All of a sudden there were media teams from all over the country descending on our little campus to learn more about the Cinderella team, and it was difficult not to get caught up in the excitement. Our studies slacked off. We took team spirit pictures with the Bing statue. The campus dive bars overflowed more than usual on game nights. It’s amazing the university president didn’t cancel classes the day after being eliminated from the tournament.
I still can’t tell you the players’ stats or how to determine a penalty, but I have fun watching them play. It’s very important to get tickets to see their annual “grudge match” against UP. Sometimes it seems like there are more GU than UP alumni in attendance.
I’ll be cheering the team on at the game tonight — GO ZAGS!

Mr. Rogers’ Sweater Drive
To celebrate the good feeling of being a caring neighbor, OPB is again partnering with the Children’s Museum, OMSI and United Way to host a Mister Rogers’ Sweater Drive.
The drive takes place January 24-March 6 with collection boxes at OMSI, the Children’s Museum and in OPB’s lobby (OPB’s lobby is open Monday through Friday 8AM to 5PM). Contributions of used sweaters in good condition are welcome. Sweaters will be distributed to local organizations including Community Action, Transition Projects and Clackamas Service Center.
Please help spread the word — last year we collected about 3,000 sweaters!

Spanning from classic rockers through heavy metal and grunge with a side trip in the spandex laden land of the hair bands, Bigger Than Jesus gives a glimpse of how deeply music affects the life of a young man. Very impressed by the powerful performance of Rick Emerson who takes the audience with him through hell and back guided by some rather unlikely spiritual influences. Bet you never thought of Robert Plant, Jon Bon Jovi, or Axl Rose as guardian angels, huh?
The show is running through next weekend at the Imago Theater – I highly recommend it!
Small world alert: Turns out Rick is the DJ who hosted the festivities before the Richard Cheese show I attended on Halloween. His photog took much better pictures than my camera phone did.

Jeans too casual.
Skirt too dressy.
Black too dark.
Colors too bright.
Blouse too kitschy.
Shirt too boring.
Shoes impractical.
I never know what to wear on a first date.
Update: The date went *really* well. I wore my black glow-in-the-dark Church of Elvis T, black pleated catholic school skirt, black funky patterned fishnet stockings, black mary jane docs, and a black hooded cardigan. It turned out to be the perfect thing to wear. She’s right, black’s never too dark.

Watch out! She’s experimenting in the kitchen again! I’ve noticed that I have a lot of random stuff hanging out in my fridge and pantry, so I’ve been setting challenges for myself to see what I can make using only the materials on hand. It’s pretty fun. I’ve been trying a lot of alternative desserts lately. There’s a vegan dessert bar sort of like a rice cereal treat made by the Buddha Belly Bakery that is absolutely to die for… yum!
Ingredients
7 pieces of toast, chopped into little cubes (about 2 1/2 cups of bread pieces)
2 cups vanilla soy milk
Egg substitute equivalent to 4 eggs
2 shots Cuaranta y Tres (Licor 43) liquor
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
Finely chopped bananas
1 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 325 F. Mix egg substitute, soy milk, liquor, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg until well blended. Pour over toast and bananas and toss well.
Bake for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.