Yes, i have to admit that it’s totally random and pretty damn cool at the same time.  Basically was supposed to have dinner with AK and Kiyonaga-san, then AK called to say he was bringing some more people and that Eric wanted to buy me dinner!!  Eric Clapton is in town touring… he and Hiroshi-san wanted to join in… so we all ended up at Hama for some delicious Teppenyaki.  Basically, in some way or another, they are all friends of Nike and from the Music biz and Tokyo 80′s scene.  Honestly, it all happened so fast that I just went with the flow.  And for thos who know me, I have a pretty firm rule of no fan pictures in situations like this – sorry.

But we had a seriously nice evening.  The guys told stories and I tried to play Fly on the Wall as much as I could but couldn’t help but chat it up a little (no surprise to those who know me).  Some highlights included:

• Talk about his Family, lovely daughters and life in his hometown in the outskirts of London.
• Exploring the prospects of possibly playing a gig in North Korea and how shady that can be.
• Movies:  EC voted for Walle in the Academy Awards and thought Benjamin Button was solid but a little over-rated.
• His love for a good suit, fashion and Hermes couture.
• What life was like touring now.  He’s in Japan for a month playing 11 shows.  His “friend” Mark Knofler, the guitarist from Dire Straits just played 60 shows in 60 days and is over 60!  Tough!

As i said, it was indeed a wonderful night.  He is such a nice, down to earth guy – as you’d expect.  I have to admit, in my work and life, i get to meet a lot of interesting people/celebrities/athletes … but meeting Eric Clapton was one of the more special one.  For god’s sake – he sang my High School Prom song – “wonderful tonight”.  Crazy!!!  Thanks AK!!

OK. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s been a really long time since i’ve logged any piece of my life here. There’s a ton going on that I truly don’t have time to explain, but needless to say i bought a loft in the pearl (ie. cool people area :). CHECK IT OUT!

Who would have thought… a portland winter wonderland.

OK. I know it’s definitely been a long time and I apologize. I’ve been swamped. Travel, work, life and more work. Since the end of August, I’ve travelled North America on a three week extravaganzaa… PDX to NYC to Boston to Montreal to LA to SF and home… what else? details? ok…

• In NYC I worked with the Nike team that launched the amazing LASER Project. Beautiful twists on AF1, Dunks and Cortez that hit the sneakerworld with an amazing exhibit at our 255 Studio space and a party at the Chealsea Art Museum for 1,300 of our closest friends. My first NIKE launch and definitely an experience. Read about it at CrookedTongues and see the Launch Product and Round2 at FreshnessMag.
• Then, on my way to Boston the Jetta totally broke down ON the Tri-boro bridge. Yes, right on the bridge, as in had to have a guy come push me down the hill. $1,000 later, all good and I was off to Boston to see Grace, Bonnie’s new puppy and all…
• From Boston, it was off to Montreal, CA for the first official meeting of FIREDOG TEAM GROOM 2003. Dinner, fine wine and the “sights” were part of the good time had by all!
• LA was a blast – BRANDCAMP! SF was the marriage of my favorite cousin Marina and her now hubbie Larry. Nothing much to report there except for excessive time in the Chicago O’Hare Airport!
• Got back and landed me a new Chica!! MK who rocks and towers over me at 6 feet! WooHoo!!!
• Back home on campus, we got a new team member – Kelly Kelly – who rocks and saves out butts everyday! thanks!
• The SF Girls came to visit us in PDX!
• Halloween came upon us and the NIKE Crew… AKA: Bumble Bee, Hula Dancer and Avril!
• In between of all this… WORK, WORK, WORK and more WORK. It’s all about personalization baby! iNDIVIDUALLY DESIGNED.
• Diddy Ran the City (in NIKE). Mel B. Strong with the man himself at NikeTown!
• Just before the holidays, made some time to get away with MK to the Wilkin’s Retreat at Black Bute. Fuckin’ far and over the mountain and through the woods… snow and all (chains required). A very relaxing weekend by the fire, reading magazines and chillin…

a lot more than this has been going on, but these are the highlights! pretty much brings up to the holidays. I finally got most of my cards out on time and a lot of gifts within the +/- 7 day mark! All the best to you all in the upcoming new year. Good Fortune to each of you!

Well Labor Day is upon us and the summer is winding down. There’s a bit of the chill in the air and the amount of daylight is just that much less everyday. Got to head down to Hood River before it good too bad and had a blast sailing. My first time on a sailboat – as I’m a jersey boy power boat kinda kid – and it was very cool. More of a journey than destination…

/ Captain and Skipper on the 3 hour tour

/ Ropes are very important!

/ Other’s competiting for wind

/ Meredith – the natural born sailor

/ Fatty drivin’ the boat

/ Mt. Hood off the bow

… and on the drive home, the perfect pee break location. Multanoma Falls! Here’s Meredith and I at the designated pose spot.

Trips to the river aside, I have to be honest… work is kickin’ my ass. Startups, Venture Capital, Fortune500 consulting – nothing has been this intense. Constantly trying to push the needle and drive something new. It’s getting a little out of hand and I’m truly afraid it’s going to affect the quality. For reasons I won’t get into here, today wa a particularly low point in an already dreadful week. But as they say in Navy Seal camp, “The only good day was yesterday.”

Central Oregon. What a place. A dichotomy of truths. Started off driving through the middle of nowhere in the darkness of night… orange car, non-white guy, sketchy on gas and without a drivers license. These are the stories that bad horror movies are made from. Hour over hour of darkness and truly not knowing if I was going the right or wrong way. Frightening.

I get there, the next morning I awake to a beautiful sun and a tremendous start to day 1 of the Greater Hoffman Open – a mini tournament of 56 holes of golf in 30 hours. We played Eagle Crest Ridge and Resort as well as Lost Tracks (signature rail car on 17 and inside). All in all, a magnificent set of golf courses and a great boyz weekend. I ended up going 92/93 on the first day and decreed that I would go low on day 2. After starting double, bogey, bogey – my luck turned and I went mini-enfeugo, turning in an 83 for the day!

And just to close on the dichotomy school of thought, this is what the pitch black, scary darkeness really was…

* * * * * * * * *

beautiful… but i truly live just outside of the middle of nowhere!

6 Inches. Have you ever hit a bill 629.5 feet to a hole in the ground, down a hill to come up just short. I did. The closest I’ve ever come to a hole-in-one. A gimme birdie on the 5th Hole at East Moreland. It was so close… next time :)

Happy Rowdy Birthday Wednesday Jenna. Ok, so it’s a couple days late… but nothing’s better than a mid-week pub night on someone’s birthday! It started with Meredith and I arriving late (as usual) to a pleasant dinner and ended at 3a looking for my big orange car (to no avail) and eating cheeseburgers at the Roxy! ugh… Take a look…

/ The Crew 1

/ The Crew 2 (gene with mustache)

/ Cara, the BDAY Girl and me

/ Travis and the BDAY Girl

/ Shantel and Jamie @ BAR XV

/ Me and Jon – BADASSES

/ Meredith and Stef Couchin’ It

/ Tracy, the BDAY Girl, Court and Marcel our Dope Waiter

oh, and who could forget the invitation…

What a freakin’ week. Exhausted but a blast. The highlight was by far roadtripping to Seattle to see Man U actually work their magic. Celtic vs. Manchester United. Seattle Seahawks Stadium. 65,000 fans. A beautiful night. 4 Goals. A wanna-be Streaker. Lots of trash talking. The game was amazing and the partying afterwards was out of hand – let’s just leave it at that. Needless to say that the night ended closing down Fado’s at 3.30a and driving straight back to Nike for a 7.30a meeting – ugh. Like I said, long days! Here’s a little look…

/ Backseat of the Roadtrip

/ At the Public Market

/ The Team

/ Ricky and Meredith

/ Intern Nicole with Brandi

/ Me and Jenna

/ MVP Ruud

GGGGOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Manchester United has been called the most storied sports franchise worldwide. They have the highest value for a sports club anywhere. They train more seriously than any club in football. They are feared virtually everywhere they go…

and they came to campus – just for us nike folk.

/ The Crowd

/ The Crew 1 / 2 / 3

/ Jamie all Smiles

/ Jenna and John

/ Me and Jenna

/ Man U. on the Big Screen

…once again. only at nike. cheers.