Coaching Clinic and Stuff on the Side...

I went to my first coaching clinic in a hotel at the Portland Airport.

I drove down on Thursday morning and got to Brad’s about 10:30. We were craving sandwiches and found out that Rosie’s is no longer in Hillsboro, so we drove to Forest Grove to see what was there. We went to the Grand Lodge and had burgers. The place was amazing. We walked around and looked at some of the history and the movie theater. The place has a disc golf course and we should have brought our discs with us because it was a beautiful day. 

We drove around a bit more before we headed back. I talked him into playing the Orchard 9 hole disc golf course. The first hole was really soggy and our feet got wet but the rest of the course was pretty decent. Brad made an insane shot on hole 4 and my mouth literally dropped when I heard the chains clink. 

Afterwards we went and chilled at home while we watched TV. We got hooked on the food network the last time I was there. My favorite show is Ace of Cakes.

The next day I drove to the hotel and registered. We were each given a bag of free things…score cards, catalogs etc. I met up with Hank and we just talked about random stuff until the first session started. I went to the National Sports Clinic and the guest speakers were Amanda Freed, US Softball Olympic Gold Medalist, Kristi Bredbenner, head coach at Emporia State University (Kansas), John Tschida, head coach at the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), Jenny Condon, head coach at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Mike White, head coach at the University of Oregon.

I learned a bunch of new drills for my infielders. I'm really excited for March 1st to get here so I can start whipping them into shape for the season.

For dinner we were on our own so Hank and I went to the Red Robin near the airport and I swear to god I saw Kristine Jones. I almost said hi but didn’t just in case it wasn’t her. I asked her later and it wasn’t her. I left the hotel around 9 and made my way back to Brad’s. I took a shower and went to bed because I had to get up super early.
The alarm went off at 6:15 to cowboy music. I zombied my way to the bathroom and got ready to go. I left around 7 and got to the airport just after 7:30. The first session started at 8. I had such a hard time sitting through the first lecture. I actually nodded off and jerked myself awake. I stayed until noon, when we broke for lunch. I didn’t want to sit through the pitching lectures. 

I met up with Starrla in Vancouver. We picked up some food at the Burgerville and went over to her place and ate. Her parents were there so I got to talk to them too, first time since July 2008. After her parents left, she took me to Vince’s business, which is an in-progress fitness center. We drove around downtown Vancouver, near the fort, went to Dodge City, a bar and grill owned by Cougars and she took me to WSU-Vancouver. 

We went back to her place and stayed until about 6.  I got to meet her dog Tango.

I drove back to Hillsboro and we had the pizza Brad mail ordered from Chicago. It was some good stuff. 

We just chilled on the couch for a bit until we went over to Jen and Seth’s to revive a computer. The computer could not be revived at that time. We played the Xbox and the Wii for a bit until about 3. Remember I’ve been up since about 6:30 that morning, I was struggling. We went back over to his apartment and played Rock Band for a bit and then he put on a movie and I had to go to bed even though I really wanted to stay up and keep him company. I gave up around 6. 

I got up about 11:30 and packed my things up. I put them in the car and then said bye to Brad because he had to sleep to go to work that evening. I got home about 2:45 ish and watched some NFL.  Good times. 

Next Adventure:  TBA