Calm in Chaos... on a Paddle

Getting lost on the beach with friends after a stressful Monday at work.

A lot of my interest in beach tennis stems from it's ability to help me get away from my daily thoughts and just be.  In all of the chaos that we deal with in our daily lives having this escape with the sound of crashing waves and sunshine has allowed me to be more calm in the face of stresses I deal with during the rest of my time walking around this crazy world.

I wasn't really looking for a new paddle... but at the same time I wasn't NOT looking for a new paddle.  A few weeks before my birthday I was browsing the interweb looking for some shorts and found myself looking at the Tom Caruso Website. On the cover page was there new paddle, the "zero".  The image caught my eye and the description by the artist and the company had me sold...

"The artwork is based on the company's philosophy, "free time is free, and that's it!"  It is inspired by the longing for the beach, sun, waves and freedom in a noisy, busy life in a big city."

-Shrijit Rajbhandari, artis

"In the lower left corner of the drawing we can see a character who expresses this wish (of free life) through a diagonal flow clearer than the sides.  Even if he is in the middle of a dark city center.  He flies with his mind transforming everything he sees into his ideal paradise.  Every little trace tells those passions that motivate us to face every new day..."

-TomCaruso.com

Artist's drawing on my new paddle.

... As much as I hate to admit it I am as vulnerable to marketing as the next guy or girl and this purchase is evidence.  While I didn't need this paddle until the company helped me realize that I did I can always carry with me the excuse that the accumulation of paddles will only make it that much easier to organize fun socials and evenings on the beach with friends that aren't hooked enough to buy there own.  So basically this whole purchase was a win-win... I now get to play with a paddle that defines my thoughts about the sport itself and I have one more paddle to share with friends.  

So I have extra's now... LET'S PLAY!

put a bird on it

Tilikum Crossing, Portland, OR

Over the past 10 years I don't know that a single person has ever said, "oh my gosh, Michael, you NEED to move to LA... you are SO LA!"  On the contrary I get the question, "Have you ever thought of moving to Portland?" about weekly it seems.  Often the question comes up in a conversation that has absolutely nothing to do with either travel or places to migrate to.  What's the deal?  I have often wondered why it's such a common theme and I suppose when you hang out with a lot of friends like this...

...hmmm... that one could be a little "LA" too I suppose which is confusing.  But for sure when you find yourself asking questions similar to these at dinner:

...and prefer biking over all other modes of transport, take the time to make single cup "pour over" style coffee every single morning, will only drink craft beer or no beer at all, and own a flannel for every day of the week, you (I) might be Portlandian.

The Deal.
A few months back I was looking through my credit card statements (Delta AMEX) and realized that I had a bunch of vouchers to use up and also a bunch of miles at my disposal as a result of having not used any over the past 4 years of exclusive spending on this card.  Having developed a strong sense of freedom and desire to travel close to LA I was able to get my old college roommate, Jeff Budish, to commit to meeting me for a weekend at my apparent Mecca.

The Timing.
I decided on this past week because it was my 32nd birthday last Wednesday and I've come to a point in my life where I don't really care about my birthday but realize that it's nice to time-stamp this space in time with some sort of diversion from the norm.  Also, last year my co-worker's subjected me to my first ever surprise party and inadvertently gifted me with PTSD for the foreseeable future... so being out of town was the best way to defend against that sort of non-sense.

The Couches.
When I road-tripped on my move out to LA I did not spend a single night in a hotel.  In Denver I stayed with several friends for a few days and in Seattle I stayed with a friend for a few days.  Besides those 4 or 5 nights of the trip I slept either in my car or on complete strangers couches.  Couchsurfing.com became this amazing network of some normal folks and some hippies that were willing to let me sleep on their couch for free as I passed through.  All that is really asked is that you be a good guest (no money is allowed to exchange hands).  As a generosity one usually helps cook a meal or supply a bottle of wine, etc.  Beyond that each experience varies greatly.  I was excited that Jeff wouldn't be arriving until a night after I was in town because it allowed me to reconnect with this community, albeit only for one night, in what I imagined being one of the best cities to couchsurf due to it's hipster dominated neighborhoods.  Things worked out smoothly and my host even sacrificed their evening to take me to a local dive when they found out it was my bday.  Friends were called, shots were taken, stories were told, and laughter was had.  Making new and unique friends in a random city was a wonderful way to spend my birthday and a great introduction into this city that I was quickly realizing was worth the wait to explore.

The following evening I checked into our airbnb and waited for Jeff.  When I was searching for places to stay I focused on 2 neighborhoods, SE/Ladd's Addition and Pearl District... the former being more residential and the backdrop of many "Portlandia" sketches and the latter being more of an urban or downtown feel.  I settled on the residential spot in order to make sure that I had to bike and walk as much as possible.  I didn't want to be too close to anything... except a coffee shop for early morning walks.  SE is green, quiet, and eclectic.  It felt much to me like a more expansive Linden Hills or Grand Ave./Highland neighborhood in St. Paul.  The shops themselves are more spread out through the neighborhood which makes me wonder how loose the zoning restrictions are in this city (late night food trucks take over entire blocks in the middle of quite neighborhoods).

Double doors with a movable table allowed for amazing cool evening reading/drinking/writing.

The airbnb we rented was all windows and surrounded by greens. 

I don't often take selfies.  But when I do they involve books, bikes, and beer... and not my face!

The Beer.
Portland is beer crazy.  Beervana as some refer to it is loaded with craft breweries and tasting rooms.  It is oft-ranked the #1 beer city in America mostly on the fact that it is home to 70 breweries... not counting their suburbs!  The sheer number of breweries creates an osmotic pressure into the community and you can't help but be swept up in the commotion.  There's beer (and cider) for all sets of taste buds.  And while beer aficionados can initially come off as pretentious, a little stroke of their ego can help them change their tone to be extremely helpful to newcomers on the beer scene.  This is key when exploring the beer menu for just the right thing at the local pubs.

Arrival dinner/drinks/blogging at an all gluten free micro-brewery... #onlyinportland

My favorite brewer of all-time, Deschutes... this pic taken from the bike parking lot in front of the main entrance...The perfectly placed beam of sunlight was an obvious call from above to enter.

The Coffee.
Because Portland is just a little bit of an undercover snobby town, and the fact that they have 164 rainy days yearly, they have a wonderful coffee scene.  I'm not sure how folks come up with these "10 best" lists that you see everywhere online and in social media but Portland is once again the usual #1 when it comes to coffee in America.  I had thought that the coffee was wonderful in Seattle and San Francisco during the small amount of time I spent in those cities.  During that time in my life I wasn't into exploring and learning about coffee when I was there so it's hard for me to compare.  I will say, though that anything "craft" in Portland is taken to the max.  Every coffee/breakfast shop I went to (10 in 5 days) had a different locally roasted coffee... that's insane!!  My favorite for sure was the Stumptown attached to the lobby of the famous ACE hotel.  It was a French Roast and was done as a "pour over" which gave it a big advantage since that's my favorite roast and my favorite process... but still, it was bomb, especially paired with a "kouign amann" pastry.

My kouign amann waiting to be devoured on the hipster table in the front lounge of Ace Hotel... this was my favorite coffee hangout of the week.

The BIKING!
Minneapolis is proud of it's growing network of bicycle highways and bike lanes.  Minneapolis is also where I learned to really love everything about the bicycle lifestyle so I'm a bit partial when discussions of great cycling cities come up... but bicycling in Portland is definitely a thing!  After my trip it has become obvious to me that the battle for bicycle supremacy in the US is real.  To be honest the race is too close to call but it's nice to know that it seems that both cities have had the right people in leadership to make it easier on bikes and mass transit users than they have on cars... let us hope that this trend of healthy urban development continues across other cities in the U.S. (especially LA).

My bike experience was the best.  I landed on Wednesday afternoon and took an Uber to a local bike shop where I rented a single speed for the next 5 days.  The guy at the bike shop fitted me to the bike and I was on my way.  5 miles and only 15 minutes later (that's a 30 minute commute by car in LA)...all by bikeway... I was at my destination... and so went the rest of my week.  Wake up in the morning and bike to coffee and read for a few hours, take the long way by bike to a lunch spot/brewery, bike home for a nap, bike to dinner, bike home, repeat.  Basically it was a foreshadowing of my life in heaven.

One of Portland's many names is "Bridge City" which reminded me a lot of Minneapolis and the bikeways crossing the Mississippi.

The Falls and The Ride.
On Saturday Jeff and I decided to have an adventure day.  I knew I wanted to get out to Multnomah Falls which I'd heard so much about and a bartender on Friday night suggested it to Jeff.  After breakfast at Broder's we walked back to our space and agreed that we were going to head there... but how?  I was set on this vacation being 5 days of biking only... and I wasn't sure that a 60-mile round trip bike ride in street clothes was something that I was up for.  We then decided this was such an important thing to see and that Portland is known for having such good public transport that as long as we didn't rent a car we could still feel good about it.  So, we Ubered out there with UberBike (an UberX with a bike rack... once again, Portland being SO Portland).  40 miles and $40 later were arrived to Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge.

Multnomah Falls

This is the proof that Jeff was with me in Portland... one pic... we are dudes and apparently dudes don't take a lot of pics while on vacation together.

We took our time on a 3 hour hike so we wouldn't feel like tourists hitting just the picturesque locales.  We were looking to get lost.  The hiking in the park was very low traffic and allowed us to easily disengage and enjoy the wilderness and then come out of the trance and dive back into discussions of life.

Natural misty filter on this pic of Upper Wahkeena Falls.

As we were finishing our loop, in true Portland fashion, a light drizzle mixed with steady rain began.  Knowing we had a 20-mile ride to the nearest bus stop we put the rain gear on, saddled up, and went on our way.  As we left I had no idea that we were about to ride on one of the most beautiful stretches of highway that I've ever been on.  I knew at some point through this lush green terrain along the river bed we'd climb, at which point we should have a spectacular view of the valley.  Unfortunately the rain increased and the heavy cloud/fog cover rolled in and visibility was minimal at best.  What I (we) didn't know that as we crested the highpoint of our ride we would come across The Vista House.  During the ride I was happy to  be riding in rain again as it reminded me of how hearty I truly am and how much I enjoy battling through the elements.  But, I was sad that we were missing out on views of the valley that I had been told were spectacular.  Then as I was in an internal pouty state we landed here...

Vista House at Crown Point... single speed accomplishment times 2.

... this unexpected piece of architecture was a good reminder, that it's not always about some far off goal that makes life worth living but that it's the journey, struggles, and gifts along the way to that goal... because what if we never reach our goal?  Was life then not worth it?  This was a welcomed reminder on this cold and rainy day.  Let's be honest if we open our eyes and accept the gifts given in life they can be much greater than what we could've hoped.

So, it's back to boring 70 and sunny LA.  I took a lot away from this trip on how I live my life and my immediate and future goals moving forward.  I'm thankful that Portland showed it's true self (cloudy and rainy) so that I could make a fair evaluation of all the pro's and con's it brings to the table if it truly a place I should consider making a final destination.  Holy shit "final destination" sounds way too permanent and scary... remind me to never use that phrase about a place to live!

Beach Tennis Post #2: Switch Hitting

My birthday blog... done in an hour while drinking a flight of gluten free beer in Portland.  #lifeisrough

"Goals are important.  Forbearance is also important.  But the very process of struggle is equally essential... Without it we cannot know any true meaning in our accomplishments."

-Deng Ming-Dao

This winter I started taking beach tennis lessons.  Thanks to Paulo and Krishna (my teachers/friends) I have had waves of breakthroughs and setbacks as I continue to learn more about this new game.  As with anything in life there is no actual "right way" to play (within a certain set of rules, of course) but there are definitely more effective and better ways to play.  Even more important is self-awareness in your own strengths and those of your partner so that the style of play you lean towards most effectively translates to success.  These lessons have helped me learn much more about the game as a spectator as well as player.  Watching a point now I feel that I am able to analyze and determine chances and percentages of success for certain shots based on player tendencies.  When I started playing, due to my reaction time, quickness, hand-eye coordination, and ability to read the court I developed a very defensive style of play.  If I was ever successful in a point or match it was because I would wear the opponent down and either force them into an unforced error because they grew impatient or put them into a position where they popped a ball too high into the air which allowed my partner to be aggressive/offensive and finish off the point with ease.  Here's an example of what I cannot do with my right hand (Beach Tennis Overheads).  I was/am what you would refer to as a grinder... ain't no shame in the game, as they say (do they?).  This style worked well but I felt my game had reached a plateau with no chance of improving.  Why not, you ask?  Because I was using my right hand to play, the hand I learned to play ping-pong with.  I spike a volleyball and throw footballs with my left hand.  I swing a bat and golf left-handed, play real tennis right-handed so that my backhand ground stroke is on the same side of my body as when I hit a baseball.  So... I'm a very confused racket sport athlete.

Why I picked up a beach tennis paddle with my right hand I'll never know.  I guess at the beginning it was easier to volley with and I had no perspective on how much I would need to use the overhead smash skill as I got to a higher level.  Also, I didn't think through if it would be easier to develop defense, blocking a ball smashed at your midsection, with my left hand (think of it as learning to play ping-pong with your opposite hand) or develop an overhead with my right (think of this skill as learning to throw a ball with your opposite hand).  Which would be easier for you?

Over the winter I trained and trained... and trained my right-handed overhead smash.  No matter how hard I worked I felt completely inadequate with my right hand.  Teams that were familiar with playing against me kept picking on me by lobbing the ball high in the air to force me to take a specific shot that I was not comfortable with and this became frustrating for me as well as my partners, I'm sure.  It was most frustrating to me because I knew how comfortable I was with overhead smashes if I could be using my left hand.

About a month and a half ago I reached a breaking point.  I spent an evening playing singles matches against Matt and as usual I couldn't take a single set from him.  He knows my game best as he is the person I partner with for doubles and also play the most singles matches against.  Over the past year we have played countless singles matches and I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never beat him.  We have played enough times and are at a reasonably similar level of play that it's mind boggling to me that not once have I gotten lucky or caught him on an off day.  I don't even need those things to happen, I really at some point should have beaten him, but it just hasn't happened, okay!?!  Well, anyway, after this last round of losses and a frustrating offensive showing for me in our previous tournament I was up late at night watching TV thinking about my lesson the following day and came to an epiphany... I am going to throw away the last year and half of training and switch to my left hand so that I can change my game from a defensive one to one completely dependent on my ability to be aggressive and smash the ball.  Yes, that's right, I lost sleep over this decision.

When I showed up to my next lesson and broke the news to Paulo and Krishna they didn't seem too excited, and why would they be?  Completely changing hands is crazy.  I think within the first half lesson, though, they saw my natural overhead motion and at least saw the potential to develop a game with my left hand... and they were probably also very happy to be moving beyond the incessant ambidextrous blabber that I was constantly subjecting them to.  Now my weaknesses have become my strengths and my strengths have become my weaknesses.  Once again I feel like a beginner and see a long road ahead of me until I return to the level that I felt like I was at... the exciting thing for me right now, though, is that the level I was at before no longer looks like a ceiling to me.  I am beyond happy right now to be learning, making new goals, and enjoying the process of struggling, opening myself up to failure and the satisfaction of true achievement.

...So yeah, I just posted that random thought publicly... and you read the whole thing!  As I reflect on what I just wrote I am having a hard time dealing with how I actually feel about it... not whether I'm lefty or righty, but that I took the time to sit down and write about it!  Should I be super depressed because I seemingly don't have other "more important" things to worry or waste my mental energy on.  Or, is it extremely awesome that this is what my life looks like at the moment!?!  Either way, it's what's happening with me.  How are you?