When I made my last blog entry, I was sitting in a beautiful
room at the Sheraton Hotel in Milan, Italy. Currently, I am writing from the
Valley River Inn in Eugene, Oregon. The contrasts are immense, but both have
their own beauties. 
Since I returned home from Italy, I have worked on dealing
with the time change. For some reason, maybe it was the late arrival at home,
but I have had the toughest time dealing with jet lag this year. It is a
problem I’ve never experienced in the past. Perhaps it’s just the doldrums of
returning to work affecting me.
I’m currently in the Pacific Northwest for two different
sporting events. First we are going to see Rutgers vs Washington State play football
in Seattle. Then my friends and I are going to the Mariners game on Friday
night. And on Saturday, we are coming back to Oregon to see the Ducks host
South Dakota. It should be a fun time. Today we toured the Oregon campus with
Steve’s brother who is doing a doctoral fellowship here. It is a place of
wonder for a person who loves nature. We made sure to see the legendary Hayward Field, where Prefontaine ran, and Nike shoes were sort of invented.
