Pac-10 Week 10: Do We Have Separation?

For the past few weeks I've been making picks based on the theory the Pac-10 cannot be predicted. So far that's gone okay. I went 5-0 last week for my first perfect week in a while, putting me 43-12 on the season.

But we learned some things too. We learned California is a pretender and with their senior quarterback Kevin Riley out for the rest of the season after hurting his knee against Oregon State they didn't have anything left. Considering they weren't great in the first place, they may be lucky if they make it to a bowl game this year.

Washington is another school where the writing may be on the wall. Can anyone tell me how that team who was absolutely destroyed by Stanford managed to beat USC and Oregon State? This week they are without their quarterback Jake Locker as they visit Autzen Stadium; with Locker they have a shot anywhere, but without him they will be severely exposed.

Meanwhile Oregon State seems to be getting better every week, even on the defensive end, as they do every year. Arizona has also shown they don't miss much with quarterback Nick Foles nursing his own injury.

And SC? Well, they are still a dangerous team, but they just don't have the IT factor anymore. Maybe next year it will be back, but this year they are clearly vulnerable.

THE TIERS

Tier 1 - Oregon

Tier 2 - Stanford

Tier 3 - USC, Arizona, Oregon State

Tier 4 - California, Arizona State, Washington, UCLA

Tier 75 - Washington State

Oregon keeps taking the best everyone has to offer and spitting all comers out. Against better teams - like Stanford and SC - they stayed relatively even for a half before the speed of their game play just ran the other team out of gas. Stanford is still a clear number two, but the next group has split up a bit. It will be a surprise to me if anyone in Tier 4 makes a bowl game. Maybe the Sun Devils...maybe, but they need seven wins to be bowl-eligble because two of their four game from FCS schools (like the one #2-ranked Auburn is playing this week).

SCHEDULE

On to this week's schedule. As always, all game times are Pacific time, followed by the network and the pick. Also, the network and whether or not it's on TV is for Portland - some games may be televised regionally, so if you live in a home market, check your local listings. Rankings are in parentheses (AP, USA Today). The BCS rankings will be ignored for now (and no, not because of what they have done to Oregon).

12:30pm - Washington at Oregon (1, 1), ABC - OREGON
1pm - California at Washington State, Fox Sports Northwest - WASHINGTON STATE
4pm - UCLA at Oregon State (28, NR), Versus - OREGON STATE
5pm - Arizona (13, 13) at Stanford (10, 12), ABC - STANFORD
7:30pm - Arizona State at USC (30, *), Fox Sports Northwest - USC

* USC is not eligible for the USA Today Coaches Poll because of NCAA sanctions.

The Oregon pick is a no-brainer - that game is really how much will the Ducks win by. And yes, I did pick Wazzu, you are reading that right. I just don't think the Bears have what it takes for whatever reason, and the Cougars can be scrappy. This may be the Cougs' only chance at a Pac-10 win until they play the Huskies.

The Bruins simply aren't that great and the Beavers seem to get better every week. OSU is a little banged up, but it shouldn't matter. SC is going to have some frustration they vent on the Sun Devils.

As for the game of the week, Zona-Stanford, remember how previously I talked about how teams have to get lucky sometimes? The Wildcats are not lucky this season. They get Stanford and Oregon on the road after a loss at home to Oregon State, and they have the injury to Foles. The cards are just not dealt their way this year.

UNDEFEATED WATCH

As mentioned above, Auburn is playing a FCS team this week in Chattanooga, so a win is practically assured.

Boise State will play another team who is undefeated in the WAC in Hawaii, but at home they should run the Warriors out of the stadium.

The game of the week - maybe even better than the Zona-Stanford tilt - will take place in Utah where the fifth-in-the-BCS Utes will host the third-in-the-BCS TCU Horned Frogs. It's the last regular season game of 2010 that will feature two undefeated teams. The winner will have a shot at a BCS game, the loser will not, simple as that.

This game is at 12:30pm on CBS College Sports (meaning most people don't get it, and to me that means it's not in HD - lame) and I guarantee I'll be clicking over to it just as soon as Oregon goes up on Washington by three touchdowns. Maybe earlier.

MISAKI

Misaki is not impressed with the idea of a Bruin, so of course she is picking the Beavers.

Misaki: SQUINT!

Squinting is what her and the cats do when they are overly exasperated with human lameness. This was her response when asked if the Bruins have a chance.

Goose Island's 2010 Bourbon County Stout

It's been well documented in this blog, if you read the beer-related posts, that I'm a sucker for bourbon barrel-aged porters and stouts. Why? I honestly have no idea. I'm not a bourbon drinker and I don't go out of my way for bourbon drinks (though I have a couple in the cupboard, mostly for cooking with), but the flavors of bourbon I seem to love.

Bourbon caramel. Bourbon-infused whipped cream. Bourbon vanilla (which, yes, I know, is named for a place and not the drink - Ile Bourbon which is now Reunion and controlled by France off the coast of Madagascar). And, of course, bourbon beer - I'm all over it.

Last year I tried Goose Island's (based in Chicago) 2009 Bourbon County Stout and thoroughly enjoyed it. The chocolate, coffee, and caramel flavors of the beer were well balanced with the bourbon of the barrel. And while some beers of this variety can be lacking when it comes to bourbon, this one was definitely not.

I only had one issue with last year's version: the size. As you can see in this picture from Beer Advocate the 2009 version came in a 22 ounce bottle, which, for a beer that is 13% alcohol is one hell of a lot of alcohol. How much? Well, even though I spread it over two days, I could have sworn I wrote about it but apparently not. Hmm...

So if that's my only complaint, you knew I had to try the 2010 version, right?

Photo from Goose Island's page.

When it appeared at New Seasons last week in a 12-ounce bottle that sealed the deal - into the cart it went. How kind of Goose Island to address the only issue I had with an otherwise perfect bourbon barrel-aged stout.

Unfortunately I can't do a side by side taste test because I didn't pick up a 2009 to save - and, well, because I wouldn't remember anything from it anyway - but I do feel the 2010 version may be even better. The bourbon is prominent but not overdone. Fresh from the fridge the chocolate and caramel flavors were clear to me, but as it warmed up the coffee became a lot stronger.

The alcohol is still strong, but in a 12 ounce bottle it's not as overpowering. I cracked this for the Oregon State football game last week with full intention of hopping on the treadmill for the later Oregon game. Needless to say, after this bottle was empty that did not happen.

Bourbon County Stout is definitely a beer to be sipped, enjoyed, celebrated, and maybe even split with a friend depending on what you plan on doing the rest of the day.

But that's not all. Oh no - Goose Island apparently has more versions of Bourbon County Stout. Bourbon County Vanilla? Bourbon County Coffee? Rare Bourbon County? Yes, please, these I need to try. Unfortunately I'm not overly sure I'll be able to find them in Portland when they are released, since they are limited and may not make the trip from Illinois. Might be time to delve into the secondary market for beer...

I have to say, Goose Island's other offerings seem pretty tasty as well. I've had a Matilda before (and thoroughly enjoyed it), have another in reserve, and many of the others look worth a try as well. Citizens of Chicago, you have quite a gem on your hands. Goose Island also does sodas, something else I'm going to keep an eye out for.

Give it a try - I wholeheartedly recommend Goose Island, and plan on working my way through their entire library of offerings.

Feline Fight Night 2010

When our cats wrestle it can be quite disturbing. For one thing, they don't all seem to be playing by the same rules.

Lilo doesn't have claws but does use her teeth. Until she came into the house the other two never used teeth - now they do. Of course, she is routinely the instigator too, despite being half the size of Sera and a third of the size of Moochie.

Moochie, just chillin' on the table. Lilo, starting stuff with a push to the shoulder.

Moochie respects the fact Lilo doesn't have claws so doesn't use his own when wrestling with her. Sera respects nothing.

Lilo threatening a punch and bite.

Moochie, not to be outdone, using his claws a little bit.

Moochie won't use excessive force with Sera; she has no compunction about attempting to slash a throat with her own razor blades.

Despite the fact Misaki gives numerous growls as warnings and bares her teeth when the cats get too annoying, they pay her no mind. They honestly don't seem to think she is a threat to them in any way whatsoever, despite the fact she could bite them if she wanted (but she won't, because she's a good dog).

Misaki guarding her vast array of toys, daring someone to come close.

It's funny, also, how the fighting starts. It almost always begins with excessive cleaning of one cat by another.

Moochie cleaning Lilo's head in the sun.

Moochie licking Sera's ear. See who else is an instigator?

And evolves into this.

Sera does not look pleased at all.

Sera getting ready to turn the tables and draw blood, which she does quite often.

Of course, sometimes there are simple confrontations, but in the oddest of places.

Moochie causing trouble in our bathroom.

Moochie attacking by his bathroom. Isn't Sera's tummy pretty?

And sometimes, one of them will just kick back, crack open a cold one, and watch the show. As Mom and Dad in the house, that's what we do.

Lilo is the bump under the blanket Sera is pouncing on. Misaki just watches, patiently waiting to get her blanket back.

Moochie stretched out and batting at Lilo while Sera calmly waits for an opening.

Sometimes they will just choose to wrestle or menace a foreign object all on their own. Scary.

If those squirrels were this ball, Misaki would eat them all up!

With the level of violence in this house you would think they grew up playing Resident Evil. Maybe it's all the rap music.

Something They Don't Teach You in School

Have you ever been corrected on something you've done your whole life, something fairly straightforward and somewhat important, and your reaction has been just "I didn't know!"? And the worst part it seems like everyone else already knew? And perhaps you asked someone in your family and they just nod their head, shocked you didn't already know this?

This is how I feel about my furnace. Actually, this is how I feel about a whole litany of things, but today's topic is the furnace.

The furnace is one of those things just about everyone has, but think about: Has anyone ever showed you how to use and maintain it? Unless you bought the furnace new, or unless you needed some repair work and had a very helpful maintenance person, you probably just know it comes on when it's cold. That's how I am.

So when it doesn't come on when it's cold and something needs to be done about it, it's a bit frustrating.

That's where Wifey and I sat in fall the first year we had this house. At that point we had lived in it about 10-11 months, and this is also the point where I point out we had two cats and an Akita at the time.

Obligatory cute cat picture, Moochie and Sera curled up in the cat tower.

After looking through some ads and stuff we picked a furnace company out at random to come look at it. Our basic criteria was proximity to our home and could they come out the next day; so yeah, we didn't put a ton of thought into it, mostly because we didn't have anything to base it on anyway.

The furnace tech comes out and the first thing he asks us is have we changed the filter.

Me: Um...what filter?

Him: The filter, for you furnace.

Me: No. I was told it didn't have to be changed.

Now this is where I'm thinking the guy is crazy. We walked through this house with the previous owner and he told us clearly - Wifey remembers this too - some filter that was in the furnace didn't have to be replaced. Maybe it had to be taken out and hosed off once a year, but it was a permanent filter. This is what I told the furnace tech.

Him, eyeing my 20-year-old furnace: No, I don't think so.

This was said a little condescendingly, like I should know better. To be fair to him, he lives this stuff - something stupid having to do with a furnace is just going to be that - stupid. To me it's a lack of education or even knowing there is a lack of education so I know to go get educated. You can't possibly know what you don't know you don't know, right?

So I told him the story and the whole while he's just shaking his head. So he walks over to this handy slot in the main furnace vent, slides out a filter, and shows me. Sure enough, it looked replaceable to me. And it sure as hell looked dirty. I'm pretty sure he was disgusted.

It must have seemed pretty obvious to him that I was totally dumbfounded about this whole thing, because to his credit he took the time to explain to me about the furnace, how it worked, and how to replace a filter. Sure, it cost me $120 for the lesson, but to me that's money well spent even if I could have learned this stuff on my own from Google. Expensive? Yes, but I felt better for it.
So Wifey and I dutifully bought some new filters. We found Filtrete ones at Home Depot, bought ones specially to hold down allergens - hey, pet dander, right? - and started following the instructions to replace every 90 days. Or, well, around there for the most part.

Now you would think that would be the end of the story, that I learned what I needed to know to successfully maintain my furnace. Heck, that's what I thought too. You and I would both be wrong.

A couple years back we did have to replace the furnace - due to no fault of my own, thankfully - and the furnace tech at the time encouraged us to buy filters not as "good." Why? Because apparently with a high efficiency furnace like the one we bought a lower quality filter is actually a better idea.

And by lower quality, I'm going down the scale of Filtrete performance levels. I think we initially bought one from the "Best" section, so we scaled down to "Better". This made no intuitive sense to me - still doesn't - but as it was explained to me I actually want the filter to stop LESS things in the air because I have pets. The higher quality filter I have will fill up too fast.

To me that was completely weird, but because of cute bundles of fuzz like this one, we did what we were told.

Misaki, looking ecstatic because she's about to blow her coat through all the vents.

Now, that SHOULD be the end of the story, right? Yeah, it probably should, but it's not. Early this summer the central air conditioner stopped working. We called them up again (same company does both) and the first thing they asked, on the phone this time, was if we changed the filter. Yes, of course.

So they came out again and sure enough, it was the filter. I'm exasperated. Really? What am I still doing wrong? The tech told us we really needed to get the most basic filter possible, so against all of my intuition - apparently this sliding scale of furnace efficiency means the higher efficiency furnace you have the lower quality filter you need - we are now buying the most basic filter Filtrete offers.

But that's not all - oh no, of course not. This is a public service announcement to those who have pets and may not know this (however, I feel like I'm the only idiot in the world who didn't know this): If you read the fine print on the filter it says the 90 days they are supposed to last is a high end number. I suppose this shouldn't be a surprise, considering how we all know advertising is a vast wasteland of lies and unfulfilled promises, but still... The package goes on to detail all the different reasons you may have to change the filter more often.

Guess what the top factor is? Yep, owning pets.

So now we buy the cheapest filter, but we replace them once a month. No cost savings over where we were originally, because those filters were being changed every three months and cost about three times the price.

I think I've got this thing figured out now. Maybe. It's been quite a frustrating path - and costly - and it just drives me insane because it's so avoidable. At least, in retrospect it is. I still don't know at what point in my life I was supposed to learn all this magical information about furnace maintenance. Seems like when you buy your first home it should come with classes that would cover things like this.

But it doesn't, and you end up learning this stuff via trial, error, and credit card bills. Fun.

Munching Ate-Oh-Ate

Wifey and I really enjoy Hawaiian food. Heck, we just love Hawaii. That's why we got married there and have taken multiple trips to the islands. We love the food, both the fresh fish of the islands and the plate lunch-style foods.

So when the owners of Simpatica - one of our favorite Portland restaurants - opened a new Hawaiian restaurant, we had to go. One of the Simpatica owners is from Hawaii, so he wanted to bring the flavors and dishes of his youth to the Portland market.

Located on East Burnside, Ate-Oh-Ate (808 is also the area code of the islands) offers a menu full of all of the most well-known of plate lunch foods: loco moco, saimin, katsu, Hawaiian-style teriyaki and kalbi, and all sorts of other dishes that promise yumminess. It's a takeout or dine-in place where you make your order and pay at the counter, then they bring the food out to you.

It's funny to me how Hawaiian places generally seem to get little respect in the Portland foodie community. They go on about the use of Spam or the overuse of mayonnaise, or talk about how the teriyaki isn't like what a Japanese restaurant would make, when that only shows they are completely missing Hawaiian food. It's alternatively fresh and purely local - with fruits and fish - while at the same time all about convenience, with the spam and heavy mayo. It's also heavily influenced by Korean and Japanese flavors, but it's not supposed to be the same - they've taken those influences, applied flavors uniquely Hawaiian, and made it their own.

Because of that and the way people seem to approach Hawaiian food, I personally think many completely miss the boat when they pan a place. It's valid to say one doesn't like Hawaiian or doesn't like the way the dish has changed, but that's a completely different viewpoint. Don't compare it to Japanese or Korean, because it's not intended to be the same.

Okay, rant over.

Wifey has been wanting to try saimin - sort of a Hawaiian-styled ramen - for awhile, so that made one dish an easy order. I opted for the pork katsu plate.

The katsu plate came with housemade katsu sauce, a side of pickled vegetables, two scoops of fresh rice and a scoop of Hawaiian-style macaroni salad.

The macaroni salad was nicely balanced. Non-Hawaiians, such as us, tend to be turned off when the mac goes overboard with the mayo, but this one had plenty of creaminess without making you feel like you just ate a side of lard. The pickled vegetables were fine, a tad hot but not too much, but I'm not sure where exactly they fit in.

I really enjoyed the katsu sauce, even though it's nothing like any katsu sauce I've had before. It had a sweetness neither of us could place, something fruity. Was it berry? Or maybe pineapple? Not sure...I can see people either loving it or hating it though.

The pork katsu itself was just okay. The problem, I think, was the pork had been flattened too much, leaving it so thin that after it was breaded and fried the pork flavor was just about gone. This is a dish I've made at home, eaten in Hawaii, had at Japanese restaurants, Hawaiian restaurants - and never had it this flat. I really think it was just a mistake in the kitchen. It's unfortunate, because I liked everything else on my plate (well, the veggies, as I said, were just fine).

Wifey's saimin looked fantastic.

Strips of pork belly (in the picture's foreground), fish cakes (on the right), half a soft boiled egg, and a sprinkling of greens promised to be quite yummy. And they were. The red pepper added a nice bit of heat as well. The crazy thing? The entire dish smelled fishy, which is really odd because the stock isn't a fish base. And it didn't taste fishy at all - the fish cakes were that overpowering smellwise.

Each individual flavor was very good. The pork had a very nice crust on it, the fish cakes were light, the noodles as expected, but all together it seemed to be lacking. Perhaps too many competing flavors cancelled each other out? Maybe the stock wasn't rich enough on its own to bring everything together? Not sure. It was decent, but not necessarily something we would order again.

It might sound a bit like we didn't really enjoy our food, but I don't know that that would be the right takeaway. It was fine - each dish had positives and drawbacks - and we do plan on going back to try other dishes. The loco moco, the burger, the kalua pork, the kalbi beef short ribs - they all look good. We'll give it another shot; one visit isn't quite enough for me to form a complete opinion.

But yes, if the second time fails to impress, it's unlikely we'll go back.