i want to post ...

Our computer isn't exactly working right now. When we plug in the AC adapter to charge the battery, it will only charge when I push it in as hard as I can. Obviously it needs to be repaired.

I want to upload pictures from our X-mas sweater party, but I can't. You will all have to wait to see the pics. Sorry.

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone enjoys their holiday season and has a great New Year.

feels like winter

It has tried to snow twice already in the last few weeks. The flakes have come down, but they haven't stuck. I love the snow and I am ready for it this year. It has been a long time since it has been cold enough in Portland this early in the winter for snow. I hope that means we have a nice white winter. I can remember as a kid going sledding during "snow days" off from school. We used to get a significant amount every year. That seemed to stop when I was about 12. Ever since then, winter means rain, clouds and maybe a slight dusting of snow that was gone about an hour after it landed. I want a real winter this year.

I'm bad at this

I am not sure why I am so bad at updating this thing. I guess sometimes I think that my life isn't interesting enough for anyone to want to read, and other times I wonder if anyone even reads it (only a few people comment). It isn't necessarily that nothing is happening in my life, I just forget to write about them.

Since I last updated you all I got more work done on my tattoo, I went to Seattle for about 5 hours to watch the Seahawks beat the Chicago Bears, Thanksgiving came and went, and as of yesterday Ally and I have known one another for 5 years.

hell yes!

I'm super excited about Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, and Sacha Baron Cohen? Sounds good to me. I don't think the singing will ruin this one at all. At least I hope it doesn't.

without further delay

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since I've written something on here. I apologize to everyone (or maybe anyone) that has been waiting patiently for an update on the things that happen in my life.

I can't say that I have a good excuse for not writing a blog in so long. I have several excuses (I have been working long hours at work, I have been spending my weekends watching football, etc.), but none of them really explain why I can't take a few moments every now and then to write a little update telling you all what I've been up to.

Several things have happened since I last wrote.

A few weekends ago, Ally and I went to Salem for my 10 year high school reunion. I have mixed feelings about this. There were several people there that I hadn't seen since graduation day that it was legitimately nice to catch up with. However, 10 years it turns out, is not a long enough time for the cliques to have completely dissolved. There was a clearly defined "jock table" that was full of people I didn't like then, and obviously still don't. Or at least I wouldn't like them if I had to see them on a regular basis. For the most part though, I'm glad that I went.

The weekend after that, we had our Halloween party. There was a significantly smaller amount of people attending this year as last, but we had fun and got drunk none the less. It's always fun to see everyone's costumes as well as to watch everyone start out the night saying no to jello shots, only to partake of several as the night progresses and they have had more and more to drink. It is significantly less fun cleaning up after the party, but in a reversal from last year, Ally felt fine the next day and I didn't, so she did most of the cleaning.

The fall weather has been quite extraordinary. The rain died down and the leaves have been beautiful. I'm sure this will change soon, but for now it's nice to be living in such a beautiful city with so many trees.

For all of you that didn't want us to move to the East Coast, it looks like the real estate market has granted your wishes. I am looking for a used pickup as a second car, and Ally is looking to get into hair school. So for now, it looks like we are planting our roots for at least a while longer.

this might have been coerced, but it's all true

I never really write blogs about my family. I don't really have a good reason why I don't or why I haven't yet. It's not that I don't like my family. In reality, I love my family. As a matter of fact, I think I like my family now more than I ever have before. Unfortunately I don't see my family as often as I probably should.

My Mom lives just south of Portland in Tualatin, and works 3 blocks from my work. We have lunch every once in a while, and even run into one another now and again while walking through downtown. I am proud of my Mom for standing up for herself and making a career for herself in an industry that has a reputation for ageism. She's a good role model, and I can credit a lot of my finer personality traits to the way she raised me.

My Dad lives in Texas. I've never been to Texas, and the only place I've ever desired to visit in Texas (Austin) isn't really very close to where he lives. Luckily my step-mom LaNora, and my sister Adriane live southwest of Portland in Sherwood and my Dad comes to visit quite often. I think I might actually see him more now than I did when he still lived here. I feel like I missed out on much of Adriane's youth, and I have been trying to be a more involved brother. I can't believe she's a high school freshman already (my 10 year reunion is in a week), she grew up so fast. LaNora has done a great job of raising her, she's a smart girl. My Dad has also been really good lately at giving me advice over the phone regarding things like cars, finances and life in general.

My brother Jesse lives in West Salem with his wife Roxanne and their kids Aidan and Addison. My brother and I had a pretty standard relationship growing up. He's older, so he picked on me and fought with me and I tattled on him and cried when he hit me. In the last few years though, we have bonded on a much closer level. We may not have a lot in common, but I know he's always got my back. Roxanne is a great sister in law, a great wife and a great mother. She's a lot of fun, and she's always been great to me and Ally. Aidan and Addison are two of the cutest kids ever. Of course I'm biased since they're my nephew and niece/god-daughter, but really, you should see them.

autumn

Somehow we missed the usual Oregon summer where it will stay hot and dry basically from July until the end of September. The temperature has dropped significantly and the rain has returned. Autumn is my favorite time of year. I love the colors of the leaves, I love the brisk air, and I love the fog. However, I think I also love Autumn because it is a welcome break from the heat and sunshine of summer. It reminds me that I live in a state that enjoys all 4 seasons instead of a place like Arizona where seasons are just different variations on "hot as hell". The fact that our summer was filled with overcast days and a decent amount of rain makes me not really ready for the Autumn quite yet. If nothing else, I could really do without the rain just yet.

promotion

I took a promotion at work. I am now the docketing supervisor. I get my own office and a bunch more responsibilities. I am excited and scared at the same time.

a nice day for a bike ride

Saturday was a beautiful day. The sun was up, the weather was warm and Ally and I both had the day off. So, we decided to take a bike ride. We rode all over town, returning home 5 hours after we left. We were probably riding our bikes 2.5 - 3 hours of that time. Using Google maps distance calculator, we rode over 15.5 miles. Not bad for 2 people who rarely ride bikes. It was a lot of fun, but our bike seats definitely hurt our butts.

what a show!

Last Friday I went to the Crystal Ballroom to see Gogol Bordello. They are a gypsy punk band from New York. I have been casually listening to their music ever since I saw Everything is Illuminated, in which the lead singer plays a very funny character. I had been hearing about the band and their raucous live shows for a few years, so when I saw they were coming to town I decided I couldn't miss it. The show was great! I don't think that I have had that much fun at a concert in years. The band is amazingly tight and entertaining. The entire venue was packed with people, and every single person was jumping up and down and dancing for the entire 1 hour and 45 minute set. I will definitely go and see them again, and I highly recommend anyone to go see them when they are in your town.

pics from the coast

view all of the pics here

the beach - day 2

Yesterday we woke up and had the continental breakfast here at the hotel. The sky was cloudy and it was a bit cold, but we weren't going to let that stop us. We got ready and headed out to Depoe Bay. It is a short drive, maybe 20 minutes, but by the time we got there it was sunny and hot and I was regretting wearing jeans. At least I was wearing flip-flops. We looked at a few of the trinket shops, but once you've been in one, you've been in all of them. We crossed the highway to the sea wall where we could see a gray whale just off shore. We went into the whale watching center where they had binoculars and we watched the whale spout, surface and flip his tail in the air. After a while, we went back to the car and drove a little ways farther south to Newport. In Newport we went to lunch at the Rogue Brew Pub and had some delicious food and beer. After lunch we walked up and down the bayfront where we eventually became mesmerized by some sealions who were basking in the sun and arguing over the best spots on the docks. We then headed slightly north to the Devil's Punchbowl, which isn't that impressive in the summer when the waves aren't very big and at low tide. About this time we got a call from Toby, whose band Almost is Nothing was playing a show in Newport. The "show" was in the parking lot of a CD store, and just before the show started it got cloudy, cold and misty. After they played, the cops shut down the show (not surprisingly) so we left back to Lincoln City and had dinner with the guys in the band and then went back to the hotel and went to bed.

at the beach

Ally and I are in Lincoln City for a short weekend vacation. So far it has been really nice and relaxing. Yesterday we went to the outlet mall and bought some new clothes. Then we went to our hotel and checked in. We went to eat at a pizza place up the street and then returned to our hotel room waiting for the sun to set. We walked down the stairway to the beach where we shared a bottle of chianti and watched the sun set. After that we went to the pool and swam and relaxed in the hot tub. After a bit of time relaxing in our hotel room we walked down the beach with a six pack of PBR and joined some people at their bonfire. Most of the people left and we sat around talking to 2 really nice almost high school seniors drinking beer and enjoying the fire and sea air.

It was a great day.

Super Funny

Tim and I just saw a free screening of Superbad and it is quite possibly the funniest movie I've ever seen. I laughed really hard pretty much from start to finish. Seth Rogan is one of the funniest guys ever. This movie and Knocked Up prove that he should write every comedy for the rest of time.

date night

Ally and I had a double date night last night with our friends Jeff and Jen. It was fun. We went to dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant, Thai Thai 2, and then went to dessert at Papa Haydn's. The food and the desserts were delicious, and the conversation with friends was nice.

Slye and Silke

Jason Slye was in town for the weekend because his girlfriend Silke was leaving for a 4 week trip home to Germany followed by 2 weeks on the East Coast. Poor Slye is going to be so lonely. We spent Friday night with them at Tugboat Brewery. I was surprised that I had never heard of this place. We always avoid downtown because of the crowds and pretentiousness. This place was relatively empty, lacked any pretension and made some pretty tasty British-style ales.

I had a tattoo appointment on Saturday, after which I went back home and rested since I knew Slye was going to still be in town. That night I went with Jason to see his friend Nat's band Derby play at the Doug Fir Lounge. They are a pretty good pop rock band with quite a following (I wasn't expecting the place to be so full).

Sunday morning, Slye and I went to get breakfast. Afterwards we watched TV for a while while Slye nursed a hangover he kept insisting that he didn't have.

It was nice to see Jason and Silke again. It had, unfortunately, been far too long since we had hung out.

studying

I have been studying to take the GRE exam so that I can go to grad school and get a master's degree. I started out worried about the math section the most, but now I am most worried about the section that tests you on your vocabulary. Some 0f the words in the book I'm using to study are weird and difficult to memorize.

if I lived in Springfield

I might look like this

BBQ

Come celebrate Bastille Day with us!

We're having a barbeque this Saturday, July 14th. All of our friends are invited. We will be buying hamburgers, hotdogs and some chips. If you want to eat anything other than that please bring it along with beverages of your choice. We're hoping to start around 5 pm. If you can make it, please RSVP so we know how much food to buy. If you need directions to our house please email me.

Oh and really we're not actually celebrating Bastille Day but if anyone wants to wear a beret, a funny mustache or any other item that screams French pride, please feel free.

sea-at-hole

I went to Seattle last weekend to finally see Adam and Shannon after Adam's accident. It was Shannon's birthday so it worked out well that I had a free weekend.

Highlights of the trip include (but are not necessarily limited to):

* finding out that Adam is not letting a silly thing like a broken back slow him down

* trying to go to a Mariners game only to find out that all of Canada came to Seattle to see the Blue Jays play and therefore there were no cheap seats left

* eating a fish burrito the size of a human infant

* eating a Gyro with french fries inside of it

* watching "Rob and Big" and laughing my ass off

owwwww

I spent 4 hours yesterday getting the water colored on my tattoo. It was painful. The water is mostly on my inner arm, in the "ditch", close to my armpit and on my elbow. These are all sensitive parts of your arm.After about 3.5 hours, I actually started to feel queasy for a moment. I feel like such a wuss.

Now I'm just trying to let it heal. My arm is sore and I have to do most things with just one arm. It was very difficult to sleep last night.

It's all worth it though. The water looks great. I'm excited to get more work done, although I'm starting to think it may take a while to finish. I need to save more money.

tired

I have been unusually tired lately. I don't understand because I have been sleeping about the same amount as I usually do, but when I get home from work all I want to do is fall asleep. Of course I don't fall asleep because it is way too early, but I definitely feel like I could fall asleep. I fell asleep on the train on my way home from work yesterday. That was weird.

another walk

Ally took the car to work today and I am home alone. I got bored and decided to use the fact that we need dish soap as an excuse to take a walk to the store and take some more photos. I would like to point out that not everything in my neighborhood is trashy, it's just the trashy things that catch my eye. It's easy to make something beautiful look good in a photo, it's more difficult to make trash look beautiful.

more pics here

a walk around the neighborhood

I went for a walk the other night at dusk. The light was great as the sun was setting and I wanted to take advantage my 50mm f/1.8 lens. I love the shallow depth of field and the ability to shoot in low light that I can get from the lens.

see a few more pics here

a weird coincidence

First off, let me give you a bit of a backstory.

My sophomore year of college, I lived with Joel Young and Brent Patterson in Eugene. There were these 2 guys that lived across the street. Their names were Ian and Jeff and they were from Idaho. They always had lots of friends over, including a guy named Sean and a girl named Kristen (or whichever spelling she uses). I wouldn't say that we were all close friends, but we all got along and hung out pretty often between our two houses. Later on I ended up having a few classes with Sean since he was an art student as well.

Okay, fast forward now to last night.

Toby invites us over to his sister and brother-in-law's house for a barbeque. I feel sort of weird about it, because I generally don't like to impose, but we go anyway. As we walk out on to the back porch, Toby introduces us to his sister Kristen .... the same Kristen that I used to hang out with 9 years ago! She recognized me right away with a friendly, "Hey I know you!" How odd that Toby and I have been hanging out for the last year and half and have become pretty good friends, and I never knew that I used to be friends with his sister. Her husband grew up with the guys from Idaho that used to live across the street from me, and their friend Sean was at the barbeque too.

It just proves how small Oregon is. There is a real 6 degrees of seperation in this state.

It was fun catching up with everyone and hearing what they've been up to over the years. Even if I hadn't known these people before, they were all really nice and we had a really fun time.

New ink

I started my new tattoo. 3 hours of needles and the line work is done. In 4 weeks I start adding color.

Tim Jordan at Optic Nerve in NE Portland is the artist.

more pics

quitting

I'm currently trying to quit smoking. I haven't completely quit yet, but for the last few weeks I have only been allowing myself to have 1 cigarette a day. It's been easier than I thought. Don't get me wrong, it has been difficult ... just not as difficult as I thought it would be. I was definitely grumpy the first few days. I'm hoping that soon I can cut down to less than 1 a day. Perhaps only 1 a day on the weekends. Then, I'll just stop from there ... hopefully.

a scary start to the weekend

I got a text message from Shannon Friday morning, as I was getting ready for work, telling me that Adam had been in an accident and broke his back. It really freaked me out. I haven't had to deal with tragedy very much so far in life, and I'm not really ready yet. I was so worried that I called in sick to work and waited patiently for more news and information.

When I heard back from Shannon, I found out that Adam had bought a motorcycle, and due to inexperience driving one, accidentally ran it into a parked car. Just another reason for me to never want a motorcycle. I would drive a scooter, but nothing with more than 150cc engine in it. That is just scary to me.

It was easy to assume the worse, especially being here in Portland while he was in Seattle, and getting my information over a cell phone. Ally and I went to the florist and ordered some flowers to be delivered to his hospital room. Shannon did a good job of keeping us up to date on what was happening. I started to worry a bit less everytime I talked to Shannon. I'm not sure if she was staying calm herself, but she did a great job of keeping me assuaged.

Adam had surgery that night, and afterwards was fitted for a brace. Shannon tried to send a picture mail to my phone, but since I don't pay extra for that service I had to be told that it was a picture of Adam standing on his own. Knowing this made me extremely happy. I would rather that my friend hadn't had to experience this, but at least he won't be paralyzed. He's a tough guy, and I'm sure he'll recover quickly.

Now, how do I convince him to stay away from motorcycles?

Year 2 begins now

Ally and I have now been married for a year. Our anniversary was yesterday. We're officially no longer newlyweds. It amazes me how quickly a year can fly by.

workin' for the weekend

I am excited about this weekend.

Friday night is the Mastodon, Against Me!, Cursive, and Planes Mistaken for Stars show. It's going to be AWESOME! Four great bands, all of a different genre of rock music. It might end up being the greatest concert of all time.

Saturday night we plan on going out with friends for some drinks, which is almost always fun.

Sunday is me and Ally's 1 year anniversary. We don't really have any plans yet, but I'm sure we'll have fun.

weekend recap

I've been getting over a cold I picked up on the airplane on the way back from NYC, so I decided to take it easy Friday night. A few beers and only a few cigarettes. I was in bed earlier than I've gone to bed on a Friday in a long time.

Saturday consisted of cleaning and organizing. After Ally was off of work, I took the train to her work and met her there. We headed to Optic Nerve so that I could put a down payment on my next tattoo. I came up with an idea a while ago (viking ship), and I had found an artist I really liked (Tim Jordan). While there I paid for Ally to get her nose pierced. She'd been mentioning wanting it done for a long time, so I figured it was as good of a time as any. After we left there, we went to Tube for happy hour and to say hi to Clarissa who had just returned from NYC the day before. We went home after a few beers and stayed in for the rest of the night.

Sunday morning I got up with Ally and took her to work. On the way home I stopped at Trader Joe's and picked up some groceries. I went home and made myself breakfast. At some point while making breakfast, my back started hurting really badly. Like a pinched nerve or something. It pretty much ruined the rest of my day. I sat on the couch most of the rest of the day since that hurt just a little less than moving around. I did make myself go to the grocery store to get the things I didn't get at Trader Joe's and I drove to Ally's work to pick her up, but that is about the extent of my day. When I tried to go to bed, my back hurt no matter how I laid down. I had to use a heating pad in order to even bear the pain enough to fall asleep.

My back still hurts a bit today, but not as bad. I wish I knew what caused the pain so that I can avoid it in the future.

it's a hell of a town

Our trip to New York was a lot of fun.

Looking back on it now, it's hard to remember all of the details. I'm sure I'm going to leave out a bunch of important facts. I'll tell you what comes to mind now as I type, and let the pictures embellish the story. There are a lot of pictures, so you'll have to check out the picasa page (click here) to see all of the pics, good and bad. Ally is also working on a blog of her own so that you can get her side of the story too.

Day 1:

Our red-eye flight made us zombies as we arrived at JFK around 8:30 in the morning. We found our way to the subway and tried to stay awake on the ride in to the city. We finally arrived at our friend Camille and her boyfriend Kendall's place in Nolita (North of Little Italy). Ally and I took a nap, from which I awoke first and took a short walk around the neighborhood in search of coffee. After I returned to the apartment, Ally woke up, and Camille returned we all headed out to McSorely's where we enjoyed the beer, the history, the 150+ years of beer soaked wood and dust on the chandeliers. After that, we had an amazing pizza and headed to a few bars. Eventually Ryan Liebe and Camille's boyfriend Kendall met up with us. After beer and skeeball, we called it an early night (sort of), but not until after we picked up some Pommes Frites and devoured them as if they were our last meal.

Day 2:

Our second day we were greeted by the sun. The weather in the city was at the start of a week of temperatures hovering between 70-85 degrees. Ally and I roamed the city checking out a bunch of shops and heading into Brooklyn to see Liebe's apartment and his dog, Leroy. We eventually met up with our friend Becca at a bar that had skeeball and a free personal pizza with every $6 beer (which is cheap for NYC even without the pizza). After a few beers, Ally and I headed back to the apartment to take a nap. After the nap, we called Becca and learned that she had fallen on her face and skinned it pretty badly. So we were only able to meet up with Liebe. The three of us went to a few bars, but being a Friday night in NYC, it was difficult to find a bar that didn't have a line or was completely packed. Ally wasn't feeling great, so we parted ways sort of early and went back to the apartment.

Day 3:

Saturday was Ally's birthday. Our friend Kristy came down from Connecticut. The three of us had lunch and walked down to Canal street in China Town in search of blackmarket goods. We were brought into a locked room in a building that seemed abandoned where we found a fake Coach bag that Ally got as a gift for a friend. We had reservations at Les Halles for 6, but with Becca's face getting worse she and her boyfriend Kit had to back out. We found our group of 6 cut down to 3, so we headed to Park Avenue, changed the reservation, and had a few drinks at a bar up the street. Dinner at Les Halles was excellent. The portions were surprisingly big, the food was delicious, and the ambiance was great. My pan seared scallops with caviar was delicious. After dinner, we met up with a bunch of people at a bar called Hop Devil where we celebrated Ally's birthday. After we left there, the group sort of broke apart and the few of us remaining walked around the East Village looking for a place to drink. The last bar we went to sucked and it sort of ruined the atmosphere of the night so we all went home for the night. Back at Camille's apartment, Ally and I were woken up around 3:30 by Camille and her friend Greta. They were wasted, and Greta had just fallen and hit her head in the elevator. I was afraid we were going to have to take her to the hospital.

Day 4:

We were woken up in the morning by Camille and Greta who were both amazingly chipper. They wanted brunch, and so did Ally and I. We walked for about 15 minutes to a place that had an awesome southern style brunch. For $10.95 I had coffee, a beer, cornbread, potatoes, 2 buttermilk biscuits, 2 sausage patties, 2 fried eggs, collard greens, and cheesy grits. It was all really great. After brunch we headed to Central Park where we sat by the lake at the Boat House and had Mai Tais, Screwdrivers, and a delicious cheese plate. I think the previous night finally caught up with Camille and Greta so they parted ways with us and Ally and I went to the Natural History Museum. We found ourselves extremely worn out so we returned to the apartment. Camille ordered cheesesteaks and onion rings which were delivered in. After we ate, Ally and I headed back to Brooklyn to meet up with Tyrel's friend Dan Hart. After spending every night in the city, it was refreshing to head out to bars that reminded us of home. Dan took us to bars that were dark, had cheap cans of beer, blasted loud indie and punk rock, had games like a man-made minigolf course (complete with a PBR windmill and a robot), a photo booth, and a shot of whiskey with a chaser of spicy pickle juice. When 4:45am finally rolled around and the announcement in the subway stop told us it would be 18 minutes before the next train showed up, we decided to take a private car into the city. It was expensive, but it was worth being back at the apartment that much quicker.

Day 5:

We woke up the next morning, okay maybe it was the afternoon, pretty hung over. We forced ourselves to wake up, since we had planned to head out to Coney Island since we wanted to see the amusement park before the company that recently bought it demolished it and built condos in its place. We ate a delicious lunch of pasta with Vodka sauce, which we probably under appreciated due to our hangovers. Once out at Coney Island, we played some games like skeeball, rode the rollercoater, walked on the beach, and ate world famous Nathan's hotdogs right at the source. We headed back to the city and treated Camille and Kendall to dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant as thanks for giving us a place to stay for the week. After dinner, we headed back to Brooklyn to meet up with Liebe, his fiance Corrine, Dan Hart, and Tyrel (who had flown in froma business trip in Germany). We ended up at the same bars as the previous night which proved to still feel like home, but unable to live up to the fun of the night before.

Day 6:

We woke up on our last morning in town and packed up our stuff. We headed out towards China Town again in search of gifts for our close friends. After we had picked up our gifts, we headed towards Becca's work in midtown so that we could have lunch with her now that her face was feeling a bit better. On the way there, we walked past Michael Stipe (unfortunately our only celebrity sighting). Liebe met up with us and the four of us had dinner at a Thai restaurant in Hell's Kitchen. After lunch Liebe took us through Time's Square and shared a last beer with us. We parted ways with Liebe, went back to the apartment to grab our bags, hailed a cab to Penn Station, rode the Long Island RR to to the airport, and headed back home. We had had a lot of fun,but we were ready to get back to our own bed, our own shower, and most importantly, our pets.

we're back

It's late and I want to sleep in my own bed for the first time in nearly a week. You'll all have to wait to see pictures.

finally!

In about 6 hours, Ally and I will be on a flight to NYC.

We're both pretty excited. It's been hard to wait for this day to come, but it's finally here.

I'm looking forward to so many things. Pizza, skeeball, bars that stay open until 4am, friends, Pommes Frites, and Les Halles to name a few things.

I'm sure the time will fly by, I hope we make the best of it. For now, I need to run a few last minute errands and get packed.

Catholicism ... wow

On Saturday, Ally and I went to Keizer to see my niece get baptized. I am now her godfather.

I was raised going to church, but not a Catholic church. The only time I had previously been to a Catholic mass was for a wedding.

I am in no way religious, so going to a church felt pretty weird. What made it even more weird was just the nature of Catholicism. I feel like Catholicism has more to do with tradition than actual faith or spirituality. Most of the things that I find creepy about religions were all part of the ceremony. It's as if "things" are more important than god. The priest kept kissing the altar and the fancy bible he had. The congregation knew exactly when to stand up, when to sit down, when to kneel, and when to recite a prayer (as well as which prayer to recite at that moment). The only things missing that would have creeped me out more would have been snakes and people talking in tongues.

I hope I never have to go to a Catholic mass again. Really, I hope I never have to go to a church again. I guess I was probably a pretty bad choice for godfather.

check out my map

In my links to the right ----->
you will find a link to my map. On this map I have pointed out some of the places I have talked about on this blog. These are the places Ally and I frequent. Bars, restaurants, my house, my work, etc. I will try to update the map on a regular basis when I talk about places on this blog so that you can get an idea of where things are in Portland (if you care).

So it goes

My favorite author died yesterday. He was old so it isn't really a shock, just sad.

R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

good and bad

First off, the good:

Last weekend I bought a new camera. I have been feeling lately like I don't take enough pictures. I studied photography in college, yet I rarely pick up a camera just for fun or to create art. One of the reasons for this is that after working at a camera store for 4 years, I was used to being able to develop and print my own pictures. I don't like the idea of letting someone else have that much say when it comes to my art. So, I made the decision to spend some of the money we are saving from not having to pay the mortgage this month on a digital SLR. I already had a Canon SLR with a couple of lenses, so I decided to buy just the camera body. I bought a Canon Rebel XT. It's pretty great. I can't wait to take it to NYC and take a bunch of photos.

Now the bad:

Odin got sick again. His symptoms were exactly the same as when he was sick a few weeks ago. However, with the news of all of the pet food recalls happening lately and pets dying from eating tainted food, this time I was extremely nervous and scared. I thought for sure that the vet had misdiagnosed his symptoms and now he was going to die from kidney failure. I felt like there was nothing that could be done. Because of this hopelessness, I waited quite a while to take him to the vet, instead giving him some Pepto and waiting it out so that I didn't have to pay the high cost of taking him to the emergency vet. When he finally got to the vet, he wasn't vomiting or having any diarrhea anymore. The vet checked him out and diagnosed that last time he came in he had Giardia, which was treated with the medicine in the IV he was given. But, since he didn't stay on the medicine it came back. This time I was given pills, and a much less expensive vet bill and sent home. His appetite is back and he hasn't had any unnecessary or projectile bodily fluids in two days. All I can do now is hope that the diagnosis was correct, and that the medicine takes care of the problem for good this time.

these last few days

Wednesday night Adam and Shannon came down for the Mastodon show. It's always fun to see them, we all get along really well and have a great time. The concert was great. It was in a smaller venue and it was packed. The opening band, Priestess was surprisingly good and of course Mastodon was extremely tight and brutal. Their songs always sound more tough live than on CD.

Unfortunately I woke up the next day with a killer headache and a sore throat. Adam and Shannon had to leave early in the morning. I had asked for the day off from work, so I rested and waited for my headache to go away. It ended up being a nice day ... around 70 degrees and sunny. Ally and I went to Costco and had a cheap lunch and bought a giant bag of coffee beans. After that, we went back home and I mowed the yard. It wasn't fun, in some spots the grass was up to my knees.

I am glad that my day off coincided with good weather, especially since the weather report is showing rain this weekend. I can't imagine if I had let the lawn get any longer how much it would have sucked to mow it. As it is, I am extremely sore today from pushing the lawnmower through the thick grass.

maybe things aren't so bad afterall

A few good things have been happening lately. I'm not sure yet if they make up for the bad things, but it's nice to have positive things happening in my life.

First of all, Jaime moved out of our house. It's nice. The house is less full with just Ally, Tim and I. On top of that, Tim got to move out of the tiny bedroom, no one in the house smokes pot anymore, and we have an extra room for when friends come to visit.

Secondly, we are refinancing the house and consolidating our debt. In a week or so we will own the car outright, not have anymore credit card debt, and be saving about $500 a month for these expenses. This should give us some extra money to make up for having one less roommate, and hopefully allow us to save up money to fix things around the house.

As an added bonus of the process of refinancing the house, the house was appraised at a value about $20,000 more than I thought it was worth and about $45,000 more than the bank thought it was worth (I think they were smoking crack). This is great since in consolidating our loans, our loan is now going to be worth more than it was originally. Hopefully the market continues to rise like it is predicted to and when we decide to sell the house we make a good profit. We could use that money to buy a newer, nicer house and/or move to another state like we've been talking about doing for years.

a worried parent

Ally didn't work yesterday, so she came downtown to have lunch with me. While at lunch she told me that Odin (our dog) had been throwing up a lot. I've had enough dogs to know that they throw up once in a while, so I didn't think very much of it.

A bit later in the day I start talking to Ally on gmail messenger and she tells me that the dog is still throwing up a lot and also has really bad diarrhea. Ally calls the vet and takes Odin to the vet. I take the bus to meet them there after work. The vet tells us that he is severely dehydrated, which is to be expected, and that his temperature seems normal. They had to run some tests and put him on an IV. Unfortunately they were closing soon, so we had to leave him there overnight.

It was weird not having the dog in the house last night, especially not sleeping next to us. It's really easy to notice when a 90 pound dog is missing. It's weird again this morning as my daily routine involves taking him outside and feeding him.

All we can do now is wait for the vet to call and tell us what is wrong. I hope he is alright, and whatever it was has passed. I hope he is feeling better, and he can come home today.

note to self

For next year's birthday, crawl in a hole and hide from people. This way, drama can hopefully be avoided.

Also, Ally is right about having people over to the house. This assures that you can better control who you are hanging out with.

When going out to bars, do not leave a small radius from my house. This assures that I will not see people I don't want to see since there are no "cool" bars in my neighborhood.

pinch me ... i must be dreaming

I'm super excited about seeing Mastodon on March 28th at the Hawthorne Theater here in Portland. The last time I saw them I didn't know much of their music and went more to see Converge than Mastodon. They blew me away, and have become one of current favorite bands. I can't wait to see them in a smaller venue, especially now that I am more familiar with their music.

As if this show wasn't good enough, they have just announced another tour in May.

They will be playing at the Roseland Theater on May 4th with .... get this ... Against Me!, Cursive, and These Arms are Snakes.

Holy shit!!!!!

While I think that these four bands are all extremely different in style, they are all great live and this could end up being an amazing show. Who am I kidding ... it will be an amazing show!

hell yes!

It's over 60 degrees outside and I'm home early due to a doctor's appointment.

It finally feels like Spring!

Unfortunately the weather forecast shows temperatures below 50 and rain for the rest of the week. At least this is a good prediction of what is to come. Or at least let's hope so.

get ready New Yorkers

Ally and I booked our tickets to NYC! This will be my third time there, and Ally's second.

We're going to be in the Big Apple for Ally's birthday. We leave around midnight on April 18th and arrive around 8am the next morning. Ally's birthday is the 21st. We will be there for 6 days and 5 nights, leaving on the 24th.

Now we just need to get our lodging figured out. Hotels are expensive unless you want to sleep with rats and cockroaches. I would rather sleep on someone's floor or couch than to stay in a creepy, filthy hotel or to have to pay a ton of money for something that is merely decent.

i cursed us

I wanted Spring, and instead I got snow ... sort of.

Lame.

ready for spring

I'm tired of the winter. I'm tired of the rain and the cold. I know that I shouldn't complain because Oregon has very mild weather compared to most places, but I'm still tired of it.

I don't even care that Spring means allergies. I'll suffer a bit for some warmer weather.

I want to be able to do things outside. I want to go hiking and ride my bike. I want to throw a frisbee in the park and even maybe have a picnic.

a short vacation

On Tuesday Ally and I headed to Newport for a few relaxing days off from work. As a wedding gift, we received a free nights stay at a condo. The free night had to be used by the end of March, and Valentine's day seemed like as good a day as any to spend a night on the Oregon coast.

The weather on Tuesday was beautiful with the temperature above 50 degrees and the sun out. We left Portland early enough to arrive in Newport around 2:30, giving us a few hours of daylight. We couldn't check in to the room until 3pm, so we headed to the bayfront where we ended up at the Rogue Ales pub. After a pint of beer each, and an informative conversation with a few locals, we headed to the condo to get checked in and to enjoy the beach before the sun went down.

That night we went to dinner and then tried one of the local bars on the bayfront. This being February, and the middle of the week, the bar was dead so we decided to head back to the condo and take it easy the rest of the night.

The next morning was Valentine's day, so I made Ally eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and mimosas. After breakfast, we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. The weather had turned on us, so it was a bit difficult to enjoy the outdoor exhibits. It was fun nonetheless. After the aquarium we went back to the bayfront where we bought some saltwater taffy and had lunch. Ally usually hates seafood, but she was a good sport and had a cup of delicious roasted garlic and crab soup with her cheeseburger. I also had a cup of soup along with a tasty fish taco. After lunch we decided to retreat back to the condo until it was time for our valentine's day dinner.

For dinner we decided to take Tim's advice and try a place in Depoe Bay called Gracie's Sea Hag. On the 8 mile drive to Depoe Bay, we discovered where the name Cape Foulweather came from as we drove through the most dense fog I think I've ever encountered. The dinner was good, but we left promptly in hopes that the fog didn't have time to get much worse.

The next morning we woke up and left early so that we could get breakfast at the Otis Cafe. It is always the best breakfast anywhere, and is deserving of it's national praise. After breakfast, we drove to Grand Ronde and stopped at the casino. We set a limit of $20 each and decided to play the slots. Ally lost all $20, but I left with $41.45. All together, we won $1.45 ... not much, but at least we didn't lose anything.

All in all it was a fun and relaxing trip.

The condos as seen from the beach below

we tried to save this starfish from the gulls

Ally on the beach

why am I walking like a penguin?

Ally takes a stroll on the beach

we were eaten by a shark at the aquarium

boats in the bay

delicious fish taco

free rock

Thursday night Tim, Ally and I went to see Quasi play a free show at the Doug Fir. It was the third time in the last year that I have seen them play for free in Portland. My co-worker Keenan met up with us even though he had never seen or really heard Quasi.

There were two opening bands, both of which were mediocre at best and quite boring too. Once Quasi started playing though, it was obvious that it was worth the wait. They played a pretty good mix of songs spanning their seven albums. There was also a lot of improvised "jamming" between songs that was fun to watch. Sam is an amazing musician and Janet hits the drums harder than almost any drummer I've seen. Joanna Bolme joined the duo on bass, and she is an excellent addition, rounding out the songs and giving the jam sessions a deep, driving rhythm.

It was a great show. I even think that Keenan became a fan. It's good to know that at least one of the Portland bands that I loved in high school is still around and making great music. I hope they keep it up and I get to see them a bunch more times.

money to spend

Ally and I did our taxes on Saturday at H&R Block. Owning a house and being married helped us get a pretty good return.

I would like to put some of that money into the house in order to increase the value of the house. The first thing that needs to be done is replacing the kitchen cabinets. We (mostly Ally) started resurfacing them and didn't really like the way it was turning out, so we quit without finishing the project. We definitely need new cabinets. Nothing too fancy, just basic cabinets.

Jeremy can get us a good deal on countertops, so that helps keep the cost down. I wish I knew someone who sold and installed cabinets so that I can keep this affordable. If anyone knows anyone, please let me know.

Hopefully we can afford the new cabinets and countertops and still afford to visit NYC this spring.

the results

I heard back from my doctor's office about my bloodwork. My triglyceride levels were lower, but my "good" cholesterol levels were a bit low. This isn't too surprising, and it just tells me that I need to continue living a healthier lifestyle. What I really need to do is add regular exercise to my new diet.

The problem is that the only exercise I enjoy involves the outdoors, and lately it is cold and often wet outside. Once the weather gets better, I would like to start riding my bike, going for hikes and maybe shooting hoops across the street at the park. The problem I run into is that none of my friends want to join me. I wanted to go on a hike today, but everyone I asked found some stupid reason not to go. I can't believe how hard it is to convince people to get up earlier than noon on the weekends. I never had a problem in college finding someone to go on a hike with. But then again I lived with Slye, who is much more active than my drinking buddies up here in Portland.

As for the diet, I am going to continue eating healthy and avoiding alcohol as much as possible. I am going to give myself one day a week as a "sin" day where I can eat what I want and then have drinks that night with friends. This weekend I had pizza, and it was great! I can tell that my thinking about food is already changing though, because I ordered the whole wheat crust without even flinching. Next week is Super Bowl sunday, so I will have to wait until Sunday to splurge.

i hope it worked

I'm going in to get more blood work done today in order to see if my triglyceride count is lower. I was supposed to go back 2 weeks after the last time, but that was the day it snowed and I kind of forgot about it. It has now been 3 weeks, and I've been pretty good about adhering to a low fat diet. I have lost some weight, and I feel healthier. It's been hard though. I have wanted to eat a cheeseburger and pizza for 3 weeks now. Maybe if my counts are lower, I can splurge a little to celebrate.

TGIF

I'm really glad that it is almost the weekend. It's funny because this week seemed long even though it was cut short by a holiday, a snow day and a snow delay.

With my new "diet" I can't really go crazy on the weekends like I prefer, but I try to allow myself one night of fun per week. Unfortunately, I already had that night on Tuesday when I didn't have work and met up with Judy at the bar and got drunk.

I'm thinking of maybe seeing a movie this weekend. I hate spending more than a few bucks on a movie, but I may have to buck up and spend $8 to see Pan's Labyrinth which opens this weekend.

4 day weekend

No work today! We finally got real snow. It's still coming down. I'm going to go play in the park across the street.

like being in school again

This morning I woke up at my normal time (6:45 am), took a shower, checked my email, got dressed in my work clothes and then checked my voicemail at work only to find out that the office was opening 2 hours late due to inclement weather. It did snow, a little bit, and it is a bit icy outside but it doesn't seem bad enough to open the office late. I guess I have to remember that some of the employees live in the hills or closer to the mountain, and they probably got more snow than we did here at my house.

Not that I'm not excited about working less today, that's not the problem. What I'm upset about is the fact that I'm up, awake and ready for work. All I can do is sit around drinking coffee and watching the news for 2 hours. I'd rather be sleeping in.

i hate global warming

I remember when I was kid that it would snow a decent amount every winter. I remember snow days every year where we would spend the day sledding and having snowball fights.

Now it seems like all we get is ice storms. Sure, every once in a while it snows, but it snows so little that you couldn't really go sledding or make very many snowballs. Most of the time the snow is gone before the day is over anyway.

The weathermen on TV keeping warning that it is supposed to snow today. There are news reports about how the buses are getting chained up and how the Department of Transportation is getting ready with plows and sand for the roads.

All the while I keep noticing that the snow level is supposed to be around 500 feet. That means that only the hills will get snow. That is, if we even get snow at all.

I know that I could drive an hour or so and be at Mt. Hood and play in the snow, but it is just so much more fun when it is in your own yard and your own neighborhood.

no longer invincible

For years I have always consumed whatever foods and/or beverages I wanted to. I never really felt like I had a reason not to.

I love food. Especially fatty food like pizza and cheeseburgers. I also love beer. I used to love Coca-Cola, but when I learned of the damage it was doing to my kidneys, my other internal organs and my bones I decided to quit drinking any sodas. That was a very long time ago ... 4 or 5 years ... the specifics are hazy at this point. I never cut back on my intake of fatty foods however, and it seems that it has finally caught up with me.

About a week ago I had some blood work done in order to figure out if I could take some medication in order to get rid of my acne once and for all. The nurse called back a day or two later to let me know that my triglycerides were really high, which pretty much means high cholesterol. I was asked to come back after fasting for 10-12 hours, which I did on Tuesday. Today I got another call from the nurse asking me if I was sure that I had indeed fasted before having my blood drawn. When I confirmed that I had, she told me that it was very important that I switch to a low fat diet and be re-tested in 2 weeks.

I looked up triglycerides on WebMD and learned that if your count is high it is probably due to an intake of too many calories, a lack of exercise and too much alcohol. That sounds like my lifestyle ... whoops!

So now I guess I need to trade in my pizza, burgers, fries, beer, etc. for a diet of grilled chicken, salad, rice, water and cottage cheese. Sounds great!

I guess anything is better than dying.