picture more perfect

I got a new camera today. For a while now, I've been relying on my iPhone camera but I've come to accept that the photo quality just isn't there. In preparation to our trip to Mexico, I decided to up my picture-game.

I like it so far. The problem is my laptop still doesn't connect to the internet so I have to plug the card into my laptop, drop the picture(s) into my iPhone sync folder, connect my iPhone to the laptop, and then post the pic from my phone to the laptop. It's stupidly complicated right now but I'll make it work until I'm prepared to upgrade the laptop as well.

compare & contrast

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Almost eight years ago, Dean and I went to Zach's Shack for the first time. I walked him there from Long House which was a significant walk for him, stopping at two parks along the way. Today, I took Ava to Zach's as well, stopping at Clinton Park with her for the first time. It's a big open field where she got to run carefree....until she saw a basketball and attacked it. She loves her balls and is quite possessive of them. It definitely feels like spring. It was 72 degrees today. While taking Ava there, I walked down several streets that I haven't been down before, admiring their yards but I still believe that our yard is better.

For some reason, when I brought Dean to Zach's eight years ago, I bought him a hot dog and I didn't feel inclined to do that with Ava. Well, I guess we'll have to walk there again soon so she can get her dog.

this virus shall set you free

After I moved to Portland in 2002, I dropped my heavy TV. It still worked but the cable connection in the back broke off and I thought, "This is perfect." I didn't even hesitate to see it as a good thing. I knew that I had an issue watching too much television and this would enable me to control my content. I could no longer get network television (this was back in the old days, kids, when TV was free wirelessly to whomever set up an antennae). I would only intentionally watch movies and shows through my PS2 which mostly served as my DVD player. It was liberating and greatly reduced my media consumption.

A few years later, I got the ability to download shows and accepted that my TV viewing was still intentional and under control. Gradually, I just started buying into the hype of more and more TV shows and, even though I wasn't just watching whatever I could find by flipping through the stations, I was still spending a lot of time in front of the screen. The only difference was that it was a computer screen instead of a television screen.

Yesterday, my laptop stopped being able to connect to the internet through any web browser. I can see the wireless but my browser won't work which means I can't stream or download any shows. I'll admit that I hesitated this time to see the positive aspects of my predicament. I instantly got out my tablet (which has no problem connecting to the internet) and looked at the selection of laptops at Best Buy. But my laptop still works for a music player and as a word processor. It's just liberated me from all of the TV programming I've been taking in.

Right now, I watch six shows weekly on my own. I don't know what night all of them air on their respective stations but I typically pick a day in the week to catch up on them. I'll let some of them build up so I can binge-watch. As I step back from the situation, I can see that it's not healthy and so I'm going to let them go. Last year, I dropped Doctor Who just because I stopped caring and my world kept moving on. The year before or maybe it was two  years earlier, I stopped watching Glee. Again, my world did not crumble. Recently, Andrew and I watched the Knick (which was surprisingly good) and the latest season of House of Cards. I felt the urge to plow through them so I could put them behind me. So...I'm viewing my viewing as a chore. Why do that to myself?

Maybe I'll go back to the shows that I'm dropping eventually but for now, I feel relief. I'm not a saint though so I will keep watching certain shows but only as a social situation. For the time being, I'm not going to have my shows that I watch alone, where I have to ask Andrew to "give me eight minutes to finish up." I watch shows with other people or not at all. Fortunately, Andrew is willing to watch Orphan Black so we'll watch that together (via his laptop or my possibly-soon-to-be laptop) when it comes back next month. And I'll watch Game of Thrones with my friends at their house. And I might even continue to watch RuPaul's Drag Race but only at a bar that's showing it. But if I don't do any of those, I know that I can manage and I'll be all the better for it. Thank you, virus.

What else?

My new thing was actually having a salted caramel latte from Fressen just a little bit ago when I had this epiphany. 

brunch walk

I feel fortunate to have found a man that doesn't mind walking because I'm all about the walk. Today, we walked 6.5 miles round-trip to brunch and then again at 1000 Acre Dog Park where we walked another 3 miles (and Ava did about 10). We took some new paths both at the dog park and on my way back to the house from brunch. Yay for exercise. I feel like I earned all those brunch carbs.

the judges' panel

Throughout my career, I've had numerous experiences hiring people for jobs. Being able to make that much of a judgement on someone with a minimal amount of time to converse is odd but I think of myself as someone who can determine compatibility quickly so I opted to sit in on interviews today at my new job. One of the other agents is leaving so we're hiring for one position. I sat in with the two supervisors and the office-mate of the agent who is leaving. It had to be weird for the other agent. Not only is she interviewing for a suitable co-worker but also for someone that she is going to be sharing an office with for at least a year. That's a lot of pressure!

It was nice to see what qualities the supervisors look for and to meet such an interesting spectrum of people. I can't imagine the five interviewees that we had today enjoying the same cocktail party so it's odd to think that they all had that something that drove them to social services and then made them appealing enough on paper for us to interview.

dog miles

Weeks ago, I scheduled today as my floating birthday vacation day. I had my family holiday in January, President's Day in February, and my Mexican vacation is coming up in April so I knew I was going to need a day in March. I just happened to luck out and pick a day with beautiful weather so Ava and I hit the Gorge.

After I found the hike by a net search, I thought it sounded ideal for us. It was about 50 minutes away from our house, right off I-84, starting at Wyeth Campground. When we got there, Ava was on leash for maybe 10 feet until we got behind the road barrier and I knew it would be car free. After that, she was free and ran like mad. She's really good about checking in with me though. We walked up the path along Gorton Creek to see the falls before heading to Trail #400.

We saw one group of hikers (two guys, three children, and one German Shepherd) right away but the didn't see another person for four miles until the end where we turned around and ran into two girls and a guy. After that, we just saw one mountain biker heading up the trail. It was so peaceful and so great for Ava to be able to run so much. Eight human miles is probably equivalent to 20 off-leash dog miles. She would run back and forth and into the brush and down the wrong path. She was really in her element. And so was I. I want to do this a lot more often.

What else?

Yesterday I played Civilization with Tim and Sophia. I almost won but it's okay. It was a bad weather day that took out the power right after we started playing so it was ideal conditions for a board game. My new thing yesterday was making a cucumber/avocado dish that was simple and delicious.

terrors

This morning, around 12:30am, I was having a normal dream and all of the sudden, I stepped out of a door and onto some creepy crawlies. It freaked me out enough to wake me up and I thought they were in the bed with me so I screamed a blood curdling scream. Obviously, I freaked Andrew out too which I feel bad about.

I've never woke up and screamed before. I don't know if I've ever actually screamed like that before at all. So, to compound my issues, I decided that we should watch the Babadook tonight. What the fuck was I thinking?

What else?
Besides the screaming, my new thing today was having Bridge City Pizza which I really liked. Yesterday's new thing was having the BBQ plate at the Bye and Bye and Thursday's new thing was having a strawberry banana bubble tea from Best Baguette. I was going to say that I need to do less food items for my new things but if it's a choice between that and screaming in the middle of the night, then pass me the bubble tea.

partnership

A nice thing about having taken two years off blogging is that I have a stock of photos that I can use for illustration (like the one above taken during the 2013 Tweed Ride) and that I have a stock of sentiments that I can write about when my day isn't really blog-worthy.

A few months ago, Sophia and her man stated that they heard recently that a key element to success in a romantic partnership is believing that you two are a better partnership than anyone else. I've known some very successful couples but I would say that Andrew and I are right up there.

Really, I never thought that I would have this would happen to me, that I would find someone that I could trust so easily, be so comfortable around, depend on, and enjoy so much. Sure, we've had our moments but I always view those as opportunities to grow. I think the important thing is that we compliment each other well. We fit, you know? We had a lot of similarities like our belief that dogs are superior creatures, our appreciation for a good mixed drink, our desire to ride bikes as much as possible, our general disdain for society as a whole, and we're even (almost) the same clothing size. Today, we were wearing each others' clothes. I know some opposite-sex couples who do that from time to time but our wardrobe is basically one.

We also have our differences which work well together. This weekend, Andrew spent a lot of time gardening in preparation for our backyard party on Sunday. I spent most of the time cleaning the inside of the house and taking Ava for long walks. Andrew teaches me about poetry (seriously, I have been able to randomly find lines from poets that I hadn't heard of and he can identify the author and the poem) and I school him on Simpsons references. It works, you know. And I'm happy. I think he's happy. And Maria and Ava are happy so we're all good.

My new thing today was using a line that he taught me as I met a new person today. We had an OSPRIG solicitor come to the door. I have a hard time saying no to people in general but Andrew aided me by giving me a simple excuse to get out of giving: "I'd love to donate but I have an agreement with my partner to review any contributions with him so if you'd leave me some literature and contact info, I'll discuss it with him." Boom. Done. Problem solved.

kick off

Today, I kicked off the weekend right. I worked but I got a lot done quickly so I worked a shorter period of time, allowing for a bike ride to Sellwood to meet up with a customer. I got to meet his sister also which was new. Then I went to Jade for fries and a chardonnay. I biked on the corridor to about 69th and zig-zagged my way home on a new route. Then we went to Teote to eat where I ordered a new dish and finally to Rimsky Korsakoffee house where Andrew and I both ordered chocolate raspberry fools (hence the poem on the ticket pictured above). I'm loving this weekend already!

bonding time

Today, I spent a solid 8 hrs with Ava, side by side as she went into work with me and we went to have her donate blood afterwards. She even goes into the single occupancy bathroom at work with me because she may whine if I leave her and then bark when I return. I love spending time with her but it's a lot of time and she's pretty demanding. Still, I feel that this bonding time is important.

When we initially got her, I was constantly thinking, "Dean would never do that," or "I never had to work this hard with Dean," and that's really unfair to Ava. Fortunately, Andrew's been in her corner the whole time, consistently praising her and stating what a wonderful dog she is. And I have to admit, she's pretty great. She just has a different demeanor than an older male black lab that has been with the same person for 12+ years. Go figure.

Anyway, she did great with the blood donation. The vet tech said that normally they just put the dog on the exam table to get her used to it. However, Ava did so well with that so they took a pint of blood from her. It's weird to watch and I guess dog biology is a lot different than human biology when it comes to blood loss. Her system instantly replaced what she had loss whereas it's a slower process with humans. Hence, the dizziness, the orange juice, and the cookies. Ava didn't get those things but she did get a cool toy which she instantly took to her kennel.

weekend bucket list

 

Every weekend, I have standing goals; some of which are to get to Ground Kontrol, to go to Powells, to go shopping, and to go for a hike. I accomplished the first two yesterday as Andrew and I went downtown for afternoon/evening. I did the third one today after brunch and the last one I did both days. I got up around 7 this morning to walked Ava to Mt Tabor. It was a fabulous way to start the weekend.

There are other things I like to do obviously (hang out with friends, go to a movie, game, house-work, etc) but getting the standing goals accomplished makes me really think that I did well this weekend. Since I got mine done so early this weekend and had time this afternoon, I was game for anything. Andrew wanted to bike up to St Johns so we did that. We ended up at the St Johns McMenamins pub which was a nice place to drink and play games on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I undervalue McMenamins in general because they're so prevalent but if I was in the Midwest, these places would be treasures so I looked at it as a great opportunity to visit one that I haven't been to before. Plus the ride was nice and pleasant. All and all, a fine weekend was had.

(The goats pictured above are from the ZZZ farm on the way to St Johns.)