just for one day

Today was my scheduled recovery day from my vacation. However, I scheduled it before I had the first two work days of the month off due to weather so I was thinking of going in. Then, I saw that Bowie passed on so I thought it'd be a better idea to get high and listen to Bowie's greatest hits all day long. It was the right thing to do.

What else?

My new thing was trying the polenta special at Sweet Hereafter. It would have been better without the bitter Tahini topping.

Oh, and I started to go back to the gym...again. I did my whole normal routine (albeit at a lower weight for pretty much every exercise) and it didn't hurt at all. I'm so excited to be at it again.

travel win

I do not personally advertise for companies. I don't buy clothes which sport a logo prominently. If I do, I make sure I can cut out the logo while retaining the integrity of clothes. And I don't use social media or blogging to talk about big companies....generally. Little ones, yes. I love promoting small businesses but the big ones can do it themselves.

That being said, I gotta give props to Alaska Air. On my way back from Omaha, they got me to my layover stop about a half an hour early and two complimentary Chardonnays later. Then, I saw that there was another flight going to Portland just an hour early of my scheduled flight and it was leaving in just 30 minutes. As luck would have it, the gates that each were departing from were right next to each other. With Chardonnay-fueled incentive, I decided 'WTF? I'll just ask if I can get on that one." They did some quick typing and got me on it and I had another complimentary Chardonnay to celebrate. Hell yeah, they're my airline of choice from now on.

family soup

I love Ava and I love having a dog in general but when the weather doesn't get above 18 degrees, it's nice to not have to go outside to walk a dog. I went for a quick walk this morning and swore that I wasn't going outside again for the day.

The weather was great for hanging out inside with the family, playing more games, and making soup. My mom had me make my West African peanut soup yesterday and today, she relied on me to make my vegetable soup too. I love being able to cook for the whole family and it was extra special this time because my brother, my mom, and I all chopped veggies together for the soup (while my dad entertained the baby and my sister-in-law took toddler duty). I love cooking with family and they loved the soup so it was a win-win!

amazing rockets

Being an uncle means I get to buy toys that make noise and fire objects. I bought my oldest nephew Ethan a foam rocket launcher. At first I didn't think he'd be able to play with it until the spring but he launched them around the house. It's a simple concept and it's safe and easy enough for him to operate. He kept saying, "These rockets are AMAZING!" I was pretty proud of myself for a while...until I heard him say, "Mom, these almonds are AMAZING!" :)

What else?

When I was home this summer, I brought home my board game Agricola. It's just big enough that I didn't want to carry it in my luggage and Andrew doesn't have any interest in playing it. The only people I'd play it with have a copy already so it can just stay here. We played two games throughout the day. My brother and sister-in-law really liked it and were excited to play again. My mom was unsure about it even though she won the first game. My dad picked it up pretty quickly when we played again in the evening and ended up winning. I love board game holidays.

xmas in january

A few months ago, I used my Alaska AirMiles to buy a free round trip ticket to Omaha. Unfortunately, it couldn't be during the holiday season but we've celebrated Christmas late before so I thought it would be okay. Unfortunately, the weather isn't cooperating so it won't be a full family holiday. My niece can't get away from college for another weekend and the road conditions wouldn't have permitted her or the rest of my sister's family to travel up here anyway. Still, I'm going to try to make the most of it.

I got up early to make my flight, thanks to Andrew taking me to the airport. Since I'm flying all Alaska, we're headed up to Seattle first and then to Omaha. Normally, I would take Frontier to Denver but this was free and a lot better. I've heard that half of the flights to Kearney from Denver get cancelled and I only took a long weekend so I don't have a day or two to lose. During my flight from Seattle to Omaha, I saw the back row in the plane was empty (two seats on each side) so I asked the stewardess if I could move and she allowed it. It made for a nice ride.

My brother picked me up in Omaha and drove me halfway to Gibbon where our parents met us to take over. I forgot that he has limited seating in his car now with two car seats but we managed anyway. When I got home, it was like we picked up right where we left off when I left in October. We watched Wheel of Fortune and an episode of Elementary, drank a bottle of wine, and played a few games of cribbage. My brother's coming back tomorrow with the kids so it will feel a little more festive but I'm cool with it just being a vacation instead of stressing over it being a holiday.

surprise snow

I love my job for many reasons but one additional perk is that we follow Portland Public School's closures so when they're closed for weather, we are too. Yesterday, I was completely taken by surprise to wake up to see that it had snowed and not just a light dusting either. It wasn't awful but it was enough to make some people worried. By the end of the night, we had freezing rain too which led to the schools being closed and my 4.5 day weekend!

It was really quite different from yesterday to today. People were out with their kids and sled and dogs yesterday. We met a new chocolate lab at the park yesterday named Freddy. Today tho, with the ice, it took Ava and me fifteen minutes to walk to the end of our street (4 lots) and back. Hardly anybody was out. Andrew worked from home and we managed to get out of the house only for meals. We did dinner at the Lodge which good for bar food. I'll definitely go back.

They've already announced that school openings will be postponed 2 hours which means I'm going in two hours late. I already have Thursday and Friday off for my vacation to Nebraska so, at this point, I'm actually worried that I need to get my work done. However, if they force me to take another paid day off at home, I guess I'll do it.

saturday night sundries

While we were walking on NYE, Andrew and I talked about how we should be more proactive about new experiences this next year so I led us out on a different bar crawl for us as I collected on two drinks owed to me. First, we went to Mad Sons. Mad Sons used to be Madisons but since it changed ownership (and theme), they just got rid of the "i" in the name and went with a colonial theme inside. They had a great drink which was a spin on Old Fashioned called the Northern Soul. If I wasn't determined to make it more of an adventure, I would've collected both drinks there.

Instead, we jumped back on the bus and headed downtown to the Rainbow Lounge. Ever since we went there on Christmas Day in 2012, I've been drawn to the place, especially around the holidays. I got a peppermint patty martini which was good but strong. Afterwards, we went to strip club burrito next to Mary's. It's not high quality food but it's tasty and the place has character, including sharing a bathroom with a naked lady joint.

We bussed back home and were in bed before 10 which is just about perfect for me. I like going out and I like experiencing downtown but I don't like wrecking myself up the the extent that it ruins my next day. I'd prefer to save that next day for a new adventure.

new years day 2016

It was chilly today but not rainy so we took Ava up to Tabor again and again we walked her around for a bit before going into the dog park. And again, she didn't get into a scuffle with another dog. I like this pattern! My new thing was talking to the owner of a rat terrier which Ava seemed interested in.

cinema done right

Last weekend, we were looking for a movie to go to and saw that Tarantino's new film 'The Hateful Eight' was playing at the Hollywood. When we got there, we saw there was already a line and apparently it was a line for people with tickets already. The show was sold out for a number of showings throughout the week already so I bought tickets online for tonight.

We got there an hour early and stood in line for a while before we were let in from the cold. It ended up setting the tone nicely for the film which takes place during a Wyoming blizzard. The film had a 4-5 minute long overture before it and a 12 minute intermission built into the film. The intermission worked well with the action and the pacing and it helped with the movie-going experience. I took the picture above as the guy was introducing the film. Apparently, Tarantino had stopped in a few days before to introduce the film and praised the Hollywood Theater, which has the biggest screen capable of showing 70 mm films. If I'm going to go out to the theater, this is how it should be done.

What else?

We maxxed, walked, and then bussed to Victory's NYE party but didn't stay until midnight because we didn't want to leave Ava in the kennel that long. We had a nice brisk walk back to the house afterwards as well. It was a nice and chill way to spend the holiday.

coming out of the dark

 

It's been a rough time for me these past couple of weeks which is why I haven't been posting (also, the holidays are crazy-busy). It's been rough due to a number of things, primarily the weather, the dark days, and my busted ribs. 

My bike accident three weeks ago ended up hurting longer and more than I had anticipated and caused me to work shorter work days. I'm very lucky to be in a workplace where that's possible. Mostly, I would have to bail after 6-7 hrs and go home and medicate with pot. What's also been hard for me is not going to the gym. I was on such a good streak before this but any lifting was discouraged by Dr Google plus it hurt when I did minor lifting at home so I skipped the gym for three weeks. But I returned today!

Over the weekend, I felt better and at the last minute today, I decided to go in and see what I could do. I didn't bench and I couldn't do my inclined sit-ups but I managed to do all of my free-weights, albeit at a lower weight. Still, I feel good for going in and this way I'll be able to get in almost two weeks before I go back to Nebraska! My new thing was bussing (and then walking) to the gym.

What else?

Most of the days, my new thing was a new work contact but I'll touch on the highlights:

On Tuesday, 12/15, my office mate brought in her baby who is about 6 months old so I couldn't help but pick him up a few times (and parade him down the hallway).

On Wednesday, 12/16, I finally finished "A Tale for the Time Being." I really need to read more books and less comic books this next year.

On Friday 12/18, I DJ'ed the work party for Ashes. This is the first year in seven years that I haven't DJ'ed the client party for GW so it felt good to have one gig. It was nice and chill and I got to get better acquainted with people that I had only met briefly before. Plus there was a pug.

On Saturday, 12/19, I went to Tim and Sophia's and we played a bunch of games. I tried Exploding Kittens and we also played 'werewolf' which I had played years ago as 'mafia.' I was originally only planning on being there for a few hours but I stayed all day because I liked the new people that I met.

On Sunday, 12/20, I spent most of the afternoon working on Hayleigh's x-mas present. I can't go into more detail because I haven't given it to her yet.

On Monday, 12/21, I tried two new-to-me dark beers at NWIPA's dark beer fest, one of which had coffee in it. I don't think I slept that night except for maybe two hours.

On Thursday, 12/24, I walked all of the way home from work which was only possible because A) we got out early for Xmas Eve, B) it wasn't raining, and C) Andrew worked from home that day so he was with Ava. It took me just over an hour which isn't too bad. Also, for dinner, we went out for Bejing Hot Pot. Neither of us had done Hot Pot before so it was quite an experience.

On Christmas Day, I got up early-ish and made coffee in the house! Since we've been living together, we have never had the capability to make coffee in the house but Andrew bought a French press the day before so I made coffee (and pot chocolate chip cookies) first thing. He got me a bathrobe, underwear, and a new vape pipe. I got him a shirt, a sweater, and rain pants. It was nice just to have an easy Christmas morning. Afterwards, when we were both high on cookie dough, we walked around Tabor with Ava. We took her into the dog park quick and she did not attack another dog! It's a Christmas Miracle!

On Saturday, 12/26, we tried to go to the new Tarantino film The Hateful Eight but it was sold out. I had to buy tickets on-line for almost a week later (New Years Eve) instead. However, we did go to the upper part of Sam's Billiards to have a drink.

On Sunday, 12/27, it snowed! Plus I went to Tim and Sophia's where we played Power Grid. It was fun but I don't have a strong inkling to play it again.

the ornament

 

Every year at Christmas, there's a small box under the tree for each of us kids. They're our ornament gifts. My sister gets ornaments featuring cats, my brother gets angels, and I used to get drummer boys but then had to switch to snow men. For the last 14 years, I've been getting the Snow Buddies pictured above which had snow men and a cute animal together.

When I was home for the summer, my mom asked me about the ornaments and I said that I had them all but I don't put up a tree so they just sit in a box. I told her that I would get them out this year tho. I should have 39 ornaments but only counted around 36. I guess a few got lost over the years or they're still with my parents (my mom shipped the ornaments out a few years ago to me). Today, we bought our first holiday tree. It's the first time I've had a live tree since I've been an adult. It's a small 3-4 foot tree so I only used the snow buddies to decorate it and put the rest of the ornaments on a shelf. I also hung the stockings on a book case.

I haven't been too big on Christmas and definitely not decorating. It typically seems so wasteful to me but the tree's not plastic and we bought it at a school fundraising site on Hawthorne. Plus I had the decorations and it looks good. It glows and puts me in the mood for holiday cheer. Now I just need presents under it!

What else?

We saw the movie Brooklyn tonight at Cinemagic, walking most of the way there and all of the way back. It was a wonderful movie and great exercise! 

i coulda been an engineer

 

When I started my job almost two years ago, I went for a home visit with one of my supervisors and he had a phone holder attached to his windshield as pictured above. It's a simple fix and I'm sure it's been around for a while but I went over a year without having a car so I never had one. When I got my last car, I got one of these things and it's been great. However, if you stop or accelerate suddenly, the phone flies out of the holder.

While I was heading to a customer's house in Washington County a few weeks ago, I set my work phone to give me audio directions in addition to the visual map. I was listening to music over the radio through my personal cell but I had the work phone up loud enough to hear the directions. I hit the brake early on in the trip and my phone went flying out to the holder and in between my seat and the console. My seats in this car are big and the spaces are small so I couldn't get to the phone. However, I would still hear "In 200 feet, turn left" shouted out from under my seat.

A few days later, my personal phone flew out of it, hit my cup holder, and scratched the screen. At that point, I had had enough. I came up with the solution above a few months ago and just never acted on it. I even have had thumbtacks at work but keep forgetting to take them out to my car. Well, today for some reason, I thought of it and it worked! Occasionally, I come up with some simple and satisfying solutions, even if it does take me months to act upon them.

sweet 17

 

Overall, I'd say that Portland has great mass transit. However, the North-South lines tend to be few and far-between. Because of this, I haven't commuted to work via mass-transit only since I started nearly two years ago. Today though I was willing to give it a shot.

Andrew's home sick so that lets me off Ava duty. Since I'm still injured from my bike accident, I decided biking wouldn't be the best way to get in and I'm still leery about my car so I took the bus. There is no close route. If there was a good North-South route anywhere between 60th and 82nd that circumnavigated Tabor, I would be able to get to the MAX line where I could bus in from there but, since there's not, I was forced to go downtown.

The 17 stops a few blocks from my house and less than 1/2 mile from my work. I just have to take it thru SE, SW, NW, and into NE Portland to get there. It took about an hour which makes for a long ride but I was just glad to not have to drive. I'll probably do this more often. There are routes that are less than 10 minutes shorter but I would have to transfer and I'm not on a time-crunch so I think the 17 will be my ride.

What else?

Yesterday, my new thing was using Virtual DJ to extract the audio from a movie. I've got a secret project I'm working on!

this year's wreck

Today was the wettest day in recorded history for Portland. It seemed like a hard rain but it didn't seem that bad so I decided to bike in it.

On the way to work, I was driving and dropped Andrew off near the MAX stop so he could head into work that way. It works out well cuz it's technically on my way to work & the traffic would be ridiculous around his office. Anyway, my car made a couple of new noises which made me real nervous. This weekend, it didn't want to start while we were out running errands. We opened up the hood and determined it wasn't a glaringly obvious problem that could be fixed by two mechanically disinclined gay guys so we closed it. I tried starting it and it miraculously worked. I'm not a complete idiot tho so I know there are problems just waiting to surface. So, when I went home at noon to let Ava out, I switched car for bike.

At first, it was a great ride. There was a definite solidarity with the few other cyclists I saw and the warm rain felt great on my face. I was making good time and headed down the incline on Lincoln towards 50th. The light was still green but I saw it was going to turn soon so I sped up to make it but so did an SUV that I could see out of the corner of my eye. I think he made me nervous or my foot slipped off the pedal. I knew I lost control before I hit the ground. I yelled "Oh shit!" and bounced off the pavement with my ribs and thighs taking most of the blow. I wasn't wearing gloves so it was fortunate that I didn't slide & tear up my palms. My right leg got trapped between my frame & my handlebars tho so I took my bike with me.

Somehow, my left shoe flew off and I got up quickly and hobbled down the road to pick it up. There were a few cars around but nobody stopped. I sat down on the step on the side of Yoga Union and caught my breath. I put my shoe back on and did a quick visual inspection of my bike. The seat was crooked and the bell (pictured above) was busted but it otherwise escaped unscathed. I continued on slowly to work and put in a couple more hours. My supervisor offered to drive me home but I knew I could make it, even if I did have to go very very slow.

I think I may have fractured or bruised my ribs. I don't think they're broken. My right thigh also hurts as my keys were in my pocket when I landed flat on the pavement. I also managed to scrape the skin off the side of my big toe on my left shoeless foot. I've had worse falls and worse injuries but I'm really too old to keep banging myself up like this.