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.

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! 

crisis season

When I was applying for this job as a PA, I stated that one of the reasons that I wanted to leave my job at GW and have this job is that I wanted to be help clients/customers out with all aspects of their life, not just their work skills. Well, I've got what I wished for.

I've spent the last month helping one of my more quiet customers with a crisis situation. Until yesterday afternoon, I thought it was all handled. There was a bureaucratic speed-bump or two but I thought we were in the clear. On Thursday, my new thing was supposed to be working a short day and spending the rest of the day with my new laptop. However, after I picked up the laptop and brought it home over my lunch break, my supervisor called me back into the office. Without going into details, my customer was facing homelessness because of an interpretation of wording in state guidelines. I worked quick and reserved a motel room with the company card for the customer and made a plan for a home transition the next morning. I didn't get out of the office until 6:15 which never ever happens.

Today, before I finished parking my car at work, I got a text from my supervisor to call the regional crisis person ASAP. It turns out that the med orders for my customer weren't up to code for the home we were looking into so I ended up getting on a first name basis with two different receptionists at the hospital as I sent and resent the doctor's note, trying to get everything fixed. My final problem ended up being our fax machine. I cannot believe that we still have to use these damn things. Finally, two hours after our home transfer meeting was supposed to start, I got everything lined up and we were good to go.

I won't lie. It's taken a hard toll on me. I knew that I could do it but I question the fucked-up system that makes it so hard. I know there are rules in place but I was seriously considering bringing my client back to stay in my spare bedroom because I was not going to allow my client to stay in a shelter just due to some unclear guidelines and murky med orders. Yesterday, I finished work at 6:15 and stayed in the office for an extra five minutes looking through Craigslist job ads. This is a pretty manageable job most of the time but then there are times where you realize that you have real lives that are significantly impacted by your work but it's not all hard times. After I got my customer's paperwork squared away at the house, my customer was so happy with the new place. It was a safe and friendly home which is something that my customer hasn't known for a bit. It sounds cheesy but the joy I saw on my customer's face made it all worth it.

Last year, I had my first customer transfer off my caseload and into an emergency home due to health issues right around Thanksgiving. It was the first time that the customer was ever taken care of. The hoe had a TV, a warm bed, a full fridge, and people with a sincere interest in the customer's well-being. That customer passed away after a few months but at least I know that when I was allowed to take full advantage of the state's resources, I was able to make their last few months comfortable. 

I hope that these issues don't come up more than once a year because I can't take the stress of it all but I think that I did better this time around and next year, if it happens again, I'll know a bit more and it won't be quite as stressful. At GW, I did feel that I was making a difference in the client's but at this job, I feel that I'm able to help give them a different and better life all together.

What else?

I can't tell you what the new things this last week have been. I do know I've done a new thing every day tho. On Saturday, one thing of note is that Andrew and I saw 'Room,' I have never cried so much in a movie and I can't recommend it enough. The acting, the story, the cinematography, everything was just perfect with it.

my first hump

I'll admit it: I was a bit nervous for this new thing. A few weeks ago, Andrew & I were out eating after drinks & there was a Portland Mercury on the table with a list of movies for Hump 2015. In case you don't know, HUMP is a film fest of the adult nature put on by Dan Savage. It began in just Seattle & Portland but has now gone national. I've never been. I've had friends that go though & I listen to Dan's podcast every week & read (or listened to [thanks, Audible]) his last book so I thought it was about time we go so I ordered us tickets.

I've never been to the venue Revolution Hall either in its current incarnation so I was looking forward to it all. The movies were fun & mostly funny & well-done for the most part. I had some hesitation about watching movies that featured lady bits on the big screen but one of my fav films was one that was primarily just that. It wasn't sexy for me but interesting & I will say challenging at times but I had a great time overall and I will definitely come back.

asleep from day

It's been a pretty mellow couple of days with very little going on. The time change has really messed with me and made me even less ambitious than normal. I don't typically have this extreme of a reaction to the time change but now I want to eat at 5 and crawl into bed at 7. So, obviously this had led to me doing less than exciting new things.

On Sunday, we went to see Assassin, a pretty Chinese film which was either subtitled badly or was so rich in history that it wasn't going to be understood by anybody other than Chinese history buffs. Still, it was very pretty with scenery, cinematography, and costuming that I didn't mind that I really couldn't follow the story. Afterwards, we ate early so our options were limited. We went to 24th and Meatballs where I tried a porter with coffee in it that I couldn't finish.

On Monday, I met a new county person who is helping with one of my customers. I ended up not getting home until 6pm which felt like 7pm and I had no desire to do anything else.

Yesterday was the worst as far as new things go. Andrew took Ava-duty so I got a lot of stuff done at work but nothing really new. While at home, Andrew helped me with downloading a file. I wasn't sure about it so he advised me to scan it first with my virus protection software. I wasn't aware that I could select individual files to scan so I'm counting it.

Today, I'm going to be more enterprising. I won a drink off Andrew yesterday because he made a mistake in our game BattleLine so we're going to try LIKEWISE, the most recent reincarnation of the bar next to Cup and Saucer on Hawthorne. We also have plans every day this weekend which will involve new things so my posts will be more purposeful, I promise.

and then i just chilled

Like I predicted, the days began to blend together. It's been nice just relaxing and not having any big tasks or journeys ahead in the immediate future. Still, I've been trying to get new things done and spend time with my family. 

On Friday, my mom and I went to "town" (that's what we call Kearney) and I used the HyVee gas station pump. I also tried the Chile Relleno for the first time at the mexican restaurant/store here in Gibbon. I thought I had had it before but after seeing it, I realized that it was new (and pretty damn good). My aunt and uncle came up from Kearney to join us for dinner and to see me and meet Ava.

On Saturday, I got my car worked on and ready to come back to Oregon and then went to the Goodrich ice cream here in town and had a cone with Ava in the park while the rest of the town watched the Huskers game.

On Sunday, I got up early for sunrise pics below. My dad and I also went to see The Martian which I really enjoyed. However, the movie cut out 80 minutes into it and we had to wait for a bit for the management to fix it. I also downloaded Words with Friends onto my Kindle and my mom and I have been playing a lot.

Like I said, it's been chill and easy. It's what I came here for.

neighbors

When we first moved into our new house, this guy pictured above was the first neighbor to greet Maria in the backyard. They get along fine and I'm happy to see him whenever he comes around. This morning, I picked him up and he climbed over my shoulder and started kneading my back. A good neighbor gives back massages.

We also had some other neighbors come over for a visit. A few months ago, we were biking by a house on our street, maybe 10 blocks away, when the guy living there called out to Andrew. He was someone that Andrew knew from a previous job so today, him and his wife came by to sit in our backyard and chat. It's a lovely day for backyard sitting and I love this neighborhood. It's so quiet and friendly and safe for animals to wander about.

What else?
We also tried Gladstone Pizza for the first time. The crust was great but the toppings on the Greek pizza were a little salty. We'll try it again but just with different toppings.

On Thursday, I tried a homemade egg white drink that Andrew had made.

On Friday, we walked to the Eastport Cinema for the first time where we bough tickets and saved seats for our friends so we could all watch the new Mad Max together. It was pretty awesome. Not quite as fun as Pacific Rim was but close. And it had a better feminist message.

On Saturday, I tried the fried cauliflower at Slingshot. I won't be doing that again. I don't like tahini that much.

to the top of tabor

Not much to write other than I loved this walk and this day and my dog and my man. It was a great day to hike up a volcano. Fortunately, it's also the closest nature walk to me. Dean loved it although he's hurting now. Poor old guy.

What else?
For my new thing, I tried new drinks at Sapphire Lounge and had a new special at J&M today for brunch.

Yesterday, my new thing was hitting a new bar/restaurant while Andrew and I waited for the doors to open for the new Bond film. Daniel Craig is great but it was a very formulaic Bond movie. The villain would have been better without blonde hair.

looking forward

I've been in a rut for a bit. That's part of my excuse for not updating my blog. The rut mainly consists of school and work and the rainy weather. However, we had a semi-dry weekend, I'm skipping school this week to watch the election coverage and I got caught up on my work last Thursday so here's a blog update.

Today, I had a great day, working out in the morning, getting a latte around noon at Powells while I read the latest Walking Dead comic, walking around the hood with Arturo and eating vegan milkshakes at Dick's. I also booked the Gearharts beach house for Christmas with Andrew since I'm not going back to Nebraska until my new nephew's born in January. The beach house is what I'm going to be the light at the end of this school quarter's tunnel.

What else?
I thought about going back to update October but for the most part, my new things consisted of new foods or new experiences at my internship. Here are the exceptions and/or the things that stood out.

On Saturday, October 6th, I went to the last night of the PLGFF in which they showed Cloudburst, a lesbian road trip movie with Olympia Dukakis. I can't recommend it enough. Afterwards, Andrew and I went to the afterparty at Crush which was fun but I liked the kickoff party better.

On Sunday the 7th, I watched the Timbers game at Long Haus on a projector in the back porch which has been nicely redone. Also, I joined Bastard and MLE at Ship's Ahoy afterwards for birthday drinks and good conversation.

On Wednesday the 10th, I woke up to the sound of scratching in the drywall behind my bed.

On Thursday the 11th, I met a new guy, the exterminator named Jason.

On Friday the 12th, Xbox and I had a great conversation about the house. Also, I went to see Margaret Cho who awesome as were her opening acts. So so so funny. I also went to Bare Bones bar with Jen, Ashes and Victory and later Justin and MLE. While we were there, we saw Chris Chandler from OCF. When I stopped him to tell him how much V and I enjoyed his library show at the last fair, he sat down with us and chatted for a while.

On Saturday the 13th, Andrew and I went to Brews for New Avenues. My old internship is really good at fundraising and they almost always incorporate booze into it. :)

On Sunday the 14th, I went to the Walking Dead season premiere at the Academy with Jen. It's a series that's really meant to be seen in the theater! Andrew and I also gave Dean a bath!

On Monday the 15th, I downloaded LibreOffice, a freeware version of Micro-shaft. I like it a lot more and I won't go back.

On Saturday the 20th, I took the day to work on my first paper for the term. I finished it in good time. Sophia made vegan chili so we ate that all day and, after I finished my paper, we played a new game which ended up being a D&D game. Yes, I have crossed that threshold.

On Sunday the 21st, Andrew and I went to see Blood Simple, the Cohen Bros first movie. It was great! We also went to Pastrygirl, the bakery/coffeeshop for the first time.

On Thursday the 25th, I biked to Clackamas for work for the first time since my accident (where the top pic comes from).

On Saturday the 27th, I DJ'ed Ashes' 33rd bday party. Since it was his 33rd, it was a Jesus/religious theme. I went as Lot's Wife (a salt shaker). I was one of only four or five people in costume but I still had fun.

On Sunday the 28th, Andrew and I went bar-hopping up Belmont during the afternoon, lightly drinking and snacking while playing cards. We ended up at Hob Nob Grille for the first time where I taught Andrew how to play Backgammon...and he beat me two times. It was also the 10th anniversary of my coming out. 10 years ago, my friend Joe directly asked me if I was gay and he was the first person I said yes to.

On Halloween, I didn't do a thing except go out to eat with Andrew. I really feel that I failed Halloween this year.

On Friday the 2nd, Ashes and I walked to a client's home on NW 23rd as part of my internship. I love working in the same building with him and getting to do breaks together. It was a lovely day for a walk too!

On Saturday the 3rd, Andrew and I went to the Republic downtown where I ordered a new dish. He's never been there and I haven't been there for years. We also went to Seven Psychopaths which sucked so hard.

And that's it. I'll try to update more often and to take more pictures.

pec-upuncture

Ashes and I tried the gym this week. I was determined to do something since I was feeling well enough to ride my bike. I tried bench pressing, moving my weight down to 135lbs but I was only able to do two reps of 7 before my pec starting hurting. It's the same injury that I had earlier this year which stopped me from working out for a while. I don't want to wait that long to be well again so I went to get acupuncture today.

I saw Matt, a new-to-me acupuncturist at the Brooklyn Acupuncture Clinic who did the acupuncture a little different than I have ever had it done before which proved to me to be more effective. He also gave me some good after-care ideas. I believe that acupuncture works but I've never really felt that it worked for me before today.

What else?
Andrew's been sick this week so we haven't gone back to the film fest. Today, they were showing Men to Kiss, a German film that I thought looked funny so I went to check that out by myself. Before the movie, they were showing a documentary on rape in the military called the Invisible War. I knew it would be a hard documentary to watch but I thought it was important to see and it was. I'm glad I stayed for Men to Kiss though because I needed a good distraction after such a heavy topic.

weekend at the movies

I don't think I've ever gone to the theater this often, even when my friend was the manager of a theater. Yesterday, Andrew and I went to see Raid on the Rainbow Lounge, an independent documentary on the raid of a gay bar in Fort Worth, Texas in 2009 on the anniversary of the Stonewall Raid. We had met the director the day before at the showing of Gayby and he was happy to hear that we were talking about his film. It was well done and very thorough.

Then today we went to The Falls, a movie about two Mormons on their mission and coming to terms with the fact that they're gay. It was a good drama but I really loved the humorous parts of it. The director and a lot of the cast and crew were there as well since it was made in Portland.

It's really nice being able to see these movies and get in for free. I'm going to have to do something nice for Yvonne who got us the passes.

What else?
My new thing yesterday was eating at J & M. They didn't have much for vegan options but their vegetarian selection (and quality) was good. Plus I just loved the look of the place.

Today, my new thing was hauling a vacuum cleaner and my bike from Long Haus to my house in a car2go. It's good to know that in an emergency or bad weather this winter, I can opt for a car2go with my bike.

pdx lesbian & gay film fest '12

This evening, I went to the opening night of the Portland Lesbian and Gay Film Fest. It's always been of interest to me but never enough to get me there. Andrew's friend is a driving force behind the FF so she got us full-access passes. We went tonight to see Gayby, the movie about a gay guy who likes comic books who lives with a straight girl who does bikram yoga. It's a strangely familiar setting.

Anyway, the movie was HILARIOUS and then we went to the opening night party which was fabulous! We met the director of one of the films and a couple who is driving from Edmonton, Canada to Hondurus. They happened to stop through Portland tonight with a craving for a movie. They saw the marquee pictured above and they were welcomed with open arms. The whole party felt very classy but yet comfortable. I just probably shouldn't have had as much vodka as I did.

what relationships are made of

Andrew left town this past week for a vacation with his family in Montana. He got back on Friday and we hung out all this weekend, doing fun relationship things. On Saturday, we met for brunch at Circa 33. I had their special which was French Toast encrusted with Cap'n Crunch and filled with goat cheese and berry compote. Then, we went to the PSU Farmer's Market. I'm not sure if I've been there for the Saturday Market before. It's huge! We also stopped into Museum Grounds for coffee and tea.

Today, we went to Ken's Artisan Pizza for dinner and then Safety Not Guaranteed for a movie. It was a fabulous date movie. In fact, I'd say it was a fabulous date weekend. It's times like these where I'm truly grateful to have found a guy that I can be around so naturally and enjoyably.

a masterpiece in three parts

So here's a shocker: I loved the latest (and last) Batman movie, the Dark Knight Rises.

I've loved Christopher Nolan as a director/writer since Memento. When he got money, he was able to really strut his stuff and pull off what may be the best original trilogy in film history (I would say LOTR was the best based upon a novel series). Each movie stands alone as a great film but, when you combine the three, you get interwoven stories, well-developed characters, some solid acting and beautiful cinematography.

I have to admit that I was apprehensive about how Anne Hathaway was going to play Catwoman. I have always seen her as a living Disney character. However, she did a fabulous job, comparable to Heath Ledger's job as the Joker. However, there's no comparison between Anne's Catwoman and Michelle Pfieffer's Catwoman, mainly because Pfieffer's character was written by Burton and therefore completely over-the-top.

My one critique of the movie (okay two critiques) was Bane's voice. Yes, I realize that it had to be obscured due to a mask but between Tom Hardy's muffled dialogue and Christian Bale's raspy Batman, it became difficult to get invested in their scenes. Also, I hate ticking time-bomb suspense scenes. They always seem too contrived. However, those are minor complaints considering everything I was happy with in this and the other two films.

I will probably go see it at least one more time. It is almost three hours long but it almost seems too short because I don't want it to be the end.

What else?
Andrew and I went to see it at the Roseway today after having dinner at Zien Hong, which holds one of my new favorite dishes in town: Pepper-Salted Eggplant. So good!

My new thing today was helping Ashes put up the door to Sophia's room. It's halfway there. Who knew that it'd be so damn complicated to put in a door that's already framed?

trying to play the cool uncle

In 1994, a group of us from high school went to Lincoln for a state convention. In the evening, our sponsors would usually let us go to a movie independently which also gave them a break. For one Lincoln trip, we all decided to go see Threesome. From the advertisements, it looked like it was going to be along the lines of Reality Bites. However, it was a lot more risque. Mary, a junior who was by far the most religious out of us, was shocked. Still, I think that it was an eye-opening experience for her. Whether it ended up being good or bad though, I don't know.

Yesterday, while we were taking my niece out to dinner for her 16th birthday, she said that she wanted to go see Magic Mike. Her friends had already seen it with their mothers and they all loved it. So, being the good uncle that I am, I figured it was my job to offer to take her to see it. It's about male strippers so it couldn't be all that bad. From the advertisements I've seen, I was expecting something more like Coyote Ugly but with guys. Instead, it was more like Boogie Nights but stripping instead of porn.

I think the first minute or two really shocked Hayleigh and it just kept coming. The stripping/dance sequences were fun but overall the movie was just lackluster and relied too much on vices without a lot of redeeming moments for the characters. Anyway, it really reminded me of watching Mary watch Threesome except I was supposed to be the adult in this situation. Knowing that her friends' mothers sat thru the movie was one of the only things that kept me from telling her we should leave after the second scene.

What else?

Before the movie, Hayleigh and I watched this children's performance group from Africa. It was a cute group of kids raising money for assistance in Africa. Very sweet and pretty talented.

Also, Dean met his cousin Oliver for the first time. There's a considerable age difference between them. Fortunately, Dean's tolerant enough to put up with Oliver jumping at his face to lick him. They're pretty cute together.

my future car

One of the greatest conversations I can remember having was between a handful of other sophomores at McCook Community College one fall evening in 1995. I was in Bryan and Nate's dorm room with a few others while we reminisced about the 1980s, specifically about cartoons from our childhood. The power of our brains to reconnect with a time over 10 years old and reproduce the emotions that went along with that time is truly spectacular. That night was one of the first times I had realized that I just found my new two best friends in college and that's what happened. We were pretty much bonded after that.

If you didn't experience childhood in the eighties, it probably seemed like a pretty shitty decade with Ronald Reagan and the onset of AIDS and more. However, all of that was background noise for me at the time, drown out by Intellivision, He-Man, Rubix Cubes, Sixteen Candles, Care Bears, Space Invaders, Girls Just Want to Have Fun (the movie which I can still recite line for line), Cyndi Lauper, Pac Man (both the game and the TV show), the Never-Ending Story, Burgertime, the Karate Kid, Nerds candies, and Revenge of the Nerds. My friend Teddy and I spent what seems like a lot of time in Ed's Drive, especially when we discovered Mario Bros (the original) and Q-Bert. I was a lot better at Mario Bros. It was Shangri-La but that's because it was an innocent time for us as people. Talk whatever smack you want about the politics, health care, fashion mistakes, or overly synthesized music but I loved the 1980s and I always will.

Dominic recommended a book to me over a month ago and I checked it out from the library last week. It's Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Once I started reading it, I realized that I didn't want to do anything else. It's set in the future but in a future preoccupied with the 1980s so it packed with wonderful references, both blatant and obscure. It's like reliving my childhood or at least that conversation I had back in September of 1995. My only problem with the book is that I'm going to finish it way too soon and then I'll be stuck looking for an adequate summer book to follow it. I'll probably just do what Dominic did and I'll read it again.

I went home for lunch around 3pm today and walked Dean so I didn't need to head home right after work. Since Ready Player One, I've been itching to spend some time dorking out on arcade games while eating mediocre pizza so I planned to go down to Ground Kontrol and kill some time there. Fortunately, I checked my twitter feed first and saw that Powells in Beaverton was hosting Ernest Cline tonight for the tour of the paperback version of Ready Player One. I biked downtown, bought a copy of the book to replace the library's copy I had been reading, grabbed some pizza at Sizzle Pie and jumped on the MAX.

I hadn't biked in Beaverton before and I was quite unprepared for the suburbs but it was going to be worth it. The Beaverton Powells is even in a mall which made even more 80s sense, although I loathe the mall. Ernest's presentation was great. Fortunately, he didn't give away the ending because I haven't finished it yet but he did talk about the work he had to do to get his screenplay Fanboys made and how he came to write Ready Player One. He also introduced me to his contest that he is doing in which he has mirrored his book by placing a hidden easter egg in the book that leads to a video game. The first person to solve all three riddles and games will win the DeLorean pictured above. I don't know if I'm going to compete but I might give it a shot. Really, it was just enough for me to sit in the DeLorean and then bike back the the MAX with a big grin on my face while listening to Huey Lewis sing about the Power of Love.

my reward system

 

I made a deal with myself a while ago. I promised myself that I would not see The Avengers until I finished my final paper. The paper's not due until next week but the last showing for The Avengers at any local independent theater was tonight so I was pressed to get it done before today. I pretty much finished it on Tuesday and did the final touches yesterday quick before going to class. I turned it in and now I was free to enjoy my movie!

Before the film, I went to Sock Dreams as an additional reward and then to Stickers, pictured above, for some food and drink. The movie was pretty much everything I was expecting and more. Not only was it the ultimate superhero movie but it was written and directed by Joss Whedon who can do no wrong in my book!

3D for free

Dominic asked me today if I was still in love jail. For those of you that don't know, love jail is when your relationship isolates you from your friends. If anything, I've been in a love jail with Dean for the past 10 years. I don't think that Andrew and I are at this point, nor will we get there. He's pretty social and likes my friends. However, I have been less than social with some of my friends lately due to time constraints so I decided to set aside some Dom time today and go to Men in Black 3D with him today since he had free screener passes. All it cost me was time and that I got to spend with Dom and it was even a 3D movie. That's like $13 or so. Sweet!

I couldn't get a picture of it all though. They told us to put our cameras and cell-phones in the car. They checked bags and even waved metal detectors at us. So, since I don't have a picture of the movie, here's a random shot to Sir Elton John, performing Pinball Wizard.

What else?
We're having our CARF accreditation at work. This is the second time I've been through this in this position and the fourth time I've been through it with the company so I'm not really all that nervous or concerned. On Monday 5/21, I went with the surveyor and a district manager to my stores and stopped at a sushi place (which was new to me) on the way. Today, we went to two other stores and stopped at Sweet Betty's in Gresham. It was a surprisingly awesome place. I'd love to go back there...but it's in Gresham.

cardio weekend

One of the many things that I enjoy about dating and specifically about dating Andrew is that he likes to get out and exercise. I can pretty much bank on at least one long bike ride during any given weekend. Yesterday, we biked up to Forest Park and then hiked up to Pittock Mansion for my first visit there. It costs to tour through and we weren't that interested in going inside but the view from the hill was wonderful.

On the way back down from the hike, I found out that Jen was going to see Wanderlust. I didn't know anything about the movie other than Jennifer Aniston was in it and I tend to like her in movies so we biked across town to Montavilla with enough time to grab some food at Ya Hala before meeting Jen and Donald at the movie. It was really good and funny. I enjoyed how it wonderfully illustrated my recurring nightmare about being forced to live in suburbs.

Today, for exercise, we biked 33 miles today in an effort to find the end of the I-205 bike path. It took us along the Clackamas River and we ended up biking back up river road. We stopped in at Duffy's Irish Pub for my first visit there and had a pint or two and then went into Sellwood. To reward ourselves for a lot of cardio exercise over the weekend, I made Andrew stop at Sock Dreams then and we each bought fun socks to reward ourselves for our adventurousness. (Pictured below. I got the Ape socks.)

 

What else?
On Friday, 4/27, my new thing was trying Herb's Mac & Cheese food cart which opened up not too long ago near me. It's a good thing that I'm exercising because I could see this being a habit. I had Mac & Cheese with spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and Gorgonzola cheese sprinkled on top. Sooooo good. There goes my dream of getting abs before country fair.

my lil guy turns 11

Recently, vets got together and made Dean younger. Actually, they made all old dogs (and cats) younger by recalculating how dogs and cats age. Traditionally, people would multiply a dogs age in human years by seven to determine how old they are. Now, they figured that this isn't an accurate portrayal of a dog's age so now it's not a standard measurement but it worked in Dean's favor. Instead of being 77 in dog years, he's now 60! Unfortunately, he did start showing his age more today. He's limping ever so slightly again and he has developed allergies. I've been giving him Benodryl upon the vet's recommendation because he's been sneezing a lot. Maybe when he's better, I'll take him out to do something fun.

For his birthday, I took him to the pet store today to buy him a cookie, a bone and a toy. I love this guy and I wish I could buy him more time with me. I just have to figure out some way to be able to bring him to work daily.

What else?

It's also St Patrick's Day and a Timbers game. Victory and Caroline decided that they wanted to go to the Rose and Thistle, a Scottish pub I've never been to and I'm not sure I'll return to. True, people have different reasons for going to the pub on St Patrick's Day besides to watch the game. However, it was almost impossible to watch or enjoy the game there. It was really loud, we could barely see the TV and the table across the bar from us kept shouting dumbass stuff like, "No Homo" as they posed for pics together. Between them and the guy who came in wearing a Redskins jersey, I was gonna hit someone.

At half-time, I told Ashes, Victory and Caroline that I was ready to go. Instead, we went to check out the back patio where it was quieter, there was a better view of the TV and the people were a lot cooler. There was a long rainbow picnic table that was only half full of people so we asked if we could join them and they said yes. The people were awesome and the view was a lot better. There were still obnoxious drunks there but they were tolerable. If I go back, I will head right to the back patio.

Also, after the game, I met up with Andrew, Sophia, Xbox and Jesse to watch Harold and Maude at the Bagdad. I've recently discovered the movie and I love it. Jesse, Sophia and Andrew also love it so it made for a great night.

Also, yesterday was my last 8 hour class and my last class of the quarter so I have a lot to celebrate!