Oh yeah it does look like Christmas... In Portland. It has begun to cloud and I prepare for terrible bike rides in a morning downpour. Yet life has been good to me thus far by allowing I believe the most pleasant December to date as far as I can tell because it hasn't rained really at all.
Other than blessings to enjoy life from the weather I have also become a temporary full time employee at the Habitat For Humanity ReStore! BOOM! I'm finally a respectable human being, at least to myself. It came after a very odd situation where my co-worker suddenly quit after a small comment from Manager Alex about being late. Later that day an e-mail was sent by my previous co-worker containing many complaints and blatant attacks against the store and the management. Following such accusations there was much confusion on why they occurred and when all of the alleged occurrences of "adult temper tantrums," "dictator actions", and of course discontent from all other two employees of the store. After my Boss' boss discussed the situation with me we were the store was cleared of its newly found foul reputation and the comments where decided to be the heat of the moment hate speech. It was sad because previously I really enjoyed working with the ex employee. But apparently there was a lot of displeasure with how things are run.
So then began my real employment. I responded properly to the situation by embarking on a campaign to sabotage all applicants to fill the position by poorly advising my superiors in their search for another employee and of course mercilessly preaching my case. My propaganda frequently uses our volunteer base to fight for my cause. Which I see as a good use of their skills and abilities while working at the ReStore. Whether it be dropping comments about the quality of my leadership in the warehouse or else having them congregate into full scale protest marches throughout the store in order to fight for their right to keep me fully employed our battle continues on. I'm not going to say there hasn't been money exchanging hands, but I'm not going to admit it either. Such is the way of politics in the ReStore though.
Thus far applicants have been nothing but Turds. They fall to this category because their new level of expectation has been quadrupled since yours truly has taken up the position in recent months. The only problem is that I am now taking a week off to visit my family, which in reality could be the last bit of full time hours I could see, so everyone who gets to see me count your blessings and know once I return I may fall from glory back to the pitiful part timer once again. Even though many victories and successes have been acquired. There have been failures where in the long run outshine accomplishment.
Recently, as I peddle my way to work a terrible thing happens. Only being outdone by death in the terrible scale I obviously have been pretty worked up about it. I have been passed by another cyclist. It is just something I hate happening. What is really terrible it is always followed by some ridiculous act of biking conduct, which I know they do only to give themselves the satisfaction of "beating me." Well the day may be lost but the war is far from over, because no more will I be caught off guard singing Christmas Charols, specifically Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is You," while cruising to work.
Today was the worst. The pass occurred of course due to some poorly planned timing with singing, which does not allow optimum oxygen to the muscles for peak peddling performance. After I get passed I'm a class act. I swear under my breathe, and of course speed up so there can be no claim of getting burned, only a well timed pass on his part. So I kept up and we both needed to take a left turn. A complete coincidence of course. My superior planning and traffic management skills allowed me to take the lead after the corner. It wasn't even close. He pulled some ridiculous circle turning right because he misjudged traffic volume while I simply hung back on the sidewalk. Simple, easy, but effective take back of the lead. Determined not to be passed I picked up the pace. My only obstacle to ending my ride positively were the darn stop signs, which I being a moral being obeyed, not perfectly, but yet a solid yielding effect to give proper time to search for traffic. Schmuck on the other hand apparently is above the law and took my righteous actions to his advantage. Disregarding the LAW, he shot passed me as I initiated my stop. Oh I wish he got clipped by a car! I was livid! Attempting to catch him to reduce his satisfaction in the pass I was hindered by another stop sign, which I correctly yielded to yet not as strongly, and then of course he had enough distance to beat the red light. AAAAAHHHH!! I hate you yellow cyclist with all you fancy pants bike, fenders, water proof backpack, fully reflective jacket, and enough lighting to light up a runway. Oh yeah I'll remember him. It required all of my internal control restraint not to curse him into the distant fog as he escaped my wrath. And because you only have a certain amount of self control per day and I depleted it in restraining my murderous feelings on the road, I ate a jar of peanuts when I got home tonight. This guy ruined my happiness and my health. Rest assured... This guy's going down!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
ThanksGiving
Days sure do fly by when there really is no reason to know what the date is. Caitlin and I both have about a week off of everything during the Thanksgiving season and we lived it to the fullest. For some reason I found myself in a yarn shop twice so far during the break. I believe there have been 4 Danny-Caitlin Team escapades to a yarn shop and every time it gets better. The first one was some sort of misunderstanding because one of us (I bet you couldn't guess) received an e-mail the day before Thanksgiving stating a 40% discount on select yarn. Without proper inspection of the dates we found ourselves on the other side of Portland standing in the doorway of a nearly empty 40% discount sale at a yarn store only to find out the big sale wasn't until two days from now. The obvious sale day being black Friday, but I guess we didn't have our logical thinking caps on that day.
Well Happy Thanksgiving to the loyal readers of the blog. I am thankful there are at least 5 people 1,800 miles away who are going to read this and know I'm thinking of you. I did miss the traditional family gathering for Thanksgiving with the Dunn Family, which I heard had a great turn out. I do regret there is a whole lot of extended family I will be missing due to my absence at our gathering. Hopefully everyone got a very informal greeting from me delivered by my mother since she was the most convenient one to relay the message for me.
Thankfully somehow Caitlin managed to make friends who are willing to accept she comes as a package deal with me, and we went to our good friends Skylar's house to celebrate. We fit perfectly since the number of family members missing for them was two, a son and daughter, but the only thing was we couldn't fill their shoes. Their family averages a height of just about 6'4', so we are happy to let everyone know we were the tiniest family members they have ever had.
The dinner was very traditional with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and green beans. Feeling very at home with all of the food, and the snack table with MM's I definitely ate nearly to my bodies bursting capacity. The meal was full of laughter as Michael filled Caitlin and I with delightfully detailed tales of his past. They have obviously been told numerous times because Skylar and Barbara were very keen to speed up the story by butting, or eliminating any and all tangents possible. It all added up to a great family meal with two very hospitable and energetic adoptive parents. Michael even taught me how to carve a turkey. I think I am going to mark that down as some sort of odd right of passage in my life.
After dinner we played a very simple, yet competitively addictive game. It includes dice, betting and a whole lot of lying. Oh yeah, and totally whooping Caitlin at it too. WOOO!
After the evening of magical weight gain we decided to walk it off and shop on the notorious Black Friday, greatest day of the year for consumption, greed, and the newest facet, sticking it to the man. Oh yeah we totally did the Portland thing and shopped the crap out of local stores. We couldn't help it really. Caitlin joined this club thing where every time you shop at certain stores you get points you can redeem for prizes, and points were TRIPLED! WHOA! We now have the equivalent of 3 free vegan ice cream cones and we are going to love each and everyone one. Why on earth would we want Vegan ice cream? I don't know, but they're free so I don't care. There are other things we can get, but that just kind of stands out.
There are a number of downsides to our adventure. First of all we went to the crummy yarn store first, and then also I bought 2 presents and I'm broke, one of those being a gift from the store just for showing up. Sorry family it looks like you will be sharing gifts this year.
Another odd thing happened also and I'm a little ashamed of my reaction, but it was just so weird. We parked the Corolla in metered street parking, and as we were paying a man in a V12 Mercedes pulls up in front of our car. He proceeds to parallel park and as he backed up he decided to pull forward only after his bumper proceeded to connect and push the Corolla back. We were pretty caught off guard. Not knowing if it actually happened we discussed pretty loudly next to his window if we saw what we thought we did. I couldn't tell what the guy was doing, but I imagined he was trying to wait us out so we go away. It worked, because as he sat in his car an kept his head down we decided no damage was done to our car so we left. I regret not making a scene, or doing something memorable.
Well of course I have written too much for a reasonable blog entry. I will wrap it up by saying I am thankful for the Family, Friends, acquaintances, and strangers who have effected my life or on the off chance I have effected theirs. I am thankful that moving to Portland has provided me with challenges and opportunities not available back home. I am also thankful I have people near or far who deem me as a worthy person of their time, effort, thoughts and prayers because that gives me something to smile about when the sun is gone for weeks and I get swore at by grumpy old random men who want to dump poopy toilets off at work. I pray everyone can be as healthy, successful, and happy as I am because of the opportunities, and people that make my life interesting. Thank you world.
Oh yeah we also have hummingbirds at our feeder! The Anna's Hummingbird to be exact. I love being a hippie! Woot
Well Happy Thanksgiving to the loyal readers of the blog. I am thankful there are at least 5 people 1,800 miles away who are going to read this and know I'm thinking of you. I did miss the traditional family gathering for Thanksgiving with the Dunn Family, which I heard had a great turn out. I do regret there is a whole lot of extended family I will be missing due to my absence at our gathering. Hopefully everyone got a very informal greeting from me delivered by my mother since she was the most convenient one to relay the message for me.
Thankfully somehow Caitlin managed to make friends who are willing to accept she comes as a package deal with me, and we went to our good friends Skylar's house to celebrate. We fit perfectly since the number of family members missing for them was two, a son and daughter, but the only thing was we couldn't fill their shoes. Their family averages a height of just about 6'4', so we are happy to let everyone know we were the tiniest family members they have ever had.
The dinner was very traditional with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and green beans. Feeling very at home with all of the food, and the snack table with MM's I definitely ate nearly to my bodies bursting capacity. The meal was full of laughter as Michael filled Caitlin and I with delightfully detailed tales of his past. They have obviously been told numerous times because Skylar and Barbara were very keen to speed up the story by butting, or eliminating any and all tangents possible. It all added up to a great family meal with two very hospitable and energetic adoptive parents. Michael even taught me how to carve a turkey. I think I am going to mark that down as some sort of odd right of passage in my life.
After dinner we played a very simple, yet competitively addictive game. It includes dice, betting and a whole lot of lying. Oh yeah, and totally whooping Caitlin at it too. WOOO!
After the evening of magical weight gain we decided to walk it off and shop on the notorious Black Friday, greatest day of the year for consumption, greed, and the newest facet, sticking it to the man. Oh yeah we totally did the Portland thing and shopped the crap out of local stores. We couldn't help it really. Caitlin joined this club thing where every time you shop at certain stores you get points you can redeem for prizes, and points were TRIPLED! WHOA! We now have the equivalent of 3 free vegan ice cream cones and we are going to love each and everyone one. Why on earth would we want Vegan ice cream? I don't know, but they're free so I don't care. There are other things we can get, but that just kind of stands out.
There are a number of downsides to our adventure. First of all we went to the crummy yarn store first, and then also I bought 2 presents and I'm broke, one of those being a gift from the store just for showing up. Sorry family it looks like you will be sharing gifts this year.
Another odd thing happened also and I'm a little ashamed of my reaction, but it was just so weird. We parked the Corolla in metered street parking, and as we were paying a man in a V12 Mercedes pulls up in front of our car. He proceeds to parallel park and as he backed up he decided to pull forward only after his bumper proceeded to connect and push the Corolla back. We were pretty caught off guard. Not knowing if it actually happened we discussed pretty loudly next to his window if we saw what we thought we did. I couldn't tell what the guy was doing, but I imagined he was trying to wait us out so we go away. It worked, because as he sat in his car an kept his head down we decided no damage was done to our car so we left. I regret not making a scene, or doing something memorable.
Well of course I have written too much for a reasonable blog entry. I will wrap it up by saying I am thankful for the Family, Friends, acquaintances, and strangers who have effected my life or on the off chance I have effected theirs. I am thankful that moving to Portland has provided me with challenges and opportunities not available back home. I am also thankful I have people near or far who deem me as a worthy person of their time, effort, thoughts and prayers because that gives me something to smile about when the sun is gone for weeks and I get swore at by grumpy old random men who want to dump poopy toilets off at work. I pray everyone can be as healthy, successful, and happy as I am because of the opportunities, and people that make my life interesting. Thank you world.
Oh yeah we also have hummingbirds at our feeder! The Anna's Hummingbird to be exact. I love being a hippie! Woot
Monday, November 14, 2011
The Update
First I am happy to announce the lifelong challenge of defeating the Dark Lord of Evil Ganon has come to a close. Yes, it was a miraculous afternoon, rainy, cloudy and cold, where I spent a number of hours plugging away at the gameboy to complete the last 4 dungeons of my epic quest. I must say Caitlin's response to my victory pose upon completion was far from congratulatory. If you look at the last post about my adventures in Hyrule there is a picture of the stance I attempted to replicate followed by my rendition of the beautiful melody all Hyrulian's know as the "hey look what I found" sound. A shake of the head and probably a mental note of how she can insult me someday was all I received. Either way I can now continue with my life and face more challenges now that I do not have such a burden to carry any longer. Thank you for all the believe and support I have received. I never would have made it without all of you, the man near the grave, and the old woman, who all contributed to my saving the land. And real people also.
Well besides the things I do when I am alone, Caitlin and I attempt to do things together. Well with my poor planning skills usually anything I suggest is not even considered because some people require 14 hrs of preparation to think about all the things there is to plan for when doing anything simple. For example: what to wear, (even though a clothing option could have been planned weeks in advance the moment of departure will come and then the clothing will be too fancy, too casual, and often times just not catchy enough), directions (even though most plans have very little time restrictions, and we have a gps if we don't know long beforehand we can't go because "Danny's lack of planning"). Now for the example Caitlin and I were going to the Humane Society to see the Guinea Pigs because we have been considering getting a pair of the little rascals. We got there and the place closed. Pretty much that quickly, so ha ha! victory to Danny's planning because Caitlin's failed. Not too bad we both realized that Piggies may not be the best because there is the possibility of Caitlin being allergic to them and me returning to being the Nerdy kid with asthma once again due to their peculiar "stuff" they release into the air.
On the way back I suggest going to the nickel arcade I've been dying to visit but the response was "I really don't feel like doing anything tonight." That was fine. I'm reasonable. So I began to mentally prepare myself for a relaxing night of the two of us just chilling. Still on the way back after I had transformed my attitude into "home" Danny she received a text. Next thing was "Skyler wants to know if we could go to a bar." Wait a minute! My plans were killed because the lack of going out enthusiasm, and now Skyler simply asks about just a bar and boom the desire of an outing is reborn? The explanation I was given is something around the lines that she doesn't want her friends to see her as a not fun "poop" (her word choice), so I concluded she just doesn't care that I know and live with this "poop" of a party person all of the time. Therefore, because I have been with "Relationship Caitlin" for 5 years now she is comfortable fusing that attitude with "fun pooper Caitlin" because she has nothing to prove to me and I do not deserve very much effort to keep the latter title hidden away in a closet somewhere for me to discover only when "nearl dead Danny emerges." I feel I may have brought this on myself though. Now that I too have become comfortable with the relationship I have allowed to see my true form, none other than "Dorky Danny" who loves rocking video games and dislikes taking frequent showers because they seem to pointless if I don't move all day. So it seems that we have accepted the worst the other has to offer, so I believe things are looking up.
Though there is one aspect of my Dannyness which is growing in me and developing everyday. That being "Danny, The lover of Peanut Butter." We bought two large tubs of it, one for her one for me, because she didn't like the fact I have been spooning out gobs of rich gooey goodness for weeks. But that even came into conflict when I found my jar empty and hers unopened. It's just so good! So I busted into hers and made a sandwich. I vowed to myself, which I have found with food my word is not very strong, that I would never eat straight from her jar, and I haven't, but it was still seen as crossing the line. I'm in the doghouse as far as going to the kitchen goes, because she knows I'm up to no good.
And before things get long we and our friend couple went to comedy club recently it was great. My only fault of the night was when I was asked to drive Brian (a fellow asthmatic) to get his inhaler. I sort of blanked and said "I'm good." I claim I didn't know what they were asking, so I dropped the ball when I let Caitlin drive him while I sat stupidly with Skyler waiting for the show to start. Caitlin and Brian missed a solid 10 minutes. Whoops. Either way the show was great which I could tell because my chest and face hurt from laughing so much.
We also went to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry for the Bodies exhibit. I don't get grossed out by much, but seeing a skinned human made me super conscious of all the functions in my body so as I moved everything just felt weird. I couldn't believe how awkward I felt. Cool none the less. I guess the best part was when they had a scan of someones stomach who had a life threatening case of constipation! You wouldn't believe the size of the monster growing inside of that persons lower abdomen. The reaction after the chuckle was of course "Ouch."
I find myself cold even though there is a lack of snow and real cold weather it kind of ruins the ego of being able to handle cold. I am mad that I am going to miss hunting this year, because Matthew is out chasing around (not shooting mind you) allegedly much larger deer than previous years have produced. Unfortunately for him I will not be there to get lost in the woods only to randomly spook a very large buck right in his direction. I am also going to miss the family Thanksgiving which is making me wonder if I will need to sing by myself "Now Thank We All Our God" wherever I may be at the time of Thanksgiving. Please enjoy family though "Jacob? Matthew? oh your the other one" isn't there this year.
Well besides the things I do when I am alone, Caitlin and I attempt to do things together. Well with my poor planning skills usually anything I suggest is not even considered because some people require 14 hrs of preparation to think about all the things there is to plan for when doing anything simple. For example: what to wear, (even though a clothing option could have been planned weeks in advance the moment of departure will come and then the clothing will be too fancy, too casual, and often times just not catchy enough), directions (even though most plans have very little time restrictions, and we have a gps if we don't know long beforehand we can't go because "Danny's lack of planning"). Now for the example Caitlin and I were going to the Humane Society to see the Guinea Pigs because we have been considering getting a pair of the little rascals. We got there and the place closed. Pretty much that quickly, so ha ha! victory to Danny's planning because Caitlin's failed. Not too bad we both realized that Piggies may not be the best because there is the possibility of Caitlin being allergic to them and me returning to being the Nerdy kid with asthma once again due to their peculiar "stuff" they release into the air.
On the way back I suggest going to the nickel arcade I've been dying to visit but the response was "I really don't feel like doing anything tonight." That was fine. I'm reasonable. So I began to mentally prepare myself for a relaxing night of the two of us just chilling. Still on the way back after I had transformed my attitude into "home" Danny she received a text. Next thing was "Skyler wants to know if we could go to a bar." Wait a minute! My plans were killed because the lack of going out enthusiasm, and now Skyler simply asks about just a bar and boom the desire of an outing is reborn? The explanation I was given is something around the lines that she doesn't want her friends to see her as a not fun "poop" (her word choice), so I concluded she just doesn't care that I know and live with this "poop" of a party person all of the time. Therefore, because I have been with "Relationship Caitlin" for 5 years now she is comfortable fusing that attitude with "fun pooper Caitlin" because she has nothing to prove to me and I do not deserve very much effort to keep the latter title hidden away in a closet somewhere for me to discover only when "nearl dead Danny emerges." I feel I may have brought this on myself though. Now that I too have become comfortable with the relationship I have allowed to see my true form, none other than "Dorky Danny" who loves rocking video games and dislikes taking frequent showers because they seem to pointless if I don't move all day. So it seems that we have accepted the worst the other has to offer, so I believe things are looking up.
Though there is one aspect of my Dannyness which is growing in me and developing everyday. That being "Danny, The lover of Peanut Butter." We bought two large tubs of it, one for her one for me, because she didn't like the fact I have been spooning out gobs of rich gooey goodness for weeks. But that even came into conflict when I found my jar empty and hers unopened. It's just so good! So I busted into hers and made a sandwich. I vowed to myself, which I have found with food my word is not very strong, that I would never eat straight from her jar, and I haven't, but it was still seen as crossing the line. I'm in the doghouse as far as going to the kitchen goes, because she knows I'm up to no good.
And before things get long we and our friend couple went to comedy club recently it was great. My only fault of the night was when I was asked to drive Brian (a fellow asthmatic) to get his inhaler. I sort of blanked and said "I'm good." I claim I didn't know what they were asking, so I dropped the ball when I let Caitlin drive him while I sat stupidly with Skyler waiting for the show to start. Caitlin and Brian missed a solid 10 minutes. Whoops. Either way the show was great which I could tell because my chest and face hurt from laughing so much.
We also went to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry for the Bodies exhibit. I don't get grossed out by much, but seeing a skinned human made me super conscious of all the functions in my body so as I moved everything just felt weird. I couldn't believe how awkward I felt. Cool none the less. I guess the best part was when they had a scan of someones stomach who had a life threatening case of constipation! You wouldn't believe the size of the monster growing inside of that persons lower abdomen. The reaction after the chuckle was of course "Ouch."
I find myself cold even though there is a lack of snow and real cold weather it kind of ruins the ego of being able to handle cold. I am mad that I am going to miss hunting this year, because Matthew is out chasing around (not shooting mind you) allegedly much larger deer than previous years have produced. Unfortunately for him I will not be there to get lost in the woods only to randomly spook a very large buck right in his direction. I am also going to miss the family Thanksgiving which is making me wonder if I will need to sing by myself "Now Thank We All Our God" wherever I may be at the time of Thanksgiving. Please enjoy family though "Jacob? Matthew? oh your the other one" isn't there this year.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
I'm Back...Maybe...
Hello all!
I admit I kind of forgot about the blog and without Danny pestering me about it I haven't written in a while. Which mostly means you get to listen to Danny drone on and on about his life which is cool and all but I think a little more pizazz is needed. Not to get your hopes up that this entry will be amazing or anything, it could very well flop and be epically boring. But that's the risk you take in reading this ridiculous thing so hold on to your seats as you hear about..... Grad school! Food! Breathing! Air! And other such exciting things that are a part of my every day life :)
So grad school; it's pretty great so far! I loved the University of Minnesota where I did my undergrad but being out here at Lewis and Clark is a totally different experience. At Minnesota all of my classes (except Spanish) were usually 50+ people and averaged more towards the 75-100 range. I never minded this, I loved my education at the U and really enjoyed the massive amount of diversity I encountered all the time. BUT, Lewis and Clark definitely has offered a more tight knit community feel as there are only about 25-30 people in my cohort for my program. I've mentioned before how awesome so many of these people are and I continue to enjoy hearing their thoughts and opinions each class. My faculty is also quite amazing at well and in itself it quite diverse. They had a game night/social thing last week after one of our night classes and of course only 15ish people showed up (out of all 3 cohorts for our program!) but through playing Taboo with them and the faculty I'm so glad I stayed for a bit.
I'll be getting to know some of the faculty a lot better soon as I'm headed to Uganda for a trip at the end of April that will be led by two of them. I'm so pumped for the trip!! It will be two weeks at a school in Uganda that trains counselors and we'll be leading a seminar on some of our Western counseling techniques. I know that probably sounds bad to some of you because given the history of the Western world impeding on other cultures by introducing what we think is better/best has been quite negative. With all of that in mind, the two faculty members leading the trip have definitely put a lot of work in developing a seminar that will focus more on the basic techniques of Western counseling skills rather than on Western theories. There is still a risk of overstepping and bringing back a lot of those negative aspects of colonialism but we have a lot of work left to do (we will begin meeting once every two weeks or so until we leave) to hopefully develop a non-culturally-invasive curriculum. I'm so excited to be a part of this and to go to Africa! It'll be my third continent (fourth if you count the layover I had in Australia to go see Danny when he was in Fiji) that I'll have traveled to. Woop!
Ok so enough about that part of life. Danny has made it sound like our lives are super boring but I think that may just be his life... :) We've been pretty consistently occupied on weekends, nothing crazy but fun things nonetheless. I went to a Timbers game a few weekends ago (the local soccer team). It was so much more fun than any Gophers game I ever attended! No lie! People love soccer here and they have a huge cheering section. Amazing! Danny wasn't able to come as I went with my friend Catherine who has an position on campus for the student activities board (I think) so she helps organize things for the underclassmen and got free tickets to the game. Danny and I have also been hanging out with my friend Skylar and her boyfriend Bryan pretty frequently. Skylar, like Catherine, is in my program so we all see each other frequently. It's nice to have another couple as friends and Skylar and Bryan are just full of fun activities so I don't mind saying that I plan to cling to that like velcro.
Oh and we bought a waffle maker off of craigslist! Danny has been pestering me about that since we moved here. Apparently waffles have been on his mind for months and he has been trolling craigslist in search of the perfect one. Of course craigslist brings with it a whole slew of weird events when you have to go pick up what you're buying. This one brought us out to Beaverton (suburbish place) and we got really lost looking for the house. The address was marked waaaaayy far away from where the house actually was so we ended up driving around for much longer than anticipated. When we finally found the house the girl we bought it from wasn't home but her roommate was. He was in the midst of cooking up some ground beef and wasn't very informed about the waffle maker at all. He had no idea if it worked, how it worked, if you could wash it, how much it cost, etc. This led to a series of phone calls to the girl we were buying it from and we ended up buying it. BUT I have learned my lesson about what kind of money you bring to a craigslist deal. BRING CHANGE! Danny is usually the only one of us that usually has cash and it's always a $20 so when the guy said the waffle maker was $20 and it was a very dirty waffle maker, I wanted to bargain it down. Of course, though, we only had a $20 so there wasn't much use in bargaining. Next time we will bring all of our money in $1's. I hope.
Hmm so the waffle maker story definitely took up a greater amount of space than I anticipated.... I told you this whole thing can get really lame so you were forewarned.
Other interesting things:
-We have discovered WinCo Foods which is kind of like Woodman's but you can buy everything from bulk bins. Score!
-My school will be opening up its own counseling clinic where I will do my internship in my third year. It's going to offer Spanish counseling as well so I will have my chance to fulfill my dream of speaking Spanish with clients!
-It's rainy here...a lot. But it doesn't seem as bad as you might think. It just seems kind of normal.
-Biking is still hard. I keep thinking it will get easier. Lies.
-I will be home on the 20th of December and will be heading up to Minneapolis on the 31st/1st until the 3rd. I hope to see ALL of you!
-You know about Occupy Wall Street? We have Occupy Portland. They're in a park downtown and so far it's been pretty peaceful, especially compared to Oakland.
Well that's it! I think I have sufficiently attempted murder by boredom at this point. Hopefully you've survived but if you haven't I apologize! But if you haven't survived you're already dead and I have no way of apologizing so... Yep. On that note, I hope those of you still left breathing are doing great and I'll be seeing you soon enough!
I admit I kind of forgot about the blog and without Danny pestering me about it I haven't written in a while. Which mostly means you get to listen to Danny drone on and on about his life which is cool and all but I think a little more pizazz is needed. Not to get your hopes up that this entry will be amazing or anything, it could very well flop and be epically boring. But that's the risk you take in reading this ridiculous thing so hold on to your seats as you hear about..... Grad school! Food! Breathing! Air! And other such exciting things that are a part of my every day life :)
So grad school; it's pretty great so far! I loved the University of Minnesota where I did my undergrad but being out here at Lewis and Clark is a totally different experience. At Minnesota all of my classes (except Spanish) were usually 50+ people and averaged more towards the 75-100 range. I never minded this, I loved my education at the U and really enjoyed the massive amount of diversity I encountered all the time. BUT, Lewis and Clark definitely has offered a more tight knit community feel as there are only about 25-30 people in my cohort for my program. I've mentioned before how awesome so many of these people are and I continue to enjoy hearing their thoughts and opinions each class. My faculty is also quite amazing at well and in itself it quite diverse. They had a game night/social thing last week after one of our night classes and of course only 15ish people showed up (out of all 3 cohorts for our program!) but through playing Taboo with them and the faculty I'm so glad I stayed for a bit.
I'll be getting to know some of the faculty a lot better soon as I'm headed to Uganda for a trip at the end of April that will be led by two of them. I'm so pumped for the trip!! It will be two weeks at a school in Uganda that trains counselors and we'll be leading a seminar on some of our Western counseling techniques. I know that probably sounds bad to some of you because given the history of the Western world impeding on other cultures by introducing what we think is better/best has been quite negative. With all of that in mind, the two faculty members leading the trip have definitely put a lot of work in developing a seminar that will focus more on the basic techniques of Western counseling skills rather than on Western theories. There is still a risk of overstepping and bringing back a lot of those negative aspects of colonialism but we have a lot of work left to do (we will begin meeting once every two weeks or so until we leave) to hopefully develop a non-culturally-invasive curriculum. I'm so excited to be a part of this and to go to Africa! It'll be my third continent (fourth if you count the layover I had in Australia to go see Danny when he was in Fiji) that I'll have traveled to. Woop!
Ok so enough about that part of life. Danny has made it sound like our lives are super boring but I think that may just be his life... :) We've been pretty consistently occupied on weekends, nothing crazy but fun things nonetheless. I went to a Timbers game a few weekends ago (the local soccer team). It was so much more fun than any Gophers game I ever attended! No lie! People love soccer here and they have a huge cheering section. Amazing! Danny wasn't able to come as I went with my friend Catherine who has an position on campus for the student activities board (I think) so she helps organize things for the underclassmen and got free tickets to the game. Danny and I have also been hanging out with my friend Skylar and her boyfriend Bryan pretty frequently. Skylar, like Catherine, is in my program so we all see each other frequently. It's nice to have another couple as friends and Skylar and Bryan are just full of fun activities so I don't mind saying that I plan to cling to that like velcro.
Oh and we bought a waffle maker off of craigslist! Danny has been pestering me about that since we moved here. Apparently waffles have been on his mind for months and he has been trolling craigslist in search of the perfect one. Of course craigslist brings with it a whole slew of weird events when you have to go pick up what you're buying. This one brought us out to Beaverton (suburbish place) and we got really lost looking for the house. The address was marked waaaaayy far away from where the house actually was so we ended up driving around for much longer than anticipated. When we finally found the house the girl we bought it from wasn't home but her roommate was. He was in the midst of cooking up some ground beef and wasn't very informed about the waffle maker at all. He had no idea if it worked, how it worked, if you could wash it, how much it cost, etc. This led to a series of phone calls to the girl we were buying it from and we ended up buying it. BUT I have learned my lesson about what kind of money you bring to a craigslist deal. BRING CHANGE! Danny is usually the only one of us that usually has cash and it's always a $20 so when the guy said the waffle maker was $20 and it was a very dirty waffle maker, I wanted to bargain it down. Of course, though, we only had a $20 so there wasn't much use in bargaining. Next time we will bring all of our money in $1's. I hope.
Hmm so the waffle maker story definitely took up a greater amount of space than I anticipated.... I told you this whole thing can get really lame so you were forewarned.
Other interesting things:
-We have discovered WinCo Foods which is kind of like Woodman's but you can buy everything from bulk bins. Score!
-My school will be opening up its own counseling clinic where I will do my internship in my third year. It's going to offer Spanish counseling as well so I will have my chance to fulfill my dream of speaking Spanish with clients!
-It's rainy here...a lot. But it doesn't seem as bad as you might think. It just seems kind of normal.
-Biking is still hard. I keep thinking it will get easier. Lies.
-I will be home on the 20th of December and will be heading up to Minneapolis on the 31st/1st until the 3rd. I hope to see ALL of you!
-You know about Occupy Wall Street? We have Occupy Portland. They're in a park downtown and so far it's been pretty peaceful, especially compared to Oakland.
Well that's it! I think I have sufficiently attempted murder by boredom at this point. Hopefully you've survived but if you haven't I apologize! But if you haven't survived you're already dead and I have no way of apologizing so... Yep. On that note, I hope those of you still left breathing are doing great and I'll be seeing you soon enough!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
The Quitter
I would first like to apologize to all 3 readers out there. I do not know exactly what happened to the writing styles of Caitlin Clark on the blog. I am able to guess most of her typing energy has been transferred from the blog over to other more trivial things, such as graduate study papers, and texting with friends. Thankfully for all of you I can still find time with my open and simple schedule from work.
Because my schedule at work is so simple and the demands of me are not overwhelming in any way. I have been granted 4 days of leave over the Christmas and New Year holiday season. It may seem soon to many of you out there for planning, but there was external pressure motivating me to figure out my itinerary. All in one day I have requested time off, was granted that time off, and then booked a round trip flight from the cities.
I am excited about the return home, but there was a lot of conflict in my means of transportation. Throughout my history I have always been willing to make life as uncomfortable as possible to safe a dollar or two. From eating sandwiches three meals a day to driving my motorcycle until it is well below freezing, I save money where I can. With a little research into my possible flights I began to feel a little ill imagining the amount of money required for a trip home. There were too many variables, should I arrive in La Crosse or Minneapolis, if Minneapolis how will I get home, and then what days should I come home? All thoughts along with 12 web pages began to disorient me a little, and then to complicate matters more I decided to sample alternatives.
A train ride would take 40 hours but save me about $100. Words of discouragement coming from the usual source caused me to quickly disregard the option in fear of being trapped on a rail out near Glacier National Park for my vacation was not too appealing. Another alternative quickly gave rise in my mind. The bus of course. It is scheduled to take approximately the same amount of time but even cost much less than the train. What a wonderful idea.
Well revolutionary ideas sour very quick once realistic thoughts slowly emerge through the ecstatic haze of self believed genius. It was the challenge of making the bus in the first place. I work the Thursday before until 4 and I would need to make it down town Portland in exactly one hour to catch the 5 pm departure time. I imagined a timely exit from work at 3:55 in order to catch the train 4 blocks away for downtown. Arriving in hopefully 35 minutes I could easily march the last 6 blocks and then in 43 hrs I would be in Winona Minnesota.
Eventually sad thoughts of failure helped me realize that I am a coward. So many what ifs forced made me think the convenience of a 4 hr flight beats the rush and uncertainty of bus travel. Darn my poor rationality! Now bills will run me over during Christmas and I will cry on my flight home knowing that I could have done better. All I needed to do was suck up a 43 hour bus ride where I would have probably got some sort of infection on my body, lose a lot of sleep, and most likely listen to the life theories of some random bus passenger next to me. How bad could it have been? I guess I will never know because my sense of adventure and sheer determination has withered away. My 23 year old rationale has accepted the luxuries and conveniences offered in today's society. I think I have mentally beaten myself into deciding next time I will ride the bus or take the train. I look forward to it.
Because my schedule at work is so simple and the demands of me are not overwhelming in any way. I have been granted 4 days of leave over the Christmas and New Year holiday season. It may seem soon to many of you out there for planning, but there was external pressure motivating me to figure out my itinerary. All in one day I have requested time off, was granted that time off, and then booked a round trip flight from the cities.
I am excited about the return home, but there was a lot of conflict in my means of transportation. Throughout my history I have always been willing to make life as uncomfortable as possible to safe a dollar or two. From eating sandwiches three meals a day to driving my motorcycle until it is well below freezing, I save money where I can. With a little research into my possible flights I began to feel a little ill imagining the amount of money required for a trip home. There were too many variables, should I arrive in La Crosse or Minneapolis, if Minneapolis how will I get home, and then what days should I come home? All thoughts along with 12 web pages began to disorient me a little, and then to complicate matters more I decided to sample alternatives.
A train ride would take 40 hours but save me about $100. Words of discouragement coming from the usual source caused me to quickly disregard the option in fear of being trapped on a rail out near Glacier National Park for my vacation was not too appealing. Another alternative quickly gave rise in my mind. The bus of course. It is scheduled to take approximately the same amount of time but even cost much less than the train. What a wonderful idea.
Well revolutionary ideas sour very quick once realistic thoughts slowly emerge through the ecstatic haze of self believed genius. It was the challenge of making the bus in the first place. I work the Thursday before until 4 and I would need to make it down town Portland in exactly one hour to catch the 5 pm departure time. I imagined a timely exit from work at 3:55 in order to catch the train 4 blocks away for downtown. Arriving in hopefully 35 minutes I could easily march the last 6 blocks and then in 43 hrs I would be in Winona Minnesota.
Eventually sad thoughts of failure helped me realize that I am a coward. So many what ifs forced made me think the convenience of a 4 hr flight beats the rush and uncertainty of bus travel. Darn my poor rationality! Now bills will run me over during Christmas and I will cry on my flight home knowing that I could have done better. All I needed to do was suck up a 43 hour bus ride where I would have probably got some sort of infection on my body, lose a lot of sleep, and most likely listen to the life theories of some random bus passenger next to me. How bad could it have been? I guess I will never know because my sense of adventure and sheer determination has withered away. My 23 year old rationale has accepted the luxuries and conveniences offered in today's society. I think I have mentally beaten myself into deciding next time I will ride the bus or take the train. I look forward to it.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Furious!
Wow, it was just one of those days where you wake up and you say "yaawwwn... things are going to suck." Problem is that the only reason things are going to suck is simply because everything is going to infuriate you no matter the problem.
I knew it would be crappy because Caitlin MADE me go change the oil in the car at a place 8.1 miles away because there were "eight positive reviews online." I fought, pouted, and whined all hours previous scheduling of appointment until after the completion of the job. Good news was that everything went fine. I didn't get lost looking for it, the job was done cheaply and hassle free, and I even went on a 45 minute adventure to find the lost market of Ink Well, which had relocated and google was not up to date on the location of their store. After wandering and questioning many passerby's I discovered its whereabouts, with only seconds to spare to beat the oil changing process.
Though everything was going well my mind still kept saying "things sure do suck today don't they Danny?" No. But I felt they did.
Sam Gaumont, one of the family members I have been helping move recently, asked if I would be able to do a few simple errands. Unfortunately they required my least favorite kind of adventure. Adventure by vehicle in a crowded easily to get lost in city. My task was to recycle styrofoam and follow it up with a little paint recycling. Easy enough. Well here in the great city of Portland nothing is as easy as it seems. The Styrofoam drug me out to the outer eastern ring where I have never been with or without a Honda Odyssey. Happy day points to driving a minivan again. Upon arrival I learn some of my cargo does not meet the quality of Styrofoam that is required at such a high class establishment. Sam's going to be angry, because the extra garbage around the house has caused a great deal of distress while attempting to straighten things out to move. Oh well, on to the next destination.
The Metro Recycling deal (I don't remember what it was called nor can I find it online because I want to give it horribly unhappy reviews for making me, so so mad.) was located on the Northern side of Portland where again I have never been in a Honda Odyssey. I enter and see a sign I believe to say $28 dollars per ton of garbage, followed by me and my vehicle weighing in at a dainty 4660 pounds. 'Oh, they charge me the weight difference upon leaving' I conclude. So I unload my paint, pull over to the mountain of garbage and fill it with my two 1 pound bags of stuff and proceed to be weighed again. Anticipating the $5 for hazardous waste I pull out a five. The weight man/ cashier mumbles "blah petub blurgh spittle blub $33." Usually I don't show too much emotion in my speech, but there is something deeply ingrained in my being about spending money that I did not expect that really irks me. "WHAT!?!" "$33" and straining very hard to understand what he said I made out "five for the paint and twenty eight for the garbage" Turns out no matter how much you toss in the price is $28 for the first ton of garbage. I offered to retrieve my garbage, but policy says for my safety I may not return and get what I have already deposited for my well being. After a few comments back and forth about the outrageous price for my stuff. I froze. My eye twitching as I stared at the $15 Sam gave me to take away the stuff, the five dollars I had in my own wallet, and then to my debit card. I died a little as I realize I have no power in this world. The value of all the work you do really turns to nothing when I pay for 2 bags of garbage the equivalent of 3 hours of my work at this time. I conceded. I couldn't argue with a man I could hardly understand. And I couldn't win. My fury would have got the best of me as I cursed him out. Hindsight tells me I should have just sat there and said "No." When he asked "what?" I do a little civil disobedience and plant myself on the scale so business may not return to normal as I level headily plead my case. It seems so simple now, but my inability to argue and confront the powers that be won.
Why did I grow up a peace loving human? Why do I enjoy allowing people to enjoy their life even when I feel I get crapped on from all sides? I as well as all of us need to learn confrontation can be good at some points, especially when you can win. I challenge not only myself, but all of you. Go out and assert yourself! If it means cutting someone off in the next lane so you don't miss your lane, do so. If you don't you may miss the I-5 exit and start heading north of I-80 towards Idaho. It happens more often than you'd like to think, like my return trip. Gahh. I forgot about that until I start thinking about my passive habits of life. Alright, I'm done ranting about my day. I'm going to watch the Spongebob episode where Plankton teaches him to be assertive, but I'll shut it off before they get the the conclusion where Spongebob learns the evils of asserting one's desires over other's feelings. Take care, recycle and drive attentively.
I knew it would be crappy because Caitlin MADE me go change the oil in the car at a place 8.1 miles away because there were "eight positive reviews online." I fought, pouted, and whined all hours previous scheduling of appointment until after the completion of the job. Good news was that everything went fine. I didn't get lost looking for it, the job was done cheaply and hassle free, and I even went on a 45 minute adventure to find the lost market of Ink Well, which had relocated and google was not up to date on the location of their store. After wandering and questioning many passerby's I discovered its whereabouts, with only seconds to spare to beat the oil changing process.
Though everything was going well my mind still kept saying "things sure do suck today don't they Danny?" No. But I felt they did.
Sam Gaumont, one of the family members I have been helping move recently, asked if I would be able to do a few simple errands. Unfortunately they required my least favorite kind of adventure. Adventure by vehicle in a crowded easily to get lost in city. My task was to recycle styrofoam and follow it up with a little paint recycling. Easy enough. Well here in the great city of Portland nothing is as easy as it seems. The Styrofoam drug me out to the outer eastern ring where I have never been with or without a Honda Odyssey. Happy day points to driving a minivan again. Upon arrival I learn some of my cargo does not meet the quality of Styrofoam that is required at such a high class establishment. Sam's going to be angry, because the extra garbage around the house has caused a great deal of distress while attempting to straighten things out to move. Oh well, on to the next destination.
The Metro Recycling deal (I don't remember what it was called nor can I find it online because I want to give it horribly unhappy reviews for making me, so so mad.) was located on the Northern side of Portland where again I have never been in a Honda Odyssey. I enter and see a sign I believe to say $28 dollars per ton of garbage, followed by me and my vehicle weighing in at a dainty 4660 pounds. 'Oh, they charge me the weight difference upon leaving' I conclude. So I unload my paint, pull over to the mountain of garbage and fill it with my two 1 pound bags of stuff and proceed to be weighed again. Anticipating the $5 for hazardous waste I pull out a five. The weight man/ cashier mumbles "blah petub blurgh spittle blub $33." Usually I don't show too much emotion in my speech, but there is something deeply ingrained in my being about spending money that I did not expect that really irks me. "WHAT!?!" "$33" and straining very hard to understand what he said I made out "five for the paint and twenty eight for the garbage" Turns out no matter how much you toss in the price is $28 for the first ton of garbage. I offered to retrieve my garbage, but policy says for my safety I may not return and get what I have already deposited for my well being. After a few comments back and forth about the outrageous price for my stuff. I froze. My eye twitching as I stared at the $15 Sam gave me to take away the stuff, the five dollars I had in my own wallet, and then to my debit card. I died a little as I realize I have no power in this world. The value of all the work you do really turns to nothing when I pay for 2 bags of garbage the equivalent of 3 hours of my work at this time. I conceded. I couldn't argue with a man I could hardly understand. And I couldn't win. My fury would have got the best of me as I cursed him out. Hindsight tells me I should have just sat there and said "No." When he asked "what?" I do a little civil disobedience and plant myself on the scale so business may not return to normal as I level headily plead my case. It seems so simple now, but my inability to argue and confront the powers that be won.
Why did I grow up a peace loving human? Why do I enjoy allowing people to enjoy their life even when I feel I get crapped on from all sides? I as well as all of us need to learn confrontation can be good at some points, especially when you can win. I challenge not only myself, but all of you. Go out and assert yourself! If it means cutting someone off in the next lane so you don't miss your lane, do so. If you don't you may miss the I-5 exit and start heading north of I-80 towards Idaho. It happens more often than you'd like to think, like my return trip. Gahh. I forgot about that until I start thinking about my passive habits of life. Alright, I'm done ranting about my day. I'm going to watch the Spongebob episode where Plankton teaches him to be assertive, but I'll shut it off before they get the the conclusion where Spongebob learns the evils of asserting one's desires over other's feelings. Take care, recycle and drive attentively.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Bike, Work, Bike, Sleep, repeat
Have you ever done something and afterwords said to yourself "I will never do that again!"? Of course everyone has, from things as simple as eating a jar of peanut butter to playing hours of video games until your eyes feel like they are bleeding. Everyone has been there but I have had a number of made a number of work related declarations on what I will and will not do. During college I was the frozen pizza warehouse organizer and there was nothing about this job that was "fun." Constantly at 0 degrees Fahrenheit, alone, and usually working late hours did not allow me to have a positive mentality going to work. The job did allow me to work around my schedule, pay very well, and free weekends to visit someone who has required frequent visits in the cities. After four years and graduating college, I decided I was no longer a peon to simply be working as a warehouse organizer! I am EDUCATED AND HAVE POWER! Well I found out as soon as I left, the work world was less accepting of my "education" than I thought they would be. Searching and finding jobs since has led to less pay and qualifications in the jobs I have done. First I was a 4 am store stocking fiend at Onalaska's Target for 2 weeks, and then I spent a month working at WisCorps followed by a 3 month gap of no job and a solid stint of rejection.
Well after many cover letters, and hours upon hours sitting on my computer things have paid off. I have acquired the position as a WAREHOUSE ASSISTANT! WHOO! This position is part time at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Can't believe I have gone right back in a circle. The funny thing is I think my 4 years as a Nestle Pizza Frozen Warehouse Assistant has paid off better than my 4 years spent at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. Huh funny how that works. I got rejected from a political advocate position because the interrogator asked me if I could go to someones door and get them to get their checkbook and write out a check for a great cause? I hesitated and stuttered way too long to sound confident. I guess 4 years of reading isn't as great of experience as 4 years of stacking pallets.
My favorite part about the job is that I have POWER! My minion volunteers have no idea what they have gotten themselves into until they start working for me. Mwahaha! All I can do is check on them and of course ask leading questions implying my impatience with their work. For example "still working on that?" (emphasis on the stIll) It's all great except it is weird when volunteers work longer days than I do. They really are better people than I am. Worst part is I show up after they have been there for 2 hours, which means the other employees at the restore completely destroy my ability to control their actions my establishing authority before I can. The obvious next step is to undermine their established hold on their loyalty. I make my presence and title known by loudly proclaiming my position over them and all orders are to come from me. That never works, because they instinctively return to the initial authoritative figure who gave them the job. The trick is timing your arrival instantly as they are thinking 'well I wonder what now,' (enter Danny) tell them great job and show them more. This takes a lot of time and practice. I need to analyze work speed, approximate job difficulty, figure the location of accomplishment, and of course remember their name because everyone likes to be address, unfortunately that is what I struggle with most.
Though I am a tyrant and expect hard work, dedication, and perfection from my volunteers I have learned to mention maybe taking a break every now and then so they don't feel they need to dash from task to task.
Overall I am very happy thus far with the job. I believe working for Habitat for Humanity is something I can feel good about, and who knows, it may even lead to greater positions in the company down the road. I also have great bosses. I have to be thankful they are understanding, because one of the first thing the store manager Alex told me my first day was I spelled his last name incorrectly on my cover letter. I was on my A game though that day and totally countered with an explanation that it must have been spelled wrong on the job description. Unfortunately for me, he was the one who wrote it :(. I suppose my explanation would be a little more valid if I accidentally spell my name Done every now and then, but until that day I am a sad excuse for a flashy application writer. Another day that stands out in the first week was when I walk in prepared to forget about happiness and fun when I see my bosses assistant/volunteer coordinator Colleen snuggling with a white terrier named Stewie. Work couldn't be more enjoyable. And I suppose the reason I got this job is all because I suffered through unimaginable pain and agony as the peon of the Nestle Pizza Warehouse (thank you for the people who made it possible).
But life isn't all work. I have to get there and what better way than riding bikes, what a typical Portlander I am. 8 miles is my commute and my thighs have felt every one of them. Biking is hard! Here's one for my family who thinks I am a hippie. I peddle 16 miles a day, I work 5 days a week making my total 80 miles a week. Caitlin's Corolla has been getting 28 mpg in the city which means I save 2.86 gallons of gas per week. And now for the stat that matters most for me to truly define a labeling theory is I save 55.48 pounds of CO2 being released into the atmosphere according to the EPA (http://www.epa.gov/oms/climate/420f05001.htm). Boom! How's that for smug Matthew?! (Only because he has relentlessly tormented me for being a hippie and smug, and smug is a term coined my South Park for people who think they are better than others because they "want to be part of the solution, not the problem" and care about the environment.) That is not my motivation though! My main goal is not to be killed by Caitlin for driving "her." You see she doesn't like to share. For example, if she knew I have been using her computer for the last 3.5 hours while she was gone she would probably want to strangle me, and since she will find out after the fact I feel safe telling you.
Speaking of the adventures with Caitlin. Well, it's always food that gets in the way. Last night I decided to take upon myself preparing meals for later in the week. I cooked black beans for Beanurgers, and also was making cabbage dumplings for a curry dish to be made later. Cabbage dumplings turned out to be very difficult. It took me hours because like always never did I think about reading the recipe and seeing if I could make it. There sort of was a small requirement for a food processor, and when I say requirement I mean everything I had was supposed to be shredded. So hacked away for a long while and when she got home there was cabbage and green lentils all over the kitchen and I had cabbage and bean juices all over myself from spills. It was a disaster, but I was making it. Things got much easier when the continuous step by step process of my stupidity and inabilities with cooking were explained to me. In the end I lost control of my project, and she finished frying the cabbage dumplings as all I could do is sulk in my cabbage covered defeat. But deep down in the demeaning language I know love backed every word.
My hard work came to nothing, because she had fun activities to do tonight which has left me home alone, so I'm not going to make anything nice for myself. Instead I ate half a bag of Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate chips, Ha got you good Caitlin! I can't wait to see her face when she is making cookies only to realize all the chips are gone MWAHAHA! And good, news my tummy ache is slowly receding. So victories all around tonight. And one more! I finished my blog post.
BYE, take care and love from me!
Well after many cover letters, and hours upon hours sitting on my computer things have paid off. I have acquired the position as a WAREHOUSE ASSISTANT! WHOO! This position is part time at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Can't believe I have gone right back in a circle. The funny thing is I think my 4 years as a Nestle Pizza Frozen Warehouse Assistant has paid off better than my 4 years spent at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. Huh funny how that works. I got rejected from a political advocate position because the interrogator asked me if I could go to someones door and get them to get their checkbook and write out a check for a great cause? I hesitated and stuttered way too long to sound confident. I guess 4 years of reading isn't as great of experience as 4 years of stacking pallets.
My favorite part about the job is that I have POWER! My minion volunteers have no idea what they have gotten themselves into until they start working for me. Mwahaha! All I can do is check on them and of course ask leading questions implying my impatience with their work. For example "still working on that?" (emphasis on the stIll) It's all great except it is weird when volunteers work longer days than I do. They really are better people than I am. Worst part is I show up after they have been there for 2 hours, which means the other employees at the restore completely destroy my ability to control their actions my establishing authority before I can. The obvious next step is to undermine their established hold on their loyalty. I make my presence and title known by loudly proclaiming my position over them and all orders are to come from me. That never works, because they instinctively return to the initial authoritative figure who gave them the job. The trick is timing your arrival instantly as they are thinking 'well I wonder what now,' (enter Danny) tell them great job and show them more. This takes a lot of time and practice. I need to analyze work speed, approximate job difficulty, figure the location of accomplishment, and of course remember their name because everyone likes to be address, unfortunately that is what I struggle with most.
Though I am a tyrant and expect hard work, dedication, and perfection from my volunteers I have learned to mention maybe taking a break every now and then so they don't feel they need to dash from task to task.
Overall I am very happy thus far with the job. I believe working for Habitat for Humanity is something I can feel good about, and who knows, it may even lead to greater positions in the company down the road. I also have great bosses. I have to be thankful they are understanding, because one of the first thing the store manager Alex told me my first day was I spelled his last name incorrectly on my cover letter. I was on my A game though that day and totally countered with an explanation that it must have been spelled wrong on the job description. Unfortunately for me, he was the one who wrote it :(. I suppose my explanation would be a little more valid if I accidentally spell my name Done every now and then, but until that day I am a sad excuse for a flashy application writer. Another day that stands out in the first week was when I walk in prepared to forget about happiness and fun when I see my bosses assistant/volunteer coordinator Colleen snuggling with a white terrier named Stewie. Work couldn't be more enjoyable. And I suppose the reason I got this job is all because I suffered through unimaginable pain and agony as the peon of the Nestle Pizza Warehouse (thank you for the people who made it possible).
But life isn't all work. I have to get there and what better way than riding bikes, what a typical Portlander I am. 8 miles is my commute and my thighs have felt every one of them. Biking is hard! Here's one for my family who thinks I am a hippie. I peddle 16 miles a day, I work 5 days a week making my total 80 miles a week. Caitlin's Corolla has been getting 28 mpg in the city which means I save 2.86 gallons of gas per week. And now for the stat that matters most for me to truly define a labeling theory is I save 55.48 pounds of CO2 being released into the atmosphere according to the EPA (http://www.epa.gov/oms/climate/420f05001.htm). Boom! How's that for smug Matthew?! (Only because he has relentlessly tormented me for being a hippie and smug, and smug is a term coined my South Park for people who think they are better than others because they "want to be part of the solution, not the problem" and care about the environment.) That is not my motivation though! My main goal is not to be killed by Caitlin for driving "her." You see she doesn't like to share. For example, if she knew I have been using her computer for the last 3.5 hours while she was gone she would probably want to strangle me, and since she will find out after the fact I feel safe telling you.
Speaking of the adventures with Caitlin. Well, it's always food that gets in the way. Last night I decided to take upon myself preparing meals for later in the week. I cooked black beans for Beanurgers, and also was making cabbage dumplings for a curry dish to be made later. Cabbage dumplings turned out to be very difficult. It took me hours because like always never did I think about reading the recipe and seeing if I could make it. There sort of was a small requirement for a food processor, and when I say requirement I mean everything I had was supposed to be shredded. So hacked away for a long while and when she got home there was cabbage and green lentils all over the kitchen and I had cabbage and bean juices all over myself from spills. It was a disaster, but I was making it. Things got much easier when the continuous step by step process of my stupidity and inabilities with cooking were explained to me. In the end I lost control of my project, and she finished frying the cabbage dumplings as all I could do is sulk in my cabbage covered defeat. But deep down in the demeaning language I know love backed every word.
My hard work came to nothing, because she had fun activities to do tonight which has left me home alone, so I'm not going to make anything nice for myself. Instead I ate half a bag of Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate chips, Ha got you good Caitlin! I can't wait to see her face when she is making cookies only to realize all the chips are gone MWAHAHA! And good, news my tummy ache is slowly receding. So victories all around tonight. And one more! I finished my blog post.
BYE, take care and love from me!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
A Lifetime of Defeat Turning to Victory.
There has been one grand feat in life that has challenged me since I was a wee child. And I mean young. I believe the quest was begun when I was about 5 years old and has stolen sleep from me all the years to adulthood. I remember it like it was yesterday. Sitting all day staring at the T.V. in my Grandma's game room. The entire family visit I wouldn't hardly talk to anyone except the old Nintendo system she had. I was playing non other than the Legend Of Zelda, the most revolutionary video game in my life. I played this game from when I arrived at Grandma's until I left. Slowly but surely collecting the pieces of triforce as I scoured the lands of Hyrule developing my skills and collecting the magical items along the way. I died a little each time my parent said "Danny go to the bathroom we are about to leave." The reply as always was "I don't have to." "Well try anyway because we don't want to stop 10 minutes after we leave!" Oh the age old pre-departure discussion.
On my away time I daydreamed incessantly staring out the bus window anticipating the next video adventure. Nate would try and talk to me, but I would blow him off only to relive the adventures past. Around the age of 12 I was returning to Grandma's to continue my crusade against the evil forces of Ganon only to have the highest level of disappointment possible. My file was deleted! AAAAHHHH! I was on the second quest dungeon #4 GAAA! Who would do such a thing? Uncle Mark! He was the only one who played the game other than me. I felt foul play was afoot. He was obviously trying to protect his own glory of being the only other person I knew (which had to be like 50 people) to have ever beaten the game. I did a little investigating into the travesty, but ended up with far less evidence to indict him for family sanctioned punishment. The only thing I could do was start over. Before I knew it the system was gone and replaced with the dreaded N64. NOOOO I'll never finish the game.
Well a few years ago Nintendo remade the game for the GameBoy and I played it, but my interest faded before completion since I had other things to do... like college. But recently, as in yesterday, I had some time to burn before Caitlin and I went to the Hood River Hops Fest and I saw my GameBoy and said "Why not?" Instantly, flashbacks to the challenges of a young determined Danny Dunn dedicating his life to saving the citizens of Hyrule from the Prince of Darkness himself Ganon. Oh Ganon my old foe you will go down in a great ball of Fire, and what is this? Quest 2 dungeon #4 the old ending point of a destroyed dream. The Fire has been rekindled GAME ON!
Next thing I knew we were in Hood River. An hour and a half drive had gone by and I hadn't even beaten dungeon #4! I didn't remember how difficult the game is. I apologized to Caitlin for not talking to her the entire drive. She replied with "Eh, it wasn't bad, I really enjoyed listening to the radio." Good to know my company is missed. The hops fest went quickly enough and we were back in the car. "Don't worry Caitlin all I have to do is beat this dungeon and I'll stop." As we pulled into our parking spot. VICTORY! (Double Fist Pump) #4 is done, and in record time 3 hours. Since then dungeon 5 has crumbled under my mighty sword, which means only 4 more to go. Thankfully I'm unemployed or else I don't know if I could possibly spare the time for work. Updates later as progress resumes.
Well anyway the HopsFest wasn't just a blur. We did have a good time and drink a mighty bitter and hoppy beers. I'm going to take note that I do not, I repeat do not enjoy bitter beers. Blech. But we found a few gems within the ocean of IPAs. The most exciting part was when we were eating lunch Caitlin used my leatherman to slice our brick of cheddar cheese we brought. Unbeknownst to me she did not close the blade and stuck it back in the lunch box. I decided some trail mix looked good, but the blade was lying behind the tinfoil ball of orange peals completely hidden from my perspective. I realized it only when SLICE goes the end of my finger. "CAITLIN why would you do that?!" As the tears of fear, pain, and betrayal slid down my face. All she could do was dribble out a poor excuse like "Oh, I figured you would see it." Yeah nice little miss hazard. I know my finger will eventually heal and I will have full function again someday, we can only pray for the feeling to return and the nightmares to fade.
Sorry there isn't too much action, unless if you count the virtual destruction of evil demon minions as action,BOO YEAH, life is getting cold, wet and slow. Until next time readers. Maybe by then I will finally be able to go on the big kid ramps at the skate park and I can tell you about all my new booboos from trying to roll on a skateboard. I'll never do anything crazy cool so be happy when that kickflip does happen. Cheers!
Well a few years ago Nintendo remade the game for the GameBoy and I played it, but my interest faded before completion since I had other things to do... like college. But recently, as in yesterday, I had some time to burn before Caitlin and I went to the Hood River Hops Fest and I saw my GameBoy and said "Why not?" Instantly, flashbacks to the challenges of a young determined Danny Dunn dedicating his life to saving the citizens of Hyrule from the Prince of Darkness himself Ganon. Oh Ganon my old foe you will go down in a great ball of Fire, and what is this? Quest 2 dungeon #4 the old ending point of a destroyed dream. The Fire has been rekindled GAME ON!
Next thing I knew we were in Hood River. An hour and a half drive had gone by and I hadn't even beaten dungeon #4! I didn't remember how difficult the game is. I apologized to Caitlin for not talking to her the entire drive. She replied with "Eh, it wasn't bad, I really enjoyed listening to the radio." Good to know my company is missed. The hops fest went quickly enough and we were back in the car. "Don't worry Caitlin all I have to do is beat this dungeon and I'll stop." As we pulled into our parking spot. VICTORY! (Double Fist Pump) #4 is done, and in record time 3 hours. Since then dungeon 5 has crumbled under my mighty sword, which means only 4 more to go. Thankfully I'm unemployed or else I don't know if I could possibly spare the time for work. Updates later as progress resumes.
Well anyway the HopsFest wasn't just a blur. We did have a good time and drink a mighty bitter and hoppy beers. I'm going to take note that I do not, I repeat do not enjoy bitter beers. Blech. But we found a few gems within the ocean of IPAs. The most exciting part was when we were eating lunch Caitlin used my leatherman to slice our brick of cheddar cheese we brought. Unbeknownst to me she did not close the blade and stuck it back in the lunch box. I decided some trail mix looked good, but the blade was lying behind the tinfoil ball of orange peals completely hidden from my perspective. I realized it only when SLICE goes the end of my finger. "CAITLIN why would you do that?!" As the tears of fear, pain, and betrayal slid down my face. All she could do was dribble out a poor excuse like "Oh, I figured you would see it." Yeah nice little miss hazard. I know my finger will eventually heal and I will have full function again someday, we can only pray for the feeling to return and the nightmares to fade.
Sorry there isn't too much action, unless if you count the virtual destruction of evil demon minions as action,BOO YEAH, life is getting cold, wet and slow. Until next time readers. Maybe by then I will finally be able to go on the big kid ramps at the skate park and I can tell you about all my new booboos from trying to roll on a skateboard. I'll never do anything crazy cool so be happy when that kickflip does happen. Cheers!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Crack Pipe
People sometimes wonder why I tease Danny so much. Example numero uno, people: As mentioned in previous posts Danny has gone into the woods behind our apartment, dug up a fern and now a little bit of what looks to be ivy, dug up some dirt from back there as well, and planted it. Totally normal neighborly behavior. Well yesterday Danny went down there as I left for class and I assumed it was an uneventful dirt digging experience. Apparently not. I wake up this morning and Danny says, "You know what I found back in the woods yesterday?!? A glass pipe!" And I say, "Oh, that's weird." And then he says, "Do you want to see it?!?!" And I say, "You kept it?!?!!?" And he says, "Yeah! It's on the deck, I'm cleaning it." I follow him out to the deck and sure enough there is a glass crack pipe full of water sitting outside. I say, "What are you going to do with it? Why did you touch it?? Why do we now have a crack pipe?!?" And he just says, "It looks so cool!" Danny and I officially own what I'm calling a crack pipe although it is much more likely it was used for smoking things of the marijuana persuasion but still, we have one and I think Danny is aiming to display it once it is finally "clean" because it just looks so flipping "cool". THIS is why I tease Danny so much. Now you know.
Monday, September 26, 2011
The Sassy Pants Portland Police Person
Culture. You cannot go anywhere without interacting with it, and no matter what there are always very slight differences. Here in the Great North West, or more specifically Portland, we have noticed there has always been a lack of or poorly executed use of the vehicular blinker. I know what you may think "well that happens everywhere," which it does. But, believe it or not there is an abundance of turns we have noticed that really make it stand out. No problems, as of yet, have been caused, but it is sort of inconsiderate when people are zooming all over the road around you without giving you a simple flick of the wrist heads up. Well, problems arise when people decide to disregard the laws created to improve the quality of life for everyone.
Caitlin and I were exiting John's Marketplace (actually there really is not any market at all this store only sells a few items and then has a selection of 1000 beers and hundreds of wines) on Barbur Blvd with our beer of choice. As we approach the cross walk and press the button we realize only too soon we were seconds too late. As we pressed the button the light turned yellow dooming us to waiting for another round of cross traffic blocking our path to go home and experience the fermented goodness our brew has to offer. Lucky for us the traffic going parallel with us had no blinkers turning our way, so we assumed it would be safe to cross even with the red hand of stoppage telling us not to go. As we begin to cross the car opposite us decides then is a great time to turn his blinker on and make a move for the left turn. As we walked he did the whole 'I'm half way through my turn and these inconsiderate pedestrians are hindering my progress.' Well it turns out he was a cop and I immediately start thinking 'OH NO, I will be a victim of the infamous J walking ticket.' I was in for a surprise. As he drove by us he stuck his head out the window and says in a snotty I'm a pre-teen sassing back to my parents tone "Yeah, don't worry about the walk signals because they aren't for you or anything" and speeds off. Nothing too crazy I know, but a police officer giving us sassy attitude? Isn't he supposed to uphold all that is good, just, and civilized? I hope this is not an institutional alteration in conduct, and maybe some wittle baby officer having a rough day enforcing trivial traffic laws he struggle to follow himself.
Perplexed and dumbfounded we arrived home and discussed the encounter over a Laurelwood Brewery Stingy Jack Pumpkin ale, which I found quite a treat, where someone else instead said "Meh, it's not my favorite." Bah, go figure I picked it out. I'm sure whatever she chose will be the beer that revolutionized her enjoyment of beer. And that's how life goes.
So here I am doing as I often do preparing myself for a big day tomorrow of activities along the lines of mindlessly sifting through job ads. But then it's ok. Because I was employed this last week and am proud to say I am now a professional mover. Be Proud everyone, and feel all your accomplishments in life be insignificant to what I have aspired to become! I did have fun though. Its rough sitting around attempting to discover my "passion" or some profession which will justify my existence on this world when I am just so darn good at doing labor. In reality what's the one thing I excel at over most others I know? Oh, just my ability and desire to activity myself to death. Seriously I have thought if someday the newest renewable energy source was a person on a bike or running in a mouse wheel I could have some really great job prospects. Until then I suppose I can enjoy my company of one. Caitlin.
It is hard because she's pretty much the only person I have to talk to for days straight, but I don't think she wants to here it most of the time. Hence the long blog posts, rambling sentences, and writing about stuff that really isn't interesting, funny, insightful, or much worth ever being written down. But thank you for being my abstract friend so I may have a unspecified number of "friends" to talk to. I also take comfort knowing at least one person will laugh reading this... My Mom. And just to let you know I hold my head high when I say that, so don't shame me. I also think I just enjoy writing. Probably because it could definitely make me sound pretty darn impressive as long as the person I am talking to does not know my fan base is nearly non existent. Oh well! Until the next rant, please take care of yourselves. And have a lovely day.
Caitlin and I were exiting John's Marketplace (actually there really is not any market at all this store only sells a few items and then has a selection of 1000 beers and hundreds of wines) on Barbur Blvd with our beer of choice. As we approach the cross walk and press the button we realize only too soon we were seconds too late. As we pressed the button the light turned yellow dooming us to waiting for another round of cross traffic blocking our path to go home and experience the fermented goodness our brew has to offer. Lucky for us the traffic going parallel with us had no blinkers turning our way, so we assumed it would be safe to cross even with the red hand of stoppage telling us not to go. As we begin to cross the car opposite us decides then is a great time to turn his blinker on and make a move for the left turn. As we walked he did the whole 'I'm half way through my turn and these inconsiderate pedestrians are hindering my progress.' Well it turns out he was a cop and I immediately start thinking 'OH NO, I will be a victim of the infamous J walking ticket.' I was in for a surprise. As he drove by us he stuck his head out the window and says in a snotty I'm a pre-teen sassing back to my parents tone "Yeah, don't worry about the walk signals because they aren't for you or anything" and speeds off. Nothing too crazy I know, but a police officer giving us sassy attitude? Isn't he supposed to uphold all that is good, just, and civilized? I hope this is not an institutional alteration in conduct, and maybe some wittle baby officer having a rough day enforcing trivial traffic laws he struggle to follow himself.
Perplexed and dumbfounded we arrived home and discussed the encounter over a Laurelwood Brewery Stingy Jack Pumpkin ale, which I found quite a treat, where someone else instead said "Meh, it's not my favorite." Bah, go figure I picked it out. I'm sure whatever she chose will be the beer that revolutionized her enjoyment of beer. And that's how life goes.
So here I am doing as I often do preparing myself for a big day tomorrow of activities along the lines of mindlessly sifting through job ads. But then it's ok. Because I was employed this last week and am proud to say I am now a professional mover. Be Proud everyone, and feel all your accomplishments in life be insignificant to what I have aspired to become! I did have fun though. Its rough sitting around attempting to discover my "passion" or some profession which will justify my existence on this world when I am just so darn good at doing labor. In reality what's the one thing I excel at over most others I know? Oh, just my ability and desire to activity myself to death. Seriously I have thought if someday the newest renewable energy source was a person on a bike or running in a mouse wheel I could have some really great job prospects. Until then I suppose I can enjoy my company of one. Caitlin.
It is hard because she's pretty much the only person I have to talk to for days straight, but I don't think she wants to here it most of the time. Hence the long blog posts, rambling sentences, and writing about stuff that really isn't interesting, funny, insightful, or much worth ever being written down. But thank you for being my abstract friend so I may have a unspecified number of "friends" to talk to. I also take comfort knowing at least one person will laugh reading this... My Mom. And just to let you know I hold my head high when I say that, so don't shame me. I also think I just enjoy writing. Probably because it could definitely make me sound pretty darn impressive as long as the person I am talking to does not know my fan base is nearly non existent. Oh well! Until the next rant, please take care of yourselves. And have a lovely day.
Friday, September 23, 2011
And Then Things Got Slooooow
Hello all! I hope the nasty weather back home hasn't been too crazy. It's somewhat ironic because Portland should be having cold/rainy weather but instead, it's upper 70's 80's while you guys have the nastiness. I like to giggle to myself thinking about this because of all of you (you know who you are!) that pointed out "Doesn't it rain, like, 350 days a year in Portland? Gosh, you guys are totally going to get rain all the time. So depressing." Well who's laughing now, huh!? Except we'll soon get that weather but still, we're beating you for now! MUAH HA HA HA!
Ok, I'm done mocking you all. Anywho, life around here has gotten significantly less interesting now that I've started school. I spend most of my free time reading epic amounts of scholarly articles and textbooks which in turn makes Danny bitter while I ignore him. It doesn't help that he usually decides to come talk to me just as I sit down to read or that when he does get the vibe that I'm busy and don't want to talk, he goes to the large empty corner of our living room (what he calls his tumbling area) and does handstands. Frankly, I'm not sure that I appreciate Danny attempting to walk on his hands but I'm also not sure that our neighbors below us appreciate the thumping around that results from this behavior.
Classes are going well, though, and I enjoy the time I spend on campus. It's beautiful up there (and I say up because seriously, the place is on a hill that I have to bike up every flipping time) and I have really enjoyed getting to know my classmates. I know I've brought that up before but most everyone seems pretty genuine and I love our class discussions that we have. Because my profession will inevitably have me interacting with persons of all backgrounds there is a large focus on understanding diversity and also how to confront some of the major issues that play into diversity. This often brings up a lot of interesting topics in class like the effects of gender and race in therapy as well as other factors like sexual orientation, ethnicity, past traumas, immigration, etc. I've always enjoyed discussing these things and finally having a classroom space that does these topics due justice is exciting. I can't wait to begin practicing therapy because of all of these wonderful points of view I'll get to interact with on a daily basis. Too bad that's still a few years away....
But enough about me. As Danny mentioned in his previous (somewhat dry) post it was his birthday last weekend. Indeed it was somewhat lackluster compared to past birthdays but we made it work. It didn't help that it rained that day (which by the way broke a 22 day dry streak here in Portland) which made it somewhat gloomy. But you know, I enjoyed the dinner we made together and I hope Danny knows that I love him dearly and hope to spend many more probably more exciting birthdays with him. Although if he keeps making me buy crappy food there will be hell to pay on some level... Tonight I'm taking him out to dinner (he still doesn't know where to) to make up for last weekend's flop. With the summer winding down there won't be too may nice evenings left for a night of (hopefully!) dining outside and enjoying the city. I tried hard to find some event to go to after dinner tonight but there just isn't much left. But since Danny won't read this until after we go to dinner it won't ruin the surprise if I tell you we're going to a restaurant called Ping. It's the sister location to another restaurant called Pok Pok (which was on food network, I think Danny mentioned that in a previous post). It's mainly Thai food which Danny and I both love so I'm pretty excited to take him there. It's also in Chinatown which Danny has been really curious about so I think I'll kill two birds with one stone by taking him out for Thai in Chinatown. Boom!
As far as biking goes and all of my complaints about it before, I LOVE it now. I never respected the activity of biking as much as I do nowadays. For those of you who despise bikers on roadways and see them as hazards, have you ever biked? It's a fantastic work out, it doesn't cost a sent for gas, you never have to change your oil, AND you get to fly by rush hour traffic. I used to have a lot of negative feelings towards bikers but now after being one and enjoying it so much, I can attest to the benefits it provides. I do end up sweaty and red faced no matter how far I bike whether it's 1 mile or 10 but I enjoy the rides because I get to know the area better and I get to smell all of the lovely gardens people have around here. I'm one of the only people in my program that bikes to campus but I can tell, everyone else is totally jealous :) Occasionally some bad things happen like the one evening I was biking back from class and two men were on their porch smoking cigars and one yelled out "Fu**er!" But poo on that man, I look adorable in my blue helmet and the dresses I wear while riding. And I may never know if he was actually yelling at me or not but hey, I will have a healthier set of lungs that than man ever will.
Other than this life is, as I mentioned before, slow. We've been cooking a lot and have made lots of bread, chocolate zuchini cake, my BEST pizza ever, and Danny's birthday frozen pie thing. We also had a beer last night that we got from a huge liquor store nearby with over 1000 kinds of beer. In Minneapolis there's a bar called the Kitty Kat Club which was my favorite bar and it served this Belgian beer Delerium Tremens. Apparently this brand also makes one called Delerium Nocturnum which we bought (one of those big bottles for $10!) and it was superb. One of my top 10 best for sure. So if you find yourself in a Belgian beer section of a liquor store check it out. Amazingness!
Well that's all for my ramblings today. I probably didn't explain anything too interesting so I apologize if you still are wondering things but feel free to ask if there is something on your mind. I hope you're all doing well!
Ok, I'm done mocking you all. Anywho, life around here has gotten significantly less interesting now that I've started school. I spend most of my free time reading epic amounts of scholarly articles and textbooks which in turn makes Danny bitter while I ignore him. It doesn't help that he usually decides to come talk to me just as I sit down to read or that when he does get the vibe that I'm busy and don't want to talk, he goes to the large empty corner of our living room (what he calls his tumbling area) and does handstands. Frankly, I'm not sure that I appreciate Danny attempting to walk on his hands but I'm also not sure that our neighbors below us appreciate the thumping around that results from this behavior.
Classes are going well, though, and I enjoy the time I spend on campus. It's beautiful up there (and I say up because seriously, the place is on a hill that I have to bike up every flipping time) and I have really enjoyed getting to know my classmates. I know I've brought that up before but most everyone seems pretty genuine and I love our class discussions that we have. Because my profession will inevitably have me interacting with persons of all backgrounds there is a large focus on understanding diversity and also how to confront some of the major issues that play into diversity. This often brings up a lot of interesting topics in class like the effects of gender and race in therapy as well as other factors like sexual orientation, ethnicity, past traumas, immigration, etc. I've always enjoyed discussing these things and finally having a classroom space that does these topics due justice is exciting. I can't wait to begin practicing therapy because of all of these wonderful points of view I'll get to interact with on a daily basis. Too bad that's still a few years away....
But enough about me. As Danny mentioned in his previous (somewhat dry) post it was his birthday last weekend. Indeed it was somewhat lackluster compared to past birthdays but we made it work. It didn't help that it rained that day (which by the way broke a 22 day dry streak here in Portland) which made it somewhat gloomy. But you know, I enjoyed the dinner we made together and I hope Danny knows that I love him dearly and hope to spend many more probably more exciting birthdays with him. Although if he keeps making me buy crappy food there will be hell to pay on some level... Tonight I'm taking him out to dinner (he still doesn't know where to) to make up for last weekend's flop. With the summer winding down there won't be too may nice evenings left for a night of (hopefully!) dining outside and enjoying the city. I tried hard to find some event to go to after dinner tonight but there just isn't much left. But since Danny won't read this until after we go to dinner it won't ruin the surprise if I tell you we're going to a restaurant called Ping. It's the sister location to another restaurant called Pok Pok (which was on food network, I think Danny mentioned that in a previous post). It's mainly Thai food which Danny and I both love so I'm pretty excited to take him there. It's also in Chinatown which Danny has been really curious about so I think I'll kill two birds with one stone by taking him out for Thai in Chinatown. Boom!
As far as biking goes and all of my complaints about it before, I LOVE it now. I never respected the activity of biking as much as I do nowadays. For those of you who despise bikers on roadways and see them as hazards, have you ever biked? It's a fantastic work out, it doesn't cost a sent for gas, you never have to change your oil, AND you get to fly by rush hour traffic. I used to have a lot of negative feelings towards bikers but now after being one and enjoying it so much, I can attest to the benefits it provides. I do end up sweaty and red faced no matter how far I bike whether it's 1 mile or 10 but I enjoy the rides because I get to know the area better and I get to smell all of the lovely gardens people have around here. I'm one of the only people in my program that bikes to campus but I can tell, everyone else is totally jealous :) Occasionally some bad things happen like the one evening I was biking back from class and two men were on their porch smoking cigars and one yelled out "Fu**er!" But poo on that man, I look adorable in my blue helmet and the dresses I wear while riding. And I may never know if he was actually yelling at me or not but hey, I will have a healthier set of lungs that than man ever will.
Other than this life is, as I mentioned before, slow. We've been cooking a lot and have made lots of bread, chocolate zuchini cake, my BEST pizza ever, and Danny's birthday frozen pie thing. We also had a beer last night that we got from a huge liquor store nearby with over 1000 kinds of beer. In Minneapolis there's a bar called the Kitty Kat Club which was my favorite bar and it served this Belgian beer Delerium Tremens. Apparently this brand also makes one called Delerium Nocturnum which we bought (one of those big bottles for $10!) and it was superb. One of my top 10 best for sure. So if you find yourself in a Belgian beer section of a liquor store check it out. Amazingness!
Well that's all for my ramblings today. I probably didn't explain anything too interesting so I apologize if you still are wondering things but feel free to ask if there is something on your mind. I hope you're all doing well!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Oh Birthdays... What to do with them.
Most likely you did no know this, but yesterday was my birthday. Being in Portland sure did make the whole experience a little different than the previous 22 of them. To begin it rained all day so I left the house for an hour to go on an epic adventure to the grocery store. I suppose I didn't realize this but when Caitlin and I moved in together there were going to be 2 people eating the food in the house. Never shopping for 2 before is quite a different experience and I believe we average 4 trips to the grocery store a week. The big surprise came when we purchase the same amount of food I lived on by myself a year ago every week. I had no idea Caitlin could eat so much its dumbfounding. The real culprit of what is to blame our excessive grocery adventures is the ambition for real food, and I can tell you that it isn't me. Trust me I am thankful for the desire to eat a healthy, balanced, and well prepared meal, but those vegetables don't come cheap.
The trip was the extent of my physical movement in the day and it was a very typical one. We buy 10 items each which takes 5 minutes to pick out. Caitlin grabs the first can of diced tomatoes and puts it in the cart. Then I pounce in and scan the prices. Not simply looking at the prices but also the nifty little cost per ounce number right below it so I can find the greatest deal. "WHOA!" I say "we could totally save 30 cents on this smaller can, or if we buy a double we could save an extra penny per ounce! THE SAVINGS ARE ENDLESS!" There are a few factors determining my response: 1. how long have we been in the store 2. how many items have I fought her on that day and 3. have I already annoyed her throughout the day. Unfortunately for me, being my birthday and all with the attitude like I can do what I want, #3 had gone way beyond the tolerance point and then "YOU know What?!?!" I have learned not to listen to the words because she will probably hurt my feelings but I believe her emotions are spoken through her hands. The level of strain in her hands in the karate chop position will show how badly she desires to hit me and every time she swings them it is to emphasize those words to be the most hurtful, so more swings more verbal beatings. I can only tuck my tail and agree with whatever degrading definition of me she can concoct.
The pain was well worth it, because the dinner I decided on will not only feed us for a week until it begins to go bad, but it was also very, well I think it could have been better. I am saying this because I feel comfortable insulting what I have done, Caitlin's contributions were flawless, naturally. (A little PR never hurts). Stuffed peppers, with an artichoke and sun dried tomato pasta salad, and the only thing that was eaten completely... fried potato wedges. Curse the desire to eat pounds of salty fried deliciousness when it is available. Best part of course was dessert. Try and follow this. A crushed vanilla wafer crust with a milk chocolate casing. Followed by a layer of sliced bananas under a goopy layer of peanut butter cream cheese, frozen for refreshing qualities no mortal human should dream of eating without knowing someday a buildup of sugar will develop on your brain and nothing will taste the same again. But why stop there? Add a little whipped cream to top it off and you have a true birthday dessert. It was a good way to cap off a truly immobile day, because there was no way I was moving after that.
Besides dinner the day was just sort of lame. The lameness began the night before when I was playing Danny Housewife and cleaning up the kitchen. Just going to wipe off the stove top and WHAMMY! Danny's head, meet metal stove fan corner. Gah! I hate hitting my head. Especially when it leaves a marble sized ball in the middle of my forehead. Worst part was when I awoke the next day I swear it pulsed with every heartbeat. The rest of the day my head felt like someone kept poking me which made enjoying sitting and doing nothing very difficult.
One enjoyable little quirk came when I talked with my family. Turns out in my memory they decided to have a birthday dinner complete with birthday cake and empty spot for me to sit at the table. Not entirely empty though they placed my senior high school photo in my place as if I were pretty much there. I cannot decide how to analyze this behavior but I have a number of theories. There could possibly be a celebration that the responsibility to deal with me on my birthday has been lifted from their shoulders; therefore, they can fully enjoy the merriment without an actual "birthday boy" to appease. Or they could be mocking my existence by comparing my company to that of simply a picture from my past. Personally I believe my presence is not comparable to that of an inanimate object, but I guess other opinions disagree. Either way Their statement has been heard and I am glad they can enjoy my birthday even when I am gone.
Though I was appalled Matthew attempted to recreate me blowing out the candles. Even considering his pathetic attempts of blowing out candles can imitate my mighty destruction of tiny flames is sheer heresy.
Thank you family and others who have wished me the best on such a sub par day. 23 years of memories only worth recalling because of all the great people I have to fill them with. Peace, Love, Food, and Jobs for all!
The trip was the extent of my physical movement in the day and it was a very typical one. We buy 10 items each which takes 5 minutes to pick out. Caitlin grabs the first can of diced tomatoes and puts it in the cart. Then I pounce in and scan the prices. Not simply looking at the prices but also the nifty little cost per ounce number right below it so I can find the greatest deal. "WHOA!" I say "we could totally save 30 cents on this smaller can, or if we buy a double we could save an extra penny per ounce! THE SAVINGS ARE ENDLESS!" There are a few factors determining my response: 1. how long have we been in the store 2. how many items have I fought her on that day and 3. have I already annoyed her throughout the day. Unfortunately for me, being my birthday and all with the attitude like I can do what I want, #3 had gone way beyond the tolerance point and then "YOU know What?!?!" I have learned not to listen to the words because she will probably hurt my feelings but I believe her emotions are spoken through her hands. The level of strain in her hands in the karate chop position will show how badly she desires to hit me and every time she swings them it is to emphasize those words to be the most hurtful, so more swings more verbal beatings. I can only tuck my tail and agree with whatever degrading definition of me she can concoct.
The pain was well worth it, because the dinner I decided on will not only feed us for a week until it begins to go bad, but it was also very, well I think it could have been better. I am saying this because I feel comfortable insulting what I have done, Caitlin's contributions were flawless, naturally. (A little PR never hurts). Stuffed peppers, with an artichoke and sun dried tomato pasta salad, and the only thing that was eaten completely... fried potato wedges. Curse the desire to eat pounds of salty fried deliciousness when it is available. Best part of course was dessert. Try and follow this. A crushed vanilla wafer crust with a milk chocolate casing. Followed by a layer of sliced bananas under a goopy layer of peanut butter cream cheese, frozen for refreshing qualities no mortal human should dream of eating without knowing someday a buildup of sugar will develop on your brain and nothing will taste the same again. But why stop there? Add a little whipped cream to top it off and you have a true birthday dessert. It was a good way to cap off a truly immobile day, because there was no way I was moving after that.
Besides dinner the day was just sort of lame. The lameness began the night before when I was playing Danny Housewife and cleaning up the kitchen. Just going to wipe off the stove top and WHAMMY! Danny's head, meet metal stove fan corner. Gah! I hate hitting my head. Especially when it leaves a marble sized ball in the middle of my forehead. Worst part was when I awoke the next day I swear it pulsed with every heartbeat. The rest of the day my head felt like someone kept poking me which made enjoying sitting and doing nothing very difficult.
Thank you family and others who have wished me the best on such a sub par day. 23 years of memories only worth recalling because of all the great people I have to fill them with. Peace, Love, Food, and Jobs for all!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Review Necessary
Well as Caitlin so lovingly pointed out there were a number of mistakes made with the Clackamas River cleansing. First it is necessary to read Caitlin's entry "The Good Times and the Bad Times" below posted 9/13 so you understand what I am going to say. First she is in graduate school therefore quoting an REI calendar event should be done so without falsifying information. There was no mention of Preregistration. Anywhere. Also she had full opportunity to figure things out, so Danny's fault I think not. Unfortunately I was also very surprised by the activities taken for the day: sign up, payment, rafts, splitting up, # of people, etc. but I was willing and happy to deal with it. Others, on the other hand, were less accepting.
So, lets begin by saying my inability to research the process did have negative effects on my Karma. When we were placed in separate rafts I believed it would be a blessing since Caitlin was not in a Danny accepting mood. The only way to help was stay away and look more miserable than she did. Luckily for her my raft situation fixed that for me. While she was in a raft with a bunch of people our age who are there by themselves to have fun and meet people I was stuck with a group I titled the Family Blue. Each person in this family of four was wearing athletic shorts and a bright blue shirt and just seemed like one of those families who would have family game night playing charades and making sock puppets all the while saying corny jokes and cheesy compliments. Keep in mind I was in a bitter mood also so my world view at the time was far from optimistic. I was the person in the depression commercials with a rain cloud over my head while someone playing happily with their dog runs by and I think 'what a stupid dog chasing that ball like that.' Well turns out the family blue definitely has different characteristics than what my family does. I attempted small talk "so do you play any sports?" to their senior aged son Chris. "No, but I'm on the debate and speech teams!" he said enthusiastically. I hesitated and looked over the water and then gave a theatrical nod "Well those sure will come in handy some day, won't they." slightly in disbelief what I just heard.
The Family Blue actually turned out to be a very nice group of people and very interesting it just took them a long long time to warm up to the single young male intruding on their family outing. Like Caitlin said it was a very successful day. We picked up trash like no one's business. We actually found a number of homeless campsites where we were cleaning. Near the tent in a bush I thought 'hey look at this a balloon.' Well I guess you know the rest of the story. A flail of the arms, shrill shriek, and a small but nonetheless gag and I moved on. Here is a news article from the event if you are interested.
http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2011/09/trash_collected_during_clackam.html
Now then we move onto the job search. It is really funny how businesses train their HR reps to talk very passionately about businesses and the positions they are seeking to fill, because I could go to an interview thinking 'wow this job would be terrible' and then at the end 'why can't I be more qualified to work as a customer service rep for Netflix the epitome of such positions.' Which I doubt it is but after going to the interview I leave feeling very down on myself believing I "did not fit the position they are looking for." I don't know this for sure, but I believe the sneaky HR person removed me from the group interview very incognito thinking it was the end, but I know the truth she didn't like me. Funny interview though. We sat around a table and we pretended she was a caller and we were customer service. Really weird if you've never done it before, and lets just say I probably did not put my best foot forward. I may have failed the role playing (I'm not sure, but I have a bad feeling) but I blew away the skills test which asked, "what does PC mean?" and "how do you minimize your web browser?" So I am a competent and qualified individual I just need some simple job requirements such as those.
Today. Yes today... Oh boy. This one hurts because it just shows how big of a sucker I am. I knew the company I applied for was a scam company. Their add "Want to make 75k with no experience? Well apply at Archetype!" Oh boy I say. Really I don't remember applying, but they called and asked if I wanted an interview. Mom says "you should go to interviews just for the experience." "OK MOM." Red flags should go up when I go and they never discuss my qualifications, education, or experience. All they talked about was the job fitting me. Oh and it is a 3 part interview. Alright! "and guess what you made it to round 2 when can you come in" "Tomorrow! SCORE one for Danny!" Did I mention they described the job as managing a sales account and meeting with your clients about increasing productivity in your account. I want to point blame to Eric Evans for describing his job he really enjoys to me with similar key words, not your fault, because I knew what this job was, but they reminded me of what he did so I thought it may have been that.. So I was sold only thing the 2nd interview was working and job shadowing an account rep for a day. DUH ok I'll do that. WELL after a 7 hour carefree, no expense paid workday this isn't the position for me.
Before my mom encouraged interviews I said "It's a kirby vacuum salesman scam." I am usually pretty humble, but wow do I know what I am talking about. 7 hours today I followed a sales rep and his trainee all over South East Portland into every shop and business in the area to ask "so, how about your office supplies?" AAAARRGH I'm so stupid! And I know it is a scam because there is no one at the entire office over 30, even the management is probably 25. Also they had 4 other suckers doing the exact same thing I did today. And the poor trainee in my group! You are going to be free advertising for this company, because people are paid strictly on 28% commission and some BS bonuses, and he couldn't sell water in the Sahara desert. No offense, he was a really nice guy, but he can't sell anything. But to slam home my case about very likely scam. I had nearly a job offer, 28% commission, you drive your own car where gas is only reimbursed $50 after making 8 accounts in one week, accounts have pretty strict rules on what kind of companies can apply (Size, # employees) You only get commission on opening account sales nothing after you leave, and you only get certain "territories" that they assign kind of like the poor run down neighborhood where we were today and sold twice for a total of $70 including shipping. So tell me my 5 readers scam, or position my super sly salesman mentality could rake in huge sums of money?
Sorry about the ranting, but I'm a little worked up. Morale of the story, don't apply at places that don't say what they are. So Clackamas River Cleanup, and Archetype "Review Necessary." I need to look into what I do. So all the hugs, kisses, love, and joy I do not receive for my recent exploits out to all of you! Thanks for reading and keep in touch.
So, lets begin by saying my inability to research the process did have negative effects on my Karma. When we were placed in separate rafts I believed it would be a blessing since Caitlin was not in a Danny accepting mood. The only way to help was stay away and look more miserable than she did. Luckily for her my raft situation fixed that for me. While she was in a raft with a bunch of people our age who are there by themselves to have fun and meet people I was stuck with a group I titled the Family Blue. Each person in this family of four was wearing athletic shorts and a bright blue shirt and just seemed like one of those families who would have family game night playing charades and making sock puppets all the while saying corny jokes and cheesy compliments. Keep in mind I was in a bitter mood also so my world view at the time was far from optimistic. I was the person in the depression commercials with a rain cloud over my head while someone playing happily with their dog runs by and I think 'what a stupid dog chasing that ball like that.' Well turns out the family blue definitely has different characteristics than what my family does. I attempted small talk "so do you play any sports?" to their senior aged son Chris. "No, but I'm on the debate and speech teams!" he said enthusiastically. I hesitated and looked over the water and then gave a theatrical nod "Well those sure will come in handy some day, won't they." slightly in disbelief what I just heard.
The Family Blue actually turned out to be a very nice group of people and very interesting it just took them a long long time to warm up to the single young male intruding on their family outing. Like Caitlin said it was a very successful day. We picked up trash like no one's business. We actually found a number of homeless campsites where we were cleaning. Near the tent in a bush I thought 'hey look at this a balloon.' Well I guess you know the rest of the story. A flail of the arms, shrill shriek, and a small but nonetheless gag and I moved on. Here is a news article from the event if you are interested.
http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2011/09/trash_collected_during_clackam.html
Now then we move onto the job search. It is really funny how businesses train their HR reps to talk very passionately about businesses and the positions they are seeking to fill, because I could go to an interview thinking 'wow this job would be terrible' and then at the end 'why can't I be more qualified to work as a customer service rep for Netflix the epitome of such positions.' Which I doubt it is but after going to the interview I leave feeling very down on myself believing I "did not fit the position they are looking for." I don't know this for sure, but I believe the sneaky HR person removed me from the group interview very incognito thinking it was the end, but I know the truth she didn't like me. Funny interview though. We sat around a table and we pretended she was a caller and we were customer service. Really weird if you've never done it before, and lets just say I probably did not put my best foot forward. I may have failed the role playing (I'm not sure, but I have a bad feeling) but I blew away the skills test which asked, "what does PC mean?" and "how do you minimize your web browser?" So I am a competent and qualified individual I just need some simple job requirements such as those.
Today. Yes today... Oh boy. This one hurts because it just shows how big of a sucker I am. I knew the company I applied for was a scam company. Their add "Want to make 75k with no experience? Well apply at Archetype!" Oh boy I say. Really I don't remember applying, but they called and asked if I wanted an interview. Mom says "you should go to interviews just for the experience." "OK MOM." Red flags should go up when I go and they never discuss my qualifications, education, or experience. All they talked about was the job fitting me. Oh and it is a 3 part interview. Alright! "and guess what you made it to round 2 when can you come in" "Tomorrow! SCORE one for Danny!" Did I mention they described the job as managing a sales account and meeting with your clients about increasing productivity in your account. I want to point blame to Eric Evans for describing his job he really enjoys to me with similar key words, not your fault, because I knew what this job was, but they reminded me of what he did so I thought it may have been that.. So I was sold only thing the 2nd interview was working and job shadowing an account rep for a day. DUH ok I'll do that. WELL after a 7 hour carefree, no expense paid workday this isn't the position for me.
Before my mom encouraged interviews I said "It's a kirby vacuum salesman scam." I am usually pretty humble, but wow do I know what I am talking about. 7 hours today I followed a sales rep and his trainee all over South East Portland into every shop and business in the area to ask "so, how about your office supplies?" AAAARRGH I'm so stupid! And I know it is a scam because there is no one at the entire office over 30, even the management is probably 25. Also they had 4 other suckers doing the exact same thing I did today. And the poor trainee in my group! You are going to be free advertising for this company, because people are paid strictly on 28% commission and some BS bonuses, and he couldn't sell water in the Sahara desert. No offense, he was a really nice guy, but he can't sell anything. But to slam home my case about very likely scam. I had nearly a job offer, 28% commission, you drive your own car where gas is only reimbursed $50 after making 8 accounts in one week, accounts have pretty strict rules on what kind of companies can apply (Size, # employees) You only get commission on opening account sales nothing after you leave, and you only get certain "territories" that they assign kind of like the poor run down neighborhood where we were today and sold twice for a total of $70 including shipping. So tell me my 5 readers scam, or position my super sly salesman mentality could rake in huge sums of money?
Sorry about the ranting, but I'm a little worked up. Morale of the story, don't apply at places that don't say what they are. So Clackamas River Cleanup, and Archetype "Review Necessary." I need to look into what I do. So all the hugs, kisses, love, and joy I do not receive for my recent exploits out to all of you! Thanks for reading and keep in touch.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
The Good Times....And The Bad Times
This last weekend was somewhat busy for Danny and I. Some parts of it were really fun and good and others were not quite so good...
Friday I had convocation which is like the opposite of graduation. It's a celebration of beginning school where all of the programs in the College of Psychology and Education come together to chat about our core value: social justice. We had a quick lecture in the chapel on campus and then heard part of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech "Beyond Vietnam". After hearing about 20 minutes of his speech, we had 10 minutes to write a response to it and then we were split into small groups to discuss what we had written. After all of that was done (and I gloss over it to save you the boredom of "I said this, some other guy said that, it was fun.") there was free cheese, veggies, and fruit along with wine and beer. Joy! I got to sit outside and talk to some people in my own program and other programs and mingle with the faculty. Overall it was a great experience and I got to talk to even more of my peers which is something that I have really enjoyed this whole time.
Saturday Danny and I had plans to go downtown to the Saturday Market and also to just wander around the area for a while. When we got down there we realized Danny's cousin's husband, Robert, was participating in a Dragon Boat tournament on the Willamette River. Dragon Boats are kind of like really big canoes that seat maybe 20 people (?) and have decorative dragons off the front. People can join the club and practice is I think 3 times a week. Danny went once with Robert when we first got here and found himself pretty tuckered after paddling for a couple of hours. So anywho, we found Robert and found out when his next race was and then since we had some time to kill we walked further down the river to the Saturday Market. The Saturday Market is pretty popular around here, especially the produce/food part which is located a few blocks up from the river on the Portland State University campus. We had gone to that one before and the produce is really wonderful. People sell organic/local fruits, veggies, baked goods, vinegars, pops, beers, you name it! It's a bit pricey but the quality is beyond anything you can get at a grocery store so I personally think it's worth it. But the part that we had not yet gone to was the crafts part located down by the river. People sell all sorts of homemade things like art, clothing, candles, soaps, etc and there's also live music and food vendors there too. Of course, Danny was primarily attracted to the weird, kitschy things like tribal masks and some sort of whistle that was popular in Zelda... Needless to say, I lost Danny a few times as he mindlessly wandered off to another vender in a state of useless crap bliss. He also got dragged into a street performing act considering he was one of the few people clapping enthusiastically and with that same blissful look on his face of when he was craft shopping. The guy had him and three other guys make like a human table and also do a drum roll while the guy juggled. Nothing too impressive but funny of course :)
After our time at the market we headed back to watch Robert and his team win their race and then chatted it up with Robert afterwards. He happened to mention that his wife (Danny's cousin Christie) and their daughter were coming back at 4 pm from a week back in Wisconsin and that they needed to be picked up from the airport. Considering Danny is unemployed and I had nothing to do either we said we would go get them. This entailed driving their nice car which I was more than happy to do :) After we got back from that we headed home and I busted out a sweet soufflé for dinner like it was nothing. Danny brags about his "artisan" bread all the time (which he has made once but it still deserves constant praise in his mind) but this soufflé totally rocks the socks off any bread he'll make. It rose perfectly out of its dish and did not fall until we began eating it. Superb. After dinner we went to this really great old theater reminiscent of the Rivoli in La Crosse and caught the movie "The Help". I highly recommend the movie to all of you readers out there and Danny even liked it so that's saying something. A wonderful Saturday it was.
But then came Sunday. Oh Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Here's a little background info for all of you out there: I recently bought a new bike from REI here because of their wonderful end of the summer sale. After buying the bike we were looking around on their website for something or other and happened upon a local event schedule for things going on outdoors. Hooray, right? Danny found this thing that just said "Clackamas River cleanup. September 11. Pre-register." Danny being one who takes things at their word and does no further research assumes that this info must be all encompassing, no other info needed. Oh contraire mon frere. One thing you should know about Danny is that he brings this approach to most activities, he likes to ignore important details in lieu of focusing on what he wants to see. On one of our recent hikes the trail was a little vague so he referenced the book we were using. "It says there should be a "y" in the trail soon and that another trail passes through in about a half mile". With that in mind we keep walking but I'm not totally convinced so I ask to see the book again only to find that this "y" and trail intersection are much further ahead like a mile and half and also a number of other details Danny had failed to mention because he had not read the book. With this in mind, I should know better by now than to trust Danny's word but yet, I didn't trust my gut instinct to do my own research until we were well on our way out to the river cleanup. I start looking up websites on my phone (there were an endless amount) saying things like "bring your own kayak/raft" "over 400 people attended last year" "get ready for a day on the river!". Slowly I came to realize that I was 1. Inappropriately dressed in shorts, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes since I would be out on a river getting wet 2. Not wearing sunscreen because I thought this would take a couple hours tops 3. Inadequately supplied with food 4. SIMPLY NOT PREPARED. I tell Danny all this and he says, "Oh silly Caitlin, don't you worry. Everything will be fine." All the while a pit is growing in my stomach.
We pull up to the parking area of this park where we're starting to find hundreds of cars with their own kayaks and rafts and people decked out in waterproof shoes, swimsuits, and quick drying clothing. I start to feel out of place... We walk to get registered only to find out, oh woops, you guys should've pre-registered online and most if not all of the spots are taken. Well that's dandy. I look at Danny to see a look of guilty terror coming over his face as the lady goes to check on spots for us. She comes back to tell us there are only 2 spots remaining...in separate boats....and there's a $20 registration fee...and it's a whole day thing...and you'll be walking in the water as you raft down so that you can pick garbage out of the river. Did I mention I'm wearing shorts a t-shirt and tennis shoes? Not a swimsuit? But hey, why not? We just drove 40 minutes out here and I am not about to just go home. As angry as I was at Danny I shoved that aside and tried to convince myself this wouldn't be that bad. Ultimately it wasn't that bad at all. My group was all people that had come alone and we had a generally good time floating down our 5 mile stretch of the river picking up such things as beer cans, an electric blanket, more beer cans, golf balls, bricks, metal piping, fishing line, more beer cans... (people who are reading this and also use the river as your garbage can, I must say I am appalled by you. You should be ashamed of yourselves!). Despite my anger at the beginning of the day, this was a legitimately good experience and I'm happy we stuck it out and went ahead with it. When we got back they provided a wonderful dinner, live music, and the opportunity to pay $25 for Keen brand waterproof sandals (originally $90!).
With all of that having happened my anger with Danny slowly dissipated. But I have learned my lesson. If Danny ever comes to me with a plan again I will check and double check his information until I am sure I have a complete picture of what will be happening that day/night. This will happen for as long as we are together no matter what.
So that was our weekend! Busy busy and angry angry but I had a great time overall. My classes have been going well and Danny actually had/has 2 job interviews today. The first went well although he's still unsure of what is going to happen with it and the second one he's actually at right now. We'll see how it goes! I've been home this whole time baking and so far I've made Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cake Cookies (amazing!) and two loaves of bread. I have also managed to overhear an intense argument from our neighbors downstairs which resulted in the man throwing a few dishes out onto their deck and then cleaning it up soon after. I thought about calling the police but from what I heard it didn't get violent outside of the throwing dishes and it seems they have resolved their issues from what I have heard since. Hopefully this is a one time thing! Our upstairs neighbor is more of a headache though. Danny has nicknamed him Stomps because he consistently sounds like he is doing a mixture of jumping, running in place or in circles, dropping dictionaries on the floor, and just all around not staying still. He also apparently sawed something out on his deck yesterday that made our whole apartment shake like the apocalypse was upon us. I'm tempted to find an excuse to go up there and introduce myself just to see what the balls he's been up to.
Until next time, adios our dear readers!
Friday I had convocation which is like the opposite of graduation. It's a celebration of beginning school where all of the programs in the College of Psychology and Education come together to chat about our core value: social justice. We had a quick lecture in the chapel on campus and then heard part of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech "Beyond Vietnam". After hearing about 20 minutes of his speech, we had 10 minutes to write a response to it and then we were split into small groups to discuss what we had written. After all of that was done (and I gloss over it to save you the boredom of "I said this, some other guy said that, it was fun.") there was free cheese, veggies, and fruit along with wine and beer. Joy! I got to sit outside and talk to some people in my own program and other programs and mingle with the faculty. Overall it was a great experience and I got to talk to even more of my peers which is something that I have really enjoyed this whole time.
Saturday Danny and I had plans to go downtown to the Saturday Market and also to just wander around the area for a while. When we got down there we realized Danny's cousin's husband, Robert, was participating in a Dragon Boat tournament on the Willamette River. Dragon Boats are kind of like really big canoes that seat maybe 20 people (?) and have decorative dragons off the front. People can join the club and practice is I think 3 times a week. Danny went once with Robert when we first got here and found himself pretty tuckered after paddling for a couple of hours. So anywho, we found Robert and found out when his next race was and then since we had some time to kill we walked further down the river to the Saturday Market. The Saturday Market is pretty popular around here, especially the produce/food part which is located a few blocks up from the river on the Portland State University campus. We had gone to that one before and the produce is really wonderful. People sell organic/local fruits, veggies, baked goods, vinegars, pops, beers, you name it! It's a bit pricey but the quality is beyond anything you can get at a grocery store so I personally think it's worth it. But the part that we had not yet gone to was the crafts part located down by the river. People sell all sorts of homemade things like art, clothing, candles, soaps, etc and there's also live music and food vendors there too. Of course, Danny was primarily attracted to the weird, kitschy things like tribal masks and some sort of whistle that was popular in Zelda... Needless to say, I lost Danny a few times as he mindlessly wandered off to another vender in a state of useless crap bliss. He also got dragged into a street performing act considering he was one of the few people clapping enthusiastically and with that same blissful look on his face of when he was craft shopping. The guy had him and three other guys make like a human table and also do a drum roll while the guy juggled. Nothing too impressive but funny of course :)
After our time at the market we headed back to watch Robert and his team win their race and then chatted it up with Robert afterwards. He happened to mention that his wife (Danny's cousin Christie) and their daughter were coming back at 4 pm from a week back in Wisconsin and that they needed to be picked up from the airport. Considering Danny is unemployed and I had nothing to do either we said we would go get them. This entailed driving their nice car which I was more than happy to do :) After we got back from that we headed home and I busted out a sweet soufflé for dinner like it was nothing. Danny brags about his "artisan" bread all the time (which he has made once but it still deserves constant praise in his mind) but this soufflé totally rocks the socks off any bread he'll make. It rose perfectly out of its dish and did not fall until we began eating it. Superb. After dinner we went to this really great old theater reminiscent of the Rivoli in La Crosse and caught the movie "The Help". I highly recommend the movie to all of you readers out there and Danny even liked it so that's saying something. A wonderful Saturday it was.
But then came Sunday. Oh Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Here's a little background info for all of you out there: I recently bought a new bike from REI here because of their wonderful end of the summer sale. After buying the bike we were looking around on their website for something or other and happened upon a local event schedule for things going on outdoors. Hooray, right? Danny found this thing that just said "Clackamas River cleanup. September 11. Pre-register." Danny being one who takes things at their word and does no further research assumes that this info must be all encompassing, no other info needed. Oh contraire mon frere. One thing you should know about Danny is that he brings this approach to most activities, he likes to ignore important details in lieu of focusing on what he wants to see. On one of our recent hikes the trail was a little vague so he referenced the book we were using. "It says there should be a "y" in the trail soon and that another trail passes through in about a half mile". With that in mind we keep walking but I'm not totally convinced so I ask to see the book again only to find that this "y" and trail intersection are much further ahead like a mile and half and also a number of other details Danny had failed to mention because he had not read the book. With this in mind, I should know better by now than to trust Danny's word but yet, I didn't trust my gut instinct to do my own research until we were well on our way out to the river cleanup. I start looking up websites on my phone (there were an endless amount) saying things like "bring your own kayak/raft" "over 400 people attended last year" "get ready for a day on the river!". Slowly I came to realize that I was 1. Inappropriately dressed in shorts, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes since I would be out on a river getting wet 2. Not wearing sunscreen because I thought this would take a couple hours tops 3. Inadequately supplied with food 4. SIMPLY NOT PREPARED. I tell Danny all this and he says, "Oh silly Caitlin, don't you worry. Everything will be fine." All the while a pit is growing in my stomach.
We pull up to the parking area of this park where we're starting to find hundreds of cars with their own kayaks and rafts and people decked out in waterproof shoes, swimsuits, and quick drying clothing. I start to feel out of place... We walk to get registered only to find out, oh woops, you guys should've pre-registered online and most if not all of the spots are taken. Well that's dandy. I look at Danny to see a look of guilty terror coming over his face as the lady goes to check on spots for us. She comes back to tell us there are only 2 spots remaining...in separate boats....and there's a $20 registration fee...and it's a whole day thing...and you'll be walking in the water as you raft down so that you can pick garbage out of the river. Did I mention I'm wearing shorts a t-shirt and tennis shoes? Not a swimsuit? But hey, why not? We just drove 40 minutes out here and I am not about to just go home. As angry as I was at Danny I shoved that aside and tried to convince myself this wouldn't be that bad. Ultimately it wasn't that bad at all. My group was all people that had come alone and we had a generally good time floating down our 5 mile stretch of the river picking up such things as beer cans, an electric blanket, more beer cans, golf balls, bricks, metal piping, fishing line, more beer cans... (people who are reading this and also use the river as your garbage can, I must say I am appalled by you. You should be ashamed of yourselves!). Despite my anger at the beginning of the day, this was a legitimately good experience and I'm happy we stuck it out and went ahead with it. When we got back they provided a wonderful dinner, live music, and the opportunity to pay $25 for Keen brand waterproof sandals (originally $90!).
With all of that having happened my anger with Danny slowly dissipated. But I have learned my lesson. If Danny ever comes to me with a plan again I will check and double check his information until I am sure I have a complete picture of what will be happening that day/night. This will happen for as long as we are together no matter what.
So that was our weekend! Busy busy and angry angry but I had a great time overall. My classes have been going well and Danny actually had/has 2 job interviews today. The first went well although he's still unsure of what is going to happen with it and the second one he's actually at right now. We'll see how it goes! I've been home this whole time baking and so far I've made Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cake Cookies (amazing!) and two loaves of bread. I have also managed to overhear an intense argument from our neighbors downstairs which resulted in the man throwing a few dishes out onto their deck and then cleaning it up soon after. I thought about calling the police but from what I heard it didn't get violent outside of the throwing dishes and it seems they have resolved their issues from what I have heard since. Hopefully this is a one time thing! Our upstairs neighbor is more of a headache though. Danny has nicknamed him Stomps because he consistently sounds like he is doing a mixture of jumping, running in place or in circles, dropping dictionaries on the floor, and just all around not staying still. He also apparently sawed something out on his deck yesterday that made our whole apartment shake like the apocalypse was upon us. I'm tempted to find an excuse to go up there and introduce myself just to see what the balls he's been up to.
Until next time, adios our dear readers!
Friday, September 9, 2011
We might suck at blogging...
Well hello again our super dedicated readers! As I've just made the blog public on Facebook hopefully that phrase will actually become true soon....
Danny and I were talking and it seems we may be some of the worst bloggers ever born to this earth. Danny posted pictures to his last post and never even explained what was happening in them. I was given the task of doing so but spent my whole post explaining why I'm not as evil as Danny makes me sound and thus, never explained the pictures either. Because of all this, I'm turning over a new leaf. I am going to try to do my best to actually tell you what we're up to. Simple enough right? Let's see if it will work!
Well now I can't remember what all of those pictures were of.... The one of my by a beach is at a place called Cape Lookout on the Pacific coast. We went with my parents while they were here. We're actually only about an hour and half away from the coast so we hope to go camping there soon. Oh another picture was in front of the Tillamook cheese factory which was in a town on our way to the coast. I felt so terrible going there betraying my homeland of Wisconsin. But for future reference, their cheese has nothing on some extra sharp Wisconsin cheddar. Nothing.
As for other adventures around town we've had some more lately than before. We've been doing a lot of hiking/biking around town since I got a bike and since Danny's cousin and her husband lent us a book called "Afield and Afoot" that has ALL of the hikes around the area. As mentioned in a previous post, biking with Danny is hard. In order to avoid his frustration with me, he biked to the trailhead of one of our hikes and I drove and met him there. It kind of defeats the purpose of biking and saving gas but when the trailhead is near the top of the city and my legs have not yet developed into the hamhocks I need them to be this seemed like the best option for all involved. The hike was great as it was in a park just outside of a residential area but it had been really well preserved into still being in its natural state. We hiked up along a creek and then proceeded along a second trail that took us up another 500 ft to the Pittock Mansion.
The mansion previously belonged to the creator of Portland's original newspaper, The Oregonian. We got a great view of the city which also included a nice view of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens. Mt Hood is visible from the city most days when it's clear but Mt St Helens is a bit more difficult although recently with the nice sunny days we've seen it a lot more than we probably will for the rest of the year. On our way down from the hike we ran into the local Audobon Society's National Vulture Appreciation Day which Danny was super pumped about. 
We walked over with Danny jumping and clapping the whole way and got to see some birds of prey that they take care of there for injuries and whatnot. I felt dorky being one of the only people that was not a parent or over 55 but you know, sometimes you just have to embrace your genes (my parents are avid ornithologists and Audobon members) and say hey, I like birds too. Overall a great day!
Our other more recent hike was out on Sauvie Island just north of the city. We had heard about it from a few people (my new hairstylist lady and the cable installation man) and our super awesome hiking book detailed a route that Danny thought was fit. Well, let me tell you, it was an adventure. First of all we had to drive along a gravel road past this ridiculously packed beach which also doubled as a nude beach further down. Since it was Labor day I don't think many people chose to be nude due to the HUGE population of people visiting the beach that day. Side note: Sauvie Island is on the Columbia River= amazing! So we finally made it to the end of this super dusty gravel road, parked, got out, and then I came to the awful realization that the trailhead to our trail began on the OTHER SIDE OF A COW PASTURE!
Bah! I have always been afraid of cows. They are so big and dumb it just seems like destiny that one day I will be mauled by one. We had to walk past so many cows to get to this nicely hidden gate and I almost may have wet myself but I didn't so be proud of me folks. In the book it said once you get to this gate you should follow the overgrown maintenance road the whole way to the end. Well, about 30 yards in a small path jutted off to the right and this road continued on to the left. We went left obviously because of the road. We continued to walk down this road for a while and suddenly came upon some "POSTED: PRIVATE LAND. NO TRESPASSING." signs. My gut told me we had gone the wrong way which I so nicely mentioned to Danny who replied "Silly Caitlin, that just means the land off to the sides; the road is still public."So not wanting to upset Danny with wanting to turn around I said ok and we kept on... only to be met by more "POSTED" signs along the way. Finally we end up at this Deliverance style hunting shack out in the middle of a marsh with shotgun shells lying around like snowflakes during a Wisconsin winter and finally Danny decides that indeed this is a good sign that we are no longer on public land. How observant he is sometimes. After walking the mile and half our there we then walked the mile and a half back to the small trail that had originally gone of the seemingly main road and walked 4ish miles through tall grass and brush to get to the end of the trail. The end was a nice beach with an old lighthouse with a great view of Mt St Helens in the distance. 
Sadly because it was Labor Day weekend, everyone with a jetski, speedboat, motorboat... was out on the river. Nonetheless it didn't poo on my parade too much and we enjoyed the sand and sun for a while before heading back.
Not before picking a tupperware full of blackberries, though, of course :) Fortunately when we got back to the cow pasture the cows had dispersed and I felt better about crossing their territory.
The next day was my first day of grad school! My first class was an intro to Marriage Couple and Family Therapy (MCFT from now on) as a profession. It went pretty well and although the information is somewhat boring because its a history and a foundation, it was still nice to meet some more of my classmates and learn a little more about them. I also have begun biking to school so that made the day even more exciting. Danny rode with me because he was bored but it was like 90 degrees that day so by the time I got up to campus (I say up because as there are many hills on the way to campus, campus itself is on yet another hill..jerks) I looked like a tomato. What a great way to make first impressions I know. I'm sure my beauty was the first thing my peers noticed about me and my smell was probably the second glorious thing they learned about me. The same thing happened yesterday when I rode to class but I just hope people see my helmet and understand that I don't just naturally sweat profusely. I did bike home last night though in the dark and considering most of the roads I take to school don't have a bike lane it's kind of nervewracking. I'm sure most of the traffic I meet doesn't appreciate me biking after dark either but there's not much I can do about it besides cover myself in blinking red lights and hope for the best while I go up the vertical hill in Marshall Park in first gear sweating balls in the process. Hopefully as my legs develop into dinosaur legs I'll go faster and faster until one day I'll keep up with traffic... I can only hope...
Well that's most of the news from Lake Wobegon! Today we're off to my bank to deposit a check because it's cookie Friday and then we're off to eat vegan bar-b-que from a foodcart downtown. Yes that's right, vegan bar-b-que. You heard me right, now pick your jaw up off the floor and say "yummmmmm, I like alternate sources of protein in my diet". You know you want to try it :)
Oh and I should notify you all that our neighbors probably think Danny is crazy considering he dug a bucket out of the garbage the other day and walked down to the creek behind our complex and dug up a sad looking fern, put into the bucket, and now has chosen to raise it on his own off our deck. We also have a compost bucket Danny started that he decided needed more sun so we have a stinking bucket of compost sitting in our parking spot for all the neighbors to enjoy with us. I'm sure if there was a contest we would be voted most awesome normal neighbors ever.
Hopefully Danny and I will keep up better with this thing! And I hope you all enjoy hearing about our "stuff" we do out here!
And Now More From The One and Only Danny Dunn
Obviously this blog cannot continue without the corrections and or creative twist on things that I am able to bring. First I disagree with the Tilamook Cheese factory and lack of enthusiasm in discussing its existence. If I go back out to the coast I think another visit is in order. First there are innumerable flavors of delectable ice creams to choose from where I found myself saying "the blueberry tastes like blueberry, the mulberry tastes like mulberry" and so on and so forth. And who could forget the comment on the hours of historical reading material about the Tilamook valley and their cheeses! I learned so much like... well I read it not that I need to remember. And the reason I am an easy sell--> Free Cheese samples! BOOM! I love the place! "3 or 4 servings of samples for me thanks," needless to say I didn't leave hungry.
Now real life. I personally believed life was going to be much more laid back and happy, but somehow I find it so easy to fall into a sad stinky funk (for real all I hear about is how bad I smell, usually I blow it off but after a while even I'm getting self conscious, as a psych person I believe Caitlin should realize the long term repercussions her attitude towards my B.O. is going to have on me). My days have all begun with a little green tea, purchased loose leaf and in bulk mind you, with oatmeal. If there is any more depressing meal to eat every single day let me know, because a bowl of oatmeal just screams you lack flavor, spice, and excitement. I ingest my meal as I browse the craigslist category for schmucks looking for any job that says "Have no marketable skills? Well sign up with us and you may get one or two!" Fine print then says minimum wage. Darn.
It really isn't that bad. I usually don't get much done because I run into an interesting job that requires 4,5,6, or 7 years of experience and I sit and daydream about how glamorous it would be to be a pastry chef at a downtown Portland bakery. As customers line up at the door I can say "nice day friend" (I am yet to meet really anyone I can even call an acquaintance yet, but there's still hope right?) then in a sing song voice I reply "Only because I baked raspberry cream tarts this morning!" If it is really a rough day on the online job market, and as I fill out an application it logs me off because I took too long, Caitlin may ask "Want pancakes this morning?" Only for me to get red in the face and say "NO *&^$#%^ pancakes!" As my body pulsates from breathing way too heavily all she can say is "Rough day?"
Luckily, as Caitlin has pointed out the priority of finding a job has not yet killed our adventures. As you can tell from me being in an old chimney from above. One adventure being at the Audubon Society, but I need to point out my favorite person there. We just happened to be by this guy the entire time randomly and I loved his demeanor as the volunteers explained the birds. As we looked at the Kestrels the volunteer would say "We have Alice here because she is missing part of her back tail feathers." Only to be responded with "Ah its left rectix," but like he is talking to himself and not bragging, but nonetheless I may have chuckled when they pointed out the bent back claw and he said "the hallux" if only I had things I could properly educate people about.
There also was a dream come true. After many hours of being forced to sit and "enjoy" watching the food network there actually some positives coming out of it. "Diners, Driveins, and Dives" has all these fairly small and reasonably priced "joints," as Guy Fietti would say, featured on the show which includes a good deal from Portland. The shack like restaurant called Pok Pok specializes in Thai food. Delicious, and it gave me the opportunity to butcher reading my food choice, which always drives Caitlin crazy. The only really odd thing was how many male servers worked there. Not an issue but I felt it was noticeable, because it has never been like that before.
Overall everything seems to be going great. I eat my share of black berries daily and exercise regularly so I stay pretty content. I also desire to complete my little projects. Unfortunately scavenging through a dumpster and digging up your backyard is weird now, I guess I missed the memo. Come on. And my bucket of dirt doesn't just have ferns in it. There are other plants too, and I planted the pit of my Peach (hoping for the best but I have my doubts). So what if I do that and follow up by skateboarding in the parking lot and falling over. I skinned my elbow and it bled really bad. Besides I only cried a little.
So to finish things off the Vegan BBQ was pretty solid. Somehow the tofu really had the texture of meat to it, crazy! But keep us in your thoughts and prayers, especially Caitlin, because if she continues to allow her empty cups she used to drink ULTRA PULP OJ to lie around and lets the pulp dry to the side and I have to wash it... There's just no telling what I may do. Probably drink it and I bet you know how protective she is with her food.
Danny and I were talking and it seems we may be some of the worst bloggers ever born to this earth. Danny posted pictures to his last post and never even explained what was happening in them. I was given the task of doing so but spent my whole post explaining why I'm not as evil as Danny makes me sound and thus, never explained the pictures either. Because of all this, I'm turning over a new leaf. I am going to try to do my best to actually tell you what we're up to. Simple enough right? Let's see if it will work!
Well now I can't remember what all of those pictures were of.... The one of my by a beach is at a place called Cape Lookout on the Pacific coast. We went with my parents while they were here. We're actually only about an hour and half away from the coast so we hope to go camping there soon. Oh another picture was in front of the Tillamook cheese factory which was in a town on our way to the coast. I felt so terrible going there betraying my homeland of Wisconsin. But for future reference, their cheese has nothing on some extra sharp Wisconsin cheddar. Nothing.
As for other adventures around town we've had some more lately than before. We've been doing a lot of hiking/biking around town since I got a bike and since Danny's cousin and her husband lent us a book called "Afield and Afoot" that has ALL of the hikes around the area. As mentioned in a previous post, biking with Danny is hard. In order to avoid his frustration with me, he biked to the trailhead of one of our hikes and I drove and met him there. It kind of defeats the purpose of biking and saving gas but when the trailhead is near the top of the city and my legs have not yet developed into the hamhocks I need them to be this seemed like the best option for all involved. The hike was great as it was in a park just outside of a residential area but it had been really well preserved into still being in its natural state. We hiked up along a creek and then proceeded along a second trail that took us up another 500 ft to the Pittock Mansion.
We walked over with Danny jumping and clapping the whole way and got to see some birds of prey that they take care of there for injuries and whatnot. I felt dorky being one of the only people that was not a parent or over 55 but you know, sometimes you just have to embrace your genes (my parents are avid ornithologists and Audobon members) and say hey, I like birds too. Overall a great day!
Our other more recent hike was out on Sauvie Island just north of the city. We had heard about it from a few people (my new hairstylist lady and the cable installation man) and our super awesome hiking book detailed a route that Danny thought was fit. Well, let me tell you, it was an adventure. First of all we had to drive along a gravel road past this ridiculously packed beach which also doubled as a nude beach further down. Since it was Labor day I don't think many people chose to be nude due to the HUGE population of people visiting the beach that day. Side note: Sauvie Island is on the Columbia River= amazing! So we finally made it to the end of this super dusty gravel road, parked, got out, and then I came to the awful realization that the trailhead to our trail began on the OTHER SIDE OF A COW PASTURE!
Sadly because it was Labor Day weekend, everyone with a jetski, speedboat, motorboat... was out on the river. Nonetheless it didn't poo on my parade too much and we enjoyed the sand and sun for a while before heading back.
Not before picking a tupperware full of blackberries, though, of course :) Fortunately when we got back to the cow pasture the cows had dispersed and I felt better about crossing their territory.
The next day was my first day of grad school! My first class was an intro to Marriage Couple and Family Therapy (MCFT from now on) as a profession. It went pretty well and although the information is somewhat boring because its a history and a foundation, it was still nice to meet some more of my classmates and learn a little more about them. I also have begun biking to school so that made the day even more exciting. Danny rode with me because he was bored but it was like 90 degrees that day so by the time I got up to campus (I say up because as there are many hills on the way to campus, campus itself is on yet another hill..jerks) I looked like a tomato. What a great way to make first impressions I know. I'm sure my beauty was the first thing my peers noticed about me and my smell was probably the second glorious thing they learned about me. The same thing happened yesterday when I rode to class but I just hope people see my helmet and understand that I don't just naturally sweat profusely. I did bike home last night though in the dark and considering most of the roads I take to school don't have a bike lane it's kind of nervewracking. I'm sure most of the traffic I meet doesn't appreciate me biking after dark either but there's not much I can do about it besides cover myself in blinking red lights and hope for the best while I go up the vertical hill in Marshall Park in first gear sweating balls in the process. Hopefully as my legs develop into dinosaur legs I'll go faster and faster until one day I'll keep up with traffic... I can only hope...
Well that's most of the news from Lake Wobegon! Today we're off to my bank to deposit a check because it's cookie Friday and then we're off to eat vegan bar-b-que from a foodcart downtown. Yes that's right, vegan bar-b-que. You heard me right, now pick your jaw up off the floor and say "yummmmmm, I like alternate sources of protein in my diet". You know you want to try it :)
Oh and I should notify you all that our neighbors probably think Danny is crazy considering he dug a bucket out of the garbage the other day and walked down to the creek behind our complex and dug up a sad looking fern, put into the bucket, and now has chosen to raise it on his own off our deck. We also have a compost bucket Danny started that he decided needed more sun so we have a stinking bucket of compost sitting in our parking spot for all the neighbors to enjoy with us. I'm sure if there was a contest we would be voted most awesome normal neighbors ever.
Hopefully Danny and I will keep up better with this thing! And I hope you all enjoy hearing about our "stuff" we do out here!
And Now More From The One and Only Danny Dunn
Obviously this blog cannot continue without the corrections and or creative twist on things that I am able to bring. First I disagree with the Tilamook Cheese factory and lack of enthusiasm in discussing its existence. If I go back out to the coast I think another visit is in order. First there are innumerable flavors of delectable ice creams to choose from where I found myself saying "the blueberry tastes like blueberry, the mulberry tastes like mulberry" and so on and so forth. And who could forget the comment on the hours of historical reading material about the Tilamook valley and their cheeses! I learned so much like... well I read it not that I need to remember. And the reason I am an easy sell--> Free Cheese samples! BOOM! I love the place! "3 or 4 servings of samples for me thanks," needless to say I didn't leave hungry.
Now real life. I personally believed life was going to be much more laid back and happy, but somehow I find it so easy to fall into a sad stinky funk (for real all I hear about is how bad I smell, usually I blow it off but after a while even I'm getting self conscious, as a psych person I believe Caitlin should realize the long term repercussions her attitude towards my B.O. is going to have on me). My days have all begun with a little green tea, purchased loose leaf and in bulk mind you, with oatmeal. If there is any more depressing meal to eat every single day let me know, because a bowl of oatmeal just screams you lack flavor, spice, and excitement. I ingest my meal as I browse the craigslist category for schmucks looking for any job that says "Have no marketable skills? Well sign up with us and you may get one or two!" Fine print then says minimum wage. Darn.
It really isn't that bad. I usually don't get much done because I run into an interesting job that requires 4,5,6, or 7 years of experience and I sit and daydream about how glamorous it would be to be a pastry chef at a downtown Portland bakery. As customers line up at the door I can say "nice day friend" (I am yet to meet really anyone I can even call an acquaintance yet, but there's still hope right?) then in a sing song voice I reply "Only because I baked raspberry cream tarts this morning!" If it is really a rough day on the online job market, and as I fill out an application it logs me off because I took too long, Caitlin may ask "Want pancakes this morning?" Only for me to get red in the face and say "NO *&^$#%^ pancakes!" As my body pulsates from breathing way too heavily all she can say is "Rough day?"
Luckily, as Caitlin has pointed out the priority of finding a job has not yet killed our adventures. As you can tell from me being in an old chimney from above. One adventure being at the Audubon Society, but I need to point out my favorite person there. We just happened to be by this guy the entire time randomly and I loved his demeanor as the volunteers explained the birds. As we looked at the Kestrels the volunteer would say "We have Alice here because she is missing part of her back tail feathers." Only to be responded with "Ah its left rectix," but like he is talking to himself and not bragging, but nonetheless I may have chuckled when they pointed out the bent back claw and he said "the hallux" if only I had things I could properly educate people about.
There also was a dream come true. After many hours of being forced to sit and "enjoy" watching the food network there actually some positives coming out of it. "Diners, Driveins, and Dives" has all these fairly small and reasonably priced "joints," as Guy Fietti would say, featured on the show which includes a good deal from Portland. The shack like restaurant called Pok Pok specializes in Thai food. Delicious, and it gave me the opportunity to butcher reading my food choice, which always drives Caitlin crazy. The only really odd thing was how many male servers worked there. Not an issue but I felt it was noticeable, because it has never been like that before.
Overall everything seems to be going great. I eat my share of black berries daily and exercise regularly so I stay pretty content. I also desire to complete my little projects. Unfortunately scavenging through a dumpster and digging up your backyard is weird now, I guess I missed the memo. Come on. And my bucket of dirt doesn't just have ferns in it. There are other plants too, and I planted the pit of my Peach (hoping for the best but I have my doubts). So what if I do that and follow up by skateboarding in the parking lot and falling over. I skinned my elbow and it bled really bad. Besides I only cried a little.
So to finish things off the Vegan BBQ was pretty solid. Somehow the tofu really had the texture of meat to it, crazy! But keep us in your thoughts and prayers, especially Caitlin, because if she continues to allow her empty cups she used to drink ULTRA PULP OJ to lie around and lets the pulp dry to the side and I have to wash it... There's just no telling what I may do. Probably drink it and I bet you know how protective she is with her food.
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