Category: blahblah

It appears that my neighborhood has colluded to corner the market on POS trucks.

I was working in the faculty lab when and overheard someone laboring to complete “we can fix him? repair him?” I was starting to get annoyed, so I corrected her: “We can rebuild him; We have the technology.”

I was right, of course, but the other faculty were kind of shocked that I  knew the phrase, considering my age. I admitted that was too young, and grew up without cable, but I’ve made up for lost time thanks to the Family Guy. They had no idea what I was talking about. Needless to say, they were kind of creeped out. I was younger than most of their kids.

Most of my friends have an uncanny ability to remember small snippets of TV show dialog. Hopefully all of the worlds problems can be solved with quotes from the Simpsons.

Did you know the Oregonian has an editorial section in the Sports pages?

On our drive back from Cannon Beach this weekend, I speculated on the future of wireless services for drivers. We were stuck behind a gigantic Lincoln/Mercury LTD/Town Car going 45MPH on the highway.

Me: “Do you think AARP will ever offer a service like OnStar for it’s members?”

Michelle: “They do. It’s called OnStar.”

Me: “Touché.”

Tigger and my relationship has been improving for the last 5 years. The last few months, it’s been very good, and I’ve been taking extra care of his food & water supply, complied with incessant need to be in a lap, and I’ve even spoken up for him at times. So why did he puke in my bag? Why did he vomit on to my school work, my work-work, and wrinkle the pages of my books yellow when the cat door was only 2 feet away?

Because cats are assholes.

Ella had her first long car trip this weekend. For an infant, a long trip is defined as any second longer than they can go without eating. For Ella on the way to Yakima, that was almost at The Dalles, but she quieted down until we made it to Goldendale, our normal break spot so Barley can stretch and evacuate.

The weekend was also a bit of a whirlwind tour (the press circuit, as we started calling it) so various friends and family could meet her. Needless to say, she slept well at nights.

The drive back didn’t go as well, she decided she needed to eat again shortly after entering the reservation. It was also shortly after she had just eaten, but whose paying attention?
Traffic, heavy rain, and bright sun dictated we stop again in Goldendale, to again get gas and feed. Then she was satisfied until just outside Troutdale where traffic came to a dead stop on I-84. She was not pleased. Michelle crawled into the back to see what she could do, but it feeding wasn’t an option. She did manage to do a rapid-diaper change without getting poo in the car, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy Ella, who was distraught until we reached home (a little faster thanks to Marine Dr.)

I heard a rumor that the recently vacated La Tazza Rossa spot was going to become a Hot Lips Pizza. Last week I noticed Hot Lips reader boards in the window. Hell yeah!

Yesterday we rooted (Ella did the other kind of rooting, too) for Sarah while she did the Portland Marathon. After she completed it, we picked her up downtown. We were amazed she could actually remain upright after it. As we were leaving the race end, she was approached by a Scientology Outreach Minister, who offered something but we couldn’t tell what he said. What a creepy opportunity for “outreach.” Brainwashing folks who have just completed a marathon. I suppose if Scientology is ever going to make sense… it would be after 26 miles.

Oh, and congratulations Sarah – that was awesome.

Joe and I rode from his house off N. Peninsular out to Kelly Point, then back to St. John’s, across the bridge, through northwest Portland, then north on Interstate and Greeley back to his place for a 24 mile outing yesterday. The weather was ideal, the wind non-existant, and the pirate danger moderate. This was also the last segment of the 40 mile loop I had not completed.

Starting at his house, we rode through the neighborhood to N. Portsmouth, then got on the 40 mile loop trail. From there, we headed out past Smith & Bybee lakes towards the end of the “loop.” We’re planning on doing the STP next year so we schemed about training schedules and test rides. The loop may provide an excellent test if done in full at some point, maybe even two days in a row, but in opposite directions.

From Kelley Point, we followed Lombard and a few other streets to end up underneath the St. John’s bridge, where we heard cannon shots and saw a convention of pirates. Most of their clothes were polyester, so I doubt they were real pirates, but they were none-the-less intimidating. We stopped by the first tower on the bridge to look down on the convention and watch some cannon-shooting, organized dancing, and what looked like a puppet show. We could also see Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Hood from the bridge, though the view to downtown was somewhat obscured by smog.

From the bridge, we rode into NW Portland on HWY 30, crossed the broadway bridge, and followed Interstate (passing a handful of tempting pubs) to the Polish Festival. We stopped briefly to see if we could spot Scott but did not have much luck. We finished the ride by taking Greeley back to his place, completing a 24ish mile loop in just over 2 hours. We both agreed that we could not have ridden another 24 that day, let alone 100. And 100 the next day. Better plan on training some more.

It was a very pleasant ride though and relatively flat. The stretch along Hwy 30 is really unpleasant and would be very intimidating for riders not comfortable crossing railroad tracks at angles. Still, it was a very fun ride. I just need to figure out this knee pain thing.