Need to fill a couple pages of your magazine? Put the names of guitarists into a hat and draw them out, and put them into a list in the order they come out. The list may not reflect any real order, but at least the pages will be full, and the “letters to the editor” section will have some interesting responses. What a crock.
laser eyes
Yesterday Michelle and I drove north to Redmond for a cousin’s wedding, then back again afterwards. It was a nice wedding and wonderful reception. However, Barley was at home alone, so we up and left sometime after the cake cutting. On the way back we stopped in Tacoma to visit Chris, and ended up eating Thai your mom pizza under the watch of a grizzly bear’s skeleton.
We left Tacoma about 11:30 p.m. The rain, having been absent for 3 months, decided to make up for lost time with a rather untimely downpour. Very few cars, lame wiper blades, and night driving aren’t fun, and by the time we pulled in to Portland around 2:30, my retinas were burning. Focusing on the wet road and holding the car steady as it drifted over the occasional puddle of water, the laser beams coming from my eyes and the stiff grip on the wheel quickly took their toll. Sleep seems to have repaired all the damage, but I fear there may be burn marks on the windshield where my gaze seared the glass. Hopefully it didn’t rain on the reception.
Out of the woodwork
While on our morning walk, Barley and I started noticing kids congregating at a house down on the corner. As we walked by the second time, there were roughly 15 kids, all dressed up with loaded bags and lunches waiting for the bus. School has just started, and the kids in the neighborhood are coming out of the woodwork. I had no idea there were so many in the area, all hidden away during the summer. Kind of sad that they weren’t outside playing, or riding their bikes around or something remotely kid-like.
Camping, Labor Day
This weekend was another of our biannual first floor camping trips. Scott has been designated with the chore of finding a place the the fewest people complain about getting to. I think he’s done a fine job, especially given the strain our group can put on a small area. We camped at Ipsut Creek on the Carbon River just a bit NW of Mount Rainier. It was a nice place, and was quite fun. Michelle, Sarah, the dogs, and I only stayed one night, which felt a little weird, but had the advantage of allowing her to do school work, and I home work (work at/on/around the home). I’ll be interested to see other people’s pictures of the campout. Its such a departure from what I grew up with. It was …. memorable.
Comcast Outages
We’ve had almost no internet for the last couple days. Why? Comcast isn’t sure, but they’ll be here some time next week to look at the problem. If you can read this, maybe its fixed.
Power Outages Galore
A bizarre series of power outages. 1:30pm – Cascade campus looses all power. 1:50pm – transformer on the corner of our street explodes, taking power and hurting Michelle’s ears. 3:19pm – ID10T in the server room “tests” the UPS by shutting off the power, all 40+ servers go down. The message appears to be – stop working.
Well, I didn’t catch on until 7pm. But then Scott and I drove down to historic Aurora, OR to have a few pints with another BeerAdvocate Rich before he moves to Belgium next week. Conversation was mostly beer, and all enjoyable. He’s got a blog up as well, detailing the move.
School starts, Patrick inks a deal
Michelle finished her first day of her last year of law school. We met up with much of the usual crowd at Lucky Lab on Hawthorne last night. The seem generally happy and confortable with school and life. I still think they’re all crazy.
Patrick and Courtney also met us there. The Lucky is across the street from where Patrick will be working. He’s found a place to live, and will be moving in tonight or tomorrow. Its only a couple blocks from work, so he’s going to be situated nicely.
Drip Drip
Michelle and I installed a drip system today. Its immensely satisfying to have a highly efficient system for watering the flower beds. However, my fingers and thumbs are numb from punching holes in the 1/2″ hose. Hopefully by next year the flower beds will have overgrown the hoses, and the yard will be a wonderfully full and luscious environ. We’ll see.
megaburbs
During lunch yesterday I picked up a copy of Architectural Record, which had a piece about Megaburbs. Not a new concept, but the point is we’ve outgrown the term suburb. Suburbs were outer communities that required a central city for survival. Today’s suburbs have all the same utilities, centers, governments, and problems of their original cities, so they have no need for central cities. They have become Megaburbs.
Sadly most have developed without any overall plan of organization, or at least a coherent one. Just ask yourself – Am I in Beaverton? Am I in Tigard? Is this Sherwood? How will I know?
The author readily admits that its an unwieldy word which isn’t meant for common use. What to call them than? Leeches that have recently discovered autonomy? Cities? Single-story max? Drive-ins? Teenagers? Mall-towns? Next 3 exits? C’mon, you’ve probably got some.
Last Few Days
Michelle’s trying to enjoy the last few days before her last year of law school starts. Amazingly enough, she’s looking forward to it this year. Possibly because she’s chosen the classes, possibly because she’s been reinvigorated by working in a legal clinic this summer, possibly from speaking with a former student who is now a lawyer, and shared his opinion that law school was lame, or maybe its because its the last year, and the scholarship is a sealed deal now. Regardless, her last days of freedom have included doing homework, yard work, and tying up loose ends. Now we’re going to the DEQ to get the car’s emissions tested. Driving through the burbs is a great reminder why we live close to where we work. Stop, go, stop, go, stop, wait, stop, go, stop.