A Train Ride

I hopped on the MAX again into Portland, this time to the airport. It's the last stop on the other line, so I got to see the whole city. I actually went to the airport to go Christmas shopping, if you can believe that. No one outside of visitors passing through the airport wants a Made in Oregon store, I guess, seeing as everyone else was made in Oregon themselves so it really doesn't seem too interesting. But, it is a good place to get smoked salmon, microbrews and coffee.

Riding the train across town can make you learn a lot. For instance, I would never have guessed that the Saturday Market ran on SUNDAY. Who'da thought? I got off there on the way back and it was full of street musicians and people cooking food. I almost gave some money to a group that had an accordion, because I have a lot of respect for someone that can play an instrument that complicated, but then I realized they were playing Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer and I decided to save my money. What a waste of accordioning talent.

From there I set off to find Kell's thinking it was somewhere in the neighborhood. Turns out you can practically see it from the MAX stop. Damn, if I had known one of the top ten Irish pubs in America was half a block from the MAX I'd have been there more often! It was too early in the evening for music, however, but I did enjoy all the Irish accents around. Heh, funny thing, most Irish pubs in the states are full of obnoxious drunk Americans so the fact that there actually were Irish folk present was kind of unique. I had Dublin Chicken Curry and Chips which was totally not what I expected. I mean, did YOU picture the chicken curry being ON TOP of the chips? Well, I didn't either. It tasted very good though, if a little strange. There was fruit in it. Fruit and curry..... hmm... It was the first time I'd eaten all day so I wolfed it in about two bites.

I got home a few hours ago and decided to try this guitar playing thing again and now my hand hurts. Oh well, I wasn't as horrible as I remember being.

Tony keeps getting on AIM for about 3 seconds and signing off again. Just enough time for me to type a message to it and press 'Send' and have it rejected. Hopefully it's just a minor connection problem and he can get it fixed soon. I seriously can't wrap my mind around another 9 months of him in Iraq.

A note on Iraq "withdrawals"

The Pentagon in the last few days announced brightly and cheerfuly that they would be reducing the number of troops in Iraq by a few brigades next year. This was supposed to make us go, "oh wow, we're trimming down the troops! We didn't even make them do it! They're the greatest!" They made it sound like this was in response to the recent withdrawal talk being spurred by Rep Murtha.

Here's the catch. They were going to do this anyway! Ya see a little while ago, a few poor units were sitting on the airfield waiting to go home when they were told that they would be staying there up to six more months due to the elections. The number of personnel in Iraq was inflated for election security and next year's redeployments would simply bring us back down to normal levels. But it's already being spun as some sign of progress instead. Arrgh. Just thought I'd clear things up.

Back in Portland

Once again drove up the big I-5 to B-town. The drive goes so much more pleasantly with great music. I sang my head off and arrived with a hoarse voice. Today's winners were Johnny Cash - When the Man Comes Around and Against Me! - Reinventing Axl Rose. Yee haw.

Went grocery shopping and only waited in line for 30 minutes! Wow! That's got to be a record or something. I guess all the millions of cars in the parking lot were there for Christmas shopping or the movie theater. Speaking of movies, I want to see Walk the Line badly. Hopefully it's playing as a matinee tomorrow. Maybe I'll hit Jarhead, too!

Thanksgiving was really nice. There was tons of food, wine, pies and leftovers. Everyone was home for once and we didn't have to drive anywhere. There weren't any fights and Dad made a huge fire.

Now the Christmas shopping begins. The Iraq crew will be late in receiving their presents, as the deadline to mail them has passed, but they will get them in January, at least and that's better than never. So far for the old platoon we've got kettle corn, smoked salmon, some fancy shmancy coffee, and candy. Tony is getting... well, Tony might actually stop by here sometime and read this (ha!) so I probably shouldn't mention it.

Anyone have any great shopping adventures coming up? Going on vacation anywhere?

'nother day a hunt'n'

Once again I got up at 4:30 in the morning, ate a small meal and drove for an hour and a half further into the mountains to battle hills, rocks and salmonberry. Once again I didn't shoot anything. But it was gorgeous out, again, and we got some great views of some real back country. There were old growth forests and new forests that looked like old forests until you saw the REALLY old forests. There were log trucks barreling down narrow, windy, gravel roads. There were snow-fed salmon rivers, fisherman, hunters and plenty of sunshine.

So much sunshine! This is unheard of for Oregon in November! Unheard of anytime year, for that matter. I can't believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving and the sun is shining.

Ah, Thanksgiving. I think this has officially replaced the 4th of July as my favorite holiday. There's no stress of Christmas presents and shopping, just food. Sweet, filling, delicious, delectable, delightful FOOD. Mom is baking pumpkin pies as we speak. If we're lucky, we may get apple as well! mmmm, yams..... mashed potatoes..... rolls.... turkey.... cranberry sauce.... more yams.... I already can't wait. Poor Mom. Actually, Mom claims that this is her favorite holiday as well, but I think she's really just overjoyed that all three of her daughters have made it home this year and none of us are in dangerous foreign countries or working dangerous stupid jobs, instead.

This dial-up connection is absolutely killing me. I must disconnect before I throw the monitor out the window.

Small dilemma

Latin or poetry? I've got one more 4-credit class to fill... which will it be? They don't offer any course on radio wave propogation and what a shame too - that's about the only science I know anything about. There was some other neat stuff but it was right in the time slot of classes I've already registered for. Arr, and the American Cinema class was already filled! Boo! And beginning guitar is only 2.00 credits. For three days a week ya only get 2 credits? You mean I can take some bullshit music appreciation class for 4?? Hmm, maybe I'll just get another sophomore inquiry class overwith. This is so much nicer than taking trucks to the washrack. I love being a civilian!

The elk of Oregon are safe... for now

I didn't kill an elk on Saturday. :( I did see some elk, but they were on private property and wayyyy past the time I wanted to start dressing a large dead animal. I'm kind of a fairweather hunter. After a enough time - say, two hours - of "hard work" tromping around the woods, I'm ready for a hot lunch and a cold beer. Dad isn't of that mindset. In fact, Dad didn't stop for "lunch" (I use quotes because one stale pb&j sandwich does not constitute a meal) until wellll after twelve and we'd eaten breakfast at 4:30. Yep, that's a.m.

I almost got one, though. Elk aren't like deer. They're not dainty little scared things that live their life in constant twitching awareness. Anytime you see a deer it's known your were there since the moment you decided to leave the house that day. Elk, on the other hand, make no effort at quietness. They stamp, snort and crash their way through the woods. They're hairy, they're smelly and they grunt when they eat. (Now who in your life fits THAT description?) The sight of a bull breaking into the open - chest puffed out, steam coming from his nostrils, monstrous rack of antlers held high - is enough to cause one heart-fluttering moment to remind yourself, "he east grass for god's sake!"

When one smashed his way out of the field he was chowin' down in ('field' in this case is an overgrown former clearcut - impossible to see anything in.) I actually ran out of the way. I couldn't shoot him from where I was anyway - that silly can't-fire-bullets-down-a-road law - so I snuck around the woods at a snail's pace trying to catch him for the next hour and a half. And let me tell you, if you've never snuck before, it's tiring. My legs just weren't accustomed to balancing on one foot while the other delicately nudged the ground in front to avoid snapping a twig. By the time that little adventure was over and we'd had our snacktime - some grain and dried fruit bar - I was simply there for the scenery.

That part turned out pretty well. I saw a salamander, a few grouse (one scared the holy hell out of me, but that's another story), a giant hole in the ground, some chipmunks and several noisy birds. On the drive home we saw a handful of elk far, far away and a large fire on top of a mountain. Oh, and I learned that the hiring of illegal aliens to harvest salal and other nursery holiday decorations is actually quite a problem in the Oregon woods, and that the mafia is behind it. Who'da thought?

It was nice Oregon day, and best of all, my dad was beyond thrilled that he could take me out hunting again, after so long.

hmmm....

Looks like I did some drunken posting last night. I apologize for both poorly written outbursts. Unfortunately, aside from bad writing there were other consequences. Namely, the booze wore off before the coffee, so even though I went to bed at 2am I was wide awake at 5:15 with the caffeine shakes. It's now 1030 and it hasn't stopped.

Movement

I went for a run today. Ran for a whole 17 minutes. Woooo. Felt good though, I guess. Been hackin' up pollutants ever since. It's the first time I've ran since I've been discharged. But I still think walking about 6 miles in the middle of the night with no clue where I was in Dublin was still a significant workout. I was speed walking trying to get back to my hostel in the dark. I somehow ended up next to a park with a pond so thick with algea that the Garda would never have found my body. Fortunately, I somehow ended up on the street that ran back to the Brewery Hostel. That street has about 16 different names, so I guess I was lucky.

LEAVE!!!!!!!

Please, get my friends out of Iraq! NOW! I sick and goddamn tired of hearing about people I know getting blown up in that shithole! Since when did conservatives give a flying fuck about foreigners' freedom? When did it become a good idea to go into other countries to give them democracy and flowers and peace and happiness?? You voted for Reagan?? THIS IS NOTHING REAGAN WANTED AND/OR DID!! Everyone who voted for this fucking war is either 1) wrong and knows it or 2) is psychologically damaged to the point that no amount of logic is going to change their mind. They'd vote for Adolf Hitler, Ghenigis Khan, and any other shithead that ever promised freedom and delivered tyranny. This is what you get you stupid fucks. I don't wish that you go to Iraq. I don't wish that upon anyone. I hope you figure out what's better for you and the working class and vote that way.

Old Peculiar

Once upon a time, I was in some town in Scotland at a Tesco, or some other chain grocery store staring intently upon the wall of beer. The selection in Scotland and England, as you may imagine, is phenomenal. I mostly picked out my choices because of neat looking labels, hence 'Hobgoblin' was one of the first I tried on my trip. The particular day I must have looked more lost than usual, as an extremely friendly Englishman came out of nowhere to aid me in my decision. This was the beginning of a streak of extremely friendly Englishmen appearing in random places (including Montana). He picked up a bottle of some brew called Old Peculiar. "This is a pretty good one. I'd highly recommend it." He went on to tell me that it's brewed near his home in Yorkshire and that people down there pay £4 a pint for it. The bottle was significantly cheaper than that and it seemed to have a good alcohol percentage and I really didn't know what I was doing there anyway, so I bought it.

That night I stayed at Saucy Mary's, a hostel on the Isle of Skye, which instead of a loung area had a pub. Thinking it would be a little rude to bring my own beer to the pub, I set it under my bed. The next day I completely forgot about it and was on my way without it. I'd thought about it a few times since then, a little disappointed that I didn't get to try this beer that was so good it inspired a total stranger to not only recommend it, but provide background info on it.

Today, I was shopping for other people (I swear!) at a place called Liquid Solutions, which has a lot of fantastic microbrews and imported stuff. Unfortunately, it didn't have the coffee I was looking for and the Strongbow only came in bottles (who drinks cider from a bottle???), so I browsed to avoid the whole trip having been a waste. Lo and behold what do I find but Old Peculiar! It's in a much smaller bottle, but nonetheless, it exists!! So I bought a couple along with some Murphys. So much for Christmas shopping.

So anyway, I'm drinking it now. And it is good. Very good. It's one of those beers that when you sip, you don't have to wait a few seconds to eek a flavor out of it. It's a layer of flavors and they're immediate and strong. Yum.

I'm not a MySpace junky..... yet.

I used to think that MySpace was a silly, trendy highschooler thing to do. Well apparently the rest of the ENTIRE FREAKIN' PLANET thought otherwise. I may very well be the last individual on earth to join. So anyway, now ya know. Look me up sometime.

I bought my hunting license and elk tag today. This weekend I'm going out with my dad to shoot a sweet, innocent elk. But it's ok, because then I'm going to spend the next year eating sweet, innocent elk meat.

It seems that all of my pictures on computer/CD format have disappeared somewhere. Not that I had many, but I really was going to put a few up on here and on my MySpace profile. But, sadly, you'll all just have to wait!

My bed arrived and I bought some sheets to cover it. WHAT THE FUCK IS PLAYING ON MY CD PLAYER??? Strange noises..... I found this CD... it's a burned CD and I have a faint idea who made it, but I haven't talked to him in nearly a year. I'm not sure I've ever listened to this before. I think it's the Flaming Lips. Strange enough to be them.

ANYWAY. My expensive bed arrived and then I had to go out and buy expensive sheets for it. Man, living costs money! Oh, and when the movers say they'll be here between 9-11, they mean they'll show up after 11.

Wow

This guy, Ben, actually put his counseling from his commander on his blog! That takes some balls! Holy shit, I wish I had been brave enough to do that back when I had the opportunity. Perhaps one day I'll put up the Certificate of Achievement they gave me for doing over 35 combat patrols in Afghanistan. Not that I'm bitter about that or anything. Anyway, his rantings give a pretty funny and accurate description of the total incompetence of army leadership, defiance - and even contempt - of logic and the general frustrations of being subordinate to a group of people who seem to operate in a universe where it's always opposite day. I especially enjoyed the spelling errors put into writing by the MI commander.

I really need to get Tony a Christmas present and I'm having a very difficult time deciding on what he could possibly need or use (other than the obvious trip back to America without that whole pesky AWOL/desertion charge). He's a computer goddamn genius, has an infinite number of movies, doesn't like junk food or coffee (I know! I can't believe I'm in a relationship with somebody who doesn't like coffee!), can't drink, doesn't seem to read fiction... He reads non-fiction, but things like stock markets and financial planning and computer programming and I just don't want to go treading into his territory and get him something stupid. I mean, he takes care of his own needs just fine. I can't even get him any clothes because he can't wear anything other than his uniform for the next 10 months! He deserves something nice, seeing as he's in such a not-nice place, but lord I just can't think of anything!

Anyone have any suggestions?

A Fine Day

This morning I woke up with the intention of making up for yesterday's waste, which was spent waiting for the movers with my bed who never showed. I put on some jeans and a leather jacket, and feeling sufficiently urban, made my way towards food and freedom. I was craving a giant burrito, but the discovery of McGrath's Fishhouse along the way toward Chipotle's made me reconsider. Some healthy seafood might be more satisfying in the long run considering my general sedentary behavior recently, I thought. So I stopped in, sucked down a Long Island Ice Tea and ordered Tombo Tuna topped with crab. mmmmm, crab. It was delicious, even if the tuna was a little over done.

Then I waddled over to the MAX station, noticing all the Korean shops near the shopping center. It's funny to me when the Korean says one thing and the English translation says quite another. For instance, 식품 generally translates to 'grocery store', but in this case it said Oriental Gifts. Hmm. Then there was the bee-dee-oh store, which made me smile, and offered no translation, so it's my guess that they cater strictly to Koreans who want to rent bee-dee-ohs. Oh how I want to walk in and babble something at them and get the talking monkey look. That's just so much fun. There was some other Korean stores, too, but they didn't look that interesting. I need to find a Korean restaurant that delivers. That's important.

DAMN, the MAX is nice! By far the nicest public transport I've ridden on in the US. Smooth, quiet the only problem I have is that no one was checking tickets, so I feel as if I got ripped off buying one and that I'm going to have to pay more taxes because people ride for free. Kinda like how I appreciate it when someone checks my signature on the receipt vs the credit card. But then I get pissed-off when someone checks my ID for buyin' booze. I guess I'm a hypocrite.

I got off in downtown Portland next to the library, which is a beautiful enough old building that people were taking pictures of it. I'm sure it's considered historic, although it was probably built in the 1920's. We have a slightly different scale of history here in the western frontier of America.

Then it was the street car up to the trendy NW section of town. There are some cool furniture boutiques and things up here, but because I have no interest in carrying a couch on the train - no matter how nice it is - I stuck to my original plan of spending money at Music Millennium. This place is proof that the whole "illegal file sharing is killing my record company/CD store!" argument is pure bullshit. This place is thriving. There was live music and people crawling throughout the place. Maybe - just maybe - your label/store failed because you sell shitty music!!!!! Ever think of that??? I picked up four CDs, a DVD, and a postcard. Whiskeytown, Tom Waits, Johnny Cash, the Pogues and the documentary Gunner's Palace. Merry Christmas to me!

All in all it was a fine day. Fresh air, rain in my eye, a walk and train ride through town. Yay Portland!

Nope It's the font

So now you're stuck with this square font, because the old one causes my right sidebar to disappear down to the bottom of the page. And I don't know why there's only half a box around the title. At this point, I don't even care.

Is it the color?

I don't like this. It's hard to read. But for some reason it works. And when I chose this template, I went in and change all the colors back to what they were and ya know what happened? The margin went down to the bottom of the screen. WTF??

And why isn't my new bed here, yet! I got up early to wait for those guys, dammit! And they haven't even called yet!

I'll return the links when I figure out what the hell is happening.

Why is it fucked up?

I even changed templates, which erased all of my links, but it didn't solve the margin moving to the bottom of the screen problem. What the fuck???

*HOWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLL*

I GOT MYSELF A JUG - A JUG - OF JAMESON!!!!! WITH A HANDLE AND EVERYTHING!

I found the remote!

I only destroyed my living room trying to find the channel changer amidst the boxes, but I found it, baby! Plus, when I got the tv setup, the cable strung around the room and hammered into place there was soccer on! Unfortunately, it was women's college soccer and while I enjoy watching them, the cameramen seemed like they were interns or something and it was very difficult to watch. And it was 82 minutes into the game. But, nevertheless, I got to watch a very little bit of soccer. The Fox Soccer Channel is the only reason I would ever get more than the free basic expanded cable, but because I'm a tightwad, that won't happen. Oh well, I'll just have to use that as an excuse to take the train up to the Cheerful Tortoise, down a few Guinness and watch all the English Premier League, MLS and internationals I want.

Wow, speaking of careful wishes

Apparently someone threw a pipebomb near my parent's house two nights ago! Terrorist activity in Philomath!!!! Good thing I wasn't there, I think I would have grabbed a gun and gone chasing after anyone in the area. Loud booms and projectile explosives make me a little jumpy nowadays.

The annexation was defeated by 78%!!!! YAYYYYYY!!!! I feel like I did some good in the world. Now, I have to register to vote up here and learn about all the local politicians and initiatives in this area. I did see the Libertarian party headquarters downtown, but I think I'll be skipping that experience. Not that I don't support the libertarian party - they take votes away from those stinkin' Republicans - but they really just aren't my thing.

Careful what you wish for

I wish I had something to blog about. Then again, I'm glad I don't, as the usual things to be blogged about involve some sort of crisis. I did set the smoke detector off for the second time, if that counts for anything. Oh yes, and traffic is insane around here. Oh, and I dragged a hundred pound box up the stairs and then spent 5 hours putting together this piece of crap computer desk. By the way, the authors of the Athena Computer Tower assembly instructions are sadists. I have TV! For free! Watched a rerun of Family Guy last night. The scene where Peter gets his library card revoked for reading while intoxicated makes me giggle uncontrably every time.

Tony is on his way back to Iraq. *sniff* Poor guy! Ten more months of monotony.... oh well, knowing him he'll probably come back with a Master's degree, a business and a pilot's license.

I've got to drive back down to Corvallis to see my sis's soccer game. They're playing some snotty team from Portland and as it's the playoffs, it could very well be their last game. Next year they'll rearrange the leagues and most of the snotty Portland area and private schools will be in a bigger league, leaving us with just the evil Marist to rally against. Ugh, I'm so sick of I-5!!!!!

I HAVE INTERNET!!!

AAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAAA!!!! I have internet again, a full week earlier than expected. And oh god does it feel good to have a cable connection again! My parents' dial-up was slowly depriving me of the will to live.
Hmm, I just noticed that it's really dark out. I thought, "oh shit! I wasted half the day playing with my new high-speed connection!" but no, it's only 2:35.... it's just about to dump massive amounts of rain and doom upon the hapless citizens of Beaverton. Crap. Time to shut the windows. It was nice while it lasted!