Domain of Lunacy

Eeep

2007-10-22T15:33:00.000-07:00

Another GREAT weekend was had. I had an amazing date with a wonderful girl on Friday... I'm sure this blog will have more about her soon enough. Saturday, I was able to kick back, relax and watch a bit of television. Sunday was marked by the beginnings of my house being transformed into the dungeon of nightmare. Halloween is coming and I've taken to throwing a huge Halloween party at my house. I always spend far too much on decorations, so it's always a good time. This year will be an 80's theme, as well as mark the return of the horribly dangerous "Witch's brew" While this transformation was taking place, I was at a video shoot for a website, where I got to get my ass kicked by girls in costume. It was fun flying though the air... until I landed on a baseball bat... HUGE bruise forming on my back.

This week also promises to be eventful, with Sushi and a bad ass band tonight, followed buy a haunted house on Thursday... then last minute party prep for Friday. Good times indeed. Life is pretty damn good.

Wonderful Weekend

2007-10-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

It's Monday, and the weekend is over, but I must say that the weekend kicked major ass.

Friday was fun filled fright ride through the Haunted Corn maze at Sauvie Island. We went with a huge group of people (around 27). I thought the maze was well done, and the spooks they put into it were great. But by far the best thing about it was the fact that several of the girls in our group were screamers who got scared at everything. I kept sneaking off into the corn and jumping out... Somehow this never got old, and the screams never stopped. I had a stitch in my side from laughing so much.

Saturday brought a wine tasting at Hip Chicks. Again, fun people made the night. Wine flowed freely, I got to watch people squish grapes with their feet, and saw the machine that actually squishes said grapes. Fun times indeed. Even if I did have a bit of a wine hangover the next morning.

Whee-ness

2007-10-11T09:12:00.001-07:00

Ok, my life is going pretty well. I've decided to start working out five days a week... I'm on week 2 and so far so good, makes me feel GREAT.

Work is good, I got a massive raise, seem to be taken seriously, and everything is decent.

Social life is going well, went SCUBA diving last weekend, this weekend will involve a corn maze.... all in all I really have no room to complain.... Oh, and and HALLOWEEN is coming up quick. That's enough to make me say WHEE right there.

Life in General

2007-10-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

I am continually amazed by the sheer amount of interesting people in the world. Every day you pass hundreds of people, most of them strangers, each of them has their own lives, dreams, thoughts, feelings, etc.

Sometimes you meet one these people, and you find that you have much in common, alot to learn from each other. Other times, you meet them and you discover that they are part of the population that you wish would just do away. But regardless it's mind boggling to think of how many lives you brush across every day. How each day brings an infinite array of opportunities and chances and how we typically just repeat the last day. Life is interesting.

Mostly waxing all philosophical because I've been thinking about the person I am, and the person I want to be. You can never really reach your goals until you define what they are. That's always where I've gotten stuck in the past. I didn't know exactly where I wanted to go, so my life would always revolve around gathering up options, and never closing any doors... remaining nimble enough so that when I DID figure it out, I could run quickly in that direction. That sort of leads to an option paralysis. If you really and truly understood all the possibilities that each day held... you would probably be so overwhelmed that you wouldn't get out of bed... Or, spend each day in a safe pattern of the last.. Hmm... Now that I've typed this up.. I'm sure I'll need some kind of profound graphic. Let's see.....

Traveling fool

2007-08-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

As some of my loyal readers know (ok, loyal readER) I travel quite a bit for my job. Recently I've been traveling quite a bit, and there is a distinct possibility that I will soon be traveling all the damn time.

Now I don't tend to mind it all that much, I'm back on weekends, my house stays clean, and I earn thousands of wonderful frequent flier miles that equate to fun low-cost vacations with interesting people. However, when my company asks me to fly the red eye to New York, then travel again to Virginia the next week, followed by another trip to New York.... I'm beginning to dread the feeling (numbness) of six-hours in a airline seat.

The solution as I've found consists of 3 Benadryl (may cause drowsiness) washed down with a couple of glasses of red wine.... makes sleeping on the plane a breeze.

What's more, I'm not the first person to discover the wonders of the magic pink pill.
This guy sums it up better than I could..... *READ*

Oh, and there is always 5-hour energies when I arrive on site..... Whee for chemicals.

I think if the weekly travel continues, I'm think I'm going to have to work the first class upgrades

Aggravation

2007-08-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had one of those moods where you wish you could shoot fire out of your eyeballs? I'm feeling quite aggravated today. Nothing seems to have any real importance and little things are leaving me wanting to explode in a flaming rage of fury.

Every so often I get in one of those dark moods and it takes something to pull me out. Now I'm a normally a pretty easy going guy, so it doesn't really take much, but it's random as to what will do it. It could be an old friend saying the right thing, it could be a new friend saying something, it could be something as simple as seeing an old couple being cute at the park, but it takes some example of why life is beautiful. Be it a floating trash bag, or a child holding a flower. Sad part is that it's impossible to predict in advance what trigger will remove the mood, but once it happens, it's like someone flicked a light switch on my dark mood. Silly humans.

Energy in Liquid Form

2007-08-03T14:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'll admit it, I tend to take Newton's first law of motion a bit too seriously. You know the one about an object in motion. Well, for awhile now, I've been an object at rest, and staying there. Of course, that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. Just not busy in a way that is good for my sanity and health. That's going to change.

Goals: Start using my gym membership at least 3 times a week and meet and go out with fun interesting people at least twice a week.

Of course I may need a bit of a push to get started, (damn you Newton) so I ordered 216 vials of pure liquid power....

Seriously, these are like crack in a bottle. No energy crash, wide awake, 8 calories and only a 15% chance of turning your brain into a rutabaga. Mmmm veggies, I should eat some of those as well... I wonder if I can get them in liquid form?

Check out this video: Powerthirst

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Blogging again?

2007-08-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

It's possible. When I first started my blog it was to be a lighthearted window into what I spend my time on, I was unemployed at the time, and needed a way to fill out my ample free time. Life happened (as it tends to) and I updated less and less.... then of course I didn't have anything I really felt like sharing as the most drastic things happening in my life were things I didn't really want to burden others with.

Now, fast forward to present day, I seem to be having more time left over, and the need to interact with my many (IE, 2) readers. We'll see if I've been bitten by blog fever, or if it's a passing fad.

The (not-so) Frozen North

2007-01-05T17:57:00.000-08:00

The first week on January I got stuck doing an install for work in Nova Scotia. For the geographically impaired that would be a few hundred miles North by Northeast of the good old USA. All in all the trip went pretty well. Except for the pain in the ass plane ride. 13 hours on a plane in never fun.

First I flew through Cincinnati.

Followed by a stop in Boston, before I was supposed to fly into Halifax. It turned out however that they had overbooked my flight into Halifax by quite a bit and were taking volunteers to be bumped to the 9 am flight the next day. Quickly, I did the mental math. Free hotel room, having a good excuse to miss 4 hours of work, not getting to my hotel in Nova Scotia at 1 am. Me please. Only after I volunteered did I also remember that my friend Kristen had recently written me and advised me that she had moved to Cambridge, Mass. Now I've been talking off and on with Kristen for years (10+) but had never met the girl since she lives on the east coast. She is one of those great people who will keep in touch and send you x-mas cards even if they haven't heard from you in 2 years. So, I gave her a call... got hold of her and demanded that she meet me for drinks.

I discovered why it's worth it to keep people around. She is an amazing person with a good heart and great insight on life. I'm really glad I finally got to meet her in person.

The view of Boston from my hotel wasn't all that bad either.

So, after what became a very successful night in Boston, I managed to get on my plane to Halifax. Now, it turns out that the Northeast is having record high temperatures for the winter. Good thing because it was still pretty chilly, but nothing like the bone-numbing cold I was expecting. I had a two-hour drive from the airport to the place where the install was taking place, so I got to see quite a bit of Nova Scotia, It's a really pretty place. All lakes and rocks and seashore.

After I finished up with the first day of my install I took the opportunity to explore the countryside a bit. While it was unseasonably warm, as you can see it was still pretty chilly.

As part of my exploration I thought that I simply MUST touch the Atlantic Ocean. On all my travels to the east coast, this was something that somehow managed to elude me. So I drove over to the seashore. (right across from the above picture mind you) and decided to dip my hand in the ocean water. I quickly discovered that this water was rather bone-numbing cold. In fact my hand turned instantly numb (aided of course by the 30 degree temperatures and the wind chill) So, being the intelligent person I am, I decided it was worth it to touch the water again. I then discovered the joys of getting minor frostbite... another first for Eldon.

After that adventure, I continued my drive around the countryside. At this point the sun was starting to set, providing me with a chance for truly stunning pictures of the red sky reflected in the ocean.

I finally managed to get back to my hotel room after stopping every 5 minutes to take pictures. The next couple pictures were taken from right outside the hotel where I was staying.

The remainder of the trip was pretty uneventful, I managed to get on a plane, head through Boston, and Salt Lake City in my return quest to land in Portland. Of course, what I heard upon landing was pretty damn eventful all in all.........

Holday Party Nazi-Party

2007-01-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

Jesse and Ildiko throw an annual holiday party. This party tends to be over the top (as house parties go) simply because it's hosted by Jesse and Ildiko, who together have more kitchenware than Martha Stewart in a drug induced dream. In any event this years party was a success, the venue was changed due to the fact that Keith and Talya happened to own a really nice house over in Clackamas. It was a bit of a drive for most of us, but overall worthwhile. Let the photos begin..

2006-12-31T12:01:00.000-08:00

(Wrong year, I know... but it's perfect)

All in all I must say that 2006 was a pretty crappy year. But the old adage holds true, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, teaches you and makes you a balanced person. We only truly learn about ourselves when we face our fears, and our limits. For that 2006 was a stellar year, although I would much prefer to not have to deal with one of those again in this lifetime.

May you live in interesting times, 2006 was certainly that, and while circumstances might have decided to kick a lot of people in the teeth, and a lot of pain was shared, remember to learn from it, don’t dwell on the past.

Pain is the body’s way of telling you to pay attention something important is going on here. It’s as important as happiness as it provides contrast and getting more information is never a bad thing.

So, thank you very much 2006 for teaching me so many lessons. Thank you for putting so many wonderful people in my life, and thank you for the happy moments. Now get the hell out of here…

New Year's Eve... Eve

2006-12-31T11:44:00.000-08:00

Saturday, was a sort of a difficult day for me, something about having too much time to think. I wish I could turn my brain off at times, as it’s always looking for solutions, answers and mapping out things that haven’t happened yet. Reminds me a bit of a chess game, thinking ahead several moves, problem with that is that when it’s not really in a good place, the moves, solutions and thoughts that tend to run though it are not exactly conductive to continued sanity. Didn’t help that I had to do something really difficult in the afternoon, something that brought home exactly what I lost and how much I miss Brandy.

Again though, my friends came though for me, I got a random invite to a party downtown from Simon. While I didn’t end up going, the invitation made me happy. I also talked to my friend Erin, (who is going to kill me for posting her picture.) We decided to go and hang out at the Asian Gardens (bad karaoke place in Beaverton) Funny story is that I had been there before about 7 years ago for Chad’s 21^st birthday (before I moved to Portland). That story deserves a blog in and of itself.

Justin managed to join us there a little later in the evening as well, and both of them managed to put up quite nicely with my tidal emotional state… (look he’s happy, look he’s annoyed, look he’s sad). New game… guess where Eldon’s mind is at….

Didn’t help that nearly every single Karaoke song on the play list was a love song.

Afterwards we headed over to Justin’s place for pool and more drinks. Fun and very um… Educational night….

Night on the town

2006-12-30T11:34:00.000-08:00

After the events of the week, I was feeling the need to be distracted; Emily and Nancy volunteered to drag me out on the movie night they already had planned. We started the night at Rock Bottom where I overcame my depression induced anorexia to consume a large steak. Take that body… red meat trumps all.

After that and two very strong cocktails we headed over to the movie theater to watch Night at the Museum. The movie was quite good, but I almost got kicked out as my cell phone went off during the show. Ok, so it was before the show, and the ringer wasn’t REALLY that loud.

All in all a pretty fun night… helped take my mind off current events for a few hours and that was exactly what needed to happen.

Friends

2006-12-29T11:32:00.000-08:00

First of all I have to apologize to my readers (both of them) for the turn my blog has taken. When I started my blog I promised myself I would write about my life and avoid the deep emotional things that most blogs tend to turn into. Well, that was before the last 6 weeks (good lord has it only been 6 weeks) The last six weeks have been an emotional roller coaster of epic proportions. I’ve laughed, cried, done both at the same time and learned quite a bit about myself and life. While it hasn’t been fun, and I’ll likely be recovering from the aftermath for quite some time, I wouldn’t take away the experience for anything.

Only through adversity do we truly learn about ourselves. When life happens to you, the only thing you can truly do is learn from it. The past is the past, learn its lessons well, make your present the best you can, and use the knowledge to plan for your future. One cannot live in the past and dwell on it. I believe that would be a sure road to insanity. Live, learn, and strive to always improve.

I’ve learned another valuable lesson as well. I have truly great people in my life. I have the tendency to hide when bad things happen. I take everything into myself so as not to worry or upset those around me. However, I’ve discovered that the people I choose to surround myself with are caring, wonderful, compassionate people that I can depend on when things get so overwhelming that I can’t handle it. This blog is just a thank you to all the people in my life. I’d like to think that I’m a good judge of character and if you’re any indication, I am indeed. Thank you for helping me, each in your own ways. I’m still hurting and I doubt I’ll be at 100% for some time, but you’ve helped me find my center and my strength, and I can go on from there. I hope that I can do the same for each and every one of you in the future.

Torrent

2006-11-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

Alas, many days have past after I said I would be blogging, I've yet to put up a new blog. I have my reasons, but still excuses are like um... noses, ya... everyone has one.

Work is interesting, VERY stressful, they are asking me to do much more work than before and we have yet to discuss any additional compensation, I pulled up a salary.com report on myself and I should be making over 30K more than I'm currently pulling down. That was a bit painful, so hopefully I'll find out today if a decent raise is in my future, if not I'll begin the hunt for new employement. Maybe I can arrage to be unemployed during the summer again, that was really really fun... best time of my life, I was laid back, fun to be around, and I didn't bite people's heads off for no reason, or create issues where none should be. What is it about work and stress that turns normal people into rat bastards? A certain friend of mine is thinking about dropping out of the working world... I envy him.

On the personal front, my life has been confusing to say the least. Although I've come to a realization that I should have come to months ago. You know, I went as a caveman for halloween, I carried a big club. Someone should have used that club on my head months ago. *grin*

Alas, life is never simple and rarely easy...

One year later

2006-11-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

It's been a year since my gainful employment and I must say it's been a good one. In fact I'd probably rate the last year as one of my best overall. While work went from kicking my ass, to easy, to stressful, back to kicking my ass, it's now stabilized into more sanity. I've discovered that it's not the quantity of work you have to do, but rather the fact that no-one notices that tends to drive me batty. All it takes is a little pat on the back to make me happy, and it looks like I'm going to get a big one. Go Go 1-year anniversary.

In other news I've probably done more in the last year than most of my others combined, I've seen Niagara Falls, reconnected with old friends, been in the Castro on Halloween, laughed, cried, screamed, eaten airline food and made new friends. I'm planning on keeping tabs on my life again so feel free to tune in for updates. At some point I'll post pictures from the Halloween party I threw at my house. Good times.

Hello world.. I'm baaaaaaaack.

2005-11-07T19:11:00.000-08:00

So, I had my first day of work in over 10 months... Like always it was an information overload, but I think I'm going to like it there. Going to be alot of work, alot of responsibility and alot of travel, but the people are all really nice and the work looks to be pretty interesting. Best part about it is that I'll be getting job experience with a job title I actually want. Eldon--Project Manager.... Of course I'll also be doing installs, support, hardware, and engineering. Joys of a small company.

So I rode the MAX to work and back today. Wygant is located right off of the Pioneer square so it seemed silly to drive in, even more so since I live about a block from the MAX station. The MAX wasn't so bad even if I did have to stand both ways. Being in the middle of downtown on my lunch was really cool... so many place to eat I wandered around for about 20 minutes before randomly picking a place.. had a nice London Broil for lunch at a place that's been around since 1917 and used to run food up to prostitutes in nearby "sporting houses." Lots to be said for being downtown... so if anyone downtownish wants to hang out after work one of these days let me know.

2005-11-04T20:36:00.000-08:00

So, after over a month Wygant finally got back to me. Looks like I will soon be employed again. Starting my position as a Project Manager next Monday. I'm pretty excited, but I'll miss my massive amounts of free time. Had a great summer off though so I really have nothing to complain about. Everyone wish me luck rejoining the ranks of the employed, although it probably means my blogs will be less interesting.. *hmm*.. Today, I worked, then I went home.... Oh well... I'm sure something blogworthy will happen.. *grin* Maybe I'll have a really gross co-worker that does annoying stuff all the time and I'll be able to make fun of them.. Oh wait, that's been done... Eh, Cameron?

2005-10-31T20:34:00.000-08:00

So, I was still having uber low energy, due to the recovery process. But I managed to go do a Dog show with Brandy. It was way fun, although I quickly discovered that 2 hours of standing around was my limit... silly surgery. The dogs were really nifty however and I had a great time.

I love BIG dogs

Look at all the doggies... all in a row

Worn out and sitting at Brandy's house.... surrounded in puppies

2005-10-25T20:27:00.000-07:00

So I stayed in the hospital for a little over a week... it wasn't that bad although it got really boring near the end. I had lots of visitors, besides the ones in the pictures Emily and Cameron and Peter all showed up to keep me company. Always nice to know that you have good friends who care about you.

Even in the hospital, I found my way onto the internet

There was Justin

And Ildiko

Suprise visit by Nivarni even

Having a hospital Eldon moment

Warren showed up to place lights around the room, Warren was there alot

Jessica stopped by to give me a hard time

Eating through a bag... mmmm

Saying goodbye to the Hospital.. Warren taking down the lights

The whiteboard that was my constant companion

Waving goodbye to the Hospital

2005-10-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

So, on Sunday morning I woke up with a bit of a bellyache... I dismissed it and went back to sleep... only to wake up later in massive amounts of pain. Being stubborn as hell, I tried to take some pain killers and wait it out.. but it only got worse, after I threw up the pain pills and I was bent over in pain I knew that I probably couldn't TOUGH it out... I called Warren and said I might need a ride to the emergency room. Now Warren was out in Oregon City, but he called his friends mother to come over and get me. By the time I made it to the hospital I was in more pain than I have ever been in, in my life. Warren and Abby showed up about 5 minutes after I checked in.... Good thing too as there was a 45 minute wait for a hospital bed and I nearly passed out several times from the pain. By the time I was admitted the nurse told me I should have taken a ambulance in so they could have seen me sooner... silly hospital.

So they gave me about four shots of morphine before the pain ebbed to a functional amount, they then took me in for a CAT scan. Turned out that pain of my small intestine had ruptured and I needed emergency surgery. Brandy showed up around then having canceled going to a murder mystery party she was invited to (even though I told her not to). She was all dolled up for the party even.

So they wheeled me into surgery around 9pm and I passed out quickly from the glorious drugs. Brandy and Warren took the time I was under the knife to take pictures of the outfit she was going to wear... plus some of Warren's guns and a nice red fedora. When I woke up Brandy, Warren and my mother were all there to great me... at around 1:30 in the morning no less. I had really cool booties on my feet that would squeeze them with compressed air every 10 seconds or so.. like having a constant foot massage. No pain at all being that I had really happy drugs in my system.

All dressed up and no place to go

Strait out of a bad detective flick

Photoshoot part 3

The glazed look in my eyes is from the massive amount of happy drugs

Good thing to.. else that might have hurt

The foot pump/booty thingies were way cool

You can always count on your mommy

And Warren, you can pretty much always count on him too

2005-10-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

So we followed Son of Rust to yet another show. This one was at a place called the Town Lounge.. the place cleverly avoided any actual business by having NO sign out front and being very hard to find. This wonderful fact allowed us to enjoy the time with friends. The night started with a (bad) DJ who basically played forever... the spinning was so involved he got up and ordered a drink from the bartender during the set... this took awhile too as the bored bartender was reading a book in the back room. I decided to whittle away the time by ordering a couple drinks. I decided to get a Long Island... however it turned out they were out of sour mix. I asked the bartended to improvise (big mistake) he told me he might be able to substitute lemonade for sour... That didn't sound TOO bad.. but when I got it, he had substituted ORANGE JUICE for sour mix.... Worst drink ever... as you can see by the pictures, I pawned it off on helpless bystanders.

Once Ben and Justin took the stage, finally, it was a great show. Being that they were playing to 100% friends they were comfortable and goofed around alot. Brandy even jumped on stage for part of a song.

Ben and I always tend to wear similar shirts.. and I always tend to do silly poses

World's worst Long Island.. part 1

World's worst Long Island part 2

YABAJPCMP (Yet another Ben and Justin playing cool music picture)

Brandy couldn't resist the urge to become a stage dancer

2005-10-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

Da Zoo, So, on Tuesday we decided to head off to the zoo, turned out to be a great day for it. We spent nearly 4 hours running around and taking pictures of pretty much every animal that they had. Turned out that the zoo only costs $2 on Tuesdays... we made out like bandits. So, without additional preamble, I bring you far too many pictures of the Zoo life.

Sea Lions

Brandy getting frisky with some penguins

Precursor to an Alfred Hitchcock movie

mmm Big kitty

That bat was totally makin fun of me

Took forever for the silly hippos to show themselves.. Lazy bastards

Pretty Doggies

Few things are cuter than river otters

Of course Brandy making faces at the chipmunk might rate up there

I swear, we did not get butted out of the Zoo

2005-10-09T19:25:00.000-07:00

So, Ben and Justin headed down to Eugene for a rare weekend show, and being that I promised to help my family out with a computer problem, I used the excuse to go into full groupie mode and head down to the show. It was a pretty kick ass show, although it was rife with technical problems. The show started late due to a malfunctioned keyboard/mouse. My mother, whom came to watch the music, saved the day by bringing the keyboard/mouse combo from the nearby office building (the same building that Brandy and I ended up crashing at, and the same building that contained the computer I was going to work on later.... but I get ahead of myself... Once the show started it went smoothly.... until the feedback got really bad... and one of the projectors went out.... but like always the music was good and we all had a great time at the "Afterparty"... We went to the hotel room with Ben, Justin and Chad and acted like morons for a few hours... good times.

Later Brandy and I crashed in the office building... not the most comfortable of places, but it sufficed to get the few hours of sleep we needed before computer repair/driving home.

Ben, bathed in magical blue light

Justin, calling out the smelly guy in the audience

The band, in more magic light

Keyboard and mouse that saved the day

Ben tends to climb things... we don't know why

2005-10-07T21:29:00.000-07:00

Son of Rust had a great show at Ash street on Tuesday, or was it Thursday... no, I'm pretty sure it was Tuesday. In any event, it was a pretty good show. Mostly because about three or four songs into the set a swarm of Mexican vet tech interns ran onto the floor and added much needed energy. Pretty much every one of them really enjoyed the show. Brandy ran around and got email addresses for all of them so they could be added to the Son of Rust mailing list. Good times... I ALMOST even scored a new digital camera as one of the interns left it sitting right there on the table. Alas, my sense of morality got the better of me, and I found a way to get it back to her. I did get many hugs for my trouble. Now, it might just be me, but I'm convinced that every single person that lives in foreign countries have more fun than I do. I need to travel badly. Melissa, my sister, and a few people who I just barely know are all spending massive amounts of time far away. By all reports the rest of the world is way cooler than we are.... Silly America

Justin and the shadow monster

More SonofRust

Look fans... and they seem to be enjoying themselves

Brandy showing off her outfit

Brandy, tired of showing off her outfit crashes on the couch with the dogs

2005-10-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

So Thursday night was Cameron's birthday, so a group of us decided to hit the town for a little debauchery. We went to Pala's first off and enjoyed a few drinks and watched Justin give Cameron a fabulous my little pony doll for her birthday. After a few more drinks Justin pointed out that the place across the street had a mechanical bull. This place turned out to be the Dixie Tavern... formally the Cobalt lounge. While initially I was sad that the Cobalt closed.. (They used to have an event called "Sunday School," picture school girl outfits on dancers.. mmm) I quickly recovered from my misery when we entered. The place was packed on a Thursday and waitresses greeted us with plates of Jell-O shots. The staff was dancing on the bar and the music was GREAT, and of course you can't forget the mechanical bull. We managed to get both of the girls up on the bull separately, and then together. I'm pretty sure the entire bar stopped to watch the girls ride that bull. and of course that led to a moment SO hot that I can't even place it here for public consumption.

Let me just say.. it was a fun night.

Justin "getting the party started"

The artist painted the picture and hung it while they posed.. no really

Required dance with the birthday girl.

It only took a few Jello shots

and a little loving...

to get Cameron up on the bull

Of course we had to get Brandy up there next

Finally, there was a very sexy comprimise.

2005-09-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

Best website ever *******T-Shirt Hell******* I could see myself wearing T-shirts from this site pretty much everyday. Of course, I'd probally have to invest in ninjitsu lessons or carry a really big gun, but hell, it might be worth it.

In other news, I am now in the background check phase of my hiring process with Wygant. At this point if they don't hire me I'll be forced to sit crying in my room rocking back and forth while sucking my thumb.... or maybe just get a really annoying type job that I dislike. Same diffrence.

2005-09-24T12:04:00.000-07:00

So Warren and Abby drug me out to Ringside last night. We sat in the bar and enjoyed a drink or two and their amazing onion rings. However, the highlight of any trip to Ringside is of course the steak.. in this case steak bites... bite sized pieces of perfectly prepared steak so tender they melt in your mouth... mmmm...

Warren and Abby.. Cute as always

MMM Steak Bites... Tender morsels of mouth watering steak on the cheap..

2005-09-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the lack of updates recently, I'm sure my three or four fans are sorely disappointed. Truth to be told, I haven't been horribly interesting, I've been building a new computer for my father, applying for jobs, and watching TV. Not exactly too blog worthy.

It seems that (with a few notable exceptions) that if I don't continue to bug my friends, they vanish into their own worlds.... Maybe I should move to a commune where they can't escape eh? It's tiring to be the one who constantly drags people out, not to mention that sometimes it makes it seem like people don't really care to spend time with you anyway. Probably, just the fact that I crave more social contact than most.

Anyway, I promised myself that this blog would never become a bitching forum and it won't... so to lighten the mood...

AARDVARKS!!!!

2005-09-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

So, my blog was getting MASSIVE quantities of blog spam. Silly spam bots that post fake comments to every new blog entry in order to increase their pages rankings on search engines... Lame, although in some cases funny. Justin replied to one piece of blog spam and seems to have gotten a humorous reply. At least the spammers have a sense of humor. In fact I bet they all pretty much look like this:

In any event, to combat the rising plague Blogger gave people the option to turn on image verification, so now if you want to leave me a comment, you'll have to have good eyesight. I apologize for the inconvenience, but it was either this or send cats with automatic weapons after the spammers.

Sebastian is armed and sleepy:

And if Sebastian fails to nuter(ize) the target, we can always call in reinforcements:

2005-09-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

So, in keeping up with my theme of being lazy, I've been playing alot of video games... well, only one game really. Incredible Hulk: Ultimate destruction. I'm telling you this game is addictive and just plain kick ass. You get the (of course) play the Hulk, and you get to um.. Destroy things. I guess there are a few missions, and you can learn new moves and stuff... but really you just get to destroy things, alot of things, in fun ways... Pick up a enemy and punt him into another, ride a jet plain into the ground... etc.. WAY more fun than it should be. Reminds me of the old arcade game, Rampage. You basically played King Kong and went around breaking buildings and eating people... That was another game that was WAY more fun than it should have been.... Wasted alot of quarters playing rampage. Luckily, I um, acquired Hulk for $6.00

Quarter Eater

HULK SMASH RAMPAGE!!!

2005-09-15T17:57:00.000-07:00

So, after Son of Rust played, I started playing around with one of the table candles. A few of the pictures turned out pretty nifty.

Brandy by candlelight

Eldon as a freakish imp-like thing

Contemplation

2005-09-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

So, Thursday came along and yet another Son of Rust show was being played... By now you know the routine; we boogied on down to the Hawthorn Theater to enjoy the show. The stage was perhaps the best set up that I have seen. I got a few pictures of it, and even if my pictures were rendered near meaningless by the photo goodness that Cory and his camera took.... (I had a severe case of camera envy) The stage actually looked professional and it made them look like real live professional musicians, an image that was only reinforced as Justin practiced his stage banter while fixing various technical issues during the show. In fact the only real drawback to the evening was the venues complete lack of BACON.. I was very very sad, as I had ordered the BLTA..... Sad day.

BEN!!

Somewhat decent shot of the stage and background

Had to get a picture of the closing slide

Before the band broke down to their representative electrons;

Brandy had to get yet another groupie moment in.

2005-09-13T16:38:00.000-07:00

Job interview part three. So, I headed back downtown to interview (again) for Wygant. This time I met with the CEO and the CFO and they grilled me over a turkey sub that they brought me. I'm cautiously optimistic that I got this job, we'll see. Employment would be good as my money supply is fleeing in a semi-rapid manner.

After the interview Brandy and I ran around downtown a bit. She drug me into a few stores and I quickly got grumpy. There is a definite difference in the way men and women shop.

Women: Ok, let's look at thing in this store, nah, let's go over here... wait, I'm going to try this on, does this look ok? Ohh, they have new furniture.. Hey, there is a new store, let's check it out.

Me: Ok, I have $400 to spend. I need 4 shirts, 2 pairs of pants and a belt. I download the store layout yesterday, and I have the optimum route mapped out here. You can break left and pick up the blue and red shirts. I'll break right and grab the pants and belt. Meet at the dressing room so I can try them on and break for the exit.. Any questions?

Not sure what approach is the best all in all... Actually, what am I saying. Mine, yes my approach to shopping is the best.. *nod*

After shopping a bit, I needed a quick relax, so we stumbled around town passing by the statue that shall be known forever in my mind as Satan's Nutsack. Of course I made Brady pose for an embarrassing photo.

We finally made it into Powell's for some green tea... I don't know what it is about tea, but no matter how grumpy I am, it puts me in a better mood.

2005-09-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

So, after the show was all over and done with, Brandy and I made our way out to pick up the dog and visit with her Aunt. They lived on a huge property and they had a trampoline... Too much fun, Brandy and I took turns annoying the dogs and trying out our trampoline tricks. I lost a bunch of skin off my knuckles, but it was worth it all things considered. I had a great time and Brandy's Aunt cooked us an amazing dinner before we began the trek back home. I think I was in the house about 15 seconds before I passed out... fun fun weekend.

Dogs on TRAMPOLINES

Wheee

I think I lost a bunch of skin right after this picture was taken

Ever play popcorn with dogs?

Brandy's Aunt and Fam

Ride home... Wesley looks as tired as I felt

2005-09-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

So, after the reunion goodness, it was time to head to the Son of Rust show in Seattle. I think I'm starting to sound like a groupie.. It’s not true though, if anything I'm a roadie (I even helped move things at the last show).. and I don't sleep with the band members (when they are conscious anyway). Short summary is that the show kicked alot of ass. The vocals were balanced, the sound was great, and even though Justin would never cop to it, they seemed relaxed and into the show on stage... I have to have photo evidence that they were about to hurl... but at least they looked good when it mattered, (could have been a trick of the lights I suppose). Based on my random eavesdropping, the crowd seemed to really like the music as well.

So somehow I managed to get Brandy to drive to the show and back... (well alot of that had to do with the fact that we took her dog). We almost didn't make it to the show though , as we were dropping the dog off at her Aunt's house. We THOUGHT she lived an hour south of Seattle... when in fact it was an hour north. But because her Aunt kicks ass, she met us in Seattle and took the dog off our hands.

After parking the car in a rather sketchy area right in the middle of downtown Seattle (also were the concert was held) we found a very nervous looking Justin and Ben. Having about 2 hours before the music happened, we ran across the street and ordered some food at a great little place. I say great as I got a BACON wrapped steak for $10. We were joined shortly after we got there by pretty much the entire concert staff.

After food it was time for music. Son of Rust was the opener.. and pretty much everyone I was aware of really enjoyed their music (despite having never heard of them before). Brandy was having a great time running around collecting groupies while I was having a great time running up my bar tab.

Washed out flash GO

Son of Rust

Hmm.. Backlights, or mind control devices... you decide.

Justin

Ben

Iris and Cause and Effect were both amazing as well. I'm super glad I had a chance to see them live. After the concert we all packed up and headed to an after party. We'll the after party took awhile to get started, so we we're really sure it was going on, so we left. Sadly, I found out later that if I would have stuck around about 20 more minutes the party would have started... Oh well, sleep felt REALLY nice.

Iris

Brandy making new friends, this one is a promoter in Seattle

Brandy's good at finding future band groupies.

Cause

Effect

Bekka and her daughter.. feeling the effects of the late night.

2005-09-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

After the B-day party a Chuck e' Cheese, and some much needed sleep, I got dragged/drugged to Brandy's high school reunion. I was sorely tempted to go as a mildly autistic teletubby lover, but got talked out of that. Too bad, it probably would have livened things up. The reunion was held at Kell's. I think that place is the default reunion venue for the Portland Metro area.... Interesting.. But anyway, it was fun to meet some of Brandy's old friends and try not to embarrass her too badly.

Brandy in her full reunion regalia, notice the heels I made her walk about 15 blocks in.

Look Brandy has friends, More than one..

She even has a female friend.. *gasp*

After we ran away from the reunion, I got a phone call from my old friend Chad, it seems he was in town for a wedding (or something equally ridiculous) and wanted to force me to grab a beer before he would let me crawl home and pass out. So out we went to Rialtos, (after scanning about 3 other places that they refused to attend as they had a cover charge) So we walked all over downtown in search of booze. I was in fear for my life at one point... Although it wasn't from the drug dealers, or random Portland street personalities, but from Brandy. Here is a tip, never make a girl walk 10-15 blocks in five inch heels if you can help it... trust me on this.

Walt's married by now.. HA

After reunion drinky drink.

2005-09-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

So, after kicking my sister out of the country, I ran home to get a few winks of sleep. I had a birthday party to attend that evening. Now by the venue, you might think it was a party for say... a 6 year old... or perhaps a mildly retarded 12 year-old. But it was actually for my old friend Jennifer, who has a child of age to enjoy Chuck'e'Cheese. Mind you, her daughter played no part in the decision... If she was childless we still would have been out there playing Skee Ball for her birthday.

Not that it's a bad thing... It's nice to have an excuse to act like a 6 year old... Of course anyone who has been reading my blog regularly knows that I need no excuse.

It was a great party and a great way to spend an evening... Of course, I slept like a log afterwards.

Jennifer's B-day Cake

That quickly ended up all over Jennifer's (very proud) daughter

Shortly after this picture of Melanie and her new baby daughter was taken, I got to watch the mouse try to use a set of keys in oversized paws.... That was almost more fun than Skee Ball

Speaking of Skee Ball.. What trip would be complete without?

Eldon and the Jennifer's... I think I accidentally grabbed Jennifer's boob while pulling her down into the photo at the last minute... that explains the look on my face at least. Sorry Jennifer.

Something gives me the impression that Jeff is well practiced at playing video games around/over his daughter...

2005-09-08T17:56:00.000-07:00

Woo Hoo, Party at Ash Street. So on Thursday Brandy and I went down to the Ash Street Saloon to see yet another Son of Rust show. Ben and Justin rocked the house, like always.

Besides the awesome music, I got to see a few fun people that I don't normally get to see, including Joel and Emily, and Ben's new friend Melissa. I had a great time at the show... hard not to with the good music and great company.

So, we left the show at around 2:30 or so and tried to kill about 3 more hours. The reasoning behind this was that my sister was going to meet me at the airport at 5:30 in the morning and that would probally be my last chance to see her for about a year.

I did manage to drag my tired butt out to the airport at 5:30 am to wish my sister a happy trip to Spain. She's going to be teaching/taking classes/being a nanny over there... Personally, I just think it's an excuse to run away from home and put off real life another year... Not that I blame her one bit.

Bye Mary, have a great year in Spain.

2005-09-07T20:40:00.000-07:00

So, I had my first in-person interview for Wygant today. The company sounds wonderful and the job sounds like something I could really get behind and enjoy. Everyone cross your fingers for me. I should hear back from them in the next week or two. I'd be doing project management, with a bit of installations, training, support and computer hardware building tossed in for good measure. Whee

In other news I finally found a buyer for Melissa's car. Everyone give a little jump for joy as Melissa won't have to starve to death in Thailand. Funny thing is that now that I have a buyer, there are about 3 other people who want to buy the car. When it rains it pours.

It's SOLD

2005-09-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

So Warren, Brandy and myself joined the eleventy billion other people on labor day and went out to a movie. In this case we saw Transporter 2. I'm a huge fan of action movies and I thought that the original Transporter was a masterpiece. I certainly wasn't disappointed in the squeal. Massive amounts of impossible action, things blowing up, jet skis, fast cars, planes, bullets, mass murder plots... I mean what more could you ask for.

2005-09-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, my friend Kim invited a bunch of people out to her gallery (angryfairy.com) for a birthday party, for a person I had never met. Not one to turn down a fun time, I went and watched everyone mill about and enjoy their conversation groups for a bit.. Then Justin and Tad showed up and we formed our own little conversation group. Take that meeting new people. In any event it was a good time and the highlights included, the mini dance party, the random walk-by DJ whose kinetic energy, if harnessed could have fueled a small household, and of course, the booze.

After the party Justin and I headed over to Embers for some dance club goodness. We were joined by Jessica (who I haven't seen in forever) and we proceeded to boogie.

Don't get between Justin and Hot Nuts... I found out the hard way.

Jessica is so much better than you.. *wink*

2005-09-02T19:19:00.000-07:00

So, a few days ago Ildiko decided that she really wanted to eat some pineapple teriyaki burgers... So after some hand wringing and people calling... nothing was decided. So for no reason what-so-ever Friday was declared BBQ day. We were planning on eating around 6:00 or so... that means we fired up the barbie around 9:00. Costco hotdogs and flaming burgers were enjoyed by all, after I figured out how to cook them without melting the plastic spatula. It was a good chill Mini-party, Justin was around to wear big hats and hit people with kitchen utensils, Brandy's friend Jesse from New York was there to provide a tickle target and be jet-lagged. Abby, Ildiko, Brandy, and Warren were fun like always. Good times indeed... what would the summer be without at least one barbeque.

Justin trying to balance on the big red ball

Brandy's friend Jesse enjoying the libations.

Justin working his um.. magic on the grill.

Um.... Ur.. Justin working more magic.

Eldon, cleverly disguised as a hippo

2005-09-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

Had a good day today, I met a new friend and got a solid lead on a new job. I spent a good chunk of my afternoon at the Chinese Gardens with Julie (picture totally stolen off her myspace website).. In case you couldn't guess by the picture, she's a belly dancer... well, an all-around dancer really... but she does belly dance... really interesting person and while I'm totally jealous that she's going to be spending the next two months in Costa Rica, I'm looking forward to hanging out with her again at some point.

Came home and finally got around to watching the Animatrix... I had downloaded it ages ago, but for some reason hadn't watched it yet. Pretty enjoyable actually, I totally recommend it for fans of the movies.

Perhaps the best thing to happen today happened right when I turned on the movie... I got a surprise phone interview from a company I submitted my resume to a couple of weeks ago.

As you can probably tell by the header, they make solutions for contact centers. The job I would be doing would be project manager/support/installations. Basically, a total convergence of everything I have been doing with everything I want to be doing. Only drawback to speak of would be 30%-40% travel. But even better, I totally aced the phone interview... See if people surprise me, I'm social, witty, and eloquent... If I have time to sit, stress, and prepare for an interview, I bomb it. If I had my way all interviews would be a surprise... Can't you see it now...

"Ding-Dong".. Stupid telemarketers, I'll show them..
(heads to door wearing only a hand towel)
(opens the door to three people wearing suits)
"Um.. Hello, Eldon we are hear for your interview, is now a good time?... too bad."
(Proceed to push through the door and position themselves on my sofa next to a half-eaten bowl of cereal, with re-runs of South Park playing on my TV)
"So, Eldon, begin by telling me about your previous jobs."

Sad part is that I could probably find a way to ace that interview and get the job... it's all about pressure or lack there-of... Anyway, I should hear something from them by early next week.

2005-08-31T20:25:00.000-07:00

Ah, I tend to forget how much I love the ocean. Well, not really forget, I'm always aware that I have a love for the sea. I suppose it's more like I'm amazed at how much I love the ocean. For me it's sort of like seeing a long lost friend. Warm, excited safe feeling. I honestly can't imagine living someplace without easy access to the coast. I think I would slowly be driven insane.

In any event, I had the chance to make it down to Cannon Beach yesterday. It was a perfect day, not too hot, not cold, and not too windy. The ocean even felt warm. Brandy and I took her dog Wesley, (notice that there is no "T" in Wesley, and don’t ask me why... I'm just trying not to get scolded) down to the coast and had a ton of fun watching him fetch a tennis ball from the ocean's bowels over and over again...
Ok, I admit it was probably a bit sadistic, but he seemed to be having fun, and forcing him to jump over waves was all the motivation I needed to jump in the water myself.. Of course, not having the foresight to bring a swimsuit, we jumped in wearing nothing but our skivvies. I have to give Brandy props though... Wearing boxer shorts isn't typically a big deal... Wearing a bra and panty set while an old man paces the beach behind you checking you out takes a bit more guts... and speaking of guts...please ignore mine.

So, after we ran the poor dog ragged we decided to take a few impromptu modeling type pictures... the sad result of mine you can see to your left, however I did get a couple of fun pictures of Brandy.

These pictures are the result of me telling her to hold the pose.. hold the pose... just one more second... All the while watching the incoming wave. Am I evil? Maybe... but it sure was fun... too bad it wasn't a larger wave.. *wink*

After an extensive de-sanding process I managed to get my clothes back on and spent some time just enjoying the beach and nature. I forget exactly how good this is for my overall state of mind. I think that perhaps regular injections of coastal air keep me from having to kill all my friends and neighbors... *hmm* Oh ya, anyway, all good things must come to an end, but we managed to get these last two fabulous pictures before we left.

2005-08-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, this kicks alot of ass.... basically, go to !!!!!this!!!!! website and enter your name. It will be included on a NASA probe to Pluto, the probe is expected to return to earth in about 50,000 years... although realistically, we'll either retrieve the probe in a few hundred years, or humanity will be extinct and it won't matter all that much. But it's free and your name could be running around the cosmos.

2005-08-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

Just did a phone interview with Grant Thorton.. I pretty much bombed it. "Interviewer: So, what are your future goals?.. Me: Well, um, ur, goals, ya... not die, yep, I don't want to die, and they should have something to do with Muppets, cause Muppets are nifty?... hello, hello, are you there?... I didn't even have a chance to tell you about my internet video production goals....

Well, while it really wasn't THAT bad, I did get all nervous and tripped over my words . If I don't need or want a job I come off like the perfect candidate. However, if the job is more enjoyable than sticking toothpicks under my fingernails, or pays enough to break me from my Ramen diet, I sound like a hybrid mixture of Jabba the hut and the chipmunks. Hopefully, I did do well enough to get an in-person interview. The fact that I was recommended from inside the company should help... hopefully. Everyone cross your fingers for me. I think I'd pretty much love this job, it's consulting. I'd get to go from company to company and tell them why they suck, and get paid for it... mmm nice.

2005-08-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

Wheee.. Ok, I had a great weekend. On Friday night I... well.. I didn't do anything, and I'm kicking myself for it.. I just found out today that there was a Naughty School girl party going on at Dante's. I mean just look at what I missed out on..

*sigh*.. oh well...

Saturday I mostly killed time around my house, but I did manage to go out that night and had a great time with Brandy, Warren and Abby, while I'm not going to spill any details of the evening, here is a photo clue montage.

On Sunday, I managed to watch the 40-year-old-virgin.... Great movie.. Steve Carell is way too damn funny. One of the thousand or so funny as hell parts was when they ripped out the chest hair of poor Steve... the funny part, besides the faces he made, was the fact that they actually removed his chest hair for the shot.... Ouch, he's a hairy guy. I don't know a single person who didn't like this movie... of course, I don't tend to know alot of people who are easily offended. (At least I don't know them for long anyway.)

2005-08-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

So last night I rustled up a few people and drug them downtown to watch the RawHide Girlzz. Basically this is a group of dancers that entertain Coyote Ugly style.. we're talking dancing on bars, choreographed dances on the floor, and even a body shot show. A new friend of mine dances for them and invited me down to watch one of the shows last month. While I didn't make it then, I'm glad she clued me in. It was totally worthwhile. Justin, Tad, Tad's brother (whose name I seem to have misplaced), Brandy and myself had a great time. The Girlzz were dancing at a club called "The City" I haven't been there before, but it looks to be a decent sports bar. It's in the building that used to hold the 70's dance club Polly Esters. From what I can tell, all they really did was update everything and add in a bunch of TV's.. they even kept the lit up dance floor. I failed to bring my camara, so the pictures are publicity shots, but they should give you some idea.

2005-08-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

Stopped by Jesse’s house last night to wish him goodbye… By this time he should be in New York and getting ready to hit the books and learn everything there is to know about architectural lighting design. I was able to acquire the rest of the rafting pictures from the disposable camera though…. Highlights are below.

Getting ready to raft

First hole, I got blasted.... everyone else seems to have avoided the water.. Hmm..

Birthday girl Kirsti was the only one to fall out of the raft...

And, there she goes....

Group shot

2005-08-25T11:52:00.000-07:00

A picture this good deserves multiple captions.

Clint (our guide): Ho hum, yet another lazy day on the river..
Brandy: You know, a little more gel and I can get this hair to stick strait up.
Eldon: UHHHHHH, I should have used the toilet before I left.
Abby: Doh, I think I dropped my contact on the bottom of the raft, can we pull over?
Ildiko: Hmm, can't see the contact up here, wait, you don't wear contacts do you?
Brie: DAMNIT WARREN, hold on and lean LEFT.. LEFT I said.
Warren: Ok Brie, just don't hurt me.
Kirsty: Hey Jesse, look over here.
Jesse: NO, don't squirt water on me AGAIN.. icky.

River trip... Ok, now that I've recovered from our river trip it's time to blog about it. Way too much fun. Started out the trip with a mini slumber party at my place since we needed to leave around 6:30 in the morning. Jesse made friends with Westley and there was much rejoicing. Brandy came over around nine or so and baked a peach cobbler for dessert... Dinner was the oh so good Papa Murphy's pizza... mmmm pizza... After a bunch of goofing off in the house and then in the pool, we rolled into bed around 2 am.... got our 4 hours of sleep and prepared for a long drive in a big car.
Abby was able to borrow a Tahoe with "seating for 8" Good thing to as it was a full house, Kirsty and Brie showed up first thing in the morning and we were off.

Wesley just replaced Jesse's underwear with Folder's Crystals, let's see if he notices.

Abby showing Jesse the finer points of owning someone.

In training for Willy Wonka 2, return of the Oompa Loompas

Once we made it to the jump in point we were informed at the Mosquitoes had just hatched and we were in danger of having our raft carried off by them. A quick application of hastily purchased bug-repellant and we were on our way to the river. We did purchase a waterproof camera, so most of the good river pics will (hopefully) be on that. Besides the one picture that we purchased, (overpriced) here is a link to other "professional" pictures of the rafting trip. """MORE RAFTING PICS""" The trip itself was way too much fun, Kirsty, being the birthday girl, got dunked in the water about 5 times. We spent a good chunk of time surfing one of the water holes filling our boat with quite a bit of water. Hiked up to a nice body slide area and took turns being spit out down the White River. Spent more time surfing the same hole... then decided to ditch our raft and run down the river a bit in our life jackets.. holding hand... in a chain of six people, fun fun.

Pre-rafting pimping

Rafting group, tired but alive.

Afterwards we piled back into the Tahoe for the ride home, being we were all a bit tired and sore, the trip was interesting... Abby kindly switched me seats halfway back so I wouldn't have to amputate my legs (sitting in the very back of a Tahoe can be rough). After we got home we soaked again in the hot-tub.. counted our wounds.. (Mostly skeeter bites) ate some of Brandy's chili that had been sitting in the crock pot the entire trip, and pretty much passed out... spent the entire next day in a tired daze and now here I am....... For all of you who didn't get invited, our boat was full up, but if you want to go, by all means pick a day... If I can swing it, I'd be more than happy to go again....

8 people in a Tahoe + long legs = cramped insanity.

Meet Mr. Toe.. How are you today Mr. Toe?

2005-08-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

So, I've actually had a pretty mellow weekend, hence the lack of posts. Applied for a bunch of jobs, watched a bunch of TV, hung out with a couple people in a totally laid back way... today I actually had to clean though.. Well, to be honest I got out of most of the cleaning; Brandy came over and cleaned pretty much my entire downstairs while I was applying for a job... talk about your stroke of luck...

Anyway, normally I just talk about cleaning and don't do anything about it. The reason I actually DO need to clean today is that I have a full on slumber party happening at my house tonight. There are a bunch of us going white water rafting tomorrow down the Deschutes, and in order to make it there in time we'll have to leave around 6:30... being that the majority of my friends enjoy their sleep, we decided it would be a lot easier to leave from my house early in the morning, and to ensure that everyone makes it, we're having a sleepover... I'm sure I'll have lots of embarrassing pictures to post soon.

2005-08-19T23:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, I’ve pretty much spent the last few days in my house alone catching up on chores and having some time to myself. While I love being around people and doing things, every now and again I really enjoy having a day or two to collect my thoughts and decompress.

One thing I did do while I was cleaning was go through my old yearbooks and memories… On my recent trip to the coast I had a chance to grab a box that contained a good chunk of my old things… Everything from my video games trading card collection to my 5th grade class photos, its odd the stuff that we forget and the memories that certain objects can bring back. Thinking about my past makes me think about my future. To be honest the only things I really regret about my past are the things I didn’t do… and the chances I didn’t take.

The things that I did do that seemed so horrible at the time are now memories that color who I am… and I sort of like the person that I’ve become overall. If I could go back and do it all over again I would take more chances and build more memories good and bad…. One of the worst things is to look back on your life and discover that you didn’t DO anything… I hope that never happens to me.

2005-08-18T23:42:00.000-07:00

This has been a photo interlude, we now return you to your regular insanity already in progress.

2005-08-18T00:17:00.000-07:00

LET ME BACK IN!!

So Sebastian showed back up on my doorstep today, he was a bit hungry and had a few burrs in his fur, but otherwise unharmed. That cat is the smartest moronic animal I know. So sometime on Saturday night he snuck out the front door, wandered around for 5 days and came back into the garage... (I had left the garage door open enough for him to sneak in.) Warren was upstairs making his famous chicken burgers and I was yelling something at him, when I hear Sebastian’s "let me in" meow.... Opened the door to the garage and in he walks, complaining up a storm. Retarded cat... but it's good to have him back.

2005-08-18T00:13:00.000-07:00

So, after a hard day of turning big things into small things we thought we would all go relax in the pool. Had a great time, although I'm sure the neighbors all thought we were drunk. We don't NEED alcohol to act all stupid I tell ya. In any event, enjoy the pictures.

Pre-pool swimsuit tackle

Fear me Human Torch

Nearly successfully jumping over Jesse's head

Sprited game of chicken

mmm, Hot Tub

So ya, I didn't really know Warren was over my head.

Hard life indeed

2005-08-17T22:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a pretty crazy day all in all. Spent the majority of it turning big things into little things with Jesse, Warren, Ildiko, Brandy, Abby and Brie. Brandy donated a old computer monitor that we proceeded to do bad things to. We also had a 22 pound watermelon.. (about 5 pounds or so is probally still in the trees), a VCR, two large blocks of wood and lots of bottles. Shotguns, 7mm rifles, handguns, AK's.. 6 propane tanks and lots of bullets made short work of pretty much everything.

Gallagher.. with bullets

Brandy draws first blood on the monitor

Lining my shot up...

To put the monitor out of it's misery

Propane and propane accessories

YAE... Yet another explosion

Babes with Bullets

Ahhh

2005-08-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me probably know Sebastian. He is acually Melissa's cat, but he has lived with me for so long he might as well be mine. This cat is completely awesome, and has more personality than any cat I have ever met. He'll run up to the door and welcome you home, he enjoys tapping you on the face when you are sleeping to let you know he needs something. Anyway, he has pretty much been an indoor cat for the vast majority of his life, and he LOVES it when he gets to escape outside. Last night my door blew open and he bolted. Normally, he'll return in a few hours or so however it's been over a day and I haven't seen him. I'm beginning to get really worried. I almost wish it was raining so he would get miffed and return home. Anyway, he means alot to me and to Melissa, so everyone hope for his safe return.

Have you seen me?

2005-08-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

I had a great Sunday. Had a nice lazy morning and then went out for a late lunch/early dinner. We went to a place called the Berlin Inn and sat on the patio. Amazing food, great service and perhaps the best part was that Brandy's dog Wesley could come with us. Not only was he allowed, they even had a special pooch menu just for him. We first gorged ourselves on fondue then enjoyed incredible entrees with meat so tender it dissolved if your mouth.

Afterwards we headed down to Normandale Park to let Wesley run off his dinner. All manner of crazy dogs there. Including two Great Dane puppies and my personal favorite, a boxer with a big blue ball. There was no way he could get the ball in his mouth, so basically he would push it all over the park and then stand guard over it. Too cute.... came home full and a bit tired... keeping up with all those dogs is hard work.

I'm acually not really a beer type of guy.. really

Brandy, St. Pauli girl in training

So much fun, they should call in FUN-do

Doggie menu

Wesley enjoying his entree

Then proceding to thank me

Two cute Great Dane puppies

Awesome boxer and the oversized plastic ball that was his obsession

Tuckered the poor dog out

2005-08-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

FINALLY!!!! We made it down to the river today for a nice 4 hour float down the Clackamas. Left around 10:45, about 15 minutes late... Wasn't my fault.. I swear.. Made it into the water shortly before noon. One of the most wonderful things about summer is floating down the river on innertubes. I can't think of any activity that defines summer quite so well. If I do nothing more outdoors this year, I'll still be happy as I had a chance to float in the sun, swing on a rope swing, dunk a friend or two and get a nice mild sunburn.

Started out dropping my car off in Carver Park and paying the $3 day-use fee, this step is vital. Can't very well swim back upriver after the float so two cars are needed.

Traveled upriver to Barton Park/Campground and looked for a good place to toss our tubes and ourselves into the water.

Four hours later we arrived back at Carver... Wasn't able to snap any good photos of the actual float as alas, my camera isn't waterproof. But trust me there were ALOT of moments where I wish I could have taken a picture. Once we hauled out I discovered that not only was I powerful hungry, but that my shadow was more buff than I was...

Took a few minutes off to eat.... Luckily Jesse, Ildiko and Brie brought enough food so that I could safely mooch. All I managed to bring for myself was a bottle of water and one meager roll.

After eating we began the task of deflating the tubes and heading home. Anyone who has deflated an innertube knows that it can be somewhat of a daunting task. Luckily, I had help.

2005-08-13T19:58:00.000-07:00

So Thursday night I made a trip over to the Depoe Bay area to fix my father's computer as the hard drive was near death. My mother greeted me with an amazing dinner at a restaurant across from the lighthouse called Szabos.... After a prime rib dinner and enough dessert to kill a small animal I wondered off to reconnect with my ocean. Something about growing up on the coast managed to infect my blood. I can't imagine living someplace without a easy trip to the sea. In my mind there is no better place to meditate and reconnect with yourself then watching the ocean. Makes you feel both small and powerful at the same time. No matter what is going on in my life, I always feel much better after returning from the coast. Of course a long soak in the relatively newly installed hot tub never hurts either.

Dinner at Szabo's

Not sure what dessert to eat first

Late afternoon at cape Foulweather

Part of the reason I love the ocean

Our beach house

2005-08-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was Brandy's birthday, so I took her to the Chinese gardens where we enjoyed some late afternoon tea. What we were supposed to do was travel down the river in an innertube with Warren, Abby and a couple other people. However, the other people wussed out, and Warren got called into work on his day off. No river trip for us.. (pout), at least Jesse, Ildiko and Brie are planning a river trip coming up on Saturday. NEED to float down river badly.

So I'm probably going to head to the coast for a day or two coming tomorrow. My father's computer is about to die and I get to give it a hard drive transplant. The trip should be fun acually, I'll get to relax and connect with the ocean again. I tend to get withdrawal symptoms if I'm away from it for too long.

Looking down at a lotus pod

Hand engraved doorframe

Water Lily

Relaxing with tea and a coconut tart

2005-08-08T16:55:00.000-07:00

Had an amazing day yesterday. Started it off by going to a river/mini-waterfall near Battle Ground Washington. Had fun almost swimming and playing fetch with puppies. There were even a couple people SCUBA diving in the river, made me jones for diving myself... I'm going to have to dust the old gear off soon and find a mudpuddle. Afterwards we boogied over to Ildiko's house to enjoy a great meal. Cornish game hens, corn on the cob, pasta salad, mmmm good. Great day overall even if Warren got a bit too excited about Jesse's rifle and we had to take the hose to him.

Swimming hole/falls/deathtrap

Picture of the rare flying spider monkey we saw

Dogs, Sticks, and Waterfalls, Oh my

Nothing like playing fetch with a LOG

Dinner and Ildiko's house

Brandy explaining how badly New York sucks to Jesse

Warren getting excited about Jesse's rifle

2005-08-07T12:32:00.000-07:00

So last night I went over to Zach's house for a little party. So I was supposed to show up around 9:30 or 10:00.... would have made it too, if SE Portland wasn't designed by a rabid poo-flinging monkey. I got lost for a good 30 minutes trying to run around the hilly areas. For those that don't believe me and think that I'm making it up... I actually found the intersection of Pine St and Pine St... Yes, that's right, the street actually intersected itself. Can't make this stuff up. It was worth it though as I arrived to the party and were greeted by a man throwing fireballs around. Got to see a few people I haven't seen in ages... good times.

Pulled in to fire dancing

Sarah and Justin

SE Portland Sucks, ask the cops.

2005-08-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

MMM, BBQ... This is my first BBQ of the summer. Jesse and Ildiko came over for a dip in the pool yesterday. Of course it was Jesse and Ildiko, so they felt the need to bring food, NOT that I'm complaining by any means. Little known secret is that if there is free food involved I'm pretty much a pushover for most things. Anyway, the spread involved Buffalo steaks, corn on the cob, and potato salad... mmmmm food, swimming and fire.. starting to feel alot like summer.

Master of the BBQ

What could be better than a hot girl holding steak?

Hot girl holding steak with FIRE

2005-08-05T03:15:00.000-07:00

So Warren, Abby, Brandy and I went out to see a movie.. "The Island".. guess what.. the movie kicked ass... it had some of the best crashes I've ever seen... good times.. after the movie we headed out to Embers. We were following up on a rumor that there was a $2 well drink special. Turned out that the special was only valid till midnight and even better, it was goth night... didn't stop us from having a great time anyway as you can probably tell from the pictures. While we did miss the Son of Rust show, we actually met up with Jason and Bekka (the hosts of the Son of Rust show coming to Seattle) totally by accident. They informed me that I missed a kick ass show at the Noir. Regardless of this, a good time was had by all. Too much fun.

Table dancing to the goth music

Abby and Brandy looking all sexy

Now how did I end up between two girls?

And my camera didn't even end up stolen

2005-08-03T23:19:00.000-07:00

Went to see Wedding Crashers today with Justin.... great movie.. (Anyone else seeing a trend in my movie reviews.) But no, really... this was a great comedy, and this time the critics even agree with me. Other than the 2:00pm movie watching break, I tried to get a bunch of things done today... I did succeed in cleaning a decent portion of my house and ordering a new hard drive for my Dad's computer. Overall, a totally normal type day... In retrospect I should have wrote about my stance on global warming, or oil spills, or dating in today's society to keep the blog interesting... but I'm sleepy so my avid fans (both of them) will have to wait to hear these nuggets of wisdom.

2005-08-02T22:34:00.000-07:00

I had a great day... not very blog-worthy but totally great none-the-less, had a smile on my face the entire day. Spent most of the day just chilling around my house, finally watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and topped the night off with my roommate watching CSI over chicken burgers.

I must say that Eternal Sunshine was a pretty good movie.. and maybe I just like movies ... but I did enjoy it, mostly cause it makes you think. I could never make the choice to have memories erased, no matter how painful. Most of who and what we are comes from our collective memories, erasing them would sort of be like cutting a part of your personality away. It could very easily change who you are as a person. So the score is, movies that make you think = good, movies that stuff blows up in = good.. hmm.. Maybe my friend is right, I just like movies.

2005-08-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

So today I watched the movie Stealth. I totally enjoyed this movie, it had great action, massive explosions, and really really fast jets. Totally worth watching if you enjoy watching things blow up.

After the movie I went to my friend Jennifer's birthday party, the party was held at my other friend Jennifer's house. I went to school with both Jennifers, not to be confused with the other Jennifer we sometimes hung out with in high school.. but she went by Jenni to avoid confusion... (Good thing there is none of that.) In any event it was good to see Jennifer (the birthday one) as I haven't seen her in over a year. Was good to see the other Jennifer (the house one) as well. Hmm.. Let's just say it was good to see everyone. Good party with good food and interesting people... a few choice shots are below.

Happy Birthday Jennifer

Ogg use tools, Ogg open bottle.

Girl vs dog... Who wanted the cake more?

Jennifer... yes, they are ALL named Jennifer

Look, other people were at the party too.

I like to call this picture "Maturity"... can you guess why?

2005-07-31T23:13:00.000-07:00

So today, I was trying so hard to be a bum and do nothing despite the fact that my house is all dirty and I have about 50 things on my to-do list. So I'm taking a nap (yes... it was that kind of a day) and my friend Erin calls and wants to go work out. I had made the mistake of telling her that I knew what I was doing at the gym... (The fact that I actually DO know what I'm doing is all my roommates fault) So anyway, she drags me out of my nice warm bed and down to the gym so I can show her how to use a few of the machines. All in all it was a good thing as work out was on my to-do list.. right below clean my desk.

So, we went to 24 hour fitness in Beaverton, all in all it was a pretty nice club without being a "see and be seen" club. I went to the 24 hour fitness by Washington square once, and I've never seen so many people in spandex posing, while pretending to exercise in my life. I was highly amused by them as I checked out the girls while lifting 5 pounds weights and flexing... but anyway.

What I really need to do is start a dedicated workout regimen. Hopefully a bit more structured than my current.. um.. maybe once or twice a week, sometimes, if I'm bored or feeling too lazy. Being that I have a decent gym as part of my home owners fees, AND I have a lifetime membership to 24 hour fitness I really have no excuses. So, anyone else want to help drag me away from my naps to work out?

2005-07-30T23:00:00.000-07:00

So tonight I had a chance to watch the movie "Must Love Dogs", and while it is a total chick flick, it is a great date movie and has it's moments where it's really really funny. <<< OPEN YOUR PUPILS >>> Now there are only two movies playing that I currently need to see.... Wedding Crashers (supposed to be mind numbingly funny) and Stealth (can't go wrong with jets and big explosions.) mmmmm explosions.

2005-07-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've ever mentioned how much I like my TIVO. Now, I'm not a huge TV fan, (OK, maybe sometimes) but I do have one or two shows that I watch religiously, Smallville (don’t laugh.. it’s about Superman damnit.), Family Guy, Dead Zone, and since recently I’ve even got sucked into Charmed and CSI. Those who know me know that when I get obsessed with something I tend to be well, obsessed. When the object of my obsession is a television show, god forbid if I miss an episode. I’ve even been known to purposely NOT watch a TV show that I knew I would like for this reason. Alias is a perfect example… I’ve never seen an episode, cause if I did… I would have to watch all of them, forever…. I suppose I don’t have to worry TOO much about being sucked into television land forever… as the shows that do enjoy tend to last about 3 episodes before being canceled.

Now my obsession with certain shows used to be a pretty big damper on my social life… until Tivo.. this wonderful device has given me freedom over the whims of the television networks and freed up my life again. Tivo is truly a wondrous device, however, even godlike electronics need help every so often and that is where bittorrent steps in. You can pretty much download any television show that’s aired within thirty minutes of its original airtime. Now, if the networks were truly smart, instead of trying to fight this trend they would embrace it. Oh wait, downloaded content for a reasonable price would never catch on, I mean look at how iTunes is going bankrupt… oh wait….

I’d happily pay $1 or $2 to download a good quality episode of a show that I missed. I suppose it’s only a matter of time before they do this… I hope, I would like to think that they are smarter than a bucket full of sharp pointy objects that hold things together (what are those called again?)

Hey, does anyone remember that saying, that TV rots your….. um.. ur… thinking thingy? How did that go? Ohh. Family Guy is on…..

2005-07-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

I was carried away by flying monkeys today; I lived a wonderful life with my monkey brethren before they realized that I had no wings and thus kicked me out of their society with much poo flinging. I suppose they will return me to my own reality tomorrow.

2005-07-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

I had an amazing time last night. Met up with a great new friend named Brandy and we went to the East Chinatown Lounge. If you haven't been there I recommend it highly, great little place and they have $2 well drinks all night on Monday and Tuesdays. We hung out there a bit then went to the Shanghai Tunnel for some quality potstickers, then went to Berbati's Pan to watch Son of Rust play. They were really amazing at a bigger venue. Like aways the music was top notch and I got to see a couple old friends Joel and Emily as well, haven't seen them in forever. All in all, a impressive night.

In other news I'm finally showing Melissa's car to people. I have two people who want to see it this week. Maybe one of em will buy it and poor Melissa won't have to go bankrupt in a foreign country.

2005-07-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

So Beachfest 2005 is over and I had a great time.. About 10 of us were there at any given time. Highlights included deepfried turkey, half-naked dance parties, pole dancing, fireworks, midnight streaking into the ocean, much hot tubing and as always wonderful friends and company. Lots and lots of great stories (of course) but you'll just have to ask me about them in person if your interested.. *grin*

I've tossed up a few pictures here... We have 800+ incriminating pictures of the trip in total so it was hard to pick just a few... I have about 44 other pictures tossed up HERE on photobucket if you want to take a gander.

The House

The Hot Tub

The Company

Relaxing after a hard day of...

Log moving

Having a small after dinner drink

and enjoying the sunset.

2005-07-21T14:26:00.000-07:00

So, I'm getting ready to leave for my friend Jesse's beach house. 4+ days of relaxing and chilling out with a great group of people. I'm sure I will have lots of pictures and stories to post on my return Tuesday, but until then enjoy a few choice pictures from previous beachtrips... mmmmm beach.....

Flame on

Survivor challenge, build a working Kabana/Bar

Um, I think this speaks for itself

Ahhhh

2005-07-21T09:41:00.000-07:00

SON OF RUST!!!
So last night I went to see my friends Justin and Ben play at the Noir downtown. I must say the show kicked alot of ass. Those of you not familiar with Son of Rust, need to be.... Check them out at http://www.sonofrust.com. I entertained myself shooting about 90 pictures of the band and the crazy happenings, and while they had a pretty cool projector light show going, my evil camara flash of doom destroyed any photo evidence of it. In any event enjoy a few choice snaps of the evening.

Hanging at the Noir

Justin hording his wires

Little too fascinated with wires

Son of Rust, in all their glory

Happily ignoring the hard working band after the show

2005-07-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

Choices, probably one of the only things we can do as human beings that make a damn bit of difference in anything. Making the right choice is sometimes more difficult. Without being able to figure out every possible future it’s pretty much impossible. I’ve long been of the belief that if you knew what action to take at what time, you can make anything happen. It’s simply an extension of the chaos effect (butterfly causing hurricanes and whatnot).

My question is that given our human capacity to understand how our choices affect the things around us, how can we make the best ones? Do we go with what is easiest, what feels right?.. or can we analyze all the data available and make the choice that has the best future outcome. I like to think that the choices I make are based on logic, and that they will result in the greatest good for the greatest number of people, but being that I have yet to become omniscient, I can at best make a horrible guess. Hopefully my guesses are correct, or at least correctable.

If you knew what rock to place where at what time, you could change the world. Now where did I put my car keys?

2005-07-19T21:05:00.000-07:00

RANDOMNESS!!!
So today I thought I would treat you to random recent pictures ranging from more keyhole craziness, to banister love, and culminating finally in everyone's favorite photo subject, Sebastian the cat. Enjoy, scream, cheer, but hopefully be entertained.

ROCK ON!

W345 from planet X5672 would like admittance

For those who haven't met Warren's girlfriend Abby

The Devil cat himself.. notice that this cat is LONG

Oh look, Sebastian is Shy

2005-07-18T17:37:00.000-07:00

What I wish I was doing.

Today was amazingly nice and I really wish I could have spent it on the river. I need more friends with free-time... Um.. river. For those of you who have never spent a day in a inner tube floating down a river in the sun, well you should put it on your list of things to do before you die. I can't think of a much better way to spend a day, too bad that things like jobs and responsibilities often get in the way of a good river float on a hot day. I NEED to go soon....

What I DID do today was get my car serviced, not nearly as much fun but I got my 30,000 mile service done and out of the way.. good thing too since I was at 37,000 miles, wasn't cheap but I also managed to get a headlight replaced for free and my cracked exhaust manifold replaced as well.. Gotta love Hyundai's warranty. Besides that adventure I mostly just hung around my air conditioned house and watched CSI with my roommate Warren... did take a break to hang out with Erin and Warren in the air conditioned Starbucks... those of you who have suffered me without air conditioning know that I don't do too well in the heat (probably a understatement as I have it under good authority that I turn into a evil two headed beast of grumpiness).. Managed to not kill anyone due to the wonders of central air.

2005-07-17T18:25:00.000-07:00

So I actually stayed in today and watched the movie Orgazmo.. for those who haven't seen this movie.. (probably most of you) it's a 1998 Trey Phillips and Matt Stone picture (think south park). It was rated NC-17, so your probably not going to find it at blockbuster. Why exactly it was rated NC-17 I have no idea, I've seen more nudity and simulated sex on basic cable. Highly recommend this movie for anyone who enjoys South Park and is not easily offended.. *grin*

While I'm on the subject, maybe I should rant about the horrible way that any sex, or sex related themes earns a movie a NC-17 (at least) rating, while the most horrible violence earns merely an R. Show a lady getting cut to piece with a hacksaw while the villain cackles over her screaming body... R rating... Show the same women naked in a tasteful setting... Ack.. protect the children from the horrible influence. The painful example comes to light when looking at Grand Theft Auto. This game is NOT for children, you can kill people in hundreds of ways, finish them off by stomping on their dead body as a pool of blood grows under them. It involves every possible crime and violent way of committing it you can imagine.. Thus is earns it's "M for mature" rating. However, there has been a recent uproar as hackers have found a way to re-enable a mini-game that shows your character having simulated sex with his girlfriend. Both models are fully clothed and look like they are dry-humping. This has been a huge issue with the game and has censor groups screaming... Sleep with a prostitute then kill her to avoid paying = OK as long as you don't see anything... show consensual simulated sex between two adults.. Your the devil... Silly America

But ya, Orgazmo is a funny, funny movie.

2005-07-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

So my yesterday pretty much sucked as much as a day is capable of sucking... so this morning to keep my mind off the events of yesterday I was determined to stay busy... It worked pretty well up till about well.. now. But so far so good. I went to brunch over at Ildiko's house along with Jesse, Brie, Keith, Tala (whose name I'm probally misspelling) and Keith and Tala's midget (Cutest baby you ever saw)... After brunch we went to see the new Willy Wonka movie. I thought it was pretty good although there are some parts that will never compare to the original. Worth a watch if you were a big fan of the books and or the first movie. I was a bit worried that they would destroy the entire film, maybe it's cause I saw this movie poster beforehand.

2005-07-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

So, I'm off to get a haircut, I thought I'd use this as my inspiration.

So I went out last night with Cameron and Justin to a myriad assortment of clubs. I must say all in all I had a great time, and I discovered that the bouncer at the Fez totally kicks ass… Not only did she offer to get us a deal on the cover charge if we wanted to go there, but upon discovering that the music wasn’t vibing with us, she whipped out a paper to find us a club we would like… mad props to Heather.

Alas, no pictures as I left my camara in the car, you'll just have to take my word for it that funny photo worthy things happened.....

2005-07-14T10:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I watched the Fantasic Four last night... Great movie and I must say I enjoyed it. I have this deep seeded love of all things super hero. I'm still not entirely convinced that I'm not going to suddenly wake up with super powers, perhaps after being exposed to errant radiation, or moon rocks, or an ancient Inca spiritual site. (Hey, it could happen..)
So while I'm still mortal I can dream about what super powers I would like to have. I kept coming back to the same result.. ALL OF THEM... being that that answer is sort of a cop out; I suppose that I would pick uber intelligence (the comic-booky kind). Perhaps not as flashy as super strength, or flight... but then again if I'm smart enough to build a portable anti-grav device, or nano-exo-skeleton I can pretty much have it all again... Ok, so I'm greedy in the super powers department can you blame me?

Good movie though…

2005-07-13T14:34:00.000-07:00

Ode to Cold Stone

Oh Cold Stone, shiver in joy.
Mix-in’s abound the choice so hard
Flavors must be chosen, decisions made,
Such glorious agony.
Samples taken, dances on taste buds,
Dirty little spoons left in their wake.
Decision reached, path finalized,
Is it correct? too late now… sinless is for sissies
Extra sin on mine, medium not “love it” sized
First bite… tart, sweet, heaven.
Berry seeds caught in teeth, pain and pleasure mixed
Headache and ecstasy.
Over too soon, return I will.
Raspberries and sweet cream… always…..

2005-07-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

So, I was looking out my peephole the other day and I thought that a little camara action was needed, so without additional preamble I present to you...
Through the oookie glass

Peek into the outside world

Who is that knocking on my door?

Meow

Open up, I won't EAT YOUR SOUL, or anything.

2005-07-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

I'm going to depart from my usual fare for a second and talk a bit about deception. People lie to each other all the time… why is that? It takes quite a bit of effort to lie; you have to make something up, remember what you made up, reinforce it, and take steps to make sure that the truth won’t be discovered.

Perhaps the worst kind of untruth is the one that many people feel is totally justified. “I’m only lying to spare their feelings.” “I don’t want to tell them how I really feel, as they might get hurt.” This is perhaps the cruelest form of deception. People base their feelings, and actions on what they believe to be true. If a person isn’t honest with a vital piece of information they can and WILL be hurt much more down the road than if you were honest. I’m not talking about the “white lie” here… I mean telling a girl that her ass looks huge in that new dress is always a bad idea.

Now I’m no saint and I can certainly see reasons for a little deception at times, but the shear tenacity that some people hold on to their lies boggles me.

In my experience if you get caught in a lie the best thing you can do is to come clean, totally and completely. You would be surprised at people’s reactions. Everyone lies, it hurts to be lied to but most people will understand your motivation and often forgive you.

Forgive me if this post is a bit off as it’s early and I haven’t eaten yet… but I pose the following challenge to anyone reading this. The next time you find yourself about to be deceitful, (lies of omission count), take a second and look into your motivations. Are you doing it because you think that it will save someone pain?... (much better to come clean.) Are you doing it because you’re embarrassed by the truth? (Maybe you shouldn’t do things that you feel embarrassed or guilty about, or find people who won’t judge you because of it)… Whatever your reason, see if the truth wouldn’t be a better ally in the long term. Telling a lie is a bit like eating a pound of candy… it might be nice now, but it will normally cause issues in the future.

2005-07-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

So, I got back from Eugene yesterday, I had a pretty good time, got to hang out with Chad and catch up. We went to Max's and enjoyed mugs of beer that were rather um... large. We each had two... I don't think I've ever drank that much beer in one sitting before. Chad, your such a bad influence... tsk.

Max's, a Eugene landmark.

2005-07-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to the Kennedy School with Justin and Tad and watched Sin City on the big screen again. Great movie, non-apologetic and just plain honest. Not to mention that it had some of the best visuals I've seen.

I'm headed off to Eugene for a day or two so I might not have a chance to do a update. Going down there to catch up with some old friends and whatnot.

2005-07-08T11:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I went to my first, first Thursday downtown. I had quite a bit of fun running around to the various art galleries and reconnecting with old friends. Hooked up with Jessica who I hadn't seen in awhile.. and later in the evening I tracked down Van and Brad who I haven't seen in years... Good times. Afterwards I went over to the ash street saloon with Ben and Justin and watched some live music. I give this night an 8.9 overall.

Jessica telling me Wuz up

Stimulating conversation outside of Kim's Gallery.

Jessica, Brad and Van outside one of the gallerys.

Van looking all imposing and stuff

2005-07-07T10:35:00.000-07:00

So, I was pretty much a homebody yesterday, however I did help my roommate Warren transfer all his data from one cell phone to another. In the process I found the following pictures, that I now submit for your enjoyment.

I don't think I could ever get tired of this.

Jesse looking... Um.. well.. It's Jesse.

Meow

I think there is probally a commercial in here someplace.

2005-07-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

Last night I made it to the first of the Chinese Garden's Tuesdays by Twilight. It was really nice being able to explore the garden after hours while listening to a live band. The band played all sorts of latin inspired music while a heron flew over our heads. I highly recommend it. After the first set Cameron and I went on a quest for food that ended at Rock Bottom... if you've never had a chance to enjoy their happy hour, your missing out... Nothing like cheap good food. A bit later in the night I went and said goodby to Nikkie and Shawn.. By this time they will have already begun thier trek to Iowa... It was fun hanging out with them the past week or so. All in all it was a great evening.

Garden full of people

Walking on the "Massage" stones

Live band in the gardens

Lost in a Chinese wonderland

Lotuses, water, and spanish music

2005-07-05T14:52:00.000-07:00

Well, another 4th has come and gone... wasn't all that bad, after eating lunch at a out of the way hotel resturant, I mosied over to Sarah's place for a little BBQ... afterwards I headed home and enjoyed watching the massive amount of money my neighbors spent on fireworks literally go up in smoke... And while I cheated (the pictures below are from a 4th a couple of years ago.) The ones that they had were pretty impressive as well.... In a related note, it's really hard to get good fireworks pictures with a little 2 megapixel Canon.

WET Bricketts + entire can of lighter fluid = BBQ

The Host at her most sexy

Boom

Boomity boom boom

2005-07-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

Went to Micheal's new house for a house warmin party last night and had a great time. The house looks like a pastel explosion, but somehow it all manages to work together perfectly. Micheal had a live band playing, following by a live DJ or two to keep the party going through the night. Uber fun was had by all, and I met a couple of new friends... Sounds like a successful night to me... Enjoy the select photos.

Live Band

Happy party go'ers watching the music

Alle and Micheal after enjoying the libations

Alle, a rose and a Tiki torch.. Oh My!

Oddly similar party battle wounds.

2005-07-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

Went over to a friend of mine's BBQ today. John, Michael and Carrie were all in my Master's degree program. We all got pretty close during the program and Carrie invited us all to her wedding when she finally tied the knot with Brady, her childhood sweetheart. Her BBQ got a extra note of celebration as she just found out that she's pregnant a few days earlier... Grats Carrie. Good food, good company and good brews.. that's what the forth is about... well that and blowing things up... oh and there is the whole independence thing as well... Still not sure what I'm doing for the forth.. *grin*

John

Brady the BBQ King

Michael and his Midgets

Carrie just found out she's an expectant mother

2005-07-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

I'm bored.... Ever get totally bored when you have a bunch of stuff that you COULD be doing?.... I think it's time I found a job, too much free time can lead to ADHD.. I find myself calling my friends about 17 times a day... they probally all think I'm stalking them.

If anyone knows of a nice Business Analyst or junior Project Manager type position let me know.. *smile*

2005-06-30T09:40:00.000-07:00

So last night Nicole and Shawn came over for a few drinks and some hot-tubbing. Too bad they'll be leaving the state next week, as they are sort of fun to hang around with. In any event we had a couple of drinks with Warren and Abby, then headed down to the hot-tub.. At this point it was around 10:15 or so, and the auto-locks on our pool/hot-tub area won't let you enter past 10:00. After weighing my options I somehow managed to gain entry into the pool area and enjoyed a nice soak for a hour or two... fun night.

Warren, Abby, Nicole and Shawn trying to decide on drinks.

Nothing to see here.. move along.

Um. ur.. I can explain.

Ah...nothing quite like soaking in a hot tub.

2005-06-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

Submitted for your approval.

2005-06-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

So, my old roommate moved to Thailand to teach for a year. Wonderful opportunity for her and I’m totally jealous. However, she is still stuck with car payments on her really pretty 2001 Alero. Really nice car and she’s upset about having to give it up. But maintaining car payments and full insurance on a car that you can’t drive, when your making Thai wages, is a bit much and she’s starting to get desperate, so if you need a car, or know anyone who needs a car, give me a jingle, or post a comment. I’ll give you a great deal. I'm about to run down to the dealership and see what they are willing to give me... However, dealerships being how they are, I'm not holding my breath.

2005-06-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

You know, back in history the judges went from village to village to settle disputes between citizens. They were empowered to make the most correct and fair decision possible to ensure that socity continues to function. With a few notable exceptions that tradition has carried down to the present day. Police, courts and the justice system do more good than harm.
However, it seems to me that they are losing track of why they exist. Does putting a 18 year in jail for several years because he decided to enjoy the same past-times as his forefathers protect the public good? Does giving a person a "DRIVING While Intoxicated" (DUI) for sleeping off his drink in his own car (without once turning on the engine) uphold justice?
It often seems the only balance in our legal system is the jury. Up to 12 people drawn from the general population often decide the fate of those accused of breaking the law. Normally this is a good system, however, these days where public option is often a question of who has more advertising money, and when the cost of being accused (not convicted) of a crime can run in the tens of thousands of dollars. Where is the redemption for the falsely accused? If a man protects his family it will cost him. If a person uses their own judgment in interpreting the law he will face massive legal fees, and sometimes if a person does the right thing for the situation they were in they will end up facing 12 of their peers (after thousands in legal fees)... hopefully the people they face will be able to see the truth and not one of the hundreds of agendas that are crammed into them every day. I can't say I have a solution, but at least I recognize the problem.