Whiskertown

Today i completed an excellent NY Times crossword puzzle i've been saving for a bit, and wow am i glad i did! Funny and varied fill, and, most importantly, excellent theme! The theme was MUSTACHE and included witty/interesting clues with answers like FUMANCHU, HANDLEBAR, PENCIL, HORSESHOE, and WALRUS. Too bad one of my favorite crossword puzzle reviewers doesn't seem to have a write-up on his page :( Anyway, i found another one that is ok, and even better, an excellent NY Times article chronicling a 2003 international mustache competition which was held in the States! Now the question is: When is the next one?! Happy bearding to you all this season.

Lovebirds on a date!

"It's important to keep the romance alive!" Grandma Jones always said--or rather, that's what she told me on the phone just yesterday when i told her about this date we went on! Read on!

We (and by "we" i mean mostly Kirsten) are watching another baby once a week so Baby's mother can go to a class and in exchange Sierra gets to go over and play for a few hours on Thursdays while mommy and daddy go on a date! Two times ago we went downtown and ate at one of the Laughing Planet Cafes after a failed attempt to infiltrate Gabriel's Bakery (mmmmm!). Last time we walked around Hawthorne and went to a cafe, ¿Por qué no? Taqueria, and a candy shoppe. This time we went to a place called Jam something-or-other on Hawthorne and 23rd after walking out of another restaurant because the food looked gross... We have been known to do this and have walked out of perhaps 6 restaurants over the course being together, I think all before ordering anything. But that is beside the point!

Here I am waiting outside of our breakfast nook of choice:


Here is Kirsten enjoying a later-declared mediocre drink from an impressive Bleh-Blah Tiki Man Mug. Behind her are lots of wires for some reason and the edge of a case chock full of Secret Aardvark sauce.


Aaron tries to take a decent macro photo: grapefruit juice, Tiki Man drink, Kirsten's finger perusing the menu.


Jam offered a mish-mash of standard fare and Hawthornesque/locavoire/sustainable/organic cuisine. Their menu boasted that their produce is delivered by foot power from Uncle Paul's Produce Market just across the street. This is rather nice, and of course begs the question of from whence does Uncle Paul get his fruit? And the name makes me think of my cousins referring to my dad as such. Unfortunately the tree is kind of blocking where it says "Uncle Paul" on the barn-ish thing. Also, "Wow".


Many of the interesting things to be experienced at Jam are found in the restroom. Ah, the restroom! That dear, beloved place we've visited before on this blog! In keeping with the Weird Ol' Portland theme, Jam's lavatory was quite eclectic. Weird locker thing + household cabinets + baby changing table + eclectic posters and such...one of which I found inappropriate to post here, though certainly appropriate as bathroom art.


Yeah! The internetz confirm my suspicion of this concert having been back in 2003. Note accompaniment (click to enlarge photo, as usual):


"Jam" Jack o' Lantern


Doodle while you urinate!


This is just brilliant. If you can't read the pencil writing in the 2nd box, it says...

"Run Soap under water for Instant spagetti"

Then we went to Uncle Paul's pumpkin patch.


This is what happens if you stay out past midnight or whatever.


Kirsten makes a toothsome friend. Delicata benevolently look on.

Tour de Hills

*Whew!* Today i rode a 30 mile course, plus probably about 8 miles to and from a brewpub in NW downtown. Wow, was it hilly! I did great on the first two legs and didn't have to dismount even though i was breathing quite heavily & rapidly a few times. I did pretty well on the last leg, too, only dismounting once for a few steps and then remounting, and then a second time for a few minutes when my legs completely cramped up and gave up on me.

In order to participate for free, i volunteered to help unload and set up stuff early this morning. 'Twas fun and not too hard, and i got to see the innards of an event of this nature and meet some pretty cool volunteersy people. Perhaps i will do something like it again!

There was a stop at each of the other brewpubs which included snacks, free swag, and animal body parts to wear, which i declined to do. My bike is complaining more than it was before and i'll have to have a look at it tomorrow to see if i can make some adjustments.

Some highlights include great views of the river & downtown (as usual) crossing some bridges; a woo-shout of joy crossing a pedestrian and cyclist overcrossing while eyeing a haze shrouded Mt. Hood in the early morning distance; gorgeous forests and a quite heavenly wooded trail swoosh; a pretty and old cemetery; chic, posh homes in the hills--some entirely suspended over the nothing; sweeping, breathtaking views in all directions; a hilltop park near some quite large radio or other sort of science towers; an excellent cruise back into downtown; a better shirt than most; and of course, free brown ale.

Splash Daddy!

Smurftastic!

One great thing about living in Portland is the excellent urban graffiti. Some of it is very artistic and quite beautiful, even bordering on fine art. Another excellent thing about living in Portland is the funny signs and marquees found at various places around town. Maybe i will get a chance to photodocument some of those and other examples of graffiti when i see it and post 'em up. Other works are simply text, though often with a profound or whimsical message. For now i leave you with this, a gem found along my former bike route to work (~6:30 am, somewhat wint'ry still):

Alternate Career Options

Dear Madam-elect: if ever you feel like doing something else besides being a doctor, there are always alternate career options. Or rather, when your boy toy makes it as a writer, you may want to branch out and find your shrewd businesswoman/artistically stylistic/skin-deeply fabulous side! Any or all of this perhaps on the side...you know, like when you're not saving people's lives or whatever.

Exhibit A - Orange, CA.
You could don overalls and get grease all over your hands and wear a green bandanna tied around your hair! Behold the potential:






Exhibit B - Portland, OR.
This could work fabulously for dying & styling hair and otherwise beautifying the cryptic women of the Pacific Northwest. People might come for miles, from towns like Heppner or Puyallup or Sasketchwan or Whathaveyou just to be beautified by "The Wonder From Down Under".


Or, alternately, you could add an extra "o" to the word "salon" and open a whole NEW type of beauty, uh, parlor! Notice wooden front porch which looks like it came straight out of a Western flick anyway! You could fire a shotgun though the roof and demand that the boys "take it outside" and duel it out in the streets while you watch, eye-stinging gunpowder smoke wafting from the double barrels. You'd be akin to Lucky Luke maybe. "Fantastic!"


Exhibit C - Portland, OR.
And last but not least, you could take over this tanning studio! The space is already ready for you! Maybe you could make it a COUPLES tanning salon (or saloon) and run it as a husband and wife team! How cutesy. Down Under.




Act quickly! Offer probably won't last!

The Swap

It's official. Ye Olde Prius is now registered in Oregon instead of California.

I would also like to note that the standard (no extra charge) CA plate is largely unexciting while the standard OR plate is beautiful! There are 4 or 5 specialty plates one can get in Oregon (as well as California) which of course cost extra from the get set and then each time you renew. They each go to a different supposedly noble cause (OR: Crater Lake Foundation, Salmon?, Bicycle Mafia?, CA: The artist who made the whale tail / the save the whales foundation, other, etc.) The specialty ones are indeed pretty, some more than others, but i'm pretty stoked about the regular ol' plate that everyone gets at no extra cost. It may actually be the most beautiful! The Crater Lake is a close contender, though.

As you can see, this one's got an evergreen in the center and two purple mountains majesty (you can only see one because of my stellar editing job) along with some more, uh, silhouetted evergreen forests. Our Oregon plates are also good for two years at about half the cost of the California plates. :)

Cyberart years in the making

The other night i recycled away a scrap of paper i'd saved for about 7 years. This shows both how much of a packrat i've been and proves in some tangible ways that i've changed during said 7 years.

Before i was allowed by the State of California to operate a motor vehicle, i might have recycled paper if there happened to be a bin in a high school classroom or at home because that's what my parents did much of the time. But i wouldn't have recycled it automatically, as is now my M.O. Certainly the content of this particular scrap says something about me during high school--apparently i really wanted a license plate which read "ROCK ON" and may have adorned it with stars. I liked stars quite a bit at least! I also recall having a strong desire for at least 2 different kinds of gas motor vehicles, one starting with J, the other with C. Now i drive one that starts with P. And in addition to the gas motor i've got an electric hybrid motor with synergy drive, which i hope to one day make into a plug-in and power it with home-produced solar (or other sustainable) energy.

I am getting to these things (scanning, going through old crap) largely because of the move. Being in Portland may have healing properties, and certainly my relationship with Kirsten has brought out this good in me: i am trying to and making concrete advances toward living simply. Even when we were dating, Kirsten would lament the amount of crap i insisted on keeping. I "was using it", or it was a project i'd get to some day, or it had sentimental value, or it had real-world value, or i'll get to it some day... I always had an excuse.

Well, some day is here. Some day has been here for a while now. My Piles are diminishing and my productivity, satisfaction, and spiritual health are increasing. He must become more, i must become less. As i go from box to box and recycle unwanted items, actually read articles i've been saving for ages, and prioritize projects i now aim to complete with resolve, i can feel myself being freed from shackles i didn't even realize enslaved me. This very mundane yet very spiritual task must indeed be part of my Renaissance. I have been born and reborn and am being made new day by day. I am in gestation and i'm growing healthily despite initial apparent delays.

Here is (a scanned image of) one 7 years+ scrap:


A slice of a note Sir Dillon wrote to me along with most excellent insane art:


At the time i was very proud of this (and still am) hoping it would become incorporated with a T-shirt design or something. Now that i look at it it kind of looks like "Fighting Jocks"... Go Fighting Jacks!


I may add more as the piles diminish.

Thanks, Smiths!

Before our trek to Oregonia, a certain S. Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Smith Sr. hooked it up proper with a bike rack for Ye Olde Prius. We got a tow hitch mounted to the frame and using the bike rack they gave us took 3 bikes up to San Jose and 2 all the way up with us to Oregonia. I have ridden one of the bikes somewhat often, occasionally to work, sometimes to the grocery store, sometimes just out and about or to some other specific destination. The other bike needs some minor repairs and we are still needing to get a bike for Kirsten. We already have a little bike for Sierra for when she is big enough to ride it! Anyway, i just wanted to say hats off to the Smiths who helped make it possible for us to bring bikes with us to Oregonia and have the rack to organize our schedules and transportation plans to make the maximum use of our time and diminish our energy use whenever possible. Here is a photo looking out of our garage of the car, bike rack, and bike. You can see a few purple irises still in bloom on the right and the Great Green Giant across the street on the left--an ivy tangle.

Down By The River(side) Remix

Not likely, since there's this (sorry, embedding's disabled for this particular video). And the first five minutes or so of this:


Although indeed, this is excellent:

Down By The Riverside

May 16, 2009

An interesting morning to be sure. Unlike the CA watershed cleanup i took part in about 8 months ago, this event was scantily attended. The whole State of Oregon is celebrating its sesquicentennial anniversary of statehood this year, and this event is among the ways 150's being celebrated throughout it. Supposedly there were crews all over the state cleaning up trash and working on other improvement projects such as invasive plant removal/abatement and trail maintenance along with trash pickup, removal, & disposal, which was what our task was. If all the sites were as poorly attended as the one i went to, i'm not sure Oregon is incredibly cleaner than it was May 15. Still, we gathered several bags' worth of trash per person and a few miscellaneous large items such as large iron pieces of...?, wooden pallets, rusty wire, and other odds & ends. Boats went up and down the river gathering the bags and piles to discard them onto a trash barge and probably from thence into a landfill someplace. So I suppose we made a decent dent in the refuse after all. I ended up having to leave the site early due to puncturing my right index finger on a nasty looking rusty cable i was yanking out (!). I even had a thick work glove on, but nonetheless whatever sharpness was on the cable went through both glove and skin. I was worried about infection, but after prayer and cleaning & applying hydrogen peroxide & isopropyl alcohol, i'm pleased to report that my finger is miraculously healed! It did not look good at first and i thought maybe i'd have to go to the doctor, but it's looking great now. Some other pieces of good news are that i got two excellent green-colored Oregon 150 / Down By The Riverside tote bags and as i was on my way back downriver to leave i discovered a geocache! There was not really anything exceptionally superb in the cache for the taking, so i just left a shell in there and dated & signed my handle. Admittedly i was sad not to be able to volunteer with the crew tossing trash onto boats and zooming to and fro atop the river, but perhaps some other time my (free)boating dreams will come true. Some other good things that came out of the event include: a peaceful walk along the waterfront; some interesting interactions with the SOLV workers on site; watching the girl scouts "pick up trash" and "see who can gather the most" :) and then seeing their mostly empty bags adorn the lawn while they run around the picnic tables screaming and laughing; scouting out nice places to take my wonderful wife and perhaps other guests; the discovery of an amusement park; watching a crew speedily and gracefully row by; these photographs:

Sellwood Bridge over (not-so-troubled) waters.
Daytime moon barely visible in top right?


Waterfront homes! I immediately thought they were houseboats--and perhaps some of them are--but after closer inspection i presume they're somewhat permanently stationed there. Either way, plush!


Looking north toward downtown Portland. The clear Portland sky was the limit as was its glassy reflection below. Perhaps you can see what used to be a wooden pier judging by the dilapidated pylons to the right.


Much of the group working with the pretty neat SOLV plastic bags made from recycled material. I am standing on this crazy floating plastic container dock.

Springtime in Portland

Several weeks ago around the official beginning of spring, the weather got noticeably warmer and, in fact, began to feel like spring! Later of course, as never seems to fail, it got cold and rainy again, albeit warmer than the wint'ry weather from before and markedly NOT winter.

Anyway, now it is pretty warm and sunny often, and i've even felt hot a couple of times. When it rains, it's a gentle spring rain, soft on the nose and cool to the soul. This rain smells like spring. Here's to the seasons!

"Oh, goody! Spring!"


"Excuse me, please don't look while i adjust my baby straps..."


Unlike the Spanish heroes of Tom's childhood Down South, Up North we don't carve their names in dogwood, but rather our own; in the future, which is wide open.


Try as i might to stop my shadow from taking photographs of the explosively gorgeous flora, here he is snapping a shot of what appear to be purple tulips and those yellow thingies. While i neglected Wendy's lesson which says you can't stick shadows on with soap, Kirsten obviously took the hint and sewed her and Sierra's shadows on.


THIS dude has some seriously wild hair!


I love this shot because of the colors, especially the bright pink & lighter blossoms, and the new green of the leaves contrasted with the bluegray skysun.


The little people have tethered their horses to the city's steel rings, originally designed for equestrian use, including the occasional whiz-bang rich folks who could afford the advanced technology of a buggy.


Finally, fluffy clouds in sunshiny Portland (Does anyone know why all the elementary schools around here have huge chimneys? Old school ceramics kilns? Furnaces for incinerating homework? Heat? Kitchen?)

"Due to events beyond our control, your call could not be completed at this time." (!)

one of these days

You Are Here

(click photo to enlarge)

When Baby und Papa play dressup

p.s. nordhagen: notice the bobo glove! we read the cloth bobo book a few times today. :)

memories & hopes

i was down in the basement and ended up going thru a bag o' stuff which contains all my snow attire. i was specifically looking for goggles because i have been getting little flecks in my eyes on bike rides as well as ending up with dried out ocular cavities, which is annoying.

as i opened the bag, i was washed over: the smell of the gear and the look and the feel of the jacket were good. i looked carefully at the jacket, still in prime condition after all this time and great use in the snow. boots in ok condition. pants. goggles. socks. snowboard binding. other extra snow stuff.

i thought to myself, "mmm! that would be nice."

of course you know what i mean.

i was also somewhat flooded by all the good memories of the times i've had in the snow over the course of this lifetime--not just with this gear, but all of them, and those with the gear too. lots of great times. the snow is special. sparkly, white, frozen, angelic, pure. manna?

i have visions of coasting down a hill in light, fluffy powder, easily carving hin und her on the way down the mountain, the snow thick beneath the board, the wind kissing my cheeks and nibbling my ears. i think about snowmen, jumping off railings into snow drifts, eating icicles, sleigh rides with speckled horses and schnapps and Austrian sleighmasters with Alpine hats. i think about friends and family and families of friends and friends of family. i think about cooking indoors and frosty windows. i think about weekend plans and spontaneous drives and rich mountain air, the thinnest sort to be breathed. i think about kisses and hugs and warm fires and heaters drying everyone's gear. i think of hill bombs and frozen rivers and icy needles sticking into my skin, the pain so instant and sharp, the shivers shaking me without my consent, the warmth of the van heater afterward warming my soul along with the inside of my dad's work overalls. i think of snow-capped peaks, of attempts at ascent. i think of snowballs. i think of the future. i think of you. and you. and you. i think of You.

tomorrow i'll try out the googles en bici.

family trip to the internet part cinque

Happy First Day of Spring!

Well folks, my wife has done it again! She's both beat me to and trumped me with a superior blog post, thereby heisting me of Cyberspectacular Honour. *mock pout* Thanks hon, you're the best!

In truth, her post really is super--including concise summaries of our life & what we've been up to of late. There are also photos & a video of our prodigious progeny! Photos of particular note include Sierra & me with an elephant in the background (not easily seen on first glance, i think) and a photo of Kirsten and Sierra being intrigued by themselves in our bathroom mirror. In my opinion, Kirsten looks dazzlingly beautiful in yonder photograph: perhaps like an interstellar porcelain doll. Sierra looks...well, sad and wet from her bath!

So Kirsten's is kind of a "what is up" post. I will attempt to share some of the like here, but as i have little time (and probably less patience) with Ye Olde internets, it will have to be a short mashup.

First, a video outlining the necessary etiquette to follow when dining upon Choate toes:


Next, here we have Sierra about to ingest my eyebrow:


A flashback (gentlemen! see if you can recall the event, time period, etc!):


Another flashback (San Mateo, right before the SM County Fair & seeing B.R. Cyrus in concert...):


A quote:
"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever! Amen!"
One thing worth mentioning here is that we are incredibly blessed to have our spacious place and be in the position we're in, and for that we praise God greatly. We have time to spend with each other and a steady income. We've been able to see some good friends and do some fun activities in the area and have more of the same planned. We've gotten connected to a church and a community group in which we're starting to make some friends. My job is largely stress-free. We've great access to local, fresh, organic produce and foods, and i think we'll have even more once spring is in full swing & then summer & fall roll around.

And on that note, now, for your moment of zen:

Laughter Over Choateville

As Linda and me mum recently learned during their recent blessed, welcomed visit, laughter runs rampant at the Choate abode. This evening, Sierra joined in the fun! Won't you?

"Put on a happy (laughing!) face!"

PHEVs

Yo! Howdy, folks! Apologies for the recent stagnation in frequent posting. Or apologies for the infrequency of juicy, delicious, non-stagnant posting. ...recently. Whichever you prefer.



So not a ton to report here (or really, there is a ton to report, but i'm just not prepared to at this exact moment), but what i would like to briefly touch on is a book that i'm currently reading/almost done with, Plug-In Hybrids by one Sherry B. (<--no, i don't know her personally, have never met her.)

That link above is a decent overview of the book, which you can also find here, in addition to some critical statements about the book (those start about halfway down that page). I'm not sure which criticisms of my own i have at this point, but i did spend some time sparring and chatting with my good friend Gregg Simms about, among other things, exactly how the Choate Prius functions, the feasibility of plug-in hybrids in America, and the cost challenges, issues, and benefits of implementing sustainable energy policy and business in the world. Shai Agassi (a fellow introduced to me by Simms the Younger) also made an appearance in an offhand way via my dad and the SJ Mercury News.

Anyway, there is still much to learn and read about for my part, but even hearing and seriously evaluating some of the nay-sayers arguments still leaves me wanting a PHEV and/or EV and convinced of their benefits. Especially when paired with solar power or other sustainable energy sources. If you care to read more, here are the Brits on the matter doing what they do well, as usual.