My slacking off last week came back to haunt me this week, as I had my first big project due for a class which coincided with Jess's dad coming into town. I stayed up till 5:30am Saturday morning finishing most of the work, slept till 10:00 or so and then we went over to the Red Bike for breakfast. It was hopping as usual and we saw our fellow bike dorks Deanne and Jonathan.
The plan was to drop me off at home to finish my paper while Jess and Chuck went to Powells. They got distracted talking about home projects and before I knew it they had a bunch of tools and the step stool out and were tackling the upstairs office door. Our house is fairly new and the settling of the first few years has tilted things enough that two of our doors won't close. Chuck, being ah, frugally minded, took a look and figure sanding down the top of the doors would be the cheapest, easiest way to fix them.
I finished my paper to the sounds of electric sanding, vacuuming and occasional swearing, but we both got the job done eventually.
I rewarded myself with an episode of season 2 Battlestar Galactica and later we went out to a Livewire show, which is a whole post in itself.
I made it through the day pretty well considering I'd only had 3 hours of sleep, but I was glad to hit the sheets finally. Sadly, my rest was short lived. I woke up three hours later with a phlegm attack and spent 30 minutes coughing and hacking. I couldn't even retreat to the guest room, since it was occupied--and besides, laying down seemed to make it worse. Instead I spent some time online researching the possible causes of my trouble. I figured it could be either dairy, gastric problems, which I have a history of, or the lingering of the cold I had three weeks ago. Either way, I was pretty pissed off about not being able to sleep. After an hour online, I successfully went back to bed for a few hours.
Today we grabbed waffle goodness at Flavour Spot and headed out to Rainier, OR for the third in the Cross Crusade Cyclocross series. We wanted to Chuck to have a quintessential Portland experience. Lots of Sorella's were out representing and I think we got 3 of the top 5 spots in the Master women 35-44. Colleen keeps saying she's 'retired' but she keeps winning the races. I hope I can ride that fast when I 'retire.'
We also got to see our buddy Rebecca, whom we met doing the Idaho ride this past Labor Day weekend (which I will one day finish writing about--really). She's doing her best to lure me out to race (as are many of my team mates) and she reeled in the line a little by suggesting I take her new ultra-light cross bike for a spin around the parking lot. It was light alright, and cornered like a dream and I almost endo'd when I forgot the brakes were disc and they worked *really* well. There were no barriers on today's course which makes the whole thing look more enticing--but I could still see the pain on those uphills. I'll probably end up trying it at some point. Maybe next year...
Here's a few shots we snapped of the action:
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Soon after we left the race, Jess saved us all from untimely death with a masterful piece of defensive driving. Some idiot that didn't know how to merge was coming onto the highway and would've totally broadsided us had she not gunned it and laid on her horn. With a car directly to the left of us, she had nowhere else to go. The other driver finally got a clue and we watched as he slammed on the brakes and his car swerved 90 degrees in both directions and nearly hit both retaining walls, while we cruised away unscathed. We all waited for the bad sound we knew was coming, but miraculously, they got straightened out and kept going. Hopefully the near death experience means they'll watch where they're going next time. The odd thing was I looked up in time from my crocheting to see the whole thing, but my heart rate never even went up, even after the fact. Neither did Jess's obviously, cause she reacted and got us clear and never broke a sweat. And people think bike commuting is dangerous...
The evening has been spent in various forms of industry--more door fixing for Jess and Chuck and cookie and cake baking for me. Cory is coming over to pick up his post hole digger and wheel barrow that we borrowed for fence building so it seems a good opportunity to thank him again with some baked goods--all of which I have thoroughly checked for poisons by sampling them myself. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.
Showing posts with label Fall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fall. Show all posts
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
A Good Day
It's been a little bleak around here for the last few weeks so I'm going to make a conscious attempt to brighten up the place. Today was a pretty good day so I'll start there.
So I have this car. I'm not really crazy about cars (no really, this is going somewhere good, just stay with me), but they have their place and can be useful at times. But I haven't owned a car since the 90's. The early 90's. For several years I didn't even have a license. So now I have a license and a car, and insurance. I'm ambivalent-to-resigned about all of these things. We won't even get into the ramifications of how I got the car because I'm trying to be upbeat.
So anyway, now I have this car, and while it makes it easier to do things like run off to Benihana when I'm craving ginger salad dressing, for the most part, the car sits in front of the house and begs me to drive it.
Hey, did you hear all that rain coming down last night? There's supposed to be a storm today. You should drive me. You'll stay nice and warm and dry and we can stop at Flavour Spot on the way to school!
Looks like you're hauling a lot of stuff today. You know I could keep that in my trunk so you don't have to get a locker on campus.
Hey, wasn't there something you wanted to go to after school? Man, you're going to be so tired (and wet) by the time you do all that riding!
And so on. People have been telling me for years what a 'hard core' biker I am, sometimes with awe and envy in their voices. What I couldn't seem to make people understand was that I didn't have a car. If I wanted to get somewhere, I had to get there on my own power, unless I wanted to take the bus or ask someone for a ride. I really felt I was getting more credit than I deserved.
There was indeed a storm forecast this morning. I woke up shortly before 5am and heard some epic rain pounding down on the roof. When Jess's alarm went off, I said, "Honey, I think you should stay home from work and help me build the ark," that's how bad the rain sounded. I went around in my head for at least an hour arguing with myself about whether to drive or bike. Winds were predicted to gust up to 40mph. Anyone but a hardcore biker would've totally given me a pass to take the car.
But that little event I wanted to go to after school? The Lloyd TMA (Transportation Management Association) Bike Bash. Hard as I tried, I couldn't really make the logic of "I had to drive so I could go to the Bike Bash party" work out in my head. So I rode. I took both panniers because I told Jess I'd pick up her books on hold at the library. I also took just about every piece of bad weather gear I owned, including the ski goggles. If I was going to get caught in some kind of epic downpour, then I was going to be ready.
The thing I've learned over the years, the thing non-bikers and sometime bikers don't get that makes them look at hardcore bikers with awe--is that it's rarely as bad as you think it's going to be. Even when it looks really bad. I can probably count on one hand the times I've really gotten caught in a vicious mess in almost 10 years of bike commuting. I recently read on Kent's blog that there's no bad weather only bad gear and all my gear is pretty darn good.
And the day turned out to have a lot more bark than bite. I went out loaded for bear and found deer instead. Sure there was some wind and a few sprinkles, but mostly it was dry and freakishly warm. In fact, my biggest regret turned out to be wearing too much and not having a lighter layer to change into.
When I got back to Cascade Campus after class I picked up the library books (note to self--ask about the number and weight of books before agreeing to pick up!). I left everything in my school locker except my laptop which I took in my backpack.
The Bike Bash is a now annual event that Lloyd TMA puts on to celebrate their biking accomplishments. They work hard getting companies to encourage employees to bike to work and participate in the BTA's Bike Commute Challenge in September. I don't work in the district anymore but I'm still on the email list. Last year I won a sweet wool jersey in a raffle in which I was the only entry. I figured it was so profitable, I may as well go back. The least I could get was free pizza.
I arrived early and sat at a large table that was empty. I can tell my Yin is still not up to snuff, by the way my brain went to Defcon 3 when Maura from the LDTMA committee came over to talk to me. Not just hi-howya-doin' casual either. She wanted a real conversation and I definitely was not up to it. I faked it as well as I could and finally, she got pulled away by other duties. The people who inevitably ended up sharing my table were content to talk to each other and leave me out of it. The laptop may have helped, since I was busy typing away on it.
I used my remaining social marbles to participate in the group bike trivia contest and we came out victorious! OK, we tied with another table. But we would have been the clear victors had I been consulted on a question that someone thought they knew but only had half right. Luckily, there was plenty of schwag to go around. It wasn't anything I was super excited about, but it was nice to win. And you can never have to many blinky clip-on lights.
Maura started the third and final raffle and it didn't look good for my chances. They were giving away some nice prizes--messenger bags (yeah, I know I don't need one, but if it was free...), gift certificates, Flexcar memberships. These were no slouchy prizes. Still I had now decided to go downtown to REI and needed to get going. I was actually standing up with my coat and pack on ready to step out the door when suddenly I heard my name! I didn't just win a prize, I won the *grand* prize, a 1GB Ipod Shuffle that holds 240 songs. Cool! Never mind that I already have a 20GB Ipod I like just fine & already bought a Nano for Jess for her birthday. I just love winning stuff. I can figure out what to do with it later.
So I left both victorious and lucky and feeling pretty good. The pressure's on for next year...
So I think we've discussed that I ride my bike a lot. You could say that the phrase "rode hard and put away wet" applies to my bike quite often between October and June each year. As a result, my back tire recently gave up the fight and the front tire developed a slow leak. I replaced the back with a Maxxis tire and changed out the front tube, but typical of the Continental tires, it didn't get seated properly when the tube was filled and was wobbling something awful. Jess had this problem this summer and some very nice REI employee ordered her a new Schwalbe tire and swapped it out for free. Yes, FREE. Even though she bought the bike over a year ago. 'Cause at REI that's how they roll--which is why we find ourselves rolling there so often on two tires or four.
I saw my wobbly tire as a prime opportunity so I called the bike department and explained how my partner who had the exact same bike I did got a free tire and didn't they want to give me one too? He said sure, come on down. When I got there, they didn't give me too much trouble. They didn't have any Schwalbe's in stock, which is what they gave Jess. I would've waited for them to order me one but they've already been waiting two months. Something about shipping from Germany to Canada and then here. It didn't look good, which was a bummer. If Schwalbe's were a character on Heroes, they would be Claire. No seriously. Check out what happened to Kent's tire when he ran over a nail. But I took another Maxxis to match the back and went upstairs to try on pants while they installed it. For FREE.
When I went to pick it up, a different guy handed it over. "We got your old tire seated just fine so I'm not sure why we're giving you a new tire."
Because you're suckers and you already gave my girlfriend one, which means I would raise hell if you didn't.
But what I said was, "Well all the shops we have tried have a LOT of trouble and you guys couldn't do it the last time we were here. It's kind of ridiculous. He kinda looked like he knew he'd been had and wanted to say more, but I took my bike and left. Hey, if you want to be the Nordstrom's of the outdoor gear world, you gotta make some sacrifices.
As I stopped near the door to put on my helmet, the greeter who was there when I walked in piped up, "And just like that, you're leaving." Wow, does she know I'm escaping with free stuff? I wondered. I decided not. I chatted with her for a moment and she admired my jacket. I told her I didn't know why they don't sell Showers Pass jackets, since they are the best breathable fabric out there but she'd never heard of it. First she accused me of working for them and then (when I revealed my unemployed status) she said I should work for them. I told her I wasn't really looking for a job...but they really should get those jackets.
The ride home was warm and fast with my brand new tires and the wind at my back. I'm still trying to decide what to do with my new Ipod Shuffle. I could try to return it to a Mac store for credit or refund but I'm actually pondering some sort of contest that might actually bribe someone into commenting on some of my posts. I'm open to suggestions...
So to sum up:
1) Good riding
2) Free Ipod
3) Bike Schwag
4) Free new tire
5) And did I mention Grey's Anatomy with popcorn, ice cream and fabulous company?
Yeah, it's been a good day.
So I have this car. I'm not really crazy about cars (no really, this is going somewhere good, just stay with me), but they have their place and can be useful at times. But I haven't owned a car since the 90's. The early 90's. For several years I didn't even have a license. So now I have a license and a car, and insurance. I'm ambivalent-to-resigned about all of these things. We won't even get into the ramifications of how I got the car because I'm trying to be upbeat.
So anyway, now I have this car, and while it makes it easier to do things like run off to Benihana when I'm craving ginger salad dressing, for the most part, the car sits in front of the house and begs me to drive it.
Hey, did you hear all that rain coming down last night? There's supposed to be a storm today. You should drive me. You'll stay nice and warm and dry and we can stop at Flavour Spot on the way to school!
Looks like you're hauling a lot of stuff today. You know I could keep that in my trunk so you don't have to get a locker on campus.
Hey, wasn't there something you wanted to go to after school? Man, you're going to be so tired (and wet) by the time you do all that riding!
And so on. People have been telling me for years what a 'hard core' biker I am, sometimes with awe and envy in their voices. What I couldn't seem to make people understand was that I didn't have a car. If I wanted to get somewhere, I had to get there on my own power, unless I wanted to take the bus or ask someone for a ride. I really felt I was getting more credit than I deserved.
There was indeed a storm forecast this morning. I woke up shortly before 5am and heard some epic rain pounding down on the roof. When Jess's alarm went off, I said, "Honey, I think you should stay home from work and help me build the ark," that's how bad the rain sounded. I went around in my head for at least an hour arguing with myself about whether to drive or bike. Winds were predicted to gust up to 40mph. Anyone but a hardcore biker would've totally given me a pass to take the car.
But that little event I wanted to go to after school? The Lloyd TMA (Transportation Management Association) Bike Bash. Hard as I tried, I couldn't really make the logic of "I had to drive so I could go to the Bike Bash party" work out in my head. So I rode. I took both panniers because I told Jess I'd pick up her books on hold at the library. I also took just about every piece of bad weather gear I owned, including the ski goggles. If I was going to get caught in some kind of epic downpour, then I was going to be ready.
The thing I've learned over the years, the thing non-bikers and sometime bikers don't get that makes them look at hardcore bikers with awe--is that it's rarely as bad as you think it's going to be. Even when it looks really bad. I can probably count on one hand the times I've really gotten caught in a vicious mess in almost 10 years of bike commuting. I recently read on Kent's blog that there's no bad weather only bad gear and all my gear is pretty darn good.
And the day turned out to have a lot more bark than bite. I went out loaded for bear and found deer instead. Sure there was some wind and a few sprinkles, but mostly it was dry and freakishly warm. In fact, my biggest regret turned out to be wearing too much and not having a lighter layer to change into.
When I got back to Cascade Campus after class I picked up the library books (note to self--ask about the number and weight of books before agreeing to pick up!). I left everything in my school locker except my laptop which I took in my backpack.
The Bike Bash is a now annual event that Lloyd TMA puts on to celebrate their biking accomplishments. They work hard getting companies to encourage employees to bike to work and participate in the BTA's Bike Commute Challenge in September. I don't work in the district anymore but I'm still on the email list. Last year I won a sweet wool jersey in a raffle in which I was the only entry. I figured it was so profitable, I may as well go back. The least I could get was free pizza.
I arrived early and sat at a large table that was empty. I can tell my Yin is still not up to snuff, by the way my brain went to Defcon 3 when Maura from the LDTMA committee came over to talk to me. Not just hi-howya-doin' casual either. She wanted a real conversation and I definitely was not up to it. I faked it as well as I could and finally, she got pulled away by other duties. The people who inevitably ended up sharing my table were content to talk to each other and leave me out of it. The laptop may have helped, since I was busy typing away on it.
I used my remaining social marbles to participate in the group bike trivia contest and we came out victorious! OK, we tied with another table. But we would have been the clear victors had I been consulted on a question that someone thought they knew but only had half right. Luckily, there was plenty of schwag to go around. It wasn't anything I was super excited about, but it was nice to win. And you can never have to many blinky clip-on lights.
Maura started the third and final raffle and it didn't look good for my chances. They were giving away some nice prizes--messenger bags (yeah, I know I don't need one, but if it was free...), gift certificates, Flexcar memberships. These were no slouchy prizes. Still I had now decided to go downtown to REI and needed to get going. I was actually standing up with my coat and pack on ready to step out the door when suddenly I heard my name! I didn't just win a prize, I won the *grand* prize, a 1GB Ipod Shuffle that holds 240 songs. Cool! Never mind that I already have a 20GB Ipod I like just fine & already bought a Nano for Jess for her birthday. I just love winning stuff. I can figure out what to do with it later.
So I left both victorious and lucky and feeling pretty good. The pressure's on for next year...
So I think we've discussed that I ride my bike a lot. You could say that the phrase "rode hard and put away wet" applies to my bike quite often between October and June each year. As a result, my back tire recently gave up the fight and the front tire developed a slow leak. I replaced the back with a Maxxis tire and changed out the front tube, but typical of the Continental tires, it didn't get seated properly when the tube was filled and was wobbling something awful. Jess had this problem this summer and some very nice REI employee ordered her a new Schwalbe tire and swapped it out for free. Yes, FREE. Even though she bought the bike over a year ago. 'Cause at REI that's how they roll--which is why we find ourselves rolling there so often on two tires or four.
I saw my wobbly tire as a prime opportunity so I called the bike department and explained how my partner who had the exact same bike I did got a free tire and didn't they want to give me one too? He said sure, come on down. When I got there, they didn't give me too much trouble. They didn't have any Schwalbe's in stock, which is what they gave Jess. I would've waited for them to order me one but they've already been waiting two months. Something about shipping from Germany to Canada and then here. It didn't look good, which was a bummer. If Schwalbe's were a character on Heroes, they would be Claire. No seriously. Check out what happened to Kent's tire when he ran over a nail. But I took another Maxxis to match the back and went upstairs to try on pants while they installed it. For FREE.
When I went to pick it up, a different guy handed it over. "We got your old tire seated just fine so I'm not sure why we're giving you a new tire."
Because you're suckers and you already gave my girlfriend one, which means I would raise hell if you didn't.
But what I said was, "Well all the shops we have tried have a LOT of trouble and you guys couldn't do it the last time we were here. It's kind of ridiculous. He kinda looked like he knew he'd been had and wanted to say more, but I took my bike and left. Hey, if you want to be the Nordstrom's of the outdoor gear world, you gotta make some sacrifices.
As I stopped near the door to put on my helmet, the greeter who was there when I walked in piped up, "And just like that, you're leaving." Wow, does she know I'm escaping with free stuff? I wondered. I decided not. I chatted with her for a moment and she admired my jacket. I told her I didn't know why they don't sell Showers Pass jackets, since they are the best breathable fabric out there but she'd never heard of it. First she accused me of working for them and then (when I revealed my unemployed status) she said I should work for them. I told her I wasn't really looking for a job...but they really should get those jackets.
The ride home was warm and fast with my brand new tires and the wind at my back. I'm still trying to decide what to do with my new Ipod Shuffle. I could try to return it to a Mac store for credit or refund but I'm actually pondering some sort of contest that might actually bribe someone into commenting on some of my posts. I'm open to suggestions...
So to sum up:
1) Good riding
2) Free Ipod
3) Bike Schwag
4) Free new tire
5) And did I mention Grey's Anatomy with popcorn, ice cream and fabulous company?
Yeah, it's been a good day.
Ramble
Well, it's been almost a week since my last update (if you can call it that) and therefore I reserve the right to ramble in any direction. Consider yourself warned.
Over the weekend we had as close to 'Indian Summer' as we're going to get--two days of weather in the 70's neighborhood and actual sunshine. Saturday we got out by volunteering with Voices for Silent Disasters, putting up posters in businesses along Alberta. We made up for the drive to SE with a nice walk on the Last Thursday strip. The business owners were one and all, very welcoming and supportive. We got posters in windows I didn't think we would which just proves my motto--if you don't ask, the answer's always no. 
Then it was home to do a couple of hours work on the garage. The pile of "things to get rid of" has been building all summer. We used our new bike trailer to make a few trips to the Goodwill, conveniently located around the corner. We just took turns riding my bike rather than switch the trailer back and forth, which left the receiving employee at Goodwill pretty confused.
Saturday night we actually left the house and went to a friend's to watch on-demand episodes of season three Weeds. We got through six episodes and things just get wackier with each passing episode. We still have a bunch of watching to do, but fortunately, I have a key and an open invitation. What could be better? 
After that we headed further south, enjoying the fall colors as we traveled on our way to Cold Stone Creamery. Jess got a gift certificate for her birthday and this gorgeous day seemed like the perfect 'now or not until spring' opportunity. I used to be a cake batter purist, spurning the mix-ins and relishing the smooth, unadulterated creaminess of the unsullied dish. However, I've changed my tune and I went back a successful flavor from a previous visit, titled, 'All Lovin' No Oven.' Start with cake batter ice cream, add cookie dough, fudge and whip cream. And since it was 'free' for me, I threw in some Oreos for good measure. I took my time and made every bite count.
My therapist will be thrilled to learn that on Monday I finally got some of that acupuncture she's been gently suggesting for the past three months. As part of my barter with friends and ex roomies C & D, I got what I like to call the "double feature." Acupuncture and massage, back to back. I was having a lazy day and couldn't be bothered to change out of my jammies, so I drove to my appointment.
C got a hold of me and started in asking me about how my mood has been (crappy), how I've been sleeping, (not so great) etc. She took my pulses and made a 'tsk tsk' sound as she reached for her box of needles. "You're going to be seeing me for a while," she informed me. "We have so much work to do today..."
And with that, she proceeded to pincushion the entire length of my spine. She says that my organs are stressed and my ability to deal with people is low (no kidding!). She said I was like a shaken up soda can and the points she was picking would open me up and relieve some pressure. She also did something new that involved putting a sponge-like substance I think she called Moxy, on the various points and lighting them on fire with an incense stick. I'm either very trusting or very desperate. Probably a bit of both. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. I lay there letting the needles work their magic. She said I'd be done when the points around my skin didn't look red any more. It took a while. After that she flipped me over and did points on my feet, legs and head to relieve some stress.
She said my Yin is very low. I'm all Yang. I'm so Yang, I'm Christina. I got herbs to help strengthen my Yin and a meditation to help calm my brain before bedtime. I go back on Monday.
Then it was over to the room next door so D could work her magic. We always start out chatting and catching up a little but usually about halfway through I go into Zen mode and just relish being pampered. By the time she was done, my brain had actually turned off--I had no thoughts. I can't remember the last time that happened (please no jokes from the peanut gallery :).
It was a shame then, that I had to go out Monday evening and ruin all that lovely body work by playing our final softball game. This was a make up for one of our two rained out games the previous weeks. I actually called Mo to see if I could get out of it, but she said she needed me. The sound of the wind howling at high speed outside the patio window did not make the prospect any more pleasant.
But like most things that involve going outside in less than ideal weather, it wasn't as bad as I feared. Once I got warmed up, I even ditched my extra layer. A few sprinkles fell on our heads, but we had mostly dry weather with no serious wind gusts, although we were quick to blame any sketchy pitching on the wind. I ended up having a great time and to make it even better, we not only won the game, but completely shut out the other team. Take that with your fancy uniforms!
It's true that the other team sucked *really* hard--not even the guys could hit--but it's also true that we played the best we ever have and made hardly any errors. I had my best hit of the season--a satisfying smack that sent the ball sailing right over the second baseman's head--and also managed to sneak to first on a nicked ball that barely made it halfway to the pitcher. The guy who batted after me hit it so far, I had to run three bases at once. Probably why my legs hurt... Tim went ahead and hit a home run and had Liz barely scooting fast enough ahead of him. I caught a pop fly (my first) and got two other outs at second and first (not in the same play). The final score was something like 14/0. I'm glad we finally won one. It made the unreasonable soreness in my legs (it's only an hour game!), a bit more bearable.
Tuesday was a blur of school and house cleaning. I went on cat puke patrol, vacuumed the whole house and started laundry. We're getting ready for the Chuck invasion. Jess's dad is coming for a visit Friday-Tuesday. In addition to getting the house ready, I'm trying to get caught up on school work so I can help absorb the talking. We're hoping to get him and my dad together and see who talks more.
Wednesday my LRBC date canceled so I took it as a sign to get some more homework done, after spending the morning on a bit more cleaning. While I worked, Jess went tornado on the house, cleaning all three bathrooms and scrubbing the kitchen to a high shine. I was also scheduled to go ride horses Wednesday night but that was rescheduled as well. Peanut's owner had some concerns about me riding him in 3 team penning since we're both new to the sport. Totally understandable, but I was bummed I wouldn't get to ride him since he and I both love to run. I'll go at the end of the month and ride Ryo or Handsome--if I can get them to listen. Instead Jess and I ran some errands by bike and got hailed on briefly outside of Fred Meyer.
The rest of the week/end will be finishing my first major assignment in E-Commerce class and keeping Chuck entertained.
Monday, October 08, 2007
One Week
Dear Blog,
It's been over a week since my last real entry. Can I even remember what happened last week?
Monday: Wake up to the doorbell ringing at 9:00am. “Who's is ringing my doorbell this early? It rings again and it dawns on me. Fedex?
I run to the front bedroom window and look out. The big white truck is blocking my neighbor's driveway. I throw on a robe and run like a mad woman down the stairs, to the front door and yank it open.
“Hi!”
My delivery person is a woman and I'm pretty sure from the amused smile on her face that she A) knows what my package is and B) has been following my chain of thought. “I heard you,” she says, referring to my thumping down the stairs like herd of elephants. Without further torture, she hands over a pad, I sign it, and she gives me the box containing my shiny new Macbook Pro.
“Thanks,” I say, holding my robe closed.
I went back to bed, but the doorbell wasn't done with me. It rang again an hour later—post office package for Jess. By the third time I had already given up and gotten out of bed and was watching Battlestar Galactica. I wasn't expecting UPS and my girlfriend was at work which meant it couldn't be anyone I wanted to talk to. I went back to the upstairs window and waited to see who walked away. After a minute, two older women came into view, carrying pamphlets.
I was glad I trusted my instincts. I get annoyed at the best of times, by anyone who tries to convert me to their religion—but I think it's the height of rudeness to interrupt people in their homes to try to tell them who, what or how they should worship.
From there it was pretty much downhill. Other than moving my files and settings from my old Mac to my new one, not only did I get nothing done, but I was barely functional. I didn't feel like eating or drinking, so the inevitable headache showed up right on time and then I just felt crappy for the rest of the day. Total waste.
Tuesday I had class, which forced me to get up and be productive. The cleaners showed up at a ridiculously early hour, which they've never done before. Jess got called off work, so rather than stay home while they cleaned, she got up and rode to Cascade campus with me and we had breakfast in the cafeteria.
Thursday started out with me getting a flat on the way to school and Jess coming to rescue me. I took Tri-met to school and put Mr Tuffy liners into my tire when I fixed it. I much prefer the quiet, peaceful, point to point transfer of the school shuttle.
In the evening we had my old roommates Carrie & Davina over for dinner. The house was nice and clean and we finally had an excuse to extend the table into it's large configuration, with real place settings and a lovely looking (and tasting) spread of couscous salad, Mediterranean carrot salad, dolmas and vegan chocolate cake for dessert. The salad is one that Jess's friend Jessie (I know, too many Jesses!) made us when we went to her house for dinner. It's filled with things I supposedly don't like (zucchini, peas among others) and yet I couldn't stop eating it. Luckily she was happy to part with the recipe but this was our first time making it. It came out great. C & D are a little party shy so I knew that personally inviting the two of them to dinner was the only way to get them over to the house. We had a fabulous time though so maybe it'll be easier the next time. Carrie has possibly an even drier sense of humor than I do and she kept us in hysterics for most of the evening.
They also told us about Bob, a friend they met while traveling in southeast Asia last year. Bob caused another kind of hysterics when I finally got to see a picture of him this weekend. They met him in their hotel bathroom and once they saw him, they always wanted to know where he was. It's not like you could kill him. That would only heighten the trauma. Personally, I think Bob would've sent me on a one way search for the nearest airport.
Friday after a slow start, we decided to go out and be touristy on our own turf. This included riding down to the south waterfront
and taking the OHSU tram up to the top of the hill. We hung out on the balcony of the Kohler Pavillion enjoying the view and then we bombed down the hill at 30mph. We easily kept up with the cars so we could take the lane and the road was twisty enough to be exciting but mellow enough not to need much braking. I found out my three month Trimet pass is good for the Tram too so I'll probably go up and do it again at some point.
After that we took the MAX up to the Zoo for an official Zoobomb, which wasn't as steep or as fast as I remembered, but still fun. And we finished off with some drinking chocolate from Cacao, Drink Chocolate.
Jess worked all weekend so I spent the quiet time mostly studying. I seem to work best very late at night. I think it's because the world is mostly sleeping and I don't have the feeling that I'm missing something cool while I'm studying.
Sunday I got another random job, helping Carrie with backing up and cleaning up her computer. In exchange, she and Davina are giving what I like to call the 'double feature' acupuncture/massage treatment. I love bartering. I really should try to do more of it.
In the afternoon J came over for a study date. She worked on algebra which made me all nostalgic. I will probably remember math as one of the only good things from 2006. I made some progress on my first programming assignment.
And that was pretty much the week.
It's been over a week since my last real entry. Can I even remember what happened last week?
Monday: Wake up to the doorbell ringing at 9:00am. “Who's is ringing my doorbell this early? It rings again and it dawns on me. Fedex?
I run to the front bedroom window and look out. The big white truck is blocking my neighbor's driveway. I throw on a robe and run like a mad woman down the stairs, to the front door and yank it open.
“Hi!”
My delivery person is a woman and I'm pretty sure from the amused smile on her face that she A) knows what my package is and B) has been following my chain of thought. “I heard you,” she says, referring to my thumping down the stairs like herd of elephants. Without further torture, she hands over a pad, I sign it, and she gives me the box containing my shiny new Macbook Pro.
“Thanks,” I say, holding my robe closed.
I went back to bed, but the doorbell wasn't done with me. It rang again an hour later—post office package for Jess. By the third time I had already given up and gotten out of bed and was watching Battlestar Galactica. I wasn't expecting UPS and my girlfriend was at work which meant it couldn't be anyone I wanted to talk to. I went back to the upstairs window and waited to see who walked away. After a minute, two older women came into view, carrying pamphlets.
I was glad I trusted my instincts. I get annoyed at the best of times, by anyone who tries to convert me to their religion—but I think it's the height of rudeness to interrupt people in their homes to try to tell them who, what or how they should worship.
From there it was pretty much downhill. Other than moving my files and settings from my old Mac to my new one, not only did I get nothing done, but I was barely functional. I didn't feel like eating or drinking, so the inevitable headache showed up right on time and then I just felt crappy for the rest of the day. Total waste.
Tuesday I had class, which forced me to get up and be productive. The cleaners showed up at a ridiculously early hour, which they've never done before. Jess got called off work, so rather than stay home while they cleaned, she got up and rode to Cascade campus with me and we had breakfast in the cafeteria.
Thursday started out with me getting a flat on the way to school and Jess coming to rescue me. I took Tri-met to school and put Mr Tuffy liners into my tire when I fixed it. I much prefer the quiet, peaceful, point to point transfer of the school shuttle.
In the evening we had my old roommates Carrie & Davina over for dinner. The house was nice and clean and we finally had an excuse to extend the table into it's large configuration, with real place settings and a lovely looking (and tasting) spread of couscous salad, Mediterranean carrot salad, dolmas and vegan chocolate cake for dessert. The salad is one that Jess's friend Jessie (I know, too many Jesses!) made us when we went to her house for dinner. It's filled with things I supposedly don't like (zucchini, peas among others) and yet I couldn't stop eating it. Luckily she was happy to part with the recipe but this was our first time making it. It came out great. C & D are a little party shy so I knew that personally inviting the two of them to dinner was the only way to get them over to the house. We had a fabulous time though so maybe it'll be easier the next time. Carrie has possibly an even drier sense of humor than I do and she kept us in hysterics for most of the evening.
They also told us about Bob, a friend they met while traveling in southeast Asia last year. Bob caused another kind of hysterics when I finally got to see a picture of him this weekend. They met him in their hotel bathroom and once they saw him, they always wanted to know where he was. It's not like you could kill him. That would only heighten the trauma. Personally, I think Bob would've sent me on a one way search for the nearest airport.Friday after a slow start, we decided to go out and be touristy on our own turf. This included riding down to the south waterfront
and taking the OHSU tram up to the top of the hill. We hung out on the balcony of the Kohler Pavillion enjoying the view and then we bombed down the hill at 30mph. We easily kept up with the cars so we could take the lane and the road was twisty enough to be exciting but mellow enough not to need much braking. I found out my three month Trimet pass is good for the Tram too so I'll probably go up and do it again at some point. After that we took the MAX up to the Zoo for an official Zoobomb, which wasn't as steep or as fast as I remembered, but still fun. And we finished off with some drinking chocolate from Cacao, Drink Chocolate.
Jess worked all weekend so I spent the quiet time mostly studying. I seem to work best very late at night. I think it's because the world is mostly sleeping and I don't have the feeling that I'm missing something cool while I'm studying.
Sunday I got another random job, helping Carrie with backing up and cleaning up her computer. In exchange, she and Davina are giving what I like to call the 'double feature' acupuncture/massage treatment. I love bartering. I really should try to do more of it.
In the afternoon J came over for a study date. She worked on algebra which made me all nostalgic. I will probably remember math as one of the only good things from 2006. I made some progress on my first programming assignment.
And that was pretty much the week.
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