I'll let the title speak for itself...
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Ok, that having been said, I don't anticipate there being any coherent theme to this particular post. But, I promise that if you make it all the way through, you'll be rewarded by a particularly amusing Oliver update (since I know that's why most of you read this blog anyway) :)
First up, we went to Portland for Christmas!!! This opportunity presented itself solely because my employer out of the kindness of their hearts, closed the entire office for a full week. Mandatory vacation. Seriously? Yep. Seriously. --And, sorry to all of you in P-town that I couldn't fit into my trip this time around, promise you get priority scheduling rights for the next trip :)
Here is a semi-alphabetical list of why I love Portland (letters omitted because, well, it's my list and I felt like it):
A) Always knowing exactly where I am. For once I get to know more then Tim does about directions.
B) Bridges. The Fremont to be exact. I've seen lots of bridges in lots of places, but I still think this one is my favorite.
C) Crystal. Yep you made the list!
D) Dockside Saloon. And not just because it's where they found the infamous garbage which blew open the Nancy Kerrigan "clubing" case. But, because my old friends own and operate it. Mom, Jimmy, Tim, myself and Ninon met up there for brunch and a re-hashing of childhood stories. Good times. (long live long neck john).
E) Elephant's Deli potato and sausage frittata. Mouth watering right now as I type this.
F) Family. OMG my nieces are sooooo big!
G) Grandma's lemon cupcakes. These were a childhood staple for all five of us. Grandma passed 16 (?) years ago, but I got a hold of the recipe (because I'm kind of a super hero), and I had a nice frosted plate of them sitting on the counter Christmas morning. Disguised as regular cupcakes of course. Priceless.
H) Hood. Beautiful beautiful Mt. Hood.
K) Katie. Yep, you're on here too.
L) Let It Bead. Another favorite shop. And I should mention that I'm pretty impressed that after not stopping in for three years the owner still recognized me.
M) MAX. After putting up with the DC subway system, and San Francisco's lame excuse for metro, I have a whole new appreciation for Portland's public transportation system.
P) Powell's. Powell's. Powell's. Need I say more?
R) Rain. Always have loved the rain, and the fact that it poured the entire time we were there didn't ruin a thing.
S) Stumptown espresso. So good, that I now justify spending $17 for them to ship it to me here in San Francisco.
S etc.) Sara. Because you need to be on the list too.
T) Tavern and Pool. One of the lesser frequented McMenamin's bars. I'll keep going back...even though they changed their chowder recipe.
U) Uncle's Christmas Wrapping. Every year is interesting, but this year he outdid himself. All of our Nike boxes were wrapped inside University of Oregon Ducks t-shirts!
Oh, and here's one reason (possibly the only reason) why I hate Portland. PIGEONS. I was walking to the MAX stop to catch the Red line out to Gresham to visit Brenda, minding my own damn business. A pigeon flew into my face. Let me say that again: A PIDGEON FLEW INTO MY FACE. True story. I can now say with complete truthfulness that I have been accosted by a pigeon (and feathers don't taste very good). It's ok if you laugh at this.
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Second up. New Years resolutions. I didn't make any this year. Though an undocumented, continual resolution is to actually work out more. I hit 30 last year, and apparently that's the magic age for your metabolism to crap out on you. My jeans don't fit. This is unacceptable. I also hate the gym, which is also unacceptable if you are attempting to make your jeans fit again. Do you know what has made me love the gym now? Food Network. Or rather the treadmills equipped with cable television at the YMCA up the street. we don't have cable because we don't need an additional excuse to sit around the house, so I never get to watch my favorite shows. There has to be something wrong with the fact that my motivator to work out is so that I can watch shows like Cupcake Wars, and Ace of Cakes while on the treadmill.
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Third on the list. And, speaking of eating...I read "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer. I won't give an in depth review because I did that over here on my other blog. But lets just say that its one of the most impacting books I've ever read.
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Fourth on the list. The California Lottery rocks. Remember a few weeks ago when the Mega Millions jackpot was up to like $340 million? Well, I too walked a block down the road to the local 7-eleven to buy a ticket, and as it turned out also a pint of Ben and Jerry's, but that's beside the point. I checked my ticket that night and was pleased to find that I had matched three of the five white balls (1 in 306 odds). Pleased that I had won anything at all I placed the ticket back in my wallet where it sat for two weeks forgotten. Seven dollars is seven dollars, but not worth a special trip to the convenience store. Well, apparently the California lotto works a little differently. It's the only state with a pari-mutuel payout. Hugh? In English, what that means is that the individual payouts are based off of number of tickets purchased and number of winnings. Since everyone and their mother bought tickets for this drawing my $7 ticket turned into $118. Thanks California Lottery for buying our tickets to Body Worlds Vitals (showing at the San Jose Tech museum) and our nice steak dinner last weekend.
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And lastly, because I promised that if you got through this random post that you would be rewarded by a special Oliver update. It's not a picture folks, it's a video!
I got an i-Pad for Christmas. There are apps for EVERYTHING, and as I found out the other night, also apps for CATS. Clearly, I couldn't pass that up. So here you go, a video of Oliver playing with his app.
In case you couldn't tell, it's a ping pong ball, and his nose is what's making it bounce around the screen. I didn't think the cat could get dumber. Clearly I was wrong.
