Monday, June 23, 2008
Interesting story
So I sort of have a crush on Becky Hammon. Have since she played at Colorado State and saw her play against the Beavers. It's kind of weird to say you have a crush on a WNBA player because of all the connotations of female pro athletes being lesbians and/or mannish. Anyways, I saw this story on her, and thought it was pretty interesting. Apparently, she's playing for the Russian national team in the Olympics. Anyways, check it out....I'd be interested to hear anyone's opinion on it.
The upside of a baby who doesn't sleep well
There is a good side to Jonah's sleepless nights. Since I'm only getting sleep in a few hour stints, I have more dreams, and I remember them better. In different dreams last night, one of my co-workers was my chauffeur, I was a college football player for Bucknell, I was able to find a Ford Bronco II exactly like the one that I had in high school before it was totalled only to get in a wreck and total it on the way home from the lot, and I was a ninja defending my grandparents house from a roving band of Mongols. That one was my favorite because I was the kind of ninja that could fly like in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Of couse there is a downside to sleeping in two to three hour shifts. I freaking exhausted and staring eight hours of not so fun work in the face.
Rachel decided that we've been too lackadaisical about dinners lately, and that deciding what to eat at the last minute was not a good idea. Now we have weekly schedules, and it's awesome. Gives me something to look forward to. Now, instead of us both getting home and going "I dunno what I want, let's just have grilled cheese." or "well, fish sticks are easy, let's do that," we're forced to plan out meals. Last night we had buffalo burgers. Tonight it's turkey bratwurst, and tomorrow is chicken quesadillas. I love it, and I don't even mind the extra prep time at dinner, because I feel like I have to cook whatever it is because it's on the schedule. Not that I cook every night. Don't think that, because it's not true.
We replanted our front lawn a few months ago. It looks pretty good in most places, but around the edges it's a bit patchy. I tried putting down some more seed the other day, but I'm not very optimistic that it's going to fill out because it's not supposed to rain for the next week at least, and I can't water it during the day due to work. Guess I'll do the best I can and see what happens. I guess I could always put more seed down in the fall. I can tell you this though....I do not have a green thumb. I think it's more of a brownish color.
A couple weekends ago I went golfing and did relatively well. I felt like "hey, if I play a few more times, maybe I can significantly lower my score and compete with my friends." All of my friends (that enjoy playing golf) are significantly better than me. So I went to the driving range on Friday to practice. It was like I'd never played in my life. I was awful. Golf is a frustrating game.
My favorite songs of the moment are "Hip Hop Saved my Life" by Lupe Fiasco, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, and "Waking up in Vegas" by Katy Perry. All of these songs can be found in the playlist on my page. Check 'em out.
Of couse there is a downside to sleeping in two to three hour shifts. I freaking exhausted and staring eight hours of not so fun work in the face.
Rachel decided that we've been too lackadaisical about dinners lately, and that deciding what to eat at the last minute was not a good idea. Now we have weekly schedules, and it's awesome. Gives me something to look forward to. Now, instead of us both getting home and going "I dunno what I want, let's just have grilled cheese." or "well, fish sticks are easy, let's do that," we're forced to plan out meals. Last night we had buffalo burgers. Tonight it's turkey bratwurst, and tomorrow is chicken quesadillas. I love it, and I don't even mind the extra prep time at dinner, because I feel like I have to cook whatever it is because it's on the schedule. Not that I cook every night. Don't think that, because it's not true.
We replanted our front lawn a few months ago. It looks pretty good in most places, but around the edges it's a bit patchy. I tried putting down some more seed the other day, but I'm not very optimistic that it's going to fill out because it's not supposed to rain for the next week at least, and I can't water it during the day due to work. Guess I'll do the best I can and see what happens. I guess I could always put more seed down in the fall. I can tell you this though....I do not have a green thumb. I think it's more of a brownish color.
A couple weekends ago I went golfing and did relatively well. I felt like "hey, if I play a few more times, maybe I can significantly lower my score and compete with my friends." All of my friends (that enjoy playing golf) are significantly better than me. So I went to the driving range on Friday to practice. It was like I'd never played in my life. I was awful. Golf is a frustrating game.
My favorite songs of the moment are "Hip Hop Saved my Life" by Lupe Fiasco, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, and "Waking up in Vegas" by Katy Perry. All of these songs can be found in the playlist on my page. Check 'em out.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
More lunch angst
The hits never stop coming here in Corvallis.
As a thank you for our hard work and exemplary behavior during the trustee meetings last week, the Foundation sprung for pizza for the entire office for lunch today. Great right?
Oh, you are so wrong.
We have some sort of agreement with American Dream so they supply pizza to all our lunches in which pizza is the food of choice. Nothing wrong with that, I love American Dream pizza. For those of you who don't know the Dream, it's very popular here in Corvallis with the hippy/liberal segment of the population. I guess it's popular with everyone, but they definitely cater to that demographic. Obama's decision to eat lunch there when he cruised through town was no coincidence.
Anyways, whenever we order pizza from this place, whomever does the ordering feels the need to be trendy. We ordered 18 pizzas today, not one of which was pepperoni. None were cheese pizzas, none were hawaiian. There were some with pepperoni on them, but they also had artichokes, olives, and feta cheese.
I realize that there are people who enjoy pizza with roma tomoatoes, kalamata olives, artichoke, and roasted eggplant on them. But you'd think that they'd realize that in an office of nearly 100 people, there's a few that like traditional pizza. They'd throw us a bone and one of the 18 would not have gorgonzola or smoked gouda.
I don't think I can explain how frustrating this is to me. I realize I'm complaining about a free lunch, but c'mon. Do you even know what "fresh arugula" is? I don't. I don't want it on my pizza. I want ham and pineapple. I want pepperoni and sausage. I'll even concede for some garlic chicken.
ARGH!
As a thank you for our hard work and exemplary behavior during the trustee meetings last week, the Foundation sprung for pizza for the entire office for lunch today. Great right?
Oh, you are so wrong.
We have some sort of agreement with American Dream so they supply pizza to all our lunches in which pizza is the food of choice. Nothing wrong with that, I love American Dream pizza. For those of you who don't know the Dream, it's very popular here in Corvallis with the hippy/liberal segment of the population. I guess it's popular with everyone, but they definitely cater to that demographic. Obama's decision to eat lunch there when he cruised through town was no coincidence.
Anyways, whenever we order pizza from this place, whomever does the ordering feels the need to be trendy. We ordered 18 pizzas today, not one of which was pepperoni. None were cheese pizzas, none were hawaiian. There were some with pepperoni on them, but they also had artichokes, olives, and feta cheese.
I realize that there are people who enjoy pizza with roma tomoatoes, kalamata olives, artichoke, and roasted eggplant on them. But you'd think that they'd realize that in an office of nearly 100 people, there's a few that like traditional pizza. They'd throw us a bone and one of the 18 would not have gorgonzola or smoked gouda.
I don't think I can explain how frustrating this is to me. I realize I'm complaining about a free lunch, but c'mon. Do you even know what "fresh arugula" is? I don't. I don't want it on my pizza. I want ham and pineapple. I want pepperoni and sausage. I'll even concede for some garlic chicken.
ARGH!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Just let me eat my lunch!
One of my biggest pet peeves is people who feel the need to express their opinion for no reason other than to insult someone's beliefs and/or posessions. Telling the bride that her wedding would've been better if she'd picked better colors for instance. Or telling someone who had just scratched together enough money to buy their first home that their neighborhood sucks. There's no point in doing these things. There is a time and place to speak your mind, and telling someone you think they made a bad choice when they are not soliciting your opinion and it is obvious that they disagree is just plain ignorant.
Today I'm in the lunchroom heating up my Lean Pocket for lunch. I'd been looking forward to it all day. Few things during a normal work day give me as much pleasure as a ham n' cheese Lean Pocket cooked in a microwave for two minutes and fifteen seconds. As I'm preparing said meal, a coworker looks over at me and says "Lean Pocket, eh?" I say "you betcha Lean Pocket, they're delicious!" He then proceeds to tell me some story about how he bought a huge box of them at Costco, hates them, and has been trying to get rid of them forever without throwing them away. "As soon as the last one's gone, I'm never buying another Lean Pocket again," he says.
Another coworker hears this, and goes into this story about how she heard a comedian do a bit on Lean Pockets. "It was hilarious," she says. "He kept talking about the horrible things they did to his digestive system! I was crying I was laughing so hard! I know I'll never eat a Lean Pocket."
I know that both of these individuals heard me talk about how much I enjoyed eating a Lean Pocket. They both knew I was heating one up as they ridiculed and insulted the very thing I intended to consume as soon as I could extract it from its handy little warming sleeve.
Sadly, I was born without the confrontation gene. Because I get angry so infrequently, I'm not very good at it. My anger tends to boil at the wrong times. I've been known to shrug off being dumped, passed over for a position I deserve and being taken advantage of, while getting irrationally irate at things like a remote control not working or someone ordering a pizza without the toppings I like. This usually leads to me being laughed at.
So I bit my tongue and let these inconsiderate people bash my meal. I'll have to settle for retribution in the form of the people who read this laughing at these anonymous offenders and hope that in the future people with more balls than I have will tell such people that they are inconsiderate, self involved pricks who can take their opinions and suck 'em.
ARGH!
Today I'm in the lunchroom heating up my Lean Pocket for lunch. I'd been looking forward to it all day. Few things during a normal work day give me as much pleasure as a ham n' cheese Lean Pocket cooked in a microwave for two minutes and fifteen seconds. As I'm preparing said meal, a coworker looks over at me and says "Lean Pocket, eh?" I say "you betcha Lean Pocket, they're delicious!" He then proceeds to tell me some story about how he bought a huge box of them at Costco, hates them, and has been trying to get rid of them forever without throwing them away. "As soon as the last one's gone, I'm never buying another Lean Pocket again," he says.
Another coworker hears this, and goes into this story about how she heard a comedian do a bit on Lean Pockets. "It was hilarious," she says. "He kept talking about the horrible things they did to his digestive system! I was crying I was laughing so hard! I know I'll never eat a Lean Pocket."
I know that both of these individuals heard me talk about how much I enjoyed eating a Lean Pocket. They both knew I was heating one up as they ridiculed and insulted the very thing I intended to consume as soon as I could extract it from its handy little warming sleeve.
Sadly, I was born without the confrontation gene. Because I get angry so infrequently, I'm not very good at it. My anger tends to boil at the wrong times. I've been known to shrug off being dumped, passed over for a position I deserve and being taken advantage of, while getting irrationally irate at things like a remote control not working or someone ordering a pizza without the toppings I like. This usually leads to me being laughed at.
So I bit my tongue and let these inconsiderate people bash my meal. I'll have to settle for retribution in the form of the people who read this laughing at these anonymous offenders and hope that in the future people with more balls than I have will tell such people that they are inconsiderate, self involved pricks who can take their opinions and suck 'em.
ARGH!
Monday, June 9, 2008
Spending a weekend in the middle of nowhere
These days, if you're in an area with no cell phone range, you're in a pretty remote area. My sister lives in such an area. The place is Wildhorse Canyon, a Young Life camp outside of Antelope, Oregon. Antelope gained national prominence in the '80's thanks to the Rajneeshee movement. After the Rajneesh was kicked out of the US and his followers disbanded, the property they inhabited was sold and subsequently donated to Young Life for development of this camp. It's a pretty amazing place. Put it this way, it's 64,000 acres and you'd be hard pressed to find it without directions. Actually, you'd be hard pressed to find it with directions.
Colin, Grant and I made a trip out to visit Erin this weekend. We left Friday night and everything was going smoothly until we got to Antelope. There, the directions said "go through Antelope and take the first right on Cold Creek Road (about 3 miles) and take a left onto One Muddy Road" Well, that's to some roads with no signs, we came to an intersection at the very end of Antelope. Grant tells me that this must be Cold Creek Road because we're through Antelope, so we take a right and go three miles to One Muddy Road. Sounds good to me.
17 miles later we realized this was probably not the way we should have gone. Turns out that Cold Creek Road was 3 miles past Antelope. So there was some ambiguity in the directions, I wouldn't fully blame Grant. However, a 45 minute detour on an already 4 hour drive was not really fun.
The weekend was cool. Erin has worked out there for 3 full years, and before that was a summer worker for 4 summers, so she's kind of a big deal out there. We did all the fun camp things, including a 3 person swing in which they crank you up about 60 feet in the air and then just drop you and let you swing out over a creek bed. Basically if you haven't found God before you get on this thing, you'll find him about the time you start free falling out over nothing. There was also a zip line into a lake that will give you hypothermia if you stay in too long, and a "blob" which is hard to describe, but basically it's a half full giant airbag in the lake. One person sits on one end of the blob while another person jumps off a 17.5 foot tower onto the other end, thus launching the first person into the air. Kinda fun, but also slightly painful if you don't hit the blob or the water right.
We had a campfire, played frisbee golf, soccer, basketball and had a carnival one night, complete with ring toss, jousting, knocking milk jugs off a stand with a softball and popping balloons with darts. We also hiked up a hill called Communication, which is a huge misnomer because the hike is straight up and you can't communicate with anyone because it sucks the life right out you as you go up. Or maybe that was just me. Anyways, I'm freaking exhausted, and now I'm supposed to work a full work week? Bring it.
Colin, Grant and I made a trip out to visit Erin this weekend. We left Friday night and everything was going smoothly until we got to Antelope. There, the directions said "go through Antelope and take the first right on Cold Creek Road (about 3 miles) and take a left onto One Muddy Road" Well, that's to some roads with no signs, we came to an intersection at the very end of Antelope. Grant tells me that this must be Cold Creek Road because we're through Antelope, so we take a right and go three miles to One Muddy Road. Sounds good to me.
17 miles later we realized this was probably not the way we should have gone. Turns out that Cold Creek Road was 3 miles past Antelope. So there was some ambiguity in the directions, I wouldn't fully blame Grant. However, a 45 minute detour on an already 4 hour drive was not really fun.
The weekend was cool. Erin has worked out there for 3 full years, and before that was a summer worker for 4 summers, so she's kind of a big deal out there. We did all the fun camp things, including a 3 person swing in which they crank you up about 60 feet in the air and then just drop you and let you swing out over a creek bed. Basically if you haven't found God before you get on this thing, you'll find him about the time you start free falling out over nothing. There was also a zip line into a lake that will give you hypothermia if you stay in too long, and a "blob" which is hard to describe, but basically it's a half full giant airbag in the lake. One person sits on one end of the blob while another person jumps off a 17.5 foot tower onto the other end, thus launching the first person into the air. Kinda fun, but also slightly painful if you don't hit the blob or the water right.
We had a campfire, played frisbee golf, soccer, basketball and had a carnival one night, complete with ring toss, jousting, knocking milk jugs off a stand with a softball and popping balloons with darts. We also hiked up a hill called Communication, which is a huge misnomer because the hike is straight up and you can't communicate with anyone because it sucks the life right out you as you go up. Or maybe that was just me. Anyways, I'm freaking exhausted, and now I'm supposed to work a full work week? Bring it.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Blog slacking
My rate of posting has gone down dramatically lately. Does it have anything to do with having a child? Probably. Does it have more to do with me just not really wanting to do it? Most likely. However, I've noticed that I'm less than 500 views from 10,000 on this here bloggy, so I'm hopping back on the saddle. I've got a purpose again.
Being the parent is all about milestones. You're always looking forward to the next rung on the ladder. First you wait for them to start babbling. As soon as they start babbling, you look forward to them rolling over from their stomach to their back. After that, you eagerly await their first back to front flip. Then it's sitting up on their own. That's where we are now. Jonah's mastered all of the previous steps (along with turing himself 90 degrees in his sleep so that his legs stick out between the slats in his crib and blowing snot bubbles the size of small water balloons) so now we wait for him crawl. This is a scary one, because soon he'll be mobile. Gone will be the days of setting him in the middle of the living room and running to the bathroom. We have to baby-proof everything. That bottle of Dran-o under the sink is about to become a level orange threat. But of course it will also be exciting because then we're looking forward to the walking/talking phase of our little man's life.
If I had to grade my parenting skills thus far, I'd give myself a solid B-. I haven't made any major mistakes (dropping the kid, putting vodka in his bottle, letting him lay out in the sun on a 90 degree day). I'm not ready to give myself a gold medal either. Today I put Jonah in his jammies before Rachel got home, thinking she'd be impressed that I got him fed, changed and in bed before 7:30. She was impressed....impressed that I put him in the jammies he peed all over the night before. Like I said....solid B-.
In other news, given the dearth of quality tv on during the summer, I've been catching up on some old movies. O Brother Where Art Thou just jumped into my top 5 favorite movies. George Clooney is fantastic in that movie. He also jumped into my top 5 guys I'd like to be, along with LeBron James, Will Smith, Usain Bolt (c'mon, like you wouldn't like to run 100 meters in 9.72 seconds) and Jared from Subway. That guy made millions eating sandwiches. Think about it.
Other movies I'd recommend are Secondhand Lions, The Towering Inferno, Angels in the Outfield (the original 1951 version) and Field of Dreams....still my favorite movie of all time. While we were in Wisconsin, we took a trip to visit the field, which is still standing in Iowa. I'd recommend going in late August or September, when there's actually corn. The field isn't the same with no corn fence. Still very very cool though.
If I'm ever wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death, my last meal will be hawaiian pizza and a 12 pack of Pepsi. Let's hope this never happens.
Today was the first time in my life that I've ever worried about gas prices. Seriously. Never affected me at all until today. I paid over $50 to fill up my tank today. Then Rachel brought up the point that I'm driving to Antelope, OR this weekend, we're driving to Portland next weekend, she's driving back to Portland that Tuesday to pick up her mom at the airport, we have a wedding in Portland the weekend after that, we have to take her mom back to the Airport, and then we're driving to the airport ourselves on July 3rd to fly to San Francisco. Add in driving to work and the fact that gas will probably increase between now and July 4th and I'm guessing we'll spend almost $500 in gas in the next month. That's close to double what we normally spend.
Speaking of oil, someone needs to explain something to me - people always get pissed that we're in this war that's all about oil. Yet these same people are pissed about the price of oil in this country. If we're fighting to gain control of the oil, doesn't it stand to reason that we'd pay less for it? I am by no means a market analyst, but that makes sense to me. *Disclaimer* I'm not supporting the idea of invading countries to get natural resources we don't have in this country. Please don't think I'm a war monger. I'm not. Just giving you all something to think about.
I don't think it matters one bit what McCain and Obama say in their upcoming debates. How they say it is going to determine the presidency. And how Obama says what he says is going to make him the next president. He could say he's in favor of increasing taxes, euthanizing the unemployed, and deporting left-handers and he'd still get elected. By the time he's done speaking, you'd be saying "you know, that Obama feller has a point about leftys. I never did have a good feeling about them."
Yes, I know Barry's a lefty. So's McCain. I'm just sayin'.
Being the parent is all about milestones. You're always looking forward to the next rung on the ladder. First you wait for them to start babbling. As soon as they start babbling, you look forward to them rolling over from their stomach to their back. After that, you eagerly await their first back to front flip. Then it's sitting up on their own. That's where we are now. Jonah's mastered all of the previous steps (along with turing himself 90 degrees in his sleep so that his legs stick out between the slats in his crib and blowing snot bubbles the size of small water balloons) so now we wait for him crawl. This is a scary one, because soon he'll be mobile. Gone will be the days of setting him in the middle of the living room and running to the bathroom. We have to baby-proof everything. That bottle of Dran-o under the sink is about to become a level orange threat. But of course it will also be exciting because then we're looking forward to the walking/talking phase of our little man's life.
If I had to grade my parenting skills thus far, I'd give myself a solid B-. I haven't made any major mistakes (dropping the kid, putting vodka in his bottle, letting him lay out in the sun on a 90 degree day). I'm not ready to give myself a gold medal either. Today I put Jonah in his jammies before Rachel got home, thinking she'd be impressed that I got him fed, changed and in bed before 7:30. She was impressed....impressed that I put him in the jammies he peed all over the night before. Like I said....solid B-.
In other news, given the dearth of quality tv on during the summer, I've been catching up on some old movies. O Brother Where Art Thou just jumped into my top 5 favorite movies. George Clooney is fantastic in that movie. He also jumped into my top 5 guys I'd like to be, along with LeBron James, Will Smith, Usain Bolt (c'mon, like you wouldn't like to run 100 meters in 9.72 seconds) and Jared from Subway. That guy made millions eating sandwiches. Think about it.
Other movies I'd recommend are Secondhand Lions, The Towering Inferno, Angels in the Outfield (the original 1951 version) and Field of Dreams....still my favorite movie of all time. While we were in Wisconsin, we took a trip to visit the field, which is still standing in Iowa. I'd recommend going in late August or September, when there's actually corn. The field isn't the same with no corn fence. Still very very cool though.
If I'm ever wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death, my last meal will be hawaiian pizza and a 12 pack of Pepsi. Let's hope this never happens.
Today was the first time in my life that I've ever worried about gas prices. Seriously. Never affected me at all until today. I paid over $50 to fill up my tank today. Then Rachel brought up the point that I'm driving to Antelope, OR this weekend, we're driving to Portland next weekend, she's driving back to Portland that Tuesday to pick up her mom at the airport, we have a wedding in Portland the weekend after that, we have to take her mom back to the Airport, and then we're driving to the airport ourselves on July 3rd to fly to San Francisco. Add in driving to work and the fact that gas will probably increase between now and July 4th and I'm guessing we'll spend almost $500 in gas in the next month. That's close to double what we normally spend.
Speaking of oil, someone needs to explain something to me - people always get pissed that we're in this war that's all about oil. Yet these same people are pissed about the price of oil in this country. If we're fighting to gain control of the oil, doesn't it stand to reason that we'd pay less for it? I am by no means a market analyst, but that makes sense to me. *Disclaimer* I'm not supporting the idea of invading countries to get natural resources we don't have in this country. Please don't think I'm a war monger. I'm not. Just giving you all something to think about.
I don't think it matters one bit what McCain and Obama say in their upcoming debates. How they say it is going to determine the presidency. And how Obama says what he says is going to make him the next president. He could say he's in favor of increasing taxes, euthanizing the unemployed, and deporting left-handers and he'd still get elected. By the time he's done speaking, you'd be saying "you know, that Obama feller has a point about leftys. I never did have a good feeling about them."
Yes, I know Barry's a lefty. So's McCain. I'm just sayin'.
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