Fun with camping/road trip food. (Really!)

The eight-day road trip was pretty successful, food-wise and overall.  Who knew that gluten, potato, and grain/cheese intolerance on the road could be so easy?  (Of course, it helped that we packed two full grocery bags and a cooler before heading out.)  Here's a quick summary of how we did it...

We started and ended with coffee, bacon and eggs at local diners.  The starting breakfast was much more satisfying than the end.

Cricket Cafe - Day One

Drift Inn (Yachats) - Day Eight

(Although my four-cheese omelette was disappointing, with just a clump of cheese slapped between an egg tortilla of sorts, and the service there is absolutely terrible, I will give it to the Drift Inn - Patrick's spinach/feta frittata was pretty good, dinner the night before was delicious, their food is fresh, and I got to choose polenta over toast/biscuits at breakfast.  This reminder has inspired several polenta dishes recently and I can't wait to explore more of this wonderful food-I-can-eat.  Polenta croutons are next on the list.  As with any breakfast I handed those potatoes over as soon as she set the plate down though.)

And OH MY GOD if you are ever in Yachats go to the Green Salmon and get a cup of their Melitta filtered house coffee.  I don't care if you don't like coffee - just do it. 

Otherwise, camp breakfast was coffee, oatmeal, and whatever additions we felt like that morning: dried cranberries, honey, peanut butter, dried bananas, fresh peaches, slivered almonds, flax and chia seeds were all viable options.  Honey and peanut butter were always chosen.  Good to know that a container of quick cook steel cut oats from Trader Joe's and a bag of Peet's were just the right amount for the week.  Note to self: next time bring cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice!

about 3 minutes before I spilled my coffee the last morning

Road snacks and lunch consisted mostly of rice cakes/peanut butter, Whole Foods Spanish mix, Trader Joe's plantain chips/cheese, and lots of dried and fresh fruit.  However! One simple peanut and safflower oil treat Patrick found in Crescent City inspired me to check Fritos (my road trip weakness) to see if they were safe - AND THEY ARE!  And Trader Joe's has a Frito imitation chip that's way less greasy than the name brand!  All of this information made me very happy.  These peanut poofs made me happy too.

 thank you, Israel!

Dinner was just delicious.  Every single bite, every single night.  And so easy (thanks in part to heavy duty aluminum foil - sorry environment, I make up for it every other day of the year).  The night before we left I made a big batch of quinoa for me and couscous for Patrick, with just a little olive oil and salt and pepper, and this lasted us four days in the cooler and served as the base for the first several dinners.

I also brought along a freezer bag full of spice jars (the basics like rosemary, parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes, plus a few surprises), and we tried to vary the produce with each meal (except for corn, which we ate at every opportunity).  Protein at each meal included either salami, soy curls or fresh fish we picked up that day. 

corn, brussel sprouts, salami, quinoa/couscous

corn, asparagus, snapper, quinoa/couscous

zucchini, carrots, snapper/cod

 fresh oysters - four each gave us a week's worth of iron!
or something ridiculous like that

 precooked brown rice, canned black beans, farmer's market tomatoes, salami

 eggplant, mushrooms, bean threads, soy curls, garam masala

We only ate out a few times...  Once in Brookings when we were really craving a burger but the "best burger joint on the coast" was closed, so we agreed to hit Dick's Kitchen when we were back in Portland and settled on the DoLittle Cafe for a Cobb salad w/oil and vinegar for me, BLAT for him.

Once in Bandon to try the infamous Tony's Crab Shack fish tacos...

pretty good, but not *the best* I've ever had

And dinner and the aforementioned breakfast at the Drift Inn in Yachats.

dungeness crab salad for me

dungeness crab and artichoke bake for him

Dessert was usually peanut butter with dark chocolate (Trader Joe's to the rescue again, with their dark chocolate peanut butter cups).  Except when it was peanut butter fudge, dark chocolate fudge, or some combination of the two.

And yes, there was wine and whiskey involved.  Back in the day Franzia {shudder barf} used to be the only wine-in-a-box option.  Recently I've definitely seen an upswing in the variety of boxed wine at the grocery stores, and since we got back we've leaned toward that because they do seem more eco-friendly.  (And we're not super picky about wine.)  (And we are cheap... er, frugal.)

Bandit and Bota Box wines are surprisingly good.  Black Box, on the other hand, not so good.  And the box is shiny so we couldn't burn it in the campfire.  I didn't stoop to Columbia Crest or any of the other crap I wouldn't buy bottled either, so I have no opinion on those.

You do have to be careful with these boxes though.  There's no way to monitor how much you're drinking unless you count refills, and after a few refills who counts refills?  Not that I learned this from experience or anything.  Really, I didn't.  I'm just supposing.

neither Bandit nor Bota Box -

I had two glasses

So...  After all this, I had only one minor issue, and I think that was the cole slaw from Tony's Crab Shack.  (Not that it was bad - but I think there was some vegetable gum in the dressing or something.)  And even that was fairly painless.  Pretty amazing, and a really good reinforcement of what fresh food can do for you.

Well, fresh food charred with carcinogens and paired with wine in a box, I suppose.

Let's just keep going.

wrapping up road trip
with whiskey and Long Way Down
not a good idea

File under: owwwww.

oh stomach issues
how i have soooo not missed you
let me count the ways

Belated Friday five.

 

I think we're gonna need a bigger grill

Five things I have recently done with an abundance of suburban house-sitting zucchini, in no particular order:

• Buckwheat zucchini bread.  (I subbed sorghum flour - my new favorite flour! - for AP flour.)  Due to the aforementioned abundance of zucchini, we've tried numerous variations on this recipe, including muffins instead of loaf bread, subbing mashed banana for applesauce, adding currants, adding dark chocolate chips and walnuts.  It's BREAD THAT I CAN EAT (!) and I can't complain about any of it, although I lean less toward the currants and more toward the dark chocolate chips and walnuts.  But it's really alllll good and I will happily eat the currant muffins tomorrow morning.
• Zucchini bread with chocolate chips.  As much as I wanted to love this recipe, it was only good when compared to the above recipe.  To be fair, it could be that I used sorghum flour for the almond flour.  But we are still enjoying the leftovers of this too.
• Zucchini cakes.  At first I thought this was actual cake and I got very excited.  Upon reading the recipe one evening I realized it was a breakfast thing, so we tried it... twice... and it was good, but not something I would make if I didn't have an abundance of zucchini on hand.  Don't skimp on the dill and salt the zucchini for a good half hour before embarking upon this one.
  
  
  
• Stuffed zucchini with tomatoes and mozzarella.  O. M. G.  So tasty.  So. Tasty.
• Grilled zucchini. I can't believe there are actual recipes for this.  I mean, you just slice it, throw it on the grill and enjoy.  Who really needs a recipe for that?

I miss that Weber

I ate bread, and it was OK. And then it wasn't OK.

It's been about eight weeks since I started my potato-free, wheat-free, no-dairy-plus-grains adventure.  Other than occasional memory lapses, I've committed wholeheartedly to the diet.  I just feel so great, why wouldn't I?  (Although I still have zero energy where running is concerned... frustrating.)

Wednesday night we cashed in our 2-for-1 Chinook Book coupon for the Oregon Culinary Institute.  Their motto is "Training Kitchen Ninjas"; more fitting might be "Training Tattooed Hipsters"... but whatevs.  I'd been once before and had a great experience, so I checked the menu last week, verified that it seemed mostly safe, and reserved a table for their fixed price 4-course dinner.

And then the night came.  We were celebrating. I was weak.  (I miss bread.)  I was also experimenting a bit - maybe now that my system is happy, a little indulgence would be OK? 

It was a good lesson.  And a fantastic meal as well.

All I have to say about the starter is this:  whoever decided that speck ham and peaches were a perfect pair should be the next president. 

grilled speck ham wrapped peach, 

 flageolet bean fritters with calabrian chili aioli

Well, maybe that's not all I have to say about the starter.  The peaches melted in your mouth, and the salty/sweet combo was wonderful.  The bean fritters (what I should not have eaten, exhibit A) were quite tasty too, although the aioli was a bit too creamy or oily - we couldn't decide which.  For the record, I only had a tiny taste of the fritters.

Next up: salads.  And what I should not have eaten, exhibit B.

salads of arugula and fennel, summer greens with figs
... and that darned bread

 
in addition to learning that I need to stick to this diet, 

I also learned that I need more figs in my life

The tender figs in the salad were bursting with flavor and paired deliciously with the olives and other vegetables.  My arugula and fennel salad was bright and spicy.

In total I probably ate about a piece of that bread, breaking off little chunks at a time and eating lots of "me-friendly" food in between.  It was good, but it wasn't that good.  Not good enough to scrap eight weeks of progress.

sauteed salmon with sweet corn, chanterelles and bacon

grilled carleton farms pork chop with speck ham and roasted veggies

The salmon was pretty basic, but the pork chop was possibly the highlight of the evening.  Sorry, pigs, but it was a ham, bacon and pork chop kind of meal.  (Notice the lack of reference to "what I should not have eaten" here.  Ha!)

Maybe this is common in fancier restaurants or with fixed price meals, but I loved that there was no rice, no grains, no pasta - just meat and vegetables.  Simple, healthy, how food should be.

creme brulee and caramel nut tart

And for dessert, I planned to just try the caramel nut part of the tart and ended up eating half of the tart shell too (what I should not have eaten, exhibit C).  It was tasty, the whole cream ice cream was tasty, the creme brulee was tasty...  And I should not have eaten any of it in that combination.  Just the creme brulee or ice cream would've been fine, I think.

This was the point where I resigned myself to the forthcoming pain.  Oddly, it hit me about 16 hours later, instead of the usual four.  But it hit me hard, and lasted quite a while.

Which is not to say that I won't eat bread again. 

But it's going to have to be some pretty damn good bread.

Belated Saturday HOTD.

backyard picnic
followed by hammock nap...
suburbs could be worse

Eau d'suburbia.

lawns and dogs and flags
soccer moms and cul de sacs
and miles of long roads

hour plus commute
coupled with 9-9 work week
is quite exhausting

yes the bus ride sucks
but reading two whole chapters
almost compensates

after a week here
arcade fire's album now
makes a lot more sense

“Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”

So yeah, I watched Julie and Julia a few weeks ago.  Mostly for Meryl - god bless that woman, she is amazing - but also because of all this homemade DIY cooking I've been doing lately, and also because I've been on a "books about writing" kick so I thought I would change it up a little and watch a movie about writing (among other things)... And also because it just happened to be at the library one day a few weeks ago.  God bless the Multnomah County Library too, while I'm at it.

As expected, Amy Adams got on my nerves (I can never tell, is it her, her characters or a little of both?) but like Julia, "Julie" had some gusto.  Some real drive.  Over 500 recipes in just one year?  That trumps my 90-haikus-in-a-quarter project by a long shot.  (But who's counting?)  I was happy when she finished her last recipe.  And I wondered if, after that endeavor, she went back to life as usual - or did she embark upon a whole new crazy adventure?

I'm sure Wikipedia would have an answer but I honestly don't like her enough to look it up.  I do, however, associate with the soul-killing office job and the need to create and achieve and feel fulfilled outside of office hours.

I'm not sure how to best manifest this in my own personal life right now.  DIY food, cardmaking, reading, writing are all fun but time-consuming (and sometimes expensive).  By the time I get home, do some sort of exercise and eat, it's 9pm.  My spring chicken days of staying up past midnight and getting up at 6am are long gone.  And right now we are housesitting in suburbia, which means a much longer commute and housesitting duties like watering the beautiful garden that provides our dinner each night and spending hours and hours petting the adorable kitteh.

 

beautiful garden that provides our dinner each night

 

adorable kitteh

Rough life, I know, but I have even less time for time-consuming activities.  So for now, I bide my cubeland hours and work on Plan B.

And while I'm doing that, I watch the sunset.

Can you see the sunset real good on the West side?
You can see it on the East side too.

Thank you, lady who blocked the intersection as the light turned red and I started to cross the street.

really amazing
how your heartfelt "i'm sorry"
turned ire into calm

(File under: and I'm not being sarcastic.)

"Sounds efficient." Indeed.

forms in triplicate
same question answered ten times
lather rinse repeat

Backpacking menu.

Dinner, night one:
- reheated black eyed peas, zucchini with spices, salami

eaten with a spork, of course!

- Dagoba chocolate bar with Justin's peanut butter (so backpacker-friendly!)
- Pendleton whiskey in Mr Flask
- Bandit wine (so backpacker-friendly!)

Breakfast, day two:
- coffee
- oatmeal with Trader Joe's dried cranberries and vacuum fried bananas (which reconstitute nicely, turns out!)

Five-turned-ten hour hike snacking:
- Trader Joe's dried plantain chips
- aforementioned trail mix bars
- rice cakes with Justin's peanut butter
- Spanish mix from Whole Foods (our pantry is never without these days)
- Cost Plus mini sausages (really gross if you actually think about them, but so tasty)

Dinner, night two:
- see Dinner, night one

the usual suspects getting into the wine

- ginger tea


Breakfast, day three:
- see Breakfast, day two

All in all, not much prep work and plenty of sustenance for the three hour tour... I mean, 10 hour hike... on Saturday.  And no tummy issues.  Win win!

Want. Comfort. Food.

And thus begins the TMI portion of this post.

It seems inhumane that I should be denied gooey, warm, doughy pizza whilst enduring a sinus infection and the early signs of PMS.  But I guess this is my fate.  I've never been one for chocolate, really, but dark chocolate and peanut butter it is tonight.  Along with a screening of Julie and Julia.

And thus ends the TMI portion of this post.

So far so good, otherwise.  I've managed to stick to the foods I can eat, remember the separation of grain and dairy, and enjoy some delicious indulgences...

U-Pick berrypallooza

... a lovely raw meal at Blossoming Lotus on Sunday evening...

walnut pizza crust and cashew "cheese" - soooo delicious

followed by a wonderful tofu/quinoa dish and walnut falafel

and ending with me-friendly pecan pie

 
... and a delicious walnut banana pancake concoction on Sunday morning.  Must get that recipe.

I've also been inspired to make my own almond and coconut milk, since the store-bought variety contains Vitamin A Palmitate and various other bad-for-me things.  (Links are more complicated than the recipes I actually used - which just included soaking almonds/coconut overnight and blending with water, which turned out perfectly sweet on their own - but I'm dying to mix in cinnamon, vanilla and dates to see how that changes the flavor.)  And kale chips!  Six dollars at the farmer's market?  Pshhaw.

Who knew this could be so easy and so very delicious?  Well, I do and now you do. 

I have to say, between the whole milk, whole yogurt, whole cheese and all these nuts I will gain 874 pounds on this endeavor, but dammit, it will be worth it.

Kinda sorta like the Regal Beagle Larry. Only not at all.

I don't think I've mentioned Larry yet.

You may or may not know that about two years ago, I got hit by a taxi in Buenos Aires.  Nothing was broken but a lot of my left side was bruised and damaged from the incident.  When I got back to Portland I didn't have a job right away so I spent about $1000 of uninsured cash on acupuncture, and by the time I was insured I was still hurting but I found a wonderful chiropractor who healed me for a few weeks at a time.  At that point I was also suffering tension headaches from staring at a computer screen all day, and from sitting all day.

A few weeks ago my naturopath recommended that I get an appointment with Larry, teller of awful jokes.  Really awful jokes, she insisted.  Really, really awful - because he would hurt me so good, and telling really bad jokes was his way of distracting from the pain.  She alleged that Larry, who did not take my insurance, would fix me in one visit.  She also recommended another coworker of hers who would fix me and might take my insurance, but it would take a few visits. 

I resisted for a week.  I liked my chiropractor a lot, he seemed to get me, he got the issues I was having and he relieved them on a temporary basis.  But when I went back to my naturopath to have my food intolerance and other lab tests done, I'd been having chronic shoulder pain for a few months in addition to all the other back pain.  Larry had an opening the next day.  Which was, apparently, unheard of.  And I'd gotten to the point where I said to myself, "holy *&$% , you're 37, could you just accept a little help on this already?"

So I sucked up the cost and hopped on the chance.  I even went to my appointment prepared with a good bad joke from PIC to share with Larry - "a rabbi, a priest and a penguin go into a bar - the bartender says, 'what is this, a joke?'" ba dum bum.

Within 5 minutes of meeting Larry the next morning, I was dubious.  Whereas my naturopath spent about an hour with me on my first visit, questioning every single issue/habit/ritual/food I put into my body/family history, Larry literally watched me walk into his office and diagnosed me on the spot.  He didn't ask any questions.  ANY.  As far as I know he didn't even read my medical history to know about my taxi incident.  But he immediately knew that my entire left side was damaged, and he got to work.

An hour later I walked out feeling better but still dubious.  Larry had given me a great PT workout, stretching and working parts of me I didn't know needed stretching and working.  But when we were done, I asked about a follow up appointment or stretches or anything I should do to keep on with the healing.  He said, "just move."  Really.  That's all he said. I was seriously thinking I'd wasted my money.

The next day I barely felt any twinges of what had been plaguing me for months.

Three weeks later, after regular but small bouts of running and regularly hiking and walking whenever possible, I basically still feel no pain.

I will never doubt alternative medicine again.  It's not for everyone, and surely you've got to find your groove, but once you do, I doubt you will go back.

Gluten- and potato-free carb loading?

With this new low-carb-ish diet, one thing I do wonder about is exercise.  About a year ago I ran a half-marathon and was training to run Hood to Coast.  For the past few weeks I've barely been able to do a few laps around the local park without getting tired and out of breath.  A few miles into the 5-mile hike on July 4th, and my leg muscles were tired and achy.  This morning's 3-ish mile hike required a mid-afternoon nap.  (Granted, it's bloody hot in Portland right now, which isn't helping either.)

Bars and Gu and loads of pasta helped with all that running.  Obviously, that's not really an option now.

It's been pretty frustrating.  I know that my body is adjusting to the new food routine and that there are a myriad of other ways I can get carbs and find the energy to run.  We did try some delicious trail mix bars this morning on the hike (with dark chocolate instead of milk, of course), and Lundberg rice cakes with peanut butter are my new favorite snack. 

But with everything else I have to think about, that just feels like one more thing right now...  Patience patience patience.  

Belated Friday five.

Five foods I can eat!  In no particular order:

• Zucchini shredded into "pasta" strands with soy curls, ricotta cheese and arugula pesto
  
  
  
• Mashed, spiced strawberries and rice granola
  
  
  
• Hard boiled egg salad with toasted pecans, bacon and homemade bleu cheese dressing (subbing Vegenaise for mayo and strained plain yogurt for sour cream)
  
  
  
• Blackberry and basil smoothies
  
  
  
• Pear and pecan salad with bacon and the aforementioned homemade bleu cheese dressing, with ginger beer in celebratory champagne glasses - because, hey, why not?
  
  
  

One day I will get tired of bacon.  Today was not that day.

Not even close to Wednesday three.

Three questions I'm tired of answering in response to my food intolerance, in no particular order:

• "What's in it?"
• "Jeez, why are so many people gluten intolerant now?" 
•  "Aw, so no more cookies?"

(The last two would be totally valid questions if they weren't uttered in a disgusted, unsympathetic way.)

And my answers, respectively:

• This is a question I ask myself about almost everything I eat right now.  I am tired of hearing myself ask it, no matter how good I feel.  Because inevitably it's something I really want to eat but there is something in "it" that I shouldn't eat - case in point, peanut sauce yesterday at the sushi restaurant.  We didn't even ask, mainly because I wasn't too sure how accurate the answer would be, so I just enjoyed the veggie roll without delicious peanut sauce or soy sauce.  This too shall pass (patience patience patience).
• "Because there is no food in our food."  This is not some trendy Portland thing.  My general health over the last few weeks is testimony to that.  My theory on the increase in symptomatic people, after trolling the internet for the past few weeks for information and recipes, is that many people are intolerant to potato, gluten, corn, dairy, you name it... but modern medicine can't diagnose it.  A regular doctor might give a food allergy test but this wouldn't identify intolerance per se, just things that make you swell up and/or die if you eat them.  And why are we intolerant to all of these things?  Because we've spent a century eating processed crap and fast food.  I recently watched a documentary on diabetics who went on a 30 day raw diet and almost all of them were able to go off their insulin.  That's insane to me.  And the more people identify their food intolerances successfully through non-western means, the more other people go to naturopaths for relief. 
• "You want delicious cookies?  Learn how to bake."  I also got this question the last time I quit my job, and this was my answer then too.  In all seriousness though, there are yummy treats I can still eat, but I still love to bake and baking gluten-filled sugary goodness takes less effort (and cash) sometimes.  So yes, I will still bake. 

I suppose I shouldn't complain too much though.  Because this is still new to me, I initiate or instigate many of these conversations, so as soon as I get tired of talking about it I'll stop having to answer the questions.  Patience patience patience.

I need a modified V-chip.

Did I mention no grain + dairy within 4 hours?

D'oh.  Or duh.

Pretty sure the reason I felt crappy yesterday was the yogurt and me-friendly granola.  The reason I felt a little crappy this evening was the cheese and me-friendly crackers.

I'm trying not to feel defeated.  Really, I'm trying.  But I'm sad again.  I was so excited to find granola I could eat, crackers I could eat.  I forgot the combo part. 

But - beets and greens and walnuts and goat cheese?  Fine!  Pesto and turkey meatballs and spaghetti squash?  Fine!  (I {heart} spaghetti squash - I actually just did a little dance thinking about pesto and spaghetti squash.)  Strawberries and me-friendly granola?  Fine!

Until I get in the habit, though, if I could just get a short shock every time I think "me-friendly" means I can eat it with whatever, that would be great.  Can someone hook me up?

In the meantime I'll just keep eating lots and lots of bacon.

Whiskey is fine. Something else, not so fine.

Currently on day 7 of this adventure.  I can't believe how fine I've felt.  It's been a bit disorienting, actually, waking up in the morning really ready to face the day.  I'm trying not to be sad with all the time I've lost feeling crappy.

I've confirmed that whiskey is fine (hooray!), and trace amounts of iodized salt in peanut butter and Earth Balance butter are fine (double hooray!  or the other hooray around).  In the last few days PIC and I have spent lots of time in grocery stores reading labels.  It's both informational and time-consuming, and has led to several results that have made me very happy:

• actual rice cakes (that have no wheat or potato) and peanut butter as dinner on Friday
• Mary's Gone Crackers crackers that I can eat with whole milk cheese 
• quinoa pasta that was awesome with some leftover pesto
• and lots of obvious choices of fresh fruits, veggies, and whole milk dairy products

And several results that have made me sad:

• "natural flavors" are in EV. ERY. THING - do you know how hard it is to avoid "natural flavors"?  what the hell is a "natural flavor" anyway?
• yeast (that I should not consume) is in Bundaberg Ginger Beer, our staple in New Zealand that I was so excited to recently find in Portland
• and in general, I can't believe all the processed crap that's in the food I once ate

PIC and I have also spent lots of time reading recipes, and carefully following them, or carefully modifying them to not include wheat and potato, and up until today I have felt amazing.  So that's all good.


But today was the first day I felt crappy.  Really, utterly, like-before crappy.

I'm really not sure of the cause - we had very-me-friendly huevos rancheros (with allegedly me-friendly corn tortillas that I had with no problem yesterday) this morning, then yogurt/fruit/(allegedly) gluten-potato-free-granola for lunch, then greens and black eyed peas and bacon for dinner, with some me-friendly crackers and cheese in between.

But sometime between morning and lunch I started feeling crappy.  Perhaps it was something in the salsa with breakfast?  It seemed OK, other than the iodized salt and possible trace amounts of "natural flavors".  And then for some time after lunch I felt really crappy too.  Perhaps the granola wasn't as me-friendly as it claimed to be? 

I really don't know the cause.  I do know that after about 6 hours and a dinner of greens, black eyed peas and bacon, I feel much better.  I guess I'll just have to try the salsa and granola in silos and see what happens.

This is going to be a lot of work.  Mentally, physically and emotionally.  But after a week of feeling good, I'm up for it...  Thank goodness it's a short week.

I predict a lot of salads in my future.

Day 4 of feeling great - so far, so good.  I had a momentary panic about figuring out where to go to lunch today to celebrate something with a coworker, but then my smart partner in crime reminded me that sushi is fine.  So the coworker and I enjoyed a lovely sushi lunch in the park.  And last night after wandering around adult night at the local children's museum slightly tipsy and starving, PIC and I discovered a delicious rice chip type concoction which blew me away. 

Fake meat is not okay (sadness = no more 'chicken' salad from DC Vegetarian, no more Morningstar 'chicken' nuggets, no more tofurkey sandwiches).  But real turkey is good, and I secretly really love turkey. 

I ate half the package of turkey last night
(not eating carbs makes one pretty hungry!)

I also not-so-secretly love bacon which is totally fine.  Coffee is fine, whole milk cheese is fine, Breyer's ice cream is fine and as I already mentioned, wine is fine.  The jury is still out on whiskey, but I'm giving it a try tonight just to see what happens.  (So far, so good.)

But yes.  A lot of salad in my future.  Three cheers for Portland summer farmer's markets!

Lots and lots of tots. And then there were none.

Operation Get Healthy began with a naturopathic appointment to assess fatigue and chronic stomach pain a few weeks ago, a potato and gluten intolerance diagnosis on Thursday (plus no dairy within 4 hours of grains - I KNOW, right??), followed immediately by a blow-out gluten, potato and dairy/grain-filled weekend in homage to all the food I will not be eating for the next month while I try this diet out to see if it helps.

so long, tots... you will be missed -

but bacon? luckily, you got the green light

In addition to lots and lots of tots, there was Ken's Artisan Pizza (Bay Area peeps, think woodfire oven + Arizmendi) AND homemade woodfire oven pizza (not our woodfire oven, sadly but obviously), beer, egg tortillas, enchiladas and chips/salsa, and lord only knows what else.

There were also lots of vitamins and minerals: gluten and potato-free B complex (special order only), two times the fish oil, four times the vitamin D, cordyceps mushrooms for "frolicking" (doctor's words), thyroidinium 4CH drops for energy, and mineral replenishment via calc fluor cell salt "until it stops tasting good" (doctor's words).

this is just for the morning -
I'm gonna need one of those weekly pill boxes

After the blowout weekend, Monday morning I especially felt like crap.  A great way to start the experiment!  (I should probably note at this point that the doctor recommended this, in so many words - she is really wanting commitment and encouraged me to get it all out before starting the diet full force.)

I started Day 1 checking labels on everything and narrowing down my options.  Breakfast was a kale/spinach/peanut butter/West Soy soy milk smoothie (soooo good, trust me on this), lunch was plain black beans and rice, afternoon snack was Trader Joe's dried mango and dinner was a beet/tomato/goat cheese/walnut salad.  And wine.  Wine is OK, did I mention that?  THANK GOD, wine is OK.

as seen in Everyday Living, best $5 investment I've made all year

Monday night I made it through the Mountain Goats concert without yawning too much, and this morning I woke up without an ache in my gut for the first time in... I can't even remember.

Let me reiterate that last point.  I've read and heard stories about chronic pain, where people just live with it for years thinking this is how life will be, and one day they are relieved of said pain and it's like they've been given a whole new life.

I'm not saying I've begun a whole new life.  I'm just saying that this morning I woke up without an ache in my gut, and I can't remember the last time that happened, and I smiled. All day today I was very aware of having no pain.  It was interesting, and it made me happy and sad all at the same time.

Food today included an egg scramble of sorts this morning, yogurt/fruit/almonds for lunch, an apple for a snack (note to self: take a jar of peanut butter to work), homemade parsley hummus and veggies pre-run, and another beet salad type meal for dinner post-run.  And wine.  Of course. 

beet greens, stems, cumin/cinnamon walnuts, goat cheese... and wine - YAY wine

Something in the vitamin/mineral concoction made me a bit hyper-sensory today so I have a call in about that (I suspect it's just my brain adjusting), but gut-wise I still feel fine.  Totally fine.

Honestly, I don't think anyone I know, not even those closest to me, has any idea of the extent of my chronic discomfort over the years.  I'm excited to see what the next few weeks bring.  I hope for lots more energy - and lots of interesting new recipes!

Or three glasses. And a little help.

be crafty: part one
an old atlas, some photos
and a glass of wine

Summertime, when the 3Q goals are easy.

We're not quite at the end of 2Q but it's close enough.  To sum up the last 3 months:

• laugh more - check (helps when you live with someone who comes up with "a priest, a rabbi and a penguin walk into a bar - the bartender says, "what is this, a JOKE?"")
• cook more - check
• spend more time outside - check... enjoying the local scenery with lots of walks home from work, lots of running in the park and cemetery (is that rude? I can't decide, it's just so peaceful and pretty)
• anything on The List - not quite yet 

And a week early, I bring you the next 3 months:

• practice patience
• get healthy
• be crafty
• anything on The List

The first was developed after the aforementioned volunteer training.  I have a seriously low tolerance for people who monopolize conversations, think the rules everyone else follows do not apply to them, and have little or no respect for others.  Not only do I have a low tolerance, I have a non-existent poker face and no brain-mouth filter in these situations.  This is a problem in general.  I need to work on it.

The second is from a recent possible diagnosis of gluten, potato and combo-grain-and-dairy intolerance.  Did you know that potato is in everything?  EV. ERY. THING.  Including low-fat everything, which goes against the habits I've developed over the last ten years.  On the plus side, I now have a license to eat full-fat yogurt and drink whole milk; on the minus side, I need to build in an extra 20 minutes for each run.  I'm a bit sad about it but I'm trying to treat it as a fun experiment, at least for the next four weeks while I try it out and see if I feel better.  Worst case scenario?  I develop the most kick-ass recipe for gluten free soy cheese pizza this side of the Mississippi...!

The third is because every time I am crafty, I have a lot of fun. Period the end.

The unspoken goal is to blog more during my food intolerance experiment.  I've run across interesting and helpful blogs on food intolerance in other random searches, and I hope to be able to post some supportive experiences, interesting recipes and/or helpful information for the next diagnose-e. 

And here... we...  go!

Which leads me to 3Q goals.

class for volunteers
way too many know-it-alls
shut up already

spending two full days
with twenty chatty cathys
makes me crave silence

it's true what they say
patience is a virtue but
so is common sense

don't understand how
you have something in response
to everything said

A case of the Tuesdays.

waffling between
wanting recognition and
not giving a shit

not sure what is worse
working nine plus hours or
mandatory fun

At least I was productive.

oh, insomnia
how have i soooooo not missed you
let me count the ways

Picking up where I left off.

Hello, Spring! (Well, "Portland Spring," which of course means it snowhailrained on all the blooming daffodils and crocuses today.)

I have neglected these quarterly goals for a few months. A few months plus an entire quarter, in fact. There have been reasons, mostly good ones too, and I'm fine with my neglect. But it's time to get back on the horse. So to sum up the last (almost) six months:

• write something, anything, every single day - I am certain that I did this, although I cannot vouch for the quality of anything produced outside of work-related writing
  
• reduce my energy bill by $3 every month - November's was lower, I didn't pay attention to December's, and starting in January I cut my energy bill in half, so: check!
  
• re-establish my gym routine - since October I've been eating better, cooking more, and getting various types of exercise but I think I've realized that the gym is BORING and running is BORING so I'm investigating alternatives... all my clothes are still too big though
• anything on The List! - get published: check! New Zealand: check!
  

2Q2012 goals, coming to you a few weeks early, are notably less quantifiable but just as important as any other goals I've developed. Each one is inspired by special people in my life and I hope to be able to report back on success in three-point-five months.

• laugh more
  
• cook more
  
• spend more time outside
  
• anything on The List! I missed #11 again, darn it, but #12 and #30 are looking pretty good... and I finally fixed that pesky #16
  

And here... we... go!

Despite the 2.5 hours of work I put in tonight...

"you have a great life!"
(comment on recent pictures)
i have to agree

My favorite new set change pasttime.

(title: because i (sometimes have been known to) actually DANCE at shows)

portland hipster crowd
i have some important news
i'm cooler than you

(title: a gentle reminder)

present open fun
every single bloody day
lather rinse repeat

(title: thank you for the perspective, electro-pop drummer who screamed this before launching into an Animal-inspired drum intro to a song)

best quote heard this week
"life fucking RULES, am i right??!"
yes, you are so right

________________
The last is brought to you by the drummer from Sun Angles, who opened for Brainstorm last night. After a particularly awful day I begrudgingly dragged myself out just to see Brainstorm. Entry was $5, beer was less than that, I'd seen them before, I knew they were fun and I knew I needed that. I ended up in a wonderful mood.

Both bands are AH MAY ZING live but their recorded stuff is not nearly as interesting, so get out and see them if you can.

And yeah, this life thing? It FUCKING RULES. We are all very lucky, so be sure to live it.

Can I get the icon in cornflower blue?

never a good sign
monday pour on a thursday
tgtif

And crossword puzzles, and pizza, and whiskey...

best birthday ever
rain - wind - sun - hike - beach - sand - snow
thank you, universe

One step closer to Ludditeville, USA.

it's quite challenging
not letting technology
get the best of me

Odes to LA.

snowing this morning
got sunburned this afternoon
air travel is weird

i don't like the mall
but even worse than the mall
is the so cal mall

he won't stop talking
OMGSTFU
god i hate people

punk kids come inside
and pump hand sanitizer
i've seen everything

Friday five.

Lots of interesting "lasts" have happened - or are about to happen - this week. Here are five, in no particular order:

• Last time I will take a moon photo from my stoop.
• Last time I will hear my neighbor hack up a lung at 6am.
• Last time it will take five minutes to walk to Fred.
• Last time I will pay Comcast any more of my money for the foreseeable future.
• Last time with the crazies on the bus ride in, and last time for the free MAX ride home.

And many more to come. Change is good.

I'll take "option C" for 200, Alex.

a wise man once said

"hate the game, not the player"

… i don't like either

Friday five.

I attended my first Festivus party this year and listened to many of the guests air their grievances.  It was amusing and I meant to put together my own list at some point this month...  But truth be told, I don't have a lot of grievances right now, especially not with people I interact with regularly (which is what I think you're supposed to focus on). 

Far be it from me to shirk silly traditions, though.  Over the past week five things did occur to me, and so I bring you five grievances in no particular order:

• the fact that "bi-monthly" can mean "twice a month" OR "every other month"
• people who cancel meeting invitations after the meeting date/time has already occurred and they've already verbally cancelled the meeting
• email confirmations that confirm your request to unsubscribe from email notifications (followed closely by email unsubscribe requests that "may take up to 2 weeks to process" - really? it's THE INTERNET!)
  
• sub-par cookies in the break room
  
• the fine print that no one ever reads, that says you can't use both Groupon coupons for yourself if you purchase two at the same time

So yeah, that's pretty much it. 

Here's to a 2012 filled with exciting changes, adventures and good times - and an even shorter grievance list!  Cheers, friends.

I need a harder list.

I'm going to go on the official record and cross off #31. It's work-related and technically, I published it, but it means I can add professional writing to my resume and that's really all that matters to me.

Next up: #27! Five weeks and counting...

Belated Friday five.

A roundup of five bands I saw (or didn't) this month, in chronological order, begins now. Hold on to your hats!

December's musicpalooza started with Mumford & Sons. The music was amazing as expected, but it was at an arena, the light show was ridiculous (who are you, the Stones?) and the section where we sat bounced. And not in a Crystal Ballroom fun kind of way - more of an "um is this really safe?" way. I can say that I saw them, but I have much better memories of sitting on my couch in my pajamas streaming their various live performances. (Now get off my lawn?)

The next show was my absolute favorite show all year, as I've previously alluded. Astounding energy, great crowd, great venue. Before Time to Pretend, there was this song. And it was good. I will officially follow them to the ends of the earth. As long as the show is in Portland.

I'd halfheartedly gotten tickets to The Joy Formidable and Grouplove the following night but honestly, after the Dandy Warhols, my partner in crime and I were not in the mood. We stayed for a few songs and then spared our ears from the rest.

Finished up with last night's AgesandAges show at the Doug Fir. Always a good time. Always.

Really excited to check out some of this stuff next year. Musicpalooza 2012, here I come...

There is much internet controversy about the last five syllables.

i am pretty sure
this work thing is for the birds
(the really dumb birds)

And then some days, you're the bug...

i know yesterday
cutting and pasting was fun
not so much today

And I've seen a LOT of shows this year.

going on record
the dandy warhols last night?
best show of the year

That run-on sentence in bullet #2 doesn't really suck, either.

Five things that didn't suck today, because it was that kind of day, in no particular order:

• Cranberry roll fake turkey real cheese sandwich with multi-grain tortilla chips. (Yes, I just blogged about what I had for lunch. Sorry, Maggie.)
• Overhearing the boss say "oh wait she's still here let me ask" as I was shutting down at 5:25pm, cursing (not entirely... okay, not at all) under my breath, then learning that the question was to verify that my vacation hours should roll over to next year instead of to ask me about something else I need to do ASAP before I left or the world would end.
• Inside jokes in crowded elevators.
• An impending 5 mile run. (Ed. note: make that 3... but at a 7mph pace to make up for it.)
• Eight-point-five weeks until New Zealand!

Early Wednesday three.

News you can use times three, in no particular order:

• MMMhop, ba duba dop, ba du bop, ba duba dop, ba du bop, ba duba dop, ba du...
• Kermit is a commie! Story at 11.*
• Oregon is AWESOME, in case you weren't aware.
  

________________
* And my one run-on sentence review of The Muppets: I want to watch it again (and again) on DVD so I can fast forward through all the Amy Adams/Ms Piggy crap and enjoy everything else a second time, especially "mee mee mee mo!" (for which I might have to put in a ringtone request).

When it's time to change, you've got to rearrange...

thin walls, loud neighbors,
foreigner, billy ocean -
i will not miss you

The most exciting haikus you will read all day!

(really! i mean it!
okay, that was sarcastic...
consider ye warned)

no more leftovers
excited to get back to
plain old sandwiches

good news this morning:
creepy bus driver's "last day"
(on route or on job?)

silly stupid brain
yoga could not shut it up
maybe wine will help

"It's just we're putting new coversheets on all the TPS reports before they go out now."

after a weekend
of wanderlust discussions
monday really sucked

world heritage sites
are more fun to contemplate
than project planning

________________
Alternate subject: "Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements."

Bah humbug.

not happy about
christmas music already
can't they wait three days?

At least it was a local shop...

"buy nothing day" fail:
waterproof camera sale
how could i resist?

I can't believe I never thought of this.

things that make my day:
grilled peanut butter sandwich
with bacon, of course

Sorta late Friday five.

Five bands that rounded out November's musicpalooza, in no particular order:

• John Wesley Harding and the King Charles Trio - I would've loved more in his solo acoustic set, but it was really nice to see the other Decemberists get lost in some basic, old school rock. It looked like they were having a blast.
  
• We Were Promised Jetpacks -loud and tight, just like last time. Not loud but pretty amazing here.
  
• Bryan John Appleby - high quality sleepy indie pop. (Check out The Words of the Revelator especially.)
  
• Hey Marseilles - yes, again, and they were brilliant this time too.
• Noah and the Whale - SO. MUCH. FUN.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled evenings in... until December musicpalooza, anyway.

They had me at "starring Ryan Gosling."

Crazy, Stupid, Love. - It was like American Beauty, only funny... and with better cameos.

And don't get me started on "jeggings."

i don't get fashion
when did we stop wearing pants?
can we start again?

He's also very helpful.

things that make my day:
the eastern european
responding, "groovy"

Occupy my soggy socks.

for a rainy town
there are a lot of puddles
drainage 2012!

winter in portland
when i abandon all hope
for a good hair day

I did not write these during a rather irrelevant meeting. I didn't.

best part of my day?
realizing that new zealand
is ten weeks away

funny thing, this life
everything for a reason
noted, Universe

next aventura
follows sixteen months of work
... need to make that twelve

I hope his apology was begrudgingly delivered.

somehow i don't think
that mario batalli
will lose all that much

Halloween is just another day in Portland.

is it a costume
or just a dirty hipster?
really hard to tell

But who won the football game?

one week, no facebook
biggest realization?
don't miss it at all

"You are very likely thinking I’ve lost my mind by now and you may not be terribly far off."

I decided to try these as a reward for some people working really hard this week. It was quite the production, indeed, and I wasn't totally pleased with the results (in my opinion, they were good but not the WOW I had hoped for - but I expected that since I let the dough sit in the refrigerator longer than I'd wanted to).

But, they were gone in 60 seconds and several people requested the recipe. I'd call that a success.

a world of yum

Purchased!

It made my day.

Time out.

highly recommend
good beer(s), good band* and park swings
on a wednesday night

________________
* Black Prairie played free shows every Wednesday this month, and a month ago I was really excited about that. Then life happened and I missed them all. But seeing as how last night was their last show, I finally got organized about it and dragged a friend along. We sat in the back corner where we could hear well enough but avoid the mass of humanity in the other room.

Good music, and Jenny Conlee was actually there which was awesome. But the best moment was during a music break; I was waiting behind Chris Funk at the bar and some woman asked us to move so that she could get water from the jug. Chris politely extended his hand for her glass to help her out, and she cradled the glass and edged around us. He looked at me and said something about her being serious about sanitation.

If you know who either of these people are, then I probably don't have to explain that Chris could have sneezed on my food and I would've happily eaten it. As it was, I could barely crack a smile. I WAS STANDING BEHIND CHRIS FUNK! IN A TINY BAR!

I love Portland.

Oh, and probably another eight on Saturday.

seventy nine in
another eight on Friday
... job security?

Pre-Wednesday three.

Three amazing things I learned about today, in no particular order:

• Trent Reznor is ready to let go of the steering wheel.
• I hope it's a musical.
• Why I will never go to a haunted house, exhibit #9.
  

Need to start paying attention again.

i had no idea
such atrocities occurred
thank you dave eggers

Occupy Portland, Day 15.

tempting... but no thanks

I walk by this park every day on my way from the bus to the office. Sometimes someone is screaming into a megaphone. Other times a drum circle is surrounded by people dancing. Once in a while it's quiet.

The protest signs range from clever ("bros before CEOs!") to angry ("to hell with wall street!") to snarky ("keep shopping, everything is fine!") to I-have-no-idea-how-it-relates ("this is 100% recycled material," "Oregon is killing its senior citizens").

The park smells funny and soon it will start to rain again.

On the up side, a friend was telling me that she was at her (behemoth) bank yesterday and witnessed several people closing their accounts. She then went to take care of some business at her local credit union and changed her mind because the line was out the door.

Baby steps.

Bank changes aside, I haven't quite figured out what actions I need to take in support of all of this. The homeless problem is rampant here and that seems like the obvious place to devote some free time... but this is Portland, where people line up months in advance for volunteer opportunities. And also I'm getting old and complacent so I may just resort to giving money to local shelters and other community-building establishments. I have been shopping and eating local like crazy the last few weeks though.

But whatever the outcome? Sorry, Oakland and Berkeley friends, but our protest has THE BEST acronym. Army with harmony!

I love that "corpse in an elevator" has become a plot keyword.

Last Sunday I was thrilled to see Attack the Block on the marquee at the local $4 theater. I'd been eying this since hearing that it involved various people who were also involved with Shaun of the Dead and related movies that I didn't like as much but still laughed at. And what with Halloween almost upon us, I had to keep up my string of recent campy blood-and-guts monster flicks.

I was entertained, but not wowed as I'd hoped to be. The social justice angle seemed a bit forced and the stoner angle was tired. But the blood-and-guts action was spot on, and really, that's all that matters as far as these films are concerned.

Right? Who's with me?

(Um... I also clapped after Sin City and I couldn't stop grinning after Grindhouse. And I love that "corpse in an elevator" has become a plot keyword. Do I need help?)

Wednesday three.

The best thing about no Facebook has been that I've managed to catch up on the bazillion items in my google reader subscription list. I know, I know - I've traded one time sink for another. But seriously, does Facebook have gems like these:

• "The glass is half full, you know why? Because someone bumped my arm, and now half of my drink is gone!" (from here)
• the cutest monkey EVAH!
• poor T-Rex (I feel his pain, I always lost the "shotgun!" game too)
  

?? I ask you!

________________
And also, OMG this is going to be an HBO series? If only Alan Ball was in charge...

And also, sweet.

Public service announcement for Spotify users.

You can find a brilliant version of "District Sleeps Alone Tonight" by Frank Turner on Spotify. It's raw and rough and it's how that song should have been recorded in the first place. (No offense, Ben Gibbard, this is just imho.)

Search for it. Do it NOW.

(Please. Also, please let me know your Spotify "name"? I am still figuring this thing out but I did subscribe to the $5/month service for a trial run.)

I saw Frank Turner and his band Saturday night and it was an amazing show. He's been dubbed "the Billy Bragg of our generation," and while I wouldn't go that far, it's not a terrible comparison. Some politics, some history, some really good love (and anti-love) songs. He's only 30 so his lyrics are a bit immature, and I mean that in the nicest way. This song (and cutest video EVER!) and this one are my current faves.

Andrew Jackson Jihad opened. They were very fun as well...

Almost halfway to a Friday five.

Five reasons I deactivated my Facebook account, in no particular order except for maybe the last most important reason:

• I recently heard a "futurist" speak about the future of social networking (as well as advances in research that had people moving objects with their minds - WITH. THEIR. MINDS!!) and it was so terrifying, it made me want to buy a cabin in the woods and never, ever come out of hiding.
  
• If you aren't reading this here blog right now, I don't really care that your baby rolled over for the first time, or that your basement flooded during the last storm, or that you "checked in" at the local pizza joint.
  
• My ex's ex kept coming up as a recommended "friend." (Um, no.)
  
• My 20 year high school reunion is next year and I want no part of that. I started to just hide people with the plan of doing a clean sweep after the actual event, but that quickly became way too much work. So I redefined "clean sweep."
• 1844 pages:
  

There are many more reasons but those are the highlights. Honestly, I was mostly using it to track local bands and it was AMAZINGLY helpful in that sense (not too little info like with email subscriptions, not too much info like Twitter feeds - it was just right). So now I'll have to figure out how to keep up with that proactively. I will probably go back someday in the near future, but it will be nice to experience actual life for a little while.

And, you know who you are, in response to "WHAT ABOUT THE BLOG. (no pressure.)", it stays and I hope to post more now that I'm not reading about what my 4th grade classmate ate for dinner. Thanks to all of you for your support. (Whoever you are. With the exception of YKWYA and a few others, I really don't know for the most part... and I kind of like that.)

And yet I'm up four hours later.

nineteen ninety nine
last time i partied like that
i'm too old for this

One day I will learn: ice cream before bed equals insomnia.

on nights like tonight
i wish my gym was open
twenty-four hours

I was kidding! (Sort of.)

Today in a meeting I commented that we really needed to do a good job scoping this project so that if I decided to stay in New Zealand next year, someone else would be able to easily pick it up.

Crickets.

No sense of humor, these people...

File under: people I would like to be friends with.

Spent way too much time today trolling the internet. Waaaaaay too much time. Most of the people I read about were not people I would like to call friends.

But a handful were creatively inspiring and made me wish I could hang out with them on a regular basis so that we could inspire each other. Examples:

• Ran across this creation via a mommy/designer blog I follow. (I am neither mommy nor designer; however, I enjoy her stories and storytelling method... However, I would not like to be friends with her. Just the musician.)
  
• Was reminded of this, which I got to through a very circuitous internet route starting with Facebook and meandering through sites I hardly ever read (Elle, Us Magazine) and sites I do read occasionally (Salon, Gawker). I used to keep up with his site years ago, before it turned into such an interesting collaborative artistic effort. What a brilliant idea. I hope to contribute someday... but it's kind of intimidating.
• Everything is amazing right now, and nobody's happy.
  
• And finally, this oldie but goodie. I love this lady.
  

Does an outlet mall count as a corporation?

lazy saturday
now for retail therapy
it's been a long week

iAm a PC.

Yesterday on the drive back to LAX after a work meeting, a coworker was checking her iThing and announced that Steve Jobs had died.

"Oh." That was all iCould muster. iFelt a little bad about that, so iAdded what iThought was an appropriate follow-up comment: "Wow."

And then iWent back to decompressing after the all-day meeting.

iKnow this is monumental - epic, in fact. Like most people my age, iLearned simple commands on a Mac at summer computer camp (um, you went to computer camp as a kid, right? it wasn't just me, right?). iWatched most people my age move into the Mac world at one point or another over the past decade and rave about the products. iUsed to live in the Bay Area where the annual Macworld was a mecca for geeks worldwide. When iNeeded a new computer iAsked for advice and all iGot was "OMG YOU MUST BUY AN APPLE." A flight attendant asked everyone to turn off "everything that starts with an 'i'" before we took off the other day.

But iAm a late adopter who just wants to be able to send an email now and then, preferably from the comfort of my couch, and listen to music on something portable, and edit photos occasionally. iHave not followed Apple. Like, at all. iBought an early version of the iPod several years after the first was released, mostly on a whim. iAppreciate my hand-me-down iTouch and Nano but really, iWould never have purchased them if left to my own devices. There are so many other products that do all iNeed for a much cheaper price. And iHate typing on those tiny keypads.

And then it occurred to me (and thus ends the snippy i's). Without Mr. Jobs, I would not have access to all these other, cheaper products. And then I saw this quote: "We’re born, we live for a brief instant, and we die. It’s been happening for a long time. Technology is not changing it much — if at all."

[Ed. note: you know what? Never mind. I still like the quotes and I still hope he has free wifi though.] I've seen many similar humble posts on Facebook and elsewhere, and I now realize he was just a regular, stand up guy... who happened to be a genius billionaire.

So thank you, Steve. I hope you are comfortable and happy in your new home, wherever that may be. I'm sure there's free wifi. If there's not, there will be soon. iJust know it.

________________
Another fave: "I think it’s brought the world a lot closer together, and will continue to do that. There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything. The most corrosive piece of technology that I’ve ever seen is called television — but then, again, television, at its best, is magnificent."

The real question: with the week, or with the job?

i think that working
forty one hours so far
means i am all done

Text messages do not count.

writing anything
every day no matter what...
harder than i thought

This weekend's infotainment inspired by Joss Whedon.

To honor the winners of the song title-off, I saw Fright Night this afternoon.

(Yeah, that work stuff? Ain't. Gettin'. Done. It's sacred Sunday, for Pete's sake! More realistically, vamps and beer were calling! I'll just go in early tomorrow. Whatevs.)

But first.

Yesterday I saw Tucker and Dale Vs Evil, which I was mostly interested in because it was showing at my local nonprofit theater that I love to support no matter what, and also because it featured my favorite comedic wingman, Alan Tudyk. You may recall him from such roles as Wash in Firefly/Serenity and Steve the Pirate from Dodgeball, and a bunch of other stuff (holy cow - HE was Alpha in Dollhouse? did I know that? I need to watch that whole series all over again immediately). TADVE was campy and awkward and uber-bloody and ridiculous... and I loved, loved, loved it. I think the last time I laughed out loud so much at a campy horror movie was during Sin City. Or maybe Grindhouse. Where is that Quentin Tarantino these days? Anyway, it's been a while since a movie caused me to literally LOL. (I have been following the "literally" warfare, and I can assure you that this use is legit.)

But back to the topic at hand. I watched the original Fright Night at a sleepover a bazillion years ago and loved it, and I was very excited to see that Marti Noxon had a hand in the 2011 version of the remake. It had been at a pricey theater for a few weeks (in 3D no less - WHY??), so when I saw it on the marquee at the local $3 pizza pint picture place, I planned my entire Sunday around that 4:30 showing.

Welcome to my life these days.

Sadly... it was "eh." It flowed okay. The vamp CGI (especially of them dying) was kind of interesting. The main kid, Toni Collette, Colin Farrell, and that guy from Doctor Who (who I would know if I ever watched Doctor Who) did a good job, and Lisa Loeb was in it (although I have no idea which character she played). There were a few lines where I recognized sarcastic intent.

But overall I have to say that I expected much more from Ms. Noxon.

Hello, you have reached my own private Whedonesque world. We charge a hefty price here. Hope you can afford the critique.

Also, I have 23 songs about ghosts.

I'm supposed to be working this afternoon, so naturally I decided to see who would win in a vampire/zombie song title-off in my iTunes collection.

I mean, really, which would YOU rather do?

It was a pretty close call but if you count anything with "Dracula" in the title, the vampires eeked past the zombies. Just barely. As it should be. However, if the contest was based on the song title, Sufjan Stephens would win for the brain eaters with his marvelous song, "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhhh!"

I might finally tackle that Decemberists pie chart too. Every new album they release makes it a bigger and more arduous project... Wait - someone already did it for me! I LOVE YOU, INTERNET!

A magical equation.

oregon zoo show
aimee mann plus the weepies
plus some elephants

(This is about two months overdue.)

The Weepies - the name fits the bass player,
but the other two were all smiles the whole time

"hoarders" inspired this song
(not too much different from all the "intervention"-inspired songs)