Shopping in Absurdia: Holiday Edition

So I was slogging through Target today, along with what seemed like most of the population of greater Portland, trying to finish my Christmas shopping before it starts snowing. I was loitering in the electronics department, waiting for my husband to stop being mesmerized by the DVDs, when I noticed an adorable little girl. She was probably about 5 years old, blonde hair, blue eyes, pink jacket, fluffy white hat... the very image of little girliness. Then she looks at her dad, reaches toward the shelf of DVDs, and says, "How about this zombie movie?"

It was all I could do to make it to the next aisle over before howling with laughter.

Omnivore's 100

Wow... I've gone a whole month without posting. I think that's a record for me. I have a bunch of ideas, but I haven't been very motivated lately. Thanks to FKV, though, I have some space filler - the Omnivore's 100 meme! Here we go:

Omnivore's 100
My score: 26. Not too bad I guess. There probably should be more stuff on the Won't Eat list, but I don't know what some of these things are. I need to get out more.

Bold=things I've eaten.
Italics=stuff I won't eat.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros Yeah, I know - What's wrong with eggs? I dunno... I just don't like 'em.
4. Steak tartare Janet's First Law of Food: Meat must be cooked, at least a little bit.
5. Crocodile I'm cheating a little - I've actually had alligator, not crocodile, but I say that's close enough.
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari Yuck. But I've eaten it.
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses - Huh??
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes I won't even touch the stuff made from grapes.
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream *Yum*
21. Heirloom tomatoes *Major yum... especially right off the vine, still warm from the sun.*
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras Ewwww...
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese All kinds of gross
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters Tried 'em, didn't like 'em.
29. Baklava YUM YUM YUM
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut Gross!
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea Not into cream or tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects NO NO NO!!!
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk Not a milk person
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more I'm a cheapskate... and not a drinker.
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut Mmmm...
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV OK, so I'm boring and don't drink.
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads Nahhh... and I'll even skip the suggestive comments.
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs' legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake Can I have some now?
68. Haggis I think not.
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare Does rabbit count?
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish Blackened... yum
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Musical error messages and fundraisers

Today my friend Mo emailed me this great downtime message he came up with. The lyrics are from "Epic" by Faith No More, which, much to my embarrassment, I didn't recognize. That proves that Mo is way cooler than I am, but I digress. Anyway, Mo also came up with some great ideas for OHSU fundraisers starring various 80s bands:

Bret Michaels, for the Oregon Poison Center
Billy Squier, for the Oregon Stroke Center

That inspired me to come up with a few more for OHSU and beyond:

• Warrant for the Public Safety Dept.
  
• Anthrax for Infectious Diseases (not sure of the exact dept. name)
  
• Def Leppard and Glass Tiger for the Oregon Zoo (with a special guest appearance from Whitesnake to fund a new reptile house)
  
• Firehouse for the Portland fire dept.
  
• Great White for the Oregon Coast Aquarium
  
• Faster Pussycat for the Oregon Humane Society
  
• Guns ‘N Roses in a joint fundraiser for the NRA and the International Rose Test Gardens
  

And Mo countered with:

• Quiet Riot for the Oregon Hearing Center
  
• Ratt for the Primate Center
  

My response:

• Ratt for Laboratory Medicine
  
• Black ‘N Blue for a domestic violence shelter (yeah, I know - I'm tacky)
  
• Kiss for some oral health dept in the School of Dentistry
  
• And add LA Guns to the NRA one and Def Leppard to the Oregon Hearing Center one
  

Yeah, I know -- we shouldn't quit our day jobs. But c'mon... it's Friday. Everyone needs a little silliness on Friday.

I'm a hopeless Harry Potter nerd

OK, so I'm listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks for what must be the gazillionth time, and I noticed an inconsistency (yes, there are a number of inconsistencies in the series, but I'd never noticed this one before). In Chamber of Secrets, Ginny's eyes are described as green (last track of disk 1 at about 1:10 if you want to check for yourself), while in Deathly Hallows they're described as brown (when Harry notices that Mrs. Weasley's eyes are the same shade of brown as Ginny's).

Yes, I am a nerd. Yes, I need to get a life. But if I could only learn to use the Imperious Curse on my co-workers, my work days would be so much more fun.

Making history on Election Day

*I wrote this piece earlier this evening but am just now finding time to post it.*

As I write these words, election returns are coming in fast and furious, and it looks like Barack Obama will be our next president. No matter which candidate you support, there's no denying that this election has been a groundbreaker. I started to say that it marks a turning point in our history, but it's really the fruit of many turning points in our history, the result of battles large and small fought in the streets, in schools, in courtrooms, and even in families, all of which add up to 40+ years of social change. Without the civil rights and women's movements, we could not have had an election season that featured two women and an African American as serious candidates for the two highest offices in the land. I know we have a long way to go to reach full racial and gender equality, but this election clearly shows how very far we've come. That is something to celebrate on this historic election night, no matter which candidate wins.

My parents were older than average (39 and 45) when I was born 41 years ago. Both of them grew up in an era when an election like this one was unthinkable. My mother was and remains open-minded, but my father was an unreconstructed Southerner deeply prejudiced in just about every way a person can be prejudiced--and a diehard Democrat. To him, the Republicans were the party of the wealthy. I don't think he ever forgave them for Herbert Hoover, whom he blamed for his and his family's suffering during the Great Depression. Dad died 22 years ago, but I wish he had lived to see this election. I would have enjoyed watching him figure out how to vote for an African American, because I'm pretty sure his political beliefs were stronger than his racism. (And no, I don't think there's anything funny about racism, and I never could abide my father's beliefs. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't have found his internal struggle entertaining had he lived to cast a vote this year.)

I'm looking at my son, who is watching the election returns with me. I'm delighted that, to him, it will be perfectly normal for African Americans and women to run for president. When I explained to him why this election is so significant, he was confused: He doesn't understand why anyone would have a problem with a president who wasn't a white male. I've never understood that either.

As I was thinking about how to end this post, CBS News announced Obama's victory. That seems like a good ending to me--and hopefully the beginning of a new era in our nation's history. God Bless America.

Camp Magruder 2008

I'm behind on my blogging, so I'm just now posting pics from my church's annual weekend at Camp Magruder, even though it was the first weekend in October. This year we went a week earlier, hoping we might have better weather than we usually do. No such luck. It was rainy most of the time we were there. It took me, a transplanted Californian, awhile to learn that rainy weekends at the beach can be fun. At Magruder that's especially true, because rainy days mean more time to sit by the wood stove and read, visit, or work on a craft project. This year I worked on a cross stitch project, cross stitching cute little vegetables on a green apron while making sure my son didn't destroy the building. I did have to venture outside for a few activities, such as trips to the dining hall, a scavenger hunt, trips to the dining hall, loading and unloading the car, and trips to the dining hall.

Here's part of my scavenger hunt team, tromping along in the rain:


Jerry displays a Tootsie Roll:


So much for the Tootsie Roll:


At the foot of the donkey statue:


Scavenger hunt team on the beach:


Scavenger hunt team showing their donkey ears. Apparently Tony is confused about the type of ass we're talking about.


One of the best things about our annual trip to Magruder is watching the kids play. They're deafeningly noisy, but they have tons of fun and sometimes look cute doing it:




Another Magruder weekend has come and gone. Next up: visiting a local pumpkin farm - but that will have to wait till I've had some sleep.

More monkey butts

Just when you thought it was safe to return to my blog--time for more monkey butts! After my last post on this fascinating topic, someone on Flickr saw my monkey butt pics and asked where she could find this classy product. Librarian that I am, I searched various arcane sources (OK, I Googled "monkey butt powder") and discovered that the manufacturer has a web site: http://www.antimonkeybutt.com. I can only imagine the comments when they applied for that domain name. Anyway, the site includes a store where you can buy Anti-Monkey-Butt Powder, along with hats and t-shirts. There's even a video of a commercial for the product. Imagine BJ and the Bear 20 years later, and you'll have the general idea.

I think I'm going to put the ladies' tank top on my Christmas list.

Extreme Pumpkins, 2008 Edition

A couple of years ago, I wrote a brief post about the 2005 extreme pumpkin contest winners. For awhile that post came up as the third results when Googling "extreme pumpkins," so I got a lot of blog traffic around Halloween. In case that happens again this year--and as a public service for all those weirdos out there who, like me, enjoy gutting and carving innocent squash--I've decided to put together a short guide to resources for extreme pumpkin carving.

ExtremePumpkins.Com: Home of the aforementioned extreme pumpkin contest, this site offers a ton of stuff, much of it free and the rest cheap: Instructions for preparing and carving pumpkins (including a video), great photos of extreme pumpkins, some carving patterns which you can download for a few dollars, and instructions for using gasoline and other flammable materials to do pumpkin pyrotechnics. The emphasis here is on the funny, gross, and disturbing, rather than the cutesy designs you find on other pumpkin carving sites. The site is run by Tom Nardone, reigning king of extreme pumpkins and author of:




If you're as warped as I am, you'll love Nardone's work.

Since we're on the subject of books, I found one other book on extreme pumpkin carving:


For additional inspiration, search for extreme pumpkins on Flickr and YouTube.

I'm thinking of doing a cannibal pumpkin this year. Should be fun.

Now Google can save you from yourself

What's more fun than drunk dialing? Drunk emailing, of course! Now, instead of just embarrassing yourself with one person, you can have your drunken ramblings forwarded to 250 of your closest friends, your boss, and probably 10 or 20 total strangers. How can you prevent such a devastating occurrence? Well, you could cut back on your drinking, but where's the fun in that? Instead, the company that helps you find important information--the name of the Black 'N Blue's drummer (Pete Holmes, in case you were wondering), get directions to that cool club downtown that won't let you in, and find that picture your friend took of your butt last year--comes to your rescue once again. Google Labs just announced Mail Goggles, a GMail add-on designed to keep you from embarrassing yourself after a night of drinking. The concept is delightfully simple: Once you install Mail Goggles, you won't be able to send any email late on a weekend night without solving a series of math problems within a specified time period. And you thought you left timed math tests behind in 5th grade.

Install Mail Goggles, and never again will you declare your undying love for someone you talked to for five minutes in a bar, call your boss unprintable names, or proposition your cousin... well, at least you won't do any of these things via GMail... unless you can do basic math despite a blood alcohol level that should render you clinically dead. Hey, there are no sure things in life, right?

Shopping in Absurdia: Hardware and Halloween Edition

I took my cameraphone shopping again, so you might want to log off right now.

OK, don't say I didn't warn you. This time we're going to visit Ace Hardware and Spirit Halloween. First up: My new favorite toy that I can't afford: a life-size animatronic Jason!

I think he'd look great on our front porch, menacing door-to-door salesmen with his bloody machete. Then, when Halloween is over, we could decorate him for other holidays. Just imagine: Jason with a Santa hat, Jason with red silk boxers and a heart-shaped box of candy, Jason with a leprechaun hat, Jason with bunny ears, Jason with an Uncle Sam top hat... how awesome would that be? If we wanted to be really warped, we could dress him in an evening gown and have transvestite Jason! I'd be seriously tempted to do all that, but I'm not sure his electrical innards would stand up to a Portland winter. I suppose I could move back to California. I hear there are some great deals on real estate down there.

As if transvestite Jason weren't ridiculous enough, we're going to cruise by Ace Hardware now to take a look at a product they're featuring by the checkstand:


Yes, someone is actually marketing a product called Anti Monkey Butt Powder. I didn't realize there was a medical condition called Monkey Butt. I wonder what the ICD-10 code is for that? And will my health insurance cover the treatments?

Monkey butts and deer anuses... I can't wait to see what kinds of hits I get on this blog now.

Nerd day afternoon

As I've mentioned before, I've learned to embrace my nerdiness. Saturday afternoon, though, I was forced to confront the fact that not only am I a nerd, but I'm raising a nerdling. For some reason, my son and I started arguing about whether or not it's possible to divide by zero. I did my best to explain why n/0 doesn't equal 0 (how do you explain infinity to a 10-year-old, anyway?) After about ten minutes, my son gave up and went back in the living room to...

wait for it...

watch Star Trek.

Yes. Really.

I, on the other hand, was doing something much cooler--playing games on Facebook.

At least we haven't started hosting D & D tournaments. Maybe there's hope.

Movie quotes: Men in Black

So I took a break from the deer anuses to watch Men in Black for the umpteenth time. No matter how many times I watch this movie, I laugh my butt off. There are so many great lines! Here are a few of my favorites:

"Put up your hands and all your flippers" -- K

"We're not hosting an intergalactic kegger down here" -- Zed

"We at the FBI do not have a sense of humor that we're aware of" -- K

"Elvis is not dead; he just went home" -- K

And from the sequel--not as good as the first one but still pretty funny:

"You are the man who would be king of the train locker" -- J

And my favorite:

"I'm about to attack one of the most feared aliens in the universe with four worms and a mailman" -- J

Deer anus update

Yep, here we go with the deer anuses again! A couple posts ago I mentioned a product called "Butt Out," a handy tool designed to remove a deer anus in just a few seconds. At the time I contemplated who might stumble across my post by Googling "deer anus," so this evening I mustered up the courage to Google "deer anus" myself to see how my post ranked in the results. Check this out!


(click to see a larger version on Flickr)

My humble post is the third result! I'm just bursting with pride. Who would have guessed that deer anuses would be my ticket to internet success?

When I wrote that post, I also wondered what kind of ads Google Adwords would display alongside it. Here's the answer:


The hunting-related ads make perfect sense, but what's up with the laser eye surgery ad on the right? Are there a lot of nearsighted hunters out there? That's a scary thought! If you're nearsighted enough to pay someone to laser your cornea, you probably don't need to be using firearms or crossbows. I'm just sayin'...

Bring on the psychosis...

Every now and then, a line will strike me for some reason. This week I've encountered 2:

From a comment on a Salon article about Sarah Palin:

"I have an uncomfortable relationship with reality right now."

I think I've had an uncomfortable relationship with reality for most of my life. That sentence really needs to be on a t-shirt.

Then there was J's line from an email earlier this week, referring to "a healthy dose of psychotic." I guess that's what I need when my relationship with reality becomes too uncomfortable. Pass the psychosis, please...

Shopping in Absurdia: Outdoors Edition

So I ventured into Wal-Mart today (save the lectures--I'm not a big fan either, but it was our most convenient option today). Every time we get near Wally World, Hubby marches off to the sporting goods department to check the price on ammo. It's really pointless, because Wal-Mart never staffs the sporting goods department, so there's no one to unlock the ammo cabinet. We stand around for about 10 minutes while several employees take turns paging for help in sporting goods, then we give up and leave. But I digress...

So I'm wandering around the sporting goods department, killing time until Hubby decides it's time to leave, when I spot this product on the shelf:

No, this picture has not been photoshopped or altered in any way. This is a real product. Now I've never been hunting (the need for products like this has a lot to do with why I've never been hunting... cleaning fish was obnoxious enough), so maybe I just don't get it, but is removing a deer anus really that big of a problem? (OK, I don't even want to know what kind of person is going to stumble across this post by searching for "deer anus" in Google... Hey! Maybe it'll be the first result, and my hit count will skyrocket! And I really can't wait to see what kinds of ads Google Adwords puts up next to this post. But once again I digress). Now, where was I? Oh, yeah... deer anuses. I would love to know who developed this product and what inspired him (oh, c'mon... you know it had to be a guy). And how did he explain the project to his wife?

Budding Edison: Hey, honey! I have this great idea for a new product! It'll look kinda like a corkscrew, and it will let me pop out a deer's anus in just a few seconds. Isn't that cool?
Mrs. Edison: Put down the deer rifle. You need psychiatric help.

After our intrepid but lazy hunter has washed the deer entrails off his hands and is back in camp, relaxing around the fire, he can put this next product to use:

Funny, but when I picture hunters gathered around the campfire, I imagine them drinking beer or passing around a flask of Jack Daniels. I do not imagine them whipping up some 'ritas with a rechargable, portable blender. Is this a campsite or a dorm room? But then if these were real men, they wouldn't need a special gadget to remove a deer anus, would they?

Hmm... I wonder if I can work the phrase "deer anus" into this post one more time. Nah... that would just be gratuitous.

They could be talking about ours!

Seen near my son's school last night:



That could refer to some pedestrians I've encountered recently too.

Myers-Briggs alphabet soup

So I went to a gathering with co-workers last night, and the subject of Myers-Briggs came up. Then, I logged into Meebo today, and the Meebo blog post of the day related to Myers-Briggs. I usually make an ugly face when someone mentions personality testing in general and M-B in particular, but since I got the M-B double whammy, I decided it was time to take the test again. I'm cynical about this test, because every time I take it, I get a slightly different result. Most versions of the test ask you to choose between opposites ("Would you rather go to a party or read a book?"), when I want to provide a nuanced answer ("It depends on my mood, what I've done all day, how tired I am, how good the book is, what kind of music will be played at the party, and how many hot guys will be there."). It's just like an English major to answer a yes/no question with an essay.

Anyway, the Meebo blog post included links to two different unofficial Myers-Briggs questionnaires: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp and http://www.kisa.ca/personality. I took both, and sure enough, I got different results. On the first one, which offered only yes/no options, I scored an ENFJ. On the other, which offered an "in between" option, I scored an ENFP. Based on the temperament descriptions, I think the ENFJ is more accurate. In each case, the strength of the preferences wasn't especially strong. That fits with what I already know about myself, that I seek the middle ground and am adaptable in most situations--or, as my critics would say, I'm wishy-washy and a flake. But I like my version better.

I wonder how I'll score the next time I take one of these silly things.

Are you sure about that?

Today in the cafeteria, I saw a guy with a t-shirt reading, "It's my lucky day!" He was bent over, picking up his spilled onion rings off the floor.

Catching up: California trip, etc.

OK, dear readers, you've had a couple weeks vacation from my ramblings, but now the party is over. Hope ya missed me--I'm baaaaacccckkk! Seriously, I've been working, traveling, working, resting, and working, all while trying to enjoy the last days of what passes for summer in these parts (Rainy and 60?? In August??? *Sigh*). I did write a post while I was on vacation, but I've misplaced the paper I wrote it on (again... *sigh*). So, this post will summarize what I've been up to, with some pictures for space filler visual interest.

When last we left our faithful blogger, it was mid-August, and I was busy planning my trip home to California. The trip was very low-key and relaxing. I carpooled down with E, who was visiting people near Sacramento. We were worried about how to amuse ourselves during a 10-hour drive, but that turned out not to be a problem. We managed to yak nonstop! Anyone who knows me will not be surprised to hear that.

Here are a couple scenes from the road. First, this cute little bat was snoozing under the eaves of the women's restroom at the rest area just over the CA border:

I thought he was adorable. E disagreed, but then she doesn't like bats.

Next, Mt. Shasta, which was surprisingly bereft of snow:


Once I got to Tracy, I hung out with a couple of my closest friends from the good ol' days, Diana and Kristy. We didn't do anything major, just talked, shopped, wandered around, and talked (I tell ya, it's a miracle I didn't blow out my vocal chords on this trip!). Diana and I roamed through the UOP campus, reminiscing about our years there. I walked around parts of Tracy, thinking about old times and marveling at how many years have passed. Inside I still feel 16, but they grey hair and wrinkles tell a different story. In case you've always dreamed of wandering around Tracy with me, listening to me reminisce about the Good Old Days (tm), here's a brief sample of what that would be like:

Lincoln Park, where I spent lots of time playing, walking my dog, and generally hanging out:

I remember when that gazebo was built, probably sometime in the late 70s. The building to the right of it is the public library, where I had my first ever library job, as a volunteer when I was about 12.

Tracy High football stadium:

I have lots of happy memories of that place, but I haven't been in it since Homecoming 1984. Was that really almost 24 years ago? Damn.

I guess I was on quite the nostalgia trip this time, because I even went to the Tracy cemetery to visit my grandparents' graves. I hadn't been there since not long after my grandpa died in 1976. I discovered that my aunt and uncle are buried right next to them. I never knew that.
Grandma and grandpa:


Aunt Verna and Uncle Louie:


Then I was off to my favorite part of the Delta, Trapper Slough.




Why it's bad to dump water hyacinths in waterways:


Kristy and I drove through Locke on our way to Sacramento:

Sunset in the Delta:


The historic village of Locke:


So there ya go. Other people visit cool, exciting places on vacation. I go back to Tracy.

Next time I'll post some pictures from the Oregon State Fair and Poison concert. For now, though, it's time to sign off. G'night!

A thoughtful, detailed analysis of my mental status

Courtesy of the What's Your Mental Age quiz, part of the Likeness application on Facebook:

Result: 7 Years Old
You're all about energy, fun, and not really caring or even thinking about the future. Basically, you're seven years old. The good news is, you've got a youthful spirit that others envy. The bad news is, you still wet the bed. Sometimes. Only when you've had too much soda late at night.

Yeah, that's pretty much it except for the bedwetting. Can I go to the amusement park now?

Accurate description of my work day

I was asked just now to prepare a bulleted list of what I do -- part of my department's introduction to our new director. Here's what I came up with:

• attend meetings
  
• email
  
• more meetings
  
• more email
  
• write stuff (usually email)
  

Yes, I did a real one afterward, but I think this one is an accurate summary of most of my work days.

Trip to Seattle, a/k/a being a tourist in my old backyard

I've lived in several places over the years, and each time I have a similar experience: While we live in a place, we travel to other places in the region or beyond, taking lots of interesting trips. We see a few things in our home area, but we never approach our home city as tourists. We don't study what's there and choose interesting things. Instead, we hit the obvious sites and a few other things sort of randomly. Then we decide to move, and we realize how much we haven't seen and done. By that time, though, we're busy with packing and planning our move. You would think we'd learn, but you would be wrong. We've lived in Portland for 12 years, and there's still a ton of stuff we haven't seen or done.

So why am I writing about this now? Are we planning to move? Nope. I've spent the last three days in Seattle, where I went to graduate school and therefore lived for the better part of two years. I've spent most of my time at a conference, so my exploring has been limited, but I did get out and about a few times. We took the Duck tour, seeing part of the city from a WWII amphibious vehicle. I used to watch them when I lived in Seattle, but I could never afford to do the tour in my student days. Then last night we went to Discovery Park, which is on a beautiful peninsula overlooking Puget Sound. We watched the sun set over the Olympic Mountains, and Jerry played on a small sandy beach, throwing driftwood in the water and covering himself with sand from head to foot (oh, to be 10 again...). I kept thinking how neat it would have been to go there while I was a student. It would have been a great place to relax and get away from the busyness of the University District -- and it's free, which would have fit my starving student budget perfectly. Yet I missed it, along with lots of other Seattle attractions. Ah, well... better late than never, I suppose.

Here are a few pics of our Seattle adventures:

Obligatory picture of the Space Needle:

I believe it's the law that all visitors to Seattle must take at least one picture of the Space Needle.

If you take your husband to Seattle Center, he will want to throw darts at balloons. If he throws darts at balloons, he'll win a prize. If he wins a prize, he'll pick out some hideous bunny ears and wear them for the rest of the evening. Just call him the Playmate of the Month... from hell.


Ride the Ducks!


The bunny ears have been replaced by a duck bill. This is not an improvement.


This is Seattle, so Everyday Music needs to have a statue of native son Jimi Hendrix out front:

I suppose if Kurt Cobain had been a native, there would be a statue of him out there too.

West Point Lighthouse, Discovery Park:


And a slightly fuzzy night shot of the dreaded Space Needle. I really need to get a tripod!


I spent today driving to Sisters and Bend with Laurel. Pics coming soon.

More beach pics

Till a few weeks ago, I hadn't been to the beach since September. Now I've gone twice, and I'm probably going again tomorrow. On the last trip, we drove to the Surfrider south of Lincoln City, then drove back up the coast to Tillamook on the way home the next day. Here are a few pics:

Jerry jonesing for coffee (yeah, they start young here in the Northwest):


Cape Meares lighthouse and one of the clearest, bluest skies I've ever seen on the Oregon coast:


This was a throwaway shot through the lens of the lighthouse, but it turned out sort of cool with my shadow and the view of the coast through the lens.


Ah, to be 10 again...


Chowin' down on some shellfish:


Next up: some pics from the trip to Seattle this week, then whatever pics I take at the beach tomorrow. Honestly, sometimes I wonder why I even bother unpacking my suitcase in the summer.

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Beach pics

Last week I posted some pics of funny signs I saw on the way to Seaside and Cannon Beach, and I promised I'd post some pretty stuff later. Well, now it's later, so here we go:

Series of wave pics, all taken on Indian Beach in Ecola State Park:










Heart in the sand:


Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock from a viewpoint in Ecola State Park:


View from overlook above Sea Lion Rocks:

Interestingly, there wasn't a sea lion in sight.

Plaque at the overlook with a beautiful quote:

In case you can't read it in the pic, the quote says: "I dropped a tear in the ocean. When it's found, is when I'll stop loving you." It might be sappy if it weren't on a memorial plaque.

That's about it for that trip. I'm heading back to the beach tonight, this time to Depoe Bay, so I should have some new pics to post soon.