Wacky Weather

I began today in Bend, where it was nice and hot. I had plans to leave around one to head back to Portland but ended up staying till two. The trip back was nice. I spread sunscreen on my left arm because it was exposed to the sun for the entire drive back but I still managed to get a tan on that arm. Every year my two arms end up different shades of tan. Oh well.

The closer I got to Portland, the muggier and cloudier it was getting. I could smell the rain even though it wasn't making an appearance yet. As I was about five miles outside downtown it did start to rain large drops, but they were sparse. At 545 I met the girlfriends for dinner. We ate at Clyde Commons and I must say, we were a bit surprised at the tiny portions we got. Now we know not to order the small plates. Upon finishing dinner, we decided to go to Papa Haydn for dessert. We wanted an outside table because even though it was cloudy, the weather was fantastically warm. Other people had the same thoughts and we did have to wait a little bit for a table---which is when the thunderstorm came.

I don't think I've ever seen a thunderstorm that severe in Portland. I've been here five years and I've just assumed we don't get big ones due to the surrounding mountains. I suppose the circumstances were perfect. What I loved about it was how warm it stayed. I really love hot, rainy weather. Don't think I would mind at all if we had storms like that a lot more often.

Utterly Astonishing

I am surprised, in our current age, that anyone had the guts to undo an unconstitutional law. I know some of my readers don't agree about the Second Amendment, but it is what it is. I have honestly wondered how they can muddle the interpretation. It seems quite clear to me---when you look at the ORIGINAL text.

When it was written and ratified, the amendment read, "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Each clause is standing alone. The more current version reads "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." This makes the most important part (the right of the people to keep and bear arms) into a parenthetical which implies that the militia---necessary for a free state---would be the only reason people could bear arms. Maybe commas shouldn't be added where they weren't originally present...?

Also, I'd like to point out that DC has (had) some of the strictest gun laws, yet has also one of the (if not the) highest rate of crime in the country. Something to ponder.

Enchanting And Disturbing

The new way of architecture.

Good luck to all involved...I am too stunned to say anything else.

It's All In The Feet?

What Your Feet Say About You:




You are pretty average in your expressiveness. You can express yourself well, but you don't always want to.

You are a very passionate person. You are highly charged and easily inspired.

You are an assertive person at times. You'll pull out all the stops to get what you want, if it's worth it.

You take a while to fall in love, but once you do, you stay pretty attached to your partner.

You are not easily frightened, but you have a few strong phobias.

You are intellectual and philosophical. You are more concerned with thoughts than action.

You are a fairly hard worker, but you are also a little spoiled. You like indulge yourself every now and then.

You are not easily influenced by other people. You hold your ground and are true to your beliefs.

What Do Your Feet Say About You?

This is pretty true.

Frog Leap Test

Good luck ;)

I tried it and couldn't make it work. Of course, I'm exhausted too, so that could play some role...

What Happened To Carrot Top??

Here is the answer.

Shudder.

My Little Ponies

As a girl I collected My Little Ponies. I still have them all. There may be as many as 35 in my parents storage loft.

Imagine My Little Ponies being designed by the cast of Boston Legal. It seems pretty bizarre right? It is bizarre but it is also the truth. According to this article, a handful of artists, singers, actors, etc, will be designing larger than normal ponies to be auctioned off to help needy kids. Sort of an out-there thing.

I never would have thought of it. I guess that's why I'm not in marketing.

(By the way, I have the one in the picture. Heh)

Another Seattle Trip

I visited Seattle last weekend with three of my friends, CH, LT, and AJ.

We began our excursion at 9 am on Saturday morning when LT and AJ arrived at CH's place where I was staying. We piled into the Focus and began the long, what turned into approximately 3.5 hour, journey up to the northern-most reaches of Washington.

The weather was not as nice as we thought. It was cloudy and looked like rain. We were all wearing dresses and skirts so, of course, we were freezing at first. The first stop was at our hotel. We stayed at the Days Inn which could have been worse. The outside of the hotel was very, very crummy but the room was not too bad, and none of it could have compared with the worlds nastiest hotel. So we dropped our things off and proceeded to walk into downtown, which was only a few blocks away.

The weather had started to let up and the sun was finally coming out. Though, it never did get above 70 degrees F. We wandered around town, went shopping, and ate a late lunch at an old restaurant that had a Tuscan feel. (Someone had written "Frank Sinatra sat here" on a chalk board, but when we asked, we learned that in fact, he had NOT sat there, or anywhere for that matter.)

After our first outing, we were beat, so we went back to the hotel at 815 and rested until about 10 pm when we ventured back out for dinner. I had given up on dresses at that point and went out wearing jeans. It was a good plan because I was freezing even still. We at at a place called The Apartment which had really good food. Though, CH complained that her crab something-or-other sandwich had little flavor. I can't vouch for that because I avoid shellfish.

Afterwards, we returned to the hotel, completely drained. Upon waking up at 6 am (to ensure enough time for all to shower) we got ready and left the hotel at 745 to go back out to the Pike Street Market. LT and I wasted money on flowers and CH and I purchased Piroshki. Yum. Unfortunately, due to circumstances, we had to leave by 830 am which put us back in Portland at 1130.

A short trip. Delicious food though.

(On a side note, Seattle has a LOT of street Jesus freaks. There were people everywhere shouting at pedestrians about sinning and such. Though I think I would take that over Portland's very excessive petitioners if I could.)

What The Hell?

Things I find funny about this article:

1) someone got with a homeless guy

2) even knowing all we do, people still balk at contraception

3) they seem to want to be pregnant

4) people were waiting with bated breath for Britney Spears' sister to give birth?

5) that anyone would think reproducing is "the" way to knowing you're alive and human

Parent's Rights

A Canadian court has overturned a father's punishment for his daughter after she refused to stay off the Internet, his attorney said Wednesday.

The girl, 12, took her father to Quebec Superior Court after he refused to allow her to go on a school trip for chatting on Web sites and then posting "inappropriate" pictures of herself online using a friend's computer, AFP reported.

The punishment was for the girl's "own protection," according to the father's attorney, Kim Beaudoin, who is appealing the ruling.

"She's a child," Beaudoin told AFP. "At her age, children test their limits and it's up to their parent to set boundaries. I started an appeal of the decision today to reestablish parental
authority, and to ensure that this case doesn't set a precedent."

Otherwise, she continued, "Parents are going to be walking on egg shells from now on."

According to court documents, the girl's Internet usage was the latest in a rash of disciplinary problems. But Justice Suzanne Tessier, who was presiding over the case, found the punishment too severe.

I think the judge needs to be reevaluated. I find it utterly appalling that a judge can say that grounding a child is too severe a punishment (for any improper action a child takes.) At this rate, there will be no form of punishment left for parents and the only result will be a generation of spoiled, boundless little jerks with no understanding of social order.

I'm disgusted.

Anti-Bride

This describes my sentiments perfectly.

Captain Kirk For President

Or, more appropriately, Denny Crane for president. Who doesn't love Boston Legal?

Parallel 45

I went to Parallel 45 with some of my coworker friends to spend a gift we won in a corporate contest. It is a wine bar with excellent food.

This is definitely a place I would go again, though it is a bit out of the way in its Tualatin location, the food and wine make up for it.

This is definitely the kind of place I would take my friends for girls night out.

On Not Taking June Lightly

Rainier is a foreboding mountain. One that, even in June, should not be taken as trivial.

Every year someone dies up there. It is really sad. I know first hand because one of my classmates died on Rainier in a similar situation---freak blizzard. That was 6 years ago, Memorial weekend.

It boggles my mind that the thought of death doesn't cross people's minds, or that if it does, they consider the adventure to be much more fun than potentially deadly.

Fleet Week

I have a fascination with large ships, aircraft, etc. You know this because I post often about the space shuttle for example. So you might not find it surprising that I got in line for the ship tour down at the waterfront.

My sister didn't want to go on the tour, but she realized it was a chance to scout for good-looking men so she didn't protest too much. The line actually moved relatively quickly considering how many people were roving around.

After we were inside the fence, we had to get in another line to board the USS Gary, a frigate. It is an interesting piece of machinery. What was more interesting was the officer who decided to guide our group. Needless to say, we stayed at the front of the group as much as possible and asked a lot of questions. We both cracked jokes and laughed whenever something deserved a it---like when he commented that one of the machine guns looked like "R2D2 with a male 'problem.'"

Nearing the three-quarters point, the officer asked me what people do in Portland when they have no interest in the bar scene. I told him that they do nothing. It is the honest truth. Portland is a lame "city" in that sense. Immediately, I questioned whether that was some attempt at asking me out. I dismissed it just as quickly. While I don't know the rules on the subject of socializing with the locals, I suspected he was the type to obey those rules.

After consulting my sister on the subject of what people do when they don't want to go to bars, we decided that people only eat. At the end of the tour we purposely dragged our feet so everyone else could get off the ship before us. The officer was waiting on the bridge back to the pier. We told him that we decided that people in Portland who don't want to go to the bars go eat. He replied "Eat? I can do that." Then he gestured that we had to leave the ship, so we did. We waited for a little bit to see if he also left but he stayed aboard. We were completely dumbfounded, and will likely remain so for the rest of our lives.

...Uh Oh...

I have checked the Barney's website.

Manolo Blahniks are on sale. Not all of them and not the pair I really want, but a tempting several...

And I will be in Seattle next weekend...

The question is, can I refrain?

Climate Change

This is more of an incomplete series of thoughts in the form of a rant than an actual blog post.

Climate change is a nice, convenient term that encompasses any sort of change that the environmentalists decide is bad.

Global warming is making the earth colder. They "prove" how this is possible in that crappy movie we all saw.

Gore should have called his movie "A Convenient Lie." Why? Because it is convenient that he can turn a lie (in that he is presenting all his theories as fact) into something that benefits him.

Motion Picture

This series of pictures is the precursor to modern film. The other significance of this collection is that it was the first time people had been able to see a horse's movement at a gallop. Before these pictures were taken, there were some odd misconceptions to how the four legs work.

Here is a video of the frames run together.

Hello June

Apparently this fire has some similarities to a 1991 inferno.