|
December 18, 2009
tis' the season
Oh joy! It's christmas time and with Christmas comes many things like lights!
Winter in Portland is weird because it's warm and there's no snow. Basically compared to what I grew up with it sucks! I really miss sliding down hills on an innertube and getting a blast of snow down the back of my jacket. Chilly and FUN!! I'm going to get myself up to Mt. Hood and do some boarding soon because I really need some snow and also snowboarding is sweet! The upside to no snow is that I can still ride my bike everywhere I need to.
Karel and I have both finished our classes for the fall semester and Karel already found out her grades but I am waiting on mine. She's awesome and has a 4.0 GPA. I know I did great in my math class because I had a 97% going into the final and I completed the final with no problems. My sustainability class i'm not so sure about because my teacher is a bit disorganized and had issues with getting things done but I completed assignments and did the final so I should be fine.
There is a street in our general area that has the entire neighborhood participating in a huge light display and is such a big deal that police have been out at intersections maintaining traffic because there's so many people coming to see. Karel and I are going to check it out on Christmas eve. I expect a good display and I hope we aren't disappointed. Just like back in NH there are houses that go absolutely nuts over the top crazy with their lights and it's awesome! I haven't seen much of those stupid inflatable santa and snow scene things that came out a few years ago. Those damn things are so tacky and annoying I think. I remember seeing lots of them back in NH.
I've been working a lot more lately for 2 reasons. It's winter time and people need heat to work and the other is because 1 of the other service techs moved to Florida. I'm glad really because I thought his work sucked and he didn't want my advice on oil burners even though I highly outranked him in experience there. Now there is just Mike and me covering all the service work and it's fine because I HAVE WORK!
Unfortunately I am not going home for Christmas this year because it's just too expensive to fly this time of year. Instead Karel and I are going to have our first Christmas together here in Portland. With school and work I'm not sure when will be a good time to fly home.
Ok I'm tired it's 1:01 am and I have to work in 7 hours.
-brian-
posted by brian at 11:28 PM
September 21, 2009
Holy crap!! it's been over 2 months since a post has happened.
Most of those reading this have been in contact with us anyway so it's not like We've been away.
This past weekend Karel and I went on our first and very much overdue camping expedition to the beach. We kept saying we would go but didn't make solid plans for the entire summer. We're lame for this. I can guarantee this kind of behavior will not happen again next year or even this winter. We left here Saturday around noon and headed straight to the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, OR. There are billboards in Portland stating they have 38 flavors of ice cream. I got mint chocolate chip & cookie dough on a sugar cone. Karel got a sampler bowl of pumpkin, vanilla, & marionberry pie. Amazing! They also make my favorite yogurt and it has no High Fructose Corn Syrup unlike almost every other flippin' yogurt producer.
Check it out here if you'd like....
http://www.tillamookcheese.com/OurProducts/YogurtAndSmoothies/Marionberry_Yogurt.aspx
So we got ourselves a tent site for Saturday night ON THE BEACH! We set up the tent and went out for a hike! I was extremely happy to find out that the trail we chose to hike was the same trail I hiked on in 2004 when I was out here for a martial arts gathering. How about that!? A nice hike down memory lane with Karel now in the picture. The trail was 2.4 miles and wound it's way down a peninsula of rock with dense trees and shrubs all around. At the end was an amazing view of the ocean and surrounding land. There was also safety wire and rails to keep people from falling over the 700 foot or so cliff. Being the adventurer everyone knows me to be I gave Karel my truck key and wallet and ventured down the cliff side. There was already a path made which some people had obviously taken so it's not like I was going somewhere I shouldn't or couldn't have.
There were Pelicans and Pelagic Cormorants everywhere and plenty of Gulls too. I made it pretty far down and then decided to go back up. It was getting late and we needed to get moving. This is where we f'd up. We didn't give ourselves enough time to complete the hike in total light so we ended up doing about half the trail in the dark with my head lamp leading the way. It was also very wet and muddy. What a blast!
We got back to the tent and got some firewood. Only one problem though, we didn't have an axe to split the stuff with so I asked our neighbors if they had one. I said I needed to split my girlfriends head open because she was bugging me too much. His response was "Make sure you clean the blood off when you're done". I did the necessary and gave the axe back clean. We cooked burgers and made smores of course. We spent some time laying on the beach staring up at the stars. I miss the stars so much. Portland has too much light and the sky is nothing like back in NH.
The next day we found that there was NOWHERE to go fishing unless it was ocean fishing so we drove back that afternoon, purchased our first Oregon fishing licenses, and proceeded to the Willamette river to catch absolutely nothing.
We had a fun weekend and the only thing that would have made me feel better was.....
REMEMBERING MY CAMERA!!!!!
i put it in my blue backpack and then didn't bring it!
posted by brian at 8:25 PM
July 17, 2009
time for another installment.
OK, I will start with some pictures of our apartment. It's not quite 100% put together as far as hanging some pictures and Karel's decorations on the wall but it's come far.
We still need to decide on a couple things but here is what I've got.
  
1. Karel put the desk together and I put up the shelves. 2. Karel selected the pillows and I hung all the curtains (what a pain!) 3. I did everything in the 3rd picture
  
1. I mounted this shelving above the toilet. 2. I cleverly hung this unit in the shower as well as the hooks for our puffs. 3. This is my favorite because of the sign. Also a clever hanging system for the bikes.
There was a friend of mine from the kickball team who invited me to one of his friends 4th of July party/ping pong tournament. No way I could resist this! Everyone had a good time and in the end I won the whole thing!! Here is the board we used.
Winners bracket is the left side, losers on the right side. 2 losses and you were eliminated! I was undefeated until the final match. I needed to win once and Micah needed to beat me twice to win. I lost the first game by a couple points but I won the second game by a lot. My code name was "hinzy"
Then when we were done with that we played beer pong!
Currently Karel is in Canada visiting a friend. She just got there earlier today and will return Wednesday night. I am leaving shortly to go to Mt. St. Helens with a bunch of the kickball team for the entire weekend for fun time camping in a cabin with no electricity. There is a lake, mountain biking, hiking, and other fun to do so this will certainly be a good time. I need to get my stuff together now!
-brian-
posted by brian at 2:30 PM
June 14, 2009
last post in this crummy apt.
I will start this posting with some fun pictures of birds.
These first 3 I believe are a female Anna's Hummingbird. I can't confirm at the moment because I packed away my bird books with everything else. Here is the story with this bird. I woke up around 7:30 and as I looked out the window this hummingbird appeared and tried to feed off of Karel's rear bike reflector because it's red & shiny exactly like hummingbird feeders. Very funny it was. Then I grabbed my camera and hoped it was still around and IT WAS!!! When I opened our screen door it came out and hovered directly in front of me for about 3 seconds! AMAZING!! Our downstairs neighbors have lots of plants on their patio and it took it's time feeding on all of them so I got these pictures. Here take a look!
  
Next set of pictures is exactly the reason I bring my camera everywhere with me (when I remember). I knew even before I got close to this bird was that it was a strange one because of it's color and it's profile. It's another rare bird with a genetic deformity called Leucism. Animals with leucism are incapable of producing black color pigment so everywhere that should be black is instead white. This is an american crow which is 100% black, so instead this one is 100% white. It's leucistic and not an albino because it doesn't have a red eye. Check it out.
  
OK. Karel has been searching crazily for a used car because she is getting one. Because she knows very little about cars I have been helping her with checking out cars and filtering out the junk. We have already seen a few and I haven't been entirely satisfied with any because there are problems. I have a large amount of self taught car knowledge so I know when something is wrong. I think I've been noticing things the owners don't even know about. We saw one today that was mostly good except 2 things. Complete new exhaust system is necessary and the tires are bald and severely cracked. Everything else is ok. I'm holding out the one tomorrow because the owner is a mechanic and rebuilt almost everything in the engine, essentially making it new! We drove by it yesterday and outside it's great! The only drawbacks for Karel is that it's a manual transmission and it has NO options at all.
I have been teaching Karel how to drive stick but we have been quite busy and finding the time is sometimes tough. If she buys a car with stick shift then she'll have even more reason to learn fast! I'm sure she'll be fine because every time we go out she is noticeably better than the last time.
I've spent enough time here for now. I need to continue packing because I am not slacking and end up trying to pack a bunch on the last day and even the day of!
bye for now
-brian-
posted by brian at 9:09 PM
June 03, 2009
So much to say
I am truly sorry about disappointing those who have been checking up here to see if I have posted anything new and not done so for a month and a half. I could have made a post but I have been putting my time elsewhere lately. I need to look at my last post to even know where I need to begin.
Since my last post the weather here has been fantastic! Almost everyday the sun is out and the rain has backed off with the exception of a couple quick sprinkles. With this great weather has been an increase in outdoor activity. Among this is the kickball every Sunday (rain or shine of course) which actually just ended this past Sunday. Our team won the whole Spring season undefeated!! The sad part is that I wasn't here to play the final game Sunday because Karel and I were in NH for the weekend attending my grandmothers surprise 85th birthday which I can explain more in a bit.
I have found a great riding buddy to go biking with who is just as driven as me so I don't have to worry ever about him whining and wanting to stop early! Our most recent ride was a trail called Dry Ridge located in Estacada which is loaded with large mountains, rivers and such. To give you an idea of what I and Jeff are into the trail was 9 miles long, climbed 4000 vertical feet at an almost constant 10-15% grade and started at 1000 feet elevation. The views along the way were amazing and I was an idiot by leaving my extra batteries in the car; my camera died after a couple shots and this is all I got.
     
Karel and I are moving again! That's right. The building we live in is entirely carpeted and at first I thought I would be ok but now I REALLY hate carpet even more. The problem with this is that Karel has a large collection of allergies. Since the day we moved in her eyes and skin have been a constant problem and it's linked to the carpet here which traps everything. The building is loaded with pets. There is a central air system for every floor so crap is flying around everywhere. I got Karel to go in for an allergy test after lots of me saying things like "You really should go in for an allergy test. What's more important? new pants or your eyes?" After the pants she scheduled an appointment and found out these are the problem....
cat dander, dust mites, multiple grass pollens, and feathers. Guess what? She bought a down comforter AND pillows. those are now out!
We have set a move out date for June 20 and are now trying to round up some friends to help us move. We actually found a place today after much searching this last week; but not before getting a place snatched out just under our noses. Karel found a great place literally on the border of Forest Park which is the countries largest urban park at over 12,000 acres. The place had it all. Hardwood floors, mud room, plenty of storage inside so no outside storage necessary, good natural lighting, no parking problems, very quiet dead end road and a good price. It was on the market for 2 weeks before Karel found it and tried to set an appt. for Monday night but they wouldn't do it. So we got there Tuesday at 5:30 and apparently some other couple turned in application at 5:00. 30 MINUTES EARLIER!!!! We wanted to see it the day before! We would have had it and both felt happy with it!
So about the place we found today. It's got hardwood floors, enough room for all our stuff inside, no pets in building allowed, good location and relatively quiet. also good price and 3rd floor (top floor)! Now we begin packing up everything again but this time we have less stuff and a much better idea of what we need to do to move efficiently.
With work I have FINALLY been working full 40+ hour weeks. I haven't worked a full week since December before the work nearly disappeared. It's funny but I think more people out here have Air Conditioning than back in NH where the summers are definitely hotter and stickier. I enjoy listening to people whine about the heat while I laugh to myself thinking "It's only 75 out, that's not hot!" But it's great because that gives me more work to do and I can't complain about that at all!
Kickball starts up again with the summer season in a couple weeks and I'm very excited about that. I also found out about a huge 100 mile bike trail in Bend, Oregon that Jeff and I are going to go do sometime this summer. I just need to decide a good weekend and off we go! It's called the high cascaded 100 if anybody is interested in checking it out, but we're not doing the race they have in August we are just going to ride it for fun!
I will end it here for now and post again shortly later this week or early next week with more stuff.
-brian-
posted by brian at 9:49 PM
May 13, 2009
our monthly newsletter
It's that time of the month when I look at all of the blogs I purportedly write on and realize that I've neglected several or all of them, hang my head in shame, then pony up and log in and think of what I want to say.
It's mid-May and the countdown to summer has begun. I haven't felt this excited about summertime since I was in college, because every year since then, I've had to work through the summer and it all just felt kinda the same. But not this year! This year not only am I 'off' for the summer, but I am never returning to my job! Woohoo! I gave my resignation a few weeks ago, so it's now understood that once I pack up and leave on June 18th, I will not come back for the fall. Unless I need to train someone new and they can't find them in time for me to do it in June. (I'm thinking this will be the case.)
That said, my summer is already looking pretty full. But full of FUN! I'll be taking prerequisite courses for grad school a few days a week for the first four weeks of summer, first of all. My first foray back into academia since 2004. Eek! I can't lie and say that I'm not a tiny bit nervous.
I've also got those babysitting and nannying jobs lined up for the summer, which should be a great way to spend my free time and make some extra cash on top of the paychecks I'll still be getting from the school. Actually, I now have four families that I'm in contact with, so I'm hoping I haven't overbooked myself! This is also a good reason for me to finally master the stick shift so I can drive myself places and not spend hours and hours on the bus.
Lately I've also been making more jewelry - refining my style and working with some better quality materials. My website is currently under construction, but you can sneak a preview of the new stuff on the main page: Sunshower Design Jewelry.
And trips! Brian and I have planned a trip to the Oregon coast for sometime in late July - we've heard the coast is amazing in the summertime, and after this horrid winter (which is still encroaching on our springtime, hmph!) we really need a vacation. Also, I'm hoping to get up to Edmonton (in Canada) to visit Lisa and Derek in their brand new home and do all sorts of fun summery things that we only dreamed about doing together since we were 16.
Finally, yes, we are coming home! For two weeks! We will be on the east coast from August 26th to September 9th. The first week will be spent in New Hampshire, and the second week we'll be frolicking around the NY/NJ/PA/DC area. So if you'll be around, hopefully you'll want to see one or both of us. :)
posted by karel at 10:05 AM
April 17, 2009
hi, hi, HI!!!
So, it wasn't until I read the last line of Brian's last post that I realized I haven't written in over a month, and even then it wasn't a proper post. I could lie and say that I'm giving Brian a chance to practice writing, but while that's a lovely side effect of my lack of blogging, it hasn't been my intention.
Though maybe it should be.
The weather here is finally starting to resemble spring, though in patches. It's raining right now as I write, but the forecast for this weekend is something ridiculous in the mid-70s with lots of sun. Unfortunately, Brian has to work on Saturday, and then he has a series of activities on Sunday smack in the middle of the day (kickball game, pinball tournament... wait... is he 8 years old? :p) which means I am going to be finding my own ways to enjoy the spring sunshine.
The great thing about warm weather in cities is that there are free street fairs and outdoor events nearly every weekend, so I did a quick search and found out about the Spring Greening that's happening tomorrow on Mississippi Ave, up in North Portland which really isn't all that far from us now. There will be music, clothing swaps, and HUGE SALES!!! Now, I'm pretty sure I won't actually be purchasing anything, but if there's anything I love to do, it's browse to my heart's content.
I'm getting really excited about summer, too. School's out in two months and then I will be free!! I'm on a 12-month pay schedule, which means that I get paid a bit less than I'm actually earning right now so that I can continue to get paychecks over the summer. This means that I won't have to work - though I'll probably look for some part time stuff to bring some more cash in. There's a possibility I may be nannying for a couple families from school a few days a week, which would be nice :)
I also plan on revitalizing my jewelry business. It's been tough to keep up with advertising and all that with the limited capital that I have, and after I was rejected from a craft fair in March (oh yeah... I'm not sure if I mentioned that... probably not) I decided I needed to take a breather and rethink my approach. Anyway, lots of brainstorming will be happening, but I'm foreseeing that I won't be able to do much execution until I don't have this silly thing called a day job to worry about.
Oh yes, and I don't really want to make too big a deal out of this until all the proper channels are notified, but I was accepted to grad school at Portland State and will be starting this fall in their School Counseling program!! YEAH! I'll be taking some prerequisite courses this summer as well, and then launching into the program full-time in September. I'm very excited, but nervous, as I haven't been in proper academia in almost 5 years. Ack! Right now I am just waiting to hear from the financial aid office before I gauge how much freaking out I'll need to do about staying afloat.
Oh, and I'm going to have to apply for Oregon residency this summer too. Woohoo!
Happy Friday everyone! :)
posted by karel at 7:31 AM
|
