holidays, food, trucks, more food.

the  last few months of 2009 seem like one chaotic blur. i moved, got a new job, and had a great thanksgiving with my family. my amazing parents sent me an incredibly thoughtful and generous package (i now am the proud owner of the most darling sewing machine that ever was! i am now one step closer to being on project runway and becoming bff's with tim gunn!)  that made having to work christmas and christmas eve, and spending christmas alone a little easier. i have so many amazing holiday memories from my childhood, all of which my parents are directly responsible for.  the holidays really are all about being with those you love.  having to miss out on that aspect of the season, it really makes me appreciate my family and friends that much more.  while i was slinging dinners to the people of portland, i was thinking about you all and hope you all enjoyed the holidays.

i have to admit, i had a small case of the bah-humbugs this year for christmas.  i attribute this to several things. as far as i'm concerned, any christmas without snow, is not a real christmas. and no snow was to be had in portland. also, my work with oregon ballet for their nutcracker season sucked my soul of all things christmas.  i've always loved the nutcracker, but when you see, listen, hear, and talk about nothing but the nutcracker for 40 hours a week... the excitement and christmas cheer that generally surrounds the nutcracker can quickly become a bit stale. (while working for obt i made 4 women cry, was yelled at by numerous individuals, and was even told i was "killing christmas"... and all just by selling tickets. people are CRAZY about their nutcracker. i should say that 2 of the 4 crying women were out of joy. so it's not as if i'm a total grinch. but geeze people-- i'm only doing my job! it's not my fault you can't afford tickets for your children because the cheap tickets are sold out because you waited until the week before the show when tickets have been on sale for 6 months.) i assure you, i'm not as bitter as i seem and actually quite enjoyed my time working for obt.

on the 19th of this month, ben took off for Baltimore for a seasonal job of his own.  it is possibly the most bizarre job i have ever heard of.  he was hired by an ad agency based in portland to work on an ad campaign for Ikea. what does this job actually entail? driving a truck around with giant screens on the sides playing Ikea ads. the job doesn't make sense for a lot of reasons, but no matter- it's a trip to the east coast, it pays incredibly well, and hotel, travel and food are all paid for. the down side was it meant ben had to spend the holidays in an unfamiliar city alone, and (most importantly) away from  me. right before he left he was informed he would have to drive the truck back to portland.  as much fun as a cross-country road trip sounds, (it's been on my to-do list for years now) making it happen in january, in a big truck (with no working cd player), alone, doesn't sound like much fun. especially for a boy born and raised in arizona who has never before put chains on tires.  so, he enlisted me to join him, found a cheap one way ticket, and on the 29th i joined him in baltimore. i'm a bit anxious about the drive home, but i have always wanted to be a trucker, so this is not only fulfills that dream, but i also get to spend new years with my darling beau who i've become slightly fond of.

i should have a disclaimer about any blogs about this trip-  99% of them will be about food. i.love.food. being able to explore new places and find tasty new things to try is one of my favorite things to do. ben is allotted so much money for food, and has been staying under budget so we could explore things together. we are wasting no time in doing so. my first day here we went to Papermoon, an awesome little joint our friend and baltimore native (& our current dog sitter), jen, recommended.

we are so glad she did- not only did it have phenomenal food, you could spend hours there just looking at all the cool stuff they had. the place is decorated with all sorts of toys and mannequins and other bizarre things. (most of these pictures are quite dark- we were using ben's work camera which neither of us have mastered  just yet.)

ben had a big ol juicy blue cheese turkey burger.  i had an incredibly tasty portabella pesto sandwich with goat cheese. i intend to recreate this sammy as soon as i get home, but know it will be difficult to get their hoison sauce right. it really was a perfect sandwich.  we took a slice of their peanut butter blitz to go and devoured it when our bellies were a little less full.

 please note the awesome bowie poster

 

we're all about the high fives

check out the lego undies!

Day Two

we tried a place really close to the hotel that we'd both seen on a couple of food network shows, as well as on anthony bourdain. Chap's Pit Beef. you can check out a clip of it from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives here if you're interested:

i went with the pit beef which really had enough meat to feed a small family, and smothered in "tiger sauce", mustard, pickles and onions. ben had the rachel and we both agreed the baked beans were the best we'd ever had. these are pretty mediocre pictures, but i'm putting them up anyway so i can look back and remember what dreams are made of.

we both spoke fondly of our pit beef babies we had in our bellies the remainder of the night.  we were pretty incapacitated as we could almost feel our arteries clogging with greasy goodness.  a heart attack would have totally been worth every bite.

Day 3

 i went out on the job with Trucker Ben. his.job.is.crazy.  he drives around, parks, takes pictures of people watching the ad, drives some more, repeat.

it turns out, some people do not like having their pictures taken.

this guy on the right tried to grab the camera out of my hand while making some pretty scary threats with a few choice words for me. luckily i'm a pretty tough cookie, and i think my aggressive tone took him off gaurd and i was able to make my escape, camera safely in hand.

after that experience i took to asking people if they'd pose for me, which worked pretty well i thought. like with this couple:

totally believable, right?!

i'm doing my best to earn my meals on ben's company dime. 
the ad is horribly loud and a little more than slightly obnoxious. poor ben thinks he hears it all the time. it has become a perpetual ear worm that he cannot get rid of. i'll try and get some video of it so you can all experience first hand the catchy little jingle and the woman shrieking "they're having a saaaaaaaaaaale! i'm going back for more!!!!"
like i said- his job is crazy.
while cruising the streets of baltimore, we took a break at lexington market where we did not eat, but experienced the Faidley lump crab cake.  it was hands down, the best seafood anything i had ever put in my mouth. the coleslaw was amazing, too. i'm a big fan of coleslaw, but never thought i'd be raving about it. this, was definitely rave-able.

mmm.... look at those big-ol-chunks of crab. i could eat these until i die. i might have to go back for another before we leave.

eatin trucker style- yes, it's blurry, but who has time to focus when you have food like that waiting to be devoured?! not us. never was a better meal enjoyed inside of a truck cab.

and the holidays begin!

if you're looking for some music to go along with your holiday fun, npr posted a thanksgiving mix (songs for stuffing) that i've been enjoying very much today while sipping spiced cider at work.  i thought i'd pass along the info.  you can stream the playlist here.

i'm looking forward to seeing my parents, camber, emily, jason & paul! i hope you all are able to enjoy turkeyday with people you love.

downsizing

the last 3 places I've lived have been 3 bedroom multilevel homes... needless to say, downsizing to a 850 square foot single level two bedroom home has been interesting.  It's a good change, because really I have entirely too much stuff for a 25 year old, and should not require more space than my lovely little home of el tenino provides.  however, getting rid of things is more work than it should be.  more advantages to living in a smaller place: i can communicate with anyone inside without having to leave any given room at a time. vacuuming just became ten times easier. and remarkably, ziggy has been incredibly well behaved. i guess the less space he has to cause trouble, the better. (i suppose the backyard is helpful as well...) i realize after writing this, the benefits of a smaller place all lend themselves to my laziness. which, depending upon how you look at it, is a good thing, or a really bad thing. because really, do i need more reasons to be lazy? probably not. but i'll take them just the same.

music and moving

how does They Might Be Giants do it?! they're just so stinkin awesome. and it looks as if i'm going to be able to attend a performance by them tonight! i thought i'd share one of their podcasts, that's especially for rugrats. (Liam- i thought you'd like the pirates!) 

i don't know anything about the opening band, guggenheim grotto, but they have this rad stop motion video:

exciting news!  as of this weekend i will no longer be a burbanite, but will be joining the ranks of portlanders in a cute little neighborhood called sellwood in the southeast part of town.  i can't wait! goodbye 20 minute commute and horrible rush hour traffic... hello biking to school & work! i meet with the landlord tomorrow for finalizing the lease, so hopefully all will be in place to get moving in the next few days! farewell beaver-town. it's been a swell run... but other than awesome neighbors i'll be leaving behind, you won't really be that missed.

The Post In Which I Share How I Entertained Myself Whilst Not Selling Tickets

The craziest news stories always seem to come from Florida. This one is pretty great... sorry eddie ates, but being fat just isn't a good enough defense for murder. Can you imagine if had actually worked?!
 

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I'm going to work on tracking one of these down for all those fools who are always full of excuses for getting out of a night of dancing with me. (and maybe one for myself because, well, it looks like fun.)

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Apparently I need to be watching a lot more women's soccer... these ladies are vicious! New Mexico's #15 is certainly not someone I'll seek out to pick a fight with anytime soon.

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I've always been really intrigued by phantom limb pains.

This makes the prospect of losing my hands seem not so bad.

Plus you could be part robot that can feel!

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bloggin at work... muah ha ha!

lately i've felt a bit like this poor bear cub...

as if i have my head perpetually stuck in something; in this guy's case, a bird feeder.

With midterms out of the way i'm slowly being able to shake the anxiety associated with what has been my daunting to-do list the last week or so. i awoke this morning with nothing on my schedule until 1 (my new job! my first that involves me sitting in front of a computer with internet access all day! this could be dangerous...) and was able to be super productive, which is not something my mornings consist of, as I generally like to stay useless and in my pajamas as long as possible. (I'm a lady of leisure in training!...and I have super comfy pajamas.... check out my rationalization skills! BAM!) I'm quite pleased with my ability to join the world of useful people (did i mention i worked out too?! because i did. let me say it again, because it really is quite the feat... i worked out!) and realized that running errands in the morning provides me with a great deal of hilarious people watching. I had to go to Costco to get a passport photo to replace mine which has sadly been MIA for far too long.  (I was hoping for a slightly better photo than the one on said missing passport, but ended up looking slightly like quasimoto... but that's besides the point. I've long since given up on the hopes of being photographed like a normal human being.) While I waited for them to be developed, I watched as a little boy (3 maybe?) tried to shove an entire hotdog (a costco hotdog at that- have you seen those weenies?! they're HUGE!) in his mouth as his mother just stared in disbelief, not even trying to stop him. I'm glad the kid didn't choke, although maybe it would have taught his mother a lesson that it may be a good idea to intervene when your kid is trying to shove mass amounts of food in his mouth at one time...  (criticizing other's parenting skills is so easy when you don't have kids.) anyway... perhaps this is my first of many productive mornings to come. just don't hold your breath. 

something you can hold your breath for is great music.

because here it is:

These are two of my favorite groups, both from iceland, that I am lucky enough to be able to go see tonight! B. Alexander being the boyfriend extraordinaire that he is bought me tickets for my birthday and I couldn't be more excited. I'm a bit disappointed by Múm's last album as they seem to have moved away from their more experimental spacey/ghosty feel and moved onto a much more pop sound. I like certain pop music as much as the next bloke, but in this case, it just isn't as great as what they've released prior. I just hope they play a good amount of old stuff, too. If you aren't familiar with Sin Fang Bous, I HIGHLY recommend you do so. Sin Fang Bous is Sindri Sigfússon's side project from his other band, Seabear, who is also fantastic and you should definitely also check out.  

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spooks and spiders

First of all, I think this needs to be said:

the fall daylight savings change is AWESOME. Especially the day after my birthday. As I enjoyed an extra hour in bed this morning I did utter a silent thank you to george w.... probably the first and last time that will happen.

Somehow ben & I were able to finish our Halloween costumes that turned into quite the ordeal.  We had a lot of fun constructing them, but have decided next year we will go for something much less ambitious.

 David Bowie and Steven Colbert both had a new species of spider named after them recently. So we did the only reasonable thing and went as the spiders and their namesakes. I think we pulled it off pretty well- I was actually recognized as David Bowie, which only happened twice last year with my costume.  Apparently I don't hangout with enough people that are familiar with Dr. Who, which I really should do something about. How can you not love the Doctor?!The first few pictures were taken at the end of the night, so my faux-mullet and duct taped boots were starting to fall apart, but I think you get the idea. Thanks to Chelsea for lending me an awesome jumpsuit!

Here we are as Aptostichus Stephencolberti and Heteropoda Davidbowie. 

 

This was my favorite costume of the night (besides the other David Bowie I ran into). 

She was a jellyfish. The pictures doesn't really do it justice- she had glow sticks around her tummy and head... and my favorite part- plastic jelly sandals!!!  I was very impressed.

I hope everyone had a lovely Halloween and thanks for all the birthday wishes!

spiders of the burbs

My neighbor, Matt, recently found this little (well... rather large, actually...) sucker in our neighborhood a few nights ago.  He and Ben had a good time feeding the fellow some beetles-- it was pretty amazing to watch him in action.  He is quite the diligent spider- even when the web's been demolished, it is faithfully rebuilt by night.

I wish I was a bit more skilled in night photography to catch him action, but Ben went back later and filmed him, which turned out really cool.  I'll have to swipe some of his footage to share later.  Despite their creepiness, spiders are pretty rad little creatures.... and it was great motivation for my Halloween costume! 

wizards of the riddled! sorcerors of the teased brains! unite!

i'm taking an online one-credit class "creative thinking for innovating change"  this term.  this week one of our exercises is to solve a brain teaser. i had a lot of fun with it for the first few minutes... and now, as it usually happens when you combine me+riddles, i'm starting to become slightly annoyed (mainly because i'm disappointed in my googling skills and my inability to turn up at least some suggestions)

part of the assignment is to enlist others to hopefully gain further insight in how to expand my creativity (or in this case, logical thinking).  so i thought along with harassing neighbors and coworkers i would post up the riddle and see if anyone of you smarty pants in cyberland had any input.

the riddle is to identify who (by name) is in each position on the team using the clues provided. my approach was to make a grid of the names and the positions (which there are nine of in the game of baseball. check out my mad sports knowledge!) and with deductive logic eliminate each person from any given position as the clues suggest. (ed can't be the second baseman, as his sister is engaged to said baseman.)  so far i've been able to get pretty close on some of the positions, but not a clue for others. so if you need something to kill the time, or are in the mood to challenge your brain, give it a shot! 

1. Andy dislikes the catcher

2. Ed‛s sister is engaged to the second baseman.

3. The center fielder is taller than the right fielder.

4. Harry and the third baseman live in the same building.

5. Paul and Allen each won $20 from the pitcher at pinochle.

6. Ed and the outfielders play poker during their free time.

7. The pitcher‛s wife is the third baseman‛s sister.

8. All the battery and the infield, except Allen, Harry, and Andy, are shorter than Sam.

9. Paul, Andy, and the shortstop lost $150 each at the racetrack.

10. Paul, Harry, Bill, and the catcher took a trouncing from the second baseman at pool.

11. Sam is undergoing a divorce suit.

12. The catcher and the third baseman each have two children.

13. Ed, Paul, Jerry, the right fielder, and the center fielder are bachelors.

The others are married.

14. The shortstop, the third baseman, and Bill each cleaned up $100 betting on the fights.

15. One of the outfielders is either Mike or Andy.

16. Jerry is taller than Bill. Mike is shorter than Bill.

Each of them is heavier than the third baseman.

franken, filmin and pirates.

have you heard about this?! frankencamera. crazy. part of me can't help but feel this is cheating. doesn't it take away from the art of photography? but then i think about it... and it's pretty stinkin-a awesome.  i guess the same thing could have (and probably was) said about other advancements within photography, like auto focus. can we talk about the name, too? frankencamera. that's hilariously cool. way to go, Marc Levoy.

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i'm taking another film class this term. already it's proving to be much more enjoyable than the last film class i took which was overrun with ridiculous students and taught by a professor who had no idea how to control class discussions.  there was one guy who compared everything to The Sandlot. i readily admit this was a great movie, i love it as much as the next bloke. but come on, it's not something to compare a Jan Svankmajer film too. (i should also note that this same guy also referred to himself as a psychologist every chance he had, because you know, wanting to major in psychology at a community college is basically the same thing.) this was just one of the many... eccentric... personalities i had to deal with. (wow... i'm not still bitter at all about this class....)   anyhow- this time around it's shaping up to be a great class. the professor is intelligent and passionate about film, but not pretentious or patronizing. he's picked great films so far like Rear Window which i adore and hadn't seen in years. (if i may drop my slice of humble pie for a minute, i have to admit, the paper i wrote on the soundtrack was pretty good. i'm quite proud. especially since it was written the day of.) 

we recently watched Chinatown, which blew me away. i cannot believe i had never seen this! not that i needed another reason to adore Jack Nicholson, but he really was phenomenal. it was so good a soft spot  nearly formed in my heart for Roman Polanski with his current, er... situation... but then that split second passed, i came to my senses, and now i just wonder why so many brilliant artists have to make such stupid decisions.  (incidentally, the whole state of affairs took place in Jack Nicholson's house, which i find rather interesting.) now i'm rambling when all i'm trying to spit out is that i highly recommend watching chinatown next time you're in the mood for a good detective thriller. 

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i have found my new favorite band. i hope it will become yours, too. because what more can anyone ask for in a band than pirate metal? nothing, i say! nothing. i dare you deny the greatness that is a keytar, especially when it's played by a scottish pirate.

(these guys are for real- they're no one song novelty act. they have two full length albums beneath their belts, and hopefully more to come.)

feast your eyes and ear drums on Alestorm....

food, glorious food!

There's this great little outlet grocery that is, no lie, called discount grocery.  It's kind of a mix between a dollar store and the clearance isle at any given grocery store.  A few years ago I lived only a block away from this lovely place and would make frequent trips returning home with all sorts of great finds.  Once they had Naked Juice for a dollar a piece! Sure they expired in two days, but these usually go for up to $4 a pop at Safeway! So.... I bought them all.  I believe there were close to 20 of them.  I threw them in my freezer and had the most delicious smoothies for the next few weeks. Point in case- this place is awesome. I am not above consuming nearly expired food. I don't frequent it nearly as often as I once did, but recently found a steal of a deal on cereal. family size box of special k berries for 1.50! YES!   Being a lover of smores, I couldn't pass up a box of this for a dollar.

I was thrilled to try what I understood to be a new sugar cereal (for only 100 pennies!!!) and try what all the kids must be eating these days... only to have my hopes partially crushed by my neighbor who informed me this was nothing new and had been around for years.  I was disappointed to learn that I had been missing out on such an awesome cereal for so long. (but only until I tried it... it's not bad, just definitely better dry.)  Something bothered me about this cereal box though.  I remember kids cereals having games and what not on the back of the box.  

Nutrition at a glance?! where is my word puzzle?! at least a crazy cartoon mascot who loves smorz cereal?... childhood obesity is ruining all the fun of sugar cereals.

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Living in a place with such an abundance of great eateries I splurge all too often on food.  like the bbq zucchini sandwich at someday lounge i had a few days ago (a.maz.ing. once i figure out how to recreate this to-die-for sammy i'll be sure to share the recipe because EVERYONE should try it. it's just that good). when i first moved to oregon, my old roomie, kat, and i would have fancy ramen nights where we would see how creative we could get with a .25 ramen package. we came up with some pretty impressive dishes. it's a great way to make up for food overspending here and there and hilarious to try and make a  meal for as cheap as possible. my latest accomplishment could have easily fed four all for under .99, is made up of a combination of the 3 cheapest college foods, creating something entirely new.

may i present,

Maca-romi-n-weenie-cheese!

make your macaroni &cheese as per usual. for last two minutes of boiling noodles add a brick of ramen noodles and a couple chopped up turkey dogs (try adding peas or broccoli!).  when adding that great cheese powder, throw in the ramen spices. walla! a tasty pasta cheesey mess that tastes nothing like macaroni OR ramen and tastes only partially like the artificial food it actually is. (really- it was pretty good!) if the magazine Gourmet wasn't going out of business i bet i could definitely get them to feature this gem of a meal!

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i love breakfast foods, especially when i get to eat them for different meals. mr b alexander made me some incredibly tasty potato pancakes for lunch this afternoon.  I had never had a potato pancake, but was very impressed and hope it was the first of many!

(b doing his best impression of his nephew's pose-for-the-camera smile)

I wouldn't have thought to put applesauce on a savory cake like this, but the onion and applesauce went really well together.  frying an egg on the top of a cake was super tasty, too.

which brings me to another food item...

i grew up eating cowboy eggs which is an egg fried in a hole in piece of bread.  recently i have heard a variety of other names for this beloved breakfast.  eggs in a basket, cyclops sandwich (i think this is my favorite) and runny bread are a few.  i'm incredibly curious to find other awesome names for my breakfast favorites i've been missing out on.  perhaps i'll write a coffee table book of foods with multiple names. i'd totally buy that book.

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thus concludes my school work procrastination entry-o-food.  

Spiders from Mars... I mean Malaysia!

Whoa whoa whoa whoa.... what a second. Something great has happened, and I want to be sure as many people as possible are aware of it. 

Peter Jäger has named a spider after David Bowie . 

This is pretty much the greatest news ever.

May I present to you, Heteropoda Davidbowie.

(cute little fella, eh?)

but that's not all... I'm pretty sure after 11 months of brainstorming for a halloween costume, I have found my inspiration.  I don't want to give too much away, but I have come up with this rough equation for, what I hope, will be my costume success.

 ((Heteropoda Davidbowie + Ziggy Stardust) + Paper-mâché )  =  me + total costume domination

I have high hopes...  this could be a pretty spectacular costume, perhaps even defeating my two previous favorites, the robot and Dr. Who.

(if anyone has any suggestions of how to meld a jumpsuit and paper-mâché, please let me know.)

Thanks, Peter. For giving Mr Bowie the ultimate (...?...) tribute.

also exciting news:  I just discovered itunes new feature, itunesU, which provides heaps of lectures and lessons and other various ways of gettin' smart... for FREE!

Check out: Library of Congress - music & the brain webcast

science is super

my latest time sucking site that i can't seem to get enough of is ted.com.  i was reading about WiTricity today and am again overwhelmed with how awesome science is. to think that all electrical cords could one day be a thing of the past, along with the vcr and cell phones bigger than your face, is pretty exciting. 

also exciting:

i'm thinking about trying to hire her just to play theme music for me as i go through my mundane activities.  it would make even cleaning the bathroom seem slightly thrilling.

you can't fix stupid.... except with maybe a little education.

ah... health care. as much enjoyment as i get out of political discussions, i think i am very near being exhausted on the topic.  even if i don't agree with the protesters, i'm glad that people are getting off their couches and doing something for what they believe. however, i do wish instead of just a "no" (& a better leader than glen beck, but that's an entirely different can of worms) that perhaps they could come up with a better idea. i cannot deny seeing there needs to be a change. i would be alright without socialized health care if we could put in place some sort of system that could offer checks & balances that could eliminate the problems within a for-profit health care system. this picture of the tea party protest made me cringe.  i highly doubt (all the while understanding i could be completely wrong, i'm only going on what i know of those typically involved with conservative agenda) that the woman holding a sign of "hands off my body" is pro-choice. I would be willing to wager she would never in a million years vote to legalize abortion.  if one is fighting for freedom and is against government control, i fail to understand how that same person would try and take away the freedom to choose. (or see a need for public education. or libraries. or firefighters. or maintained roads.) lady, i agree with you. no one should be in charge of your body but you.  isn't that what health care reform is aiming for though? the right to allow american citizens to be able to take care of their bodies?  the current system, and only option, for health care is corrupt and failing us.  i hope we as a nation are able to find some sort of solution.

but if we don't....

it doesn't really matter, because according to dan gilbert*, a psychology professor at harvard, synthetic happiness is just as good as natural happiness.  so when the time comes for my uninsured body to completely fall apart, all i've got to do is synthesize some happiness and i'll be set to go.

*this is a fairly long video, but well worth the time of watching it. the study he speaks about @ 10 minutes is especially interesting to me, and further proof of how fascinating our brains really are.

musicophilia

i've always loved music, and as my mother can attest to, this love has at times been borderline obsessive. during my adolescent years i would rarely give my eardrums a break, wearing headphones or blasting music from my stereo nonstop for days at a time. unrelenting music & too many concerts without earplugs have left me with tinnitus, but hasn't slowed my affection towards music. lacking basic skills required to create my own music (mainly the attention span & determination to stick with and stay focused on practicing something long enough....) my musical outlet is mostly in the form of being a music appreciator. i am often overwhelmed by the infinite onslaught of good music (and equal, if not more, amounts of bad) that is being created. i have this constant hunger for new music that i can never seem to satisfy. the more i learn about the psychology behind music the more i love it even more. (if you haven't read oliver sack's musicophilia i highly recommend it... or anything sacks does for that matter. he's a guy i'd like to have for a neighbor that occasionally invites me over for tea in his garden as he blows my mind with casual conversation.)  with the recent findings that 14 different species of parrots  have the ability to dance, it only makes sense that someone would now be on the quest to create music for animals. cellist david teie has set out to find why music affects us on such a primal level, and what better place to start than making monkey music. in the article, teie says "The paradox is that I distinctly remember thinking once that when they figure out why Puccini makes me cry, I hope I die the day before the news gets out. But the great news about this exploration into music is it's actually more magical and wonderful once you realize how it works."  i, for one, hope he is successful on his musical crusade.

kid stuff

despite what b.alexander's face may seem to be telling you in this photo, he is quite good with youngsters. especially when it comes to his adorable nephews and niece. His brother & his wife were in town for a wedding this week, so we had the chance to spend some time with them.

jamie & evan are doing something, probably many things, right as they have the most intelligent children i have ever met. jarom (5 as of this week) kicked my butt at monopoly-- he knew the rules better than i did and was a very accurate banker. he and 3 year old pacen know their times tables up to 12, and can do all sorts of complicated (by my standards) math problems-- even when you try & trick them up with order of operations. little miss tatum is probably the cutest little girl to ever be & it took all i had to not eat her up. tuesday we ventured off to the oregon zoo, my first visit, and had entirely too much fun taking pictures of the kids.

my favorite part of the zoo was not the animals, but the fantastic people watching. so i'll leave you with this young gent with his back to school fashion tips. (please note: homemade pokemon puff paint pants. hot.stuff.)

the robots are coming

the age of machines ruling the world is upon us! meet cybraphon, a robot band that plays its own music. this on its own is amazing, but there's more. cybraphon has moods, and it is these moods that stimulate the creation of its music. cybraphon is hooked up to a laptop that pays attention to how many friends it has on various social networking sites, and the comments it may receive. the more positive feedback it receives, the more upbeat the music is, and vice versa. pretty much amazing in every way.

and although this video is not so much robot involved, it's in the same category of cool.

quest for irrelevance

portland is a great city to be in when you're trying to save your pennies. there seems to always be some sort of free event or another going on. one of my favorites is first thursday, an event every month in the pearl district. art gallerys open their doors for a (free) look at what the artists of portland have to offer. it's one of the few places i don't mind being in a huge crowd as the streets fill with people & music. caitlyn joi & randall met up with b.alexander and i, and after we'd had our fill of first thursday, headed to caitlyn joi's to pursue some good ol trivia. hilarity ensued.

a board game lacking a die is no obstacle for the likes of caitlyn joi!

curls-o-love

in the end i came in 4th place with only two pieces of cheese

randall came in 3rd, caitlyn joi 2nd

b.alexander conquered all trivia, winning by a landslide.


even though i lost, i walked away with knowledge galore! my favorite facts:

a group of bears is called a sleuth
tycho brahe had a gold nose (just don't ask me who tycho brahe was)
the japanese call japan "nippon"
the letter K in scrabble is worth 5 points
noah used gopher wood for his ark


so there you have it.