oops, i forgot about this for a month

updates:

i saw stomp last night at the keller auditorium in portland. it was awesome. besides the crazy percussions with brooms and buckets and paper and clapping, they also do comedy routines and audience participation. it was very cool.

all the cast members had fairly well developed characters, too. there was the leader dude, who looked just like mumbles, if any of you remember mike heylin. this little guy, the "newbie," was the comic relief. he was very good at it.

overall, i'm giving the preformance an ****/**** four out of four stars and a thanks to carla for taking me there.

BIGGER UPDATE:

i am going to minnesota tomorrow for a few days because my younger sister katie is getting married on saturday!

totally crazy right? quite. once i left minnesota and got trapped in massachusetts, i missed out on seeing my sisters mature. i keep thinking of them as my little sisters from high school or junior high. and now one is getting married in a few days and the other is engaged--with the date set for next march!

so i'll see you in a week when i get back with a new brother

i feel bloggy

this past weekend carla and i went to the beaverton farmer's market.
we bought some fresh asparagus, radishes and lettuce.

and on a whim, we bought a whole bunch of plants. vegetable plants.

broccoli, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers and peppers.

so after dropping those off at home, we ran to home depot and bought a bunch of soil and turned these plastic bins we used to move into a container garden on our porch.

we already had some peas and spinach and herbs and carrots growing that carla had planted earlier, but now we are up to a full-fledged garden.

i'm excited about it because i haven't had a garden since i was living in minnesota.

every summer on memorial day weekend, we would plant the garden with tons of vegetables.

there was always a time during the summer when we would have these huge massive salads for lunch on weekends that were made from just stuff in our garden (except for the cheese and baconbits!). or cabbage and ham soup at the end of the season when the cabbage ripened.

it makes this apartment feel like home just a bit more.

sipping vinho verde

as a sip my second glass of the effervescent portuguese white, i will now espouse my thoughts on alcohol:

1. i love it.

2. i love almost all forms of it.

3. i like learning about it.

my adventures in oregon have been showing me that oregonians like there booze.
between the wineries and the craft brews and the bars on every corner in downtown portland, alcohol flows freely here.

i also work in a store that sells wine and beer. so i feel that, in order to be most effective as a knowledgeable tj's crewmember, i should know about wine and beer.

and experience is the only true teacher.

this is what i have learned about beer:
hefeweizen is my favorite kind of beer.
sam adam's summer ale maybe the best seasonal brew i know of.
i like fruit added beers. which may make me a fruit, but i'll accept that.

what i have learned about wine:
i don't like reds with most foods. i like them on their own or with sweet things.
i like white wine with food.
i like going to wineries and drinking the samples.

i have yet to tour as many breweries and vineyards as i would like to, but it is still early in my time here, so my plan is to...

oops, i need another glass...

spider-man 3

i've been waiting for this movie to come out for a couple months. since i saw 300 (which i absolutely loved) this is the movie i have most wanted to see.

the action and fight scenes and special effects and the look of venom were all awesome.

the dialogue was a bit hokey and forced.

i liked the acting and the range of emotion was good, especially by the dude that plays harry. i like him.

but it feels like they crammed way too much into the movie. they could have kept out the gwen stacy story line or kick mary jane to the curb for the whole movie. the sandman sentimentalism was a bit too much. (is sentimentalism even a word? my spell check says it is, but i don't know about that...)

it was worth seeing, but i'll probably be ok with that being the only time i ever see it.

3/5 stars

new era

with blair, clinton and chirac all out of office now, all my favorite world leaders are out of power now.

which is too bad, because it seems like the world is shifting towards more conservative, isolationist and authoritarian regimes.

mainly that's too bad because i feel that's the opposite of where we need to be going in world politics.

the justifications we (the us, nato, the u.n., the e.u.) used to get rid of slobodan milosevic, liberate east timor, intervene in sierra leone, and now the belated call to dafur are righteous and morally correct.

those that live in free, prosperous democracies have a mandate to spread those ideals of liberty and justice to everyone.

for two reasons: one, security. if a small nation has a vested interest in democracy and world-wide free trade, you are less likely to see hostile military action or extremism take hold in government. two, it is the right thing to do.

putting aside everything that went wrong in iraq, if we would have used this reasoning to oust saddam and we used this as a first principle for planning our military action, i think fewer people would have been opposed to this from the start. i know i would have.

america is still the richest and most powerful nation on the planet. maybe even ever.
and that is fantastic.

but we need to let the world know that even if it's for our own selfish reasons, we will step in and force the tyrants out.
monroe doctrine, ww1, ww2, marshall plan, serbia, america has a track record of doing good in this world.

we cannot let a setback like iraq keep our country from losing the faith in our ability to be that beacon of light of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

happy birthday dad!

the dad-o is 46-o today-o!

happy birthday!

hope whatever you two empty-nesters are doing is fun and exciting with no children at home to get in the way of getting wicked drunk on your birthday, dad!

organization and time management

i am pretty good at keeping organized and managing my time when i am at work.
i get things done right away, i keep my inbox clean and i'll write myself to-do lists when i have more than i can keep straight in my head.

but at home, i'm lucky if i can remember to shower on my days off.

and it's not that i don't want to be organized and efficient. i'm just a procrastinator. i spend a lot of time calculating how long a task will take me and then i start it at the last possible second.

but, invariably, it ends up taking longer than i estimated or i get distracted by the tv or internet or a kitty that needs a good head scratching.

or i say i will take care of it on my days off. which leads to me sleeping in, taking care of the "honey-do" list posted to my bathroom mirror and me reading/watching the internet/tv/newspaper.

what i need to do is import the time management tools and techniques i use at trader joe's into my personal life.

i need to step up and keep my life in order. i want it to be that when i wake up in the morning that i look at the house and say, "damn, i have nothing to do. let's go watch a movie or sleep another 5 hours." instead of saying, "ok, if i sleep two more hours and watch this movie while i do laundry and dishes, then spend 15 minutes cleaning the bathroom then 5 minutes in the shower, maybe i can squeeze in enough time to get gas before i have to be at work."

which, of course, leads me to not doing half that stuff and praying that i don't run out of gas until after work.

so why don't i just make myself to-do lists and calendars and all that jazz of highly efficient people?

because it feels like work. i love my job, but i can only do so much work in a week. and 98% is used by the job that gives me money. so i don't have the motivation or will (ok, i do, i just don't use them) for chores and the like.

but i will.

tomorrow.

retail

i have probably mentioned this before, but people say some of the strangest things when you are working in retail.

take this for example:

on sunday, probably 3 or 4 different people asked me where a product was located. so i told them and walked them over to the right aisle and shelf.

"oh, you've moved this. it used to be over there."
"it's been here as long as i've worked here, and i've been here since january"
"no, it was over there the last time i came in"

now, either the last time they came in was last november or they are thinking of a different trader joe's or they're idiots.

yes, we do move stuff around and it may switch shelves or move over a section, but for the most part, we don't move entire aisles around.

these people think we do this stuff on a whim, but do you know how much work it is to empty a whole aisle and move it to another part of the store?

a shit ton. that's how much.

it's ok to admit you don't remember where something is or that you are thinking of another store or you haven't been in for awhile.

but i do not appreciate when it is my fault and our problem for you not being able to open your eyes and think for yourself.

don't get me wrong, i love my job. and i love customers. i wouldn't have a career without them. but for the love of God, think, people!

lou dobbs yesternight

on lou dobbs yesterday, they were talking about how some people are pissed that the mlk jr memorial in washington, d.c. is going to be built using chinese granite.

whatever dude he had on, said that this was a bunch of crap and we should be using american granite.
lou dobbs said the chinese should take their granite and build a memorial to mlk jr over there, and we'll use american granite for our american monument.
then they interviewed the "common man on the street" and we got 2 types of reactions:

1. that's terrible. mlk jr was an american. it should use american granite and american labor. no no no no no no chinese. bad international. good uberpatriots only use american products.

2. why do people care? wasn't mlk jr all about bringing people together and having us all treated as equal? should the whole world want to help on this monument?

exactly. the whole world should help on this monument. mlk jr's dream and vision was a world where everyone was looked upon as equal. where everyone had their shot at achieving their goals and dreams.

we should get the chinese to do the granite. we should get the italians for the landscaping. germans for any metal work to do. kenyans to string the lights. canadians for the sidewalks. indians to run the hot dog across the street.

this is the problem i have with a lot of people here in america. isolationism and xenophobia.

globalization is a good thing!

the recent stock market surge is partly due to american companies making more money overseas. part of the lack of inflation is that we can produce consumer goods cheaper overseas.
yes, we lose manufacturing jobs here, but who cares?
let's train our workforce and children to be smart and service oriented.

healthcare, engineering, service industries, sales, biotech, computer science. that's where the american know-how and how-to is going to be in the future. let other nations build polluting factories that are physically demanding and exhausting.

americans shouldn't have to physically toil for their money. we're too rich of a nation! we'll pay other people to do it for us! this is america, people. it's time we were ok with being totally kickass and we can continue to be that if we let other countries do the jobs that we don't care for. let america get richer! let the world get richer!

but keep america number one. that's all i ask.

title

i know someone that died in iraq.

i'd only met ryan a couple times. he's the fiance of one of carla's best friends from college.

he died in an explosion on wednesday.

this is the first time that i have directly known someone that has died in war.

watching reports of iraq on the tv or reading it in the papers, it doesn't quite hit home.

we're so sheltered from the violence and atrocities that happen over there on a daily basis.

the daily show and the like uses humor to present it to us. the 24 hours news channels don't even devote that much time to covering it anymore.

politicians bicker over how to fund/end/win it.

i was opposed to the iraq war from the beginning. i knew that we wouldn't get out of there for years and years. but my voice doesn't count for much in the grand scheme of things.

but now, i'm even angrier than before. people's lives that i know have been destroyed. how do i even comfort them? how do i help carla comfort her friend?

God, it sounds sad to me that it takes this horror hitting close to home for me to become enraged again about my government, my nation fighting in a war that i never wanted.

but it did.

i had keeping carla happy to worry about. i had my job transferring me across the country to worry about. i had my crohn's to worry about. i had my life to worry about.

but now, i'm just happy that the ones i love and care about are here in america. here where they can worry about congress raising the minimum wage or how much trans fats they are eating.

i'm sad more than anything when i think about ryan's family and friends. what do they do? how long are they going to grieve? months? years? forever?

i'm just sad.

i'm ashamed

i went to the ballet on sunday night and enjoyed it.

i'm even contemplating season passes to the oregon ballet theatre for the 07-08 season.

it was apart of c's mom's birthday celebration this past weekend.

it was definitely all c's planning on this one. she called me at work on saturday to tell me that i was going to the ballet the next evening.

what?

at first, i was pissed. the freakin' ballet? ballet?!?

then i was like, dude, this is high culture.

then it was, you can start pushing yourself into the portland social elite if you get into the ballet and symphony and so on.

then it was, fuck! i'm going to have to wear a tie.

but after it was over, i dug it. there were 3 sections? acts? dances? recitals?
the first was a classic called "apollo" about the life of the greek god. the second was a weird one about "exploring people's body at play" but it had kick ass music, even if the dances was totally weird. then the last one was ballet set to the music of cole porter, which was cool, cuz it made the ballet change to a musical--which is slightly less gay.

but if i get season tickets, i can even be cliche and see "the nutcracker."

mortgages

c and i went to a home buying seminar last night over at the complex across the street.
it was only this indian couple and us.

but it was informative.
i realized i basically knew nothing about buying a home.

the whole time i also kept having this feeling of nausea because i fear i farked up my credit so bad that i'm screwing myself now. even though it has been years since i had bad credit practices, the past has come back to haunt me.

i also found out the racket that the closing cost system is.

and finally, i realized that i have no where near the maturity to handle buying a home. i am going to freak out like a tweaker when i have to sign those papers.

please, God, let me win the lottery so this is not a problem.

superheroes, anti-heroes and heroes

heroes is one of the best tv shows out there right now.

the characters are well-written, the plot is engaging, and the actors are pretty decent.

one of my favorite daydreams is one where i'm a superhero of some sort.

if i was on heroes, i would want to be peter petrelli.

if i were in x-men, i would want to be cyclops.

if i were in the fantastic-four, i would want to be dr. reed.

or there is batman. through his sheer will and intelligence, he fights for justice.

and can't forget about spiderman. the ultimate hero. a geek that becomes a hero. the dream of every boy.

i think i daydream about being these characters because they are so much bigger-than-life. here is a struggle that must be won for the sake of mankind. and they are the few people in the world that realize the importance of being involved in this struggle.

my worries are 1) not angering carla, 2) keeping my job, 3) and do the cats have food?

when i have an off day, i don't get all my chores done and the cats meow at me.

being a hero and having an off day means people die.

when i have a great day, maybe a handful of people recognize and appreciate it.

being a hero and having a great day means the world appreciates it.

i guess it's just economies of scale, but my low-grade megalomania wants, needs, that.

even if i just keep inside my imagination.

hockey and basketball playoffs in full swing, and i root for no one.

i work in retail.

food retail.

which means that i deal with a lot of people.

which means that i deal with strange people.

and nice people.

the nice people make my day. it is always nice to have a conversation with someone that loves your products and enjoys the atmosphere and your way of doing business.

but it's the strange people that stick in your mind.

someone left 3 pennies behind from their change because, God knows, pennies are worthless.
i thanked her for being nice. she was a nice lady.
a couple people later, i had back change to a woman who said maybe 2 words to me during the entire transaction.
she proceeds to scoop up the 3 pennies and put them in her purse!
i watched her do it. she watched me watch her do it.
but i couldn't say a word.
but i was flabbergasted.
isn't that weird? it's not me that's weird, right? she should have left the pennies for someone that needed them, not her grubby tight-wad hands, right?

as long as i'm not the crazy one...

krups 4 cup espresso maker (in black)

today, i had my first cup of homemade espresso.

i used trader joe's 5 country organic espresso blend coffee.

i used brita on-the-tap filtered water.

i used a nice floral pattern cup that is carla's.

verdict: me, two thumbs up. carla, two thumbs down.

she also likes her coffee so thick with sugar and milk you need a spoon. not that there is anything wrong with that. i'm just a black as night coffee drinker. unless it's iced, then i will go with a dash of cream.

which brings me to something that i wasn't quite aware of about oregon when i moved out here:
WHERE THE FUCK ARE ALL THE DUNKIN DONUTS?

the closest one to me is about 70 miles away in salem! sev-freakin-enty miles from me.

i used to have a large iced coffee (maybe 2) almost everyday when i was working in w. newton.

it has been over 3 months since i lasted tasted that bland, boring deliciousness that is dunks.

ugh.

maybe trader joe's will open in salem and i can transfer there.

or i could win the lottery and just open my own, so i could have dunkins whenever i wanted.

a man can dream, though. a man can dream.

metablogging and metathinking and metacrap

i find myself thinking about the "purpose" of my blog. when it started i only wanted to be cool like everyone else. then i got an audience, and i thought, "hey, people are actually going to read your run-on sentences and random, trivial, semi-coherent thoughts." and it put immense pressure on me to post and be witty and rant and rave about things that a) people could relate to b) was semi-funny or c) i could lace with several obscure vulgar metaphors.

then i quit writing.

then i tried again.

but couldn't hold onto that flavor that peppered my earlier writings

like that metaphor?

anyhoo, i think i may be back in frame of mind where i can let loose my thoughts and ramblings on an unsuspecting public. and even if no one reads this, i'm going to write like some is, but i am mainly writing for me.

i'm watching lots of tv again, i am reading magazines and newspapers, i'm watching sportscenter again, jeopardy is in the dvr everyday. i am finally making another attempt on that peak of pop culture/trivia/current events that is my mt. everest. one more sailing of the jerobaom to go after my white whale of a fantastic blog. once more into the breech, dear friends!

my life maybe boring.

in fact, i'm pretty sure i'm rocking a pretty high precentile on the boring scale.

but my thoughts are nothing but.

return to the tubes of the interweb

again, i post the blog.

again, i try to share my thoughts and feelings.

again, i say i will do this more often.

again, i make no gare-ohn-tees.

places of residence in my life:
wadena, mn
hibbing, mn
worcester, ma
milford, ma
beaverton, or

i am now on my 5th "home"town and 3rd major geographical region: midwest, new england, pacific northwest.

my biggest disappointment with portland so far: lack of major league sports.
all we have are the trailblazers, who suck.
it's not like minnesota or boston who had all 4 major sports and a rabid enthusiasm in those teams.
for crying out loud, portland just had a celebration for 1977 nba championship 'blazer team.
30 fucking years!

other random thoughts on portland/oregon:

people here love their local made booze. which i approve of.

there is an overrunning of liberals here that are of the mindset of "we should do this because it's politically correct and not conservative" and not "we should do this liberal thing because it's best for america." this is a book's worth of expository essays.

the population of portland is like 30% hipster. and i feel that hipsters are the greatest threat to modern american culture since the hippies went on a rampage in the 60s/70s.

but this is a rant for another day. maybe soon, hipsters are rocketing up my list of social groups that annoy me:

1. suicide bombing terrorist supporting islamic fundamentalists
2. socially conservative bush supporting christian fundamentalists
3. dirty hippies. (i don't mind hippies per se. in fact, i think of myself of a quasi-hippie. it's the dirty-always-drugged-patchouli-wearing-vegan-preaching hippies that i can't stand.)
4. green bay packer fans
5. hipsters

i think the main reason hipsters annoy me is because if i was slightly cooler, i would want to pretend to be super cool and become a hipster, too. :(