10.

10. Neighborhood hooligans broke in and stole my computer! How am I supposed to keep up with my posts when I don't have a computer? . . . er, wait, that happened in November of 2007.

However, I was recently reminded of the break-in while posting pictures on Facebook about moving.

This picture shows our old house the way it looked before we started tearing it apart and packing it up to move. Notice the afore mentioned computer in the foreground. Which brings me back to the hooligans, since they were a major part of our reasoning for moving.



Since Jess moved out, Beckie and I decided we needed to downsize and vacate our downward spiraling neighborhood. In July 2008 we moved into a great little apartment complex with a more central location and a fantastic view.

It's been an adjustment cramming our lives into 980 square feet (our previous home was 1600 sf), but we're making it work.

Those of you who've been privy to my preparedness (or lack thereof) during other moves would have been impressed at how ready and on the ball I was. Note the above picture taken several days before the actual move. It's amazing how much less hectic moving is when you are only working one job.




While the move was stressfulf for Beckie and me, I think it was more stressful for our cats. During the actual moving day, they were locked in Jessica's old room together. We think they bonded.


This is as close as they ever get to each other. They never shared the sliding glass door at our old house!

Here's Beckie's cat, Max. As soon as we put this rug down, he plopped right down in the middle of it. "Finally, something that reminds me of home" he seemed to say.

My cat, Sagwa, paced around the new apartment for a couple of days until we uncovered a chair that had been in my room at the other house. In this case, familiarity breeds a good nap!

Top Ten Excuses for Not Blogging

Hello, my name is Angela and I am a blog neglector.

My blogging goal for 2008 was to publish at least one post a month and I was doing okay . . . until summer :( Since the beginning of June I haven't posted once. Shame on me.

Here are my top 10 excuses for not posting a blog in the last 2 1/2 months.

So what? I'm still a blog star!

(Singing heard earlier today coming from Angela's computer.)

"Na na na na na na na

na na na na na na

Na na na na na na na

na na na na na na"

"Guess I just lost my author

I don't know where she went.

So I'm gonna write my own post,

Use a few words to vent."

"I've gotta brand new attitude,

And I know I'll do alright.

Don't need her punctuation,

Or stories about her life!"

"So, So What?

I'm still a blog star!

I'll write my own posts,

And I don't need her!"

"And guess what?

I'm having more fun,

And now that we're done,

I'm gonna show her . . . "

(CLICK)

(Angela shuts her computer.)

Venting about Fording the River

Fording the River: A recipe for turning a 15 minute drive into 50.

1. Work 12 miles from where you live and have to cross a major river to get there and back.

2. Arrange a huge wreck, so large it completely shuts down 4 miles of the I-5 corridor for several hours.

3. Don't put out any signs telling drivers about viable alternate routes or lengths of wait times.

4. Don't have any local radio stations explain the situation or guide drivers to alternate routes.


Tonight I worked late.

Tomorrow is one of our busiest days of the summer and several of our operations staff members were staying late to prepare. I decided to stay with them and get caught up on some work. It was a productive and fun evening. Around 9:15 someone brought in pizza and we all took a break to eat and chat.

Around 10 pm people started leaving. The last of us walked out the door at 11 pm (I don't have to be back until 10 am, so it's not that bad). I walked a couple of blocks to my car and got on the road about 11:10 pm. I hopped on I-5, expecting it to be pretty empty in the middle of the night. It was . . . For about 3 miles and then I could see that traffic ahead was totally stopped. I was in the far left lane and had to fenagle my way across three lanes of traffic, but managed to get off at the last exit before I got trapped with the stopped cars.

This is my normal commute to and from work.


As I crossed over the freeway I looked north and saw lots of emrgency vehicle flashing lights. I figured there had been a wreck. At the next possible entrance I could see it was also blocked by police, so I took surface streets as far as I could before I knew I would have to get on I-5 to cross the Columbia River. But when I tried to get on I-5 at Delta Park, the last possible exit/entrance before water, I was dismayed to see the same flashing lights.

Now I was annoyed. How is it that something happened, significant enough to block off 4 miles of freeway, and O-DOT had posted no signs, no readerboards to tell me, the driver, that the Interstate Bridge, my link to my homeland, was completely blocked off and I could not get home that way? Because now I had wasted 15 minutes driving north northwest on surface streets when I could have been driving northeast and been to I-205 by then.




This was my convoluted commute home last night.


I'm also disappointed in one of my favorite radio stations. They are usually really good at giving traffic reports, especially when there is something unusual going on. But not one peep came over their airways: Not during the 20 more minutes of surface streets to get from Delta Park across town to I-205 nor even during the 15 minutes it took me to get home once I got on I-205.

I do realize there are worse things than taking an extra 35 minutes to ford the river and get home. In fact, some of you dear friends are dealing with hurts and situations far greater than my little rant. I just think that in today's age of technological saavy, something could have been done to avoid the extra 35 minutes, not to mention the extra miles and lower in-town mpg I put on my car--gas is $4.00 a gallon.

Thanks for reading anyway. Typing has helped me unwind the energy coil that was created on my 50 minute journey . . . I might actually be able to go to sleep now :)

Yep, I think I drifted off there . . . Good . . . Good night!

Pop Rocks and Fireworks!

I love spontaneous Friday evenings. I was ready to come home from work and spend the evening doing laundry and/or reading a good book, but my friend texted me on the way home to see if I wanted to go to Delta Cafe for dinner. And so began an evening full of fun and adventure.

Right now I'm sitting on my couch eating strawberry Pop Rocks!

These particular Pop Rocks were acquired at the beginning of my spontaneous evening. Sami and I tried to find something to buy at Fred Meyer to write a check for cash and avoid outrageous ATM fees. They are so worth the .50 cents I paid for them!

I love Pop Rocks! I love to feel them shoot off my tongue onto my teeth or the roof of my mouth, or to open my mouth and hear them popping around like Rice Krispys in a bowl of milk . . . it's like a mini fireworks show and you get to "taste the explosion."

After we left Fred Meyer we headed south to the Delta Cafe were we enjoyed the down home southern cooking, good sweet tea, and eclectic atmosphere for a reasonable price. I am a little horse from talking over the din of voices and music, but it's a small price to pay for good conversation with a fabulous friend.

And a trip to Delta just wouldn't be the same without walking a couple of blocks down the street to Bubble Bubble Tea. Bubble Tea is not for the faint of heart--a milky, chewy, lovely Taiwanese concoction that is probably an acquired taste, unless you're me, who fell in love with it the first time I ever tried it. However, tonight our experience at Bubble Bubble Tea was less than spectacular thanks to the slightly harried and odd cashier/bubble tea maker. Long story short, we'd only been there about 20 minutes when he cleared his throat and uncertainly bit out, "I'm closing my doors in 5 minutes" to a restaurant full of customers (most of whom had come in after us). We sat in stunned silence and looked at him for about 10 seconds before conversations continued as though he hadn't said anything. He responded by explaining himself to the air, "I've gotta close 10 minutes early tonight . . . I've been slammed . . . I've got . . . ." He trailed off and just looked around the room. We looked at the posted hours on the window, which clearly said they closed at 11 pm on Fridays (it was 9:45 pm) and giggled to ourselves that he must have had a rough day and be at his wits end. What else could cause such a break down?

But, his melt down was our gain. As we headed north on McLoughlin Blvd. we found ourselves driving straight toward the Fireworks show at the Rose Festival's Waterfront Village. And thanks to Sami's quick thinking and driving, instead of getting on I-5 North we pulled over on the side of the Morrison Bridge with many other onlookers and stood right under a spectacular fireworks show! It was beautiful and loud. I could feel each boom vibrating my chest as if I was in the front row at a rock concert.

Here's a picture of last year's Fireworks show . . . the bridge with the blueish-purple lights on it is the Morrison: the very bridge where we stood and watched this year's show. And off to the right you can see the bright lights of the Rose Festival Carnival shining out from behind the Tom McCall Waterfront Park trees, and above that the incredible Portland skyline. This picture captures everything I love about downtown Portland. Rose Festival season is Portland at it's best.

By the way, I was just reading the ingredients of Pop Rocks: 1) Sugar 2) Lactose (milk sugar) . . . Wait, what? Lactose? Hugh? I guess lactose intolerant people gotta be careful about the Pop Rock intake. Who knew?

P.S. I also bought Fun Dip . . . haven't cracked it open yet, but when I do I'm sure it'll be worth all .33 cents I paid for it and a successful end to the spontaneity of this Friday evening :)