Tuesday

Today is Tuesday and I appear to have run out of coffee. I need to remedy that. So good day to you.

Coffee Monday

It is Monday and I am at the Broadway Coffeehouse enjoying my job search and my coffee and marionberry (sp?) scone. I find that even though I do not like being unemployed and I do need to find work soon. For reasons both economic and social and mental. I really do like having a Monday morning free to step in to the coffee shop have a cup or two or three and do some writing and some searching. It gets me out of the house and allows me to listen to people around me and to marvel at some of the things people say and how people act. I would again recommend the Broadway Coffeehouse to those of you who have not tried it out. I do not believe you will be disappointed at all.

I had an interesting past week and weekend. It was Thanksgiving and so I did all of the usual family stuff. I went to my Parents house and there were several members of the extended family there all from my mothers side of the family. Aunts and Uncles and Cousins and some assorted second Cousins it is always good to see them. But what I did this weekend that was different was that I took a drive out to the Brigittine Monastery in Amity, OR. The initial reason for the drive was because a potential wine tasting trip fell through and I had heard that the monks sold some very tasty fudge out there so I convinced or to be more accurate once they were in my car I just drove people out there. I found that I really enjoyed being out there. I live in a world of almost constant noise of some sort. It is either people talking or it is music or electronics of some sort and it is always around me. When we pulled up to the monastery there was a sense of peace and quiet all around me. We went into the main building which houses the gift shop and met a monk there who answered some of our questions and gave us a fudge sample.

(The fudge is amazing by the way. I purchased a pound of it for $10. It is really very tasty and I am sure that I should not be eating it. But I believe that since it is fudge made in a monastery it makes it Godly and I also understand that Godly fudge or chocolate has no calories to it. So eat away.)

The origin of the Brigittine order is an interesting one.

"The Order of The Most Holy Savior, popularly known as Brigittine, was founded in the year 1370 by St. Birgitta of Sweden to give praise and honor to God. Elements which characterize the Brigittine Order include a deep love of Christ, especially in remembrance of His sufferings, the fullness of liturgical worship, a respect for learning and authentic devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the holy Mother of God, all incorporated into a simple monastic life style."


The comes from their website. But I am in the process of reading about the group and St Birgitta herself. I am finding it pretty interesting. I hope to share more about that in the future. But, all that being said I would encourage people to take the trip out there and check it out. The level of calm it can bring to you is simply amazing.

One last thing. I turn 41 tomorrow. I am in a completely different place this year then last year. I believe that is a good thing and as soon as I get this job thing taken care of then everything should be looking rosy. I do not mention my birthday to get attention I just want to make note that I am in a better place now then I was last year at this time. Well better emotionally and mentally if not fiscally but that is another issue. I just know that I wouldn't be in the better place I am in if not for the support of my friends. I will not name names I believe most of you know who you are and what you mean to me and I will probably be talking with you in some form or another as the week progresses but I just wanted to make mention of that and say thank you to them on my blog. You all mean the world to me.

Have a good week folks.

4-19-2010 (Monday)

My friends and I went to the Portland Timbers game this weekend. It was opening game for this season as well as the last opening day for the Timbers in this league. Because next season is their first season in Major League Soccer (MLS). It was a great opening day. My buddy Nick and I have season tickets and they are in the third row right on the 48 yard line. So it was a fun evening overall.

But what I wanted to address in today's post was the fans at the game. The Timbers have a pretty rabid fan base. The game was sold out with a little over 15K people now when the team starts MLS next season the stadium will have been renovated and should be holding closer to 30K I believe. I just hope that we can continue to fill it. I think that Portland as a city and the parts of Oregon that surround it can pull in those kind of numbers. I know there are some non-believers out there and that is fine. But to them I say we will not know until we try. So I think it is a good move on the part of the Timbers ownership as well as the Portland city council to go for this chance.

But the best part of the day for me was seeing my friend's Travis and Andrew and Nick and then playing "Hipster Slug" (Copyrighted) "I own that so none you trolls better steal it. If you do at least send the traffic my way please." So anyway I am sure most of you are familiar with slug bug. Well this is a variant of that. Now I realize that most large city's have a fair share of their own hipsters but I think Portland seems to attract a special sub-set of hipsters.



So I thought lets play that and promptly punched Nick when I saw one. Well that was fun but honestly after a very little bit. Between the punching of Nick and him punching me back and Travis having a good eye for hipsters and lets be honest in certain parts of Portland you can't throw a can of PBR without hitting a hipster and they seem particularly drawn to the Timbers games. Well my arm was getting sore and there never seemed to be an end to them. They just kept coming and coming. They were always there around every corner with their tattoos and their black rimmed glasses and their smoking. It was like a zombie movie except the zombies had been replaced by hipsters.

As the Timbers season progress's I will be giving you more updates about the season and I think I will begin tagging hipsters Marlin Perkins style. I think it will benefit all of us to keep track of their movements around Portland. At the very least it may benefit the numerous coffee roasters in the area.

3-31-2010 (Wednesday)

I have dubbed today as Free Writing Wednesday. I am going to write for as long as possible and only going to be writing what pops into my head. I am not sure if this makes it any different then any other day except that I have given it a name.

And begin....I am not sure what to write about. I am really only thinking that know I need to write whatever pops into my head and so that is what is circling around in there. I hope I do not bore my usual readers with this exercise but I need to work on just writing down the thoughts as they pop into my head. I had dinner with my mother and father last night and that was pretty interesting. My mom had been going through some old cards and some stuff in the garage and she found a card from my Dad's mother. Who has died now. She found a card that Grandma had sent them when I was born. What was funny was when she opened it she found a $5 bill from 1963 inside of the card. They must have just put it back in and tucked it away. What I find even more interesting is that the card stayed with my parents after I was born until 2010. I was born in 1969 and soon after I was born I believe I was 2 my parents decided to become missionary school teachers and they were sent to Indonesia or more specifically, as I understand it, Papua, New Guinea. We lived there for about 2 years and then returned to the states. We also had lived in Pendleton, Oregon for awhile.

So it kind of blows my mind that my mother was able to keep this card for so long. I am not one for saving money but I think I may tuck this $5 bill away for awhile since it is the oldest money I own. That is all for today. I also want to add a quick thank you to Steve for his information about coffee machines on yesterdays post. Please check it out in the comments it is pretty interesting. Thanks Steve.

3-30-2010 (Tuesday)

Tuesday morning and we are back at it. It looks like the rain has slowed down a little today and my drive to work was a little more relaxed. I heard some very interesting stories on the radio this morning.

The first was about a new coffee maker or coffee making machine being built in Seattle called Slayer and according to the report and what looks like info on their website it sells for a cool 18K. Yes you read that right. It cost $18 thousand. I really have no idea why it costs so much. I know of one person in my circle of friends who I think may have tried it. The only reason I think that is because he loves coffee and has tried lots of different kinds. So, I will see if I can prevail on him to join us in the comment section and let us know what or if the machine is worth the money.

The second thing that I heard was about cigarettes and Menthol. It seems that at some point either during the Obama administration or during the end of the Bush administration I do not recall the date. The federal government banned clove cigarettes. Now I know that some of my readers were alive when those were popular in the Salem area at least and I know of one or maybe two of you that actively smoked them. I remember that the kids that smoked cloves were always a little different then the rest of us. A little bit cooler and interested in different books and music then the rest of the herd. Well the ban on cloves came and went with out much of a stir. But, the attempted ban on Menthol cigarettes has not been so easy. One reason being that the market share of menthols is far greater then that of cloves. I do not smoke cigarettes any more and even when I did I would say I was not at all a regular smoker. I smoked an English brand called Export A. Well I was mistaken. It seems that the Export brand is actually made by a Japanese company and sold in Canada. Wow, who knew? But, I did smoke those for a little while but now I just smoke my pipe and even that I do not do very often. But, I love a good cup of coffee and a bowl of Vanilla Cavendish along with a book. But, I have not been able to partake of that lately. I may have to remedy that this evening I think.

That is all I really have today. I just found those stories interesting and I hope you did as well and maybe it will make you look up more information on them yourselves. I also am interested in seeing what type of advertising this blog post causes. I know my one about car insurance and health insurance caused car ads. I am wondering if this will cause coffee ads or perhaps some form of tobacco ad. We shall see.

3-16-2010 (Tuesday)

Well I have heard the stories but I never believed it was true. I just didn't see how someone could do it. It seemed to dangerous and almost foolhardy. I mean sure I have done some dangerous things over the years. There are people who will even tell you that I have done some foolish things. But, that isn't really the issue here.

Today as I was driving into Beaverton to go to work. I noticed a woman in front of me in a BMW. She was driving...I will use the word erratically and I thought what is going on. Then as I got closer to her. I realized that she was literally putting on makeup using her rear view mirror to do so. I have seen people on the freeway do this. But I have never seen anyone going through town in traffic doing it. Then to top it all off. She goes through a red light! I am glad I was paying attention or I might have followed her right through it.

In other news...I had coffee with my good friend Jennifer last night. I have known Jennifer since just after high school kind of. She was in the high school group at the church I attended when I was a senior but I didn't really interact with her until after high school and some time beyond that. But since then and over the years we have become pretty good friends. She is married now and has three kids and we still stay in contact when we can. But what I find interesting about spending time with her is that she has the ability to cut through whatever wall I am putting up emotionally. There have been times where I opted to not talk to her for very long on a particular day because I knew she would make me cry.

I love talking to her. But she has always affected me this way. It isn't that she is mean. Because she is probably one of the nicest people that I know. I have no idea what it is. She just cuts straight through all of my defenses and what seems like a really innocent question just kicks open the flood gates. So, that being sad it was just a good conversation and a good experience. I would recommend talking to her or having coffee at the Ike Box to anyone. It is a very nice place comfortable inside and the coffee is tasty.

That is all for today folks. I hope you all have a good day. I will see you tomorrow.

Mundane Monday

Good Morning Oregon and the world!! I hope everyone is well this Monday after Halloween. I had an absolutely great drive this morning. While it was partly foggy there were areas where the sun was breaking through and those areas were very nice looking. Traffic was light and seemed to be flowing along nicely and overall it is shaping up to be one of those nice November days that are cold and clear. These are the kind of days that makes it nice to be an Oregonian. All of you who are not from here I would recommend that you come visit. But, please do not move here. It is hard enough trying to get the Californians out of here.

I mean really, I understand that California sucks but pick a different state. Maybe Arizona the weather is more your speed and it is so warm the the ladies wear much less clothing then they do here. It also gets dark and rainy here for a good 9 months out of the year. Oh it is horrible the people who were born here are all pale and hairy with a winter mane. Why just last week I saw a gentleman with a rain coat on and shorts underneath it. Now I ask you what person would want to live in a state like this. There are brewpubs on nearly every corner and the only thing that there appears to be more of then the brewpubs is the coffee houses. I do not mean the dreaded corporate dragon Starbucks either there are actually genuine locally owned coffee houses. I am pretty sure that Starbucks is like Kentucky Fried Chicken, I think they put a substance in their coffee to make you crave it fortnightly.

I have managed to avoid their evil by growing and refining my addiction to the beans of Java. The beans that give me life and intellect. Why just the smell of that freshly brewed cup of coffee is enough to begin to clear the fog from my mind. Then as the coffee crosses my lips and flows over my tongue and down into my gullet its true power is released. The transfer of energy begins and the coffee gives me its gift.

"Thank you Lord of Coffee, thank you for the power that you have given me today." Wait, what's that you say? I will need more coffee tomorrow and probably the day after that? Stronger doses? What does that mean? Soon I will be drinking black coffee like some kind of longshoreman. I highly doubt that. What would the point be if I am unable to add sugar and some cream to it? It does not even taste that good. That will not matter to me. I really doubt it. Oh, my head will hurt so much that I will dump the coffee into a glass and pour hot water over it so that I can get it into my body faster. Why, that doesn't make any sense. I would stop enjoying it. Oh, but I will not stop drinking it because my life will have no pleasure if coffee is not in it.

"It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the Beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion." (stolen from unknown source with apologies to Frank Herbert)

They sell coffee at the train station. I will get a cup there. Just to keep my hands warm of course. Just to keep my hands warm.

Wednesday

Sorry about the lack of an update yesterday. I was feeling a little under the weather and I did not make it to work. I am feeling better today and I hope you all are well.

Lots of interesting goings on this week so far. This morning on the radio they talked about a move to tax soda-pop I believe a penny an ounce per serving. The reasoning they were using were the same as the reasons for the different tobacco taxes. Health reasons. Now I believe that I have had this conversation before when it comes to taxing tobacco. I do not smoke. Well, lets be clear I do not smoke cigarettes but I do have a pipe and I smoke that now and then usually a nice vanilla black Cavendish that smells oh so nice. But that isn't the point. The point is that I understand why there is a desire to tax tobacco and a large reason is the idea of second hand smoke and that a person who does not smoke can still get lung cancer. But soda-pop is different. I can go to a store and not have someone blow soda-pop into my face. I am not going to get cancer from drinking soda-pop and if my friend drinks it next to me I am not going to have to taste it against my desires.

I think we are all well aware that America has a obesity problem. But, where do we stop once we began to tax soda? Do we tax candy? Do we tax potato chips? Where do we separate the line from looking out and preventing known disease causing agents and from just controlling people so that they are unable to eat how they like? I realize that my questions are just opening up a can of worms. But I wonder is there an answer or should what one eats or drinks be a totally personal choice that other people should mind their own business about?

That being said I shall continue to sip my coffee that I am horribly addicted to and the government can have when they pry it from my cold dead fingers!!