Today Kelly and I took a quick day trip to the coast to meet up with my parents for Father’s Day. They’ve got one of them giant fifth-wheel RV’s and a semi-permanent spot not too far from Seaside, and now that my Dad’s retired, they spend most of their time down there. Kelly and I drove up Highway 30 to Astoria and wander through their weekend market/fair that they hold most of the summer (picked up some delicious kettle corn while there) before continuing on to meet my folks. Their little RV park is a funny “old people” type place; a bunch of RV’s parked in a row, each with their own perfectly manicured strip of lawn, pincic table and a plastic shed. I suppose it’s nice, but it’s nothing much to look at, and there’s no view (it’s well inland from the ocean). That said, Kelly and I had a nice time chatting and enjoying what little sunshine there was before we drove down to a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner before driving back home. Quick little trip, but even a few hours at the coast is better than none at all.
Author: ryan
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New Refrigerator
Today Kelly and I finally got a new refrigerator, something we’ve been wanting since we bought our house 4 years ago. We hadn’t bought one sooner because the previous owner left an older, ugly, yellow-greenish one in the house as part of the sale. It was good for us at the time since we’d spent most our money buying the house and didn’t need another immediate expense.
However after 4 years, it was time we finally got ourselves something newer and shinier. And boy is it shiny. Stainless steel, better storage for fruits and veggies (which would quickly go bad in the old one) and an ice & water machine in the door. This is probably Kelly’s favorite feature, considering how many bags of ice she’s bought over the years. And now, we can finally retire our old Brita jug too. Yay!
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Metric at the Wonder Ballroom
Kelly and I saw Metric perform at the Wonder Ballroom, along with our friends Ty & Aymie and Miranda, meeting up beforehand for dinner in the Wonder Cafe (the restaurant in the basement of the venue). This was something of a repeat of events from the last time we saw Metric perform, back in 2006.
The show was really good, and the band (specifically the lead singer Emily Haines) were full of energy and kept the crowd buzzing. Obviously they played nearly all the tracks from the latest album Fantasies, and the single Help, I’m Alive generated a massive response from the crowd. Other tracks from the new album that were fantastic live: Satellite Mind, Gold Guns Girls, and Stadium Love.
One downside to the night was that both Kelly and I were feeling pretty tired even before the show started (the massive dinner we had probably didn’t help). By the end, we welcomed the quiet drive home. We’re like, old and stuff.
Since I realize I’ve so blatantly disregarded the ‘ol blog pretty much all month, here’s a mega-recap of the month of May.
Most of the month has been spent working some very late nights. This is largely why I haven’t written in so long. Spent several nights designing and coding some prototypes until nearly 2 AM, trying to meet deadlines. It’s been a crazy busy work month.
I finally retired Guinness from my kegerator (which I’d been pouring since October). Got a half keg of Trumer Pils going at the moment. Decent beer for the hot weather that Portland has had for the past couple weeks.
Kelly had her birthday last weekend (happy birthday Kelly!!!) and we had a super small BBQ at our house to celebrate. Really low-key, but a lot of fun. I spent the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend working in the yard for 5 hours, the house for 2, and had the BBQ that afternoon. Woke up Sunday with what I thought was merely a mild hangover. Only it got worse throughout the day. Spent the rest of the weekend with a nasty cold/flu (which I dubbed PigManFlu). My Memorial Day was spent watching TV on the couch with a box of tissues. Hrmph!
Last night Kelly and I went to see this 80’s tribute band show at the Wonder Ballroom. Three bands; Black Celebration (Depeche Mode), The Love Vigilantes (New Order), and This Charming Band (The Smiths). It turned out better than I thought it would. All three bands were competent musicians, and did a fair job at emulating the character of the originals. The clear winner for me were The Love Vigilantes, who were, honestly, better than the real New Order live (who I’d seen only once but are historically not a good live band). Fun night.
Today was yardworkapolooza. I mowed, pruned, raked, trimmed, and generally cleaned up the place. Later, my parents and brother T (and his family) came over for another dinner to celebrate Kelly’s birthday (since they weren’t able to join us last weekend). While they were over (and with the aid of my dad’s truck and chainsaw) I finally pulled the stump of the tree T helped me trim down a few months back. The stump came out easily enough since the tree was so rotted, but it meant a lot more cutting, chopping, and stacking. The upside, however, is that I have loads of wood for the outdoor fireplace.
After the tree carnage (and finally ending a total of 8 hours of me working in the 80+ degree weather), we all ate the delicious dinner my mom had lovingly prepared for Kelly’s birthday. After everybody left the house I took a nice, long shower and planted myself in a chair on the front porch with beer to write this post. Hurrah!
And there you have it. I suspect I’m going to be a little sore tomorrow. 🙂
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The new Star Trek film: very good
Kelly and I went to see the new Star Trek film today, and it was very good. I wasn’t disappointed. For Trek fans, the casting, special effects, and nods to the classic TV series are all there, but the story, acting, and balance of humor, romance, and action should make the film thoroughly enjoyable for anyone. Two geeky thumbs up.