Category: Travel

Categories
Technology Travel Work

If you’re going to San Francisco…

just say no.. be sure to wear… oh hell with that. 🙂 I found out today that my manager at SuperSweetCo really wanted me to go to a web designer conference, An Event Apart, held in San Francisco. The event is in 3 days. So at the end of the day, with the help of a coworker, we got everything all booked up. I fly out of Portland this Wednesday afternoon, arriving in SF at about 7:30, with 4 other fellow designers from the company. The conference is held both Thursday and Friday at The Palace Hotel, where I’ll be staying. I arranged to fly out on Friday afternoon (perhaps missing the very end of the conference) so I could have the weekend at home. Should be a fun, and at least very interesting and informative, time. I’m sure I’ll be writing about it while I’m there, providing the hotel room has some damned signal.

Categories
Beer Food Travel Work

The week ends

Hooray for short work weeks! Aside from continuing to tweak my home network & server setup, the week was pretty fun. I got to design and work on some pretty fun stuff for SuperSweetCo, and on Wednesday evening I (and some other neighborhood friends) visited Miranda & Brian at their new place. I had a great time hanging out in their yard, even if it meant we were keeping them from unpacking. 🙂

Last night Kelly and I went to the Mash Tun for a pint and some grub. Had a nice time chatting and hanging out.

This morning, however, I woke up feeling a bit wobbly in the stomach, so decided it best if I worked from home. That said, I managed to get a lot done and by the afternoon I felt fine. Not sure if it was the food at the Tun the previous night (which I doubt, since I’ve had their food many, many times) or the sickness that seems to be spreading around the office for the past week or two, but whatever, all I can say is that I’m no longer ill. Hooray!

After the working hours, I grabbed a beer and moved from my home office to the back yard. I’m determined to make the most out of what’s left of the summer in my back yard, before it’s too late. I sat out and tinkered for a bit on the laptop, set out the sprinklers, and chatted with friends. A bit later, I got to IM’ing with a coworker who was going to dinner down the street from me (to the Concordia Ale House). While I had already decided to stay in for the night, it was nice to spend some time with my coworker/friend and his better half. After two pints of Hobgoblin and one pint of Terminal Gravity Extra Special Golden, I walked back home and chatted with Kelly a bit about her night at class, and her upcoming day.

Oh, and in case you haven’t read it, Kelly posted about her trip to New York / Jersey last week. Read it, and be jealous (like I was). 🙂

Categories
Beer Travel Work

Quite the day

Interesting day today. Beside some time spent doing typical work tasks early in the day, I had my review (which went really well), and the afternoon was spent doing filming & recording for a video demo of a new feature of SuperSweetCo’s flagship product. I was picked to do this work since I was responsible for designing the feature, but it was a pretty stressful thing to do, and I now fully appreciate professional voice actors. It’s hard work, trying to time a script to a video. I’m pretty sure it was dreadful, but I won’t won’t know for sure until early next week.

After work, I spent some time hanging out with some coworkers; first in the office break room sipping on beers, and later at another coworker’s place in NW Portland. The coworker was hosting a poker night, and other SuperSweetCo employees were attending so I figured I’d go hang out for a bit. While I didn’t join in on the gaming it was nice to spend some time with coworkers in a setting far removed from work.

After that, Snooks and I went to Moon & Sixpence for some beers before calling it a night. Had a great time hanging out.

Oh, and Kelly seems to be having a great time. All day she was taunting me with photos from her camera of her visit to the Met, MOMA, pubs, and photos of New York city at night. She also sent me a text message about how she got her photo taken with David Hyde Pierce. And no, I’m not jealous of her adventures or anything. Heck no.

Oh, and I’m very annoyed that it’s the last day in August, and watching it get darker earlier and earlier every day. I already miss the days it was light until almost 10pm. Hrmph!

Categories
Beer General Travel Work

Happy Birthday Travis, & “all byyy myyseeellf”

Happy birthday Travis! You’re 30 now. Not only a parent, but an old man too!* 🙂

Last night we drove out to the home town for dinner at my parents house. We arrived just in time to hear my brother shooting old hard drives with his semi-automatic assault rifle thing (I can’t remember what it is, I keep thinking it’s an AR-15, not sure) from 100 yards away. After a delicious, home-made fish and chip dinner, he raced his fancy remote-controlled car up and down the gravel road. Yes, he’s a parent. Yes, it’s a scary, scary thing. 🙂

After some delicious apple pie and ice cream we came home and I zonked out cold on the bed, fully dressed, at around 10:30 or so. Food coma. Urgh.

Today I took Kelly to the airport for her visit with our friends ‘back east’. I got up early and worked from home, then drove her to the airport, and then drove to work (something I’ve only done twice before in the 1.25 years I’ve been at SuperSweetCo). Of course, the work day kept me busy with meetings and design tasks, so it was as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Except I got to drive home rather than take the bus. Now I’m home, sipping on beers, and it’s just me. And will be until Monday. *sniff*.

Oh well, I’ve got work to do anyway (that I’m putting off at the moment), and there’s a lot of little things I hope to get done around the house while she’s gone. She called around 6pm and arrived safely. Hopefully she’ll be posting about her adventures.

Categories
General Travel

Lincoln City for a night

Lincoln CityKelly and I spent last night at Lincoln City. Someone Kelly goes to school with (who’s spouse is part owner of what was described as a beach-front “Condominium Motel”) got us a sweet deal for a night, so we drove down after a filling late breakfast at Cup & Saucer (mmmm… breakfast burrito).

After a two hour drive we got into town, found the motel, and got checked in. The room was fairly large, with a Murphy bed, a kitchenette, and a balcony overlooking the beach. Once we unpacked we walked (and walked, and walked) trying to find a corner market or grocery store, and discovered that there’s really nothing close. After walking 2+ miles we finally came across an grocery store and got some groceries and walked back to our motel.

Then we walked down to the beach and laid down blankets. We took turns walking into the ocean… which as always with the Pacific Ocean here in Oregon… was frigid cold, but fun anyway (I got as far as knee-depth before being forced to walk out). We spent about 2 hours laying around in the sun (the weather was fantastic) before going back to our room and getting cleaned up before going out for Dinner. We walked to a nice restaurant nearby called Kyllos and had a nice dinner comprising of appetizers (crabcakes, shrimp cocktail, salads, halibut). After dinner and going back to the room we walked back down to the beach at night while the tide was coming in. The place we stayed at had large flood lights over the beach, which was filled with people around campfires.

Finally we went to sleep, and I woke up to the sound of the ocean, which is always a relaxing sound to wake up to. The weather today was cloudy but still warm. We sat on the balcony and watched the ocean while sipping on coffee before packing up, checking out, and driving the 2 hours back home. Had a nice time, though I wish I could have stayed another night or two. 🙂