Categories
News Television Work

The sudden ‘KABOOM’

While at the office today, I think I found Marvin the Martian’s KABOOM.

There I was, sitting at my desk working away in peace and quiet, when suddenly came a very loud and earth shaking explosion somewhere nearby. The east-facing windows were instantly lined with coworkers, watching a tall stream of black smoke that was steadily rising a couple blocks away. About a minute later, white vapor and then nothing.

Then I recalled what some coworkers had said earlier in the day; there was some kind of filming going on at the corner of Burnside and Broadway. A-ha! (and whew)

I later learned that the hubbub was apparently for the TNT show Leverage, which recently moved it’s production to Portland. It’s a pretty decent show actually, and now I’m kind of excited to watch some episodes filmed in and around my hometown. Including the one with the KABOOM.

Categories
Beer Technology Work

Guinness. Yes, again.

Well, I went and did it. I got yet another keg of Guinness. I know I’ve said it before, but I swear this is the last one. I swear! Honest!

Looking through my blog, it appears I’ve been pouring Guinness from my kegerator since October. I think it’s been 6 kegs (roughly one per month), with several little gatherings and nights with friends to help me polish each of ’em off. Worth every penny.

I debated getting Trumer Pils or Amstel Light, but the weather just isn’t quite warm enough yet to warrant such summery beers. Though I suspect that by the time this keg of Guinness runs dry, it’ll be about that time.

Øther news: Work is keeping me busy

Øther øther news: Yardwork is coming along, the place is starting to look somewhat decent again. Still a lot to do, but it’s getting there. I’ve also continued my picture scanning extravaganza with my new scanner. Being able to scan negatives rocks, and makes the process so much faster. That’s about it for now.

Categories
Beer General Work

March roundup

Again, I’ve been slacking on blogging duties. Work has been keeping me very busy, so much so that I’ve lacked the energy to blog. Since my last post, Kelly and I hosted a little St. Paddy’s Day gathering. Had a great time (thanks to everyone who made it out), and my peeps did some serious damage to the Guinness keg. So much so that it went dry about 4 days afterwards. That meant the keg was dead in about 10 days. A new record!

Since then, no new keg, just been slammed with work. The only other ‘news’ is that I picked up a new flatbed scanner (an Epson Perfection V500) so I could make some real progress scanning in all my old pre-‘digital age’ photos, and a new video card (a BFG nVidia 9800 GTX+ OC) so my games would run better (and boy do they! Call of Duty 4 looks like a brand new game).

I’ve also continued my yard work, clearing up more debris and throwing down a bunch of grass seed to help replace my balding lawn… now I’m just waiting for it to start growing in.

That about covers March. Next up, today’s hike to some very pretty (and off the beaten path) waterfalls.

Categories
Beer Food Work

Henry’s, Montage, Mash, Thatch and Rose

It’s been a crazy weekend so far.

Yesterday, to celebrate the end of a busy week at the work, I joined a few coworkers at Henry’s Tavern for some happy hour drinks and grub.

Later last night, Kelly and I met up with several friends at the Montage for dinner. The primary reason for the dinner was to meet up with our friend C, who was in town from New Jersey looking at some houses here in Portland (looking to move back after spending several years on the east coast). I hadn’t been to the Montage in many years, but their spicy mac & cheese is still utterly nummerific. The portion was quite small (smaller than I remember), but that’s probably a good thing, considering I could easily eat my weight of the stuff, and then die from a heart-attack. It would, however, be a very happy death.

C stayed with us last night and left early this morning (shortly after Kelly, who sadly had to work today). After the house was emptied, I sat and sipped coffee, tried to get caught up on all my blog reading, and played a bit of Call of Duty 4. At around 1pm I took advantage of the sunny (if cold) day and got a 2+ mile walk in, just wandering around the neighborhood. Felt pretty good to just get out in the sun for a bit.

Tonight Kelly and I had dinner plans with our friends Jason and Jen. Prior to meeting them we stopped in the Mash Tun for a beer. I hadn’t been there for a few months, and they redecorated the inside. It looks very nice, and it’s much more warm and inviting than the warehouse feel it had before. Plus, when we were there it was very empty and mellow, which suited my mood.

We met up with J & J at a tiki bar called Thatch at 7pm. Tiki bars aren’t typically my ‘thing’, as they tend to be places for fufu drinks and a brand of kitsch that I don’t typically find appealing, but this place (despite the street-side appearance) was pretty fun. It had a cozy and ‘warm’ feeling, with the right music and food options that made it feel like an escape from the usual (which is, I suppose, a must for any themed bar/restaurant). I will say, however, that the service was less-than-warm (the server seemed a bit ‘too cool for school’ and at one point was kind of rude to Kelly, which automatically made me hate the wench), and the food was pretty spendy for the portions. However, overall, it was a good time.

After leaving Thatch, the four of us headed down the street to the Rose & Thistle for another round of drinks and some more grub.

Had a good couple nights out. Now, if only I could spend tomorrow in solitude, but alas, we have dinner plans with my folks. Oh well.

Categories
Beer Entertainment Food Movies Technology Work

The past few weeks

Yeah, it’s been a few weeks since my last post, which means it’s recap time!

Work has been keeping me plenty busy. Many long hours and late nights. It’s been good, but very exhausting.

We had a petty nasty wind storm a couple weeks back. The large tree in front of the house lost about five 8-9 foot long branches. The front yard looked like a war zone. Branches, twigs, and needles blanketing everything. It took a good few hours of sawing and raking to get it mostly cleaned up.

On the morning of Obama’s inauguration I had to rush into a dentists to get a filling replaced (one that’d started breaking loose from a molar a few months ago). It wasn’t what I would call fun, but it’s all good now.

Portland got a bit more snow earlier this week. Just enough that my bus got stuck trying to go up an incline (the bus wasn’t chained up). After getting stuck, I got off and walked back home and worked from there for the rest of the day. The strangest part was by 5pm it was 40 degrees and all the snow was gone.

My kid brother C turned 24 this week, and he and brother T came over to my pub (my garage) for a few beers, some pizza, and some dart throwing. Happy birthday C!

Tonight Kelly and I met some friends at the Goose for some dinner and beers. Yum.

I picked up a Roku (used for $80) earlier this week. So far I’m pretty impressed, the streaming quality is pretty good. Kelly’s watching An American in Paris as I write this. She’s quite excited.

Oh, and I got another keg of Guinness today (after the last one ran dry about two weeks ago). I swore I was going to get something different, but I couldn’t help it, Guinness is just too delicious. Yum!

Other than that, I’ve been watching Lost and Battlestar Galactica now that those are both back on, and as I said above, working.

That pretty much covers it, I think.