Just a quick mention to two good friends who celebrated their birthdays this weekend. Sujata and Sean. Happy birthday you two!
Sujata had a rockin’ party on Saturday (with a keg of really good IPA from a local brewpub, Laurelwood) that kept me up late, and Sean had a small BBQ at his house Sunday. Both were fantastic fun. Need to do some serious exercise to walk off all the beer I drank this weekend. 🙂
Tonight Kelly and I (and our good friend Miranda) went to see a show at Dante’s in downtown Portland, a double-headliner of both Stellastarr* (link not working at the time of this writing, you can check out their MySpace page though) and Editors. Before the show we met for dinner and drinks at the Shanghai Tunnel, one of the better spots to hang out in the area near the show.
We got to Dante’s just after the doors opened, and already it was filling up. The opening act, Monsters Are Waiting, were really pretty good. The quirky female lead singer’s appearance was similar to that of Emily Haines of Metric, similar haircut, similar fashion sense, small keyboard, etc. However, musically they were a bit harder on the rock scale. I was very impressed with them.
The first of the two bands we were there to see, Stellastarr* came on and by that point the place was packed (really packed, overpacked even) and very warm and stuffy. The band however put on a great show, despite the electrical system at Dante’s. Towards the end of their 3rd song the power to all the gear on stage dies. The band ends up having to leave the stage while 5 or 6 tech monkeys ran around the stage trying to pinpoint the source of the problem. After about 20 minutes, the band returns and puts on a great show.
After a bit of a break, Editors took the stage and they were fantastic! Unfortunately, they too suffered the same power problems that Stellastarr* had. However, the outage was limited to just the lead guitarists half of the stage (including his guitar), and during one of their more popular tracks. Twice! Yup, about 15 seconds or so into the song Munich the power cuts out. The band leaves, things get fixed in about 5 minutes, they return and start again, and about 15 seconds into the song, bam! Same trouble. Finally things get fixed (after the lead singer makes a joke "maybe it’s the song?") and they are able to finish both that song and the rest of the show without a hiccup.
Both Stellastarr* and Editors put on great shows, and I definately recommend seeing them live (if you’re into that sort of thing). One thing I definately don’t recommend is Dante’s as a venue. It was blazingly hot with little to no ventilation, super crowded, and then the ‘technical difficulties’ during the shows. Just crap. The only good thing about the place was the staff. Despite how crazy it was all the bartenders were friendly and attentive.
After the show, when we finally escaped to the cool outside air, we walked down the street to a Portland landmark of sorts, Voodoo Doughnuts. Kelly and I had never been there before (somehow, even though we’d lived downtown for 10 years, we’d never ventured into the place) and tried their doughnuts, and they were delicious! Mmmmm, doughnuts. 🙂
Spent the week working my butt off trying to finish up all my freelance projects. Nearly done (I hope) and once I’m done with that nonsense I can finish all the yard work I need to get done before our trip to the UK. If at all possible I will have a few days to sleep in, and spend the day on the sofa watching Perry Mason. 🙂
I’ve received a two phone calls from my brother and his wife since they’ve been in Europe. They’re doing pretty well though they already seemed a bit frazzled (after only a week and a half). Apparently Athens is a bit of an odd spot, quasi "third-world" in some ways, but nice. They spent a few nights on the island of Mykonos, and the weather wasn’t great. By now I think they’re either in Pompeii or Rome. While the southern part of Europe has never held too much sway with me, I do envy all the history they’re seeing. I would really like to see the Acropolis and Parthanon in Greece, and the Colosseum in Rome, and I curse both my brother and sister-in-law while I sit at my computer slaving away on freelance projects. *shakes fist*
Anyway, that’s it for now. More nonsense to come I’m sure. 🙂
Well, I know, I suck at blogging. I knew I would. On a day-to-day basis I find I have little to write about. I mean sure, I could write about how I woke up with a sore back, and then stubbed my toe on the dresser in my zombie-like shuffle towards the coffee maker (the life-giver). But normally I just wait until I have something I find worthwhile to write about, and even then ‘worthwhile’ is arguable.
Well, I do finally have some news, really good news. I’m about to end my ‘slacker’ life of freelancing and rejoin the regular working folk. I’m not sure what the etiquette is here, or more to the point the potential legal ramifications, so I’m not going to say what company, but it’s a great web software company located in downtown Portland. I figure that’s just vague enough. 🙂
Sadly I fear I’ve not taken full advantage of my little ‘forced vacation’. I’ve been very busy, perhaps too busy. Since mid-January I think I’ve had all of a week or two worth of not doing any work. I’ve been fortunate enough to have found a fairly steady stream of freelance work to keep plenty busy. And when I’m not coding or designing some web site, I’ve been doing a lot of yard work or other house work to fill up any spare time I might have had.
I’ve had more than one friend mention that I’m the bad at being unemployed. I just don’t do it right. I haven’t spent any time lounging around playing video games, or watching television, or sleeping until two in the afternoon. That means in almost exactly 3 months, I’ve had one week "off", and that’s me unemployed! I suck at this.
However, I am very happy about the new job. Looking forward to the challenge, and looking forward to working with the people I’ll be working for and with. The best part is, I won’t be starting until the Monday after Kelly and I return from the UK, which means I’ll be able to dive right in, free from all my freelance work and refreshed from my vacation. Yay! Perhaps between now and my trip I’ll find a bit of time to do some real slacking, before the opportunity is lost. 🙂
Today my mom and I saw my brother and sister-in-law off at the airport for a mega-gigantic six week European extravaganza. They flew Lufthansa from Portland to Frankfurt, Germany and then connected to Athens, Greece. From there they’ll hit Italy, France, Holland, England, meeting Kelly and I in Scotland, then on to Salzburg, Austria, and finally Munich, Germany before returning home. Both Kelly and I are very jealous of their six week holiday, though we both think they’re a bit nuts to do so much! 🙂 Safe travels to the both of them.
Update: They arrived safely in Athens, and are on their way. Hooray!