By the way...

Reading Fast Food Nation definitely had an impact.

While looking around Trader Joe's for food to make for me and The Missus, I decided to grab some ground beef. I looked at all the labels carefully, and found the grass-fed, organic beef that had never been fed animal by-products. Recalling the disturbing details I'd read in the book regarding practices in the cattle industry and how frightening our meat supply truly is, I gladly ponied up the extra dough to buy this meat.

Now it's simmering in a half-homemade spaghetti sauce. Hope The Missus is in the mood for spaghetti (er, actually, fucilli, but same general idea). If not, that's what she gets for not answering my text message...

Funny video

A friend at work, Hozay, e-mailed me this video. Of course, I can't figure out how to post video on the net, since I have no personal webspace to call my own (any advice, anyone?), so I had to find it out on the interweb. Thanks to Impressur for the link.

Catch ya later.

Two big notes

Yesterday, we did indeed hit a new record, with a lowly (but impressive, in my own little way) 67 hits.

And, it looks like Rozanne was lucky number 2500! Congratulations to you for being so magically lucky, and congrats to me for hitting my milestone. Next milestone will be 5,000.

Sorry, Denise. Keep on clicking, and we'll be to that next one before you know it.

Vacation photos

At last.

Here's a guide to what they are. Click on the first one, and take a tour:

1. The lagoon behind our hotel, which is the way the yacht comes in and out.
2. A view from our room.
3. Another view from our room.
4. Oops, out of order. A picture of the white water at the South Point of the Island.
5. A cruise ship in the Caribbean.
6. A bunch of people lounging on a boat.
7. A flock of pelicans. There were pelicans everywhere, and I was obsessed with trying to get a picture of them diving into the water.
8. Pelican in flight.
9. Same pelican, different direction.
10. More people lounging on a boat. In the distance, you can see the Yucatan Peninsula.
11. The Cancun Hotel Zone, (truly a mess) way off in the distance.
12. Pelicans perched below the Hotel Restaurant.
13. The hotel's infinity pool cascades into a waterfall at the bottom, which is recirculated into a fountain in the middle of the pool.
14. Chillin' like a villain...
15. A picture we took during the accursed time-share tour.
16. The time-share's beach. Lousy...
17. Grinnin' and bearin' it during the time-share time-suck
18. A crocodile at the sad little zoo.
19. The Missus and I enjoying the South Point sun.
20. A bird we saw from our golf cart.
21. Iguana near the South Point.
22. Same iguana. Notice it's tail's missing. Reminds me of the movie "Starsky and Hutch". If you haven't seen it, save your money.
23. The beach at the south point.
24. More beach. Caribbean side of the island, not at the South Point. Notice how blue the water is. From the plane, you can see all shades of color, depending on where reefs are, and deeps and shallows. Amazing.
25. More beach on the Caribbean side.
26. Near the South Point, saw a cruise ship in the distance.
27. This sign talks about the Mayan ruins at the South Point.
28. The ruins.
29. More beach.
30. The South Point park area, from the Island's lighthouse. The area is littered with "sculptures" that mostly remind me of scrap metal that's been painted. The Mayan ruins are at the end of the trial; you can just barely make them out.
31. Back at the hotel, looking at boats. Although it looks cloudy, we always seemed to have plenty of sun (and Cancun always seemed to be covered with clouds).
32. Back at the South Point, where the sea was angry, my friends. Like a man trying to return his soup at the diner. Man, I love George Costanza...
33. On our golf cart, I noticed the local town and thought I'd catch a picture of how the island's inhabitants live. Near the coastline are lots of beautiful, rich houses. In the center of the island, just south of downtown, is where the locals live in relative poverty.
34. The anniversary dinner.
35. No more cake. In their defense, anniversary is spelled "aniversario" in Spanish, so the missing "n" isn't a big deal.
36. Saying goodbye to paradise from the side of the yacht.
37. Au revoir. We shall return...

On pace for a new record...

For hits, that is. No big deal.

My prior record for hits was 61 on December 16th, where I got 61 hits, despite not writing anything. Most of those hits, it turned out, were people in my office and local defense attorneys who read my Evite profile on a Christmas party invite. For some reason, I'd put my blogue's address (despite my general desire to be semi-anonymous, I slip from time to time) at the bottom. You may be able to imagine the pucker factor when I noticed that my blogue was being thoroughly reviewed by someone in my office (a boss maybe?) who went through every archive and, as far as I know, read each post. More than one person, in fact. The defense attorneys seemed interested for awhile, but haven't returned in at least 3 weeks...

Well, I'm up to 55 today, so by the end of the night, we may hit a new high. Yippee, I guess. Thanks to John Hays, who seems to have taken a shining to me and has inspired several hits, and also to Betsy at My Whim is Law, who is very nice and, thanks to my nagging, put me on her list of good local blogs.

Probably won't hit 2500 'til tomorrow though. Denise (of And So it Goes fame), you still have a shot at it...

Oops, gotta jet. If I don't tape Smallville, The Missus will kill me...

Interesting read

Thanks to Jack for pointing out this blog by two blog-buddies road-tripping and writing as they go. Makes for some decent reading...

The long-promised vacation recap

So, since I was unable to fulfill my obligation to write about my vacation last night (due to Jlowe’s kind offer of a salmon-feed at his house) and my need to watch Scrubs and Tuesday’s newest comedy, Committed (which is likeable enough that I’ll watch again to see if it’s likely to get more watchable), I’ve dedicated my lunch hour to filling everyone in on my long-awaited, too-short vacation.

Villa Rolandi is located off the shore of Cancun on an island called Isla Mujeres (Island of Women). The island was so-named after explorers found a Mayan temple at the south end of the island dedicated to the goddess of love, and surrounded with (now gone) sculptures of women.

If you take the time to look at the map, you can see that the hotel is fairly secluded. In fact, it isn’t even shown on a map of the major hotels on the island, which tend to be located toward the south end or near the downtown area on the north of the island. There are some hotels near Villa Rolandi, but to each side of the hotel are private residences, and the hotel has a private beach.

The hotel itself has only 20 rooms, which makes for a nice, quiet time.

So, how did we spend our vacation? A day-by-day run-down for you.

Techically, our vacation started on Saturday the 15th, which was the day of the Great Ice Storm of 2005. That being the case, I spent my first day of vacation nigh-skating to Trader Joe’s to console my wife, who was missing all sorts of fun, to make her German Pancakes (recipe still available…). Sunday, we were able to get out, and the day consisted of some shopping for last-minute supplies.

MONDAY
Monday was the date of departure. Our flight was scheduled to leave at about 5:30 am, so we woke up at 3, left by 3:30, and were to the airport by 4:00. Now, I was thinking “early Monday morning, no problem getting to the plane on time”. Boy, was I wrong. American Airlines had maybe two people working the ticket counter, and maybe 80 people in line to get on a plane (mostly for our plane), and by the time we got to the front, the lady said, and I quote, “you’ll be hard-pressed to get through the checkpoint before boarding time.” Very re-assuring.

However, we rebuffed her negativity and made it to our gate with 10 minutes to spare prior to boarding; enough time to buy some bottled water (I’m notoriously thirsty at all times, and get parched on the airline cup of ice with a soda chaser) and a couple of magazines for The Missus.

As we sat on the plane, waiting to depart, the captain announced that there was freezing rain outside and that the wings had to be de-iced. I was looking through my carry-on bag for my ice-scraper (I knew something would end up happening) when he said that the de-icing crew was on it’s way. So, I sat back and watched the fun, only momentarily deterred by the crink in my neck caused by looking in back towards the wings where the guy was hosing the wing off with some steaming concoction that, I’m sure, is hazardous if swallowed.

Away we flew. I was very disappointed to find that our 3.5 hour flight to Dallas didn’t have a movie on it. I’d gone to American’s website to see what I’d be getting to watch on my flights, and was looking forward to something entertaining. But, no such luck. It was just me and my MP3 player, as my wife slumbered peacefully.

In Dallas, we walked the half-mile to get from gate A-24 to gate A-20, meanwhile passing countless army personnel scurrying about, no doubt readying to depart for points unthinkable. My wife reminded me that our friend, Mr. 12, is in Texas even now, preparing for his departure to Fallujah (the anti-Disney “Scariest Place on Earth”), and we talked about that as we tried to figure out if there was anything quick and easy to eat.

Couple pieces of travel advice:
1) American Airlines may be affordable, but that’s because they low-ball you on food. For a 3.5 hour morning flight, they offer you a cup of yogurt, a bag of peanuts, and a granola bar, which you get in a paper bag on your way down the chute to the plane. On a shorter flight, pretzels only (even during the lunch hour). Fore-warned is fair-warned.
2) Don’t go to McDonalds, or any other fast-food chain at the airport. Besides being grossly over-priced (reminding me of Jerry Seinfeld’s bit on how airport stores must think they’re in their own country with its own pricing structure), I read the book Fast Food Nation on my journey (though after my passage through the Dallas airport) and learned how repulsive the whole industry is (as if watching Super Size Me hadn’t already taught me a lesson). Unfortunately, we went to McDonald’s because time was a huge factor in Dallas, and paid about $145 for a number 6 and two hamburgers.

Then, it was off to Cancun, where the fun truly began.

We arrived in Cancun around 4pm, and were met (in classic Mexican Airport fashion) by some guy pitching us a time-share tour in exchange for fabulous prizes. One of them was a trip to the Mayan Ruins at Chichen Itza, which The Missus wanted to see, so we decided to give 90 minutes of our time to a salesman, knowing we couldn’t afford anything given what we were paying for our hotel. We then were escorted to our driver, Agustin, who was provided by the hotel and who took us in a large, comfortable, empty van to the dock where the hotel catamaran-style yacht, The Coccoon, was waiting for us (and a few more people). As we waited, a family of people from Edmonton named the Caldwell’s (newlyweds, it turns out) joined us and told us about their prior stay at the hotel and gave us a few tips on getting around the island. Then a pair of Frenchies (known to me only as Marc and Francois) got aboard, and we were off.

The ride to the hotel from the dock took about 20 minutes, during which time we alternated between standing on the back of the catamaran and getting splashed something wicked, and sitting inside where the roar of the engines precluded any real conversation. When we arrived, we were greeted on the dock by the hotel manager, who took us inside and gave us a 10-minute spiel on how the hotel worked, as we sipped on free mimosas and washed our hands with heated washcloths. It was kind of nice.

Then we went upstairs saw our room.

At this point, let me apologize. I haven’t been able to maneuver any of the digital pictures off of my mother-in-law’s digital camera yet, so I can’t give you any visuals (unless you go to the hotel’s photo link I provided on the 16th to make you jealous). We were in a room on the top floor and had a lovely view of the Caribbean. As promised, we had a king-sized bed, satellite TV, private balcony with hot-tub, and a shower that doubled as a steam bath, should we want one. And, being on the top floor, we had a cool brick ceiling that was somewhat domed, which made our room seem just that much cooler.

After settling in, we went down to dinner. The hotel has an excellent restaurant, featuring primarily Italian and Swiss-themed food (the hotel owners are Italian and Swiss) and offering some of the friendliest staff you could ever care to meet. The head waiter, Jesus, came and introduced himself to us, and made sure every night to make it to our table to greet me and The Missus by name. In all, we probably dealt with three primary dinner waiters (Jesus, Gilberto, and Ariel), who all spoke varying degrees of English (thank God for my high school Spanish, which came in handy more than a few times to carry on non-food-related conversations with people) and who were all exceptionally friendly. We had a couple of other waiters who didn’t distinguish themselves so much, so I don’t recall their names.

Food suggestions:
1) Anything with shrimp. The shrimp are humongous at this place, and four shrimp are almost filling.
2) Anything with salmon. The quality of the salmon was tremendous.
3) Anything with squid. High-quality, freshly caught near the island (like the lobster and the shrimp)
4) All the pasta was great.

After dinner, we went off to finally get some sleep.

TUESDAY
The day Tuesday was very busy, what with laying on the beach and all. Actually, most days were just like Tuesday, and this is where my description of things will start getting much shorter. Generally, we would wake up at 9am, eat our in-room continental breakfast (mostly pastries and a couple of pancakes), shower, grab our beach stuff, and go down to the beach. On the way there, we’d be met by Pablo, Ponce, or Ariel, who would take our order (Pina Colada for the lady, Corona or Marguerita for me, and always some bottled water) and then we’d go select some prime sun-catching seats. We’d lay out for two or three hours, reading, chatting, listening to music, sipping drinks (well, I slammed the water, but usually only had 2 or 3 drinks on the beach) and eating a light lunch (usually chips and guacamole, sometimes also chicken fingers w/ string potatoes, which are really, really thinly sliced French fries, which The Missus loved because they were all crunchy). After the beach, we’d sign our tab, tip our waiters, and head up to the room for a nap. After the nap, we’d go to dinner. After dinner, we’d go to our room, hot tub, watch movies (never could turn off the Spanish sub-titles, but that’s alright) and drift off to sleep.

Of note Tuesday was a funny e-mail we got from my mother-in-law. Unfortunately, my wife deleted it, otherwise I’d post it here. Essentially, I’d asked my mother-in-law, who was checking our mail and feeding our frog, to get on my cell phone (the sole repository of my mom’s phone number) to call her and let her know we were alive and well. My mother-in-law is somewhat technologically challenged, and I knew that going in. So, in my e-mail, I explained that she’d need to enter a secret code (that means I can’t share it with you, sorry) to get my phone to work, gave her the code, and explained how after that to place a call to my mom. My mother-in-law first had difficulty figuring out which phone was mine and which was my wife’s (no biggie there, we have identical phones), then forgot my code, then tried using my wife’s phone to call my mom (and found that my wife’s phone is hopelessly out-of-date in regard to the number she keeps for my mom), then found my work Nextel and almost used it to call a retired Gresham Police Department sergeant who shares my mom’s former last name. Finally, she just gave up, and was never able get a hold of my mom.

Strangely, I entirely forgot to call my mom yesterday, so she was kind enough to wake me up at 7-something this morning to make sure I was still alive. She is, too, for those who are keeping score. Her cardiologist says she’s probably going to need an angiogram to see if she has some blocked arteries, and if so they’ll deal with them, but otherwise she’s out of immediate danger. Thanks for asking.

WEDNESDAY
See Tuesday. Other adventures included the time-share pitch at a place on the island owned by the Avalon group. They gypped us on our free tequila and blanket, but did follow through on the Chichen Itza tickets and on the free golf cart rental. It was an okay place, but nothing like the places we like to stay (quiet, secluded, and quiet). Call now to sign up.

THURSDAY
Thursday, we were supposed to go on a day-long trip to a small island called Isla Contoy, a nature preserve that’s supposed to be beautiful. However, it turned out there weren’t enough people in the group make the trip profitable and it got cancelled on Wednesday. We were told that we could get a similar trip if we went into town at 6am, but The Missus preferred to get some sleep, so Thursday was basically Tuesday, redux.

Except for dinner. Thursday was the anniversary, so we had a very romantic dinner on the beach. I think I covered that previously in my last post. Anyway, very nice. Will publish a picture when I can. Jesus was very disappointed, because he had the day off and couldn’t be there. But the next night, he congratulated us and wished us continued love and happiness. My wife loves Jesus. Almost too much…

FRIDAY
Friday, we hopped a taxi to town and used our free golf cart rental. The island is 7.5 km long (which is less in miles, but since I lost the metric-English ruler that I got from a McDonald’s Happy Meal as a child, I can’t help you with the conversion), and many people rent golf carts (all gas-powered) to scoot around the island for a day or two. We used ours to hit a couple of the local curiosities, like the pseudo-zoo (12 animals kept in pretty inhumane cages, and some spider monkeys that let you pet them), the coconut stand (nothing like fresh cold coconut juice, straight from the nut), the Mayan ruins on the south end of the island, and a few beaches where we took pictures of the numerous iguanas found throughout the island. Then, back to town where we dropped off the cart, did a little shopping, had a little lunch (pizza, strangely) and went back to the hotel to do Tuesday-ish stuff the rest of the day.

SATURDAY
Saturday we were going to go to Chichen Itza. We got up on time, got to the ferry terminal on time, and started crossing over to Cancun on time. However, on the way, I started experiencing certain intestinal priorities which I clearly understood may hamper our adventure. After we got across the island (and I’d spent time both in the bathroom on the ferry and the bathroom on the dock), we decided to skip Chichen Itza and go back. Because of that decision, I can give blood for the next year or so because Cancun and Isla Mujeres are not in a malarial zone, but Chichen Itza is. But, if we go back next year, the Red Cross will have to wait for met to get to my third gallon for awhile…

Spent the rest of the day on the beach (and in the bathroom) and ate dinner in our room (pizza, again, because my wife had made me promise her two pizzas in Mexico after Pizza Hut and Dominos declared they weren’t delivering on the night of the ice storm, and I wussed out of a mile-long walk to Papa Murphy’s).

SUNDAY
Last-minute shopping for friends, lunch downtown (the only Mexican food we had the whole time, and it was awful), and then back to the hotel to continue Tuesday. The highlight of Sunday, though, was getting our waiter, Gilberto, to take a shot of tequila with us. He had to get special permission from his boss, and then had to be not-too-obvious about taking the shot.

We liked Gilberto a lot. On our second night at the hotel, he was our waiter. I ordered a margarita and drank it, then ordered a Negro Modelo. He accidently brought another margarita, which I was happy to take from him, but I pretended with him (we’d established rapport by then) that I was only taking it to be nice. He grabbed my arm, twisted it behind my back, and said “You drink!” He was freakin’ hilarious.

So, the last night, I had to return the favor. Gilberto was very kind, and ended up giving my wife a pair of earrings he’d made (he helps make earrings for the family’s small gift stand somewhere in town, and had brought some for members of the staff, but gave a pair to my wife instead).

MONDAY
Check-out day. We had wisely packed most everything Sunday night, so Monday started out as a breeze. Until it came time to check out. This was the sign of what would turn out to be a really weird day.

At the front desk, my wife presented her card for our joint account, which had all of our vacation money, and the machine wouldn’t take it. I presented my card for our joint account, and the machine similarly rejected it. My wife went to the computer and verified that we had plenty of money. So the staff kindly called our bank, and I spent the next fifteen minutes complaining, cajoling, and conspiring to get our bill paid. It worked, but be fore-warned that on some bank accounts, you will have a limit on how much you can charge on your card at once. We didn’t know it, but ours was $2500.

After that distasteful experience, we had a couple hours to lay in the sun before the yacht left for the mainland. One last bit of tanning and reading, then we were off.

Everything went smoothly until we got to Dallas. Our plane sat on the tarmac after landing for about half an hour, for no apparent reason. Then, we had a huge line at immigration and my passport was getting stamped two minutes after my connecting flight to Portland began boarding. We then had to collect our luggage and clear customs. That was done by 8:44, which was the time my plane was scheduled to depart. The board still read “final boarding,” so we ran (most) of the half mile from gate A28 to gate A20 and saw an empty seating area and a lady who, seeing our desperate faces (and that I was still putting my belt on from the metal detector) said “THERE THEY ARE” and rushed us aboard the flight. They had held it, just for us. I’ll forever be grateful for that.


So, that’s our vacation. A lunch-hour well-spent. I missed all sorts of exciting news, like the death of Johnny, the football play-offs, the Blazer’s firing of Qyntel (thank God that’s all done) and finally snapping their losing streak. But I wouldn’t trade my week on Isla Mujeres for anything. If you couldn’t tell, I loved my vacation. Unlike our trip to Italy in March, it was one of those vacations where you can just sit and vegetate, as opposed to having to run around everywhere and see all the sights, and that was just what the doctor ordered. For those looking for a place to stay, there’s no way I could possibly overstate how nice our hotel was. For a romantic, or just a carefree, get-away, I highly recommend it to anyone.

Now, lunch is over. Time to get back to the old grindstone. I promise, pictures will be available ASAP. Sunday at the latest.

Catch ya later.

Just can´t stay away

Wouldn´t you know, I have free internet access in my hotel. Of course, it´s using a wicked slow machine with a European-style keyboard (not so good for the touch-typing), but any access is better than none.

I really don´t want to spend much time here, but I just wanted to drop a line.

Mexico is nice. The weather is hot, and by the end of the week I may be officially re-classified from caucasian to other based on skin color.

I highly recommend where we´re staying, the Hotel Villa Rolandi on Isla Mujeres. It´s small, secluded, romantic, and the service is excellent. Really, if you ever get a chance, you need to come.

Already some good stories to tell, but not today. I will let you know that The Missus and I celebrated aniversario numero cuatro (getting alot of practice w/ my high school Spanish) last night with a dinner on the beach. Lobster, champagne, and the staff sang us a song while serving us some special anniversary cake. Very, very nice.

Anyway, like I said, I´ll be back Tuesday, and I´ll have some stories (and pictures) to share.

And, Denise, keep coming back. Only at 2380 so far...

Catch ya later.

Busy day today

What, with packing, last minute shopping, sliding all over the slushy roads, and all.

This is my last pre-vacation post. Nothing new and exciting will show up on this here blogue until January 25th. Oh, and so you can drool appropriately, here (again) are the pictures of the place we're going. Don't drool too much. The place costs a fortune and I'm going to become intimately acquainted with Top Ramen for months after my return.

However, I've been consistently receiving 20-30 hits a day recently, so it's conceivable that I could reach my next milestone, 2,500, during my away-ness. If you notice when you get on my blogue that you are number 2,500 (the counter is at the bottom of the page), please shoot me an e-mail telling me when you visited and where you're from and so I can celebrate my love for you.

Catch ya later.

Whoa! It's cold out!

Understatement, I know.

My wife is bummed. She had grand plans for today. A manicure, a pedicure, a facial and a massage to start our vacation off right. All those are off now.

In response to her sorrow, I offered what little I could--to schlep to the store to make her one of her favorite breakfasts, German Pancakes (if you want the recipe, let me know).

Knowing I couldn't drive, I just had to figure out a way to survive the walk down the icy hill to get to the local Trader Joe's on foot.

INCLEMENT WEATHER SURVIVAL TIP #1
Stick to the grass strips. Whereever possible, I walked on grass, which (at this point) is not glazed to the point of slickness. Of course, crossing streets (and the Trader Joe's parking lot, for that matter) was an adventure, but tip #1 reduced my number of spills in a one-mile round trip from infinite to four.

INCLEMENT WEATHER SURVIVAL TIP #2
When you can't walk on grass, walk on a fence line. The suport offered by fences (especially on hill-side skating rinks) is invaluable.

INCLEMENT WEATHER TIP #3
If you have an MP3 player, wear it on your waist, not your arm. I almost opted for the armband, but found that on my occasional spills I tended to brace with my hand or arm, and my frontal waist region never was endangered.

Anyway, stay warm today. If this holds out 'til Monday, you can bet I'll be personally de-icing the runways at PDX and putting kitty litter under the plane tires...

Catch ya later.

Brrrrrrr....

It's freakin' cold outside. Especially here in the arctic tundra known as Gresham.

It's 85 degrees in Cancun, you know. Man, I can't wait...

Oh No!!!

I just realized, I'm going to Mexico in four days. And, once gone, I won't be back for seven.

What does that mean?

Well, of course, I won't be blogging for a bit (although I should have a few choice pictures to share once I get back).

But it also means there's too much TV to be missed. I'm almost dumb-founded by my misfortune!

Just think, no Scrubs, no Smallville, no OC, no ER, no Housewives, no Boston Legal...

This is when I wish I had the dish. Then I could TiVo everything. I'll have to buy some videotape and set up some fiendish system that catches all this important stuff...

Catch ya later.

BBQ Competition Rages On

So, tonight, thanks to the generosity of JLowe, I had Campbell's BBQ on Powell.

It's late, and I've had a beer or two, so I'm not going to say too much.

It was hard to go in objectively. I've grown very attached to Big Daddy's, which (prior to my arrival at Campbell's) rated as my favorite BBQ place in town.

Upon my arrival at Campbell's, I knew they would be a strong challenger. The menu is simple: basically brisket or ribs with the classic sides. I opted (perhaps because of Rozanne's recent cole slaw mis-adventure) for cole slaw and, as always at a good rib place, the collard greens. The strength of the challenge was more apparent when, in response to my request for water, I received a tumbler that was no less than 24 ounces. I love a place with good drink service.

Pros: The greens were the best I've had anywhere yet, hands down. The sauce on the brisket (I opted for medium, after reading a warning that the hot might be a little much) was very good, the quality of the beef was excellent and it was very nicely sliced, thin and lean.

Cons: The meat tastes too-BBQ'd, overly smokey and not meaty enough, the coleslaw was more like a cold cabbage gaspacho, the restaurant felt cramped and untidy, and I don't believe in BBQ joints that don't offer beer.

Verdict: Mixed bag. I still favor Big Daddy's over Campbell's. Why? I enjoy the ability to mix and match sauces to your liking, there's more on the menu, and they serve beer. Further, the restaurant has a nicer feel. And the waitresses are (almost always) super-cute, which doesn't hurt the ambience issue. However, Big Daddy's would do well to take notes on the greens at Campbell's, the service at Campbell's was excellent, and the meat was of a slightly better quality than the beef I've had at Daddy's.

Where's that leave us? Big Daddy's is still the king, Cambpell's is a tie, in my opinion, with Cannon's (Cambpell's may have a slight edge), and Clay's Smokehouse is still dead last. Still have to try Yam Yam's, Tennessee Red's, and any other BBQ joints you all might recommend.

This is your intrepid food critic, signing out.

Catch ya later.

Quick notes

So, my mom's "heart condition" may actually be a heart condition. She visited with her doctor today, who put her through a stress test and noticed some abnormalities in her heart function. She also reported feeling really worn-out through the test. So, she gets another test with a cardiologist next week.

On the good side, she finally heard back on her enzyme tests that there was no sign of heart attack. So, maybe my initial feeling that she may have angina was right.

Needless to say, I'm conflicted about this. I'm sad that my mom is having these issues. I'm glad because, despite the fact that my present anxiety issues are related to occasional irregular heartbeats, I can grind away on the exercise bike like nobody's business, without feeling weak or frail. So, I'm guessing I should believe the doctor who keeps telling me I'm physically fine. Now, if I could just stop being anxious...

Not quite as important, but just as noteworthy, is that I'm continuing my quest to discover Portland's best BBQ tonight. I've long been touting Big Daddy's on 30th and Hawthorne as my favorite, but I've also realized I haven't visited all the "must-try's" yet. Tonight, Campbell's, which is around 86th and Powell. They come highly recommended.

I'll report as soon as I'm able.

Catch ya later.

S'up?

Well, here I am, violating my general rule of not writing something unless it's worth reading. And, why, you might ask?

Couple reasons. First, I haven't blogged in a few days, and I'm afraid you might think I'm dead. In case your wondering, I'm not. I'm alive, so alive. I think that was an INXS song. Too bad their lead singer killed himself--they were an awesome band.

Second, I'm chained to my computer pretty much perpetually of late, as The Missus and I both have our various MP3 players and are rapidly trying to put anything round and plastic into our computer to see if it has something we want to burn.

Now, to remind you all, my wife got an iPod mini for Christmas. When she told me that she was getting that from me, she asked me what I wanted. After much consideration, I decided I wanted an MP3 player as well. My choice: the Dell DJ 20. Same price as her mini, holds 16 more gigs of junk! (And, I've just learned while getting you the link, that Oprah herself has named the DJ one of her favorite things of 2004. How can you argue with that? I also just learned the price has dropped $25 since Christmas. Bastards.)

Anyway, the upshot of this is that I've been spending every anxiety-addled minute I have awake copying music onto my DJ, looking out for duplicative music, and trying to make sure that I have an impressive collection of all sorts of stuff, should anyone ever inspect it. I have Adam Sandler's "Farting Hypnotist" routine. I have local DJ Ohmega Watts (knowns to his friends as Milton). I have all the U2 I could muster. I have the Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash, Burt Bacharach. It's all there. 20 gigs. 3700+ songs. Enough to get me cross country and back many, many times.

I find, perhaps not surprisingly, that I listen to the same 25 or 30 songs constantly, despite the fact that I've sworn to listen to everything I've crammed into this little box. At the moment, I'm quite taken with the group Switchfoot, and I'm also listening to Snow Patrol quite a bit. I'd say they qualify, at the moment, as one of my top five favorite bands.

To prove my diversity, I have a hip-hop mix on my DJ. It contains music from the afore-mentioned Milton, and also from Mr. 12, aka DJ Twelvizm (who, while I'm mentioning him, made it home for a quick Christmas break with his wife, but is back in Texas awaiting an 18-month deployment to Fallujah), Public Enemy, the Beasties, Ice Cube, Ice T, Snoop Dogg, etc. I was listening to it at the gym the other day and found that the music was just a bit too angry for me. Good beat, could bike to it quickly, but after the 30th for 40th F-Bomb, it was time to switch it up a bit.

I just put a bunch of classical on. Currently, I'm burning my wife's Britney Spears CD, not only because I figure she'd like some of the young Mrs. Federline's music on her iPod, but because I actually enjoy her every now and again (don't tell anyone...that's our little secret).

Anyway, now that Christmas Break is done, and I was a good boy and stayed in town throughout, it's time to start planning this years vacations. Previously, I've talked about the various trips my wife and I have taken. To Cabo San Lucas, to Disneyland, to Italy. Next Monday, we celebrate Martin Luther King by flying off to Mexico. A week in the sun should do a lot for my current condition.

In preparation, I've been tanning and currently look like a nice shade of taupe. Before we leave, I hope to be khaki. When we return, I'm planning on being lobster-red.

Today, in respose to a query, I learned that our hotel is going to cost an arm and a leg. Now, I knew it would be expensive. What I didn't realize is that, not only did I do my math wrong and under-guess the cost by one day, but I also just learned that the tax rate for the hotel stay will be 12%. Whereas, this morning, I though my wife and I could cover the trip, I'm now a bit worried. Luckily, she's a financial optimist and will certainly see a way out of this trap. Probably by offering them my arm and my leg. I can type one-handed, though, so I guess that's fine.

Now, not only am I looking forward to Mexico's Isla de Mujeres (literally "Island of Women"), but we're already planning our summer adventure as well. JLowe and his wife are going to join us on a grand road trip. Grand not only in mileage, but in destination. The plan is to swing through California to see my brother-in-law who's at school in Santa Barbara at Brooks, studying photography, then maybe to hit a fun park or two, then to drive directly to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon, which is one of those things I've never been able to do.

The closest I came was the time that Caleb and I were on a road trip in my brand new car (I think I've covered this in a prior post, so if you don't care to read it again, skip to the next paragraph). This was after high school. My dad had died my junior year, and I came into my inheritance when I graduated. Most of the money went to college. But part of it went into a new car and a road trip to Banff, which was a town Caleb assured me would be awesome to behold. Midway through Washington State, I decided that I'd actually like to go to the Grand Canyon instead. Caleb cried foul, despite my prodding reminder that I was funding the entire trip. So voracious were his objections that he managed to get me to pull over the car and talked me into a coin flip. We walked fifty paces from the highway, into a field of grass, and flipped, best two out of three. Caleb, of course, won. And we stayed in Banff just long enough to eat McDonalds.

Anyway, the trip will be extra-nifty because JLowe has an Element, and one of the perks of that particular car is that it was invented post-MP3 player. As such, it has an auxiliary port to plug your MP3 player into, in order to play it through the vehicle's stereo. So, we can test how far my music will get us.

Very exciting.

Anyway, that's about enough talking about nothing. The real reason I wanted to post today was because I saw the following link and was moved by it. Click here to see before and after pictures of the tsunami damage in Asia. It's not too late to donate. Right now, Fred Meyer's is allowing donations at all of their registers, or you can just go to amazon.com or the American Red Cross' web site to give some money to help out.

Catch ya later.

My mom, apparently, will live

After wearing a nitro patch all day, which gave her a wicked headache, my mom has been led to believe that her perceived heart problem may have been no more than heartburn aggravated by recent food poisoning and the nausea that accompanied that.

She's in the hospital overnight for observation, but so far everything's looking good.

Thanks to all who sent a prayer her way.

Catch ya later.

Two kinds of calls I especially hate

Late night ones, and early morning ones. Those calls that come in when noone could possibly have anything good today.

I was woken up this morning by just such a call. My mom's partner called to tell me my mom was in the ER at Good Sam with chest pains. Of course, I couldn't find the phone in time to actually pick up, so I had to listen to the voice message. "I'm trying your cell phone, too".

So I start quickly putting in my contacts, changing into some clothes I can wear, and my cell phone rings.

Damn Nokia. The thing has been acting spastic for the last two months. People will call, and on some occasions I'll be entirely unable to answer. Like this morning.

Thankfully, they tried my home number again, and I was aware enough of my surroundings to have a phone that worked nearby.

Apparently, mom was at work and started having chest pains that wouldn't go away (she complained of having some persistent chest pains a couple of weeks ago, but I'd heard nothing else of it since). The doctors had given her nitroglycerine which made the pain go away, but also dropped my mom's blood pressure to the point that she almost passed out.

Ugh.

She was able to tell me, as an interesting trivia note, that they had wheeled her into the same ER bed my dad died in. Nice to know the jinx is broken.

Anyway, they're taking her to cardiology now, and I'm going to at least swing by the hospital once they've assigned her a room. Sounds like she's okay at the moment, but throw a prayer her way. I'll let my faithful four readers know the latest tonight or something.

Catch ya later.

Everyone get what they wanted for Christmas? And, thoughts on the new year.

I did. Everything. Here's the list:

• Dell DJ 20GB MP3 Player
• New Black casual (but dressy-enough if needed) shoes
• New Brown dressy work shoes
• CD's (including the new U2 one, which promptly made it onto my MP3 player)
• Seinfeld seasons 1-3 (thanks to the cooperative efforts of JLowe and The Missus)
• The Anchorman (well, just got that, but with a Fred Meyer Gift Card my wife got)
• Other stuff (really, do you need to hear anymore?)

I'm very happy with everything. The Dell, obviously, is the greatest gift. Not surprisingly, it cost the same as my wife's 4GB iPod mini, which we only purchased because its so cute. Luckily for JLowe, whose wife is gunning for similar stuff, I was able to steer her toward the Dell Pocket DJ, which is $50 cheaper than the iPod mini and holds 1GB more of music. It also works with more media formats.

Anyway, thanks to the power of Xanax, Christmas went well, and the new year isn't so bad, either. I know, I complained the other day, but that was just a bad day. All in all, things are alright. Thanks to my recent medical issues, I'm off caffeine, have cut back severely on alcohol intake, have quit fast-food, and am watching my diet much more carefully again. And, thanks to the investment in the iPod mini, my wife has been going with me to the gym four times a week, which is a miracle. A Christmas miracle, perhaps.

Our lowly tree is still up. We started pondering when to take it down, but that was just too much effort, so we've left the pondering to a day when we have more energy. I just saw Garden State last week, and suspect that, much like Natalie Portman's character, we'll end up realizing around September that we might as well leave our still-decorated tree up since Christmas will again be fast approaching. However, here's hoping that I develop some ambition in the next few days. Not likely, but still...

For New Year's, we went to JLowe's and I watched a bunch of people drink alot of alcohol. I also learned to play dominoes, which (sadly) was the most exciting part of my evening. On New Year's Day, we held a departure barbecue for our friend 12, who was in town to visit from his army training in Texas, but left the next day. He's now in his final bit of training before spending 18 months in Fallujah. If you have a minute, say a prayer. We all want to see him back soon.

Speaking of which, Marine Man (you may remember him from my brief rant on my Pimps and Ho's Party after Halloween) just got sent off to prep for a trip back to Iraq. Marine Man is a friend from work who's already done a tour in Baghdad. Apparently, that wasn't good enough, because Uncle Sam has again tapped him for a journey to Iraq to foster stability or whatever his job is there. I know he left today because I was woken up by a text message saying "C u in sept semper fi" which I assume means he's left for wherever his base of departure is.

To 12 and to Marine Man, I say you are both heroes, and I wish you both well. Though the various departure events for both were supposed to be as non-wakish as possible, one can't help but fear the worst, but one must also pray for the best. I know I'll be seeing these two friends again soon, and I look forward to those days.

Anyhow, like I noticed on Betsy's site today (that would be My Whim is Law, which is linked to the side), there is enough going on in the world that I don't need to complain about mine. Sure, I'm having weird anxiety issues and am forced to take random meds to deal with them. But I'm safe at home, have a good house, have a wonderful wife, have a (relatively) secure job, have wonderful friends, and (generally) have my health. I have much to be thankful for, given where I could be. And so, I ask you to join me in spending a moment counting your blessings this New Year (instead of your short-comings) and saying a quiet prayer for those who aren't so lucky.

And, again, 12 and Marine Man, I'll see you again soon.

Catch ya later.

Happy New Year?

So far, haven't enjoyed it all that much. Feeling rotten. Usual complaints.

However, I'm confident it'll get better. In about 2 weeks, when I'm in Mexico...