Where are the May flowers?

Oh, they're hiding from the rain.

The days are filled with boredom here at work…the students have finished the semester and there is only so much internet you can surf, you know?

If you were a real friend, you’d go post something entertaining on your blog.

In the interest of time-wasting, I came upon a South Park Character Creator and envisioned myself as follows:



Had a hard time choosing the right hair…none of them really encompassed my style.

My best friend is graduating tomorrow, so it’s party time. She has struggled her way through school, and she’s finally earned her teaching degree. She had a rough start back in 2000 and got a little too much into the social scene at college. She took a year off, and then went to community college. She finally transferred to Portland State and completed her bachelor’s degree in December ‘05. Her transcripts weren’t great considering her rough start, so she had to fight to get into an MAT program…but it paid off, and she was accepted. She’s a good illustration of what happens when you’re finally doing something you love: she went from a 2.5 in undergrad to a 4.0 as a graduate student. Even though she doesn’t read this blog (or even know that it exists), I’m proud of her.

…

It’s 3:00 and I have nothing to do. This is baaaaad. It’s only going to get worse next week. Too bad I can’t bring in my homework!

So in the interest of keeping busy, I have been having waaaaay too much fun with Google Satellite Maps.

Here, you can see my hood. I live somewhere within this grid, but it's a secret:



Here, you can see one of my favorite downtown buildings...the Urban Center at Portland State. Also where I spend much of my graduate school time--



Then I found the 'hood where I grew up--



And hey! There's the house I lived in during college! I used to mow that lawn, y'all:



Then I got to thinking...I wonder if they have satellite images of Quito (where I spent five glorious months back in '03)



That was my house!!! (Bottom arrow). The top arrow is where I sat drinking coffee at my favorite internet cafe. Also where I got a bus to go to school...Hey! Can I find my school?!



Entirely too much fun, people. Satellite images are just the right mix of cool and creepy.

And I know this is mean, but laughed when I read this. Do you think she'll actually go?

Wine Down on the Coast

AHHHHHHHHHHHH

That was a nice exhale.

I didn’t do a damn productive thing this weekend. I will probably live to regret that seeing as I have a 15 pager due next week that I have yet to start on, but it felt nice to just chill out and party hardy.

The Newport Seafood and Wine Festival was this weekend, and it was a blast! Some friends and I went last year, too—we’ve definitely decided to make it a tradition. The Festival is held in a big tent by the bay with over 100 vendors, 60 of them being wine vendors.

It’s the best place to get your wine on.

I of course hit my favorite, Hood River Vineyards, and found a new one, Honeywood Winery. Hood River Vineyards has the usual pinots and rieslings, but they also specialize in these fantastic fruit-based wines, including Marionberry, Black Cherry, and Raspberry wines. They are definitely dessert wines, so you need to be a fan of sweet wines to enjoy them, but they are fantastic.






Keeping with tradition of fruit wines, I found a new love in the Loganberry Wine made by Honeywood Winery. I must have a bottle (or five) right now. It has this lovely fruit flavor, with a deep color, and is the most perfect balance of sweet and tart I have ever had in a wine. It would be excellent with dark chocolate, I think.





Other favorites:
Hip Chicks Do Wine
Wine by Joe
Willamette Valley Vineyards
David Hill Winery (this one is right by where I went to college)
Oak Knoll Winery (their "Grape Eruption" wine is fantastic)

As was expected, I drank way too much wine. I will not admit to the number of glasses, but we’ll just say it was more than 3 but less than 10. Needless to say, my friends and I were in a happy place. We also managed to get adorned with quite a few Mardi Gras beads…I’m not really sure why.





And in a fantastic twist of fate, I randomly ran into this guy I studied abroad with in Ecuador back in ’03! I hadn’t seen him since we got off the plane when we got back to the states, so it was great to see him. He was pretty lit, but I told him to bring his friends and meet us at the pub that night after the festival, which he did. It was nice to “catch up,” but he was quite wasted so I’m willing to bet he doesn’t remember half the conversation. He must have asked for my phone number a half a dozen times after I gave it to him. He fiancée was being a sport, though. Most girls would have been horrified by his inebriated state, but she was having fun with him. Hopefully we’ll meet up soon and have a real catch-up session.

So I probably drank too much, and should have gotten some homework done, but I’m oh so glad I didn’t. This weekend probably ranks as one of the best I’ve had in a while!

Cheers!

Pay no attention the man behind the curtain!

First, I must start by saying this is totally crazy. I am shocked that this case might be solved. I mean ten years. I was 14. Just wild.

And I must say, holy Creepy Creeperton:




And, it looks like one of my favorite little villages in Ecuador is covered in ash. I visited Banos twice while I was there, and just loved that little town. We even rode horses up to the volcano (which in retrospect was not the best idea). Although the article doesn’t specifically mention Banos (other than the picture) I’m still worried because Banos is literally at the base of the mountain. I have a picture of me somewhere standing on the side of the volcano with the city down below me. That makes me sad.



On a lighter note, I’m taking a vacation day tomorrow! Yay! My friends and I are headed for a girls weekend at the beach where we will drink cocktails and check out cute boys playing volleyball. Well, that’s the plan anyway. I’m ready to escape work for a bit, even if it’s only for a few days.

And A/B, I'm sorry I don't have juicier gossip for you about my friend, but I really don't. We never went that route--he had a girlfriend when we met. Not to mention he lives on the other side of the country. AND I haven't seen him in three years. But if any of that changes, you'll be the first to know. ;)

In other news, a professor stopped by the library today to return a piece of work she borrowed from the library about six years ago. This library for the most part has really crappy art. And I guess six years ago they knew it was crappy because they were all in a closet somewhere. So this professor rescued it from the closet and put it up in her office.

Anyway, she returned it today, and I looked at it…did a double-take. It is an original Salvador Dali! It’s a lithograph of some kind because it’s numbered, and it’s even SIGNED. SIGNED, people. I started freaking out immediately, which in turn freaked out my coworkers because they didn’t understand why I think this is so freaking cool. [They must not have noticed the two Dali posters I have up in my office].

The professor thought I was funny and said, “you know, I think there’s two more floating around the library somewhere.”

WHAT!?!

So she and I went on a little hunt and sho nough there are TWO MORE signed lithographs by Salvador-freakin-Dali. And they’re seriously in some back random ass corner where no one ever goes! I was like, “Dudes, I think these would look better in my office…” But I got denied.

But there are three Dalis where I work.

I think that makes me special.

Baby, light my fire...

Alright, Bob will not effing give it up. I have decided I’m going to put Cayenne pepper in the squirt bottle. I figure this way, if I get the little bugger with the water, he’ll have to lick it off and maybe it’ll put a fire in his ass to stay away from my window!

I’ll keep you updated on Adventures with Bob.

In other news, the Bite of Oregon was this weekend, and while Snow Patrol couldn’t make it through security in London (no idea why not), it will still fun. I got a lovely souvenir wine glass which I used to taste many fabulous Oregon wines. I also got an Oregon vineyard and winery guide, so I sense a field trip coming up!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A good friend of mine is serving in the Peace Corps in Panama. I’m going to send a care package to him, and I need to see if I’ve missed something important! I asked him if there was anything in particular he wanted, and there was, so I added those to the list. He’s in a very very rural area. A lot of people around him speak Spanish, but there’s also a tribal language he’s learning.

I thought about going into the Peace Corps after college. I also thought about applying for a Fulbright, but in the end, I decided I just really needed a break from studying & adventures. And although I’m extremely glad I decided to take some time off, hearing about his adventures does give me a few pangs of jealousy! :) But he’s very good about sending me postcards and keeping me updated on his adventures, so it won’t hurt to live vicariously through him for a while. And I keep him updated on worldly news while he’s away, so it works out well.

I actually met him while I was studying abroad in Ecuador-we were gallivanting around the country for five months, it was great! He’s actually from Delaware, so I haven’t seen him since we left in May of ’03, but we’ve kept in touch all this time.

Anyway, so this is the list of things he asked for:

Huy Fong Sriracha Sauce (apparently it’s some fabulous Thai sauce)
A cookbook
A big map of the U.S.
A picture of me
Connect Four (the game!)

I added the following after some thought and some Internet browsing:

Time & Newsweek magazines (from the last few weeks anyway)
A couple of books (I haven’t decided which yet)
Instant Gatorade (the powdered kind in case he gets sick)
A jar of Oregon jam
A t-shirt from Portland State Univ.
Some Peanut M&Ms
Marshmallows
Ziploc Bags

Anything else you’d want if you were cut off from civilization? I mean, obviously I’ll probably send other packages eventually, so if I forget something, I can always add it later.

And you’re probably thinking Ziploc bags is a weird choice, but I was surfing Peace Corps sites and blogs and message boards, and apparently Ziploc bags are like gold for some reason. Weird, huh?

On a final note, I just have to add this picture. It's one I've gotten back from before the wedding when I was getting my hair tortured done. No wonder it took me 30 minutes and half a bottle of conditioner to get the tangles out...

I swear I'm under there somewhere...

[I just noticed it kind of looks like I have a black eye in this pic, but it's just my hair in my face!]