Typical Marc

We decided to hang out alone tonight. This is kind of odd. Not that we're against spending time alone together, but on the weekends, 95% of the time, we hang out with friends. If we end up hanging out alone, it's because everything else falls through. We decided to get some Hawaiian takeout, and we picked up five free rentals at Blockbuster--we had three mailed movies to exchange for in-store rentals and two free rental coupons. Since Marc usually balks at the movies I try to pick out, I told him to pick three and I'd pick two.

This is where it gets typical.

I chose Catch and Release (okay, it's a bit of a "chick flick") and Freedom Writers (no, I'm not obsessed with Patrick Dempsey, but I do love his blue eyes...). Marc chose Reno 911!: Miami, Norbit, and Epic Movie. I laughed out loud in the store when he showed me what he'd picked. Yes, I think I'm married to a man who's actually half his age--a 17-year-old stuck in a 34-year-old's body. Not that I won't watch these movies and laugh at them, too--I'd just be hard-pressed to pick them out myself.

Freaky birds

So I'm sitting in my office at work today, and I notice a few birds over a span of 5 minutes (or maybe it was the same bird) swooping at and almost hitting my window. WTH? Closer inspection revealed that there are bugs on the outside of my window, and apparently the birds were risking death or at least a concussion to eat the suckers.

Later in the morning, a blue heron gracefully flies past my window. Weird. At least he wasn't doing nosedives into it. Until I thought about it today, I hadn't seen our community geese around work. But as my recent coincidences continue to pile up, I saw a big flock of them just minutes after I thought about them. Maybe some Powerball numbers will come to me in the next couple days...

Crapplebees

It's another one of those rare double-posts from me. Though I'm kind of feeling cruddy, I don't want to go to bed this early, and I just saw a commercial that gave me an idea to write about.

If you know me, you know I'm not a cook. A couple weekends ago we were up at a friend's place near Seattle and the Food Network was dialed in. I watched and drooled as some dude named Tyler made macaroni and cheese... with bacon on top. I vowed to try to make this mac'n'cheese at home, and I actually followed through with spectacular results. Try to contain your amazement--seriously!

Tonight, we saw a commercial where that same Tyler is acting as chef and talking about all the food at Applebees (aka Crapplebees). Boo on you, Tyler. Everyone knows that if you want to eat good in the neighborhood, you sure as hell don't go to Applebees. I'll still make his mac'n'cheese though.

And just in case you didn't know, everything's better with bacon.

Sometimes I feel a little psychic

This morning as I was walking in to work, I thought about a guy I used to work with who took another job in the company and moved to a different floor several months--maybe close to a year?--ago. Even though we only have 3 floors and 350 or so people in the building, I haven't run into him in months. Literally. Anyway, not thinking much else about it, I got to my office and chucked my purse down. I picked up my water bottle, bowl, and a packet of oatmeal, and headed downstairs to the big kitchen for ice and hot water. And who do I run into? That guy I was just thinking about. Bizarro. Now if only Miss Cleo would call me, I could see if she has any advice for honing my psychic skills...

Freakin' Hot

Summer has hit Portland in full force. Yesterday and today the temperature hovered at or above the 100 degree mark. Thank goodness for air conditioning. Today was muggier and cloudier, but still really hot. I can't help but think about how this temporary weather is so much like what I (happily) left behind in Kentucky. Now the weather goons are tempting us with chances of thunderstorms, which would totally make my day. I LOVE thunder and lightning.

I like turtles, too... I guess...

It's not often I post twice in one day, but this was so absurdly, randomly funny that I had to share. Plus, it happened right here in my adopted hometown, which makes it that much better.

I "Heart" The Gap

We stopped in Troutdale on our way back home today. They have a small outlet mall, but my most important store is there. The Gap. I really love The Gap lately because I'm pretty convinced that they've changed their sizing. Except for a couple fat months before I moved to Oregon, I've worn about the same size clothing since about 7th grade. I lost some pounds last fall, but not so many that I should be wearing 2 sizes smaller than usual. But hey, if my labels want to say I'm that skinny, I'm not going to complain.

Our Barlow trip went pretty well after we maneuvered ourselves around a Wagon Train group (covered wagons, people walking, and people on horseback). The trail was still blocked in several places by trees (thanks, Forest Service lady, for the updated info... or not), so we backtracked a couple of times to go further down the paved road and then cut back onto the trail. The trail was easy with only one tight squeeze for the Gen II Xs. We all got some of nature's pinstriping though. Camp was pretty mellow. One of the guys brought his telescope, so everyone checked out some planets, galaxies, and globular clusters. We built up a big campfire. We ate, drank, and were merry. Good times.

Full-bellied excitement

I love BBQ. We got out Russell Street fix tonight with Mike and Diane, Slimey and Chris, and Pete and Courtney. We had intentions of getting a Meatapalooza to go as our dinner for tomorrow night, but after we ate one tonight, we found we were satiated for now. Maybe the most exciting part of the night was drinking 3 huge glasses of Dr. Pepper. Considering how little caffeine I normally drink, this gave me quite a buzz. Yeeeeee-haw!!!!

I'm excited about our trip tomorrow. I'm not sure why. We've got a good mix of club old-timers and newcomers, so it should be fun getting to know some people better and hanging out with old friends.

Okay, back to Team America. Diane hasn't seen it before, so we're all enjoying some laughs at the stupidness.

Our house is clean

Yeah, we're slobs. We usually live in a very messy house. Marc and I spent several hours yesterday cleaning the house in celebration of our independence... from the mess. We're compelled to go on cleaning sprees like this only when people are coming to visit--Mike and Diane are trekking down from Seattle tomorrow afternoon. After dinner tomorrow night at Russell Street BBQ, we'll all head up to Mt. Hood on Saturday with a bunch of other trucks from the club for a Barlow trip. It's supposed to be nice and warm, so it ought to be a good time.

On another note, I was sadly denied my weekly dose of "Death by Muzak" today. I think I've crossed the line from hating it to loving to make fun of it.

Celestial viewings

We bought a telescope for Christmas a couple years back, but we're generally not too good about using it. The past few nights, we've noticed what appears to be a really bright star in the west sky after sunset. It's actually Venus. And just to the right of Venus is Saturn. We pulled the scope out to get a closer look. It's cool to see Saturn's rings. Then, if you turn left from those beauties, you can see Jupiter. With our scope, we can see the moons and the Red Spot. There's another "something" a little right and down from Jupiter that flickers red and blue. We thought it might be Mars, but the little machine that hooks up to the telescope informed us that Mars is below the horizon. I did a quick Google search and found a cool site which informs me that the Mars-like object is actually Antares.

While I'm on the subject of astronomy, I thought I'd share this, just in case you haven't seen it 42 times already in e-mail forwards. Somehow, Marc hadn't seen it, so I guess it's possible that there are others on this planet who haven't either.

*We didn't take that picture. Heh!