Steak-umm revisited

Evidently the current economic state of America is perfect breeding ground for products like Steam-umm. I swear, I thought I had blogged about them and their ridiculous slogan about sticking steak in your mouth. Now I can't find that. I've search for "steak-umm," "steak-umms," "steak," and "mouth" and can't find it. Bah. Anyway. Folks, that wonderful goodness is back. Did you know that Steak-umm is "America's favorite sliced steak"?

Really? You didn't know?

I'd like to argue that. Though I have not tasted Steak-umm before, I can pretty much guarantee that some flank steak grilled and sliced up by our friends Chris and Slimey is far superior to anything bought in a box with Steak-umm printed on it. So maybe they mean that Steak-umm is America's favorite mass-produced, sold in a box at the grocery store sliced steak. I think Steam-umm is America's only mass-produced, sold in a box at the grocery store sliced steak. And in that case, is it really fair to say it's America's favorite? Can we have a favorite when there are no competitors? Or are there competitors that I just don't know about? I'm fine with keeping it that way, really.

Slow - Cat Crossing

There's a house in our neighborhood that I drive by every day to and from work. A couple weeks ago they started putting ones of those "Slow down for kids" signs at the end of their driveway. Like this one. It annoyed me. If you know me, you know I'm not much of a kid person. I like other people's kids--especially when they're cute and sweet--but in general kids aren't really my thing. This house happens to be on a short road where you can't build up much speed. It's also right by a park where there are always cars parked and people milling around. This isn't a high-speed possible part of the neighborhood, so that sign was annoying. Of course I'm going slow. Of course I'm watching for kids. They're everywhere, Captain Obvious.

A few days later, my entire attitude toward that sign changed. Why? Because they modified it by writing "Cat X-ing" on it in black marker. Slow down for kids? Duh. I don't need a sign. Slow down for cats? Sure! Why didn't they just say so from the beginning?

Rafting

Rafting was a success! The weather at our campsite was not great... a bit misty the first night, and pretty cold the whole time. Down in Maupin for the rafting, it was sunny and beautiful. A little cool in the morning, but the afternoon was warm. I highly recommend Imperial River Company--the guide was tons of fun, and the rafting was even more entertaining. I took advantage of all the special activities on the boat (swimming through one of the rapids, balancing/standing on the front of the raft, riding the bull). Until the end of the day when some jerky kids on another raft attacked us with high-powered water guns that hit me right in the ear, everything was great. When it was over, Marc joked that he wanted to come back again next weekend. I think we'll compromise and make this an annual event.

Getting fitted in our life jackets:


Out, damn'd spot!


Marc enjoying the lack of clouds and cold weather:


Swimming (that water was COLD):


Riding the bull:

Checking something off the to-do list

For over a decade I've wanted to go river rafting. Tomorrow I'll be able to check it off my life's to-do list. We're leaving home in just over an hour for camping tonight, and I still have laundry in the machine, I haven't finished packing, and I need to take a shower. Bah.

Assuming Marc found the underwater housing for the camera, I'll have pics to post on Sunday.

One of the great mysteries of the world

Here's one for someone to explain: Why are cell phone stores busy no matter when you go into them? Seriously. It's a random Monday. I'm in a state with one of the highest unemployment rates. People shouldn't be out in masses buying new phones. But they are. We got sick of waiting and left before we could be helped. I was also starving after a 45-minute run, so food soon took a higher spot on the priority scale than getting a new phone.

Crashing a BBQ

Marc and I went over to Steve and Andrea's last night. Their neighborhood was having a BBQ; we crashed it. But we brought baked beans, which people liked, so we were okay. (Later on when Marc brought out the portable fire pit, they liked us even more.) The fire department came over with one of their brand new engines and let the kids climb around it. The firefighters were cool and it was neat seeing the engine up close. After the party split up, we went inside and did some karaoke for a bit. Good times.

Today we tried to go to Stanich's for a burger with Slimey. We have a thing going for hamburgers lately. I think we have an unofficial goal to try two new burger places a month. A couple weekends ago we had burgers at Annie's (not bad, but too much celery salt!) and Skyline (not new to me and Marc, but it was for Slimey). So Stanich's is closed on Sundays, which sucks because we drove all the way over to that side of town for their burger. We walked down the block to Alameda Brewhouse instead, where Marc and I got a decent burger and Slimey got a meatball sandwich. We'll have to make another visit over there (on a Saturday next time) so we can try Stanich's.

I've been keeping up with running. I got as high as 7th place after my run this morning, but the last time I looked, I'd been knocked back down to 9th. Gotta stay in the top 10...

Excuses, excuses

I keep not blogging because I keep thinking about all the things I need to write about, and it feels overwhelming. Enough of that. I'll start with today, and as I think about other things that have happened that are blog-worthy, you'll all get to enjoy a bit of a history-of-Mindie lesson.

The big news lately is that I started running--and in a much bigger way than I ever have before. I was spurred on by a challenge at work. There's only a handful of competitors (so far, anyway). The competition is to see who can run the most in August and September. I started the last week of July to warm up, since I haven't been running in months, and I got up early before work every day to run a mile or two. I took a break over the weekend and missed the first day of the competition while we were up in Washington for the big annual PNWX party. I got back into it Sunday, and I've been up early before work every day so far this week. Today was a double-run day--a little over a mile this morning and another three+ this afternoon. I'm going to try that for awhile. Right now I'm in 10th place out of just 19 people. I'd like to stay in the top 10. I have no chance of winning since there's more than one person averaging over 7 miles a day. I can't do that much. Yet.

The big excitement about this new running habit is that it was a reason to get a new iPod. I needed one that does the Nike+ deal, so I got a Nano. It's purple and really pretty. :) It seems a bit ridiculous that I have four iPods now, but they each have their place--except for the old classic one. It's just a brick. Anyone want to buy it?

Hair cut

I got most of my hair chopped off yesterday afternoon. It's pretty short now. This might mean that I'll spend the next few years growing it out again, but for the summer at least, I'm going to try out the short thing.

Some of my favorite things

We went camping last night for the first time in a long time. In honor of the event, a few of my favorite things:

• The smell of mountain air
• The coldness of mountain stream water (and how pink my feet turn after sticking them in there)
• Listening to the sound of the water while I fall asleep
• The campfire smell that's so hard to shampoo out of my hair

We were bummed that we couldn't get to our favorite rustic camping areas around Mt. Hood because there was still a little too much snow on parts of the road. We took a shot at Trillium Lake, but the snow outfoxed us there, too. We earned some karma points when we helped a guy who'd gotten his pickup stuck in the snow off the side of a road down near the lake though. A Jeep was trying to help, but one vehicle wasn't enough. Once we got the Xterra hooked up to him, he came out no problem. If we'd needed a third pull vehicle, some Hyundai SUV driver was ready and willing--with his own tow-strap even. That was strange.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that next weekend's weather will be just as nice so that we can get outside and do it again.

I am alive

Wow. A whole month passed with not a single blog post written. Let's just say I was a little busy at work, and every night when I got home, blogging was the last thing on my mind.

I'll be back soon. Maybe tomorrow. I'm not promising anything though.