And I said I would not analyze it: Hi Panda

Hi Panda by Ji Ji

On first glance, what impression did these panda bears give you?
Cute?
Cuddly?
Evil?
Disturbing?
Those were Pandas?
Believe it or not, I actually find these bears quite lovable. Maybe it is because the artist intended for these figures to represent children born in the 80's, of which I am included, and all my life I have been dealing with each of the said emotions the bears are depicting.
Maybe it is because the media has desensitized me to the point that "evil bears" seem so far out there that I see them as anything but evil.
Maybe the little diapers they are wearing make me instinctively think "baby" and since, in order to ensure the survival of the human race, we are wired to feel empathetic towards babies I feel nothing but love for them. And an evil baby is simply unheard of.
Maybe it is because on a subconscious level I really do see them as disturbing, I am thus feeling sorry for them and only see them as lovable because in my heart I really want to help them.
Or maybe it is because I simply am crazy. Who knows.
All I know is that I have Angry Panda glaring at me from his cozy little perch atop my mantle across the room.
I need no definitive reason why.
My smile is enough.

...and repeat...

Hello.
My name is Rebecca and I am addicted to a game on Facebook.
Oh, its not just any game..
And its not even a good game.
But once I start I cannot stop!
The high score is taunting me..
"83,050? Is that really the best you can do?"
Each game only takes a minute..
"Can you not spare a minute?"
One minute turns into two, which turns into 12, which turns into 30 and the next thing I know I have spent a good hour trying to beat a pointless score.
I know that is what they want.
I know they have me in the palm of their hands.
Just one more time..
I know I can do it...

9 Ways to Avoid the Baby Shower Blues

All I could think of as I finally escaped those double doors was why I decided to waste close to 2 hours of my Sunday in the clutches of boredom, the face of awkwardness and in the presence of more strangers that I would have subjected myself had I took the city bus. Oh and the two words "Thank God". Thank God for the fact that I finally made it out of there of course.
As I drove down the road, attempting to clear my memory of the recent event, it occurred to me that I could actually benefit from the previous situation if only by ensuring that it was never to happen again. Well, if it was to at least never happen to the one person I have the power to guarantee this with: Myself.

Note to Self: If for any reason a baby shower is thrown in my honor the following rules shall be strictly adhered to.
1. The location shall never, under any circumstances, be held in a pizza parlor.
2. There shall never be more guests than a standard sheet cake can feed.
3. The noise level will never be so high that anyone has to shout to be heard by the person sitting right next to them.
4. Games will be played with the hope and intent of facilitating conversation between the entire group.
5. While food is important at a lunchtime party, that shall not be the main focus. Said food shall also not contribute to the obesity epidemic of America (this rule may be bent if shower is held outside of the States)
6. While it is understandable that not everyone will know all the attendees, the event must be kept at a size where it is reasonable for people to feel comfortable enough to interact with others. Showers must be split into separate parties for this very reason. IE: One for family, one for friends, one for coworkers, etc.
7. Presents are a key part of a baby shower, but common etiquette suggests not opening them within the first 30 minutes of the shower commencing.
8. Clowns?? Need I say anything more?
9. No matter what, the atmosphere must be keep light and unserious. Otherwise guests will be scheming ways to escape after only being there an hour.

Now that I have that stored away in case of emergencies, on with the rest of my Sunday.

Ode to the Bloggerverse

My computer was gone,
I was all alone.
But luckily for me,
I still had my phone.

This was all well and good,
for all sites but this one.
So I continued my postings,
after I'd get all my work done.

Then work got savvy of the fact that work related blogs are hard to find
Took away blogger (and twitter! and plurk!) which near put me out of my mind.

But what should I get? I truly had no idea
To the computer store I went! (in this case I chose Costco)
It didn't take long, there was no searching high and low.
I saw my new Dell right in the front row!

So now I am back, there was no stopping me
Thought I would swing by and share with you my glee ;)

And what did you do on your day off?

I feel very tired today..
Not that I don't have good reason, yesterday Brandon and I went hiking in the gorge... We set off around 9am and after stopping for a quick Starbucks breakfast, we went up behind Multnomah and came down on the touristy side. Went about 5 miles... Saw some cliche waterfalls, crossed some not so cliche bridges and had an all around good time.
By the time we got back to the car we were both famished (a bagel and a latte only goes so far) so we went to lunch at this cute little restaurant on the river called "Island Cafe" (when I say on the river, I mean ON THE RIVER... literally floating). It was a little spendy, but the food tasted good, and the atmosphere was pretty nice (and there were NO do not feed the duck signs hehe).
From there we went home and on the way it was decided that we would do the Ape caves. Crazy, me? In the caves?? Well, I was thinking out loud and just THOUGHT that it would be *fun* to do again (since it has been close to 20 years since I had been in those caves).
Uh..
I don't like enclosed spaces.
Now add the fact that we are in complete darkness, me with a flashlight that really needed new batteries (he said he was going to bring lanternS which was why I didnt replace them.. this was only supposed to be a back up), Ethan with nothing and Brandon in the lead with a lantern that only lit the area right next to him.
I kept kicking rocks, cut my finger, have bruises all over my legs... I almost fell numerous times and came within an inch of ramming my face into the ceiling at least three times.
Oh and did I mention that I was freaked out??
I did not feel safe at all; I was the rear of the group and I swear it felt like someone was going to reach out and grab me the entire time.
Now, I know that there is nothing in these caves, but I cannot help which direction my imagination turns... and I kept thinking about a horror movie that I watched a while back that took place in a cave... very inappropriate for what I was doing at that moment.
Since we didnt leave for the caves until after 5pm, there was not much left of the daylight when we got there. Now that we walked the 1.3 miles to the "exit" of the cave (which we used as the entrance in our case) and walked the 1.3 miles back, it is now as dark outside as it was in the cave. The only thing that let me know we actually were outside was the temperature change and the fact that I could see the stars through the trees.
Where we came out was only a 2 minute walk back to the parking lot and when we got there our car was the only one there (no surprise). There was not a single light in the parking lot so we still had our lantern/flashlights out when Brandon hears what he described as four-legged footsteps/claws on the pavement on the far side of the parking lot. Since my flashlight was so weak and his lantern wouldn't light long distances to save his life we couldnt see what it was and didn't linger to look at just how breath taking the stars are without all the light pollution of the city (we stopped a little later and looked out the sunroof from the safety of the car...)

We got home around 10pm; we couldnt have squeezed anything else into the day even if we wanted to :)

Facts and Explanations from the 1500's

Ever wonder where some of the fabulous sayings such as "Piss Poor", "Crossing the Threshold" or "Chewing the Fat" came from? Some of these sayings have been around for literal ages! I was blessed* with the information that I am about to bestow upon you by my wonderful** mother.
Here are some facts from the 1500's.
Enjoy!

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery.......if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor"
But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot...........they "didnt have a pot to piss in" and were the lowest of the low.

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell . .. . brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.
Hence: a thresh hold.

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day.. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave.. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer....

____________________
*if information is knowledge and knowledge is power then I am helping pave your way to greatness. Or at least giving you something somewhat interesting to talk about when there is absolutely nothing else to say.
**in other words, she was bored and decided to forward me a somewhat interesting email. Thanks Mom :)

Behind the... Nice Try

Found here

I Heart San Diego

Such beautiful scenery and all I can look at is that PINK TOWEL..

And I return from a fun filled yet overtly relaxing vacation.
One of the bad things about being on vacation is being able to sleep in every day if you so desire. Wait, did I just call having this option bad?
Yes!
Because if you get used to doing this it makes it that much harder to go back to the grind once the hours, minutes and seconds of your precious time off expire..
But I digress.
We had plans to go to Hawaii during this last week, but we didn't make it. I would say it was because of the hurricane but in all honesty it was not. Even flight loads would be a justifiable reason for not heading to the island of blue skies, overhead sun and a high of 86 during the last three days we were supposed to be there. But no, there were other priorities on the side of the other party supposed to be going with me that took precedence which I am still pretty sore about.
So we didn't go to Hawaii.
We almost didn't go anywhere until a last minute, 5 hour conversation took place and paved the way for at least something.
The key to a healthy relationship is compromise, right? Gah.

So, where can we go for only 2 or 3 days that would still be worth getting on a plane for?
There was a limited list of options. Really, just one.
San Diego.
Some highlights:

First off, being that the plane would be taking off at 6:40am we were supposed to be up and out the door by 4:30am, in order to have time to park the car in a free parking area and ride the shuttle over to the airport. Well... 5am came and I found myself still in bed, staring at my silent phone wondering what the heck happened.
Ok, stay calm.
And lets just see how quickly we can get ourselves out of here.
We made the flight but it ended up costing us $30 in parking fees in the end. Ouch.

First stop, Mexico!
Well, not *exactly* Mexico, but the shady part of San Diego really does closely resemble parts of the "nice" part of the city of Tijuana that I had the privilege of "touring" a few years back. Once we got ourselves turned around and properly situated we made our way over to the Ga-Slamp quarter for a delicious breakfast and a stroll around the city.

This is a view from the steps of the convention center. Sadly, climbing to the top of these steps (there were over 300 steps, I swear!) took my breath away (the view, it was the view..)

One of the main reasons we wanted to go to San Diego was to explore the beaches it has to offer. I was going to try and skip out on Ocean Beach and Mission Beach, just because those are typically pretty scuzzy, but somehow that was where we ended up for the first part of the day. What better way to make the next beach look pristine by looking at the not so great ones first, right?
Once we made it to Pacific Beach it did slightly work, but Del Mar most definitely stole the show.

What do you think? I know I wouldn't mind living in that house! And the water was pretty warm for California. But I am getting a little ahead of myself.. we didn't go to Del Mar until the next day.

The first night we stayed at a hotel on Harbor Island. Before dinner we decided to take the hotel up on their offer of complimentary bicycles and took a lovely ride around the bay. While the bikes were quite ugly, did not have brakes on the handle bars and felt quite unsafe all around we still had a great time.
While perusing Pacific Beach earlier in the day we both noticed a quaint little ale house with rooftop seating overlooking the ocean. After not finding anywhere interesting to eat on our bike ride we decided to get back in the car and drive the 9 miles back to Pacific Beach. We were told that there would be considerable wait time to eat on the roof, but since it was open seating we decided to take our chances. Funny thing was that just as I got a parking spot right up front, not only was there an open table but it was right on the edge with a pretty good street view. After dinner we took a moonlit stroll on the beach, a marvelous end to a remarkable day.

Remember what I said about vacations being about being able to sleep in as late as one desires? Well, not when traveling!
Early risers get to see more of the city, especially when only there for a couple of days.
After checking out of our hotel, finding a lovely little breakfast spot and sending a post card we were off for Del Mar!
Del Mar is by far my favorite part of San Diego. The fact that it is not actually part of San Diego is beside the point or maybe it is the point... all I know is that I love it.
After driving through the main stretch of the town we made our way to a somewhat secluded section of beach on the north side. The sky was blue, the water was clear, the sand was white and the air was warm. It was perfect!

This shot was on our way across the San Diego River, to the beach we spent most of the day on. Funny thing was that we had to wait for a stampede of children to cross the bridge first before we could even edge across. It seemed that we got there just in time (they were leaving).

After spending a good hour in the water and an equal amount of time lying on the sand we decided to walk to the top of the cliff that overlooked the city/beach.

This was what we saw.
From the beach we made a mad attempt to find one of my favorite sushi places of all time which is somewhere in Del Mar. Unfortunately I was unable to find it, which in one sense may be a good thing. Most of the time our memories of things tend to be fonder than they really were in reality and I hate to think that the place really is sub par..
Instead we went to a cute little bar for happy hour where I had the most delicious pineapple martini ever made. Oh yes. It was that good. Something about Del Mar I guess..
After cleaning up we headed over to explore Coronado Island. While not really an island, it still has its charm and I would highly recommend venturing over the bridge just to say you have.

The downtown skyline from Coronado Island. We spent the final evening of our trip on the other side of the bay where we strolled along the waterfront waiting for the sunset that never came.. The dessert at Tartine was good enough to make up for this fact however :)

All in all the trip was wonderful. Much needed. And definitely something that we will be doing again.
Soon, hopefully.

Not in the Cards

I am supposed to be flying to Maui in the morning.
The flight is open.
The price is right.
But guess what?
Felicia decided to ruin my vacation.
No, not yet another girl trying to take away the things in my life, but a Felicia of the Hurricane variety.
Now that I have the next 6 days off I ponder what to do. Maybe a drive to the coast? With my heart set on palm tree laden, warm, sunny beaches this may prove to be quite the disappointment. California? For some reason rental cars now come with gold in the glove box because daily rates are starting as low as $103/day in San Diego. $90 in Los Angeles (Denver was $140!! Not Cali, I know, but I was checking EVERYWHERE). Ok, well maybe some place that doesn't require a rental car? Chicago, Boston and New York are all impossible for me to get to. Not to mention that then hotel prices skyrocket when staying downtown. Even DC was overbooked, taking away any chances for the North Carolina coast.
My options are dwindling down..
Who knows, maybe I'll take a drive up to Seattle and spend a day or two. It still is on my list of places I wouldnt mind moving to someday.. and I will not spend my vacation at home. Oh no no no.

Did anyone else notice this?

The Oregon Brewers Festival was a couple of weekends ago and while standing in line for the ATM one of the members of my group pointed out something odd about the official banner flying atop one of the tents.

Look closely.. Apparently the Brewers Fest is always the last "weedend" in July. Accidental? Nah, I think someone got quite the chuckle over this one.

Now What?

You were afraid of roller coasters, but one day you opened your eyes and realized that you were seated in the front car of a very turbulent ride.
With seemingly no other choice you rode the beast, trying with all your might to not let go, but still fighting with the seat belt the entire time. Attempt after attempt to stop the car from moving forward proved futile and, finally, defeat was practically imminent.

Suddenly the car has stopped dead in its tracks.

An eerie silence.
An unnerving calm.

This was what you wanted, right?

Postcard Etiquette. Is there such a thing?

I have always had a love of post cards. Whenever I travel, or have friends that travel, I either pick some up or have some sent to me. This was why when I found the website Postcrossing I was ecstatic!
If you have never heard of Postcrossing it is a site that gives you addresses of people around the world who would like postcards and gives out your address to people from other countries in exchange.
Its great!
Just today I was given addresses of people in China, Finland, the UK, Russia and Brazil. So I fill out my postcards and head to the post office for postage.
When I walked into the lobby, I found, for the first time I believe in my entire 28 years, not only was there no line, but I was the only customer there.
Instant service ensued and soon I was putting 98 cent stamps on my post cards. Since there was no one there I stayed at the counter to put the remaining stamps on and the clerk said she would help me out by putting the "Airmail" stamp on them. As I finish with my portion I look over at her and what is she doing? She is reading what I wrote on the card..
Now, these are very impersonal cards.
Typically all I end up saying is "Hello! My name is Rebecca and I am from the city of Portland, OR. This card shows.... [whatever local feature I decided to share with this person]... blah blah blah... Hope you have a great day!" but that is beside the point!
What makes people think that just because it is not in a sealed envelope they have a right to see what it says?
What if it was in an envelope with the flap open? Would they take it out and read it? I think not. In fact, reading other people's mail is against the law in some states. Sure, there is an expectation of privacy with letters, but if the card is not addressed to you do you really have a right to read it?
I think it would be interesting to send a card somewhere with a tally section stating "if you have read this mark here" to see how many people actually read a card from point A to point B..
I have a feeling that the results will astound me.
Would anyone like to be my point B?
Email me :)

I am so excited!

I will admit, this is going to be my third trip to the islands, but my excitement level has been the same each and every time. With Kauai and Kona off my list, the next island to venture to is Maui.

There are canyons to explore, beaches to comb, reefs to snorkel, maybe even waves to learn to surf..
Even more exiting is the fact that the bf is coming along to share in the adventure this time. 4 days of him all to myself? That is exciting enough in itself :D

I see exactly where I want to lay my towel..

Before and After

There was alot of curiosity about my new (and somewhat botched) haircut and, as promised, here are some before and after shots (click on them, and they will open, bigger, in a new screen).

My bangs are quite a bit shorter than I would have liked them to be, and in order for them to even cover my forehead I have to straighten them in the AM. It was funny, I had my eyes closed while she was cutting to avoid little hairs going into them. I opened them while she was mid cut and gasped. At that point I didn't care if she was done with my bangs or not, I was not going to allow her to cut them any shorter, even to blend them. No no no no no. Maybe in a week or two I will go somewhere and have them fixed, until then, oh well. It could have been worse.

Scrabble Me Please

Do you know how hard it is to make any decent word when four out of the seven letters you have are I's? I do. And I found this out the hard way last night when I played Scrabble for the very first time.
What?
Yes, I am 28 years old, I pride myself with my lexicon and I love board games, but for some reason this game was one that I had never played! Even so, I have heard so much about it that I wanted to try it anyways so I picked up a cheap version at the store the other day and waited for the perfect time to break it out.

Staring at my letters, willing a word to come out of six vowels and one consonant.. while he simply adds an S to a previous word for easy points. Tsk.

For quite some time our scores were neck in neck. He'd get 15 points, I'd get 10, He'd get 7 points, I'd get 12.. then my letter rack filled with I's and my scores went down to 4, 3 even 2..
Towards the end of the game, his score now 20 points above mine, I only needed one letter, an I (ironically), to have a 66 point word to steal the game..
He wistfully said "if only I had a T..." to which I replied "if only I had an I..."
He looked at me, calculatively.
"Wanna trade?"
I looked at the board. Chances of him using the letter I was going to use were very slim, being that Q generally needs a U to make any legitimate word. There are four total, two were on the board, one was in my hand. No, he doesn't have one I thought.
"Oh yeah I'll trade you" I said, eagerly.
But what does he do?
Not only did I give him a good letter, but he used it to get a 37 point word in the space that I was planning on using, rendering the trade useless for me. Never again! (even if it did have us rolling on the floor laughing)
By the end I lost by 3 points. Something that I'm not particularly proud of, but with the standard being best two out of three, who knows what will happen next time ;)

I hate you, Bike Theif

What would you think if you were to see this flier circulating around your neighborhood?

I would probably make copies and circulate it myself!
I know you should never laugh at anothers misfortune and if real, I'm sure it wasn't meant to be funny, but I find this hilarious.

(Thanks Keane)

I will pass on getting in the pool thank you.

And we thought we had it bad with the horrid heat wave crashing through the pacific northwest.
Imagine how hot it must be here for them to put up with something like this?

Ok, why is it so warm right here?
Crazy.

Decisions

I am being dangled off the side of a cliff, put in this position by the one who said he loved me.
How long I am expected to stay here is undetermined, but there is no one around to help and the sun has gone away, leaving me in perpetual darkness.
To hold on, brave the wind, rain and cold on my own and hope to be helped back up on stable land after some time, with no promises of not falling at any time through out the ordeal.
To just let go and pray I survive the fall.
This is what I am deciding.

The Waffle Window - Portland

The Waffle Window
36th and Hawthorne
(503) 239-4756.
Sunday thru Thursday, 8 am – 5 pm.
Friday and Saturday, 8 am – 9 pm.

I was told about this place ages ago but over the months that passed, I never found myself with an opportunity to try it out. A few days ago I found myself with time to spare and an appetite for breakfast foods so we went for a trip down to the little window on Hawthorne.
While they look absolutely delicious, and the toppings are great, I really didn't like the waffle itself. It wasn't as fluffy as the ones that I make at home, and I don't do much of anything special to make those. So.. I don't think I will be returning here, but it is some great candy for the eyes..

"Blueberry Morning" which did not skimp on the whipped cream was a little bland in the flavor department. I felt almost as if I simply paid for a mound of whipped cream with a side of waffle and berries.

The "Razzle Dazzle" was my favorite of the two, the lemon curd was a great addition to the super sweet berries and cream, but again, there was too much creme for the size of the waffle.
All in all, I think they are concerned more with presentation than with actual flavor.
Quite the disappointment.

But I'm still hungry.

I just came across a quote that really hit home right now:

Most human suffering comes from our desire to experience reality different than it is

How hard is it to accept reality sometimes? Currently I am having a hard time accepting the reality that is my life, but its not because I want things drastically changed. No, I want more than I am being allotted. I don't think I am being selfish; maybe other people are happy with only eating half a fish. I want the whole thing.