![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
- 06:19 is rejoicing the return of Portland weather as he walks to his bus stop #
- 17:59 is at work... it feels like a Beacon night again! #
- 21:45 is going to bed... gotta bike to a 5:30 a.m. workout tomorrow! #
- 16:43 must have ADD since he keeps forgetting what he was going to do every 5 seconds #
- 19:18 is watching the season premiere of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations #
- 21:45 is effing going up to Meadows on Friday #
Like any other chain, Costco sometimes goes out of its way to reflect local tastes. For example, Costco stores in Hawaii sell Spam musubi. In Portland, they sell good beer. A few months ago, my local Costco was selling 24-packs of Spaten Oktoberfest for less than $25.I found a real treasure this weekend: a taster pack from Unibroue, featuring four of their strong Belgian style ales for $19.99. These ales come in 750 mL bottles and average 9% ABV. It's great stuff.
The roster of beers: Maudite, La Fin du Monde, Trois Pistoles, and Don de Dieu.
Gee, what’s happened since I’ve last written? I’ve graduated, for one. I’m on my first ever European trip with my mom. Right now I’m in London, resting after a long day of walking and sightseeing. I’ve applied for and am in the process of applying for a number of jobs. I have an interview for a position at TriMet the day after I come back. I should be working on some applications right now, but I’m too tired and lazy right now.
The Beacon won 16 awards from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association’s Collegiate Newspaper Contest, including first place for general excellence. My section, Opinions, won first place for best section. One of my photos also won best feature photo. Oh, and one of my ads begging people to write opinion pieces for my section won best house ad.
I’m in horrible shape from not working out regularly in the last 6 months. I was sick beginning the night before my last final until the day after I flew into Paris and wasn’t eating much, so I think that contributed to my muscle loss. To top it off, I’ve been eating a lot while in Europe.
I finally read James Howard Kunstler’s The Long Emergency while on my trip. It’s made me think a lot about our energy, transportation, and food needs. We won’t have enough sustainable energy sources with the depletion of fossil fuels, namely oil and natural gas. They not only fuel our automobiles, heat our homes, or power our electric grids, but they are the main sources of fertilizers and pesticides that make cheap food possible.
I’m also struck by how far ahead of the game Europe is on sustainability. I’ve taken high speed trains between Paris, Amsterdam, and London, traveling almost 200 mph. These are electric trains that run on regular railroads. 75 percent of the electricity in France is powered by nuclear reactors. I’ve noticed a plethora of wind turbines in the French countryside and bikes throughout the Netherlands. In the countries I’ve been in, most bike lanes are separated from the rest of the road by curbs. London has several flashy bike/ped bridges across the Thames.
We have a long way to go and a lot to sacrifice, lest we force ourselves, our children, and future generations to make even greater sacrifices.
The Beacon won 16 awards from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association’s Collegiate Newspaper Contest, including first place for general excellence. My section, Opinions, won first place for best section. One of my photos also won best feature photo. Oh, and one of my ads begging people to write opinion pieces for my section won best house ad.
I’m in horrible shape from not working out regularly in the last 6 months. I was sick beginning the night before my last final until the day after I flew into Paris and wasn’t eating much, so I think that contributed to my muscle loss. To top it off, I’ve been eating a lot while in Europe.
I finally read James Howard Kunstler’s The Long Emergency while on my trip. It’s made me think a lot about our energy, transportation, and food needs. We won’t have enough sustainable energy sources with the depletion of fossil fuels, namely oil and natural gas. They not only fuel our automobiles, heat our homes, or power our electric grids, but they are the main sources of fertilizers and pesticides that make cheap food possible.
I’m also struck by how far ahead of the game Europe is on sustainability. I’ve taken high speed trains between Paris, Amsterdam, and London, traveling almost 200 mph. These are electric trains that run on regular railroads. 75 percent of the electricity in France is powered by nuclear reactors. I’ve noticed a plethora of wind turbines in the French countryside and bikes throughout the Netherlands. In the countries I’ve been in, most bike lanes are separated from the rest of the road by curbs. London has several flashy bike/ped bridges across the Thames.
We have a long way to go and a lot to sacrifice, lest we force ourselves, our children, and future generations to make even greater sacrifices.
Although things are busy and stressful, one of the things I’ve found solace in is coffee. This morning I had a cup of Ethiopia Misty Valley at Blend. Tastes like blueberries. I brought one to Devon between her classes and she agreed. It made her pretty hyper in class.
This evening I picked up a half-pound of Colombia Finca El Patico from the Annex. The seller said that the Annex was the only place in the world that was selling this stuff. I used it to make my first homemade French press pot in several weeks and it’s quite great. Very sweet, honey-like.
Just one more week of hell.
This evening I picked up a half-pound of Colombia Finca El Patico from the Annex. The seller said that the Annex was the only place in the world that was selling this stuff. I used it to make my first homemade French press pot in several weeks and it’s quite great. Very sweet, honey-like.
Just one more week of hell.
Lots of things have been happening. I’m graduating in less than a month, which means I have a barrage of papers and other things to do before then.
I’ve been spending a lot of time with Devon lately (I’m actually at her place right now). Being with her has been pretty beneficial for my time management, as that’s been something I’ve been working on for a while.
Devon also introduced me to a really great coffee shop on N Killingsworth and Greeley called Blend. You can see photos of my latest coffee jaunts on my Flickr photostream.
After commencement on May 4, I’m going to Europe from May 6 through May 26. Devon and I definitely want to find a place together this year, depending on my job prospects. I’m going to apply for a position in TriMet’s human resources department. If I got that, we might look around in Sellwood.
So life is good, and that’s my life in a nutshell.
I’ve been spending a lot of time with Devon lately (I’m actually at her place right now). Being with her has been pretty beneficial for my time management, as that’s been something I’ve been working on for a while.
Devon also introduced me to a really great coffee shop on N Killingsworth and Greeley called Blend. You can see photos of my latest coffee jaunts on my Flickr photostream.
After commencement on May 4, I’m going to Europe from May 6 through May 26. Devon and I definitely want to find a place together this year, depending on my job prospects. I’m going to apply for a position in TriMet’s human resources department. If I got that, we might look around in Sellwood.
So life is good, and that’s my life in a nutshell.
I put up my photos today at Coffeehouse Northwest! They'll be up until the end of April. All the staff at Coffeehouse Northwest thought they were awesome and gave me and Devon espresso drinks. Here’s a photo that Devon took of me in front of them with a Macchiatto:
I’m at the NCIIA conference right now at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas to present about my work with Green Empowerment and trip to Nicaragua last year.
I had one of the worst airline experiences last night. My flight to San Francisco was supposed to leave at 8:35 p.m., so I arrived at the airport around 7 p.m. Lo and behold, the flight was delayed until 9:50 p.m. Not fun. Devon called after she got off work and we decided to head to Stanford’s right outside security since the other guys could watch over my stuff. It was about 9 p.m.
As soon as I met Devon outside of the check-in area, she got a call from Mal, who got a call from Nick, because they decided to board as soon as I left and would leave as soon as possible because they had space on the runway. Devon and I checked the screens and it still showed 9:40 p.m. WTF? So I called Nick again and he confirmed that most of the people were already on board.
Bah. So Devon drove from UP to see me for about 10 minutes and we didn’t even get time to really talk.
Our flight was also interesting. The flight attendants asked passengers for change and then hawked some Alaska Airlines Visa Signature miles card. Then our flight from San Francisco to Dallas was delayed because the flight crew didn’t arrive from their earlier flight yet. So instead of leaving at 1 a.m., we left at 1:30 a.m.
Dallas is crazy. I’ve never been to such a car-centric place outside of LA. I guess this is what America is all about. The freeways had five lanes going each way. The drivers, especially those in huge pickup trucks and SUVs, are particularly crazy. We haven’t seen a single cyclist since we’ve been here this morning. Being a pedestrian is also scary with the crazy traffic and wide streets. It seems like these streets weren’t made for people.
At least the hotel is nice. It’s probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed at. But ask the concierge for a locally-owned coffeeshop and they point you to a Starbucks. Say what? Six blocks away, a local coffeeshop. Oh, Portland, you spoil me. I can’t wait to come back Saturday evening and spend the night at Devon’s. We plan on getting cottage cheese pancakes at LRBC before taking photos around town on Sunday.
I had one of the worst airline experiences last night. My flight to San Francisco was supposed to leave at 8:35 p.m., so I arrived at the airport around 7 p.m. Lo and behold, the flight was delayed until 9:50 p.m. Not fun. Devon called after she got off work and we decided to head to Stanford’s right outside security since the other guys could watch over my stuff. It was about 9 p.m.
As soon as I met Devon outside of the check-in area, she got a call from Mal, who got a call from Nick, because they decided to board as soon as I left and would leave as soon as possible because they had space on the runway. Devon and I checked the screens and it still showed 9:40 p.m. WTF? So I called Nick again and he confirmed that most of the people were already on board.
Bah. So Devon drove from UP to see me for about 10 minutes and we didn’t even get time to really talk.
Our flight was also interesting. The flight attendants asked passengers for change and then hawked some Alaska Airlines Visa Signature miles card. Then our flight from San Francisco to Dallas was delayed because the flight crew didn’t arrive from their earlier flight yet. So instead of leaving at 1 a.m., we left at 1:30 a.m.
Dallas is crazy. I’ve never been to such a car-centric place outside of LA. I guess this is what America is all about. The freeways had five lanes going each way. The drivers, especially those in huge pickup trucks and SUVs, are particularly crazy. We haven’t seen a single cyclist since we’ve been here this morning. Being a pedestrian is also scary with the crazy traffic and wide streets. It seems like these streets weren’t made for people.
At least the hotel is nice. It’s probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed at. But ask the concierge for a locally-owned coffeeshop and they point you to a Starbucks. Say what? Six blocks away, a local coffeeshop. Oh, Portland, you spoil me. I can’t wait to come back Saturday evening and spend the night at Devon’s. We plan on getting cottage cheese pancakes at LRBC before taking photos around town on Sunday.
I’m on the Line 15 bus with my MacBook Pro.
Check it out.
