helium

Sitting in the second row at Helium Comedy Club, waiting for Christopher Titus (one of my fave comedians) to take the stage. I am maybe 10 feet from his mic. Holy crap! Thanks, Sally, for a great b-day gift!

gollum stole the show, as expected

thorin and thranduil doing a kegstand, by the inimitable and brilliant gingerhazeBecause several people have asked me about The Hobbit, and I'd intended to post this last month....

We actually saw the movie at a midnight showing on opening night...? day?...whatever, it was a Thursday at midnight. Not as the obsessive fans we were for LOTR, purchasing our tickets well ahead, leaving work early, and standing in line for hours, but just because it worked out. We did not even trek to a technologically advanced theater with the best sound system and reclining seats. Our trek involved only the four block walk from our house to our little neighborhood theater about 30 minutes before the movie started. But more about that in a minute.

See, I never felt about The Hobbit the way I did LOTR, which is kind of odd since it was my gateway to the world I fell in love with. I loved The Hobbit in the same way I loved The Chronicles of Narnia and The Chronicles of Prydain*, as wonderfully immersive and thrilling adventures that satiated my hungry imagination. But even at that age, I understood the fundamental difference between The Hobbit and what came after, the difference in tone and scope and magnitude, and that deep, deep mythology of LOTR satisfied me in a way that The Hobbit did not.

[*Although in truth, Prydain was elevated even amongst these, and was as formative to my childhood as LOTR, A Little Princess, Ramona Quimby, and To Kill A Mockingbird. Prydain was what developed my taste for the tragic with the triumphant, the flawed characters who start as endearing dreamers and end with a hard-won and tattered nobility.]

Which is to say that I was looking forward to the movie, but not with anywhere near the anticipation that I had for LOTR. We weren't even planning to see it until sometime the first weekend, but I'd noticed on the neighborhood theater billboard earlier that week that they were advertising a midnight showing and thought hey, that might be fun. We love our neighborhood theater, and it just seemed the perfect way to enjoy the movie.

Of course, our neighborhood is comprised of many types of very Portlandesque Portlanders, including a large representation from hippie to hipster, and that alone was guaranteed to make the whole experience even more entertaining. The wonderful thing about the neighborhood theater is that it's this great old theater that's been restored, but not by people who were slavishly devoted to the architecture and intent on turning it into a monument to some golden era. The place looks fixed up, but fixed up on a budget, and it still has some of its shabby charm and juuuust a touch of funky aesthetic to give it its own character and sense of home. Which is characteristic of our neighborhood in general, but I've already digressed enough.

Anyway! As we settled into our seats and watched the place fill up around us, it became clear that the hipster contingent of the geek crowd was going to comprise the majority of the audience. Which became an anthropological exercise of its own, since I'm far more versed in the culture and traditions of the full-blown nerd subset of fandom, and there are definite differences between the two. The nerdy part of fandom is more likely to dress in costume, for instance, and argue the lineage of Numenor, while the hipster sect will top each other with how early they were into LOTR before it was cool. But, you know, geeks are geeks in all our different flavors, and we share more in common than we do with the general population. Like showing up at midnight for a movie about a hobbit who lived in a hole.

If it seems like I have a whole lot to say about the experience of the movie rather than the movie itself, that's true. The movie itself was fun and silly and enjoyable. It captured the tone of the book well (i.e., that the book was a children's story, and had an entirely different focus than the later books). Middle-Earth was as lovely and magical as ever, and I would've seen the movie for that alone. Martin Freeman made Bilbo relatable and likeable. Thorin was appropriately driven by duty, and depicted with far more gravitas than I think every came across in the book, no doubt to serve the need for an Aragorn-like hero. Also, LOL Thranduil and your haughty disdain for all things dwarf.

Like everyone else, I wondered how the movie would fare by being stretched into one of three, a ridiculously transparent money-making scheme that I worried would ruin what could be a good movie (or movie and sequel at most) with a bunch of filler. As expected, the filler came from other Tolkien works, giving backstory that happened off-screen in the book, but I thnk it was generally handled okay.  The little detour with Radagast, for instance, was fun and set the stage nicely for "The Necromancer" and of course the appearance of the Witch-King of Angmar and the infamous Morgul Blade was a nice bit of foreshadowing. (Although I was disappointed by the characterization of Radagast, as I always thought him more akin to St. Francis of Assisi than Dr. Dolittle.)  That said, three movies is still going to be much more than necessary, and just makes me wish for more LOTR than more Hobbit.

Still, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the experience we had in seeing the movie, and I'm glad we didn't go to the lengths we went for LOTR. I didn't have my socks blown off, but I didn't expect them to be.

smeagol is freeeee!

So my hatewatch of the Twilight franchise is officially over and I no longer have to march in the Zombie Shame Parade. When the credits were mostly done, ProcrastiGirl and I turned to each other and said, "Well, we survived it!", then broke down in giggles. There may have been a tinge of hysteria.

This last one was definitely better than the others, in much the same way the first circle of hell is better than the seventh. Although I admit I have a bit of affection for the first movie, just for its endearingly earnest awfulness and for all the hilarity that ensued when ProcrastiGirl first realized that the sparklepires don't have fangs. I seriously haven't laughed like that during a movie in a long time.

The main reason this one was better is because for about 10 or 15 minutes near the end, the movie showed the possibility of what this story could've been, as if the screenwriter snuck in a great big FU as a major plot twist. Before the reveal of the twist, I was suddenly all, "WHAT WHAT WHAAAAAAT THIS IS THE GREATEST THING THAT COULD HAVE POSSIBILY HAPPENED IF THIS IS REAL I AM GOING TO OWN THIS MOVIE AND JUST PLAY THIS PART OVER AND OVER AND OVER."

And then there was the reveal of the twist and I was suddenly ::sadface:: because seriously, that brief glimpse of kickassery made me long to live in the alternate universe where that's how the Twilight saga really ended. (Although let's be honest: in said alternate universe, Edward would've gotten the beatdown for being an abusive hosebag and Jacob would've gotten kicked in the nutsack when he assaulted Bella and Bella would've realized that they were creepers who didn't deserve the time of day, then focused on her studies and gone off to college and gotten a degree in literature and her happy ending would be teaching classic romances from a feminist perspective by day and staking vampires by night. In that alternate universe? I would've read the shit out of the Twilight books.)

breathing a sigh of relief

includes the simplest, humblest annotation: "thank you"

So a week ago today, we breathed a sigh of relief that the crazies had not successfully taken over the asylum.

Which isn't to say that things are all perfect now. It is, after all, still an asylum.

But things are better than they were, and there's hope that things will continue to get better. Maybe not in all the ways we want, nor as quickly as we want. But considering the alternative? That was very, very bad for anyone who wasn't a rich, white, Christian American man?

Yes, things are better.

Thank you, Mr. President.

lunch, deli club:

• imitation crab
• molded egg
• green beans
• peas & carrots
• Starkrimson pear with cashews for gap fillers

ace of cakes

So...this is a thing that happened today. Sal said, "Yeah, I thought we were doing serious faces...".

(Duff is here for Feast Portland this weekend and needed a kitchen for prepping a few things. Of course he came to OCI, because OCI is home of the Kitchen Ninja. I MEAN REALLY DUH.)

there's a reason her secret service codename is renaissance

"If farmers and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire, if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores, if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote, if a generation could defeat a depression, and define greatness for all time, if a young preacher could lift us to the mountaintop with his righteous dream, and if proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love… then surely… surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American Dream."

-- Michelle Obama, speaking at the Democratic National Convention

MY HEART.

in which i let my inner fandom nerd off the chain

Lunch first, then geekery...

lunch, Lunchbot Duo:

• Thai peanut chicken (grilled on skewers)
• couscous with caramelized onions, green beans, and sesame seeds
• sugar snap peas
• cherries
• raspberries (from our yard!)
• chocolate-covered candied almonds**

**Okay, so this is pretty much the best thing ever, made by Sal, of course. They're almonds that have been roasted with a caramelized coating, cooled, then rolled in dark chocolate cocoa powder. They're totally cracktastic, and no matter how big the batch, it never lasts long.

On to the squee! This is a quick rundown of all of the non-TV geekery in which I have engaged in the last few months, and my ratings thereof:

Movies:

• The Hunger Games: A -- Loved it, despite the changes. When the countdown started in the arena, I damn near had a panic attack of OH NO THEY'RE REALLY GOING TO DO THIS NOW I AM NOT READY.
• Cabin in the Woods: A-  -- So thoroughly and hilariously Jossian that there was no way I wasn't going to enjoy this. Plus, Chris Hemsworth, freshly post-George Kirk, so cute. And Topher!
• AVENGERS OMG: A -- Who would have ever thougt that the Hulk would steal the show? I have never cared about the Hulk in any incarnation ever. Holy crap, Bruce Banner, you win the universe. (Thank you, Mark Ruffalo.) Plus, Bruce Banner and Tony Stark as nerdy genius buddy cops! Being all science-y and stuff! And Natasha and Maria Hill, not objectified or fridged! And Thor, Thor, Thor, Thor, Thor! (WHAT THE HELL CHRIS HEMSWORTH YOU ARE NOT EVEN REAL YOU ARE A PHOTOSHOPPED VERSION OF A HUMAN MALE.) And again, Joss' fingerprints were everywhere (for good and bad). Speaking of Joss, I had one GIGANTIC issue with this movie, the same one that someone else already tackled much better than I could have, so go read that instead.
• Snow White and the Huntsman: B -- Kristen Stewart cannot act for shit, and there were some plot gaps that were ridiculously lol-worthy, but it was fun and pretty and also Chris Hemsworth, which is all that needs to be said, really.

(It was a seriously Chris Hemsworth-y run, there. Thank you, movie people, for the 1-2-3 punch of hotness.)

• Brave: A++++++++++ -- OMG I LOVE EVERYTHING THIS MOVIE CHOOSES TO BE. A central character who's a girl! With agency! Who saves herself! And a mom who isn't evil! Or dead! And a story about a mother and daughter and how that relationship is complicated and hard and wonderful and also did I mention this story is set in Scotland and also that every detail of this movie was made specifically for me?
• The Amazing Spiderman: B+ -- Wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. I have no particular loyalty to the previous franchise, but was kind of mystified about why they were rebooting so soon. But wow, that was fun. I see from various reports that there was a lot of butchery done to the script due to studio politics stuff behind-the-scenes, which would explain some big gaps that I was wondering about, as well as the lull in the middle. But despite those problems, I still enjoyed it more than the Tobey MacGuire version, which I didn't not like, so my reaction was a surprise.

Music:

• Waaay back in May, ProcrastiGirl and I saw Snow Patrol in concert, and I died of ecstasy. I was maybe 20 feet from Gary Lightbody. He was just, you know, there, right up there, just being adorable and Irish and amazing. And Nathan and Johnny and Tom and Pablo, all of them just kicking ass like it's a regular thing that normal people do, which it totally is not. And I heard my all-time favorite, favorite song* live, and they played for 2 hours and came out for 2 encores, and Gary's voice was gorgeous from start to finish, and everyone who said they are incredible live was so totally right. Setlist:  "Berlin (Remix)", "Hands Open", "Take Back The City", "I'll Never Let Go", "Run", "Hands Open", "This Isn't Everything You Are", "Crack the Shutters", "New York", "Set the Fire to the Third Bar", "Shut Your Eyes", "Chasing Cars", "Chocolate", "You're All I Have", "Called Out in the Dark", "Fallen Empires", Encores: "Lifening", "Just Say Yes"

*Arguably. I have so many favorites, it's like picking a favorite kid. But "Run" appears in almost every playlist I make, so.

I also just finished reading The House of Leaves, so my cult-pop geek cred is restored. Wow, that book was like putting your brain in a blender and hitting puree.  I haven't worked so hard to read a text since my engineering days (I'm looking at you, Differential Equations II). I know I probably didn't even catch half the embedded codes and riddles and cannot wrap my brain around the idea that a single person wrote that book. Mind officially blown.

on the nature of the unintended hiatus

You know how you get behind on something, and then you finally get a minute to do that thing, but you're so behind that you don't know where to start so you don't? And then you just get more behind and it seems like too much to even begin, and the whole thing just kind of snowballs into a big icy ball of Do Not Want?

Welcome to the last two months of website non-updateyness.

We have been busy, yes, but not significantly more than our usual Hamster Wheel O'Crazy, so it's not attributable to some new escalation. And some of those busy things have included many fun and exciting things. Things which include adventures and hilarity and sometimes even photographic evidence! Things that are, in short, terrific website fodder. The radio silence is therefore also not attributable to a lack of material about which to post.

So we will chalk it up to a case of needing to cut something out for awhile in order to maintain sanity. Also: laziness.

In any case...hello! I have many things to tell you about! I will probably tell you about most of them! If I feel like it! I will probably forget something I meant to tell you about! I will include pictures! If it's not too much work! It will probably be too much work! Because I am lazy, as previously established! Some of the topics I plan to tell you about if I'm not overcome by an overpowering desire to do something else:

• The Great Gallstone Adventure of 2012!
• Why family is totes the best!
• Sal's birthday!
• All of the many movies we have seen recently! See also: geeks are the greatest.
• That time I was 20 feet from Gary Lightbody and totally didn't lose my shit! Except for maybe a little bit!
• Girls' Road Trip!
• Girls' Art Weekend! Launched with an actual Mad Hatters' Party! Because I am the raddest.

So, you know. Those things might be stuff to look forward to hearing about. Although that really puts a lot of pressure on me to make them interesting, and I don't need the stress (see also: gallstones), so I make no promises. Also, vacation starts in two weeks so I am a kitten distracted by shiny objects right now.

Anyway.

random friday!

HAHAHA HELLO FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH WE ACCIDENTALLY DROPPED OFF OF WHOOPS.

Totally unintentionally. One of the catalysts for posting has been my bento pics, but my work computer has suddenly developed some bizarro error thing that's been preventing me from posting pics. So even though I write my posts the night before, I haven't been able to get my pictures uploaded when I'm at work, and haven't been able to figure out what the hell the issue is, and apparently those two things were insurmountable obstacles or something.

But! I cannot continue having bento pics stack up or I will just never get caught up (hahahahaha hello every house project update since approximately forever). And in the interest of getting caught up, I also have a ridiculous number of saved tabs in my browser that's becoming a serious impediment to being totally unproductive on the internet. Which means: Random Friday! Haven't done one of these in awhile.

Love Story, Twitter Style -- "Actor and comedian John Fugelsang shares the remarkable story of how his parents...a monk and a nun...met, fell in love, and went on to raise a family. Told in Tweets and photos."

Hobbes and Bacon -- A comic imagining of Calvin and Hobbes, in which Calvin has grown up, married the much-hate Susie, had a daughter, named her Bacon, and introduced her to his beloved Hobbes. Hijinks (and nostalgic tears) ensue.

Fan letter to a weatherman -- A child writes a letter to his favorite meteorologist, and proceeds to win the internet. "More awesome than a monkey wearing a tuxedo made out of bacon." Took the words out of my mouth, kid.

6 Things Rich People Need to Stop Saying -- Seriously. Have these people never heard of the French Revolution?

Educating Tomorrow's Culinarians -- Lovely little article in a local foodie publication about OCI (where Sal teaches), their philosophy, and their commitment to their students and the community.

via Nichelle Nichols' tweet...that's right, Uhura has a Twitter account because she is a total bamfI know I already reblogged this on Tumblr but whatever, its inherent awesomeness requires posting everywhere, all the time. YOU GUYS THIS IS A THING THAT HAPPENED AND EXISTS IN THE UNIVERSE. The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES was visited by UHURA OF THE STARSHIP ENTERPRISE and they stood in the Oval Office talking about Thomas Jefferson and Captain Kirk and and then they posed for the cameras and gave the Vulcan hand signal and that will never ever ever stop being ridiculously adorable. President Obama is our Nerd-in-Chief, amirite?

3/20/12 lunch, pink Natural Lunch:

• herb roasted turkey breast
• roasted smashed parsnips
• roasted brussel sprouts tossed in balsamic vinegar
• Pink Lady apple slices

3/22/12 lunch, lunchbots duo:

• herb roasted turkey breast, red leaf lettuce, dill Havarti in sun-dried tomato wraps
• broccoli
• baby carrots
• dried cherries
• sunflower seeds

 

3/26/12 lunch, Ms. Bento:

• creamy vegetable soup made by Chef Salvatore (potatoes, carrots, broccoli, string beans, onions, garlic, parsley, Jerusalem artichokes, thyme)
• turkey breast and dill Havarti in sun-dried tomato wraps
• raw pumpkin seeds
• kiwi halves
• almonds and dark chocolate covered raisins

the kitchen ninjas strike again

The new ad for OCI is up on their site! KITCHEN NINJAS FTW!

This is the commercial Sal spent a Saturday at the school for a few weeks ago. A whole day of shooting and there are only two brief shots of him.... The appalling lack of Sal-ness aside, however, they did a really terrific job conveying all that's great and awesome about the school and it's unlike anything out there for culinary schools (::coughWesternCulinarycough::). It will pretty much make you want to sign up for classes. I mean who wouldn't want to be a kitchen ninja????

OCI "Rock Montage" Commercial from Actual Industries on Vimeo.

the chef speaks, and i swoon

Chef Salvatore, as represented in chocolate by one of his studentsOCI recently posted a video of an interview with Sal about the Advanced Baking & Pastry class he teaches. Watching him in action is such a thrill -- he's so knowledgeable and authoritative and assured, but also congenial and fun. He really is a natural. No wonder he's so popular. (And chocolate or no, he's pretty easy on the eyes, eh?)

wicked fun

So at the last couple of neighborhood game nights, the game du jour has been a collaborative RPG called Arkham Horror. It is, in a word, awesome. There are eighty bajillion little cards and intricate character stories and monsters and big bads and weapons and MATH and COLOR CODING and ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS and OMG HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS GAME EXISTED BEFORE. Oh my little rational mastermind heart goes pitter pat just thinking about it.

Both the night following the first time we played, as well as last night, my dreams were occupied with Lovecraftian monsters and figuring out how many die I need to close a gate and strategizing what combination of Fight, Sneak, Lore, Will, Speed, and Luck I'm going to need for the next round. CLEARLY THIS IS A SIGN I NEED TO PLAY THIS GAME ALL THE TIME.

lunch, Paris slimline:

• smoked sausages
• boiled eggs
• green beans (more underneath the sausages and eggs)
• carrots and celery sticks
• dark chocolate with orange zest
• dried cherries

and if i pretend her house is my house, well, that would be understandable

Forest Park, along the Leif Erikson TrailThe Book Fairy (who takes many forms, but in this case looks like Sal) heard my fervent prayers and delivered my most recent book wish: Wildwood.

I have been waiting for this book for, literally, months. It just came out a couple of weeks ago, but it's gotten a lot of pre-publication buzz (and has already been optioned by Laika). I, of course, first learned about it on the The Decemberists' mailing list.

It's written by, if you didn't know, Colin Meloy and his wife, Carson Ellis. (Yes, that Colin Meloy and that Carson Ellis.) About a wild forest and a little girl and magical adventures, starting right here in St. Johns and then across the river in Forest Park, written by the lead singer and songwriter of my favorite band ever ever ever, who is a former English major and who happens to live just across the river from me, and who has a deep seated love for fantastical tales with a healthy dose of darkness and girls who are the heroes of their own stories, and seriously, SRSLY! This book could not have been more written for me if it had a main character with my name who has a penchant for eating M&M's in multiples of five.

It's a gray and rainy day, with mist drifting low in the forest across the river that's the setting of this little tale, and Sal has returned from the German food cart with a generous slice of streudel. I think there's just enough milk in the fridge for a big mug of hot chocolate, and the kitties are particularly snuggly today.

So you'll have to excuse me today while I disappear to my cozy little library in the other room and lose myself in a book.

i, for one, welcome our google overlords

Sal and I have been trying out Google+ this last week, and while it may be too soon yet to say what its prospects are, I think I'm in love. For still being in beta, it's remarkably intuitive and I love, love, love the additional benefits if you have a Droid, because omg so seamlessly integrated. They have a long way to go yet before Google+ can pose any kind of threat to Facebook, but this feels like the next evolution of living online. (I would even make the case that it's a more natural evolution living online than Facebook has been. I'm admittedly biased, but Google's primary focus has always been on the user experience and it shows in the way Google+ is set up. Facebook's focus is different, obviously, since their client isn't the user, but I suspect if Google+ manages to a measurable success, Facebook will be forced to reexamine its focus and make at least some adjustments.)

Now, if I can just incorporate New Seasons grocery delivery into it somehow, I will be one happy girl. (RIP, New Seasons online grocery ordering and delivery....)

lunch, Ms. Bento:

• still working on that crockpot stew -- potatoes, carrot, onion, celery, kale, fava beans, roast pork
• broccoli, carrots, cherries
• plum sections
• cashews and dark chocolate covered raisins with dried mango as baran

god forbid i ever run into nathan fillion

another new box, but this one isn't really my faultSo here's a little story about how the internet is awesome.

In a neat timing of coincidence, I received an email from the founder(!) of Lunchbots on the same day I did my bento presentation at work. She was writing to tell me that she liked the lunches I'd put together using the Lunchbot Duo and wondered if they could post one of the pics on their Facebook page.

I may have squealed in nerdy delight.

It was kind of like running into a celebrity at the coffee shop. Not even a really huge celebrity, but just someone you recognize and like. And then you're standing there waiting for your hot chocolate with whipped cream (SHUT UP I LIKE HOT CHOCOLATE OKAY) and you're thinking, "Holy crap, that's...!" but you don't want to be one of those total losers who gets all stupid at any brush with fame, so you try to affect a totally chill attitude and you're all, "...'sup, dude?", but inside you're all, "OMGOMGOMG". You know, like that.

So I waited to email (I hadn't even posted my pictures from that day yet, which happened to feature the Lunchbot as part of the demonstration) and thanked her for asking and said yes of course and that it wasn't really necessary to send me a box but if she really really wanted to, here was my mailing address. Hee. And then two of my lunches* appeared on the Lunchbots Facebook page and I was sort-of internet famous for a day and thus the circle of life was complete.

(*That description of the food isn't quite right. I think what she's calling tofu is actually roasted red garnet yams, cut into flower shapes, and those aren't wontons, they're gyoza, which means it also wasn't a vegetarian bento. But she was right that it was delicious :)

So that is the story of how I acquired my second Lunchbot, the Pico, which is the same as the Duo except smaller (350 mL instead of 500 mL).

I had a very pretty breakfast this morning featuring the Pico, but like a moron forgot to take a picture. So here, have a picture of the two Lunchbots together.breakfast, Lunchbot Pico:

• oatmeal (once I've prepared it, it'll go back in that side with everything mixed in); little salt container tucked in the side for the egg
• dried cranberries with a small vial of maple syrup underneath
• not-very-molded egg half
• cantaloupe, braeburn apple slices, red grapes

lunch, Lunchbot Duo:

• smashed roasted sweet potatoes
• smoked sausages
• another not-very-molded egg with peas as gap fillers
• cantaloupe, braeburn apple slices, red grapes

all this time in her city, and I'm finally going to meet her

I'm headed to an SFWA event tonight which will include Ursula K. LeGuin speaking about writing, books, genre literature, and, I imagine, whatever else she darn well pleases. As the kids say today, I am excite!

I read The Earthsea Trilogy when I was, like, ten, and if I could locate the boxed set I had (stole borrowed inherited from my dad), I'd take it with me to be signed. Sadly, I suspect that it was lost in a move at some point. But I can still picture that set, and still remember discovering it on a weekend when I was looking for something new to read and browsing his bookcase. I came to a lot of books that way, now that I think about it....

breakfast, cute animals sidecar:

• oatmeal
• smidge of butter
• maple syrup
• raisins

lunch, Lunchbots Duo:

• half sandwich -- pepper roasted turkey with mustard on sourdough
• string cheese pieces as gap fillers
• lettuce for the sandwich lining the box
• Braeburn apple half
• celery sticks and carrot pieces

all is forgiven, george lucas

Hilariously awesome astronaut factoid that cracked me up:

"The mental readjustment [returning from space] can be just as tricky. In 1973, Skylab 2 astronaut Jack Lousma told Time magazine that he'd accidentally smashed a bottle of aftershave in his first days back from a month-long sojourn in space. He'd let go of the bottle in mid-air, forgetting that it would crash to the ground rather than just float there."

I srsly lol'd at that. Speaking of hilariously awesome, there's this, which made the rounds of Tumblr last week (and appeared on my dash on May 4th, natch). It reminded me that his codename is Renegade for a reason:

Look at that stance -- that is the stance of a man who knows his way around a paduwan training course, is what I'm saying. OUR PRESIDENT IS A SEKRIT JEDI MASTER YOU GUYS.

lunch, Paris slimline:

• Cotswold and Niman Ranch ham in a sundried tomato wrap (with just a smidge of plastic to protect it from the asparagus spears)
• blanched asparagus spears
• Murcott tangerine sections on a bed of freshly-shelled peas, courtesy of OCI's culinary students (who had to shell a bunch as part of a meal assignment)
• a lovely carved radish, courtesy of the exceedingly talented Chef Salvatore, with more peas as gap fillers
• BOTH yogurt covered and dark chocolate covered raisins

wiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Community + Firefly shoutout = DED FROM AWESOMENESS

In other news, Community and Parks & Recreation fills my shrunken grinchy heart with glee and gladness, god bless us every one.

portlandia

We finally had a chance to watch Portlandia this weekend and omg I am in love. I'd already seen/heard the "Dream of the 90s (is alive in Portland)" vid all over the place, and snippets of some of the skits, so I knew ahead of time it was going to be pretty damn fabulous. Oh, but it's ever so much more fabulously Portlandic than I even hoped. And yes, "Dream of the 90s" is totally the Portland we know and love.

Shot here, using a mostly Portland cast and crew, it promises to be a hit at least in this little part of the USian TV market. And when they say it's shot here, they really mean it. For the skit about ordering chicken in the restaurant, when they go to the farm where it was raised, I kept telling Sal, "Wow, that really looks like Wealth Underground (our CSA)". More shots, and the more I kept saying, "I swear, that's got to be Wealth Underground." Sure enough, it is -- I guess I missed that post over the holiday. I don't know why, but recognizing the farm -- even more than recognizing all the other locales -- just upped the thrill factor to 11.

Anyway, check it out, especially if you're a local. You'll enjoy seeing our fair city get gently spoofed and fondly skewered, as well as local familiar faces and personalities mixing with more famous ones.

lunch, blue bunny and moons:

• Thai peanut chicken
• cheesy baked potato with broccoli
• satsumas and carrot sticks
• cashews and yogurt covered raisins, separated by a bit of orange dark chocolate.

vacation's all i ever wanted

Hello, internets!! I have returned, you may rejoice! Or roll your eyes, that works, too.

So vacation is officially over and I am officially depressed. (not really) Nineteen days away from work is really the bestest invention ever and should be something I do every month. Ha ha, I kid. (no really, nobody fire me, kay?) The downside of nineteen days of vacation is the coming back part, which is decidedly not part of the bestest invention ever, but I knew that going into it, so.

yes, it's really a screenshot of my Inbox (we don't count the Sustainability folder since it's all from automated online mailing lists)But you know what else is also not the funnest thing ever invented? THE TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN EMAIL MESSAGES WAITING IN MY INBOX THIS MORNING. Jesus H, people! Email in the workplace is srsly of the devil. I suppose I should be grateful(!) that I was gone when many people were also gone for various lengths of time for the holidays, because holy buckets I would not even want to contemplate the horrors. I'm hoping that half of that will be variations on "hey everyone I will be gone for the next 3/5/whatever days so long losers" and "oh yay vendors have brought holiday treats don't trample each other on the way to the kitchen" and thus deleted with no further effort. I AM VERY OPTIMISTIC IN THIS WAY. I kind of don't know yet how bad it is because I am feeling particularly avoidant today and thus haven't delved too deeply. Well, and I had meetings from the moment I walked in the door until, well, right now. Let's see, lunch or cleaning out my inbox...hmmm....

So, vacation! Was, as I mentioned, totally badass! It was a little more hectic at the start than either of us would've preferred due to some scheduling obligations, but nothing too traumatic. Things That I Did On My Vacation: A Thesis:

• completed the creative room, woot woot! (now renamed officially to the studio, except on the web pages here because it would break all the links and I don't feel like fixing them all)
• created our little hearts out in our creative room studio, woot woot! and left projects half-done, and all our stuff out, and it's totally okay because it's not in the middle of the kitchen or the living room and the cats can't get into any of it to chew on things and barf them back up and just generally yay for dedicated creative spaces!
• did some writing on Book 2 in the new creative room studio; also, at the coast
• made some way awesome presents for the homemade Christmas with our Smiley family, as mentioned in the last post (and yes, I still owe a write-up and pics of that...coming soon!)
• finished Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which makes me sad because ye gods and little fishes that show is goddamn freaking awesome and joins the list of great shows that died too soon and I may now be madly in love with John Connor and his almost-human Summerbot and also also ALSO Sarah Connor the mother of us all and Derek Reese of the Reese clan and omg Shirley Manson still a Scottish badass and also in addition I need to see more John Henry playing D&D oh woe why why why was this show cancelled
• went to the movies (saw Voyage of the Dawn Treader but still haven't seen Tangled so we're hoping we can fit it in next weekend before it's gone from the theaters)
• played utterly ridic amounts of Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii; in other news, we are hilariously behind on gaming trends (hahaha as if we have ever been up-to-date on gaming anything, we are srsly 124 years old)
• got my website clients updated for January (those who sent me their updates, anyway) -- not really a vacation-y thing, but a considerable accomplishment considering my general attitude throughout vacation was "if it looks like work, then I'm not doing it, damn it"

a winter storm raged like a banshee the entire time we were at the coast, and of course the morning we left, it looked like this

• spent four quite glorious days at the Oregon Coast
• went out to eat at a new restaurant (Tasty & Sons); well actually, two, since we tried out Little Big Burger for the first time, as well
• went to brunch on Alberta -- hahaha Tin Shed on any day of the week what was I thinking trying to get in for brunch? god bless Alberta's many coffee shop alternatives or we would have been hungry and thus cranky otherwise -- and then to Collage with Sal and managed not to buy everything in sight
• started (finally) Wheel of Time: The Towers of Midnight and spent much happy time curled up with a satisfactorily heavy book either at the coast with a terrifically ferocious storm raging outside or at home in my terrifically cozy library; also, I have an addiction to adverbifying adjectives
• slept in...like, a whole lot
• did silly time-wasting things like playing an embarrassing amount of Angry Birds on my phone (what I don't even), for which I make no apologies because I freaking PWN that game, dude
• oh yeah, and spent every available moment with my dear and beloved Sally Bear which was still not enough but way, way more time than we've had together in a long, long while

Our vacation clearly rocked it, I think we can all agree. There were a few things not done that we'd hoped to -- no LOTR marathon this year, unfortunately -- but there's no reason we can't do them anyway. It's going to take some time to get back into the routine of things, and there's always that period of the doldrums following a vacation, but it was worth it. Also, the cats have gotten WAY too used to having our attention practically 24/7 so I expect retaliation when I get home tonight. In other news, we live with terrorists.

And you know, we actually aren't planning to get back into the routine of things. We've long since decided -- and vacation was partly used for the planning of making this happen -- that we need to refocus our efforts on boundaries with the demands on our time versus spending our time in a way that's important to us. That refocus is something you just have to do on a regular basis, that resetting of boundaries, and we just haven't had a chance to catch our breath long enough to do it. So we did. Will. Are.

New Years' Resolutions? Nay nay, for we do not believe in them! Instead, these are Our Goals That Just Happen To Coincide With The Beginning Of A New Year No They Are Not Resolutions Shut Up. Anyway, 2011 will hopefully be a good year, better than 2010 was and it better be a damn sight better than 2009 or I'll demand a refund because holy crap, 2009 sucked it.

Anywhoodle, I'm back to work, back to posting, back to catching up on the past house projects so I can post on the creative room studio project, back to folding laundry and doing dishes and other illusions of responsibility, but in a new and revised format in which responsibilities and obligations get a portion of the pie than they were getting prior to vacation.

I'm also back to bentoing. I missed doing it, and I didn't. It was nice being all free spirit-y and lackadaisical about mealtimes and such, but I sure enjoy my pretty packed lunches, lo they give me great joy, Charlie Brown. Still, it's good to take a break sometimes, just so it stays fun and enjoyable instead of becoming another obligation, non?

lunch, Paris slimline:

• jasmine rice with a stripe of peas
• orange sections and Rancho Royale apple slices
• Sal's custom blend of flavored nut mix (part of his homemade Christmas gifts)

special treat, cute animals sidecar:

• sugar cookies Sal made for me last night as a special treat for my first day back to work, which he presented to me as bento animal cookies I KNOW RIGHT HE MADE ME HOMEMADE ANIMAL COOKIES HE WINS ALL THE AWARDS IN EXISTENCE

lol somewhat homely bento I maybe didn't put much effort into it. The protein part of the equation is a tad, um, lacking, but whatever, it's still a bento and it's still one more meal I'm neither skipping nor resorting to less healthy means for.