Where I'm Going Next Week

First Stop: Mexico City

Then a short flight to Merida

Ooh, Tulum

Across the peninsula to Campeche

Last Stop: Back to Mexico City. Coyoacan, to be exact.

A Word From Our Writer

In the midst of finals.
Regularly unscheduled writing and reading will return in a week or so.
Thank you for your patience.

Interesting Blog I Found

It's called Living Well, and the premise is a young family of three talking very openly about their financial situation with with goal of paying off all of their debt, including student loans, and eventually buying property while NOT using credit cards, and basically living off of only $2,000 a month. Can it be done? We'll see. This is of particular interest to me, because I'm presently trying to opt out of the whole working thing, and just go to school and live off of student loans, which would obviously necessitate some economizing, since I'll have approximately 1/6 of what I was making when I worked full time. Yeah, either that, or I win the lottery. Sigh.

Random List of Musings

1. Who do I know in Oakland, CA? I have no idea.
2. Actually happy even though it's the holiday season.
3. Today was my last day of work. Not sure how I feel about that, although relief is definitely an ingredient.
4. It is not fair that eating Escape From New York Pizza every day, for every meal, will make you fat and sick.
5. Pumpkin pie.
6. Mad Men+cocktails=happiness and creativity.
7. I love my friends.
8. I'm hearing strange noises upstairs, and I'm really hoping it's a movie, because they're sort of like my parents.
9. I love my friends.
10. No boyfriend until Sunday. Verizon wireless SUCKS. Anyone who travels even a little bit should have AT&T or T-Mobile. Duh.
11. I ought to be making pie crust right now, but I'm not. In terms of cooking, pie crust is up there with zesting on my list of least favorite things.
12. I'll probably make Jeffrey Morgenthaler's eggnog recipe now, and drink it later, and then feel sick a little bit later after that. He's my Facebook friend, although I haven't seen him the last few times I've been at Clyde, because he was out of town.
13. Sometimes, things are just a waste of time.

The Latest Baby Technology: Asphixiation Strollers!

I've been seeing these lately, and it really confuses me. Isn't this the equivalent to putting a plastic bag on your head?
Didn't the designers' moms ever tell them not to put plastic bags on their heads when they were kids because they could suffocate to death?
Or maybe this is actually an ingenious, diabolical plan for population control....

Mwah hah hah hahhhh!

Scenes from 30

So this is my 200th post on this blog, and it depicts another monumental event: my 30th birthday party. That's right, the decline will begin now in earnest.
All you Facebook people probably already saw these photos, but here they are again, for the non-Facebook. I threw a "Mad Men" themed party, complete with 1960s era cocktails and snacks. I was very proud of my costume, I thought I looked rather authentic.
The guys all did a wonderful job of dressing up too--I was very impressed--every single one of them had on a tie. I'm beginning to think that 2009 guys actually like wearing suits and ties, since it's something out of the ordinary, and instantly makes them look good.
It was a fun party. Chelsea was extra pretty in spite of just getting over the flu; Alex was unusually on time; Derek did excellent German Frederick the fish impressions; Bruno was very Bruno; Victor brought fancy champagne, cheese, and a plant; Michelle was not radioactive, Gretchen1 did not fall in the mud; and Gretchen2 is now a delightful adult.

How Do I Do It?

I believe I have a talent for making messes. I spent literally ALL DAY Saturday, as well as part of Sunday cleaning my apartment. It was sparkling! Seriously.
I looked at it this morning, and what did I find? I'm back to square one. In 2 days! Coats, mail, and dirty dishes scattered throughout. Frederick needs a bath, because I would have cleaned him this weekend too, but I thought I was getting a new, larger tank for him for my birthday, but that didn't happen. I really need to do something about that; I feel sorry for him. Maybe tonight (after homework) I'll take care of all that. Yeah.

Not Stuck Anymore!

I have so many possibilities now!

• I won't have to wake up each morning in dread.
  
• I won't have to wonder what disaster awaits me each day, because the disaster-making characteristic is gone!
• Now, I can actually attend meetings of clubs I'm interested in at school.
  
• I have plenty of time to study.
  
• I won't get hassled for taking time off for finals or vacation.
  
• I can wake up at a reasonable, more Mediterranean-like time instead of too early.
• I can explore my interests, like maybe trying to get a temporary internship at a bakery.
  
• I can do a study abroad next summer, if money allows. Study law in Barcelona, Dublin, Florence, Paris, Oxford, or London? Yes, please!
  
• I can get a part time job with a law firm or governmental office.
• I won't be bored all day.
• I won't have to continuously hear tired phrases and people talking in cliché.

Hurray!

30 Rock Quote of the Day

"You want to get drunk?" Donaughy
"No, there's too many phones in here." Liz Lemon

Yup.
One more instance in which Liz Lemon is me.

It's seriously been perfect fall weather here this weekend. Sunny and cool. Maybe pumpkins will be procured next weekend.

It was better then

Sometimes (like right now) I miss being a kid. When I was little, fall was birthday season. All my friends had fall birthdays, myself included. In second grade, I went to my friend Annie's birthday party, and it was so much fun! We went ice skating, and she had two different kinds of pie instead of cake. I tasted lemon meringue pie for the first time. It was a slumber party afterward, and we all stayed up late giggling and talking about silly things.
I didn't have to worry about jobs, money, school, passing the bar exam, my [bad] health, elderly parents, or "making something of myself."
Now, all my friends are preoccupied with buying houses, investments, boyfriends, girlfriends, marriage, babies, and jobs. It's lame.
Life was better when I watched "She-Ra" after school, played Barbies, and stirred up strange mixtures of ice cream, soda, and cereal with my friends--and then ate it. My biggest worry in second grade was math, because I wasn't good at it. I'm still not good at it, but now it's one of the few things I don't worry about. I want to be seven years old again.

Mad Men

Holy crap, I love this show. It's set in the early 1960's in the Madison Avenue advertising scene, it depicts an era I know little about. My parents were teenagers at that point, and I wonder, were peoples' attitudes and demeanor really like that? Was it actually acceptable for men at the office to act like a bunch of jackass 15-year olds and drink all day? Were women really that repressed and talked down to? How would I have fared if I was 29 years old in 1960? I can relate to little bits of each of the female characters, but not one as a whole:

• Betty: being generally thought of as quiet and sweet, but suddenly, occasionally, exploding.
• Peggy: Quiet and often made fun of, but with a lot more going on beneath the surface.
• Joan: Cynical and tactless, but actually well-meaning.
• Rachel: Ambitious and very independent, but lonely.

Amazing clothes and sets. Really evokes [what I imagine to be] the atmosphere of the era.

I've been watching this from Netflix, and, if stupid Comcast had given me the adapter box (which they were supposed to, but refused--grrr!), I would still be getting AMC and would be able to watch the third season as it aired. Something needs to be done about that!

Minor Victory, Major Affirmation

Tonight in Criminal Law, I commented on a case we were reading, and the professor said that I had made a very important point--in fact, she said that if I had been the prosecutor for this case, the defendant would have been convicted. (In reality, the prosecutor had missed the point I made, and the defendant escaped a homicide charge.)
Hells Yeah! I really am supposed to be in law school! And I can succeed at being a lawyer!

What a relief!

By the way, I almost didn't go to that class tonight because once I was at school, I realized I had forgotten my book at home. Good thing I didn't skip!

For now though, I need to work on getting that clerkship...it's due the 19th.

High End Coyote

I was driving home late last night, when I saw what I at first thought was a stray dog crossing the road near Strohecker's, the swanky Portland Heights grocery store near my house. Wait a second! That's not a dog! It was a coyote! In Portland Heights!
Weird! Maybe he came up from Forest Park on one of the trails. Portland Heights is only a mile or so from downtown, after all. Very exciting.

Yay! Weekend

I haven't had a relaxing weekend in ages: always out of town or just on the go. But not so, this weekend. I'm really looking forward to both inane activities, and special ones.

I'll start with the special:

• The Time Based Art Festival is just beginning! I love it!
• Chinese dinner tomorrow, hopefully at Wong's King (never been there before)-mmmm
• Helping Alex paint his brand-new house

Here's the inane (but equally good, because sometimes I'm boring):

• Grocery shopping
• Laundry
• Apartment Cleaning
• Getting ahead on my homework

Best of all, it's a 3-day weekend, which means I can sleep and sleep and sleep.

Not Ready

School starts exactly one week from today, and my classes end earlier in the evening, and I actually got to choose them, so I'm hoping not to feel so fried this year.

Hood to Coast is a week from Friday; I'm volunteering somewhere on Friday afternoon. Then, to the beach for the weekend. Friday night I get the beachhouse to myself (and a special friend), but Saturday evening is the big barbecue after the race. Do I know how many people I'll be cooking for? No. Do I have any idea what to cook? No. But I'm sure it will all come together. Hopefully, I'll figure it out by this weekend, so I'll have time to shop and cook ahead of time, because, as I mentioned before, next week I'll be busy: first week of school.

Slated for this week:
Tuesday: Trainer, meet up with Derek for dinner, and then help him find a new, exciting place to live.
Wednesday: Race out to the Nike Campus in Beaverton for Hood to Coast Volunteer Training, race back to town for appointment with trainer.
Thursday: Meet up with friend in town from Germany
Saturday: Wedding

Doesn't necessarily sound like that much, but I'm at work each day before all those activities, and having everything planned out like that makes it feel like work, rather than fun.

Vancouver, B.C.

Last weekend, Derek and I went to Vancouver, B.C. I hadn't been there in probably nine years, and was really looking forward to it. It was a lot of fun, I'm pleased to say.
Here's my little Vancouver chronicle.

The first night, we spent in Seattle, staying with some friends of Derek's. They live in a small, but awesome 100-year-old house on Queen Anne Hill. If I lived in Seattle, I would probably want to live in that neighborhood. Lots of little shops and restaurants to walk to, but their particular corner was thoroughly residential--just homes and schools. They had a great view of the water below. Best of all, they had the sweetest, cuddliest dog named Sophie. She looks sort of ferocious, being a boxer-german shepherd mix, but had the personality of a very loving kitten.

Nearly in Vancouver, we saw this disconcerting ambulance pass by. If you look closely, it says "On Strike." ??? Turns out the Richmond paramedics were on strike. Not sure what that means for emergency victims.

All right, now we're in Vancouver. First stop: Chinatown. We see this written on the top of a building. I like it!
The majority of the shops and restaurants appear to be closed for the evening (not at all like the last time I was here), but a night street market is just getting set up. We eat barbecued lamb on sticks from the street vendors.

The Chinese garden is open, so we check that out. It was nice, but I think the one in Portland might be more impressive.
That evening, we head back out to Richmond for the huge Night Market. After 20 minutes of mis-turns, we find it, and it was all that we hoped for: lots and lots of various Asian food stalls, knock-offs, and a huge stage for karaoke. Some Japanese guy continually sang Elvis's hits.


After the night market, we went back to the city, and went to a super-cool Belgian bar; great cocktails, but sorry, not really any photos.

The next day, we drove up to Whistler. I had never been there before, and was excited, but there was some sort of off-road biking event going on there, so it was packed, and not really what I expected. After that, we left Whistler, and went hiking to Lake Cheakamus. It was pretty:




Back in town that evening, we took a cab to Stanley park, and had a little look around. Pretty photos ensued.

Then, dinner on the West end at an Izakaya. It was awesome. Everything we ate was really, really good. Unfortunately, I don't remember what it was called. (Derek is pretty cute in that photo, huh?)
The next morning, we went to a cute little cafe for breakfast called Finch's Tea and Coffee. There was a problem initially: the baguettes had not yet arrived, and nearly their entire menu was dependent upon them. But fortunately, a few minutes later they showed up, and all the drama ebbed.

We stop at the Bloedel Botanical Garden. The guide books describe it as the type of place with various climates and accompanying plants and animals, including over 100 types of birds. Turns out, there was only one climate--tropical. It was pretty, but disappointing compared to the Palmengarten I saw in Frankfurt. That one was huge, and had probably five or six different climates. But here are some pretty flowers and birds from the one in Vancouver:

By now, we're way behind schedule (we're supposed to be driving home that day), it's after 2, and we haven't had lunch. Might as well stop at Aberdeen Mall (huge, all-Asian, yes I know a theme seems to have developed) in Richmond, as it's on our way, and have some authentic Chinese food. But first, a photo in the toilet store:

Lunch over, it's time to hit the road. But wait! There's a huge Buddhist temple (not pictured) and an old fishing village on the way. That was our trip. Aside from the baguette debacle and some confusion on the way home regarding a "Detour" sign that nearly caused us to have to go back and forth through the Canadian border again, it was an all-around successful, enjoyable trip.

Canada, eh?

Off to beautiful Vancouver, B.C. this weekend, with a brief stopover in Seattle. Thanks to the AmEx travel points I saved up, we get to stay in a swanky hotel. I love that.
Hiking, ethnic neighborhoods/food, a Swedish indie rock concert, fjords (a theme seems to be developing), mountain, and ocean. Sounds like fun! Expect photos upon my return.

Great Time, Gallons of Wine

Derek's parents were in town for a Pinot Festival, and he invited me along for the salmon bake portion of it.
Let me restate this: a HUGE, International Pinot Festival. Salmon Bake? Sure. But also a million different kinds of salads, pastas, desserts, etc. It wasn't from any ordinary caterer. Nope. The menu was designed by the likes of the guys at Simpatica Dining Hall, among other places.
And there was wine. Lots and lots of wine.
I'm not going to be drinking wine for a long, long time. Not as long a hiatus as when I came back from Italy, but it will still definitely be a while.
And, even though it was dark, I didn't get a single mosquito bite.
It was an all-around good evening.