Yeah, it sucks that I lost my passport, my work visa and my bank card - all in the last week. But I also sat 9 feet away from my favorite actor (ohmygod!, ohmygod!, ohmygod!), Gael Garcia Bernal, at a press conference. I also had a nice interview with Yann Martel, author of one of my favorite books, "Life of Pi." My interview with Yann made it into the newspaper - but my nice little caption story on Gael did not. My editor says he wants to attract a younger audience. Hel-lo! print a damn photo of the hottest, coolest, most respectable actor out there!
Film Star and Author Host Fund-raising Event
Actor and activist Gael Garcia Bernal joined Nobel Prize winning author Jose Saramago to present Guadalajara’s Civil Hospital Association Foundation with a check for 475 thousand pesos, representing the proceeds from their joint reading of selections from Saramago’s latest work, “Las internitencias de la muerte (The Intermittence of Death),” at the Teatro Diana on Wednesday evening. The donation will be used to assist children battling cancer in the city. Bernal, who grew up in Guadalajara, said he felt honored to have been invited to work with Saramago in his hometown, and that he feels the event is a great example of what each person can do in his or her life to help others. “The Intermittence of Death” describes a fictitious country in which the inhabitants cease to die and are suspended in an eternal old age, much to their increasing despair.
Only a couple days after we decided to move into our new house (but before we actually had moved in) Megan stopped by a veterinary office to see if they knew of any pet shelters were we could adopt a kitten. It happened that they had a kitten up for adoption who had been attacked and wounded by a dog. Megan met the kitten and was instantly in love. A few days later I went to the vet's office with Megan and met the kitten and was equally enamored.
So a couple days after we moved to our house we had a new little kitten. We decided to name her Huérfana, which means orphan in Spanish. For a short we call her Güera (which means "fair skined"). She healed up very quickly and got to have the cone around her neck removed last weekend. Now she can roam around our courtyard, climb the lime tree and generally be very cute.
For the last few weeks Megan and I have been living in a very nice hotel room at (no joke) The Hotel California in Guadalajara. It was a very nice hotel, but like all hotel rooms, it had its limitations (no kitchen, one room, etc.).
That all changed on Wednesday when we recieved the keys to the house we will be renting while we are living in Mexico. It is a great old Mexican house in the classic style. It has three bedrooms, a large kitchen/dining room area and a huge courtyard in the center with a lime tree that aparently is always bearing fruit. It is only about a 30 min. bus ride from my job (which hopefully I'll be able to write about more in the future) in a pretty quiet neighborhood.
When we recieved the keys and moved in on Wednesday we had our first "Gringo moment" in our new house. As we walked in to the courtyard we noticed white paint from the newly painted walls all over the cement in the courtyard. Megan and I both started freaking out a bit and worrying about how hard it would be to get the paint out of the cement. Then the guy who was doing all the repair work simply mopped up all the "paint" (which turned out to be easily cleanable whitewash). Well, we felt pretty stupid about that and vowed to try and take a bit more relaxed attitude towards these kind of things. We'll see how that goes and how many more "Gringo moments" we have over the next couple years.
I have posted a small gallery of photos of our new house, and the last image is a rough floor plan so you can get a better idea of the layout of the place. The place has so much potential and we just can't wait to start painting, fixing up and filling it with furniture.
Well, I've saved this for last. I've done everything else I need to do, and all I have to do is finish this posting. Once I'm done writing it, I'll grab my bag, go to the bus stop and I'll be on my way to my (very empty) apartment.
It's been weird to be at work over the last 2 weeks. I had my going away party last Thursday (8-18) for scheduling reasons and I'll tell you, there's nothing weirder than working after you going away party. After the party one of my student workers created a little photoshop piece that was pretty amusing.
It is really hard to leave my job at PCC, because I really enjoy what I did. I liked all the people I worked with and I enjoyed knowing I made a difference.
So, I say adios to PCC and hola to a life in Mexico.
Update: Here are some pictures I took on my last day at work.
Today was my going away party at PCC. I don't actually leave work till next Friday (8/26), but events conspired to have the party almost a week early. I had a great time and was embarrassed by all of the nice things that were said about me. When it came for my time to speak I got pretty choked up. I was able to say my peace without crying, but I was right on the edge. It was great to see a lot of the people I met during my over 3 years at PCC. It is sure hard to leave such a good job, but I'm so excited for the adventure of living abroad for a couple of years.
For my little speech I mentioned a podcast of TechNation with Dr. Moira Gunn that I heard yesterday. Dr. Gunn interviewed Dennis Bakke, who was was the founder and CEO of AES and author of a book called "Joy at Work". In the interview Mr. Bakke talked about the importance of joy in your job and it really stuck with me. He doesn't mean simply having fun at your job, he means finding your work meaningful and fulfilling. He thinks that people will do better work if they feel that their decisions and work are making a difference.
This is what has made my job at PCC so great. I can look around and see that my work and decisions made a difference. I opened a computer help desk for students that serves the entire student body and provides good experience for some very talented student workers. I help faculty and staff understand how to better use technology to deliver services for the college. I feel extremely lucky to have had this job. Thanks to everyone who had made my time here so fullfilling.
I had one of those moments today that was both heartwarming, but also made me feel pretty old (even though I'm only 28). I have a little sister and little brother (ages 8 and 3 respectivly). Well, today my little sister e-mailed me two short videos. She had shot them today and saved them to her computer and then sent them to me. So, my little sister has the technological knowledge and tools to do this. It totally blew me away. There was my little sister, who lives 500 miles away and who I haven't seen since Christmas saying "Hello" and asking when I was going to see her next.
As many of you know I have been a Mac user since around 1990 and up until the last few months I was a big fan of Macintosh and everything Apple does. That has now changed. I have decided to switch from Apple to Windows XP. Here are just a few of the reasons why:
I hope that everyone can understand my decision to stop using Macintosh. By the way, I'm looking for good recommendations for a Windows laptop. I would like it to have a 15 inch widescreen display, an 80 GB hard drive, Gigabit Ethernet, Firewire 400 and 800, DVD burner, built in 802.11G and Bluetooth 2.0. Also, I would like it if it was only about 1 inch thick. Any recommendations?
Update:As I am sure most of you guessed, this was an April Fool's Day joke. For posterity's sake I have included links to a few images below:
I stiched together a few panoramas that I shot this summer and posted them on the web. The first 4 are from a trip to the Jefferson National Wilderness that I go on with Megan and some friends every year. The final is a full 360º panorama that I took on Megan and my trip to the Puget Sound in August. Watch out with that last one, it is a very large .jpg.
So I decided to put advertisements on my blog, even though I haven't really been keen on the idea. The reason I did it was to help raise money for the South Asia Tsunami relief efforts. I will be giving my advertisement revenue to Northwest Medical Teams as part of the BlogAid project. So if you see a good product advertised on the right, simply click through and a couple more cents will go to the Northwest Medical Teams.
I have already given money to Doctors Without Borders, so I am trying to spread the wealth a bit. I'm not sure how long I will leave the ad up, but even if I don't earn the $100 minimum required for Google to cut me a check, I will still donate a check equal to the amount I earn.
Why did I decide to do this now and not for one of the many other humanitarian crises that we hear about all the time? Well, my aunt lives in Bali, Indonesia and I just went there with on my honeymoon this fall. Thankfully my Aunt is OK and the island of Bali wasn't severely affected by the tsunami, Indonesia was among the hardest hit countries. It is possible that I will keep donating money to Northwest Medical Teams or another charity to support their humanitarian efforts after the crisis in South Asia subsides. Also, the BlogAid project gave me a good way to earn some money for relief efforts.
I posted a new gallery of wedding photos the other day. These are all photos from friends and family. Thanks to Jesse and Tina, Ivan and Alix and my in-laws for the great pictures.
A few people who have seen my wedding pictures asked about a painting in one of the pictures. We also sent out a photo of the painting in our "Thank You" notes. So who was kind enough to paint a wedding portrait. Well, my very talented sister-in-law Rebeca Smith happens to be an artist and she offered to paint our portait for the wedding. Megan wanted a portrait in the style of Frida Kahlo's wedding portrait of her and Diego Rivera. Rebeca agreed and painted our portrait. We didn't see it until the night before the wedding, but we sure were happy! In the original Diego is holding painter's brushes and a pallete. That didn't really fit my style, so in ours I'm holding an iPod. The photo of the painting is after the jump.
As readers of this blog no doubt know, I recently got married. If you would like to look at the best 139 of the more than 500 photos that our photographer took, here they are.
The wedding was really great. The weather was pretty bad in the week leading up to the wedding and we were getting really worried about the wedding being rained out. We decided it would be best to get a tent for the wedding. There was a wedding being held at Kramer Vineyard the day before ours and we were able to split the cost of the tent with them.
The weather that day was actually not to bad. It rained all morning while we were setting up decorations under the tent, but by the time we started taking pictures the rain had all but stopped. We spent a couple of hours with the photographer getting our pictures taken around the vineyard. Some really great photos came out of this.
After the photos Megan went into the winery owner's house and I stayed out by the tent and greeted people as they arrived. About 45 min before the wedding was to start I decided to try and memorize my vows. I had written the vows a month earlier and hadn't really looked at them since.
The ceremony went well, even if my little brother (age 3) was by the musicians. I remembered my vows and Megan remembered hers. What was most amazing about the vows was how similar they were. We had purposely not read each others vows and in the end they were so similar that most people thought that we had written them together.
The reception was awesome. We provided BBQ chicken (skillfully cooked by my Uncle and a friend) and wine from Kramer, while the guest all provided delicious side dishes and non-cake desserts. The Kramer's gave us a wonderful magnum of their Pinot Noir, of which Megan and I only had a glass of.
After dinner we had some great toasts from my best friend Eddie, Megan's sister Rebecca, Megan's Dad and my Mom. The highlight of the toasts was no doubt from Megan's best friend (and wedding Mistress of Ceremonies) Lista. Lista regaled us with letters that Megan had written her during there junior high years and they included some hilariously bad relationship advice.
After the toasts, Megan's sister performed a great fire dance with her boyfriend Nick. He also played a bit on his didgeridoo.
Megan and I then cut the cake. We got a few questions about the figures on top of the cake. They are a skeleton bride and groom and definitely look a bit "non-traditional". Megan and I both wanted them because they are in the style of traditional "Day of the Dead" decorations from Mexico. Besides our love for Latin American culture, these were also significant since we were engaged on a vacation to Mexico during "Day of the Dead".
After the cake cutting we danced our first dance and then the father/daughter and mother/son dances. After a bit more dancing we had everybody light sparklers and we left under a archway of light to an awaiting car that was to take us to Portland.
I have been happy to hear from many of my friends and family that they had a great time at the wedding. For Megan and I two of our main objectives of the wedding were to make sure that we had a good time, and to make sure the guests had a good time. We seem to have succeeded.
I hope you enjoy looking through the pictures as much as I do. I was so great to get the photographs back and have them be of such and excellent quality. I feel like they really captured the mood of the wedding.
Well, I'm back from my honeymoon in Bali and after deleting over 200 peices of comment spam I am back to writing in my blog. I considered writing a blog entry from Bali (which has an internet cafe in almost every town), but decided against it. I plan to write more about my trip when I have pictures to post, which should only take a week or so. I will also write more about the wedding once I have pictures to post for it, which will likely take a few weeks since I have to scan in the pictures before posting them. Anyway, look for those posts and others now that I am back.
I'm getting married on Saturday, then going on my honeymoon, so I won't be around for a while. I won't have a guest poster, and I won't be posting from my honeymoon, so expect nothing for a couple of weeks. See you in October.
So Saturday was officially 4 weeks until the wedding. Now I haven't exactly mentioned the fact that I'm getting married on the blog, but I generally don't discuss personal stuff much. In the interest of the public good I will answer a couple of questions that I seem to get asked by pretty much everybody.
Am I nervous/worried about the wedding?: Actually, I am neither, which surprises me a bit. Megan and I are pretty much planning this on our own, which is reason enough to be worried, but I am actually pretty calm. We have everything pretty much under control and I am really happy with the plans. I didn't expect to be nervous or worried about actually getting married, so I'm not really surprised about that. Marriage is a big deal, but I'm ready.
Where are you getting married?: At a small winery in the Tualatin Valley outside Gaston, OR. The ceremony will be on a hilltop that over looks the valley and has a nice view of the cost range. The reception is down by the winery tasting room with a deck that overlooks the valley.
Bachelor party?: Yep. No strippers though. This is a personal request and not a demand from Megan. I don't know what I'm doing yet, but I am taking the next day off of work, just in case.
Honeymoon?: Megan and I are leaving the next day for a two week trip to Bali. To be honest, Megan and I have started counting down our days till we leave on the honeymoon (rather than days till the wedding). Neither of us has been to Asia, so it should be a totally new experience. Expect to hear a lot about Bali after I get back. I will not be blogging during my honeymoon.
Am I invited?: Hmmm . . . how to put this delicately? If you are invited, then you already know. Not very delicate I guess.
Things I'm thinking about this week:
I went to the Pied Cow last night with some friends and co-workers (including Al from BlueHole) and we had a great time. We ate some gouda and dates. I drank a couple of a great smoked German beer. We also had fun smoking a hookah with some jasmine tobacco. Here is a video of one of my co-workers smoking the hookah.
Later we went bowling, which was fun. It was the second time in two weekends that I have gone bowling, and I think that it will start to loose it's charm pretty quickly.
I added a new panorama to my gallery if you are interested. It is from my recent trip to Cannon Beach, OR for my step-brother's wedding. When I post the gallery from his wedding I might talk more about the event.
So, in my effort to find a gym I went to Bally's on their free 2 week pass. I was expecting a high pressure sales pitch, but the guy just showed me around the gym and told me what my best rate would be. The gym is fine, and has all of the equipment I would want to use. I forgot to check out the lockerrooms, so who knows what they look like. The price isn't bad. I'm still going to check out the Jewish Community Center and see how they stack up.
On my way back to the apartment I stopped to get something to drink at a Rite-Aid. They had Pepsi with the iTunes promotion so I grabbed one. I was one of the lucky 1 in 3 who won a song. Woo Hoo! Free song! I bought "We Used to Be Friend" from the Dandy Warhols. Good song.
Well, since I am not getting any younger and the only way I am growing is heavier, I have decided to start going to a gym for a regular work out regime. So far my search for a gym has been pretty lousy, but maybe my standards are to high.
- On the way to work via bus (NE Portland to PCC-Sylvania)
- Locally owned
- Not a meat market
The hardest one to satisfy seems to be the first. I live about a block from the women's only gym Resort to Fitness, but not being of the fairer sex, they won't let me join. The Lloyd Athletic Club isn't to far away, but they are really focused on racket sports, and I just want to ride bikes, row or lift some weights for a half hour or so. 24 Hour Fitness is a ripoff and Bally's downtown is a bit away from my bus stops. Anybody have any clues on good gyms in Portland?
I'm going to Bally's for a free workout/sales adventure on Monday, so I might just post here with my impressions.
So, I am back at work today after a nice 4-day 4th of July weekend. I went backpacking to a "undisclosed location" in the Jefferson Wilderness near Marion Lake. The reason I won't disclose the location is that I don't want anyone else to know about my favorite backpacking spot. I don't mean to sound snobish or exclusionary, but when I go backpacking, one of my primary goals is to get away from people and to try to see as few as possible. So it was a little disapointing that when my group got up to our remote lake there was already a couple people camping on one side of the lake. We did our best to ignore them and they did leave on Saturday morning so we did have a full day to ourselves. All in all it was a great trip and a lot of fun.
So over a week now I have had this damned cold and have missed 2 days of work (non-consecutive). It started in my thoat, then moved to my sinuses, then down to my nose and now it firmly resides in my chest. I caugh every few minutes. Consequently, I am not sleeping well, not updating this blog or AllianceWatch.
Enough bitching, on with the show.
I generally don't use this space to complain or really talk about my life at all, but today is an exception. I feel like crap, and I am a seriously shitty mood. I am not physically sick but I still don't feel very good. What sounds really good right now is going home, crawling into bed and sleeping till the alarm goes off tomorrow morning. Alas, I have plans tonight, which luckily include my girlfriend, a couple of other good friends and a quantity of wine and food. I figure if anything can get me out of a rut it is friends, alch, and grub. It has been a while since I have done the whole things I like/don't like so much thing so here it goes:
Things I like:
-Water
-Candy (especially "Mike and Ike" and "Hot Tamales")
-Sleep
Things I don't like so much:
-Not getting enough sleep
-The Bush Administration
-Not feeling good
Well, I had a very good Christmas. My favorite present was my new Timbuk2 messanger bag from my wonderful girlfriend Megan. It is grey with a yellow center panel. It even has a place for my iPod. Megan and I also got a very nice knife set from her parents. Spending Christmas with her family was wonderful. Great company, great food. Could I ask for anything more? So in the holiday spirit, no lists of things I like/don't like so much today. Hey, for me it is Monday and Friday all rolled into one!
I did some Christmas shopping over the weekend. It wasn't so bad, but I was reminded of a few things:
Things I like:
-Buying gifts for the ones I care about
-Trying to find that perfect gift
-Finding a good parking spot near NW 23rd
Things I don't like so much:
-Parking at "THE MALL"
-Being in "THE MALL"
-Oh, hell, I just hate the god forsaken mall. Bah Humbug!
I am not having a very good day. Can't really put my finger on the reason why . . .
Things I Like:
-Hmmmm . . . get back to me on that.
Things I don't like so much:
-Portland Police Chief Kroeker (read what he did to provoke my anger here)
Well, I had a good Turkeyday. My girlfriend and I flew down to Sacramento to visit my family in Chico and Yuba City. I got to see my mom's wine shop all decorated for the holidays. Unfortunately I was at the shop on Buy Nothing Day, so I wasn't able to buy any wine. Oh well. Thanksgiving dinner was good, but we only had one pie! Oh, the humanity. My girlfriend was horrified. Her family is used to haveing a pie:person ration of about 1.5:1. Thats right one and a half pies per person! Then I went to Yuba City and visited my dad, my step-mom, kid sister and baby brother. Aarin (my sister) is nearly 7 years old and is just as fun as can be to see. Alex (my brother) just turned 1 and while he is cute, he cries a lot. I am definately not quite ready to have kids. On with the show:
Things I Like:
-Turkey, mayonaise, cranberry sauce and salt sandwiches (don't discount the heavy usage of salt, it MAKES the sandwich)
-iPods on a plane ride
-Volunteering to get bumped from my return flight (got a free ticket anywhere Alaskan flies [including Mexico] and they put me up in a hotel!)
Things I don't like so much:
-Steel-toed shoes at Airport security
-Waking up at 3:30 am to catch my flight
-Not having turkey leftovers :(
I hope nobody thinks this to stupid, but I added a link to my Amazon wishlist.
Well, I have decided that I really don't like this color changing background as much as I did yesterday. I just hope it doesn't annoy you as much as .
Things I like:
-Sleep, wonderful, beautiful sleep . . .
-blogging
-Turkey (Thanksgiving on the mind)
-The Bare Bones Guide to HTML - for the most derided tag ever
Things I don't like so much:
-7 days till Turkey Day
-Airports
