Kabluey and I get job offers at the same time. It’s how we demonstrate that our lives are somehow fused together. Gays must do this, you see. Some couples start dressing alike, or get similar haircuts, or develop the same speech patterns, or maybe, in instances of extremely poor judgment, get matching piercings. Kabluey and I land new jobs at the same time. That’s our “thing”.

Based on this trend, when Kabluey accepted her job offer last week, I knew I had to step up and get a new job too. So I did. And not just any job. I am pretty sure I found a really awesome one. This feeling of excitement toward work is a strange and unfamiliar thing.

The only potential issue that I see with my new job is that I think I’ll be in way over my head, making it a very real possibility that I am about to travel down a path destined for shame, embarrassment, self-doubt and eventually the Multnomah County unemployment office.

But if that doesn’t happen, it could be really, really cool.

Maybe it’s because it is supposed to be Spring, but the weather is still wet and cold and horrible. Maybe it’s because it is so very far away from any major holiday or day-off-triggering event. More likely it’s because this month has historically contained some of the more upsetting times of my life. Whatever the reason, March kinda sucks.

This is the first time since I started this blog that I don’t really feel like writing. It’s not like there is a lack of things to write about. Stuff has been happening (not particularly exciting stuff, but one could argue that nothing I’ve written about has been earth-shattering). I’ve made some strides in my attempt to change jobs. I’ve been plugging away at training for my athletic endeavors. I’ve even been batting around some ideas for a book I may write. All good stuff. But I feel blah and generally I think it’s best to keep to myself when this mood takes over.

The good news is that at the end of this month I’ll be going to Florida with Kabluey to see her family. There will be sun, which I desperately need. (And according to Weather Underground, there will also be 96% humidity, which will likely result in my hair reaching a level of curliness never before seen in nature). I’m excited to see where Kabluey grew up, and visit all the places she used to go when she was a tiny weirdo (like the The Prawn Broker, where she used to go on Christmas Eve and where she promised we could go for dinner one night). I will also get to meet Kabluey’s mom, and from all accounts this will be an experience I will not soon forget. So whatever funk I’m in right now will surely be over soon.

One of my life’s dreams was fulfilled yesterday- I finally got to try Russian River Brewing Co’s Pliny the Younger triple IPA. Kabluey and I went to the special tasting at Belmont Station and we were able to try Pliny the Younger and Pliny the Elder side by side.

The Younger was tasty. It was a tiny bit too sweet for my liking, but it had a pretty dry finish and the vast amount of hops dutifully made their presence known. And at 11% ABV, you could definitely taste the alcohol. While I’m glad I finally got to try this beer, I can confidently say I prefer The Elder, which is convenient because that beer is brewed year round and is definitely easier to get my hands on.

As with every single beer event that I attend in this town, I saw Ken The Taplister Guy. He told me about some new features they are working on for Taplister, and in a rare but amazing bit of social perfection, my beer glass ran dry right about the time our conversation topics dwindled. Some days are just awesome like that.

To balance out the exclusiveness of the Pliny tasting yesterday, today I joined millions of people for a time-honored, Green Dye No. 3-filled tradition. St Paddy’s day wouldn’t be complete without it.

I, along with 20,999 of my fellow Portlanders, participated in the city’s annual Shamrock Run yesterday. I thought the 8k run would serve as a good check point for my 1/2 marathon training.

These are the take-aways that should have come from the event:

1. I need to run more than 1 day a week if I plan to make it through a half marathon
2. Running on a track does nothing to prepare me for uneven surfaces, large crowds of people, or even the tiniest of inclines
3. One should stretch before a race, and maybe drink a glass of water or two in the days leading up to a run

These are the actual take-aways:

1. My new running hat is ok, but the one Riley ate was way better
2. I don’t want to do a half marathon

Hopefully I’ll get over point #2. Once the race was over and I was back home in my warm house drinking coffee in bed, I was happy that I did the Shamrock run. And my time was about 3.5 minutes faster than last year, which is encouraging. At the end of the day, though, I am probably just not cut out to be a runner. Ms O’Rourke, my elementary school principal, always told me I walked like duck. Which probably means I run like a duck. Which probably explains why I think this sport, in general, kind of sucks. But that is ok. It’s just a few short months of misery and then when it’s over, if I pull it off, I can gloat. And gloating rules.

Tags: shamrock run

Kabluey has had a stressful few weeks. She’s had to lie (well, fib) and sneak around (often in the pouring rain). She’s been built up, and torn down. Masterful interrogation techniques have been used to pry information from her that she swore she’d never divulge. She’s delivered bad news to people who like her. She’s delivered good news to people who will realize very soon just how awesome she is. There have been many late night discussions over beer, and early morning discussions over tea (unfortunately, most of those discussion were with me, and my ability to give cogent advice is on par with a 6-year-old. My attention span is fine for a little while, but inevitably I get distracted or mad or hungry and then wander off to rearrange my stuffed animal collection).

If the above description sounds familiar, it is probably because you, too, have gone through the process of interviewing for, and negotiating, a new job. This painful process reached its conclusion yesterday when Kabluey accepted an offer. Of course, even that was somewhat distressing as she opted for a “death by a thousand paper cuts” approach to putting in her notice at her current job.

At any rate, it is done and I can already tell the difference in Kabluey’s mood. See for yourself:

An amazing transformation! We have been doing mini-celebrations along the way (which maybe is just a fun, though unnecessary, excuse to drink), but we plan to fully celebrate this weekend. Kabluey is happy. And I am happy, too, because I think this new job means she has to buy me diamonds. Sparkly, shiny diamonds. Because according to this article, written by someone who clearly has a lot of time on his/her hands, this will please me.

Tags: diamonds, job negotiation stress

As I typed the title of this post, it occurred to me that it could actually be the name of an ongoing series. I’m somewhat shameless when it comes to leaving the house in my PJs. This basic lack of dignity hit an all-time low during the year-and-a-half that I worked from home, when it eventually deteriorated to Things I’ll Do Without Pants On. But this entry isn’t about my long history of public pajama wearing. It’s about one specific incident that occurred tonight.

I had just settled down on the couch with my laptop and opened up my email. My co-worker had sent me an instructional document that was going to teach me how to program iPhone Apps. It seems a little far-fetched, but in the absence of anything else even remotely meaningful on the employment horizon, we suddenly felt mobile application development was our best bet for new careers. Clearly, I can be talked into anything at this point. But in addition to the message from my co-worker, I also received an email with the following subject: Important Draft Beer Notice.

Obviously, I opened the beer email immediately and that is when I found out that Belmont Station had announced a special event featuring two Russian River Brewing Company beers- Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger. Pliny the Elder is one of my very favorite beers. It’s available on draft and in 22oz bottles in Portland, but it can be hard to find regularly. Pliny the Younger is a limited release beer that is distributed in small batches in February and early March. I have been waiting over a year to try it, and next Tuesday, Kabluey and I will get our chance.

There was a keg of Pliny the Younger available at the Horse Brass over the weekend, and it ran out in 25 minutes. Belmont Station is getting a keg next Tuesday, and in order to allow as many people as possible to try it, they are pre-selling tickets to a special tasting. I was in my car within 15 seconds of reading the email, sporting pajama bottoms, a dog-fur-covered bright green fleece, and my slippers. I suppose I could have taken two minutes to throw on a pair of jeans and some sneakers, but at the time I really felt like I couldn’t take any chances. There was a brief moment in the bier cafe at Belmont Station when I was surrounded by people who apparently don’t get ready for bed at 8:30pm and I felt a little sheepish. But, I got my tickets, and I know it will be worth it.

Tags: Belmont Station, Pliny the Younger

The main bathroom of my house has had issues for months. I had a window taken out of the shower in September, which left a giant wood-framed gap in the interior wall. Then about a month later I discovered a leaky pipe. I had a plumber take a look, and he was able to confidently identify the part of the shower pipe that was leaking. He quoted me a price of $700 to make the repair, so I thanked him for his time and have been showering in the basement ever since.

With my tax refund and home refinance money, I am finally ready to fix the bathroom. Still, the $700 plumbing repair was a bit out of my budget, so I asked my very handy uncle if he could help me out with that part of the project. Because he is a glutton for punishment, he said yes.

I spent a few nights last week chiseling tile off the walls and inhaling toxic grout/cement dust in preparation for my uncle’s arrival. When he got to the house, I took him into the bathroom and explained to him where the plumber said the leak most likely was. He carefully cut a small section out of the drywall and we ran the water to see if we could identify the leak. Nothing. So then he removed a whole panel of drywall to expose the entire pipe and again we ran water. Still nothing.

It turns out, I do not have a leaky pipe. In fact, all I evidently needed to do was re-caulk the bathtub. Pity, since instead of that simple fix, I did this:

In some ways, the fact that I didn’t have to do a major plumbing repair is good news. But in other ways, like the ways involving wasting the most beautiful Saturday we’ve had in months laboring in a 3×5 foot bathroom, and creating (then patching) unnecessary holes in the wall, and driving to various hardware stores with my uncle, who prides himself on knowing many gas and time saving “short cuts”, this development can pretty much be classified as rage-inducing waste of time.

Tags: bathroom remodel, home improvement sucks

It was brought to my attention recently that the end of February marked my 5 year anniversary of moving to Oregon. To commemorate this occasion, I thought I’d list out a few of my very favorite things about Portland.

The assortment of beer that is available in this town is amazing. Oregon has some of the best microbreweries (Hopworks, Ninkasi, Double Mountain), some of the best stores for buying beer (Belmont Station, Hawthorne Fred Meyer <-- weird but true), and some of the best bars with rotating taps (Horse Brass, Concordia Ale House). It also has some great home brew supply stores, which is awesome because brewing beer is one of my very favorite things to do (except of course for drinking beer, which trumps pretty much everything).

Stumptown Coffee makes some of my favorite coffee. Their beans can be found all over town, but there is no better place to enjoy it than First Cup Coffeehouse. It’s close to my house, so Riley and I walk there most mornings. In fact, if Ry ever escaped from the house (which would require an uncharacteristic display of effort), I am 95% sure he would walk himself down to First Cup and wait on the side deck until someone came out and gave him a dog biscuit.

The cherry blossom trees were one of the first things I noticed upon moving here. The trees lined NW Lovejoy St., where I briefly lived before buying my house, and every year when they bloom they remind me of my first weeks in Portland.

In many ways, the weather in Portland completely blows. I do try to be accepting of this because I think anything that isn’t 75 degrees and sunny blows, and I realize that may not be entirely fair. There are good things about rain, and clouds, and sub-freezing weather. At least, I assume there must be even though at this precise moment I can’t think of a single benefit. What I do like about Portland weather, though, is the one random snow storm that we seem to get each year. The city shuts down, so I don’t have to go to work and can instead spend time with Kabluey and the pups, which automatically puts those days in a magical category along with unicorns and rainbows and Pat Benatar. Riley loves it too. He fights me tooth and nail when he has to go outside in the rain (making for a rather annoying 9.5 months a year), but at the first sign of snow he begs to go outside and frolic in the yard. He also likes when I make tiny snow men, which he later eats when I am not looking.

I should state for the record that I do miss things about San Francisco (good Mexican food, living near my brother and sister, going to Giants games, and… wait, that might be it), but moving up to Portland was definitely one of my better life decisions.

Tags: beer, PDX