Yesterday afternoon the company sponsored a "waterworld" event. Basically, in addition to snacks and drinks, they also rented a dunk tank, bought 100 water pistols, and set out a couple of kiddie pools as "ammo dumps." As the temperature by 4 pm was over 100 (VERY rare in Portland) the timing couldn't have been better. It was also a beautiful demonstration of the inevitable weapons race. It was all...

No, seriously. ;) It's s'possed to be 95 this afternoon and we're having an outdoor party (water pistols included) at 4 pm. So I wore cropped jeans and sandals, then had the misfortune to need to spend 45-60 minutes downstairs in Hosting. Where they have super-duper AC, that I think actually blows in from the floor. I think my toenails are blue, and I've been upstairs now for 50 minutes. (OK, I guess...

DEC and I spent the weekend refugee-camping* at an undisclosed location** on a lake some distance east of Eugene. There were about 15 of us total from City's Edge, including one couple with a ski boat and another with a large RV with all the comforts of home and the willingness to cook. In other words, all we really had to do was drive out there and pitch our tent. :) Saturday was about as perfect...

http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_073108_news_hit_and_run_crash.179a53e.html   Above story is what we came home to on Thursday evening.  Unusually I'd begged off dinner duties that evening or we might have actually been In the accident: it occurred about 6:15 pm which is not far off of what time we would have arrived if we'd gone straight home instead of stopping to eat.   By the time we...

If you go to church anywhere in the Oregon metro area or  south-west Washington, chances are you've been innundated with advertising for Portland Cityfest (  http://www.portlandcityfest.com/  ), a giant party / rally / tent meeting Downtown at the Waterfront with Luis Palau.   I won't be going: one of my best friends is getting married that Saturday.  Probably I wouldn't go anyway: I don't have any...

Cooking Word to the wise: Breakfast for dinner is fun.  Everyone loves a chance to eat bacon and pancakes when it isn't 8 in the morning.  But cooking it for very many people at once is a bear.  Tuesday night I had four or five friends coming over for Bible Study.  I came home already pretty irritable due to traffic (on my 10 minute commute! People, if you're going all the way to Baseline, do NOT...

I started stiching on my jersey knit skirt on Saturday, and made pretty good progress getting the applique pattern laid out and stiching the first panel.  Current crisis: I failed again to match my pink embroidery floss at Jo-Ann's.  Despite the fact my sample scrap appeared identical under their lights, when I got it home it was clearly not exactly the same.  I started stiching with it anyway, because...

Had my 2x5th B-day yesterday.  Yes, thats 100,000 in binary!  Here's what I got: From DEC    * A set of 25 Sharpie markers that I have been wishing for in his presence every other time we visit Costco    * Dinner at "The Melting Pot."  MMMMM!!!!! From Mom and Dad     * A pair of good dressmaker's scissors by Gingher      * A 24 x 36 inch self-healing cutting mat  From Beth     * A pretty cross...

 A co-worker brought me a gallon bag full of assorted fresh herbs harvest from his wife's garden: Parsley, Basil, Oregano, Chives, Thyme, and Curry (although the immediate research I did online suggests this is what American garden supply stores Call curry but isn't really.  Still, it smells like curry!)   Yesterday he brought me a small bag of Rosemarry too, and some lavendar (although I do not intend...

 Suffering from just vaguely blurry text on your laptop?  Try this utility from MS: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/tuner/tune.aspx   It makes a surprising amount of difference