Here we are now, Entertain Us

When I started reading Chelsea Cain's Heartsick I didn't really expect to enjoy it. Cain isn't a fantastic writer, she gets very caught up in over describing her characters, her environment and everything in between. I'm in great agreement with Stephen King who wrote in his book "On Writing" that the building of a scene in a book is collaborative and that if an author describes every detail in that scene they take away from the reader and their role in the collaboration. Cain uses description as a crutch and Heartsick is a poorer book because of it.

But while Cain isn't a fantastic writer, she does have some really strong core skills. In Heartsick there is a relationship between a cop and a serial killer that is simply fantastic. The essential connection of these two characters is a strong foundation on which the book is built on. Cain interweaves flashbacks into a story about the hunt for a serial killer and the reporter who is trying to cover it. This overused device actually works here and the stronger story, told in flashback, really does help to bolster the weaker main story. The back story is so strong that I often wondered while reading this book if it shouldn't have been the main story.

While the twists and turns in the book aren't exactly surprising, the book moves along at a near page turner pace due to the peppering of the back story. I found myself more interested in what would happen between the cop and the serial killer than who was the actual killer in the main story. Faults aside, I do think this is a descent debut novel, it gives a peek into the possibilities that Cain has as a writer and so I'll be interested to see where she goes in the sequel to this book Sweetheart.

As an aside, I did enjoy the fact that Heartsick is based in Portland!

Hannah had another great year at PAC (Portland Actor's Conservatory). For two weeks they worked on the ensemble play Inside Out - Upside Down. Last year they split the kids into two crews and did two plays (one modern created by the kids and another a very abbreviated Shakespeare play). Having all the kids together in one play worked out a lot better and they got a lot more experience in ensemble staging.

A funny thing. The whole week Hannah had been talking about how one of the kids was here from England and how she was teaching them to speak with a British accent. As we were sitting down for the performance I saw a guy who looked a lot like Johnny Marr walk in. I opened the program and sure enough the kid was Marr's daughter. Funny how when our children connect with people the universe that they come from and their parents are completely unknown. Often I get a picture of what I think a kids parents are like, and it's always interesting to compare that perception with reality.

The after play reception was nice, Heather bought a number of goodies from Sweet Pea Bakery and they flew out of the carton. It's amazing when something isn't labeled vegan how people just enjoy it and don't worry about what is or isn't in it.

I'm really proud of Hannah, she worked really hard these past two weeks and that work shows. It's great to see your child continue to blossom and I'm always amazed at just how much growth happens over the summer months.

The story ends... I now have a brand new Samsung Synchmaster 2243BWX and it's fantastic. It's a happy ending. Warm fuzzies and all. But the road that got there was simply a mess.

Back in 2006 on Black Friday I picked up from Circuit City (who would later subpeona my company and cause me all sorts of headaches, but that's another story), a Samsung 22" LCD Monitor (225BW). It was a great monitor. Going from square to widescreen was liberating. Add to that I got a smoking hot deal on it. All was good.

Earlier this year after owning the monitor for a year and a half it began to buzz. Horse fly doing laps around the room buzz, and all was not good. In late june I called Samsung customer service to do a warranty repair or replacement. After a whopping $500 hold on my credit card (and absurd amount for a monitor that sells for under $300) Samsung sent me a replacement.

A week or so later the replacement arrived. It was a refurbished monitor which looked like some three hundred pound tech geek had used it every single day for the past two years. The screen looked like crap. So I called Samsung back and after thirty or forty minutes on the phone they told me they couldn't send another replacement until they received the first replacement. So I shipped that puppy back and waited, and waited and waited. Finally after several calls to Samsung I got yet another replacement sent to me. I made it really clear I wanted them to Q/A the unit before it went out. They said they would and so all was good.

Until it arrived. I plugged the less beaten 'refurbished' unit in and... nada. No picture, no image, nothing. Their Q/A'd second monitor was DOA. Again, after a long series of calls I was told they couldn't send another till they got this one back. So I shipped it and waited. Another round of phone calls and I'm told that Samsung will replace it with another model and that I'll be contacted to coordinate. Weeks go by and I am not contacted.

Finally after several calls I am told they are shipping a new monitor out! A week later it arrives. But I'm still faced with the need to return my old monitor which of course does not fit into the box of the new one. I call Samsung and they tell me that I need to figure out the boxing issue and I should just find a big box and stuff if full of paper towels (I'm completely serious, this is what they tell me). I finally DO pack the thing up, use tons of packing peanuts and ship it off.

Lets just hope the happy ending for this story stays a happy ending.

I met my friend David Walker today at Laughing Planet on Belmont for lunch. I've been to the restaurant many times but today as we were finishing up our lunch it struck me how much I enjoy eating there and just how consistently dependable it is.

What makes Laughing Planet works so well is that they've got a very simple concept - healthy bowls and burritos with lots of options. Being Vegan I appreciate just how many vegan friendly choices they have on the menu, and with a fair share of meated options it's an easy choice when meeting a friend whose omnivorous. I also like that you can add tofu or tempeh to any of their options. Although I'm Vegan I can't say I have much love for tofu. It's "OK" and if prepared right I can enjoy it. I enjoy the tangy almost nutty taste of tempeh much more and always feel more full than when scarfing down tofu. I'm also a fan of seitan and it's various 'fake meat' forms.

Its easy not to appreciate some of the good things in life, especially places we visit on a regular basis. They fade into the fabric of things and so it's nice to just stop for a moment and say... Wow, this place is really something...I'm glad its here!

Took the plunge today and picked up a 1950's table from Craig's List. I'm now on the hunt for chairs to match. Again I think craig's list will come to my rescue. I have no idea how this table will look like in the new house, but I have some faith that it'll fit the little nook quite well.

Packing continues with every break from working on work filled with filling another box. I am both overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the task and completely disillusioned at just how much shit I own. I thought I had done a good job of pairing down and reducing the crap that I have... Guess not. I've got a ton of boxes of DVDs packed, I'm thinking of going back through them and weeding out ones I'll never watch again (but am compelled to OWN for some unknown reason).

Later this week I'm going to be going down to Free Geek to donate some odds and ends, including a computer I toasted when I tried to fix. Always fun. Have I said Moving Sucks?!? Probably time to say it again.

As I continue to pile everything I own into moving boxes I realize that I can't quite pinpoint when this whole moving thing really began.

Sure I remember a late night discussion with Heather where we mused about moving to the East Coast, but that was over 8 years ago. Again about 5 years ago we gave Portland '1 more year' to have things take off or we'd consider moving. Again things took off so that isn't the root of THIS move.

When was it? What day was the day where the seed of an idea got planted that we should pack everything up and move into the city? To me that moment is a struggle to recall, a slept in late and now I'm trying to grasp at the fading strings of memory from my vivid dream.

So rather than point to the planting of the seed, I guess I'm stuck pointing to the day that the seedling breached it's tiny little head from the well fertilized ground. Heather and I found a new sitter on Sitter City and when we were interviewing her we got to talking about how much time we spend on the east side of town, how much we love it over there and how nice it would be to live over there. Her reply:

"Why don't you do it then?"

So that's where we are... Why not indeed. This pain of packing, kids freaking out, body exhaustion will soon be a fading memory and the reality of being in a new place where I can WALK places, take my bike, roam more free will be what fills my day. I just wish I could click my heels together three times and make it all happen now....without all the damn boxes.

Rode the Providence Bridge Pedal today with Hannah, it was her first real ride outside of our neighborhood. The ride was a 14 mile ride which brought us over 6 Portland Bridges:

- Hawthorne
- Ross Island
- Marquam
- Burnside
- Broadway
- Freemont

Unlike years past the event handled the 18,000 riders quite well. Staggering rider start times, separating families from more hardcore riders and opening more lanes on key bridges made for a much more enjoyable and fun ride.

The night before the ride I spent a good hour plus trying to fix my rear breaks. I bought my bike a couple years back at Sellwood Cycle and honestly they seemed like they didn't give a crap about me or my bike. Since that point I've had to tweak and fix a few things on the bike that they did pretty haphazardly. Noodling about getting a new bike, but won't do anything till next season....

But all in all... A GREAT day.

As we plan for our new home, it's becoming clear that the table we have in our kitchen now is not going to really fit in the new 'nook' area in our 'new' home. So I've been looking at Craig's List & Ebay at 1950's formica tables.

We've eaten on tables like this over at Vita Cafe over on Alberta, and it's a nice cozy way to share a meal. Prices for these puppies are all over the board. From just under $100 for a table to $800 on Ebay for a table a several chairs. Most of them out there are yellow or silver. I think a little red one with red chairs would be like a HGTV version of a mid life crisis...

I distinctly remember the time, sitting amongst piles of boxes deep into the late hour of the night swearing that I would never, ever, ever move again.

It's folly to think that you can stay in one place and not move a few times in your life.

Now eight years later I find myself putting all my possessions in boxes, taping them up and swearing again never to do this again.

Before moving I made a huge effort to sort through my stuff and get rid of anything and everything that I no longer need. Mixed results with Craig's List has made a pretty big pile that is sitting waiting for a trip to goodwill or community warehouse. Somewhere, anywhere just not here. But as I continue to pack all these boxes I'm struck with the amazing amount of crap I still have.

It's an education in you when you move. What things you've amassed over the years, how your tastes have changed and what things you still cling on to. For me it's like going back to a school I was happy to leave.

We've been looking at houses for months, so the whole process of moving seems almost endless.

The brutal thing... I still have 2 more weeks of packing and sorting before we actually move.