Another August, another Oregon International Airshow! For the third year in the last four, Bryan's sister once again snagged us free VIP tickets to the show (She works for one of the sponsor organizations). Being VIP means you basically get access to a special area (After you park for free in the VIP lot) with giant tents setup offering free ( Read more... )

This is going to blow your minds. Almost exactly one year ago, I caught a field mouse in the garage with the help of a humane trap. About exactly six months later, I caught a second one. This year, in some kind of bizarre cosmic coincidence, once again around the middle of the month of July and six months after my last capture, it appears we have ( Read more... )

Happy Fourth of July, everyone. Go blow up some cheap fireworks. I know you people- "Let's put three fireworks on top of each other, douse them in lighter fluid and light this candle!" Pyros. All of ya'. Me? I think the family will be having a low-key holiday again this year. Even though Ryan is here for the first Fourth in two years and Val is ( Read more... )

Hiya, toonsters! How goes? Saw WALL-E yesterday. I love seeing high profile movies on opening day. There's something about the communal excitement of it all. Big crowds and even applause. It was a good time. Great movie, too. Definitely they best film of the year so far and I'm guessing it'll be the best film of the summer this year. I'm biased ( Read more... )

10 days have gone by since I arrived in Boise, and I guess things are going well. It's really felt like I've stepped back in time and am at college again. Being Jaci's roommate is just like living in a dorm and reminds me of the camaraderie I shared with roommates back at EOU. Since I got here, we've cooked, cleaned, shopped and got our hair cut ( Read more... )

Welp, here I am. Saturday's 446-mile (717.8 km for you metric readers) drive from my family's home near Portland, Oregon, to Boise, Idaho, was rather uneventful and thankfully smooth. My trusty vehicle, Penguin, didn't do all that much complaining about the sudden voyage. My faith in that piece of metal is yet again reaffirmed. I took one or two ( Read more... )

Spring finally feels like it's arrived in the western Oregon valleys. The air is softer and cool, the bugs are out in force and breeding their tiny brains out, everything seems brighter and there's even a sense of great impending change. Next Thursday or Friday, I break camp and steam to Boise. I've already had one bad omen though: While mowing the ( Read more... )

If there were ever a movie adaptation of any book I'd ever write, Supertramp would have to be used at least once. Possibly twice. Especially "Goodbye Stranger" and "Breakfast in America." For some reason, as I'm researching this band, their music seems to remind me of the beat of my 2005 road trip if such a thing can be said. I understand that they ( Read more... )

Bryan (iturtle) and I caught a bunch of crappy movies at the local mega-plex the other day- Doomsday, 10,000 BC and the animated Horton Hears a Who.

Doomsday, a movie we held the most hope for, started out interestingly enough but turned into a bunch of crap. It's basically about a virus that breaks out in a Scotland of the future. In an attempt to ( Read more... )

It's that time of the year again, folks! St. Patrick's Day? Easter? Daylight Savings? The vernal equinox? International Earth Day? World Storytelling Day (This year's theme is "dreams")? Okay, yea, it's all those things, but it's also the beginning of allergy season! How do I know? Because I've been a wreck all evening. But I should be fine in a ( Read more... )