Things to Catch Up On

I'm not sure how the days have passed so quickly and how exactly I got so behind in my blogging. Yeah, I know. I haven’t written anything lately. I haven’t had that much to talk about. But here are a few highlights.

1. Iditarod. Lance Mackey won his third consecutive Iditarod at 11:38 March 18th. Congratulations to Mr. Mackey. What a feat. My gal Rachael ended up number 45th. Since she had been running around 50th place for most of the race, that’s pretty darned good. I always enjoy the two weeks of following the Iditarod. I have to say that I was REALLY annoyed that none of the online news groups that I check had anything to say about the race one way or another. That just sucks. They talked about how one of the stupid reality shows is actually fixed. Are there people out there that really didn’t know that already?

2. Car. Cars suck. Mine started shimmying and bucking on Saturday and I had to take it in for service. Turns out the COP coil had failed. I don’t know what a COP coil is or where it is or what it does, but I can tell you it costs about $350 to fix. Then they told me the wrong spark plugs were put in by the other dealer I usually go to because it's close to work and they have a free shuttle so I had to take it over there and have them look at it only to tell me they were fine. Whatever. It was a pain.

3. Taxes. Taxes are done! Got ‘em in on March 14th. You’ll note that is one day prior to my deadline, so if I ever get over to updating my 101 in 1001 page again, there is something I can cross off! I’m getting a refund, too. Woo hoo! Well, woo hoo briefly, because I just had to give it to the stupid Ford place, but woo hoo a little, anyway.

4. Letterboxing. I took my co-worker Miss Marple to her first gathering on the Ides of March. Coincidentally, the name of the gathering was Beware the Ides of March. I think she thinks we are all a bunch of loons and we totally overwhelmed her. Man, she is quick on solving puzzles and great to have around if you need to have roman numerals translated! She will be a great addition to the northwest letterboxing teams. Oh, and I have some pictures I need to post, too.

Aside from introducing a newbie to the insanity, we got boxes, too! Woo hoo! And Maiden passed on this amazing box to us. We are 4/5ths of the way to having it solved and still have a week to go. Keep your fingers crossed. I’ll have to email the owner and ask if I can post pictures here of it because it is an amazing box.

5. Floor. Stupid floor. How long have I been talking about getting it fixed? Too long. Anyway, it was almost a year ago that The Big Flood happened and we are just now getting the floor ready to tear out the old stuff and put down the new stuff. We don’t like to rush into anything, you know.

6. Plays. My theater buddy, Julie, and I went to see A Flea in Her Ear at Lakewood Theater. The play was very good, but was completely overshadowed by the fact that my favorite restaurant was gone! Whenever we have a play in Lake Oswego Julie and I go to Speedy Linguini’s for their spicy chicken. There is nothing better than spicy chicken, let me tell you. It’s this nummy spicy alfredo sauce served over tri-colored linguini noodles. Anyway, we ALWAYS go there before our plays because we love it. Greg & I used to go there for lunch back when I worked at Rainbow Travel. But when I drove up there last time, the place was EMPTY! No sign, no furniture, no nothing. It was heartbreaking. I LOVED that place. I feel totally betrayed that I wasn’t personally informed that they were going to close. Sigh.

7. Grey hair. How the heck did I get so many grey hairs? I had one or two at my temples a couple of months ago and now they are everywhere! It’s like they come in fully formed, too. I find these long ones and could swear they weren’t there yesterday. I don’t think grey hair grows in, I think the hair actually turns colors.

8. Stress. I just have too much going on. Work is starting to get crazy with budget stuff, things at home are about to get crazy with the financial stuff and the floors and everything else. My latest fantasy is that I get a hotel room all to my self for a week where I can do whatever I want: sleep, do puzzles, organize my letterboxing stuff, do crafts, watch tv…whatever strikes my fancy.

So there you have it. An update on my life. Pretty boring, huh?

Iditarod XXXVII

The Iditarod started on Saturday. Did you pick your musher yet? This year I'm rooting for Rachael Scdoris. Here's what it says on the official Iditarod site about her:

Rachael Scdoris, 24, was born in Oregon and graduated from Redmond High School in 2003. She says her occupation is sled dog racer and tour operator. Rachael was born with Congenital Achromatopsia, a rare vision disorder. She is colorblind and her acuity is 20/200. She is extremely light sensitive. She is a member of the Central Oregon Resources for Independent Living and the United States Association of Blind Athletes. Rachael was honored by the Women's Sports Foundation in New York City as one of the top women athletes in America. She served as Captain of her high school track and cross country teams. Rachael has been mushing since she was three years old and finished her first Iditarod in 2006. She says, "I love everything about dog mushing--working with dogs in the outdoors, the competition, and the ability to use all of my past experiences to improve my team. The Iditarod embodies all these things." Rachael enjoys "anything outdoors not involving a ball."

At the moment, Day 3 of the race, she is in 55th place. I'm so amazed that this woman is for all intents and purposes blind, yet she has run the Iditarod several times. Go Rachael!

Hello, Anyone There?

Okay, I know I haven't been really good about updating my blog lately, but is anyone out there even reading my Random Thoughts any more? I haven't had any comments in ages!

And while I may be a slacker and not write for a week or so, I'm not like most of the other people I know, Deb excluded, who go WEEKS and MONTHS and sometimes over a YEAR without updating their blog. Or, like one individial who will remain unnamed, but her initals are L.I., refuse to start a blog to keep us all updated on her very interesting life.

There, did I guilt you into commenting? Or updating your blog? Or starting a blog? Or anything?

Hey, did you know that if you scroll down my page a little ways there's a widget there that will allow you to follow my blog? Then you get notified when I update it. Takes all the work out of it. And it makes me feel loved. Or at least somewhat liked.

WRITE IN YOUR BLOG, PEOPLE!

No soda

So I’ve gone 13 days with no pop. I’ve done pretty well so far and have only missed it once or twice. Like when someone opens a can of it near me. Then my salivary glands go all haywire.

I guess giving it up every year is getting easier and easier. I did have a killer headache last week that kept me home and in bed all day, but I don’t think it was from diet Coke withdrawal. Overload of drama, maybe. There is too much sh*t going on around here.

Happy Birthday Percy!

March 4th marked the 1 year anniversary of Percy coming to live at work with me. I thought I’d show you how much he has grown and changed in that year.

Here he is as a little tadpole.


Wow, his rock looks younger, too!

Here's the shot where you can really see the changes in size and coloring.

And here is he on March 4th. In all his purple and pink splendor.

Showing off those red fins.

I'm just a cool fish. Yeah, I might look kinda girly, but I can kick your ass!

Yes, he has purple rocks in his tank. What can I say?

Isn’t he handsome?

Percy remains quite the conversation starter at my desk. Just about everyone that comes in my department stops to see him. He greets everyone with a flare of his beautiful fins and regularly delights those that get to feed him. Apparently we are easily entertained here in the finance department.

Watch the Birdie!

Friday was such a beautiful day that I couldn’t stand to stay in for lunch. So I went out…and got a couple of letterboxes. My first letterboxes of 2009! How sad is that? Two months in and I finally get 3 boxes.

Anyway, it was so beautiful out that I had to go letterboxing. I started at the Troutdale Boardwalk (Bellingham Neighborhood Park, which is this little wetland area over across from Mt. Hood Community College), where I found a very nice box (in a place where it isn’t going to last) and while I was stamping in saw a Pileated Woodpecker (I didn't know at the time that was what he was, but my friend Diane the bird watcher was able to help me figure it out). He was gorgeous. I reached for my camera that I always carry for just such occasions and realized I had left it in the car. I was so mad at myself. But here is an image I took off Google of what one looks like. We’ll pretend he was my woodpecker.

He was a brave guy. It didn’t really bother him that I was walking by about 4 feet from him.

I didn’t see this view, but it’s pretty funny.

I think I'll go back again and see if I can find him and get his picture.

I love that there are signs of spring coming out all over!