Awesome 80's TV

I'm not much of a tv freak, it's good for sports and The Daily Show. That said, we all have our favorite 80's television show. For me it's a no-brainer: Airwolf.



ZAM!

Where else can you find Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, radical music, and a black Supercopter that can achieve mach speeds?!?! Nowhere!

Interesting fact: According to Wikipedia, after the show ended, the helicopter used for filming was sold to a German hospital to be used as an ambulance helicopter. Death machine turned lifesaver: fitting.

This is always a fun game: What's your favorite 80's show? So many choices...

The Fabulous Life of John McCain

Recently while campaigning in California a local reporter by the name of Wisckol had the opportunity to ask John McCain some questions. Most of it was pretty ho-hum, normal stuff, until this exchange:

WISCKOL: I’d like to ask you a couple questions suggested by voters here. They’re not reporter-type questions.

McCAIN: Sure. It’d be a pleasure.

WISCKOL: When was the last time you pumped your own gas and how much did it cost?

McCAIN: Oh, I don’t remember. Now there’s Secret Service protection. But I’ve done it for many, many years. I don’t recall and frankly, I don’t see how it matters.

To be honest, this doesn't really matter. McCain's right, he does have Secret Service protection and while campaigning it's not far-fetched that he rarely if ever has time to himself to drive around and need gas. Anyhow, as Mr. Benen points out at The Carpetbagger Report, his outrageous policy positions on the Gas Tax Holiday, off-shore drilling, and a battery reward are far more important and deserving of scrutiny.
This exchange does highlight one thing: Barack Obama is not the "elitist" in this presidential campaign (Google "Obama elitist" and you get 1.6 million hits).

Obama, before becoming a politician was a community organizer and a professor. With the exception of his book profits, he is very much of the middle class.

McCain, on the other hand, left his first wife to marry a $100 million dollar woman. They have so many properties, seven to be exact, that they forgot to pay taxes on one of them.

So Obama is a professor and McCain is a multimillionaire who doesn't know the price of a gallon of gas. Chew on that for a second... now that that second is over, enjoy this little video:

It's Official

After a five hour flight across the country, a two hour bus ride to New York City, a 17 hours flight to South Africa, and a four hour bus ride to Swaziland, she has arrived.

Serena is in her new home.

Gardening: Two Stories

As my faithful readers know I built raised beds in my family's garden and have begun gardening at the community garden here in La Grande. Both have been huge successes.

Part One: Family Garden

Check out the link above to see the before picture from March and then enjoy the current picture below. The place looks amazing. You see peas all over the place (they are about ready to be harvested), beans, lettuce, onion, squash, flowers, cucumber, and tomato. In the background, too far away for sight, there are eggplant, zucchini, and peppers. It's beautiful.


*Included in the picture is my dad going to check the venison hamburgers he was grilling for dinner. They were yummy, super lean, and hormone-free.

Part Two: Community Garden

After another afternoon of work and an evening of planting my community garden plot has come to life. Below you will see the beans are up, planted in a rectangle. Within the rectangle are three tomato plants. In the foreground you can see two squash, three tomatoes, cucumber, and I've planted zucchini and leek seeds. Delicious.

West Coast aka Best Coast

My good friend, blogging inspiration, and ever-present online addict Margot has joined the brilliant and beautiful people who populate the Best Coast*.

Welcome!

She and her mother made the drive in an impressive three and a half days. That's a trip that used to take (from Missouri, not New Jersey) five to six months and has enough awesome things to do along the way that Serena and I took six weeks. Impressive.

Unfortunately she has decided to inhabit the one place we all (us West Coasters and especially Oregonians) kind of raise our collective noses to: Los Angeles. Too big, too much concrete, and too much traffic. But, she has to be there to pursue her desired career so an exception will be made: I'm happy to have her!

Funny story illustrating Oregon's superior status: Californians are notorious for moving to Oregon to get out of the rat race that is urban California. At one point in the late 90's U-Haul trucks cost double when rented for use from Los Angeles to Oregon. For a rental from Oregon to Los Angeles? Free. They were giving the things away because all of them were stuck in Oregon and then they had to pay drivers to take them back to southern California!

*For those of you not dialed in, the West Coast is the best and our communal creativity utilized the word "best" due to its rhyming qualities with "west." Astute, no?

The Return

It's about time. I've spent the last few days since Serena's Departure putzing around the house, playing chess, cleaning my room, playing soccer and golf, gardening, etc etc. Nothing of note.

Today a good friend asked about the blog and said, "You can't write without your muse?" My first thought was, "Cool, she said muse." My second thought was, "Sorta." But, I promised her I'd be writing, so write I will.

Enjoy.

S.A.D.

Serena's

Airplane

Departed.

Riddle Me This

This is real random: I bought Serena a headlamp for her big Peace Corps adventure. So as not to leave her with the hardware without energy (apparently the batteries in Swaziland blow) I was going to buy her batteries, but came to find out they were really expensive: $8 for two at Bi-Mart (for you East Coasters, Bi-Mart is a big box store like Wal-Mart but employee owned). I started poking around and found a pack of two for $3 at Office Max. Neither was on sale, both were name brand (Energizer vs Duracell). Wtf? Any ideas?

John McCain Being Two John McCains

John McCain's habit of taking both sides of an issue will become a prominent campaign theme. John McCain has taken both sides of so many different (and important) issues that no one knows what he really stands for. Here's a clip from The Cafferty File (CNN) reviewing where McCain has consistently been inconsistent:



It mattered to Republicans in 2004 when they loved chanting "Flip Flop" about John Kerry. They ate that shit up. Let's see if the party shows any backbone by turning McCain off as he now flip flops. My guess is that they have no integrity and will continue to support a guy who stands for nothing.

Thanks to the Carpetbagger!

Chess

Of the online variety.

Nerdy.

Yes.

Sophisticated?

Justification.

My friend over at Life's More Real got me started and now I'm hooked. At least for now. Can you be temporarily hooked?

Kids Can Be Funny

This morning as I lounge around the house Serena's little brother came up with a good one. He is six years old and, in an attempt to honor America's ever-capitalistic ways, trying to make some money. He asked his mom to pay him... for getting along with his sister.

I love it.

UPDATE: His sister is now trying to get him to do her chores. In return she'll pay him. She says, "If you help I'll give you two dollars." To which he insists, "I want two quarters." Evidently he hasn't bought into the whole monetary system yet.

I still love it.

UPDATE Part II: He just told his sister, "I don't need to help you fold clothes, I'm getting paid to get along with Cody (his little brother)." Hooray for diverse money streams!

Summer Plans

It's probably far too early to begin thinking about what I'll do during the summer while I'm teaching, but let's dream a bit. Two thoughts so far:

• Open a "Local Foods Market." I'd be getting out of school just as local foods are readying then, by miracle of the seasons, I'd be going back to work right about the time the growing season starts to wind down (Truth be told, however, there would still be plenty of food left to harvest. I'd have to figure that out.). The market would be a way local growers could sell their products above and beyond the farmers market. As you know, I've been inspired to grow and eat local foods, so what better way to embody that than by helping others have access to local food. As Ghandi said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
• Start a "Green Lawn Care" business. The service would provide lawn care for folks in a way that emits no green house gases. How?!?! The work would be done with push mowers and hand tools: no fossil fuels. If we needed something that runs off electricity it could powered by solar chargers. Furthermore, we'd travel around town by bicycle so as to eliminate fossil fuel use. As people become more aware of their carbon footprint, here would be an option to reduce their impact.

Or I could sit around, play golf, travel, or generally play... it's a good thing I'm weighing my options early.

Quoted in Boston

I didn't do much of a recap of my trip up the east coast and, to be honest, I probably won't. But, I stumbled across this gem of a quote that I heard while in Boston. Here's the scene: I was wandering around the north side of the Boston Commons when an open air tour bus passed by. The tour guide was rambling and the tourists sat inside enjoying the history lesson. Then this from the guide:

Mary was a Quaker, not a cracker like us.

Thanks for the clarification. Yikes.

Allergies Blooooooooooooow

Everyone is at the bar and I'm at home sneezing, wheezing, sniffling, rubbing my eyes, and generally feeling like a half-sick, all-exhausted Gross-O. Nobody wants that guy around and, to be honest, I don't want to be around me either. Nothing is funny, nothing is enjoyable, all I'm worried about is not dripping snot or drooling (as I breath through my mouth). All around UGH.

I need to live in a dessert... without flowering plants.

Yesterday was even worse when my eye swelled up from allergies.


Tell me I'm beautiful.

Favorite Recipes: HELP NEEDED

Inspired by a comment I made in response to a post over at margottobed (did that make sense?) I've decided to actively compile a list of recipes of favorite food dishes. To get the ball rolling, here's one of my favorites:

Ingredients: Zucchini, Big Onion, Tomato, Garlic clove (or two... or three), Olive Oil

Prep: Slice zucchini into 1/8" think circles. Slice onions the long way. Chop up tomato. Mince garlic.

• Heat the pan and put in olive oil. When hot, saute zucchini until browned then remove from heat.
  
• Add a bit more olive oil and saute onions. I prefer them less cooked, but some people really dislike raw onion so saute to taste at this step.
• Add garlic for a bit (minute or less).
  
• Return zucchini to pan and add tomato. Add any seasoning you like, even as simple as salt and pepper. Do not cook very long at this stage as the tomatoes are best without much time in the pan.
  

Delicious!

Now it's your turn. What's a favorite recipe or food that I should learn to make? Any meal of the day, any type of dish, it's all fair game. Go.

Farmers Market Bonanza

This morning Serena and I rode our bicycles to the Corvallis Farmer's Market to pick up some delicious food. We did it because it's good for the local farmers, as my friend Erin describes, good for the environment, and good for our bodies. Plus, by riding our bicycles and buying local food, our carbon footprint is small! Hooray!

Maybe the best part, however, is that the food tasted amazing. Right when we got home I whipped up some eggs, toast, and strawberries for breakfast. I never knew because I rarely eat locally-raised, free range eggs, but they honestly taste exponentially better.

Then the strawberries. Ooooohhh the strawberries. This was the first bunch of local strawberries I have had this year and it brought front and center just how much better local (ripe) strawberries are compared to their store-bought (white and over sized) counterparts. More than any fruit strawberries improve the most when they are fully ripe. Am I right?

So, three cheers for farmer's markets and healthy, tasty food!

Community Garden

Today was productive: bike ride in the morning, errands in the middle of the day, worked in the community garden in the evening.

Recently, after reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, I've been on a kick to eat more vegetables and less meat, especially stuff that's organic and grown more locally. It's a sobering book describing the rise in processed food consumption since World War II and the simultaneous and significant increase in health problems facing our society (heart, obesity, etc). He convincingly argues this is no coincidence. I highly recommend the book.

Anyhow, as a result I'm excited to grow some of my own food. It's relatively easy, cheap, and better for my health and that of the environment. My dad keeps a nice garden at home, but I'm also participating in the community garden. It's a place where anyone can develop a plot of land to produce their own food. Today Serena and I spent a little more than a hour turning a grassy area into a raised bed. Below you can see me planting beans (look closely and you can even see the little beans in the row!), but also note the raised bed that I built!


All this left me marveling over seeds. Here are these little things that hang out until they're planted and the germination is activated. My dad relayed a story about a professor at Michigan State who started researching how long seeds will "hibernate" and still grow viable plants. Apparently the answer is more than a century. Astounding.

Bike Ride

This morning I woke up bright and early to join three other guys for a ride. After a few days of ugliness, the new day welcomed us with sun and 70 degree weather. I rode today not just for the exercise, but because the guy who got me into racing is moving and this was our last chance to ride together.

Anyhow, these guys are studs (former semi-pro, current semi-pro, and college distance runner)... and I haven't been on the bike for more than a month. I caught a beat down early and often. We warmed up with ten miles and I was already sweating. Then time for interval training: 2.5 miles on (sprinting), 2.5 miles off. I felt like I was going to puke/vomit/upchuck/ralph-gurgitate (all your favorite synonym in comments).

After the intervals we rode another ten or twelve miles. That part was easy until they kept riding faster and faster as we neared the end of the ride. Finally they dropped me and I shamefully rolled in after them. As they chatted it up I laid on the ground feeling (insert favorite synonym here).

And that is how I started my day.

Brrrrrrrr

Yesterday we woke up to snow.

Yes, you read right: We woke up to snow.

For only the second time since the National Weather Service has been measuring snowfall, La Grande received measurable amounts of snow. It snowed in the morning and as the precipitation in the valley turned to rain during the day, it continued to snow in the mountains. In fact, where Serena and I went to see the Oregon Trail ruts only two days ago, eight full inches fell.

That's enough for a respectable snowman.

Below is a photo of Mt. Emily, the mountain that stands guard north of La Grande. You can see the green pastures in the foreground and the slopes in the background. Though chilly for this time of year, the snow certainly gives the mountain a beautiful coat.

His Strength?

McCain is a joke. Here is a guy who says foreign policy is his biggest strength yet he doesn't know how many troops are involved in the Iraq surge, whether al Qaeda in Iraq is Shia or Sunni, or whether Iran is involved in Iraq. Now, apparently, he doesn't know that Vladamir Putin is from Russia and that he is Prime Minister, not president.



Do we seriously what another Bush-like presidency?

When You Think of Oregon...

... you think of the Oregon Trail.

It's been years since I have visited the actual Oregon Trail and it's something that Serena has never done, so off we went today on an expedition to see the actual trail. That's right, it exists in real life beyond the confines of your hard drive. Within miles of my hometown you can actually see wagon ruts from the original settlers.

At the right you can see one of the best-worn sections of the trail. It is tough to see from the picture, but the "road" is more than a foot below the prevailing ground level. Furthermore, the sides are significantly built up from, what the guide says, is the result of years of emigrants moving rocks out of the way and piling them up on the side of the road.

Below you see me wandering down a stretch of the Oregon Trail where they allow folks to walk. You can see actual wheel ruts and can truly visualize the wagons laboring up the hills.


Speaking of laboring, here's your fun fact about the Oregon Trail that I learned today: The wagons tipped over easily. As a result the emigrants had to go straight up and down hills or else they would "crash." In the Blue Mountains, where I live, it was said that sometimes it took 22 head of oxen to get up the steepest hills.

Hypermiling

Clear, first-hand proof that sane driving saves the world (and makes you and your neighbors more safe).

3 Rivers Bike Ride

Each year a group of local folks puts on the 3 Rivers Bike Ride event to raise money to help women in abusive relationships. It's a great cause and my family and I try and play a part. This year had a bicycling team with the goal of completing the 65 mile loop. I was going to ride the whole way and my mom, dad, and Serena were going to join for different sections. The plan worked like clockwork, the rain held off, and a good time was had by all... except my butt.

After years of cycling, thousands of miles, a variety of chamoises, and different seats, my butt still hurts after more than just a couple hours in the saddle. Wtf?

McCain the Copycat

Copycats, are we?

Barack Obama's logo:


John McCain's "new" logo for the "Decision Center" on his website:


Barack Obama's slogan:

"Change We Can Believe In."

John McCain's "new" slogan for the "Decision Center" on his website:

"A Leader We Can Believe In."

Same colors. Same red and white stripes. Same blue background. Same words. Apparently the McCain camp isn't too original, but that's rich. Wow.

Ear Candling

Yesterday Serena and I decided to try ear candling. Ear candling is a process whereby a hollow candle is inserted in the ear and then lit. The heat from the candled combined with the seal between the ear and the candle's base is alleged to create a vacuum that pulls ear wax out of the ear canal. We had heard about it a year ago but after some quick internetting had concluded the whole business was bogus. On the airplane ride back to Oregon from the east coast, however, I met a guy and his wife who swore by them; said it cured his ear infection. I promised him we'd give it a try.

True to form, the local natural food store had candles in stock. We scooped up four--one for each of our ears--and headed home for some good old fashion ear cleaning.

Serena went first:


I went second:


Our candles ended up "removing" exactly the same amount of wax. Everyone knows that Serena has waxier ears that I, so that signaled the first alarm (or second considering The Internet said it was bunk). The third candle was sacrificed in the name of science. We burned it propped on a ceramic plate to see how much, if any, wax it could extract from the plate. Sure enough there was exactly the same amount of wax "removed" from the plate as was "removed" from our ears.

It doesn't even feel good.

Ear candling=fraud.

I feel like a MythBuster.

Womp

This made me lol.
Less the sound, I just love that the site exists.

What are some other random beauties out there?

Perfect Commuter Bike

I need help.

I want to make a list of characteristics that would describe the perfect commuter bike, so I'm turning to you, My Vast Readership.

That means I need comments on this one. Don't be shy. Yes, I'm talking to you. And you. Read, think, comment, go.

I'm not going to give examples because I want everyone going into this with unadulterated creativity. So, what would a bike be like that is perfect for commuting? For those of you who don't ride bikes much, what kind of things would make a bike an attractive form of transportation?

Thank you (in advance)!

Nogas

I have friends who are Thinkers: folks that sit around and philosophize about this, that, and the other thing. I love and admire that trait. For some reason my mind doesn't work like that. My thoughts most often come in the form of reading rather than calling upon my thoughts to wander. To each his own, right?

Well, I'm happy to report that one idea keeps popping into my head: Nogas.

It's a town.

I image the plans of a town where no gasoline is used, rather transportation is by bike, foot, and silent propulsion like electric vehicles. The layout would be around a central area for recreation and commercial activity. High density housing would allow for shortened commuting: without excessive sprawl a bicycle would be extremely fast. The town would thrive on green industry and tourism. Quality of life would soar with a physically fit population. The city would be full of sounds of people and nature rather than rushing cars. With no transportation emissions and significant green electricity development, air quality would be fantastic.

Certainly there are some flaws with the town, like saddle sores and disposing of old walking shoes, but nothing that can't be handled.

Would you join me in Nogas?