Category: Uncategorized

We did fun stuff!

This morning we got up very early (for the weekend) and drove around until our tummies grumbled enough to send us to Chace’s Pancake Corral in Bellevue. Best. Breakfast. Ever! I had sourdough pancakes and they were totally awesome.

After that we went in search of a curvy road. I’d been scouting some out on Google Maps for future motorcycle riding and since we were already across the lake we decided to go check one of them out. We drove and drove and eventually found our target: Brew Road! Unfortunately Brew Road turned out to be a service road that was closed, but it wouldn’t have worked anyway. We did find a great 7 mile drive through the forest though, so that was cool.

Along the drive the road went right under some high tension power lines so I stopped the car so we could hear the buzzing. I had heard the buzzing before and thought it was cool. This time though we heard crackling. Crackling like you see in mad scientist movies when there is so much power that it wants to jump right out of the wires and kill you. I have to admit… it was pretty creepy.

So then later we did some nothing.

And then we decided to go try one of the highest rated Mongolian BBQ places in the city: Changs in Renton. It sucked. Specifically, there were no extras to snack on, lame noodles, boring and very watered down sauces, small beers and unskilled cooks. I won’t go back.

During the meal we decided to make it out mission to try every Mongolian place that Yelp lists until we find one that’s good. So that’s what we’re gonna do. Also, gain 20 pounds.

So, enjoy my Mongolian BBQ page.

And then we went and saw Ironman and it was really good. It was way more funny than I expected and the whole thing was just excellent entertainment. Make sure you stay till the end of the credits.

Once again, and completely on schedule, I have become older.

I had a really laid back but excellent birthday. Lots of happy birthday wishes from everyone and Courtney hooked me up with all kinds of awesome loot. The best of the batch is that she got me a really nice blender which I’ve wanted for quite a while. Now I can make my own smoothies instead of paying $47 each at the place down the street. Mmmmm….

I also got a new Fruit Fucker shirt, a variety of excellent snacks and tickets to see Ladytron! Woot! She knows me. She does.

Aside from that, the festivities were light. I am working on a new side project and it’s taking all my night time so I didn’t really have time to go out and party or anything.

Except a bit… My friend Tony was in town for a few days for a conference, so we hung out with him a bit at the Owl and Thistle which is a nice dive type of Irish pub downtown. We kept it pretty tame though.

And that’s about it! Now I’m 31. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I think I’ve used that title before.

So, I’ve a few things to report!

I’ve switched to WordPress and I really like it a lot so far. I made my own theme that looks pretty much like my old site which is pretty cool. The theme is widget aware and all that bullshit so yea.

Also, we’ve started using EchoVNC at work which is a relay server enabled suite of VNC programs. The relay server makes it so you don’t have to punch firewall holes and forward ports and all that shit. You run the relay server out on the Internets somewhere and both clients and servers attach to it to set up connections. It’s a great idea, and a great, free, open alternative to LogMeIn. Free for 4 users, that is. After that it’s $300 but well worth it! Check it out at Echogent.

Also! When we moved to Seattle we slowly started to notice that all our towels stunk. Hand towels used in the kitchen especially. After a day or two and having gotten wet they stunk awfully. It finally got to be unbearable so I did a bunch of research a few weeks ago and eventually bought a tub of powder from Smelly Washer and it’s totally awesome. Everything smells good again! Kind of mundane, I know, but when your towels smell so bad that you end up using paper towels when you get out of the shower then something’s gotta be done.

Okay, now for actual non-advertisement stuff!

Last weekend Courtney and I drove up to Bellingham to meet some Fazers and it was a great time. Midge, a Fazer from Glasgow was in Vancouver visiting family and wanted to get together with some people and it turned into a little gathering. We met up with him and 3 other Fazers at Boundary Bay and had a blast.

Let’s see… Oh, we went and saw Serj Tankian at The Showbox Sodo and that rocked. He put on a hell of a show. Highly recommended. That was also our first time to the Sodo location and I liked it a lot. Really big and open, but easy to get around. I just got tickets to see Coheed and Cambria there yesterday too. Woo!

What else? We’ve got tickets and reservations and all that to go to Tulsa in April for Ryan and Megan’s wedding, and then I’m gonna fly up to KC for a few days to hang out with the peeps I still know there. Seems like almost everyone moved away!

Oh yea, and we had Courtney’s birthday at The Garage with a ton of her friends from work and that was cool too. The Garage is a cool bar/bowling alley/pool hall in Capitol Hill. Kinda crowded but nice. It still blows me away a little every time I wander through a bar and see lots of people drinking and partying and not a single cigarette. It’s so awesome.

I think that’s all for now.

I decided to go whole hog and attempt to write a WordPress theme that emulated my old site. You see before you the results. Do me a favor and let me know if you notice anything seriously broken.

Welcome to my new and improved site! I got sick of maintaining my own (not very good) blog software so I decided to convert to WordPress. I have many years of junk piled up and I’ve been getting it all moved over, so if you notice a broken link please feel free to let me know.

I already know that any links to old pictures (before I used Flickr) are broken. I’m working on trying to fix those.

My site! She is empty!

So, my car got broken in to Friday. They stole my Valentine 1 and my Nuvi 350. That sucked.

And we had a lot of fun at The Garage for Courtney’s birthday festivities on Saturday night!

Woo!

Vehicle stop for traffic offense results in meth-related arrest

Published: Friday, February 8, 2008 12:14 PM CST
For the Daily Gate City

The Lee County Narcotics Task Force reported the arrest of a Keokuk man on a felony drug charge.

Chris-topher A. Matous, 23, 3000 S. Seventh St., was charged with conspiracy to manufacture less than five grams of methamphetamine, a Class C felony. If convicted, Matous could face up to 10 years in a state correctional facility.

The arrest stems from an investigation by the task force into allegations Matous was involved in the manufacture of methamphetamine in the Keokuk area.

He was arrested Thursday following a traffic stop for a driving offense by Keokuk police. Investigators later searched the vehicle and found items that indicated the manufacture of and/or use of methamphetamine.

Task force Commander Dave Hinton said Matous had a knife in his possession. Matous was taken to the Lee County Jail pending an initial court appearance.

Matous also was charged with driving under suspension and operating while intoxicated.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office also assisted with the investigation.

Matous is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The Lee County Narcotics Task Force is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Justice and funds administered by the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy.

And the first comment on the article…

Boo….the Boogeyman strikes again wrote on Feb 8, 2008 1:55 PM:
” hmmmm….Under 5 grams which could be .01 gram to .499 grams. Pretty small amount…IIn the worse case scenario, ts still about 2 years in prison a gram. So add up the total LOSS to society (40,000 a year per inmate for 10 years=400,000 plus trial, medical care, public defender, jail services, court services, police services…it probably adds up to a half million dollar waste of tax payer funds). What a waste, I guarantee you that no one in this world would have ever spent half a million on Mr Matous or his family to HELP them yet we’ll spend like crazy to condemn them.

A knife…BOO… there’s the meth boogeyman again. Of course it could have been completely legal to have the knife since I didn’t see where they had charged hm with a weapons offense. The police are trying to scare you. Maybe it was a pocketknife (i carry one of those) or a kitchen knife. BOO…do they report on everyone they arrest and the contents of their pockets….?

How about a drug dversion program for Mr Matous? Maybe we could spend some cash and help the Matous family rather than throw them away. Ths meth thng is out of control and I don’t mean its use or manufacture, as bad as it may be. Let’s stop the punitive enforcement of draconian laws concerning drugs. Let’s recall law enforcement’s reckless pursuit of drug offenses and replace them with a more measured response. Let’s make sure that police administators quit perpetuating myths and misconceptons. We always hear about the social costs of meth….lets hear about the costs of meth related law enforcement in terms of money, time and lives. Maybe those resources could be better spent elsewhere (schools, housing, heath care). “

Phrases from this Cracked.com article that I want to remember to use in casual conversation.

Regarding the word “Alligator”: Because it’s hard to imagine what people called them before then. We figure cries of “Ye Gods, watch out for that Chompapottamus!” were much more common in those days.

Regarding the word “epileptic”: He was a poet, an actor, and a doctor?! It makes us wonder if Shakespeare might have invented other afflictions that didn’t catch on, like tuberculasers or genital slurpees.

I’m glad I’m not a superstar. If I had to go to rehab every time I’ve gotten drunk in public and made a fool out of myself I’d never have any time to drink!