[sharonpdx]

{friday 5's ... june finals}

yippee skippee, it's friday, folks!

time for another episode of friday 5's, where i tell you five things that made me happy this week, and you read them.  [i think.]

1.  last night, at Last Thursday [which is supposed to be where you go up to Alberta St in North Portland and walk around and look at art and watch street performers and buy handmade items, but because it was raining, turned into "sit at Bink's bar, split a Tandoori Chicken pizza with Ravi, and hang out with friends for a few hours"], Emmy and Johnathan both showed up!  And, as evidence that someone reads these, after I commented on the surprise of it all [both of them!  in the same place!  hanging out with us!], Emmy said, "Hey, that should be one of your Friday 5's!"  And so it is, Em, so it is.

2.  the totally hysterical messages Mikey Lynch [and his cronies Tiffanie, Oliver, Ravi, DJ, and Lamonica] left on my voicemail last night after I [gasp!] left Bink's early [9:15 is not early, people!].  srsly, the funniest voicemail messages ever!  they were having so much fun, that when i picked up the second phone call [they were calling back because, apparently, there is a limit to how long your voicemail can be], they actually told me to hang up so they could leave another message. seems like they had as much fun recording those as I did listening ...

3.  the Portland New-in-Town Meetup groups first-ever photo scavenger hunt!  It was super, super fun!  the only sad part about it was that the entire thing was Doug's idea and he wasn't able to be there.  however, he, and and you, can live vicariously through these photos [there are more.  but people haven't sent them to me.  sigh. people.]

a sampling of the 13 things on the scavenger hunt list:

a photo of your entire team in front of the Portland sign at the Arlene Schnitzer concert hall; a photo of at least two members of your team and the words "Made in Oregon"

a photo of your entire team in front of the Portland Art Museum; a photo of your entire team on a  bridge
 

a photo of [nearly] your entire team with a Saturday Market vendor; a photo of your entire team enjoying a doughnut from Voodoo Doughnuts

 

and now for some photos not from the scavenger hunt list: the menu at Voodoo, and my voodoo-guy doughnut.  I asked, "What's his name?" and was told, "Voodoo Guy."  So, I named him Bill.  Later, someone asked who I named him after, probably [and, legitimately] assuming it was some jerk ex-boyfriend; nope, actually, he just kinda reminded me and Mike of Mr. Bill from SNL.  As in, "Oh, no, Mister Bill!"  [Suzanne, Jess, and Erin will appreciate that.]  Oh, FYI: Voodoo Guy's filled with red jam, for that oozing-blood effect. 

 

and this was pretty funny to me ... at one point, my team members stopped to take a photo of this entirely-unrelated-to-the-scavenger-hunt fish-sticking-out-of-a-wall image... and it totally cracked me up to see the influence four people looking up can have on total strangers [like the guy in the red shirt]!

the entire meetup was a blast!  We had 11 people total, and 9 of them I hadn't met before - plus, a few of them were very, very new to Portland, as in moved-here-three-days-ago new! it turned out to be, as i hoped, a great way to explore the city, interact with strangers [someone's got to operate the camera!], and meet new people - here's most of us after the two groups met back up at Pioneer Square and headed to Kell's for drinks:

Lucinda, Jeff, Sharon, Mike, Tif, Mikey Lynch, Lamonica, & Ravi.  [Shannon's behind the camera, Danny had to take off after the hunt, and we lost Jory somewhere in Saturday Market...]

4. a long bike ride along the waterfront, over the riverwalk and down the esplanade on the east side of the river earlier this week.  i'm going to get this bike thing, srsly.

5. shoot! can't decide between discovering [thanks to tif!] this fantastic crepere in NW Portland, Vivace [sitting with tif on this tiny balcony of this cute old house, enjoying Stumptown coffee and a nutella & banana crepe was a huge highlight of my week], or my super fun first knitting lesson - so, I pick them both.

It's Friday, I have a netflix envelope with Magnolia in my bag, and my mom is in town for the weekend.  Things = good.  Happy weekend, all.

{borders on the interesting. definitely funny.}

this was a fun discovery.  from May 2006:

Congressman Earl Blumenauer representing Oregon's 3rd congressional district on Colbert's "Better Know a District".  loved Steven's intro about the state, and his comment, "your obsession with bicycling borders on the interesting."  he's referring to Blumenauer's obsession, but i think the comment can be extrapolated to apply to a good portion of the Oregon population.  i mean that as a compliment. 

i found the video after following a link from this post on bikeportland.org, informing readers that Blumenauer will be at City Hall next week for "a roundtable discussion with local bike advocates and insiders."  from the post:

In addition, Blumenauer plans to share the latest on his progress to push the pedals on bike issues at the federal level. He recently got his Bike Commuter Benefits Act into the Energy Bill and is a driving force behind an effort to “Green the Capitol” by encouraging bike use and improving bike facilities.

so, bikes = good.   Colbert Report = funny.  and, in an unrelated topic, photos from Saturday's downtown photo scavenger hunt = coming soon.

{friday 5's for 6.22}

Welcome to the 6.22.07 installment of Friday 5's, where I wax poetic about the things that made me happy this week.  Why?  Because it makes me happy to do so.  [And no, that does not count as one of my five.] 

Let's jump right in, shall we?

#1 on the list this week has got to be: getting my new bicycle!  That's right, friends: I'm now the proud owner of a road bike.  All I can say about it is... it's so freaking pretty!  [Can you hear the collective groans of real cyclists?  I can.]  Seriously, it's a very slick bike... and I'm completely intimidated by it.  But, I didn't attend the PDX Women on Bikes' 3-hour "Let's Get Rollin" clinic last Saturday to let a little fear stop me [srsly.  getting past that fear is the whole point of the damn clinic.]; tomorrow morning, I'm taking it out and heading to the farmer's market on the east side - so I can 1. find a good route across town and 2. get my hands on some yummy local produce.  Sweet!

#2: breakfast with Doug before he left for an extended trip to Boston. good stuff.

#3. the girls-only happy hour last night - not by design, but the only people who showed up to 23Hoyt were me, Tif, and Lauren [whom I hadn't seen in forever].  3 girls + 3 cosmos each = slightly tipsy fun!

#4. signing up for knitting classes at Knit Purl.  I'm super excited!  Four weeks of classes, beginning next Wednesday.  I found a pattern for a scarf using Rowan Big Wool and huge, 15mm needles - I'm told this will be an easy way to start.  Good.  Did I mention I'm also learning how to ride a road bike?

#5.  the summer solstice...  what's not to love about the longest day of the year? 

And now I need to go clean up the post-pizza-making mess in my kitchen; I'm meeting a friend who's leaving Portland [who does that?] for a drink soon, and there are vegetables everywhere.  I am nothing if not a very messy cook.

are you freaking kidding us with this, TSA?

stupid TSA.

http://consumerist.com/consumer/terror-granny/grandmother-busted-by-the-tsa-for-trying-to-sneak-a-bread-knife-past-security-271446.php

I don't even care about the details surrounding her race, gender, or procreational status (grandmother, not a grandmother, whatevz)... if a TSA agent told me "you are now considered a terrorist," I think I would laugh in his face.  And then yeah, I'd call the press, too. 

this week's installment of Friday 5's coming soon.

{introducing: friday 5's}

I love Friday.  It's my favorite day of the week. [I know for a fact I've already mentioned that somewhere on this blog but am far too lazy to go find & link to it - it's Friday.]  I love the almost-but-not-quite-the-weekend mystique of it all... the fact that you can get away with leaving work a little bit earlier than usual, and stay up later than you normally would on a "school night". 

Though you can't tell [becuase my blog neglect borders on the why-the-hell-is-she-still-paying-for-a-typepad-subscription], I get my strongest urge to blog on Friday afternoons.  So, I'm introducing Friday 5's - which, for right now, means I'll list five things that made me happy this week.

Friday 5's for 6/11/07 week [inagural post]
Five things that made me happy this week...

• the Education & Training dept dinner & a movie night last night - five girls, a new-t0-us Thai food restaurant on NE Broadway, and a 7pm showing of Ocean's Thirteen... so fun!
• training phase 7 of the seven-phase system rollout we began six months ago... man, when we piloted this back in January, the idea of doing that same training 7 more times did not sit well with me; however, truth be told, on Monday i was feeling a little sad that this was my last one.  but, the end of this phase means the end of my straddling both my old and new positions - and lets me start putting some of the stuff i learned at the ASTD conference last week to use. 
• hearing from my mom that she's coming to Portland for a visit at the end of the month.  Girl time galore!  I'm so excited.
• looking at my calendar and seeing ... nothing.  well, not technically nothing.  but, no work-related trips.  at all.  for the first time in four years.  last week at happy hour, my friend Ravi asked, "What are you going to do, now that you're not traveling for work?" my reply: "I'm going to do the exact same thing three weeks in a row.  I'm not sure what that will be, but I'm going to do it three weeks in a row."   
• the fact that, at 5pm, the sun finally peeked out from behind the clouds for the first time today.