Rock! Death! America!
Littering our noise on the Earth
Archive for May, 2007
May 31, 2007 at 1:34 pm · Filed under Beer, Hockey
D and I spent the evening looking for a suitable sports pub so we could hook up with Jelly’s cousin and watch a Stanley Cup game.
We started close to home with Sinnott’s Lil’ Cooperstown. We got there in time for the last 2 minutes of the first period and a score of 0-0. The cook kept messing with the television and we lived in fear of him changing the channel on us. All in all, nice place, no other hockey fans, decent whiskey sour and draft selection.
We arrived at A & L Pub at the start of the second period. Two random fans were watching, and we sipped our pints and took in the game. Real nice draft selection, not so much on the happy hour pricing. Not too bad of a place to watch, though where we sat had a bit of a sun glare and there weren’t enough people to make it noisy so the five-some near us at the pool tables were festively obnoxious.
Scoreboard was next, and the second period was nearly over and the game was still tied at nothing. I expected more from this bar, but it seemed like a place for sad sorts of regulars and the sports theme is an afterthought. It was the only place we didn’t get carded. We drank up quickly and moved on.
We made our way into Claudia’s midway through the third period with a score still set to zero. There was a sizeable and vocal crowd watching the game, so we ordered our pint (Lagunitas Maximus!) and rum and coke and fries and sat down. D took a ten-100 just in time to miss the only goal of the game (Go Ducks! Up 2-0!!). Claudia’s ended up being our favorite, simply for the atmosphere and number of televisions, as well as the good food and pint selection and friendly service.
We stumbled strolled down Hawthorne and got an ice cream (cinnamon bun!) before heading home for bed. And I didn’t even throw up! A miracle!
May 23, 2007 at 7:31 am · Filed under Hockey
Though last night’s game six nearly gave us heart failure, the Ducks managed to beat the hated Redwings to move on to the Stanley Cup! I would have been happy to see anyone beat the Redwings and move on, and I’m doubly happy that I have a team I care enough about to root for in the finals, as well as a team they are playing that I don’t despise, so if Ottawa wins, I won’t be totally crushed.
Perhaps I shouldn’t let hockey games run my emotions…and I’ll work on the run-on sentences. 
May 18, 2007 at 3:04 pm · Filed under Books
I’ve always been one to read a book I loved again and again rather than take the risk of reading something new. I spent most of the summers of my youth at my local library - a mere three block walk from my house. I can only begin to guess the number of times I read the Chronicles of Prydain, most especially the final book The High King. These books are where I first fell in love with Fantasy, where I first ran across the myths that run parallel to the King Arthur story, of lands of castles and evil men and fair folk living in misty lands not meant for mortals.
I re-read The High King recently, and compared to other Fantasy series the book is short and sweet. I really should have re-read the entire series, as I spent most of it saying “who is that again? what is going on?” But the end grabbed me just like it did twenty years ago.
The final book in his Prydain series, “The High King,” won the Newbery Medal from the American Library Association in 1969, being recognized as the best children’s book of the year. Another book in the series, “The Black Cauldron,” was named a runner-up for the medal in 1966, a status now known as a Newbery Honor Book.
His final novel, “The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio,” is scheduled to be published by Holt in August. The publisher described it as an adventure in the tradition of Middle Eastern folk tales.
Lloyd Alexander died at the age of 83, two weeks after his wife of 61 years.
May 17, 2007 at 5:55 pm · Filed under Home
I am so happy living in the city. I was worried that the noise would be bothersome, but we have quiet neighbors in a quiet ‘hood and we can hear the MAX and the trains and the cars in the distance, and the ice cream truck and kids at the park…its really really nice. I love walking in the neighborhood on a sidewalk and seeing kids toys in the window and people working on their cars and families on bikes. We can walk places without fear of being run over or walk the dogs safely without crazy cars on a country lane or rabid dogs running after us. It is great to be able to go to two parks within five minutes, and watch people coming and going, it is so vibrant and alive.
Market? Five minutes. Swimming lessons? Ten minutes. Good eats? Five minutes in any direction. OMSI? Fifteen minutes. D and O and XM got me a gift certificate to the Portland Nursery for mother’s day. Portland Nursery? Five minutes. Five. Minutes. I’m really trying to break out of the mindset that whenever we go somewhere in town it has to be a big event and we have to hit the maximum amount of stores and things to do in an area…this morning we simply went to OMSI, and then came home in time for lunch.
O got into the Mandarin Immersion program, which means XM is a shoe-in when it is her turn for Kindergarten. Yippee!!!
May 1, 2007 at 10:18 am · Filed under Home
…with 3 cats in the garage…
We moved, and are (obviously) back online! Phew! We all are in varying states of a nasty cold (the house sounds like a TB ward) but have unpacked the kitchen, stocked the liquor cabinet and had Direct TV and the internet set up on Sunday, so all is right with the world. It took Derek 30 minutes to get to work this morning, instead of 1.5 hours. I have a doctors appointment this afternoon and I only have to drive 10 minutes, not 1 hour. We walked yesterday a whole 4 blocks away to an awesome Asian grocery. Owen loves being able to walk 1 block to the park to play. We are so happy, it is ridiculous.
It is still exhausting even when somebody else moves you. They were nowhere near prepared to move all our stuff despite having come out to do an estimate, but I’m still grateful I didn’t have to move everything. We’ll get started very soon on fixing up the basement to a proper living condition. Until then, its unpacking unpacking unpacking!
