Can you spot Colin in the city?

Can you spot Colin in the city?
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

Travel. It can be a thousand miles, a hundred miles, or just a mile. On this weekend in September it turned into more than just miles for Elijah, and specifically, Colin. Eli’s been to Alaska, Europe, the Cook Islands, and even Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Colin’s been to Vancouver… Washington. So on this beautiful weekend in September Colin ventured out of the state of the Northwest and into a new experience. A city. The city of San Francisco, California. And he seemed to like it. There’s so much to see, so many “Bangers” as he put it. (“Bangers” for those of you who aren’t in your early 20’s refers to hot woman.) And he’s right. And I love that. But that’s not all we saw in the short amount of time Colin and Elijah were here. We also saw a bevy of other things which I thought were pretty banging (including Santa Cruz, the Golden Gate Bridge, the house the Grateful Dead lived in, etc.).

Check them out. I put up the pictures here.

I See a Marriage

The Young Couple
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

Gabe and Sarah are probably somewhere around 18,000 feet on the side of Kilamanjaro wishing that they’d done a few more training hikes before the wedding. Wherever they are on there well deserved honeymoon, one thing is for certain; they’re looking back on the wedding with a huge smile. It went off in true Gabe/Sarah style—planned perfectly with lots of libations, dancing, friends, and family. Their vows were probably the highlight of a highlight filled wedding. Well thought out, well delivered, beautiful and sincere, they showed just how much these two care about each other. Long live Gabara, I mean Sarabe, I mean… well you know I mean. Raise your glasses to a wonderful newly married couple.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Time to Celebrate!!

This just in: Elijah Michalowski is officially an Esquire. Send your congratulations to him (and any litigation problems), he just passed the Oregon Bar.

This Isn’t NYC

Originally uploaded by soul collector.

Yesterday I took the Bart home from SF. The Bart, for those of you who don’t know, is the Bay Area’s subway system. It is, however, no NYC subway system. No urine in the stations. No humidity while waiting for the trains. And no hard plastic seats. They actually have soft upholstered seats in the trains (a little skank if you think about what can soak into upholstery). But the weirdest, most opposite NYC subway thing I’ve noticed while taking the Bart happened to me yesterday afternoon.

The platform was extremely busy when I got to it. My train was about to arrive so I rushed over to where the train door was to open. But, unlike back in the big apple, there wasn’t a mob of people pushing themselves ever closer to the tracks. No, as I looked around I notice that people were lining up in single file lines. SINGLE FILE LINES. Two lines per door. What is this, grade school? Do people in the Bay Area not have the ability to navigate entering a door opening without being placed in a perfectly straight line? Is the Bay Area the hidden vortex that vanquishes complex spatial movements and makes it so society can only exist when it is put into the elemental norms of a first-grade like singularity? Come on! A freaking single file line?!!?

So the train arrived and you know what I did? I didn’t go all New Yorker and push my way through the door. I didn’t cause a revolt by yelling something smart and witty about breaking the bonds of social norms. And I didn’t boycott the whole situation and decide to take a bus. No, instead I got into line and entered the train just like everyone else. Stupid peer pressure. I hate single file lines.

Strangers

San Francisco Tolls!
Originally uploaded by eriqliza.

Let’s hitchhike. To work. Kinda. They call it Casual Carpooling and it consists of standing in an unmarked line at an underpass. A constant stream of cars visits the line and picks up two people at a time. This is not sanctioned by the government. There are no signs directing you to where you’re supposed to go. No money is passed between people. No one talks during the ride except to say “hello” and “thank you”. And we’re all strangers. Complete strangers. The ride ends when you get dropped off on in SF at the bus depot. Apparently Casual Carpooling has existed in the Bay Area for over 20 years. The reason? Because it costs 4 dollars to go over the Bay Bridge, but it’s much faster and free if you are in the carpool lane with 3 or more people (I suppose it’s extremely expensive if you get caught in the carpool lane with 2 or less people).

I’ve tried it… three times. It’s not scary. Super easy. And very affordable. Let’s hitchhike to work. You will like it.

Liberal Elite

Postcard From San Francisco
Originally uploaded by brunkfordbraun.

Yes, San Francisco is a beautiful city. And yes, it’s filled with the kind of liberal elite that makes Karl Rove ecstatic. He looks at San Francisco and sees a never ending source for his propaganda machine. He constantly harvests it and then unleashes it on the Christian loving middle-American populace. God is great. Gays, public health coverage, environmentalism, public transportation, etc… not so much. So on the day when Michelle rode her bike 57 miles through the countryside of Yreka California I experienced a situation that might upset Mr. Rove’s whole view of San Francisco, and maybe, the world. It could even be the reason that he resigned.

I decided that I would take public transportation into the office building where I am currently working. The catch, I needed to ride my bike part of the way so that I would get there in a reasonable amount of time. Plus, bike power is good for the earth. The only CO2 that it puts into the air is from my breath. Not to much global warming going on there.

So I road the CalTrain system into the city, jumped on my bike and headed over to the office. When I arrived I picked up my bike and began to carry it in. Immediately a rent-a-cop rolled on me.

“Hey. You can’t bring that bike into the building.”

“What?” I was listening to my iPod and couldn’t her a word he said. I pulled off my headphones.

“You can’t bring that bike into the building.”

“What?”

“Sorry. That’s the building manager’s rules. It’s in the contract your company signed. No bikes in the building.”

He wasn’t kidding me. No bikes. Zero. None. I spoke with the vice president of the company I’m working at and he told me they he’s even tried to tell them that he’s in the middle of pitching bike client. Struck out with that one and every other one too.

So this is the liberal bastion of America where bikes aren’t allowed into buildings and commuting by car is thus encourage. WTF!!!??? Yes Mr. Karl Rove, I think you’ve seen the writing on the wall. Good choice getting out of the game now. You’re pot of left coast propaganda seems to be drying up. Where will you go now? Apparently, home to spend more time with your family. I’m still working, and just so you know, I ended up sneaking my bike into the building.

Michelle's odometer reading from her trip.

Finally

HR 756 Barry Bonds
Originally uploaded by GlenC.

So Barry Bonds finally did it. He broke the hallowed home run record of Hamer’in Hank. I’ve got mixed feelings about the whole thing. Living in SF now there’s a lot of love for Barry. But I just finished the book, Game of Shadows, which makes a pretty convincing case about Barry’s steroid use. And even more, it makes a really convincing case that Barry Bonds is a flat out asshole. Now I’m not asking for my sports heroes to be saints. Normally, I don’t read about their personal lives. I watch them to enjoy the god given physical talents that they have, not to dream about having an in depth conversation with them or ask them how to raise children. But the magnitude of the MLB home run record mixed with the constant revelations that Barry Bonds is a brutal person and a cheat makes me very ambivalent about his amazing achievement. But beyond that, my cousin Jeff, who lives in SF too, had tickets to the Wednesday game and invited me along to hopefully watch Mr. Bonds break the record. Maybe we’d even catch the number 756 as it soared over the fences and into the record books. We could sell it for a million dollars and then buy a small house in the Bay area. But Bonds broke the record on Tuesday, so all those dreams were swatted away with one swing on the bat. What an inconsiderate slugger he is. Damn!

As it turns out, I wouldn’t have been able to make Wednesday’s game because I had to work late. He hit number 757 on Wednesday. Maybe he should start paying me to stay away from the ballpark. That might work for him as much as steroids.

MusicFest NW TV Spot

So we (Aaron, myself, and a whole crew of talented people) finally finished the ad for MusicFest NW 2007. I know I promised myself that I wouldn't, think about, touch, talk about, or do any ad work on this vacation/move, but this had to be done. So here are a few facts about the spot: 1) Contrary to what it looks like, it wasn't filmed on a stage, we actually shot it in a pear orchard in Hood River. 2) The song in the spot is called Underdog and it is by a band named Spoon. You can here the whole song at there myspace page. 3) The spot will be playing on Comcast cable stations so if you have satellite tv or good old rabbit ears you won't be seeing it. 4) We haven't heard anything from John Mayer or his people yet. :)

That's enough talk. Here's the spot:

Hello Portland!

Move July 18-26 153
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

We have been totally delinquent on the blog. Once we got to Portland we just kinda quit. I guess you could say it’s been, “Hello Portland” in person.

We totally exhausted ourselves hanging out with friends, drinking lots of beer, whiskey, wine and Stumptown. But now we’re in the Bay area on the search for the perfect apartment so you can come visit us.

In these pictures you’ll find lots of things from the B & B we stayed at in Banff (you have to stay here if you go.) to the “Cracked Pots” festival at Edgefield, McMenamins.

More soon. We have to find a place to live just now. Enjoy.

Poor kitties!

Move July 18-26 123
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

Cirrus and DJ Scratch had to endure the terror that is my brother for four weeks. Needless to say, they were happy to see us. Not so happy, though, when we dropped them off at the kennel. They're doing better now, but looking forward to having a place to call home.