Wednesday, May 30, 2007

How the (Pacific North) West was won

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We were heading to Portland for the Northwest Service Symposium. Several passengers wanted to stop and get McGriddles. Our driver did not approve, and would actually speed-up and swerve into the left lane every time we approached a freeway exit. We eventually got him to stop, although it was too late for McGriddles, Jack in the Box has a new add campaign that says something to the effect of "breakfast is the most important meal, so now we're serving it all day". I thought this advertising effort is both hilarious and genius, my fellow passengers did not agree.
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After several wrong turns and one very angry driver (he threatened to throw each of us out of the car at one point or another), we made it to Portland.
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This is the cowboy store. While they did NOT have Andre the Giants boots, they did have some pretty nice clothes. I realized that if your going to wear cowboy boots, they should really be made of AT LEAST three different animals.
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We went to Voodoo Donuts. A man in the store was changing into a clown suit. I wanted to get a donut shaped like a "Phillie blunt", my server somehow dissuaded me.
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We met up with our VISTA pals; Marry & Elana and checked out the Northwest Service Symposium Art Show. You will have to excuse me for not elaborating.
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Our before mentioned "Angry Driver" joined us to get a drink at the Cheerful Turtle. "Angry Driver" was not really any less angry than he had been earlier, he also had no shortage of rude coments regarding our collective senses of direction.
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I think this is a costume store. That's Johny Depp in the window on the right.
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Our friend Matt had a car accident resulting in the loss of his car. I think this is a pretty good good option for a car buyer on a limited budget.
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We went to the Night (or possibly; Nite) Light (maybe; Lite) bar to meet Lucy and her man friend. While we waited we read a pretty good comic involving a dinosaur.
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Our server was very friendly and unabashedly flirted with me, Mary told me we were soul mates, Lupita called me a soul mate whore, next week I'm making a t-shirt that says "I am not your soul mate."
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Lucy pretended that her graphing calculator was a cell phone. A good time was had by all.
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When we left; our server shook my hand and told me to have a great vacation. He thankfully did not tickle my hand or give me his phone number.
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This is a stray carrot end.
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For the Northwest Service Symposium Lupita, David and I performed our songs; Weeping Willow, Poverty Can't Step to Me, and 501(c)3 Can You C Me . Weeping Willow is about how alone (or as a branch) one is frail and vulnerable, but when branches (individuals, organizations) come together to form a tree (alliances, teams, etc) they are strong. Poverty Can't Step to Me is a rap about how I will "bust a cap" in poverty. 501(c)3 Can You C Me is the song that we kept loosing members on. In it I David and Lupita represent in-need/at-risk individuals (a homeless person, a pregnant teen, and a methamphetamine addict) and I represent the non-for-profit (501(c)3) organizations providing them with assistance. There is a video of the performance, I don't have a copy yet, I here part of it was cut of by footage of someone riding a horse.
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"Angry Driver" tried to ditch me and Ben while we got coffee. The barista liked my melodica, she took a picture of it, I told her that I was sorry but I had been forbidden from taking on any new soul mates.
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It was never fully explained as to why there was such a rush to get out of Portland.
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I Salem we got pulled over for making an illegal u-turn.
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If David hadn't been driving we would probably still be in jail.
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This trip made me realize that I miss city living. I miss being in a place where the median age is NOT 42.6. I miss NOT being in a place where (according to the US Census) there are only 323 black people in the WHOLE county. But, mostly I miss not being able to go out for "the best ___ in ___" instead I'm stuck with "the only ___ in ___".
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At a rest area someone had painted pants onto the man on the restroom door.

You'll be sorry when I'm dead

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The laundry machine in our building keeps stealing my quarters. I try hitting it, shaking it, plugging it into different outlets, putting the quarters in slowly, putting them in quickly...all for not. I think I'm cursed, or maybe the machine hates me, or maybe Mercury is in retrograde. Most likely it has something to do with magnets.
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I went to the laundromat, loaded my laundry, and went out to run some errands.
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I came back 25 minutes later when my wash was supposed to be done. I turns out I forgot to hit start.
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I set up the trunk of my car as a painting studio so I could work on my salmon themed banner. I would explain, but i don't think the information would translate, I will try and explain more clearly on a later date when my banner is further along. My banner is titled "Hebe and Salmon Unicorn" media: paint, glitter, and jewels.
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Joni came out to join me. She brought Miller Light and a cat on a leash.
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Lupita came over and we barbecued in the parking lot.
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At some point during the evening; this bump appeared on my arm. It REALLY just appeared. I was totally freaked out. Lupita, Maggie, and David all agreed that a spider had lay it's eggs inside my arm.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Onward and upward

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In case you hadn't seen my fishing pole in the last picture.
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Lupita made cookies for band practice. I especially like the one with no arm and a bite out of his head.
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This is the hallway at work. Megan brought students over for career day, I got to tell them about what it's like to be an artist. They asked questions, for example; who is your favorite artist and what art medium is best.
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This one is pretty cool, I'm not sure what it is though.
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There was this guy at the bagel shop who I'm pretty sure was an older version of Blaine.
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I apparently didn't manage to catch him on film. He was just too darn fast.
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These are my new shoes. I ordered them from Pay-Less.
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Me and David are growing mustaches for the Northwest Service Symposium.
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We had gone through three band members already, and we hadn't even performed yet.
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In the end it was Lupita, David & myself (Gabriel - I just realized that I don't think my name is actually anywhere on this website).
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Around town nobody even mentioned the mustaches, I'm not sure if this is a mark for or against Roseburg
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This mustachioed man was about to go fishing for the first time.
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I went to Cooper Creek Reservoir. There is a high mercury risk at Cooper Creek, but supposedly the reservoir/creek/?? has a lot of trouts.
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I'm just confused by this one.
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Those are some geese and their goose puppies.
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This is one of the many scenic views to be found at Cooper Creek (pronounced Cooper Crick).
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I did not catch any fish. I did however; catch a multitude of weeds, make a big tangly mess of my line, get stuck on some trees and bushes, loose three lures, and get the hook stuck in my shirt. One day I will find a hobby that doesn't make me bleed. Although, if it doesn't hurt, maybe it's not worth doing.
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The geese and their goose puppies were still out when I left.
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I wasn't too upset that I hadn't caught anything, I hadn't really anticipated catching anything. This was my day to learn the ropes/get my bearings/whatever.
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This is the bear that was hanging on the side of the apartment next door. I can take new bets on how long it will remain in this spot, I bet forever.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

So close you can almost taste it

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Our fishing class took a field trip to to a fishing rod store in Cresswell. This is my fishing rod. It will catch me some trout, bass and possibly some varieties of salmon.
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I can't wait to start fishing.
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My glasses and my broken gas gauge?
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These wires had been exposed since before I got here. Every time I wakled by them I wondered if they were live...the answer was yes.
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I went to Payless to look at shoes, they did not have the ones I was looking for. They did, however, have some size 12 flower print clogs. I didn't want to make a left out of the parking lot, so I went to Quiznos for lunch. This is a futuristic-space-dick for notifying you that your sandwich is ready.
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I was a little freaked out by the vibrating space disk.

Gabriel Burian-Mohr