Historical

Historical updates
I was looking through my email for other purposes when I found the updates I used to send out via email, before I started blogging. I decided it would make sense to date them in the month/year they were written. If you want to see a list of them, they all have the historical label applied.

August/September(2005)

Another update from the email archives ...

August/September 2005 update

General Update

Hello everyone!  I'm not considering this a month late because I've decided that not enough happens in a single month to justify a monthly update, so I'm switching to bimonthly updates.

Now get this, I just went to look up the definition of bimonthly because I could not remember if that meant once every two month or twice a month and this is definition I found on OneLook.com:

Quick definitions (bimonthly)

noun:   a periodical that is published bimonthly

adjective:   occurring every two months (Example: "Bimonthly visits")

adjective:   occurring twice a month

adverb:   every two months (Example: "The bill was payable bimonthly")

adverb:   twice a month

Is it just me, or does that definition indicate that BOTH definitions are true?   That doesn't make any sense. I then looked it up on various dictionary sites and since most of them indicate it means once every two months, my use of the word shall be deemed correct. 

At this point I'm sure that everyone is wondering why the hell I have time to go researching the use of single word in a monthly email update to people who don't really care if I use the word correctly.  

This is a good segway into topic #1: my Leave of Absense (LOA) from work. 

Turns out that I need a break from work.  I know several of you are wondering why it took me so long to notice that I needed a break, but it just did.  It took me walking out in the middle of UAT (User Acceptance Testing) one day mid-heated-discussion with a client, standing out in the pouring rain where I could get cell phone reception, and tellling my boss I was done and had to fly out that night...three and half days early.  In any case, I was on a plane home that afternoon and thought about it for the next few days and decided that I need some time away from my job to relax and sort out if this is the job I want to stay at for the time being.  Right now, I think I will be returning to work on Jan. 9th, but I am leaving the final decision to what feels right in the next few months. I definitely know that taking the LOA was the right thing at this point.

One of they ways I plan to spend my time is by planning for the holidays, which segways nicely into topic #2: I would like to ask everyone (who has time) to send me your favorite recipes.  Either main dishes or desserts or appetizers.  Anything.  I'm going to come up with menus for my family that is here over the holidays and figured I'd solicit suggestions from all of you.  I fully expect that newly married Rachele will have plenty of suggestions, so the pressure is on the rest of you to match Mrs. Gorsegner.  

Finally, I received my custom-made hutch for my office last Friday. I have been happily filing away things. I have attached a picture of her.  She makes me very happy.  Retail Therapy - it's a beautiful thing.

Books

I fell off the reading wagon, but just read "A Million Little Pieces" (the Oprah book club book) this week.  It was a great book - extremely readable.  I couldn't put it down.  The idea of a book about drug and alcohol recovery most definitely did not appeal to me as a topic, but from the first page, it's extremely interesting and fast-paced.  I highly recommend it.

Movies (not in any particular order)

Murderball - An excellent documentary on wheelchair rugby (aka Murderball).  I would recommend this movie to anyone.

Me, You, and Everyone We Know - I watched this movie thinking "I should hate this movie, why don't I?" I guess because it was quite funny and made fun of the performance art aspect of it while still itself being a bit of performance art. The little kid in the movie was just amazing. 

Saint Ralph - Very few movies make me feel more positive about religion after seeing them, but this one managed it.  It was nice to see a movie where not all priests are evil child molestors.  I would highly recommend this to anyone.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin - It's a tie between this and Wedding Crashers for funniest movie this year.  Very funny. However, not for the prudish.

Grizzly Man - This got great reviews, but it is not a movie I'd recommend. The man whom the documentary is about is obnoxious and mentally unstable and most definitely was not helping the bears.  Skip this one, even when it comes out on video/DVD. The movie has gotten worse the more I've thought about it.

The Constant Gardner - It was better than I was expecting and I think it's one of the better movies of the summer.

The Transporter 2 - Completely, utterly unbelievable and I loved it.  The best way to describe it is as I read in one review "...fast-paced, unapologetic escapism."

Lord of War - I'm kind of neutral on this.   I didn't feel like it was a waste of money, but I didn't love it either.  It wasn't overly preachy, which is good.

Flightplan - We only went to see this because it was the only movie we hadn't seen that we have even a remote desire to see. It was definitely suspenseful, however, I wouldn't go see this unless you're really bored.

July(2005)

July 2005 Update

Time for another monthly update.  BTW, all who are copied on this should know me well enough to know that if you ever grow bored of receiving these updates, just email and let me know and I'll remove you from the list.

July was a good month with a couple of interesting trips outside of Portland.

Ocean Trip - Damian and I finally made it out west the Oregon coast.  We didn't actually get to see the ocean at the first place we stopped at (Cannon Beach) despite the fact that we were actually walking along the sandy beach with Eddie and Turtle.  The fog was so think we couldn't actually see the ocean - it was wild.  Turtle and Eddie were quite excited for their first walk along a beach and demonstrated this excitement by pulling frantically, resulting in a very cranky Megan.  Turtle, who despite wearing her backpack filled with water bottles and empty poop bags, can really pull when she wants to.  Eddie, who was walking Damian, kept trying to run after every frisbee thrown by innocent beach by-standers.  I thought the trip was headed for disaster and just wanted to get out of there.  However, we'd progressed so far down the beach that I knew I'd just have to let Turtle know I was walking her and not the other way around.  It was slow and arduous task, and one that made me look like a lunatic, but every time she pulled in one direction I quickly walked in the opposite direction and then went in circles for a while, then we'd proceed along our path until she'd pull again and we'd repeat the process.  By the end of the walk she was pulling far less and I was a much happier person.  I noticed the other day when dropping Turtle and Eddie at doggie daycare that Turtle started to pull me inside as she usually does and I stopped and she very quickly came back to me knowing that we don't proceed when she's pulling, so I think we made some progress that day. We continued to another beach and managed to see the ocean.  It was gorgeous and we started pondering how we could get a house by the ocean.  That desire has, for me, left due the fact that our shoes were filled with sand for days and I have been cleaning up little bits of sand from that trip.  I could never stand to live right off of a sandy beach.

Colorado Trip - We made it out to Colorado for Michelle's wedding.  We were able to get flights using our miles, but due to the limited seating on the flights we wanted, we had to book separate types of tickets.  Damian ended up booking an upgraded seat and I was stuck in economy (not his fault).  It was rather funny because half way through the flight, Damian heads back from his cushy first-class seat to offer me a bagel and finds me asleep on my tray table stuck in the middle seat.  On the way back, he had a direct flight and I had to connect through Eugene. However, I can't complain too much - free flight after all.  

Michelle's wedding had the absolutely, hands-down the best food I have ever eaten at any wedding (including my own).  In fact, the food was so good that it shouldn't even be judged against other wedding food.  If judged against any restaurant, it would hold its own and often exceed a lot of them.  We spent the night at a bed and breakfast nearby in Evergreen with Vic and Mike. The next day the four of us decided to go to a driving range to hit some golf balls in Denver.  It was darn hot in 100+ degree weather with almost no breeze, but we had a good time nonetheless.  

In other news, I've slowed on my reading this month, no doubt due to the pesky work week that always gets in the way of what I'd rather be doing; however, I have finished one more book and started two others:

Crossing California - Finished this one and loved it.  I would highly recommend it to most people, though it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Guns, Germs, and Steel - Very interesting so far, but not a book I can just plow through.  I fully expect this one to take me quite a while to get through.

The Gate - Not finished yet - not sure I will finish it as it's a little obnoxious and pretentious. It's a true story written by Fracois Bizot (French) who was living and working in Cambodia at the time of the rise of the Khmer Rouge.  The prologue writes how the author is a true hero and I'm not seeing it yet.

I got a great response from a lot of you with book recommendations, so thank you very much - it was very cool to see what each of you enjoys reading.  

And moving onto the "it's the little things that make you happy" section, a few key things that have just made me so happy this month:

1.      Damian replaced the water filter on the water thingy in our refrigerator door.  The old filter had resulted in the water coming out soooo slowly it was just painful.  I would find myself planning things I could do while waiting for my glass to fill up because it was taking so long.  It's amazing how changing it has made me appreciate it more.

2.      A flyer was left on our door advertising a service that picks up your dry-cleaning one morning and returns it the next evening.  It's just great!  Doesn't cost any more than regular dry cleaning and you just have to leave it on your front porch in a bag, then they give you a hook to hang over your door and return it there the next evening.  

3.      I hate going to the grocery store and I particularly hate making the list for things to get at the grocery store.  So I made a template with checkboxes next to our staples and ordered it based on the layout of the grocery store at which we shop.  That this type of thing makes me so happy is quite odd, but it does.

4.      With my bonus money, I ordered another custom-made piece to match my custom-made desk for my office. It's basically a hutch with adjustable shelves on top and two thin drawers in the middle, and two filing cabinet drawers in the bottom.  (I guess this one's not really a little thing, but it does make me happy). I'll send a picture when it's done (6-8 weeks).

5.      Portland makes me very happy.  I absolutely love it here.  I can never quite put my finger on it exactly when people ask why, but it just feels like we fit in here.  I never quite felt that way in Denver.  The summer is beautiful with completely clear blue skies that contrast with the green trees.  I have been walking the dogs everyday up around the cemetery near our house and the view is breath taking.  I also really like the fact that the only two movies that have been sold out when we've tried to get tickets were at the art-y theater.  While a bummer that we had to go to a different showing, it says something that it's at that theater (which is modern and large), rather than the ones playing "The Dukes of Hazzard."  And every time I drive down into Portland, we drive down a winding road through forest - you cannot beat such a commute.

Finally, the movies we've seen section:

Must Love Dogs - We only saw this one because we'd messed up the movie times and this was the only one playing at the time we were at the theater.  The acting was atrocious the first 30 minutes then it got much better.  I wouldn't go see this at the movie theater, but if it's showing on a flight or on TV, then it's worth watching.

March of the Penguins - Thumbs up, but a little slow in spots. Baby penguins are adorable - big surprise there.

Wedding Crashers - HUGE thumbs up.  I loved this movie.  Absolutely hilarious.

Broken Flowers - This one was good; however, as Damian put it, you come out a bit confused.  

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Very good.  I really enjoyed it.  Johnny Depp is brilliant as usual, as is the child actor playing Charlie.

I hope everyone's August in enjoyable!

May/June(2005)

Before I knew about blogging, and after I'd just moved from Denver to Portland leaving many good friends, I would send out periodic update emails. I just found on in my email archives. Blogged for the first time ever, I present May/June 2005 update (which I'm not going to reformat)

May/June 2005 update

May and June were very busy months.  Work was non-stop busy for me right
up
until we left for vacation, but once I was on vacation, things were just

great.  I didn't work the entire time and got a new perspective on
things -
always a good thing. It seems that I will need to accept that I'm going
to
have to travel more frequently with this job that I anticipated, so I am

trying to Accept it rather than Fight it. That said, I have no travel
booked
as of now, so I am excited about that. I'll take what I can get.

We just returned from our vacation in London, Amsterdam, and Prague.  We
had
a great time,
but were ready to come home, particularly to escape the high numbers of
people, cramped quarters, and high prices that define life in London and

other European cities.  While I had a wonderful time, this trip - more
than
my past European trips - made me very thankful to
live in the US with all of the luxuries that I often take for granted.
Some
highlights and impressions of our vacation:

England - London and Worcester
In addition to meeting and playing with our nephew (7 months old), we
attended his Christening while in England.  He's just adorable and I'm
so
pleased that he and his parents (Damian's brother and his girlfriend)
will
be joining us in Portland for Christmas this year. We spent some time
touring around London and Worcester (where Damian's dad lives), but
mostly
just caught up with Damian's family. My mom also came with us on our
vacation, though she stayed in England while Damian and I went to
Amsterdam
and Prague.

Amsterdam
We only spent about 4 hours in Amsterdam before heading to Rotterdam to
catch up with some old friends of Damian that evening.  It was my first
trip
to Amsterdam - beautiful city.  We toured Anne Frank's house and then
just
walked around the shops along the canals.  No visit to the red light
district - gotta save some fun for later in life!

Prague
Prague was like a fairy tale city - it's clear why so many movies are
filmed
there with its beautiful architecture.  I am not very fond of Czech
food,
but that didn't detract from the beauty of the city or our enjoyment of
our
time there.  We tried something new there and stayed in an apartment
rather
than a hotel.  I would recommend this to anyone traveling with more than
one
other person as it's cheaper than a hotel and the same price whether you

have one person in the apt or 6 people. The only downside was the lack
of
ammenities of a hotel (concierge, being around other tourists, daily
cleaning of room, etc). We also found that our apartment was right above
the
Adult Erotic Video parlor, but it turned out not to be an issue and
provided
some interesting viewing when walking past it. During one of our tours,
we
got to talk with the tour guides a bit about life under Communism, which
I
found to be very interesting.  There was also some sort of Hell's Angels

gathering in the city during the time we were there. Who knew they went
on
vacations together?

Damian and I have decided to resume our more healthy eating and daily
trips
to the gym.  Taking a bit of advice that Rachele gave me for "lazy"
people,
I'm easing back into the gym routine by not focusing on performing well,
but
on just getting my butt to the gym and doing something that resembles
exercise.

Finally, to further my goal of reading more, I'm adding a Books section
to
my update. Most books will get a thumbs up because if I don't like a
book,
I'll typically stop reading it. If anyone has book recommendations for
me,
send them on as I'm always looking for a good book.  I'm more picky
about my
books than my movies, so I find it hard to find things I can get into.


Movies:
- Mr. & Mrs. Smith - Fun for what the movie is supposed to be
- Lords of Dogtown - Awful, skip it
- Batman Begins - Awesome. I usually hate the comic book movies likes
this,
but this one was great!
- The Longest Yard - Pretty funny
- Cinderella Man - Very good despite having two of my least favorite
actors
in it: Russell
Crowe and Renee Zellweger
- Crash - Fairly good, but predictable.  Kind of pretentious.

Books:
- Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone - thumbs
up.
- Scribbling the Cat: Travels With an African Soldier - thumbs sideways
- Do They Hear You When You Cry - thumbs up (true story about an African

refugee running from FGM)
- Life of Pi - thumbs up

February(2005)

Hello everyone!

Time for the February update.  I'm now sending this to everyone Bcc so if
you do decide to write an update yourself, it's more obvious that you should
send it to your list of people, not mine (though I had damn well better be
on that list!)  I was so happy to get updates from those of you that had
time.

I was going to wait to send until we are in the new house, but figured it
will be crazy for a few weeks, so I'll send now.


Things I learned this month:
1. My dog is a bush pooper.  Not Turtle, she poops on the McDonald's lawn
like clockwork.  But Eddie waits until he sees the most difficult bush, then
wiggles his but back to the bush and promptly poops.  It's completely and
utterly aggravating.  On the one hand, I'm pleased that he's completed his
business and I can now head back in soon.  On the other, I still have to
somehow get in there and retrieve his business.

2. Damian is poop-bag-selfish, similar to how I am food-selfish.  We're
taking the dogs out for a walk.  We have one good poop-bag left (the kind
where you have the cardboard handle so you don't have to touch anything) and
then will have to use regular plastic sacks for the other dog.  We know that
if we go to the left, Turtle will poop first (McDonald's to the left); we
know that if we go to the right (Church bushes to the right), Eddie will
poop first.  Normally, Damian follows my lead as to which way we'll be going
that walk.  This particular occassion, very innocently he says, "Let's go to
the right."  I say "OK" and don't think anything of it.  I realize, as we're
walking torward the bushes why Damian has suggested this route.  I start
pleading with Eddie to wait.  Like clockwork, Eddie does his business and D
gets to use the good poop bag.

3. We are experiencing the rarest of winters here.  It's sunny almost as
much as Colorado. Completely amazing.  Let's hope that my enthusiasm for
being her carries me through next winter which is sure to be constant
grayness and rain given this winter's complete craziness.

4. The person with the alarm clock on her/his side of the bed ends up with
the responsibility of getting up first.

5. When you're having a deck sealed "to maintain the color of the wood" make
sure they understand that staining it WHITE does not maintain the color of
the wood! They had to rip down parts of our deck and put up all new stuff to
get it back to cedar color.


Major Activities for the month:
- Workouts continue to go well.  I hit a big motivational bump a week or so
ago, but things are almost back to normal.  Have switched to the Stair
Master for cardio and this is quite challenging, not like the the stroll
through the park Elliptical machine workout I was doing.

- House: It is done! (except for a few odds and ends schedule to be done
this weekend or Monday or Tuesday).  We are supposed to close Tuesday -
Thursday.  It's weird because in Oregon you sign 72 hours before you close.
I'm not sure how that works.  There is some doubt as to whether the close
can happen on Thursday due to timing issues with our mortgage company and
their inspection, which will really suck considering we've got everything
scheduled for delivery on Friday and Saturday.  I'm just hoping it happens
on schedule.   Anyway, we should be moving on the 18th!!


Movies I saw this month:
- "Swimming Upstream" - quite good, though not as good as I was expecting.
- "Closer" - horrible, horrible movie.  Bad acting, bad script, bad, bad,
bad.
- "Million Dollar Baby" - excellent movie.
- "The Motorcycle Diaries" - v. good movie.
- "Kinsey" - good movie.
- "Finding Neverland" - excellent movie - I highly recommend.

I have now seen all Oscar nominated Best Pictures.  I'm rooting for "Ray"
and Jamie Foxx for this role in it, though I'm not sure that's going to
happen.

January(2005)

Hello everyone!

OK, I have selected my favorite people - I'll wait while you all breathe a sigh of relief that you made the cut. :)  Some of you I know very well, others I've met in the last year or two, but I don't want to lose touch with you all despite our respective locations, so I thought I'd try this and see if it works. I'm going to send out an email update once a month (ish) with stuff going on in my life.

I would LOVE it if you all would do the same. That way we can all keep in touch! However, I know that some times when we all get really busy, so there are no rules:
- If you're too busy for a month or two, you shall not stress.- If you don't want to participate, you shall not stress.- If you don't want to be on the recipient list, you will tell me and I will remove you and I will still like you... just a little less.

The one rule I guess I would implement is that we agree not to forward emails to other people without the sender's permission. OK, on with it!

I'm putting in some headers to give a sort of template to follow - if you choose to participate by sending your updates, feel free to add/remove headers.

Things I learned this month:

1. I know when exactly my dogs have pooped and peed within the past two-three days.  Istill, however, do not know with certainty when Turtle might need to drop a bomb.  Today, weare stuck at home during my first ice storm caused by freezing rain.  I, of course, spentthe day napping after realizing there's not much to do in our 212 sq. ft. apt (ok, maybeit's bigger than that, but it feels that big).  Damian wakes me up and says Turtle has to goout.  I get up immediately, gather poop bags, get the leashes on, get my coat and hat andmittens on, and dutifully head out with the dogs.  Unfortunately, I must have been slowbecause right after she exits the apartment, she squats down.  I yell "No!" and then Idecide we must run. So the three of us sprint down the hallway, down the stairs, around thecorner where she squats again - I yell "No!" and yank her to the outside.  Out there, ifthey pull at all, I'm flat on my face.  Anyway, she made it outside but there were two largedogs awaiting us, so the "urge" faded momentarily.  I try to control them so I don't injuremyself.  I get them across the street and we have success.  The other thing I learned isthat, in an ice storm, all the blades of grass freeze.  Not mostly freeze like in Coloradoand the grass is just crunchy when you walk it - literally a frozen sea of blades that do not make for good poop scooping surfaces.

2. NEVER pick your house color from those little square samples they show you.  I hate ourhouse color.  We even went to the interior designer the other day and got the originalsample. I look it and think, "Oh! This is nice!  I love it! Surely they messed up?" We drivefrantically to our house since the light was fading.  Not only was the color right, but it'san EXACT match!  So now we have a brown house instead of a taupe one.  Oh well - clearlythere are much worse things in life.

3. I LOVE Portland, but there are a few things that annoy me and because it's me, I mustnote the annoyances. Two of my top annoyances:

- You cannot pump your own gas.  So when you pull up to a busy station, you just have to sitat the pump until the attendant comes and takes your credit card and then gases up your car.It makes absolutely no sense at all because it's not like they saved money by doing this -it's still pay-at-the-pump equipment installed.  It's completely enraging.

- No "4 Way Stop" indicators.  You pull up to stop signs and then have to search around todetermine if the other way has a stop sign.  In Colorado, if it's a 4-way stop, there's alittle indicator on the sign.

Major Activities for the month:- Continued daily workouts. I didn't work out today due to the ice storm, but we've beenvery good about going everyday. I am in a much better mood when we work out - amazingdifference.- Daily food journaling in Fit Day. Rachele and Vic know this because I read their entriesreligiously, just like Yahoo's Most Emailed.- Continued weekly visits to our new house.  On the last visit, they had our granitecounters, cabinents, knobs, and backsplash up.  They were starting with the tiling aroundthe house, but only had the spaces in, not the grout (same with the backsplash).  I'mgetting so excited now.  I can't wait to move in.- Invited both sides of our family for xmas 2005. Within 24 hours, D's dad replied askingfor dates of arrival and departure.  He's very on top of the planning and organization ofthese things.  When we arrived for Christmas last year, he sat the whole family around thetable and explained the house rules (in a funny way, not a "oh my god I can't believe I haveto sit through this way", but he was serious about the rules).

Movies I saw this month:- "In Good Company" - a bit cheesey, but we both loved it anyway.  Topher Grace is a greatactor!- "Hotel Rwanda" - very sad, but I thought it was also a great movie.- "Sideways" - great movie overall.  Not sure why they were all obsessed with wine, though.- "A Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" - very funny and quirky. NOt as good at- "The Aviator" - very, very good.- "Ocean's Twelve" - not horrible, but not as good as the first one and not what I wouldcall a great movie.