Does It Matter?

This brought a smile today...

(click comic to enlarge)
Does ANYTHING matter sometimes?

JANUARY 19 - 25, 2009

This week was Tom's week for photographs...here's what he came up with (with some comments from Nancy)

January 19, 2009 - Here is Tom on and ice cold, windy walk and no sign of Allen his maitenance buddy. It must have been too cold at 36 degrees.

January 20, 2009 - These are the Stupid Loser Geese - why? Geese generally will yield right-of-way to people on the walkway. However, one lone goose challenged Tom on the sidewalk - undeterred Tom FORGED ahead intimidating the goose to the last moment. This one was standing there making goose sounds, but Tom kept walking. Within a few feet the goose decided to join his friends and then the flock relocated to where they are in this photo.

January 21, 2009 - The Hawthorne Bridge, the most beautiful bridge in Oregon. The oldest FUNCTIONAL vertical lift bridge this side of the Mississippi. (side note by nancy: Tom insisted on having one of our pre-wedding photos taken with this bridge in the background. I am not that crazy about this bridge)

January 22, 2009 - Rumor has it that this restaurant has closed down for good - it was open for approximately 4 months...phhffft...However, there was a sign in the window that indicated that they would re-open in the spring, but keep the uppity feel of the dining experience.

January 23, 2009 - Transformer trauma in Hillsboro. This job is on Main Street and an unexpected utility relocation has reared it's ugly head. Never a dull moment for Tom and his jobs.

January 24, 2009 - After a brisk, early afternoon ride to celebrate Robin's new RIDE, we earned a well deserved Starbucks break. Well deserved because it snowed. I don't like snow. January 25, 2009 - Bami is yummy.

SNOW

Woke up to SNOW this morning - not much but still. I have heard that snow happens during the winter, so it must be winter here. Oh well, if it were warmer we would have rain instead. I'll take the snow!

Cycling Season Comes Early

Earlier than usual for a couple of reasons - first, I have started training for the Duathlon and second, Robin now has a road bike which has been a very exciting thing for all of us! A newbie, easily corrupted into the cycling illness that I think all people should fall into ;) Tom mentioned to Mark in an email that we would be riding this morning and that was changed to Mark and Robin joining us at noon for a ride around our area.

I always enjoy riding and usually it is just Tom and I, but having another couple that we have been friends with for so long to ride with is a pretty sweet deal. Even more fun to help a new roadie break in a new bike! Nothing like a new ride no matter who it belongs too...it's just plain exciting! Riding with other people is a good way to improve and to challenge ourselves, so I'm glad that a couple of my favorite people are both roadies now!

I have to say that this really is the earliest that we have gotten out for a road rides. The weather has been so great - a little on the cool side, but dry. Tom and I rode on Monday which was a nice start to the week and I managed to get a couple of lunch rides in this week also. I'm feeling pretty good and still hold out hope that we'll ride the 45 mile route of the Worst Day Ride on February 15, but I'm not going to hold my breath. We'll see how things go until then.

The surprise of the day was that it started snowing a couple of miles from Starbucks - SNOW! I'm pretty sure that the motorists were thinking we were nuts, but when we left there was no hint of snow and I rather it didn't snow. It does make a good story though. Fair weather riding? I don't think so.

On 179th Street - Tom had an opportunity to stop and take a couple of photos as he bombed thru the light before it turned red.

STARBUCKS - the best part of any ride! Back home again...notice the snow in my hair.

New Ride

No...not for me, but for my goodest friend Robin...This week she and Mark visited Performance and made the road bike plunge and purchased a Scattante R-660...The excitement of a new bike just never goes away, even if someone else gets a new bike. I just love everything about cycling, the bikes, the gear, the clothes. It's a sickness...but a good one to have!

May Robin have many exciting adventures on her new shiny ride!

scary french food

So, I have made beef bourguignon (or beef burgundy for those who cannot pronounce bourguignon) two times and each time I thought it was pretty good. What's not to like beef cooked in red wine...more specifically Pinot Noir. YUM. I really like the challenge of cooking foods that are specific to a country such as the food of my parents culture...Indonesia...it has been fun for me to figure out the recipes from one of the books that my aunt sent me from Holland. All the recipes are in Dutch and when I feel like I need to brush up on my Dutch I grab those books and read thru them and try to decipher words that are unfamiliar. Italian cooking is fun too, not just spaghetti, but things like bolognese sauce and other interesting pasta sauces are fun for me.

Now, one of the baristas at our Starbucks is French and I have talked to him about food a time or two. Last Spring I made Ratatouille for an event we had at church and I asked Stephane what it was supposed to look like because really, who would think that Ratatouille is for real? Turns out my ratatouille was the closest to what it was supposed to be than the others that were offered that day. Score for me! To make matters more interesting I decided to make another batch because I had not really had any of the first batch and brought a portion to Stephane for his scrutiny. He took a look at it and said it looked and smelled right. A HA! Then I started to worry...a few days later when he was finally working again (I was afraid that I might have caused him to be ill) he said it was VERY good. Evidently he shared his thoughts with a couple of the others at Starbucks and they said he was pretty excited over that. Cha ching! I score again!

We had the Roberson's and Baumann's over for dinner this past Saturday and they all seemed to enjoy the BB. I had promised Stephane that I would bring him some if there was anything left over and he seemed to be happy with that. Dinner was served and there was more than plenty left to share with him so I packaged it up and told Tom "No touchies". I brought it to Stephane on Tuesday and he was pretty excited about it. We discussed what our guests thought and I told him they liked it and even had seconds...so it couldn't be that bad. When he said he thought his wife hadn't had it before I was relieved, but then he remembered that his mother had made it on their last visit to France...OH NO! Now I'm worried again...

It's been a couple of days and I may not see him again until next week. So until then I'll be fretting over what I thought was pretty good beef bourguignon. I think I'll stick to the easy stuff from now on ;)

January 12-18, 2009

January 12, 2009 - I was clearing out some stuff in my car and I came across 3 more sets of gloves and threw them from the back of the car to the back seat...those brought the total to 5 pairs...and I wonder why my hands are cold.

January 13, 2009 - today was my first day of training or more appropriately, PRE-Training. I was so excited to get my running clothes all packed up so I could start using the treadmill at the station and get a head start on my running!January 14, 2009 - Today was my cross-training day so I packed up my bike gear and put my Trek on the car and did a quickie loop during lunch. It felt so good to get back on my bike!

January 15, 2009 - This is the work out room at the station, this is looking from the Treadmill that I use to all the other equipment that is available should I choose to do strength training at work.

January 16, 2009 - the end of my first week of training and this is my bag that I have packed up with my bike gear from the day. Actually, I was in such a hurry to get ready for work that I just shoved everything into the back. January 17, 2009 - We had the Roberson's and Baumann's over for Beef Bourguignon and this was the prep work of the Pearl Onions and Mushrooms. This dish is soooo very tasty, but what doesn't taste good after being cooked with an entire bottle of Pinot Noir?
January 18, 2009 - Tom started to move things out of the TV room to switch over entertainment components for the TV that was on order, but then was cancelled. We have a "small" collection of music CDs.

One Week Down....

Yeah, so this week I started my pre-training for my Duathlon. Tuesday-Friday I start work at 8:00 a.m. and take an hour lunch so I can get a little time in on the treadmill and on my bike. This week was all about figuring out the schedule and all that so things were running tight as far as times goes. I'm sure that in another week or so I'll have everything down and will be able to maximize the time I have to devote to working out during lunch time. This schedule will be temporary, just until I can get out early in the morning and after work.

I've decided to take my bike with me on the days that I don't run instead of storing it at the station somewhere. That seems to work out alright, however, this morning my bike had frost all over it because I have to get it ready to go the night before. Poor thing. Once I arrived at work I took it off the rack and rolled it into the meeting room so it could thaw out in time for my ride during lunch.

My route today was pretty fun, kind of an out and back type route, but it works. I get to ride FAST going toward Hwy 99 on Hazel Dell Avenue while flying past Klineline...that was exhilarating! I nearly had forgotten how much I love riding down that road. The one thing I didn't forget is the grind from Klineline all the way to 99th Street. Still, I had a pretty good time of 22:21 for 5.16 miles. It really does help that the first part of the route is FAST!

The weird thing is that I look forward to the treadmill - it's pretty mindless, but at least I can monitor my pace than if I were to run at the track or something. The track will be this weekend and in about 3 weeks I'll have to start speedwork - Woo Hoo!

Getting out on the road or running the treadmill has made a difference in my daily outlook - I'm a much happier person now and not so down in the dumps, not that I was so much so before this last week, but I do feel better. The Duathlon will be a reality now, I'm pretty sure of that.

bliss

Yesterday was my first road ride since the week before Thanksgiving! It was AWESOME. It was short, but it wasn't the trainer! Yesterday I rode the TREK, but tomorrow I'll probably schlep the FUJI with me....One hour lunch breaks, yeah baby!

January 5-11, 2009

Week 2 of my weekly photo challenge...enjoy~

January 5, 2009 - This is one of our favorite people at Starbucks - Daniel! He was not happy that I gave this photo to Stephane - hee hee...

January 6, 2009 - This is me (duh) and I have had these glasses for about a year, but I don't wear them often because I have figured out that they don't go well with my summer cut. I got more comments on today for some reason. What a geeky look! I LOVE IT! I was a little tired and Tom wasn't feeling well, so we went to Bamboo Hut for dinner like right after I got home. So much for what I thought we would have for dinner tonight.
January 7, 2009 - I forgot to take a picture today, so I decided that the toilet would be the subject. BTW, this was finally installed a few days before Christmas. A working toilet in the downstairs bathroom - WoWiE!

January 8, 2009 - This is one of the Captains at work. He is usually more goof-ball like than this photo shows. This was during the heavy rains this week and I-5 was closed and we needed personnel to go standby at the fairgrounds to assist the stranded truckers.

January 9, 2009 - Another Starbucks buddy, although he is no longer at our Starbucks, but at the Woodland Starbucks. I emailed him earlier in the week to see if he would be interested in joining Tom and I for dinner at Sushi Tsunami - he said sure and was even on time. That is a rare thing, but I told him that this place fills quickly and we don't like to wait for a place to sit ;) It was good to see our ol' buddy Dave again.

January 10, 2009 - This is Mark, THE mechanic at Performance - he's pretty cool and he is pretty good with the bikes! I didn't like him very well in the beginning, but over time he just kind of grows on you. He is a little intimidating too, tall, a little taller than Tom. You would think I would be okay with that, but for some reason he just seems really tall! So when we visit with him he needs to stand a little bit away from us!

January 11, 2009 - I'll probably get in trouble for this one, but I was trying out a new (to me) mode on our camera. This is Robin who has been my friend for longer than she has been a mom (but not by much!) She started leading worship on a regular basis in the last year and I have to say that she does a super job...Good job this morning Robin!

Advent Conspiracy, Part 4

Today was our final AC event...Lighten the Load.

Felida had a 40 yard dumpster delivered to the church parking lot so that people that live in neighborhoods around us could take advantage of dumping their stuff at no cost. There were a couple of people that asked if we wanted donations and we said NO...just your stuff. Most of the stuff was truly garbage, but there were some items that could be taken to Good Will, cardboard to be recycled and steel that could be sold. The morning was pretty chilly and I think that now, hours later, I'm still thawing out! We had a few people show up to help out - I was supposed to walk around the neighborhoods and pick-up garbage, but I didn't want to wander around by myself - it was more fun visiting with my buddies!

A cool beginning to our morning of accepting junk, trash, garbage etc...

OOH...JUNK!!!

Jenni our very own barista

Sammy & Sally arrive to take over the coffee duties

LOTR

In a past post I have mentioned how I am not much of a movie watcher. In actuality, I do not enjoy going to the theater to watch movies. I like to be where it is comfortable and cozy.

Over the last month or so we have been watching the Lord of the Rings movies quite a lot. We have watched all three movies AND have watched the majority of the Appendices. Now I have discovered how many different commentaries were recorded for the Extended Version of each movie. It's time to start watching the movies again.

Favorite scenes - one from each movie.

Fellowship of the Ring

The Two Towers

The Return of the King

Weekly Photos

December 29, 2008 - January 4, 2009

I have recently bought a scrapbooking magazine - for two reasons, 1. Things were getting a little slow at work and I wanted something to flip thru pretty easily - pictures are always good 2. I needed some fresh ideas that might be doable for me. Being creative with documenting our activities is just not that easy. I like looking at the magazines and the examples at the shops, but somehow those skills elude me.

In this particular issue, there was this whole things about scrapbooking a picture for every day of the year...interesting. I decided that to try and make that a doable reality by posting the photos on this blog just so that I have them, just in the off chance I decide to actually do the scrapbook with these particular photographs.

December 29, 2008 - On Christmas Day I still had not figured out what to give to my friend Cathy - so I went thru my quilt projects in hopes that there would be something that I could finish up for her. I found this pretty table runner that I pieced together and quilted a couple of years ago. All it needed was the binding...I got to work that afternoon and finished stitching the binding on December 29. I have a knack for starting projects and then stopping because it gets to the point that I have to get creative - in most cases it is because I have to quilt it. For some reason this one was much further in the process.

December 30, 2008 I made arrangements to go to Cathy's house and to give my gift to her. I think she liked it. December 31, 2008 Tom gave me a grill pan for Christmas and I used it for the first time. It's pretty cool!January 1, 2009 - We didn't do much on New Years Day, but we did make it to Starbucks. January 2, 2009 - I didn't realize until I was ready to leave the house that it had snowed over night. That was a little bit of a surprise, but I was okay with that since I had the day off and didn't really need to be anywhere at any particular time. January 3, 2009 - getting things back to normal. We spent the majority of the day getting the Christmas stuff packed up and put away. Here is Tom taking the lights off the tree and chopping it up as he went along. Better than having me try to lend a hand in schlepping the tree out the door! January 4, 2009 - It has been quite chilly and we went for a run after church and I was still cold! I asked Tom if he would get a fire going so at least it wouldn't be freezing in the living room. I wonder what it is like to live in a house that is set up with a heat system. (nice that I could get my figure in the photograph!)

Relax...

Man it has been such a nice day. Even though we got to bed close to 2 a.m. I still was up around 7 - it's like a curse or something. I can't sleep past a certain hour or something. Most days I'm out of bed by 5:00 if not earlier. Weekends by 5:30 - crazy. Anyway, I spent the time this morning alone reading more of book #2 of the Twilight series (yes, I'm reading the series). After Tom got up, we had some coffee, I played on the computer, then we went to Starbucks to read, then read some more at home. Then I took a nap (a rare occurence). Now we are getting dinner ready...

I like holidays!

Happy New Year

Last night we went to Jenni's for a couple of hours for games and snacks....left at 10:30 to head into Portland for the First Run & Walk at Midnight. It was fun to spend New Years with friends and then do a run...I might have to continue this routine in the future!