Category: To Occupy my Time

Perfect Drive.

So before I saw Magic Mike, I had a perfect day.  I had a scheduled all-day training for work in McMinnville, so I reserved a Zipcar for the day.  The day before the training, I realized the training was not relevant to my position, but a call to the powers that be confirmed I had to go.  I did secure assurance that I could attend the training until the lunch break and that would be sufficient.  Excellent.

The training itself was okay.  Like I said, it didn’t apply to me, but it included an Excel spreadsheet that was pretty amazing. During the copious amounts of work time, I played around with the spreadsheet, got the gist and then occupied myself reading things online.  This was harder than one would think, as the training was at a high school that blocked access to a lot of things.  For instance, I couldn’t access my gmail, nor could I read the New York Times.  However, Roger Ebert’s website was not blocked and I read a great essay about his wife.  Now, I would argue that maybe I would have benefited from reading the New York Times online, but if the district wants me to spend time reading movie reviews and essays, I will.

We broke early for lunch (yipee!) and off I went in my Zipcar.  Zipcar gives you 180 miles per day and I aimed to drive most of them getting myself back home.  First stop:  Newberg Dairy Queen.  I needed a Blizzard as it was summer and I was out for a drive.  As I ate, I sat in the parking lot and planned my route using my big Oregon map with all the back roads.  After I planned, (it turns out I’m not a huge fan of cookie dough blizzards anymore.  The quality of the ingredients isn’t very high.) I noticed the retro Dairy Queen sign, tucked away in the corner of the lot.
 

This is the Dairy Queen sign we all know today and it was right by the road.  I suspect the road was re-jiggered at some point and the new sign was built and the old one just sat there, instead of being removed.
 
Blizzard done, I headed out to Yamhill, via 240.

 

Once I got to 47 and Yamhill, I stayed on 47.


 Pictures taken while driving:
 

Don’t worry, I didn’t take my eyes off the road, just grabbed and pointed the camera out the window and pressed the button.
 
I next encountered Forest Grove.  I took “Old 47” which took me through town and I had trouble finding “New 47 again”  I burned some miles here, but eventually discovered I had to go travel on Highway 8 for a bit before it hooked up with 47.

More pictures from the car:
 


Finding 47 again, I headed toward Banks, which Matt and I rode on our bikes to from Stub State Park.
 
I followed the Sunset Highway (A.K.A. Highway 26) for a bit before turning off at Buxton.

 

Here the landscape changes as we begin to climb into the hills.
 
There were several places to access the trails at Stub State Park.  I used the bathroom at one of them.
 
And here I was!  Vernonia!  This is the other end of the Banks Vernonia Rail Trail.  I got there by car, not bike, but I finally set eyes on Vernonia.

Outside of Vernonia was some road construction.

Leaving Vernonia, I traveled for a bit longer on 47 before the turnoff to the Scappoose-Vernonia Highway.

An important decision.  Scappoose or St. Helens? I chose Scappoose.  My miles were dwindling.
 

There was much more traffic on this stretch of highway.  I followed this truck for a good number of miles.

Scappoose threw me back on the familiar territory of Highway 30 as I headed toward home.

The familiar spires of the St. John’s Bridge.
 

And back along Lombard toward home.

Unpacking the car at home I realized the super awesome “choose your own configuration” cup holder.  Good job, car engineers.

Also, the radio stations were fabulous.  I cycled between six stations and never had to listen to one commercial.  I did get to hear one song twice:  Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side.  Also, I discovered that what one radio station is calling “the new classic rock” is what I was listening to in high school.

So thanks Zipcar, for getting me to my important training and thanks again for a delightful drive home.

Sand in the City

I joined Mom and Aunt Carol for breakfast at Mother’s and then we headed over to check out Sand in the City.  It was, frankly, underwhelming.  There were nine sand sculptures, a paltry amount, I thought, and I was not impressed by most of the scupture.  Perhaps my expectations were a bit too high?

Here’s an example.  The slogan is “branching out to help others” but the branches are not going out, they are going in.  It just didn’t work for me.
 

Kid’s on the block being sculpted into a block?  Eh.
 
I enjoyed the pun here, but look at all the blank space.
 
And this didn’t even look fully formed.
 
There was a Voodoo Donut on the Octopus, which I appreciated.
 
This display had the best detail from shrimp on the barbie to…
 
…an intricately sculpted welcome mat.

At this point my camera warned me I was running out of battery and as we had Sunday Parkways yet to do, I decided to stop taking pictures of mostly unimpressive sand sculpture.

The best part of the job interview.

I had a job interview today, which was exciting and I think went well.  But I can tell you that the best part of the job interview was the Zipcar I rented.  The one that was closest to where I work was also a fancy car.  When I saw it I laughed.  This was going to be a fun drive.
 
In reserving the car, I allowed copious amounts of time for the interview itself and to get the Zipcar back in time.  This meant I had nearly two hours after the interview to drive around and I took advantage of that time.  I rarely get to drive cars that react so strongly when I press the gas pedal.
 

Requiem: Water Bottle

I was in the observation phase of my graduate degree in education.  This meant I took the train and bus an hour each way to Aloha High School and wandered between several Social Studies classes for an entire day, never really feeling like I should be anywhere.  The Social Studies teachers (all coaches, fulfilling my history teacher stereotype*) hung out in a shared office–no one seemed to venture into the staff room.

Due to the lack of access to drinking fountains and running water, I quickly became dehydrated.  My solution?  Buy two Nalgene bottles, fill them in the morning at home and drag them with me every day.

But then the whole BPA thing came about.  I’m pretty sure these are old enough to be BPA bottles, but I can’t tell because the symbol on the bottom has rubbed off.  So I finally got a new fancy glass water bottle and am retiring this one.  Matt has just adopted it for rolling out his foot.  The second water bottle I still use at school. I’ll look to replacing that one soon.

*Why are US residents so incredibly ignorant of their own country’s history?  Because a lot of people hated history in high school.  Every time I encounter someone who professes such hatred I ask them if their history teacher was a coach.  There is always an amazed pause and they say, “How did you know that?”  I know that because a lot of high schools fill their social studies positions with coaches.  In fact, sometimes they advertise them this way.  I couldn’t apply for a Social Studies position in the David Douglas school district because I could not also coach boys’ JV basketball.  Hiring this way ensures all the coaching positions are filled, but are the best Social Studies teachers being hired?  I think we have evidence that in most cases they are not.

Requiem: Hairbrush.

This hairbrush was a present in either high school or early college.  My friend Sara had a brush like it and I loved how good it felt on my scalp.  Before this brush I had been using a tight-bristled brush with a blue handle that came from Avon.  Except for periods of short hair, I’ve used this brush daily for a very long time.

But it’s a bit worse for wear.  In college, I tried to use it as a hammer and discovered that wood, when pounded on a steel dowel, yields to the steel dowel and you get splinters.  The side you can’t see has been ragged for 16 years now.  It’s also losing bristles slowly but surely.  They fly off at random moments during the morning brush and Sentinel goes after them followed quickly by me, so he can’t attempt to swallow them.

Getting rid of things like this is very hard for me to do.  Despite its ragged appearance and decades of hair oil buildup on the bristles, this brush still works, so I feel like I’m casting away a slightly crippled child.  On top of that, I can’t donate it, because who wants a broken, crusty brush?  After I took this picture, I left the brush on the table for a good week or so, before taking it to the trash bin, thanking it for its service and tossing it in.  I feel guilty every time I drop another bag of garbage on it.

Bike ride.

I took the long way to St. Johns because it was such a nice day.  I got extra time to contemplate the nice day while I waited for the train to pass.  I came upon the train midway through and still counted over one hundred cars.
 
A view of the slough. (It rhymes!)
 
Don’t go here on the bike path.  Happily, I’m almost to my destination.
 
Yep.  The Willamette and Columbia are still confluence-ing here, at Kelly Point Park.  I like to go and check on them every once in awhile, just to make sure.
 
Blue skies and power lines just past Kelly Point Park.  Soon after that I took a wrong turn and made my ride longer than it needed to be.  But it was such a nice day, I was happy.
 

Rose Festival Parade 2012

Saving seats for the Rose Festival Parade.  I’m from the blue chair to the end of the blanket.
 
After much time saving seats, Mom and her friend Tanya arrived.  Then Rick arrived with S & K.  Kids at parades are much fun so there are many pictures of S & K and none of Mom and Tanya.
 
Trying to get both kids to look at the camera.
 
There’s a parade going on, but who needs parades when you have rocks behind you?
 
Because then you can take the rocks…
 
…and put them in the bike helmet!
 
Attempt at self-portrait with myself and K.  It captures neither of us, but does get a bit of my mother.
 
This weird yellow guy hung about, trying to excite the crowds.  He was a bit creepy and eventually moved on.  He seemed to not be actually affiliated with the parade, just a random all yellow guy looking to motivate people to cheer.
 
K had the eating thing down. 
 
S took a break from rock-moving to have a snack.
 
They lasted a long time, but eventually it was time to go.
 
In case you missed the Rose Festival Parade, here it is, in less than three minutes.