August 20, 2007

Resurrecting The Champ

So Last week I was driving between Vancouver and Kelso/Longview listening to OPB Radio (NPR). This is one benefit of being out of the office/cube farms :). Fresh Air from WHYY ran an interview with Samuel L. Jackson regarding his new movie Resurrecting the Champ. At the end of the interview I made a mental note, which I hoped lasted longer than making it to the next mile marker, to see the movie sometime in the future.

After completing a wonderful day of riding on Saturday I ended up at St Johns Honda's open house and they were giving out passes to see the movie Monday night at 7 PM. Well I grabbed one and made arrangements for Lindsey to watch Bubba and Shelley and I made a date night.

The movie was great. It is based in Denver and one of the characters is a sports writer for the Denver Times. There was a point where the reporter was asking to cover the Nuggets/Blazers game instead of a fight because his son was a huge fan. His boss about fell out of his chair laughing. Now keep in mind that this isn't a comedy, but this scene received many a laugh.

Anyways, I'm getting a bit tired now.. so not much more to say other than you should go see the movie. The whole father/son underlying story line was great. Makes me think of Bubba and I, and how he looks up to me. :)


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July 31, 2005

Biker Wedding

Nothing like a wedding taking place in the middle of a “biker bar” and the minister (with a leather vest and a braided pony tail) having to shout, “Everyone be quiet!”

It was short sweet and very hot, 30+ ppl in a bar with a full kitchen. Never been to a wedding where I could nibble on fish and chips and sip on my beer during the ceremony. But it was a good night to hang out with friends and coworkers. Pictures turned out ok, but not to great.

As for today, it's Shel's family BBQ this afternoon. We may take in a movie just to cool off before headning over, should be around 90 today. Shel had a hard time sleeping, little warm for her. She said, “At least it sounded like you slept well.” I guess I snored no matter where I was on the bed, left, right or center. Looks like I'm taking after Dad. Two straight nights of snoring :)

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July 30, 2005

Keeping it real...

…busy that is.

This week flew by, as all work weeks should!

It's been warm down here, at least warm for us!. High 80's to 90's

Thursday we rode out to a coworker's house for dinner with her and the SO. Great place, great food, great company. We hope to do it again soon.

Shelley and I hit Harvey's Comedy Club last night. The 10:30 PM show. We've decided we're probably to old to try going to a show this late :). Shel said it was more fun watching me enjoy the comedians than it was to watch the comedians them selves. What can I say I'm a wild and crazy guy! One of the Comedians that was at Winks hooked me up with tickets. He is one of the guys that always wants me to be in the audience of his shows. You can “read more” to get info on the show.

In a couple of hours we get to attend a “Traditional …

Hold a second. Shel just told me about a dream she had. She was in a ice cream eating contest… but the twist was she had to use her feet.

OK. No more Chinese food before her nap. :-)

Now back to the post…

As I was saying we're going to a “traditional biker wedding” for my coworker/friend Sherri. We are to wear jeans, t-shirts, leathers and bring bikes! Woo hoo! I'll take pictures for everyone.

Tomorrow is a BBQ with Shel's fam in SW Portland. I get to have the stamp of approval from more members. I'll pass with flying colors of course. :-)

Anyways, need to get read for the wedding. Talk to you all later

Our tickets were setup by Keith Ellis. He is a very funny man with some great material about living in Lake Oswego for three months for his actual “paying” job. He found the real meaning behind Lake No Negros. :-)

The second comedian of the night was a guy from LA. I really wish that Harvey's would put info on the host and other comedians, not just headliners. This comedian was of latino decent and had a wonderful thsirt to sell. I whish i had the extra cash, i've gotten one and wore it in el valley. :). Maybe I'll get his name from Kieth.

The headliner, who has no website :(, was great here is the info on him:

Chaz Elstner
July 26th - 31st

A national headliner with the ability to captivate his audiences with high-energy, thought-provoking shows, Chas Elstner is a master of sound effects and brings a degree of sheer kinetic energy to the stage. This former Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey performer will keep you amazed and laughing with an honest approach to his “on the edge” material.

I was laughing so hard at times I thought I was going to bust open. Lots of fun, we'll go back again with more friends. I told her the real show was watching me… now she knows.

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May 01, 2005

I'm a good griller

At least that is what my coworkers tell me. We had a 2 lb tri tip steak and three chicken breasts. Both were marinated, each differently. I just told them I learned everything from Dad. Rule #1: Keep the cook happy and well “marinated” and the meat will come out just fine. :-)

Today I headed over to see Tom and Wayne. Tom, Lindsey, and I had lunch together. Afterwards Wayne and I headed to Home Depot to pick up a new lawn mower for him. I was the lifting help and consultant. I guess he figures I know about these things. I guess I do, we picked up a Honda. We put it “together” (consists of lift from box, adding oil and gas then running). Wayne cut the grass and I fixed my weed whacker I loaned him (needed string) and proceeded to edge his grass. I made sure to give him lessons, but I don't think it will stick :-). I gave him pointers on trimming some Hydrangea. His idea of “pruning” is using a shrub trimmer. Oh the humanity. :-)

After we all the yard work was done it looked like he had hired a crew. I told him a real “cheap” crew… me :-) I do miss doing yard work, but I can't complain too much. I was able to ride over, spend time with the bros and do some yard work. My day was good.

But my brain is mush now. Too much DMV paperwork. They still have Danielle listed on the pickup, so I have to submit changes for that and get the tags renews. Put that on top of getting a replacement title for the broken down Tercel on the farm. And spending 30 minutes trying to see what I need to do to get proof of the divorce so that I can make changes at work to W2s, health insurance, life insurance, etc. I go watch TV or make a phone call… I think I forget things… Kiefer is worse :-)

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April 26, 2005

Mason's Birthday Pictures Posted

After going for a 43 mile ride last night and ending up at Crown Point to watch the sunset I worked on Monkey's pictures. They have been cropped, enhanced and tossed up on the site. Captions may come later. You can find them at:

050423 Mason BDay Party

Only pictures no movies. It slipped my mind that I could do movies with my camera. My loss is your gain. Trust me. ;-)

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March 28, 2005

You're not going to belive this!

I know I've joked about moving to NY City, someplace I will hopefully know no one! But this pushes me even closer. I've been going to Winks, a local sports bar, for comedy Mondays. They put on a no cover open comedy show each Monday night. Tonight was the third show, they were slated for only four. The good news? Wink's has signed up for another month!

All of the comics love me there, as well as the owner of Winks, Nick. He says I'm on the pay roll. :-) Did I mention I laugh at jokes? Several comic have told me the past few weeks I should go to all of their shows. If they buy me food and drinks I might consider it. ;-) The funny thing is I get buried in the crowd at Harvey's downtown comedy show (only three comics and much more money!). I figure I'm supporting a good customer of Boyds (avg $45 a month) and getting exercise (do you know how many calories you burn by laughing…. as much as I do?).

So after tonight I start talking to the Owner and his good friend. The good friend recently retired from Gresham High School as the Athletic Director. His brother-in-law was the VP of Sales at Boyds a few years back. Larry Winkler was his name. Great guy. Told him to tell Larry, “Hi!” He remembers me, guaranteed.

Soon after I ask him if he knows Hassman. What was his first name? Yes he knows him. Just played golf with him last week! Told him to drop my name with him! Another great guy!

Then… I mention that I grew up in Sunnyside. Well this guy knows a guy that lived in Grandview and went to school in Sunnyside. His 80 year old mother still lives in Sunnyside! So I gave him all the Amundson family names. He's having lunch with that friend tomorrow. I'll see him again next Monday, unless I get his number form Nick. :-)

The nail in the coffin? And someone has to tell Mom about this! (print it out for her Paula!) The very fine looking bartender, Jill… After she heard I grew up in Sherwood (she's a native Gresham gal) she told me she moved to Texas with …. wait for it… David Sean! I about fell off my chair! This is the the third oldest of the Sean family (four boys) that I was in Boy Scouts with! This was the very buff brother. To say the least she's not with him.

I can't believe this small world! Like I said, I'm considering a move to NY City. Maybe I can see Late Night with David Letterman.

It's bed time. The good news about Monday Comedy shows? I can right Tuesday off too. I probably won't get much done tomorrow. On the bright side, I'll be ready to go by Thursday.

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March 22, 2005

For those of you with contacts...

…always make sure that the contact makes it to your EYE. Funny when you sit there saying to yourself, “That left eye just doesn't seem to be doing to good. Maybe I should adjust the contact.” Then I touch my eye to move the contact and don't find it… anywhere. Good news? I found it in the bottom of the sink. :-)

Maybe I shouldn't stay out at a comedy show and local bar until Midnight on a “school night”. (it was only from 8 PM to Midnight). I figured that since it was Spring Break I might be able to survive. I'll make it through the day, I think. This is a regular comedy show, every Monday night. At the very lest the comedians enjoy having me there because I laugh so much and so well. :-)

Well time to stuff down breakfast and head to work.

BTW Tess is disabled, I broke a bold on the clutch perch putting the new one on. Boy I should have listened to dad, especially when I was working with that bolt. I remember him saying something to the extent of, “Just because you can still tighten the bolt, it doesn't mean you have to.” Now I know and knowing is half the battle. I hope to have the bolt by the end of the week.

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February 23, 2005

Beautiful day in the neighborhood

Today turned out to be a great day in Vegas! I had breakfast at a great little 50's cafe around the corner. Tom would have liked the omelet I had. They called it the Rio Grande Surfer. Six eggs, chorizo sausage, cheddar and onions. Filled me up and headed back to Ken's apartment. He was out cold since he got home this morning. He works graves at Kinkos and having Christi, Kaci, and I all here didn't help his sleeping. I allowed him some time to recoup yesterday (Hover Dam) and today.

Today I did the drive to St George, Utah. 120 miles one way. I technically visited two states today, Arizona and Utah. Yes I set foot in Utah and it didn't immediately burst into flames. :-) Very beautiful area. I was able to take many great photos. I-15 winds through the Virgin River Gorge that I would love to ride the motorcycle through. I can't believe they were able to put a four lane freeway in that gorge. But I guess when you don't have any choice you do what you have to. The section through the gorge is in Arizona but it can't be accessed from that state. You have to enter from Utah or Nevada. That must suck for Arizona Department of Transportation. :-)

The good news is I was able to finally find some Boyd Coffee House Roaster Hi Rev Coffee! We actually have a sales warehouse in St George! I don't know the history of St George but I can't see any reason for a city to be there… maybe it is the college. Maybe it is because of the LDS stakes (many!) that I saw from the highway. Oh well I made it back safe. Need to go to Kinkos to print out my boarding pass. Ken's printer is out of paper. The car gets returned around 6:00 and I head to the airport there after.

BTW a tidbit from yesterday's dam tour. The guide told us the concrete will last for about 2000 years and it will take 800 years for lake mead to fill up. One of the tourists asked what they would do when it fills up. The guide said he has no idea, it's 800 years in the future. I couldn't resist and said, “No one gives a dam.” Luck for me the guide had just exited the elevator. Hey at least I didn't get the “This is my (hoover) dam shirt!” I wish I had at least taken a picture of it! I knew they HAD to have something like that there!

Oh and for Wayne: I'll do In and Out next time. I have to leave something for next time… I don't want to do THAT before the flight!

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February 20, 2005

First Vegas Pics Posted

First batch of Vegas pics: 050219 Vegas

Heading out to more fun. New York, New York

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Safe and sound.

Just wanted to let everyone know I'm safe and sound. Sorry for the delayed post. The server this runs on crashed and the guy that runs it (not me) was getting it back to normal. Things are good. I'll be posting pictures and movies tomorrow. K? G'night.

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January 30, 2005

I'm pooped

Ok it's 2:15 AM. that was way too much fun for my own good. comedy was fricking awesome. then haning out with coworkers was great, polished off rock bottom brewery and then went to hubers. many laughs, and bad jokes. pics later if I get them from the others. I had my first spanish coffee at hubers… about three sips into it I knocked the glass over. oh well, it was a good night overall. it finished off with us cramming all 7 of us into a 2 door honda something to get back to the apt we started at downtown. reminded me of 2 things, cramming ppl into the hornet and the return trip from oregon city to tigard on my bachelor party. Time for bed now. didn't ride today so I worked some more around the house and picked up some stuff from danielle. tomorrow is riding to beaverton and getting tom out on his bike. talk laters. Zzzzzzz.

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January 29, 2005

Social life? Know I know

Out till, what almost 1 AM. Coworker asked me to come to beach party she was throwing at her house. I wore a tourist shirt that says “ORGEON”, a Hawaiian shirt, pair my worst looking shorts, black dress socks and sandals. I went as a stupid looking tourist. I did good, got good laughs. beverages were good, food was great, lmao pleanty of times. Heck before I went there another coworker invited me out to another pub for a couple drinks. There were five of us total. Tomorrow, er scratch that… tonight I go to the comedy club with family and a couple coworkers then we coworkers meet more coworkers at another pub later for some more food and drinks. I'm also going to try to ride the bike both days… that's a motorcycle for those not in the know. please ignore any grammar and spelling mistakes, it's late/early and I'm pooped. Most of this is so much not like me :-)

I'll do my best to post more in the AM. Especially Droid's accident TTYL

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January 27, 2005

Don't expect to hear from me this weekend. :-)

Looks like this weekend is going to be packed! Friday night I've been invited to a “beach party” with beach movies, hors d' oeurves, and cocktails. Saturday night is comedy club with Wayne, Tom, and Lindsey then meeting up with some coworkers to celebrate a couple birthdays.

Weather looks good for riding both Saturday and Sunday… I'm glad I've put in extra hours here at the apartment getting it cleaned up, I'll need it if I'm playing on the bike… Hey I should call Droid and Tony/Tiff to see if they want to join me and possibly Sherri, coworker, for a ride. It won't be as warm as say Phenoix, but it should be fine for here.

and a shout out (yet again, something I'm too white to say) to Jamie.

Have a great weekend all. Oh yeah, tickets and clown car, I mean rental car, have been purchased and reserved for Vegas!

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January 22, 2005

Vegas Here I Come!

So a friend in vegas is a friend indeed! :-) A former coworker from The Computer Store that had moved to Vegas has invited me down before he moves to Missouri this Spring. I realized I had about two days of vacation to burn and thought about doing a long motorcycle ride. But my buddy's girlfriend had a better idea, “Go see Ken!” Heck yeah, that's a great idea. No hotel to pay for, and a personal tour guide! Next she asked if I get Presidents Day off. I do! So in total that'll be five days in Vegas, leaving Friday evening and returning late that following Wednesday night.

I want to locate some of the custom motorcycle builders down there and drool admire some of their work. Oh and do some people watching on the strip. I'm going to make sure I take the digi cam and the memory card this time. All I need to do now is book the tickets, find someone to drop me off at PDX Friday and pick me up on Wednesday night. Heck I might take MAX back to Gresham and have a friend pick me up… I could walk but I don't need that much exercise with the luggage etc. Must also remember to strip down the computer gear to the bare minimum. I don't want any trouble from security. They'll probably have me turn everything on. If so that could be up to five electronic items.

Well it's better weather outside. I did some picking up of things around the house so it's bike time. Waiting for coworker to call so we can go to breakfast. Firewood pickup (another coworker) and house pickup will wait until later. Tomorrow morning I meet Tom for breakfast at Maxwell's and we diagnose/repair the truck.

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December 11, 2004

It's too early to be up this late :-)

I've just had a great evening with several coworkers. We started out at Bumpers, a bar near the plant and then headed to Portland City Grill, this is the former location of Atwaters, on the 30th floor of the US Bank tower. The city looked great even in the slightly misty/cloudy night. We had a blast, one of our newest employees, a 28 year old Coffee Marketing Manager from Boston, was really impressed. He's looking forward to getting to know Portland better as time goes on.

I'm thinking of heading to Wayne's to work on Tess. Oil change, maintenance, etc. Depends on the weather and me :-). I finally rolled out of bed at Noon and had my fried egg sandwich, but the body is complaining a bit… No where near as bad as it COULD be. ;-) Enjoy your weekend… Tomorrow it's a trip to Sherwood to work on another coworker's computer and stereo system… he just moved. :-)

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September 16, 2004

Coming up next....

I get to meet Ami's parents for dinner tomorrow night. We'll be dining at Lee's Kitchen. I figured out today I haven't had to meet a girlfriend's father before… most were out of the picture or too far away. This should be interesting, but I'm not nervous and am looking forward to it.

Next weekend is the fun for Ami. Mom and the family are heading to Lincoln City for the weekend. Grandma and Mom will come down on Thrusday and the rest, Paula, Bunny, Aly, Grandpa, are coming down on Friday. Grandma and Mom will be doing the home tours, my place and Wayne's new house. I figure that we'll end up going to dinner, at the least Mom, Grandma, Ami and I. Ami has taken the weekend off so we'll plan on spending Saturday at the beach with the rest of the family. I know she'll do well and should be a great fit.

My brothers, Wayne and Tom, as well as Wayne's wife, Cortnee, has met Ami. They are all think she is a wonderful girl. Next on the list to meet are Lindsey and the Mintons. :-)

Any who, back to hanging out with Ami…. She's out cold right now… She works too hard.

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August 10, 2004

Distraction Revealed...

Ok, I had a little thorn in my side telling me I haven't posted anything lately. I can't reveal the source of the thorn, but first name begins with Kiefer and ends with Davis. :-P

So I thought I'd reveal my latest distraction. You may think guess it is something to do with the motorcycle, or computers, or family, or work, or (fill in the blank with a shiny object). But you'd be wrong on all accounts. :-P

Ok get ready for it… It's a gal from eHarmony.com. Her name is Ami and is a great gal. We've been “talking” via email for about two weeks and recently started to talk via the phone. Have you ever talked on the phone for over three hours? It is a amazing what you'll come up with. ;-)

Updates to come… Still trying to do eBay as time allows between work and life.

Posted by pykeman at 04:00 PM | Comments (0)

July 29, 2004

Longer time no talk.

I'm sorry that I haven't had much to say lately… well it isn't that I haven't had much to say, it is that I haven't been near the computer to post. I've been busy housesitting, bbq'ing, going to Weird Al concert with Keifer.

And to top that off my 'social life' has taken a turn for the best… more to come later. Let's just say I'm a bit distracted at the moment. :-)

See you family members at the reunion!

Posted by pykeman at 10:08 PM | Comments (3)

July 03, 2004

I have a biking buddy!

Well after having breakfast, on the back porch, of waffles and strawberries (that I made) we headed to Vancouver to get leathers for Becki. After we missed Love Leathers the first time we turned around and missed it again :-). Leslie and Rachel gave us the address and we located it right away.

I think we spent almost two hours there total today. She was sold a pair of chaps and they needed to hemmed. The gal that does that (a trailer outside) was dismayed at how badly they were fitted for Becki. She sent us back in to find a good pair and ended up with their “Shotgun Chaps”. They have separate legs, not connected together. Becki wears a belt all the time so they just have loops that go over the belt. We dropped them off to get hemmed and checked out the rest of the place. Becki ended up getting a hair wrap to keep her hair from getting knotted up from the wind.

The seamstress gave Becki a hard time for not having some motorcycle boots with heels instead of her tennis shoes. Heels help the feet to stay on the pegs. That will be the next pruchase. Becki was also given a hard time for being a “newbie” :-). And then I was for being “old” since she's five years younger than I am. All in good biker humor. I'll be back to them again down the road, everyone there is great!

BTW Barb the seamstress' father was a B-17 pilot and his family is from the Yakima valley area. Hmmm how may boys from the Valley were B-17 pilots? She gave me his name and I'll see if grandpa knows him. If so, this is another example of a small world!

After everything was fitted we headed over to Janet's to drop off her gear that I borrowed. Becki met Rachel, Leslie, and Haley (the dog). We then headed for home and now I'm packing for the ride to Washington. I'll post from the trip down the road. It'll be a total of about 550 miles from here to Sunnyside, WA to Mitchell, OR, and back home. Luckily we have 4 days to do it in :-).

TTFN (ta ta for now)

Posted by pykeman at 04:52 PM | Comments (0)

June 27, 2004

So let's check the calendar...

Wow, I haven't posted anything since the 19th! I've been spending too much time away from the computer. Darn it. Just this evening I looked at the odometer and Tess has 11,000 miles on her (7,300 when I bought her). Does that tell you what I've been up to? Tess rolled 10,000 Miles near Elmo Studd's Building Supplies in Durham/Tigard. I thought that was appropriate with the history Dad had with them (they knew him by name.)

I keep asking myself why I moved to Gresham if I'm spending so much time on the west side. My answer is so that I can be close to work and early each day. I spend much of my “off duty” time hanging out with either Tom or Becki. Lucky for me they are both at the same complex :-).

Tom finally has everything squared away on his motorcycle. Plates, registration, insurance, even a motorcycle learner's permit! This allows us to ride together on our own bikes. He has put over $500 in repairs to the bike and it runs like a champ now. All except the generator, we think it is bad after the ride tonight, the battery is dead and it's brand new. Here's a recap of the weekend:

Saturday I cleaned and detailed the bike. I didn't know I had so much chrome on her! That took most of the morning. I stopped by Janet's in Vancouver to borrow her leathers for Becki. I was even able to hook up with Tom and Lindsey to see DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story. It was great, Tom and I were laughing so much it hurt!

Tom, Becki and I were planning a ride after Tom was off at 5 PM, the movie pushed that back. This was the first time with a passenger and one of the first times for Becki on a bike. Becki and I did great, the first couple turns were different but I started to become comfortable with them. One of the best feeling about riding a motorcycle is riding with someone else, preferably a woman. :-) There is just something about feeling someone's hand around your waist. You and your passenger are one with the bike. I never expected that feeling to be so wonderful, it's hard to explain… I just feels right. Yet again a bit of Pop is coming through, but at least this time my motorcycle had a very well padded passenger seat. Just ask Mom what it is like riding on a motorcycle with a pillow on the package rack. :-D Poor Dad.

Tom did a great job also, I offered some of my sage advice on some of his technics. We did about 15-20 miles, short but enough to have some fun. We ended up at McMenamin's Rock Creek Tavern for fries and chicken strips.

Our adventure wasn't over as Tom ran out of gas on the way back to his house. He thought he had some reserve left but it was bone dry. I headed back to the apartments and dropped Becki off and hopped in the truck with Lindsey and Mustang so we could get gas to him. Once he was filled up he was able to get it going. We have agreed that the short runs we are doing are allowing him to get to know his bike a lot better. I for one should know about getting to know the milage on a motorcycle. The Honda 400 gets about 100 miles on it's tank. Trust me, I found out the hard way, just ask Mom, Bunny, Paula or Grandma A. :-)

After all the excitement with Tom I received a call from my other riding buddy, Sheri. She had made it to the Seaside Poker Run we had planned to do. I made plans earlier in the week to work on some eBay stuff as The weather was forecasted to rain. She put on over 300 miles. From Gresham to Seaside (95 mi.), the poker run (150 mi.), then Seaside to Gresham (95 mi.) I'm jealous. Later that evenng John “Droid” Whang met me out there and rode back to my place. Finally hit the sack after 1 AM.

Today I rode out to Tom's had lunch with him, chicken on the grill. He is a grill master! Just some breasts that needed to be cooked and some seasoning and it came off great!. After lunch I crashed into a Food Coma and napped for an hour then hung out with Becki. Tom and I were planning a ride when he got done with work so Becki and I burnt some time. We went for a drive checking out some bike paths for Becki to ride and decided to take Germantown Rd into Portland to a Rivercity Bicycles to pick up a bike route map. The ride down was fun, Becki said that road should be fun on the motorcycle, boy is it! We also talked about hiking around Forest Park, something neither of us have ever done in the 10 +/- years we've lived in Portland. I think we are driving each other to do more exercising. It won't hurt, at least not until a day or so later ;-)

Anyways, we finished our running around and then Tom and I headed off into the sunset for the ride. We went from Hillsboro to Scholls, to Newberg (dinner at Burgerville”), then to Sherwood to shoot the wind with the Korbs, then to King City to shoot the wind with Ryan Hoftiezer. All that shooting the wind (talking and riding) took longer than we thought. We returned to Hillsboro well after 10 PM and I headed back home. Tried to type all this up but kept falling asleep :-) Finished the next evening. Now on to the next adventure: BAKING :-)

Posted by pykeman at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)

June 19, 2004

Tornado In Sherwood Last Night...

From KGW.com:

An evening cool down brought with it some unexpected thunderstorms and a brief tornado following a second straight day of unrelenting heat in the Portland area. Thunderstorms passed through metro Portland along with portions of the Columbia River Gorge and southwest Washington. Some of the storms brought high wind and hazardous lightning with them.

A small tornado briefly touched down and then dissipated over southeastern Washington County about 8:45 p.m., the National Weather Service said. The twister was spotted near the Sherwood YMCA and damaged 7 trees, the weather service said. The funnel cloud quickly dissipated and meteorologists said no further severe weather was expected Friday night.

Elsewhere, high winds were blamed for bringing down a 70-foot Douglas Fir tree onto a house on Portland's southeast side. No injuries were reported from either the Sherwood or Portland locations.

While thunderstorms passed through much of the area, the only official warning of the evening came in Cowlitz County, Wash. — where a Severe Thunderstorm Warning was prompted by lightning activity.

.p Well I headed over to Sherwood to Mackenzie's Pub to meet Wayne and Tom. I noticed earlier in the day that the weather was changing over SW Washington. Boy did it change, I was seeing lightning on the way to Sherwood. I think one of the stations said it was the most strikes in NW Oregon in a long time. It was a bit breezy at times but didn't rain. I sprinkled while we were inside the restaurant. After burger, beer and bros I headed back home around 8 or 8:30. Ryan Hoftiezer, Matt Potter, and one of the Martin twins joined us as well. Ryan and I rode our bikes to Beaverton where he was meeting a friend, I peeled off on 26 to home. I'm glad and bummed at the same time that I missed the tornado. no biggie though, I didn't have the camera with me anyways.

Well time to get ready for the Hooter's Poker run. Tomorrow is laundry, pick up the pickup in Beaverton (Wayne borrowed it), and do eBay research for clients. The pickup pick up will be fun, almost two hours to ride MAX over to Hillsboro. Too bad Trimet doesn't have wireless internet on their trains. :-)

Posted by pykeman at 06:51 AM | Comments (0)

June 06, 2004

My first "free" Saturday

So what did I do with my first weekend of doing nothing since I didn't have to move a damn thing? (Imagine me doing a happy dance.)

The Sony HT-DDW660 was a choice due to size. I had a amp and two large speakers, too much for a one bedroom. I had $150 in gift cards for Sears picked it up before the movie. 98% was setup after the movie and food, need to get 72 feet of speaker wire :-).

Shrek 2 was great and I want to see it again. Many of the reviews say the same thing, “Plenty for the kids and the adults.” There are so many references to other movies and Hollywood in general. One of my coworkers said he picked up so much more the second time around. We all had a great time and were hungry afterwards. It was decided to head to Main Street Ale House which opened in April.

Main Street used to be a Franz bakery according to my coworkers. Over the years it has been a few different pubs/breweries. The Gresham Outlook news paper did a story about the new business. It's an interesting place, I'm told they gutted the entire interior making it wide open. Their website stated that they have darts and pool tables, possibly in a back room. All we saw was a single pool table near the bar with a sign “Minors Not Allowed to Use Table”. I'm guessing that they wanted a “family” table but OLCC has a regulation about proximity of minors to the bar.

The beer was great, the food was good, service needed some work. Our waitperson was ditzy at best. She said she had been there since 10:30 AM and it was 5:00 PM. I know waitstaff work their butts off, but come on… Every order she brought back she tried to give to the wrong person. Drinks were replenished slowly or mistakenly taken when the person wasn't finished. I'll give Main Street the benefit of the doubt and go back again to see if service improves. I'd like to try the Brat Dinner! Oh and one other thing, they make their own potato chips on site. I'm not sure what the seasoning is but we tasted garlic, onion, and possibly cheese.

Posted by pykeman at 08:21 AM | Comments (0)

June 01, 2003

Now that was fun

Well I got to work in the yard by 9 AM and got everything cleanded up and weeds pulled. I got a chance to clean up the garage and basement (office area) but didn't do any windows.

We had between 13 and 15 people at Adam's Graduation party. One of the younger kids brought water balloons and there were a couple Super Soakers around. You don't have to be a math wizard to figure out what happened: Fun, laughter, tears, and a general soaking for a few participants (even one “adult,” Migraine Boy, was able to get a few rounds in.

Adam's mother made great BBQ ribs and bratworsts, four different types of salads (bean, pea, macaroni, jello type), deviled eggs, chips & dip, veggies and dip. And then cake. We had to roll everyone back up the hill after dinner ;-)

After our friend Droid took some of the kids for a ride on his motorcycle. I just had to bring out “mine” and park next to it, just to help his look better. Mine: 1980 Honda CM-400T His: 1993 Honda Shadow (600 cc). He even has a better horn… it was an interesting competition, my little beep-beep horn to his two beep-beep horns, I had no chance in H*ll. I couldn't resist not taking mine for a spin around the block.

After everyone had a chance to let the food settle and watch Adam play his new PlayStation 2 game, the Matrix Reloaded verison or learn how to play card games from Droid it was decide to to see Finding Nemo. It was a mad dash to the three cars as we had 15 minutes to get to the theater. We all pulled in and saw a long line and decided to go to the later show… All five girls left us there and four guys with one car and the mission to by the tickets. I believe the comment was made, as we walked away, that we looked like the group form Reservoir Dogs but a more nerdy.

We all ended up at Basking Robbins in Garden Home to have a quick treat then go for a walk on the old train right of way, strike that we decided to play on the play ground at the Washington County Recreational center across the street. After several games of tag and jumping from swings, both of which caused bruises, we headed to Tigard for the move. It was a great movie. I have come to expect this from Pixar. The one thing I was annoyed with was the way things have changed at the movies. Instead of the nice quiet slide show and “radio station” in the back ground they actually have ad videos running before the movie. Oh well what ever makes them a buck (speaking of which want a large Iccee for $3.75?!).

We all made it home at 11:30 PM our. Our friends, who are living in Vancouver, WA while the man of the house is in the Middle East (guess where), are staying the night as well as Danielle and Adam's younger sister. And don't forget Nick, Adam's best friend from Coos Bay. Please give Nick some sympathy as he had to ride the three hours from Coos Bay in the car with Katrinia… Another story for another time…

Well that is a short run down of todays events, tomorrow is minor cleanup as Adam and Danie's mother did most if not all of it tonight, it was great :-). I'll probably have to run to the store for breakfast fixings… better get some sleep while I can.

Posted by pykeman at 12:27 AM | Comments (0)