As I mentioned, boyfriend and I accompanied some friends to the Chinese Garden yesterday. Here are some pictures:
Some simple lily pads in the water.
What is now my favorite picture of my boyfriend. :)
The Rainbow Bridge over the pond (which was full of baby fishies!).
A look across the pond towards a building in the garden. The skyscraper you see in the background is where I start work on Wednesday.
Another set of lily pads with a bit of cloud reflection.
A view across the garden.
It was all very calming. If I every have a stressful day, I'm heading here on my lunch break. It was a nice trip to take with our friends. We also stopped by the Portland Saturday Market which is always a fun experience.
From "The Tao of Now"
08 30 2008 - 6:32 pm. Category: default
Thirty-Three
You will never come to know your self
through intellectual knowledge.
You cannot acquire like an object
what it is you already are.
That would be like the sun
seeing its own light shining on the earth
and saying:
I want to get some of that.
-Daniel Skach-Mills
The Tao of Now is published by KenArnoldBooks, LLC, Portland, OR. It can be ordered from the publisher at www.kenarnoldbooks.com.
I'll post the pictures from our trip to the chinese gardens tomorrow.
Multnomah Falls
08 30 2008 - 01:28 am. Category: default
Boyfriend and I drove out to Multnomah Falls today, just a few short minutes east of Portland. The pictures didn't turn out great, something was off in my lighting setting that I didn't catch. And if everything looks ridiculously green, it's because it was. You can check out all the best one's here.
We took the scenic highway instead of the busy one, and arrived at the Vista Ridge (I think that's it) lookout point. I've never been here. It was a really cool stone octagonal building looking out over the gorge and the Columbia River. But it was crazy cloudy, this is all we could see.
Just some stones along the walking path. I just like the angle of the shot.
A very old bridge we drove over. I love bridges. I think they're fascinating. They're intricate, detailed, and impressive engineering feats. Portland is a bridge town, but most of them are not very exciting. It's when you come across the old ones in the hills that it really gets interesting.
The lower part of Multnomah Falls.
A view of the upper part of the falls, from the bottom.
We hiked to the top, and this is looking down. That bridge in the previous two pictures can barely be seen. We're roughly 700 feet higher than that bridge.
A view towards the Columbia from the top of the waterfall.
All of the picture taking I've done lately really makes me want a digital SLR camera where I could really play with the settings. Point and shoots are pretty limited and like the pictures today, they do not always deliver exactly what you want. I also need to remember to take my sunglasses off when I take pictures so that I see the true color.
Tomorrow we are going to the Portland Chinese Gardens with some friends, so I'll have even more pictures to share. Yay!
Productivity!
08 28 2008 - 3:49 pm. Category: default
Things I do on the Average Summer Day:
Things I did Today:
Walked around downtown.
Purchased Sept. Trimet pass for work commute.
Picked up a Trimet MAX schedule.
Reserved a copy of Spore and Wrath of the Litch King at the mall near work.
Inquired at the bank about opening a mutual checking account with Boyfriend.
Purchased a brown w/stripes work shirt.
The ol' swicheroo
08 26 2008 - 5:40 pm. Category: work
With work looming on the horizon (btw, the company picnic on Sunday was awesome) I've begun taking measures to smooth the transition from lazy ass to productive member of society.
First, I'm going to bed at a reasonable hour and waking up to an alarm clock. I'm slowly going to push this back to the actual 6:00am that I need to wake up for work. Today, I flipped my closet! In the past my often-worn t-shirts were on the easy access side with more space and my work clothes (worn sporadically) were crammed into the less space, not-so-easy access side. Today I moved the collared clothes, now my primary clothes, to the better side. Woo productivity! Don't they look all neat?
Oh, I also made the end table in the bedroom into a permanent ironing table. Go me.
Yes, yes, I know there isn't a whole lot of color or style in there. it is all very gray, but that burgundy one is pretty hot! I'm further rectifying the color situation tomorrow. Shopping trip!
Weekly One Sentence(s)
08 26 2008 - 3:13 pm. Category: default
Weekly dose. There were a lot of good ones just off the main page this week:
ticosmom: Imagine my surprise when my kindergarten deskmate tapped my on the shoulder only to vomit his afternoon milk and snack all over me.
Erin: It's my sixteenth birthday and I've only gotten happy birthdays from a radio DJ and a website.
Qweebo: In Target earlier today I learned there is really no good way to answer a 5-year-old asking you why you are looking at his mother's butt so much.
for Hannah: How do you pray for a heart for a sick little girl when you know it's like hoping for someone else's child to die?
Green with entertainment
08 24 2008 - 9:16 pm. Category: misc
Boyfriend's dad a while ago gifted him with an awesome green laser pointer. The thing is seriously intense, it can project visibly about two miles. So the other night, we're all hanging out, and I decided to play with it. Without a good tripod setup and with only my point-and-shoot digital, I think the pictures turned out decent. I might see if I can't get a better setup with a tripod so you can see detail. Problem is lines are constantly moving as they refract.
Shining it into the lamp over the dining table.
I couldn't slow my shutter speed down enough to write my whole name, but at least I got the D! Oh, and just the beginning of the E!
Shining the laser into the florescent kitchen light, it was really nifty.
One last shot going into the lamp.
We found this amazingly entertaining and we weren't even hi (just a little bit not sober). Other things that worked well included glass bowls and a Nalgene, and the glitter on a paper crown I wore at my 18th birthday.
Heroes, pt. 1
08 23 2008 - 4:01 pm. Category: bio, misc
I've been meaning to create a series of posts covering the characters and individuals (most of them fictional characters) who I consider my heroes and role models. Thankfully Craig reminded me with his latest post of this video:
I loved Star Trek TNG. Patrick Stewart did an exceptional job playing Captain Jean-Luke Picard. He created a perfect character that a 10-year-ish old kid can look up to and see the type of adult you hope to grow up to be.
Free time
08 22 2008 - 04:43 am. Category: misc
Oh the things I do in my free time. I like to build spreadsheets. I have one that tracks all my credits and grades in college and one that tracks all the books I own (broken down by series were applicable). Today, I made a new one:
Equation
((Agility/40)/100) + ((Crit Rating/22.08)/100) = % of critical strike returned from a given item
That's right. I made a spreadsheet that calculates the return gear statistics for a given set of parameters for items in World of Warcraft, specifically for my hunter. I did one years ago in college for a paper where I statistically analyzed my play time and it's cost. Roughly two years ago it was costing me 25 cents an hour to play. This is how cool I am.
It draws near...
08 20 2008 - 1:57 pm. Category: work
"Dear Derek: We are all looking forward to you starting full time with us beginning Wednesday, September 3, 2008... Enclosed are the following, which we request that you view carefully..."
ZOMG! I'm on my last two weeks of freedom before I have to start waking up at six in the morning five days a week (minimum). Can't lie, I'm getting excited. This employment contract is by far the most thrilling thing I have ever read, and I get to fill out a W-4. I like filling out forms.
Huh... there's a typo in the first paragraph of my employment contract. Fail. Oh, found another in topic 13. I'm referred to as "her."
Weekly One Sentence(s)
08 19 2008 - 12:02 am. Category: default
Here's your one sentences for the week:
Lauren: My car was stolen and when it was found 5 hours later the thief had replaced a spark plug and filled it with gas.
Mellie: Our second first kiss was twice as good and one thousandth as awkward as our first.
Get Out Much?: An impatient check of the UPS online tracking center reveals that the package has been on my front porch for three days.
terms&conditions: The file I audited for this poor senior citizen who lost his home after 20 years is why another big bank will close and its president goes to jail.
The Displacement Threshold Theory
08 18 2008 - 03:53 am. Category: two cents
Have you ever felt the strain of living out of a suitcase or a backpack? It's that point when vacations stop being enjoyable and start being a hassle. It's the displacement threshold. Simply put, it's the point when you get tired of living out of a suitcase, sleeping in a foreign bad or sleeping back, and using an unfamiliar shower. Have you ever encountered this?
After 23 years of family vacations, I've discovered that my threshold is roughly a week. After seven days, I just want to go home to my bedroom, my shower, and my mode of life. I don't want to live out of a suitcase anymore, I grow tired and often cranky at being displaced. Odds are this is largely linked to my OCD, do-things-a-certain-way, nature. But my theory is that everyone has this threshold, and that it varies in length and probably intensity. My good friend Caroline loves traveling and will probably make a career out of it. Obviously, her threshold is nearly nonexistent. In this regard, we are quite opposites.
I spent 4.5 months in Germany, and in the beginning I was definitely displaced. But given enough time, I established myself there and lost that feeling. When I came home, I got that same displaced feeling. I still miss the mode of living I had in Germany for sure. From this, it occurs to me that when you move, that threshold has to be broken and overcome, and that as a general rule it is a good idea. The same happened when I moved out of my parents. As discomforting as hitting this displacement threshold is, it is apparently sometimes a necessity.
On my vacation this week, the extension of the trip one extra day made me hit my threshold. Have you ever encountered anything like this? Do you have a displacement threshold that you've become aware of? I mentioned suitcases and showers, but is there any anal little thing for you? Or am I just that abnormal?
12 of 12, August
08 16 2008 - 6:52 pm. Category: 12 of 12
12 of 12 is an online community project headed up by Chad Darnell. The idea is pretty simple and straight forward. This month I was in the Eagle Cap Wilderness in NE Oregon. I was on a 4-day/3-night hike with my dad. The 12th fell on the second day of our hike, and here are the pictures:
06:53 AM: Breakfast before day two of hiking. It’s Quaker instant oatmeal – apple and cinnamon. It was actually pretty damn tasty.
09:29 AM: Taking a break at the Hurricane Creek trail cutoff. This is before we went through the pass. That’s my pack to the left, all 35ish pounds of it.
09:47 AM: A nice mountain shot. This is as we were hiking through Horton Pass (going up).
10:33 AM: This is as we were coming up to the crest of the pass. Most of the mountains we went through were largely granite. That's my dad on the right, a giant cliff of granite on the right.
10:41 AM: A nice shot of Eagle Cap, the signature mountain. This was taken from the crest of the pass.
11:45 AM: Crossing a creek. Supposedly all the creeks on our trip had foot bridges, none of which actually existed. My dad looks like he is about to fall over, but he isn’t. Sadly I’m the only one that got feet full of water while we were hiking. Stupid slick rock…
12:31 PM: We came across some old miners' cabins along the trail. We were following Hurricane Creek, which they used to try and get gold out of.
1:00 PM: This is the Matterhorn. No other mountain to me has conveyed such power. It is probably because I've never been underneath a mountain of pure-white marble so closely. It was truly impressive.
04:02 PM: Camp all set up at the end of day two.
04:43 PM: I was sitting at our campsite, looking at fire pit (we didn’t use), and noticed a skull in the rocks.
05:27 PM: Waiting for water to boil so we can add it to our dehydrated dinner (9 minutes to cook, 5 minutes to eat). My dad gave me one of those fake smiles and kind of made himself look like a chipmunk.
06:23 PM: We head into the tent for the evening. The bugs start coming out so we escape to safety and some games of cards. Btw, we fell asleep around 8:00.
It was a spectacular trip, and by no means do 12 pictures convey even that one day. And that was just one of four. Our third day we hiked into Echo Lake, which was three miles, about 2.3k of elevation gain, and grades at probably around 40% a good chunk of the time. There were a lot more mountains, a few lakes, and even a friendly sage hen that followed us along the trail for a good couple hundred feet.
Back!
08 16 2008 - 6:17 pm. Category: default
I'm back, and my 12 of 12 will be posted shortly. I just wanted to let the great wide web know first that my farmer's tan is going strong, my calves developed some nice tone after hiking 27 miles in four days (they are also sun burned along with my arms and top of my head), and I'm quite glad for the fresh pair of boxer-briefs I got to put on today. :P
Weekly One Sentence(s)
08 12 2008 - 7:10 pm. Category: default
Here you go, another round:
crazycollision: "Your father can't possibly be beating you," the social worker said in disbelief as she stared at the 4.0 GPA on the girl's report card."
Cory Gorham: "Some asshole ate my sandwich."
Tek: The first time I saw her put maple syrup on her popcorn I knew I loved her."
I don't know if I've linked it before, and I can't remember where I found it, but you should check out Not Always Right. It's a great collection of customer service stories.
Util next time!
08 09 2008 - 7:17 pm. Category: default
I leave tomorrow morning for the campsite, and on Monday me and my dad take off on our hike. We got our packs all put together today, mine weighs in the neighborhood of 30 to 35 pounds. It really isn't that bad actually. Plus I'm packing most of the food, so it will just get lighter the further into the trip we go!
My birthday celebration was exceptional - I love my friends. I also found out that I can enjoy a nice irish car bomb every know and then. I'll be back home on the 15th or the 16th, and I'll get my 12 of 12 posted then.
Oh, one last thing...
Chuck Norris has to maintain a concealed weapon liense in all fifty states in order to legally wear pants.
(My wonderful "wife" Sarah bought me The Truth About Chuck Norris for my birthday. It is horrible, and bad jokes, and oh so entertaining.)
Happy birthday to me
08 07 2008 - 11:00 am. Category: default
Derek's 23rd year would be the first that he worked full time longer than a summer. He started out at a decently sized accounting firm in Portland in the fall where he got the first cubicle he could really call home, pursued his CPA license, and found time to have fun through all of it. From day one he started saving money to by his first house, payed of his college debt. All-in-all, at 23 Derek's life kicked into adulthood, an there was at least some excitement. There were many antics to be had during and between his Monday through Friday eight to five schedule. But by 24, things would be come even more interesting.
This and more on tonight's E! True Hollywood Story.
Weekly One Sentence(s)
08 05 2008 - 02:00 am. Category: misc
After being introduced to One Sentence by Mike over at What Some Would Call Lies, I love it. So I've decided to give you a weekly dosage. Basically, my favorite ones that I catch during the week. So here we go:
zeroknowing: I got up quietly, went out the side door, snuck around the back, and there was my father sneaking a cigerette, too.
MADk: I imagine the people at Harvard gave my application the same look Mary received from the Israelites when she told them her new son, Jesus, was immaculately conceived.
VeDosis: My three-year-old son brought me my anti-depressants, asked me to take them and come outside and play.
it's not me, i swear: If my brother steals my phone and texts dirty messages to my friends one more time, I'm gonna break his fingers.
Charlie: My sister tells me she watched our mom cry when I came out as gay to which I reply that I watched our mom cry when she ran away, stole the car, and got mom arrested.
On a somewhat related note, you need to check out a LEGO a day... It's pretty damn awesome.
Conditioning hike 2: Crescent Mountain
08 03 2008 - 01:59 am. Category: misc
This one was 8.2 miles round trip with 2,200 feet of elevation gain. It was a great hike, varying between switchback and long slopes, forest and big meadows. The clouds were in the valleys all around the ridge we hiked, so the photos were not the best of the view. I played with a lot of macro this time around:
My dad on the trail cutting through one of the valleys along the ridge slope. That white wall? Yeah clouds.
View from the ridge.
The top of the ridge.
My dad setting up a timed shot of the two of us from the perspective of the old lookout rubble.
Another shot along the meadow ridge.
Playing with macro photography. The low clouds kept the moisture around quite nicely.
Saw this on the drive up, stopped and parked in a "do not park here" zone on the way down for the shot. I thought it was a really interesting damn because it looked pretty old.
You can look at the rest of the photos in my gallery, here. The resizing on a couple of them got messed up, which is irritating. But it took enough time as is to edit all of them, I don't feel like picking out the ones that messed up and doing them again. That's right, I'm lazy.
I leave a for my family camping and 4-day/3-night hike with my dad a week from tomorrow, so I will be gone for 12 of 12. I will of course post it just as soon as I return to civilization.
With work looming on the horizon (btw, the company picnic on Sunday was awesome) I've begun taking measures to smooth the transition from lazy ass to productive member of society.
Derek's 23rd year would be the first that he worked full time longer than a summer. He started out at a decently sized accounting firm in Portland in the fall where he got the first cubicle he could really call home, pursued his CPA license, and found time to have fun through all of it. From day one he started saving money to by his first house, payed of his college debt. All-in-all, at 23 Derek's life kicked into adulthood, an there was at least some excitement. There were many antics to be had during and between his Monday through Friday eight to five schedule. But by 24, things would be come even more interesting.
