Fresh Code

The weather continues to confuse and amaze everyone including us. Spring has sprung and everything is in bloom. I picked today to go on a hike with Andrew and Wayne. We were also going to have a picnic but it was our neighbor Leonard’s birthday. He has dementia so his wife thought he might like a big group of visitors in the afternoon. I dunno about that but we were happy to go.

We packed up some snacks and drinks and drove to Macleay Park where the trail began. We walked for quite some time along a small creek in the forest. There were lots of people out and about since the weather was so amazing. We eventually made it up to a road where there was a parking lot. Many people were starting their hike up to the mansion at this point. We left the little creek behind and followed a trail full of switchbacks up a steep incline. I am so out of shape that I had to keep stopping. It was ridiculous. We finally made it up to the top where there were amazing views of Portland. Wow! We could also see Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens. So beautiful! We sat and had our snack of hummus, pita chips, carrots and celery before heading back down. Down was SO much better!

Once we got nearly to the car I noticed I was feeling pretty itchy. Ugh, I was having an allergic reaction to something. It would get worse and then calm down and then get worse. I decided I was probably ok to stop at the grocery store so we could grab some fruit. We were going to game night at Dale and Miri’s house and were taking a fruit salad. By the time we were about done at the store I realized I really needed to get home. I was very itchy and not feeling great. I went to bed and the guys went across the street for Leonard’s birthday gathering. I ended up sleeping for a couple of hours and felt a lot better when I woke up.

Wayne made a really nice fruit salad and we all headed over to Dale and Miri’s. Baby Michael was wide awake and happy to see everyone. Kronda, Jess, Alice and Jason also showed up and we had a great dinner. Jason and Alice headed home after we ate and the rest of us played Taboo, Code 777 and a really fun block building game. I liked them all but we got mixed reviews on Code 777. It was getting late so we all called it a night. I’m a fan of game night!

Today I learned that it’s totally possible to make a delicious vegan potato kugel. Yum!

Today Andrew and I went to lunch with Christopher. We finally went to the new Los Gorditos near my house. I have to say it was extremely disappointing! My food was awful and had I never eaten at a Los Gorditos before I would never return. I won’t be going to that location any time soon but it’s probably for the best anyway since I’d find too many excuses to go there if it had been great.

After lunch Christopher and I watched Fight Club. I hadn’t seen it before and I’m not really sure what I was expecting, not much I guess, but the movie was fantastic! There was a lot more to it than I had imagined.

I went to the store for dinner ingredients and then spent the early afternoon reading Eloquent JavaScript while Wayne made a huge pot of chick’n noodle soup. Alice and Jason came for dinner and then we went to their house to watch Star Trek: Revenge of Khan in honor of the passing of Leonard Nimoy. It was fitting for sure.

Today I learned that there is a beautiful magnolia tree just two houses down from us. I have been trying to point one out to Jordan for a couple of weeks but we always drive the other way down our street.

Today was another beautiful day! I was determined to stay off of my computer all day until it was time to blog and I was successful! I slept in and then exercised with Wayne. Andrew avoided exercising since he was still tired from his accidental 11 mile run yesterday. Good plan!

I had breakfast and then took out my crochet project. I don’t like crocheting but I really want this scarf and it’s nearly done so I’m going to suck it up and get it done. I made pretty good progress until it was time to go to the Hillsdale Library. I was one of three panelists participating in a moderated talk Sustaining One’s Self: Food, Dietary Practices and Identity. I’ve not done anything like that before so I was a bit nervous but it was really interesting and enjoyable. One panelist is a Naturopath who is gluten zero, one is a rabbi who keeps kosher and then there is me, the vegan. Our moderator is an anthropologist who teaches at Portland State.

We spoke about why we eat the way we do, the social consequences of our food choices, availability of food for our particular dietary needs and so on. Eating is such a social activity and is filled with so many traditions. Although the three of us had completely different reasons for our choices (health, religion, ethics) and eat vastly different foods we all had very similar experiences with friends and family struggling to come to terms with our choices.

I think we all learned a lot today. One audience member brought up the fact that she is older with health issues/physical limitations and finds it difficult to eat the way she wishes due to these limitations. She has trouble with the physical aspect of food preparation. I hadn’t really considered that before. It wasn’t a financial issue or a lack of access issue as is typical. Something to consider for sure. Also Catholics who are gluten sensitive have a problem because the communion wafer must be made from wheat.

After the talk we made a quick stop at REI and then a quick stop at a neighbor’s house to pick up a dresser for Jordan. The husband offered to just bring it to our house since we didn’t have our truck. Wayne gave him “The Tour”. Our house is ridiculous but it’s going to be so nice someday! Our neighbor agreed.

Wayne made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and it was just Wayne, Andrew, Natale, Jayde and me. Very quiet in our house tonight. After dinner we watched some Dr. Who and called it a night.

There exists the TomTato.

Today was magnificent! It was warm and sunny. I don’t think I saw a single cloud. Alice and Jason returned from their short visit to the coast and stopped to get a load of dirt on the way home. Alice was in heaven working in the gardens. I sat out in the sunshine and gave her some moral support. I found these cool tomatillo skeletons –

Alice pulled up a bunch of beets that have done well all winter. We’ll roast those that are still edible and do something with the greens. Today she planted some beans and peas and there is already a pretty big volunteer pea plant growing in one of our raised beds. I think Jordan is going to be amazed to see everything in full bloom.

Wayne and Jordan were in the house doing more kitchen demo so Andrew and I walked down to La Bonita and got them some lunch. We also grabbed stuff for Alice and Jason and we all sat out front eating in the beautiful weather. I had to take a picture of this tree beginning to bloom.

At some point I realized that when I pushed my changes up to my branch for review I forgot to remove my print statements. Doh! Not a huge deal since this is by no means a final PR but still. I removed them and pushed it up again but that was the extent of coding. I was determined to spend this weekend doing weekend stuff.

We decided on a quick dinner of leftovers so we could go watch a movie at Alice and Jason’s. We had The Skeleton Twins from Netflix. Andrew made a LOT of popcorn and we headed over. The movie was ok. It had some good acting but I’m not sure exactly how I feel about it. Everyone else liked it.

Today I learned some more shortcuts for Gmail. Now if I could just find a way to move off of Gmail completely that would be wonderful.

Jordan, Alice and I made plans to go to the Goodwill on Broadway. We had never been so wanted to check it out. I first directed Jordan to the men’s shirts so he could see if they had anything and then I went to look for small bowls. Alice went directly to the jewelry counter and spent a good amount of time there. I had no luck with bowls so looked for a goblet but no luck there either.

I decided to look through the skirts and found a black one I really liked. I moved on to knits and sweaters and just about everything else. I ended up finding pants, shirts and sweaters that I am really happy with. Jordan found a pile of shirts and some socks, Alice found jewelry, mugs and glasses. We were all so happy with our finds!

On our way home we saw that Rerun was open so of course had to stop there. I found two more shirts and Alice found some records for Jason. We were all shopped out so went back home. I tried to read my book but kept thinking about my Mozilla bug. I think I’ve forgotten how to let my mind be still.

We were having breakfast burritos for dinner so I made tofu scramble and hashed browns. It was easy and delicious. We watched a bit of Dr. Who and then called it a night.

Today I learned that Seattle is north of Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City.

We were meeting the accountant later today so we could turn in all of our paperwork. Like pretty much everyone, I am not a fan of tax time but was looking forward to getting it out of the way for sure. I spent the morning making sure I had everything gathered up that would be needed and filling out some preliminary paperwork.

Andrew and I met Emily at Ristretto Roasters. We hadn’t been there before. I’m sure there are hundreds of coffee shops in Portland we haven’t visited though. We went over everything and left all of our documents with her. She had other clients to meet with but I had a near full pot of Earl Grey tea to drink so Andrew and I moved to another table and talked about how lucky we are to live here. We were thinking about how things were in Arizona and how limited we felt. Lots of people call Havasu paradise but it certainly wasn’t to us.

I spent the remainder of the day just working on unit tests and watching the 3rd Harry Potter movie with Natale and Wayne. Wayne is still dragging so he took a little nap. I think he’s on the mend though!

After a dinner of Scrounge we watched some Dr. Who and then called it a night.

Today I learned that our accountant wants to be a programmer.

Today seemed really busy but in a good way. I was up and out of the house early to get a haircut and then I stopped by Whole Foods to get ingredients to make a kale salad for dinner. After I got home Dave, Alena and the kids picked up Natale and I so we could join them for lunch at Via Chicago, a deep dish pizza place on Alberta. Natale and I got the vegan slices which were pre-made. Dave and Alena ordered a whole pizza for their family and I guess they take about 30 minutes to cook. Natale and I were pretty hungry so we ate ours. T

he pizza was good but would have been a lot better if it were freshly made. We sat there for quite some time waiting for the other pizza and then for everyone to eat. Meanwhile, Natale told me he was still really hungry. It would have been handy to know this a lot sooner! I ordered a pizza anyway and figured we could just take it home so we sat and waited some more. Once it was finally done we all headed home.

I spent a bit of time working on writing my tests for my Mozilla bug and then worked on the salad for dinner. We were going to game night at Dale and Miri’s house. Wayne was not feeling well at all so he opted to stay home and not share whatever he has.

Andrew, Natale and I got to Dale and Miri’s and everyone else arrived at just about the same time. Kronda and Jess and two friends of theirs (I’m horrible with names!) were the other guests. We had a ton of delicious food and then headed to the basement to play games. We played a bit of Apples to Apples with the whole group and then split into two groups of four while Miri got baby Michael to bed. We played games until after midnight and had a great time! They are going to host game night once per month and the three of us are definitely looking forward to it. Natale really enjoyed going and hanging out with everyone.

Today I learned how to play Ubongo.