A little Poem For You

This is a little Poem I wrote today...

The Sun

Hello Sun,

I have something to say to you,

I hate you!

I hate your stinking guts!

You have ruined my day.

Why you gotta be so damn hot.

Eat me Sun,

I hope you get the swine flu.

Eat me Sun,

I wish I could throw poo to you.

Eat me Sun,

I also think you suck too.

Eat me Sun,

I wish I could kill you.

If I could I'd huck the moon at you

Just to watch you cry

I'd laugh and laugh and laugh

And think about the sweat running into my eye.

Welcome To My Nightmare

107 degrees yesterday, and now... a possibility of 110 today? Are you kidding me?

Well, let's just recap the week. Carol flew in last Wednesday night. Our first full day started out on a poor note as we buried my Nana last Thursday. As far as services go, I suppose this was as upbeat as you could make it. Rather than do the typical eulogy, Dad opted to give us more of a biography of Nana's life. Patrick Lamb and some other musicians played some Dixieland Jazz songs. And there was a pretty entertaining slide show of Nana's life and family.

Friday was Carol's day to learn about craft beers. As a whole, I was disappointed in this years selections of beers. I was also reminded of why I never step foot in that event after 5:00 p.m. as it transitions from a beer festival into a douche festival. But I do have to give a big thanks to Troy at the Buffalo Gap for setting us up with mugs and a bucketfull of tokens.

Saturday morning turned from a little breakfast with Troy and Helen into a family breakfast at the Buffalo Gap. Afterward Helen and Carol went fabric shopping as Troy and I farted around town, eventually ending up at the Velveteria. It's always worth going back as they rotate their featured works of velvet smoothness. This visit was Black is Beautiful and Science Fiction. Go check it out. After the ladies wrapped up their fabric shopping we all met at Apple Music for a little guitar appreciation. I haven't seen it, but word is Helen picked up a nice Gibson.

Sunday was all about relaxing a doing a whole lot of nothing. Movies... food... lounging...

Monday was spent with my parents. We checked out the big flop Bruno. Don't bother. I was a huge Borat fan, and this was just a time suck. We hit some dinner at the Claim Jumper.

I headed into work yesterday as Carol spent the day bussing it around Portland checking out Hawthorne, Downtown, Powell's, and a little tour through SE as she hopped on the wrong bus.

And now the countdown is on to get Carol to the airport, always the suck part of our visits.

I will soon be back to my ho-hum routine called life, but the one perk is our A/C at work is far better than mine at home.

A New Beach

Last week rushed by way too fast. But it was all in good cause. To recap... I was able to spend some time with my good friend Allison who is down from Alaska, Rick and Chris came over Friday for a mini-guys night after Carrie blew us off, Bad Movie Night was scratched due to Helen having a sore back, it was Rick's birthday, and I spent Saturday in Pacific City for celebration of Schweppe's 40th birthday.

There is one moment worth mentioning from the beach. Rick and I were the last to arrive. Schweppe and the Bend horde had been down there since Thursday. Rick and I pulled into town Saturday afternoon. The town was packed. We eventually tracked down Chris, Paul, and Rusty. I hopped in the back of Rick's truck with Paul and Rusty so Schweppe could navigate Rick toward the place. Now, I need to mention that I was dealing with a pretty serious round of "Tummy No Likey Food So Tummy Gives Speedy Exit". We arrived at the house and as I tried to stand up in the back of the truck, I ALMOST had an accident. I need to clarify that all was ok in the end... huh huh... in the end. But, when it came time to actually get out of the truck, I thought it would be best to play it safe and gently climb down. I've been having foot problems that didn't need any extra umph, and neither did my back side. I swung the left foot over and placed it on the tire. I began to swing my right leg over, but it caught on a bag of ice. Thinking my foot would swing right over, I began to lower myself, but with foot caught, my body went down as my right foot stayed in the truck. Unable to pull my self back up, I clung to the side of the truck with my left foot still in the wheel well, my right foot still stuck in the bed of the truck, and my ass three inches from the ground. Paul looked at me and asked, "what the Hell are you doing?" It was an America's Funniest Home Videos moment. Thank Zeus for no cameras being present, although I could have used the $100,000. How my short escaped a surprise mess is beyond me.

Sadly, my Nana also passed away last week. She was my last surviving grandparent. The battle was long, perhaps too long. Services will be this Thursday for one of those "bad" family get togethers.

But, on the up note... Carol arrives this Wednesday night. We don't have any thing big planned. She'll be here for a week. There's the Beerfest down town, movies to see, food to eat, and friends and family to visit. Sister Jetty is in town as well. And Allison wraps up her last days in Oregon this weekend. I'm sure we'll have no problems staying busy.

I Hate The 90's (Not In A Grunge Way)

Summer is in full force. A lot of people wandered around complaining about how Summer showed up so late as the clouds, rain, and cool winds crept all the way into early July. But have no fear, the heat wave is here. Now is my time to hibernate. I'm cool with 80. I always have been, but you hit 85 and I start to fuss. 90... well then I'm just irritable. Climb above that and you have a mad man on your hands. I can see we will be floating in this irritable heat syndrome for the next several weeks.

With the way my house is angled there is no evening breeze. I have to create my own breezes with strategic placement of ceiling, oscillating, and box fans. It's the only way to get air to move. I have A/C, but it's ancient. It's almost not worth the energy bill based on the insufficient job it does trying to keep my house cool.

It's days like this that I remember the good times... the cool drizzle floating down from the dark low skies. The naked trees sending subconscious thought of the biting air. Winds pulling on branches and teaching chimneys how to whistle. Those are my days. That's what I wait for.

Free Is A Very Nice Price

Maybe I'm a fool for passing this on, but I've been having one of the best series of freebies. The secret? Sign up for email lists from your favorite radio stations, music venues, Willamette Week, PDX Pipeline, and any other thing you like. I keep going to concerts, events, sports games, and winning gift cards. No, this isn't some spam commercial. This is Sean, and I'm just trying to let you all know how to beat the recession blues. I'm sure I'll stop winning now as my thousands of readers take my advice. This morning, for example, I was caller 10 to the Rick Emerson Show and won a $50 gift certificate to some new sports bar. I got home and had an e-mail from PDX Pipeline telling me I won two concert tickets to Michael Schenker at the Roseland. I've gone to concerts and events at Doug Fir, Mississippi Studios, Crystal Ballroom, and Dante's all for free in the past few months.

Might I suggest somebody start a Beer Lottery... people buy lottery tickets... if your ticket picks the matching numbers you get free beer for a months from participating bars. This must be done!

Slow Times And The Coming Heat

My dad sent me a message the other day noting that I haven't been doing much on here and I realized he's right, but there just hasn't been much to talk about. And with the rise of Facebook, it's so much easier to throw out little blurbs rather than typing paragraphs of nothingness.

So what has been going on? Roller Derby had it's championships last weekend. The Heathers were able to overcome the crap level refs that held them back the last two bouts and take third. We didn't stay for the championship match as I just had no interest.

Did I talk about the air guitar championships? That was a wacky night. And it wasn't just the event itself, but it was a mini-high school reunion with five people from my scholastic past that I haven't seen since at least high school. For somebody who absolutely despised the school years, I really dig meeting up with old schoolmates.

Places to check out... While the Lompoc will always be my home away from home, I do have another new favorite hang, two actually... the first is the Green Dragon (SE 9th & Belmont). GD is a place for people who REALLY love beer, with an ever changing tap list that is broadcast on a 24 hour webcam so you can always see what's available. The other place is Belmont Station on Stark. BS is a beer store attached to a beer cafe where you can buy from a selection of a thousand beers and then go drink them next door, or select something from a rotating tap list. Good times... And attention PDX lovers, scramble now for any remaining copies of Willamette Week's annual Finder magazine just released last week. It's a great guide to the city, although I still laugh my ass off that after all these years, WW still refuses to acknowledge the existence of the Buffalo Gap.

What else? Celebrity deaths! It seems that being a celebrity has become the world's most dangerous job in America. It seems every other day somebody is dying, but there is a theory behind this... doesn't it seem that pretty much anybody is now listed as a celebrity? All you have to do is prove how stupid you are on television and BAM! you're a celebrity. I have a solution. We need a new term. If you are a real actor(ess) who has actually been in movies or a tv show, you are an accomplished musician, you are a known author, or you are an accomplished stand up comedian or entertainer... you are a celebrity. Everything else is now called a Fauxlebrity. Having a part on a reality show does not qualify you as a celebrity. You are a Fauxlebrity. There is no A List, B List, etc. You're either a celebrity or you're not.

And in case you missed this story that has been buried under stacks of Michael Jackson news, it turns out that our military is withdrawing from Iraqi cities. This is huge in the de-escalation of Bush's Fundraiser. AND... North Korea continues to throw rocks. But, don't worry about any of this... just keep focusing on Michael Jackson news.

What's coming up? It's the 4th of July this weekend. I have opted to take advantage of the situation and make it a four day weekend. What's planned? Nothing. And that's the perfect answer. I do have to say that I will be down at the Blues Festival this Sunday to catch Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings along with Ryan Shaw. This will be a huge throwback to Motown. I've seen both and am looking forward to some incredible shows.

Movies... see The Hangover. Just see it. You will never feel the same when opening the trunk to your car again. I'm slated to see Year One today which holds much less promise. Maybe I can talk Rick into the Terminator movie instead.

And just out this week... the new Wilco CD. After hearing a handful of cuts, combined with their last release, and my favorite CD of all time (Summerteeth) I can now officially call Wilco my favorite band. This is huge considering they pulled out of a 100-way tie for first.

I've also been loving the Showtime series Californication. Brilliant writing, story lines, and character development. You can catch instant viewing of season one if you have a Netflix account. I just wrapped up season one and am now tackling season one of Weeds.

Carol update... Anybody hiring drafters? At this point I'm hoping she can figure out a flight up here for a few weeks out, but her hands are full in Tucson, so we'll see.

It seems the higher powers have opted to turn on the furnace for the next few days. I'll be wallowing in my hotbox of misery. To all you sun worshipers... enjoy!

How's that, Dad?