Best Pizza in Portland

The fennel sausage onion pizza at Pizza Maria in Portland. Very tasty. I'll certainly be back :)

Wrong Turn

Last night I was driving back from Portland and I stopped for gas. I made a wrong turn out of Love's and ended up in the Port of Tacoma. We're talking totally desolate and dark. No other cars. Stacks of shipping containers everywhere. Oh and the signs had american flags on them like I was entering a different country. So I made a probably illegal U-turn and got the hell out of there. 

Powell's

Powell's Books is a dangerous, dangerous place. I could easily spend 12 hours perusing that place. 

Peppers, Anyone?

They pack and ship!

Found Rocco's Cousin

The salt shaker.

Rocco in the Dog Park

Not into the big dogs. But didn't run away from the French bulldogs! He mostly just swept up leaves with his tail.

The Sun

This afternoon the clouds faded away and it became sunny. I felt disappointed when I walked outside and was blindsided by the brightness. It got me thinking about why I prefer gray, overcast days. So I asked myself, When is the sun good?

My mind immediately went to images of sunny meadows with yellow flowers and wild grass along with the buzzing sound of crickets. Key detail: no people or buildings. 

I wonder if I associate urban environments with cloudy skies and country settings with sunny skies? What would a therapist say?

Getting Real On the Bus

These two guys from West Seattle--who got on at my stop--started getting really loud on the bus. The bus had to make a short detour so one of the guys yelled to the driver to open the back door. When the driver did not, the guy started yelling that he was "not playin." The door still didn't open so the guy screamed that he needed to get out and was going to open the emergency window. Since he wasn't playin, this guy actually reached over the head of another passenger and pulled that red handle to push the window out. The window didn't fall out. Instead, it was on a hinge to swing open like a doggie door. I have always kind of wondered how those windows worked.

Eventually the bus stopped and the guy got off. 

Another fun bus incident! This guy in the back, right behind wherein was sitting, kept spitting these gross globs right onto the floor of the bus. He must have done this at least 10 times. I could not wait for him to get off. He was wearing Converse...thug disguise? It's pretty gross back here right now. 

A few minutes later the bus pulled over and the driver walked back to deal with the flapping, open window. Pulling the red handle back doesn't close it. Apparently what you have to do is give it a hard push so it swings back to close. Then you can pull the handle back down. 

Okay, now back to Words with friends with Shane and Shawn.

More FitBit

I like how the data tells a story. 6-6:15am very intense .59 miles. That was me rushing to Westlake to catch the bus! 

That Buzzfeed List

So a few days ago I read a Buzzfeed article that popped up on my newsfeed because it is titled something like "110 reasons not to leave NYC." Since I just left NYC, I was curious to know what could change my mind. While reading I kept thinking, ok this is one perspective from one person who is probably 22 and lives in Murray Hill. Many of the reasons were redundant. Some were just not true... Streetcart coffee? $1 pizza? And several just served to highlight the reasons why you should, in fact, leave NYC... The pretty snowfall before it gets brown and gross, the crazy people on the train, etc.

Someone over at Brooklyn Magazine felt similarly and actually put together a rebuttal list. Hahahahah.

http://www.bkmag.com/2014/10/20/110-reasons-you-should-probably-definitely-leave-new-york-city-a-point-by-point-takedown-of-a-buzzfeed-list/

Walking

My daily commute+workday comes out to 4 miles. Thank you, FitBit. Makes me not feel so bad about that chowder :)

German Food Store

I found a really good German food store called Bavarian Meats near pike place market. They have everything from Prince cookies to sauce packets to frozen pretzel bread to beer to bloodwurst to curry ketchup to Haribo everything to dumplings to rouladen. No gingerbread cookies in yet, but you can count me in for several boxes :) They should be getting in Black Forest ham soon, too.  

Dinner Needs

I really, really, really miss seamless web! Maybe once the Amazon towers are built and 13,000 people move in the mobile app delivery thing will take root. Until then... Maybe I'll lose a few pounds? 

Avian Rumble

There was a rumble between a group of crows and a large seagull in Renton today. The fight was over a rather large scrap of pizza crust. Sh*t was about to get real before a bus pulled up and caused the angry birds to fly away.

Mmm, Donuts

Damn you Top Pot with your delicious sugary cinnamon flavors filling the air!