Muffin HQ

My friends Jessica and Stephanie are still in Portland visiting from Colorado. I’ve managed to maintain a daily bikram yoga practice with them in town because they have gone with me to class everyday. Its been great, except for all the laundry. We generate lots of dirty, sweaty towels.

Friday morning we left for the coast. We stayed at Tom G’s beach house in Nedonna beach, a house he designed from the ground up. It is gorgeous and it was a real treat to go away for the day. We had 2 dogs, 2 cats and 9 humans along for the vacation.

Maggie, a three year old Irish water spaniel.

Forest, an irish wolf dog standing in front of Tom G. Forest weighs about 170 lbs. Might be the largest dog I’ve ever met.

So excited! Jessica, a friend/ex-coworker of mine will be visiting Portland for the Oregon Brewers Fest. She will be staying with me (including Stephanie, a friend of hers). I haven’t seen Jessica in a while, she is also funemployed. Main reason for sharing this and my excitement is because Jessica was the first person to tell me about Bikram yoga. The last time she was visiting, probably two years ago for the Brewer’s fest, she was going to bikram yoga regularly and we talked about this yoga in detail. I remember thinking, why do you want to do this yoga when you are on vacation? You are on vacation! Two years later, now I get it.

After she was laid off, she moved back home to live with her parents. In her small Colorado town, there is no bikram yoga studio. No yoga at all! I feel so lucky to be able to practice regularly and I’ve scored a free week pass for her to use while she is here. I am hoping that her friend Stephanie will also be receptive to trying bikram yoga while she is visiting Portland. Jessica was the one that inspired me to check it out and my aunt in NYC was the one that pushed me try it and to go back the next day. It’s important to remember these events and people, if it wasn’t for Jessica wanting to do bikram yoga while on vacation two years ago, I would not be doing this yoga regularly.

Below is the text (unedited except for identifying names) from a rejection letter I received from a local firm. I am posting it because it is an awesome fucking rejection letter! Never in my life have I ever gotten a letter like this, so I am hoping you all will love it as much as I did.

“Keep on trucking”

July 1st, 2009

(XXX XXX), AIA

Today’s 9:30am class was so crowded and so hot. Must’ve been the hottest morning class I’ve ever experienced. The recent string of Portland 90+ degrees is not allowing the studio to cool down at night and I think too many people trying to get their yoga in before a big weekend all contributes to a hot hot class.

I don’t want to complain about the heat, I promised myself a few weeks ago that I’d stop complaining about the heat which is completely out of my control. I will complain about something else…. There is this lady in my studio and she’s starting to bug me. I see her maybe once a week, she loves to talk. I am in the changing room, I am laying down in savasana (with my eyes closed), in the middle of something, whatever that something is, she’s got something to tell me. Usually she wants to tell me how much weight I’ve lost and how good I look. Every single time. Nothing new. Really. She’s offered to wipe me down (which freaked me out), she invited me over for dinner (no thanks), offered to drive me to the busstop (only five short blocks away) and has walked me to my bike to keep talking about something. I know this seems so dumb and this should indicate to you how few problems I really have, but seriously people, she’s disturbing my peace.

On the positive side of things. I invited her to check out the Multnomah County Bike Fair last week. When I told her about the fair, I didn’t expect her to show up. She drives the nine short blocks to and from the yoga studio. Yes, she can walk it but doesn’t. Anyways, she actually came to the bike fair! Caught her eating a hot dog on the grass, not sure what her impressions were of the fair, but she was there.

I am not looking for advice or anything, just wanted to vent. One, about the heat and two, this lady.

Pedalpalooza. Two and a half weeks of bike fun. So glad its over, yet so sad too…..

Here is a list of rides where me and my bike made an appearance:

Pedalpalooza Kick off ride
WNBR party (no ride)
Critical Mass Gay Bike Parade
Jonathan Richman ride
Scandinavian Short Shorts ride
Michael Jackson Memorial ride
BonB & Pajama party ride
Cookies for lunch ride
MCBF (no ride)

Did lots of rides cuz I don’t have a job! Could’ve done more rides if I hadn’t gone hiking on Mt Defiance and Starvation Trail. That hike knocked me out for a couple of days. No fun! I still hold it against Andy W. for suggesting that trail. Friends don’t take (lazy) friends on difficult hikes.

Below is a picture of me and Jeff, the custom shoe maker at the waffle window, first stop on the PJ party ride. Notice the head to toe hello kitty pj set.

I haven’t posted in a long long time. Even worse are the moderated comments have not been looked at for a long long time. I am not a good blog human.

Other personal updates. Still unemployed. Still in Portland. Still using my bike for everything. Not drinking alcohol regularly, like one drink every one to two weeks. Limiting my drinky drink has helped with my little liver. I’ve had it “looked” at a bunch of times and it is quite happy. Don’t ask me to go into details cuz you will think I am crazy. 

What else can I tell you about? Oh yes, the yoga. Doing bikram yoga pretty much everyday. I’ve lost a few pounds, skin is looking pretty good and my brain is pretty clear. I think? I started right after Thanksgiving. I’ve done two 30+ day challenges and a bunch of back to back classes. Two in a row is hard my friends, but oh so much fun.

One last thought. If you are living in Portland, you will agree…this part of the country is really blessed with AWESOME produce. The local food culture here is really strong and my mom is crazy to question if I am eating well in this city. Another food thought, I’ve got a variety of garlic growing in my front yard for Sunroot Gardens CSA . If you get the chance to try garlic fresh, before it is field cured/dried, please try it. It is so delicious and garlicy sweet. You can eat whole cloves with no sting or burn. Prolly kills your breath the same way. Kisses!

This morning, I received a certified letter from my old employers. It contained a letter stating that my health benefits will be done at the end of November. Ironic because I am opening this notification the day after Obama’s victory. I didn’t look at his healthcare policy before voting because I intuitively knew that single payer/universal healthcare was not on his agenda. I also knew it was not on McCain’s agenda either.

If I wished to continue the healthcare plan, I will be expected to pay $362.51 for just myself, $670.64 for me and my SO. Tough choices.

However, who to vote or not to vote for was easy.

Alot of movie watching this weekend! Three movies, all foreign, all worth watching.

Son of Rambow is a cute, coming of age film about two english boys from opposite worlds that make a film. This one is targeted to the quiet filmmaker in all of us.

Save the Green Planet is a fantastic Korean film from 2003. It doesn’t fit nicely in any genre/category and is really a great movie. Creative and odd.

And lastly, Code 46. A futuristic romance which reminds me little of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets Gattaca. Not the best sci-fi out there but worth watching if you like that sort of thing.

All three films have some sort of social and political commentary. Never overt or over the top, they all do a great job placing the plot and characters in a larger world context. Save the Green Planet is a real standout.

Yes.  I know.  I should be studying law.  But, government is kinda a related topic.  I took time out to watch about 2 hours of the DNC to see what McBama was going to say.  It is really sad when it seemed like Al Gore (who I still get confused with John Kerry) was totally phony and couldn’t say anything years ago, but McBama is even worse.  At least Al Gore invented the Internet.  I digress…

In some ways I have a sneaking suspicion part of what is spectacular is not so much McBama’s words or his delivery, but just the fact that he is black and has made it this far.  I think a lot of black candidates in the past have tried to appeal to black voters, but I don’t think McBama really does that.  I think he appeals to white voters.  I see black people with Obama T-shirts and so forth, so I know they are out there.  But, in any case, another digression.

The whole televised thing with music and fancy camera shots and fireworks and all that just leaves you feeling like you just watched a movie.  Truly, at the end they played what can only be called an “end theme”.  It had marching drum elements and “epic elements”  (spacey/roomy passages) and etc.  I was seriously waiting for the credits to roll.  But, they didn’t.

I have watched a fair share of these things on TV through my life (now on the internet, of course).  But, this was the first time I have really tuned in visually (I heard some of the RNC in 2004) in many years.  WOW!  This is truly the society of spectacle.  Government, an already abstracted concept, is becoming more abstracted by the minute.  I wonder if we will end up with a “American Idol” type reality show that decides who will be the next president where online voting eliminates one by one a large group of candidates leaving just one……  wait, that’s exactly what we do need… many candidates and the opportunity to vote for each one multiple times.   Don’t tell me reality TV is going to the basis of our voting system!!!!  ”American President”…. or “Who wants to be the President?”…. it actually just might work.  People do want to participate, just more directly.  Maybe a MicroSoft / NewsCorp merger could buy the government outright and get this show together?

I guess the DNC event was less like a movie and more like a bad TV show. …. wait, it was a bad TV show.  I’m a bit confused… is the government TV  or is TV the government?

Once a summer, Portland gets this short run of heat, like upper 90’s to low 100’s. Generally low in humidity so you’ll still see folks walking around, biking etc this kind of weather. Today is the last day for this year’s run and its been absolutely miserable. The heat is what everyone is talking about, fighting against and planning around. This is what I did to cope:

Thursday - Office during the day, played softball after work, while biking to and from the ball field. This is a poor choice for activities because I was overheated and had a terrible time sleeping that night.

Friday - stayed in office until about 7pm. Went to hang out after work with Aline and some other friends. She was house-sitting with an AC in the tv room. The house also has a hot tub and they filled it with cold water.

Saturday - Stayed in Yi’s apt all day. This was some hardcore lounging time, which I haven’t done in a while. She’s an awesome friend with central AC and lots of food in the house. She also lives on a major street, so lots of access to food.

Sunday - Its actually cooled down about 10 degrees but I’ve decided to study at a coffee shop with AC.

What strategies have we learned here? Have friends with AC, move as little as possible, drink alot of water, fill your hot tub with cold water and ice.

Also, when its this hot and Justin Po (we all love JPo) asks you if you want to meet for hot dogs, tell him you are bringing the donuts.