Stuff to click on

Wednesday, January 31

Birthday!

I'm gonna be on the road starting tomorrow, so Boo is getting her sidebar age-update early!

Happy Birthday kiddo! You are turning into such an amazing kid. I am having fun watching you change into a big girl. Don't go "tween" on me yet, OK?


Click to view a party slide show!

p.s. Never get too old to wear your cake proudly. I am glad you are still silly!

Emergency?

On the way home today, we drove past Mt View High School. There were several ambulances and police cars... and a bunch of SWAT officers. I found a blurb (here) on KTVZ's web site. Sounds like something got into their ventilation system, and it was making people sick... but they are still looking for a cause.

Anyone know what happened?

Updated at 8:32pm - The article on KTVZ.com was updated, but no one seems to know what caused the odor and fumes. Sounds like a prank to me. If it turns out to be a student, do the parents have to pick up the tab for emergency services?

Updated at 10:32pm (1/31)
- As of this morning, "no trace of the unidentified odor-causing substance remained within the building". Wow... that is a little scary that they can't identify the cause (and don't seem to think they will).

Tuesday, January 30

Snowboarding

Scott took the bigger kids snowboarding on Sunday. Heeeere's Stinky!

Monday, January 29

Haggis

Looking for something to do this weekend? Yes, there are many events planned in Bend, from Winterfest to Superbowl Parties and the Ice Crit! But this one caught my eye as definitely... er... unique! This could be really fun...

ROBERT BURNS DINNER EVENING AND ENTERTAINMENT
Saturday, Feb 3, 2007
Paying tribute and celebrating the life and Spirit of Scotland’s greatest poet.

At Bend’s Community Centre
1036 NE 5th St, Bend, OR 97701

PRESENTED BY
The High Desert Celtic Society
and produced by their friends, The Caledonian Society


Doors open for dinner at 6:00pm
Show starts at 7:00 pm

For dinner, enjoy Traditional Scottish Fare:
Bangers, neeps and tatties (British sausages, mashed potatoes & veg)


Show includes:
  • A Scottish Heart, Central Oregon’s premier musical group

  • James Knox, Baritone

  • Pipers Donald Ross and Steve Allely

  • Mac Lindsay, Address to the Haggis

  • The High Desert Scottish Country Dancers

  • The Parade Of The Haggis, led In by The Highland Bagpipers

  • Poems of Robbie Burns and Comedy!


$15.00 per person dinner and show

For reservations online visit www.centraloregontickets.com

For further information to reserve call 541-382-3278
or email: soaringtruth@msn.com

SysAdmins

A co-worker, Lewis, is starting up a usergroup for all of you sys-admin-type folks here in Bend:

Welcome all to the first Central Oregon Systems Administrators usergroup meeting. This is the place where Sys Admins can come together to exchange information, explore new technologies and network. The goal of this first meeting is to meet and greet. Those that will be interested are Systems/Network Administrators and Engineers that manage and maintain data centers and closets ;), storage area networks, directory services, mail, DNS, networks, security, and anything in between (OS and hardware agnostic).


The first meeting is currently being planned for February. He's a sharp guy, so anything that he is planning should be good! Click here for the full announcement!

Thursday, January 25

Introducing...

This is for Tim.

Jen, a female web developer persona

  • 32 years old

  • In a LTR with a RHPB. They have three kids (two girls, 8 and 12; one son, 11) and a dog.

  • Drives a 2005 Toyota Matrix (silver) or a Huffy cruiser (green) - depends on the weather.

  • Built a house (and still finishing it). It's decorated using warm colors. Wildlife art from Northwest artists, photos taken by Jen and Scott, and a really big wrought-iron clock are some of the items that hang on the walls.

  • Sports? Yes, I love baseball, thanks for asking!

  • Likes the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" TV commercials... and uses both herself. Hates IBM ads, and those radio spots for Norwalk.

  • Loves movies and prefers to watch them at the local theater pub.

  • TiVo's Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Gilmore Girls, Survivor and Top Chef. Watches when she has the time.

  • Likes hiking, golfing and boating.

  • Lives in a community where almost everyone else skis or snowboards regularly. Used to ski... but is thinking about giving snowboarding a try.

  • Loves to cook - both from cookbooks and creatively. She specializes in comfort food.

  • Music? Not hip at all... she likes country, smooth jazz and classical tunes. She does like to rock as well, but couldn't name that tune or that band!

  • Gets sucked into reading tech blogs on a regular basis. She particularly addicted to the blogs run by Ray Camden and Simeon Bateman.

  • She manages the local Web Geek usergroup, COWPU.

  • She tried out for "Jeopardy!" once. But didn't make it, and may try again some day.

Wednesday, January 24

Wii

Got my Wii today!

I heard a rumor that Best Buy gets their shipments on Wednesdays so Butthead and I stopped by after I picked her up from school. The staff told me that was bu** and we just got lucky... but hey that works for me!

When I left the store there was only one left (at 2:15-ish).

Looking forward to a fantastic Wii-kend!

kuuduk

I am addicted.

Stinky got a new card game for Christmas, kuuduk. We hadn't come around to playing it yet, as the kids got so many new games. (Which is great!) I think this one is definitely going to be a favorite.

The object is simple; collect the cards needed to spell "kuuduk":

Then count the number of dots on the cards and add them to your score. The first player to score 50 points wins.

You can draw cards, swap with other players, and "swipe" from other players. I am sure there is a strategy but I haven't figured it out yet. Every time I was one card away from scoring... someone would swipe one of my cards!

So, as usual... Stinky kicked our butts and won. I did get one really sweet combo (you get bonus points if all your cards are the same color). He is just too good at games like this. Anything that requires strategy is right up his alley (Risk, Stratego, Chess, Checkers, and Mille Bornes are some of his favorites).

I can still beat him at Loot though. So I think that is my favorite game for now!

Tuesday, January 23

CAKE

Via the Troll...
CAKE posted a version of War Pigs on their website for free download. It will be available until Thursday (1/25/2007).

You can download the song from http://www.cakemusic.com/songs/bonus/. It's their take on the "classic" Black Sabbath tune. (Can a Black Sabbath tune really be considered "classic?) Fans are invited to upload their video interpretations of the remake to YouTube. From their website:
CAKE SHORT FILM CHALLENGE: CAKE listening film aficionados are invited to interpret our version of the classic Black Sabbath song, "War Pigs," in a short film or music video. "War Pigs" will be included on CAKE's upcoming "Rarities" album. Entries can express any theme of your choice, in any genre or shooting format, but must be uploaded on YouTube with a link sent to: info@cakemusic.com. Entries will be judged on overall impact and artistic merit. A grand prize of $1,000 will be awarded to the best submission. All entries must be received by March 15, 2007. Good Luck!

Monday, January 22

Runaway

Runaway, 9, hops flight out of town

I would normally expect to see a link to this on Jake's blog... but I was out of town this weekend so maybe I missed it?

Someone told me about this and I originally didn't believe them. I checked Snopes.com and couldn't find it so I googled it, and found this article. (And this one, and this one.)

Oh, heavens.

Learned to drive... from a Playstation? Lied his way onto an airplane? I am speechless.

Aside to Andre: This is a perfect example of your (and Marshall's) criticism of SEO for the media and rationale for optimizing these articles for "low hanging fruit". (I love that term by the way!) I spent a while searching for news articles using the terms child airplane and similar. I eventually found it by searching for runaway airplane. (I am sure the airline industry will LOVE that reference!)

Wednesday, January 17

Reservations

Recently the Travel Channel was added to our basic cable lineup. I watch off and on, but mostly record the shows I really want to watch, as they never seem to be on at the "right" time. (I loooove Tivo!) I like the shows about warm, beachy places. Hawaii, Mexico... anything to make me forget that I am in cold, snowy Oregon... if only for a few minutes!

But I also record the shows about Oregon. I think it's really interesting to see how Oregon is portrayed nationally, especially for tourism purposes. I like seeing which local businesses are highlighted, and whether I agree with the attractions that are recommended.

Enter Anthony Bourdain

On Monday his show, "No Reservations" covered the Pacific Northwest. Of course, that means Portland and Seattle! In Portland, he visited Voodoo Doughnut, Apizza Scholls, and the Heathman Hotel. He was accompanied by author (and Portland native) Chuck Palahniuk (read: Fight Club, Invisible Monsters). They had a lively discussion about why Portland is such a... er... "diverse" town.

Apizza Scholls is open from 5pm "until they run out of dough". The chef is a pizza purist of sorts. He is referred to as a "pizza nazi" and has all these rules about how you can have your pizza, and will make you leave if you disagree with him. Hmm.

Next time you are in Portland and you have the munchies, visit Voodoo Doughnut (as long as it isn't between 11am and 1pm - that's when they are closed). They offer bacon maple bars, voodoo doll doughnuts (with red jelly filling), and doughnuts with cocoa pebbles and peanut butter... just to name a few. One of their previous menu items was a Pepto-Bismol dooughnut but they had to pull it because, according to the FDA, "you can't put medicine in food."

Later he went camping at Lost Lake with Philippe Boulot, Executive Chef of the Heathman Restaurant. Can you imagine camping with a professional chef? I love to cook and we eat very well when camping... but their food looked amazing. I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time, as I did while watching Anthony Bourdain trying to put up his tent. "Nature sucks!" he exclaimed while chopping wood and getting tangled in tent stakes. He mused that the name of the lake perhaps referred to the fact that he might never see civilization again, and that they must be in "Sasquatch Country". LOL... maybe he will come to Bend for the Bigfoot Expedition!

Overall he gave an interesting, different perspective on Portland. Now I'm hungry... for a slice of pizza with no more than 3 toppings (only one of which can be meat) and a Froot Loop doughnut for dessert!

Friday, January 12

thump

thump is now open...

It's Friday, and I always need a little extra caffeine on Fridays. The Troll and I headed downtown. A week or so ago we peered through the windows near Staccato where a sign stated, simply, "something is brewing". Our guess was a coffee shop, his guess (and hope) was for a Stumptown. He recommended that we check to see if it was open yet.

It is!

The owner/manager (?), Kent, was there. He is very friendly, chatty, and willing to answer questions. The baristas seem nice too. Kent told us that thump brews Stumptown Coffee. They are an independent store, not a franchise of Stumptown.

Today was their first day, and it was evident they are getting settled. Someone was working on the lights that hang over the counter. Offerings in the deli case were sparse. But we were there for coffee... and they have plenty of that!

I tried the drip coffee. A Guatemalan blend, very smooth, and piping hot. A little bit of nutty flavor, but not overwhelming. I liked it very much! The Troll had a soy mocha. While preparing the drink our barista asked, "how chocolatey?"... and gave him extra chocolate. Though it was a little on the lukewarm side, it was pronounced "yummy!" :)

The interior is nice. Lots of earth tones, very warm! The counter and floors are concrete, and there is nice ironwork under the counters as well. I didn't ask if they will have wi-fi. It looks like this will be a nice place to kick back with a joe and a bite to eat!

Wednesday, January 10

COWPU

Some upcoming COWPU events...

Special Event

On January 18, 2007 at 6pm the Portland Adobe User Group will be hosting "Get to know Adobe Flex Builder 2.0" (presented by Simeon Bateman). If you haven't seen Flex yet this is a great new platform for developing RIA's. This presentation will be shared via webcast... so if you don't want to drive please join us to watch as a group here in Bend! For more information, please visit the COWPU website.

Meeting

Our next meeting will be held on January 24, 2007 at 6pm. For more information, please visit the COWPU website.

Theater

Stinky has been taking an acting class through BEAT, a new theater organization in Bend. He loves the class and it has been a nice outlet for his... er... creative energy. :)

BEAT will be participating in an upcoming event at the Tower, that looks like it could be great for all ages. Here's the scoop!

The Launch of The Tower Cultural Arts Program (T-CAP)

I believe that in any city or village, the presence of a fine theatre is the outward sign of an inherent culture.
~Sir Laurence Olivier.

A unique opportunity for education, inspiration and entertainment will be presented on January 20 at 2:00 PM at the Tower Theatre. Please join us for the first special performance of The Tower Cultural Arts Program or T-CAP.

The program will contain family-oriented performances by: The Erins, playing and singing traditional and contemporary Bluegrass music; B.E.A.T. (Bend Experimental Arts Theatre) with scenes performed by student actors from the “Miracle Worker” and “The Boys Next Door”; BodyVox, a dance troupe from Portland will present creative movement and dance; Karen Therese internationally acclaimed songstress will present her own Native American songs along with traditional Native American “fancy dancing”.

The Tower Theatre Foundation in unison with B.E.A.T. is striving to grow the population of young people who see themselves as performing artists, as well as those who want to provide the cultural exposure that a beautiful theater affords. We give a special invitation to those who appreciate dramatic acting, dance, singing, musical instruments and storytelling as a means to learn, grow and be inspired. The afternoon will also outline a plan to bring this talent directly into our schools. And there will be a “meet the performers” reception after the show.

Tickets for this wonderful showcase are only $5.00 and can be purchased online at www.towertheatre.org or at the box office. Curtain will be at 2:00 p.m.

Please help us fill the Tower on January 20 by forwarding this invitation to your friends, colleagues, family and performing arts groups in Central Oregon.(ok’d for email distribution).

TOWER THEATRE FOUNDATION mission is: To provide performing arts, civic, educational and social events that enliven and enrich the human spirit.

B.E.A.T.’s mission is : To teach and present thought and heart provoking performances, workshops and classes that expand the artistic ability of young actors, and enhance the cultural experience of their audiences.

For more information contact:
Howard Schor
Executive Director
Bend Experimental Art Theatre
Program Coordinator T-CAP
419-5710

Thursday, January 4

Hurricanes

Today I was treated to lunch at a new restaurant on Century Drive. Hurricanes offers light breakfast items and sandwiches, but the main attraction is the "whirlwind of desserts". Today was opening day, so things looked a little sparce. The shop is coming together well and I think this will be a great little lunch place. They are tucked into the little shopping center across from Skjersaa's, where Bend Pet Express and Cascade Cleaners are also located.

I ordered "Hurricane Ivan". The menu describes it as "Aged Brie and black forest ham with stone ground mustard aioli and mixed greens." My sandwich was impressive - stacks of black forest ham and lively greens on a beautiful ciabatta roll. I really wished that I had brought my camera, because it was so pretty! The ciabatta rolls are made on the premises and the flavor and texture of the bread was spot-on. The plentiful ham had good flavor; the brie was creamy and nutty. The mixed greens had a slightly peppery flavor. The mustard was fresh with a bit of heat - perhaps from a dash of horseradish. The sandwich was very tall and I had to work to take the first few bites. All of the flavors blended nicely!

My friend ordered "Hurricane Helen", which is described as "Curried chicken salad - white meat free range chicken with apples, nuts, and grapes." Because of the curry, it was not as pretty as mine but still big and appetizing! A generous amount of the chicken salad was heaped on the ciabatta. A helping of greens were served on the side. I managed to score a couple of morsels of chicken and it tasted very good - nice curry flavor and heat, with a hint of sweetness. The chicken was tender and the chunks were a good size.

Along with the sandwiches you also get a side of classic potato salad or tortellini salad. I had the tortellini - it was tasty, not too much dressing, and nice amount of red onion and red pepper mixed in. My friend had the potato salad, and enjoyed it. (I abhor potato salad, in any form... sorry Anne!)

I read the dessert descriptions and found one irresistable: Hurricane Peanut Butter Torte. Nothing says "buy me and take me home to Scott!" like anything chocolate and peanut butter. Lunch was so filling that the box containing his dessert isn't even tempting me... yet. The cake has thick layers of moist chocolate cake with creamy peanut butter filling. It's covered with a beautiful fudge frosting with a layer of chopped nuts around the edge. Yummm... it looks and smells delicious!

I highly recommend Hurricane's for lunch or a special treat. Remember that they *just* opened today so things might not be running 100% smoothly yet... but your tummy will tell you it's worth it!

Hurricanes
133 SW Century Drive #204
Bend, OR 97702
541-385-9179

p.s. Thanks go out to The Troll for lunch today!

Review

A friend of mine recently started a blog (KidGamers.org), where he posts reviews of video games for kids. I submitted a review last month (Stinky helped me write it - I am not much of a gamer) - and it was posted today!

We reviewed DDR Extreme 2 for PS2 (aka "the dance mat game"). If you are inclined to take a look, the review is posted here. Let me know what you think... and if you like the site please continue to visit! They are planning to publish new reviews on the 1st and 15th of each month. I will probably submit another in a couple of months if this one is well received.

Wednesday, January 3

Pipeline

Last night Scott and I decided to grab a light dinner from the Reed Pub Company. The pub is not far from home - during the warm summer months we walk along the canal to get there. The food is good; Scott loves their pizzas and they also have good sammies and appetizers.

They also have a very wide variety of beer - both on tap and bottled.

Generally I like to enjoy one of the brews on tap. But last night nothing really appealed to me so I looked in the cooler and found...

Pipeline

Pipeline Porter is made by the Kona Brewing Company. In addition to the usual ingredients, 100% Kona Coffee is present. The coffee flavor is very prevalent, and is a nice addition to the smoky flavor of the porter. It was an unusual, and memorable, drink.

The art on the label is also beautiful. A surf scene is depicted in orange, brown and blue. It has a very relaxing effect.