Leaving on a jetplane...

Although it may seem impossible to walk away from this little bug (see below), I am leaving for a vacation! Phil and I are going to Mexico on Monday. We will be gone Monday the 29th till January 10th.  Happy New Year! I'll take an annoying amount of pictures, you can count on it. 

Portland Snowpocalypse - UPDATED with new photos every 12 hours or so

Just signed up for Clear

I am SO thrilled with my new internet service. I heard about Clear on Twitter the other day, and wanted to learn more about it, but just hadn't gotten around.  I saw a kiosk for them the other day and was kicking myself for not stopping, so today when I saw them outside of Powell's I stopped to learn more. And I signed up!

My old internet: 1.5 mbps with Qwest for $39.99/month

My new internet!: 6 mbps with Clear for $40/month

Qwest takes FOREVER to ship you your set up crap (modem, annoying "startup disc", etc), and with Clear, I gave them $40 and they handed me a modem and I walked away. What do you need to start your service? I walked home, plugged the modem in (to an electrical outlet), and BAM. No cable line, no phone line, nothing! I am so thrilled, and the guys who sold to me were super thrilled also. Clear reps Matt Kurowski and Brett Dilley pictured below, braving the storm.  I honestly just wanted to write about this because I am so excited to be out from under the awful fees and contracts of Comcast or Qwest, but they will give people some sort of credit for referring or whatever, so you should give them my name if you sign up because of reading this post. Kthxbai ;)

Left: Brett Dilley (brett.dilley@clearwire.com) Right: Matt Kurowski (matt.kurowski@clearwire.com)

About those books and burritos...

I wrote that post about Supporting Local Economy a few days back and have continually been following the Portland hype over it. The actual Dude is from San Francisco, but his mom runs the store here in Portland, if you'll recall. 

 

Since then I've been amazed at the response by the internet community to his Twitter cries and blog post .  

I orignally commented on his blog saying, I would go buy books, and although, I love burritos - and Cha Cha Cha more than any other burrito joint around - that I was really just in it for the books. Since then I've started to wonder if maybe there's another way to make something awesome of this. There's a lot of hungry people in Portland, and they aren't the ones who can afford to spend $50 at the bookstore. (I only spent $31 the other day and felt kind of strapped...) But if I do spend another $20 before xmas (if Dude allows folks to combine receipts), then I will go collect my burrito, but I'm going to walk right out on the street and give it to the first person who asks me for money.  Lets just hope they don't throw it back at me, completely annoyed, because that would really ruin my idealistic vision of how this would go all go down. 

Took a little walk today to get some groceries.  As you all know, it's snowing and whatever, but it is SO COLD!!!! The wind is coming right through my window panes. 

Bagels

It's quite cold out, so leaving the house seems somewhat unreasonable. Until there is snow in the mountains to be skied, that is.  David and Elizabeth were dropping their car off at Les Schwab this morning, like everybody else in Portland, and were told they would have a 5 hour wait. (Les Schwab is nextdoor to my house.) So, they popped in to say hello. I made coffee and Elizabeth and I busted out some bagels while David finished up their laundry. Same recipe that I always use.

Lets not forget 2004. Apparently this weekend is supposed to be colder and wetter than that year. By wetter I mean, frozen wetness of course. Lets hope people can be smarter Portlanders and stay home this weekend!!!!

Frittata

Quick, healthy, delicious dinner. Usually, I make frittatas like a pie - just bake it in a dish. This time I made it the way you're supposed to cook a frittata - sauteed in a pan, then broiling the top in the oven. It cooks quicker, and is easy to do with my super awesome stainless steel cookware. No need to really post a recipe here, it's just a bunch of veggies mixed up with eggs (whisked with whatever sort of milk, cream, or cheese you have laying around).

Civil War

Obviously the Beavers lost the football game, but we won at the blood drive!!!! I feel like that could be taken in so many ways, since the ducks literally did, cream us in the ball game. Anywho, this is a fun little competition the Red Cross Pacific Northwest Chapter puts on. And we won. So :-P

Support Local Economy

I just caught this story on Twitter and wanted to share with friends and family in the vacinity. Broadway Books in NE has been in business for 20+ years and is an awesome local bookstore.  Regardless of the super amazing burritos, this son is doing an incredible thing with the internets to help his mom out from 1000 miles away. He's supporting Portland local businesses and family. Maybe you could do the same. Read full story.

More from my weekend in Vancouver

  

Vancouver Aquarium