1:44 am thoughts

dream: had a sentimental moment with Jason Vorhees of Friday the 13th notoriety.

memory: driving to iowa city in december 07 amidst the worse fog i've ever seen. cars appeared like phantoms when they were mere yards away from me.

quirky moment: friday came back to the office from lunch and when i entered the elevator was greeted by xmas lights in otherwise darkness, xmas tunes, and two women in holiday attire serving eggnog and cookies. a little 40 second party in the elevator. doors opened on the 12th floor and my boss is standing there with some of the people working the construction in the new office space. "better get in on this," i told them, "elevator A only!"

new shoes: my new shoes were $11 and are being sent now (above).

hobby: during down-time at work i like to surf wikipedia for random towns/cities across america including the dalles, oregon; carol city, florida; truth or consequences, new mexico; hood river, oregon; santa claus, indiana; gary, indiana; santa fe, new mexico, etc etc.

funniest bit of interaction between shawna and her dad

on facebook chat:

animals

On a mac-n-cheese trip lately. I had the best ever at Montage under the Morrison bridge last Saturday night. Shawna and I also agreed that Montage serves the best bloody Mary cocktails either of us has ever had. A bloody Mary and mac-n-cheese to follow an interesting performance at Imago theatre. The show was called "Little Big Things," a production for all ages centered around animals. Grandmother had gotten us tickets as a Christmas present, so on rainy Saturday night we made it over there for the 70 minute performance. I appreciated the ability the performers had at either caricaturing or mimicking exactly the movements and behaviors of animals such as rabbits, fire flies, anteaters, polar bears, fish, snakes and others. It also brought back remnant feelings of that childhood wonder about animals. Reminded me of the days as a child running wild in the woods near our home or in the mountains in Colorado. All the animals in those places that I learned so much about through such direct and unbridled interaction.

The First X-mas Tree Away From Home

Shawna and I picked out a nice 5-foot fir tree from a roadside Christmas tree seller. With the help of Shawna's bargaining skills we were able to get it down to $15 from $25. The guy was easy to haggle with and soon we were off after stuffing the tree into the trunk (it fit snugly). We've set it up in the living room and adorned it with a strand of Christmas lights of suitable length. Furthermore it is decked with odd ornaments: trinkets of ours which we have collected from here and there. As you can see in the pictures, the ornaments are far from traditional, and in fact, the surrogate star at the top of the tree is actually a kitschy souvenir voodoo doll from New Orleans. The baby smoking a cigarette ornament (below) is from an underground mall in Nanjing, China. The Pinocchio-like boy doll (can be seen above) is from a toy bin at Goodwill in Portland. The Christmas themed neck tie around the base of the voodoo doll is one I picked up at Value Village in Tigard last Friday after work in a mad rush hour scramble to find accessories for my company's holiday party. This is my first Christmas tree away from home.