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Sunday we got up and packed up. I was contemplating getting a cup of coffee at Sweet Life before we headed out to breakfast. Aron came back from his walk and said “Did you know there is another coffee shop around the corner, Wandering Goat or something?”

Deciding to diversify my coffee choices I went with him to check out this new place. It was the roastery and coffee shop for Wandering Goat Coffee company. I ordered a machiatto, knowing that we would be on the road most of the day, and having excess coffee in my system would be unwise. The service was ok, though they confirmed with me three times that I really had wanted a machiatto and not a carmel latte.

The Machiatto was good though, and the Wandering Goat is on my list of places to visit next trip.

We then joined a bunch of Aron’s friends for breafast, at the Keystone cafe. It’s this great little breakfast/brunch place with a range of vegan to ominvore dishes. We had a great time ordering mimosas, giving the waitress a hard time, and having my ass grabbed by the kids behind me. (Well it was an accident and the little kids mom made him apologize. That brought him to tears, but he did eventually apologize.)

Before I wrap up our trip to Eugene I want to share two more things , one in Eugene you build around the tree, instead of cutting it down. We saw this done a couple times, with fences built around the trunks or branches of trees.

Carbon Monoxide park

The last picture I am sharing is carbon monoxide park. Its  a fabulous public park that is under and along 105. Its this giant freeway where the surrounding public areas have been greened up , play equipment and picnic structures added. While it looks great, I have to wonder the amount of CO2 in the are from all those cars rushing by.

Anyway, it was a good trip, I can’t wait to go back.

Filed under: Uncategorized on June 26th, 2009 | No Comments »

I walked 10+miles around Eugene no wonder my feet hurt.
Saturday

We slept well enough, considering the trains coming through the neighborhood shook our little apartment windows. Breakfast was made and Leah headed off to her class. Aron and I explored Eugene on foot. He introduced me to Sweet Life and we wandered over to the Saturday Market

First it was the farmers market with a wild array of mushrooms. (Considering the similarity of our weather I’m surprised we don’t see more mushrooms at our Farmers Markets) We sampled sweet strawberries and oggled the produce. Farm fresh tomatoes in June, wonder how they managed that? Greenhouse maybe?

We wandered over to the craft stalls where I fell in love with a tea cup sold by Amy the Potter, and jewelry done by forged.

(the teacup is on the upper shelf, it has a filter basket and a little lid on top to keep the heat in. the lid then comes off, flips over and holds the filter basket when your tea is done steeping. Too cool I say!)

We wandered back over to the Gathering for a while and met up with Leah. We stopped at Sweet Life for more coffee. Sweet Life is a bakery/coffeeshop with a fabulous array of sweets, good coffee and friedly employees.Leah and Aron split a muffin and cinnamon roll, I sustained myself with coffee.

After breakfast we stopped at the hostel running into Aron’s friend Matt, the second of his Eugene friends I had the pleasure to meet. From there Aron and Leah headed out to a party , dropping me back of in Downtown Eugene  at the Library.

I wandered around the area, checking out the library, using the wifi, finding an atm and then getting some cash out. My goals were to look for a decent bookstore, a yarn shop, and something for late lunch /snack.

The first bookstore I went into  was A Novel Exchange.A small used bookshop with a nice variety of casual reading. It was comfortable and the owners was a doll. Trista chatted me with a bit as I asked about karaoke and other coffee shops in the area.  She gave me a couple of suggestions and was a doll, even though I didn’t buy anything.

The next bookshop was Smith Family Books.  Trista had pointed it out and it was a short walk from the library. I wandered about, but after tumbling a shelf full of Debbie Macomber novels onto my head I deciced the prices on their used books just weren’t good enough and left.

The bookstore score came from StVincent Depaul “Books and Botique” I was  apprehensive on this one. The St Vincent DePaul thrift stores in Seattle never really struck me as great places and to go there for books? Isn’t that odd? In the end though they had great prices and a quite nice selection. I came home with two Maeve Binchy books and a handful of Harlequin candy bar novels. You know, the kind that you enjoy like a candy bar. A small inconsiquential distraction that in the end may not be that good for you and you feel a little guilty about.

I wandered around 5th Ave Station, stopped in at Provisions again, thinking I might pick something up to take back to the hostel for dinner. In the end, I decided they were just too pricey and I could go to Pasta and Co in Seattle just as easily.   (We had wandered around 5th Ave station on Friday, I got ice cream  from Provisions and some candy from the Candy Baron. It’s a little like UVillage but smaller, food court , fancy shops including a nice embroidery shop and a kitchen supplies store. )

From there I walked back over towards Sweet Life, deciding to stop  for a late lunch  at a place near there, Laughing Planet.Laughing Planet is an Oregon chain of fresh fusion mexican food. It was tasty and well priced.  I popped back over to sweet life for coffee, a sweet (finally) and some time to write.

See I had been in Sweet Life three times by this point, but only once did I avail myself of the charms of its sweets. I chose a chocolate orange pots du creme, which turned out to be overly rich, overly sweet, and just too much.  The coffee was good though, and I value knowing a great coffee shop with tasty things.

At this point I was done.  It may not seem like much but it was 10 miles of walking and I was tired. I headed back to the hostel  curled up on the couch with Oceans Eleven and read a crappy romance novel. Leah and Aron were out at a friends and I was left with this quiet indulgence. Leah messaged me a couple of times to see if I wanted to join them and their “scrumpy” drinking. But I was content

About 8:45 I decided I was peckish and wandered back out looking for something to eat. The fish and chips place was closed so I stopped at the Red apple market for a little deli salad anc chicken strips.  (Groceries were cheaper in Eugene, that whole cost of living thing)

Aron and Leah rejoined me around 11,  and that was the end of our Saturday in Eugene.

Filed under: Uncategorized on June 25th, 2009 | No Comments »

For my birthday* Aron and Leah treated me to a trip down to Eugene. They had plans to go for Solstice/ Black Sheep Gathering  weekend and decided to treat me the whole way  food, transport and lodging.

Friday

We left ass early on Friday. I was up at 5am, and rolled into the car at 5:30. Coffee in hand, yogurts forgotten in the fridge.

The ride down was cozy Jasmine, Leah and I tucked into the back seat dozing away as our intrepid drivers led us down I-5. a stop in Centralia for Breakfast ,  then in Vancouver to drop Jasmine off. We arrived in Eugene a little after noon, dropped Barb off and headed over to “the Gathering” to look around and find out where Leah needed to be the next morning.

As we pulled in I could here them… BAAAAAAA

And with every BAAAA , i went “giggle giggle giggle” even from the car. What a way to start the weekend! We wandered about. I fell in love with a hooked rug from Little House Rugs, contemplated a mixed roving bag, and considered a spindle.  (Ok, I also fell in love with a Kromski harp, but it was way out of my price range for this trip) In the end I held off intending to reconsider purchases when I met Leah on Saturday afternoon.

Next up was lunch at Carl’s Jr to give Leah her fried zuchinni fix.  From there we made a new stop, Glory Bee Foods. In all my soapmaking I’ve always wanted to give liquid soapmaking a try. The problem is sourcing the potassium hydroxide for it.  I didn’t see it in the catalog, but knew that Glory Bee carried soap and candle supplies so off we went.  I wandered around the little retail storefront, making note of supplies to buy next time. No Potassium Hydroxide on the shelf. So  I decided to try a bubble bath base and when she rang me up I asked.. “Do you have Potassium Hydroxide?” Yeah sure, let me get some pulled from the back. “Sure enough $20 later I had 2 lb of lye for making liquid soap.  Already the weekend had exceeded my expectations.

We went to check in at the hostel where a turn of fate and great customer service saw us checking into a 1 bedroom apartment complete with kitchen.  We had a kitchen to make pancakes,  a couch to lounge on and watch bad movies and a bathroom all to ourselves. Not bad at the recommend $65 a night, and a bargain at the $40 we paid due to the miscommunication with our initial reservation. We finished off Friday night with dinner at High Street,  where I happily had a beer and a decent burger.

*Yes my birthday was months ago, deal. I’m also having a birthday party in August. If I keep it up it will be my birthday all year long.

Filed under: Uncategorized on June 24th, 2009 | No Comments »

Officially it’s summer now. today is the first day of my summer shift at work. Miss Bit has flown the coop to Oklahoma and Miss Thing is on summer break as well.

My summer to do list is blooming nicely watered by project deadlines, fertilized by  ideas of free time. Near the top of that to do list is reviewing the past year. So much has changed, so much accomplished and so much more on the horizon.

Spring quarter had a hard finish. i reached a point where i was just dying to have it done.  The overlapping deadlines of major projects, the challenge of group work and  different priorities. Yet it all worked out well, with a spot on the Dean’s list for me.

The quarter in summary:

Stats: This was a requirement, and cause no undue anxiety in the classroom. The class was book based, reinforced by online homework, group work and some lecture. i found it hard to shift from thinking in the way the book posed the questions and taught the material, to the way the prof did. In the end if I had studied more I would have done better, but I am glad to have passed and to be done with it.

(This class causes no small amount of anxiety to students in my program, I’m wondering if a project could be created around reducing some of that anxiety)

Environmental History of the Pacific Northwest.  The class was reading heavy, and I felt that we didn’t spend nearly enough time in discussion. I would have preferred if we had covered fewer topics more in depth, and encouraged deeper discussion within the class.  This class did do a primary research project that I enjoyed.  We found a fair amount of information about our chosen topic and were able to complete a fair report on it in the end, with some direction for further research. I’m continuing to work with this professor over the summer , consolidating and presenting the research that was done by the groups

Girl Gaming: This turned into much more of a game development class then I thought it would be. I learned a fair amount about games themselves,  and we talked a little about identity. In the end though I came away feeling like I can pitch an ok game (will be better with practice) but that I havent explored the full issue of “girl gaming” I’ve got  further reading out of the library about it  though, and am continuing to persue it on my own.

—-

The first year is over. Looking back I can say that the classes I took last fall did set my expectations for the rest of the year. When the quarter was 3/4 of the way done and I had  no actual grades to back up my class performance thus far, I wasn’t too worried, I’d become used  to the lack of feedback and  know how to judge my work in relation to the rest of my peers. I’ve gotten into a flow with commuting and have even settled into a new job.

Next year brings more opportunity, but for the time being I’m glad to have a break.

Filed under: Uncategorized on June 22nd, 2009 | No Comments »

A recent “blog prompt” asked for best vacation and I have to say, I miss Victora.

Seems funny to miss a place you’ve only been once. About a year ago Aron and I were in Victoria. Fernando and Don greeted us each morning with coffee. We wandered through gardens and museums, visited bookstores and coffee shops. We had a mixture of drizzle and sunshine. The ride across the sound, the cheap booze from duty free. All in all, i think this was the best vacation ever. My student budget means I can’t afford to go back, not this year,  but maybe I’ll have to budget to do it again next year.

Filed under: Uncategorized on May 6th, 2009 | No Comments »

School:  Another month, another quarter started. I’m down to 3 classes from four,  but am now busing to campus four mornings a week. It’s a challenge, I’m going to have to think about different ways to arrange my schedule in the future. I’d rather take three classes in a row, i think.  I’ve pretty much decided to pursue the senior seminar option instead of completing the UW-REN capstone. I like the options for the Senior Seminar and writing a 25 page paper will be good practice.

I’m still working on the peer mentoring project, and am watching what the IAS council has going on. I’ve got some thoughts about my classes, but they boil down to: Two of my professors blow off emails. One professor gives lame excuses and for all three classes the work feels like upper division work. I’ve yet to get any solid grades so far, but am ok with that. Perhaps my 300 class in the fall set my expectations properly.

Home: We’ve done some organizing. After a very expensive trip to ikea we ended up with more shelving for the living room, and things are looking better. Once I’m able to spend time  finishing my organization it will be even easier to find the things we need. 

Work:  The weird school schedule has made my work schedule weird too, I’m only working 10 hours a week and occasionally I have weeks where I’m under that even. It’s a combination of  the hours there were available, being responsible for Miss Bitt, and my class schedule. Otherwise the job is ok, I really like my coworkers, and I feel justified stretching my tech skills. I’m working on installing MySQL on my school web space, and learning how to administer wordpress as well.  

One of the things I’ve realized with school is that I’m going to need to brush up on my practical skills and pick up some new ones. I’d like to get some experience with Access and InDesign,  and learning XML wouldn’t kill me. 

Crafting: Nada. Really. I did rubber stamp some cute folders for school, but thats about it. Time on the bus has been used for reading, and only Wednesday did i pick up the sock I had been working on.

Filed under: Uncategorized on May 2nd, 2009 | No Comments »

Most days I bus around with little problem. Today was the antithesis  of that. In the morning I opted to try  the 48/16/41/372 route. Yes its four buses but it brings me around the North end  instead of going though the UW Seattle campus. The 16 was late. Really Really late. But I made my connection to the 41 with no problem. And ended up on the same 372 I would have gotten on had I just stayed on the 48.

Then on the way home my connections didn’t connect. It’s something that happens very rarely. In fact its the first time between this quarter and fall quarter that the buses ran late enough that I was late to pick up Miss Bit. Some of it was chance, some of it was making the wrong bus choice when I got to the transit center. (the 75/5 would have been quicker, i think.)

Lastly on the way home from swim lessons, the 48 just stopped coming. When we got out of the locker room I checked onebus and saw that buses were running at about 25-26 minutes to the stop we needed. So we stopped for ice cream. Checked again 22-23 minutes. Waited 10 minutes. Still read 22-23 minutes. We walked stop to stop towards home, checking the bus time  which stayed at 22-23 minutes.  Apparently on the tracker showed that the 48 was backed up at least an hour. (And no word from KCNews about any issue  with the 48 route)

Anyway, it’s days like today that make me wonder how to renew my bus karma. Clearly things fell out of wack somewhere.

Filed under: Uncategorized on April 30th, 2009 | No Comments »

The number of books I have read has vastly increased since the kindle application became available for the ipod touch. I’ve downloaded dozens of the free books available, and have sucked them into my brain with a straw.
I’ve made my way through romance novels so syrupy sweet I thought I was going to choke. I wandered through a New-Agey novel that baffled me into oblivion. I immersed myself in two science fiction novels that have me begging for the next books in the series.

I’ve yet to buy a book though. I don’t buy books often. I typically get things from the library, shifting a list of nearly 100 books on hold, rotating what I’m ready to read depending on what my workload for the quarter is looking like. So I’m faced with this quandry. I’ve got this great tool that was enabling me to read books while on the bus back and forth from school, but I’m almost out of books to read.
I could always go the way of Jane Austen and start reading the Gutenburg books available. They are free, and there are more then a few classics I should give a reread. On the other hand, I like the idea of getting the new books, of supporting the new media that I’m enjoying. Even if it kills me to pay $9.99 for a book I will never hold in paper format. **

Digital media is challenging that way. I’ve overcome the idea of buying movies and music, books are the next frontier I guess. I’m holding out hope that NetLibrary and Digital Overdrive are able to make the leap so I can check library books out on my ipod. It would save all this wibbling.

**I’ve come to the realization that most Authors must serve the story not the audience. Considering the amount of time it takes to produce a book compared with the cost of two lattes… well If someone compared my work unworthy the price of two lattes I’d probably cry.

Filed under: Uncategorized on April 29th, 2009 | No Comments »

Homework doing on a Monday night.

From hidden

Filed under: Uncategorized on April 7th, 2009 | No Comments »

I’ve talked a bit about losing my laptops and the loss of photos and portfolio work etc.
I’m still working on getting my music back and wondered if anyone would want to donate a mix cd or two to the cause? It would help me build my library again and give me a taste of what you listen to.
Share please? I can share my address if you want to do a real CD or I can download a virtual one.

Filed under: Uncategorized on April 6th, 2009 | 1 Comment »