roadtrip - a mantra!

BJM Roadtrip to LA 4-19-2006 (56)
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

2200 miles later, we got home. boy were the dogs happy to see us. a. did all the driving on monday - 600 miles worth from Pacifica all the way home. i slept and kept her company by interchanging cds when needed. i also took photos of everything i could see.
the trip as a whole was amazing. i know, i know, some people lament that driving the I5 corridor to LA is horror, but for me, it's new and exciting. i loved the trucks and the sights and the curves and the truckstops and the wacky restaurants.

highlights:

• a strip club off the side of the road named Club 21 in the middle of nowhere down south of roseburg in republican country.
• Bill and Kathy's - a place to eat. food wasn't bad, but it just had this weird vibe to it.
• Pea Soup Anderson's - a wierd dutch restaurant place in Santa Nella and again just north of LA. something about the dutch and california
• walking hollywood blvd and being tourists
• CHEEBO - an amazing restaurant with wondeful food on Sunset.
• Little Radio Warehouse and the 2 shows - wow!
• Pacifica- what can i say - beach, sunset, friends.
• beers @ Ollie's in downtown LA- my kind of bar.
  

downers (but not enought to damper the trip)

• hotel on sunset blvd - should have known it was sketch when there were decked out hookers on the corner at 4pm on a friday.
• driving around empty skid row downtown LA on saturday evening - yes, i was scared and had my foot on the gas ready to gun it.
• car getting keyed at said hotel.
• hotel shower broken.
• anna got a speeding ticket.
• missed the "welcome to oregon" sign.

all in all, an amazing trip and i would do it again in a heartbeat. actually, anna mentioned the BJM were playing in Chicago - hmmm. it's only 2200 miles to chicago... hmmmm.

some of my favorite photos:

600 miles to go....

600 miles to go....
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

a little tear just ran down my face..

Spent most of sunday driving up 101 from LA to Pacifica, just south of san fran. A beautiful drive with parts right along the coastline. We were pretty tired, so didn't do too much site seeing. The show on saturday night/sunday morning was amazing. The bjm played for about 3 and 1/2 hrs and were still making noise at 4am when we checked out. Got to bed around 5:30 and up @ 10.

We visited Ali and Tige i Pacifica where they live right on the cliffs. We ventured down and walked along the beach and took in the cool ocean breeze. Most of the evening was spent catching up and making jokes about past vacations the 4 of us have had together. Also, they have a new puppy we all got to play with.

So, we're back on I5 and truckin' along at 85. We've done about 1600 miles and have another 600 to go. Should be home in time to catch 24. What will Jack do tonight?

Oh, and yes, we're already planning our next adventure. Woo hoo....



eat more pie!

2nd show

2nd show
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

We've now been here a full 18 hrs and are at the second show. The first show was amazing, with the bjm playing a full 3 hrs. Got home and blogged for blogging.la @ 3:45am. This morning, we got up, had lunch and ventured to the getty museum here in la. Wow, what an amazing space. 5 or 6 buildings with art and all surrounded by cool gardens. And all of this on a hill overlooking la and the coast. Driving hasn't been bad, la-ish. We did go through west hollywood and saw Jonathon's salon. Then through beverly hills.

Tonight we ended up in the scariest part of town trying to find a bar. I was seriously frightened for us. We got out of there fast. Downtown la is pretty sketch.

So, tomorrow we're back on the road up to sfo and Pacifica. More roadblogging to come.



eat more pie!

Final destination
we're finally at the show and we've rekindled our friendships with the band. we've also met up with 4 other huge BJM fans for drinks.

What would chuck do?

What would chuck do?
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

We made it. Yay!



Now we're playing tourist on hollywood blvd.



oh, and i think there are "working girls" in our hotel. Nicccccccce!



eat more pie!

When in rome...

When in rome...
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

Eat with the roman's right? Well, here in Santa Nella (yes, i figured out where we were), you must eat at Pea Soup Anserson's. If you are from portland, think Rheinlander, but make it dutch.



They even have a windmill out front.



anna now want's pea soup for breakfast.



eat more pie!

You are sooo cool!

You are sooo cool!
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

And that's why i love you!



eat more pie!

roadtrip....

BJM Roadtrip to LA 4-19-2006 (28)
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

i'm a bit wired, but also a bit tired from the day of driving. we're ahead of the game people. yay! we're somewhere outside of Crow's Landing south of Sacramento. it got dark, so i am kinda out of my element. we decided to drive as far as 9pm and then look for a hotel and lo and behold, there was an exit with a few options. i'm sitting here at the holiday inn stealing WIFI from some other hotel because the holiday inn connection sucked balls.
the drive was great. we only hit a few traffic snags - in oregon only - and california is a breeze. we have 680 miles under our belt and another 280 to go. we'll get some sleep tonight and tackle it in the morning.

stats (in addition to before):
680 miles
1 sit down meal at Bill and Kathy's
1 six pack of bud light (in hotel)
2 full mp3 cds listened through
3 liters of water
handful of baby carrots
92mph - highest speed so far
66 - number of photos we have taken and uploaded to FLICKR.

cya.

Gas, food, lodging...

Gas, food, lodging...
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

Just south of ashland and we're 5 hrs into our adventure. So far, pretty uneventful, but the scenery is amazing. I haven't been bored. It seems most of I5 is under construction down here, so every so often, we gotta slow down.



stats:

300 miles

5 hrs drive time

2 rest stops

1 change of drivers

3 FUH2's

2 burritos

1 bottle water

1 visoda



well, on to cali!



eat more pie!

On vacation!

On vacation!
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

Road food and drink.



Can't talk now. Busy packing and stressing out- trying to get out of town soon.



LA or bust!



eat more pie!

road music

so, we did some driving this past weekend - approximately 6 hrs total. i made 3 mp3 cds and i think we went through them all with little repeats. this coming weekend, we'll be on the road for about 30 hrs total. wow! need some music to hold us over. luckily we re-upped our sattelite radio so i can listen to Ellen! at least once. here's some other stuff i hope to listen to and introduce ourselves to:

• Pearl Jam - new release
• Band of Horses - (listening to it now and it's nice)
• Flaming Lips - new release
• Radiohead - live at the Astoria in London
• The Streets - new release
• Russian Futurists
• The Silver Jews
• Matisyahu - jewish hip hop
  
• Creed - definately
• Ben Lee
• Yeah Yeah Yeah's - new release
• anything BJM of course
• The Dandy Warhols of course
• Kansas? Rush? Queensryche? Toto? Jusa Priest? - maybe
• Cloud Cult - new
• Beck
  
• and much more

Any suggestions? Road music people. Music to drive by. not drive by music.

oh, and don't forget - today, April 18 is when two lanterns were hung from the steeple of the Old North Church in Boston, Massachusetts. Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott ride to warn of impending arrests of Samuel Adams and John Hancock and seizure of weapons. Only Prescott finishes the ride. yay freedom (obvious sarcasm here)

other stuff happened today too i guess.

Pigs, Goats, Horses, Beer, Easter

the country
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

yep, it was an action packed weekend out in the country for us. we ventured up to Yakima for a quick trip for my brother in law's 40th birthday. they live on a ranch just outside of Yakima with their kids, horses, barn cats, dogs, pheasant (dwindling due to cats), chickens and other assorted critters. on the way, we stopped by one of our favorite wineries - Paradiso Del Sol in Zillah. There we tasted some great wine and picked up 2 cases of their $10 buck red (after discounts, it's $5.23 red.) visitors to chez brett over the next few months will get a taste - trust me.
the visit was great. my sister is an amazing host and the party was fun. i wasn't sure what to expect as far as "partying" goes, but it turned out well. the weather had been shitty through the gorge, but when we arrived, the sky was clear and the sun was out. do you remember the sun? well, with the clear skies, it got darn cold out that that evening by the fire pit. luckily, it was a significant fire to keep us out there smoking cigars and drinking Keystone ICE (or as my brother-in-law calls it - Stones.) whiskey was available and i do know some partook, but i only had a few drinks. i knew i didn't want to be wrecked on Sunday for the drive back home.
we stayed in their camper that night. our little ones have a tendency to bark at almost any sound, so we wanted to create a distance between us and our hosts to allow them to sleep. it was one of the best night's sleep we've had in awhile. i don't know if it was the bed or the cold or the comfortor or what, but it was great. i think we need to get a camper to sleep in or get a camper bed for our room or something.
easter egg hunting in the morning was great. we hid like 200 eggs or something all over the yard for the little boys and they loved it. Jack more than Hank as Hank is still a little young to understand the whole concept. Hank went with dad and fed the horses and pheasants.
drive home was nice as the photo here attests. if you haven't driven north of the Dalles towards central washington, you should. it's a beautiful area.
home now and prepping for our next road trip - this time to LA. yes, my peoples, we're driving to LA to see a band. haters step off.
photos from the weekend:

more photos
ta ta

BoingBoing'd - who'd a thunk it?

yesterday, a photo of mine made it to Boingboing.net, a leading news site that reports on happenings around the world. i can't tell you how excited i have been the last 24 hrs since learning that my photo was being seen by over a million eyeballs. wow. for me, this is like standing in front of a stadium and being picked out of the crowd to win the trip to vegas.

can you say "jumping for joy" "dancing in the living room"

here's to the power of the internets!

LINKY

here's the photo - i'll let you figure out its story.

angry child graffiti - F you dad

angry child graffiti
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

no, i didn't do this. i love my dad. but someone has someone has some serious issues to spraypaint it on this fence. i'm waiting to see one that says "I'm addicted to Heroin"

so, saturday was somewhat a strange day. i wanted to accomplish a ton of stuff, but didn't. but did. in the end, i did do some good stuff in the yard and found something i have been really worried about for awhile. it was in an obvious spot and now i know where that spot is.
in the garden, between rain showers, i pulled grass and weeds and other assorted junk. i didn't finish, but got about 80% done. today i think i'll put some bulbs in the ground i cleared.
what did you do?
oh and i may go shopping. everyone needs shopping therapy.

week 2

week two of operation get up @ 5am wasn't as much of a success as week one. i had a couple days where i slept in until 6 and one day where i slept in to 7. while i shouldn't beat myself up about it, it does make me want to refocus on the task at hand. i do have that feeling - even though i'm not getting 2 hrs in the morning, i am still accomplishing something. the house is clean, the dishes are done, i did some major weeding over the weekend and i've blogged almost everyday. my stats are up, i'm learning about code and such and i'm generally feeling better about a few things. woo hooooo.
weekend is here and we're having a guest, so we'll be out and about painting the town.

it's friday - eat more pie

spring lunch

steel bridge
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

i was restless yesterday at work, so ventured out for tacos and then a walk. i've become a bit bored of downtown walks of late. everything keeps needing to have a purpose and mostly the purpose is to shop. got to nw to buy ... walk to pearl to buy ... you understand? so, yesterday i went where there are no stores - the waterfront. i wanted to head north of the steel bridge past the broadway. what a beautiful walk. there are condos between the two bridges on the west side of the river and they have a nice, clean, close to the water walkway that is open to the public. another great feature - deserted. once you get north of the steel bridge, there are no bikes, no joggers, no colorful characters. it was just me.
it was such a beautiful day that i found myself getting a little sweaty under the strap of my shoulder bag. i'm gonna need to figure that one out so i don't return to work after lunch everyday with giant sweat stains on my clothes.
i decided not to walk home as i wanted to get some planting done. i'm not sure if that was a good or bad decision - you help decide. while on the MAX, already almost home, i realized i had forgot my keys. i got off, headed back downtown, got the keys and got home. 1hr 20m commute that normally would take 15 minutes. if i had been walking and discovered it at that point, the trip would have been significantly longer i think. then again, walking may have made me remember to get my keys off my desk before i left.
in the end, a good day. i'm still getting up early. it's currently 5:50am, no sunlight just yet. i'm hoping to get outside this morning....hoping. i'm still trying to figure out how my body is reacting to this early morning. i feel i'm crashing a little around lunchtime and after lunch and it's not because of the giant pasta dish i had. further, when at home, around 8pm, i'm ready for bed eventhough i don't want to go to bed. last night for example, i felt like going to bed at 9pm, but didn't and was fine staying up until 11:30. we'll see how today works out.
more photos of yesterday's walk:

it's 6:35am and there's light

with the time change, yesterday was dark until shower time, so i spent the morning hours doing dishes and surfing the web. got some blogging done too. today though, it seems there is some light appearing @ 6:35am. hmmm. do i venture outside to do some weeding and planting or wait? i only have a few minutes and i'm obviously using that time to blog and procrastinate. oh well.

did a great walk with the doggies yesterday to new seasons. while i don't enjoy walking down interstate, with the dogs in tow, it was enjoyable. also, A. was there which is always a joy. there was a funny moment when a big truck went by and created flashing shadows on the sidewalk. Phoebe freaked out at the moving light.

see, now it's 6:40. i think i'll chill and tackle the garden later tonight.

currently listening to the following bands, both here and @ work:

The Editors
Cloud Cult
Eagles of Death Metal
Belle and Sebastian (i'm surprised too)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Russian Futurists
Silver Jews
and a few more i can't think of.

Eastside!

Eastside!
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

throwin' down baby!

this is what happens when brett is made to go into work on a sunday evening.

EASTSIDE!

good sex i guess

stencil art in N.
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

how was your weekend?

mine was nice. i did the getting up early as much as i could. sunday was hard as i was also dealing with grand theft hour. i just need to remind myself it only takes a little effort to get outa bed. once out, it's easy as pie.
did some gardening...well, mostly weed pulling. we have this weed that sometimes just takes over and when A and i went out on saturday, it was overwhelming to see how much of it we have. when on sunday i was pulling it, i realized that was it. underneath, there wasn't much to pull. yay! the barkdust i put down last summer has kept some of the weeds down. i have some bulbs to plant and some plants we got from the nursery on saturday, but boy is it still pretty dark now @ 6:19am.
oh and i cleaned the kitchen.

boy, i'm not boring am i?

so, yesterday, we ventured out for a walk to get some lunch. note to self - when ordering fish and chips, remember that chips are fries and don't order an appetizer of cajun fried. i was potatoed out the remainder of the day. luckily we walked, so after getting back home, i felt a little better. still, i was full 8 hrs later when i went to bed. our walk took us through our neighborhood and over to NE. along the way, we saw our favorite Euphorbia plants. i love this stuff.

we also came accross a pretty significant motorcycle bash. here in NE, the Gypsy Joker's Motorcycle gang call MLK home. they have a colorful history up off NE Fremont and MLK. we were walking down a side street and came upon their anniversary party. congrats people for making it 50 years as a cohesive bunch. is gang the right word? hmm.
on the way home, we eyed the stencil art - too good to be true.

another week peoples. more photos from the walks:

because i love crazy dogs