The idiot wind, blowing through the letters that we wrote

Warning: The title of this post is way too cool for the content.
We all agree Craigslist is really cool, right? (except for that casual encounters area, that is creepy).
Here's what I've got so far when I put out the call for calligraphy for the wedding invites.
*Names hidden to protect the dumb.

First off, it's June lady. Second, why would I pay you $3 for something that should take you about 10 seconds and I could do it better.

Same comments as above, but at least the price is moving in the right direction.

This was actually the best sample I got, but interesting word choice for a wedding invitation sample, don't you think? The other one says "Suicide Victim." 

I can't.

In other, unrelated news, we were not able to attend the Ms. Whiteaker pageant which I was so excited about because it was sold out.

Apparently, there were pretty serious restrictions on capacity... The fire marshal was mentioned. I think my man felt bad because earlier in the evening we went to the Crapple to buy some beer and, let me tell you, the 'hood was out representing in full effect. I saw two young guys in a banana and a bugs bunny costume, respectively, which both looked vintage (and NOT gently worn). I said "Hey banana, are you going to the pageant tonight?" He got very defensive and eventually replied that he "might be." They were buying juice. I think there were hallucinogens involved. Anyway, when I got back to the car I mentioned the (slight) increase in characters and said maybe we should go pick up our tickets before we go to the rum tasting, power tools and lash party (oh yeah, that was what we were doing first). But we didn't and we got denied. It was very un-Whiteaker-like I must say. I thought we were all about punk rock over here! Who listens to the fire marshal anyway! So we licked our wounds at Tiny's where we caught the tail end of happy hour with $1.50 PBRs. It wasn't so bad.

~Tiny's - my new Silver Dollar of Eugene. The cash only part kind of sucks, but check out the record player~

Oh, Man is a Giddy Thing

Because my class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Thursday tends to feel a lot like Friday. And, friends, this weekend started off with a bang. The summer is finally here in Oregon and me and my dog and my Paddy hung out in the yard. It feels fantastic (and weird) to not have a million things hanging over my head. 

My man gets off work around 8:30pm so normally we eat dinner pretty late which is fine. I have recently heard that all that talk about not eating after 8pm is lies and I am happy to believe it. Anyway, my man and I are vegan, which I haven’t written about on here before and this complicates matters as well. This basically means we don’t eat anything that contains animal products, so this includes:

Here’s the good thing. I can still drink this:

I’m just writing this in the spirit of full disclosure, don’t worry I won’t turn this blog into a platform…. BUT if you happen to be curious, here are some other people who are more vocal about this lifestyle.

Jonathan Safran Foer 

Food Inc. 

Some skinny bitches...

I happen to try to keep pretty quiet about it (IMHO, others might say the lady doth protest too much). I do like having friends and part of that means not talking about being vegan unless asked. And then only a little. I have a problem with people who are extreme (religion, health, laziness, whatever). Does this make me Kelly "Contradiction" Bensimon? I sure hope not. 

I hate Bethenny, but “Gummy Bears don’t come from the vine” is classic.

Anyway, all this set up is to tell you how we almost forgot our radio show. When my man got home, we decided to walk downtown to have dinner at a place that 1) makes great salads, serves Ninkasi and vegan pizza and 2) will allow my sidekick to dine with us outside. We live about a mile from the place and it seemed like such a good idea at the time. Until Floyd went crazy for a little Australian Shepherd (who would never probably never even give him the time of day) and dumped my entire beer into my salad. Then we realized that we had 20 minutes til the show starts. So basically we had to run home soaked with beer, with a huge and full pizza box and a crazy dog. But, we made it and it was a fun show. We are really happy to officially be in the ‘ok to play’ hours and not have to worry about one or two harmless little Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilos. (On a related note, my man never watched the Bloodhound Gang/ 3 2 1 Contact – what?!)

Also, my man sold a painting yesterday. I’ll miss it… you Missoulians may recognize it as my favorite building in Missoula, the Wilma.

Here's what you have all been waiting for - 

So the real Friday rolls around and we have a wedding to attend. It was for a guy in my man’s band, the illustrious Funk n Balls. After the ceremony, we headed to John Henry’s for a post reception performance.

Yeah, it was still daylight, so what?

Do you think that the reentry stamp is in bad taste? Or badass, punk rock?

Knowing this was the plan, I was startled to receive an invite on Facebook to the Church of Skatin’s annual fundraiser pudding wrestling the same night, time and place as this wedding reception. It all worked out. 

SPOILER ALERT: Knome Mercy was the eventual winnerWe were so close we could smell the pudding.

Am I cut out to be a derby girl?

Tonight is Ms. Whiteaker. 

Oh, man is a giddy thing. 

Yo Teach!

Why do I love my man? Because when I was worried about my first day of teaching in over a year, he reassured me:

"I know you're smart - I've seen you rap!"
Just so you guys know those blue lines are links.... it makes the blog a lot funnier, trust me. That's right you have to click the link to see Jason "Rushmore" Schwartzman inspire kids with his hipness. I hope I can inspire the kids as much as Yo Teach! Did anyone see Funny People? That movie was hilarious! I wonder how Yo Teach! would have dealt with Max Fisher... So this reminds me of something that tends to happen in my classroom... um, I get sidetracked.

"Best play ever, man."

But friends, I really do like teaching. I haven't been at the head of the class since last spring and it felt good to be back. What is better than having a captive audience for 2.5 hours while you ramble on about stuff that you think is super interesting? Not much that I have found so far.  I'll be teaching for two months so I'll be sure to report the quote of the week or some other foolishness of that sort. 

This week was busy because momma bird was here and we had the normal frenzy of activity. Lots of shopping, movie watching, yardwork and PROJECTS. I saw Hot Tub Time Machine and Toy Story 3 in the same 48 hours. We saw the sights in the big city. 

Ok, ok, Portland, now I believe you - you are the rose city. 

The cool thing about my neighborhood is if you put something you don't need anymore, such as old pots and pans, two semi-functional vacuums, piles of high-school era clothing, etc., outside in the yard someone who needs it takes it in a matter of minutes. Guys, there was a bra out there. Someone took it. Let's hope it was for a costume for this:

Wedding Friday night (not ours). Ms. Whiteaker pageant Saturday. I think it's too late for me to enter the competition but I can't wait to see the evening wear and the 3 minute talent portions. It's gonna be even better than Rollerderby.

This Dog's Life (6/12/10) - The Ocean

Dear Readers, 

Today I pooped in the ocean and that guy who follows me around had to pick it up. It was hilarious.

Life is good.

Love, Floyd

"I can't read and don't care and education is awful"

I don't really like cornbread and I'm pretty sure I've never had butterbeans, but this song sure is sweet.

Carolina Chocolate Drops

A lot has happened since the last blog.

I discovered slugs in my garden. Their days are numbered.

Did a couple radio shows.

I turned 31.

I presented for twenty-five (count 'em, two-five) minutes about my structural equation model.
Thusly completing my first year as a doctoral student. The same presentation that caused me to have a mental breakdown in my PhD advisor's office on my birthday.

But the most important, raddest thing that happened is that momma bird sent me this gift:

My iPad makes me feel really cool. Until my dad told me it's for "seniors." I don't care. i LOVE it.

To celebrate my first day off I decided to procrastinate.

Because even though I am done being a student for a couple months, in 12 days I go back to being a teacher. I should be writing my syllabus and composing assignments and reading the textbook. 

See my textbook there, right under the People Magazine?

Or I could be taking care of the furious ant problem that has been brewing here in our home sweet home. But you know what? My man really likes handling that type of stuff. (Please, friends, do not ever do a google image search for "ant infestation." I don't know what I was thinking)

I could have taken Floyd to the dog park. This dog thinks I am seriously boh-ring. 

I tell him only boring dogs get bored. 

Or just cleaning in general, since my mom will be getting here in 2 days (!!!). Confirming wedding stuff... But, damn, it felt good to do nothing. 

And by nothing I mean napping

mixed with feeding my Bravo addiction.

Did you hear Bethenny has her own show? It's all queued up

Tomorrow we are celebrating my birthday with a trip to the Oregon Coast (as I was somewhat otherwise occupied on the real day having mental breakdowns in professors' offices, see above). I hope it is warmer than the last time we went.

At least we had the place to ourselves

Do you think Floyd will like the water? Stay tuned...

He looks nervous, right?

I Don’t Wanna Grow Up

"I don't wanna have to shout it out

I don't want my hair to fall out

I don't wanna be filled with doubt

I don't wanna be a good boy scout

I don't wanna have to learn to count

I don't wanna have the biggest amount

I don't wanna grow up"

(This post is about Sasquatch, and no, Tom Waits was not there. But this post is also about my impending birthday tomorrow. If you think that these two events are unrelated… well, read on. If you want to hear more about that, tune in to our show tomorrow @ 8-10am PCT)

So, my man and I are back from a weekend-long music bender and we *almost* overdosed. This story may require more words than usual so grab a cup of coffee...

The short story is SASQUATCH! (I better get that branding right, because I dig marketing) rocked.

SASQUATCH! exceeded expectations.

It made my ears ring.

It charged $11 for PBRs.

It made my car battery die.

*For those of you (mom) who were really worried about the Pfinder making it, that was our biggest car problem. And for all of you little jerks on Tuesday morning who said their jumpers were too buried to help me, karma’s a bitch.

It gave me three days without rain 

(take that Eugenis!)

It made me feel old and young at the same time.

See, I told you this was birthday related...

It celebrated birthdays. 

What a great excuse to see my best friend.

It made me wonder why the human animal 

is so woefully inefficient.

Anyway, we saw WEEN, Local Natives, New Pornographers, Dirty Projectors, Vetiver, The Heavy, Kid Cudi, Band of Horses, Public Enemy, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, The Tallest Man on Earth, The National, Yacht, Vampire Weekend, Phantogram, She & Him, Mumford and Sons, Bobcat Goldthwait, Dr. Dog, Yes Giantess, The Seattle Rock Orchestra…Snipets of The xx, Miike Snow, They Might Be Giants, My Morning Jacket…

Ween: I had a great time at their party. As we all know, Ween is my favorite band and sassy (abbrev.) marks the 6^th time I have had the honor and the privilege to see my boys in person. It was eerily similar to the setlist from Red Rocks last September, but hey, no complaints from me. We were so close I could smell the demon sweat. 

Local Natives: A new favorite, these boys were great. My suspicion that there are two singers was confirmed. They all changed instruments several times and we all sang happy birthday to Billy Crudup-lookalike’s girlfriend. We saw the lovebirds walking around enjoying the music later.

New Pornographers: omg. I met Neko Case. The harmonies were amazing.

Edward Sharpe: I couldn’t wait to see my favorite couple Jade & Alexander. It seemed like it was over in a flash.

Vampire Weekend: Biggest surprise, they were incredible. I think listening to VW is like drinking a milkshake and eating a hamburger. Back when I used to eat those things.

Bobcat pooped a little!

YACHT: It was a real treat. Multimedia presentation, they had powerpoints. I must say they reminded me of Talking Heads and that is a big compliment.

Band of Horses: Loved it. One of my favorite bands. In the words of the guy standing next to me “These guys look harder than I thought they would.” These men look tough, ladies and gentleman. And they brought the rock.

The National: I just don’t think that they are a ‘festival’ type band. It just didn’t translate for me. But, I would cut a fool for a chance to see them at the Wilma or the McDonald or something like that.

She & Him: All I will say, is rename this band She. Please. If you are going to have M. Ward on the stage, let the man sing. Please. Zooey was cute. Freckly, weird.

Kid Cudi: What a blast. And that man is fine. I wish I had a picture, but it was sunset and he had these gold sunglasses on that were projected on the jumbotron with the crowd reflected in them… cool image. It was weird to see two little ants on that huge stage making all that sound. He was the little guy making all that big noise.

There were other things of interest besides the bands….Sasquatch sightings: