Community Involvement and Etc.

For you bicylists and feminists. April 24th is Bike Back the Night. The goals of this event are something like:

→ To create a highly visible public demonstration of Portland’s commitment to ending sexual violence.
→ To distribute information about the sexual assault services available in the community.
→ To unite the vibrant, progressive bicycling community in Portland with the grassroots effort to end interpersonal violence.

The ride starts Thursday, April 24th at 5:00pm at Colonel Summer's Park, 20th and SE Belmont St.Portland, OR 97214. The ride will start shortly there after and end at PSU. I will be tabling for PWCL and ziping around on two wheels. Hope to see you there.


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Speaking of Freebird

This should help you out in learning the song Josh. I know personally that my pinkies do not do that.

King's Cup narrowly averted

That was fun!

Tonight?

If I didn't tell you I'll feel real bad, but we're having a party tomorrow with a Prom theme. You're definitely invited Dan. We're really going to try and do it right. Decorations, slow dance songs, the works.

Tonight...I've been asking people what we're doing tonight and getting little response. Ideas I have are:

-Play Trivial Pursuit somewhere
-Play any other game somewhere (Uno, Jenga, Operation, drinking games like caps quaters and beer pong, Power Grid, Boggle, Scattergories, any of those played like a tournament)
-Go to Ground Kontrol
-We could all grill at my house and make some good food
-Power hour early on, like 9 or so
-Do crafts: paint, sew, all of us could combine and make a big painting on a canvas like at Gillian's house
-

Bowling is always an option, but Friday bowling sucks because its so expensive. We should do that on a weekday.

I always throw the options out there, I just need some input. The one thing I believe our group is not into tonight is just going and sitting at a bar, or even a few bars. A bike pub crawl is cool, but we'd rather hang out at someone's house. We're all a little tight on money. Houses are more fun anyway.

Awesomeness

Dan... I'm with you!! I'm sure Josh is with you... We're pretty plan free for tonight, we should do something.... any suggestions? You should e-mail Josh... he'll figure shit out.

I think a bike pub crawl sounds great when it warms up. We should plan it in advance... where we are biking and approximately when we're going. That way no one can back out.

Group hug?

Where did all the awesomeness go? You are all awesome in your own ways, even the people I don't know and will never meet. I'm guessing. I believe in my heart, anyway. Because there is that spark of awesomeness in all of us (yes, even Richard Simmons). I call it the Awesome Particle. But that's Physics stuff, so I defer to Josh on the details of how it works and stuff. Anyway, the point is, collectively, I feel that giant sucking sound of awesomeness leaving the building, leaving only the cold emptiness of a giant, awesomeless, awesome-free vacuum in its wake. And I think it's high time to rage, rage against the dying of the awesome! Who's with me?!

Bike pub crawl (obviously not until the weather clears up)! Or something.

Mr. Music Strikes Again!

I for one LOVE live music. That may be obvious. But, here is a real treat. There was a movie made a few years back, called The Devil and Daniel Johnston, about this freakishly-talented, but, well, freakish, guy named, oddly enough, Daniel Johnston. He is certifiable (literally), but here is the trailer:



and he is playing Friday April 18th, at the Wonder. I will most likely go. You are invited.

Another one for the ladies

Enjoy!

Future PRESIDENT Hottie?

Ladies? Do I need to say more?

OK, maybe there is hope

This seems to me to be telegraphing that Richardson is officially in the ring as the VP nominee for Obama. That would be a killer ticket.

Gloria, here are the steps to do the link.

First, paste in the link, or any text:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/21/obama.richardson/index.htm

then, highlight the whole thing, and click on the 'linky-looking' button up top, and enter the actual URL for the website (I just copy the URL once from my browser, then paste it in here and paste it into the dialog box too, since I'm lazy). I just always use the link for both, but you can be fancy and just make random text a link too.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/21/obama.richardson/index.htm

Fuck

I suck at links... anyways its at
springbeerfest.com
Sorry!!

Spring Beer & Wine Festival

I just found out about this today...

Hopefully that worked.. it was my first ever link!! Anyways I think we were planning on going on Sat at about noon or so, it might be cool to check out.

Also sometime this weekend the horse brass is having a cask extravaganza... I'll find out the details later.

Plunderathon

In a few short months Plunderathon will be upon us. This year I'd like to get some sweet, sweet planning going in advance. The brain juices have been flowing (ah, Fridays at work) and I think my best idea so far is: a fleet. That's right. A fleet of ships. Now I'm not talking crappy shopping cart ships. No, I think the Ikea furniture carts will make the best ship base. They will be easy to stand on, push (hell yes for 360 degree wheel rotation front and back) and lock up at friendly bicycle racks. If 2-4 peoples will take responsibility for creating each ship creating a tiny fleet should be too difficult. Who's with me?!?!

Other awesome Plunderathon ideas?

I can't remember if I bored everyone to tears with this or not

I'm a libertarian liberal. Which basically means government should stay the hell out of your life, but it should support the needy (yes, through taxes, though not taxes that pay for corporate giveaways like pharmaceutical drug benefit giveaways nor wars that benefit Halliburton, so the taxes shouldn't be insanely high), and keep an eye on corporate power and abuse. So, basically work for you, instead of regulate you. And regulate corporations instead of working for them.

Bike pub crawl a week from tomorrow!

OK, now you've done it

Well I agree with your point about the liberals. Although there is one thing worse than a sanctimonious, preachy liberal, which is a sanctimonious, preachy, intellectual liberal.

Having said that, and at the risk of making a gross generalization, I find conservatives to be even more dull than liberals to talk to, since they are essentially the same as those folks wandering around campus thumping on bibles. In both cases, if you try to reason with them, use statistics, bring in other viewpoints, etc. they just immediately revert to parroting what they've been programmed to say. Now this is going to sound holier-than-thou, but I have literally never known a conservative that wasn't a) ignorant (typically regarding world politics), b) selfish (typically regarding taxation, etc.), and c) close-minded (typically regarding the notion that they could possibly not be entirely correct).

That I find boring, but I would like to talk to the exception to that rule.

But I agree, I'm not that interested in sitting around 'being the choir', and actually in some ways I am more of a federalist than a liberal anyway, so will likely get attacked to boot.

P.S. It took me a long time to figure out why the Dead Kennedys always rant about liberals (e.g. Holiday in Cambodia).

Garfield minus Garfield

Having never been a very big fan of Garfield, I scoffed a little bit when somebody sent me this link (http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/page/1) . However, after reading the first couple pages, this is pretty damn funny.

Fantastic Daily Show Report

Man, this pretty much blew away my assessment that it was funnier without the writers.

If this country devolves like it did with Vietnam into hating soldiers, that will definitely piss me off more than national politics. If someone wants to be a Marine, go right ahead.

I'll Go But...

I really dislike talking politics with liberals and more specifically ones I don't know. I feel like I don't learn anything. Its not that I dislike liberals, I just love to see what it is that makes people vote Republican. I am very positive that there are plenty of very smart Republicans that have great arguments why they would believe in John McCain. I just don't like it when people argue over the exact same viewpoints. Even worse, hearing people just agree on stuff and yell louder. Going to college in Boulder and hearing people slam on Bush all day long was dull, and even though the College Republicans were HUGE assholes, they were pretty interesting.

I'm super interested in Obama vs. Clinton (elections are pretty much a national sport these days), mainly because that's probably the only thing I'll see in the next four years that will really make a decent difference in the country.

I think National Politics has become like the job that all your co-workers hate. If EVERYONE is talking shit about it and hates it, you kind of hate it too. I feel like I haven't heard many positive things in the last 5 years, and there have been both a Democratic and Republican majority in Congress during that time. Other than the increase in minimum wage, national politics are dull. Plus whenever I hear about filibusters, that makes me want to never want to acknowledge Washington DC again.

Now...city politics, I enjoy that stuff. I love how for some reason, city politics never seem to have strong party affiliations. State congressmen, yes, but mayors and city council members always seem to be just simple people who want to run. That is awesome. Nothing is ever disagreed upon for party lines. Maybe Tom Potter is an ass about Cesar Chavez road, but at least we can blame him as the asshole, and not just his party Whip telling him how to vote. Party politics make me feel completely powerless.

Man, sorry for that rant. I'll go with you guys to it, but you may see me quickly go play some pool or darts or something. The only hope I have for politics right now is that Obama wins.


FINALLY, Dan, yes to bike pub crawl. My friend Matt will be here on Monday and he's bringing his bike. I figure that's a good way to show him around. So maybe we can tentatively plan on either next Friday or the weekend after.

Sold Out

I think the show's sold out. I googled it, people were selling and looking on craigslist, so I figured it was sold out. Went to TicketsWest, selected 1 ticket, it was available. Selected one more, it wasn't. Bought one ticket.

Last chance for fun

At least this fun. EVERYBODY I've talked to about Gogol Bordello says they are totally awesome and fun live. They are playing tomorrow night (Wednesday) at the Roseland. Here is one description:

Gogol Bordello is a spectacle. The wildly exuberant, multi-ethnic group from New York City makes frenetic music that's part punk rock, part Gypsy folk, part Cabaret. Led by Eugene Hütz, a Chernobyl survivor from Ukraine, the band is famous for its costumed live shows that often stretch for more than two explosive hours.

And here is a video:

OK, since we've fallen into politics mode .....

All I have to say about it is if this country is still ruled by one of the two families that have ruled it for the last 28 years for the next four years, I will stab my eyes out, and rupture my eardrums so I don't have to see it or hear it.

Hillary is no more a democrat than Bill was. And they both are to the right of Nixon and far more beholden to corporate america.

There, now I've done it.

Courage and

I'll tell you what would take true courage at this point: go to drinking liberally and be a vociferous Hillary supporter. Who wants to go and play devil's advocate? I would definitely go to that. I actually looked into that group a while back but got the impression no one was actually attending.

Bobby, good catch on the cartoon. And I agree with David, xkcd is awesome.

Various

The only plan I know of to go out of town was this weekend, when I was planning on going up to Seattle. Next weekend my sister was supposedly coming down from Seattle, but I am pretty sure that is not happening now.

I am not a fan of sports that utilize round balls.

Definitely down for egg shots.

Political drinking sounds good, I've put it on the calendar so we remember (at least Bobby and me).

xkcd is awesome

Misc.

Brian would probably be up for a March Madness pool, he is kinda apeshit about basketball. Jack too.

Hell yes to Easter.

Tangentially related to Obama: I think I'm gonna go to the next one of these, which is on the twentieth. I'm one of those mutants who actually likes talking about politics, and it does go well with beer. Anyone interested? David?

And Dan: that comic you posted is actually from xkcd, one of my very favorite webcomics (and probably the geekiest one there is).

March Madness pools?

Heck yeah!

P.S. Bike pub crawl anyone?

Easter

The reason I'm asking about Easter weekend is of course---- I've got our annual Jello Shot Easter Egg Hunt in the works- I am tentativley holding it on Easter Sunday as a brunch/bloody mary kind of deal.
Just throwing it out there, still haven't checked with the fam to see if I have some other obligation.

I'm Going To Go Out On A Limb Here

But I'm assuming that people here aren't too exicted to jump in on some March Madness polls, or am I hopefully wrong? If you are interested, I'll even set it up. I won't do some lame one where the winner wins everything, probably more of a tiered pool. I can already tell I'm getting ahead of myself, but the offer is on the table.

Seattle was the Rumor

I believe that rumor is off for me. It was going back and forth a few weeks ago, but I'm eager to get some eggs and do some Easter shit that weekend.

Rumor Control

I heard a rumor that some of y'alls is going out of town NEXT weekend (March 22-23) is this true?

Smashing and Obama

Wait just one more week and I'll be playing SSBB along with the world. I'll be having tournaments and what not at my house for it, just give me one more week.

Ross, I'm so happy you said that the HD version looks good because I've been kind of confused why it actually did look good on my TV in widescreen even though the Wii doesn't actually output into widescreen. I thought everything was being stretched and I just didn't notice. After reading, I realized that everything is A-OK. I'm happy for the day that all AV stuff is just 3 HDMI cables in the back. Almost there.


About Obama, I've heard a few delegates say that they will switch if the other candidate wins the popular delegate vote. I think Obama will get it. While the super delegate idea seems dumb, I think that they know that and don't want to piss people off. Especially since they're kind of known as the people's party and all.

Laugh... and politics

Sorry David, I completely missed everything, even the $1 pints. How was "Guys With Feelings?"

Turns out, the Oregon primary might actually matter. That assumes, of course, that delegates still matter by May 20, that Team Clinton hasn't brainwashed everyone into thinking vague notions of "electability" trump delegates in the nomination. God she is a craven politician. Anyhoo, here's the link.

Based upon Obama's leaked delegate chart, it appears that Obama will likely lock up the pledged delegate lead on May 20, 2008. Obama is 242 delegates short of the 1627 pleadged delegates needed to be the winner. Obama projected that he would win 20 delegates in Mississippi, 75 in Penn., 1 in Guam, 60 in North Carolina, 39 in Indiana, 13 in WV, 23 in Kentucky. The 23 from Kentucky would give him 251--9 over what he needs. But Oregon also votes on the 20th, and Obama projects that he will gain 28 out of that contest. So, Oregon will put him over the top even if Obama does a little less well before May 20th.

And finally (originally from here.)

Brawlllll

Hey people, this is Ross. While it seems some people are waiting, I would just like to point out that the game is out! Ive played it, its tons of fun, some of the stages are ridiculous. If you have an HD, more power to you the game looks sooooo good in HD. Anyways hopefully we can all play sometime, Wario man power!

Comedy Tonight

This is mostly aimed at Dan since he mentioned an interest in attending. Tonight is 'wristband only' at the Mt. Tabor main stage, which is where I intend to be all night. So of course you can attend the other areas and there is lots of good stuff - but I won't be there.

There are at least 4 reasons for my intransigence on leaving this venue:

a) it is the most comfortable,
b) it has $1 PINTS of Busch,
c) i got totally soaking fucking wet last night wandering the streets and don't want to do that again, and finally
d) the first two chunks has these comedians who I want to see:

Guys with Feelings
Patton Oswalt
Rylee Newton (even though she picked on me last time...)
Richard Bain

Plus at Mt. Tabor you get the Lounge going too, which I wanted to check out without having to move anywhere. Plus my Chucks look really awesome in black light.

Anyway, that's my excuse.

LOST: The Other Woman

This is a spoiler-free zone.

I thought this episode was unpleasantly predictable. But it redeemed itself to me in two ways: Firstly, and most importantly, it made Ben super-scary in a whole new way. And secondly, it all but confirmed two of my personal pet theories about the show. Ask me about them sometime.

Comedy

I caught some sort of bug, and was feeling pretty lousy last night (fever, feeling lethargic), but have been feeling somewhat better today, so...I'm still thinking about going tonight. Not sure. I definitely plan on going Saturday night. David?

Comedy Show: Who All is Coming?

Dan, should we expect to see you somewhere? I have absolutely no clue about which people to see so I'll just be following people around. If anyone has a plan, I'll tag along.

IMing for comedy

You know how when you start a new job there's always a new kind of culture to get used to? And you know how when you start a new job, the company always gets bought out the second week of work?

Yeah. I mentioned the Bridgetown Comedy Festival to a coworker via IM (she keeps IMing me - I guess that's the culture), and suddenly she invited 5 coworkers to the chat and tells them to come to it. And also calls them hookers. Yeah. So, we'll see, I did my part.

As for the second part, I can't talk. But I think I can probably link. http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/3/comcast_buying_golfnow_com

You thought it was a busy week before

Now how can we pass this up? A Mr. T inspired art show (put on by a 10-year-old no less):

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2008/02/i_heart_mr_t_art_show_in_portl.html

For the first time ever, twenty of Portland's finest artists will come together to present "I (Heart) Mr. T" - a show of art based on America's favorite Mohawked Messiah. Levi Pitters, a ten year-old artist and Mr. T enthusiast, came up with the idea and recruited some of his talented friends to create artwork dedicated to his idol. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of art in this show will be donated to a scholarship fund to help send 5th graders in Levi's school to Opal Creek - a three day outdoor education program held in June. Mr. T would approve!

Turns out, women really are inferior

We Scream, We Swoon. How Dumb Can We Get?

I keep re-reading this to find the part that confirms it's irony, but I'm not finding it. It's also not posted on the Onion. The last paragraph:

So I don't understand why more women don't relax, enjoy the innate abilities most of us possess (as well as the ones fewer of us possess) and revel in the things most important to life at which nearly all of us excel: tenderness toward children and men and the weak and the ability to make a house a home. (Even I, who inherited my interior-decorating skills from my Bronx Irish paternal grandmother, whose idea of upgrading the living-room sofa was to throw a blanket over it, can make a house a home.) Then we could shriek and swoon and gossip and read chick lit to our hearts' content and not mind the fact that way down deep, we are . . . kind of dim.

Time to write my letter. :)

That Sounds Great

I really don't know who any people are at all, so I'll just come along to wherever people suggest. Wow, March is really looking like an exciting month. Two visitors, two concerts, board game and comedy festival, damn. I think I'll just buy everything tomorrow and just know that all of my future weekends are paid for.

Bridgetown Comedy Festival

This is pretty cheap entertainment folks. Friend Andy is putting on a 3-day comedy shindig this coming weekend, and all three days can be had for $20. On top of that the final night's show is only for those who buy the 3-day $20 pass.

I am probably going to go at least some of the time, so maybe we can get a gang together, eh?

In Andy's words:

Just a quick reminder the first annual Bridgetown Comedy Festival is less than a week away! Your festival wristband, on sale for the low, low price of $20, gets you access to all venues, all three nights, and lets you see ridiculously funny comics like Patton Oswalt, Morgan Murphy, Eddie Pepitone, Chris Fairbanks, James Adomian, Howard Kremer and dozens more! Check out the schedule and start planning your weekend now.*

I also wanted to let you know that in the interest of fairness to all the festival-goers, and because of the demand to see Patton Oswalt, the Mt. Tabor main stage shows on Saturday will be wristband-only. That's still quite a steal, as the 8:00 show features a live taping of the hit podcast Guys With Feelings featuring guests Patton Oswalt, Eddie Pepitone and Howard Kremer, and the 10:00 show features standup from Patton, along with Jonah Ray, Chris Fairbanks, Rylee Newton and Portland own Richard Bain! And that's not to mention the midnight show that closes out the festival, which includes Eddie Pepitone, Moshe Kasher and many more!