great day

what a great day

(warning this is a ramble session)

Oh my, what a magnificent day today is. AND I have a wee bit more energy. Yesterday was gray and rain but today is blue and glorious sunshine! I don't particularly ever complain about Portland, I love it, but when it's like this I can't get enough. I love this place. I love our house. I love our yard. I love our neighbors (most of them).

Yesterday, despite the rain, we fixed up a veggie box that was given to us and filled it with dirt/compost. It's just chilling in the shit strip...sorry, for those of you who don't believe yet how trained Porter is, he craps in the strip between ours and the neighbors driveway - whatta good boy. And to get that nasty image out of your head, don't worry, we clean it very regularly so if you saw it you wouldn't think "shit strip!" So anyway, since I have more time now and will not be selling my soul to overtime this summer, I think veggie gardening and me will get along well. Later, despite being tired, (I think "tired" will be the thing I say most over the next few months) I made it out to my childhood friend, Kelly's, birthday party. By childhood friend I mean we took baths together as toddlers. Our dads went to HS together and our moms went to HS together. His parents introduced mine. When I heard the party was at the Ambassador on 47th and Sandy I almost bailed... BUT then I heard they have karaoke and well, I knew I had to get my vocal chords out of the house. I had A LOT more fun then I anticipated. Half way through I realized this might be my only big night out for the next few months and decided to just bear the fatigue. I sang twice and had the deep tired voice this morning to prove it.

Kelly and me: Top to bottom, 1983, 1981 and 2007 at my wedding

Today we hit Portland Nursery and got some veggie starts. If you are dying to know what is in my box I will tell you. Bell peppers, italian sweet bell peppers, jalepenos, spanish sweet onions, red onions, broccoli, butter lettuce, romaine, thyme, chives, italian oregano, and cilantro. YUM, I am so excited. I get a lot already from farmers market, but this will save me a few dimes. So I got that all planted. On the agenda today was also FINALLY fixing my bike. Some of you know, but for those that don't, my bike is a piece of crap- a pure lemon. Its a cute lil' number though - white with black components. It's a Specialized road-mountain hybrid. Which means road tires and frame with mountain handlebars-love it...when it works. We bought in June (wedding gifts) and by September it had already been back to the shop 5 times for adjustment of the derailers and gears. Every mechanic at River City had a different story. The last guy seemed cool, he told me about how my chain rings are not right blah blah blah. So in Sept. we take a lovely bike ride to marine drive and back. Oh wait, I didnt make it back! Half way home the bracket on the bottom holding my cables snapped and got tangled in my chain. Jeff had to go home, grab the car and I had to walk to Gateway to meet him. It has been in the basement ever since, piece of crap. Jeff keeps saying in his nerdy biker voice "but you have to upgrade your components, you can't expect it just to work." Me and my stubborn self are like screw that! It was a lot of money...ok so half of what his was but a lot...as much as my wedding ring! Oh wait, that was second hand so that doesnt say much... (i told you i ramble on this post). Back to today... we finally take it in right at opening so we got a mechanic right away. He starts with the bracket thingy (no really its a thingy, I dont think it has a name) and has to search awhile for one. He asked if a better one will do... of course it will do. Then he goes on to say that in his 20 years of working with bikes he has NEVER seen one of these break. I was irked that Jeff had gone off to oogle the mountain bikes and didn't hear this... TOLD YOU SO, I have a lemon! So, then I start talking to the guy about how this is my 6th or 7th time in and and I'm having a lot of issues with gears. This man said the most brilliant things I ever heard after looking at it for a bit. Basically in a nutshell my front derailer and chain rings dont go together but..here is the kicker... there is nothing that can be done about it because of my style of bike. There is one option that replaces a bunch of stuff but will cost a lot of money. However, if he replaces the cables he says it will help and he will do his best to tune it. I go with this option, but am really tired already so I go sit in car. Pretty soon I see him zipping around parking lot, nobody has test driven before! Then Jeff pops out and says he replaced chain too all free of charge... i know this was nice of the guy, but c'mon i have a lemon... its been proven now. Actually this guy is a god and I go back in to get his name (Bill) and thank him...he is the only guy who knew exactly what was wrong. I am going to call Mark (co-owner) and make sure he knows Bill is a god.

I know that was long, but this has been a frustration of mine for a year and now, fingers crossed. I hope its better for awhile. I am going to go on a bike ride now. I am very tired but I have got to get some exercise... the drugs I'm on are making me eat my house and it shows!