You are not logged in [login] | [register]

you are here: home » blogs (personal) » thoughts & commenary

SEARCH FOR A FEED

Google
Web RSSMad.com

Searching 181001 articles in 8938 feeds.

RSS CATEGORIES

TELL A FRIEND

Do you like RSS MAD? Why not spread the news and tell a friend about it - it's as easy as filling out this form!

feed details

register and add this to My Feeds

I love salvage.

added: Sun, 16th October 2005 | 250 views | 0x in favourites
feed url: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TabulaRasa

delicious and brusque [Viewed: 60]

Latest feed entries:

Far too old

To be sitting in my room after fighting with my mother. She's such an intolerable, hateful, intolerant person.

I hate this.

You can stand under my umbrella

It's finally raining here in Portland. It's light rain, but the skies are gray. I'm happy not to battle with wind everywhere I go though.

I have a larger update planned, just general life stuff, but I'm at work.

I love you like a tomato is a very good book. Well written and an interesting story. Atonement is not a good book. It should have been a short story and it has a frustrating non-commital ending. Strangers (Dean Koontz) is a fast read, but I dread the end. Bless him, Koontz has no idea how to finish.

It is not a great idea to use a Max stop where police hand out safety tip cards to people wearing gang colors. Even in the interest of saving gas.

Economics by Tiffany

I don't tend to read the press in the US except to get a vague idea of what's happening. I spend more time digging through the entertainment listings than reading about the next big crisis. How I do get my economic news is through economic publications, the Economist and Forbes. Why? For the most part they're bipartisan, it's all about the money.

But a lot of the time it comes down to common sense. We chose our bank based on its strategy of dealing with the Mexican immigrant population. They have low debt and a lot of liquid assets. As a group they're pretty low risk. And it means the bank has procedures in place to build credit and decent savings. I was right. My old bank is one of the ones that was purchased by someone else due to over extended consumer debts. Choose a bank with a strategy based on actual assets versus one that tried to create them? Never.

The best thing the financials are saying right now, and likely the most telling about politics in general, is the banks likely don't need or won't take the 700bn dollar bail out. They see this as a product of poor financial decisions and the market checking itself.

But that doesn't mean things are going to be easy. I've been pretty fortunate since we got here, but it's a good time to be cautious, at least. I just wish someone would listen to the economists.

Debates!

I think Pips and I are headed here tonight to watch some debates:
http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/archives/2008/09/25/tomorrow_night_s_presidential

BEER. DEBATING.

It's happy hour again

How is everyone today? I'm pretty cheerful. There's a kind of fog over Portland, low clouds, but the weekend is going to be gorgeous according to some weather men. I didn't have my iPod on this morning, so I discovered that morning Max driver likes to tell everyone the weather after we leave the tunnel. "Good morning everyone! Welcome to beautiful Portland, Oregon. It's currently 60 degrees and cloudy, but will get up to a high of 80 today, 85 tomorrow and 90 on Sunday. Looks like it's going to be a beautiful weekend! Have a great day."

It makes me smile. And happy bus driver 15 is back to being happy. But he's very aware of passenger safety. He said, "Don't let me see you cross against the lights again!" to a girl who barely missed it at Morrison. It is possible there's crack in the water here.

One Streamy (when you know what to look for, it becomes obvious, seriously) was going on about how he was notorious for thinking celebrities are dead. What. The. Fuck.

Possibly not the best way to get someone's attention.

Spam e-mail received at work:



The United States is in the big MESS we are in because of uneducated people, like you, that promote crap!!! Becuase you have believed some liar politician, or some stupid scientist that loves money more than they care about someone's health! I hope YOU go belly up!


(NaturalNews) There is a congressional mandate in place banning sales of regular incandescent light bulbs by the year 2012. Recently however, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned that the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) is not a safe product in many cases.

Breaking a CFL can cause serious health risks. They contain mercury. This is especially hazardous for small children and pregnant women. They also warn that these light bulbs should never be used over carpeted surfaces because in the event of breakage, the mercury could contaminate the carpet necessitating completely removing portions of the carpet to eliminate the mercury hazards.

The mercury is necessary in the light bulbs to produce the light and currently there is no other option to achieve this. Small amounts of mercury are vaporized upon breakage. It is even common to break a CFL when attempting to screw it into a socket if it is done incorrectly.

In a recently conducted study, researchers broke 65 CFLs. They then tested the air quality and clean-up methods. Their findings were that in many cases immediately after the break (and sometimes even after clean-up) the levels of mercury were as much as 100 times higher than federal guidelines for chronic exposure.

Mercury is a naturally occurring metal that can accumulate in the body. If this happens, serious damage to the central nervous system can occur.

The study concluded that if a CFL breaks, children and pets should immediately be removed from the room and the room should be completely ventilated. Vacuums should never be used to clean up a broken fluorescent light bulb. Alternately, stiff paper and tape should be utilized to clean up the small pieces.

CFLs can contain as much as 30 milligrams of mercury. A recent study has estimated that two to four tons of mercury is released into the air each year from these light bulbs.

Because of environmental pressure, compact fluorescent sales are soaring. Over 290 million light bulbs were sold last year, nearly twice the amount sold in 2006. Currently, CFLs make up 20 percent of the United States light bulb market and this number is guaranteed to increase due to the federal mandate banning all incandescent light bulbs starting in 2012.

Some states are now requiring consumers to dispose of compact fluorescents as household hazardous waste. Other states are now prohibiting their disposal in regular trash. Due to the recent studies, some states are beginning to release guidelines for the use of these light bulbs. Vermont is now suggesting that carpeting be removed where breakages have occurred when small children and pregnant women have been present. Massachusetts is also expected to recommend that CFLs not be used in fixtures where breakages are likely to occur and where sensitive people spend time.

What the hell.

It's a good number.

How are things going? I will tell you!

Things are getting back to normal, whatever that means. I commute into Portland and I commute out of Portland. I go to work for 8.5 hours a day and go home. I have a salad for lunch, cereal for breakfast and dinner. We go food shopping... and I have a bus pass.

I turned 30 on Saturday and had a great night. Thanks for the messages and stuff. Mel and Tim procured VIP passes to a club in Seattle and we were joined by Reijo and Jesse. We had our own bouncer, a waitress and were generally out of the overall mess. It was a bit chilly when we walked in, but warmed up with the mighty power of dancing on the ground floor. Dacnce peasants, dance! We crashed out around 3ish. It was a pretty awesome night. I was overwhelmed with all they'd done. It meant a lot.

I went out with the family on Friday (Mom, little sister, husband of Mom) and had some very nice curry at a place in downtown. It was lovely. We wandered over to Embers after and said hello to Lincoln.

Work is workish, but I'm really starting to enjoy it. My boss is really happy with what I'm doing. The best part? They trust me. I can say 'I think the cabling is fucked' and they believe me. They don't second guess, or argue, though they do ask me to explain. And that's ok. I can usually tell them why.

The whole thing is forcing me to get a bit better with task management though. I use my Outlook calendar a lot more than I ever did before. I actually have things to remember.

And, as [info]davedevil pointed out, it's a good thing I left old place when I did. The last one of these mergers was utter chaos.

Portland is Portland, but it's great. I was looking for things to do at the weekend and had too much choice. TOO MUCH CHOICE. There are like 5 things I'd like to do on Saturday alone and could easily be out every night of the week. I look around while I'm walking between places, or on the Max, or getting off the bus at Vaughn and I'm cheered up. The leaves are starting to change color, so the hills are full of green with little red and yellow blazes. The streets are large and pretty, sometimes cars stop to let me cross the street to catch a bus. People say thank you to the bus drivers when they open the door and I'm learning Spanish on the blue line train to Hillsboro or Gresham. (Esta es una línea azul tren a Hillsboro, puertas a mi izquierda/derecha.) There appears to be some kind of cycle traffic on the Hawthorne bridge as well. Weirdness. Not long ago a drugged out man told me I was gorgeous, beautiful and had great nail polish.

Despite that, I never feel unsafe, or threatened and my sense of where things are in Portland are as good as they were 7 years ago.

Overwhelmingly, I'm happy. I really miss people in the UK, but for the first time in ages I feel comfortable where I am. It's a strange feeling and I hope I get used to it. 30 is off to a good start.


(We've settled on Oktoberfest at the Grand Lodge if anyone is interested!)

An illustration of my fine retail colleagues

They have lockers at the store. On one someone wrote: X's new home. To which someone replied: HOW DO YOU FIT IN THIS TINY LOCKER?!

Ok, now I miss the country of UK!

http://uk.techcrunch.com/2008/09/23/googles-g1-android-handset-to-be-free-in-uk-look-out-iphone/

Yeah. Screw the Palm, I'm getting me one of those!

Burritos for all!

A burrito van just rolled up across the street and played a happy little tune! Hey guys, your burritos are here!

Also, cheerful bus 15 bus driver wasn't as cheerful today. The other day he opened the door and went, 'WELCOME TO BUS 15 TO MONTGOMERY PARK VIA 23RD! GOOD MORNING!'

Bye bye summer

http://www.koin.com/content/weather/seven_day_forecast_large.aspx

:(

Life and other things.

Why hello flist!

Long days right now. I get up at 6:00am and am home for around 6:00pm. My commute is about an hour and 20 minutes. I must get out of Hillsboro. And work is really god damned busy. They started us slow and then WHAM, here we go.

I'm not really sure how things are going. I hope well, but I don't know. I need to think a bit. I really like the company, so I really hope things are going well. There are bits and pieces of things everywhere! Our warehouse and the Old Stuff department have loads of strange things. The salvage part of one of the stores is even better.

People seem nice, not had much of a chance to spend any time with them yet. I like my coworkers, but I'm not sure if I should be more restrained. But you know me, opinionated, full of rage, talkative. It was er, pointed out, today. I'm not sure if that was in good humor or not though. :/

Portland finally cooled off a little today. The weather was hot, hot, hot. Now it's cool. I'm not sure I mind though really. I really need to take some photos of the streets around here for foreigners. My bus goes by Flanders, Lovejoy and Quimby every day ;).

Living with Mom is exactly what you'd think. Pips is still waiting on his thing from the licensing authority. I hope it comes soon. It feels like we live here now and like Bickershaw is just kind of a bad dream. I don't really miss a lot about England as a country, but I do miss people a lot. It kind of hit me this week looking at photos on Facebook.

Headed to Seattle this weekend for birthday celebrations! Nothing planned really, going to crash with Mel and Tim. Hopefully we can go out or something. :) It's funny, it's my 30th, but I'm not really all that bothered about it. I'm more excited about seeing people.

Cautious

I really like my new job. I'm kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop though. When does it start to suck? When do I start to hate it? When does my manager start to piss me off? When do I start to piss them off? Or someone ask me to call them a taxi?

Free bus pass from day 1. Charity contributions matching, bikes you can sign out, in a beautiful part of Portland close to bars and restaurants. Healthcare, dental, 401k. What they do is awesome. They try and restore antique designs but modernized. They're big on recycling, bike commuting, education... the benefits handbook is massive. The only thing really sucking right now is the commute. I'm up at 6:00am and home around 7:00pm. Not good.

But I like my commute. For one, I have three buses to choose from 2 blocks away from the office. Today I rode the bus through tree lined streets, the weather was warm and the sky was blue. I walked down 10th from Everett to the Max stop and marvelled at how much they've cleaned up west of Burnside. It's lovely. Tons of little places to eat, shop, drink, see art and live. The building that used to have the City nightclub appears to be flats. People seem happy, friendly and I'm having some difficulty with that. I'm not sure when I became shy. I'm so happy to be back in Portland I could, literally, cry. I missed it so much.

But I'm hesitant and I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's that one month review? Maybe it's the year review? Maybe I think they'll think I'm not what they want? I remember being really excited about my last position and that didn't go so well. It's left me a little cautious.

Our return flight was supposed to be today.

The hills have mountains!

Didn't make it to the DMV yesterday. I did, however, set up a checking account. Two points of good news as well. 1. The solicitor is trying to get our claim settled out of court. 2. The insurance company are ready to go for one as well. We may see our money at some point in the nearish (within 10 years) future.

Managed to get a complete summer wardrobe for about 100 dollars. I really am rethinking this whole consumption thing. The bins and bins at Goodwill just.... yeah. The things people are throwing away as well! Not just Target brand (though there's nothing wrong with that.) I am wondering if this is just a sign of Hillsboro's recent affluence. Either way, my English clothes were woefully unprepared for 91 degrees F in September and other people's fickleness is my gain.

I'm supposed to start work tomorrow. I haven't had a call saying 'HEY CRACKHEAD, FUCK OFF' so I'm guessing that's a good sign. Sent an e-mail out to some coworkers earlier this week and heard from the Russian. She said things are getting really busy. That job got so old after 5 years, but I'm so glad I stuck with it. Apparently working anywhere for 5 years is a good thing.

In tech consumption news, I need a new god damned phone. The one I have now is horrible. 12 hour charge and super expensive. I have something in mind. One of the new/old Palms + international calling + web + text + e-mail. :D I'm going to have a really long commute for a while.

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-details/?device=Palm%C2%AE+Centro+-+Obsidian+Black&q;_sku=sku1260003

The bitch of it is, finding stuff that doesn't include a rebate. I hate rebates!

So far I've been right about what about England I miss: people. Pips and I are kind of lonely. We have friends here but they have their own lives, you know? And we're not leaving in like a week. And fuck me am I bored in Hillsboro.

I think I just need to get out to Portland more. You know what I don't miss? The Camarilla. I'm really not sure if I'm ever going back. How weird is that?

In fitness news, we're getting better. I really don't recommend cross training in 85 degree heat. No weight loss, but energy levels are overall up and I've noticed some more definition in my calves already. I can only jog for .10 of a mile at once now. So out of shape!

Pips is enjoying the political and prescription drug commercials. The list of side effects for a lot of them are worse than what they treat. For example, an asthma medication commercial cheerfully informs you that it might increase the risk of asthma related death. A marital aid might give you an erection for 4 hours. I'm not entirely convinced about drugs that get rid of your period either. What exactly does happen to all that uterine lining you're supposed to shed?

The Daily Show was hilarious with two things last week:
1. Republicans complete inability to admit Governor Palin's daughter had a 'choice'
2. How hypocritical a lot of conservative pundits and delegates were being regarding sexism and Palin and what they said about Clinton. Beautiful.

What. The. Fuck.

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/DMV/fees/driver.shtml#Original_Applications

HOW DO ID CARDS COST 30 GOD DAMNED DOLLARS?!

The furry perspective on the hot VP candidate from the coldest state!

http://community.livejournal.com/confurvatives/111803.html?thread=487611&style;=mine

Everyone needs the furry perspective.

(From [info]sf_drama)

I AM EMPLOYED!

OMG. You guys. OMG. I have a job!

Portland, sweet Portland.

Not so much sweet Hillsboro. It's been a week since we got back. I still kind of feel like I'm on holiday. After the 11th though, that will change. That's when our return flight is.

Last week I went to two interviews for the same company. I think they went well.... but the last one was Thursday and I haven't heard anything. I think that's a bad sign. If they wanted to make an offer, surely they would have done it by now? But then this Monday was a bank holiday for the US, so, I don't know. I've started looking for other things either way.

I'm a little disappointed. I utterly hate not working and I know that it takes a month from when you apply to start date. So far I've applied for 3 jobs and not got any of them. Damn it. My confidence is a bit dashed, even though I know this isn't too bad. I just hate the idea of using the money we saved.

Saw Pikey on Thursday and had some damned fine burgers at the Helvetia Tavern. We've invented a new game for Hillsboro: Autistic, Drunk or Intel. (Sometimes all of the above.) You can play it a lot!

We spent the weekend in Maupin:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl;=en&geocode;=&q;=Maupin,+Oregon&ie;=UTF8≪=45.179072,-121.079807&spn;=0.030735,0.076904&t;=h&z;=14&iwloc;=addr

Set up camp on Friday, then rafted all day on Saturday. For the first time in years someone in our party dumped a boat at Oak Springs. Apparently a lot of people did that this year. But the river was high and fast, so that probably had something to do with it. We were ok, but skipped Oak Springs on Sunday and went walking around in the hills instead. Pips wanted to take some photos of the area. I think he likes the desert.

We also saw some property for sale, about 500 acres, for 500,000 dollars. That's my current dream, retire in Central or Eastern Oregon with Pips, a horse and a dog. It looks like it might be reasonable.

Rafting is all about sitting at camp, drinking beer, eating food that's terrible for you and then trying not to fall out of a floating thing for 2 out of 4 days. I love it.

Saw the other families that come, the girls are all big and still pretty in to partying. I feel a bit old. I might go fishing next year with the old guys.

Met up with Sally and Mike yesterday, that was amazing! It was lovely to see Sally in our native enivornment and I hadn't hooked up with Mike for years. I need to get in touch with a few others here soon, especially at the weekend.

Shhh. But we've started doing circuit training as well. Not much, since we're both really unfit, but we don't have an excuse anymore. We have fuckloads of spare time and space while we're staying with Mom.

Off to the social security office this afternoon. And maybe we can finally get Pips's application sent off!

Oh man. I KNOW DON'T ASK.

There's a community for Hollyoaks fan fiction:
http://community.livejournal.com/hollyoaks_slash/

Amazing.

This is disgusting.

http://www.theticketcollector.co.uk/wordpress/2008/08/21/iraqi-serviceman-kicked-off-train-by-cross-country-trains/

Ugh.

I've got friends in low places

Back from Maupin. My current state is: pink legs, pink cheeks, sore arms and lightly tanned arms. I'm tired. I saved up all my drinking for last night and then discovered the Rainbow Tavern does gin and tonics for $3.50. And, and, and, that's without weights and measures. Fuck. Yes.

I was singing 'I got drunk off 13.50' on the way back to camp. Pips went rafting! How awesome is that?

We regret....

Philip is pissing himself. He's on the phone to the social security administration to get a number. Not only did they ask for a number before they'll give him one, they're also apologizing every two seconds for keeping him on hold. It's pretty good.

I told him 'mericans will leave him on hold for years, but apologize profusely in the mean time.

Oh, and, HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY.

Home

Up at 4:40am today. Thanks jet lag! It's probably a good thing though, my interview was moved to 9:00 due to a funeral. I thought the interview went well, but didn't want to get too excited. Turns out it went very well. I left at 9:45am and they rang the house at 10:00! I have a second interview tomorrow at 2:30 with the IT manager and director. It's down to one other person and little ol' me.

We went on a little adventure around Portland. Had a bit of a walk and a stop at Voodoo Donuts for Pips. Walked into Coffee Time and discovered a Rhodesian Ridgeback! Holy fuck. I thought England was permissive with dogs. Had sushi from a conveyer belt and bought some shorts. I BOUGHT SHORTS. And also some rafting sandals.

Changed my mind as far as my 30th goes. I think, Seattle people willing, I'd like to spend the weekend up there. It's been too long and I'd love to see old friends. I asked for tickets to Neil Diamond instead :). I think we might try Vegas for our anniversary instead.

Out to Maupin on Friday for the rafting weekend. Going to dog sit all day on Saturday and hit the water on Sunday.

It feels weird to be home. But I don't think it's hit us that we aren't on holiday yet. In a few weeks, when we don't board our flight back, it will. Off to buy another t-shirt for a suit later and some beer for the weekend.

Moving time.

I'm sitting here on the couch during our last day of England for a while. We fly out at ridiculous o'clock tomorrow morning. Last night as we drove through Manchester I realized exactly how much I'm going to miss the city. Buildings looming everywhere, girls stumbling around, the spectacle that is pride. Bar managers that threaten to throw you out for singing to Evita and the old Irish guy that liked it when we sang to anything. Not to mention Gay Pete and the bar tenders that made OP a smiley face on his Guinness.

I love Manchester. Somewhat begrudgingly, a little abusively but I'm really going to miss it.

And god am I going to miss our friends. Last night ended up being great. We received some fantastic gifts, we had great company, cheap drinks. There were tears at the end and likely more today.

The last two weeks have been amazing. Karin and Reijo's timing was bizarrely appropriate. Collisions of two competing and different worlds. Things are going to change in the next few months.

Right now I'm fighting off dust allergies. I need to get back to work though. We have a lot to do today.

similar feeds

» more

10 recently added

1]
2] Apple iphone Mobile phone
3] An Englishman In America
4] Bata-kun no Atarashii...
5] The Bikini Body Diet
6] IMAGINARY DIVA
7] Cybrespyydre's Changing View of the World
8] Globe United Artists
9] Modern Soapbox
10] Hotel Reviews

» more

ADD A FEED

Is RSS MAD missing something? Tell us about new feeds here.