Turkey In The Straw

Bet you didn't see this coming.

This year Thanksgiving was with my mom's side of the family at our house.  Due to people being in different parts of the country/world, this was the smallest family gathering I can recall.  Despite the small group, the food was, as always, delicious!

Skyping with Amanda and Jody

Yum

To go along with the cliche idea of saying what you're thankful for, besides the usual, the two things that I'm most thankful for at this current moment in time are:

• Having a job
• Friends who make an effort to stay in touch

Hope people had a good Thanksgiving!

That's all for now.  Bye.

I Won't Grow Up

I forgot to write this yesterday and just got back from work so it's a short one today. 

On Friday I made my way back to the old stomping ground of Westview High School to see the theater department's production of Peter Pan.

It's always impressive watching how well put together the Westview performances are.  I think the theater group that was 1-4 years older than me was the golden era but for a high school, everyone always does a great job.  

This retelling of Peter Pan was a slightly modernized version with a little more gender equality and a little less peace pipe smoking.  The flying rig was quite impressive and it looked like the kid actors were having a blast soaring back and forth across the stage.  As with any production, there was some overacting from extras and a kid or two who had two left feet, but overall it was a fun throwback to my days of running around in my Peter Pan Halloween costume and watching the cartoon and Mary Martin version over and over when I was 4.

That's all for now.  Bye.

It's The End Of The World

The following is based on true events:

 November 13, 2014

5:30 AM
There's an eery cold in the air.  Many school districts have declared late openings.  What is happening? 

7:15 AM
Schools are shut down across the metro area.  Many businesses have closed.  It's been advised to stay indoors.  It seems like we're on the brink of a statewide emergency.  I don't know if we'll make it to nightfall.

8:24 AM
I have my window locked shut and the blinds pulled tight.  I don't want to see what is happening outside.  The sound of cars on the street going about their everyday business must just be a trick.

8:33 AM
It has to be done.  I need to see what is going on out there.

8:34 AM
It has happened...the snowpocalypse has reached Portland.  We got hit hard but it looks like the neighborhood might pull through.  Our neighbors seem to have taken the brunt of it.  Hopefully they're alright.

I'm hoping our deck can recover

The neighbors got it the worst

12:22 PM
This strange, wet substance keeps falling from the sky.  I've never seen this before in the Pacific Northwest.  The roads are covered in this odd liquid but don't seem affected at all.  It could all be just a clever trick.

Terrifying

It's spreading!

12:47 PM
I hear sirens outside.  This must be even worse than I thought.  I've seen things like this happen in other places and in movies but never this bad.

2:02 PM
I've tried to reach the outside world.  The internet cut for about 8 seconds, even though it does this pretty much everyday, but I was able to see how the rest of Portland was faring.  It seems like things are rough Portlanders are standing strong.

 

2:59
I think it's getting worse...

3:54 PM
It's over.  We've done it.  All clear.  We survived.

-----

But yeah, it's been four years since I spent a winter in Oregon and I almost forgot how ridiculous they take "snow."  In Colorado, we would have over a foot, tree branches falling on people and sending them to the hospital (true story), icy roads, negative 20 degree weather, and still have to go to class.  In fact, in my 3.5 years at CSU, I only had an entire day of classes cancelled one time for weather and that was for heavy rain (which I was laughing about the entire time).  

Hope you people in Colorado and the rest of the country are surviving the actual harsh conditions.

That's all for now.  Bye.

Fancy

I'll start this off by admitting yes, this is a little biased.  I'll do my best not to make it sound like an advertisement because that is not my intention at all.  I've climbed at gyms all over the country and can honestly say that Planet Granite Portland is the best climbing gym I've ever been to.

The gym has 18 cracks, 4 of which can be hydraulically adjusted.  There is over 30,000 square feet of climbing space.  Many of the routes allow for both top roping and leading which is great.  The 55 foot walls are only set to about 60% capacity right now but eventually there will be more than 150 roped routes.  That's a lot.  All of the routes are incredibly fun and varied!  I haven't gotten on one I didn't like yet and I'm fairly picky about routes so that's an achievement.

Pictures taken from the PG PDX Facebook page

Upstairs, the entire second floor is devoted to bouldering.  With over 200 boulder problems, this would make me happy as a standalone gym itself.  I'm used to climbing on walls with sharp angles so it's taking a bit of adjustment to learn the curved walls but it's nice to have something new.  There's a systems wall upstairs that is able to hydraulically adjust its angle.  I haven't used it yet but when I try to get back in peak climbing shape, I'll put in some time.

The other prominent feature of the second floor is the 40 foot long ramp.  It's essentially climbing a roped route but with a very small fall and no rope.  After three laps on this thing, I'm done.  The problems are long but still so much fun and a great workout.

Bouldering ramp from the top

On top of climbing, there's also the equivalent of a traditional gym on the first and third floor as well as a huge yoga and fitness studio.  The locker rooms are amazing and even have saunas.

If you haven't made it in yet, come try the place out!  I promise this will be the last thing about work but I needed to share and I had no other ideas.

That's all for now.  Bye.

Thriller (Part 2/2)

I think my brain has officially melted.  In case you missed it, two weeks ago I made the terrible decision to watch a horror movie every day in October.  Blogger decided to erase this entire post when I was three movies away from finishing the list but I tried my best to recall what I had previously written.

Once again in no particular order, here are the last 16:

16.  Carrie (2013)- A young girl who lives with her religious mother and is bullied at school discovers she has telekinesis.  I've seen the original many times and although the original does a better job of building terror, this is a solid remake. 

17.   The Ruins- A group of friends vacationing in Mexico go to a hidden Mayan temple where they are attacked by a parasitic plant.  I went into this with low expectations but it actually wasn't too bad.  It didn't adhere to most horror movie conventions and my interest was held.

18.  *Sleepaway Camp- Recommended by my sister, Amanda, two cousins go to summer camp where deadly events start to occur.  You have to watch this movie!  It's so terrible it's brilliant.  The twist ending was genuinely shocking and I didn't see it coming at all.

19.  The Exorcism of Emily Rose- Set primarily in a courtroom, a trial commences against a priest who performed a botched exorcism.  This is more of a courtroom drama/horror film but despite its length, I was interested the whole time.  There are some definite creepy moments as well.

20. Evil Dead (2013)- A group goes to a cabin in the woods to help their friend go cold turkey until they discover a mysterious book in a boarded up basement.  If sassy demon talk is your thing, this movie is for you.  Nothing special but fairly entertaining.

21.  Extraterrestrial- Friends go to a house in the woods to party and end up finding a crashed UFO.  Throw every alien cliché into a film and you've got this movie.  The jump scares were the only "scary" parts but they were so predictable I didn’t even flinch.  Between the corniest ending of all time and what I'm pretty sure was plagiarized dialogue from Titanic, do not watch.

22. V/H/S/2- A 9 part anthology, two investigators try to find a missing college student and end up discovering a series of mysterious tapes in his seemingly abandoned dorm room.  I haven't seen the first one because I read the sequel was better. Since the movie is told in short segments, the action happens fast, which could be a positive or a negative.  It does leave a lot of unanswered questions but overall a fairly decent movie.  The camera work on the penultimate segment was atrocious.

23. Candy Man- A graduate student gathers information for her thesis on urban legends and finds that one of the legends may be real.  A rarity for horror films, this has a well written script.  Parts of it were slow but overall a good watch. 

24.  Jug Face- After a girl is slated to be the next sacrifice for a backwoods community, she tries to escape.  Unless you enjoy hearing stereotypical southern accents accompanied by the actions that typically go with them, avoid.  Also, it wasn't really a horror movie.  The story is really slow and boring and the ending is unsatisfying.

25.  Would You Rather- Trying to make money to better their lives, a group of strangers attend a dinner party and are forced to play a twisted game of "would you rather."  I've seen some pretty messed up movies but this one might take the cake.  It's very graphic and disturbing.  I had an idea for the ending but thought, "There's no way that would happen, it's too messed up" and of course, that’s what ended up happening.

26. The Fog- Recommended by friend Nicole, a town happily celebrates its centennial but unbeknownst to the residents, the town’s founding is coming back to haunt them.  This is unmistakably a John Carpenter movie.  Being a huge fan of the Halloween series, my expectations were high and they were met.  There is a great buildup  and it doesn’t rely on overly graphic content. 

27.  *Vacancy- A couple’s car breaks down near a small motel and they decided to spend the night but there may be a reason why they are the only people checking in.  Has it happened?  A horror movie where the lead characters actually make smart decisions?  Indeed it has!  That alone made this enjoyable to watch along with the fantastic tension build and satisfying conclusion.

28.  The Hills Have Eyes (2006)- A family gets stuck in the desert on their road trip to California and encounter violent mutants.  This movie is stupid.  Overreliance on jump scares, unnecessarily graphic, way too long, and didn’t really make sense.

29.  Silent Hill- Based on a video game series, a woman searches for her adopted daughter in a seemingly deserted town.  This movie feels like it will never end.  It’s incredibly long for no real reason.  It may be because I haven’t played the games but it also made no sense.  It seemed like the plot changed every half hour.  After reading tons of discussion boards online, I think I kind of understand it but no movie should require that much outside research.

30.  The Devil Inside- A woman travels to Rome to see her believed to be possessed mother in a mental institution.  I remember when this came out and I really wanted to see it until I heard how terrible it was.  Jump scare after jump scare after jump scare, the rumors were confirmed.  Putting aside the terrible acting and bad attempt at making this a “documentary,” this has one of the worst endings of all time.

31.  *Paranormal Activity- A couple starts to experience strange happenings around their home and set up video cameras to try and capture who or what is the culprit.  I was trying to watch movies I hadn’t seen before but for my last movie in October, I wanted something I knew would be good.  I’ve seen this five or six times and can easily say this is the scariest movie I’ve ever watched.   The buildup of tension is incredible and the events seem like they could have actually happened.  This movie does get a lot of hate but I think many people who call it boring or say nothing happens are too used to jump scares and blood/gore.

* mark my top 3, once again, in no order

And with that, I'm probably never watching another horror movie ever again.  Hope everyone had a good Halloween!

Halloween ended up being really fun!

In other news, Planet Granite officially opened today!  Climbing, gear rental, and belay 
lessons are free all day tomorrow if you didn’t make it today or want to come back.  It was a crazy busy day but great to finally see people climbing in the gym.  Hope to see you there!

That’s all for now.  Bye.