so, it looks like i have a new pair of landlords. the sale of the duplex i live in is final and we're meeting this afternoon to work out the rent, etc.

the guy is a contractor of sorts and has seemed terribly friendly and his wife has a day job outside the house and is similarly friendly. let's hope the let me keep the old rent (prior to the rent increase the old leasing company was kind of but not really initiating this month).

in other news, stats remains boring.

and we are in a new technology age! i have begun studying using ~powerpoint~ (well, really open office whateverit'scalled) as flashcards. wicked.

and they didn't say so until you got to the bridge.

which means an extra climb to go up and over the bridge. all in all, not a big deal. but full of suck on a rainy day on a bike. bleagh.

in other news, statistics continues to bore my pants off and i'll be giving a talk to the Oregon AALAS at the end of the month!

turns out, i kinda miss livejournal... who'da thunk it?

so, i've been mostly on twitter (because it's on my phone), facebook (a lot less lately, but there's reunion planning going on there, so i haven't been able to abandon it entirely) and my gmail reader feeds. which means lj has fallen by the wayside.

it's not like it's far way - everything on the internet is as close as anything else, i've just entirely forgotten about this place altogether. which i do periodically, anyway, only now there's so much other stuff to distract me that it's taking me longer to come back.

that's all for now. i've been up too long already and have (1)checked mice for plugs, (2) gotten very very lost, (3) eaten my yogurt and (4) wished for death.

As a result of sheer laziness, Halloween cards did not get offered or go out.

So, now I am offering my flist a chance on a midwinter holiday card from yours truly.

Screened, etc. so your mailing info won't be plastered across the interwebs. (I just make the pull down tab say All Comments, right?)

So, Facebook is an interesting monster. For a number of reasons. But in this case, i stumbled on a raging debate between two old high school classmates of mine. One is all for Prop 8 - a current member of the LDS who ascribes to their doctrine sincerely and wholeheartedly. The other is against Prop 8 and responded to a note and the flurry of comments it generated that was pro-Prop 8.

I liked his response so much, i asked and got permission to duplicate it here. So here, it is - below. Thanks, Phillip - for writing it and letting me post it.

***********

Here is my response to your notes regarding Proposition 8. Proposition 8 intends to encroach upon the rights that are included in my "network", as you playfully put it. Supporting this proposition not only affects me, but friends of those within my network, the members of my family, and other supporters that wish to protect my civil right to marry. Your private message to me when you refer to my "network" as being offended enough to "probably illicit more mobs at the temple" is out of line and not amusing, even if intended as a joke. Also, if you believe I'll feel better by calling you "Crazy Cult Idiot or Religious Fanatic", as you also mentioned in that message you are wrong. I'm not at ease by labeling anyone in a negative light for peace of mind, or denying civil rights to any citizen.

I don't think you understand that every church will have the option to not perform same-sex marriages within its walls, and the preferences of those religious institutions cannot be forced to adhere to practices they see as incongruent with their belief system.

As you mentioned before, there are laws that have been passed to make my life and community a little more equal to members of the straight community that already possess them, and for that I am thankful. However, just like many activists in history it is my duty to continue to fight so the rights gained by my community remain protected. Civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglas, Susan B. Anthony, Harvey Milk etc., etc. didn't stand by and accept what rights that were not allowed to them at the time, and I will not stand by to have them taken away from me after so many have fought to finally have them acknowledged.

Your decision to support a proposition to remove the civil rights of my community then puts me in a position to protect what I view as my family unit. I will continue the fight to preserve the rights of my community, those that support my community, and the future members and supporters of this community.

You said, "In a way, we are more alike than we probably know because I definitely feel like a misunderstood outcast at many times because of my religious beliefs." Yes, we may be alike in that we are different, but I am not trying to legislate what you are/are not allowed to do. Regardless of the race/creed/color/ethnicity/gender/generation in which my network also identify with and from whatever community they also belong to/come from I wouldn't wish upon them what the supporters of Prop 8 look to accomplish through passing this legislation.

I say NO to Prop 8!!

is that the busier your life is, the less time you have to update this thing *sigh*

I have a new boss at work and I've been spending much time negotiating my brain space with MS Access. Thanks to ms fakerson, i've got some choice help with it and my brain space is returning to its normal programming.

Like cooking. Last night's starter: Homemade Hummus and toasted pita bread. Last night's dinner: Acorn Squash and Zucchini Gumbo with a Wild Rice and Corn Casserole, Spaghetti Squash with Basil and Tomatoes and Dinner Rolls on the side. Last night's dessert: Red Velvet Cake, Pumpkin Pie (with fresh homemade whipped cream). Last night's guests: k&g - AWESOME!

Like knitting. Still working on 'zalea's sweater, i'm needing to add a bit on b/c i didn't quite make the back long enough. Mom's sweater needs another 1/3 skein of yarn so i gotta go searching all over town for this Hand Maiden lot. I'm giving up on the fine knit shawl - it's not as pretty as i thought it would be. Jellyfish, ho!

Like comic books. I finally bought _Torso_ to kick start my Bendis addiction but was a little disappointed. The comic book store lady does say that if she recommends something that i don't like, i can always come in and trade it for something else, but i might just re-read it this week to double check. AND i finally have a subscription pull somewheres.

Like wanting to see how my friends are doing and finding new and exciting people in pdx to hang out with. It's kinda nice to have my head back.

because, yes, there have been hormones lately, but this damn near made me break out in tears at my desk at work today.

just saying.

Pac Man, the movie

Best four minutes of my morning.

Ho there, east coasters.

i will be on your coast this weekend.

i am contactable by phone and gmail.

that is all.

sorry about the subject line - it was way too tempting.

so i've been sitting on the fact that i did my very first triathlon on saturday so as to let the whole thing kind of soak in and percolate a bit. before the tri, i was convinced that it was going to kill me. now i'm running around online searching for more opportunities to do a tri before it gets too cold up here. NUTS.

this got long, so ( i chopped it for you. )

apparently i need to read more. i came across a term today - compassionate detachment. it's... precisely the phrase i've been looking for to describe that place between being a chump and ditching a relationship. it's not that i'm unfamiliar with the concept, it's just nice to have the words to discus them.

the premise of compassion is a big one for me - whatever you think about me and whatever you assume about my motives, i do to let compassion drive my decisions.

*thinking*

no, not today, today is monday. i know this.

the triathlon is saturday.

in the past, i have been given the opinion that there is no real conceivably good reason to run/bike/swim (singly or in any combination) for any extended length of time.

at the time, i rejoindered with the opinion that there is, actually, a good reason which i just didn't particulary happen to hold with and that it would take an act of supernatural quality to make me do any such thing in any combination or length.

turns out it just takes someone who asks nicely. that or ms. k is supernatural. which remains possible.

she has convinced me to participate in this (a sprint tri, if you don't want to click-y: 0.5 mi swim, 12 mi bike, 3 mi run/motivated shuffle) on saturday. i decided to do it last wednesday.

it has been pointed out to me that it could be interpreted as arrogance that i decided to do a triathlon less than 2 weeks prior to the event. fair enough. for perspective, though, i submit that i come from a genetic pool wherein
1) one brother chose to ride for 150 miles with no more than 10 logged minutes at a time on a bike (and he did fine)
2) both brothers have completed half-ironman tris (ironmens?)
3) there might be some whiff of competition drifting about in the water.

i'll let you know if i survive.

at this rate, this is going to turn into an exercise log. but, i'm so proud of myself, i feel the need to tell anyone who will listen that i went on a 35 minutes out/<35 minutes back run this morning which means that i made it home in less time than it took to get out there. which ~included~ walking the last couple of blocks home. apparently, going through a few days of jogging in louisiana heat will make portland feel like cake.

and speaking of cake, red velvet cake still rocks my world.

So, kathy invited me on the night ride here in portland this past weekend and i had a SUPER BLAST.

now? i'm thinking one to two rides a month, perhaps even ones that are closer to 40 miles in length.

i think i'm losing my mind. but it sure is fun!

did you know the new kids on the block are touring?

i sure as hell didn't until just now.
portland in november, eh?

I got taken on a date last night. whee!

about a month and a half ago d told me to keep 8 July open. just the evening.

a few weeks later, i was told that i needed to be in downtown portland by 6:15 pm, if possible, but no later than 7. still no hints.

then life blew up a little bit and i went home and came back a little over a week later and nearly panicked when i thought i screwed up the 8th. but i didn't. ~and~ i got prezzies when i came home.

yesterday i hopped out of work on time and headed downtown to meet d and proceeded to get walked into portland's chinatown. for the record, it's a lot easier to surprise someone when they have a limited grasp of the location of the chinese garden. (provided, of course, that that's where you're headed.)

turns out, the chinese garden here in portland has a concert series that d bought tickets for ages ago and took me to last night.

this boy can really do some spectacular planning. i lurves it.

i can't say that the vancouver chinese music ensemble is something to write home about, but it was lovely to listen to music and sit in a garden (a sister garden to the Humble Administrator's Garden in SuZhou, where we went in October [!]) on a warm summer evening.

(and that, mr. r, is why i did not go rollerskating. i hope you'll forgive me.)

Hey all,

Thanks much for the happy thoughts - dad's home and is doing pretty darn well. today is the rounding up of scripts and docs. fun! like wrangling cats with UTIs.

mucho gracias.

dad's doing great - better than the average quadruple bypass patient, really.

surgery was yesterday, he was awake last night and this morning he was moved to his own room where he surprised the nurses by sitting on his own and by walking the halls by this afternoon. apparently the suggested amount of exercise on D1 post-surgery is to make it back and forth from your chair to the bathroom.

and i'm staying here until next sunday.

and now i'm going to bed, because i'm tired, it's late and there's a lot to do in the next week.

so, to continue the trend of using lj to update folks with bad news, i'm flying home tonight. this, in and of itself (of course) is not bad. the badness is 2-fold.

1) it means that i will likely not be going back to taiwan in the near future, regardless of the outcome of my grandfather's hospitalization.

2) i am going home in time to wait for my dad to wake up from quadruple bypass surgery.

i have watched cardiac surgery. i am terrified.

we went to Cannon Beach this past weekend. it was cold, there was a rock and many other things. but i'll tell you about that later on today because i am going to take the time now to brag about the fact that i have finally posted pictures to ravelry (i'm laine05 there too, if you didn't know and needed to). i have finished things since and probably will add more, but i just (re)discovered the SD card reader in my laptop. whee!

and just for that, i'm adding a link to sachets i made

i am ~crafty~ as hell.