Things I am excited about:

I got a new helmet for $10 on Saturday at the Multnomah County Bike Fair. It looks pretty much like this one except that it's now got a reflective Eye to Eye sticker (I believe annesi's firm was involved with the graphic design for that campaign) and a Heart in Oregon sticker, and is going to collect more (and more interesting) stickers as time goes on.

I figured out all by myself how to install the underseat rack I've had since January on my recumbent, and I did it, and it worked! The figuring it out myself is the cool part, because I couldn't follow the shop guy's explanation 5 months ago when he gave it, nor could I remember any of it, and mechanical talent is not something of which I have an above-average amount. After some adjustment of the springs that are involved in attaching them to the rack, my panniers fit, although I haven't tried them out with a load yet; I'm not quite sure that they're tight enough, but I'm sure they can be tweaked.

Last week I rode down the west side of the river all the way to the Sellwood Bridge, which my bike map had implied could be done, but which I'd never tried. Not only is it possible, it's gorgeous. Lovely, peaceful views of the river and the houseboats on the other side. The path is broken up a little bit by streets but I didn't get lost. I rode home along the east side, which is a nice ride but not as scenic in the southern half. (The last couple of miles are right next to, or over, the river and you can see downtown and whatever's going on on the river, which is its own kind of cool but one that I've seen before. So the west side is what I happen to be excited about at this time.)

The backyard raspberries are ripening in abundance. I picked a quart on Sunday and another quart today.

My high school friend Ismail (né Brian; he converted to Islam at 14 and currently lives in Morocco, although he has been back and forth between the Middle East and the States) will be in the States (and mostly in the Monterey/Salinas area) during the time of our trip to the area in August. So even if he doesn't go to the reunion, we'll get to see him (though I believe he does plan to go). I haven't seen him in, hell, I don't even know how long. At least ten years.

OK, enough excitement for now. My office is overheated and I need to get this computer off my lap.

Bike ride, about 9.5 miles. Tomorrow, barring mass quantities of precipitation, I will do a similar distance in the opposite direction. So no weigh-in until Tuesday, unless I decide to make a special trip to the gym for a long, hot shower (at home I can have one or the other).

After a brief phone interview, I've accepted a 2-month job as a census enumerator. There's a week of training at the end of this month, but I don't know yet when the job starts. I should follow William's advice and read all about the census online so I will be The One Who Knows Everything. (But not in an obnoxious way.)

I didn't do any work to speak of today except for finishing the minutes, but that's one thing to check off, anyway. Oh, and I downloaded some files to edit and reviewed an updated style sheet. And did some cleaning, and went to the gym. So I guess tomorrow is my hardcore work day.

Raziel has been eating his dry food over the past couple of days, which he hadn't been for a while. So that's a good sign. But then, Raziel and Woodrow slept next to each other on the couch today, and that would never happen if Raziel were well. What we want is for him to be chasing Woodrow outside again.

I have a 3/4-blown headache and a fair amount of work. Allen Press jobs due Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday; Reed job due Tuesday; steering committee minutes to do over the weekend in time for Monday's meeting. I will have to use my time wisely as there will be 60 minutes less of it this weekend.

Didn't do any work today, partly because of the headache, partly because I had to take Raziel to the vet, and partly because I wanted to take advantage of the last sunny day we'll have for a while and do a little gardening. I prepared and planted a 4′ × 4′ bed of snap peas and did some weeding and hoeing here and there in the vegetable area. The garlic I planted last fall is 4″ to 6″ tall—exciting!

In other signs of spring, one of the crocuses I planted has bloomed, and the neighbor's chickens have been on patrol and left me THREE eggs.

Raziel's kidney values is better but he has lost a little weight (William doesn't believe it; he thinks they must have misweighed him today or last time) and his anemia has worsened. The doctor I talked to today was I think the one I talked to on the phone last week, and he seemed intelligent and reasonable. Per his recommendation I will start giving R. erythropoietin next week. $66 for 10 doses, with which I will be injecting him twice a week for a while, then once a week if all goes well. It's a lot of money but . . . he's my little kitty.

A few days late, but hey, it's my journal.
( follow me along the red carpet )

I spent this afternoon (at least three hours of it) shoving wood into the chipper. Fun! It makes me feel . . . chipper.

Then I cleaned up and walked to the movie theater to see The Reader. It was quite interesting but I'm not on for doing a review at the moment (headache, tired, etc.). Now I've seen all 5 Best Picture nominees. I'd like to see Doubt tomorrow to deepen my ability to complain about who wins the acting awards.

I got a call from the Census Bureau while I was outside chipping. They want me to call back by 4 pm Tuesday if I am interested in working for them. So I'll do that. I'd like it better if they hired me for an office job, but it would toughen me up to go door to door. Plus, lots of exercise!

His kidney values are worse and he's anemic. I got him an iron supplement, more water, and some Pepcid AC (recommended by the vet to soothe his stomach lining, which maybe might be irritated because of his kidney problems). I am hopeful that he will respond to treatment. I don't want to write about it beyond that.

This year's Sasquatch lineup has been published.( here there be bands )
I would enjoy seeing the Decemberists, but Levi doesn't like them and I will probably have other chances to see them. I'm open to being pleasantly surprised by any of the other bands, well, except the one dude I saw last year who has nothing going for him besides his uncanny ability to imitate Johnny Cash (I feel about that as I do about Beatles impersonators). So, folks, let me know if you know which of these artists might pleasantly surprise me. In the meantime, I'll be right here envying the Coachella lineup.

No mountain for me today. I had just enough of a headache and got up just late enough that it didn't seem like a good idea. Besides, we have a party to go to tonight and I didn't want to wear out (as I would driving to and from the mountain with a headache). I'm getting a lot of work done at home, though. Maybe I'll go twice next week.

January 24: After the white elephant party at Lucky Lab, William and I crossed the street to check out Clever Cycles. The cycles are clever but the staff isn't. We were there 15 minutes and no one spoke to us. The guy behind the counter looked at us every once in a while, as if he was wondering what species we were and when we were going to leave his shop and get back in our flying saucer. I will definitely go somewhere else to buy my Nutcase helmet. After that we went to Coventry so William could get a new tire. I asked the friendly people there about carrying-stuff options for my bike, and went home with a birthday present of an under-seat rack. I am hoping that my Valentine's Day present will be installation of said rack, to make sure it works with my panniers and so that I can buy more groceries per trip. Or check out more books. Or . . .

Well, I can't decide whether that's one thing or two, or three, but I have to do some work now.

January 24: The day before my birthday I went to two parties. The first was a white elephant party attended by sisyrinchium, altaego, William, and me. Everyone went home with something he or she liked. I scored a cool watch (that apparently looks like one of the new city garbage cans, but hey, it's Portland, even the trash cans are cool). The second was a housewarming, or maybe not, chez obliterati, cohosted (?) by altaego. We played a fun game that involved inability to draw, everyone sang the song to me at midnight, and there was flying cake.

January 25: Actual birthday. Lunch at Rose's was delayed by an hour due to their kitchen screwups. They compensated us with free soup and dessert. (Yes, I did eat that cake, sorry, altaego, but I made it last two days, and it was carrot cake, which made it a vegetable.) Later William and I watched Frost/Nixon. Fascinating and highly recommended.

The following week: Deadlines and headaches.

January 31: Watched The Wrestler. Mickey Rourke convincingly portrayed a washed-up entertainer. Imagine that.I have now seen all 5 of the performances nominator for Best Actor, and I'd put Rourke's fourth. Full disclosure: I am apparently allergic to entertainment wrestling and 80s heavy metal music. Especially if they're loud.

February 1: William has a friend who throws a Super Bowl party every year to make full use of the wall-sized TV in his basement. I was mainly interested in the halftime show, and we got there while it was in progress. I was impressed. Bruce has good knees for a 59-year-old. He put on a good show and the crowd loved him, as did the screaming young women in the basement who might have not been born when Bruce was first on the cover of Time. After that, somehow I actually got interested in the game, and watched more football than I ever have in my life. Hey, men in tights! (Which could be said of The Wrestler as well, except that these were young men in tights, and some were quite attractive, and none were slicing their own foreheads with hidden razors or staple-gunning each others' backs.)

February 3: Watched Frozen River. Excellent acting, real-looking characters, and an interesting story.

February 6: Snowboarding for the first time this year. The snow was a bit crunchy in places and a bit hard in others, but overall not bad. The weather was great: around freezing, very light snow and almost no wind. I had a bit of difficulty finding my way around, and at one point I accidentally ended up in a terrain park, alongside a series of small jumps that I was tempted to try (the folks there included an 8-year-old); I decided I'd wait until I could get some instruction in landing, however. The longest green trail, and the only one I could actually find, is virtually flat and at one point is characterized as a "Nordic trail," so I ended up on some of the blue runs, which worked out OK and would have been even better if I'd done it sooner.
Oh, and . . . Timberline Lodge is apparently completely lacking in espresso!! I thought Timberline Lodge was supposed to be the essence of Oregon!! William had the idea that I could start up an espresso stand there, and live up there seasonally with my little kitty in a little cabin that had high-speed Internet so that he could work from it two days a week, but I think for now I am just going to bring some generic No-Doz with me rather than drinking the shiteous coffee that's available in the day lodge.
Espresso or no espresso, I'm hoping to go back Thursday or Friday. I'll take a lesson this time, but I don't know if I'll be ready for the jumps yet.

It's today, because he had to work on his actual birthday. We slept in until 10. After we got up he got involved in fixing one of his computers and asked me to give him an hour to ~focus~. By the time he was finished focusing, showering, and dressing, it was after 2 PM. We left the house and went to Saint Honoré Boulangerie, where he had two pastries and a vol au vent and I had a nonfat latte and a bite of each of his items. We then went two doors down the street to Steve's Cheese, of which I had heard good things. William was not impressed by their selection and was suspicious of their handling practices (he is a cheese whiz, um, I mean a big cheese . . . you get the idea). I thought we were going to go to at least one more bakery and possibly to the Lush store, but he wanted to come back home and get a haircut at our neighborhood barbershop before it closed at 4. He just got back. I don't know what's next on the agenda.