blog #024 >> I'm no longer podless!!!

I JUST WON AN IPOD SHUFFLE AT SAFEWAY!!!!!!!!
I'm so excited! Safeway's the best store ever!!!
Today was there grand reopening sale, and I was the right number in line.
And I almost got out of line to get the gallon of milk I forgot. But then I thought... I'm probably forgetting something else too, and I can't carry all my groceries home with the gallon of milk. So, I'll just pick it up tomorrow or on Monday. I'm so glad I didn't get out of line! I'm such a dork, I've been listening to it all day through headphones even though I have Lappy hooked up to the speakers. And the ear buds won't stay in my ears because I'm smiling so much!
I love my iPod! I love Safeway!
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!

blog #023 >> vacation pics

Written content pending. (but I did include captions.)
And I must confess my sister took way better pictures:
http://leingangs.blogspot.com/2007/09/cannon-beach.html

blog #022 >> I've been tagged.

Apparently, I've been tagged. I'm not exactly sure what the details entail. But by observing the others that have been tagged before me, I have concluded that it must involve this reoccurring list of 7-10 odd or unique things about yourself. And then letting other people know... which I probably won't be doing. Well, anyhow here's a list for your enjoyment.

1: I don't like to wear socks... unless it's really cold and the socks are knee high.

2: I love to wash dishes... even still after all these months of washing dishes by hand, I love it. I think it's the warm water, which would also explain the forty-five minute morning showers. It's like hitting the snooze only better. It's a good thing hot water is included in the rent, or I'd be broke. I single handedly use more than a family of eight.

3: I wish I had been born fifty years earlier. They had such stylish clothing and glasses, better television, cooler cars. And I wouldn't ever have to curse at the fax machine or be laughed at for typing a letter again.

4: When I get stressed I need to walk. And if I can't go anywhere, I just pace. I know I say I need coffee, but notice I don't go to the coffee shop around the corner. Nope, I go to the other one about twelve blocks down. And note, I rarely get coffee. Last time I was really stressed, I walked all the way to Pix on Division. I felt a lot better when I got back, and I think the chocolate tort helped as well.

5: I've always had curly hair, and when I was little I hated it. I can't imagine what I would look like now without it. But when I was six, I would have gladly traded it. I cried every time I had to brush it. I also hated it when people would come up to me and pull it to watch it spring back up. Surprisingly, people (even strangers) still do this. And not surprisingly I still find it annoying. Last week Maggie, (my three year old niece) was trying to "straighten" my hair. She obviously had no luck in her endeavors, but I didn't really mind her playing with my hair. She's three. For everyone else... please don't pull my hair.

6: I almost always have a rock in my pocket... and hence in my laundry.

7: Is a list within a list. This is a list of 10 no 11, things I love:
a: My family, all of them and just the way they are.
b: My friends, for all their quirky strangeness.
c: My apartment, from all my odds and ends to the wonderful neighbors.
d: My jobs, although I complain a lot about them, and with reason. I still find I love them at the end of the month.
e: A cup of tea and a book in my favorite chair... and books in general.
f: Playing the accordion.
g: Washing dishes, anything involving hot water.
h: Sleeping, dreaming.
i: Looking for things, from pretty rocks and distant stars to junk store finds and hidden treasure.
j: Making pretty little things, and fixing things I think can't be fixed.
k: This is the spot I'm saving for everything I didn't list, because there is too much.

blog #021 >> a strange lunch

Today I had the honor of eating lunch with Daniel Boone's' daughter.
No, lie... At least that's what she claimed and she looked old enough to be telling the truth.
Anyhow, today after I finished the paper I realized (as always) "Hey, I'm really hungry." I was driving by Two Brothers on 39th and Belmont (if you've never been there it's a very good restaurant with Balkan food. Thanks Dave and Trina for telling me about it.) And decided to stop for a quick, but late lunch. Well, I walk in the door and sit down at a table to wait for the waiter when a little old lady comes in and sits down across from me. So the waiter being confused asks if we're together. Moments before I had told him it was just me for lunch today. So I shook my head no, shrugged my shoulders and whispered, "no." But the little old lady either didn't notice or ignored us and asked to order some soup. I told him it was fine and I'd pick up her soup.
And that's how I came to have lunch with Daniel Boone's daughter. She was very sociable, and quite funny but must have had Alzheimer's Disease because she had a hard time remembering anything after World War II... Which she talked about a lot. I let her do most of the talking. She lived by herself which I gathered from her story of falling out of her kitchen chair. And she was married and only had one child... I think... which I could gather no additional information on. I was trying to get her to drop a name of a relative I could call to come claim their grandma. But no luck.
Apparently she came to Portland during her "Mid-School" years from England. Which I find very likely due to her perfect manners, green eyes and light complexion. She even knew how to eat soup properly by lifting the spoon away from you. Which she didn't mention, but I did pick up on.
During World War II she worked as an "engineer" designing light-weight sleeping bags and tents for paratroopers... "who were invading Alaska?" I also learned the difference between down and feathers. She also said that Oregon is the greatest country in the United States of America. And mentioned that all a restaurant needs is a good bowl of soup. She ate hers pretty quickly.
Just before she sat down she mentioned something about Fred Myers. Which is just two bus stops down from the restaurant. That explains how she got there. So I asked her again if she was trying to get to Fred Myers. And I think she answered yes, it was a bit choppy. So, I took her to the bus stop and watched her get on the bus. As it happens traffic was bad and I got stuck behind the same bus. Fortunately I saw her after the bus had pulled off in front of Fred Myers talking to a lady with a cell phone. It seems she found a new friend. Now I just hope she makes it back home.

blog #020 >> See what I made?

Thank you Ready Made Magazine for this great idea.
They're my new computer speakers! Disguised as an old radio.
Simply gut an old radio and stick you new computer speakers inside.
Does it sound great? No, not really. It sounds like an old radio.
Do I care? NO, not at all. Form before function... well, just so long as it's got some function left.

blog #019 >> even more photos

Oh yes, and above is only a small portion of the photos taken. Here's a slide show comprised of around half of them. And it's still an overwhelmingly huge sum of photos to take in:

View Album

Get your own

blog #018 >> getting to know the neighbors

Well, this one was a long time is getting up. Now it's practically ancient history; it's passed into ledgend. Everyone seems to know this story even if I've never told them. But just in case you've only heard it through the grapevine. My version is as follows:
Dave and Trina (my neighbors and two excellent generous and noble friends) don't like the heat. During these lovely sunny exuberantly/balmy days they prefer to hide in the comfort of a cool air-condioned room. They decided that their old air conditioner was not longer providing the refreshingly frigid tempature they desired. So my wonderful gracious neighbors offered me they're old air-condioner. I happily accepted, and asked them to leave it by the door.
Well... I got home and much to my surprise they had put it in the window. I thought, "Great! It's even in the window." So I went to turn it on... and nothing happened. After I quick investigation I realized, "Ah Ha! It's just not plugged in." I go to plug it in only... wait there's no outlet. Not even close. After a moment of contemplation to consider what should be done. It hits me, "I can't get online with the AC in this window." Well, if you know me at all than you should know. I am simply addicted to the internet. I can't even go a couple of hours without it... "How will I contact the outside world?" "How many e-mails will I miss?" It had to be moved. Yes, it was past midnight. But it was also production week and I needed to know what time to show up to work the next day, by e-mail. So... in my tired mind, moving seemed to be a viable option.
Now I realize these things are probably over half my body weight. But that particular window is level with my desk. I worked it all out in my mind. And it worked so perfectly. I got to work. I cleared off my desk and opened the window, stuck my head out to pull it in... and, "Snap!" the window breaks... It comes down and traps me between the window and the AC... the runner broke and it would only go down and not up. As I was trying to escape and wiggle myself out... I lost my holding on the AC and it falls from my second story apartment... Only I catch it by the tip of the cord. So, I'm still stuck in the window, but now I'm holding a fifty pound air conditioner by the cord. Well, I try my best to pull it up, but let's face it I'm not all that strong. As I'm debating what I will crush if I let it go... one of my other neighbors who was out having a smoke comes up and asks if I needed some help. "Yes!" Is the obvious answer. So, I let it slip gently though my hands and she was remarkably able to catch it! Once I was free of the air conditioner I was able to fiddle with the window and get myself out. Anyhow, after I was unstuck, I went down and my neighbor helped me carry it back up to the apartment.
Then after the adrenaline wore down I looked down at my hands and I had the worst rope burn I've ever had in my life. I ran and but my hands in some cold water and when I dried them off the whole first layer of skin came off too. After getting some frozen peas from the freezer, I really couldn't sleep. And I hear from my open window my neighbor relaying the story to her husband. So, I went out and sat with them and my peas for awhile. It made a very nice fan stand while I waited for someone to help me put it in the other window.
And remarkably it still works and now it is sitting happily in the right window... by an outlet.


Moral of the story: When moving an air conditioner use the buddy system.